Frikadeller (Danish Meatballs 2)

Unlike horse, the availability of mixed minced meat (pork and beef) is something I was used to growing up - and it's exactly what my old recipe for frikadeller calls for. I went ahead and made a small mountain of meatballs (as one of the pictures show), but normally I would make a smaller batch.

Ingredients:
- 1 kg (2 lb) minced beef/pork
- salt
- pepper
- ca. 4 dL (1.5 cups) flour
- 3 eggs
- 2 medium brown onions (finely diced)
- ca. 4 dL (1.5 cups) milk
- a little margarine/shortening/butter for frying

The minced meat was put in a large bowl together with flour, salt, pepper, eggs, and onion. While stirring with a ladle the milk was added in portions until the texture was right .. yes, that's of course a little hard to quantify, but the resulting mixture should be slightly more runny than most of my other meatball recipes.

The meat balls were placed one by one on a heated pan with a little margarine as they were shaped - the shaping process is attempted illustrated in the pictures: A portion of meat mixture was taken with a spoon and shaped into a ball by turning in between the hand and the spoon repeatedly until one is happy with the result. Don't overdo it - due to the texture, the balls will deform somewhat on the pan anyway. This is one of the instances when a non-stick pan and a wooden spatula are less useful than other tools.

Served with boiled potatoes and boiled cauliflower this became a meal very much in the Danish tradition. Leftover meatballs are good both on wholegrain dark rye bread and in pita sandwiches together with lettuce, cucumber, tomato..

NB: For an updated recipe, see here.

Horse Steak

I was always aware that horse was edible, but in Denmark where I grew up it was somehow considered inferior meat that most people did not want. It did not figure prominently in the meat section of the supermarkets I frequented in California either. But now that I live close to France it is quite easy to come by. Several options exist in the supermarket, and I have on several occasions seen local restaurants advertise horse steak as special of the day.

Of course I had to try it. As you can see in the picture (click to enlarge) it is easy to recognise it at the store - even if one happens not to be familiar with the French, German, or Italian words for horse. Actually, the taste is strikingly similar to beef - I guess this is mainly surprising to me based on people's reluctance to eat it where I come from.

Ingredients:
- horse steaks
- salt & pepper
- oil from sun dried tomatoes
- 1 medium red onion
- 200 g (7 oz) mushrooms
- 2 tsp capers
- 3 tbsp sour cream
quinoa:
- 2.5 dL (1 cup) quinoa
- 5 dL (2 cups) water
- salt
- fresh mint and basil

Quinoa (which I've mentioned briefly before here) was prepared simply by bringing water to a boil, then adding half the volume quinoa and salt, turning the heat down and letting stand till the water was absorbed (about 15-20 minutes), then freshly chopped mint and basil was stirred in.

In a large pan I heated up oil (leftover from a glass of sun dried tomatoes) and when warm I put in the steaks seasoned only with salt and pepper. The horse steaks I bought were rather thinly sliced and required only a few minutes of cooking, after which I removed them from the pan and added onion rings. After a few minutes this was followed by sliced mushrooms and a few minutes still later capers and sour cream - was covered and let stand for a few minutes.

Served with a quick salad (lettuce & cucumber) and dressing like the one I mentioned here.

Hubertus

The name Hubertus invariably brings to my mind images of riders in red jackets - the traditional Hubertus Hunts from The Deer Garden north of Copenhagen being my point of reference.

As it happens, the hunts are named for Saint Hubertus and he is also alluded to on the label of the beer with the head of the stag with the antlers (much like on the Jägermeister bottle - just without the glowing cross).

This was another beer I tried in Basel and I was quite impressed with it. I was previously unaware of the brewery, Eichhof. They are located in Luzern (Switzerland) and I read that they are quite important on the Swiss beer market - I'll have to look out for them now. I'm curious about trying out other beers from their range of products (link to German homepage).

Flour Tortillas

Although I'm all for trying out new food in the new region I'm living in, I'm not ready for a complete withdrawal from the Mexican cuisine I've come to love over the past 6 years of my life while living in California. Although tortillas can be bought in the store here, the selection is rather slim and the prices are somewhat steep - so I decided to try my own hand at making them. If it wasn't for this kind of attitude, would I blog about food in the first place?!

Ingredients:
- 225 g (1/2 lb) flour
- 65 g (2 oz) margarine
- pinch of salt
- 1 dL (1/2 cup) water

The margarine was cut into small cubes and then worked into the flour by hand. The water was warmed and the salt dissolved in it - the resulting salty water was added in small portions (in order not to use too much), working it into the flour by hand. Once a cohesive mass (not very sticky) is obtained the dough was kneaded by hand for 2-4 minutes before forming little balls (in this case 7) which were put back in the bowl, covered and left for about an hour.

A pan was heated on medium high setting (2.5 out of 3 on my electric cooker) - it's advisable to turn it on well in advance so the pan is hot by the time the tortillas are ready to be cooked. No grease needed.


Each ball was flattened first by hand, then rolled into tortillas on a floured surface (as I don't have an ordinary rolling pin in this kitchen yet using instead a 0.5 L beer can - full works best.. I'll get back to that beer in a future post). The tortillas were cooked one by one, roughly some 15 seconds on each side when the pan is properly hot - the latter part of the process and the result looks quite similar to making these pancakes.

I was quite happy with these tortillas - I'll be doing this again.

Fish Dinner

In no particular style (so far as I can tell) I made this dinner because it was Saturday night, and I felt like it - everything turned out quite nicely, I do think.

Ingredients:
creamy potatoes:
- 4 large potatoes
- 1 medium onion
- 1 dL (1/2 cup) heavy cream
- 2 dL (1 cup) water
- salt, pepper
salad:
- 1/2 head fine frisée lettuce
- 75 g (3 oz) feta cheese
- 4 sun dried tomatoes
- 1 handful pistachio nuts
dressing:
- juice of 1/2 lime
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp mustard
- 1 tsp honey
fish:
- olive oil
- salt, pepper, paprika
- Dorado fillets
- 1 leek
- 1 green chilli [1]
- 20 fresh leaves oregano
- juice of 1/2 lime
- 1 tsp honey

The potatoes were sliced, and put in an oven-proof tray together with a sliced onion, salt, and pepper. The cream and the water was poured over and the tray was put in the oven at 200 C (400 F) for at least an hour.

I found fine frisée salad at the store, but less fine frisée (i.e. ordinary) would probably work well too) - it was rinsed, cut roughly, and mixed with crumbled feta cheese, strips of sun dried tomatoes, and a handful of pistachio nuts.

The salad dressing was made simply by stirring all the ingredients together (needs some stirring as not everything mixes naturally).

In large pan a little olive oil was heated, then salt, pepper, and paprika was stirred into it before adding the fillets of dorado (aka mahi-mahi), which were fried for a few minutes on both sides. Pushing the fish towards the side of the pan, the leek and the chilli both cut in long strips was added, then poured over with a mix of honey and lime juice, and finally added coarsely chopped fresh oregano.

[1] The green chillies I buy here are called "Piments Verts" in the store, which tells me no more than what I can see by looking at them: They are green chillies. Trying to correlate them with the chilli types I know, I'd say they are about as thick as jalapeño peppers, about as long as Anaheim peppers - the overall looks of them are most like Anaheim peppers, but in hotness they are much closer to the jalapeño.

Real Swiss Beer

On a trip to Basel in the German speaking part of Switzerland I had the opportunity to visit Restaurant Lällekönig and taste a number of local beers. Overall those from Unser Bier (that's "our beer" in German) were the most interesting to me. Their amber beer was initially surprising to me - surprisingly un-bitter to be more specific, but I realized this was mainly because I'm so used to California style pale ales. At any rate it is quite good - as is their Schwarz ("black") which I had a large mug of afterwards (not pictured).

Chorizo Omelette

After 5 weeks of not being able to cook Sunday morning eggs, it was truly wonderful to have the option again. Loosely inspired by reading from the period in question I wanted to this type of omelette. It turned out to be quite the hearty breakfast.

Ingredients:
- 3 eggs
- milk
- 1 mild chorizo
- 2 raw pepperoncini ("poivrons cecei")*

served with home fries:
- 5 potatoes
- 1 onion

The potatoes were cut in small dices (say 6 mm (1/4 inch) to the side) and fried in a large pan with a coarsely chopped onion.

The chorizo was peeled, and halved along the axis and sliced - then fried in a second pan together with the coarsely chopped peppers. After a few minutes a mixture of eggs and milk (beaten together with a fork) was poured over the chorizo and peppers, the heat was reduced and the while thing left till the eggs had solidified.

* I think these are unpickled pepperoncinis - the colour and shape certainly looks right. The French name is what they're called in the store I where I buy them.

Conger

To be honest, I didn't know what conger was when I bought it. Yes, I figured it was a large fish or something along those lines, but it was just 4 slices in the pack and therefore hard to judge. When I came home I could consult my dictionary and learn that conger is salt water eel. This would be a first for me: cooking eel.

Ingredients:
- 4 slices conger
- about 1 cup white wine
- potatoes (for 2)
- 1 onion
- 3 tsp capers
- 250 g (1/2 lb) green beans
- fresh flat-leaf parsley

The conger came in slices about 2 cm (3/4") thick, gutted and cleaned, but with bones and skin. The fillets were seasoned with salt and pepper and seared in a large pan on both sides for a few minutes. Then added a little less than half of the wine, covered and left on medium high heat until the wine was reduced, then added an equally big portion of wine and repeated. The whole process took some 30-40 minutes and the conger fillets were turned from side to side occasionally.

While the conger was cooking, small potatoes were rinsed and boiled in lightly salted water. In a separate pot, fresh green beans likewise.

At the end of the second wine reduction the conger was moved to the side of the pan, the whole in the middle filled up with onion rings, capers, and a final bit of white wine.

Served with freshly cut flat leaf parsley.

Couscous Salad

OK, so this isn't a very unique recipe - it's quite similar to other couscous salads I've made in the past. The point is more to illustrate that this is possible without a stove, if you have an electric kettle.

Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup couscous
- 1 cup boiling water
- salt, pepper
- 1 bunch spring onions
- 1 handful cherry tomatoes
- 1 red bell pepper
- fresh basil
- fresh flat leave parsley

- to serve also: arugula, flat breads, and sour cream.

The couscous was placed in a bowl with salt and pepper, the boiling water was added and the bowl was covered. After 5 minutes or so the water was absorbed and the chopped reds and greens were added. Served on flat breads, with arugula and a little sour cream on top.