Traditional and modern Scandinavian and Nordic recipes.

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

How To Make Homemade Creamed Kale Sauce (Grønlangkål) For Danish Summer Dishes

Creamed kale sauce has been eaten with pork or tongue and potatoes in Denmark and Nordic countries for several centuries.  A hearty meal great for  the summertime when you have fresh grown kale. Below is a recipe to make homemade creamed kale sauce (grønlangkål).




Ingredients:
  • 1/2 tablespoon of butter
  • 1/2 tablespoon of flour
  • 1 cup of milk (other options is fish stock, chicken stock or beef stock)
  • 1 large bunch of washed kale, finely chopped
  • Salt and pepper
  • nutmeg
Kitchen Utensils
  • cutting board
  • sharp knife
  • small-medium heavy saucepan
  • wooden spoon
Instructions  

Prepare the Kale
Rinse kale well in large bowl of warm water.  Place the kale in a colander and drain. Rip the leaves off the stem. Discard any discolored leaves and tough stems. 

Cooking Tip: Be sure to wash this carefully and just before use, since it will hasten spoilage.

Then cook the kale in a pot of water.  Add a little bit of salt into the water.  Cook for about 20 minutes in order for the leaves to get soft. Then scoop the kale out of the pot,  Slice the leaves crosswise into ½ inch thick slices with a sharp knife on a cutting board. Set it aside in a bowl.  

Cooking Tip: Whenever you shop for kale, buy lots of it because it cooks down dramatically.


Make the Cream Sauce
Melt the butter in the saucepan over medium heat.

Add the flour and whisk until the flour is absorbed into the butter (this a "roux").  Stir for about 2-3 minutes until it becomes thick, smooth and pale beige in color.

Add the milk gradually about 1/3 at a time, and whisk constantly.  Keep stirring and bring to boil.  Add Kale juices too. You don't want this to burn.  Stir constantly for about 5-6 minutes until smooth and thick. 

If the sauce is too thick, you need to prime with milk or kale juice. If it is too thin, boil a little more.  Avoid the sauce tasting like flour by stirring well and carefully. 

Turn down the heat.  Add chopped kale. Add nutmeg for flavoring. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer the sauce for 1-2 minute without boiling.

Cover to keep warm until you are ready to serve.  Serve "grønlangkål" with either cooked smoke ham or tongue and over potatoes. Enjoy!

Did you know that ....the ancient Greeks and Romans grew kale in their gardens?

Monday, April 21, 2014

Roast Beef, Remoulade & Fried Onions Open-Face Sandwich

When I was a child and my parents would have a lunch party, they would set up a smørrebrød table.  Often they served the Danish roast beef open-face sandwich with homemade Danish fried onions and Danish remoulade sauce. This classic sandwich was always a sure-fire crowd pleaser. It was and still is a completely delicious treat!

See Karen Grete preparing this delicious smørrebrød 
on our YouTube video

Below are a few ingredients to make an absolutely delicious sandwich.  


Ingredients:
  • 1 piece of rye bread
  • European style butter
  • 4 slices of roast beef
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons of homemade remoulade sauce
  • 1 dill pickle 
  • homemade Danish fried onions
  • parsley for garnish 
Before you get started to prepare the sandwich you will need to do a little prep work and make a couple of the toppings (pålæg).  You will need to prepare the Danish remoulade sauce and the Danish fried onions in advance. 
  1. When you are ready to make this smørrebrød, the first thing to do is butter a piece of dark Danish rye bread.
  2. Lay across the rye bread either 3 to 4 slices of roast beef.Depending on the size of the roast beef.
  3. Then, add a nice large spoonful of remoulade sauce on top of the roast beef. This rich mayonnaise remoulade sauce adds a delicious flavor to this sandwich.
  4. Next add on top of the remoulade a large spoonful of homemade Danish fried onions which gives the sandwich a perfect savory flavor.  
  5. Add a slice of pickle fanned out. 
  6. Finally for garnish add parsley on the side



 
It's that easy! This sandwich goes great with enjoy with lager beer too.  We usually set the table with a Royal Copenhagen plate, a fork, a knife and a glass for the beer. 
 
Thumbs up for open-faced sandwiches!

Be sure to send me pictures of YOUR open-faced sandwiches.

xoxo,
Karen Grete and Heidi
Check out some of our other postings such as 



These recipes are perfect for the holiday season. Please let us know what you think!
Our Scandinavian recipes including Danish, Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish are on http://scandinavtoday.blogspot.com/ Follow us either on Twitter @scandinavtoday, Blogger, Google+, Google Pages, Pinterest and Subscribe to our YouTube Chanel Scandinavian Today!  Let's get cooking Scandinavian foods!

Gooseberry Fool Recipe- A delicious dessert to celebrate April Fool's Day! Stikkelsbær dessert


We love gooseberries (stikkelsbær)! A typical Danish fruit that we have grown in our yards for years. Believe it or not we still have some gooseberries in the freezer from last summer.  So, April Fool's Day is coming up and we thought what better way to enjoy April Fool's Day by making Gooseberry Fool.
Gooseberries make a classic Fool dessert which dates as far back as the sixteenth century in England.  Even though Gooseberry Fool is not a Scandinavian dessert it is a wonderful refreshing dessert to serve after a Scandinavian dinner.  A delicious mixture of lightly sweetened fruit puree, sweet custard and whipped cream.
The word "Fool" is believed to have originated from the French word "fouler" which means "to mash" or "to press".  And this is exactly what we will do with this fruit dessert. So let's get started!

 
 Click on our YouTube video 
to see how Karen Grete prepares this delicious dessert. 

First Step: Make the Gooseberry Stewed Puree 
Ingredients
  • 2 cups of gooseberries rinsed and drained, or frozen berries, thawed
  • 2 tablespoons of sugar or to taste
  • 2 tablespoons of Elderberry syrup or elderflower cordial or water
Instruction: 
  1. Clean, top and tail the gooseberries. 
  2. Put the gooseberries into medium, heavy saucepan over low heat.  
  3. Add in the elderberry syrup and sugar into the saucepan. 
  4. Bring up to boil and then simmer for 5 to 10 minutes gently until the gooseberries are soft and pulpy.  Keep stirring often.
  5. Then crush the berries with a potato masher or a fork when they are thoroughly soft. 
  6. Taste the liquid mixture to see if it needs more sugar. It might be tart
  7. If you like the gooseberries to be pureed, use a blender or a fruit processor.  Then strain if you like it smooth.  
  8. Cover and refrigerate until cool.
Second Step: Make the Custard
Check out our recent post on how to make homemade custard.  This custard recipe is very versatile and perfect for this dessert.
 Click on our YouTube video 
to see how Karen Grete prepares the custard.
Third Step: Make the Whipped Cream
Ingredients
  • 1 1/4 cup of heavy cream
Before serving make the whipped cream until soft peaks.
Fourth Step: Combine all of the Ingredients 
 
Instruction:
  1. Before you get started be sure the custard and the gooseberry puree have cooled down.
  2. When ready, gently fold the whipped cream into the custard into a medium mixing bowl. Leave about 1/4 of the whipped cream on the side for decoration later.
  3. Now we should be ready to prepare the serving bowl or individual glasses.  First, spoon the custard mixture onto the bottom of a serving bowl or individual glass.  
  4. Next layer, spoon the gooseberry puree on top of the custard layer. Then layer custard on top of the gooseberry puree mixture and so on.  Keep layering until the glass bowl is full with layers. This gives a beautiful contrast if serving in a glass bowl.  
  5. Keep the serving bowls or individual glasses in the refrigerator until ready to serve. 
  6. Decorate with additional whipped cream.  
  7. Add either thin slices of almonds, fresh gooseberries or chocolate on top as garnish before serving.
  
 A delightful combination.  It so pretty to see the contrasting layers in a clear glass.
  
Here our table setting has George Jensen silverware, a vintage Royal Copenhagen pitcher, a glass candle holder by iittala Finland and a Swedish summer tablecloth from IKEA. 
Our Scandinavian recipes including Danish, Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish are on http://scandinavtoday.blogspot.com/
*how to make Danish Christmas rice pudding with cherry sauce dessert recipe (Risalamande med kirsebærsauce)


Follow us either on Twitter @scandinavtoday, Blogger, Google+, Google Pages, Pinterest and Subscribe to our YouTube Chanel Scandinavian Today!  Let's get cooking Scandinavian foods!

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Orange Fromage Dessert - Appelsinfromage Opskrift - A Classic Danish Orange Mousse Dessert Recipe

This refreshing & delicious dessert is served cool. This homemade dessert is great to serve to your friends and family anytime of the year! 







 Ingredients:
  • 4 pasteurized eggs that are separated 
  • 1/2 cup of sugar
  • 2 cups of freshly squeezed orange juice
  • finely grated orange zest from one orange
  • 1 cup of whipping cream (including some for garnish)
  • 1 tablespoon of unflavored gelatine
  • 1/2 a cup of water
 Kitchen Utensils
  • measuring cup
  • measuring spoon
  • knife
  • spatuala
  • wooden spoon
  • electric mixer
  • cutting board
  • 1 small mixing bowl
  • 2 medium size mixing bowls
  • 1 large mixing bowl
  • 1 medium pot
Instruction: 
  1. Whip 4 egg yolks with a 1/2 cup of sugar in a large mixing bowl.  Whip until it is a light white-yellow in color and fluffy.
  2. Mix 1 tablespoon of gelatin into a 1/2 cup cold water in a small mixing bowl. Stirring constantly to make sure the gelatine dissolves.
  3. Next heat up the orange juice in a medium pot on high heat on the stove.  Remove from the stove and add the dissolved gelatine.  Stir constantly to ensure the gelatine is dissolved.  Then, let the mixture cool for at least 10 minutes.
  4. Next whip the 4 egg whites in a medium size bowl until stiff. Set aside
  5. Whip the whipping cream with the electric mixer in a medium size bowl. Set a side
  6. Combine the orange juice mixture and orange zest into the egg yolk mixture in a large mixing bowl.  Make sure the orange juice is cold before doing this.
  7. Then, fold in the whipped egg whites into the egg yolk mixture with a spatula. 
  8. Fold the whipped cream into the egg mixture one forth at a time. (Leave about 1/4 cup of whipped cream on the side for decoration later.) Stir gently until it starts to thicken.
Serving instructions  
When the orange fromage is almost stiff, spoon into either a serving bowl or individual glasses. If you want to kick it up a notch, create an orange into an individual serving bowl.
To create an individual orange bowl 
Using a sharp knife, cut an orange in half.  Then remove the inside of the orange by scooping out the flesh. You now have a bowl made out of orange peel to use for the orange mousse. Now spoon in the orange fromage to the rim of the orange peel. 
Keep either the serving bowls, individual glasses or the orange bowls in the fridge until ready to serve. Decorate with additional whipped cream.  Add either an thin slice or orange peel, fruit or chocolate on top before serving. This is a fun and tasty way to present the orange fromage dessert! Chill for several hours or until firm. 

Friday, April 18, 2014

Shredded Brussels Sprouts Salad Recipe with Clementines - Rosenkål Salat Opskrift

 
Summer is coming and starting to think about great salads. Mixing fruits and salads have become popular to make.  Typically brussels sprouts are prepared either cooked or oven roasted. Instead these brussels sprouts are uncooked, thinly sliced and tossed with a dressing.  
 
This is a great side dish similar to coleslaw. Great with either pork chops or grilled chicken.  Perfect salad to serve at a brunch or at a barbeque out on the deck. 
Dressing Ingredients
  • 1 teaspoon of lemon zest
  • lemon juice from 1 medium size lemon
  • 1 teaspoon of rice wine
  • 2 teaspoon of honey
  • 1/2 teaspoon of dijon mustard
  • 1 /4 cup of olive oil
Salad Ingredients 
  • 1 pound of Brussels sprouts, cleaned and remove outer leaves
  • 1/2 a cup of pomegranate seeds (about 1 fruit)
  • 1/3 cup toasted pine nuts
  • 3/4 cup of clementine segments 
  • 1/2 a cup of shredded mozzerella white cheese
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Kitchen Utensils
  • medium-large bowl
  • 1 small bowl
  • cutting board
  • knife
  • wooden spoon
  • measuring cup 
  • measuring spoon
Click on our YouTube video 
to see how Karen Grete prepares this summer salad!
Dressing Instructions

To prepare the dressing, combine lemon juice, zest, dijon mustard, rice wine, honey in a medium bowl. While whisking continuously, slowly drizzle the olive oil into the mixture until all of the oil is incorporated. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Salad Instructions
  1. Select hard, bright-green sprout heads, as mushy sprouts yield less flavor. Choose sprout heads of roughly the same size and cut in half.
  2. Remove the outer leaves from the brussels sprout and rinse them well
  3. Using a very sharp knife, cut them into shreds thinly slice them crosswise.
  4. Break up the layers and place the sliced sprouts in a large bowl. 
  5. Add pomegranate seeds into the large bowl  
  6. Drizzle the dressing over the salad. Add as much dressing as desired, gently toss until combined
  7. Add the pine nuts to the Brussels sprouts salad
  8. Sprinkle the cheese and toss.
  9. Add individual clementine segments over the salad.  Arrange the clementines in a circular or decorative pattern                                                                                   
  10. Transfer to a individual serving plates or salad bowls. 

 
Let us know if you have a request another brussels sprout recipe! Enjoy! 

Our Scandinavian recipes including Danish, Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish are on http://scandinavtoday.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

How to Make Danish Fried Onions ! Amazing for hamburgers & Smørrebrød - Bløde Stegte Løg

Danish pan fried onions are absolutely delicious! If you plan to make Danish hamburgers (Hakkebøf), you need to make the pan fried onions first to give the hamburgers a nice flavor.



What you will need to make Danish Fried Onions
 

  • 2 to 3 large white onions. it really depends on the size of the onions 
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons of butter
  • a sharp knife
  • cutting board
  • a frying pan
  • a spatula
Instructions 
  1. You want the kind that are free of blemishes and that are heavy and firm. 
    Chill them first -- cold onions will be nicer on your eyes.
  2. Peel the onions and slice them thinly with a sharp knife.
  3. Make sure your pan gets hot before you start.  
  4. Then, add butter or oil into the frying pan. Put in enough to spread all over the bottom of the pan. Traditionally we use butter or margarine when making these onion.  However you can use oil too.  
  5. Once the pan is hot enough, add the onions into the pan. Leave these on the frying pan for a few minutes until these are nice and brown.   Fry the onions on low heat.  
  6. Stir the onions in the pan so they don't stick. Also, you don't want half to be white and raw and the other half almost black or burn. So keep pushing the onions around. You might need to add more butter and oil.  
  7. Total time should take around 5-7 minutes. These will become creamy, sweet, soft and golden. If you like the onions browner, keep stirring these in the pan.  Eventually these will burn real fast if you keep these on the pan too long. 
  8. When ready, set the onions aside until you are ready to serve your meat dish. 
Pan fried onions provides the perfect savoury flavor for meat dishes such as steaks, frikadeller and hakkebøf If you make enough Danish pan fried onions, it is great as a left over food for a Danish Smørrebrød the next day. Also, we love to add the delicious onions with sauté mushrooms, potatoes and on steaks. It really tastes great with so many dishes and ingredients. If you never had tried pan fried onions, give it a try!

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

How to Make Danish Brown Gravy or Brun Sovs. An easy delicious recipe.

It is almost unheard of for Danes to serve potatoes with out a gravy or a brown sauce. Danes eat brown gravy with meat dishes such as frikadeller (Danish meatballs) and Hakkebøf (Danish hamburger). This is an easy delicious gravy recipe to make from scratch. This Danish brown gravy is part or our Hakkebøf series and is usually made after you have fried the Hakkebøf in a pan. 



Ingredients
  • 1 cup of potato water
  • 1 cup of broth or water w/ 1 beef cube
  • 1 cup water or milk or cream (optional)
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • pinch of sugar
  • gravy coloring (brun kulør)
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons of fried onions (to taste)
Kitchen Utensil
  • whisk
  • measuring cup
  • measuring spoon
Instruction
After the hamburgers are finished frying remove them from the pan. There will be fat and "brown and black sprinkles"  left in the pan. Pour about a cup of  potato water on the pan. Dissolve a bullion cube in a cup of water and add it into the pan. 

Add two to three tablespoons of Danish fried onions to taste. Gives the gravy some depth to the flavor. Also it is nice to add a pinch of sugar too.

When the water mixture becomes bubbly, mix the flour with water or milk and add it slowly to the pan. Add a little at a time while stirring with a whisk. Add salt and pepper to taste.  Let it cook for 2-4 minutes.  Stir until the flour has thickened and the gravy is smooth and you have the desired consistency.  You want to be sure this does not become lumpy.

Sometimes Danes use a product known as brun kulør (literally, "brown colouring") to give the gravy a rich brown color. This recipe does not include the brown colouring but it does give a nice color to the gravy.
If the sauce becomes too thick during cooking, just add more water. 

You may want to sieve the sauce through a sieve if it is clumpy or has lumps. 

Serve with Hakkebøf, white potatoes, green peas and beets! YUM! A perfect dinner!

Sunday, April 6, 2014

How to Make Custard A Pastry Cream for Scandinavian Dessert Recipes - Creme budding opskrift

We hope you enjoy our Custard recipe! Let us know what you think! Perfect to use for various Scandinavian Desserts such as cookies and cakes.




Custard Ingredients:
  • 2 cups of milk
  • 2/3 cups of flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 3/4  cup of sugar
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla
  • 1 tablespoon of butter
  • pinch of salt
 Kitchen Utensils
  • kitchen pot
  • large bowl
  • measuring cup
  • wooden spoon
  • plastic wrap

Custard Preparation 

  1. Heat milk over the stove at medium heat.  Do not boil the milk. 
  2. Combine sugar, flour, salt and the two eggs in a bowl  Mix the mixture in the bowl.  
  3. Add a little of the egg-sugar-flour mixture to the warm pot of milk that is on the stove.  Pour a little more of the mixture into the warm milk, stirring constantly.  Stir constantly to avoid the custard becoming lumpy and to prevent it from burning.  
  4. When the custard has thickened pour it into a bowl.  
  5. Next add the butter and stir it into the warn mixture.  
  6. Then add vanilla into the milk mixture. You don't want the vanilla to boil. So the vanilla should be added last.  
  7. Cover over the bowl of custard with plastic wrap.  Place the bowl in the fridge at least two hours. You can sprinkle sugar over the custard while cooling so that a skin will not form too. Cool custard completely in the refrigerator - a minimum of 2 hours. 

How to Make A Danish Birthday Cake - Dansk Fødselsdagskage - Karen Grete Sings Danish Birthday Song

 
There's nothing like the taste of a homemade birthday cake that you make in your own kitchen. Baking a cake is as simple as measuring ingredients, mixing them in the right order.  But the fun part is to decorate the cake!  
Here we have a simple recipe to make a Danish birthday cake (Dansk Fødselsdagskage).  Our recipe is to make a two layer cake (lagekage).  This is a perfect recipe if you only have one baking pan to bake a cake. 

Also, in the video we made a traditional Danish birthday cake for the Queen of Denmark. Queen Margrethe II birthday is on April 16th.  So we decided to make a birthday cake for her. Also Karen Grete sings happy birthday too!

 Click on our YouTube video 
to see how Karen Grete makes the Danish birthday cake

Cake (Lagkagebunde) - makes 1 cake, cut into 2 thin cake layers 
  • 3/4 cup butter or 1 1/2 sticks
  • 1 cup sugar 
  • 3 eggs - make sure that your eggs are at room temperature)
  • 1 1/3 cups flour 
  • 3 tablespoons of milk
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder 
  • butter or cooking spray
 Variations with the Cake batter:
  • Add 1 teaspoon of either vanilla extract, almond, lemon or orange zest to batter.
  • shaved some chocolate on top of the whipped creamed cake to make it look even prettier.
Cake Assembly  Ingredients
  • 3/4 cup of strawberry or raspberry jam
  • Custard Filling- check our blog post and our YouTube video on how to make homemade custard filling
 
  • 2 cups of whipping cream
  • cake decorations: Danish Flags, candy, etc
Kitchen Utensils
  • 9 inch round cake pan or springform pan
  • measuring cup
  • whisk or a hand mixer or electric mixer
  • measuring spoon 
  • medium mixing bowl
  • wooden spoon
  • spatula
  • wax paper and draw an 9" circle (optional)
Cake Directions:
  1. Preheat oven to 435 degrees F
  2. Using an 9 inch cake pan, either spray cooking spray or butter the bottom of the pan. Make sure to grease it well with butter or cooking spray so the cake won't stick to the pan when it's baked.  Optionally trace a circle of the bottom of the pan onto parchment paper and cut the circle out. Place the parchment paper circle onto the greased bottom of pan and set the pan aside.
  3. In mixing bowl, cream softened butter with granulated sugar and beat until light and fluffy. 
  4. Beat the eggs one at a time into the mixing bowl.   
  5. Mix the flour with the baking powder in a separate small bowl.  
  6. Add the flour mixture into the mixing bowl. Beat until well blended. Turn the electric mixer off and use a spoon or spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl so every bit of batter gets mixed completely. 
  7. Add the milk gradually.  Mix until smooth until the batter comes together and no white bits of flour remain.  While mixing, stop occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula or spoon to ensure that everything is mixed thoroughly.
  8. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan. Use a spoon or spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl so every bit of batter makes it into the pan. Spread batter evenly
  9. Bake at 435 degrees on the center oven rack for 8 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown.  Careful not to over-bake the cake. It’s done when the cake feels firm to the touch or by inserting a toothpick into the middle and it comes out clean, rather than coated with batter.
  10. Let the cake cool in the cake pan on a baking wire rack for 10 minutes.  Then once cooled, run a small butter knife around the pan edges to loosen the sides from the pan.  Place the wire rack over the top of the pan, invert it, and tap it lightly to remove the cake.
  11. Let the cake cool for several hours. (for best flavor make the cake the night before)
  12. Make sure cake is completely cooled before cutting it into 2 cake layers. 
Assemble the Cake
  1. Remove bottom cake layer on to a serving plate or cake platter.   
  2. On the bottom layer spread the Custard Filling.  Then add  droplets of jam on top of vanilla cream.  Make sure there are plenty of droplets all over the vanilla cream surface.
  3. Place the top layer onto the first cake layer. 
  4. Whip the cream in a mixing bowl until frothy. 
  5. Spread on the top and the sides of cake with whipped cream.
  6. Spoon in a pastry bag and pipe over the cake.  Decorate with flags and candles for a birthday.  Add strawberry all around the edging of the cake.

  7. Please note that the cake can be assembled ahead of time (without the whipping cream) and refrigerated. The flavors blend well 
 
Here are the words that Karen Grete sung in the video

In Danish
I dag er det [name]s fødselsdag
Hurra, hurra, hurra!
han/hun sikkert sig en gave får
som han/hun har ønsket sig i år
med dejlig chokolade og kager til.

Translation in English
Today it is [name]'s birthday
Hurray, hurray, hurray!
He/she probably recieves a present
that he/she has wished for this year
with lovely chocolate and cakes.

Sometimes it is fun to mix and match old and new when setting a table. In this photo, we have an IKEA floral place mat, a Nordic pewter cake server, a vintage Royal Copenhagen Blue Flower pitcher sitting behind the cake and to the left there is a vintage leaf shaped candy dish.  The cake is sitting on a Royal Copenhagen White Fan plate. Yes! The White Fan plate is so large that it could hold the large birthday cake!

Our Scandinavian recipes including Danish, Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish are on http://scandinavtoday.blogspot.com/
*how to make Danish Christmas rice pudding with cherry sauce dessert recipe (Risalamande med kirsebærsauce)


Follow us either on Twitter @scandinavtoday, Blogger, Google+, Google Pages, Pinterest and Subscribe to our YouTube Chanel Scandinavian Today!  Let's get cooking Scandinavian foods!