“Real Food”

Tags

apricot, apricot preserves, Austria, austrian food, breading, Burgenland, croquettes, fried, greek food, leberknödelsuppe, lunch, palatschinken, parsley potatoes, pork medallions, potato soup, winer schnitzel

I know, I know – steaks, fried chicken and burgers are real food too, but I have not had real Austrian food in more than three years (or Greek food for that matter).

So, today my mom and my husband took me to lunch in a small Austrian restaurant, in a small Austrian town somewhere in the Burgenland (one of nine Austrian provinces, but more about the Burgenland later).

I was determined I was going to eat several of the dishes I have missed! I started out with “Leberknödel Suppe” (Liver dumpling soup). The dumpling is made with beef liver, eggs, bread, parsley and other spices, and then cooked in beef broth.

That alone would have been enough for a meal; but no, I followed it up with “Wiener Schnitzel” . It is the national dish of Austria, and is prepared pretty much in every German restaurant around the world but rarely done properly. It consists of a boneless veal chop, butterflied, and then rolled in flour, whipped eggs and breadcrumbs (in that order). It is then fried in sufficient hot oil so that it “swims” until it is golden brown and the breeding is puffed. Often, it is served with French Fries but in my opinion the most classic way is with either potato salad or parsley potatoes.

My mom had potato soup with mushrooms (which also looked really, really good), and Charlie had Pork medallions with potato croquettes and vegetables in a garlic caper sauce.

And, as if all this food was not enough, I decided I had to have dessert: “Marillen Palatschinken” (crepes, filled with apricot preserves & dusted with powdered sugar…..

Waaaay too much food and more than either Charlie or I eat in a regular day. However, I do not feel bad about it (actually I do because now my stomach hurts from too much food).

I will try to walk some of this off – Charlie has his own way of dealing with it: napping!