It's all in the game: Sunday and A visit to Meloh spargel farm and Schloß Möhler

When I got up this morning, at about 06:00, the weather didn't seem at all what we had been promised, so I put a Keith Floyd DVD in the player and settled down to watch a couple of hours of one of my kitchen favourites, nay cookery heroes! It was the Spanish, come Medi one. I had got up to the Morocco one when Linda decides to join me. So we watched in unison. Fantastic, I liked his take on Egypt, when he didn't rate a couple of restaurants, hotels and the floating hotel down the Nile. But I did like the mad Prof from the valley of the golden mummies.

That done I started on breakfast,

I decided to do a fried breakfast, as I had some small spicy Nuremburg sausages, a few large mushrooms, a few rashers of bacon, tomatoes. I made some herby scrambled eggs to go along with it (I had also popped out to get some fresh rolls from the bakers).

We had finished breakfast, washing up done and finished watching KF. Linda had made the conscious (or otherwise) decision to be a couch potato. So I went out to get asparagus and new potatoes from my local farm shop, this is within easy strolling distance, but I took the car.

Spargel Hof Meloh

It was smashing day, the sun had just burnt the morning cloud away, I pulled in and got the spuds and asparagus, wonderful and fresh having just been picked that morning. In fact as I had drove through the lanes to the Hof, I drive along the edge of a couple of the fields and the seasonal workers where hard at work. They now have a trolley affair that covers the drill they lie on their stomachs and the contraption lifts the foil over their heads setting it down again when they have dug the asparagus below, quite ingenious and saves a lot of time and effort.

As it was still quite early and as I was loathed to spoil the couch potatoes slumbering, I decided to take a trip through the fields and bye ways of the locality. I eventually ended up at a little village called Möhler, this village consists of a couple of farm stead’s, a bakers a closed hostelry, a chapel and a few houses, not a lot I hear you say? but it is also the home of a schloß. I have passed this many, many times, but it is set a little way back from the road, so have never ventured through its gates. This morning, that was to change.

I parked the car and walked towards the schloß, it is set in it's own barrock style grounds, it was fully restored in about 1980 and is now in the hands of various firms, who use it as offices and conference rooms.

The Schloß Möhler between Rheda & Herzebrock

A little bit of History of the Schloß

The present Schloß was built in the Barrock style of a water palace between 1710-15 by Karl Aemilius Freiherr von Kettler, but it fell into disuse and the 2 side wings had to be demolished due to their dilapidated state. It was built on the site of a previous Renaissance residence that belonged to one of the leasers of the manor (landgut) that had been built between 1549-64 this was Lubbert de Wendt, but this building seemed to have become untenable by the end of the 1700s and by inheritance passed onto Freiherr von Kettler (these where one of the old Teutonic Baltic East Prussian families that also had a lot of land in East Westphalia).

The Hof Musicians

A canadian strolling in the park

a canadian swimmer passing one of the islands

one of the lakes islands

The Schloß moat

I strolled through the park and along the water features and moats, the Canada geese have made it their home and breed on the Islands of te lakes and ponds. The trees and plants are in wonderful bloom and the fresh green of the trees and shrubs made it a perfect Sunday morning. I caught a few pied wagtails, chaffinches and blackbirds hopping about the grounds and fluttering into the apple blossom.

I came out and just as the Chapel bell of St Lugerius struck 12 noon (the chapel had been built from the rubble of the demolished schloß wings).

I meandered my way back home to prepare Sunday lunch, passing through the killing fields (later in the year), this was to be Pork Schnitzel in the Vienna style), New Potatoes and fresh Asparagus with a sauce Hollandaise.

I had bought 4 nice pieces of pork schnitzel cut from the rear leg (as schnitzel meat should always be). I did not hammer it flat and as thin as possible, while this is the true way to make a schnitzel, I like mine somewhat thicker, I find that by hammering them thin, they lose flavour

I salted and peppered them and squeezed 1/2 a lemon over both sides and set to rest.

I next laid three plates out:

Plate No.1: mixture flour, garlic powder, dried oregano, plenty of pepper

Plate No.2: 1 egg,lightly beaten with a good pinch of salt and pepper (the egg turned into 2 as I ran out on my last schnitzel

Plate No.3: Panier mehl (toasted bread ground to a course flour)

The raw schnitzel

Walzing in the herb flavoured flour

Turning in the egg

The crumbing

I then peeled the potatoes and asparagus, put them on to boil, and heated up my cast iron skillet. I added a good 2 mm of neutral oil into the base and then processed the schnitzel, dusted both sides in the herb flour, then into the egg, then into the bread crumbs, then back into the egg and a final time into the bread. when all are evenly coated, into the skillet, added a few knobs of butter, this should not be too hot as you want them to cook through but not burn the outer crust, that will form around the meat.

The finished floured, egged and breaded schnitzel

adding butter to the oil

I done them 2 at a time and as the first 2 where finished I put them into a warm oven to keep warm.

Now the cheats part, I didn't make my own Hollandaise sauce, shame, shame, I bought a tetro-pak and put it into a nice white jug, covered with a microwave foil and pinged it for 1 minute. It did taste rather nice, but next time I shall make my own.

The Spuds and Asparagus where now finished, spuds into a serving dish with a lid, chopped some fresh parsley (from my balcony) and added a couple of knobs of butter. Asparagus out of the pan onto a serving tray with the schnitzel a few lemon wedges and there it was Sunday lunch.