German Wine, traditional Onion Quiche, and a German Wine Giveaway

/ March 19, 2015

Germany is well known for its beers and beer festivals, and rightly so. What’s much less well known is the fact that we produce some really great wines, too. And I am not talking Liebfraumilch here.

When I came to Britain for the first time, Liebfraumilch and Blue Nun were a popular choice of wine. In Britain, that is. Despite coming from a wine-growing region, I had never heard of either before (years later I did discover Liebfraumilch in a German supermarket – on the bottom shelf, in a plastic 2-litre bottle. I did not exactly ooze class).

My region, Baden-Württemberg, is quite well-known for its Rieslings, a white grape that produces light and fruity wines. Another popular grape is Trollinger, a red grape that has become synonymous with our region. Wine has been grown in the area around Stuttgart since Roman times, and the south-facing slopes of the valleys are dotted with vineyards, many or them owned by local families who bring their produce to the local cooperatives. My school friend Nicole’s grandparents had such a ‘Wengertle’, a small vineyard in the hills above their village, where I was allowed to help with the harvest as a child.Weinernte 1980_NEW

Even in prime locations within Stuttgart can you find these little vineyards, above the central train station as well as in between the villas that are perched along the south-facing slopes of our city.

Stuttgart city centre

Stuttgart city centre – the green patch slightly left of the centre is a vineyard.

Stuttgart Neue Weinsteige

View across Stuttgart

Every winemaker is allowed to open their house to the public for up to four months a year to sell their wine: by hanging a broom above their door they signal they’re open to the public, and you can come in and have lunch, or dinner, or just a snack, in the comfort of the owner’s dining room or kitchen.

If you ever have the chance to visit such a ‘Besenwirtschaft’, literally ‘broom inn’, you’ll be offered traditional local food such as the Maultaschen, Kässpätzle, dumplings or Schupfnudeln I have described elsewhere. But if you don’t really feel like eating a large meal, you might go for a slice of Zwiebelkuchen, onion quiche. instead: juicy and aromatic, it’s the perfect accompaniment for a glass or two of the local wine.Zwiebelkuchen 2

To convince you that Germany is a great place to visit, Inntravel, a company that specialises in ‘slow’ travel, kindly provided me with a German wine ‘starter kit’, consisting of two exquisite white wines from the famous Moselle valley, as well as a selection of German chocolates.Inntravel giveaway 2

One lucky UK winner can take it all – check out the terms and conditions below. For everyone else, I’ll leave you with a slice or two of the onion quiche.

Zwiebelkuchen – Onion Quiche (for a 26 cm flan form)

  • 200g plain flour
  • 100g salted butter
  • 1 egg
  • 1-2 tbs water
  • 600-700g onions
  • 50g pancetta
  • 300ml sour cream
  • 1 egg
  • 1-2 tbs caraway seeds
  • salt, pepper to taste

Prepare the shortcrust pastry by mixing the ingredients quickly: before I use my hands to knead it into a dough I use a spatula to cut the butter into small chunks and mixing it with the flour, salt and egg. You might need to add a little water.

Once it all sticks together, resist the temptation to work it into a smooth dough: if you overwork it and the butter gets too warm you’ll end up with rather bland and hard base instead of a crumbly, even flaky texture. Store in the fridge for an hour or two, before heating your oven to 200C / 400F.

In the meantime, cut the onions into thin slices and sweat them in a little fat until they are shiny and translucent. Set aside. Using the same pan, brown the pancetta a little and add it to the onion rings.

In a medium-sized bowl, mix the remaining ingredients.

Grease a flan tin or similar. Roll out the dough quickly and place it into the tin, forming a 3 cm/ 2 in rim. Prick the pastry a couple of times with a fork.Zwiebelkuchen empty

Mix the onions, pancetta and sour cream mix before filling it into the tin.Zwiebelkuchen filling

Place it on the middle of your oven and bake it for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.

As for the accompanying wine, here are the entry requirements for the giveaway:

Following the instructions on the Rafflelecopter website, I had hoped for a fancy display – unfortunately, this link is all I got, so follow it to get you to a Rafflecopter giveaway.

In order to qualify, you need to be over 18 and a UK resident – this will help Inntravel to post the goodies to you. Once you have checked (is it raining outside? Check. Do you think ‘raw’ food means it is not fried? Check. You don’t know what ‘public transport’ means? Check. You’re a UK resident.) (If you got really worked up about these questions, however, you are a German resident in the UK. You’ll still qualify, but probably don’t need to be introduced to German wine).

You’ll better hurry and get yourself to a Rafflecopter giveaway, otherwise you’ll end up empty handed – like me, after leaving the pack unguarded for a couple of hours:Inntravel 2

Disclaimer:

This giveaway ends March 25st at 12:00 PM EST. Open to Residents of the UK over 18 years of age only.  Prizes cannot be shipped to PO Boxes.  The winner will be notified by email. Winner have 48 hours to respond before a new winner is selected. Please note that Ginger&Bread is not responsible for sponsors that do not fulfill their prizes.  I have represented Inntravel with the expectation they will fulfill their prize and in a timely manner. I will contact the sponsor regarding your prize(s). The sponsors are shipping their items to you directly. I will make every effort to assist you obtaining your prize. If there is an issue with a sponsor, please notify the blog you won a prize from within 30 days for assistance, after that we may be unable to assist you.  The product provided for the review was free of charge from the company. The product offered for the giveaway is free of charge, no purchase necessary. My opinions are my own and were not influenced by any form of compensation.  Facebook, Twitter and Google+ are in no way associated with this giveaway.  By providing your information in this form, you are providing your information to me and me alone.  I do not share or sell information and will use any information only for the purpose of contacting the winner.

 

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53 thoughts on “German Wine, traditional Onion Quiche, and a German Wine Giveaway”

  1. Ooooo, the onion quiche looks just wonderful. The sour cream addition is quite unusual, but I’m liking the sounds of it. Wish I could have entered the giveaway – I used to love the Blue Nun that you mention when I first started drinking. 🙂

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  2. I love a good Riesling. If I ever make it Germany during the wine season, I’ll certainly be on the look-out for the broom above the door! As for this quiche, it looks fabulous and sounds positively delicious…thanks for sharing your recipe!

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    • It’s not so much when you’re there but where you’re going – if it is a wine-producing area, chances are that somebody is looking to off-load their products to make space for the next batch 😉

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  5. Lovely, lovely looking Zwiebelkuchen. When I was living with five Germans in London (including my future husband), I once brought a kilo bag of sliced onions home from a kitchen I was working in and donated them to the most enormous Zwiebelkuchen I’ve ever seen. Didn’t look a patch on yours though!

    I’ll have to admit I did to neck the odd Blue Nun as a student, but I’m making up for it now by drinking vast quantities of much classier German wine! 😉

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  8. You don’t have to convince me that Germany is a nice country!! I go to visit anytime I can and even more often❤❤I love this Ritter Sport chocolates by the way- my favorite is Marzipan of course 😛

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  10. I found this post really interesting! I moved to the Rhineland-Pfalz area of Germany so am looking forward to my first full German summer! I love how many community/ wine events they have here too!

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  11. I found this post really interesting! I moved to the Rhineland-Pfalz region in August so I am looking forward to my first full German summer! I love the amount of wine/ community events they have here too!

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  13. I lived in Celle, in the north of Germany, for a while in the 1970s and I can remember being amazed at the quality and variety of wines there, because as you said, all we ever got in the UK then was Blue Nun and Liebfraumilch. Love the look of the Zwiebeltorte, think I’ll be making this very soon
    Oh, about the Rafflecopter thingy – apparently Word Press doesn’t let the pretty display appear on the blog post like other blog hosts do!

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    • I know – what a pity about the visuals. Never mind, though – once you had a bar or two of the chocolates you’ll get over it 😉
      Celle is supposed to be a very pretty town, or am I wrong? I have to admit, I haven’t really ventured much into the Wild North …

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  14. My family originated from Alsace and the wine there is amazing. They are very similar to the German wines which are so underrated. The quiche sounds a great variation on the old favourite and as for the chocolate, well, I can’t just have a single square of Ritter. I have to eat the lot,

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    • I have to admit, I played around with the pastry – the Alsatian tarte a l’oignon is so much prettier than our Swabian traybake version … I love Gewurztraminer, the drier ones, but, again, here in Britain you only get the ones on the sweeter end. What a pity!

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  17. I’ve visited Germany on holiday several times and Bavaria was the prettiest place I have ever seen. I loved the black squirrels, waterfalls and food. I tried Riesling for the first time about 10 years ago and have been a convert ever since – buying DR Loosen whenever I can.

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  21. I love Germany. It is such a lovely, clean place and everything runs on time. I tried Riesling a while ago, so winning this would make a nice treat for my family.

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    • What a pity you didn’t win the pack – it was such a brilliant combination! You can get it in Waitrose’s, though, and the Grey Slate Riesling is rather delicious!

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    • You absolutely must! It’s such a varied country – beautiful cities like Berlin, Cologne or Munich, amazing countryside, you name it. The travel company who sponsored the giveaway, Inntravel.co.uk, have some fantastic tours. Makes me want to pack my bags right now …

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  23. I love visiting Germany. My interest in the country started with learning the language. Would love to test the wine out! 🙂

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  24. Sorry, everyone – the giveaway has closed and the winner is L Horley! Congratulations!
    Thank you all for taking part. Don’t forget to check out Inntravel’s website for some inspiration for your own future holidays 😉

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  26. Ginger, this onion quiche is something I have never come across, I mean the using of sour cream and only one egg, I am so fascinated by this I will have to make for sure 🙂 I can’t wait to explore more of your recipes. Happy Me!!!! 🙂

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