Recipe Flemish Hotch-Potch

The lake trout “swims across” national borders and makes itself at home in deep, oxygen-rich lakes: in northern Russia, in Scandinavia, in the Baltic states, in Iceland. And of course, in Austria’s lakes. The sea trout is truly a globetrotter. In past times, it was the main fish to be found in Austrian lakes such as the Weissensee or the Millstätter See. And it is a great favourite with Austrian chefs and gastronomes. There’s very good reason for which the sea trout is the “Austrian Fish of the Year 2013”.

Asparagus has rightfully earned itself nicknames such as ‘white gold’ and ‘queen among vegetables’. It is indeed a very flavourful vegetable, which is traditionally harvested and enjoyed from the second Thursday in April.

Meatballs of various types are an integral part of Romanian cuisine and the word chiftea (pl. chiftele) (pronounced /kif-te-a/ – /kif-te-le/) is clearly an indication of their Turkish origin, the word being a corruption of the Turkish kofte and related to the Middle Eastern kafta. In the Moldavian region of Romania they are also commonly known as parjoale (/pur-joa-le/) although these seem to be a little larger in size than the standard Romanian chiftea. Due to the preference for pork in the Romanian diet, these meatballs are most commonly composed of pork, perhaps in combination with some beef. Lamb chiftele are quite rare in Romanian cuisine. These cauliflower croquettes have a moist, light interior and, if cooked right, a crispy coating. Cauliflower is more usually pickled in Romanian or the whole florets are battered and fried.

The Nürnberger Lebkuchen dough can also be used to create little Gingerbread-men, frosted hearts with greetings and the like. Use your own creativity using this traditional recipe from Bavaria!