My parents made one of our favorites, sauerbraten and bread dumplings, which I blogged about back in April. It's still so good and still one of my favorite meals.
For starters, I made obatzta, a "traditional Oktoberfest snack," per a Journal Sentinel article from September. I got the recipe from the food section--here's the recipe. It's made with Camembert cheese, a French cheese, which kind of threw me (I spent a summer in France long ago, and bought many wheels of delicious and inexpensive Camembert and ate it with wonderful French bread. Yum!). But the dish was really tasty and good with huge sourdough pretzels and pretzel rolls.
Along with the sauerbraten and dumplings, my parents served red cabbage from a jar (which is growing on me, although I probably wouldn't seek it out on my own) and a delicious spinach dish with artichoke and cheese. Here is the recipe (the picture shows the recipe doubled), courtesy of my mom and a cookbook from Wauwatosa's First Congregational Church:
Spinach and artichokes
1 can artichoke hearts (cut in half if large)
1 stick butter
2 boxes frozen spinach
8 oz. cream cheese
Parmesan cheese to taste
She also added:
about 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
a few shakes of garlic powder
Put artichokes in bottom of buttered 1 1/2-quart casserole dish. Cook spinach per box instructions and drain until almost dry. In a bowl, mash cream cheese and butter; add spinach, mozzarella and garlic powder. Mix well and pour over artichokes. Top with Parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Makes six servings.
For dessert, my uncle's partner, Roger, made my dad's favorite--and appropriate for this meal--dessert: German chocolate cake. It was wonderful, but man, was I full after all of that!
oh. my. god. i desperately wish i had been there! esp. for that cheese and pretzels!
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