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You may or may not remember that I mentioned having Flammkuchen while in Colmar. It was so incredibly yummy and I came home to find a recipe. Last Saturday, I made it for dinner and it was so good, I'm sharing the recipe. It's pretty easy to make and doesn't take long. The dough makes a big serving, enough for more than one person. My hubby doesn't like mushrooms but I do, so I made two. I should have just halved the dough and made two out of that, rather than making two whole ones. Live and learn. Oh, and the picture is the actual flammkuchen I made for hubby, so it's not as pretty as something from a website or cookbook, but it sure was tasty.
Flammkuchen
For Dough:
2 cups flour
2.5 TB canola oil
2/3 cup water
pinch of salt
For Toppings:
1 cup Crème Frâiche
1 onion (red or sweet)
1 TB butter
¼ lb bacon
salt and pepper to taste
1 clove garlic
Preheat oven on the highest temperature it will go or around 400-450 degrees. Combine ingredients for crust. The dough shouldn't be sticky. Slice onions into rings and sauté in butter until clear (don't carmelize). Cook bacon until crisp. Finely chop garlic and add it with seasonings to cream. (Here I used the herbed Crème Frâiche). Roll out the dough as thinly as possible and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for about 10-15 minutes or until the dough has begun to create bubbles and browns. Serve with a green salad and a light white wine.
Let me know if you try this and how you like it. Oh, and my neighbor taught me to make Krenfleisch last weekend also, so that is coming soon.
Have a great weekend!
We're back in Colmar! I used French (not sure if it's correct – blame babelfish, if not) and German in the title today because Colmar is an interesting mix of both. The town is close to the border and has belonged to both countries at different times. This leads to an interesting mix of German/French culture and the use of both languages. In fact, the older residents of the area have their own language that is a combination of both. I'm becoming comfortable with my German now and ordering drinks at a café, I accidently lapsed into German and so did the waitress, without blinking an eye!
Below is the little tour train that runs through town. We didn't take that tour but I thought the train was cute. The passengers sit on the train and wear headphones so they don't miss anything. I think our walking tour was more fun. I can't say which was more instructional.
There is a canal that runs through Colmar and they call the area around it petit Venice or little Venice. Goods were floated up the canal in the old days and you can still see the rings on the side of the buildings where the boats could tie up.
This is the Musee Unterlinden. Again, a mix of French and German in the name. It is an art gallery that used to be a convent for the Dominican nuns.
Next is the Musee Bartholdi. Bartholdi is the man who built the Statue of Liberty and he was born in Colmar. He made 35 small models before settling on the design. Once he had the design, he started putting it together in Paris. On Sunday afternoons, Parisians would walk over to watch the progress. As it neared completion, no money had been raised by the New Yorkers for the pedestal. The Parisians hoped it would remain so as they wanted to keep it. The money was finally raised and it was shipped to the U.S. like the half-timbered houses – numbering each part as they took it apart so that it could be reassembled. Bartholdi gave his family home to the city of Colmar on the condition it would be a museum. On July 4th of every year, Americans get free admittance to his museum.
The statue below was the last that Bartholdi made.
I hope you've enjoyed my tidbits from my trip. I've already scheduled my next trip. The first weekend in May, I'm going to Keukenhof and Amsterdam. Lots of fun stuff to share, I'm sure. So tell me about your favorite trip. Have a great weekend!
We took a walking tour through Colmar, courtesy of a wonderful guide from the tourism office. She was very knowledgeable and I learned a lot. I'm going to share some tidbits and photos, in no particular order. I strongly recommend a stop in Colmar if you ever visit France. Beautiful city.
In the older part of town, you see the half-timber houses. The older buildings are all original, some dating back to the 13th century. During the war, the town was hit with a bomb only once and did minimal damage. I find that amazing.
In the old days, if people wanted to move, they dissembled their homes and numbered the timbers so they could be put together again. Hubby jokes that the French invented mobile homes. Notice the crazy roofs in the picture below? They are purposely built that way.
Notice the area protruding on the building below? People used to set up altars or place chairs in this space for praying. Normally you would only see this on one floor, but this building has it on two.
When people were taxed on their houses, they were taxed on the amount of ground their houses covered. So, to have more room and not have to pay a lot of taxes, there are many that built the ground floor, then expanded on each subsequent floor. Check out the houses below for a good example. Eventually, they had to set guidelines because houses were falling over. They were top-heavy!
Okay, that's all for today. I'll have some more interesting facts and pictures from Colmar tomorrow. I hope you're enjoying the trip. I'm having fun remembering it as I write it out. Have a great day!
After leaving Titisee, we headed to France. We first went to the quaint town of Andlau.
There we visited an organic winery. Really.
Monsieur Durrman, the owner of the winery, took us on a short walk to see one of his fields of vines. He explained some of the techniques that he employed as an organic vintner. He has planted apple trees among his grape vines to help shade them. Then he collects the apples in the fall and makes a yummy apple juice.
After the short walk up the hill, we went back to his wine cellar for the tasting. We tasted 5 wines – a rosé, a Muscat, 2 different Rieslings and a gewürztraminer. I'm not one for dry wines so while they all tasted fine, it was the gewürztraminer that tickled my taste buds. We ended up buying 6 bottles of it.
During the tasting, we also got to sample a regional treat called kougelhopf. It is a sweet bread, though not too sweet, made with raisins and almonds. Monsieur Durrman uses the same yeast in the kougelhopf as he does his wine. During my time in Alsace, I saw this bread everywhere and knew that I wanted to find the recipe. I even bought 2 different sizes of the twisted bundt-like pan used to bake it.
Arriving home, I learned from my German neighbors that it's popular here as well. So I guess I can buy the middle size pan here, right? I did find a recipe and will be trying it out soon. I'll let you know how it turns out and if right, post the recipe here.
Tomorrow on to Colmar.
Ever had kougelhopf? Interested? What's your favorite type of wine? Like to go wine tasting?
