Christmas Markets 2012

It was a long time coming, the Christmas Markets, that German institution that has spread throughout the rest of the Western World and provides China with another industry fuelled by Western demand. What had once been the domain of small specialist craftsmen was now mass produced in China. There are still some that manage to carry on in the old tradition, like the wooden pyramids and smoking men of the Erzgebirge or Rothenberg Glass blowers, but even here you can see cheap replicas creeping in. Progress I suppose and as unstoppable as an avalanche or the McDonalds taking over from traditional foods.

Uschi our dear friend  and us two, meet up on various times during the year, Carnival, special days when foreign cultures show off their food and folklore,  most years we pick a Christmas market to visit and normally do Dortmund or Düsseldorf, but this time we selected Cologne.

It was good as I then asked Linda if she fancied making a weekend of it as we have good friends that live near Bonn and that would mean we could visit them and also go to the Bonner Weihnachtsmarkt. As we both had never been to either his would fill in a gap in our education.

So Marga and Ewald duly informed that they would have guests for the first weekend in Advent, it was arranged that Friday would be Bonn and Saturday in Cologne.

I travelled down from Rheda and arrived at our friends in 2 hrs after the normal traffic hold ups on the A1 (I have lived in Germany for 36 years and in all that time there has always been road works and hold ups on the A1).

We agreed that we would pick up Linda from the Central Station, the poor lass had travelled from Lübeck and it that was over a 5 hour journey, the things that people do in the name of culture. We could then pop across the road and take in the Bonner Christmas Market. This is it in pictures:

Marga and Linda

The rather large Christmas Pyramid

Käthe Wolfahrt from Rothenberg an der Tauber, one of the most famous manufacturers of glass Christmas tree decorations, you can give a small fortune out for the decorations for a small tree and be bankrupt for a large one.

The Christmas Market under the ever watchful cathedral.  

It is a small compact, nice Olde Worlde non-commercial Christmas market.

We slept sound in Ewald’s Lemon Grove that night and even better the next night after a feast and a few glasses of wine

After breakfast Marga took us to the Central station to catch the train to Cologne, we (well the girls had) had arranged to meet just outside the railways station, which just so happens to be at the foot of the famous twin towers, no not from Tolkien, but the Kölner Dom!

We then walked along the main shopping street (it is in no way comparable with the Kö in Düsseldorf but still very nice) I wanted various Christmas presents to myself, I being the only one that knows what I want and not what others think I need.

We then went about finding the Christmas Markets, there are three in Cologne and Uschi had printed out the plan of the city and marked the areas in red. So it was first to the Engelsmarkt (Angel’s market) this was in fact on the area called the Neumarkt. But on they way we passed the bakers shops and the conditorie shops there was a very nice one with the ginger bread house in the window.

And two witches watching close by?????

 

It was still quite early in the afternoon and so was not as busy as it would be later so it was actually quite pleasant to wander from stall to stall without fear of being crushed, robbed or trampled to death at the Glühwein stands.

We passed all of those wonderful stalls selling the different Christmas (and at other times of the year) specialities)

The Artisan Bakers

The Baumkuchen, a speciality that is wound round a central spit and when sliced has rings like the rings in a tree, they are often cut into sections and coated in chocolate or some other sweet glaze.

There is also lots of fretwork stalls, here is a one that has specialised on the Dom.

And the Nougat stalls with the myriad of colours and flavours this was making me hungry, very hungry indeed.

I fancied a bite to eat, and each year I like to have my Grünkohleintopf (curly kale stew),  This year alas I was to be out of luck, I was informed by Ewald that there is a Grünkohl border with Bonn and Cologne being on the wrong side of it. After we had been around the Engelsmarkt we headed of to the next one at the Heumarkt (Hay Market), we perused the stalls and all the time getting a little more peckish, so as we were near the Alte Stadt and the Rhein, we decided to seek out a suitable Hostelry. This was easier said than done, as many due to so many people getting hungry at the same time (most inconsiderate) left no place for three weary travellers. We at last got into the Haxenhaus and with a bit of luck (a group of French tourists were just leaving) got a table.

I decided against having the namesake of the house, Schweinshaxe this is pork knuckle in all its variations and along with Linda settled on Gänsekeule, Kartoffel knödeln and Rotkohl ( Goose leg potato dumplings and red cabbage) Uschi had the regional speciality Rheinische Sauerbraten.

I had the beer famous in the Cologne area “Kölsch”, this is a beer akin to the English Mild, in that it is bottom brewed beer? Please do not make the mistake of asking for an Altbier, this is very similar but you will be told in no uncertain terms that you are in the wrong city (Alt comes from Düsseldorf and the two cities are always at odds which has the best beer, the best carnival,  the best football team, in fact the best of anything).

So after a very nice hour we walked along the Rheinufer, the walk along the banks of the mighty river Rhine, the river that rises in Switzerland and enters the North Sea at the delta in Rotterdam and the surrounding area.

Due to the mild weather (it felt pretty cold to me) the Rhine barges and cruise ships were still plying up and down with their cargoes of goods and passengers.  

Walking through the Altstadt

We made our way back towards the Dom and the Central Station as we needed to catch the train back to Bonn and Marga’s  Martins Braten, a recipe that I must get off her as it was delicious. We ate and drank and chatted about next year’s trip to Cornwall, I had promised Marga many years ago, when she was my landlady, that we would one day go to Cornwall (she watches too much Rosamunde Pilchar). We have now settled on summer 2013. So it is to be in campervans, I shall be buying one very soon and Ewald and Marga are going to hire a one.

Next morning it was up earlyish and took Linda to the railway station and I headed up the A1 through the rain, sleet and snow, but made good time and guess what? I was able to get in another Christmas Market, our very own at Wiedenbrück and at last I got my Grünkohleintopf.

Boiled fruit cake

Navy Fruit and Nut Cake

 

 

100g margarine (or butter)

150g dark sugar (démariera)

500g mixed fruit and nuts (I made my own with 50g each of diced figs, dates, prunes, and ginger, mixed peel, cranberries, 75g glazed cherries, 75g large sultanas, make up the rest of the weight with sliced almonds. (You can use what ever nuts you like, in fact you can use what ever fruit you like)

1 pkt Mixed spices (I used Liebküchengewürz)

170 ml water

60 ml (more or less) of Navy Rum

1 heaped tsp. of bicarbonate of soda (Natron)

2 beaten eggs

75g of plain flour

25g wholemeal flour

100g of SR flour

Put the fat, sugar, fruit, water, rum, bicarb, mixed spices into a large sauce pan bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for a couple of minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. When it has cooled down a little, add the flours and beaten egg, mix well.

Pour into a loaf tin (I have a silicon baking form so I suppose it should be “pour into a silicon loaf form”) bang it onto a hard surface to get rid of any air bubbles and make sure that all corners are filled .

 

Put into the centre of a pre-heated oven (175°C) and bake for 1 ½ hrs, check after 1 hr (push a skewer in and test, it should come out clean when cooked) if it is browning too much cover with a piece of baking paper.

NB if you don’t have self raising flour (it is not readily available in Germany) just add 2 ½ level spoons of baking powder (Backpulver) to the 200g of plain flour. (or a mixture of plain and wholemeal).

Bicarbonate of Soda is Natron.

I find that Liebküchengewürz is a very good substitute for mixed spices.

I converted this from a recipe that was on the wildfood board, I believe it is not a new recipe and can easily be adapted. I think I shall work on a Diabetic one (using sugar substitute) and also try adding oranges and lemons and fruit juice instead of the water, Cointreau would then be very nice as the booze. You can of course leave the booze out, but go on spoil yourself it’s Christmas.

 

 

 

The loaf after I cut the end off to sample it, I also had a piece for breakfast with a nice cuppa, I also gave my work collegue a slice and had packed the rest in foil to take home for his wife and daughter along with the recipe.

A quick fish pie

As I wandered through the Rheda Wochenmarkt, I stopped at the fish stall, they don’t normally have a great selection of fresh fish, but I saw they had haddock (schellfisch) fresh not smoked, but they did have smoked halibut, thinks :?:  what can one do with those, well I decided on fish pie, I visited the spud stand and got 2kg of Sissi (a very nice potato for mash). I next went to a discounter beginning with A and ending in I as I know they always have very reasonable Prawns and Stremmel Lachs ( a speciality of the Baltic, hot smoked salmon).

When home late, really too late to cook and eat, but as I hadn't eaten since 13:00 at the shoot, I was really quite peckish.

So it was the haddock and halibut into a pan with 400ml milk , a piece of onion, a crushed garlic clove and a few pepper corns, a piece of mace, a bit of cinnamon bark, 2 slivers of lemon peel, a bay leaf, 2 cardamom pods and 2 cloves. Brought to the boil and lowered the heat, allowed to simmer, then turned off the heat and let it sit in the milk and aromatics to infuse.

Took the haddock and halibut out of the milk and poured the poaching liquid through a sieve.

Mean time I made my mash, 3 spuds cut quite small, boiled allowed to steam dry, mashed and then added a good knob of butter, a grating of nutmeg and some chopped parsley.

I arranged the prawns in an oven proof dish and flaked in largish pieces, the Stremmel  Lachs, topped this with the  flaked haddock and smoked halibut.

I next made a Béchamel, mustard and blue cheese sauce (I had a piece of Blue Vinney that I needed to use up)

25g butter melted in a sauce pan, added 25g of flour, made a roux and cooked it out, added a ½ a tsp. of mustard powder, slowly poured in the cooking liquor then cooked it, adding the blue cheese and a pinch of marigold stock powder.

It should coat the back of a spoon, poured this over the fish, allowing about 10mm space at the top. Spooned the mash on top (starting at the outside and working inwards), when it is all covered, smooth with a palate knife and then criss-cross pattern with a fork.

 

Put into a very hot oven to brown the top, serve piping hot. You will notice I didn’t add any peas or hard-boiled egg, reason was I didn’t have any!

And here we have it

Braised Hare leg

Braised Hare leg

 (It can be any part or even a whole one, but as I was just cooking for myself a leg was quite ample)

You shall require:

1 hare hind leg (about 350g is a decent portion)

For the marinade

200ml red wine (don’t throw the remainder of the bottle away as you shall be drinking it with the meal)

Shot glass of sherry vinegar

2 garlic cloves (crushed)

1 medium onion (diced)

Bouquet garni  (Bunch of herbs consisting of bay leaf, sage, rosemary, oregano and thyme)

Game spices (see my game spice mixture)

Pepper from the mill

Put the hare into a container, (it can be from Tupperware but this was from Ikea, the container that is not the hare), add the onion and garlic place the hare leg on top and give it a very good grinding of Game spices, rub it in, it can take a good seasoning.

Pour in the wine and vinegar, add the bunch of herbs give it another  grinding of spices for luck,

lid on and up onto the balcony, at this time of the year it is ample cold enough, in fact it is colder than in the refrigerator and I don’t have space in it in any case , marinade 24 hours.

For  the braised hare:

1 bunch of Suppengrün (a piece of leek, a carrot, a piece of celeriac) diced

1 onion

50g speck

6 crushed juniper berries

10 pepper corns

2 pimento corns

2 pieces of lemon zest

300ml chicken stock (I had no game stock left)

1 tbsp. mixed dried herbs (Herbs d’ Provence)

3 table spoons of olive oil

Heat the oil in a blue heavy oven proof cast iron casserole (it doesn’t have to be, but I have a one) put in the speck, onions and lemon zest, add the diced carrots, celeriac and soften.

Take the hare out of the marinade pat dry and brown all over in the casserole.

Sprinkle with the dried herbs and pour over the marinade including the bouquet garni, add the stock. Bring to the boil,

lid on and into the preheated oven at 160°C for 4 hours. When you return from the pub, it is ready. I had this with braised chicory in a béchamel sauce, red cabbage, wild mushroom ragout and a potato cake.

All together a very nice Sunday Lunch (all be it a little late)