Rote Grütze: An American Take on a Favorite German Dessert

One of the best things about being a tourist in Germany in the summer is eating the dessert Rote Grütze, literally translated as "Red Groats."  The best is found at Leysieffer in Osnabrück, Sylt and Berlin.  You can even buy a container to take home.  
Now this delicacy is made with red currants, and maybe some currant juice as well as raspberries, strawberries and even blackberries.  I don't know if you have a currant bush, but we do not and the little red buggers are $4.99 for a piddling small box if you can find them at all.  Sooooo. What to do? 
I have solved the problem by devising my own Americanische Rote Grütze.   This is not authentic but it's very good.
Take a cup or more of frozen cranberries, 2 cups of rhubarb cut in 1 inch pieces and cook together in a few tablespoons of hot water with a squeeze of lemon juice and maybe 1/3 cup sugar.  Cook until the berries have popped and the rhubarb is soft but still in recognizable shapes.  Add a cup of so of red cherries and a 1 1/2 cups of fresh strawberries or a mix of strawberries, red raspberries, etc.  Add sugar to taste and cook until the berries are soft.  Cool, chill and serve with whipped cream.   
This is a dessert called compote, which is high in all those good-for-us red fruits, hell, it's all red fruit except for the necessary sugar.  Don't over-sweeten.  A bit of tartness is good. 
This time of year with cherries and strawberries on sale is a good time to make Rote Grütze.  I keep cranberries frozen from year to year.  Raspberries, if  reasonable, are a tasty addition.  Antioxidants up the yingyang.  Soooo healthy.  

Rote Grütze: a summer dessert on a seasonal tablecloth- the good life

Fruit Salad

Listen, don't laugh. I know a couple who met over making fruit salad and remained married for half a century.

The lemon loaf cake was O.K. Could have been a little more moist according to my palate. My orange pound cake is better.

Fruit salad? No brainer. Kind of a sort of a no brainer.
a) fresh fruit, although a can of mandarin oranges or some sour cherries won't kill it
b) dried apricots, softened, or craisins are all right
c) no nuts, due to allergies and the fact that some people hate them in fruit salad.
d) a nice selection of fruits. I used apple, orange, banana, blueberries, grapes (halved) strawberries (halved) Lemon juice adds brightness and keeps the apple from turning brown and later the bananas, kiwi,dried apricot and Craisins, lemon juice and a little sugar. Often I pour a dash of German "Apfel Korn" into the salad. It's a light alcohol, but again, if you don't know your audience, so to speak, you may want to withhold the booze.
e) quality fruits--in the peak of ripeness
f) pineapple would have been food but it was $5.99 and the store didn't have any already peeled and cored.

Of course if no one is dieting, some home whipped cream would be a great topping, or if you are lazy the light whipped cream that comes in a can. Please eschew anything that calls itself topping. Yuck.

Especially good for "meat and potatoes" guys.

Friday is Cat Blog Day. Pass It On!

Annie enjoying petting and adulation, to which a cat is innately entitled.

Our cats are very strange and don't eat "people food." You can leave shrimp, tuna, a whole fisherman's platter anyplace and they don't even sniff it. Thisbe, the younger more sentivie cat would eat table food as a kitten, but apparently Annie taught her that this simply wasn't done.

When I was a teenager, our neighbors had a cool Siamese that I let into the house sometimes. One day, I let the cat in and left again. Ye gods! The cat ate an entire leftover roast that my mom had out for out dinner. Cat and I both in the dog house big time.

We've been eating well this week: Sauteed chicken breast with a sauce of broth, lemon juice, capers and parsley for two days, and tonight a chicken salad with celery, Granny Smith apple, a few dried apricots and some walnuts. I made a dressing sour cream mayo, curry powder, ginger and just a wee sprinkle of cayenne. A tad of Equal, just a smidgeon. $6.00 worth of chicken breasts and 3 meals. Not bad, she said. I made a simple ratatouille which we eat as a salad or (tonight) appetizer. Tomorrow we'll have it with green beans and steak. Summer's fruits and veggies are rolling in. We have nectarines to eat. Do I make a nectarine fool or a pie?

May I share my quick dessert secret? A pillbury pie crust from the dairy case--comes 2 to a box. Unroll one on a rimmed cookie sheet. Use whatever fruit you want or a combination of fruits--berries are good. Peaches and berries--I've even used frozen cranberries and rhubarb. Combos are endless. So take the fruit and toss it with sugar to taste and a little cornstarch. You might want to add a bit of lemon, cinnamon or nutmeg depending on the fruit. A few nuts can be fun. Toss this altogether and put in the center of the crust, then turn up the crust, pinching together until you have a freeform tart, partially covered with crust, but with fruit exposed in the center. Bake in a 400 degree over until the crust turns brown, 35-40 minutes. Cool and serve with whipped or ice cream. Serves 4.

This is about as fast as you can hope to put a dessert together, and it always tastes first rate. You can brush the crust with beaten egg or not. Sometimes the fruit juices leak a bit, which is why you need a rimmed cookie sheet. A word to the wise. Really yummy. Idiot simple. What more do you want?

So I've shared my cat and my shabby little dessert secrets. Remember, today is Friday, so blog your cat.

Grapeshot