HIMMEL UND ERDE ("Heaven and Earth", a Rhineland Specialty) 4 lg. potatoes, peeled and cubed 3 tart apples, peeled, cored, and quartered salt and sugar to taste butter blood sausage (optional) Cook potatoes in slated water for 15 minutes. Drain, add apples, and cook until tender. Mash, season with salt, sugar, and butter. The blood sausage is sliced, fried in a little fat and served over the potato-apple mixture. Makes 4 servings. Note: Leftover Himmel und Erde can be made into delicious potato cakes. Form into patties with a spoon, shape between palms of hands, fry in butter. With Onion: Omit blood sausage, fry onions separately in butter or schmalz, serve as a topping for the potato-apple puree. With bacon: Fry bacon until crisp. Serve Himmel und Erde topped with crisp bacon and a little of the bacon drippings. Notes: I cooked the potatoes as I normally would for mashed potatoes. Previously I had cooked the apples separately in the microwave until soft enough to be mashed. I mashed them coarsely with a spoon. When the potatoes were done I drained them and returned them to the pot and added lots of butter and started to mash them with the mixer. When they were partly mashed I added the still warm apples and continued mashing until they were blended. I did not add any salt (I used lots of salt when I cooked the potatoes, plus I used salted butter) nor any sugar. As to quantities, I did not follow the recipe but used about 10-12 medium-large russets and about 8 large McIntosh apples, and about 1 stick of butter. I have never tried any of the other serving options at the end of the recipe but they sound really good - especially the bacon version. -- Kate Connally “If I were as old as I feel, I’d be dead already.” Goldfish: “The wholesome snack that smiles back, Until you bite their heads off.” What if the hokey pokey really *is* what it's all about? mailto:[email protected]
