Banana Bread

Banana Bread

Mathilde (my daughter) and I don’t like really ripe bananas – an even if we buy the bananas almost green, we end up with some to ripe bananas we won’t eat.

And that is where this recipe comes in very handy!

1 large egg
(150 g) 3/4 cup brown sugar
(11/4 dl) 1/2 cup milk
3 TBSP oil
3 ripe bananas
1 tsp vanilla powder
(300 g) 2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
(75-100 g) 3/4 cup raisins or sundried cranberries
(75-100 g) 3/4 cup walnuts

Whisk the egg and the brown sugar to at thick cream and add the milk and oil.
Mash the bananas with a fork and mix it in the batter together with the vanilla.
Sift the flour and baking powder together and mix it in the batter together with the salt.
Add raisins/cranberries and chopped walnuts. Fill the batter in a buttered tin.
Put it in the oven at 180 degrees C/350 degrees F for about 1 hour.
Remove it from the tin and let it cool on a rack.
Serve in thick slices as an OK after school snack.

Raspberry slices

Another recipe for left-overs. I almost always manage to make too much pie dough when I am making a pie.
With left over pie dough, you can make these delicious slices called Hindbaersnitter in Danish.

Raspberry slices

Roll the dough out thin and cut it in two identical rectangles. Prick them with a fork and bake them in the oven at 200 degrees C/400 degrees F for about 12 minutes. Take them out of the oven and spread raspberry jam on one of them while they are still warm. Put the other one on top of the jam and let them cool. Mix some powder sugar with a little boiling water to a glaze, and spread it over the top.
Cut in slices.

Left-over pizza

We had left-over’s Sunday; 1 fried pork chop and some potato salad containing chick-peas, tomatoes, feta cheese and olives.

I made a pizza dough and let it rise for about 4 hours. Rolled the dough out thin and spreaded a couple of tablespoons pesto on the dough, Then I scattered very thin slices of the pork chop over it and added the potato salad. I grated some parmesan over that and put the pizza in a very hot oven (250 degrees C/485 degrees F) for about 15 minutes.
It was delicious – and my daughter: Mathilde loved it.
So that is how you feed 3 people with 1 pork chop!

Here is the pizza dough recipe:

10 g/2 tsp yeast
3 1/2 dl/1 1/2 cup tepid water
500 g/3 1/2 cup strong wheat flour
2 TBSP olive oil
2 tsp salt

Mix everything together and knead the dough in a machine for about 5 minutes. Add more flour if needed. Put the dough in a bowl brushed with olive oil, cover it and let it sit on the kitchen table for as long as you can wait.
Put the dough on a table sprinkled with flour and roll it to the thickness you like. Put the dough on a baking sheet and spread some pesto or tomato sauce on it. Ad your favorite left-over’s and bake it in a very hot oven for about 15 minutes.

Lime Tiramisu

Tiramisu is Italian and means something like "cheer me up". It is originally made of ladyfingers dipped in a coffee-marsala mixture, then layered with a mascarpone cream and cocoa.
As I hate the taste of coffee I never eat the traditional Tiramisu.

The real Tiramisu also calls for egg yolks and heavy cream besides the mascarpone (cream cheese) – and I find that to be too rich.

Through the years I have made many different variations of the dessert WITHOUT coffee.

This one is made with lime and serves 6:

5 fresh lime fruits
10 TBSP sugar
9 ounces mascarpone (Italian cream cheese)
1/2 cup pasteurized egg whites
12 lady fingers (Italian cookie: Savoiardi)
3 ounces dark chocolate - if using

Boil the juice of 2 lime fruits together with 2 tablespoons sugar and let it cool.
Whisk the cream cheese together with fine grated lime rind, 6 tablespoons lime juice and 4 tablespoons sugar.
Beat the egg whites stiff and add the rest of the sugar a little at a time. Beat until glossy.
Carefully fold the egg whites in to the cream cheese mixture.
Dip the lady fingers in the lime syrup and layer them with the lime cream (and if you like: coarsely grated chocolate) in small glasses. Let them sit in the fridge for minimum 2 hours.
Enjoy!

Frikadeller or Danish Meatballs

Frikadeller or Danish Meatballs

I bet the Danes consider frikadeller to be the most Danish dish of all.
And as I actually have published a book on the subject containing 50 different recipes, I better tell you how to make frikadeller for a family of 4:

1 pound minced pork (or mixed pork and veal)
1 egg
1/2 onion, grated
5 TBSP flour
3/4 cup milk
salt and pepper
butter and/or oil for frying

Put the meat in a bowl with 1 tsp salt and stir it with a wooden spoon a couple of minutes until it seems quite tough. Add egg, onion and flour and mix until smooth – yes, still by hand. Add the milk a little at a time and put the bowl in the fridge for 1/2 hour.
Shape the meat to balls with a tablespoon dipped in cold water and put them on a warm frying pan with butter and/or oil. Let them brown a couple of minutes on each side. Turn down the heat and let them fry until done – 4-5 minutes on each side. Or put the pan in the oven at 400 degrees F for 8-10 minutes.

Serve with stewed cabbage:

2 pounds white or green cabbage, coarsely shredded
1 TBSP butter
2 TBSP flour
1 1/4 cup cabbage water or milk
nutmeg
parsley
salt and pepper

Cook the cabbage in light salted water for about 10 minutes and put it in a colander to drip of (save the water if using).
Melt the butter in a saucepan and stir in the flour. Add cabbage water or milk a little at a time and let the sauce boil for about 10 minutes. Flavor the sauce with grated nutmeg, salt and pepper. Toss the cabbage in the sauce and heat it through. Add fresh chopped parsley and serve with the meatballs and boiled potatoes or rye bread.

Rye bread and cheese sandwich

Maybe you do not know just how good this Danish style rye bread taste!
If I ever was to live on a desert island and only could bring with me 1 single dish – surely I would choose my own home baked rye bread with Danish cheese – that’s how good it taste!
I am serious; no butter, no mustard, no extras - just the bread and the cheese.
By the way; the plate is an original Blue Fluted pattern, the Royal Copenhagen's very first porcelain dinner service.

The basics: the bread.

We always have two kinds of bread in the house:
rye bread and wheat bread.

Rye bread
(2 loaves)
500 g (2 cups) sour dough (from last time)
550 g (4 cups) rye flour
350 g (2 cups) rye grains
125 g (1 3/4 cups) rolled oats
125 g (3/4 cup) linseed
80 g (1/2 cup) sunflower kernels
75 g ((1/2 cup) golden syrup or molasses
3 1/2 TBS sea salt
1 l (4 cups) tepid water
1/2 tsp (dry) yeast

Put all the ingredients in a mixer with a hook and let it run for 5 minutes. Put about 1/5 of the dough in a plastic or glass container and reserve it in the fridge as sour dough for next time you are baking rye bread.
Divide the rest of the dough between two bread tins brushed with oil. Cover with plastic and let them rise for 8-12 hours - depending on the temperature.
When the dough has risen so the tins are full, carefully remove the cover and put them in the oven at 160 degrees C (320 degrees F) for 1 1/2 hour.
Turn the bread loaves out of the tins and bake them 1/2 hour more (the inner temperature should be 96-98 degrees C (205 degrees F). Let them cool on a wire rack and keep them fresh in freezer bags. Try to wait min. 12 hours before tasting!
If you don't eat that much bread, you can put some of it in the freezer.

Wheat bread
(2 loaves or 1 loaf and some rolls)
sour dough (from last time)
3/4 l (3 cups) tepid water
1 tsp (dry) yeast
18 dl (7 1/2 cups) flour (whole wheat flour, durum flour, wheat flour)
1 TBS sea salt
1 TBS honey or golden syrup

Put the sour dough in a mixer with a hook and add the water. Let it run for 1 minute.
Stir in the yeast, the flours (I use about 1/3 of whole wheat and/or durum and 2/3 ordinary (organic) wheat flour), the salt and the honey or syrup.
Turn the mixer on and let it run for about 5 minutes. Remove the hook and cover the bowl with plastic. Let the dough rise 2-3 hours on the kitchen table or in the fridge for 18-24 hours.
Let the dough fall out of the bowl onto a floured table. Put about 1/5 of the dough in a plastic or glass container and reserve it in the fridge as sour dough for next time you are baking.
Divide the rest of the dough in two pieces and carefully form loaves on a baking sheet or into 2 loaf pans brushed with oil. Cover them with plastic or cloth and let them rise 45 minutes.
Preheat oven to 225 degrees C (450 degrees F). Carefully remove the cover, slit the tops and bake for 25 to 30 minutes until crust is golden brown and the inner temperature is 96-98 degrees C (205 degrees F). Let the loaves cool at least 30 minutes on a wire rack.
If you are making rolls, they should be baked about 15 minutes.

When you start these recipes you might not have any sour dough.
For the rye bread, you can mix 1/2 tsp (dry) yeast with 2 1/2 dl (1 cup) tepid water and 150 g (1 cup) rye flour. Cover the bowl and let it sit on the kitchen table for 1-2 days. It is ready to use, when there are small bubbles on the surface and it smells a little sour.
For the wheat bread, you can mix 1/2 tsp (dry) yeast with 2 1/2 dl (1 cup) tepid water, 150 g (1 cup) whole wheat flour and 1/2 tsp salt. Cover the bowl and let it sit on the kitchen table for 1-2 days. It is ready to use, when there are small bubbles on the surface and it smells a little sour.

Welcome

Hello there,
I am very new at this thing blogging, but I thought it was a way to show my very big american family, what goes on in my kitchen.
I make recipes for a danish magazine, so there is allways a lot of food going in and out of my kitchen. Most of the time, it is a little out of season, because the magazines deadline is 8 weeks ahead.
When I am not working, I almost allways end up in the kitchen anyway, trying somthing out.
So here we go ...