It's my party and I cook if I want to!

We had Balsamic Fresh Figs with Prosciutto,

Baked Garlic and Cauliflower Hummus with Walnut Gremoulata,

Slow baked Tomato Pizza on Puff Pastry with Smoked Mozzarella

and Grilled Mussels with Garlic and Parsley butter.

After that we had Fresh Pasta with

creamed Chanterelles and Norwegian Lobster

And ended with a lovely Tiramisu with Hips, Lemon and Lime

(no coffee, please).

So that was a nice birthday party!

Are you wondering where they serve such wonderful food?

At my place of course - how else would I spend my birthday but in my own kitchen:)

The plums are peaking right now - they have to be used, so how about a nice and easy cake:)

Spicy plum cake
(Serves 8 to 10)

1 1/2 pound fresh plums
3 TBSP sugar (for sprinkling)

1 1/3 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cloves

2 eggs
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and butter a 9-inch springform pan.
Pit the plums and quarter them.
Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl.
In another bowl whisk the eggs, oil and milk together.
Pour the wet ingredients in the flour mixture and blend thoroughly.
Pour the batter in the pan and place the plums closely on top. Sprinkle the rest of the sugar over the plums and bake the cake for about 60 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

Arriving at our summerhouse the first weekend of September our two fig trees were loaded with ripe and almost overripe fruits.
I gathered the fruit and sorted the less ripe for enjoying raw as a snack and for breakfast. The very soft and ripe ones I used for jam and filled 10 cup-sized jars.

Fresh fig jam

2 1/2 cups water
2 1/2 cups sugar
2 lemons, thinly sliced (do not peel, but cut off and discard the ends)
1 cinnamon stick
4 cups fresh figs, stemmed and quartered or coarsely chopped
2 cups cane sugar
Pectin (optional)

Cook the water and sugar over medium heat until the sugar dissolves and the mixture comes to a full, rolling boil. Add lemons and cinnamon and let it boil for 20 minutes.
Pour figs into the hot bubbling syrup. Boil over medium heat, stirring gently, for 20-30 minutes. Ad cane sugar and boil rapidly 5 minutes. Ad pectin if using.
Spoon into sterilized canning jars, wipe the rims and seal immediately with hot, sterilized lids.

Rhubarb-maniac

I am a Rhubarb maniac

This weekend I have made rhubarb compote and rhubarb jam with elderflowers.

Compote
1 pound fresh rhubarb in 1 inch pieces
3 TBSP water
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup fresh elderflowers

Put the rhubarb, water and sugar in a pan and cook it while stirring about 5 minutes. Add the elder flowers and cook 1 minute. Pour the compote into a bowl and let it cool.
Serve with cream, yoghurt or ice cream.

Jam
1 pound fresh rhubarb in 1 inch pieces
3 TBSP water
21/2 cup sugar
1 cup fresh elderflowers

Put the rhubarb, water and sugar in a pan and cook it while stirring about 8 minutes. Add the elder flowers and cook 1 minute. Ladle the jam into clean jam jars and seal them.

I also made Elderflower syrup

20-30 heads of elderflower
2 organic lemons in thin slices
1 cinnamon stick
11/4 cup sugar
11/4 cup cane sugar
1 quart water
2 tsp citric acid

Layer the cleaned flowers with lemon slices in a big jar or bowl and stick the cinnamon in.
Boil sugar, cane sugar and water until the sugar is dissolved.
Take it off the heat and add citric acid.
Pour it over the flowers and lemon.
Cover the jar/bowl and put it in the fridge for 4 days.
Pour it through a sieve and into clean bottles.
Keep in the fridge and serve in cold water or wine.

Use the mush in the sieve for a tasty jam.
Chop it in a food processor and pour it into a pan. Add same amount sugar and boil it rapidly for 5 minutes. Ladle the jam into clean jam jars and seal them.

Easy Rhubarb tart
I brought some fresh rhubarb back from our summerhouse - and made this easy treat for Johannes, Karstens youngest son, who is visiting tonight - after his rugby training.

1 stick butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup walnuts
1/4 cup milk or buttermilk

1 pound fresh rhubarbs
4 Tbsp sugar

Cream butter and sugar and add the egg. Mix flour, baking powder, salt and chopped nuts and add it together with the milk. Spread the batter in the bottom of a 9 inch tart pan.
Wash the rhubarbs and slice them in 1 inch pieces. Layer them on the raw batter and sprinkle with sugar.
Bake the tart in the oven at 350 degrees F. (175 degrees C.) for about 1 hour.
Enjoy warm or cooled with whipped cream or sour cream.

No Knead bread

Jim Lahey of the Sullivan Street Bakery has made the recipe for No knead bread, which was published in New York Times in 2006. Ever since food-bloggers all over the world have posted the recipe and their results on the internet.
Read the original recipe here: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/081mrex.html

Now it is my turn. I have used the recipe for an article in Hjemmet and tried it out with various kinds of flour, different lengths of rest and in pots of cast iron, Pyrex and clay.

My conclusions are:
1. Use whatever flour you like. If you use strong wheat flour you will get very beautiful domed bread with a crispy crust and a great crumb. If you use whole wheat flour the bread may be more flat, but the taste will be very good – and as you know: looks are not everything!
2. I have let the dough rest in the bowl for 8, 10, 12 and 18 hours – and the only difference is that a longer rest makes the taste of “sourdough” stronger. The crust and the bread itself are wonderful even by 8 hours rest.
3. I did omit the 15 minute rest on the table and have also cut the second rest with 1 1/2 hours – with perfect results.
4. Use a cast iron pot – you can use Pyrex or ceramic – but the bread will not be as good as baked in the cast iron – sorry guys. I actually went out and bought a new 4 liter Le Creuset pot just for this project – and it was worth it!
5. I use a warmer oven then in the original recipe: 480 degrees F/250 degrees C.

My recipe in European measures:

500 g flour (after your choice)
5 g fresh yeast (we don’t use instant yeast in Denmark)
2 tsp salt (I like the taste of salt to be more prevalent – is that the correct word?)
4 dl water (+ 3-4 TBSP extra if using whole wheat flour)

I just crumble the yeast into the flour, add salt and water and stir the dough together – just until there is no more dry flour – this will take less than 1 minute.
Cover the bowl and let it rest on the kitchen table for as long as you can wait – 8-18 hours.
Let the dough “fall” out of the bowl on to a lightly floured table. Fold the dough over on itself 3 or 4 times, turn it seam side down and place it on a floured cloth. Dust a little more flour over the dough, fold the cloth loosely over and let it rest while the oven and pot reaches 480 degrees F/250 degrees C – about 20-30 minutes.
Flip the dough into the hot pot, put the lid on and put it in the oven 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake the bread 15-20 minutes more. Let in cool on a rack at least 30 minutes.




The dough has rested in the cloth


The dough in the very hot pot


The bread is finished

Fingers off - it is cooling on the rack

Fried Garfish
In Denmark we call them hornfisk – “horn” hinting the long beak.
They arrive in our seas in April and are really a delicacy.
The traditional way to serve them is filled with parsley and fried in butter – and they taste really good!

Buy the fish as fillets – that’s the easiest way.

4 fresh fillets of garfish
1 big bunch of parsley
Durum flour or rye flour
Salt and pepper

I cut the fillets in half (they are so long) and season them with salt and pepper.
Wash the parsley in cold water and dry it in a clean cloth.
Put the parsley on the fish and roll them up. Fasten with string and dust them with flour.
Fry them on a frying pan with butter and olive oil about 12 to 15 minutes turning them so they get golden brown on all sides.
Serve with new potatoes.
Last time I served them with an apple and celery salad: slice apples and celery thinly and toss them with crème fraiche flavored with a little lemon juice, a little sugar, salt and pepper.