Copenhagen Food Follies

The Vegetarian Reuben

2011-11-20T18:18:00.004+01:00

This one's been a long time coming guys.

The Reuben is my all-time favorite sandwich. Oh yes. I have a weakness for sauerkraut. Just typing the word here is getting my glands going. It's a dee-licious ingredient that is only better in a hot sandwich with melted cheese all over it, and you know it.

But. The pastrami. Yeah, right? The pastrami just isn't the star of this sandwich, so why keep propagating doomed animals just to be the supporting role here? I found an excellent substitute, found easily at the local health food store and remedied in a few minutes with a few drops of tamari to give this sandwich just the tasty protein punch it deserves. You're welcome.

You'll need:
Rye sourdough slices (I used Danish rye bondebrød)
Sauerkraut, warmed through
Emmenthaler slices
Smoked tofu, sliced, and gently warmed on a pan with a few drops of tamari on each slice
"Russian dressing" - basically mayo and ketchup mixed well with a dollop of mustard too, if that's your thing

To just explain the smoked tofu, I found that it was still too bland, to I tried the method described above, and it did really turn out perfectly. As I said before, the sauerkraut is what makes this sandwich for me personally, but obviously, if you're a meat fan, I won't hold that against you, and this probably won't do it for you. We can still be friends regardless. But see? It looks pretty good!

Now, slather those slices with the sauce, layer your sandwich as you like, but may I suggest tofu on the bottom, sauerkraut, and then the cheese on top? The melting of the cheese works well this way I find, seeping more downward than outward.

Butter up your griddle and give that sandwich some heat on both sides, until the cheese is melted and the bread is perfectly browned.

Really nice.
I invited my friend Jakob over to test it, he'd never had this particular sandwich before - he had thirds.
Go!

Colorful and Spicy Potato Salad

2011-11-06T13:51:00.003+01:00

When an ex-boyfriend and I split, the thing I missed the most was this Indian vegetarian cookbook. I later brought it back into my life via Amazon, and to be honest, I've only ever made this lovely potato salad from it.

I don't make it slavishly anymore, following instruction to the t, but the idea is the same, and creamy potato salad with a spicy punch, and loads of color from the additions of pomegranate seeds and coriander. I adore fresh coriander!

The gist is simple, precook and quarter medium potatoes. Let cool.
Mix some low fat yoghurt with a bit of mayonnaise.
I then personally seasoned it with salt, pepper, a dash of garlic powder and piri piri.
I also added finely chopped red onion, but really, I think this can do without.
Give it all a good mix, and top with the pomegranate seeds and fresh, chopped coriander.

So simple, but it looks so daring on the table.
Delicious.

Mummi Hukka's Karelian Pasties or Karjalan Piirakat

2011-10-30T21:08:00.009+01:00

As some of you know, I have a Finnish connection. For over half my life, I've had a rather odd obsession with the country, its quirky inhabitants and even quirkier language. I lived there for half a year, going to the university in Helsinki. This quintessential Finnish dish is a comfort food for Finns and foreign exchange students like me alike. I'd often duck into Stockmann's bakery on the way to school and pick up one or two of these as a quick lunch.

Mummi Hukka is a good Finnish friend's grandmother, and the origin of this recipe. It's been made time and time again for years, so it's absolutely perfect!

These pasties are truly delicious any which way you eat them. Fresh, warm, or cold, for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, with munavoi (chopped hardboiled eggs in melted butter), butter, or a slice of cheese.

They can also be made with mashed potato filling, but I happened to have leftover rice after dinner today (I added milk, and boiled, simmered, added more milk, until I got a porridge out of it) .

Crust:
2 dl cold water
1 tsp salt
2 dl wheat flour
3 dl rye flour

Mix well, and roll out, thinly and evenly, atop a floured surface

Filling:
3 dl water
2 dl rice
8 dl milk
half a tsp salt

Bring to a boil, then simmer until you've got a good rice porridge

Check out the pictures for the next steps.

Heat the oven to 300 degrees Celsius.
Bake for about 15 minutes.
Moisten them with milk just after you take them out of the oven.
Enjoy!

Sloe (Slow) Gin

2011-10-24T21:24:00.005+02:00

Just across the street from us is the Copenhagen version of Central Park. I've plucked my elderflowers there for over ten years now, but only just last year did I stumble across a patch of sloe bushes (trees?).

I put my boys to work the other day, and held the branches low so their nimble little fingers could grab as many ripening berries as possible. I say ripening, since sloe berries are only truly "done" after the first good frost. I dare not wait for it, since I'm certainly not the only good woman in this burrough looking forward to her own sloe brew.

So, you pluck them as late in the season as you dare. then freeze them yourself overnight. This breaks down their bitterness, and gets them ready to languish in the spirits of your choice for three months. I use gin.

This recipe is an idea gleaned from several sources.
400-500 grams of sloe berries, washed, frozen overnight, and thawed.
100 grams of sugar.
1 bottle of gin.

Shake daily until the sugar is dissolved.
Store a dark place for 3 (THREE!) whole months.
Strain through a sieve, then a cheesecloth.
Enjoy.

I've yet to taste this, it's my very first try with the sloe. I'll probably just enjoy it straight up, but if you have any suggestions for use in a cocktail, do pipe up!

Gingery, Crunchy Salad

2011-09-30T08:46:00.004+02:00

I love this salad. I've loved it since the first time I tasted it at Atlas Bar way back. It's a crunchy mix of finely shredded white cabbage, red cabbage, and carrots (actually julienned). I added finely shredded sushi nori for a little more color, flavor and nutrients.

Then, warm some almonds on a hot pan, add honey and soy and gently warm through and mix.

Then, you make the dressing. The dressing's key.
Finely grate ginger and a clove of garlic (garlic's optional). Add a drop of sesame oil, a dollop of soy, a pour of vegetable oil, a bit of apple cider vinegar (or acidic whatever) and honey. A good squeeze of honey. And mix well, and pour over, and toss, and...yum.

Rye Bread Chips

2011-08-25T13:12:00.005+02:00

Was out diving with Mina again. I like going with other people best, it's kind of dark and lonely out there!

Anyway, I got a whole untouched, still wrapped mind you, loaf of organic spelt rye bread. Expiration date was still a day away, they probably chucked it to make room for new wares.

This particular bread is not one I buy myself, since I find it quite dry, but I'd been wanting to try making some rye bread chips for a while, something I've tried at an international festival here in Copenhagen. I remember it as being thinly sliced, crispy strips of rye bread, very crunchy, with an oily, garlicky flavor. Should be a cinch to reproduce!

It turned out pretty good, I'd say, though I didn'e have fresh garlic, only garlic powder, and I should have oiled the bread more before baking it. but here's a break down:

1 loaf of rye bread, not too many visible kernels, thinly sliced and cut into smaller strips
olive oil
garlic, either crushed and mixed with the oil, or powdered
salt

Arrange the strips on a piece of baking paper, coat liberally with garlicky oil, or add the garlic powder after oiling.
Sprinkle with salt.
Bake 15-20 minutes in a medium warm oven.

I took them out while they were piping hot and still a little soft, transferred them to a wire tray to cool, and they hardened up as they cooled. They turned out near perfect, and they kept well until the day after.

I happened to serve them as an hors d'oeuvres with Danish soft smoked cheese and chives.
Oldest kid got the rest for his lunch box day after - loved them!

So for divers, or those who just have an old rye bread at home going stale - this is an excellent, tasty and easy snack!

Isa

2011-07-22T14:48:00.004+02:00

I don't think I've actually recommended this book here before (for shame!), but it really opened my eyes to a larger repertoire of vegan cooking. It's called Vegan with a Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moskowitz, and it's fabulous really. I love her recipes, and her writing, she's funny, and pragmatic and spunky all at once. Recommended! In fact, her book was the first place I fell over seitan as a meat substitute, a package of which I've got languishing in the fridge passed its "due" date. But it's vacuum packed, so it should be okay still, right?!

You can follow her on Twitter too, @IsaChandra. She makes me laugh there too!

Pointed Cabbage Entré

2011-07-07T12:14:00.004+02:00

This recipe is from Nikolaj Kirk's Hverdagsmad, which is a pretty good basic cookbook, nothing special in my opinion ("hverdagsmad" means everyday food, which explains it!), but I came upon this recipe and was really surprised to see pointed cabbage used any other way that as a finely shredded coleslaw ingredient or in a thick sauce as an accompaniment to potatoes. I quite like it, you can prepare the cabbage so that it's softer or crunchier, as you like, and the dressing is a nice protein rich and tangy affair. This can as easily be your dinner entré as it can be the side dish to chicken or anything else for that matter.

It was perfect as the main dish yesterday, with sides of corn and pan-fried halloumi cheese with tomatoes and avocado. A real summer meal.

You'll need:

2 eggs, boiled and chopped
2 tbsp capers, finely chopped
1/2 bunch of parsley, chopped (I used cilantro from my herb patch)
juice and zest of half a lemon (make it organic!), zest needs to be finely grated
1 dl olive oil (I used a mix of olive and flaxseed)
2 pointed cabbages
50 g. butter (I omitted this to save calories)
200 g. firm chèvre (I used a mix of feta and Danish rygeost - it's what I had!)
salt and pepper

Remove the darkest leaves from the cabbage and slice them lengthwise. Cover the bottom of a pot with about 2 inches of water and add salt, butter and cabbage. Cover and steam until the cabbage are still a bit crunchy.

Mix the eggs, capers, parsley and lemon zest with the lemon juice, oil and pepper.

Arrange the cabbage on a serving dish, and crumble the cheese on top of it with your fingers. Drizzle the vinaigrette over it until thoroughly coated, and you're all set!

Best No Knead Bread Yet!

2011-07-05T14:33:00.004+02:00

Timewise, this bread takes a while. Effortwise, it's a cinch.

I've made no knead bread many times before, usually a dough that's quicky thrown together in the evening with just a few stirs, and in the morning, dropped in small portions on to a bakesheet. After 25 minutes or so in a cold started oven, it's wonderful breakfast breadrolls. Nothing wrong with that, this recipe just takes it to the next level. It's Jim Laheys' of course. It's everywhere these days, and after, once again, having it presented to me in the paper, I thought, now is the time.

Danish readers can check out the recipe here.

For the Yanks, I shall translate below. Look what you've got to look forward to!

You'll need:

Yeast, the size of a pea (or 1 gram dry yeast)
8 grams of salt
300 grams of water (10.5 oz.)
400 grams of flour (14 oz.)
1 pot with lid that are oven-safe

Here's what you do:

Step 1. Dissolve the yeast in the water (I used room temperature water), and add the remaining ingredients. Stir around in the bowl only until all the flour is moist. Cover the bowl with household film and let it sit out for 12-18 hours. 18 hours is better than 12 hours.

Step 2. Dump the dough onto a floured work surface. Fold it gently a few times. It's a bit runny, so make sure your hands are floured up. Oil the bowl and dump the dough back in for 2 hours of rising.

Step 3. Turn the oven on to 250 Celsius (475 Fahrenheit?) and put your oven-safe pot in to heat through. 30 minutes of its a Creuset, less if it's metal (which I used). When the pot is hot enough, take it out, dump the dough in it, cover with the lid, and bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, turn the oven down to 230 Celsius (450 Fahrenheit) and remove the lid. Give it another 15 minutes.

When it's all done, take it out and let it cool off for 2 hours before tucking in.

It's so much better than my old no knead bread, though I haven't tried it as rolls yet, will get back on that. It's chewy, reminiscent of sourdough, in a milder version. It's a very satisfying baking experience!

Red Beans and Yum

2011-06-25T17:29:00.005+02:00

This just in!

I've been clearing my cupboards for those half used bags of what not, and decided to put these year old kidney beans to good use in a little something inspired by the red beans and rice I've had on trips to N'awlins in years past. Not much in the mood for meat these days, as bad climate change news is keeping me on the straight and narrow as far as habits go. Cutting meat out of your diet is one of the big ones as far as carbon emissions go, and I was afraid the flavor would take a hit, but with a little help from my friends, and some yummy chipotle powder I got from a friend, it was just perfect! I also substituted rice with bulgur, as it was also laying around in the cupboard, as well as it being healthier.

You'll need:
2 cups of kidney beans, soaked overnight
bulgur
1 can/box of crushed tomatoes
1 bell pepper, your choice of color, diced
1 yellow onion, sliced or diced how you want 'em
2 bay leaves
2 cloves of garlic, crushed and sliced or diced
1 tsp chipotle powder
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp oregano
salt and pepper
flour for thickening

Start by sauteing the onion, garlic and bell pepper in some olive oil in a pot. When they're soft and glassy, throw in the spices for a good mix around. Add the beans, bay leaves, tomatos and a little salt. Fill your pot with water until the ingredients are covered, and let simmer for 20-30 min. I used my pressure cooker since the beans were old-ish, and probably needed a little help. When it's about done, get your bulgur going, as much as you need for as many people as you are, it's usually half bulgur/half water. Taste the beans and add salt and pepper as needed. If it's a little runny, mix som flour with a little water in a bowl and add the mixture slowly over heat until it thickens.

That's it. Serve it up, pick out the bay leaves if you've got kids, and enjoy!

ps - I happened to add some pimentos that I had in a jar, and I added that along with the pimento water. I like the pimento flavor, but the water made it too acidic. I rememdied this by throwing in a teaspoon of baking soda at the very end. It neutralized the flavor just fine, but if you want to make this addition as well, I'd recommend a little caution!

Kimchi

2011-04-17T09:47:00.004+02:00

One should only be so lucky to be invited to one of Mina's kimchi slave mines. It sounds ominous, but really, all it is is a bunch of folks standing around getting chili paste up to their elbows while they smother cabbage, daikon, carrots and spring onions in it before stuffing in a jar and calling it kimchi. Then, she makes yummy Asian delicacies for you to eat before heading home with your new acquisition. Kimchi is so photogenic. And it tastes great with scrambled eggs, among other things. You should be so lucky!

Easy Hot Lunch - Udon Noodle Soup

2011-04-11T18:09:00.005+02:00

Yeah so, culinary adventures are just not my thing these days. I'm into sandwiches, easy homemade pizzas and pasta dishes lately. The more time I spend thinking bigger, better thoughts about my master plan (which encompasses everything), the less time I have to thinking about dinner.

I wanted a hot lunch the other day, despite my lack of creativity, and I luckily spied a package of forgotten udon noodles in the back of the fridge, hooray! So easy.

Hot water. Add udon.

Boil as the package instructs. Add miso (mine's vegan). Then I add a small handful of chopped spring onions and canned corn.

At the very end I add cubes of silky tofu. Don't heat them too much, or they'll disentegrate.

Less than five minutes. Hot lunch. So good.

Soupe Marocaine - Harira

2011-02-18T20:13:00.006+01:00

As followers of my other blog know, I am in Morocco! I'm two weeks in, in a month stay at our "old haunt" in Essaouira. It's absolute bliss. We've been adopted by some locals, who are kind, so kind. We've been in the country, treated to the hospitality of Moroccan farmers, and their daughter Latifa has continued spreading the love. Yesterday, by celebrating Mikael's birthday (a week late) with cake, Moroccan crêpes, and the traditional soup for breaking the fast of Ramadan, harira.

I love this soup. I could eat it every day without getting bored. This also because each Moroccan person/family/restaurant makes their own variation. It can be vegan, vegetarian or with lamb, chicken or beef. However which way you like it. The main points of reference in this soup are the spices, chickpeas, lentils, tomatos, herbs and vermicelli pasta. Beyond that, you can pretty much do what you like. And it'll still taste fabulous!

Here's lovely Latifa, dishing it out for us and our friend the real estate agent here, Salah. I made sure to watch her closely, making mental and real notes. So here, I will first write out which ingredients you will be needing, and approximately how much, after that, there's a lot of gefühl going on. No matter, the outcome will be tasty. I promise. This particular version is vegetarian, but can be made vegan by using only olive oil, vegetable stock cubes and omitting the egg.

2 cups of chickpeas, soaked overnight
1 cup of small, dark green lentils, (pretty sure it was puy)
1 onion, finely chopped
2 tomatos, grated or finely diced
2 cups of finely chopped celery
1 cup of finely chopped coriander
2 eggs, whisked
a small handfull vermicelli pasta
3 tbsp spice mix: equal parts turmeric, powedered safran, powdered ginger
tsp pepper
salt to taste
3 tbsp tomato purée
1-2 tbsp smin (Moroccan rancid butter), or ghee
olive oil
2 vegetable boullion cubes
1 bay leaf

In a large pot (Latifa used a pressure cooker) mix the onion, tomato, chickpeas, lentils, celery, coriander and spices with a big dollop of the olive oil and heat up for a bit, stirring occasionally. After a few minutes, when the spices have released their flavor, and the vegetables and herbs are wilted a bit, add a cup of water and the tomato puree and bring to a boil. Add more water, until the pot is about 3/4 full. Now, this is where Latifa put the lit on the pressure cooker, and let it work its magic for half an hour. If you don't have a pressure cooker, I think you'll need to let this simmer for at least an hour, probably two.

Fast forward. After 30 minutes of pressure cooking, or after your hour or two of regular cooking, mix the flour well with a cup of water. Add slowly, little by little, to the still simmering pot, stirring all the while. Let it bubble and thicken. It must thicken, so if you need to make more flour/water and add it, please do, this soup must be thick! Add your bay leaf and stock cubes, and a small handfull of vermicelli pasta. Also, add more water, if necessary. While the pasta are cooking, add the whisked egg, slowly and little by little, while stirring. You should have something that resembles the "egg drop" in Chinese Egg Drop soup. When your pasta are done, add the smin (or ghee or olive oil), remove the bay leaf, and you should be done! Enjoy with bread if you like, but this is quite hearty by itself!

I hope its everything and more. This soup is made for hangovers, cold nights, sickly children or just whenever. I shall amend the recipe as I continue my Harira making career! Bon Appetit!

Dumpster Diving

2010-12-02T14:21:00.004+01:00

A friend and fellow blogger I know has been doing some pretty successful dumpster diving in this town, and I asked if I could join. We met this week on an extremely cold night, and after unsuccessfully going one place, we hit a small jackpot in another. I got a couple of perfectly fine cauliflowers, some nice apples, asparagus, some beetroot salad and some flatbread. There were also some wok veggies, though I haven't used them, so they're going in the compost, and someone even got some vacuum packed smoked trout! A lot of the wares that are thrown out aren't past their actual usage limit, but there's is a date on them that shops have to adhere to, and some things are thrown out merely to make room for the new. I'm looking forward to relieving more dumpsters of unneccessary trash in the future.

This was my first dumpster dived meal. And it was great!

Spelt in lieu of rice.
Fried cauliflower with mild curry and nigella seeds in a tomato/soy cream sauce.
Asparagus fried in turmeric and mustard seeds.

Sorry no recipe, it was made in a frenzy since I had some hungry boys waiting for grub! But it was delicious, and the boys ate their fair share.

Fast and Easy Whole Grain scones

2010-10-23T11:10:00.005+02:00

Sorry no picture, the omputer ate it!

These scones are a recipe that I've had lying around for ages, and never got around to baking. I used whole grain spelt flour, but I imagine regular spelt, or wheat flour will make them a bit moister. These were a bit dry and flaky, but nothing that can't be remedied by butter, jam and a mug of tea on the side. Delicious!

220 g. flour (again, I used whole grain spelt)
2 heaping tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla sugar
dash nutmeg
60 g. sugar (I use organic raw cane)
60 g. of soft butter (I used half butter, half canola)

Mix these in a bowl together. Then add:
1 egg, beaten. Now, put the egg in a measuring cup, and fill up with yogurt naturelle (or soy cream, like I did) until you hit the 1 dl mark. Set aside a few drops for later. Then add to the other ingredients.

Mix everything well, and then roll it out until it's roughly one inch thick. Using a cup about 3 inches in diameter, stamp out your scones. Anywhere between 8-12 scones is the goal, depending on the size of your cup.

Place them on a baking sheet, brush the tops with the remaider of the egg mixture, and bake at 200 degrees for about 12 minutes. If you're using convection oven, lower the temp a little!

Enjoy! This was a nice change from our usual Saturday pancakes ritual, faster too!

Vegan Hokkaido Heavy Fajitas

2010-10-14T20:05:00.003+02:00

So I'm in this co-op. And I love it. But practically every single week includes a hokkaido pumpkin. I like a good hokkaido once in a while, but you know...pumpkins and versatility...not so much. Usually they get thrown into soups, puréed and used in cakes and pies. It's all good. But it's just not enough. They're still milling around my kitchen, piling up in a sort of gourdish/kitchen traffic jam. I was loathe to make a soup out of one. Again. So I ate myself to one less hokkaido the other day, and I was quite pleased with my creativity in doing so. I present: fajitas with beans, hokkaido guacamole and hokkaido/tomato salsa.

Fillings:
- Admittedly, the beans are canned chili beans. I warm them on the stove with a bit of ground cumin and garlic. Still good, nonetheless.
- Peel the hokkaido with a good potato peeler. Cut in half, scoop out the seeds.
- Now, dice half of the hokkaido into smallish cubes, and blanche in a bowl for a few minutes. Drain, and leave to cool. When cool, mix them with diced tomato, diced onion, cilantro/coriander and a dash of vinegar. Tastes best when the flavors are allowed to mesh and mellow a bit. I also added canned corn to the mix, because the kids and I like to play with them at the table (!).
- Cut the other half of the hokkaido into chunks, and steam or boil them in just a tiny bit of water until soft. Let cool. When cool, mash them up with your regular old guacamole ingredients, you might want to go heavy on the avocado and lemon so the guac isn't too orange-y and pumpkin-y. Nothing wrong with it, but I know my kids would get suspicious!

Warm up some nice whole wheat tortillas, and you've got yourself a meal. The guac is extra creamy, and the pumpkin bits in the salsa have a lovely bite that's really satisfying. Because of the pure vegan aspect of this meal, it's nice and light, and doesn't seem to bog you down with that really full feeling, even after you've had your share. Yummy!

Sweet Potato Pizza with Chèvre and Caramellized Onions

2010-09-23T13:40:00.004+02:00

This was such a fluke. I just happened to have all the makings of this pizza in leftover form: two wrinkling sweet potatos, one little lump of week old chèvre, three pre-mold stage red onions. I made my pizza crust as I always do:

Pizza crust:
250 g. flour
3 tsp yeast
sprinkling of salt
1.5 dl warm water
olive oil
corn flour

In a large bowl, add crumble the yeast and salt into the flour. Add the water, and mix well, thereafter kneading the dough on a sprinkling of corn flour. Keep adding corn flour as needed. It adds a needed texture to the dough, I find. When you're through kneading, let the dough rest in the olive oil drizzled bowl, until it's risen.

Flip the dough out onto a sheet lined with baking paper, and starting in the middle, massage the dough, spiralling outwards from the center. Should almost fill the sheet. Your dough is done. Now for the toppings. Turn your oven on to 230 C. (less if you're using convection)

Toppins:
2 sweet potatos, sliced thinly (actually I use a potato/carrot peeler for the thinnest slicest possible - I don't have a mandolin)
3 small red onions, thinly sliced.
Chèvre cheese
grated mozzarella
balsamic glaze vinegar
salt
sugar
olive oil

First things first, sprinkle the mozzarella on the dough, liberally. Pop in into the oven for ten-fifteen minutes, until the cheese is barely golden. Take the pizza out of the oven, add the thinly sliced sweet potatos. Drizzle with oil, sprinkle with salt and pop back into the oven. While that's happening (another ten minutes), fry the onions in butter/oil until soft. Add a sprinkling of sugar and a drizzle og the balsamic glaze until they are sweet and caramellized. When the sweet potatos are soft, take the pizza out, add the onions and chévre to the pizza. You might want to warm it just a few minutes now, but if the chévre is otherwise room temperature, you're ready to serve! Delicious pizza, really really good. It was an accident I will gladly make again.

Chanterelle Pasta: A Seasonal Favorite

2010-09-15T11:22:00.004+02:00

My mom comes to visit twice a year. Once in September, once in February/March. For this very reason, I always end up making the same dishes while she's here, because of the produce that's available. She luckily doesn't seem to mind!

One of the best and quickest dishes of this season, ready in half an hour is a yummy, creamy plate of chanterelle pasta with a side of steamed artichoke. I usually fry the mushrooms up in butter, but we're downsizing our butter intake at home, so olive oil did just fine. I fry them at medium high heat, until they sweat their own juice out, and absorb the oil. Instead of cream this time, I used coconut milk which did the trick just fine. It does have a coconutty taste to it (surprise, surprise) but I found that adding a spoonful of Herbamare (vegetable broth cube) did a good job of balancing it out. Mix it with your freshly boiled al dente pasta, and you're all set. A sprinkle of parmesan doesn't hurt.

As for the artichoke - I usually boil them, but tried steaming them first this time, with an excellent result! I halve them to start off with, using a paring knife to scrape out the "choke". Steam until the leaves pull of easily. Enjoy with melted butter or a bit of Hellman's mayo, the only thing that kept this meal from being entirely vegan!

A simple meal, but so, so good and fulfilling. The artichoke is practically a dessert, so sweet and satisfying.

Kale. Chips. Kale Chips

2010-09-08T10:43:00.007+02:00

Meet your new favorite snack. Or rather, meet mine.

The past month or so, I've noticed a couple of new kilos on my chops that while not overtly voluminous, are still an unwelcome addition to my wardrobe. Admittedly, I've been slacking on the exercise, but that usually doesn't throw the scale this much out of whack! I started charting my daily eating habits with a Calorie Counter application on my smart phone. Things were looking pretty good there, so I was really starting to wonder if I had a glandular problem or what. Then I noticed something. Something that I was eating, but not adding to my daily calorie counter. Because I didn't really consider it a meal or snack in itself.

See, my kids have gotten pickier lately. And they leave a lot of food on their plate. Food that goes uneaten. Rising food prices. Africa. See my logic? Yeah, I clean their plates for them. A direct connection between my childrens' pickiness and the scale. I will start serving them smaller portions, and subsequently refuse to eat their leftovers from now on - the worms in the compost bin will just have that much more to mulch from now on!

To get back to the point of this blog post (ie Jennie's fat!), I have nothing but praise for the kale. Kale, I love you. Usually, I just fry the hell out of it with some oil and garlic, reducing it to a spinach substitute that I gladly put in lasagne or on pizza. But kale is a lovely snack in its own right. And while I may need to watch what I eat a bit more closely, to be able to fit into those pants again, i will gladly have my kale chips, and eat them too, no guilt attached. They are absolutely delectably crispy, salty, yummy with just the tiniest bit of olive oil and some salt. And nothing else.

Just take 1 kale, removing the stems, and tearing the leaves up into smaller bits. Arrange on a baking tray, drizzle with oil and salt. Bake at 200 C (180 convection oven) for 10-15 minutes until they are crispy, and just slightly browned at the edges. The ones that were excessively browned still tasted fab, actually reminding me of fried okra, but the green ones were prettier. Still looking fresh from the farm. But packing a great flavor and a perfect crunch!

Danish Food Blogger Symposium - Recap

2010-08-30T11:41:00.003+02:00

This past weekend has been all about food. Two energetic Danish food bloggers put together a great, non-profit event that brought all varieties of Danish food bloggers together under one roof. It was smashing!

I was pleasantly surprised at the high level of, well, everything. There were wine tastings, chocolate tastings, numerous speeches on everything from blogging, the marketing of such, New Nordic Cuisine, journalistic tips and tricks, and much much more. Best of all, seeing old faces and new, and once again feeling as though I'm part of a budding community that might just change how the average Dane eats. It will take time, but it would appear that it's an inevitable road we must take, for several different reasons, planetary and human health just to name a few. I digress.

I will no doubt be taking part in next year's symposium as well. I look forward to seeing what they'll have put on the program for us then!

For now, I leave you with a photo of an extraordinary lunch served us on Saturday. Mads Nybro at Beta Beta gave us directions on what exactly to do with it via Skype, and it was the most imaginative meal I've eaten to date!

Top: 2 yummy sourdough bread rolls
Left-Right: 1 can of noodle soup, warmed with everybody elses can in a huge tub of hot water. 1 tube of foie gras to be eaten with the sourdough. 1 styrofoam bowl of lettuce leaves, upon which we sprayed a really nice smoked cheese dressing. Last but not least, 1 stick of white chocolate coated raspberry marzipan followed by a smattering of vanilla flavored popcorn dust.

Delicious, inventive, and all the containers went into their own recycling bin afterwards, so no unnecessary waste there.

Sunday was yet another lovely meal a grønch (greens + brunch = grunch) with fellow food blogers, before checking out the food fair downtown, and heading home, head spinning from all the new impressions.

A great weekend, action packed, inspiring and delicious!

A bag of veggies and inspiration

2010-08-25T20:56:00.001+02:00

There are a number of services around the globe now that roughly translate to paying a bit of money in exchange for a box of locally grown and/or organic produce, or others of that ilk. For a few years I've been receiving box from Aarstiderne, sometimes just Danish veggies, sometimes a mix of veggies and fruit from far and wide, though all organic. I thought the price was reasonable enough, we'd get a box a week which pretty much saved me from lugging heavy fruits and veg from the store and to the 4th floor, and then we were set for the next week's menu. I then heard of Københavns Fødevarefællesskab which is kind of the same idea, though you collect the bag/box yourself once a week from their fairly central location, it's all organic, and it's all from the island we live on. It happens to be cheaper though. When I brought home my first bag, opened it and spied the choice offerings, I was floored by what I could get for 100 Danish kroner. I can't afford not to buy this weekly bag of produce.

From the top: palm kale, fennel bulbs, red/yellow onions
Middle l-r: beet leaves, orange and purple carrots, tomatoes, beets, seleriac
Bottom: yellow and green squash, spring onions

And can I just add that the carrots were fabulous and the squash amazing! I seriously hadn't tasted squash like that for at least ten years. I'm pretty adept at using veggies like this so a week later, and we've only got onions and seleriac left, which are no biggy since I've got a hankering for some French onion soup soon, and celeriac schnitzels have been on my mind for a while as well.

The other day, we ate dinner that I can only describe as café food. You know, at home sometimes all that gets put on the table is a bit pot of pasta and that's it, but at cafés there's always a few small dishes that make a meal. It's appealing to the eye and the taste buds. So I whipped up my own little trio of dishes, and all proved popular with the lot of us.

First off, a simple chickpea and green bean salad.

I'm not even going to bother writing out a recipe. Steam the beans, boil the chickpeas, chop some red onion, and swirl it all around in a zesty vinaigrette.

Next up, an oven roasted 'salad' with bite sized pieces of beet, fennel bulb and squash.

Chop the aforementioned ingredients into the size you like them. Either wedges, or smaller cubed bits. Add olive oil, salt, thyme and big chunks of feta (I used goat), and bake until the veggies are al dente. Really nice flavors coming together there.

To top of the medley, I made some goat's cheese toasties. I sliced some of my husband's homemade baguette, rubbed it with olive oil, added a nice slice of hard goat's cheese, drizzled more oil on top, sprinkled some thyme, and put it in the oven until the cheese visibly went soft. Took them out, drizzled them with honey, and served them together with the 'salads'.

We ate it all up!

Roasted Cauliflower Soup

2010-08-22T17:12:00.006+02:00

Hi again!

Just to comfort you, we haven't stopped eating, even though posts have been few and far between! On vacation in Finland some weeks ago, I had the oppotunity to eat some old Finnish favorites, but fool I am, didn't get around to taking pictures of the goodies to share. Another time, alas.

Upon re-entry to Denmark, the weather's been pretty shifty. Sun, rain, torrents, baking hot. Every other day. Schizo-weather! I embraced a cold weather day, and also a cheap head of cauliflower, and concocted this soup. I've made cauliflower soup before, though by putting raw cauliflower into broth, cooking, puréeing, and that's it. It's ok, in a jiff, but if you have more time, pre-roasting the cauliflower imprives the flavor of the following soup roughly 80%!

1 head of cauliflower, sliced into half inch thick pieces
1 small onion, sliced/diced
1 small can of coconut milk
Herbamare broth, or other vegetable broth
a pinch of ground ginger and/or mild curry (optional)

I fried up the cauloflower sliced in olive oil, in two batches. You want to make sure that the cauliflower gets browned evenly on both sides, this gives the soup a darker and more characteristic color, not to mention flavor! Keep a lid over it, so the heat stays in, softening the cauliflower as much as possible. When the last batch of cauliflower is on the pan and about half done, add the onion to the mix, you just want it softened, not seared through. Add the spices here, if you like.

Transfer the fried cauliflower and onions to a pot covered with the coconut milk, and water/broth until completely covered. Simmer until it's soft enough to blend through with a hand mixer. Serve with bread.

It's creamy, yummy, and the flavor is addictive in a warm and nutty way, that non-fried cauliflower soup isn't!

Danish Food Blogger Symposium

2010-07-21T09:54:00.003+02:00

Hey you guys! (Remember The Electric Company?)

August 28th is the date for the Danish Food Blogger Symposium. I'm not especially well read in the Danish Food Blog circles, but figured, what the hell - can't hurt to mingle a bit, share some tips, might even learn something!

There aren't many spots left, so if you're interested, check out this link for details on how to get yourself on the invite list. It's FREE, and I have just sent an admission mail so I should be there too, along with Zarah Maria, and my friend Kristina.

Get on the bandwagon guys, tally ho!

A Quick Strawberry Fix

2010-07-13T09:57:00.004+02:00

Getting older, I am starting to be every bit the sour cream fiend that my dear old Dad was. He put sour cream on everything. His cornflakes, his t-bone steak, his fruit. You name it, he sour creamed it. Sometimes he just ate it straight from the container. I, in turn, have done all those things myself. Tentatively at first, but now unabashedly. Sour cream is tha BOMB!

So, if you have some strawberries, and want to dress them up a bit for a quick dessert, just halve them, put a nice big dollop of the stuff on top, and sprinkle with brown sugar (baby). Yum. Really! And when the strawberry season is over and done with, do it with green grapes instead. Just don't cheat yourself with the low percent sour cream. 18%, at the very least :)

Elderflower Cordial

2010-07-05T12:56:00.004+02:00

*This is copy/pasted* from my regular blog, so apologies if you've seen it before. This is a big part of my summer activities though, so it had to be reposted!*

As I wrote before, finding time to make huge batches of Elderflower Cordial is alpha omega to a good summer for me. I make a fairly strong brew that needs to be heavily diluted with water to make a refreshing drink, so 50 liters of the stuff may seem like a lot. It is. But Mikael drinks it like there's no tomorrow, I obsessively give bottles of it away as gifts, and then I still want some left over to drink as a hot toddy when winter comes. With any luck, there's a bottle or two left in February.

I don't have an exact recipe for this, but the inspiration is an old recipe from the tried and true Den Grønne Syltebog. Their recipe is for approximately 2 liters. I have tweaked the recipe numerous times through the years to find what I like best, and I do it mostly by Gefühl, so the following is really just an estimate of the measurements.

40-50 Elderflower bunches
2 tbsp citric acid powder
juice of 2 organic lemons
1 kilo organic cane sugar
1 liter boiling hot water (or more as needed)
1 tsp Atamon

Put the flowers in a big pot. Add the sugar, citric acid and lemon juice. Add the water and stir to dissolve all the sugar. Add more water if needed to cover the flowers. Add the Atamon, cover the pot and store in a cool place for 4-5 days, stirring daily. Strain through mesh bag, and store in bottles that have been thoroughly rinsed with boiling water and Atamon.

It's really that easy. It can be a bit time consuming, sticky, and not to mention one's kitchen looks like the lab of a mad scientist while bottling, but it's worth it, and once you've got the routine down pat you won't even give it a second thought.

A few notes:

-If possible, go flower picking in the morning, or no later than noon. You want dewy flowers since they have more taste than tired flowers do after a day in the sun.
- The bugs. There will be bugs. I let the flowers sit in the tub for about half an hour, after having shouted "run for your lives" to any critters down there. The ones who stay have a death wish!
-The recipe is pretty sweet, so you can easily cut a quarter of the sugar out and have a lovely end product.
-I use organic lemons, because I have a habit of leaving their squeezed corpses in the mixture for a few days. Not too long though, otherwise the taste becomes too zesty. So, if you don't have organic lemons it's ok, just don't put them in the pot.
-Atamon is an old Danish conserving product. It's liquid, the active ingredient is natrium benzoate, and it inhibits bacterial and fungal growth. So find something close to that description. If you cut it out of the recipe, the whole mixture may go yeasty on you.
-Don't go after my pictures to see if it looks right. I make at least 10 liters at a time, which means I pluck about 300 flowers at a go and use obscene amounts of the other ingredients as well.

The finished cordial should be diluted by 1:5 with cold water or seltzer, but that's really up to your individual taste. A few drops in cool white wine ain't half bad either, and fresh strawberries soaked in it taste divine too. I am, of course, planning on an Elderflower ice cream soon, as well.

THE Burger

2010-06-22T12:00:00.003+02:00

There are two things about today's post. One is, it might just take your taste buds to a whole new culinary arena. The other is, learn how to be a sneaky bastard and get your kids to eat healthier without them knowing it. Welcome!

First off, I usually make burgers using soy patties, but after a week of doing a cleanse by Blessed Herbs I was feeling the need for meat. So be it. But I don't use solid meat patties, partially for health reasons, partially for climate reasons, partially economic reasons (meat is expensive here!) and mostly because I have an alternative that tastes better!

Patties: For 500 grams (1 lb) of ground beef, I add:
1/2 coarsely grated zucchini (squeeze the excess juice out)
1 medium/large carrot finely grated
Small handful of sprouted green lentils.

Mix all these things together with your hands. Perhaps an egg is necessary to help keep things together, but normally I just form smaller patties, do the light chopping with a knife on both sides, make a slight indentation in the middle, and on to the griddle it goes! The resulting patty is healthier, juicier, tastier, and I kid you not, just this week I made burger THREE times with just one package of meat. WIthout all these additions, one package would normally not do the trick!

The Fixin's: This is the exciting part. Throw out your notions of ketchup, pickles and tomatoes this once. You'll need:
1 large onion, sliced finely, and caramelised (Sauté in butter, add sugar, is the basic idea, a smidge of balsamico glaze ain't bad either)
1 package of bacon, fried until crisp, and crumbled. (Alternatively turkey bacon, or soy bacon)
Gruyère or Stilton cheese (or both), melted on top of the patty
Baby spinach
Fresh raspberries
Hellman's mayonnaise
Chipotle sauce

I suggest spinach and bacon on the bottom, then the patty, with the melted cheese, then the caramelised onions, and the ripe, red raspberries as the finishing touch. Don't balk at the raspberries! I know where you're coming from, I usually hate fruit in dinner (pineapple on pizza is a sin) but the raspberry addition is much like the traditional tomato. Fruity, tart and tangy, it goes very well with everything else. The mayo and chipotle is optional, but Hellman's is great on anything, and the chipotle adds a little smokiness to the mix.

This is one great burger. Try it for yourself. Even a vegetarian version can't go wrong with the additions of these slightly different fixin's!

The Berries are Coming!

2010-06-07T19:33:00.005+02:00

*Pardon the missing picture, Blogger ate it!*

This is about as summery a dessert as you can get. It is pink, fluffy, fruity - if Barbie had a flavor, this would be it. (Mattel, please keep your patent off my dessert)

Meringues:
4 egg whites
200 grams sugar
1 tsp. white vinegar
1 tsp. rose water (optional)
few drops of red food coloring (optional)

Topping:
Assorted berries, red currants, raspberries, blueberries, blakberries, mulberries, boysenberries, cloudberries etc.
Lemon curd (optional)
Whipped cream
Passion fruit

Whisk the whites until peaky. Add the sugar one spooon at a time until stiff. Fold in the other ingredients. Drop tennis ball size meringue on baking sheet, making a little dip in the middle for the topping. Bake for 20 minutes at 160 Celsius.

When completely cool, spread on lemon curd and whipped cream. Top with berries of choice. I added a spoonful of passion fruit for an exotic twist. It's a tad unsightly, so you might want to put it under the fruit instead. The rose water is optional, but it gives the meringue the yummy delicate taste of Turkish Delight.

For some reason, I haven't made these for a couple of summers, this post being one from the archives. Why, I do not know. The weather just went a bit dreary here, but at the first ray of light, I'm hauling berries home, and enjoying these in the yard!

Rhubarb Snaps

2010-05-31T12:45:00.007+02:00

One jar is good.

Two is better.

These mason jars are on the largish side, the more, the better. This is a recipe that luckily really can't go wrong. It goes like this:

1 bottle of decent vodka OR Bombay Sapphire gin
app. 200 grams sugar (I use organic cane sugar)
Place the above ingredients in a large jar. Fill the remaining space up with diced rhubarb.
Shake daily for 4-6 weeks, keep in a cool, dark spot.
Strain.
Enjoy straight up.

Nostalgia, It's What's for Lunch

2010-05-13T15:28:00.003+02:00

Grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. A classic. Admittedly, the soup was ready made, and just has to be heated and served, but it did the job. The sandwich - so simple. Spread Hellman's Mayonnaise on whatever bread you've got, add a slice of good cheddar, slap 'em together and heat on a buttered pan until they're golden and crispy. It's a winning combo, to be eaten with one hand only, dipping the sandwich into the soup, while reading the paper with other.

Stuffed, no, Buried Mushrooms

2010-05-01T10:01:00.004+02:00

This dish is, was, a mess. A Delicious Mess. It's been a week, so the details are fuzzy, but basically it arose out of 4 portobello mushrooms I'd bought, and some black beans that Mikael had soaked and boiled but just not gotten around to using.

4 portobello mushrooms (with the stems cut off and set aside), prebaked with olive oil and spices, for app. 30 minutes.
2 cups of black beans, soaked and boiled.
2 cups of pearl spelt (or barley) boiled in broth
1 bag of fresh spinach, or half a bag frozen, fried in olive oil and garlic with the chopped portobello stems.
1 can of tinned tomatoes
A handful of grated cheese

Arrange the mushrooms in a baking dish that leaves a little space in and around them. Mix the beans, spelt and spinach, add a bit of salt to taste, and dump it all over the mushrooms. Add the tinned tomatoes to the dish and spread it over everything, adding the grated cheese to the top. Bake until bubbly and the cheese is golden, á la lasagne.

Really nice, messy, delicious dish using what I had at the moment!

Crispy Salmon Skins

2010-04-19T11:06:00.005+02:00

Yesterday I made a fairly good, but not blogworthy, pasta dish with a nice creamy blue cheese sauce and some salmon. The skins were not really welcome in the dish, kidwise or aesthetically. No reason to let it go to waste though, give them a light rubbing of your favorite oil, a sprinkle of sea salt and under the grill they go. So good! Unbelievably good! And filled with essential fatty acids, hooray!

Rah Rah, Rhubarb!

2010-04-11T20:49:00.006+02:00

I'm slowly coming back from my post Lenten lull, as far as food goes. I just haven't felt like cooking for the past few weeks, and leaving Mikael to kitchen tasks has snapped me right back to reality I can tell you! Still not into larger, complicated meals, but a cake, that I can do.

This is my mother's recipe for rhubarb cake. It is perfect! Don't skimp on any of the ingredients, be generous. Fresh rhubarb is preferable, but since I haven't seen any forced rhubard yet I made do with frozen. Thaw it properly, and pat it dry thoroughly with a tea towel before incorporating it. Make it AFTER lunch on Saturday (otherwise it'll be your lunch). It'll be half gone by dinner, but eat the rest for breakfast Sunday in lieu of a muffin.

1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
2 cups flour
1 1/2-2 cups chopped rhubarb (not too small)

Mix sugars and butter.
Add egg and salt.
Add buttermilk, vanilla, baking powder and flour gradually.
Add rhubarb and pour into buttered dish.
Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
Bake for 35 minutes in a medium warm oven. (That's what it said in my mom's hand written version, but I find it needs longer!)

Enjoy with a glass of leftover bttermilk. This is pure childhood nostalgia for me! Luckily it happens to be a delicious, moist cake, with intermittent hints of the tart and fruity rhubarb. Really delish!

Lent Status Report, Version 2.0

2010-03-19T19:29:00.003+01:00

Hey ho folks! Still working on that camera issue. Plan on buying one next week, since I've pretty much close in on and identified the one.

I thought I'd do a little fessin' up about Lent. Well, that sounds like I've broken totally and utterly down and broken all good form here, which happily, isn't the case. But I have veered a bit. Just a smidge.

I'm still keeping myself mentally vegan on a daily basis, and even though I may pop an animal made product in my gob, it doesn't feel like I'm sinning. The main thing here is that I now thoughtfully consider every thing I put in my mouth. It may sound a bit obsessive, and I can totally see that, but it's not. When I was an omnivore, I didn't even consider myself as such, because I didn't think about everything I put in my mouth, despite striving for organic fare for the important stuff (fruit, veggies, meat). As a result, I would mass consume processed foods, candy, snacks, whatever, without really thinking about it. Now, I think. Not obsess. Just think. And it feels REALLY good.

As I mentioned before, I lost 2 kilos (5lbs) right off the bat. They're still off, no more, no less. Though I continually feel skinnier, and I think that's down to not feeling as bloated as I previously have. I'd love to lose more, but that's not my main objective at this time.

I have been eating goat's cheese to satisfy that craving, and if I ran out of soy milk, I'd use cow milk. Tastes awful, when you're used to the other stuff! Really bad after taste in fact. I also went to a belated Christmas/early Easter party with some girlfriends, and I did eat tuna salad, pickled herring and eggs, since I didn't want to make an issue out of it. My mom being here added some cow milk cheeses to the menu, plus a little ice cream and again, I didn't sweat it. But just today, at the office, my office mate fried up some bacon. Wow, did that ever smell bad! Death. Fried death. He asked if I wanted some. I declined, politely. Yuck!

So, I haven't been strictly vegan, but my diet has changed. I have fewer craving for either specific foods, or just stuffing my face in general. It's been a relief actually. Although I know it's restrictive, strictly speaking, to eat this way...it's actually liberating.

Rooty Coconut Chowder

2010-03-12T13:36:00.004+01:00

I really really wish I had a picture of this. Alas, I have yet to find a replacement for my kaput camera (tips on better versions of the old point and shoot welcome), so an enthusiastic description will have to do.

I had yet another box of seasonal veggies staring me in the face, daring me to make something tasty out of them. Unfortunately, the biggest offering this time was a rutabaga! Wtf. Well, I actually enjoy the challenge of making anything tasty, but when you're pressed for time and have a hungry brood waiting small droplets of sweat form on your brow, and the nagging question of "what exactly am I doing" plagues you. Luckily, it went well. Really well.

1 rutabaga (by nature a large creature), peeled and cubed
.5 - 1 kg sunchokes, peeled and halved
1 large onion
1 tsp dried ginger
1 can coconut milk
sprinkling of cinnammon
1 tsp herbamare

- Start off by boiling the sunchokes and rutabaga together in a pot of salted water until soft. Drain, and set aside for next step.
- Finely chop the onion and fry it up in a little bit of coconut oil with the dried ginger until soft and fragrant. Add the boiled rutabaga and sunchoke, coconut milk, plus the herbamare. Let bubble, maybe adding a bit of water if it's too dry. When the taste is about what you want, take about half of the contents out of the pot, and blend them until nice and creamy. Add to the pot again, adding the dash of cinnamon. Stir well and serve with homemade bread.

Really really lovely chunky, creamy soup here. Enjoy!

Creamy Vegan Potatoes

2010-03-08T21:04:00.006+01:00

Dude! It's been a while, huh? Well, between testing this vegan thing and my studies and my trip to Berlin, and now my mother being here for a visit...you get the idea. My camera is out of commission, for ever, so until we acquire a new one, I'll make do with old snaps of dishes I just haven't blogged about, and then second hand tales of decadent vegan meals, or something.

I made, actually invented, this warm potato salad as a side to an Indian dish I made recently, and it was good! And easy! And vegan!

I simply boiled some cute small potatoes, with skin, rubbing them gently off after they'd cooled a bit.
Then, I fried a small amount of finely chopped onion with light and dark mustard seeds and nigella seeds. When they'd released some of their flavor, I added the cooked and peeled potatoes again for a quick swirl, before turning the heat off. Then, as the creamy dot over the "i", I added a few bid spoonfuls of the white coconut cream that rises to the top of the canned coconut milk*. It was the perfect touch. And the dish was eaten with great fervor by all, young and older.

* Coconut milk has been a lifesaver in this vegan adventure of mine. Can't imagine not having its creamy goodness on hand.

Lent Status Report

2010-02-24T12:28:00.004+01:00

Apart from an inadvertant bite of bread with butter/cheese I've been keeping this Lent thing up with no big problems. Just a few days after I started, I lost one whole kilo (2 lbs) which was quite a great perk if you ask me, and also a good reason to keep it up. I've lost another half kilo since then, and I think it's owing to the lack of butter in my diet. Boy, do we like butter here.

My breakfasts are a pretty standard bowl of oatmeal made on water, with raisins, cinnamon/sugar and flaxseed oil. Filling and quite satisfactory.

Lunches have been mostly bread with a smear of bean paste and beets, misc. vegan cold cuts, and cut up fruit and veg. Seriously, I haven't felt like I've been missing out. I would like to note that the bean paste has 15% protein, as opposed to a smear of Danish leverpostej, which has 24%. The vegan cold cuts have as much protein (wheat protein) as turkey cold cuts.

Dinners have been what they normally are, either vegetarian dishes with veggies and lentils, or dishes using quorn or soy meat substitutes. I made a mean chili sin carne the other night, and you could hardly tell the quorn/meat difference. Honestly.

If I am lacking any protein in this manner, just through regular meals, I put extra protein in my daily routine with lots of nuts for snacks, and peanut butter/hazelnut butter on Wasa crackers.

So far, no cravings for "real" meat, though I do miss cheese, so I'll find a good goat cheese to satiate that. I'll post some recipes I'm collecting soon.

Otherwse, I'm enjoying this little experiment, not in the least because I enjoy eating in a thoughtful manner. It's gratifying. And my body feels great, inside and out. 'Nuff said.

Two Days In

2010-02-19T07:09:00.003+01:00

Thank you, Anonymous, for that cheerleading!

I just woke up after my second day without eating animal products, and get this, I was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed before 7 am, and I hadn't even had my coffee yet! Something good is going down here. I thought I'd post what I'd eaten for the last two days, and I might update every week or so with a Lent update and recipes.

Day 1:
breakfast: 1 cup coffee with soy milk
oatmeal with raisins, cinammon/sugar and flax oil
lunch: apple, pear, orange, high fiber crackers
tea
dinner: Leftover rice, fried, steamed endive, coleslaw w/vinaigrette

Day 2:
breakfast: same as day 1
lunch: rye bread with bean paste/spread and pickled beets, cucumber and vegan coldcuts
dinner: Indian mélange of rice, spinach garam masala dish, carrot curry/coconut dish and potatoes in coconut and mustard

Snacks have included fruit by the bucket, and if that wasn't enough, Wasa crackers with a nice smear of hazelnut butter (better than Nutella!) and maybe a drizzle of honey. And yes I'm still eating honey.

Feeling good, and so far this is easier than I thought it would be.

Lent

2010-02-18T07:22:00.004+01:00

For the first time in roughly 20 years, I decided to give something up for the Lenten fast. I don't know what spurred it on, perhaps that Tuesday was Shrove Tuesday/Pancake Day/Mardis Gras, and I seemed to have forgotten why that is celebrated in the first place. Something about Jesus being 40 days in the desert, I believe. And people think Islam and Christianity are nothing remotely like each other. Huh. So, having just read Eating Animals, I've decided to eat adhere as much as possible to the food doctrine behind the book, for 40 days. That would mean mostly sticking to a vegan diet, though I'll allow for dairy from goats/sheep since Safran Foer points out that those animals have not yet been targeted by factory farming. Yet. And I'm going to Berlin in a week's time, and I will allow myself to be touristy enough to enjoy a curry wurst.

I've long wanted to give the vegan diet a try, though having three omnivores in the house has kept me back. I think though, that I'm grown up enough now to endure watching others eat a certain food, without feeling deprived. And there is an ulterior motive a well. The weight issue. My bmi is normal, but I want to see what such a diet can do for my waistline. But ultimately, I want to try the diet of the future, and understand its necessity for myself, without dreading it when it becomes inevitable. I think we can do it!

This blog isn't going on hiatus per se, but I have no idea how this will pan out, as far as yummy recipes go. We shall see.

Anybody else doing Lent?

Ah, my Reuben, I've missed you!

2010-02-12T18:21:00.003+01:00

Sorry no pic, it's al Blogger's fault! :)

Hi there! So, we've been eating a lot of celeriac schnitzels lately, and I didn't really feel the need to keep you updated on that!

If you've read my "real" blog then you're up to speed with what I've been reading, and I am starting to look at meat consumption, in a whole new manner of ways. This recipe includes pastrami, which I just happened to have in the freezer. I will not throw perfectly good food away, so that's why I used it. A better way of paying hommage to the animal who got offed that just throwing the meat away. I once tried a version of this recipe with tempe instead of meat, in Boulder, CO, and it was delish, and I'll keep you updated if I find tempe here worth using.

So, the Reuben. The world's most perfect sandwich. Do I sound biased? Well, it's been my absolute favorite for as long as I can remember! The lowdown:

- Sour dough ryebread (NOT Danish rugbrød)
- Swiss cheese (known as Emmenthaler in these parts)
- Sauerkraut
- Pastrami (alternatively tempe)
- Russian sauce

All lovingly fried/grilled in butter. Oh, the joy it gives me. The kids even loved it, and remarked as much. I would suggest placing the ingredients in the order written here. It's important that the meat is thoroughly warmed through, and also that the cheese melts into the sauerkraut. The Russian sauce is a mystery to me, there are so many versions on the net. I use a nice big dollop (or two) of Hellman's mayo, add a splotch of ketchup, and a bit of strong mustard to boot and mix it all up. I enjoy a little extra mustard on my plate for dipping too.

The reason I've missed it? Well, I've not had much luck finding sauerkraut in this town! How did I finally get my hands on some? Our friend Cornelia, who lives on the island of Bornholm of all places, apparently has a steady supply. Go figure. So, if you ever fall over a jar, think of me, and either buy it for me, or go home and make this for yourself!

Fried Okra - A Picture Tutorial

2010-01-30T10:05:00.004+01:00

Childhood favorite, what can I say? I think I forgot about it for a while after moving to DK, then had a craving for it. Called my mom to ask how she'd prepared it for me as a kid, and, this is it. Quite easy.

You'll notice that in the first picture the okra appears to be frozen. It is. This is because okra is a slimy thing by nature, so freezing it first helps reduce gooeyness when you're chopping it, and mixing it later on. The cold is also an element that helps make it extra crispy.

Chopped into bite sized bits.

A few tablespoons of flour (cornmeal is good too), and one egg (no need to beat it first) into the bowl, and using a fork, mix it all together. Add salt and pepper, liberally.

Very lumpy in apperance.

Fry up in a good oil, until it's golden brown, a little darker at the edges.

There you have a plate of crispy, delicious Texan childhood.

Celeriac Schnitzel

2010-01-26T23:06:00.007+01:00

Admittedly, we haven't sprung out as full blown vegetarians here, but the other day, when someone asked if we had, I couldn't even remember the last time we'd had meat for dinner. Sometimes, I do have to make an effort, since you can't just make a salad, and expect two small kids and one metabolically active husband to be satisfied. We eat burgers, just with soy patties. We enjoy "chicken" fajitas with quorn instead. Someone mentioned making schnitzel out of celeriac once, I gave it a try, just winging it, and wasn't that impressed. I decided to give it another try, and scoured up some tips on teh interwebs. This time, I loved it! Not only that, my boys wolfed it down as well, oblivious to the sneaky veggie hidden inside, just happy to eat something pan fried and crunchy.

The lowdown:

- Take 1 whole celeriac, peel or cut the hard skin off. Cut in in half, and take each halve and slice it into finger thick slices.
- Steam/boil the celeriac until a knife easily pierces them, app. 16 minutes. Let them cool off a bit before the next step, and drizzle them with lemon juice while cooling. Don't go easy on the lemon btw.
- Prepare two shallow bowls. One with 1 egg, beaten. The other with bread crumbs. Add a good amount of salt and pepper to the crumbs, to ensure a flavourful crust.
- Melt a knob of butter and a drizzle of your choice of oil in a pan over low heat. Low heat is key here, you want these to fry up delicately and not be darker than golden.
- Dip each slice of steamed celeriac in first egg, then crumbs, and fry 'em up (in butter!), turning after the golden color has been attained.

Serve with a side of salad and/or potatoes like I did. Next time I might do a sauce/gravy to beef it up a bit, but even without this is a mouth watering dish!

Fridge Cleaning Eggnoggy Cheesecake

2010-01-21T21:16:00.004+01:00

Blogger ate my picture!

So, no, this will not actually clean your fridge, you know, with soap and water....but it just happened to use a few ingredients I had lying around in small amounts so in a way it did! Hubby has a sweet tooth (okay, me too) and this was just what I happened to dream up after a few google searches using my leftover ingredients. It's not the perfect cheesecake, but it fit the bill nicely.

For two years now, I've had two, count 'em, two boxes of gingerbread in the cupboard, ready to be hoisted into little houses and decorated with icing and other goodies. I thought they might be used better otherwise, than standing around in December, slowly going stale. I happened upon the novel idea that they can be used as a substitute for digestives in a cheesecake. Bingo! The Christmassy spices added give this an eggnoggy feel, but it's not Christmassy enough to be annoying. And the crispy, buttery crust is what really takes the cake here. I will say though, that the amount of filling wasn't quite enough to my liking, but I think it'd work beautifully if this recipe were made as individual mini-cheesecakes with a dollop of warm raspberry coulis on top. Just sayin'.

150 grams gingerbread
4 tbsp soft butter
½ cup ricotta
125 grams cream cheese
½ Cup raw cane sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 dash each of cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg
2 eggs

Preheat the oven to 180 C.
In a food processor, pulse gingerbread until it's crumbs. Add butter and mix until incorporated.
Grease a springform, and press the crumby mixture into the bottom. Bake for app. 10 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool.
Mix the remaining ingredients until the mixture is smooth, and pour into the cooled crust. Bake for an additional 30 minutes. Let cool, and refidgerate for as long as you can stand it, before pulling it out and eating it all up.

Pimento Cheese Spread

2010-01-13T19:41:00.005+01:00

There *was* a picture here, now it's gone forever, thx Blogger!

Okay, so you've guessed the obvious. There is cheese and pimento in the spread I'm presenting to you now. But there is also, the epitomy of buffet lunches in the southern part of the U.S. You'll most likely find the spread between the veggies/dip and the crackers/bread, just behind the devilled eggs. Most people buy it ready made at the supermarket, but it's tastier if you make it at home, not to mention dead easy to make.

1 cup of finely grated cheddar cheese
1 whole pimento, diced (smoked red pepper, from a can or jar)
1/4 cup of mayo (Hellman's preferably)
1 small pickle, finely diced
dash of salt
dash of ground garlic

Mix ingredients well.
Just for kicks, I grated fresh horseradish, and added about 1 tbsp to the mixture. It wasn't too strong, and freshened it up a bit. Very tasty.

Most Americans know pimento cheese from the starchy white sandwich it's usually served in. It's excellent on Wasa too, or used to dip carrot/celery/cucumber sticks in too.

Any Bright Ideas?

2010-01-07T21:45:00.004+01:00

The stem is arguably the better tasting bit of the broccoli. Not as easy to use though. Sometimes I'll peel it, and grate it in spaghetti sauce. Or, dice it and use it in soup.

What do you do with it?

This bears repeating. Black bean and Tortilla Soup.

2010-01-02T18:04:00.006+01:00

It all started when I was thinking up dinner tonight. I looked in the cabinets for inspiration. Found an opened packet of tortillas that my husband had thrown back in, after our fajita dinner the other night. The two tortillas left in the pack were dry, stale, inedibe. I was about to get mad in the way that only an anal housewife can, but then I remembered that tortilla soup is pretty popular back in my home state of Texas....voila.

First off, cut your leftover tortillas in strips, and fry them on a pan with a little oil. I used canola. They'll brown and become crispy, and that's just what you want. Set your fried tortillas aside.

- Fry up an onion in some oil.
- Add a tsp. each of turmeric, cumin, garlic powder and paprika.
- When onions are soft, add one can of tinned tomatoes, and one can of black beans. (I used canned, because I wanted to make this quick, and I hadn't any pre-soaked)
- Add a little extra water and a broth cube. (I use Herbamare from the health food store)
- Let it all simmer together, adding salt and pepper and a dash of cayenne to taste.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream, chopped coriander, a few drops of lime juice, and a handful of your fried tortillas. Some of the tortillas will go soft in the soup, but that's ok. Also, for extra nutritional value, I added to finely diced potatoes to this soup, to bulk it up, and so my kids wouldn't only get full on the fried tortillas. A hearty inconspicuous addition! Enjoy.

Harira Stew

2009-12-28T09:00:00.003+01:00

When my family and I were in Morocco this past summer, I made it a point to try the national soup, Harira. It's the soup traditionally eaten to break the fast of Ramadan, but it's eaten any time of the year besides. And every local eatery with respect for themself serves it, most likely coming from a pot of ginormous dimensions simmering the whole day through.

I had several versions. With lamb. With chicken. Vegetarian. All excellent. I tried my own hand at it on a cold winter's eve, gleaning elements here and there. The traditional must-have elements are there, but I beefed it up a bit physically, to make it heartier. I stuck with the veggie version though. I imagine this fairly easy dish will be a great hangover cure New Year's Day.

Ingredients:
2 onions
half tsp cinnamon
half tsp turmeric
half tsp cumin
half tsp ground ginger
1 can tomatoes
a few pinches of saffron
1 liter broth
1 cup lentils (f.ex Puy)
1 can garbanzo beans
2-3 carrots, cubed
1 or 2 handfuls whole buckwheat
1 tsp freshly crushed pepper ( I used red peppercorns)
salt, to taste
cayenne, to taste, if you'd like it spiced up a bit.
lemon wedges

Gently fry up the onions in oil, adding the spices to fry along.
When the onions and spices are soft and incorporated, add the remaining ingredients, one by one, letting them incorporate. Let simmer until lentils, carrots and buckwheat are soft.
Add, salt, pepper and cayenne to taste.
The more it simmers, the more the buckwheat will absorb, so add water accordingly.

Serve with a little fresh squeezed lemon.

Baked Salad, Better than You Think.

2009-12-21T10:46:00.005+01:00

Have I ever mentioned the fact that I get a CSA box thingie at home, from Årstiderne? I have? Well, I'm still getting it, despite the fact that it's pretty predictable, since Autumn and Winter rolled around, and the pickings got slimmer and slimmer. We're pretty much down to turnips, potatoes, kale, white cabbage, jerusalem artichokes if we're lucky....*sob*. It's pretty boring. A few weeks in a row now, they've thrown in some endive, which is fitting, since in Denmark they call it julesalat aka "Christmas salad". It sat there in the fridge for a spell, while I looked at it, scratched my head, and wondered how the hell I was going to get my kids to eat it. As a kid I saw my dad chomp on the stuff raw, but I never saw it consumed any other way.

*Cut to 25 years later, enter Belgium*

Turns out, in Belgium (which you can read about on the innernets), they bake it. With cheese. Sign me up!

The rundown is this:

- Slice your endive lengthwise, remove damaged outer leaves, cut off knobby bit at bottom.
- Steam gently for app. 10 minutes.
- Prepare a small amount of Bechamel sauce, adding a handful of grated parmesan here, and a handful of grated gruyère there, stirring until well incorporated.
- Arrange the steamed endive in am oven-proof dish,
- If you want to get crazy, wrap the endive in slices of ham, parma or serrano would be nice, but the Belgians use thick slices of boiled ham, which just ain't my style. No ham is just as nice though, if you're a veggie.
- Pour the cheesy Bechamel sauce over your endive, and throw some more grated cheese on top.
- Bake on medium/high until the cheese is bubbly and golden.

I swear, my 2 yr. old couldn't get enough! My husband thought baked salad was a bit much, but truly, it was delicious.

Another version to try out is to add slices of chorizo on top, instead of ham, and add cheddar to the sauce, instead of parmesan/gruyère. A little on the Tex-Mexy side, but not bad, not bad at all.

Moist, Dense, Perfect Gingerbread

2009-12-13T18:27:00.006+01:00

This is another re-post from my family blog. From back in 2007 I think. But still just as fine as it ever will be. I am a busy bee with my last term paper, my innumerous jobs, and taking to the streets on the behalf of our climate.

This cake is...perfect. I remember tweaking it just a tad here and there, as I didn't have the exact sugars called for, but nevertheless, it was...perfect. And popular.

Kille Enna's Gingerbread

300 grams flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
50 grams dark chocolate
250 grams butter
2 dl boiling water
3 tbsp fresh finely grated ginger
200 grams dark muscovado sugar
200 grams molasses cane sugar
4 eggs

Sieve the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and allspice in a bowl.
Melt the chocolate in a water bath.
In another bowl, whisk the butter until frothy.
Add hot water, ginger and sugar and whisk well.
Add one egg at a time while whisking.
Fold the chocolate in the mixture, then add the dry ingredients. Whisk well.
Pour into a buttered and floured cake pan (20 cm x 25 cm).
Bake at 170 Celsius for 45-60 minutes.
It's done when a knife comes out clean.

Mini German Pancakes

2009-12-06T18:08:00.006+01:00

This is a re-post from my real bloggy blog, back in February 2008. It bears repeating!

Picture eaten by Blogger - sorry!

Out of the blue the other day, I suddenly remembered a recipe my mom used to make every so often on Sundays, after church. It was a big, fluffy, eggy pancake that got drowned in lemon juice with a sprinking of powdered sugar. As I've written before, I haven't missed all that much stuff from my years in the States. But lately more and more things keep popping up in mind, and then I can't let it go again until I get it out of my system.

So the other day, I called my mom for this recipe and I've already made it three times since! It's a German Pancake, and there are loads of recipes out there on the net for it. It's originally supposed to be just one big oven baked pancake, but I modified it so some brunch guests could have a couple of mini pancakes each, which was a hit.

This recipe is really easy. To use a poetic Danish term, it's like scratching your ...

Half a cup flour
Half a cup milk
2 eggs
pinch of salt
2 tbsp butter

Preheat your oven to 200 Celsius. Disperse the butter in the holes of a muffin tin, and preheat in oven until butter is melted. While that's happening, whisk the other ingredients together in a bowl until they are JUST incorporated. It's very important not to overwhisk the batter. Disperse on to the melted buttered muffin tin, and bake for roughly 10 minutes. My convection oven is extremely effective, so you may need more. Don't open the oven until it's done, or the pancakes will deflate before they're done.

Serve with lemon slices and powdered sugar, or whatever your heart desires.

The Next Best Thing

2009-11-29T18:44:00.003+01:00

These are just about as close to being chocolate chip cookies with out actually being chocolate chip cookies. They are but humble meringues. As in, no flour. Ergo no gluten. And these in particular are chock full of nuts and chocolate chunks. Delightful and delicious.

40 grams egg white (one large egg white)
100 grams powdered sugar
100 grams almonds (or hazelnuts) chopped
100 grams dark chocolate chopped
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp white wine vinegar

Brown the chopped nuts lightly in the oven. Mix the egg white and sugar with vanilla and vinegar until it gets peaky. Fold the other ingredients in. Drop with a spoon on baking parchment, and bake for ten minutes at 160 degrees Celsius.

That easy.

I've added the cocoa powder, vanilla and vinegar, otherwise this recipe is taken from a Nikolaj Kirk cookbook. The bigger the chunks of chocolate, the more you will fool yourself into believing that you have a real chocolate chip cookie on your hands.

French Onion Soup

2009-11-22T18:03:00.006+01:00

Oh, now this is real childhood favorite of mine! In the picture you actually see it as I did as a youngster. My parents got these Danish bowls together, and after divorcing, my Dad took a few of him up north to the Chicago area, and when he died, I took them back to their place of origin. I also ate my cheerios from these bowls, broth when I was sick, strawberries with sour cream and brown sugar for an impromptu dessert...these are the bowls of my childhood. And I'm so happy I have them again, even if it does mean my dad is dead. Life is bittersweet like that.

French onion soup on the other hand is warm, delicious, inviting, comforting and cheap to boot. You'll need:

10 yellow onions
butter
oil
sugar
flour
few drops Worchester sauce
salt to taste (or few drops Tamari sauce)
broth (beef broth is usually used, I make do with vegetable)
thyme
slices of stale bread
grated cheese (gruyère, sharp cheddar etc)

I start off my slicing my onions. Some halve the onions first, slicing thin lunar shapes. Some slice through the whole onion, creating rings. I like halving them, and slicing along the poles. Makes for a chunkier bite of soup I find.

Sauté gently in a bit of butter and oil until they go a bit glassy on you.
Add a few tsp of sugar to caramelize slightly.
Now add a tbsp of flour or so to thicken and brown.

*Now, I have to add here, that if you use a beef broth, you should be fine, colorwise. I prefer not to, opting instead for vegetable broth, but this gives a light colored soup that's otherwise meant to be on the dark side. So at this stage, I add my Worchester sauce and Tamari to get the onions nice and dark before adding my broth.

I add about 1.3 liters or so since that's how much water I can boil in the kettle at once. Let it bubble for a while before tasting it. Add a few pinches of dry or a sprig of fresh thyme at this stage. I like to let mine boil down until it's quite thick with onions.

Now arrange the soup in an oven-proof bowl, lightly set a slice of bread on top, and cover with grated cheese. Grill in the oven until bubbly and brown as you like it. I like mine slightly less brown than most, but it needs a bit of crunch to be just right.

My kids aren't quite hooked on this yet, but I'm planning on breaking them in with this recipe this winter!

Chocolate-covered Caramel Crunch

2009-11-15T19:03:00.006+01:00

This recipe is well known on the internets. I think this was the guy who started it all. But in these matters, I don't mind being a sheep. It's worth it. The recipe is easy, delicious, and best of all, impressive. If you make it for guests, they'll be flabbergasted that you've mde your own Daim, or Skor as it's called in the US. Just don't let on how easy it was.

You'll need:

enough crackers to line a baking sheet (matzoh crackers make this an appropriate Passover treat)
1 c unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1 c packed light brown sugar
big pinch of fleur du sel (optional)
1/2 t vanilla extract
1 c semisweet chocolate chips
1 c toasted coarsely chopped almonds

1. Line baking sheet with foil, making sure you have enough to create a tall rim around the pan. Line pan with crackers, breaking up pieces if you have to, to fill in any cracks. Preheat the oven to 375° F/190° C.

2. In a medium sized saucepan, melt the butter and brown sugar together over medium heat. Stir frequently until the mixture begins to boil. Boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add in vanilla. If you are using unsalted crackers, add in salt. Pour caramel over crackers and spread evenly with a silicone spatula.

3. Put the baking sheet in the oven, reducing heat to 350° F/190° C. Bake for 15 minutes, watching carefully that the caramel does not burn.

4. Remove from heat and cover with chocolate chips. Let stand 5 minutes until chocolate melts and then spread evenly with a spatula. Sprinkle with toasted almonds and fleur du sel or whatever toppings you desire. Let cool completely and then break into pieces, storing in an airtight container.

I happened to have some pecan-meal on hand which I used in lieu of the almonds, but the variations on this are endless!

More of Them Apples

2009-11-09T11:11:00.005+01:00

This dish is an old Danish favorite. It translates to "apple cake", but it's not apple cake like the one most people think of, which I'd more call a "kuchen". This is a concoction consisting more or less of apple sauce, a crispy topping, and whipped cream. Everybody's grandmother has their own recipe.

You'll need:
Apples
Bread crumbs
Cream
Sugar

Start with your apples. Peel them, core them, cut them into biggish chunks, so there's still some texture. In a pot, simmer them with just the slightest bit of water, until they go all mushy, but not too liquidy. Add sugar to your liking, a little vanilla is a good thing too.

Now, while those are bubbling gently, and reducing, gently toast some bread crumbs with a little sugar in a pan. You want them to have a golden color, perhaps a dark golden color, but this requires guarding them lest they burn on you.

Whip the cream.

Now, if you're the patient type, I suggest layering your apple sauce and crumbs, and then waiting until they're almost completely cooled before adding the whipped cream to the whole thing.

If you're the impatient type, like some people I know and happen to live with, make individual servings while it's still nice and warm, and then race each other to eat up before the whipped cream melts completely.

*Some people use crumbled up macaroons instead of crumbs. They're sweet by nature, and don't need any toasting.

**Some people also add sherry or a port wine to the crumbs/macaroons. This is always a welcome addition in my family.

Them Apples

2009-11-04T16:14:00.004+01:00

We have been on Bornholm for a few days of R&R. The people whose house we live in let us know that we were welcome to partake of their garden's apple booty. So we did.

We had Æbleflæsk (Apple/Pork concoction), Æblekage (dessert made from apple porridge, with sweetened crumbs and whipped cream on top), and washed it all down with Æblemost (apple cider, with no alcohol content) and Æblecider (apple cider with a high alcohol content). We're all appled out.

The Æbleflæsk is a favorite, so I'll start with that. No pictures unfortunately. We ate it up before I could even grab my camera!

- You start by taking slices of pork breast (about 500 gr, at least), with the rind still on, and frying them up in a skillet. It will sputter a lot, so take care. Turn them often. When they are browned and crispy, take them off and lay them on some kitchen towel. There should be some melted fat left in the skillet. Add about a thumb of butter to that, and when that's melted, add slices from 3-4 large apples in the skillet. Fry until they go soft, but still have their shape. Now, serve on thick slices of buttered rye bread, with the slices of pork on top.
Dig in - it is heavenly.

I'll try to make some more Æblekage so I can share the recipe, and pictures with you!

A Word on Mashed Potatoes

2009-10-28T11:58:00.004+01:00

It would hardly be a proper post around here if I didn't mention we get a CSA box from Aarstiderne. We do. And along with all those dang carrots, we get potatoes every week too. Which is great, because we get to eat French fries and mashed potatoes alot, which are always a hit with the young, hip crowd that live here.

Now, have you ever had the feeling that the mashed potatoes you make could double as an adherent for wallpaper? I'm not sure the exact chemical processes that make this so, but I suspect is has to do with how you beat the potatoes, and also how much they are boiled. But here, I have a few tips for bringing the perfect mashed potato to your table.

1) This is a Heston Blumenthal tip, not exactly energy efficient, but it really gives you a perfect mashed potato. Heat potatoes up in a large pot of water. When the water starts to steam, though just before bubbling, drain the water from the potatoes. Yes, drain the water and throw it away. Most of the starches will have left your spuds by now, so add fresh water to the pot and potatoes, a sprinkling of salt, and carry on as you always have.

2) Instead of a whole serving of mashed potato, use half potatoes, and other tubers for the rest. I like using celeriac, parsnip, carrots, jerusalem artichoke, root parsley et. al. They add a different flavor, different nutrients and aren't starchy like potatoes can be.

3) I hand beat mine, with an egg beater, or even a fork sometimes. It gives a nice rustic feel to it, and doesn't beat the starches out of the potatoes and into the dish.

Anyone else have tips?

In Many Ways a Perfect Cake

2009-10-24T12:25:00.005+02:00

Since last, our carrot supply has actually grown. I keep having to think of creative ways to use them up, and this is harder than you would think! We are just not carrot people, but they are in our CSA nonetheless. I found this oh so yummy carrot/banana cake on the interwebs yesterday, and it was not only quick and easy, it was absolutely delectable, moist, perfect texure and with a cream cheese frosting, and we all love that, n'est-ce pas?

The Perfect, Moist Banana/Carrot Cake

3 medium eggs
175g soft brown sugar
175g plain flour (I used my usual spelt flour w/germ)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
175ml sunflower oil (I used coldpressed rapeseed/canola)
175g walnut pieces (I used 90 grams of Texas Pecan Meal)
2 ripe, medium bananas, mashed
175g grated carrot

Icing
75g butter, softened
75g cream cheese
150g icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract
Chopped walnuts, to decorate (optional)

Preheat the oven to 170°C. Grease a 20cm-diameter cake tin with removable base.
Beat the eggs and the sugar together until thick. Sift in the flour, baking powder, salt and bicarbonate of soda. Mix well then add the oil and walnuts, then the banana and carrot.
Pour into the tin. Bake for 1¼ hours or until a skewer comes out clean. Cover with foil if it begins to brown too much (I didn't do this, and mine was pretty brown, but by no means burnt). Cool on a rack.
For the icing, beat the butter and cheese together, then add the sugar and vanilla. Spread on the cold cake. Finish with walnuts.

As if we could wait that long for the last bit. We ate it still warm with a side dollop of the frosting. Perfect for a night in while dogsitting for friends. We didn't share with our furrry friend though. This recipe is originally for 8 people, but if you're anything like Mik and me, this is a weekend cake for two.

A Little Indian for a Change

2009-10-15T19:54:00.005+02:00

Meet June. She's one of my newest expat friends, just moved to Copenhagen two months ago. She's funny. Go read her blog. Don't walk, run.

June and I sometimes meet up for coffee, with other expats. Like today. And still unsure of her new hometown, I always offer to drive. So to speak.

And after said coffee, we took a little walk around town, before heading back to her place for a chai. What else. Never had chai with fresh ginger before, but I can assure you, that's the only way I can drink it from now on. June also bestowed upon me a package of real Indian curry, with the words, "go home, and throw everything else you have out". Good thing one of my spice jars was recently emptied, and just screaming for new spices.

This gift of spice coincided with the fact that I am drowning in carrots. I get a box of seasonal Danish veggies every week from Aarstiderne. Enough with the carrots! In desperation, I chopped them (all 6lbs of them), boiling them in broth until they could be blended. Now I've had this "carrot base" in the fridge for a few days, alternately serving it as soup, or adding it as a thickener to stir fry.

My repertoire opened up even further today, and I made a lovely Carrot Daal using the eponymous June curry. Quite a success with the youngsters I might add, it was a lovely, mild curry enlightened by the sweetness of the carrots and a touch of coconut milk.

Not much to it really:

5 cups of carrot base (carrots boiled in broth, puréed)
1/2 cup dried green lentils
2 tsp. curry powder
1 small can of coconut milk
salt to taste

Let all the ingredients gently bubble together, until the lentils are tender. At the very end, throw a handful of frozen peas in, for the texture and color. When they're cooked through, serve over rice. Lovely.

The Most Decadent Popcorn, Evah!

2009-10-04T14:37:00.005+02:00

To combat the Autumn in Denmark, Danes do the "hygge" thing. They make tea, light candles, snuggle and under afghans with a good book, if they don't just go whole hog and bring the duvet into the sofa. That is one of the many variations at least. We do a Blockbuster run, renting 4-5 dvds at a go, splurging on hot cocoa and popcorn (and maybe a mixed bag of sweets after the kids are asleep).

I have slowly learned to elevate popcorn to a new level, beyond the salt, beyond the melted butter. It took me a while to catch on. My first lesson was this one at Everybody Likes Sandwiches. Then, I turned on to truffle oil, and now I can never go back. The truffle oil I use os diluted to begin with, the stuff is potent I tell you!

I fry my popcorn in a big pot, in the old fashioned manner. I use cold pressed virgin coconut oil in the pot, for that genuine cinema popcorn effect. I melt a good 50-60 grams of butter, and when that's melted and taken off the heat, I add just 1-2 tsp. of truffle oil to it. Mix it well with the finished popcorn, adding a good sprinkling of sea salt as you go. Some call for a handful of shredded parmesan to top it all off as well. Divine. And for all the luxury it exudes, it goes down very well with hot cocoa and dvds.

Smørrebrød Revisited

2009-09-29T11:28:00.004+02:00

People often think of open faced sandwiches when they think of Denmark. The typical variations are pickled herring, liver pâté, slices of smoked sausage or other cold cuts, with a number of various garnishes to top them off. They're usually stacked so high that eating them with knife and fork is required. I'll do that in good company of course, otherwise I have a contest with myself to see what I can shove in my mouth (tsk tsk). This is what I'd call a "Californian" smørrebrød. Very simple, healthy, yummy and elegant. Until you eat it that is.

From bottom to top:
Rye bread
A smear of butter
Sliced tomato
Sliced hard boiled egg
(A thin layer of Hellman's doesn't hurt)
(A sprinkling of curry powder ain't bad either, though I don't know what's Californian about that!)
Sliced avocado
Sprinkling of Maldon sea salt

Eat with knife and fork or alone.

*BLOGGER ATE MY PHOTOS DAMMIT!*

Rainy days have their merits!

2009-09-28T20:03:00.006+02:00

There was a lovely picture here of cinnamon buns, but Blogger ate then so you'll have to use your imagination! :)

Anyone in Scandinavia has by now noticed that it's officially Autumn. Grey, rainy, and cold - just how it's supposed to be right? Good excuse to get baking in the kitchen, making warm, yeasty treats like these Norwegian Cinnamon Rolls from Nigella. I woke up this weekend to such a dreary day, and had had a bad dream to boot. Not a great combo. Cooking up comfort food like these babies soothes the soul though. They're not so sticky that you can't eat them with your fingers, and they're not so dry that you have to eat them with a cup of tea. They're quite good at any time of the day. Enjoy.

For the dough
600 gr. flour
100 gr. sugar
1/2 tsp salt
50 gr. fresh yeast (or 3 packages dry)
100 gr butter
4 dl milk
2 eggs

Heat oven to 230 C. Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl. Melt the butter, whisk it with the milk and eggs and add to the dry ingredients. Knead until smooth and firm. Let rise in an oiled bowl for 25 minutes.

Roll a third of the dough out to fit the bottom of a large pan (35x25 cm, circa), lined with paper. Roll out the rest of the dough into a large rectangle, app. 50x25 cm. Now, mix the following ingredients well (I do it with my fingers) and smear it out on the rolled out dough:

150 gr. room temperature butter
150 gr. sugar
1 1/2 cinnamon

Roll the dough from the one long side to the other, until you have a long roll. Cut it into 20 pieces, laying them cut side up/down on the dough bottom in the pan. Beat an egg, and brush it on to your raw cinnamon rolls. Let rise for another 15 minutes, until big and fluffy.

Bake for 20-25 minutes. Check the middle ones to see that they're baked through. Let them cool a bit before tearing into it!

Friday Night is Pizza Night

2009-09-26T11:05:00.006+02:00

I promised several people, eons ago, to give them my pizza recipe, but somehow never got around to it. So here is my recipe for the dish we eat most often at our place. It is THE meal to have on a Friday night, but also what I throw together if I have to feed more than four adults at short notice (since making two is hardly any more taxing than making one). I always have these ingredients on hand: Canned artichokes, bell peppers, shredded mozzarella, frozen spinach, tinned tomatoes, which makes this an easy dish to put together. The secret is in the preparation of the dough.

To make the dough mix these dry ingredients in a bowl:
250 grams of flour (sometimes I use tipo 00, sometimes I use spelt. Anything goes.)
3 tsp fresh yeast
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar

Add:
1.5 deciliters warm water
dollop olive oil

- Mix well, before kneading gently with a sprinkling of corn flour on the table. Let rise for an hour in an oiled bowl.
- When the dough has risen, I dump it on a big piece of baking paper, and working from the middle and out, use my fingers to spread it out until it's roughly the size of the baking sheet. May take a little practice, so just use your roller if you need it.
- Then, dump one can of chopped tomatoes on the raw dough, smooth it out with a spatula and sprinkle salt on top.
- Bake for about 20 minutes in a very hot oven (about 250 Celsius).
- When the tomato has a thickened appearance, and the crust sounds a little bit hollow, take it out of the oven and add your additional ingredients.

I use:
- sliced onion
- chopped, canned artichokes
- sliced bell peppers
- thawed frozen spinach, fried in a little oil, with garlic
- sliced black olives
- shredded mozzarella
- occasionally, I finely slice chorizo sausage as pepperoni.

This is all negotiable though, the main point of this pizza being that you prebake the dough with the canned tomatoes. After that - it's a free for all.

Big-A** Fluffy Pancakes

2009-09-21T08:37:00.004+02:00

Hardly a weekend goes by in this family without an appearance of these babies. The original recipe is Nigella. I have taken the most fattening element away (melted butter in the batter) and replaced the run of the mill flour with whole grain spelt flour (including the germ). They are still excellent. I dare say a cup of thawed frozen blueberries would be an excellent variation!

225 grams flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tsp sugar
pinch of salt
3 deciliters milk
2 eggs.

Mix the first four (dry) ingredients together in one bowl. Then thoroughly mix the egg and milk together before adding to the dry ingredients. I use a medium heat teflon frying pan for this, no oil or butter, just dry. Pour your batter into appropriated sized splotches and wait until they are bubbly to flip. They'll need a little less time on the other side. Enjoy however you like. My fav is with blueberry maple syrup (NOT Aunt Jemima) and fresh cut up fruit.

Dogmatic Autumn Lasagne

2009-09-18T10:33:00.006+02:00

Yesterday, our Teutonic friends and their whippet came by for dinner. I had just received my local veggie box from Aarstiderne and had loads of good stuff to use. I made the perfect autumnal lasagne using the most seasonal ingredients available. All that was left was one piece!

Again, I'm not that adept at writing my own recipes yet, so I'll just describe what went into the different layers. Og course, the lasagne sheets start at the very bottom, and then between all the layers. I used full grain.

- Bottom layer - steamed hokaido pumpkin, cut into small chunks. A few spoonfuls of tinned tomatoes on top of those, and a sprinkling of salt.
- Next to bottom layer - Sliced zucchini, onion, and chopped celery stalks, fried gently with oil and fennel seeds. Then, half a seleriac, grated, topped off with a generous helping of bechemel sauce.
- Next to top layer - a HUGE bag of kale, de-veined and chopped, fried in oil with sliced garlic until wilted. Mixed with a few spoonfuls of 10% Greek yogurt and salt.
- Top layer - Four large carrots, grated, and then topped with a generous portion of tinned tomatoes, a smattering of salt and fresh, hand shredded mozzarella.

Bake in the oven at 200 Celsius for 45-60 minutes or until the pasta is cooked through, and the dish has bubbled for a little bit.

This was a great way to use all those seasonal veggies in a non-traditional way. I will definitely make this (or something very similar) again!

Fish Tacos

2009-09-16T12:14:00.004+02:00

Blogger ate the photos, d'oh!

Fish tacos were all the internet rage a few months back, though I'd never had them myself, and I needed to see if they lived up to the hype. Although they're not the dish I'd pick to have on my birthday or anything, they really have their merits. They feel light, and healthy, and will fill you up nonetheless. Bonus is that my kids will eat anything wrapped in a tortilla!

In lieu of a real recipe, I'll just tell you how I made what you see in the photos.

- I cut a fresh, white (firm meat) fish into bite sized chunks and dredged them in a mix of flour, salt, pepper and chili. I fried them lightly until golden brown.

- I shredded about half of a head of cabbage, blanched it quickly under boiling water though keeping its "bite" intact. Added a few large, shredded carrots to the mix. Then tossed it all up with a runny mixture of mayonnaise and a little vinegar.

- I heated corn tortillas in a stack in the oven (keeps them from getting all crispy and crumbly) and filled them with the fish and cabbage/carrot mix. Add a few spoonfuls of pineapple salsa (or whatever you have) and you're all set.

The bite of the cabbage teamed with the texture of the corn tortilla is quite satisfying, not to mention the crunchiness of the fish. Worth bringing into your repertoire, though I'd encourage anyone to try out the different variations out there.

Fig and Goat Cheese Clafoutis

2009-09-15T20:06:00.004+02:00

This yummy tidbit comes from Traveler's Lunchbox. It's a recipe I've tried four or five times, and it's always a hit. Made it just yesterday (again) in honor of my mother, who's visiting from Texas, and who ate this for breakfast, dessert or a little snack whenever she felt like it! Don't let the goat cheese put you off, it's a light and fluffy chèvre you need for this, and it's not invasive in the dessert context at all.

Fig and Goat Cheese Clafoutis

Serves: 6
Notes: Equal parts custard, cheesecake and pancake, this clafoutis is not terribly traditional, but it is really good. Serve it in generous wedges, lukewarm or at room temperature, with something fresh and tangy as counterpoint.

5 oz (150g) mild goat cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup (110g) sugar, plus extra for dipping figs
4 large eggs
3 tablespoons honey
3/4 cup (180ml) heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, split, or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup (70g) flour
1 lb (500g) figs, any variety

Preheat the oven to 350F/175C. Put the goat cheese and sugar in a medium bowl and whisk until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, incorporating each one before adding the next. Whisk in the honey and cream. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and add them too. Whisk in the flour just until no lumps remain. At this point the batter can be refrigerated for up to 24 hours (and indeed, some people say it improves with age).

Halve the figs lengthwise. Grease a shallow baking dish or cast-iron skillet (approx 10in/25cm diameter) with butter and pour in the batter. Pour some sugar into a shallow bowl and dip the figs, cut-side down, into the sugar. Arrange them, cut-side up, in the batter.

Bake until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30-40 minutes (this will depend on how large your baking dish is). Allow to cool for at least 20 minutes before serving.