KARTOFFELKLOESSE and POT ROAST – a special German traditional meal.

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Hi there,

I don’t know what the weather is like in your part of the world, gentle reader, but it is cold and windy here in New Jersey. The upside to cold weather is comfort food. Any food that is roasted, braised, or boiled becomes a welcome meal to restore warmth and cheer to me. Fortunately, my old friend Debbie sent me a recipe and a story that will fill your stomach and your heart with warmth.

Food is our common ground, a universal experience.
-James Beard

KARTOFFELKLOESSE

My (Favorite)cousin Dori lived next door to her German  grandparents, Nonny and Pa Burgermaster in Kearny NJ. When my family visited from Lake Mohawk where I grew up we would go over to Nonny and Pa’s  and she would teach us all kinds of things including  cooking . I was about was 10 or 11 when she taught us this and many years later,  long after Nonny and Pa had passed , I got this recipe from Dori . This is how Dori remembered the recipe Kartoffelkloesse  About 6 

Two large potatoes 

two pieces of bread cubed one egg 

1/2 cup of flour 

1/8 Cup corn starch

Salt and pepper

1/8 teaspoon of nutmeg butter 

cook potatoes in skin for 45 minutes 

cut the bread into cubes and sauté in butter 

cool cooked potatoes 

peel 

cut into large pieces refrigerate until cool about 30 minutes 

Then rice the potatoes in a ricer 

mix in salt and nutmeg and a half a cup of flour and cornstarch using hands mix until dough forms 

Mix in the egg 

If it is too sticky add a little more flour. Roll a red cube into the center of each dub dumpling plop them one by one into boiling water and cook for 15 minutes until they rise to the top you can do four or five at a time. Do not let them touch each other.When all of the dumplings are cooked drain and  dry them. The last step is to sauté some Panko breadcrumbs in some butter until they are toasted and then add the dumplings . Roll them around in the breadcrumbs so they get well coated . Serve . If you have roast gravy , spoon some on the dumplings . (Heaven )These are so good and I only make them when I make pot roast . But now I will be making them with your delicious pork roast . 

POT ROAST

My pot roast is from a 1967 cookbook The complete Round the World Meat Cookbook.  This one is called Pieczen Hisarska or Pot Roast Hussar style.

3 pound I round roast of beef 

4 tablespoons of butter one cup of sliced onions 1/2 cup of vodka 

2 1/2 teaspoons of salt 

3/4 of a teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper 

For the stuffing * see note at the end . 

1 and 1/2  cups of chopped onions 

1/2 cup of fresh breadcrumbs 

2 tablespoons of minced parsley 

1 tablespoon of flour 

1/2 cup of beef broth.  

Put the meat in a hot skillet and brown it on all sides. Drain melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a Dutch oven, add the meat and sliced onions. Cook until the onions brown. Add the vodka, 2 teaspoons of salt and a half 2 teaspoon of pepper. Cover and cook over a low  heat for two or more hours until tender turning a few times. Remove the meat from the pan, cut into thin slices leaving the bottom uncut.

While the meat is cooking melt  the remaining butter in a skillet, sauté the chopped onions for five minutes. Mix in the breadcrumbs parsley and remaining salt and pepper. Put some of the mixture between every second slice. Press me together into original shape. Return to the pan and sprinkle the top with flour add the broth recover and cook 30 minutes longer. Cut the meat through the bottom on the unstuffed slices. There will now be sets of two slices with stuffing between for serving. Served the pan juices separately

Now let me say here that I have used all kinds of beef for this recipe but only the eye round will slice properly when you stuff the breadcrumbs between slices . 

But if I want to forgo the stuffing part , which I usually do , use any 4 or 5 pound piece  of meat you like . So…in that case the meal becomes more like a traditional pot roast .  I add more Vodka, more beef broth canned or jarred and surprisingly a jar of red cabbage ! Now the meat is swimming in juices but the gravy is wonderful. I literally cook it in my covered  pot for  hours , as much as 8 hours ..on very low heat until it’s fork tender .  I’m kind of a crazy cook and I change recipes all the time as I did this one but it’s really good and I only make it in the winter.  This I alternately serve with potato pancakes . 

Steve’s mom introduced me to these 55 years ago . That recipe is  in my head…. shredded raw  potatoes, grated onions  egg , flour,  salt and pepper. Mix with hands . Place in pan , pat down to flatten  cook in butter about 5 mins on each side . Place in warm oven as you keep making more . 

I’m so happy to share these recipes with you because that’s what friends do and also because it brought back some wonderful memories of my family who I miss very much. 

THANK YOU DEBBIE FOR TAKING THE TIME TO SHARE YOUR STORY AND RECIPES. I HEAR SUNDAY COMING. YOUR DELICIOUS RECIPES WILL BE ON THE STOVE SIMMERING, WARMING MY HEART AND HOME WITH DELICIOUS AROMAS, WHILE I INDULGE IN A GLASS OF RED WINE.

26 responses to “KARTOFFELKLOESSE and POT ROAST – a special German traditional meal.”

  1. Time Traveler of Life – Where my Motor Home is! – Biography Creating worlds, characters, and wielding power like a madwoman, making my characters happy, sad, angry, and some of them with no redeeming qualities. I probably shouldn’t admit this, but I sometimes laugh out loud when I am writing a scene, and I have been known to cry when one of my favorites has to die. I am a left-handed Gemini, what do you expect? Reading bedtime stories to my two children until they fell asleep or until they just told me to go away, was fun. Making up wild stories for my grandchild, and creating Halloween costumes from Cowboys to a Dragon, was another favorite thing to do. I missed that so much when they were grown, that I started writing. My yearly newsletters frequently were drafted third-person by my Love Birds, Miranda our motorhome, and by Sir Fit the White Knight, our faithful Honda. Throughout the years, some of my creative talents centered around writing letters of complaint expressing my displeasure with services or products. One crucial, at least to my Son, was a note to our local school bus driver petitioning her to allow him back on the bus. He was kicked off for making an obscene gesture at his buddy. I reminded her that it was not directed at her, and that “obscenity can be in the eye of the beholder,” kids use that gesture as a greeting. He rode the bus until he graduated. I loved driving my English teacher crazy. Leaving a “continued next week” at the end of my five handwritten pages required each week. He was one of many people that suggested I “do something about my writing.” I graduated from the School of Hard Knocks at the top of my class. After 30 years, in the trenches as a Real Estate Professional, I have found that truth is stranger than fiction. My books are filled with characters I met in that profession. Their names were changed to protect the guilty. Others were from people we met traveling around the country in Miranda, our Motorhome. I am married nearly 60 years to the love of my life, Shirl, and partner-produced two exceptionally talented children, and one grandchild who is our pride and joy.
    Time Traveler of Life says:

    I love reading your stories and planning to try your recipies, unfortunately I don’t always follow through and make them. I do sometimes change them so they are easier for me to do quickly. I also try to make light food as my hubby works until 7:00 evenings and it is too late for heavy meals. Thanks for posting and hope your new year is going great.

      • Time Traveler of Life – Where my Motor Home is! – Biography Creating worlds, characters, and wielding power like a madwoman, making my characters happy, sad, angry, and some of them with no redeeming qualities. I probably shouldn’t admit this, but I sometimes laugh out loud when I am writing a scene, and I have been known to cry when one of my favorites has to die. I am a left-handed Gemini, what do you expect? Reading bedtime stories to my two children until they fell asleep or until they just told me to go away, was fun. Making up wild stories for my grandchild, and creating Halloween costumes from Cowboys to a Dragon, was another favorite thing to do. I missed that so much when they were grown, that I started writing. My yearly newsletters frequently were drafted third-person by my Love Birds, Miranda our motorhome, and by Sir Fit the White Knight, our faithful Honda. Throughout the years, some of my creative talents centered around writing letters of complaint expressing my displeasure with services or products. One crucial, at least to my Son, was a note to our local school bus driver petitioning her to allow him back on the bus. He was kicked off for making an obscene gesture at his buddy. I reminded her that it was not directed at her, and that “obscenity can be in the eye of the beholder,” kids use that gesture as a greeting. He rode the bus until he graduated. I loved driving my English teacher crazy. Leaving a “continued next week” at the end of my five handwritten pages required each week. He was one of many people that suggested I “do something about my writing.” I graduated from the School of Hard Knocks at the top of my class. After 30 years, in the trenches as a Real Estate Professional, I have found that truth is stranger than fiction. My books are filled with characters I met in that profession. Their names were changed to protect the guilty. Others were from people we met traveling around the country in Miranda, our Motorhome. I am married nearly 60 years to the love of my life, Shirl, and partner-produced two exceptionally talented children, and one grandchild who is our pride and joy.
        Time Traveler of Life says:

        He is a corporate greedy little thing! He never predicted it right. LOL

  2. Darlene – British Columbia, Canada – Writer of children's stories, short stories and travel articles. https://twitter.com/#!/supermegawoman http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=201634059868404&id=631897250&ref=notif&notif_t=like#!/pages/Darlene-Foster-Writer/362236842733
    Darlene says:

    How great to have a recipe for potato dumplings. Mom made hers a bit different (with left over mashed potatoes) but these look great. We ate mostly German food and often had potato pancakes too.

      • Darlene – British Columbia, Canada – Writer of children's stories, short stories and travel articles. https://twitter.com/#!/supermegawoman http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=201634059868404&id=631897250&ref=notif&notif_t=like#!/pages/Darlene-Foster-Writer/362236842733
        Darlene says:

        Sometimes, but we had mashed potatoes at other times too. My dad was a meat and potato kind of guy and mashed potatoes were his favourite. With three brothers, there were seldom leftovers!

  3. Dorothy's New Vintage Kitchen – I'm a writer, cook, gardener, photographer, poet, quilter, and accomplished daydreamer. I'm also a wife, mother, grandmother, sister. cousin, aunt, and friend, no particular order on any given day. I've been a writer all my life, newspaper reporter and columnist, radio news writer, and magazine contributor, and poet and short-story writer as the spirit moves. Now, I turn my attention to my cookbook, the blog, and a cooking column "Memorable Meals," which runs in our county newspaper. Besides my family, I love dogs, cats, good coffee, and my never-dwindling pile of books I intend to read. Our family ran a small Vermont Inn for 18 years, with our focus on local, organic ingredients. After many years of daily serving up of our local delicacies, cooking classes, and catering, we are now only open for special events, and the odd cooking class as the spirit moves me. We also host musicians and artists, having helped produce a musical festival and other musical events for nearly 20 years. Many incredible artists have found a place at our table. Wonderful experiences, we will treasure always. My family and friends are my practice subjects. With a family that includes nut, peanut, tree fruit, and vegetable allergies, gluten intolerance, dairy intolerance, vegetarians, vegans, heart conscious, and a couple of picky eaters, there has to be a few quick tricks in the book to keep everyone fed and happy! Personally, I do not eat red meat or most dairy (usually) for health reasons, making the occasional exception at Thanksgiving and Christmas or our anniversary if the duck is locally raised. I do eat fish and seafood, so I try to come up with alternatives and substitutions when available. I serve local organic eggs and cheeses to my family who can tolerate dairy (My husband recently had a heart attack, and I need to watch my own cholesterol so I am careful, but have been known to let a little piece of really good cheese accidentally fall on my plate!). I believe strongly that eating in a way that is good for our planet is also good for our bodies! I cook by the seasons and draw on inspiration from the strong and talented women in my family who came before me, as well as the youth in the family who look at the world with fresh eyes. Food links us all, whether sharing a meal, cooking it together, or writing about it for others to enjoy. I love taking an old recipe and giving it a modern spin, especially if I can make it a littler healthier and use foods that are kinder to the Earth and to our bodies. I believe strongly in sustainable, delicious eating of whole foods, and the wonderful flavors we have at our fingertips! And finally, I love conversing with all the talented cooks and chefs out there who dot the globe! It's a wonderful, world full of culinary pen pals, and I cherish them all! XXXOOO Dorothy
    Dorothy’s New Vintage Kitchen says:

    The potato dumplings look amazing! Such a treasure.

  4. Oh, the memories of cooking with grandmothers! This is sweet, and the pot roast sounds delicious. Never heard of cooking beef in vodka before, but I guess it makes sense for the meal. And the potato pancakes at the end sound so similar to the crispy latkes I make at Hanukkah!

  5. the Painted Apron – Life is all about creativity for me, as long as I'm creating something I am happy! I hope I will inspire your daily life and give you ideas for your own wonderful creations!
    the Painted Apron says:

    A perfect comfort meal!
    Jenna

  6. D. Wallace Peach – 30 Miles beyond the edge of civilization, Oregon – I'm an adventurer in writing, peering under rocks in my garden for secret magic. I can't stop writing. My stories want to explode from my head. They demand my attention and surge from my fingertips faster than I can put them to paper. I love what I do.
    D. Wallace Peach says:

    Now that looks like the perfect comfort food for a cold day (we had pot roast last night). Now I need to try make kartoffelkloesse (that’s a mouthful – lol). Thanks for the recipe, Bernadette.

  7. Retirement Reflections – Vancouver Island, BC – Prior to retirement, I lived and worked in Beijing China for fourteen years (Middle School Principal/Deputy Director at The Western Academy of Beijing). Leaving international life behind, my husband and I retired to Vancouver Island in June 2015. To document both this transition and our new adventures, ‘Retirement Reflections’ was born. I hope that you enjoy reading these reflections, and will be willing to share your own.
    Retirement Reflections says:

    Hi, Bernadette – Thank you for introducing me to kartoffelkloese. It look’s delicious. Now I just need to learn how to say it! 😀

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