 |
| Caraway Dumplings with spiced carrot from Strudel, Noodles & Dumplings |
I’ve followed Anja Dunk’s Instagram site for quite a while and, like many others, have been charmed by the posts of her cosy, sometimes chaotic kitchen and dining table. This is no temple to marble and stainless steel, but a true home kitchen. Jam pans bubble on the stove; sturdy shelves are a backdrop, packed to capacity with hand-made bowls and jars of essential nuts, dried fruits, pulses and grains; tiny hands reach across the table for another helping of Schmarren (baked pancake). Anja is warm and engaging on social media and this comes across in this, her book, Strudel, Noodles & Dumplings and it’s good to see that her own photographs illustrate the book.
She tells of a nomadic childhood, where the food that came out of family kitchens was the constant in daily life, in particular the “pared-back” and “do-able food” of her German Mother. And now, with her own children to care for, it’s this food with a warm sense of family that she brings to her kitchen to instil the association between food and home in them too. But don’t think this is a book about ‘food for children’ - whatever that means. The recipes are laced with flavours of caraway and cumin, tarragon and dill, peppercorns and juniper, allspice and anise. Ferments and pickles have their place too. This is food served up to an appreciative audience of children, family and friends. Each section comes with a short story or anecdote to set the scene to chapters including Simple Comforts, Food for the Soul, Anything Goes, and Something for the Weekend.
 |
| Merguez sausage with butter beans & roasted red peppers from Strudel, Noodles & Dumplings |
The book is subtitled The new taste of German cooking, making the point that, as with many other European cuisines, German food has been influenced over time by migration and trade. In parallel with Britain, German food has also had to shake off an unfair 20th century reputation for poor food caused by wartime food rationing and the introduction of new, usually American, processed foods that followed. Both countries have, thankfully, regained their culinary equilibrium. Germany has also remained true to its strong sense of food seasonality, its love of baking and myriad ways of preserving from smoking to bottling. Anja sums up home-cooked German food as “gently spiced, smoky, buttery, yet sweet and sour”, as “warm and hearty and vinegar-laced”. All of this is in the book, along with a sprinkling of inspiration from three enthusiastic little eaters.
 |
| Reibele in a herby pea broth from Strudel, Noodles & Dumplings |
So what have I cooked? An unusually good (for me) carrot harvest led me to Caraway Dumplings with spiced carrot. With such a basic main ingredient I made sure I used a good passata that became lusciously thickened by the topping of floury dumplings. A small amount of Speck, or smoked bacon in my case, and a good dose of sweet paprika added deep savour. As I’m a sucker for broths, Reibele in a herby pea broth was an obvious choice. Any recipe that calls for frozen peas and lots of herbs is going to get my attention too. But what is Reibele, you may ask? A tiny grated noodle that cooks in a minute. I made the egg-less version and can’t say I found grating the noodles easy (I suspect I didn’t knead the dough enough) but they cooked up just as the writer said they would. Such a simple recipe does rely on a good vegetable stock and not stinting on the herbs. Merguez sausage with butter beans and roasted red peppers has been on the menu several times already, which says it all. The main ingredients are further spiced up with cumin (optional but not in my case), black pepper and sweet paprika and piled on toasted bread then tempered with a herb yogurt. Only one sweet dish so far, though a couple of jars of rum-laced Not Just a Strudel Filling has saved the day several times. Used as a filling for buckwheat pancakes, a topping for Pain Perdu and simply topped with vanilla ice cream. And I still haven’t made Apple Strudel with it. But then there are four other Strudel recipes to consider, including a Spiced Plum and Walnut at some point.
 |
| My Pain Perdu with 'Not just a Strudel filling' from Strudel, Noodles & Dumplings |
It’s so obvious that the dishes in this book have been made over and over again. This is no-nonsense home cooking by someone with a great understanding of flavours and how spices work together. Every recipe I’ve tried so far has worked perfectly. Other recipes I have bookmarked include Beer Dumplings with creamy juniper mushrooms, Chestnuts with mushrooms and marjoram, Baked Buckwheat with cinnamon sugar and cream, Steamed Dumplings with plum jam and poppy seeds, Strawberry and cinnamon soup, Blueberry Buttermilk and that Schmarren, of course. And I look forward to a Four O’Clock Cocktail of Black Tea with Rum after a long walk “in the depths of winter when the air is crisp and bodies are drawn to each other in a huddle”.
 |
| Strudel, Noodles & Dumplings by Anja Dunk |
Published by 4th Estate
