Danish Caramelized Potatoes - Brunede kartofler

Danish Caramelized Potatoes

December 13th - the weekend is just around the corner. For me the planing for christmas is getting started. I look forward to caramelized potatoes, we only have this sweet goodness once a year.

Caramelized potatoes are an important part of the traditional christmas dinner.  Basically it's caramel covered small boiled potatoes, what can be wrong with that?

The caramelized potatoes is an old dish dating back to 1785, but back then it only was for the wealthy people, because sugar and butter was expensive. 

As a child I didn't care for these, but I think it was the kind of potatoes my mom used. They were kind of bitter. Now I use small firm potatoes, best of all fingerling potatoes. Fingerlings are the Rolls Royce of potatoes wether they are boiled, roasted or caramelized.

I was taught to make caramelized potatoes by my mom, but she didn't use any measurement. It was always just rough estimates. The amount of sugar should be enough to cover the bottom of your skillet, so you can't see the bottom. And add a little dollop butter. With these measurements it's hard to write a recipe.

The amount of sugar

Ingredients:

• 1 pound small firm potatoes

• 100 g sugar

• 15-20 g butter

Directions:

Boil and peel the potatoes. Do it in time for them to cool completely.

Heat a large skillet over high heat, pour in the sugar and melt it. When the sugar are turned the color of light amber, add the butter and stir with a wooden spoon. Rinse the potatoes with cold water, and carefully pour the potatoes into the hot caramel. Lower the heat and make sure the potatoes get covered in the caramel and get heated through.

Serve immediately, otherwise the potatoes looses the shine.

You can caramelize pearl onions this way. Caramelized pearl onions are great as a side for red meats.

Rødkål - Pickled Red Cabbage

Rødkål - Pickled Red Cabbage

December 12th. It's time to get ready for christmas dinner, and making red cabbage a few days early eases the stress of making the traditional Danish christmas dinner.

My mom always made her own red cabbage, but she had the recipe in her head, and it's lost forever. I like the simplicity of the dish. You only need 4 ingredients, not counting salt and pepper. The sweetness from the sugar combined with the acidity from the balsamic really works well with the red cabbage.

Rødkål is a traditional danish side for the christmas dinner, but it's also very good with medisterpølse and meatballs/frikadeller or in sandwiches.

This is my take on pickled red cabbage.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium red cabbage

• 25 g butter, salted

• 3 tablespoons brown sugar

• ¼ cup balsamic vinegar (I mixed half balsamic and half blackberry-ginger balsamic for a sweeter taste)

• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Remove outher leaves of cabbage, and cut cabbage into quarters and remove the white core. Thinly slice the cabbage across the quarters width-wise. To get uniform slices I use a mandolin.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add the the cabbage and sear it for a couple minutes. Add the vinegar and sugar.  Simmer the cabbage for 10 - 15 minutes until cabbage is tender.

Season with salt, pepper, vinegar and sugar. Serve heated to pork roasts or roasted duck. 

The cabbage can be served cold on (open faced) sandwiches.

Risengrød - Danish Rice Porridge

Risengrød - Danish Rice Porridge

December 10th and it's time to feed the elfs/nisser. 

According to Danish christmas traditions, risengrød is given to the elf aka nissen.

Nissen lives  in houses and on farms, and protects the people and animals who lives there against evil and misfortune. But nissen is more than a protector, he can also play tricks on you, and then he is called drillenissen. By giving nissen its favorite food, risengrød, during the month of december, he will for the most part be at his best behavior.

Back in the days farmers would put a bowl of risengrød up in the attic at night, and the next morning the bowl would be empty. Now the farmer knew that he did his best to soothe nissen. But most likely there were no nisse, it most likely were the cats that ate the risengrød.

Nowadays it's only children who are raised to believe in nissen, as a sweet christmas tradition. Pretty much like the elf on the shelf here in the US.

Risengrød is a Danish comfort food, it's soft, sweet and easy to eat. Maybe thats why it's a favorite for many kids. A lot of parents likes this dish too, and it's very easy on your pocketbook. 

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup water

• 1 L (4¼ cups) milk

• 190 g rice (danish grødris or aborio)

• ¼ teaspoon salt

Toppings:

• butter, salted

• cinnamon sugar ( cinnamon + sugar)

Directions:

Boil the water in a saucepan. Pour in the rice and boil them for a minute. Add the milk and salt, and bring it to a slow simmer while you stir constantly. 

Let the risengrød simmer at low heat for about 30 minutes, stir occasionally. Well, every recipe calls for stirring occasionally, but I have burnt the risengrød so many times, so I stir constantly. And yes it's kinda like watching paint dry. 

Season with salt.

Serve with cinnamon sugar and a little dollop butter. I like to drink nisseøl or cherry juice with this meal. Nisseøl is a very very sweet low alcoholic beer. In Denmark we actually let children drink this beer. Yes we are living on the edge 🎅   

I don't like my risengrød to thick. I serve it as soon as the rice is tender and the milk has thickened a bit.

Danish Meatloaf - Forloren Hare

Danish Meatloaf

Every nation has their version of meatloaf. The danish one is called "Forloren Hare" or mock hare. The meatloaf most likely was called that, because it's cooked like you would cook game (with bacon and the sweetness of the jelly).

I always loved the danish meatloaf.  The sauce is to die for, if nobody is watching you - you can eat it with a spoon. My mom would always make a big loaf, so we had dinner for two days and a few slices for our open faced sandwich at lunch. 

This is more or less my moms recipe. My mom didn't make the bacon weave, this is my spin on her classic.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound lean ground pork
• 1 pound lean ground beef or veal
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons plain breadcrumbs 
• salt & pepper
• 1 pack of bacon

Sauce:

• Drippings from the pan
• 1 cup milk or whipping cream
• 2-3 teaspoons redcurrant jelly
• a few drops of kulør* or gravy browning
• salt
• milk & all-purpose flour mixed to thicken the sauce

Directions:

Preheat the oven for 400℉ (200℃).

Weave the bacon. Lay slices of bacon side by side on a piece of parchment paper. Lift every other slice, and lay a new slice across. Lay the lifted slices back on top of the one across. Alternate lifting the slices, until you have weaved the whole thing.

Mix the meats with salt, pepper, breadcrumbs and the eggs. Form a loaf in an ovenproof pan. Flip the bacon weave on the meatloaf, and tuck the bacon under the meatloaf.

Cook the meatloaf in the oven fore about 30 minutes. Add about a cup of water to the pan, this will later be used for the sauce. Cook for 20-30 minutes more until the it reach a center temperature about 167℉ (75℃).

Pour the pan drippings into a sauce pan and heat it. Add milk and redcurrant jelly. and thicken the sauce with milk and flour.

Season with redcurrant jelly and salt.

Enjoy. 

* You can get Kulør here.

Poularde au Bayard - Chicken in White Wine

Poularde au Bayard

Poularde au Bayard was a dish my parents mad when they had people over. It's a dish where all the work is in the preparation. It's slow food at its best.

I think the recipe came from a pamphlet my mom got from the local butcher, but the details are lost in history. I remember that we all loved this chicken dish, and it was a treat when we had it. I removed most of the butter, because I don't need to have my meals dripping with butter. In my opinion there's no loss of flavor.

Ingredients: 

• 1 large chicken
• 3 carrots
• 4 tomatoes
• 4 onions
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 garlic clove
• 24 whole cloves
• 1 cup white wine
• butter and olive oil for searing
• ½ teaspoon tarragon
• ½ teaspoon basil
• ½ teaspoon paprika
• ½ teaspoon rosemary
• ½ teaspoon thyme
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder or a garlic clove
• salt & pepper

Onions with cloves

Directions: 

Peal the carrots and the onions and wash the tomatoes. Cut the carrots into 1 inch pieces. Press the cloves in the onions, 6-8 in each.

Clean and pad the chicken dry. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Add butter and oil to a large pot. It should fit the chicken and all the vegetables. I use a 6.5 liter (6.8 QT) pot. Brown the chicken in the butter/oil. Get a good sear on it for flavor and color. Take the chicken out of the pot again.

Put the tomatoes, carrots and the onions in the bottom of the pot with all the spices. Add garlic, bay leaves and the wine and the chicken on top and put the lid on. Let it simmer for 45-60 until tender (170° F) 

Carefully take up the chicken and vegetables. Thicken the sauce with cornstarch in cold water, and season with salt and pepper to taste. 

Carve the chicken and serve it with the vegetables and boiled potatoes.

The Danish version:

Poularde au Bayard - Kylling i hvidvin

Ingredienser:

• 1 stor kylling 
• 3 gulerødder
• 4 tomater
• 4 løg
• 2 laurbærblade 
• 1 fed hvidløg
• 24 hele nelliker
• 2,5 dl hvidvin (jeg brugte næsten en hel flaske)
• Smør og olie til stegning
• ½ tsk estragon
• ½ tsp basilikum 
• ½ tsk paprika
• ½ tsk rosemarin
• ½ tsp timian
• ½ tsp hvidløgspulver eller 1 fed hvidløg
• salt & peber

Kyllingen rengøres og tørres godt og drysses med salt. Derefter brunes kyllingen, i smør/olie og tages op igen. Nu kommes de hele tomater og gulerødderne skåret i skiver med i bunden af gryden sammen med laurbærblade, hvidløg og løgene, der har fået stukket nelliker i sig. Hvidvinen tilsættes. Kyllingen lægges ligeledes ned i gryden og steges mør med låg over. Dryp tit med skyen. Saucen jævnes med maizena og evt. Lidt fløde. Kyllingen parteres og serveres med små kartofler