Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!
Today’s special holiday post isn’t a post, but rather a recipe for what I call “Breisgauer Pie.” Whether you need an idea for a pie as an exchange student, or you just want a delicious recipe, I hope you give my pie a try!
I also have a recipe for a small, simple holiday meal.
- Make the stuffing from scratch! We used sliced bread, bacon, herbs, onion, and oil but one could use anything. The only tip I have is to use sliced bread instead of croutons or old, hard bread. The soft bread will soak up the flavor of everything it is mixed with and be a tad chewy (as a traditional stuffing is.)
- Here in Germany one can find turkey steaks (puten schnitzel) anywhere. Just grab a couple and flatten them to get more bang for your buck.
- Put a little oil in a frying pan, and throw the cold stuffing in. The oil will keep the bread soft so it can take in the other flavors.
- Once the bread is nice and gold, go ahead and pile it on the turkey steaks.
- In order to get the turkey rolls started, quickly fry each side before putting it in the oven to roast, bake, whatever. TIP: In regards to cooking: if it smells done, it’s done; if it smells burnt, it’s burnt; if it doesn’t smell, leave it alone.
- With the stuffing piled on, roll the turkey and stick some toothpicks through to hold there form while cooking. If you still have stuffing left over, just shove it in the sides.
- To merge the US tradition with the German culture, rotkohl (sweet red sauerkraut), mashed potatoes, and red wine accompanied our turkey rolls.
- Hope I have given all those exchange students and those who might be having a small holiday feast an idea for a simple festive meal.
The Breisgauer Pie
- The main key to my pie is something called Blätterteig. It is basically a ready-made pie crust and good for everything. For those studying in Germany and Europe, I would recommend finding Blätterteig in your nearest grocery store when making your traditional American dessert.
- My filling was very spontaneous. The quickest and easiest filling to make, I found, was to buy a bag of frozen mixed berries and mixed in some amaretto, white rum, cinnamon, and lots of sugar. TIP: Use about 1/2 cup of the liquor or else the alcohol will be overpowering. I have also found, for dessert recipes in general, that Torani syrups (the usual Italian soda syrups) are a good substitute for alcohol. (Here instead of amaretto I would use the Torani Almond syrup.)
- Fill the crust. TIP: Put some oatmeal, corn flakes, or something to soak up the juices and keep the crust dry.
- Throw your second blätterteig over the top and cut it to the round form. Put a cross-cut in the middle to let the steam out and make it look like grandma’s traditional pie.
- Throw some vanilla ice cream and whipped cream on top and enjoy.
Yummm! Your recipes are creative and the food looks delicious. The post was informative and illustrated how students can incorporate the food of the country where they are studying into the celebration of an American holiday. Michele