Vegan MoFo - Stopover 16 - Austria

My Austrian meal turned out a little different to what I originally planned due to lack of time on the weekend. I had been drawn to a recipe for a Linzer Torte which claims to be the oldest known cake in the world dating back to the 1700's, although I didn't getting around to making this after becoming sidetracked with another cooking project which was unrelated to my theme.

I wanted to try my hand at some Vienna bread as my bread making endeavours of late haven't involved anything as simple as a loaf of bread. The recipe I used stated that it made 5 loaves so I halved this and made 2 loaves out of the half batch. The loaves were on the small side so I would just make one large loaf from this half batch in future. The bread was baked in the oven with a tray filled with water to create steam which gives the bread a crispy crust. These loaves were a lot crustier than others I've made in the past although they still weren't quite up to bakery standards.

After a busy day on Sunday, I needed a quick dinner on the table and knew that I could rely on a convenience product to stand in as an Austrian schnitzel - Fry's chicken-style schnitzels. I looked up a quick Austrian styled potato salad and made this to have on the side. The amount of dressing that was listed for the salad sounded way too much(and it would have been) so I cut it back to a quarter and played around with the method a little as well. The potato salad was tangy from the vinegar yet still had an element of sweetness from the sugar so the balance of flavours in this was really nice. We had our schnitzels in fresh Vienna bread with salad and vegan mayonnaise, paired with the potato salad this was a tasty quick dinner.


Austrian-style warm potato salad (Adapted from foodnetwork.com)

500g washed potatoes
1 tablespoon salt
4 small springs fresh thyme
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, diced
¼ cup white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
salt and pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped


Place the whole, unpeeled potatoes in a large saucepan filled with water and add the salt and thyme. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer, covered for 15-20 minutes or until the potatoes are just tender. Drain in a colander, when the potatoes are cool enough to handle peel off the skins and chop the potatoes into slices.

Mix the white wine vinegar and sugar together in a small bowl.

Heat the olive oil in a deep sided frying pan over medium heat. Fry the onions for 5 minutes or until soft then stir through the potatoes until well coated with the onions. Pour in the vinegar and sugar mixture and stir well. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir through the parsley just before serving.

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Did you know?

The Austrian flag is one of the oldest in the world and has been in use since 1191.

Do you want to know where else I've been this month? Click here for the round up.