So, this post is about a week belated… oops. I had it drafted and never posted it in time. I’ve been on a German food kick over the last few weeks, which I think towards the beginning of December when Steve and I went to New York to see the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. We ventured over to Reichenbach Hall for dinner, a place we found during one of our last trips. If you’ve never been there, you feel like you’re stepping into an Oktoberfest celebration when you enter the restaurant. Blue and white checkered flags hang from the ceiling, long communal wooden tables are all over, and nothing but German food and beer is served. I’ve never been to Germany so I can’t speak for the restaurant’s authenticity. I can assume that it is probably Americanized in some ways, but it is nonetheless a fun place to visit to eat some delicious currywurst, bratwurst slices covered in a thick curry ketchup, and obatzda, a cheese spread made with a soft cheese (like brie) that is served with razor-thinly sliced raw onions and pretzels. (Aside: although I still don’t eat meat on a regular basis and don’t plan on chomping into a steak anytime soon, I gave both currywurst and buffalo chicken pizza free passes in recent months. They quickly became two of my new guilty pleasures. ) In continuing with the trend, I made currywurst and a German vegetable-barley soup with bratwurst the weekend before Christmas. My soup recipe was loosely-based on recipes from Jamie Oliver and Saveur and I thought it came out pretty good. And although it is definitely not my favorite holiday, my Christmas Menu was decidedly a German-inspired feast, too. Appetizers were of course currywurst and obatzda. I’m also put out pretzels with cranberry mustard (canned in October), slices of a spicy German salami, and Gouda cheese with crackers (ok, that last one is from Holland, but it is still delicious). Pulled pork on pretzel buns with sauerkraut and beer mustard was at the center of the main course. Don’t ask me why, but pulled pork was on my mind as something to make for a while, and I knew it was meant to be when they had a pork shoulder roast on sale at the grocery for cheap (something like $4.70 for 7 lbs.) I didn’t make the sauerkraut — Steve and I failed at doing that over the summer, which is a story that I’ll share some other time — but I did cook the pork in a slow cooker overnight with beer and assorted aromatics. I’m told the pork turned out really great. I made a few of my favorite vegetables as side dishes: potato pancakes with a combination of sweet potatoes and russet potatoes, served with sour cream and homemade applesauce (my favorite thing of the night); Brussels sprouts with tri-colored carrots, which I bought frozen and just steamed with some butter and herbs thrown in; and braised red cabbage with … Continue reading On Pinterest: German Christmas Menu →