Mortens And - Roasted Duck

Duck roasting - from the oven cam.

Mortensaften - is celebrated on November 10th. 

The tradition that Danes and some parts of Germans eat duck on this night, dates back to before 1616. 

The story tells us that a monk called Martin or Morten in Denmark was forced to become a bishop, but he didn't want the job, so he hid in a pasture filled with geese. Not the smartest place, cause the geese honked and  Morten was revealed. As the tail goes Morten Bisp, now bishop ordered everyone to eat geese on November 10th as a punishment for the geese for ratting him out. 

Over time people switched to eating ducks, maybe because of the smaller size. 

The traditional way is to serve the duck with caramelized potatoes, pickled red cabbage and gravy, kinda the same way as the traditional christmas dinner/pork roast. To change things up, I caramelized an assortment of root vegetables and kept the red cabbage.

Ingredients:

Duck:

• 1 duck (7-8 pounds)
• 2 oranges
• 2 apples
• 2 handful of pitted prunes
• a handful salt and some pepper
• 1 star anise
• 3 whole allspice
• 5 whole cloves

Pickled Red Cabbage:

• 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

Caramelized Root vegetables:

• 3 large carrots
• 2 parsnips
• 3 sun chokes (Israeli artichokes)
• 1 small root celery
• 3 small beets
• salt
• a splash of oil for the baking
• sugar and butter for the caramelizing

Directions:

Duck:

Preheat the oven to 265℉ (130℃).

Chop the oranges and apples in the size of the prunes. Mix star anise, allspice, cloves and the broken cinnamon stick with apples, oranges and prunes. Have the salt in a clean cup.

Take neck and giblets out of the duck. Make sure that all feather sacks are out of the duck, you don't want a hard part of the feather in the crispy skin.

Pad the duck dry with some kitchen towel. Salt the duck inside, and fill it with the fruit mixture. Close the opening with a  trussing needle. 

Truss the duck by placing the duck on a tray with the legs towards you. Tuck the wing tips under the duck. Cut a piece of cooking twine about 3 feet (1 meter), and center it on top of the neck end of the breast. Lift the neck end of the duck and pull the twine down around the wings and under the duck, then bring the ends up over the breast, towards you, and knot the twine, pulling it tight to plump the breast. Bring the ends of the twine around the ends of the drumsticks and straight up. Tie as before to pull the drumsticks together and form a compact bird; tie again to secure knot."

Well, I did it my way, and tried my best to get the compact duck. Sometimes I just pull the wing onto the back of the duck, and use a cooking rubber band to tie the legs together.

Salt the duck with a lot of salt. 

Put the duck in the oven, breast side down, and cook it like this for 3-3½ hours. Have a pan under the duck, and put the giblets, neck and water in it. This water/drippings will be the base for the sauce. 

After 3½ hours turn the duck breast side up, and roast it for another 1½-2 hours until the temperature in the duck reaches 158℉ (70℃). If the skin isn't crispy, give the bird a few minutes under the boiler, be careful not to burn the duck.

Take the duck out and let it rest. Pour the drippings from the pan through a strainer into a saucepan. Skim the fat from the surface. I use a fat separator, which makes this process a breeze. Save the fat in the refrigerator or the freezer. Duck fat is a flavorful fat, and is perfect to roast potatoes in.

Add some cream, blue cheese and red currant jelly to the drippings and thicken the sauce.

Remove the twine and carve the duck. 

Red Cabbage:

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 cabbage and sear it for a couple minutes. Add 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. 

Caramelized Root vegetables:

Preheat the oven for 400℉ (200℃).

Peel the root vegetables and cut them into bite-sized pieces. Keep the beets separate even during baking, to prevent all the vegetables from turning red. Dress the vegetables in oil and season with salt. Bake the vegetables in ovenproof dishes for about 30 minutes until tender, but not soft. Cool the vegetables. Just before you are ready to serve, heat a large skillet over high heat, pour in the sugar and melt it. When the sugar has turned the color of light amber, add the butter and stir with a wooden spoon. Carefully pour the vegetables into the hot caramel. Lower the heat and make sure the vegetables get covered in the caramel and get heated through. Serve immediately, otherwise the vegetables looses the shine.

Enjoy!

Danish Pork Tenderloin Medallions

Danish pork tenderloin medallions or mørbradbøffer med bløde løg as it is called in Danish, is a classic in the Danish cuisine. These medallions are eaten at dinner or as a part of the big Christmas- and Easter lunches. 

Danes are known to eat a lot of pork. In fact Denmark is the country in the world with the largest pigs to people ratio. In 2011 Denmark had over 3 times as many pigs as people. Oink Oink.🐖 

Serves 3

Ingredients:

• 1 pork tenderloin
• 2 onions, thinly sliced 
• olive oil and butter for frying
• salt and pepper

Directions:

Peel the onions and thinly slice them. Heat a skillet with olive oil over medium high heat, cook the onions until translucent and light golden brown. You can add a splash of water when the onions has got the color you desire. Season the onions with salt and pepper.

Trim the tenderloin of silverskin and any excess fat. Cut the tenderloins into 1½-inch thick medallions. Flip each medallion onto a cut side and give each medallion a light press down with the palm of your hand to flatten it slightly. Season the medallion with salt and pepper.

Heat the oil and butter in a large sauté pan over high heat. When the butter is melted and foaming add the medallion and sear until nicely browned, 2 to 3 min. Flip and cook the other side until the meat is well browned. Reduce the heat and cook the medallions for 3-4 minutes on each side, until they are just a little under well done. You want the medallions to be very pale pink inside, and the juices running clear. Make sure not to overcrowd the pan, this will cause the meat to boil rater than searing. 

Serve the medallions with the onions on top. Normally you will serve medallions with a skillet-sauce and boiled potatoes and vegetables. 

This time I served them with butter seared mushrooms and a salad of green beans and sugar snaps.

Enjoy!

Halloween Meatloaf

Halloween Meatloaf before cremation

One scary meal, fit for halloween.

Ingredients:

Meatloaf:

• 1 kg (2 lb.) ground beef

• 1 onion, grated,

• 1 egg

• 2 tablespoons breadcrumbs

• 2 cloves of garlic

• 1 sprig of rosemary, leaves chopped

• salt & pepper

Mummification:

• ketchup mixed with hot hot sauce

• 2 yellow tomatoes (eyes)

• blanched almonds

• 1 package 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 oven to 400℉ (200℃).

Mix the meats with the rest of the ingredients. Form a round loaf  with indents for eyes and an open mouth in an ovenproof pan. Place the almonds like teeth in the mouth. Brush the loaf with ketchup mixture. Wrap the bacon around the meatloaf. Use yellow tomatoes for eyes.

Cook the meatloaf in the oven for about 20 minutes. Add about a cup of warm water to the pan, this will later be used for the sauce. Cook for 10-15 minutes more until it reaches a center temperature of about 167℉ (75℃).

The cremated halloween meatloaf

Pour the pan drippings into a sauce pan and heat it. Add milk and red currant jelly and thicken the sauce with milk and flour. Season with red currant jelly and salt.

Serve the meatloaf with mashed potatoes.

Enjoy!

Høns i Asparges - Chicken & Asparagus in tartlets

Høns i Asparges - Chicken & Asparagus in tartlets

Høns in asparges or Creamed chicken and asparagus in tartlets is an old Danish classic dish. Normally it will be served as a part of the traditional christmas and easter lunches. For sure this is old school Danish food, called mormor-mad (Grandmother food). And mormor-mad is peasant food, and not on the healthy side. But if you loose the tartlets and serve the dish with boiled potatoes, boiled carrots and some bread, you can have a regular meal. Creamed chicken and asparagus in tartlets is kinda the same thing as chicken potpie, if you serve it upside-down. 

Creamed chicken and asparagus was a big favorite in my house growing up, but wasn't served on a regular basis, so it was a rare but special treat.

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

Sauce:

• 25 g butter

• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

• ½ cup (1 dl) chicken stock

• ½ cup (1 dl) milk

• asparagus water,

• salt & white pepper to taste

Filling:

• 1 jar white asparagus in water, save the water for the sauce

• ½ chicken, the meat prepared (I used the left over meat from my chicken noodle soup)

Tartlets:

Use  Tarteletter, savory tartelettes or make your own with puff pastry homemade or store bought. 

Directions:

Sauce: 

Melt the butter over medium heat in a sauce pan. Add the flour and a sprinkle of salt, stirring constantly, until all the flour is incorporated with the butter. You don't want it to get a golden. First whisk in the hot chicken stock, making sure to not to have any lumps left, then whisk in the milk, asparagus water and cook, whisking constantly, until thickened and shiny, 2 to 3 minutes. Add more milk if the sauce is too thick.

Cut the asparagus and chicken into bitesize pieces. Gently fold in the filling in the sauce, and season with salt and white pepper.

Serve the creamed chicken & asparagus in tartelettes, with boiled potatoes or with a slice of a good bread.

Enjoy!

Chicken Noodle Soup

Chicken Noodle Soup

Fall is here. Finally is time for chicken noodle soup, or any kind of soups. But this day was a chicken noodle soup kinda day. I had just got back from a visit to a cold and windy Denmark, and I needed some warm comfy soup. 

My mom made this type of soup often in the winter months. Well, we didn't have noodles in the soup. We had the traditional Danish soup dumpling (melboller), boiled meatballs (kødboller), and supperis. But in a busy family it is so much easier to cook some noodles and be done with it. 

Serves 4-6.

Ingredients:

Soup:

• 5 organic chicken wings
• 1 whole organic chicken
• ½ celery root, + the green top, chopped in large chunks
• 3 carrots, sliced in large chunks
• 2 leeks, sliced in 3 big chunks
• 1 onion, quartered skin on
• 1 teaspoon tomato paste
• 3 liter (12 cups) water

Filling:

• 2 cups shredded chicken meat (from wings and chicken)
• ½ celery root, finely diced
• 2 carrots, sliced
• 1 leek, white part, thinly sliced
• 2 cups egg noodles, cooked according to package
• chili pepper, diced - optional

Directions:

Heat oil in a large heavy pot. Cook the chicken wings till they have a deep brown color all over. Be careful not to overcrowd the pot, this will make the wing boil instead of browning. Transfer wings to a plate.

Add onion, carrots, celery and leek to pot. Cook, turning occasionally, until browned. Add tomato paste, cook while stirring until the tomato paste is heated through, 1-2 minutes. Add about a cup (2 dl) of the water to deglaze the pot, so you get all the brown bits dispersed. Add wings, chicken and the celery greens and the rest of the water. You want to cover all the chicken with water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let the soup simmer for 1½–2 hours until the chicken is falling off the bones. Skim the soup occasionally, to get a clear soup. Remove chicken and vegetables, and strain soup into a clean large heavy pot.

(Now you have a great homemade chicken stock. If you want a more concentrated stock, reduce the stock to about a third. The stock can be frozen for later use.)

Remove the meat from the bones, save the meat, and discard the bones.

Add carrots, leek and celery to the strained soup, and let it simmer until tender, about 2-5 minutes. Add the meat and let it heat through.

Serve the soup in heated bowls with some cooked egg noodles. I always cook the noodles separate, so they don't get to mushy if you want to save the leftovers. 

Enjoy!