A general note on my recipes

You will notice that some instructions are rather vague….this is because I am an instinct cook and nearly never read recipes myself. I just look at the pics of a dish and then start. So if you are a bloody beginner in the kitchen you better keep away from my recipes

Lima bean stew with meatballs and potato dumplings

This is basically a stew with potato and meat dumplings where the individual parts are later on joined, making it an “all in one pot” recipe.

It is fleishig, but if you take pareve broth cubes and leave away the meatballs it is completely pareve.

Please note that the lima beans need to be soaked overnigth! The recipe serves two to three persons depending on what you serve before and after

Start with the potato dumplings:

1 kg potatoes, 2 eggs, 125 gr. flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, salt, pepper, nutmeg, some fresh or dried thyme and rosemary.

Peel potatoes, cook till well done in salt water, mash in a bowl, let cool. Add eggs, flour and all seasonings. Boil saltwater in a big pot. Shape dumplings of equal size. Simmer dumplings in hot (no rolling boil) saltwater for about 10 minutes. (Best try with one dumpling first, cook it and then slice it in two to check whether it is well done on the inside. You might need to prolongate cooking time if your dumplings are rather large or adjust heat if it falls apart.)

Next the stew:

250 gr. dried lima beans (soaked in water overnight. You can take any other bean variety you like or even mixed beans), 2 tomatoes diced, 1 sweet corncob sliced, 1 onion minced, 2 carrots sliced, 1/2 celery root diced, 1 celery peeled and diced, oil, 1 kosher beef broth cube, 1/2 cup white wine, fresh parsley, pepper, paprika, chilli.

Cook lima beans in saltwater until half done (about 10-15 minutes). Rinse and set aside. Heat oil in a pan, add onions, stir well until golden. Add the rest of the veggies except tomatoes and sweet corn, sauté for some minutes, cool with white wine. Dissolve broth cube in water, add to veggies (abot 1.5 litres, or until you have a clear broth), then add tomatoes, sweet corn, lima beans, pepper, paprika and chilli. Cook for about 30 minutes. You wil have to check whether all ingredients are well done and adjust the seasonings to your taste. (Keep parsley for decoration)

Then the meatballs:

250 gr. minced meat, 1 egg, bread crumbs (about 2 tablespoons), salt, pepper, paprika, oil for skillet.

Combine minced meat, egg and bread crumbs, let sit for 15 minutes. The mixture should now be dry enough to form dumplings without sticking too much to your fingers, but still moist in touch. Form all dumplings, heat oil in a skillet, fry until done on all sides.

In a big pan or heat-resistant dish mix together stew, potato dumplings and meatballs. Sprinkle with parsley and enjoy!

First things first

So this is going to be my first post. And of course ol’ blabbermouth won’t let you down and has a little story to tell.

Today I went to a bookbinder’s studio to have my old new siddur bound. I bought it by chance on a trip back to my hometown in a secondhand bookshop. It’s quite a special siddur. It was printed in 1943 in Switzerland. The date alone makes it a piece of historical interest. The foreword mentions the special circumstances under which it was printed. New siddurim were needed for a congregation, but there was nowhere to buy them, as the centers of jewish culture in most of the surrounding countries had at that time ceased to exist.

As I am very fond of old books I decided to have this slightly battered prayerbook repaired. It will now get a beautifully blue and red mottled cover with a matching dark blue spine. And hopefully it will again be “zum regelmässigem Gebrauch” (used on a regular basis), just as the person who once upon a time presented this siddur to someone wished for in his dedication.

After the bookbinder I checked out another secondhand store and flipping through some art prints discovered a watercolor by Sunil Das. It was only by chance that I knew this was the name of an Indian contemporary artist, having seen a documentary on Indian art lately (India is one of my many fields of interest). I have no idea whether it is really an original or if it is worth anything, but I liked it. While I am writing this my husband is trying to fit it into a frame….I’ll put a picture of it online when he’s done

Well, so much for today and my first post. I’ll definitely publish some recipes next, so keep an eye on my blog all you gluttonous people out there!

P.S. See below the picture by Sunil Das…….looks like yet another kind of exodus……all in all quite familiar.