An impromptu Wienerschnitzel, rotkraut (or blaukraut?), and käsespätzle dinner

Since Peter graduated from Washington State University a few months ago, he’s been living at home and looking for a career job in his field (Environmental Science), but on days like today I wonder whether maybe he has a calling as a chef.

For no real reason, just because, and simply because it’s Friday and the sun was shining (or select a reason of your choice),  Peter suggested that we try our hand at making Wienerschnitzel, which he loved when he went to Germany earlier this year. 

So we made – and ate, appreciatively – this:

Lecker! (That’s delicious in German.)

First we started the rotkraut, which is what my Bavarian mother always called it, but I’ve been informed of late that it’s more correctly called blaukraut. 

Fine. 

First we started the purplekraut…

This has to cook for quite a while, and all it does once you’ve thrown it together is cook, so it’s good to get it on the stove.  I cut up the colored kraut and placed it in a pot, along with sliced apples, sautéed onions (leaving some for the käsespätzle), a few tablespoons of brown sugar, a splash of red wine vinegar, some fresh lemon juice, a few bay leaves, and some whole cloves (which I sealed into a little tea thingamabopper).

(You know by now that I rarely actual post recipes, right?)

Then I covered the whole mess, put it on a fairly low heat and pretty much ignored it, causing it great angst (and full cooperation).

In the meantime, Peter dealt with the veal.  Yes, veal. 

I know, I know – you thought I’d been reformed when I wrote this post just a week ago.  And you’re thinking I’m kinda hypocritical to buy (and eat!) veal of all things – and you’re absolutely correct. Please do not remind me about how the poor, adorable baby cow spends his whole life in a tiny..

Sigh.

(Does the fact that last time I ate veal was with my mom – rest her soul -- in Salzburg in 2001 make any difference?)

Anyway, Peter and his hypocrite of a mom prepared the… um -- meat.

and then put it aside while we…

…got the käsespätzle going.  Four cups of flours, five eggs, and just enough very cold water…

…to make a thick batter that we beat the living daylights out of

We prepared our spätzle maker (a wonderful gift from Laura, our beloved German exchange student) and waited for the pot of water to boil.

OK, now this is the fun part!  I plopped big ol’ spoonsful of batter onto the spätzle maker…

and Peter did the hard part.  (I can say it’s fun because Peter did the hard part!)

After the spätzle was cooked, we layered it with grated Gruyere cheese…

and the rest of the sautéed onions.

Oh, and some… um… melted butter.

The we tossed it in the 350 degree oven and forgot about it for 20 minutes (causing no anguish at all because anything with this amount of calories knows its badass).

Then we turned our attention back to the schnitzel.  To create the delicious crust, we needed some flour, some egss, and some bread crumbs, each in a separate flat-bottomed dish.  I can’t show you the process because it took both of us to do this and my hands were covered with goop, so there was no way I could hold a camera. 

Basically, we just dried each piece of meat, salt and peppered it, covered it with flour (and then tapped it around to get rid of extra flour), then dipped it in egg, and finally covered it with bread crumbs.

Then we fried it on pretty high heat, turning each piece very carefully only once.

By the time the meat was done, so was the käsespätzle, warm and delicious, from the oven.

And so was the purplekraut which I gave in to and stirred a few times while it was on the stove.

Then we woke up Tom who was fast asleep on the couch. (It’s Friday, so we’ll allow it… as long as he helps clean up… which he did!)

And THIS is what tonight’s completely impromptu dinner looked like. 

If you think it looks good, you oughtta taste it!  And there are even leftovers, should any other kids want to come home this weekend! Hint-hint…