Vegetarian Recipes from Germany - Spinach with Eggs and Onions in Honey Butter

[lady_of_clunn]

A little while ago, delphipsmith and I happened to be talking about German cooking and how all recipes seemed to be quite heavy on meat.

I think this is mostly the case as after WWII, eating (and being able to afford to eat) a lot of meat was seen as a status symbol and possibly even healthy. So, dishes that used to be reserved for Sundays or even once-a-month-after-payday, became a daily feature in the German diet.

Older people might also have been eager to indulge after decades of war, recession, war, rationing that seemed to go on forever...

So I thought I'd give you some German recipes that don't warrant a trip to the butcher.

I hope you guys like potatoes and eat eggs and dairy, though.



Sorry about the messy plate - Ida decided to cook with me and I was too busy to keep her from pulling the pots off the cooker or burning herself so my plating skills suffered a bit.



Spinach with Eggs

- One onion
- Spinach purée (fresh or frozen)
- Eggs
- Potatoes
- Salt, pepper, nutmeg, cream to taste

Peel and cut potatoes, boil until soft.

Roughly chop onion, fry until lightly browned.

Add (defrosted) spinach purée (works better than leafy spinach as the spinach acts as a sauce), bring to a boil, season with salt, pepper, nutmeg and a dollop of cream.

Fry eggs - the most common are fried eggs that Americans would call "sunny side up", but if you prefer scrambled eggs, that's also popular.



Onions in Honey Butter

This dish goes back to the medieval monasteries and was used as a fasting dish and also for medicinal purposes. I find it a nice side dish for Christmas - something different to mix things up.

- 600g onions
- 50g butter
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 125ml white wine
- 4 tablespoons cream
- 2 tablespoons chopped herbs
- salt, white pepper
- potatoes or bread if served as a main dish

Cut onions into 1cm thick slices. Melt butter and then the honey. Add onions and fry for a few minutes.

Add the wine, cover and braise for 20-30 minutes.

Add cream and herbs (whatever is in season, I use rosemary, thyme, basil, savory or herbes de provence), season with salt and pepper.

Serve with boiled potatoes or bread if you want to make this a meal rather than a side dish.


Enjoy!

I am planning on cooking "Silesian Heaven" tomorrow, so hopefully I will post that and the recipe for Stewed Cucumbers tomorrow evening :)

Comments

[delphipsmith]

Mmmmm, so much oniony goodness! Thanks :)

[lady-of-clunn.livejournal.com]

You're welcome :)

It really is very tasty.

[mre-quecky.livejournal.com]

haha, this is awesome, cause, you know, this is basically my favourite dish! The only difference is that we always had potatoes, spinach, egg and Leberkäse (for others: special type of meat loaf), so with meat... but seriously, my favourite dish to this day :D

[lady-of-clunn.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

I don't know why so many people say they don't like spinach! I always loved it and when I ask my daughter what she wants to eat, her first question always is: do we have spinach?

I'll try to put up Schlesisches Himmelreich and Schmorgurken at some point today :)

[mre-quecky.livejournal.com]

ok, I must admit, I have no clue, what that is :) sounds absolut göttlich :)

[lady-of-clunn.livejournal.com]

Must be truly Silesian, then ;)

I am putting that post up in a few minutes.