@Sweetsound - I hope I'll have enough time tomorrow - have a doctor's visit at around 11 and then visitors after 1pm - Europeans, husband is from mixed Yug.German/Scandinavian heritage (is mad about gipsy music), worked all over the world, wife is Scandinavian - he does a bit of the cooking and they both like my central European cooking style. Wife has problems from a recent back operation so socialising is strictly according to her state of health. At any rate I will make my dip, which I call 'Liptauer' which is made from fresh cheese, if available, I use Philly cheese plus sour cream, plus various flavourings (about 7 ingredients, usually 1 packet of Philadelphia cheese, one small onion finely chopped and lightly heated in butter, a fair amount of butter, also some margarine (to stabilise it a bit) a mix of 20 capers and half a spoon of caraway seeds, chopped finely together into a mash, a tspnf. of concentrated tomato paste, a touch of lemon juice, salt, lots of paprika a bit of chilly to make it spicier, sometimes a fresh grate of onion at the very end. and whip for a while, I have an electric egg beater (don't have a mixer) - makes a wonderfu dip Decorated in the end with a dusting of paprica and a few red pepperoni rounds on top. (I sometimes make my own fresh cheese from A2 milk and that is delicious!) with a good sour cream, you can make the 'dip' more liquid. In Europe it's made firmer and from sheeps cheese and used as a bread topping - here i use it as a dip. Also make similar with spring herbs, it is then green, also delicious, containing finely chopped dill gherkins, capers as well as fresh dill. spring onions, one or two Nasturtium leaves etc.
I will make photo of whatever gets done tomorrow - but the strudel is something I have promised them for a long time now - and K. has been very ill - stayed in Vienna as a young girl and has some remembered cravings. Will put on some gipsy music.
I have never heard of a sour cherry soup, but imagine it can be great!!
I have also got a lot of great poppy-seed recipes - maybe I have a picture of one of my efforts here. I particularly liked my grandmother's potato noodles, leftovers heated up in fat until they had a crust and then rolled in ground poppy seeds which were mixed with icing sugar, some hot butter trickled over - were the best - yumms! This is a nut strudel I made some time ago, (poppy seeds were no longer fresh, they are seasonal.) I use the hugely expensive 'Strohrum' to flavour a lot of my European cakes and fillings with, it's now $100 a small bottle.
Re soups; every now and then I go the whole hog - use my collected 'bones' (in freezer) buy a whole good quality chicken and make chicken soup - I always take out the good meat after 3/4 hrs cooking time and make separate dishes from that - the remainder is cooked to death, with more fresh herbs and an extra carrot etc added. It's a messy business, but worth it. In order to get the clear look, you have to finish the end product by pouring a small amount of a water/vinegar and eggwhite mix into the hot soup - this attracts all the floating meat particles, which you clear out as 'foam' and then you get a clear soup. Walnut yeast roll:
