Posts Tagged ‘Cravings’

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Risengrød – Danish warm rice pudding

Saturday, December 12th, 2009

It’s Christmas season, so I’ve got a hankering for traditional danish comfort foods. One of them is warm rice pudding. My mom used to make this on the 23rd of December, so we would have leftovers for traditional Danish Ris-ala-mande. I’ll use these leftovers for rice pudding pancakes tomorrow instead.

It is dead simple to make it. I used a recipe from a book my mother gave me a while back called Ingeborg Suhr – Mad.

  • 1 cup water
  • 180 grams Arborio Rice
  • 5 cups of milk (I used skim)
  • salt to taste

Bring the cup of water to a boil and add the rice while stirring. Turn heat down to low and simmer for 10 minutes with a lid on your pot.  Add the milk and bring to a simmer, and cook for 40-50 minutes with a lid on your pot. Check after 40 minutes to check the consistency and make sure the pudding isn’t burning at the bottom of the pot. My mom would usually cook a huge batch and leave the pot wrapped in a large down comforter for hours. Serve with a teaspon of butter and cinnamon sugar made from 1 tsp cinnamon and 2 tbsp sugar.

This was pretty tasty and even Nicholas scarfed it down. It was not quite as creamy as I remember from my childhood, so I would replace the water and skim milk with whole milk and not bother with the first 10 minute step.

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Cream of Asparagus soup

Saturday, December 12th, 2009

A week or so ago I made a pretty tasty asparagus soup. I’m posting it now because I really liked the recipe, but also because I wanted to recommend the stick blender I have. It’s the Cuisinart Stick Blender and it is very inexpensive. I’m constantly surprised how well it blends despite the low price tag. The following recipe was made with ingredients on hand, so not really fancy or anything.

  • 4 cups chicken stock
  • 2 lbs of asparagus
  • 2 medium sized russet potatoes diced
  • salt / pepper to taste
  • 2 ounces of pancetta
  • 1 smoked bratwurst
  • 2 fluid ounces of cream

Trim the asparagus and cut the heads off and reserve. Chop the asparagus roughly. Bring the chicken stock to a boil and add the chopped asparagus along with the potatoes. Cook for 30 minutes with a lid on until breaking apart. Blend with the stick blender. Add rendered pancetta and tops of asparagus back to the pot and bring everything to a low simmer. S

Did I remember to say how much I love the stick blender? This soup was very smooth.

If I had other ingredients on hand I would have cooked some shallots and garlic until translucent in a little olive oil, then added the asparagus, potatoes, and stock. I would also leave out the bratwurst and pancetta as the taste of the pancetta was quite strong. Serve with a dollop of sour cream.

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Gyoza with bean sprouts

Friday, December 11th, 2009

The idea to use bean sprouts came from my last trip to Wagamama, in South Colonnade London, where the the gyozas tasted quite a bit like bean sprouts and had the fresh bean sprout crunch. The fresh crunch of the sprouts did not come through in these dumplings though, but may have been because I chopped them too finely.  If you don’t like bean sprouts you can use pretty much any vegetable that you have on hand that is fresh.

I usually just buy pre-made wrappers at the grocery store as they are quite a bit of work to make. The filling is quite easy to make though.

  • 1 lb ground pork
  • 2 finely chopped shallots
  • 2 finely chopped cloves of garlic
  • 6 chopped scallions
  • 1 large handful of chopped bean sprouts
  • 1 large piece of ginger grated
  • A few squirts of Shaoxing rice wine
  • A few squirts of Chinkiang black vinegar
  • 1 tbsp of Sesame oil
  • Kosher Salt + Pepper

Mix everything together until you have a good bind. Place a spoonful of the filling on each of the dumpling wrappers and seal them shut. Once you have assembled enough for a full pan put a little oil in your pan and heat it up. Once the oil is hot put the dumplings in and let them fry for 2-3 minutes to get a good caramelization on the bottom. Then pour in enough water to cover the dumplings about half an inch up. Put a lid on the pan and let the dumplings steam for 5 minutes under the lid. Remove cover and let the water eveporate. Serve piping hot.

For the most authentic taste you need an authentic style dipping sauce like the one you can get at Din Tai Fung in Beijing – one of their many locations in Asia. The following

  • 2 parts Chinkiang black vinegar
  • 1 part Soy sauce
  • Chili/garlic sauce to taste
  • Thinly julliened ginger

Mix up and use as dipping sauce for your fresh-made dumplings.

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Danish Ryebread – Rugbrød

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

With my family visiting for a few weeks I really had a craving to make a true Danish Rye bread.  I didn’t want them to have to bring any, and I had yet to find something I liked locally after Blakey’s bakery closed a few years back. I have scoured the Internet and my books for recipes, but none have really hit the spot or had quite the right ingredients – some had caraway seeds, some no whole rye kernels. I finally just tried putting rye flour and rye kernels together and got some decent results. That meant more research and I was able to find a few key points that led me to my final recipe. The Pullman pan with cover and to cook the bread low and slow. This post got me quite a bit of the way there.

After purchasing the pan I tried two times to make the right bread. The flavor was right and cooking time probably a little on the short time (3 hours at 300F), but the loaves looked like they had collapsed. I mixed up the following recipe and raised the temp to 325F for 3 hours and 20 minutes and it came out beautiful! I really tried to model this recipe after the coarse types of rye bread in Denmark like “Skovmandsbrød”.

  • 2 cups sour dough starter (100 gram rye flour, 100 gram boiled rye kernels, 150 grams water, 1/4 tsp yeast – sit out for 48 hours covered)
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp yeast
  • 3 tbsp sesame seeds
  • 2 tbsp flax seeds
  • 1/2 cup non-roasted sunflower seeds
  • 3 cups boiled rye kernels
  • 6 cups rye flour
  • 2 tbsp molases

The flour and rye kernels are all from Mississippi Market. I boil the rye kernels because the end product comes out too hard with the rye kernels left unsoaked and the boiling process makes them nice and soft quickly. I basically cover them in water and bring them to a boil and quickly turn off the heat. Then let them cool and use both the water and the rye kernels in the bread. I let the dough sit for almost two days, until it’s both completely inflated and deflated – it seemed to help with the rise. If I didn’t the bread rose unevenly in the oven in a V-shape. Reserve 2 cups of the dough for the sourdough starter and the rest will fit beautiful in the Pullman pan.

It has taken me quite a while to get this right as I started on the post in June, but finally I can eat a real Danish style rye bread for lunch!

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Jiao Zi – Pot-stickers from Seventh Daughter

Sunday, August 2nd, 2009

I’m currently reading Seventh Daughter and after finishing the first chapter I had a craving to get some dumplings. I decided to whip up a batch for lunch yesterday. The book even recommended to just buy pot sticker wrappers, so I went to our local Cub and got some ground pork and pot sticker wrappers. I already had the remaining ingredients except for green onions which I decided to sub some regular chopped onion for.

  • 1 lb ground pork
  • 2 large handfuls shredded cabbage
  • 1 small onion finely chopped
  • 1 tsp minced ginger (I freeze mine and use a micro plane grater to grate as much as I need)
  • 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil

I mixed up the meat in a bowl and filled the pot-sticker wrappers with about a tablespoon of meat each. I used a little egg-wash to make the wrapper stick better together and then attempted to braid the sides with pretty decent results. Heat a non-stick skillet and spray the pan with oil. Add the pot-stickers and cook for 2-3 minutes or until the pot-stickers have some color underneath them.  Add enough water to the pan to cover about 1/3 of the way up on the dumplings and let the pot-stickers steam under a lid until the water has evaporated and the pot-stickers are cooked all the way through. The pot-stickers turned out very good, although a little salty. So I would leave half a teaspoon of salt out next time.  Serve with a soy/rice vinegar/chili oil dipping sauce.

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Pizza Sandwiches

Sunday, May 24th, 2009

One of the things I occasionally miss from Denmark, are the pizza sandwiches that are made by your local Turkish-family owned pizza joints all over Denmark. They’re essentially calzone pizzas that are light on sauce. Cooked at high heat the outter shell is much like a large pita bread that is cut open and filled with shredded lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber and yogurt dressing. I wanted tomake some similar to this as Nicholas had requested pizza for dinner.

The bread part of this I’ve posted multiple times so I’ll just post the ingredients and no method around it.

  • 4 1/2 cups bread flour
  • 3/4 cup of graham wholewheat flour
  • 1/2 cup gluten
  • 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
  • 1/2 tsp yeast
  • ~2 cups warmwater

I didn’t want to attempt making the tangy yogurt dressing today, so I decided to make a tomato salsa that would add a little of the dressing feel.

  • 4 seeded and then chopped roma tomatoes
  • 1 large shallot finely diced
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1`handfull cilantro leaves chopped
  • juice of 1 lime
  • pinch of kosher salt
  • pinch of fresh ground pepper
  • 2 tbsp olive oil

Mix all the ingredients together in a large enough container and put it in the fridge for an hour to allow the flavors to develop.

Split the pizza dough into 6-7 pieces and round them out. Roll them out flat and try to be a little consistent with the shape so it is easier to form the calzone. Once the dough is rolled out put your toppings on. I went very simple and only added some salami and shredded mozzarella cheese. Only fill one side of the dough where it will make the most uniform folded over piece. Once you fold over the dough you could use a fork to make the edges come together – I braided the sides by folding over the dough a little bit at a time. Was quite easy to do.

The calzones went on the grill for about 2 minutes on each side until they were browned but hopefully not burnt. Once cool enough to touch cut them open at the folded edge and fill. Our fillings were shredded lettuce and the tomato salsa. Below are a few progression pictures.

If I had to make the yogurt dressing I would try to get some greek yogurt (non-sweetened, no vanilla). I’d add lime juice, chopped garlic, salt, pepper, and fresh chopped oregano to it.  Maybe a little buttermilk to get the consistency more like a dressing.

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Malay Style Chicken Satay Marinade

Friday, May 22nd, 2009

Probably one of my favorite recipes taken directly from a book is the Chicken Satay recipe in Cradle of Flavor: Home Cooking from the Spice Islands of Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia by James Oseland. I’ve adapted the recipe to use weight instead of the relatively low-key “piece of” measurements in the recipe. Of course the measurements really depends on the potency of the individual ingredients, but I think it’s alittle more accurate way to get to a consistent result. The original recipe calls for ground turmeric, but I was able to get some fresh turmeric from Dragon Star market in St. Paul.

  • 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 tbsp whole coriander seed
  • 1 tbsp whole fennel seed

Use a mortar and pestle to pound this into a fine powder.

  • 1 oz fresh galangal sliced
  • 2 oz fresh ginger sliced
  • 2 oz shallots (little less than original recipe calls for)
  • 3 cleaned and chopped stalks of lemongrass (hard outer leaves removed and top half cut off)
  • 3 cloves of garlic sliced
  • .5 oz of fresh turmeric
  • 3 oz palm sugar – finely sliced
  • Peanut oil

Put the spice powder into a food processor and add the sliced galangal, ginger, garlic, lemongrass, shallots, and turmeric. Grind for a minute, then scrape down sides and grind for another minute.  Scrape down sides again and add 2 tbsp peanut oil and grind for another minute.  Now add the palm sugar and scrape down again before letting the mixture grind a final time. Adjust the oil to make the consistency right – it shouldn’t be liquid and it shouldn’t be too thick either.

The marinade is plenty to marinate over 3 lbs of chicken thighs (no breasts please – for both flavor and juicyness). The diced chicken thighs marinate anywhere from an hour to 4 hours. It freezes really well too – so I made a triple batch today. It is fairly labor intensive to do the marinade with slicing and cleaning of the ingredients – took me about 2 hours from start to finish. No pictures for now as I’m not actually making the satay until tomorrow.

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Salmon Burgers

Friday, May 15th, 2009

I had some salmon in the fridge that had been sitting for a few days and wanted to try some other than plain boring salmon fillets. So I decided to dice it up finely and make some burgers out of it.

  • 3/4 pound of fresh salmon
  • 1 egg
  • Kosher salt
  • Fresh ground pepper
  • 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tsp sesame oil

Dice the salmon, but don’t mince it as you want some texture left in the finished burgers. Add egg, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and sesame oil. Mix together and add the breadcrumbs a little at a time.  Form 4 burger patties and fry them in olive oil for about 4-5 minutes on each side.

Overall the burgers turned out pretty good and would make a good fish burger with maybe a nice lemon vinaigrette.  The sesame oil didn’t add as much flavor as I was hoping for, so I would leave it out next time. To spice it up I would add some fresh herbs next time – maybe some parsley or cilantro and a little garlic. Adding some diced fresh shrimp to the salmon mixture would provide an interesting texture differences.

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Shish Kebab

Saturday, May 9th, 2009

I was watching the Good Eats Dis-kabob-ulated episode (Making Kabobs, surprise) and was reminded of my quest to come up with something close to the Shawarma served at the legendary Stroeg Shawarma in Copenhagen, Denmark.

I used some basics that Alton Brown was talking about for the attempt. The choice of meat was good and I bought 9 lbs, because I had to be able to make these for our family Mother’s day celebration tomorrow. I have done numerous attempts to get close to the taste, but have never really been successful. I took about 1 lb of the meat aside for the test batch today that would be cooking while I made pizza.

For the marinade I used the following:

  • 3 chopped cloves of garlic
  • salt / pepper
  • 2 tbsp cider vinegar
  • 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 2 tbsp homemade garlic oil (canola oil)
  • 2 tsp McCormick garam masala seasoning
  • 1 tbsp Penzeys dried oregano

Alton’s recipe calls for marinating 2-4 hours, so I made this around 1pm in the afternoon. By 6 I had it skewered up and ready to go on the grill. I browned fairly well on the grill and wasn’t overcooked after about 15 minutes flipping it every 2 minutes or so.

The best part was the taste, it was pretty moist still and had good flavor. Not quite the Shawarma either, but probably the closets I’ve gotten. Next time I’ll add more of the cider vinegar to give it more tang. Might even be worth using my Reveo meat tumbler on it tomorrow. Pictures to follow later.

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Grilling time!

Saturday, March 21st, 2009

Weather was really nice today, so we decided to make hot dogs on the grill! Note the view of the grill from an almost 4 year olds perspective. Hilarious.

Hot Dogs!More dogsNicholas\' view of the grill

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