Rødkål - Pickled Red Cabbage

Rødkål - Pickled Red Cabbage

December 12th. It's time to get ready for christmas dinner, and making red cabbage a few days early eases the stress of making the traditional Danish christmas dinner.

My mom always made her own red cabbage, but she had the recipe in her head, and it's lost forever. I like the simplicity of the dish. You only need 4 ingredients, not counting salt and pepper. The sweetness from the sugar combined with the acidity from the balsamic really works well with the red cabbage.

Rødkål is a traditional danish side for the christmas dinner, but it's also very good with medisterpølse and meatballs/frikadeller or in sandwiches.

This is my take on pickled red cabbage.

Ingredients:

• 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

Directions:

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 the cabbage and sear it for a couple minutes. Add the 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. 

The cabbage can be served cold on (open faced) sandwiches.

Gorgonzola & Pear Salad

Gorgonzola & Pear Salad

Yesterday I went to my local Olive Bar in downtown Campbell, to buy a good olive oil. And of cause it's impossible to only buy one single item in there. I came out with the most fantastic cinnamon and pear balsamic, and this is why we had to have this salad last night.

I love easy and simple salads, and this gorgonzola and pear salad is just that.

Ingredients

Salad

• 1 pear, ripe, but still crisp
• gorgonzola - as much as you like
• a handful mixed baby greens
• a few blackberries
• a sprinkle candied walnuts

Dressing

• half cinnamin pear balsamic
• half canola oil
• salt & pepper

Directions

Mix up the dressing.

Toss the salad with the rest of the dressing.

Crumble the gorgonzola, and slice the pear in thin slices.

Place the salad on a plate, arrange the pear, gorgonzola, blackberries and walnuts around the salad.

Cilantro and Lime Cauliflower Rice

Cilantro and Lime Cauliflower rice

I love the cilantro-lime rice from Chipotle, but when I'm trying to cut down on rice and pasta, I need a replacement. For the longest time I've been adding grated and steamed cauliflower to my rice to save calories. But replacing all the rice is new to me. 

You can make cauliflower rice in a lot of ways. You can steep the grated cauliflower in boiling water for a minute, and then drain it. Or nuke it in the microwave for 30 seconds.  Or fry the cauliflower up in a skillet. The latter is what I did in this recipe.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 head of cauliflower, grated
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 shallot, diced
• 1 lime, zest and juice
• a handful cilantro, chopped
• salt to taste

Directions:

Grate the cauliflower or using a food-processor pulse until cauliflower is rice-sized. Mince  garlic, chop shallot. 

Heat a skillet or sauté pan over medium heat, add oil, shallots and garlic. Sauté until  tender. Raise the heat to medium-high. Add the cauliflover and sauté while stirring until it's tender, but still have some bite. Season with salt. Remove from heat, add cilantro, lime zest and juice. Serve immediately.

The Danish version:

Blomkålsris med koriander og lime

Ingredients:

• 1 tsk Olivenolie
• 1 blomkålshovede, revet
• 2 hvidløgsfed, finthakket
• 1 skalotteløg, hakket
• 1 lime, skal og saft
• 1 håndfuld frisk koriander, hakket
• salt

Riv blomkålen, enten på et rivejern eller i en food processor, så blomkålen er på størrelse med riskorn. Hak løg og hvidløg.

Sæt en pande over medium varme. Kom olie, løg og hvidløg i panden, og sautér indtil løgene er gennemsigtige. Skru op for varmen og kom blomkålen i. Steg indtil blomkålen er mør, men der stadig er bid i. Smag til med salt.

Tag blomkålen af varmen og tilsæt koriander, limesaft og -skal.

Server straks. 

Cauliflower and Parmesan Salad.

Cauliflower and Parmesan Salad.

I still get a lot of inspiration from Denmark. I have been watching the danish tv-show "Price Inviterer" where 2 brothers invite danish celebrities to cook with them. It's a show as much about the story behind the person as the food they are making. A few weeks ago I watched the show with Christian Blitz, a Master in Science in Human Nutrition. He served a salad with cauliflower parmesan cheese. I had to try this, the combination sounded so good.

So heres my take on this quick & easy salad. Now there is no excuse for not having a healthy salad as a side tonight.

Ingredients: 

• 1 cauliflower
• parmesan cheese
• 1 glass capers

Dressing: 

• extra virgin olive oil
• lemon juice
• salt & pepper

Directions:

Cut the raw cauliflower and parmesan in very thin slices on a mandolin. Drain the capers. 

Arrange the cauliflower slices on a large plate and put the parmesan on top. Sprinkle with capers. 

Mix the dressing, and pour it over the salad.  

Serve immediately.

Chickpea and Carrot Salad a la Thomas Keller

Chickpea and carrot salad a la Thomas Keller.

This is an easy salad, when you have soaked and cooked the chickpeas. When you make it from dried, in stead of canned, chickpeas you'll get the a better texture. But no matter what its a good and healthy salad.
 

Thomas Keller hit another home run with this one.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup dried chickpeas.

• salt

For boiling:

• 6 cups water (or enough to cover chickpeas with 2 inches)

• 1 medium leek, white and light green parts only, cleaned

• 1 bouquet garni

• 1/2 onion, peeled

• 1 small carrot, peeled

For the salad: 

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

• 2 bay leaves

• 2 garlic cloves, skin left on, smashed

• 2 thyme sprigs

• 1 cup finely julienned carrots

• freshly ground pepper

• 1 tablespoon chopped italian parsley

• 1,5 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Direction: 

Soaking:  Soak the chickpeas in 3 cups of water for 12 hours

bouquet garni: leek outer leave thyme, italian parsley sprigs, bay leaves and peppercorns

Drain the chickpeas, put then in a large saucepan, and ad water, leek, bouquet garni, onion and carrot,  and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer for about 45 minutes, or until the chickpeas are tender.

Pour the chickpeas and their liquid into a large shallow container and let cool. Once they are cool, remove and discard the bouquet garni and vegetables and season with 1/2 teaspoon salt. The chickpeas can be covered and refrigerated in their liquid for 2-3 days.

If you use caned chickpeas,C here where you start. 

When ready to assemble the salad, drain the chickpeas in a colander. 

Combine the olive oil, bay leaves, garlic, and thyme in a large skillet and heat over medium heat until the oil is hot. Add the julienned carrots and toss in the oil for about 1 minute to cook them slightly. Add the chickpeas and season to taste with salt and pepper. Toss the chickpeas for 1 to 2 minutes, then transfer to a bowl let cool. 

The salad will keep in the refrigerator for a day. 

Just before serving, remove  bay leaves, garlic, and thyme and stir in parsley and lemon juice.

The Danish Version: 

Kikærte og