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.