Here are just three of the delicious recipes you can find in Kindred. Country Life reckons they would go perfectly together for a meal. The comments with each recipe are from the authors, Maria and Eva Konecsny.
Chicken Schnitzel with Lavender Crumb
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Schnitzel was one of our most loved dinners as kids and is now constantly requested by our kids from their Oma Gabi. This version uses chicken breast instead of the more classic veal and is made more interesting and delicious by the addition of aniseed and lavender flower. Lavender, when uncooked, is potent, but it mellows and blends in really well in this schnitzel dish.
Serves 4
Ingredients:
2 large chicken breast fillets
2 pinches of aniseed
3 pinches of coriander seeds
pinch of dried lavender flowers
1¼ tsp sea salt flakes
80g (1 cup) breadcrumbs, made by blitzing stale sourdough bread in a food processor
75g (½ cup) plain flour
1 egg, whisked together with a dash of full-cream milk
extra-virgin olive oil, bacon fat or lard, for frying
salted butter, for frying
Spice shortcut: Replace the aniseed, coriander, lavender and salt with 1½ tsp Gewürzhaus French Lavender Salt
Method:
Cut each chicken fillet in half lengthways, horizontally. You should end up with four even-sized schnitzels. Pound these to a 5 mm thickness.
Using a mortar and pestle, grind the aniseed, coriander and lavender as finely as possible. Add the salt and breadcrumbs and gently mix together.
Line up three plates, and place the flour on the first, the whisked egg and milk on the second, and the breadcrumb mixture on the third.
Lightly but thoroughly coat each schnitzel in the flour on both sides. Shake off the excess. Dip each schnitzel in the egg, again coating both sides thoroughly, allowing the excess to drip off. Finally, dip each schnitzel in the breadcrumb mix, patting it on both sides to coat thoroughly.
Preheat a large heavy-based cast-iron frying pan over medium-low heat and add a generous amount of oil, fat or lard — enough to cover the base of the pan.
When the fat is hot, add a small knob of butter. Once it melts, fry the schnitzels until golden, about 2 to 3 minutes each side.
Serve with a fresh, green salad, steamed, buttery potatoes and a wedge of lemon.
Tip: Freeze uncooked schnitzels in an airtight container for two months.
South German Potato Salad
South German Potato Salad.
We grew up in the south of Germany, in a little town called Hürben, with a population of just under 1000! Here the potato salad is made with a mixture of vinegar, stock and oil, not like in the north, where they add mayonnaise, a true crime if you ask a Schwabe.
Each year, the town hosts the Hürbener Dorffest, the town festival, where our family friend Helga leads the charge in making 125 kilos of potato salad, and her husband Friedel heads up the Roll-Me-Home Brothers, the local band with a fitting name.
Serves 4
Ingredients:
1 kg firm, waxy potatoes, such as desiree, of even size
½ large white onion, very finely chopped
250ml (1 cup) chicken, beef or vegetable stock
1½ tbsp malt vinegar
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
1½ tbsp apple cider vinegar
1½ tsp fine Himalayan pink salt
½ tsp crushed celery seeds
3 tbsp sunflower oil
Method:
Leaving the skin on, wash the potatoes and place them in a large pot. Add water until it is only half covering the potatoes. This lets them cook/steam without bouncing around so much.
With the lid on, bring to a simmer and cook for 20-30 minutes. Test the potatoes with the point of a knife or skewer – they should be firm but not raw in the middle.
Drain the potatoes and set them aside to cool slightly. While still warm, peel and cut them in half, then cut them into about 5 mm thick slices.
Place the potato in a bowl and gently mix with the onion.
Heat the stock, vinegars, salt and celery seeds in a small saucepan over medium heat until warm, then pour the mixture over the still-warm potato. Set aside for 10 minutes for the potato to absorb the liquid.
Carefully mix the oil into the potato and let it infuse for at least 1 hour prior to serving.
This salad is best made the day before. Remove it from the fridge to allow it to come to room temperature before serving.
Tip: In Germany, there is a specific vinegar called Hengstenberg Altmeister Essig, which is traditionally used for this recipe. You can order it online, or some German or Polish delis stock it. We have done our best to recreate it using more conventional vinegars but, if you can source it, use it in place of the malt, white wine and apple cider vinegars.
Classic German Apple Cake
Classic German Apple Cake.
As a child, our mother spent her summers in their huge garden with an old apple orchard. In autumn, when the apples were harvested, everyone had to help, and they were made into apple sauce or apple juice.
Money was tight in the late 1950s and early 1960s and nothing went to waste. The children participated unwillingly, much preferring to use the apples to throw at each other when playing in the orchard with neighbourhood friends, making sure their parents would not witness this wasteful behaviour.
Our grandmother, Eva, whom I am named after, also made a version of this apple cake. Unfortunately, we don’t have her original recipe, but Mum says this is pretty close.
Serves 10
Ingredients:
150 g salted butter, at room temperature, plus 30 g melted butter
150 g white sugar
3 eggs
3 tsp ground cassia
¼ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp dried rose petals, crushed by rubbing between your fingertips
150g (1 cup) self-raising flour
75g (¾ cup) ground almonds
1-2 tbsp full-cream milk, if needed
4-5 small to medium apples
2-3 tsp icing sugar
To serve: ice-cream, cream or custard
Spice shortcut: Replace the cassia, cloves, nutmeg and rose petals with 4½ tsp Gewürzhaus Apple Cake Spice.
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180°C fan-forced. Grease and flour a 23cm round spring-form cake tin and tap out the excess flour.
Using electric beaters, cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl for about 5 minutes, then add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Once combined, add the spices and rose petals and beat thoroughly for a few minutes.
Sift in the flour and add the ground almonds, then beat until combined. The batter should be quite firm. However, if it is too stiff, you may need to add a few tablespoons of milk to loosen it. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared tin.
Peel the apples, cut them in half and remove the cores. With their flat-sides down, cut slits a few millimetres apart into each apple half, stopping just shy of the centre. Take care not to cut right through.
Place the apple halves, slit-side up, in a circle around the edge of the cake, with one in the middle, and gently press them 5mm into the batter. Brush the apple with some of the melted butter and bake for about 30 minutes.
Remove the cake from the oven and brush with the remaining melted butter, then bake for a further 10-15 minutes, until golden brown. Insert a wooden skewer into the centre of the cake and if it comes out clean, the cake is cooked.
Cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. When the cake is cold, shake the icing sugar over it with a sieve.
The cake is best served with ice-cream, cream or custard. It will keep for one week in an airtight container stored in a cool place.
Tip: To make this gluten-free, replace the flour with buckwheat flour and add 2-3 tsp gluten-free baking powder.
These recipes are from Kindred by Maria and Eva Konecsny, published by Plum, RRP $49.99, photography by Armelle Habib & Amy Whitfield.
