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Hot German Potato Salad

Sweet, sour and deliciously savory, this traditional Hot German Potato Salad will make your tastebuds go Oom-pa-pa!

The first time I ever tasted Hot German Potato Salad was as a sophomore in Frau Müller’s first-year German class back at good ol’ Madison High. Equally delicious hot or cold, I loved the rich, clean, deeply satisfying blend of sweet, tangy, and bacony goodness that Hot German Potato Salad offered.

Over the years, this recipe has became a family favorite, and is now a time-honored Oktoberfest tradition at our house.

Unlike traditional American potato salad, Hot German Potato Salad is completely devoid of anything remotely mayonnaisey.

Hot German Potato Salad

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Author: Renée B. ♥ The Good Hearted Woman

Ingredients

2 lbs red potatoes
6 slices bacon cut into small pieces (Get good, high quality bacon for this!)
1 medium red onion sliced thin
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar*
1/3 cup water
1 tsp celery seed optional
salt
pepper

Instructions

Cut potatoes into 1/2 cubes and put them into a medium saucepan. (Leave skins on.) Cover and boil until tender.

While potatoes are cooking:

Cook bacon until crisp, remove from pan and set aside, reserving bacon drippings.
Saute the onion in the reserved bacon drippings.
Turn the heat on the sauteed red onions down to medium low, and add vinegar, sugar, water and celery seed. Heat to a simmer and pour over hot potatoes. Make sure liquid and potatoes and both very hot when mixed together. Add cooked bacon pieces. Stir to combine.
Salt and pepper to taste, and then put into 2 1/2 qt. casserole dish.
Bake uncovered for 30 minutes at 325°.

Notes

*Plain vinegar works just fine too. You can prepare this a day ahead of time and refrigerate. Just reheat and serve. (It's better the second day!) Vegetarian adaptation: Omit bacon. (Duh.) Saute onions in 3 tablespoons of olive oil, and then proceed as directed. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup vegetarian bacon bits at the end. Honestly though, some things just aren't meant to be adapted for vegetarians, and Hot German Potato Salad may just very well be one of them.

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What’s on your Oktobestfest menu?

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Portobello Mushroom Stroganoff

January 15 By Renée ♥ 14 Comments

Rich, hearty vegetarian Portobello Mushroom Stroganoff is savory, comforting, and oh-so-satisfying! {Recipe can be easily adapted for vegans.}

The first time I ever had stroganoff was at my friend Marilee’s house. Marilee is one of my dearest friends in this life; we’ve known one another since we were three. Like me, her dad was a teacher and her mom was a nurse, and when we were kids, I loved spending time at her house.

Marilee’s house was exciting, and so different from mine. Marilee’s family drove a VW Microbus and drank instant milk (eww) and she was always getting a new baby sister or something really cool like that. She had a little brother named Ricky and an older sister named DeeAnn who she shared a bedroom with.

Me and Marilee in the Summer of ’68.

Marilee and DeeAnn got into huge fights all the time and their room was always strewn with headless Barbies. (There were other toys too, I’m sure, but all I remember is those headless Barbies.) I thought her dad was wonderful, and I liked her mom for the weirdest reason: she treated me like one of her own kids – even to the point of yelling at me just like everyone else – and usually she made something interesting and delicious for dinner.

Which brings me back to Stroganoff. When I was a kid, my mom didn’t make anything they didn’t serve in Missouri in 1943 (her words) so stroganoff was not an option on our table until I learned to cook. It was just too fancy and ethnic for Mom.

So when Ruth Hall served up stroganoff to me for the first time, it took everything I had to not bolt the whole plate in a few seconds and ask for more before Marilee’s large family ate it all up. I loved the deep, creamy, rich flavors and the way it coated the noodles with just the right amount of saucey goodness.

Oh my – I’m making myself hungry just thinking about it. To this day, Beef Stroganoff is still in the top ten on my Comfort Food List.

Unfortunately, with all the various eating styles that our kitchen regularly accommodates, beef stroganoff isn’t often an option – but mushroom stroganoff is!

There are plenty of recipes out there for mushroom stroganoff, and I’ve tried a few, but they always seemed lacking something to me. It took me some tinkering, but I think you’ll find that my hearty, vegetarian Portobello Mushroom Stroganoff is savory, comforting, and oh-so-satisfying!

5 from 1 vote

Portobello Mushroom Stroganoff

This easy-to-prepare recipe yields a rich, hearty vegetarian Portobello Mushroom Stroganoff - savory, comforting, and oh-so-satisfying! {Recipe can be easily adapted for vegans.}

Prep Time30 mins

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Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Comfort Food

Author: Renée ♥ The Good Hearted Woman

Ingredients

2 tsp olive oil
2 tsp butter
1 large sweet onion finely chopped
2 large cloves garlic minced
2 lbs Baby Portabello mushroons cleaned and sliced thick (Or 4 large Portobellos)
1 tsp Kosher salt
¼ cup flour
1 tsp paprika
¼ tsp freshly ground pepper
¾ cup white wine I use Riesling. Or ½ cup white grape juice & ½ cup water
½ cup vegetable broth
1 Tbls Worcestershire sauce vegetarian
3 cups fresh baby spinach leaves
½ cup light sour cream

Instructions

Melt butter with olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add in the onions and garlic and cook until onions begin to soften, about 2 minutes.
Add mushrooms and ½ teaspoon salt. Cook until mushrooms begin to soften about 3-4 minutes. Continue to cook until liquid reduces by about half.
Meanwhile, cook egg noodles according to package directions, drain and set aside.
In a small bowl, combine flour, paprika, remaining salt, and pepper.
Sprinkle flour mixture over cooked mushrooms and toss to combine. Toss to coat all the mushroom mixture.
Add broth, wine and Worcestershire sauce to mushroom mixture and stir to combine. Stir in spinach, cover with lid and turn heat down to very low. (I just turn it off.) The spinach will wilt in just a few minutes.
Just before serving, stir in sour cream and heat on low for a minute or two to bring it up to temperature. DO NOT BOIL.
Serve over cooked egg noodles or rice.

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Just before serving, stir in sour cream and heat on low for a minute or two to bring it up to temperature.
DO NOT BOIL.

This meal all comes together and is ready to serve in about 30 minutes. Give it a try and let me know what you think!

And thanks, Marilee – for everything.

Thank you so much for being a faithful reader and supporter of The Good Hearted Woman. ❤ Be sure to Pin and Print this recipe!

P.S. I’m sharing this recipe on the Weekend Potluck Recipe Linkup. Check it out for more great recipes!

Simply, French Onion Soup

November 21 By Renée ♥ 9 Comments

“Oh – Fancy!” was the reaction from my youngest when I served this for dinner the other night. This time of year, with all the hustle and bustle and big family dinners, it’s good to have a few easy (but impressive) recipes up your sleeve for last-minute meals – warm, savory and satisfying down to your bones. French Onion Soup fills that bowl perfectly.

Mr. B. and I both prefer this recipe over heavier preparations – still thick and hearty, this version satisfies our personal palate – it is less salty than many popular “restaurant” versions, made slightly lighter with the use of vegetable stock instead of beef broth and white wine in place of the more common red. Make the carmelized onions ahead of time and keep them in the freezer, and you can easily make this soup in 30 minutes!

5 from 1 vote

French Onion Soup

Cook Time30 mins

Total Time30 mins

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Course: Soup

Servings: -8

Calories: 0

Author: Renée

Ingredients

1 baguette sliced in 1/2-3/4-inch rounds
1/2 cup butter
2 cloves garlic minced
2 5- inch sprigs fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 cup white wine I like my French Onion Soup slightly on the sweet side: Reisling works very nicely for me
3 tablespoons flour
4 medium onions caramelized
4 cups vegetable broth I use 4 cups of water plus 3 teaspoons of "Better Than Bouillon" Vegetable Base
6 ounces Gruyere grated (Provolone works nicely too)

Instructions

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the garlic, thyme, and salt and pepper and sauté for a few seconds, until you can smell the garlic sautéing. Remove from heat.
(If you don't have caramelized onions already prepared, add four sliced medium onions to the herb-butter mixture now and continue to cook over medium-low heat until very soft and caramelly. This will take no less than one hour. Don't rush it or your onions may turn out bitter.)

Prepare Baguette Croutons:

Arrange the baguette slices on a baking sheet in a single layer. Brush lightly with the garlic-herb butter from the pot. Set under broiler just long enough to toast lightly. Flip the baguette rounds over and repeat. Set aside.

Prepare Soup:

To the remaining herb-butter mixture, add the caramelized onions and cook until the mixture is hot and there is very little liquid, about 5 minutes. Add the wine, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the wine has evaporated and the onions are nearly dry, about 5 minutes. If you used fresh thyme, discard the thyme sprigs. Sprinkle the flour over the onions and stir to combine. Reduce the heat to low and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. (This is to cook out the raw flour taste.) Now add the vegetable stock, return to a simmer, and cook for another 5 to 10 minutes. Season, to taste.

Serving:

When you are ready to serve, ladle hot soup into oven-safe bowls and float several of the prepared baguette croutons on top. Sprinkle with grated gruyere and place under broiler just long enough to melt and slightly brown the cheese.

Tried this recipe?Mention @TheGoodHeartedWoman or tag #thegoodheartedwoman!

P.S. I would love to find a potter who would make me some individual soup crocks – any suggestions?

How to Caramelize Onions in a Slow Cooker

November 19 By Renée ♥ Leave a Comment

Caramelized onions are a staple in my kitchen, but it takes so flipping long to do them right! Recently, I spent some time looking up other methods for caramelizing onions and found many people have had good success doing them in a slow cooker, so I decided to try out the process myself. What I found was that, like most instructions for caramelizing onions, time estimates vary dramatically from kitchen to kitchen. (Note: If you ever read a recipe that say you can “caramelize” the onions in 15 minutes, don’t believe it for a second! You can “brown” onions in that time, but it isn’t the same thing. True caramelizing takes time – usually at least an hour on the stove-top.) The majority of slow-cooker caramelizing directions that I found suggested that my crock-pot full of onions would be ready in 10-14 hours – mine took 24 hours, beginning to end. I’m sure that this depends on the size, make and model of your slow cooker, and the type of onions you use.

I used sweet onions because that is what I had on hand, but next time I will use plain yellow field onions, which is what I usually use when I am caramelizing onions on the stove-top. Yellow onions ultimately caramelize better for a couple of reasons: they are lower in water content, which will significantly speed up the process. This excess water is probably what accounts for the additional time it took for my onions to caramelize in the slow cooker this time. Second, while we perceive sweet onions to be sweeter, this has more to do with the fact that yellow onions have more of those pungent lachymators (i.e., stuff that makes you cry) than sweet onions, giving us the impression that they are significantly less sweet. The truth is that yellow onions actually have a far more complex flavor profile, and yield more flavorful caramelized onions.

All that being said, the sweet onions did turn out just great – they just took a heap more time. The process couldn’t be easier though:

First, cut up your onions, from root to stem. America’s Test Kitchen did exhaustive tests on caramelizing onions, and found that they turn out better if you cut them this way.

Fill your slow cooker about 2/3 full of cut onions. Drizzle on a little olive oil and toss them a bit.

Cover and put on low. Stir once every couple hours.

When they are the color and consistency you want, you can remove the lid and let them dry out a bit. This may take 2-5 hours, depending on how much water they have left in them.