Scandinavian Today Cooking Show: August 2013

Friday, August 16, 2013

Strawberry Rhubarb Ice Tea a Summer Classic!

Perfect drink to serve during a barbeque.

The other day, one of our YouTube subscribers asked if we had any suggestions for something to cool to drink. It made me think about what is a classic summer time drink? Ice Tea is sooo classic.

Have to have lots of ice!

Then, I thought about what is classic Scandinavian during the summer time. A couple of ingredients that came to mind was strawberries and rhubarb. In June, we get sooooo excited to see rhubarb start coming out of the ground and flowers blooming on the strawberry plant. Summer time is a great time of the year to enjoy different strawberry and rhubarb dishes and drinks.

So, I thought to do a YouTube video on how to make Strawberry Rhubarb Ice Tea. How much more summer time classic can it get! You will want to showcase this fruity ice tea drink in a clear glass pitcher. This drink really is about color, color, color! Beautiful ruby red, sunset orange and a hint of yellow. Your family and friends will be impressed if you serve them this drink!

This pretty ice tea drink is delicious to drink too. What is great about this drink is you can make the tea as strong as you like. I like strong tea. But with this drink I enjoy tasting the rhubarb and the strawberry too. Plus, it is fun to see if you can scoop out a sliced strawberry from the glass too. So, I try to use only 3 tea bags so it does not dominate the pitcher of ice tea.

Click on our YouTube video

to see how to prepare this refreshing drink!

For the Iced Tea

2 quarts water or 8 cups of water
3 bags English Breakfast Tea
1 cup of red ripe strawberries (rinse off strawberries, cut off top and slice in half)
lemon slices
Fresh mint sprigs, for garnish
lots of ice

Kitchen Tools

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

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 3 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 the rhubarb.
Strain the syrup using a mesh colander. A colander with big holes won't work because a lot 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
Allow to cool. Set the syrup aside in the refrigerator

Second Step Make the Tea

Boil water and pour over the 3 tea bags into a teapot
Let brew for 5 minutes, then remove tea bags.
Cool and refrigerate until chilled.

Cooking Tip: To avoid the tea bags falling into the container tie the strings together.

Third Step: Combined all of the ingredients

To serve, add all the rhubarb syrup to chilled tea in a large glass pitcher. Stir the mixture.
You probably won't need more sugar. If yes, add to taste and stir to dissolve
Slice strawberries and layer with ice in the pitcher. This layered colorful look is gorgeous to look at.
It is optional to add lemon slices. If you like lemon, it really is looks fabulous with this drink too.
Garnish the glass pitcher with a sliced lemon and a sprig of mint.

When you are ready to serve to your guests, serve over ice with a sprig of mint in a glass. Garnish with a strawberry or a slice of lemon on the rim of the glass.

Cooking Tip: Make sure your pitcher holds 10 cups of water. If your pitcher is smaller, you may want to reduce the quantities.

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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!

How To Make Red Currant Sparkling Lemonade

When I was a child, I used help pick the red currants off either my parents or my grand parents red currant shrubs. Then, we would go inside and make something delicious to eat with the red currants such as rødgrød med fløde.

This Red Currant Sparkling Lemonade combines all things summer time delicious. My recipe below is a quick way to make a homemade lemonade and add red currant juice to kick the lemonade up a notch. Plus, adding the sparkling water is as if you are creating your own homemade soda.

First Step: Make the simple syrup
Ingredients:

2 cups of water
2 cups of sugar
tablespoon of lemon zest (optional)

Kitchen Tools:

heavy pot
measuring cup
spoon

Directions:
Make the simple syrup by boiling the 2 cups of water and 2 cups of sugar in a heavy pot. When the the sugar water starts to boil, mix it until the sugar is dissolved. Add lemon zest to the sugar water (optional). Set the syrup aside to cool down.

Cooking Tip: Make sure your pitcher holds 10 cups of water. If your pitcher is smaller, you may want to reduce the quantities.

Second Step: Make the red currant juice

Ingredients:

1 cup of red currants
1/2 cup of sugar

Kitchen Tools:

2 bowls
fork
mesh strainer

Directions:
Sprinkle a 1/2 cup of sugar over a cup of red currants and mix it around in a bowl. Then, set aside the red currants with sugar in the refrigerator for about an hour.

An hour later, start pressing a fork on to the red currants. Keep pressing until juice are pressed out of all the currants. Once there is no more to press, pour the red currant mixture onto a mesh strainer. You will need to move the red currants mixture around until there is no more red currant juice running through the mesh strainer.

Cooking Tip: A colander with big holes won't work. A cheesecloth is another helpful way to strain the syrup too. Otherwise, you might have to strain it a couple of times.
Final Step: combine the ingredients to make the red currant lemonade.

Ingredients

fresh squeezed lemon juice (about 6 lemons)
sparkling water, soda water or water
red currant juice
simple syrup
slices of lemons
plenty of ice
one cup of fresh red currants

Kitchen Tools:

glass pitcher that holds 10 cups of water
spoon
cutting board
knife

Directions:

Mix simple syrup, red currant juice and fresh squeezed lemon juice in the glass pitcher. Fill the rest of the glass pitcher with sparkling water.

Slice fresh slices of lemons on a cutting board. Clean the fresh red currants.

Add ice cubes, sliced lemons and one cup of red currants. This layered colorful look is gorgeous to look at. Stir the mixture.

Fun Drink ideas:

add either fresh raspberries or strawberries into the lemonade too
garnish the glass pitcher with a sliced lemon and a sprig of mint

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Thursday, August 8, 2013

Black Cherry Strawberry Smoothie

I like to use certain Scandinavian ingredients when I make my smoothies. Here is an easy smoothie recipe that is delicious to have anytime of the year. Black cherries and strawberries are delicious classic summer berries. Both berries brings back many happy summer time memories. If you can't get either fresh fruit during the winter, I usually go to the frozen section of the supermarket. That way I can have this delicious smoothie anytime of the year.

I love to use Icelandic yogurt for my smoothies. The Icelandic yogurt tastes so fresh and creamy. I love the consistency of the Icelandic yogurt too.

I am adding the black cherry preserves as a sweetener with this smoothie recipe too. Black cherry preserves gives a nice kick. If you prefer to use sugar or another sweetener that is fine too. But, the black cherry preserves gives a richer taste to the smoothie.

Ingredients

1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 teaspoons of black cherry preserves
1 cup of frozen dark cherries
2 cups of fresh strawberries
1 container of regular or vanilla Icelandic yogurt
ice cubes(optional)
mint leaves or lemon balm (optional garnish)
whipped cream (optional)

Kitchen Utensils

measuring cup
teaspoon
blender
bowl
2 to 3 drinking glasses

Directions

1, Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
2. If the blender has room, add some ice. Blend it all
2. Pour into 2 to 3 drinking glasses, add some whipped cream and garnish with mint leaves.

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