Jäger Sauce (Hunter's Sauce)

Jäger Sauce literally means hunter´s sauce. This is due to the hunter's habit to pick up the wild mushrooms that they used together with their catches.  The key to this sauce is the fresh mushroom.  I don´t recommend the canned product. Usually this sauce made from button mushrooms and chanterelle.  In addition to mushrooms, shallots and tomatoes, the other essential main ingredients for seasoning is white wine to add the flavor.

 Let´s start to prepare this creamy savory sauce. 

Jäger Sauce
Portions: 4-6

Ingredients:
400 gr mushrooms, sliced
2 shallots (50 gr), finely chopped
1 tbsp (30 gr) butter
1 tbsp tomato paste (or 3 tomato sauce)
500 ml beef broth
120 ml (1/2 cup) white wine (or 1 tbsp lemon juice)  
100 gr Crème fraîche or soured cream
Salt
Ground black pepper
2 tbsp parsley, chopped

Methods:
1. Melt butter over medium-high heat in a saucepan then sauté finely chopped shallots 
    until become translucent.  
2. Add the sliced mushrooms and continue to sauté until they begin releasing water.
3. Add white wine (or lemon juice) then keep stirring until the liquid reduced to just a  
    glaze. 
4. Add the beef broth and tomato paste (or tomato sauce) then stir well.
5. Simmer until sauce  reduced by half. 
6. Add cream and stir well.
7. Season with salt and pepper.
8. Remove the sauce from the heat and add 1 tbsp chopped parsley and stir well. (when 
    you serve the sauce, sprinkle another 1 tbsp parsley over the sauce).


Jäger sauce goes very well with dishes made from beef, pork and poultry like schnitzel (Jägerschnitzel), steak, meatballs,  meatloaf, etc.

I really love this brown sauce.  I guarantee, that this sauce will refine your comfort food.

Chicken Schnitzel

Schnitzel is my favorite German dish. It is a thinned slice of meat that has been coated with flour, dipped in beaten eggs and coated again with bread crumbs, and then fried.  In German´s Restaurant, it is easy to find Schweineschnitzel (Schwein = pork).

Schnitzel can be served plain without any sauce, which is usually garnished with lemon wedges.  Just drizzle fresh juice of lemon over your schnitzel and enjoy the crunchy juicy meat. Very comforting :)

Plain Schnitzel with lemon wedges

Other variations of schnitzel are accompanied by sauce.  Jägerschnitzel (hunter´s schnitzel) is schnitzel served with a gravy mushroom sauce, Rahmshnitzel with light creamy sauce, Zigeunerschnitzel (Gypsy Schnitzel) with a spicy sauce consisting of tomatoes, red pepper and onion.  Schnitzel with white wine mushroom cream sauce (Jäger sauce) and french fries is one of my comfort food at the end of a long day. 
You can find the recipe of Jäger sauce in my other post.  

Chicken Schnitzel with Jäger Sauce

This time I will share the recipe of Chicken Schnitzel.  You can also use veal (Wiener Schnitzel), beef, turkey or pork. 

Note: The term Wiener Schnitzel  is protected by law in Austria and Germany.  So if any Schnitzel made from veal, it must be called Wiener Schnitzel.

Chicken Schnitzel

Portions: 2 

Ingredients: 

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts ( @ around  150-200 gr)

80-100 gr  all-purpose flour

2 large eggs

80-100gr bread crumbs

Salt

Ground black pepper

Vegetable oil

Lemon wedges

Note:

• For pounding the meat, we need to cover it first with plastic wrap or zip plastic bag. This will keep chicken splatters from messing your kitchen
• For serving, Schnitzel goes well with spätzel (egg noodle), french fries, mashed potato, light salad, etc.

Methods: 

1. Place the meat in a zipped plastic bag or plastic wrap.

2. Pound the chicken breast to 5 mm - 7 mm thickness using a meat tenderizer.

3. Season the meat with salt and pepper.

4. Prepare the breading stations.

• a bowl with flour: cover the meat in flour, shake off excessive flour
• a bowl with egg wash: dip the meat into egg wash
• a bowl with bread crumb: coat the meat with bread crumbs and make sure that they stick well to the meat

5. Heat vegetable oil in a nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat.

6. Fry the meat for about 2-3 minutes on both sides until it becomes deep golden  brown. 

7. Drain the excess oil with paper towels.

8. Serve with lemon wedges and your other favorite side dishes. 

I hope this simple dish can be your comfort food you too.

Homemade Panko vs Homemade Bread Crumb

Coating the food such as meat, chicken, fish and vegetables before deep frying are a simple way to make tasty meals. Breading not only gives your food a crisp and crunchy texture, but also keeps your food moist after deep frying. For coating, you can use regular bread crumb or Panko (japanese bread crumb).  

Panko´s texture is rough and larger than regular crumb. It looks more like flakes than crumbs.  This texture gives a crispier coating. Panko absorbs less fat. Therefore
you will have a lighter, less-greasy coating.

You can find Panko easily in Asian markets.  But if you are living in a western country, you might not have time to drop by to your local Asian market, just to buy panko!  Why not make it by your self?

You can also make this Japanese style bread crumb, with white bread and simple tools like oven and just food shredder. Even though in japan, panko goes through a special process (it is electrocuted).

I will tell you how to make Panko and regular bread crumb as well. Let´s get started!

Homemade Panko VS Homemade Bread Crumb

Ingredients:

For panko, you will need: 

• White toast ( white bread) without crust
• Food shredder (grater)       

For regular bread crumb, you will need:

• Any type of bread (white, wheat, rye) 
• Food processor or finer food shredder

Method:
For panko: 

• Preheat oven to 50°C/120°F.
• Cut the brown crust from white bread.
• Let the white bread rest in preheated oven for about 60-70 minutes.
• Remove it from oven and let it cool.
• Shred the white bread, so you will have the flake form.

For regular bread crumb:

• Preheat oven to 50°C/120°F.
• Slice the bread, to make small pieces.  
• Let small pieces of bread rest in preheated oven for about 60-70 minutes.
• Remove it from oven and let it cool.
• Put it into food processor until you have the sandy texture crumbs. Or just shred it with finer food shredder.

Note:

1. Don´t use stale bread.  
2. We use preheated oven not to bake it, but this process makes bread dry (take away the water content). That is why, we use the minimum heat temperature.  You can set the temperature higher but you need to control it frequently.
3. Make sure the bread is cooled thoroughly, before you shred or process it.
4. Store the crumb in air-tight container.

Apple Rose Tart

Easter is just around the corner.   In Germany, there is a tradition to have Easter brunch after attending a church ceremony.  Family  gathers together around the perfect arranged table.  The table will be beautifully decorated with fresh flower, Easter decoration and of course hard-boiled, painted Easter eggs.

While I´m looking for some recipes in the internet, I stumbled upon apple rose tart.  I was so excited, not just because it is very easy to make, but this dish can be used also as a decoration on the table. 

So for you guys, who are looking for something simple to serve on Easter. This is the one.

Apple Rose Tarts 
Serve: 15-18 pieces

Ingredients:
For the dough: 

250 gr plain flour
125 gr butter, cold
75 gr caster sugar
1/4 tsp salt
9 tbsp (75ml) ice cold water
or
1 sheet of -ready to use- puff pastry ( I got the size of : 25 x 38 cm ) or frozen puff pastry (thawed)

For the apple rose: 
4 apples (Braeburn, Honeycrisp, Pink Lady or apple of your choice) *
4 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
200 ml water ( or apple juice ( don´t forget to halve the sugar amount))

Additional :
Mini cake case (base width of 31 mm)
or
Muffin tin


Cooking method:
For pastry base: 

•  Combine flour, sugar and salt then stir well. 
•  Add butter and mix well. 
•  Add ice cold water gradually and stir well until a dough is formed 
•  Cover the dough with plastic wrap and chill it for at least 30 minutes.* 
•  On a well floured surface, roll out the dough with floured pastry roller to about 3-5 mm thick and cut off the rough edges to have a rectangular shape.  
•  Then cut the dough into strips, about 2 cm wide and 25 cm in length.

or the easy way:
Unfold or roll out the puff pastry sheet and then cut into strips about 2 cm wide.

1.  After the pastry strips are ready, preheat the oven to 180°C/356°F.
2.  Cut apples in half, remove core and cut into thin slices.
3.  Place brown sugar, cinnamon and water (or apple juice) in a saucepan. 
     Then bring to boil.
4.  Transfer the apple slices into saucepan, cook for about 2-3 minutes to make the apple 
     slices soft but not soggy. 
5.  Once the apple slices soften, remove them immediately from the saucepan onto a 
     plate. 
6.  To make the rose petal; 

• Prepare the pastry strip and the cooled apple slices.
• Place the first slice on the pastry strip, the next slice should overlap the first by half. 
• Continue in this manner until the strip covered with apple slices. (My pastry strip 2 x 25 cm, it should be 7-8 apple slices)
• Roll up the pastry strip gently to form a rose shape.

7.  Transfer each rose into mini cake case or muffin tin.
8.  Bake the apple rose tart in preheated oven (180°C/356°F) for about 15-18 min.

Enjoy it, while it is still warm.

Note: 
*. The perfect apple for this recipe should have sweet and tart flavour such as Braeburn, Honeycrisp, Pink Lady and Granny Smith apple. 

But I don´t recommend the granny smith apple, because the rose won´t be so pretty in comparison to other apple that I´ve mentioned. If you don´t bother about the color, you can use the granny smith apple, because the taste is just the same. 

 

As you can see here, tart with Braeburn apple on the left side and with Granny Smith apple on the right side

*. The Red delicious apple won´t give you the same result, because this apple; doesn´t have tart flavour (not intense enough), the texture is too mealy, the skin is thick and bitter.

*. You can spare time by making the dough the day before, just make sure you wrap it tightly. 


Let me know, if you try this recipe:)