Himmel und Erde

The name of this Rhineland dish translates as ‘heaven and earth’. It combines apples from heaven and potatoes from the earth and is served with slices of black pudding and crisp onion rings. Lovely on a cold winter’s day.

Ingredients – Serves 4

450g/1lb floury potatoes, peeled and quartered
350g/12oz cooking apples, cored, peeled and chopped
50g/2oz butter
2 cloves
Pinch of nutmeg
30ml/2 tbsp sunflower oil
350g/12oz blutwurst (black pudding) cut into 1cm / ½in slices
1 onion sliced into rings
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Cook the potatoes in a pan of boiling salted water for 20 minutes or until tender. Drain well.
Meanwhile put the chopped apples and 15g / ½ oz of the butter in a small pan with the cloves. Cook gently for 10 minutes until soft.
Discard the cloves then add the cooked apple to the potato with the remaining butter, nutmeg and a little salt and pepper.
Mash the mixture until smooth and creamy. Pile on to a serving plate and keep warm.
Meanwhile heat the oil in a frying oan and cook the black pudding for 5 minutes or until crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon and arrange to one side of the mash.
Add the onion rings to the pan and fry for 12-15 minutes, until lightly browned and crispy. Pile on top of the mash and serve hot

NB I copied this recipe from Atkinson, Catherine, and Trish Davies. Cooking Around the World: German, Austrian, Czech and Hungarian: 70 Traditional Dishes from the Heart of European Cuisine. London: Lorenz Books, 2006. Quite frankly I don’t understand why two people claiming to be cookery writers have written a recipe that is only slightly more complicated than beans on toast and which requires you to keep two of the three ingredients warm for up to 15 minutes before adding the third. Personally I cook this so that all the ingredients are ready at the same time. It’s not hard to do.