Sweet • Sour • Savory

Food blog on scandinavian style food done right.

Dinner

Stjerneskud - Shooting Star

Dinner, Fish & seafood, LunchTove Balle-Pedersen4 Comments
Stjerneskud - Shooting Star

Stjerneskud - Shooting Star

Stjerneskud, or shooting star, is a classic Danish open-faced sandwich. The kind you would see at most lunch restaurants or cafés in Denmark. A stjerneskud is white bread, with a piece of fried and poached fish and cold-water shrimps.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

* Poaching:

  • white wine
  • lemon juice
  • salt
  • white pepper

Directions:

* Poaching:

Preheat the oven to 400℉ (200℃).

Season the fillets with salt and white pepper. Roll up the filets and place them in an ovenproof dish with white wine and lemon juice. Cover the dish with aluminum foil. Poach the fish for 7-8 minutes. (If you poach the fish on the stove and start with barely simmering liquid, poach the fish for 5-6 minutes.)

Fry the fish and make the dressing.

Toast the bread. 

Arrange lettuce, fish fillets, dressing, shrimps, caviar, dill and place the slice of lemon on top.

Enjoy with a cold beer, cold white wine or a cold lemonade.

Chicken with Rhubarb

Dinner, Meats, PoultryTove Balle-PedersenComment
Chicken with Rhubarb

Chicken with Rhubarb

You know it is spring when you can get fresh Rhubarb. The sweet and sour vegetable, (it's a vegetable, not a fruit, even though you use it like a fruit), is good in cakes, in jams but also in ´food. 

As a child we had the rhubarb picked straight from the plant, washed and dipped in some sugar to snack on. If you discount the sugar, rhubarb is a healthy snack. 

This chicken dish is sweet and sour, and the creamy sauce make this really good with pasta.

Serves 4.

Ingredient:

  • 6 chicken thighs ( I use boneless skinless thigh filets)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil or butter
  • ¾ cup (180 ml) whipping cream
  • 1 teaspoon chicken base
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • ½ teaspoon chili paste
  • ¼ cup chives, chopped
  • 300 g rhubarb, sliced

Directions:

Check the chicken thighs and remove any excess fat. Heat the olive oil and sear the chicken on both sides for about a minute. Place the chicken in an ovenproof dish.

In a bowl mix cream, honey, chicken base and chili paste. Sprinkle rhubarb and chives over the chicken and pour the cream mixture over it.

Roast the chicken in the oven for about 10-15 minutes. Serve the dish with rice or fettuccine pasta. I normally serve this dish on a bed of baby spinach. 

Source Arla.dk

Pistachio crusted Halibut.

Dinner, Fish & seafoodTove Balle-Pedersen1 Comment
Pistachio crusted Halibut

Pistachio crusted Halibut

I have been looking for ways to have more fish on the menu. Most times we end out having salmon. I really wanted to have more white fish. 

In Denmark you normally have halibut smoked for lunch on an open faced sandwich. So the fresh halibut was new to me, but it’s so meaty and the color so bright white. 

Putting halibut together with pistachios and lemon zest is a winning combination.

Serves 4 people

Ingredients:

  • 4 (1 1/4-inch-thick) pieces skinless halibut fillet (about 6 ounces each)
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 2/3 cup shelled pistachios
  • 2 tablespoon parmesan,  grated
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 lemon, the zest of
  • Directions: 

    Put fish in a ziplock bag, pour milk over it, and chill for 30 minutes.

    Meanwhile, chop the pistachios finely and mix it with lemon zest, parmesan and oil in a bowl.

    Heat the oven to 425°F

    Remove fish from milk, letting excess drip off. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and sprinkle all over with salt and pepper, top up with pistachio mixture to form a thick coating on the halibut.

    Bake the fillets until the topping is crisp and browned and the fish is cooked through, 10 to 12 min., depending on thickness. Serve immediately.

    Serve with roasted potatoes and a spicy sour cream sauce. 

     

    Spinach Pie Quesadilla

    Appetizer, Brunch, Dinner, LunchTove Balle-PedersenComment
    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.

    Focaccia

    Bread, Brunch, DinnerTove Balle-PedersenComment
    Focaccia - I should have used a larger baking pan, because the bread came out to high.

    Focaccia - I should have used a larger baking pan, because the bread came out to high.

    I love bread, most kind of bread, but I know its not good for me to just munch on. Anyhow I bought a pound of live yeast, so I have to bake bake bake. 

    Focaccia has always been a bread I wanted to try to make, but I have never got around to it. Now was the time. 

    I like the crispy top on the soft, salty flavorful bread. I looked up a bunch of recipes and made a concoction. 

    Ingredients:

    • 3,25 dl water finger-warm
    • ½ dl olive oil
    • 10 g live yeast
    • 500 g all-purpose flour or a high protein flour. 
    • 10 g sea salt

    Toppings:

    • sea salt
    • olive oil
    • rosemary like spices (or jalapeño)

    Directions:

    Dissolve the yeast in the water. Add a teaspoon sugar if you are using dry yeast, and wait until it starts to foam. Add the oil. 

    Mix the salt with the flour and mix it in to the wet ingredients. 

    If you knead the dough by hand, knead it for 12-15 minutes. 

    If you knead it in a stand mixer, mix it for 3 minutes at low and then 8-10 minutes on high. 

    The dough should be sticky. 

    Let the dough rise in the bowl covered by a tea towel for about 3 hours. 

    Grease your baking pan with olive oil. Pour the dough into the pan and press the dough with your fingers to spread it out and get the wells for the spices and oil. 

    Pour a good olive oil on top and sprinkle with coarse sea salt and rosemary. Press salt, oil and rosemary into the dough with your finger. 

    Let the focaccia sit to rise for 45 minutes before baking it for 20-25 minutes at 440℉ (220℃).

    Let the bread cool in the pan before serving.