Danish Meatballs

Classic Danish Meatballs with creamed green cabbage.

Danish meatballs or frikadeller as they are called, are a popular dish in Denmark. It might even be the national dish at one point. According my mom the traditional meatballs are made with half pork and half veal, but you can make them with most ground meats. I always use rolled oats in meatballs, even though my mom used all-purpose flour. I think the meatballs become more compact using flour. This recipe is the basic recipe for Danish meatballs, and the taste fantastic. But you can spice them up by adding different spices like garlic, rosemary, thyme or any other spice you like. 

There are many different ways of serving these simple meatballs. You can serve meatballs with:

• boiled potatoes, brown pan-gravy and pickled red cabbage.

• creamed green cabbage or pointed cabbage

• a cold potato salad

• or served on rye bread as a open-faced sandwich

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 750 g (about 1⅔ pounds) ground pork

• 750 g (about 1⅔ pounds) ground veal

• about 50 g (about ½ cup) rolled quick oats

• 2 eggs

• 2 medium onions, finely chopped or grated

• ⅓ cup milk

• 1½ teaspoons salt

• pepper

• olive oil for frying

Directions:

Mix the meat with salt.  Divide the meat in quarters, lift one quarter up unto the other quarters. Fill the missing quarter with rolled oats (about 50 g or ½ cup). Put in finely chopped or grated onions, the eggs, milk and pepper and mix until you have a cohesive meat mixture.  Place a skillet over medium-high heat. Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in the skillet.

How to make the meatballs taken from my lamb meatball post.

Forming the meatballs dip a tablespoon in the oil and scoop up a good spoonful meat. Use the hand and the spoon to form the meatball.  The meatball should be oval an the size of a small egg. Placed the meatball in the skillet, repeat until you have a full skillet. Be careful not to let the meatballs touch each other.

Fry the meatball for about 3 to 5 minutes on each side until they are well-browned and no longer pink in the center. Depending how big the meatballs are and how hot your pan is the time may varies.  When done remove the meatballs and set aside.

If you have a more meat mixture in the bowl, clean the skillet with a kitchen towel and add new butter and fry another batch.

Serve the warm meatballs. 

Enjoy!

Soft Liquorice Caramels v.2

Soft Liquorice Caramels

Thank you for stopping by my blog during the past years. It has been a fun but busy year, I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have. 
Christmas Night and Christmas Day came and went so fast this year. I love having my family and friends around me. My wish for next year, is to be more relaxed and  enjoy the evening more.

I wanted to make these soft caramels and got inspired by a recipe on a Danish blog called Valdemarsro.

Happy holydays from my family to yours.

Makes 15-20 pieces. 

Ingredients:

• 50 g light corn syrup, or glucose
• 100 g sugar
• 200 ml heavy whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon sweet liquorice syrup
• 1 tablespoon raw liquorice 

Directions:

Prepare a 9-inch loaf pan with parchment paper, and set aside.

Mix corn syrup, sugar and cream in a saucepan, and bring it to a boil, while stirring. Lower the heat and let it simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring every few minutes. The caramel is done when the mixture pulls away from the saucepan, when stirring, and you can see a slight crystallization when you stir. Mix in the liquorice syrup. Pour the caramel into the prepared pan, and sprinkle the raw liquorice on top. Let the caramel set on the kitchen counter for a few hours, before cutting into cubes. Wrap each caramel in parchment paper or wax paper and keep the caramels in a cool place in an airtight container. 
Enjoy!

Pickled Herring in Dill Dressing

Pickled Herring in Dill Dressing

12th Day of Christmas.

When pickled herring being a vital part of the Danish holiday lunch parties, you sometime want to change up the flavor profile. The classic dressing/sauce is the curry version, is a must have. But this Dill version has a very delicate and fine flavor, and comes in as a close second in my home.

Ingredients:

• 3-4 pickled herring fillets (marinede sildefileter)

Dressing:

• ½ dl (¼ cup) creme fraiche or sour cream
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon pickling solution from the herring
• ½ lemon, the juice from
• 1 teaspoon capers
• a good handful chopped fresh dill, cleaned well, and dried
• salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

Mix all the ingredient for the dressing, and season with salt and pepper. Cut the herring fillet into bite-size pieces and cover the herring bites with the dressing. Let the herring marinate in the dressing for a few hours before serving.

Serve the herring on a pies of Danish rye bread.

Enjoy!

Peppermint Dots

Peppermint Dots

11th Day of Christmas.

Peppermint is one of the holiday favors. Last year I made peppermint marshmallows, and in 2013 I made Peppermint ice cream. Today I wanted to make these small peppermint dots. My dad made these for christmas, and I have only known them as a homemade candy. The dots are small in size, but Big in flavor.

Makes a lot.

Ingredients:

• 1 egg white (35 g)

• 225 g confectionary sugar (powdered sugar)

• 2 teaspoons peppermint extract 

• 50-60 g good dark chocolate or chocolate pearls, I use Valrhona

• 1 tablespoon crushed candy cane

Directions:

Whisk egg whites with peppermint extract and sugar, until you have a thick dough. Put the dough in a pastry bag with a round tip. Pipe bite-size dots onto a jelly pan lined with sheets parchment paper. Decorate with chocolate pearls and/or crushed candy cane. 

Let the dot dry over night and keep them in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Enjoy!

Christmas Lunch Dishes

10th Day of Christmas.

When hosting a Traditional Danish Christmas lunch you can serve these great dishes:

The lunch always starts with the fish dishes: pickled herring, smoked or/and gravad salmon (lax). Followed by the cold cuts like rullepølse, head cheese and things like hardboiled eggs and tomatoes. Then the warm dishes will be served: porkroast (flæskesteg) with picked red cabbage, liver pate with bacon and mushrooms and fried fish.

Pickled Herring: 

Served on rye bread, with sliced raw onions. Another favorite is adding curry salad on the herring, and maybe also some hardboiled egg.

Gravad Lax:

This gravad lax is to die for. It is so much better than any store bought kind I have ever had. 

Head Cheese (sylte) 

Served with mustard and pickled beets.

Rullepølse

Served with raw onion rings.

Liver Pate

My favorite warm dish, served with crispy bacon and sautéed mushrooms or with pickled beets. 

Pork roast

served with Pickled red Cabbage

Fried sole filet

Danish rye bread

Most of the dishes above is served on Danish rye bread or some kind of White bread.

After all this food, why not have some dessert? And of course it has to be Risalamande Danish rice pudding with cherry sauce.