German-Themed Food Club Night

Last night, our Foodie club celebrated German food. There were a lot of different dishes like schnitzel, sauerkraut, spaetzle, etc. Yesterday I prepared 2 dishes: Quark and Krautkrapfen. I've never made these before, but they were quite easy.

Since I have started making cottage cheese at home, I thought that making quark shouldn't be so difficult and I found an easy recipe from "peanutbutterboy.com" that I adapted for the party. Quark is a German soft, spreadable cheese that looks like a creamy ricotta, and is often eaten for breakfast on toast or incorporated into desserts and other dishes. Although the recipe is easy and requires only a few ingredients, it just takes a long time to curdle.

German Quark Cheese

Ingredients
1 quart cultured buttermilk
Skim Milk
Salt, to taste

Method
- Preheat oven to 150F
- Pour buttermilk into a dish and cover with tin foil, and place in the oven for 8-12 hours. (Note: this can be done either during the day or overnight.)
- Line a colander with cheese cloth. Remove the dish from the oven. The curds will look like silken tofu. Spoon the curds onto the cheese cloth and let it drain away the whey for 30 minutes. You can speed up this process by bringing together the corners of the cheese cloth and placing a heavy bowl on top to press the cheese.
- Put the cheese into a bowl. Add skim milk a tablespoon at a time and mix until you get a smooth consistency that is spreadable. Add salt to taste.

Note: At this point, you can add anything you want to it. I added a teaspoon of lime zest to add freshness and to bring out its tanginess.

Krautkrapfen

Ingredients
1 32oz bag or jar of sauerkraut
1 lb bacon, chopped
1 fuji apple, peeled, cored and chopped
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 Tbsp chicken bouillon
2 tsp freshly ground white pepper
1 cup water
1 package Pepperidge Farms Puff Pastry
1 egg yolk, beaten with 1-2 Tbsp water to make egg wash

Method
- Rinse the sauerkraut under cold water to desired sourness
- In a large skillet, saute the bacon until browned. Add onions and cook about 5min or until golden. Add the remaining ingredients up until the water,
and simmer 15-20 min. Remove from heat, let cool, and drain in a colander. Discard liquid.
- Thaw out puff pastry according to the box instructions.
- Preheat oven 410F
- Unfold the puff pastry sheets, and brush the egg wash on the dough. With the longer length facing you, spread a layer of the cooled sauerkraut mixture leaving about an inch at the end away from you. Slowly roll the dough like a jelly roll. As you get to the end, brush the edge with the egg wash to glue the edge to the roll. Prepare second puff pastry sheet the same way. (Note: if you prefer to do this step ahead of time, you can wrap the rolls with plastic and place them in the frige until you are ready to bake.)
- Slice each round 1 inch thick and place them in a buttered baking dish. Place them close together. Bake 45-60 min, or until pastry looks golden.