Austria days 34-35: Obertraun & Hallstadt

September 22nd: A long driving day. We stopped for lunch at a small roadside food stand that turned out to be surprisingly good, with many regional specialties.

I had a “bread soup”: beef-onion soup with chunks of bread and thinly-sliced crepe/pancake “noodles”.

Carol had a nice fried bratwurst that came with an intense mustard and grated horseradish.

We didn’t buy an Austrian toll-road pass, so we had to drive back roads that wound through a lot of scenic mountain passes. But the weather was a bit cloudy.

Eventually we arrived at our almost-lakeside hotel, the Seerose, in Obertraun.

The view from our balcony

The next-door Pizzeria Kegelbahn looked pretty good, so we had dinner there. It turned out to be excellent. I ordered soup and a cutlet, while Carol went for comfort-food lasagna. (Kegel is an Austrian form of bowling or skittles, so “Kegelbahn” could be translated as “bowling alley”; the restaurant has 2 lanes near the back.)

The garlic soup was creamy, intensely garlicky, and utterly delicious.

Turkey schnitzel with cranberry relish and parsley potatoes

Lasagne Bolognese, and yet another attempt to find a decent dark beer

September 23rd: We planned to see the Dachstein ice cave in the morning, but their cable car lift was out of order. They said it would be fixed in half an hour, but 2 hours later it was still not working. So, we wasted a couple of hours sitting around waiting for it, but eventually gave up, which was wise , because they never did get it running that day.

So instead, we went to the nearby Salzwelten (“salt worlds”) salt mine above Hallstadt. This is the oldest known salt mine on the planet, dating back about 7000 years.

It’s a long cable-railway ride up to the mine.

Looking down across the lake to Obertraun

Looking back down at Hallstadt

For some reason, I don’t appear to have taken any still photos inside the mine. But Carol did.

About to enter, wearing my pink knit cap

Video of Carol and I descending the wooden slide

Riding out on a narrow mineworker train

For dinner we went back to Pizzeria Kegelbahn. Why go searching for something else when you’ve got something this good right next door?

Carol opted for a Salzkammergut Pizza featuring local meats with corn, onions, and mushrooms.

I got the Hearty Lumberjacks Steak, “pork with roasted potatoes, onion, bacon, mushrooms”.

Howard’s Special (Brussels sprouts and sausage in mushroom-onion-cheese-horseradish sauce)

This evolved from a recipe on p.164 of the first edition of Molly Katzen’s The Enchanted Broccoli Forest.  She deleted it in the second edition, and I think I know why: it just wasn’t quite good enough.  It was missing something.  Over years of experimenting with variants, I think I finally figured out what: meatiness, or “umami” flavor.  However, after fixing that, I felt I still owed something back to the recipe’s vegetarian roots, so you’ll also find here a veggie version.

(Serves 4, can be doubled)

• 1/2 lb pasta
• 1/2 lb Brussels sprouts
• 1/2 c chopped onion (or more, I sometimes use a whole small onion)
• 1/2 lb sliced mushrooms
• 1/2 package Jimmy Dean sausage (Gimme Lean for veggie version)
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp dill
• 1/2 tsp tarragon (or, in a pinch, “Italian herbs”)
• 1/2 tsp dried mustard OR 1 tsp prepared mustard
• 1 tbsp flour
• 1 c hot milk
• 1 tsp prepared horseradish (or more to taste)
• 1 packed cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
• (optional) chopped fresh watercress for garnish (a little old and sharp is OK)
• (optional) grated asiago for garnish (parmesan/romano also OK)

Cut the Brussels sprouts into quarters (if large) or halves (if smaller) and start steaming them. Don’t let them overcook and turn olive green.  (Start your pasta water also, and time the pasta to finish about the same time as the sauce.)

Form the sausage into small balls about the same volume as the Brussels sprout pieces. Fry them until browned.  (For the Jimmy Dean sausage, you may only need to add a little water to the pan and then continue cooking in its own drippings; for the Gimme Lean, you’ll want to cook it in the butter.) Remove the sausage. (For Jimmy Dean, drain off excess grease and add the butter now.)

Add the onion and cook for a minute, then add the mushrooms and salt.  Stir in the mustard.  Sprinkle in the dill and tarragon as they cook. When the onions are translucent, sprinkle in the flour, stirring as you do. Meanwhile, heat the milk in a Pyrex measuring cup in your microwave (about 1 minute on high).

Gradually drizzle in the hot milk, stirring as you do. Keep the sauce smooth and lump-free.

Stir in the horseradish, then add the sausage and Brussels sprouts. Sprinkle in the cheese as you stir, until it is all melted. When the pasta is ready, mix the sauce into it and serve, along with the optional garnishes and extra horseradish.

My theory for why the horseradish works so well here is that kale-family vegetables like broccoli and Brussels sprouts have a natural radishy sharpness when fresh, which is destroyed by cooking; the horseradish replaces this lost “bite”.  This is also why watercress works as a garnish.

If you start in a pot or pan large enough to hold everything, this is a “one pot” dish (not counting the pasta pot), so it’s easy to clean up afterwards. The technique of making a roux in the same pan as your main ingredients is REALLY convenient and well worth learning for use in other recipes.