January Grünkohl Essen

Kalle's Grünkohl  Abend

As is normal in the North of Germany and therefore at our dear friend Kalle it was Grünkohl time. To the uninitiated Grünkohl is sweet curly kale but this is not as is normal in England just blanched and quickly sautéed, but is turned into a wonderful meal, it will be found steaming away on stoves all over the North of Germany (from Nordrhein-Westfalen to Schleswig-Holstein) , you will also see great pans of it bubbling at the stalls in most Jahrmarkts throughout the North. It is a real peasant dish that uses up a green vegetable that is easy to grow and is really only edible after the frost has given it a certain sweetness.

Enough about the main actor in the piece but here is a run through of the supporting cast.

First we gathered in Kalle’s kitchen to this a normal procedure as this is always the starting point of any of the Kikoklu’s dinner evenings, this was as Linda was making the welcoming cocktail, it was a gin based one that include Cointreau and lemon juice, topped up with sekt, it normally has a sugared rim but she in view of my diabetes had not sugared mine. Kalle had in the meantime set the stage ready for the first act.

Linda and Carolyn heads down and concentrating

Find the one without the sugar!

I do wish Kalle would keep still

We then left the kitchen to Carolyn to put her starter together.

We sat and chatted about our Christmas holidays and respites, some went to visit their families and friends in the North of Germany, others went to the canaries to feel a bit of warmth on their backs, while Linda and I went to Northern Ireland, North England and a quick visit to the South of Scotland and we spent New Year in Belfast, the rest had a right knees up at the Schauspielhaus in Kiel.

Carolyn brought in the starter; it was nice fresh celery, with pomegranate seeds and a fresh fruity dressing.

Next we had my Soup, this was a mixture of a standard recipe made from roasted butter nut squash, red and yellow peppers, onions, garlic and tomatoes (roasted together in the oven with a good sprinkling of olive oil. I also softened some carrot, leek and celeriac on top of the stove in some game stock a good amount of grated ginger, ground cumin, sweet paprika and smoked paprika. I blended these all together and sautéed some green beans, peas and some haricot beans, added these to the finished soup and thinned with some more stock. 

The soup warming through on the stove

Marianne adding some sliced chorizo 

Martin adding some Hirschschinken

The olive, rosemary and pine nut rolls below and the sun-dried tomato and roasted sunflower seed rolls above

To serve I has sliced some chorizo, diced some smoked wild boar and some red deer ham, this each could add as much or as little or none as they wished. By the compliments being bandied about I think it was a success and a recipe that shall be repeated in the future, it is very low in calories at only approximately 33 K/cal per 100 g.

I had made some bread rolls as an accompaniment, these were made from a fresh yeast dough, 75% rye whole meal flour and 25% strong bread flour, after the first proving (1 hr), I had divided the dough into 2 equal parts. To one I added sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil and  some chopped roasted sunflower seeds. To the other half I added chopped black Kalamata olives, chopped pine nuts and chopped fresh rosemary, divided each half into 4 and allowed to prove again (1 hr) then into a pre-heated (220°C) oven for 20 minutes check if they are done by tapping the bottom, they should sound hollow.

Then followed the star of the show a real winter warmer full of vitamins and energy. Kalle had done us proud, not only the Grünkohl, but also Pinkel, that wurst which comes from North Niedersachsen  area namely from and around Bremen (Bremen is one of Germany’s city states). The Pinkel is a grouts wurst that isn’t unsimilar to the Scottish haggis, though it uses barley or grouts (very rough ground grain) as the filler but in some cases oats is used. The rest of the meal consists of a kassler rib, meat removed from the bones and sliced , a thick slice ofl belly pork and smoked minced sausages made out of fresh and cured pork prior to being smoked, this is what would be called a mettende in NRW, it is a very spicy often hard sausage which is often sold over the bar counter to go with a beer. To this was served plain steamed potatoes, that will be crushed (quetscht) into the sauce of the Grünkohl. Of course you will need a good strong mustard, I prefer the Düsseldorfer Löwensenf, though there were some of those present that I saw using a weaker make.

Kalle removing the Kassler from the pot

A nice piece of meat

The remainder adding their flavours to the Grünkohl

The slicing of the beast

Don't forget the potatoes Rich!

The meat platter

The Grunkohl

And ready to eat

Linda's astonishment at the amount she would have to eat,

My first plate of food.

To round off the evening we had a few rounds of Aquavit, this accompanied the beer that is a must to the Grünkohl and then a wonderful fresh fruit salad no sugar though some did have a good dollop of whipped cream. 

Kalle then served another schnapps a Walnut one, a very nice drop if I may say Kalle.

We stayed the night and after a late breakfast we headed home to get the evening meal ready, haggis, neeps and tatties with a whisky sauce, as if we had not had enough.

But before leaving we did see Kalle’s “Eichhornchen paar” doing high jinx in the trees and on the grass in front of the kitchen window.

Thank you for a wonderful evening to all Kikokluers for their wonderful courses, but especially to Kalle for being such a wonderful Host.