little adjustments

ever since i have my foodblog i constantly think of how i could pep up my standard recipes. one thing i cook quite often is some sort of roasted meat, noodles, rice or vegetables on the side and some sort of gravy since growing up in a bohemian influenced middle european home makes it absolutely essential to get ahold of meat at least once a day. vital household recipes in our family include g'röstl (roasted sausage and cut up potatos), schnitzel, bratwurst, leberkäse, gulasch, reisfleisch (rice with meat), speckknödel (bacon dumplings) ... i know way more everyday recipes containing meat and being savory than recipes for sweet dishes (though upper austrian cuisine is supposedly famous for pastries and deserts!).

for most of my life meat was the epicenter of each meal. but growing up and learning about food and health made me think. from the first day i had home economics at school i became very aware of what i consume and how it affects my life. when i was eleven i came home from home ec and proudly announced to my surprised family: "i am a vegetarian now!!!". of course my strong-minded decision only lasted until next sunday's schnitzel.

since i moved out of my parent's flat i had several issues with my weight and even though i made my peace with the fact that i will never be super-skinny i don't want to feast on regional food anymore. i'd much rather indulge in a slimmed down version of traditional dishes and i adjusted my style of cooking. i do not use heavy cream anymore for example. i rarely used salt in my diet, so it was no problem cutting down on heavy seasoning. and i now replace ingredients to get more variety in my dull standards.

i am much more aware of what i eat and how the dish tastes, and that is quite a change. now i can easily make a traditional austrian roast filet taste sort of asian :). today i replaced an onion with an apple for example.

a piece of filet (pork, turkey, whichever you prefer)
1 apple
1 onion
200 ml cream (or similar but much lighter rama cremefine)
salt, pepper
rice

01 boil the rice while you prepare the dish
02 roast filets in a pan and put aside when done
03 chop onion and cut apple in really tiny pieces
04 in the same pan now saute the onion over medium heat
05 add the apples and saute a little more
06 add 200 ml of cream, (i like to use rama cremefine instead, it has much less fat and calories) but be careful, the acid of the apple can quickly curdle the sauce!
07 though the juice from the roast meat has a very rich taste you might want to season with salt and pepper

tagged with: cooking + food + recipe