Scandinavian Today Cooking Show: July 2013

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Danish Pancake (pandekage) with Nutella and Bananas

Danish pancakes traditionally are eaten with either sugar or jam. In the last few years, my family has started to eat Danish pancakes with nutella with bananas. YUM!

It is very simple to make this yet it tastes sooo good. First check out our recipe on How to Make Classic Danish Pancakes Once you have made several large Danish pancakes spread a thin or better yet thick layer of the chocolate hazelnut spread onto your Danish pancake. Be sure the Nutella has not been in the refrigerator for at least a few minutes. Otherwise, it will be really hard to scoop a large spoonful of Nutella.

Then slice bananas down the center. Here are some other great choices to fill inside the Danish pancake too!

fresh strawberries
fresh red raspberries
apple slices
kiwi slices

Roll or fold the Danish pancake (pandekage). If you want to jazz up the Danish pancake you can either

sprinkle powder sugar or
dust on cinnamon
drizzle chocolate syrup or Nutella over the pancake
sprinkle nuts

Then, just before serving top with whipped cream. Can't get any better. Enjoy!

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These recipes are perfect for the holiday season. Please let us know what you think! Glædelig Jul and Merry Christmas♥ ! 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!

Monday, July 22, 2013

How To Make Rhubarb Syrup For Your Summer Drinks and Cocktails

Rhubarb is a classic Scandinavian fruit served during the summer season. What I love about Rhubarb Syrup is that you can make it for your cocktails, ice tea and even make rhubarb ice cubes. It a fabulous syrup to make the night before you have a pool party. That way when your guest arrive for your pool party or Sunday brunch, all you have to do is combine the ingredients. No worries making it the day of a party!

This recipe is just to make ice cubes and should make about 2 cups of rhubarb syrup. If you need more liquid, you can add more water. If you like the syrup to be less sweet, use less sugar.

Ingredients

For the Rhubarb Syrup

1 to 1 1/2 cup of chopped ruby red rhubarb (about 5 stalks rhubarb, cut into 1/2 inch thick)
1 cups water
1 cup of sugar or to taste
1 teaspoon of vanilla
cinnamon stick (optional)

Kitchen Tools

large sauce pot with lid
mesh strainer (- a colander with big holes won’t work!)
Spoon
cutting board
knife
measuring cup

Instructions

First Step: Make the Syrup

Clean the ruby red rhubarb under cold running water, cut into 1/2 inch pieces. Keep slicing until you get 1 cups of sliced rhubarb.
To make the rhubarb syrup, combine chopped rhubarb, water, and sugar in a heavy-bottomed pot.
Cook over medium-low heat, stirring often, until rhubarb has broken into shreds. It takes about 15 to 20 minutes. Keep an eye on the syrup. If it gets too hot, turn the temp down a little more.
Let rhubarb cool for a few minutes before straining.
Then, strain the syrup using a mesh colander. A colander with big holes won't work because alot of the rhubarb pieces might fall into the syrup. A cheesecloth is another helpful way to strain the syrup too. Otherwise, you might have to strain it a couple of times. I don’t mind the yummy rhubarb that might go through into the syrup but to get a clear syrup that is what you might want to do.
Move the solids with a spoon around to extract more syrup. Just don't press the rhubarb mush because it might get into the syrup.
Allow to cool so more. Set the syrup aside in the refrigerator

If you want to make ice cubes, pour the rhubarb syrup into an ice cube tray. Wait until the rhubarb ice cubes are frozen. When you are ready to serve to your guests, serve with a sprig of mint in a glass with clear soda. Garnish with a slice of lemon on the rim of the clear glass. It is really pretty to see the rhubarb ice cubes dissolve in the clear glass.

Other fun ideas

Drizzle rhubarb syrup over plain or vanilla yogurt or vanilla ice cream.

Rhubarb Syrup is great for ice tea.

Top Icelandic yogurt with the rhubarb mush.

The rhubarb mush or solids make a nice quick jam. It's great on toast!

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Thursday, July 11, 2013

Rhubarb Strawberry Smoothie! A Great Summer Drink With Typical Scandinavian Flavors

Smoothies are great! So fast to make and delicious healthy ingredients. One of my favorite smoothies is a Strawberry Rhubarb Smoothie. If you have never had a strawberry and a rhubarb combination, you might be pleasantly surprised how good this smoothie tastes!

Ingredients

1 cup fresh chopped rhubarb cut up (or use frozen)
1 cup fresh strawberries(or use frozen)
1 cup of Icelandic yogurt
2 tablespoons of sugar, honey or agave nectar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Kitchen Utensils

cutting board
kitchen knife
measuring cup
mixing spoon
blender

In blender, place all ingredients. Cover; blend with on-and-off pulses until pureed. Pour into 2 drinking glasses. Serve immediately.

If you have your own favorite yogurt it will work great too!

An alternative fruit is to substitute raspberries for the strawberries.

A bowl of summer strawberries for your smoothie!

In the winter time, this smoothie is great with frozen strawberries and frozen rhubarb. This makes a frothier smoothie.

In the summertime, sometimes I like to add a couple of ice to this delicious smoothie too!

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Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Debatt med Svenskt Kött i Almedalen 2013: Sveriges dyraste matkasse?

Cucumber and Lemon water with a hint of mint. A refresing summertime drink with Scandinavian flavors!

Cucumber water is soooo refreshing!

Are you tired of drinking plain water or having trouble hitting your eight glasses of water everyday? Try this fun recipe to make refreshing, zero-calorie cucumber lemon water with a hint of mint! What is terrific with this drink is that you can personalize to taste. The more slices of either cucumber or lemon you have in the pitcher the stronger it will taste. Also, the longer you leave both in the pitcher the taste will be stronger too. To start you might just want to have 2-3 slices of both the cucumber and lemon. Then, keep adding if you like the water to be a little stronger.

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Ingredients

1 medium cucumber, scrubbed well
Lemon/Lime, (optional)
Warm water

Kitchen Utensils

kitchen knife

cutting board

pitcher of water(tap or mineral water)

Instructions
Trim and discard ends of both the cucumber and the lemon. Cut both the cucumber and lemon into into thin slices. You will probably only need half a cucumber for the pitcher of water. It really depends on the size of pitcher you like.

Fill a pitcher up of either tap water or your favorite mineral water. Combine cucumber and water in large pitcher; steep for 1 hour, and serve over ice. Many times I like to go to the grocery store and pick up my favorite Norwegian water.

Now you are ready to serve with ice! For a stronger taste, let the water sit in your refrigerator for an hour prior to serving. Many times I like to add mint leaves either right into the pitcher of cucumber and lemon water or in the glass. Mint makes the drink even more cooling and refreshing.

Other alternatives is to add fresh berries or orange slices too! Enjoy!

*how to make Danish Christmas rice pudding with cherry sauce dessert recipe (Risalamande med kirsebærsauce)

*how to make Swedish Glogg for Christmas & cold evenings! (glögg or mulled wine recipe)

*how to make aeblskiver (æbleskiver)

*how to make Danish Christmas Klejner

*how to make easy Danish cucumber salad (arguksalat)

*how to make Danish sugar browned potatoes (brunede kartofler)

*how to make Danish red cabbage (rødkaal)

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!

Monday, July 1, 2013

Danish Ham with the Danish Italian Salad

The Danish Ham with the Danish Italian Salad is a very nice sandwich to have during the summer time! Really enjoy having for lunch cold ham with a cool topping on the rye bread during the hot summer months. Hope you enjoy the sandwich as much as I do.

Danish Italian Salad (Italiensk Salat)
First step is to make the italiensk salat. The good news is that it is super easy to make. Check out our recent posting on how to make the delicious topping! Italian Salad Recipe

Next step is to make the sandwich!

Ingredients:

1 piece of rye bread
European style butter
1 table spoon of Danish Italian Salad (Italiensk Salat)
Danish ham (not smoked)
alfalfa sprouts or cress

When you are ready to sit down to have smørrebrød, the first thing to do is butter a pice of dark Danish rye bread. Then, place two or three slices of ham. Top off the ham with a nice spoonful of Danish Italian Salad. If you like alfalfa sprouts or cress then sprinkle it on top of the Italian Salad. It is that simple to make!

We usually set the table with a Royal Copenhagen plate, a fork, a knife and a glass for the beer.

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