Dutch Baby with Lemon and Blueberries

Dutch Baby with Lemon and Blueberries

A Dutch baby is also called a German pancake or Dutch puff. It’s a mix between a pancake, popover and  a crepe. The traditional Dutch baby is baked in a cast iron skillet. The Dutch baby puffs up, but deflate as soon as it is taken out of the oven. This dish is not labor intensive, you can easily make this when you have people over for sunday brunch. The Dutch baby hangs out in the oven, and compared to pancakes you don’t have to flip it. The cast iron skillet makes the dish very forgiving too, because it keeps the Dutch baby warm for quite some time. 

I like that the Dutch baby is not overly sweet, but if you have a sweet tooth you can always pour some maple syrup over it.

Makes 1 large or 4 small

Ingrediets:

• 4 large eggs

• 1 cup (240 ml) whole milk

• 1 cup (95 g) all-purpose flour

• ¼ cup (50 g) sugar

• 1 lemon, the zest of (grated)

• ¼ teaspoon salt

• ½ teaspoon vanilla paste

• 125 g blueberries, save some for topping

• 1-2 tablespoons butter

• confectionary sugar, for sprinkling

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400℉ (205℃). Heat the cast iron skillet over high heat.

Blend eggs, milk, flour, sugar, lemon zest, and salt in a blender. 

Add butter to the hot skillet, and pour in the batter, when the butter is melted, and scatter the blueberries on top, (save some for topping).

Put the Dutch baby in the oven, and bake until it's puffed and cooked through for about 20-25 minutes. 

Serve the Dutch baby with blueberries and sprinkled with confectionary sugar.

Enjoy!

The Danish version:

Tysk pandekage

Ingredienser:

• 4 store æg

• 240 ml sødmælk

• 95 g hvedemel

• 50 g sukker

• 1 citron, revet skal fra

• ¼ tsk salt

• ½ tsk vanilla paste eller kornene fra ½ vanillestang

• 125 g blåbær, gem lidt til pynt

• 1-2 spsk smør

• flormelis, til pynt

Directions:

Varm ovenen op til  205℃, og varm støbejernspanden op på komfuret på højeste blus.

Blend æg, mælk, mel, sukker, citronskal og salt i en blender.

Kom smørret på panden, og kom dejen i når smørret er smeltet. Fordel blåbærrene over dejen, og sæt panden i ovnen. Bag den tyske pandekage indtil den er gennembagt og er hævet op, det tager ca. 20-25 minutter.

Server pandekagen med resten af bærrene og et drys flormelis. Du kan også servere pandekagen med ahornsirup.

Velbekomme!

Quinoa fruit salad

Quinoa fruit salad

I have a thing about colorful foods, I really like my meals to have a least 3 colors to be a healthy meal. Well, it might not hold up scientifically, but I think it's a good guideline.

When we start with the BBQ season, I like to make a good salad to eat with the meat or fish going on the grill. Today I craved fruit, and I had some cooked quinoa in the fridge, so I mixed up this fruit salad, that would go perfectly with a piece of grilled lamb.

Ingredients:

Quinoa:

• 100 g quinoa
• 2,25 dl water
• salt (to taste)

Fruit:

• strawberries
• raspberries
• blueberries 
• mango
• pineapple

Dressing:

• 1 lime, juice of
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint

Directions:

Quinoa:

Rinse the quinoa. Bring quinoa and water to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until quinoa is tender, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and add salt to taste. Let the quinoa stand, covered, for 5 minutes. If any more water remains, drain it. Let the quinoa cool.

Dressing:

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl.

Fruit:

Rinse, peel and slice the fruit and put them in a bowl. Add quinoa and dressing, and serve the fruit salad.

Sunchoke Soup with seared Scallops

Sunchoke Soup with seared Scallops

Last weekend I went to the local farmers marked, the perfect place to find farm-fresh produce in season. It was here I found sunchokes, aka Jerusalem Artichokes, sunroots or earth apples. 

You can eat the sunchokes raw in salads or cooked in soups and gratins. The raw sunchokes has a nutty taste, while the cooked are sweet with a slightly bitter aftertaste. Sunchokes has a high content of vitamin C and K.

I decided to make sunchoke soup, a  creamy soup perfect for an appetizer, but filling enough to use as a main course. 

Serves 4 as an appetizer or serves 2 for a main course.

Ingredients:

• 400 g sunchokes, peeled and chopped
• 300 g potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 3 dl (1¼ cup) whole milk
• 1 dl (little over ⅓ cup) cream
• 2 teaspoons chicken base
• 6 dl (2½ cup) water
• salt and white pepper, to taste

Topping:

• 6-8 scallops
• 2 tablespoons dry chorizo or paprika sausage, chopped and fried
• 3 teaspoon chives, finely chopped
• a few drops truffle oil
• sunchoke chips (1-2 sunchokes)

Directions:

Soup:

Cook the sunchokes and potatoes in milk, cream, chicken paste and water until tender. Blend the soup mixture in batches. If using a traditional blender remove the middle-nob so the steam can escape and cover with a kitchen towel so you will not burn yourself on soup splatters. Puree until smooth. Season the soup with salt and white pepper. Keep the soup hot while you sear the scallops.

Sunchoke chips:

While the sunchokes and potatoes are cooking. Brush 1-2 sunchokes clean. Slice the sunchokes very thinly into a bowl of ice water. Heat grape seed oil in a saucepan. Pad dry 3-5 slices  and fry them in the hot oil until they turn golden. Let the excess oil drip off on some paper towel. Sprinkle with salt.

Scallops:

Heat some grape seed oil in a skillet and fry the scallops on high heat until golden on both sides. Just before removing scallops from the skillet, season them with salt and white pepper.

Pour the soup into a serving size bowl. Top the soup with 1-2 scallops  and the rest of the topping. 

Enjoy.

Smørkage - Danish Butter Cake

Smørkage - Danish Butter Cake

Smørkage, or butter cake is another traditional Danish pastry. We have this cake in two versions, one made with real pastry dough and this one made with a sweet yeast dough, resembling the American cinnamon rolls.

This recipe is by far easier than making real pastry, and the taste is still really good. My cake turned out a bit darker than I expected.

Makes one 9 to 11 inch cake.

Ingredients:

Dough:

• 40 g yeast
• 100 ml milk
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon cardamom
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 stick (114 g) butter, salted & room temperature
• 350 g all-purpose flour

Remonce:

• 100 g sugar
• 100 g butter, salted & room temperature
• 50 g marzipan (almond paste), grated
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Custard:

• 2 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoons vanilla paste
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1½ tablespoons cornstarch 
• 300 ml (≃1⅓ cups) milk

Directions:

Custard:

Beat the egg yolks and sugar until pale in color. Whisk in the cornstarch and vanilla paste.

Heat the milk to a slow boil, set aside. 

While whisking vigorously drizzle the warm milk into the egg yolk mixture, just a tiny bit at a time at first. Once you’ve added about ¼ of the milk, you can add the rest in a thin stream, whisking constantly.

Pour the mixture back in the saucepan and reheat it over medium heat. Whisk constantly until it thickens, and let it get to a boil. Remove from heat and chill the custard in a bowl in the refrigerator. Sprinkle with sugar or press a film of plastic wrap against custard so it doesn’t form a pudding skin.

Remonce:

Mix the ingredients to a brown paste, set aside.

Dough:

Dissolve the yeast in the finger-warm milk, add the sugar and let it sit for a few minutes. Add the eggs. Mix flour salt, cardamom and pour into the yeast-mixture with the butter. Knead the dough until it's elastic and shinny. Let the dough rest in a bowl covered with a tea towel for about 30 minutes.

Butter a 9 or 11 inch springform and set aside.

Take about ⅓ of the dough and roll it out in a circle 9 or 11 inch in diameter. Lay it in the bottom of the springform, and spread remonce and custard on top.

Roll the rest of the dough into a rectangle 8x12 inch (20x30 cm). Spread the rest of the remonce and custard on top. Roll up the dough spread like a roulade. Cut the roulade in 8 pieces and place them on top of the dough in the springform, cut side up.  

Let the cake rise for about 30 minutes. Preheat oven for 400℉ (210℃).

Brush with egg-wash and sprinkle with slivered almonds. Bake for about 15-18 minutes, cover cake with a piece of aluminum foil, and bake for another 18-20 minutes.

Take the cake out of the springform, and let the cake cool completely, before you decorate with white icing (hot water and confectionary sugar).

Enjoy.

Spinach Pie Quesadilla

Spinach Pie Quesadilla

I stumbled over Cara Eisenpress and Phoebe Lapine’s recipe for spinach pie quesadillas. I had to try them, becauce they sounded like spanakopita minus the crispy filo pastry. And I love spanakopita, this crispy salty creamy greek spinach pie snack.

I'll think the filling will work great in a pita bread, frying it the same way. Served with a salad It would work great as dinner or lunch. And if you slice it in wedges you could use it as a appetizer.

makes 2 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• ½ small onion, finely diced
• a small bunch scallion, sliced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• ¼ tsp salt
• freshly ground pepper
• pinch of thyme
• pinch of oregano
• pinch of cayenne
• 1 bag (170 g) fresh spinach
• 2 whole wheat tortilla, 8-inch in diameter
• 2 large egg 
• 2 tablespoon plain Greek yogurt
• 4 tablespoon crumbled feta cheese

Directions:

In a small nonstick pan, heat the oil. Add the onion and scallions and cook until soft, 3-4 minutes. Add garlic, salt, pepper, and the spices.

Add the spinach a handful at a time and cook until wilted a bit before adding more. When all the spinach is wilted, pour the mixture into a bowl to cool a bit. When cooled, drain the mixture.

In another bowl whisk together the egg white, yogurt, and half the feta. Mix in the cooled spinach.

Clean the pan and brush with a splash olive oil.

Over low heat put the tortilla in the pan. Warm the tortilla on one side and turn it, before sprinkling the rest of the feta over the one side of the tortilla and get it to soften slightly. Turn the heat to medium and pour the egg-spinach mixture over the same half of the tortilla, fold the other half over and cook on one side until the egg begins to firm up about 3-4 minutes. Flip and cook on the other side for 2-3 minutes, then cut into wedges and serve immediately.