A really good tomato soup will always have a front row seat in my virtual “I hope nobody is watching me licking the soup bowl clean” – list. Quite likely, a well done tomato soup will even outrun the most comforting potato soup as well as a bowl of silky, orange pumpkin soup. Do you have a favorite tomato soup recipe? You do?! Well, I don’t or more accurately: I can’t say. Wait, before you start feeling sorry for me and my inaptness to come up with a great tomato soup recipe – my problem is of a different kind. I actually have too many good and proven recipes to choose from, I know, I know, that’s hardly a real issue.
Picture me making some dessert, shouldn’t be too hard, right?! In fact, I’m making new desserts now every other day, even though the dessert section of my book was the first milestone I achieved. But that’s probably of little surprise to you frequent readers, no? Yet new ideas keep inspiring me, this time around I wanted something to complement a very pure and basic panna cotta. How about a reduced, thick, spiced wine syrup? This had to be good.
My dear friend Stephanie (who already kindly shared her grandma’s tamales recipe and her mum’s peach cobbler recipe with d:d-readers) has not only sent me the most delicious treat, but delivered a fantastic ice cream recipe (I SO MEAN THAT! Probably my favorite ice cream EVER!) and guest post along:
I’m sure not exactly sure how Nicky and I discovered we shared a passion for food. At first, we were so obsessed, we didn’t notice it was nearly all we talked about. As die Ausländerin (foreigner) in Munich still trying to get a hold on everything from the U-Bahn to the language to the market, I was never so grateful as the day Nicky took me on a little culinary shopping tour. We toured the cheese counter at the Marienplatz Kaufhof and, as only Nicky could, charmed them out of samples. We perused cured meats, discussed important matters — like what was the best dried pasta from Italy — and didn’t hesitate to stop at Café Tambosi for hot chocolate and a sweet treat. Ever since, we’ve traded food ideas and enjoyed introducing each other to new things. So when I became reacquainted with Cajeta, I knew just who to send it to…
No sweat – that’s what I keep telling myself while I’m typing this. I really do hope, that my family and friends forgive me referring to these cutesies as Berliner (which is a correct term, just not in Bavaria). Tip of the day: unless you’re in for a surprised look, try Krapfen – when you’re in Munich. These delicious airy dough balls are basically a doughnut without the hole – so instead of poking one in, we give it a sweet filling like jam or custard.
Yesterday was the last day (hooray!) of what we call Fasching or Karneval (carnival), which, traditionally rooted, is celebrated differently across Germany. While I’ve never been bent on becoming princess, clown or cowgirl for a day, the culinary side-effects to this time of the year are not half bad. Not bad at all – they actually make up for the craziness around.
The good news, you can hardly avoid stumbling into Krapfen, as they are everywhere, and so are other traditional fried dough specialties (Hasenöhrl, Auszogne, Mutzen, Schneeball’n and more). And not just the regular ones (filled with apricot jam, dusted with powdered sugar), they are available filled with chocolate creme, eggnogg custard, champagne custard, raspberry jam and – an old favorite of mine – rose hip jam. I’m most certainly a picky Krapfen eater, they shouldn’t be packed with too much rose hips jam filling and they better not be too greasy. Hard to find, I can tell you!
