Falafel in Geneva

Sad as I was to leave all the lovely little hole-in-the-wall type Mexican eateries and their enticing selection of burritos, tacos, nachos, beans and other goodies behind (somewhat alleviated by the fact that I've been trying my own hand at the craft), I must profess my joy of what I have gotten in stead: loads and loads of lovely little hole-in-the-wall middle eastern eateries (click on the picture above to enlarge .. it's somewhat big) where I can my occasional fix of falafel, something there were depressingly few options for along the stretch of the southern Californian coast where I lived. The typical falafel fix here comes in the shape of a sandwich or a rolled large pancake.

The only downside is that now I have even less incentive to make my own falafel - something I dabbled a little bit into earlier, but never really became comfortable about. Oh, well .. maybe I'll return to it some day after all.

Applied Mathematics (Burritos)

My favourite kind of mathematics is applied mathematics. Especially when applied to food.

So this is how it went: I knew this recipe gave me some flour tortillas that were perhaps a little on the large size for tacos - but no where near what I'd want for a burrito.

The pan I used for making those has a diameter of 17 cm (~6.5 inches) and my largest pan has a diameter of 23 cm (9 inches). The area of a circle is proportional to the square of the radius, so in this case the area of the larger pan is (11.5 cm)²/(8.5 cm)² ~ 1.8 times larger than the area of the smaller pan. So if I want tortillas of the same thickness I should use about 1.8 times as much dough for each. Last time I divided the dough in 7 portions - dividing it instead in 4 portions is close enough to the ratio I was aiming for.


Ahhh .. it was great to enjoy a beans-cheese-salsa-avocado burrito again ... although, as happens too often, I tried to put too much inside the first one so it was hard to fold it right. The second attempt, as usual, was much better.

Tamarillos

I notice that the supermarkets, in what appears a strategy to make up for the somewhat limited range of local fruits available this time of year, have started importing more exotic fruits.

Recently, I have been able to shop for dragonfruits, prickly pears, and tamarillos amongst other exotic fruits at the local supermarket.

Wait ... tamarillos ... what is that? The tamarillo is also known as the 'tree tomato' and is some sort of sweet tomato - I ate the flesh out of them using a small spoon (having read that the skin is quite bitter): the texture was very nice (so I assume they were ripe) and the taste was .. sort of a general sweet fruity taste but somehow tangy like a tomato.

Danish Christmas Lunch 2008

On Christmas day we had a couple of guests over for a Danish style Christmas lunch. The concept of a such a lunch is to sit at a table for several hours, eating a selection of cold and warm dishes served in succession while talking and drinking strong and/or dark beer (such as these) and aquavit ('snaps').


For this particular lunch we served...

To drink: Erdmandli Zuger Amber and Hopfemandli Lager Dunkel from Brauerei Baar in Baar, Switzerland. Both of these are nicely dark beers that go well with the food here.

To eat: First fish
1a. pickled herring with rings of red onion, curry sauce,^[1] and hard boiled eggs (on whole-grain dark rye bread).
1b. leek herring (on whole-grain dark rye bread).
1c. smoked salmon with mayonnaise and lemon wedges (on white bread).
1d. marinated salmon ('gravad laks') with honey-mustard sauce (on white bread).

Bonus drink (particularly to go with herrings): In small glasses, shots of our own import of Danish aquavit, Myrica flavoured aquavit ('porsesnaps') from Aalborg/Danish Distillers - a personal favourite of mine (and one of the few drink issues where I seem to agree with my mother).

After the fish followed a warm dish:
2. oven-warmed liver pâté with freshly sautéed bacon and mushrooms, and optional pickled beetroots (on dark or white bread as preferred).

Followed by a selection of sliced meats:
3a. horse salami.
3b. cold pork roast (on whole-grain dark rye bread with red-cabbage sauerkraut).
3c. cold duck roast (on whole-grain dark rye bread with red-cabbage sauerkraut).

At this point we were ready to entertain with with cheeses and fruits, but our guests looked about ready to burst already, so we decided to skip directly to the sweets:
4a. flourless chocolate-brazil nut cake
4b. cookie selection: Finnish breads, Swedish chocolate breads, Palestinian cookies, and pistachio shortbreads.

And so went the entire afternoon. One doesn't really need much of a dinner after such a lunch...

^[1] To get a more strongly yellow curry sauce I added pure ground turmeric.

My First Duck Roast

Traditionally the big Christmas dinner in Denmark is on Christmas Eve - and I guess most Danes would have duck roast.^[1] This year I decided to try my hand at a whole duck for the first time. Well, let me be frank: a few mistakes were made, so there's room for improvement ...

Since I was going to be cooking only for two I took the smallest duck I could find at the store, at 1.5 kg (~ 3 lbs). Traditionally the duck is stuffed with apples and prunes, but I decided to go for a different flavour: I stuffed it instead with onion, leek, and fresh sage. I closed it using a couple of wooden toothpicks. The skin was rubbed with generous amounts of salt.


One of the tricky parts is getting a crisp skin, while not drying out the meat. I read beforehand that a nice result should be obtained by roasting it first for 20-30 minutes at 225 C (450 F) with the breast up and then turning it over on the grid, filling a little water in the bottom of the pan and roasting at 160 C (320 F) for about 30 minutes per lb. This is exactly where I made my mistakes: for one thing, I don't think the early roasting at the higher temperature was sufficient. Worse, when I turned it over and poured water in the pan, the water reached the skin (because the grid was too low over the bottom of the pan). Consequently, the skin wasn't anywhere near crisp when the duck was roasted. I tried turning on the broiler for a some minutes, but I never got the skin quite right.

The meat, however, was delicious - I really liked the hint of sage. It was served with peeled, boiled potatoes, broiled green beans, red cabbage sauerkraut, gravy made from the drippings, salad (made from corn salad, cucumber, tomato, caper berries, and roasted pine nuts), and a pinot noir Burgundy wine with a very Christmas like label (click picture to enlarge).

For dessert this heavy flourless chocolate-brazil nut cake.

^[1] It's not uncommon in larger families to find both duck roast and pork roast.

Real Pork Roast (Flæskesteg)

You know, the irony isn't lost on me: For over 5 years I lived in the US, where I believe myself to speak the language more or less fluently. Not once did I try to enter a butcher's shop to ask for one of the right cuts of pork to make Danish pork roast - I just got by using the pork bellies that I did find at stores. Despite this, after having been in Switzerland for less than a year, I decided to actually go and ask for a more appropriate cut of pork .. in my broken beginners French, no less.


So here it is - Danish pork roast, the way it's supposed to be. The actual recipe is like that for the pork belly, so this is mainly just for the pictures.

The cooking time is approximately 1 hour per kg (30 minutes per pound). The procedure of having the skin down in the water for the first half hour or so not only softens the skin so it is easier to score, but it also cooks out some of the fat which makes it easier to crisp the skin the right way at the end of the procedure.

I have a different oven now, one that has the broiler in the actual oven room, so for the final crisping of the skin I could use that - in less than 4 minutes the skin bubbled up very nicely and became perfect... and only a little burned. OK, so I should have kept a better eye on it, but I didn't realize trouble arose that quickly. And yes, the gravy isn't brown - I don't have gravy colouring here and didn't have the time to experiment with alternatives for this.
 

'Palestinian' Cookies ver.1

One of the cookies traditionally served in Denmark around the Yuletide is Jødekager ('Jew cookies'),[1] and I remember a few years ago overhearing that these had fallen a bit from grace due to their name. I recently learned that in a effort to make the Christmas cookie-jar more politically acceptable these Palæstinenserkager ('Palestinian cookies') had been invented. Like other cookies presented here the actual Palestinian character of the cookies is somewhat doubtful.

Actually this didn't pan out quite as expected, but more on that below.

Ingredients:
- 140 g (5 oz) sugar
- zest of 1 lemon, grated
- 7 tbsp water
- 225 g (8 oz) unsalted butter, cut in chunks
- 400 g (14 oz) flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
toppings:
- 2 tbsp aniseed
- 100 g (3.5 oz) cane sugar
- 2 tbsp caraway seeds
- 1 tbsp ground cardamom
- 2 tbsp ground coriander
- 2 tbsp sesame seeds


Sugar, lemon zest, water and butter was mixed till homogeneous using a hand-held mixer (this took a little while). In a separate bowl flour, salt, and baking powder was mixed and then stirred into the butter mixture. The somewhat sticky dough was shaped into a log, about 30 cm (12 inches) long, 5 cm (2 inches) thick, wrapped in film and stored in the fridge for 4 h to make it firm.

Half of the log was cut in 0.5 cm (1/5 inch) slices, the other half was cut in 0.2 cm (1/12 inch) slices. All were placed on baking sheets and sprinkled with the pre-mixed toppings. The thicker kind was baked at 180 C (360 F) for 15 minutes while the thinner kind was baked at the same temperature for 12 minutes.


The result wasn't bad - cookies with a rather different taste from the typical arsenal of Danish cookies. And there isn't really an interesting difference between the thicker and thinner kinds. However, in order to get a dough of a texture I could actually roll into a log I had to use a lot more flour than the recipe called for (like 33% extra) - and I think the less sticky dough obtained this way is then less than ideal for making the topping stick. I think I should try again, either making the dough as the original recipe and shaping them in different way than done here or simply brush the cookies with a little beaten egg before sprinkling with the topping.

[1] And I will not be making Jew cookies this year, as some are being kindly donated by Mrs. Throat-Erator's mother.

Pistachio Shortbreads

Mrs. Throat-Erator has made these cookies for me a few times, but this is the first time I have a go at them myself.

Ingredients:
- 250 g (0.55 lb) flour
- 100 g (3.5 oz) powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla sugar
- 175 g (6 oz) unsalted butter, cut in chunks
- 1 egg yolk
- 3 dL (1 1/4 cup) roasted, salted pistachios [1], shelled and chopped coarsely to give 80 g (2.8 oz) pistachio pieces

The flour, sugar, and vanilla sugar was mixed, then the butter was worked into the dough using hands. Then egg yolk and the pistachio pieces were worked into the dough. The slightly moist ball of dough was parted in two, each rolled into a log about 20 cm (8 inches) long, 2.5 cm (1 inch) thick. The logs were wrapped in film and stored in the fridge 4 hours to make it firm.

The logs were cut in 0.6 cm (1/4 inch) slices and placed on a baking sheet. Baked in the oven at 160 C (325 F) for 20 minutes (until light golden).


[1] The original recipe called for unsalted pistachios but added salt to the dough - I figured the end result would be similar...

Apple Bacon

Since this is a dish in clear violation of Mrs. Throat-Erator's don't-mix-fruit-with-food rule I only make it when she's not around.

Ingredients:
- smoked bacon, thinly sliced
- 1 onion, chopped coarsely
- 2 apples, cored and cut in boats
- water
- salt, pepper
- brown sugar

The bacon was fried in a large pan, then added the onion and a few minutes later added apples, a little water, salt, pepper and brown sugar - the pan was covered and the mix was allowed to simmer for about half an hour with occasional stirring. The simmering has to continue until the apples are turning mushy (and thus the time required is somewhat dependent on what kind of apples you use). Towards the end, the simmering was uncovered to reduce the amount of liquid a little.

Served still warm, either on whole grain rye or white bread - some people also like it on top of liver pâté...

Danish Beer - Part III (Tuborg Julebryg)

As I mentioned previously there is a strong tradition of seasonal beers in Denmark. Amongst the most institutionalised is 'Tuborg Julebryg' (Tuborg Yule-brew) - this to the point that the day it is released is known in Denmark as J-day. J-day used to be a Thursday, but after increasing pressure from high schools the brewery agreed a few years ago to move J-day to Friday instead.

Although I had seen it before, I had kind of forgotten that Tuborg Julebryg is also available on the German market. I was recently reminded of this when I went to the very well stocked beer store Drinks of the World in Zürich: I instantly recognized the blue label with the snow falling ... and the German label confirmed what I knew must be true.

Naturally, I bought one.

Honestly, I'm too nostalgic about this product to be able to really tell you about the beer itself...

Guacamole Herring

In my quest for new ways to serve pickled herring I came up with this combination of Danish and Mexican foods. Two pickled herring filets were cut in smaller pieces and mixed with guacamole (half portion of recipe given here - with fresh green chillies added) and the mixture was covered and left in the fridge overnight.


As always, herring was eaten on dark whole grain rye bread. To drink: dark beer, and - since I don't have any Danish snaps in the house right now - a shot of tequila. The guacamole goes quite nicely with the pickled herring: it has an appropriate freshness. If anything, I would maybe use more herring for the same amount of guacamole some other time as the guacamole was almost too dominating in the overall taste.

Super Bock

There is actually a significant number of Portuguese people living in Geneva. I don't know if this is part of the reason why one can get both of the two major Portuguese beers here: Super Bock and Sagres. While both brands are sold here, it's a rather limited selection compared to the home market in Portugal were each brand put out a selection of different beers. On a trip to Lisbon last month I had occasion to try two of these.


The 'Stout Super Bock' was the better of the two, IMHO. The 'Green Super Bock' is notable for being only the 3rd lemon flavoured beer I've come across so far - the other two being the truly weird Tuborg Porter Citron, which was a mixture of Tuborg Porter and Tuborg lemon soda mixed and bottled as such (it was only on the market for about a year in the late 1990's) AND the much more successful Lemon Ale sold annually at the Goleta Valley Lemon Festival (made by the Hollister Brewing Company).

But I still haven't tasted a lemon beer that comes across as very convincing to me ... I'm thinking it could be done, but someone might have to think boldly to do it. I remember years ago, out of sheer curiosity, buying a six-pack of Buffalo Bill's Orange Blossom Cream Ale which I thought was really good - and then I was never able to find it again at a single store.

Roasted Salsa

I'm not sure exactly how this idea was born - I guess I just had tomatoes, red chillies, garlic and lime handy and had been recently reminded of the nice effect of broiling...

Ingredients:
- 6 tomatoes
- 4 red chillies
- 2 clove garlic
- juice of 2 limes


The chillies were halved lengthwise and the seeds and veins were removed. They were placed skin side up next to rinsed (whole) tomatoes and broiled for 7 minutes. The tomatoes were then easily peeled and the insides were put in a blender together with the roasted chillies, mashed garlic and lime juice. The mixture was liquefied, resulting in a red salsa with dark specks from the charred chillies - and the taste had a nicely smoky touch.

Since I still haven't been able to tomatillos here and therefore can't make salsa verde this comes in a nice alternative. I've tried it with tongue tacos (made on flour tortillas), fish tacos (broiled white fish, fresh scallion, and queso fresco on yellow corn tortillas - same recipe as white corn tortillas, only using yellow corn flour) and with tortilla chips.

Brasserie Boxer

It was only recently that I noticed that the Boxer brand is rather local to this region - Brasserie Boxer [1] being located in Romanel, just outside Lausanne. It's been a while since I've seen a beverage sold in bottle with these pull-off-caps, so that's a nice detail before you get to drinking the stuff. Boxer Old is a standard lager type beer - by no means unique, and easily drinkable. Boxer Brunette is more interesting - and goes well with herring and other Danish lunch style foods, such as liver pâté and others.

[1] That's "Brasserie" in the 'Brewery' sense of the word, as far as I can tell they do not have a restaurant there - cf. my earlier notes on this word.

Creamy Chicken Pasta

I picked this concept up from a book on pasta dishes years ago - it was a favourite with the dormitory crowd and has stayed with me in some form or other for many years now. Below follows a typical example - with some notes.

Ingredients:
- 250 g (1/2 lb) mezze maniche rigata [1]
- olive oil [2]
- 140 g (1/3 lb) chicken breast, sliced thinly
- salt and pepper
- 4 scallions, cut
- 1 dL (1/2 cup) white wine [3]
- 1 dL (1/2 cup) cream
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 125 g (1/4 lb) crimini mushrooms, sliced [4]
- 50 g (2 oz) Lodigrana Bella Lodi, grated [5]

First the pasta was boiled. Then drained and kept warm.

The chicken meat was seasoned with salt and pepper and sautéed in a little olive oil. When the chicken pieces were nicely brown all over, the scallions were added and stirred for a few minutes. The wine was added, and the volume was reduced (to about half). Adding also the cream, the boiled pasta was added, and stirred well to coat evenly with the wine/cream sauce. Finally the garlic, the mushrooms and the grated cheese was added - the whole thing was left on low heat for a couple of minutes before serving with a glass of white wine and a salad made from corn salad, cherry tomatoes, and freshly roasted pine nuts.

[1] Like rigatoni, only shorter. I've done this dish with lots of different pastas - penne, fettuccine, and linguine all work nicely. I probably wouldn't try it with spaghetti or angel hair.
[2] I have taken a liking to using the olive oil sun dried tomatoes come in.
[3] The one I used this time was the Morning Fog Chardonnay from Wente, but I didn't really like that one, so don't consider that a recommendation.
[4] Could easily be another mushroom.
[5] Practically any hard cheese will do.

French Beer - Part II (Bière Georges)

Not forgetting my positive attitude towards a specific French beer, my previous post on the subject did betray my prejudice against French beer in general. In all fairness I should add that on that same trip to Lyon my horizons were broadened a bit.

For lunch one day we went to Brasserie Georges as it had been recommended by our friendly hotel staff. Until this day I had always figured that the French word 'brasserie' was most appropriately translated into 'restaurant' (which is certainly how it is sometimes used), but as I found out 'brasserie' can equally well (if not better) be translated into 'brewery' (indeed now that I sit down and consult my dictionary it suggests 'brewery' as the primary translation). And so it was with - perhaps unjustified - surprise I learned that Brasserie Georges served their own beer. I happily ordered first the paler one, then the amber beer. I was also quite happy to note that both beers were in fact quite good (the amber was the better one).

So, apart from learning more about a French word, I also learned that one can in fact find nice breweries in France - also in places that aren't just across the border from Belgium...

Herring with Copenhagen titbits

This way of serving herring was introduced to me by a family I'm no longer in touch with - which isn't really a story I want to go into here, other than to say that I never found out why they called this Copenhagen titbits ('københavnerkræs') and if I tried calling them up now to ask it could be ... well, awkward.

Ingredients:
- hard-boiled eggs
- pickled beetroot
- pickled herring

The eggs were diced (as finely as one cares to), and placed in a small bowl. The pickled beets were diced (again, as finely as one cares to do it) and placed in a separate bowl.

Pieces of pickled herring were arranged on buttered bread (preferably dark whole grain rye) and even amounts of diced egg and diced beet was sprinkled on top. Voila! as the locals would say.

Mashed Potatoes de Luxe

When I recently made 'burning love' I was reminded that I hadn't made the luxury version of mashed potatoes for a while (a recipe I picked up from a previous house mate) .. clearly a mistake. But easily fixed. It goes particularly nicely with a steak and some salad.

Ingredients
- 450 g (1 lb) potatoes, peeled, cut in chunks
- 50 g (~ 2 oz) bacon, diced
- 4 scallions, green parts, sliced
- 100 g (3.5 oz) sour cream
- 0.5 dl (~ 2 oz) milk

The potato chunks were boiled in unsalted water.

While the potatoes were boiling, the bacon was fried in a pan.

When tender, the water was drained from the potatoes, which were mashed with ladle. Sour cream, milk, bacon, and scallion was stirred in. Seasoned to tasted with salt and pepper.

Served on this occasion with ostrich steaks (fried together with the rest of the scallions), and a salad made from corn salad, cucumber and sun dried tomatoes - I've had ostrich a number of times by now, but I'm still a little amazed (although nothing that compares to the first time I tasted it) how much like beef this bird tastes. The corn salad ('rampon' around here) was a first for me. We'd been noticing it at the stores for a while and on a day it looked particularly fresh and delicious we decided to try it... it won't be the last time.

Spinach Ricotta Lasagna

Over the years I've tried a couple of different vegetarian lasagnas, but don't remember any of them being as good as this.

Ingredients:
- 400-500 g (~ 1 lb) lasagna plates
- 600 g (1.3 lb) frozen spinach
- 250 g (9 oz) ricotta cheese
- bread crumbs
tomato sauce
- olive oil
- 3 medium/small onions, chopped
- 1.6 kg (3.5 lbs) canned diced tomato
- 140 g (5 oz) tomato paste
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- fresh thyme
- salt & pepper
- 2 bird chillies
eggplant
- 1 eggplant, thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- salt & pepper
béchamel sauce
- 25 g (1 oz) butter
- 3 tbsp flour
- 4-5 dL (approx. 2 cups) milk
- ground nutmeg, salt & pepper
topping
- Gruyère (vieux), grated

The tomato sauce was made first by sautéing the onions in oil, then adding the rest of the ingredients and letting it simmer gently while preparing the rest.

The eggplant slices were brushed with mixture of oil, soy sauce, salt and pepper; then baked in oven at 250 C (480 F) for 10-15 minutes.

The frozen spinach was thawed on medium heat in a small saucepan - nothing added.

For the béchamel sauce, nothing was changed over the other recipe: the butter was melted, the flour was stirred in to make a thick paste, then on medium heat the milk was patiently added in portions with constant stirring - and finally seasoned to taste.

Like before alternating layers of tomato sauce, lasagna plates, spinach, béchamel sauce, eggplant, and ricotta cheese. Tomato sauce as bottom layer - béchamel sauce followed by bread crumbs as top layer.

It was baked in the oven at 225 C (450 F) for 10 minutes, then at 175 C (350 F) for an additional 20 minutes.

Was served this time with freshly grated Gruyère (vieux) on top.

Mushroom soup & Brazil nut gremolata

Mrs. Throat-Erator had been after me for some time, trying to coax me into making this soup which she had read about, when I noticed these lovely hedgehog mushrooms at the store. And so it went, with a few modifications...

Ingredients
- 100 g (3.5 oz) dried, sliced porcini mushrooms
- 7.5 dL (3 cups) warm water
- sunflower oil, twice
- 3 medium onions, chopped
- 4 carrots, peeled & sliced
- 1 L (4 cups) vegetable bouillon
- salt
- 188 g (6.6 oz) fresh hedgehog mushrooms, chopped coarsely
- salt and pepper
gremolata
- 90 g (3 oz) brazil nuts
- 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
- fresh parsley, chopped
- zest of one lemon, finely grated
- 1/4 dL (almost 2 tbsp) olive oil


To begin the dried porcini mushrooms were soaked in warm water for 20 minutes and then drained without discarding the black water.

In a large pot, the carrot and onions were sautéed with a little oil for 5 minutes before adding the soaked porcini mushrooms and continuing for another 5 minutes. The mushroom water and the bouillon was added and brought to a boil. The heat was reduced, the pot was covered and allowed to simmer for 30 minutes. Afterwards it was puréed with a blender and seasoned to taste with salt.

While the soup was simmering the gremolata was prepared. The brazil nuts were toasted in a pan, chopped coarsely, and mixed with mashed garlic, lemon zest, chopped parsley, and olive oil.

The fresh hedgehog mushrooms were sautéed in a little oil with salt and pepper for 5 minutes.

The puréed soup was served with sautéed mushrooms and gremolata on top. It was very rich - I could only eat so much in one day.

Tomato Gratin

This is a dish I grew up with, and I think one of the first I learned how to make when my parents starting teaching me how to cook. I used to think of it as one of those typical Danish dishes (i.e. belonging to the same category as frikadeller and flæskesteg) but later I learned that was a much less common dish throughout the rest of Denmark (judging by the number of people I've served it for who never had it before). I recently realized I hadn't made it in very long time and figured it was due.

Ingredients:
- 1.1 kg (2.5 lbs) minced beef/pork
- 3 dL (1.25 cups) flour
- 3 medium onions, diced
- 3 eggs
- salt & pepper
- 4 dL (1.7 cups) milk
- 9 tomatoes, quartered
- smoked bacon, thinly sliced

The minced meat was stirred with the rest of the ingredients except for the tomatoes and the bacon - basically this is the same procedure as for making frikadeller.

About half of the meat mixture was spread evenly in a large oven proof dish, then the tomato pieces were pushed well into it and covered with the rest of the meat. On top went a lid of thinly sliced smoked bacon and finally a little extra salt and pepper. It needed about an hour in the oven at 200 C (400 F).

Served with baked potatoes and a quick salad made from lettuce, cucumber and corn.

Leftovers can be eaten cold (e.g. on dark rye bread) or hot (e.g. as an ingredient in biksemad).

Keerai Koottu

I once went to the place of an Indian friend of mine who had cooked dinner - it smelled really nice, and it looked like she had a big pot, so I asked if I could taste it. She seemed hesitant, almost apologetic, claiming that the dish was nothing special, nothing for westerners, too humble, too basic. But to her surprise I really liked it, so I asked for the recipe. She said it was called 'keerai koottu' and she later e-mailed me an approximate recipe. Here's my second attempt at it.

Ingredients:
- 260 g (9 oz) lentils
- 1.5 L (6 cups) water
- 200 g (7 oz) frozen spinach
- 8 bird chillies, seeds removed, chopped ^[1]
- 2 tsp corn starch
- 8 topped tbsp grated coconut
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 4 tsp turmeric
- 4 tsp mustard powder
- salt

Mint raita:
- plain yoghurt
- garlic, crushed
- mint, chopped

The lentils were boiled in the water, unsalted and uncovered, for about 25 minutes, then added the frozen spinach. The spinach was thawed and the mixture was brought to a boil. The chillies were mixed with all the dry ingredients to form a uniform blend, which was stirred into the rest. Seasoned at last with salt.

The raita was made by simply stirring mint and garlic into yoghurt.

Served with brown rice, mango chutney, and flour tortillas.

Update: Served with my naan'ish bread:


^[1] This was actually a bit on the mild side of what it should have been like. The first time I made it with jalapeño peppers which was more appropriate.

Kippers and scramled eggs

Already December again. Not sure how this happened.

Anyway.

As the Yuletide approaches we will be finding occasion to enjoy lots of traditional foods.

Mrs. Throat-Erator recently reminded me of the classic combination of kippers with scrambled eggs and chives on whole grain dark rye bread.

Sausage and Lentil Stew

While this isn't an authentic French recipe (so far as I know) it IS heavily inspired by dishes I had in Lyon when I went there recently. Yes, both the sausage and the wine are Swiss, but I'm sure proper French substitutes could be found.

Ingredients:
- 100 g (3.5 oz) smoked bacon, diced
- 6 small onions, quartered
- 2 smoked sausages ("Freiburger bauernwurst")
- 500 g (about 1 lb) green lentils
- 3 dL (about 1 cup) red wine (Dôle Romaine, Martigny, Switzerland)
- 1 L (about 4 cups) vegetable bouillon
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- fresh thyme
- 6 bay leaves
- 6 peppercorns

In a large pot the bacon was browned, then the onions were added and sautéed for 5 minutes before adding the lentils and the sausages cut in large pieces. The wine was added, and the pt was left on medium-high heat until the volume of liquid was nearly gone. Then the vegetable bouillon was added together with garlic, fresh thyme, bay leaves, and peppercorns. The heat was reduced a little and the stew was allowed to simmer for 20 minutes (uncovered).

The stew was served with thick slices of bread and a glass of the red wine - a nice wine from the Swiss canton of Valais.

French Beer - Part I (Pelforth)

Beer probably isn't the first thing you think of when you think of France, and in my opinion the likes of Kronenbourg does nothing good for the reputation of French beer.

But, unsurprisingly, there is also good beer to be had in France - very good beer in fact. Take, for example Pelforth Brune, which I had my first taste of a few years ago in the US. When I recently went to Lyon I was suddenly faced with that option again. Not to be missed on my part - a delicious, dark, strong beer.

Of course, one could argue that this is cheating - that Pelforth is made so close to the border that one might as well consider it a Belgian beer...

Meze Menu 1

Meze is the middle eastern version of tapas: a selection of smaller snack dishes that served together make up a meal. Without further ado, let's have a look at Meze Menu 1:
- flour tortillas
- tabbouleh
- spanakopitta
- köfte
- grilled eggplant
- hummus

Yes, that is my recipe for (Mexican) flour tortillas but they go just fine in this context as well. The tabbouleh and spanakopitta have been described here very recently. The köfte are a slight variation on my previous recipe, and the hummus was my first attempt at it - it didn't turn out quite right, but I'll get back to that. The funny looking eggplant is called a Sicilian eggplant.

köfte:
- 500 g (about 1 lb) ground beef
- 1 red onion, finely diced
- 4 bird chillies, seeds removed, finely diced
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- fresh basil, chopped
- fresh mint, chopped
- salt
- cayenne pepper
- allspice
- 1 egg

All the ingredients were mixed, and little meat balls formed by hand were fried in a pan using a little oil.

grilled eggplant:
- 1 Sicilian eggplant, sliced thinly

The eggplant slices were grilled under the broiler.

hummus:
- 175 g (6 oz) dried chickpeas
- water
- 4 tbsp tahini
- juice of 1 1/2 lemon
- 2 cloves garlic, mashed

The chickpeas were soaked in cold water overnight, then boiled for about 1.5 hours until very soft. The water was drained off, but not discarded. The chickpeas were blended to a purée and the tahini, lemon juice, and garlic was added. The saved water from boiling them was added in portions until the right creamy texture was attained.

As mentioned the hummus didn't turn out quite right. I think it was perhaps too much lemon juice and/or garlic.

Apart from the hummus, the menu was fantastic.

Update: A better hummus recipe.

Spanakopitta

Strictly speaking, one should make spanakopitta using fillo pastry, but we didn't feel like making it and the store was sold out - so we used puff pastry, which wasn't sold out.

Ingredients:
- 640 g (about 1.5 lbs) puff pastry (cut in 4 pieces)
- 500 g (about 1 lb) frozen spinach
- salt
- 200 g (about 0.5 lb) feta cheese, crumbled
- 2 eggs (+1 egg for brushing)

The frozen spinach was put in a small pot without any water and thawed over medium heat - and excess liquid was drained off. The feta cheese was mixed with 2 eggs using a fork, then stirred into the spinach, and seasoned to taste with salt.

The spinach-cheese mixture was divided in 2 equal portions and each was spread on a piece of puff pastry, leaving some 2-3 cm (1 inch) free along each side. The remaining pieces of puff pastry were used as lids, folding the pastry along the edges to close them. Long diagonal slits were cut in the pastry lids and the pies were brushed with the remaining egg.

The pies were baked in the oven at 175 C (350 F) for 45 minutes, until crisp and golden.

Tabbouleh

To aid us in our quest for cooking more middle eastern food, we bought another book, Claudia Roden's New Book of Middle Eastern Food, to get more inspiration.

As it turns out our copy of the book is flawed by a production error - more specifically the same set of pictures appears twice, leaving us guessing as to which pictures we are missing. Amazon.com wasn't able to tell us whether it was just or copy, or their entire set - so instead they refunded us the value of the book, and let us keep it at the same time. Hooray.

First up in a string of post on the subject is a variation on tabbouleh, one of several bulgur salads.

Ingredients:
- 2 dL (4/5 cup) bulgur
- cold water
- juice of 1 1/2 lemon
- 5 tomatoes, diced
- 2 small onions, finely diced
- fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
- fresh mint, chopped
- salt, pepper
- olive oil

The bulgur was soaked in cold water for 10-15 minutes, then drained and put in a large bowl. The lemon juice and tomatoes were added and the bowl was left for half an hour to let the bulgur absorb the juices and turn tender. [1] The rest of the ingredients were mixed in.

Tabbouleh might be eaten as a stand alone dish (supposedly it is traditional to scoop it up with lettuce leaves), or as a side dish.

[1] At this point the texture of the bulgur still seemed somewhat 'uncooked', which was a little worrisome, but in the end the result was just fine.

Bird Chillies

I noticed a pack of small green chillies at the supermarket, they were called "piments oiseaux" and given my past experience with chillies and naming around here I wasn't sure what to expect. As it turns out they are in fact known as "bird chillies" in English too (which is be the direct translation from French).

Bird chillies hail from Thailand and are quite hot, but their smallness makes it quite easy to dose them right. It does seem to me that they turn up the hotness a notch once they turn orange.

The pack was quite big, and a fair number of them dried out before I was through using them, but they can be used just fine dried as well.

Chunky Rosehip Jam

Rose hip is a quite common plant in Denmark: It grows wild along roads and in the sandy dunes along the coast and it's also widely used for hedges. It seems particularly suited for the latter purpose (if the idea is to deter intruders): Like all roses it is profusely thorny, and moreover the ripe berries are very mushy, leading them to readily release their payload of fine itchy hairs.

When I was in Denmark this past summer it was during the rose hip season (the length of which I'm thoroughly unknowing of), and I decided to pick me a bucket of rose hips and try to recreate the rose hip jam I have so found memories of both my mother and her mother making years ago.


Ingredients:
- 1.6 kg (3.5 lbs) whole rose hips, halved and cleaned (800 g / 1.75 lbs when cleaned)
- 5 dL (2 cups) water
- juice of 1 lemon
- 450 g + 75 g (1 lbs + 2.5 oz) sugar
- 2 tsp red label Melatin [1]
- 1 + 2 + 2 tsp Atamon [1]
- 2 glass jars with tightly fitting lids, about 750 mL (3 cups) each


The rose hips were halved with a small knife, the seeds and itchy hairs scraped out with a teaspoon and collected in a colander. They were rinsed well with cold water and let stand to dry a little. It's highly recommended to wash the hands thoroughly after cleaning rose hips.


The cleaned rose hips were put in a large pot together with the water and the lemon juice, covered and brought to a boil. After boiling for 25 minutes, the larger portion of sugar was stirred in before boiling uncovered (at this point it can foam a lot) for an additional 12 minutes.
At this point 1 tsp Atamon, the smaller portion of sugar and the red label Melatin was added. The whole was brought back to a boil and boiled for 2 minutes before removing from the heat. While the hot jam cools down a bit the glass jars were each swirled with 2 tsp of Atamon. Still warm (but not boiling) the jam was poured into the glasses and the lids were fitted on tightly.

Once cool the jam can be eaten. Of course it can be saved for quite for some time. The jam I made here was very chunky - so much that I would consider cutting the rose hips in smaller pieces next time. I particularly like it on white bread, such as our home-made buns.

[1] Melatin and Atamon are Danish brand names. They are gelling and preserving agents, respectively. Melatin contains carrageenan, locust bean gum, and sugar - one could surely substitute with pectin and/or agar, although I'd have to experient with the amounts. Atamon is an aqueous solution of sodium benzoate, lactic acid, caramel coloring, and rum aroma - the label is positively oldschool (to the point where one suspects they couldn't introduce it on the market today), and I honestly have no idea what alternative products one can buy outside of Denmark, but I'm guessing one could try sterilizing the jars in boiling water.

Borscht

My parents have always kept a large vegetable garden - a hobby the entire family benefits from year-round. Although I have to say that neither I nor my siblings were entirely grateful for the bounty of beetroot. In our opinion our parents knew one or two recipes too many for dishes based on beetroot. Pickled beetroot were appreciated by all (e.g. as topping for liver pâté) - beetroot steaks and beetroot pâté not so much. Interestingly they never made us beetroot soup, which I think might have won me over a little more effectively - or maybe my taste just changed since then. Anyway, now it's autumn again, and therefore soup season, so I made a big pot of borscht.

Ingredients:
- olive oil
- 3 medium/small red onions, chopped
- 400 g (almost 1 lb) potatoes
- 800 g (almost 2 lbs) celery root
- 1500 g (over 3 lbs) beetroot
(all tubers were peeled, and cut in cubes 1 cm per side (1/2 inch per side))
- 2 dL (almost 1 cup) flour
- 2.5 L (2/3 gallon) beef bouillon
- 4 cloves garlic, mashed
- 12 peppercorns
- salt
- 6 bay laurel leafs
- thyme & oregano
- 0.5 L (2 cups) cream

In a large pot, a little oil was heated. The onion was sautéed for a couple of minutes before adding the tuber cubes. After another 5 minutes, the flour was added and stirred in to coat the cubes with the flour. The beef bouillon was added together with the herbs, salt, and peppercorns. The soup was brought to a boil, then the heat was reduced. The soup was covered and allowed to simmer for an hour with occasional stirring, before adding the cream.

Served warm with a little sour cream on top.

Stuffed Ball Round Zucchini

One Saturday morning shopping at the farmers' market I noticed these ball round zucchini, and thought they'd make an interesting variation for the previously mentioned stuffed zucchini. The recipe is basically the same as that mentioned previously, but the following substitutions are worth noting: I used 3 ball round zucchini; for the cheese I used Gouda cheese; and the bread crumbs were not Panko, but just some ordinary crumbs of dry bread...



It worked quite well - in fact, I think if I ever wanted stuffed zucchini in a handy serving-size way (as for one dish out of several in a fancy dinner) I'd use this version.

Burning Love

I have never really known why this dish is known as 'burning love' in Denmark. Basically it's just mashed potatoes with fried bacon and onion - and a some fresh parsley. Pretty easy.

Ingredients:
- 2.4 kg (5.3 lbs) potatoes, cut in chunks
- water
- 0.5 L ( 2 cups) milk
- salt & pepper
- bacon, diced
- 2 medium-large onions, chopped
- 1 bunch parsley, chopped

The potato chunks were boiled in unsalted water till fairly soft. The water was drained and the potatoes were mashed with a ladle [1]. The milk was stirred in, being added in portions, to give the desired texture. Seasoned to taste with salt and pepper.

In a large pan bacon was fried. Then added onion and continued till the onion were soft and brown.

The mash was served with the bacon onion mix, and freshly chopped parsley - ketchup optional.

[1] The resulting mash was slightly chunky, which I like, but if a smoother mash is desired I'd use a hand-held mixer.

Paulaner Oktoberfest

I see I am a little late with this post, but only just so I guess it's not so bad.

I have mentioned before on these pages my taste for Bavarian beers as well as seasonal beers.

Therefore, it can hardly surprise that Paulaner Oktoberfest on sale seems a no-brainer to me.

Creamy Sunchoke Soup

It was only recently that I found sunchokes at a farmers' market here in Geneva - fortunately, I was able to recall the French word 'topinambour' [1] so I could ask for 1 kg of them. I used most of them to prepare this soup.

Ingredients:
- oil
- 3 small onions, coarsely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, mashed
- 1 green chilli, seeds removed, finely diced
- 850 g (30 oz) sunchokes
- 1.4 L (3 pints) water
- salt and pepper
- juice of 1 lemon
- parsley, chopped

Of the sunchokes, 700 g (25 oz) were cut in cubes approximately 1 cm (1/2 inch) on each side, while the rest were cut in cubes approximately 1/2 cm (1/4 inch) on each side.

In a large pot, the onion and chilli were sautéed till onion was translucent, then added the large chunks of sunchokes and garlic. After 10 minutes the water was added, brought to a boil, before the pot was covered and the heat was reduced. After simmering for 30 minutes, the pot was removed from the heat and the soup was blended to a smooth texture. Seasoned with salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste.

While the soup was simmering, the smaller sunchoke cubes were roasted in a pan with a little oil.

The soup was served with sunchoke cubes and parsley on top.

[1] Given my generally poor knowledge of French vocabulary, I do seem to know a disproportionate amount of food terms..

Danish Beer - Part II (Indslev Brewery)

When I left Denmark in 2002, things were just starting to change. After that the changes accelerated, and for me the effect was amplified by only observing it on my short, relatively infrequent trips to Denmark. For example, one time I came home, and since my previous visit in Denmark, beer cans had been legalized - that changed the experience of walking down the beer aisle in a Danish supermarket a fair bit. On another visit, I noticed that since my previous visit, it had become standard for Danish supermarkets to have a decent selection of import beers - something I'd beforehand only seen in specialised beer stores and fancy department stores. Also quite the change.

And at the same time, the number of microbreweries in Denmark exploded to the point were on my most recent trip home, I noticed there were so many I didn't even try to taste all of them during the three weeks I was there. Many of these were entirely new breweries, but quite a few others were old breweries that had lied dormant (or nearly so) during the years of big brewery dominance. One such brewery is Indslev brewery in Indslev (coincidently a small town I have passed through numerous times because it's on way between my parents' place and my grandmothers' place) on the island of Funen. Originally opened back in 1897, it re-opened in 2006 with an interesting line of modern beers, of which I had the pleasure the pleasure to try a few. I have to say, the Indslev Spelt Bock is one of the best beers I've had in a very long time.

Lamb chops, black rice and white gravy

I've gone on about Danish gravy traditions here before, and one of the dishes I'm used to having white gravy with is lamb. Then, recently I woke up one early morning from a dream in which I was preparing lamb, white gravy and black rice. The image of the white gravy on the black rice was stuck in mind and when I went shopping later that day, it turned out lamb chops were on sale. It was like it was meant to happen...

Ingredients:
- black rice
- water
- salt & pepper
- lamb chops
- flour
- milk

I served it with a slight modification of this roasted bean salad (I substituted sunflower seeds for the pine nuts), which was the first thing to be prepared (so it could stand in the oven while preparing the rest).

The black rice were boiled in lightly salted water.

The lamp chops were seasoned with salt and pepper and cooked in a pan. After removing the lamb chops from the pan, the drippings were added enough flour to make thick paste. On low heat milk added in small portions was stirred in to make the gravy. Added salt and pepper to taste.

Baba Ghanoush

Although I'm a great fan of what I have tried from the Middle Eastern kitchen, I must say I'm not very knowledgeable on the subject. Far less so than, e.g. Mrs. Throat-Erator, who has travelled in the region. For example, I didn't really know what Baba Ghanoush was when she started raving about how delicious it was. I urged her to make me some, and so she did..

Ingredients:
- 500 g (1 lb) eggplants
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- salt
- 2 tbsp tahini
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- paprika

The eggplants were rinsed and broiled until the inside was very soft. The partially charred skin was peeled away and the flesh was collected in a colander where it was mashed and drained. After being transferred to a bowl, the garlic, salt, ground cumin, tahini paste, and lemon juice was stirred in to give a smooth paste. The baba ghanoush was arranged as an atoll with the olive oil in the middle and paprika on the rim.

We had it with some flat breads, tzatziki, couscous salad, and meatballs.

I have to admit it was quite delicious, and we are aiming to practice more foods from this kitchen in the none too distant future.

Danish Beer - Part I (Carl's Beers)

When I grew up the beer market in Denmark was pretty homogeneous. First of all the market was almost completely dominated by breweries Carlsberg and Tuborg, their standard brews 'Carlsberg Hof' (Carlsberg Court) and 'Grøn Tuborg' (Green Tuborg) being probably the only 2 beers sold nationwide. Of course, there were other significant breweries - such as Ceres, Faxe, Harboe, Albani, and Hancock - but their beers were not as broadly available (i.e. only regionally or in certain stores). On top of that beers sold pretty much exclusively in dark green glass bottles (selling beer in cans was illegal in Denmark at the time) most of the breweries using the same standard recycled bottles (a relatively high price for the bottle themselves were part of ensuring a high rate of recycling).

Secondly, but perhaps even more importantly, almost all Danish beers then were pilsner style beers. My own mother has always claimed to prefer Grøn Tuborg over Carlsberg Hof, but I've always doubted if she could actually tell them apart in a blind tasting. And most of the others were quite similar too. To be fair, there were variations - Carlsberg has been making a porter as long as I can remember. Also, I think all the breweries had their own stronger beer (still pilsners, just higher alcohol content) such as 'Carlsberg Elefant' (Elephant), 'Carlsberg Sort Guld' (Black Gold), 'Guld Tuborg' (Gold Tuborg), and 'Harboe Bjørnebryg' (Bear Brew). And then there were the seasonal beers. Several breweries released special beers which were only sold around christmas and easter, respectively. Typically, these were stronger and darker beers, although usually only darker by virtue of being added caramel coloring rather than by brewing differently.

For many years this seemed to be fine. Danes appeared content to be getting mainly pilsners. But during the 1990's something happened. People started being more interested in different types of beer. Imports were on the rise. And in 1997 Carlsberg held a "beer election": A number of new beers (I think 5 or 6) were introduced for a limited time (several months) and by the end of it the customers voted for which of these should be continued. And since then Danes have had the joy of Carl's Special (unfortunately it is not exported), which is admittedly another pilsner style beer, if a little darker - but it is, IMHO exceptionally good. More importantly, this was the beginning of a new trend changing the beer market in Denmark.

Since then the line has been extended - the seasonal Carl's christmas brew and Carl's easter brew came quickly, and more recently Carl's Porter and Carl's Ale (pictured) were added.