Ralph has fond memories of his mom making this meal. Hefeklöße are a German version of a steamed dumpling and are ideal for mopping up gravy. Or you can pour a sweet fruit sauce over top and have them for dessert. Whenever Ralph makes them, I devour at least three or four. If you make…
Low and Slow Oven-Baked Pork Spareribs with Homemade BBQ Sauce
In winter or unfavourable grilling weather, baking ribs low and slow in the oven is equally delicious and results in tender, fall-off-the-bone meat. Making a homemade BBQ sauce is easy, doesn’t have added preservatives, and allows you to tweak the sweet and savoury flavours to your liking. Pork spareribs are incredibly inexpensive in Germany and…
Schnitzel and Sauerkraut
Master a classic schnitzel and immunity-boosting sauerkraut at home. Crispy golden schnitzel with veal, pork, or chicken, paired with savory, tender sauerkraut.
Layered Ground Beef Cheesy Pie with Rice Paper
A comforting layered pie with spiced ground beef, tender potatoes, creamy sour cream, and crispy rice paper—perfect for family dinners.
Hearty Cold-Weather Cabbage Rolls
We woke up one morning to an instant winter wonderland, although technically it’s still fall. With a chill in the air, it was the perfect weather to heat up the kitchen with a hearty meal. Years ago when we still lived in Aachen I bought a meal of cabbage rolls from a local deli and…
Duck Two Ways (Confit and Breasts)
There’s nothing better than the smell of duck roasting in the oven—especially when it’s all day long. Our dog Mogly agrees and has been caught in front of the oven door with his nose madly sniffing the savoury air. We enjoy duck in the fall and winter seasons, often making duck breasts with risotto and…
Meeting the Mother City
[Note: This entry is not a recipe blog but a part of our new ‘Food and Wine experiences’ category.] Ralph and I recently returned from a two-week stay in Cape Town and the surrounding breathtaking region of Cape WineLands. It was my first and hopefully not my last time there. The weariness from a 14…
Savoury Roast Chicken on a Charcoal Grill
Roast chicken is another one of those go-to comfort meals you can count on for ease, great taste, and best of all—leftovers. We like to make ours more savoury, using fresh herbs from our garden with olive oil. There’s nothing like the scent of roast chicken from your kitchen oven during colder months. But in…
Bobotie (sweet and curried ground beef casserole)
A few years ago we had a summer holiday in southern Germany, including a stay in Heidelberg. We spent an afternoon visiting wineries on the German Wine Route (Deutsche Weinstraße) and made a stop at Hammel & Cie. Their wines are delicious and very reasonably priced—we had a box of 12 wines shipped home to…
How to grill a steak—with confidence
(Written by Ralph) This is the method I have finally arrived at that is mostly fool-proof for me. I don‘t have a „sizzle zone“ on my 20 year old Weber Genesis but the heat gets high enough to get a nice sear anyway. You can do it like this over charcoal too by using a…