FoSaP for January - Austrian

You're probably wondering why I chose Austrian food for January. Well the date fell on the birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart so I just had to do Austrian. Plus, I wasn't all that familiar with Austrian cuisine so figured I would get an education at the same time.

Here's the menu I presented:

Appetizers
Onion Tart (onions baked in custard encased in a pastry shell)
Liptauer Kase (farmer's cheese with capers, onions, paprika, and caraway seeds)
Main Course
Red cabbage salad with apples, pecans and cranberry vinaigrette
Wiener Fiakergulasch (Viennese Goulash)
Spaetzle
Gebackene Kohlsprossen (Brussels sprouts, mushrooms and ham baked in custard)
Dessert 
Apple Strudel 

Because I was able to get a lot of the prep work done early, this was probably one of the most relaxing dinners I've done. Okay, so the Spaetzle was a challenge, but still. Not having made it before I didn't know what consistency the batter should be. And trying to push it through the holes of a colander? I think I used every colander in the house before I finally figured out the right consistency of the batter and right size holes. Wheh! I also think it helped that I took two dishes out of the menu since I almost always have waaaaaay too much food. This was just right!

Liptauer Kase

Red cabbage and apple salad with pecans

Apple Strudel

After presenting everyone with a cookbook celebrating three years of monthly dinners, we even had time to play a couple of games. Did you know there's a food item called Jussipussi?