Abendbrot

Tuesday 27 September

After a hefty lunch of Floyd's spit-roasted chicken, we thought we'd have a light meal in the evening.  After all, the Germans have just cold cuts and bread (Abendbrot) - and we've seen our German-department colleagues here lining up (and chatting in German) at Krause's for all the right ingredients, even to the bread made with springwater.  

We had something even better: Holt's rosemary focaccia, to go with Krause's own manchego cheese, salami, and Schad's ham, and Barbara's caponata.  Oh, and the usual olives, cornichons, and a quick slaw adapted from Joel's daikon pickle recipe that we had prepped for last Monday but not had room for on the table.  Here's how that goes:

Daikon, Carrot, and Apple Slaw

1 1/2 cup daikon, benrinered or sliced into juliennes/matchsticks

1/2 cup matchstick carrots, ditto

1/2  cup rice vinegar

a scant 1/2  cup sugar (be sparing)

2 1/2  teaspoon  salt (you need the extra salt to cut the sweetness of the carrots)

Place the carrot and daikon matchsticks in a jar. In another bowl stir together vinegar, sugar, and salt until sugar is dissolved. Pour in the jar, to cover.  Cover and refrigerate at least 8 hours or overnight.

So far, it's what they put on or alongside Vietnamese sandwiches, banh mi.  Should be good on steak or barbeque sandwiches too.

To make the final slaw, slice up two granny smith or honeycrisp apples - they should be larger matchsticks, not so small that they disappear next to the daikon - and toss them with all the jar of pickled vegetables.  Make sure that the apple slices get mixed in quickly with the vinegar from the vegetables, so they don't brown on exposure to air.  

Okay, our English-speaking Abendbrot sounds like a lot of food.  But it was actually just snacks of everything, and what we didn't finish went back into the fridge.