Jagerschnitzel with Sourdough Spaetzle

 The Hubs asked for Jagerschnitzel as his special Father's Day dinner. And I did my best to accommodate, except that we could not find pre-breaded pork or veal cutlets ANYWHERE, and I didn't have enough time on Father's Day to make everything from scratch. So, this dinner was a little belated, but still delicious and well deserved. I'm thankful to have husband who is a true partner in marriage, sharing responsibility for things around the house, taking care of the kiddo, while also having our own areas of expertise.  I do most of the cooking, not because he CAN'T, but because I enjoy it more.  He enjoys working with his hands and fixing things.  It's a pretty great situation.

Anyway...FOOD.  

I bought this spaetzle maker on Amazon---not joking, looked it up--A FULL DECADE AGO. 2013.   That's pre-kid, we still owned The Inside Scoop--purchased in June (full tilt ice cream season) so this was probably a stress purchase. And it's just sat in the drawer, in the package, since that time.  The spider strainer was a much more recent purchase,  but still brand new.  Nice to finally get to use kitchen gadgets. :)

I used my sourdough discard to make this recipe--most recipes I found online called for a full cup (300g) of discard, which I didn't have.  And there was a whole range of recipes out there--some called for 1 egg, some for 4, etc.  So, I opted to just modify the recipe that came on the package of my spaetzle maker.

Because making THREE things from scratch for the same dinner is a hefty lift on busy summer weekends, I made the spaetzle the day before and put it in the fridge. Then day of, I sautéed it in some butter, seasoned with some salt, pepper, and parsley.  Worked perfect.

INGREDIENTS: 

Spaetzle (Makes....a lot.  Like probably 8-10 side servings. We froze half.)

• 100g sourdough discard
• 325g all-purpose flour
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp chicken bouillon powder
• ~200mL water (more or less as needed for consistency)
• 1/2 stick butter

Schnitzel

• 1 lb pork chops hammered to ~1/4-1/2 inch thick, or a butterflied pork loin, divided into 6 sections and pounded flat
• Dry dredge: 1/3 cup flour, 1 Tbsp garlic salt, 1/2 tsp parsley, 1/2 tsp black pepper
• Wet Dredge: 2 eggs, beaten
• Final dredge: 2 cups panko
• vegetable oil for frying
• Lemon wedges for serving

Jager Gravy

• 2 Tbsp butter
• 8 oz button mushrooms, cleaned & sliced
• 1/2 onion, thinly sliced
• 4 Tbsp Tony Chacheres Roux Mix (FYI since the recipe isn't on the can--gravy is 2 Tbsp mix + 1 cup water)
• 2 Cups cool water

DIRECTIONS:

Spaetzle-

1. Start a pot of salted water to boil.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the discard, eggs, and bouillon.  Mix in the flour--you'll end up with a dry shaggy dough.  Start adding the water and mixing in until dough is smooth, like thick pancake batter.  The idea being that the dough won't just drip through the holes in the spaetzle maker as you add it to the hopper, so you can control the size of the noodles. 
3. Let rest about 15 minutes.
4. Set the spaetzle maker across the top of the pot of boiling water.  Add dough to the hopper in small batches.  Slide the hopper back & forth to press the dough through the holes.
5. Once the noodles start to float up to the surface, it's OK to stir. Let cook for 2-3 minutes, then remove with the spider strainer.
6. Place in a container with some butter & toss. The butter will help keep the noodles from sticking to each other.  If you're making this all the same day, you can serve at this point, or let cool and place in the fridge.  
7. Reheating: Heat 1 pat of butter in a large skillet over medium heat--once melted, add the cold spaetzle (you will likely have to break it apart a bit with your hands) & season to taste.  

Schnitzel-

1. Heat about 1 inch of vegetable oil in a deep pan, like a dutch oven, to avoid splattering.  Target temp is about 330F.
2. Heat oven to 200F (for keeping cutlets warm if needed)
3. Once oil is up to temp, dredge pork one at a time through the flour, then egg, then panko and gently drop into the oil. My pot was able to hold about 2 at a time, so have some paper towels nearby for after they come out of the oil.  Cook for about 2-3 minutes per side, until golden brown.  Remove, drain, then place on a cookie sheet in the oven (if you're trying to keep them all warm for serving).
4. Serve with a light drizzle of lemon juice, and then either add gravy to the top, or on the side.

Jager Gravy-

1. In a large skillet, melt 2 Tbsp butter over medium heat.
2. Add onions & mushrooms and saute until tender & golden.
3. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, combine the water and roux mix, whisk, and then heat to boiling.  Let boil for 1 minute then drop temp to simmer.
4. Add mushrooms & onions to the gravy and let simmer until ready to serve. (I then used that skillet to heat up the spaetzle I'd made the day before.)

Served this up with some sauerkraut for the full German experience...and some green beans, because vegetables are important. :)

Also, as a point of process...even though the Aldi website may not mention it...they DO have pre-breaded veal cutlets in the freezer section, if you want to make this & are short on time.  Found this out later. *sigh* Ah well--since we have frozen spaetzle now, that means next time we want this dish, all I have to make is the gravy!

What I've Been Cooking Lately

While I haven't had a ton of time to blog lately (the posts you've seen have been compiled over several weeks, pieced together here & there), I have still been cooking.  When I went back to work we quickly realized we needed to do some meal planning so we didn't starve to death or end up eating pizza every night.  Having a meal plan written down for the week helps us to figure out who's cooking what, which nights we won't need to cook anything and can just eat leftovers, and helps us to make sure we have enough leftovers for lunches.  

I've been ever-so-slowly working my way through my Recipes to Try on Pinterest. I try to keep a running list of what recipes I want to try next alongside my menu plan for the week, so I can cross things off as we use them and then add new recipes based on what's on sale or what we need to use up in the fridge. So, here's what I've tried recently, and my thoughts/tweaks to those recipes:

Easy Weeknight Chicken Parmesan - This was the recipe found inside a can of Progresso  Fire Roasted Tomato Recipe Starters in our pantry.  I've used a few of these Recipe Starters and have thus far been underwhelmed.  They all have a pretty "prepackaged" flavor.  I added a ton of garlic and basil to this sauce, which helped.  We used the excess sauce to make a pasta side dish.

"Chicken parm you taste so good..."  Thanks, Manning.

Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup:  This one was practically perfect as-is. I made it for my church small group and everyone requested that I send them the recipe. I did use more cumin (probably closer to 2-3 teaspoons) and used smoked salt instead of regular--what can I say, I like my Mexican dishes a little smoky!

Crockpot Spaghetti Squash & Meatballs:  This is possibly the easiest meal I've ever made, and it was really tasty.  You literally cut the squash in half, scoop out the seeds, plop the two halves into the crock, then pour in a jar of sauce and toss in some frozen meatballs, set to high for 3 hours, then go back to playing with your kid.  Perfect.

Crockpot Mashed Potatoes:  This one ended up being a flop for me, but I think I accidentally used too much milk--I also think it would have worked better with russets instead of red potatoes.  Reds have a tendency to not be as fluffy, and when I OD'd on milk the end result was a gluey mess.

Crock Pot Beef & Broccoli:  This one was also a flop.  The meat completely fell apart after having been cooked for 8 hours on low, so we essentially had shredded beef & broccoli over rice.  The sauce also didn't really ever thicken up, and was sweeter than I would have liked, so we added extra soy and sriracha. 

Baked Crispy Sweet Potato Wedges:  While not as crispy as I had hoped, these were still delicious.  Great as a side with burgers or brats.

All grilling best when completed by The Hubs with his young apprentice.

Hummus Crusted Chicken:  The hummus "crust" never really got crunchy, but it DID keep the chicken nice and moist and even my father-in-law, who doesn't like hummus, said this was a really tasty dish. I used Sundried Tomato Basil Sabra hummus, and seasoned both sides of the chicken with Cajun seasoning before adding the hummus.

Baked Garlic Paprika Chicken:  This was tasty. I recommend using smoked paprika.  Also--I was lazy and didn't heat the oil & spices together--I just tossed them in a gallon Ziploc and then added the chicken to the bag, tossing to coat.  Still a delicious result.

Biscuit Waffles 'n Gravy:  Technically only "pinspired" by Pinterest, and the trend of waffling everything these days.  We stuck some Grands biscuits in the waffle iron, and my Hubs made his famous sawmill gravy.  The biscuits were a little tough, but tasty--and no fork required, you could just pick them up & eat them.  Good schtuff.

Cajun Black Bean Soup:  My soup did not end up as creamy as I would have liked--I could never get the puree to be thin enough, so it just had some bean chunks in it. I did use Camellia brand black beans. However, flavor-wise this was delicious.  Also--before you start this recipe, note the long cook time.  I didn't and we ended up eating dinner at about 8pm that night. :)

Mushroom & Kale Ramen:  This was a nice spin on regular ramen.  I used baby portabellas instead of shiitake, but it was still a yummy bite. I also added a bit of fish sauce because...well, because it's in our fridge, and it makes me feel fancy.

Ravioli Lasagna:  We didn't really follow any recipe exactly, but the recipe under the link is close to what we made.  I used frozen cheese raviolis from Aldi, 1 lb of sliced smoked sausage links, 1 jar Italian sausage pasta sauce, and tons of mozzarella & Italian cheese blend.  Just layered the ingredients and baked for 40 minutes at 350F.

PF Chang's Style Lettuce Wraps:  These were super-tasty & really easy to throw together. I will definitely be making again.

Herbed Chicken & Pasta:  This dish had great flavor but ended up being WAY too salty for our taste. I think if you could find a low-sodium version of the soup mixes it might help, or just eliminate one of the mixes (either the garlic mix or the onion soup mix).

There's a few other things I've made recently but they were tinkered with enough (or are Cajun enough) to warrant their own post, so I'll save those for later.  You know...when I have time. :)

Andouille Biscuits & Gravy

So, I've shared our recipe for homemade biscuits & sawmill (aka white) gravy here before, but the other day we made a really fun (and DELICIOUS) spin on it:

We subbed out the traditional pork sausage for andouille.  Our local meat market has house-made andouille sausage that's pretty on par flavor-wise to what you can find down south.

Now, you won't get quite as much fat drippings from the andouille as you would with pork sausage, but that's okay since we typically discard about 2/3 of the grease when we make it with pork, so less mess/waste.

This go-round we used canned biscuits, but please feel free to make homemade if you have the time. (NOTE: I had a version of this at Surrey's Cafe in New Orleans recently that was made with whole wheat biscuits, if you want to health things up a bit.  ...I also tried their famous Banana's Foster French Toast (recipe behind the link) during this same visit, which was most definitely NOT healthy, but freakin' DEVINE.  Highly recommend.)

*drools* Err...wait...sorry, got distracted.  Back to the gravy.

INGREDIENTS (Gravy):

• 1/2 lb andouille sausage (this is about 1 large link from our butcher--NOTE: you need the raw andouille, not a fully cooked sausage like Johnsonville)
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1/4-1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cups skim milk (more or less to desired thickness)

DIRECTIONS:

Cook the sausage in a large pan with some salt & pepper to taste. 

Once browned, add the flour & stir. You want enough flour so that it’s still runny in the pan—if it gets clumpy, add more grease to thin it out (you can use bacon grease). 

Mix for 1-2 minutes over medium heat until it becomes a dark brown (but not burnt). But don’t overdo it-- Remember that the roux you’re creating will absorb the milk, so the more roux you make, the more milk you’re going to have to add to turn it into a good gravy. So if you’re not wanting to eat gravy on everything for the next week, err on the side of less. 

Then add milk and continue stirring, about 2-3 minutes. Make sure to scrape the edges of the pan to keep everything well combined. At this point, you can add more milk if you need to thin things out a bit, and you can season with more salt & pepper to taste. Remove from heat when you’ve reached the desired consistency, otherwise it will continue to thicken. 

Spoon onto your biscuits, and chow down. Makes about 3-4 cups of gravy. Nutritional info & servings will vary depending on how heavy-handed you are with your gravy-to-biscuit ratio.

NutriFacts: (assumes 4 servings of about 3/4 cup each)

Calories		229.9
Total Fat		9.2 g
	Saturated Fat	3.1 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	0.0 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	0.1 g
Cholesterol		52.5 mg
Sodium		531.7 mg
Potassium		199.4 mg
Total Carbohydrate		13.1 g
	Dietary Fiber	0.2 g
	Sugars	6.3 g
Protein		14.0 g

Homemade Biscuits (And sausage gravy!)

I love weekends, because they mean sleeping in with my hubs (and occasionally the pup—we don’t always let him sleep on the bed because he somehow manages to occupy 90% of the bed with his 18-lb body), and making a REAL breakfast… not cereal or quick toast & bacon.

Friday night, just before bed, we managed to watch an episode of Diners, Drive-ins, & Dives that featured Ruth’s Diner in Salt Lake City, featuring a biscuit & gravy recipe with Ruth’s Mile High Biscuits as the centerpiece…

…so of course, when we woke up Saturday morning, all I could think about was biscuits & gravy.

I reached for my handy-dandy American Legion Auxillary cookbook, because if there’s anyone who knows how to make good biscuits, it’s the lil’ old ladies of the Midwest.  These were referred to as “Cloud Biscuits” in the cookbook.

So while I whipped up some clouds, the Hubs whipped up a sausage gravy.  Yes, you heard that right, this is the first entry where both myself AND The Hubs will be contributing to the post!  I’m pretty well crap with gravies (unless it comes from a packet or can) so I leave that to his mastery.

RECIPE FOR BISCUITS: (makes 1 dozen regular sized biscuits [or 16 small ones])

1 cup sifted flour

1/2 tbsp sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup shortening (we used light margarine)

1 egg white

1/3 cup milk

 

DIRECTIONS:

Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl, then cut in the shortening until crumbly.  Add the egg & milk and then stir until the dough leaves the side of the bowl.

Turn onto a floured surface, and  knead gently, about 20 strokes.  Then roll or pat out to about 3/4 inch thick.

Cut with a biscuit cutter (note: I misplaced my big round cutter, so I had to use a little 1.5-inch diameter round, though I could have used a glass turned upside down) & place on a lightly sprayed cookie sheet.

Bake at 450F for 10-14 minutes or until lightly browned.

Seriously… how stinkin’ kewt are these?

And while these are quite a lovely lil’ bite with some strawberry jalapeno jam…

They’re even more delicious with fresh sausage gravy.

 

GRANDMA DAKE’S SAUSAGE GRAVY RECIPE (transcribed by me on behalf of The Hubs):

1/2 lb pork sausage

salt & pepper

1/4 – 1/2 cup flour (depending on how thick you like it)

2 cups milk + more to desired thickness

 

DIRECTIONS:

Cook the sausage in a large pan with some salt & pepper to taste. 

Once browned, you remove the meat from the pan, and then discard about 2/3 of the grease. 

Then add the flour & stir.  You want enough flour so that it’s still runny in the pan—if it gets clumpy, add more grease to thin it out.  Mix for 1-2 minutes over medium heat until it becomes a dark brown (but not burnt).  But don’t overdo it-- Remember that the roux you’re creating will absorb the milk, so the more roux you make, the more milk you’re going to have to add to turn it into a good gravy.  So if you’re not wanting to eat gravy on everything for the next week, err on the side of less.

Then add milk and continue stirring, about 2-3 minutes.  Make sure to scrape the edges of the pan to keep everything well combined.  At this point, you can add more milk if you need to thin things out a bit, and you can season with more salt & pepper to taste.  Remove from heat when you’ve reached the desired consistency, otherwise it will continue to thicken.

Spoon onto your biscuits, and chow down.

In my case, enjoy with your favorite coffee (in your favorite coffee mug):

 

NutriFacts: (for two biscuits & 1/2 cup gravy)

Calories 318.4

  Total Fat 16.3 g

  Saturated Fat 4.4 g

  Polyunsaturated Fat 1.6 g

  Monounsaturated Fat 5.5 g

  Cholesterol 43.9 mg

  Sodium 654.0 mg

  Potassium 287.0 mg

  Total Carbohydrate 30.9 g

  Dietary Fiber 0.8 g

  Sugars 5.8 g

  Protein 12.5 g