Crunchy Quinoa Slaw with Almond & Ginger Dressing

Crunchy Quinoa Slaw with Almond & Ginger Dressing

Summertime is grilling season, and I love grilling. I'm always on the look out for new sides to serve with grilled meats. 

Colorful, healthy and crunchy, and definitely a new go-to side for the summer BBQ's. And a perfect addition for our 4th of July.

Serves 4 

Ingredients:

Quinoa:

• 180 g (1 cup) uncooked quinoa 

• 4 dl (1½ cups) water

• salt (to taste)

Salad:

• ½ small green cabbage, thinly sliced

• ½ small red cabbage, thinly sliced

• 10-15 small scallions, finely chopped

• 1 handful chopped fresh cilantro

• 1 jalapeño, minced (optional)

• 70 g (½ cup) almonds, chopped 

• salt to taste

Dressing: 

• 100 g (⅓ cup) almond butter (I use the fresh grinded almond butter from Whole Foods)

• 50 ml (¼ cup) extra virgin olive oil

• 3 garlic cloves

• about 2-inch (6 cm) fresh ginger, peeled

• 2 limes,  the juice from

• 2 tablespoons water, to get the right texture

• 1 tablespoon agave syrup

• salt to taste

Directions:

Quinoa:

Rinse the quinoa. Bring quinoa and the 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:

Add all the ingredients to a food processor and blend it until smooth. Add water if needed to get the right creamy consistency.

Mix all the ingredients and dressing to a large bowl and dress the slaw. Season with salt to taste. Serve this slaw with you favorite grilled protein or vegetables.

Enjoy!

Scallops with Elderflower Syrup

Scallops with Elderflower Syrup

The smell of elderflower is the smell of summer. My mom always made her own elderflower syrup. We would go out and pick the flowers when they first start blooming. Mixing the flowers with a large amount of sugar, lemons, citric acid and hot water. After infusing the water for a few days, you would have the best sweet elderflower syrup, the taste of summer. During the summer we would get a splash of syrup in our water, just enough to infuse the water with the sweet flowering flavor.

You can use elderflower in drinks, punch and everywhere you like to add the sweet flowery taste. Here I paired with scallops, and the bright flavor worked perfect with the sweetness of peas and corn, and the hint of salt from the bacon perfected the dish.

Serves 2 for an entree. 

Ingredients:

• 6 scallops

• 2 slices bacon, cut in dices

• 2 small shallots, finely chopped

• 125 g peas, frozen and defrosted or fresh shelled peas

• 2 corn on the co, corn cut off

• butter and oil for cooking

• lime juice from ½ lime

• 75 ml elderflower syrup, I used D'arbo Elderflower Syrup

Directions:

Fry the bacon dices crispy, and let it drain to shed the excess fat on paper towel.

Sauté the shallots until translucent in a skillet, add peas and corn. Heat them through on medium low heat. 

Heat another skillet over high heat, add oil and butter. When the fat begins to brown and smoke sear the scallops for 1½ minutes on each side. The scallops should have a ¼-inch golden crust on each side, while being translucent in the center. Set the scallops aside on a plate. Pour the elderflower syrup in the skillet and reduce to about half. Remove from heat.

Mix mint and bacon with the pea/corn mixture, and plate it. Add the scallops to the hot syrup, and cover them with the syrup, just before you place them on top of the pea/corn mixture. drizzle the syrup on top and serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Red Curry with Seared Duck Breast

Red Curry with Seared Duck Breast

In Denmark we often had curries, but I have never had fresh bamboo shoots before moving to the States. Knowing how good fresh poached bamboo shoot tastes, I will never go back to the ones you can buy canned in the stores. They don't have the soft texture and sweet taste.

This is my take on a red duck curry.

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

• 1 duck breast, seared and roasted
• 1 red or yellow pepper
• ½ fresh poached bamboo shoot, thinly sliced (can be substituted with canned bamboo shoot)
• 1 can baby corn (or fresh), cut bite sized 
• 150 g mushrooms, sliced
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce
• 1 handful sweet basil leaves
• 8 lychee fruits
• 1 jalapeño, sliced thinly for topping
• vegetables oil for cooking

Curry Paste:

• 2 dried red chili peppers
• 1 fresh red chili pepper
• ¼ red onion
• 3 teaspoons lemongrass (minced or paste)
• 1-inch (3 cm) ginger, peeled and sliced
• 4 garlic gloves
• 7 black peppercorns 
• 3 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce
• 1-2 teaspoons sugar

Directions:

Make the curry paste, by blending all the ingredients in a mini blender until you have a smooth paste. 

Chop all the vegetables in bite sized pieces, and set them aside. 

Heat some vegetable oil in a wok, add the curry paste and cook until fragrant. Add vegetables, a little at a time, so the wok don't cool down. 

Add sugar, coconut milk and fish sauce. Let the sauce thicken a bit while simmering. Season the sauce with fish sauce, pepper and sugar.

Just before serving, add the lychee fruits and basil leaves.

Serve the curry over rice and thinly sliced duck breast.

Enjoy!

Seared Duck Breast

Duck Breasts

In Denmark we have roasted duck for holidays like Christmas, but duck breasts is a great cut of meat, that works great in a lot of dishes. I love seared duck breast on a nice salad with blue cheese, berries or with a bunch of steamed vegetables. The possibilities are almost endless.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 duck breasts
• salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400℉ (200℃).

Using a sharp knife, score skin in ¾-inch diamond pattern (do not cut into flesh). Sprinkle with a good amount of salt.

Place the duck breasts skind-side down in a cold skillet. Place the skillet over medium heat. The duck fat starts to render and will add enough fat to cook the breasts. This process will add to the crispiness of the skin. Cook the breasts like this for about 5 minutes. Turn duck breasts over and put the skillet in the preheated oven until to desired doneness, about 6-12 minutes depending on size and desired doneness.

Transfer to work surface, cover with foil to keep warm, and let rest 7-10 minutes. Thinly slice duck, and serve on a salad, curry or with all the christmas trimmings as Caramelized potatoes, pickled red cabbage.

Tomato Soup with Blue Cheese Croutons

Tomato Soup with Blue Cheese Croutons

I have had a love Love LOVE relationship with tomatoes all my life. I can eat tomatoes anytime, anyhow, anywhere. Ok, I'm not a big fan of Bloody Mary's, but no rule without exceptions. I blame the love of tomatoes on my mom. She told me that she craved tomatoes when she was pregnant with me. She would buy a bag of farm fresh tomatoes at the farmers market, and they would all be gone by the time she got home. Maybe I can blame the red/ginger/strawberry blond hair on the tomatoes too????

Well, I do love tomatoes, and I certainly love tomato soup. I can eat tomato in all kinds of weather. Here is a new take on a classic roasted tomato soup. The fennel, gives a nice depth to the soup. I really love the creaminess of this soup, without adding any cream to the soup. This might be contributed to my Vitamix blender. I  will never go back to my old blender. 

Serves 3-4.

Ingredients:

Soup:

• 1800 g fresh tomatoes

• 1 fennel

• 1 onion

• 4 garlic cloves

• olive oil, for roasting

• 600 ml chicken or vegetable stock

• salt & pepper to taste

• a drizzle of a good thick balsamico

Blue cheese croutons:

• 150 g day-old bread,

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 50 g blue cheese, crumbled

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400℉ (200℃)

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Wash tomatoes and cut into halves. Peel onions, wash fennel, and cut them in quarters. Place it all on the baking sheet, cut side up. Sprinkle with olive oil. Roast the vegetables in the oven for 45-50 minutes.

Cut up the bread in bite sized cubes and toss them with the olive oil, spread the croutons on a parchment lined baking sheet. Roast the croutons for about 5-7 minutes until light golden. Spread the blue cheese on the croutons, and bake then for another few minutes until the cheese has melted into the croutons. Make these while the soup is simmering.

In a large pot heat a little bit of olive oil and cook the minced garlic until fragrant, about 20 seconds. Transfer roasted vegetables with the roasting juices into the pot and add stock. Bring to boil and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Purée the soup in batches in a blender* until smooth. (You can also use an immersion blender.) Season with more salt and pepper to taste. 

Serve the soup immediately with blue cheese croutons. 

Enjoy!

*Be careful when blending hot liquids, it can make the lid pop off, and you may risk getting serious burns on you skin. You can remove the small cap on you blender lid and cover the lid with a clean kitchen towel. You need to hold on to the lid and towel, while blending. This will let the steam from the hot soup escape and avoid the lid from popping off. You can also get blenders like the Vitamix, where you can blend hot liquids, without any hassle.