Brændende Kærlighed - Burning Love

Brændende Kærlighed - Burning Love

Brændende kærlighed, or Burning love, is an old danish dish with mashed potatoes, crisp bacon bits and soft fried onions. Brændende kærlighed is a danish comfort food, and a really cheap one. 

Growing up we had brændende kærlighed as a typical dish for a week night, and I think we had it every or every other month. The traditional way to have this dish is not low in calories, but with some small twists I can be OK. I drained most of the bacon fat from the frying pan before sautéing the onions. Unlike at my parents house, we have ketchup and steak sauces as sauce instead of the drippings from the onions and bacon. The last little twist is my mashed potatoes with steamed cauliflower, that make it lighter. Broccoli or other root vegetables can also be used.

Serves 4.

Ingredients:

Mash potatoes:

• 1 cauliflower 
• 6-8 medium potatoes
• warm milk
• 1 tablespoon butter
• salt & pepper 

• 1 pack thick cut bacon, diced
• 2 onions

Directions:

Peel the potatoes, and the cut them into half inch cubes. Rinse and cut the cauliflower into florets.

Bring the potatoes to a boil with just enough water to cover. Add salt when water is boiling. Add the cauliflower on top, so they will steam. Let potaoes/cauliflower cook for about 20 minutes.

In a skillet brown the bacon, until light crispy. Remove bacon from skillet, and drain most of the bacon fat. Sauté the onions in the remaining bacon fat, until translucent, and put bacon bits back in the skillet. Set a side until you are ready to serve.

Drain the potatoes and mash them. Add the butter and warm milk while whipping the mash, this will make the mash light and airy. Season the mash with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve a spoonful mash, making a small hole in the middle and fill it with the bacon/onion mix. I serve brændende kærlighed with pan fried tomatoes, ketchup and steak sauces.

Enjoy.

Stir-fried Beef in Oyster Sauce

Stir-fried Beef in Oyster Sauce

Some nights I just want to get cooking dinner over with in a hurry, but I still want to eat healthy. Well, this dish is for those kind of nights. If you have time to cook some rice, you will have time to make this stir-fry. A perfect dish for a weeknight.

The dish is inspired by one of my favorite take-out dishes from a Thai restaurant in Denmark, But I added more vegetables and dropped the cashews, for a more filling and healthier meal. I love the sweet but slightly spicy taste, it's a Thai comfort food. 

Serves 4.

Ingredients:

• 2 bunches scallions

• 450 g mushroom, sliced

• oil for frying

• 6 garlic cloves, crushed

• 1½ pound (700 g) beef, I used stir-fry or fajitas meat, but any steak sliced would work

• 1 broccoli crown

• 1 red bell pepper

• ½ cup (1 dl) oyster sauce

• 2-3 teaspoons sugar

• 2 splashes Sriracha, Hot Chili Sauce

• 1-2 tablespoons fish sauce (to taste)

Directions:

Clean the mushrooms and slice them, I buy the mushrooms already cleaned and sliced.

Heat a wok over high heat. Once the pan is hot, add just enough oil to coat it. Add the mushrooms to the hot pan and cook, keeping heat high, stirring frequently to help any liquid the mushrooms give off  to evaporate as quickly as possible. Keep cooking until the mushrooms are tender and browned, about 5 minutes. Put the fried mushrooms in a bowl, and set aside.

While frying the mushrooms clean and cut up the scallions, bel pepper and broccoli.

Heat oil in wok, and brown the meat in small batches over high heat, so the beef get fried and not boiled. Set beef aside.

Start frying the broccoli, and add bel pepper, when the broccoli has got a bright green color. Add beef, crushed garlic, mushrooms, oyster sauce, sugar, chili- and fish sauce. Season with additional sugar, pepper or fish sauce if needed. Add the scallions, save some for garnish. Serve immediately with  jasmine rice or cauliflower rice.

Moussaka

Moussaka

Traditionally, Greek moussaka is a baked dish of layered eggplant, lamb or beef, tomatoes, and potatoes. A traditional moussaka is made with allspice, but not all restaurant use allspice. I will always order this dish, when we go to a new Greek restaurant, because this dish tells you if it is real greek food or not. No allspice, and you properly won't have traditional greek food at this place.

The first time I had a traditional Greek moussaka, was at a small Greek restaurant in Kongens Lyngby in Denmark. It's not the most likely place to find a good Greek restaurant. It's in the middle of nowhere just across from a grocery store and in a roundabout in a residential area. But nevertheless this is a good restaurant, with peasant-style Greek food for a reasonable price. The moussaka from this place is to die for. I tried to recreate it, and after a lot of trial and error, I think I nailed it.

Ingredients:

• 2 medium eggplants

• salt

• 1 pound (450 g) potatoes, peeled and finely sliced

• extra virgin olive oil

• 1 onion, diced

• 2 garlic cloves, minced

• 1½ pound lean ground beef

• 2 cans chopped tomatoes

• 2 teaspoons allspice

• salt & pepper to taste

Mornay sauce*:

• 25 g butter

• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

• 1½ (3½ dl) cups milk

• salt & pepper to taste

• ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg

• mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Cut the top and bottom of the eggplants and cut them into slices about ⅕ inch thick. Put the eggplant slices in a colander, sprinkle salt between the layers, and let them drain for about 30 minutes. When the eggplant slices are done, pad them dry with a paper towel.

Heat ⅓ of the olive oil in a sauté pan over low heat, and fry the eggplants gently until tender. Remove from the pan and drain them of excess water and oil on a paper towel.

Fry the potato slices in a little oil in the sauté pan until they are slightly golden. Pad the excess oil of the potatoes with some kitchen towel.

Add a little more oil to the sauté pan and sauté the onions until transparent and soft. Add the ground beff and brown it, crumbling the meat with a wooden spoon. Add the garlic, allspice, a little salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes. Add caned tomatoes and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes or while you make the mornay sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Mornay 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. Whisk in the milk and cook, whisking constantly, until thickened and shiny, 3 to 4 minutes. Add more milk if the sauce is to thick. Whisk in the cheese and nutmeg. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Moussaka:
Preheat the oven to 400℉ (200℃).

In a deep ovenproof dish layer the eggplant, potatoes and meat like you would a lasagne. Pour the mornay sauce on top.

Bake moussaka for about 45 minutes until the surface is golden and bubbly. Let the moussaka rest for a few minutes before serving, letting the moussaka time to set.

Enjoy.

*Mornay sauce is a béchamel sauce with cheese.

Braised Balsamic Chicken

Braised Balsamic Chicken

Our local pizzeria serves a rotisserie chicken with a balsamic sauce and a lot of bell peppers. I love this dish, and it is my go-to for days when I don’t cook. The dish is sweet and sour in the Italian way.

In my version the chicken is braised in the sauce to keep the chicken juicy, and for a one-pot-dinner, easy to make on a weeknight.

You can also make this dish in a slow cooker, cooking for about 3-4 hours on high heat.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 4 chicken thighs with drumsticks (without skin)
• 1 can crushed tomatoes 
• 1 onion, halved and sliced 
• 3 bell peppers 
• ½ cup (1,25 dl) red balsamic vinegar (use a good quality)
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 3 garlic cloves, minced 
• 1 teaspoon basil
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• salt & pepper
• olive oil for searing

Directions:

Season chicken with salt and ground black pepper. Heat olive oil in a dutch oven or in a skillet, and sear the chicken. Take out the chicken. Pour in tomatoes, sugar and the seasoning, add the chicken, onion, garlic and bell peppers. Pour the balsamic over the chicken. Put the lid on and let simmer until chicken is no longer pink and the juices run clear, about 45 minutes. 

Serve with roasted potatoes and broccoli.

Stuffed pork chops

Stuffed pork chops

I love pork chop, but sometimes I need to change it up. Stuffing the chops gives them so much flavor and keeps them juicy.

This time I stuffed the chops with roasted garlic, olives, semi dried tomatoes, scallions and feta cheese. And it worked so well, I am defintely going to make this one again.

serves 2

Ingredients:

• 2 pork chops, center cut, no bones
• 1 garlic roasted
• 3 scallions
• 5 olives
• 2 semi dried tomato
• 2 tablespoons feta cheese
• salt and pepper

Directions:

Chop up the ingredients for the stuffing. Cut a slit/pocket in the pork chop. Fill the pork chop, press it a bit. Use a skewer to lock the stuffing in. 

Roast the chops on a skillet or on a BBQ on indirect heat, for about 20 minutes until done. Be careful not to roast the meat to hard, them it will be hard and dry, by the time it's done.

I serve the pork chops with jalapeño poppers and small boiled potatoes.