Weekend herb blogging #73

The weekend is coming and in the northern regions of this world spring stands ante portas. The nature starts to "spread out", plants rise, tiny yet wonderful flowers are in search of the sunlight as people are. What a wonderful time of awaking. I'm in that mood as well even if we do not have seasons in Singapore. I change decoration, everything seems to start new, bright colours take place, and spring flowers are available, dishes are lighter, ...
The weekend is coming and WHB - weekend herb blogging No. 73 is taking place. Anna from Morsels &Musings is hosting this event even if she's going to get married in these days.
The weekend is coming and I bought the new march issue of essen & trinken, a german food magazin. In this I saw those delicious looking "Kräuterpfannkuchen mit Zitronenschmand" - herb pancakes with lemon-heavy sour cream. They remind me that my grandmother used to make some pancakes without sugar, or only with a small amount, to cut them in strips and to serve those "Flädle" (which literally means "tiny flatbread") in a clear broth.
The weekend is coming and the herbs in my kitchen reminds me to take part in WHB. And the mentioned recipe combined with my grandmother's "Flädle-soup" gave me the idea for my entry:

Clear beef broth with minced beef-stuffed herb pancake-wan tans

Ingredients for the beef stock:

1 kgmeaty beef bones
2cloves garlic
2onions
5 lwater
2leeks, only the white parts, washed thoroughly
½celery root, peeled
3parsnip or parsley root, peeled
1swede turnip/rutabagas/wu jing gan lan, peeled
4carrots, peeled

2bay leaves, broken
3sprigs thyme


Season 1 to 1½ l of the stock with
½ tspred bellpepper powder, e.g. Hungarian paprika and
salt


Preperation:

In a large saucepan roast the bones, the onions and the garlic over high heat, turning around until dark brown, like bbqed, from every side. Pour in the water, bring to a boil. Cut the vegetables into equal-sized pices. Add them toghether with the herbs.





Let simmer for about 4 hours. Skim the surface of the broth with a slotted spoon to remove the foam, and remove the oil with a fat skimming ladle frequently.






Strain out through a strainer layed out with a damp cheesecloth/musslin. Stir in the paprika powder, season with salt to your palate. Cover with a lid and set aside.


I received 3l stock. Use 1 to 1½ liters for this soup. Fill the remaining stock in a sterilisized preserving jar and use it for another soup or reduce it for a sauce base.



In the meantime prepare the dough for the herb pancakes. I've chosen herbs which reminds me to spring. Especially the chives, looking like fresh green blades of grass.
But you can use for example Mayoram as well. Or even something like sage, oregano and basil to have a more Italian flavoured soup. But then I would suggest to use a tomatoe bisque or consomme instead of the beef broth. And maybe some peeled, minced Roma-tomatoes mixed together with the minced meat as a filling. It's up to you. I stick with my spring-version.

Ingredients for the pancakes:

4eggs
320 mlmilk
1pinch of salt
130 gunbleached (organic) all-purpose flour
6sprigs chervil
6sprigs flat/Italian parsley
3sprigs thyme
¾ cupchives, cut to 3 cm lenght

butter or ghee

Preparation:

Whisk together the eggs, milk, and salt. Stir in the flour. Let stand for about ½ hour to set. Pick the leaves of the herbs.
Heat a ~18cm-pan over high heat. Reduce the heat to low. Give about ½ teaspoon butter in to the pan. Pour some batter in, just covering the bottom of the pan in the style of French crépes. Sprinkle immediately with some herbs and let the pancake bake for a couple of minutes until golden brown. Turn around and bake the herbed side for only 30 seconds. Repeat until all the batter is used.


Ingredients for the pancake filling/meat balls:

2shalotts, peeled and minced
½ tspvegetable oil
½ tspbutter

100 gComté (a French cheese), cut in 12 cubes

500 gminced beef
1large egg
2½ tspbread crumps
1hint mace/macis
1/6 tsp salt

fresh ground black pepper

Preparation:

Heat the butter and the oil over medium-high heat in a small saucepan. Sweat the shalotts about 2 minutes. Mix them together with all the other ingredients except the cheese, and, with wet hands, create 12 meat balls with approximately 4 cm in diameter. Whilst forming the balls place 1 cheese dice in the center of each portion and cover with minced meat-mix.
Heat the clear beef broth and bring to simmer. Let the meat balls slip into it and cook, covered, until done.


Final assembly:

Place 1 meatball in each pancake, close the pancake over it and tie the parcels together with a string of Chinese chives.
Sieve the broth through a strainer/fine sieve into 5 soup bowls. Place two to three pancake-bags in it and serve immediately.
If you have some fried shalotts garnish the soup with them. Or use fried leek juliennes.

Technorati tagWeekend Herb Blogging.