Better than bread and water: Bierbrezeln

German gastronomy is pretty a mystery to most of us, I have been living in Germany for the last 5 years and still eludes me. Walking around the streets of Bonn or Cologne, you rarely see restaurants specialized on German food. Mostly they are brewery offering rich creamy meat dishes, stews or schnitzel to have with their beers.

Mac&Cheese aux trois oignons

Sometimes I am cheesy I know but who isn’t? I love cheeses wherever they are from whichever is their smell; the important thing is that they should not move by themselves on the plate. Often I make pasta with cheese (parmesan is almost in each and every of them, I just cannot get enough of umami I suppose). This time I went orange with some Old Amsterdam cheese http://www.hollandsbest.com/cheese/_popup/old_amsterdam.htm . It is such a nice cheese, firm in texture, orange in colour, fully flavoured like an aged Parmesan but creamy in texture without any discernible crystals.
To compliment its savoury nature I chose to use caramelized onions in the sauce. A sprinkle of lightly toasted black onion seeds (nigella seeds) added some crunch and an aromatic bitter note to the dish while fresh julienned spring onions bring a nice herbal spicy notes to keep the palate interested.
So here we go:
Mac & Cheese aux trois oignons.