European Christmas Markets are full of magic; beautiful alpine stalls, delicious food, warm Gluhwein, SO much cheer. While you can’t recreate the stalls in your home you can easily make some of the food. Here are some of my favorite foods from markets I’ve visited.
Tarte Flambée (Flammkuchen)
This dish is from the Alsace region of France as well as the neighboring Baden-Württemberg and Rheinland-Pfaltz areas of Germany. Tarte Flambée translates to a ‘tart baked in flames’ from French and its German name, Flammkuchen translates to pretty much the same thing. Flamme=flame and kuchen=tart, so flame tart. This pizza-like dish is made up of crispy dough, crème fraiche, onion and bacon. Sometimes there is cheese added but not always. It’s simple and quite easy to recreate at home. My favorite recipe is in Rustic French Cooking Made Easy by Audrey Le Goff of Pardon Your French. This recipe that I found online is quite similar though. (there are a lot ads on this sight so I just linked the print recipe)
Raclette
Raclette is basically a giant wheel of cheese that is heated up and scraped off onto various foods such as potatoes, pickles, meat or bread. They have little at home raclette tools but Andrew and I have just taken a couple of slices of the cheese and placed them on parchment lined baking sheet at 350F for 10ish minutes. You can also heat in a smaller cast iron pan and serve with the sides mentioned above.
Käsespätzle
A very typically Bavarian dish, this is Germany’s answer to mac & cheese. These little noodle dumplings are combined with a rich, cheesy sauce and topped with fried shallots. This recipe is pretty tasty and reminds me of the dish we had in Zurich. If you need a spaetzle recipe try this one.
Kartoffelpuffer (Potato Pancakes)
Potato pancakes consist of potatoes that have been peeled, grated, wrung out, mixed with a few other ingredients, then fried. They are delicious and a staple at any market. You can top them with sour cream and chives or applesauce. This recipe by The Daring Gourmet is easy to throw together and is very tasty.
Currywurst
Currywurst is widely considered to be the ultimate German street food. It’s just sliced sausage topped with a tomato sauce (or ketchup) with spices like yellow curry powder and paprika mixed in. But there’s something about it that works. This dish is often served with fries too. This recipe is super flavorful and easy to make.
Lebkuchen
I couldn’t possibly share a list of market foods without Lebkuchen. Youl will find these delicious gingerbread cookies at almost every market. The texture and taste can vary though. The colorfully decorated hearts that you see hanging at stalls tend to be a little hard and kind of dry. I like the softer, round cookies. Try this recipe for a soft, spiced cookie with a zesty lemon glaze on top. You can also dip the cookies in chocolate which is SO good. (I only linked the print recipe. I get that people like to make money from their sites, but the number of ads is seriously off-putting. Just my opinion and I clearly still use the recipes!)
Glühwein
One of my favorite things to do at the Christmas markets is to get a warm mug of Glühwein. It’s a great way to stay warm when outside enjoying the market and most markets will have festive mugs that they serve it it. Below is an authentic German recipe that I have made many times, if you’re feeling lazy though pick up some Winter Wassail from Trader Joes heat up and top with some red wine and fresh orange slices. Easy Peasy.
Traditional Glühwein
Ingredients:
- 2 bottles (750ml each) of full-bodied red or white wine
- 1 organic orange
- ½ an organic lemon
- 2 sticks of cinnamon
- 4 whole cloves
- 4 juniper berries (or 4 cardamom pods)
- ¼ teaspoon whole fennel seeds
- 1 star anise pod (or ¼ teaspoon whole anise seeds)
- ¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract (or a 2-inch piece of a vanilla bean pod without the seeds – pod only)
- 3 to 4 tablespoons raw sugar, to taste
Optional: You can also add an shot of Brandy or Amaretto to each serving mug. Then it’s really a party!
Directions:
- Peel the outer layer of the orange and the lemon half with a vegetable peeler or sharp paring knife in strips.
- In a small saucepan, combine 1 cup of the wine with all the rest of the ingredients except the sugar. Bring to a simmer, then cover the saucepan and simmer the spices in the wine for 20 minutes.
- Strain the hot wine into a larger saucepan through a fine meshed sieve, and add the remaining wine from the bottles. Add the sugar.
- Heat the Glühwein over medium-low heat just until it is hot enough to drink. Do not let the wine boil, or even come to a simmer. That will evaporate the alcohol and who wants that?
- Keep the wine warm over very low heat in the covered saucepan or place it in a slowcooker on warm/low.
- Serve with an additional strip of orange peel (optional but it looks fancy)
