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.

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.

Guacamole Deviled Eggs

Guacamole Deviled Eggs

Easter is upon us and it is time for a lot of easter egg dishes. I didn't have deviled eggs before we moved to the US, but they are really good.

I’m sure there are as many deviled eggs recipes as there are families, but have you ever had a guacamole deviled egg? Compared with regular deviled eggs made with mustard, you have real devils here, from the spiciness of the jalapeño. The avocado makes the deviled egg healthier because you get the creaminess from the avocado and don’t have to use mayonnaise.

Makes 12

Ingredients:

• 6 hard boiled eggs

• 2 ripe avocados

• 1 tablespoon lime juice

• ½ teaspoon salt

• 1 tablespoon sour cream

• 1-2 tablespoon chopped cilantro + 12 leaves for garnish

• ½ jalapeño pepper, minced

• ¼ teaspoon cumin

Directions:

Hard boil eggs:

Place eggs in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to a rolling boil. Turn the heat down so the water is simmering, cook for 7 minutes from when the water starts to boil. Drain and rinse with cold water. 

Deviled Eggs:

Carefully peel the hard boiled eggs and cut them in half. If you don't have a deviled egg platter, cut a little slice of the bottom, so the egg won't wobble then served. Place eggs on a serving platter, and scoop out the cooked yolks and set aside.

Cut the avocados in half. Remove the pit. Scoop out the avocado flesh into a bowl. Mash it with a fork. Mix two of the cooked egg yolks in the mashed avocado. Add lime juice, salt, cumin and sour cream, and mix until incorporated. Fold in the chopped cilantro and the jalapeño pepper.

Put the mixture into a pastry bag and pipe it into each well of the egg whites. Top with a small sprig of fresh cilantro.

Now the Danish version:

Guacamole Deviled Eggs

12 stk.

Ingredienser:

• 6 hårdkogte æg

• 2 modne avocadoer

• 1 spsk limesaft

• ½ tsk salt

• 1 spsk creme fraiche

• 1-2 spsk hakket frisk koriander + 12 blade til pynt

• ½ jalapeño, finthakket

• ¼ tsk spidskommen

Vejledning:

Hårdkogte æg:

Kom æggene i en gryde og kom vand på til det dækker. Kog æggene 7 minutter fra vandet starter med at koge. Hæld vandet fra og nedkøl æggene med koldt vand. Pil æggene.

Deviled Eggs:

Skær de pillede æg i halve. Hvis du ikke har et fad med fordybninger som æggene kan ligge i, så skær en lille stykke af bunden på ægget, så det ikke vipper, når du skal fylde dem. Tag forsigtigt blommen ud af æggene.

Skær avocadoerne over og tag stenene ud. Kom avoccadokødet ned i en skål. Mos avocadoen og bland æggeblommer, limesaft, salt, spidskommen og creme fraiche til en homogen masse. Vend koriander og jalapeño ned i.

Kom massen i en sprøjte pose og sprøjt massen ned i æggehviderne. Pynt æggene med et koriander blad.

How to Poach an Egg

Poached egg

I really love poached eggs, the soft but firm white and the creamy and runny yolk. It's the soft boiled egg I grew up on, made better. But I have tried to make them several times, and with no luck. They turned out like hard boiled eggs to soft eggs (smilende) but still to firm to be a poached egg. I needed a fool proved method, I just hadn't found it yet. Until a day after an hour at the gym, where I really craved a poached egg. I googled and found Simplyrecipes.com and her "Easy Poached Eggs." That day I had my first perfect homemade poached egg. 

I have to spread the news on how to poach an egg.

I hope you will enjoy a perfect poached egg in you near future. 

Eggs in general: When you want poach eggs, you need to use fresh eggs. When you crack the egg you can tell that you have a fresh egg, when the yolk is firm and plump, and the white consist of two parts: a gelatinous mass around the yolk and a runnier liquid.  As the egg ages, the white becomes more runny.  So the runnier the white, -  the older the egg. 

If you don't want to crack the eggs to figure out the freshness, here's a quick guide:

Place your eggs in a cup or bowl of fresh water

• If the egg sinks and lays flat on the bottom, it's very fresh.
• If the egg sits on the bottom at an angle,it's a bit older.
• If the egg stands on end but still sits on the bottom, use for baking.
• If the egg floats, it is old and you don't want to use it.

Ingredients:

• fresh eggs
• 1-2 teaspoons vinegar (I used rice vinegar)

Equipment needed:

• Shallow saucepan with cover
• Slotted spoon

Directions:

First bring water in a saucepan to almost boiling. If the water is already boiling, lower the heat until it is no longer boiling. At this point, you can add one or two teaspoons of vinegar to the water, if you want. The vinegar will help the egg whites to coagulate easier.

Working with the eggs one by one, crack an egg into a small cup.

Use the slotted spoon to quickly stir the water in one direction until it's all smoothly spinning around like in a whirlpool. Use the whirlpool method for one or two eggs. For bigger batches do not stir. 

Place the cup near the surface of the hot water and gently drop the egg into the water. With a spoon, gather the egg white closer to the yolk. This will help the egg white hold together.

Turn off the heat. Cover. Let sit for 4 minutes, until the egg whites are cooked.

Lift eggs out of pan with a slotted spoon.

Serve immediately. Alternatively, place the egg in an ice bath and refrigerate up to 8 hours. Reheat in warm water just before serving.

Enjoy.