Grapefruit Avocado Salad

Grapefruit Avocado Salad

The healthy colorful salad contain two of my favorite ingredients: avocado and grapefruit. The slightly sourness and sweetness from the grapefruit pairs well with the creamy avocado. When I stumbled upon this recipe, I had to try it, and it was a winner for sure.  

This is how I made the salad:

This recipe is adapted from a recipe by Elise Bauer from Simplyrecipes.com.

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

• 2 avocados, peeled and sliced
• 2 grapefruits, peeled and cut into filets
• lettuce

Dressing:

• ½ shallot, minced
• 1 teaspoon fresh oregano leaves, chopped
• 1 lime, zest and juice
• 50 ml olive oil 
• 1 teaspoon honey
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Mix and emulsify the dressing in a bowl and set aside.

Fillet the grapefruits with a sharp knife. Cut the top and bottom off. Set your knife where the white meets the flesh and start cutting downward in a curved motion following the shape of the grapefruit. Keep doing this until you have peeled the grapefruit. Carefully cut the segments out as filets.

Arrange the avocado and grapefruit segments on a platter, on top of some lettuce. Drizzle the dressing on top, and serve immediately.

Enjoy! 

Berry Salsa

Berry Salsa

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Today will be filled with Mexican traditions here in California. The margaritas will flow, tequila will be poured. People will eat taco's, salsas and guacamole.

Let the Party begin. 

Ingredients:

Filling:

• 10 medium strawberries, chopped
• 100 g blueberries, chopped 
• 1 prickly pear or cactus fruit, chopped
• ¼ red onion, finely chopped
• 1 jalapeño, minced
• ¼ habanero pepper, minced 
• ½ yellow pepper, finely chopped 
• 1 handful cilantro, chopped

Dressing:

• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar, I used a blackberry /ginger flavored 
• ½ lime, the juice from
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Directions:

Combine the filling in a large bowl. Whisk together the dressing, and pour it over the filling. Let the fruit marinate in the dressing for about an hour in the refrigerator before serving. 

Serve the salsa with tortilla chips.

Enjoy!

Grove Hveder - Grove Hvedeknopper

Grove Hveder - Grove Hvedeknopper

Hveder is a white cardamom roll eaten before the Bededag aka Prayers Day in Denmark. This year I wanted to add a little fibers to the roll, while still keeping the roll nice and sweet. I think I hit the mark with this recipe. I didn't come up with a heathy version, but 1.6 grams dietary fiber per roll is a little better than 0.

Ingredients:

• 50 g live yeast or 4 teaspoons dry yeast
• 200 ml water, finger warm
• 75 g butter
• 150 ml buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 10 g (1¾ teaspoon) salt
• 5-10 g (3 teaspoons) cardamom
• 25 g buckwheat 
• 50 g quick oats (quaker oats)
• 100 g whole wheat flour
• 450 g all-purpose flour

Directions:

In a large bowl dissolve the yeast in the water. (Add a teaspoon sugar if you are using dry yeast, and wait until it starts to foam.) Mix in the butter, sugar, buttermilk and egg. Mix salt and cardamom with the flours, oats and buckwheat, and add that to the water-mixture. Hold some of the all-purpose flour back, because you want a soft smooth dough, and might not need it all. Knead the dough for about 7-10 minutes until the dough is shinny and elastic. Let the dough rise covered for about 20- 30 minutes.  

Pour the dough onto a lightly floured workspace, fold the dough over 3-4 times and divide the dough into 12-18 small balls. Place the balls only about 1 cm (about ⅓-½ inch) apart on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Cover the dough balls with a dampen kitchen towel, and let them rise for another 60 minutes. They are meant to grow into each other, you want the soft sides on your rolls, when you pull them apart.

Preheat the oven to 400℉ (200℃). (375℉ /190℃ for convection oven). 

Bake the hvedeknopper/rolls for 15-20 minutes until they are dark golden brown. Let them cool on a wire rack.

Before serving, cut them in half and toast them. Serve them hot with butter and jam or with a good cheese.

Enjoy!

Salmon en Croûte - Indbagt Laks

Salmon en Croûte - Indbagt Laks

This is one of my favorite dishes to make for an spring or summer buffet. I'll just use more puff pastry and a large piece of salmon fillet.

The creamed spinach is to die for. The sweet, creamy and a bit tangy taste pairs well with any fish or smoked sausage. This recipe makes too much for this dish, but I always serve it as a side for the fish.

Ingredients:

• 300 g salmon filet, deboned and without skin

• 1 package puff pastry, defrosted

• 1 egg for egg wash

Creamed Spinach:

• 450 g baby spinach (you can use frozen leaf spinach)

• 2 tablespoons butter

• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

• 250 ml heavy whipping cream

• 1 lime, zest and juice

• 3 tablespoons sugar

• salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

Defrost the puff pastry in the refrigerator according to instructions on the package. 

Creamed spinach:

Melt the butter in a sauté-pan, steam the spinach in the butter a few minutes until it is wilted down, and you have cooked most of the water from the spinach down. Sprinkle the flour on the spinach, and stir until incorporated. Stir in the cream and cook the spinach until the sauce thickens, about a few minutes. Finally add sugar, lime juice and zest and season with salt, pepper and additional sugar. Cool the creamed spinach to room temperature, before adding it to the puff pastry.

Roll the puff pastry to two 16x8-inch (40x20 cm) rectangle. Place the on a baking pan lined with parchment paper.

Place a dollop of spinach in one end of the pastry, make sure to leave a ½-inch border to seal the pastry. Place the salmon on the spinach, and add more spinach on top. Fold the pastry over the filling, and close the pastry package by pinching it shut. Repeat with the next, and brush the packages with egg wash. Score the top with a sharp knife.

Bake the salmon for 25-30 minutes.

Serve the salmon with a nice salad.

Enjoy! 

Baked Cod

Baked Cod

Easy, yummy healthy weeknight dinner.

Adapted from a recipe by The Boston Bean.

Ingredients:

• 2 pieces cod filets, good and evenly sized.

• olive oil for the pan

• 1 teaspoon chili powder

• ¼ teaspoon lemon pepper

• 2 tablespoons butter

• ¼ teaspoon cumin

• 1 lime, the juice of

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450°F.

Remove bones from the cod. 

Put a little olive oil in an ovenproof pan, just enough to grease the pan. 

Place cod in pan, making sure that the pieces are the same size and thickness. Sprinkle the cod with chili powder and lemon pepper..

Bake the cod for 5-7 minutes until opaque in color. Remove the pan from the oven, and melt the butter in the pan, next to the cod. Add cumin and lime juice to the melted butter, let it heat through to make a sauce. Spoon the sauce on top of the cod, and serve immediately.

Enjoy the cod with a good salad.