Every year, the first part of September, I bake a 3-layer German Chocolate Cake (yes, from scratch!), with Coconut-Pecan Frosting. So Saturday, I baked my 40th German Chocolate Cake (every year, since we've been married, for David's birthday). Well, there are about 6,000 calories in each piece of this cake, so I thought it might be a good idea to share it with some other people. I invited Dave and Carol Hansen to come for a bratwurst supper, and some of that cake. They did come, and we had some good beer, and the supper - (I made my mother's home-made baked beans (cook the dry beans gently for an hour, and then mix them with 2 cups of the cooking liquid, some molasses, some brown sugar, some chopped, cooked, thick-cut, smoked bacon, and some chopped onions, and bake them for 7 hours in a 300 degree oven....I've decided they were a bit too dry, so next time I'll add more of the cooking water back into the beans....) We had sliced Heritage tomatoes, some colorful baby carrots, dill pickles, and the fixings for the brats.
I had made a garlic 'Toum' -
A scant 2 cups of garlic cloves, peeled (about 7 heads of garlic, peeled, and 1/2 t. kosher salt, processed in a food processor until very finely chopped. Slowly add (in as thin a stream as possible) 1 1/2 cups of organic canola oil, then stop to scrape down the sides of the processor bowl. Continue adding another 1/2 cup of canola oil in a similar very thin stream, until the mixture resembles creamy cooked grits. Then add 1/4 cup of fresh lemon juice (1-2 lemons), and pour it in a very slow stream as the processor is running. The mixture should begin to look whiter and lighter. Add 1/2 cup more of the oil in the same very thin stream, then slowly add 1/3 cup of water. The mixture will loosen, but will not become runny. Finally add the last 1/2 cup of the oil in the same very thin stream. The
resulting paste should be creamy white and fluffy, like beaten eggs. If not,
keep motor running and add more oil to get right color and consistency. Store in tight-fitting lidded container in
the refrigerator for up to 1 month. (I just spread a thin layer on some leftover brat bun and toasted it in my skillet with my eggs for breakfast....yum! Also would be good on cooked spaghetti...just as a 'dressing' for the spaghetti...but remember to cook it for a bit after adding it...it is raw garlic otherwise, and quite pungent and a bit bitter to the tongue...)
I spread a very thin layer of the Toum on one side of the brat buns that Dave and Carol had brought. We cooked our brats in a bottle of David's home-made beer until they were cooked through, and then they went on the grill. The buns also were grilled lightly, which made the garlic paste really delicious (it is pretty strong without cooking). Dave liked the garlic paste so much, he asked for a small container of it to take home. They are thinking it would taste great on the crust of their wood-fired pizza they make. And, I was glad to give it to them...how much garlic paste can two people consume in the 1 month period it is supposed to last? (As I use this paste, I will post recipes that I use it in...the original recipe came from Iowa Public Radio's program 'Splendid Table.' I ended up throwing out about half of the garlic paste a couple of weeks later...just too strong for most of our uses, and since I'm avoiding bread, I can't use it to make garlic bread, which was really the best use for it...)
So, brats served on toasted brat buns with a little of the garlic paste toasted on one side, with sliced red onion, pickle relish, Dijon mustard, and Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce...what's not to love?
Of course, we enjoyed some of David's home brew - rhubarb beer this time. And/or lemonade... And, for dessert, a nice slice of the German Chocolate Cake with some of David's homemade vanilla ice cream (and coffee for those who wanted it...)
Here's what is left of the cake...So delicious!
So, we sat for awhile out on our newly stained deck, with my flowers blooming, and enjoyed the cool breeze and the evening calm....
The deck looks great...and my flowers are doing very well...ah, retirement!
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