German Food? Well, kind of...

If I went with the food they made in the movie, I would have made crusts of bread and raw meat.  I decided, however, to go with something a little more universally popular.  My original decision was to make German Pancakes.  I got the recipe from SmittenKitchen.com, another of my favorite food blogs (thank you, SFR). I don't actually know how German they are, in several posts people also referred to them as "Dutch babies."  However, they looked yummy and they had the word German in them so I was sold.  My friend, JC, was game enough to try them with me, although she was certainly skeptical at first.  I don't know if she was so interested in German food as much as she was just too lazy to cook herself.


Not-So-German Pancakes
You'll Need:
4 eggs
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup flour, sifted
2/3 cup milk
2 tablespoons soft butter
A handful of raspberries
Some maple syrup
A sprinkling of powdered sugar

1. Heat oven to 400°F. Butter two 9-inch cake pans well. I didn't have two cake pans, so I used two similarly shaped bowls.  It went ok, but in future if you want them thinner, go for the cake pans.
2. Put eggs in mixer, wisk until light yellow in color. (It's okay if you don't have a mixer)
3. Add remaining ingredients; wisk until smooth. 
4. Pour into prepared pans and bake 20 minutes; then reduce heat to 350°F and bake 10 minutes. 
5. Let cool and service on plates or in the bowl.

This recipe yields 2 medium sized pancakes.  You can serve this as the original recipe recommends, with lemon slices, powdered sugar and butter.  Other options include raspberry syrup (which sounds awesome) or maple syrup, powdered sugar and fresh raspberries, if you’re us. We sprinkled a heavy dose of the powdered sugar on top and then added a little syrup and raspberries.  They're best hot out of the oven, but I left some for my roommate and she thought they were great after re-heated in the microwave. Mmmmm....

JC wasn't convinced that these weird pancake things would be enough for dinner, and after working all day she and I were really hungry.  So I picked up some Hofbrau German sausages from Trader Joe's, along with red and orange peppers and a small onion.  "Do you like sausages?"  I asked as she looked at me with raised eyebrows, "They're German too!"  Thankfully I have nice friends who go along with me even when I'm a little crazy.  We therefore created...

German Sausages with Relish
You'll need:
A package of German sausages (mine had 5 sausages in it, which is more than enough)
2 peppers (red or orange)
1 small white onion
2 tbsps honey
2 ½ tbsps Dijon mustard
1-2 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
Some bread or rolls

1. Heat oil in a large pan over the stove.  Add sausages and cook until they are brown all over, turning frequently to avoid burning.  They should be around 170 degrees, if you have a meat thermometer.  Take them off the heat when done and cover to keep warm.
2. Finely chop onion and place in ziplock bag.  Add the honey and the mustard and shake the bag until all is mixed together.  You can vary the amount of mustard or honey according to taste.
3. Dice peppers and add them to the pan you just took the sausages out of.  Let them cook for about 5 minutes in the sausage grease (yum).
4. Add the onions and cook until the onions are slightly translucent, stirring often to combine the flavors. 
5. Remove from heat. Place the sausages in rolls or on bread, and cover with the pepper/onion relish.

Voila!  German sausages with relish! Kind of.  Well it's my take on a German recipe anyway so I guess it will have to work.  And it must have been pretty good because JC stopped being skeptical and helped me devour everything.

Next time...Cimarron.  Ugh.  Soooo not excited.