Smashed Chickpea Salad

Smashed Chickpea Salad

I love chickpeas, they are very filling and full of protein (9g/100g*) and dietary fiber (8g/100g*). Like lentils, chickpeas is easily flavored while cooking and by what ever you dress it with. 

I really like the tanginess and the specks of salty olives and chili peppers. Overall this chickpea salad is a simple, quick weekday side. I served it with beer can chicken, an all-time favorite in my house.

This recipe is adapted from the Smitten Kitchen cookbook.

Serves 3.

Ingredients:

• 450 g cooked, cooled chickpeas

• 100 g green olives, pitted and thinly sliced

• 3 small pickled chilies, sliced

• 1 handful Italian parsley, chopped

• ½ teaspoon freeze dried buckthorn

• 35 ml lemon juice, freshly squeezed

• 1 garlic clove, minced

• ¼ teaspoon sea salt

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 pinch cayenne pepper

Directions:

Soak and cook the chickpeas according to instruction on the package, or like Chickpea and Carrot Salad a la Thomas Keller. If you are in a hurry use 2 cans of chickpeas, drain and rinse them. 

Mix all but the olive oil and smash the salad with a potato masher, until you have a coarse mixture, with chunky pieces. Dress the salad with the Olive oil, and season it with salt, pepper and lemon juice.

Enjoy!

* In the boiled chickpeas.

Mushroom Lentil Salad

Mushroom Lentil Salad

The perfect filling meaty salad for a meatless Monday. We had the salad as a side, but it would be great as lunch. The texture was really great and the pop of tartness from the lemon, and the nuttiness from the arugula worked perfect with the mushrooms.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• ½ cup green lentils, cooked according to instructions on the package

• 1 tablespoon olive oil, for cooking the mushrooms

• 300 g baby portobello mushrooms, sliced

• 2 garlic cloves, minced

• ¼ teaspoon red chili flakes

• 1 tablespoons lemon juice

• 1 lemon, peeled and cut into filets

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, as dressing, optional

• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley

• salt and pepper to taste

• 1-2 handful arugula

Directions:

Boil the lentils until tender according to instructions on the package. I boiled mine in a mushroom base, for flavor. Set the lentils aside to cool.

Fillet the lemon with a sharp knife. Cut the top and bottom off the lemon. Set your knife where the white meets the flesh and start cutting downward in a curved motion following the shape of the lemon. Keep doing this until you have peeled the lemon. Carefully cut the filets out. Save the juice, to use in the dish.

Heat the oil over high heat and cook the mushrooms, until tender. Lower the heat to medium high. Add red pepper flakes and the minced garlic, and cook until fragrant. Remove from heat and stir in the lentils, chopped parsley, lemon juice and oil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Just before serving toss in the arugula and lemon segments. 

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! 

Smoked Mackerel on an Open-faced Sandwich

Smoked Mackerel on an Open-faced Sandwich

Smoked mackerel on a slice of Danish rye bread is a real summer treat for me. My mom always bought smoked mackerel or herring for our weekend lunches in the summer period. And we all loved it. So I was very excited, when I finally found smoked mackerel from Ducktrap River of Maine (not smoked pepper mackerel) at my local Whole Foods. Of cause this is not the same as getting a freshly smoked whole mackerel, but its pretty close in taste, but a bit firmer in texture.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 1 pack 7-oz mackerel fillet
• 2 slices of Danish rye bread
• 2 radishes, in slices
• chives, finely cut
• Butter, optional

Directions:

Spread some butter on the bread. Remove the skin from the fish, and cut the fish, so it fits the bread-slices. Top the sandwich with radishes and chives. 

Enjoy your sandwich with a glass of cold milk or with a cold beer!

Avocado Almond Butter Toast

Avocado Almond butter Toast

This is the breakfast of Champions.

My husband told me about this avocado and almond butter toast, you could get at his work. My husband just learned to eat avocado, so it was really huge that he was eating avocado for breakfast, especially with the selection in the cafeteria. After tasting it, I had to share it here on the blog. You get all you crave in a good breakfast. The crispy toast, the nutty earthy almond butter, the sweet creaminess from the avocado and a nice kick from the red pepper flakes.

An avocado almond butter toast is tasty, filling and best of all really easy to make. 

I use the fresh grinded almond butter from Whole Foods, but you can use the kind you like best. 

Serves 2.

Ingredients:

• 2 slice good whole grain bread

• 1 avocado

• almond butter

• salt to taste

• red pepper flakes to taste

Directions:

Toast the bread, I like mine crisp but not to dark. While toasting, slice the skinned avocado thinly. Spread some almond butter on the still warm bread, so the butter melt somewhat. Place the sliced avocado on top, and sprinkle with some salt and red pepper flakes to taste. It's that easy.

Enjoy!