Perfectly Roasted Chicken

Perfectly roasted chicken.

Everyone can roast a chicken, the only thing you need is a oven and a chicken.

But getting a moist chicken with a crispy golden brown skin is more difficult. One option is a beer can chicken - roasting the chicken while is't sitting on a beer can (or roaster) filled with beer or wine. We always do this on the BBQ, but some days are not BBQ-ing days, at least not in Denmark. 

I wanted to try out Thomas Kellers way to roast a chicken in the oven. And to be honest I didn't read the recipe before the afternoon of making it. That was a mistake, a big mistake. I had to brine the chicken in the refrigerator for 6 hours. Well this didn't happen with this bird, but it turned out great. I don't think I've had a roasted chicken this moist ever. But some day I have to try to brine a chicken, I'll keep you posted.

This is how I made the roasted chicken. 

Serves 4-5 people. 

Ingredients: 

• 1 chicken  ( 2,24-2,50 lb)
• coarse sea salt (a fair amount)
• pepper
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 2 teaspoons thyme leaves

Directions: 

Clean the chicken, removing the layer of fat from the opening. Remove the giblets. I never rinse the chicken under water, this will spread bacteria such as salmonella. 

Preheat the oven to 475°F (250°C).
Pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Season the chicken inside with salt and pepper. I always take a handful of salt in a cup, and add some pepper, and use this for seasoning. If there is any salt left I discard it. There's no need to spread bacteria all over.

From Thomas Keller:  "Truss the chicken by placing the chicken on a tray with the legs towards you. Tuck the wing tips under the chicken. Cut a piece of cooking twine about 3 feet (1 meter), and center it on top of the neck end of the breast. Lift the neck end of the chicken and pull the twine down around the wings and under the chicken, then bring the ends up over the breast, towards you, and knot the twine, pulling it tight to plump the breast. Bring the ends of the twine around the ends of the drumsticks and straight up. Tie as before to pull the drumsticks together and form a compact bird; tie again to secure knot."

 I did it my way, and tried my best to get the compact chicken. Let the chicken rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.

Season the chicken with salt - you have to use a lot.

Heat a ovenproof skillet and heat the oil before placing the chicken breast side up in the skillet. This way the skin won't stick to the skillet.  Put the skillet in the hot oven, with the chicken legs facing the back of the oven.

Roast for about 40 minutes, rotate the skillet if the chicken is browning unevenly. Check the temperature by inserting an instant-read thermometer between the bird and the thigh. When the temperature is about  155°F (69°C), remove it from the oven. The chicken will continue to cook as it sits, and reach a temperature of about 165°F (75°C). Add the thyme leaves to the skillet, and baste the chicken several times with the juices and thyme leaves. Let it sit and rest for about 10 minutes.

Remove the twine and carve the chicken, and serve with your favorite starchy side or vegetables. 

Roasted Beet Salad

Roasted Beet Salad.

I love to have beet salads when we are dining out. So why not try making it myself?  I had the Roasted beet salad from Thomas Kellers cookbook 'Bouchon', and the beets were fantastic. But I missed a soft cheese element and the crunchy nuts. 

This is my take on a Roasted beet salad:

Serves 4

Ingredients: 

Baked beets: 

• 3 beets (about the size of tennis balls)

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

• 2 tablespoons water

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Beet salad: 

• 100 g mixed salad

• a handful hazelnuts

• 113 g goat cheese

• 1-2 clementine

Dressing: 

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

• 1/2 teapoon white wine vinegar

• 2-3 tablespoons fresh orange juice

• salt & pepper.

Direction: 

Preheat the oven to 375°F. 

Baked beats

Wash the beets and trim the stems, leaving about1/4 inch attached. Place them on a large piece of aluminum foil and toss with the oil, water, salt and pepper.

Lift up the edges of the foil and squeeze together to form a packet. Place in a small baking pan and roast for about 1,5 hours, or until the beets are tender, offering no resistance  when pierced with a knife. Carefully unwrap the beets and let stand just until cool enough to handle.

Roast the hazelnuts in the oven until they get golden.

Mix up the dressing. 

Rub each beet with a paper towel to remove the skin. Cut of and discard the stems. Cut the beets into quarters, then cut the quarters crosswise into 1/4 inch slices and place in a bowl. Add half of the dressing, and season with salt and pepper. Let marinate for at least 30 minutes or up to a day in the refrigerator. Bring to room temperature before finishing the salad.

Toss the salad with the rest of the dressing.

Place the salad on a plate, arrange the beets, goat cheese and clementine slices around the salad.

The Danish version:

Ingredienser: 

Ovnbagte rødbeder:: 

• 3 Rødbeder (på str med tennisbolde)

• 2 spsk olivenolie

• 2 spsk vand

• 1/2 tsk salt

• 1/4 tsk peber

Rødbedesalat: 

• 100 g blandet salat

• 1 håndfuld hasselnødder

• 113 g gedeost

• 1-2 clementiner

Dressing: 

• 1 spsk oliven olie

• 1/2 tsk hvidvinseddike

• 2-3 spsk frisk appelsinsaft

• salt & peber.

Forvarm oven til  190°C.

Vask rødbederne grundigt, og skær stilkene helt ned til rødbeden. Læg rødbederne på et story stykke staniol. Form en lille skål med staniolen og tilsæt vand, olie, salt og peber. Luk staniolen så du får en lille pakke, så dampen bliver inden i. Sæt pakken i ovnen, og bag rødbederne i ca 1,5 time, eller til de er møre. Tag pakken ud af oven og åben pakken, og lad rødbederne køle indtil de er tip at håndtere. 

Rist hasselnødderne i en bradepande i ovnen indtil de er gyldne.

Lav dressingen, ved at piske alle ingredienserne sammen. 

Mix up the dressing. 

Gnid rødbederne med køkkenrulle for at fjerne skralden. Skær top og roden af. Skær rødbederne i mundrette stykker. Kom rødbederne i en skål og hæld halvdelen af dressingen over og smag til med salt og peber. Lad rødbederne marinere i køleslabet i mindst 30 minutter, eller op til en dag i køleskabet. Rødbederne bør have stuetemperatur inden salaten samles.

Bland dressingen i den blandede salat, og anret den å tallerkener eller et fad. Arranger rødbeder, gedeoste,  clementinskiverne og hasselnødderne ovenpå salaten.

Pickled beets - syltede rødbeder

Pickled Beets

Pickled beets is one of the most common toppings for an open faced sandwich with liver pate. In my home we had them with meatballs or medisterpølse at dinner. 

My parents grew beets in their large vegetables garden. My mom made a large batch of pickled beets enough for the whole year. My moms pickled beets were the best, they were worth the work for sure. 

When I lived in Denmark, I didn't pickle my own beets, I just bought them at the store. But moving here I wanted to have the taste of the childhood pickled beets. This is how I do.

Ingredients

Beets.

• 1 kg beets, scrubbed clean, but not peeled
• salt (1 tablespoon pr liter water)

Pickling liquid:

• 1 liter vinegar
• 450 g sugar
• 8 whole cloves
• 2-3 slices horseradish  

Direction: 

Wash the beets and trim the stems, leaving about 1/4 inch attached. Don't cut into the beets, they will lose a lot of the juices.  

Bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Add salt and the beets and cook until just tender, about 45-60 minutes depending on the size of the beets. 

Drain the beets and rinse with cold water and let the beets cool in the cold warter.

Bring vinegar to a boil and add sugar and cloves. Cut of the top and bottom of the beets, and rub the skin of, in a paper towel. Slice the beets to the desired thickness, fill the jars with the sliced beets, and pour in vinegar to cover the beets. Add 1-2 slices horseradish and close lids and allow to cool completely.

The pickled beets are ready to eat after at least 2 weeks, but they will keep for months unopened. 

You can add a preservative like Atamon  (sodium benzoate) to increase the shelf life. 

 

Danish Rye Bread

Danish Rye Bread

Open-faced sandwich with roast beef 

Growing up in Denmark we had open-faced sandwiches for lunch every day. Like this Roast beef with horseradish, remoulade and pickles cucumber. OK this was not an everyday dish. Normally the sandwich was more simple, like liver pate with pickled beets or egg with mayo. 

Moving outside Scandinavia I was forced to figure out how I could get the Rye bread (Rugbrød).  

The easy way out was going to IKEA to get their Shake 'n Bake Rye Bread, and this was the route I went for the first years. 

Baking the Tartine Bread gave me an introduction to baking with sourdough, and it was a segway into baking Rye Bread from scratch.

I didn't want to make the same bread as my mom made back in the days. It was way too white, and looked more like a wheat bread than a rye bread. 

My inspiration came from Kvalimads Best Rye Bread.  I made some changes to his recipes. This is how I make the bread:

Sourdough starter: 

Allmost all bakers of the danish rye bread has their own sourdough starter. Many people get the starter from a friend or relative. A starter can last for decades if treated right.

I opted for the easy way out, buying a starter from King Arthur Flour, and fed it with half rye and wheat flour. By now my starter is a year old, and some of my friends got some of it. It takes a couple of bakes to get the right acidity and taste if you start your own starter from scratch.

This recipe makes 2 big rye bread. 

Sourdough leaven: 

• 200 g sourdough/starter (the starter you keep in the refrigerator and feed every other week) 
• 400 g water
• 125 g rye flour
• 135 g all-purpose flour

Dough:

• 1600 g water
• 600 g sourdough leaven
• 265 g rye berries (hele rugkerner)
• 150 g cracked rye (knækkede rygkerner)
• 75 g flax seeds
• 75 g sunflower seeds
• 275 g wheat berries (hard red spring wheat berries) (hele hvedekerner)
• 170 g bulgur (100% whole grain quick cooking bulgur wheat)
• 375 g rye flour (dark rye flour)
• 400 g all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoon (57 g) salt
• a splash coloring/kulør - optional
• Topping pumpin seeds, 

Directions:

Day 1, morning: 

The process 

Feed the starter to make the leaven. The leaven is ready to use when the leaven is bubbleing and smells like beer - after about 8 hours at room temperature. Cover the leaven with a clean towel. 

Soak the rye- and wheat-berries and seed in water in a large bow (I use to bowl because of the big amount). Cover the bowl with a large plate. Let them soak at room temperature until the leaven is ready.

Day 1,

night: 

Save about 200g leaven and put it aside in a sealed container. This will be your sourdough starter for the next batch of bread. It will keep without feeding for about 14 days in the refrigerator. 

Add the leaven to the soaked berries and seed. Cover the bowl with a large plate. Let the mixture ferment overnight at room temperature . 

Day 2, morning: 

Add the salt, coloring and the flour to the dough and mix thoroughly, to make sure all the flour is fully incorporated, let rise for about two hours.

Eva Professionel rye bread tin

Add the dough to two rye bread baking forms. (I use Eva Professionel Rye Bread Tin which holds 3,3 liters).

Let the bread rise for about an hour, covered with a clean towel. The longer you let it rise, the more sour the bread becomes.

Poke a few holes with a cake tester or knitting needle, to  prevent the crust to rise and crack.

Brush the bread with water and sprinkle with pumpkin or sesame seeds.

Place the baking form in a preheated oven for 1 hour 15 minutes at 350°F. 

Turn off the heat, remove the breads from the baking forms, spray with water on all sides and place them back in the oven directly on the rack for about an hour while the oven cools.

Take the breads out and wrap them in an clean kitchen towel. This will help softening the crust. Let breads cool completely.

It's best to wait cutting the bread until the next day. 

Enjoy the bread with your favorite deli meat or cheese. 

Testing the leaven the man in the cup showed up. 

The man in the cup

Danish cucumber salad

Danish Cucumber Salad

Danish cucumber salad is a quick and easy pickled sliced cucumber. You can make it just before you serve it, but it gets better if you let it sit for at least 30 minutes. It's sweet, crunchy and tart. It's perfect side for sandwiches or to traditional danish meat dishes.  

My mom always made cucumber salad, when we had a pot roasted whole chicken for dinner. But it's also good on hotdogs you get at the danish hotdog stands.

You can make cucumber salad with or without adding onions. I make it without because this is how my mom made it. I use english cucumber for this salad, because it's the danish way. The english cucumber has a thin crisp skin and small seeds. If you use another kind of cucumber, peel it before slicing. 

Ingredients: 

• 1 english cucumber
• 1 cup of warm water
• 1 cup of distilled white vinegar.
• 5-6 tablespoons sugar
• salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Mix the vinegar, water, sugar, salt and pepper in a bowl. Keep mixing until the sugar is dissolved. Slice cucumber very thin slices on a mandolin. Squeeze the excess water out of the cucumbers slices and put them into the vinegar. Place a plate over the cucumbers and sit something heavy on top of the plate, to submerge all the cucumber slices in the vinegar. 

Place in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to marinade before serving. Can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Enjoy!

The Danish version: 

Agurksalat

Ingredienser:

• 1 agurk
• 1 dl varm vand 
• 1 dl eddike
• 5-6 spsk sukker
• salt & peber

Bland eddike, vand, sukker, salt og peber i en skål. Rør indtil sukkeret er helt opløst. Skær agurken meget tynde skiver på et mandolinjern. Pres overskydende vand ud af agurkeskiverne og kom dem ned i eddiken. Placer en tallerken ovenpå agurkerne og sæt noget tungt oven på tallerkenen for at holde agurkeskiverne dækket  af eddikre.

Lad salaten trække i mindst 30 minutter før servering. Kan opbevares i køleskabet i op til 1 uge.