I still really want to continue this path, so I'm picking things up again. I decided to start with a big challenge!
The cookbook I chose was in German AND in metric measurements. Double challenge! I know a little German, but finding the right cooking terminology was a little challenging. Sometimes I finished translating a sentence and would think "Really? All that work and it just means to roughly chop something! Grrr!". The metric aspect wasn't very difficult--all of my measuring cups and my kitchen scale can do both imperial and metric. Plus this is one of those recipes that can tolerate measurements that are "close enough".
But this cookbook holds special memories for me so it is worth the challenge! During the aforementioned work project, we had a huge team of people in town over Easter weekend, mostly from Germany and Arizona. I couldn't let them spend Easter in some horrible hotel restaurant or something, so I spoke to my family and they agreed to figure out how to host these extra 13 people. It worked out fabulously, and as a thank you gift, they gave me this cookbook signed by everyone and a metric measuring cup.
I have been looking at this cookbook for some time, but never cooking anything from it. About a year ago, I had another work trip to Germany and was able to spend the weekend in Frankfurt, so of course, the market hall featured in this book was on my list of stops to make.
It was small (which I expected with the word "klein" or small in the title)--but truely magical!! I could only hope the Mid-town Global Market will be like this someday! Here are a few pictures from my visit:
Recipe Title: Apfel-Ingwer-Rotkohl (Apple Ginger Red Cabbage)
Page Number: 182
Cookbook Title: Die Kleinmarkthalle kocht: Rezepte, Tipps und Bilder aus der Frankfurter Kleinmarkthalle
(Roughly translated: The Small Market Hall Cooks: Recipes, Tips and Pictures from the Frankfurt Small Market Hall)
Publisher: Nizza
Year Published: 2007
ISBN #: ISBN-10: 394059900X, ISBN-13: 978-3940599001
Background: I LOVE German-style red cabbage and adding apple and ginger really appealed to me.
Recipe:
Ingredients:
1 mid-sized red cabbage, about 1-1.2 kg
1 apple
1 piece of ginger, about 2 cm long
1 tbsp butter
200-300 ml red wine
100 ml red wine vinegar (if you like it sweeter, you can use balsamic vinegar instead)
salt
1 dried chile pepper
1 tsp honey
1 bay leaf
1 pinch ground cloves
A few sprigs of Parsley
20 g butter
Instructions:
Halve the cabbage, cut out the core, remove and discard the outer leaves, then finely chop. Peel the apple, remove the core and roughly chop. Peel the ginger and cut into thin discs.
In a heavy pot, melt 1 tbsp butter. Add the chopped cabbage and lightly saute. Add 200 ml wine and 100 ml red wine vinegar. Bring to a boil. Add salt, crumbled chile pepper, ginger, honey, chopped apples, bay leaf and ground cloves. Cover and reduce heat to simmer for 90 minutes. Periodically check the level of the liquid and add more wine as needed. At the end, remove the cabbage from the heat. Chop the parsley and add it to the pot with the 20 g of butter and stir until the butter is melted and everything is combined.
Alterations/Results/Impressions:
The main alteration I made to the recipe was to put 4 brats on top of the simmering cabbage about 40 minutes before the end. I flipped them over once before the end, and they were perfectly cooked. I don't think they changed the taste of the dish much. They sort of turned an unattractive purple color from the cabbage and wine, but they tasted great!
I rarely make something that I cannot find something I want to change or improve upon, and this was no exception. It was really good, but next time I will roughly chop the ginger, rather than slicing. The ginger didn't fully break down, so occasionally you bit into a huge piece which was a little unpleasant.
I would also add some more spices. Maybe some allspice, cinnamon or even a little more clove.
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