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.

Birthday Omelette

When it was recently Mrs. Throat-Erator's birthday I made an omelette with fresh golden chanterelles I had picked up at the farmers' market.

Ingredients:
- bacon, diced
- spring onions (lower part only), sliced
- golden chanterelles
- eggs
- white cheddar, grated
- salt & pepper

In a large pan, the bacon was fried, then added onions and golden chanterelles. After a few minutes, a mixture of beaten eggs, grated cheese, salt & pepper was added. The heat was reduced and the pan was left to let the eggs set.

Appenzeller Beer

Appenzell in the north-eastern part of Switzerland, has a reputation for being a backwards, kind of rural place - most infamously how women didn't gain the right to vote until 1991. On a more positive note, the preservation of traditions and slow pace is regarded as highly instrumental for the production of their famous cheeses, chocolates, bitters and beers (not sure all of these really sets it much apart from the rest of this country). By now I've had opportunity to taste a number of their beers:


While I haven't been to Appenzell and therefore cannot really say on how the place is, I CAN say that they do make good beer. Of those pictured, I guess Quöllfrisch is my favourite (not pictured is a very nice hemp ale). Schwarzer Kristall deserves mention for being a truly black beer.

Breaded Fish Cakes

We recently had some delicious fish cakes at an Asian restaurant, so I was interested in trying my hand at the art - in the end these were quite different from the ones we had at the restaurant (but still delicious) so I'll probably return with further variations on this theme.

Ingredients
- 500 g (just over 1 lb) potatoes, peeled, cut in chunks
- 400 g (just under 1 lb) pollock fillet
- 2 dL (almost 1 cup) milk
- 1 green chilli, seeds removed, finely chopped
- 16 g (0.5 oz) fresh ginger, finely diced
- 3 scallions, green part only, sliced
- 20 g (0.7 oz) fresh basil, coarsely chopped
- salt
- 1 egg, beaten
- bread crumbs (to cover)
- oil for frying

The potato chunks were boiled tender in lightly salted water. After draining them thoroughly, they were put back in the dry pot and mashed on low heat to give a relatively dry mash. Care was taken not to let them burn (constant stirring/mashing while on the heat).

Simultaneously the fish was put in a frying pan with the milk and 1 dL (almost 1/2 cup) of water, covered, and brought to a boil. The heat was then reduced to allow it to simmer for 5 minutes before removing the pan from the heat. Still covered the fish was let stand 10 minutes in the warm milk to gently finish. Afterwards the fish was lifted out of the milk on to a plate to cool.

The cooled fish was drained, then flaked into the potato mash. The salt, basil, scallions, ginger, and chilli was added, and the the entire mixture was worked together by hand. [1]

The fish cakes were formed and flattened by hand, turned over in egg and bread crumbs and fried till golden brown on both sides in oil on a large pan.

Served with wild rice, cucumber salad and peanut dipping.

[1] I think if I try this again, I would spend an extra egg on the dish to see if the fish cake mass could have a little less tendency to fall apart.

Update: Using more fish relative to potato gives a better result - but you have to use more eggs.

Birra San Martino

When we were on vacation in Ticino this past summer we had the chance to try some local beer. Birra San Martino located in Mendrisio (we bought them in Lugano) makes three different beers of which we tried two.

The most remarkable thing about them was the unusually low level of carbonation. This on the one hand made them seem a little flat, but on the other hand was likely also one of the reasons they went down as fast as they did. For my personal taste, the red one was the more interesting of the two.

Chicken & Sausage (Okra) Gumbo

After being recently schooled on the subject of Gumbo, I decided to revisit the subject - sans the maligned Lima beans. However, I chose to stick with the okra as thickening agent this time around, but I vow to return and try out a roux based version.

Ingredients:
- oil
- salt & pepper
- 4 pieces of chicken - ca. 650 g (1.5 lb)
- 2 medium onions, coarsely chopped
- ca. 250 g fresh okra, finely sliced
- 2 red chillies, seeds removed, chopped
- 1 yellow & 1 orange bell pepper, chopped
- ca. 175 g (1/3 lb) sausage, sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, mashed
- water
- rice

Oil was heated in a large, deep, pan, and the chicken pieces were salted and peppered before being browned on all sides. The chicken pieces were removed from the pan and the onions and okra were added. The pan was covered for 10-15 minutes with occasional stirring (at which point the okra appeared to have exuded a clear, sticky liquid - this is what's needed for thickening the stew). Then the chillies and bell peppers were added together with the sausage, garlic, 0.5 L (2 cups) of water and the chicken pieces. The pot was brought to a boil, covered and allowed to simmer for ca. 40 minutes.

While the gumbo simmered, rice were cooked in lightly salted water. The gumbo was served with no more rice than for the overall texture to be that of a thick stew.

This was much more appreciated in the little home than the previous version.

More Swiss Beer

As the title promises .. more Swiss beer. Or maybe not? Studying the fine print, one notices that both of these beers are made by Heineken Switzerland (OK, I guess that still makes them Swiss) located in Chur. Calanda appears to be a reasonably big brand, I've noticed several places which have it on tap. It's a decent lager, no more no less.
The Swiss Beer Collection looks horrible, and since it's also amongst the cheapest around here (almost 3 times less than Calanda) I had my fears, but it's another surprisingly good purchase. No, it's not an outstanding beer, but it is not half-bad either...

Venison & black chanterelle whiskey cream sauce

Some years ago Mrs. Throat-Erator wanted to give me a special experience and took me out to dinner in Copenhagen at a nice place. It was quite the success, as I had the chance to try venison for the first time in my life. More specifically it was a steak of red deer, and it blew me away. So there was no hesitating when I recently found venison at a local supermarket. It was even a relatively good price... it must be hunting season or something around here. I figured it would probably go well with a black chanterelle whiskey cream sauce...

Ingredients:
- water
- 20 g (ca. 1 oz) dried black chanterelles
- potatoes
- oil
- salt & pepper
- venison
- 1 medium red onion, chopped finely
- 0.5 dL (1/4 cup) whiskey
- 1 dL (2/5 cup) cream
- the leaves of 2 twigs of fresh rosemary

Since I could only find dried black chanterelles the first thing to do was to put these in a bowl and pour ca. 1 L (1 qt) of hot water over them and let them stand for at least 20 minutes. When they were drained, the water was saved for later.

The potatoes were washed and boiled in lightly salted water.

The venison was cut like small steaks, which were seasoned with salt and pepper. In a pan with a little oil they were cooked to the desired degree (medium for us). After removing the venison from the pan the onion was added, and after a few minutes the drained black chanterelles. A few minutes later the whiskey and cream was added, and brought to a boil. After a few minutes 2 dL (4/5 cup) of the black chanterelle water was added followed by the rosemary leaves. After simmering briefly it was served.

The result was fantastic. I still really like venison.

With dinner we had a bottle of pinot noir from the canton of Vaud. I'm pretty sure this is wine made closest to here I've had so far. The colour was surprisingly pale, but it went well with the meat.

South American Beer

Curiously I found a bunch of South American beers in my local store Asian Spices here in Geneva. Not only curious because it goes to show that the store is selling exotic goods in a broader sense than merely what could be considered Asian, but most curious because I never saw any of these beers during the years I lived in Southern California.


Paceña from Cerveceria Boliviana Nacional S.A.) (5.2% ABV) and Cerveza-Aguila from Barranquilla, Colombia (4.7% ABV) are both comparatively pale, decent if not spectacular lagers. Cusqueña from Lima, Peru (4.8% ABV) is a little darker, a quite lovely golden, and a little more suited for my personal taste in beer.

Lapin au Vin

This week rabbit was on sale at the supermarket so we decided to have our hand at cooking it. Having no experience with this particular meat I sought inspiration in Tyler Florence's Eat This Book, although my approach was somewhat cruder.

Ingredients:
- ca. 650 g (1.5 lb) rabbit (4 pieces)
- 1/2 bottle of red wine
- flour
- salt
- pepper
- oil
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp honey
- Italian herb blend
- 0.5 L (2 cups) chicken broth

Side:
- 6 potatoes
- 1/2 celery root
- 2 beet roots
- 2 small onions

Salad:
- romaine lettuce
- capers
- sun dried tomatoes

The rabbit pieces were wetted in the red wine, then coated with a mixture of flour, salt, and pepper. The rabbit pieces were then browned in batches in oil in a large pot (turning them over with tongs). While browning the rabbit, crushed garlic, honey and Italian herb blend was added to the wine. After browning all the rabbit pieces (and all removed from the pot) the wine was added to the pot, brought to a boil while making sure to stir up any flour left in the pot from the browning of the rabbit. To this was added the chicken broth, and the rabbit pieces were put back. The pot was covered and allowed to simmer for about one and half hours.

While the rabbit was simmered, a mixture of crudely cut potatoes, beet roots, celery root, and onions (drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper) was baked in the oven at 225 C (450 F) - beet and celery roots require longer time than potatoes to become tender.

This left plenty of time for a quick salad: romaine lettuce, capers, and sun dried tomatoes were mixed in a bowl.

The rabbit was very tender; the meat was practically falling off of the bones. The texture and taste was somewhat reminiscent of chicken, although more 'game'. Overall it became a fall/winter style dish which fitted well with the pouring rain outside. With dinner we drank the other half of the bottle of wine.

Røget Rullepølse

Røget Rullepølse ("smoked rolled sausage") is a Danish speciality I sometimes ask people to bring me when I have visitors from the home country. I love it, but I've never even contemplated making it..

Basically pieces of meat (usually pork) are boiled, rolled with herbs and spices, pressed and smoked. Simple, no? Honestly, I don't even know the details. What I know is that good butcher shops usually have this delicacy (but forget about the cheap stuff you find in supermarkets all over Denmark).

Anchovy Pizza

Pizza with tomato sauce, red onion, canned anchovies, capers and mozzarella - no extra salt needed. The irony (considering how close to Italy we are) is that the pizza dough we bought in the store here isn't as good as the ones we used to buy in Trader Joe's...

Coop Beer

As it turns out, the supermarket chain Coop sells a few beers that you won't find anywhere else, so I thought I'd give them a post here.

Interestingly, we see here an example of something I alluded to earlier: While Prix Garantie Coop is cheaper than Tell (0.60 CHF vs. 0.90 CHF per 0.5 L can) the former actually has a lot more taste than the latter. In fact, while Tell was a disappointment, Prix Garantie Coop was better than I expected - nothing fantastic, but certainly decent at the price.


The most interesting of the pack however is the Bio Bier - an organic beer made for Coop by Brauerei K. Locher in Appenzell, Switzerland. The can says it is unfiltered and the beer is slightly hazy (although nothing like a good hefeweizen). And at 1.50 CHF for a 0.5 L can you can't even fault it for being more expensive than other (non-organic) beers of similar quality.

White Corn Tortillas

Not too long ago I made my first home-made flour tortillas, but of course I also had to try to make corn tortillas. Fortunately I found a store that sells corn flour suitable for this purpose.

Ingredients:
- 2.5 dL (1 cup) water
- 2-2.5 dL (ca. 1 cup) white corn flour
- pinch of salt

The water was placed in a bowl together with the salt. The corn flour was added little by little while stirring with a spoon. The recipe on the pack recommended a 2.5:2 ratio of water:flour but I found that it needed a little more flour in order not to be too sticky. In the end the dough was kneaded by hand for 1-2 minutes and shaped into 8 little balls.

The recipe called for a tortilla press, but since I'm against the owning of too many unitaskers I do not have a tortilla press. I do however have two wooden cutting boards and kitchen wrap. The dough balls were placed one at the time between the cutting boards (each protected with a piece of wrap) and flattened by pressing. When the top board was removed the pressed dough would stick to one of the pieces of wrap, and it could be carefully transferred to a hand by lifting and turning the wrap over the hand so the dough lets go of the wrap by the assistance of gravity (trying to lift the dough off of the wrap still lying on the table was very unsuccessful). The dough was flipped onto a hot (maximum setting on my stove), non-greased pan and turned over a couple of times until the tortilla puffed up (indicating the right amount of water had evaporated). The tortillas were stacked (which kept them nicely warm until eating time) while cooking them one at the time.

They were perhaps a little thick, but I think they turned out quite well anyway.
Served with red beans and guacamole.

Update: Now that I've made them several times, I should add here that they do not always puff up, so one should keep an eye on how 'done' they look as well.

Also, as mentioned above they are relatively thick, which I think goes at least part of the way towards explaining why they are somewhat stiffer (tending to break if one tries to roll them too tightly). The stiffness gets a little worse upon storing and re-heating, but other than that storing and re-heating works fine.

Feldschösschen Beer

OK .. now it's get a little complicated. If I've understood it correctly, both Anker and Cardinal are produced by Cardinal Brewery in Fribourg, Switzerland - but Cardinal is owned by Feldschösschen in Rheinfelden, Switzerland (and let's just forget for the moment that Feldschösschen is now owned by Danish Carlsberg Group...).

Feldschösschen and Cardinal are - as far as I can judge so far - the two most widely available Swiss beers. Both are decent lagers, nothing special, but OK. They typically sell for around 1.5 CHF pr. 0.5 L can, but on sale the price comes down around 1 CHF pr. can in which case neither is a bad deal if you're looking for a standard lager. Feldschösschen was the beer previously used to roll flour tortillas.
Anker, however normally sells for exactly 1 CHF pr. 0.5 L can, but IMHO that isn't money invested nearly as well: I found Anker to be too pale, and too weak in the taste (although it holds the same alcohol percentage as the others: 4.8%) so can only be recommended if you like to drink beer without being without your taste buds reminding too much you of this fact.

On the other end we have Feldschösschen's Hopfenperle, which is a bit stronger (5.2%) and arguably a more interesting beer - although perhaps not so much better than ordinary Feldschösschen to justify the price difference (Hopfenperle at 1.40 CHF for a 0.33 L can).

Green Eggplant Stirfry

Near to my new home I've found a lovely little store called Asian Spices - all kinds of exotic goods from all over Asia are crammed into this small store and I quite like perusing their shelves. On a recent visit I noticed these little green eggplants in the fresh food section, and I decided to try them out.

Ingredients:
- oil
- 1 chicken fillet (sliced)
- salt
- 1 clove garlic (mashed)
- 1 scotch bonnet chilli
- 1 onion (boats)
- 1 mild green pepper (diced coarsely)
- 5 green eggplants (quartered)
- fish sauce
- soy sauce

Served with brown rice.

Oil was heated in a wok, and the chicken was stir-fried with salt [1] and finely chopped scotch bonnet chilli [2]. When the chicken was cooked through, the onion and the mild pepper was added and a few minutes later the green eggplants. Finally was added fish sauce and soy sauce before reducing the heat and covering to let it simmer.

The green eggplants look nice, taste a lot like eggplant, but seemed to me to hold their texture better than ordinary (large) eggplants, although this might be a function more of their size than anything else.

[1] Given the amount of soy sauce I used, I should have left out the salt.

[2] Without a hood over the cooker this is downright inadvisable - it's a bit too much like pepper spray while cooking (which correlates nicely with the fact that the end result wasn't as spicy as I expected).