Küchenkinder Potatoes

This piece first posted on October of last year.  Due to popular demand (friends have been asking for the kinder kartoffeln recipe), the article's been reposted. Whether it's for you or your tiny tots, enjoy!

With the first heat coming through last night, I looked forward to sleeping a full 8 hours and waking up to a white, warm, silent fuzziness with the occasional hissing from the radiators.  Instead, at 5 am,  I was alarmed by a clattering, explosive noise.

My first thought was that some pipe had burst and pieces of it had shattered to the floor.  Sensing it was pre-dawn I wondered what time would be appropriate to call the Super as I turned on the light.

Thankfully, it wasn't a pipe.  A porcelain teapot had fallen off the counter.  After sitting on the exact same spot for over a week without a complaint, the teapot decided to leap to the wooden floor.  If this was my old place in San Diego, I would have suspected an earthquake. 

It's a küchenkoller day, I thought.  Anna and Bernhard Blume captures this possessed kitchen phenom quite well in their gelatin silver prints like the one above. 

A great word - Küchenkoller.  It sounds nice to say, but it's a terrible thing.  It's when the furies of Vesta descend upon one's kitchen and wreaks havoc.

For example.  The pressure-cooker lid shoots up to the sky.  Or the evil fridge freezes all your greens.  And the blender somehow throws up the beets and splatters your cabinets with blood.

Or maybe everything is spinning around the salad-spinner except for the spinner.  Blame it on küchenkoller.

Küchen, I am sure means kitchen.  Koller means frenzy or tantrum.  Why koller would come to mean tantrum is interesting.  Maybe there was a man named Koller who often had meltdowns.

When I sense a full-blown küchenkoller episode coming on, I stay away from complicated dishes and approach the kitchen like a child at play.  I keep it very simple but fun.  I call this küchenkinder.  Not sure if this is a true German term or if I'd just made it up.

But I figure it appropriate as "kinder" means children.  Think Kinder Happy Hippo.  I frequently visited one grocer that had the only Kinder Happy Hippo with whole hazelnuts in each bump.

So today's dinner will be an easy kiddie dish that adults can enjoy.  I call it Küchenkinder Potatoes.  First, you will need to buy bite-sized potatoes.  I like the ones from Tasteful Selections that can be had at Whole Foods. 

Just to give you an idea of their size, these have been placed in a small ramekin for 1 serving.

Küchenkinder Potatoes Recipe   (1 serving)

 Ingredients
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of olive oil
1 ramekin-full of bite-sized potatoes
1 to 2 teaspoons of Sriracha

Instructions
Turn on oven to 450 degrees.  Meanwhile, cut each potato in half.  Coat the potato halves with the salt and oil by hand in a roomy bowl.

Put the glossy potato-halves onto a non-stick oven pan.  Place in the oven for 30 minutes.

Pull out pan, wearing a mitt.  Slide the potatoes onto a dish.

Squeeze out the Sriracha on the side for dipping.  You really don't need much as it is pretty strong.  1 to 2 teaspoons would be enough.  It's also a great condiment for dieting.  There's so much flavor,  satiety is reached pretty quickly.

If this is to feed real children, hold the Sriracha and substitute with a little ketchup.  If ketchup is not allowed,  then use mustard or Greek yogurt as alternatives.

It's a pretty assortment of red, yellow, and blue mini potatoes made with the least effort.  And the Sriracha on the side takes potatoes to another level.

A small cherry tomato has been placed on the plate to show how small these baby potatoes are.  Yes, they are wee little things.  And yet, these 'kinder' potatoes can really satisfy the 'erwachsene' for supper.

Happy Küchenkoller ~e

 

Asparagus Soup

It's Spring and there are gorgeous daffodils and tulips, but I never buy them.  They're beautiful to look at, and that's about it.  I like designs that have form and function. 

Hyacinths I'll take because they perfume the room.  Asparagus I'll take because it creates one of my favorite soups.  And it was all because of William Poll.

When I first came to the Upper East Side, I was distressed at how there were fewer food choices than in the West Village.  In the WV, one could roll out of bed and find multiple places to find food.

So wasn't I thrilled to explore the William Poll shop and see a variety of dishes already made.  My pick was a glass jar filled with asparagus soup - no heavy cream, no oily film - no nonsense.  Just pure heaven.

I felt the shop was old New York.  At the time, I had no idea Lew Wasserman's wife or Joan Crawford had been regulars.  There was a patina to the place that would be unparalleled.  This much I knew.

When I started asking questions, James Poll looked more than happy to go into everything in every fascinating minutiae.  At the end of the tour, he led me to a delicate woman in her 90s.

She got up from her chair to plant a kiss on my cheek.  Following his mother, James did the same.  At the time, I was a bit baffled and embarrassed.  I wanted to say, "Guys, it's just a jar of asparagus soup."

The nonagenarian was Christine Poll and I now consider myself blessed and proud to say I had been kissed by this amazing woman. 

You don't have to be a Hollywood starlet to have a jar shipped to your poolside.  You don't have to come from New York's bastion of old money to taste it.  On a cold, rainy April day, I stayed in and was inspired to create my own version.  And I think it comes very close to what I tasted years ago.

Asparagus Soup  (1-2 servings)

You will neeed:
1 bunch of asparagus 
100 mL of filtered water

¼  teaspoon of Himalayan pink salt

2 large garlic cloves, pressed

Instructions:
1)  Cut and discard the hard parts of each stalk.
2)  Boil water and steam the asparagus for 4 minutes (with the lid closed)
3)  Cut up the steamed asparagus to fit into a mini food processor (I use a small KitchenAid)
4)  Place the garlic, the salt, asparagus, and the water into the processor (or Vitamix, NutriBullet, etc)
5)  Whiz until you achieve a smooth consistency.  If you prefer a thicker, chunky soup,  whiz less.

The benefits of asparagus are many.  It's a great anti-inflammatory agent.  It regulates your blood sugar.  It's great for gut health.  It is a prebiotic.  Prebiotics feed your gut flora.  Lactobacillus and bifidobacterium need prebiotics to multiply.  The best benefit of all is that it's delicious.

April to May is peak season for asparagus, so get out there and grab a bunch for the last hurrah! ~e