When my siblings and I were children, we used to play outside a lot (those were the days), even in winter. Or rather: especially in winter. We had a (small but great) hill in our back garden that used to be frequented by all the children in the neighbourhood as a sledge hill. When, after a long day of bobsleighing, building snowmen and doing snowball fights, we came back into the house, cold and wet with snow, my mum sometimes had made an authentic Bavarian apple strudel (what else?) to warm us up and get us back our strength. It was heaven! Even today, when I eat apple strudel, I remember those days and sometimes I still can smell the snow.
However, apple strudel is not only for winter but it’s a year-round sweet dish or dessert that’s best served with vanilla sauce. Our Bavarian strudel has a slightly thicker dough and is crispier than its Austrian brother which requires pulling the strudel dough very thinly. If you are new to making strudel dough or a bit intimidated by the pulling process, read this article where I’ve described step-by-step how to do it.
But no matter which strudel you prefer, just make sure you bake plenty of it. There won’t be any leftovers. 😉
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Sieve the flour into a bowl, add the other ingredients and knead it all into a smooth dough. Brush the dough with oil, put it back in the bowl, cover that with cling film and let it rest for at least 30 minutes (the longer, the more elastic the dough gets).
If you use fresh apples, peel and core them and cut them into thin slices. Put them in a bowl and mix them with lemon juice to prevent them from browning. If you use dry-canned apples, just put them into the bowl.
Roast the nuts in a pan without fat until they are lightly brown. Immediately get them out of the pan and either grind them finely in a kitchen mixer or put them as they are (as chops or flakes) to the apples.
Add the raisins (if you like), sugar and cinnamon and mix it all well.
Dust a kitchen towel with some flour and roll out the strudel dough on it with a rolling pin. Now pull the dough with your hands to the desired size.
Spread the filling evenly across the whole dough but leave out about 2 cm (1 inch) from the edges.
Fold the shorter edges in and roll the strudel with the help of the kitchen towel. Put the strudel either on a baking tray or in a roasting pan that is either covered with a baking tray or greased with butter, lard or tallow.
Brush the strudel with butter and egg yolk and bake it in the preheated oven for 45 minutes at 180 °C (350 °F) (no fan-oven).
Vanilla sauce
Ingredients:
1/2 l milk
1/2 vanilla pod
80 g sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 eggs
Instructions:
Separate the eggs and mix the egg yolks with sugar, corn starch and a bit of the milk to a homogenous mass.
Cut the vanilla pod lengthwise in half, scrape off the seeds and put the seeds and the pod in a pot. Add the milk and put it to the boil.
When the milk wells up, add the egg yolk mixture.
Stir it all well until the sauce thickens. Put the pot off of the plate.
While the sauce cools down, beat the egg whites and fold them into the (still hot) sauce.
Let it cool and stir once more before serving.
Cut this Authentic Bavarian apple strudel into slices and serve them with a huge dollop of vanilla sauce.
Variations
Finely grind the nuts or almonds and add them with 200 g cream cheese to the filling.
Bake the strudel in a deep roasting pan. Bring 120 ml milk, 25 g butter and 20 g sugar to the boil and add the mixture after 20 – 25 minutes of the baking time to the strudel. Let it bake until the strudel has soaked up all the milk (total baking time about 40 – 45 minutes).
If you don’t want to make vanilla sauce, you can serve the strudel with vanilla ice cream as well.
Authentic Bavarian Apple Strudel
Authentic Bavarian apple strudel is not only a main dish for autumn and winter but a year-round dessert that's best served with vanilla sauce.
Sieve the flour into a bowl, add the other ingredients and knead it all into a smooth dough. Brush the dough with oil, put it back in the bowl, cover that with cling film and let it rest for at least 30 minutes (the longer, the more elastic the dough gets).
If you use fresh apples, peel and core them and cut them into thin slices. Put them in a bowl and mix them with lemon juice to prevent them from browning. If you use dry-canned apples, just put them into the bowl.
Roast the nuts in a pan without fat until they are lightly brown. Immediately get them out of the pan and either grind them finely in a kitchen mixer or put them as they are (as chops or flakes) to the apples.
Add the raisins (if you like), sugar and cinnamon and mix it all well.
Dust a kitchen towel with some flour and roll out the strudel dough on it with a rolling pin. Now pull the dough with your hands to the desired size.
Spread the filling evenly across the whole dough but leave out about 2 cm (1 inch) from the edges.
Fold the shorter edges in and roll the strudel with the help of the kitchen towel. Put the strudel either on a baking tray or in a roasting pan that is either covered with a baking tray or greased with butter, lard or tallow.
Brush the strudel with butter and egg yolk and bake it in the preheated oven for 45 minutes at 180 °C (350 °F) (no fan-oven).
Vanilla sauce
While the strudel is baking, prepare the vanilla sauce:
Separate the eggs and mix the egg yolks with sugar, corn starch and a bit of the milk to a homogenous mass.
Cut the vanilla pod lengthwise in half, scrape off the seeds and put the seeds and the pod in a pot. Add the milk and put it to the boil.
When the milk wells up, add the egg yolk mixture.
Stir it all well until the sauce thickens. Put the pot off of the plate.
While the sauce cools down,beat the egg whites and fold them into the (still hot) sauce.
Let it cool and stir once more before serving.
When the apple strudel is baked, dust it with icing sugar, cut it into slices and serve it with a huge dollop of vanilla sauce.
Notes
Variations:
Finely grind the nuts or almonds and add them with 200 g cream cheese to the filling.
Bake the strudel in a deep roasting pan. Bring 120 ml milk, 25 g butter and 20 g sugar to the boil and add the mixture after 20 - 25 minutes of the baking time to the strudel. Let it bake until the strudel has soaked up all the milk (total baking time about 40 - 45 minutes).
If you don't want to make vanilla sauce, you can serve the strudel with vanilla ice cream as well.
Apple strudel is one of my favourite sweet dishes and although I’ve made lots of them myself and have eaten even more in restaurants and cafés, my mum’s apple strudel is still the best I’ve ever tasted. She always made two baking trays of strudel for our large family, plus two generous cans of vanilla sauce. What shall I say? There never were any leftovers! It tasted too good to leave a single crumb on the plate (especially for my brothers who always ate like there was no tomorrow).
When I tried to make my first strudel, it was, well, not a disaster but not a pretty sight either. The dough was too thick in some parts and so thin in others that it tore and had holes in it. It tasted good, however, and that kept me going. Since then I’ve gathered a lot of experience in making strudel dough and pulling it without tearing – although the occasional hole may form.
If you’ve ever wanted to make an apple strudel by yourself but have shrunk back from pulling the strudel dough, here’s your chance to learn how to do it. Some basic ingredients and a few knacks to observe are all you need for a delicious strudel dough for all kinds of fillings!
Strudel basics
What makes a strudel into a really good strudel?
A good strudel has a beautiful colour. It is usually golden yellow, but it can also be almost black, for example, when the dough is coloured with cocoa or sepia.
The outer layers should be crispy and the strudel should look good when cut into pieces.
Nevertheless, the most important thing about a strudel is the filling which may be sweet or savoury.
What kinds of strudel doughs are there and what do you use them for?
The classic strudel dough is a pulled dough which refers to the fact that you have to pull out the dough very thinly before you spread the filling on it. Pulled strudel dough is typically used for apple or vegetable strudel.
Other strudel doughs include for example puff pastry, shortcrust, yeast dough, curd cheese dough and even pancake dough.
In this post, we’re gonna learn to make a classic Bavarian and an Austrian pulled strudel dough.
Basic knowledge about pulled strudel dough
Most beginners are not afraid of the simple kneading of the dough but the “pulling” part. When pulled properly, the dough should be very thin (some say you should be able to read a newspaper through it) and it shouldn’t tear.
How do we manage that?
By mixing flour with water. The flour proteins (gluten) build a network with the water and form a rubber-like, elastic mass. This network enables us to pull the dough very thinly without tearing it. The longer the dough can rest, the better its capacity to be pulled. The dough should rest for at least half an hour, but it’s better to let it rest for 1 – 2 hours or even overnight in the fridge.
If you want to use the dough now, it still needs to rest for about 30 minutes but my mum always used to cover it with a hot metal bowl: she poured hot water into a metal bowl that was slightly smaller than the dough bowl opening, drained off the water and dried the bowl. Then she put the bowl upside down over the dough.
Ingredients like oil, vinegar and egg also enhance the dough’s elasticity.
It’s also important to knead the dough thoroughly as kneading intensifies the protein-water-reaction. When you work the dough for some time you’ll realize that it starts to feel elastic, smooth, even and not in the least sticky.
What flour should you use?
As you heard before, the proteins (= gluten) in the flour are important. The higher the protein content, the more elastic the dough.
Worldwide there are different flour types. What we in Germany know as “Type 550” (wheat flour) is the “all-purpose” flour in English-speaking countries. Flours of a higher type like bread flour or high-gluten flour are also suitable. The same goes for spelt flour.
No matter what flour you use, however, it’s important to observe the water-flour ratio. After kneading the dough should be smooth, elastic and a little bit moist but not sticky.
Storage
Strudel dough can be kept in the fridge for about 2 days. It may change its colour to a light grey but that’s quite normal and will lighten when kneaded. Always let the dough reach room temperature before processing it further.
You can even freeze raw strudel dough and let it thaw overnight before processing it.
If you want to freeze a whole (or parts of a) strudel, put the (raw or baked) strudel onto a tray with baking paper and put it into the freezer until it’s completely frozen. Afterwards, put it into a container or freezer bag.
How to fill a strudel
There are two different methods to fill a strudel.
1) Put the filling on the first third of the dough
With this method, it’s important to have a thin strudel dough as you have several layers of it on the outside when it’s baked. If the dough were too thick, the outer layers would be hard and you couldn’t cut them well.
Always leave out the edges which will be folded inwards before rolling the strudel.
This method is recommended.
when you have a relatively moist and hardly compact filling
when the filling contains a good amount of eggs that will rise during baking
when you want to get more crispy strudel dough instead of only one layer
when you want to make sure that the strudel dough won’t tear
when you want to make an elegant strudel that can also be presented standing
when you want to use store-bought dough like filo, yufka or strudel dough. Brush each layer with melted butter before adding another dough leaf (not more than 4 – 6 leaves)
2) Put the filling on the whole dough
For this method, you can use thin and (even better) thicker doughs which stay more compact during baking and don’t tear as easily as thin doughs. If your filling contains eggs or beaten egg whites, the risk of tearing is higher during baking as the filling expands. Just make sure to roll the strudel not too tightly.
Sieve the flour into a bowl, add the other ingredients and knead it all into a smooth dough.
Brush the dough with oil, put it back into the bowl, cover the bowl with cling film and let the dough rest for at least 30 minutes, the longer the better. If you want to use it right away, cover it with a hotly rinsed and dried metal bowl for 30 minutes.
This dough is traditionally pulled very thinly.
Strudel dough – step-by-step instructions
1. Put the flour, egg/vinegar, salt and oil into a bowl and add the lukewarm water
2. Mix the ingredients thoroughly and knead the dough…
3…. until it’s smooth. Form the dough into a ball, brush it with oil, put it back in the bowl that you cover with cling film. Let it rest for at least 30 minutes.
4. Dust a kitchen towel with flour and roll out the dough with a rolling pin.
5. Start pulling the dough carefully at the edges with your fingers.
6. Pull the dough with the back of your hand while holding it with the other hand.
7. Pull the dough thinly into a rectangle. You should see slightly through it.
8. Either spread the filling on one-third of the dough…
9. … or across the whole dough. Leave out the edges.
10. No matter how you placed the filling, fold in the edges.
11. Gently roll the strudel with the help of the towel.
12. Prick the strudel with a pin so that moisture can evaporate during baking.
13. Bake the strudel at 180 °C (350 °F) for 35 – 45 minutes and let it cool down a bit before serving.
Bavarian Strudel Dough
This authentic Bavarian strudel dough recipe creates a delicate, paper-thin pastry that's both elastic and tender. When stretched correctly, this dough becomes nearly transparent—the hallmark of traditional strudel. Mastering this technique opens the door to countless sweet and savory fillings, from classic apple to savory meat variations.
Put the flour, egg/vinegar, salt and oil into a bowl and add the lukewarm water.
Mix the ingredients thoroughly and knead the dough until it's smooth.
Form the dough into a ball, brush it with oil and cover it with cling film. Let it rest for at least 30 minutes.
Dust a kitchen towel with flour and roll out the dough with a rolling pin.
Start pulling the dough carefully at the edges with your fingers.
Pull the dough with the back of your hand while holding it with the other hand.
Pull the dough thinly into a rectangle. You should see slightly through it.
Either spread the filling on one-third of the dough or across the whole dough. Leave the edges out.
No matter how you placed the filling, fold in the edges.
Gently roll the strudel with the help of the towel.
Prick the strudel with a pin so that moisture can evaporate during baking.
Bake the strudel at 180 °C (350 °F) for 35 - 45 minutes and let it cool down a bit before serving.
Tips and tricks for a perfect strudel
Dust the kitchen towel with flour before you roll the dough out with a rolling pin. Remove rings, bracelets, watches etc., they only cause holes. Always pull with the whole (back of the) hand and work slowly and relaxed.
Before rolling, fold in the short edges. That way no filling can spill.
Make sure that the seams of your strudel are tightly closed so that no filling gets out during baking.
If your filling contains eggs, it’ll rise during baking and will need more room. Don’t roll the strudel too tightly.
Prick the strudel with a pin before baking so that moisture can evaporate and the dough won’t tear.
If you brush the strudel with egg yolk before baking, it gets a beautiful colour and becomes crispy.
Brushing with olive oil or butter also makes the strudel crispy.
If the dough has become too hard after baking, cover the strudel with a cloth or brush it lightly with salt or sugar water and let it cool. It becomes softer.
Troubleshooting
The strudel dough is too moist.
The right ratio between flour and water is essential for a strudel dough which should be smooth and elastic, slightly moist but not sticky. If the dough is too moist, knead in some flour, a little at a time.
The strudel dough is too dry.
If the dough tears when kneaded, it usually is too dry. Wet your hands repeatedly when kneading and thus moisten up the dough.
What to do when strudel dough tears
You did everything right but your dough has torn nevertheless? The flour may be the reason. Flour is a natural product and the protein (gluten) content can vary.
However, it’s no drama if your dough has torn. That has happened (and still does) to everyone who has ever done a strudel. There are, however, a few things you can do:
1) Most tears and holes aren’t large. Just press the dough together with your fingers and close the hole.
2) Depending on where the holes have formed, you may not see them when the strudel has been rolled up. “Mending” won’t be necessary then.
3) If there are really many holes (think Swiss cheese) you could put the dough together, knead it through and try to pull it out again. Or you cut off parts of the edges and stick them onto the holes. You could even cut off dough strips and decorate the wrapped-up strudel creatively. Remember, the most important part of the strudel is the filling!
Making strudel dough is very easy and pulling it thinly without tearing is also not rocket science. If you’re a newbie to strudel making, I suggest starting with the Bavarian strudel dough as it needn’t be pulled out too thin and is more forgiving. Make sure that you observe each step and you’ll be on your way to becoming a strudel master before you can say “apple strudel”!
Sometimes, it has to be quick! Whether you don’t have the time or energy to cook or simply don’t want to spend more than five minutes in the kitchen, this quick and easy beetroot curd recipe will make a wonderful spread on bread or a dip for boiled potatoes. If you have pickled beetroots in your pantry, it’ll be done even faster.
Beetroot curd
Ingredients
150 – 200g pre-cooked or pickled beetroots 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice 2 tbsp sour cream 1/2 apple 3 young herring filets 1 small onion 1/2 bunch of dill 100 g curd salt, pepper
Instructions
1. If you use precooked beetroots, chop them into squares. Mix half of them with the lemon juice and sour cream and blend them with a hand blender. If you use pickled beetroots, strain them through a colander. Mix half of them with the sour cream and blend them (leave off the lemon juice as they are already a bit sour due to the vinegar we used for pickling).
2. Cut the apple into quarters and remove its core. Chop it into small cubes and mix with the remaining beetroots and the blended mass.
3. Cut off the tails of the herring filets. Dab the filets dry and also chop them into small cubes. Peel the onion and finely dice it. Wash and dry the dill and chop its leaves.
4. Mix the curd with the beetroots and the onion to a homogenous mass. Fold in the herring and dill and season it all with salt and pepper.
You can make this spread in advance and keep it in the fridge where it can be stored for up to two days.
Beetroot curd
This quick and easy beetroot curd recipe will make a wonderful spread on bread or a dip for boiled potatoes. If you have pickled beetroots in your pantry, it'll be done even faster.
If you use precooked beetroots, chop them into squares. Mix half of them with the lemon juice and sour cream and blend them with a hand blender. If you use pickled beetroots, strain them through a colander. Mix half of them with the sour cream and blend them (leave off the lemon juice as they are already a bit sour due to the vinegar we used for pickling).
Cut the apple into quarters and remove its core. Chop it into small cubes and mix with the remaining beetroots and the blended mass.
Cut off the tails of the herring filets. Dab the filets dry and also chop them into small cubes. Peel the onion and finely dice it. Wash and dry the dill and chop its leaves.
Mix the curd with the beetroots and the onion to a homogenous mass. Fold in the herring and dill and season it all with salt and pepper.
You can make this spread in advance and keep it in the fridge where it can be stored for up to two days.
I harvested the first carrots and they smell and taste so good that usually I eat the first bunch of them raw. I love their sweet and earthy flavour, it’s delicious! However, it would be a pity to just eat them all up like that and not use them in some more elaborate recipes. One of my favourites with carrots is this easy recipe for carrot pizza.
How to make carrot pizza
Make a yeast pizza dough, put sour cream on it and coat it lavishly with carrots, herbs, onions and garlic. Top the pizza with cheese and bake it in the oven until it’s crisp and the cheese has melted. And voilà: a hearty and comforting dinner is ready to be served!
Even if you consider carrots bland, give this delicious meal a chance. The carrots taste even sweeter when cooked and the combination with sour cream, herbs, and salt makes this pizza a great dish for summer. It’s so tasty, I’m sure it’ll become your new favourite food.
Although I like it as a vegetarian dish, you could also put some bacon on it to add a smokey flavour. Either way, you’ll sure love this carrot pizza!
Recipe for Carrot Pizza
Ingredients (4 servings):
For the yeast dough
300 g flour 25 g fresh yeast or 3 g dried yeast 1 tsp salt 150 ml lukewarm water 2 tbsp olive oil
For the topping
450 g carrots 2 onions 1 clove of garlic 2 tbsp fresh thyme or 2 tsp dried thyme 200 g sour cream 4 tbsp olive oil salt pepper grated cheese (parmesan, mozzarella or emmentaler)
Instructions
1) Dissolve the yeast in the water and mix it with the flour, salt, and oil until it forms a smooth dough. Cover it and allow it to rise for 30 minutes.
2) In the meantime, clean the carrots, peel them, and cut them into thin slices. Peel the onions and cut them into slices, as well. Peel the garlic and dice it. Put some thyme aside for a garnish and chop the rest.
3) Mix garlic, carrots, onions, and chopped thyme with 2 tbsp oil and season it with salt and pepper.
4) Heat the oven to 250 degrees (fan: 230 degrees).
5) Roll out the dough and coat it with sour cream. Distribute the carrot mix evenly on the pizza and sprinkle the grated cheese on top. Bake it in the preheated oven for approx. 20 minutes. Garnish with the thyme and freshly ground pepper.
Carrot pizza
This carrot pizza makes for a hearty and comforting dinner.Even if you consider carrots bland, give this delicious meal a chance. The carrots taste even sweeter when cooked and the combination with sour cream, herbs, and salt makes this pizza a great dish for summer. It's so tasty, I'm sure it'll become your new favourite food.Although I like it as a vegetarian dish, you could also put some bacon on it to add a smokey flavour. Either way, you'll sure love this carrot pizza!
Dissolve the yeast in the water and mix it with the flour, salt, and oil until it forms a smooth dough. Cover it and allow it to rise for 30 minutes.
In the meantime, clean the carrots, peel them, and cut them into thin slices. Peel the onions and cut them into slices, as well. Peel the garlic and dice it. Put some thyme aside for a garnish and chop the rest.
Mix garlic, carrots, onions, and chopped thyme with 2 tbsp oil and season it with salt and pepper.
Heat the oven to 250°C / 480°F (fan: 230°C / 445°F).
Roll out the dough and coat it with sour cream. Distribute the carrot mix evenly on the pizza and sprinkle the grated cheese on top. Bake it in the preheated oven for approx. 20 minutes. Garnish with the thyme and freshly ground pepper.
Aficionados of pasta and fresh vegetables appreciate the fresh and aromatic flavour of pesto. If you have fresh herbs at hand you can make some delicious herb pesto with simple means and relatively few ingredients. The big advantage compared to the store-bought version is that you can decide what herbs to put in and adjust the flavour to your liking. Below I’ll show you three great recipes for different herbal pesto that you can make in almost no time.
Tips for making pesto
Making herbal pesto is a fast and easy way to process fresh herbs.
Necessary devices
Pesto recipes always recommend using pestle and mortar. The reason behind this is not to make your arms go lame during the process of shredding and mixing the ingredients but to keep the herbs’ essential oils from evaporating. Electric devices like kitchen blenders or mixers can destroy valuable aroma substances of the herbs. Some essential oils evaporate at 40 °C already and the mentioned devices can reach those temperatures in a relatively short time. Thus, using a pestle and mortar is the first choice for making pesto.
However! If you chop the ingredients into very small pieces, use the pulsing function of your hand blender and pause the device whenever it gets warm, you’ll also get a formidable pesto. The choice of device is up to you.
What you should do in any case is wash the herbs and dry them thoroughly, then chop them finely with a knife before putting them either into the mortar or bowl for further processing.
Basic pesto ingredients
For an aromatic pesto, you always need two main ingredients: oil- or fat-containing nuts or seeds and an appropriate plant oil. One of the most famous recipes for a classic pesto, the Pesto alla Genovese, uses pine nuts and high-quality cold-pressed olive oil.
You can experiment like a crazy scientist with the nuts and seeds. Try out walnuts, for instance, or pistachios, hazelnuts, almonds, sunflower or pumpkin seeds, cashew nuts or – as in the original – pine nuts. Apart from olive oil, you can use sunflower oil, pumpkin seed oil or walnut oil. There is (almost) no limit to the imagination!
A further important ingredient is well-matured aromatic hard cheese – at least for all non-vegans. You can either use pecorino cheese which is mostly made of sheep milk or a good parmesan. Or both.
The last basic ingredient for our herb pesto is – tadaa! – herbs. You can use almost all herbs. If you use a mix of herbs, make sure that they harmonize well. When in doubt, stick to the classic Mediterraneans like rosemary, sage, thyme, savoury, basil and oregano. Either use the single herbs or a combination.
Further possibilities are kitchen herbs like lovage, bear’s garlic, parsley and tarragon or wild herbs like dandelion, sorrel or goutweed.
Recipes for homemade herb pesto
It’s quite easy to make herb pesto by yourself. In a few easy steps, you can make some tasty variations that are great in Italian dishes, on fresh bread or as salad dressing. I show you some simple recipes that you can adapt to your liking.
Bear’s garlic pesto
Bear’s garlic or wild garlic is a very popular spring herb. You may have tried already these recipes for bear’s garlic bread and bear’s garlic brioche braids. Wild garlic pesto is another great recipe for this flavoury herb. Its delicious taste is wonderful with pasta and fried potatoes. You can use it in a risotto or spread it on freshly baked rustic bread.
Ingredients for 250 ml pesto
50 g bear’s garlic 125 ml olive oil 5 walnuts 50 g pecorino ½ tsp salt
Instructions
Wash the wild garlic leaves and chop them finely. Grind the walnuts with a pestle in the mortar until they’re creamy, then add the chopped wild garlic. Add the pecorino. Alternatively, put all the ingredients into a bowl and mix them with a blender. Remember to only pulse the blender. Add the oil and salt to your taste.
Mediterranean herb pesto (vegan)
Combine Mediterranean herbs like thyme, lavender, basil, oregano, savory, rosemary and sage and use it for an extraordinary vegan herb pesto. A bit of garlic enhances the flavour of the herb mix.
Ingredients for 250 g pesto
10 g thyme 10 g lavender 15 g basil 15 g oregano 1 – 2 garlic cloves 20 g pine nuts 125 ml olive oil 1 tsp of salt and pepper each
Instructions
Chop the herbs and the garlic. Roast the pine nuts without oil in a pan until they turn light brown. Put the nuts and the chopped herbs in a mortar and mash them together with a pestle. Add the oil and salt and mix all thoroughly. If you want – and don’t insist on this pesto variant being vegan – you can also add hard cheese, for example, parmesan.
Wild herb pesto with dandelion, sorrel and goutweed
Wild herb lovers will adore this pesto that’s perfect for noodles, gnocchi or wild herb salads.
Ingredients for 250 ml wild herb pesto
50 g wild herbs (dandelion, sorrel and goutweed) 25 g sunflower seeds 10 g walnuts 125 ml olive oil (alternative: grape seed oil) 2 tsp lime juice (alternative: lemon juice) 2 tbsp parmesan 1/2 – 1 tsp salt 1/2 – 1 tsp pepper
Instructions
Wash the fresh herbs thoroughly, then dry and chop them. Put the sunflower seeds, walnuts and chopped herbs into a mortar and mash all together with a pestle. After that, add the oil, lime juice and cheese and mix it all thoroughly. Add salt and pepper to your taste.
Storage time of homemade pesto
Making herb pesto is a fast process and you may be tempted to make a lot of it when your herb harvest is abundant. However, pesto can’t be stored for a long time. The oil and salt in pesto are usually preserving foods that help to prolong the storage time of the pesto. The nuts, however, become rancid after some time and thus make the pesto inedible. The same goes for the hard cheese.
Therefore, homemade pesto can be stored unopened for three to four weeks in the fridge, depending on the quality and amount of oil and cheese in it. Storage time can be enhanced when you fill up the jar with oil so that the pesto has no contact with the air. Another possibility to prolong storage time is to add the hard cheese not until you eat the pesto.
So, making pesto is a great idea but making large amounts of it may not be the best way to preserve your abundant herb harvest. If you need other ideas to have herbs all year round, take a look at this post.
Strawberries! Every year we can’t wait for the first ripe strawberry and the knowledge that their harvesting time is limited to only a few weeks, makes them all the more precious. I think this relatively short availability and the fact that they don’t freeze well make them so popular. However, you can’t keep them for long in the fridge either and thus have to process them quickly. There are many fast and easy strawberry recipes like this strawberry pavlova or the strawberry tiramisu. But sometimes, we want to do something more impressive. That’s what this recipe is for. This strawberry dome cake will be a showstopper on every coffee table and it’s said to have even left some mother-in-laws speechless 😉 Admittedly, it takes more time to prepare this wonderful cake but it’s worth every minute of your effort!
Strawberry Dome Cake
10 – 12 servings
Ingredients:
3 eggs (size M) 1 pinch of salt 220 g sugar 100 g flour 1 tsp baking powder approx. 1 tsp butter 12 gelatin leaves (red or white) 1 kg strawberries 300 g curd cheese 200 g cream 1 package of red cake glaze
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 180 °C (350 °F). Separate the eggs and beat the egg whites and salt until stiff. Gradually add sugar and beat again until the sugar has dissolved. Stir in the egg yolks. Mix the flour and baking powder and sieve it onto the stiff egg whites. Carefully fold in the flour mixture.
Line a baking tray with baking paper and put the dough on it. Smooth it out until it’s even and bake it in the oven for about 10 minutes. In the meantime, put a dishcloth on a flat surface and sprinkle it with sugar. When the cake is ready, remove it from the oven and immediately put it on the cloth, facing downwards. Remove the baking paper and let it cool down.
Take a half-round bowl and line it with cling film. Soak the gelatin leaves according to the packet instructions. Wash the strawberries and remove the green leaves. Cut about 300 g of the strawberries into slices and layer the bowl with them.
Mash the remaining strawberries together with 100 g of sugar. Stir the puree into the curd cheese. Remove the gelatine from the water and squeeze it. Afterwards, dissolve it in a small pot on medium heat and stir in 2 tbsp of the curd. Then stir this mixture into the remaining curd and let it cool down. In the meantime, whip the cream until it’s stiff and fold it into the curd mixture.
Cut the sponge cake into three layers for your half-round bowl. This can best be done with glasses or bowls of different sizes. The first layer should be the smallest, followed by a larger one. The last layer should be large enough to cover the bowl opening.
Carefully fill some of the cream into the bowl and put the smallest cake layer onto it. Alternately layer the mousse and the sponge, ending with the largest cake layer. Put it in the fridge for at least 3 hours.
Put a cake plate onto the bowl and turn it over so the cake sits on the plate. Remove the bowl and cling film. Prepare the cake glaze according to the package instructions and pour it over the cake. Let it cool for at least another 30 minutes.
