I don't know if it's because of the Ukraine war, the energy crisis, or the rising cost of living.
Or simply because I haven't watched »Schöne Bescherung« this year (caution: leading actor Chevy Chase was cancelled).
Whatever the reason, for the first time in my life I don't feel like Christmas at all.
I'm certainly not the only one - the point with the high cost of living in particular makes the already expensive consumer festival a stress test for many.
In my family, for the first time this year, there are no presents at all, but everyone contributes something to the evening meal.
For those who also have to save money, I have come up with a three-course Christmas menu for four people: a Swabian pancake soup as a starter, cabbage wraps filled with bread dumplings with a dark sauce as the main course and a pear cooked in mulled wine as dessert.
For the ingredients used for all three courses together, you pay less than 3 euros per person at the discounter.
Means: 12 portions for less than 12 euros.
Originally I wanted to make napkin dumplings with cabbage rolls.
There were two problems: first, the price of the roulade filling, second, the preparation of the dumplings.
Usually you make serviette dumplings either in a cotton cloth or in cling film.
I find both moderately appealing – because either I have to put on the laundry afterwards or I have plastic in my food.
Then the inspiration came to me: Why not wrap the dumpling dough in the cabbage and combine both recipes?
The dumpling filling can be refined with strong flavors, such as bacon or olives.
I choose fried mushrooms because I can repurpose them in the sauce.
If you cook all three courses, you can make a little more vegetable stock (you need it for the soup and sauce) and use the mulled wine in the dark sauce and in the dessert.
Starter: pancake soup
This is what you need for four servings:
1 liter vegetable broth*
1 bunch of soup greens
100 grams of flour
200 ml milk (alternative)
2 teaspoons mixed kitchen herbs (e.g. parsley and chives, fresh or frozen)
salt, pepper, oil
Optional: 1 egg
What does this cost?
65 cents per serving.
How long does it take?
45 minutes.
How to make pancake soup:
Wash the soup greens, clean and cut into fine strips.
A bunch of soup alone is not enough for the deep taste, so I also take broth: either make it yourself from leftovers (see box above) or use ready-made broth (powder or liquid).
Bring the broth to the boil, add the vegetable strips and then leave to stand on a low heat with the lid on for about 30 minutes.
Then season with salt and pepper.
In the meantime, mix together the milk, flour, herbs and, if necessary, the egg until you have a thick batter.
Fry the batter into thin pancakes in small portions in a hot pan with a little oil.
Allow the finished pancakes to cool slightly, then roll up and cut into strips about 1 cm thick.
Stack the strips in the middle of deep plates, pour the broth over them and serve hot immediately.
Tip:
Broth and pancakes can be prepared well in advance.
If the Flädle are kept in the fridge overnight, they should not be added to the soup when they are ice-cold.
Better to let it come to room temperature for an hour.
Main course: dumpling roulade with dark sauce
This is what you need for four servings:
For the roulades:
350 g old rolls
1 head of cabbage (depending on the offer price, I used savoy cabbage)
250ml milk
2 eggs
2 tsp kitchen herbs (e.g. parsley, fresh or frozen)
150 grams of mushrooms
150 g onions or shallots
1/2 carrot
Some mustard
oil, salt, pepper
For the sauce:
400 ml vegetable broth*
100 ml red wine, mulled wine (if it is not so sweet) or beer
1/2 carrot
100 g onions or shallots
150 grams of mushrooms
2 teaspoons herbs de Provence (dried, fresh, frozen – it doesn’t matter)
1 tbsp flour
To:
100 g cranberry jam
Options:
some sage
What does this cost?
About 1.40 euros per person.
How long does it take?
About 2 hours, but most of it can be prepared the day before.
This is how you make bread dumpling roulades
Roughly chop
the dry
buns .
Place 300g in a bowl and set aside the rest for later as croutons.
Sweat the
onion
in a pan in a little oil until translucent, then add the milk and herbs and allow to warm up.
Add the mixture to the buns along with the eggs.
Season generously (!) and mix everything well.
Grate half the carrot and mix in as well.
Leave to soak for about 30 to 45 minutes.
Slice the
mushrooms
and sauté in oil.
Remove the stalk from the
cabbage
and carefully peel off the leaves.
Cut out the thick white part in the middle of the leaf, then briefly blanch the leaves in boiling water to make them easier to roll.
Stack 2-3 sheets on top of each other.
Spread some mustard
on the innermost leaf
, then wrap about 2 tablespoons of the dumpling mixture and a few fried mushrooms in it.
Wrap with twine or secure with toothpicks.
Steam the cabbage wraps in the steamer attachment for about 40 minutes.
If you don't have one, put them in a pan with a lid and fill it up to a maximum of 1/3 with water or broth.
Let it simmer and add liquid from time to time.
Fry the remaining bread for the
croutons
in oil until crispy and season with salt, then set aside.
Optional: Fry
sage leaves
in oil on both sides until the oil stops crackling.
Then salt the leaves and place them between two kitchen towels.
For the
sauce
, finely chop the vegetables and mushrooms and sauté briefly in a pan with a little oil.
Deglaze with broth and wine or beer, add herbs and simmer covered for 45 minutes on low heat.
If you have other herbs or spices such as allspice, mugwort or thyme in your spice cupboard, you can add them, you don't have to buy them separately.
Pour through a sieve, season with pepper and salt or stock powder.
In a hot saucepan, stir together some oil and a teaspoon of flour, then add the sauce while stirring and allow to thicken.
To serve, first put the sauce on a warm plate, then place the roulades on top.
Decorate with cranberry jam, croutons, remaining mushrooms and sage, if desired, and serve hot.
Tip:
Sauce and roulades can be prepared during the presentation, but the rolled roulades must be stored in the refrigerator (due to the raw ice cream in the dough).
Dessert: lightbulb
This is what you need for four servings:
4 pears, as ripe as possible
750 ml mulled wine
sugar as needed
1 bag of vanilla pudding powder
Optional: 4 scoops of vanilla ice cream
How long does it take?
30 minutes plus steeping time of 3 to 24 hours.
Prepare well the day before!
What does this cost?
90 cents per portion.
How to make lightbulb:
Peel the pears whole, not removing the stalk.
Cut off the base of the blossom so that the pear can stand later.
Hollow out the bottom of the fruit about 1-2 cm deep to remove the harder core.
Bring to the boil in the mulled wine, then turn off the heat and leave to stand in the residual heat for a few hours (or overnight).
Remove the pears before serving.
Bring the mulled wine to the boil and let it reduce for a few minutes without the lid.
then turn off the heat.
Mix the custard powder with a little cold water and then stir into the hot liquid.
Some mulled wines are heavily sweetened, others not at all - add some sugar depending on your taste.
Place the pears back in for 1 to 2 minutes to warm them up.
Then serve the pears and sauce warm together.
Optionally with a scoop of ice cream.
Tip:
If you are afraid of seeds, you can cut the pears in half and remove the core.
Then they just don't stand around so cheesy on the plate.
I wish you a relaxed Christmas time and bon appetit!
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