Roasted Tomato Soup

Roasted Tomato Soup

Soups are perfect for when you're having a cold or when it starts to get cold outside. I grew up with having soups for dinner and one of my favorites has always been tomato soup. Maybe because it was easy to make or just because me and my mom loved tomatoes.

I have several different tomato soups to choose from in my recipes, but I wanted to add another flavor profile to the soup by roasting the tomatoes first. And by all means it payed off.

Serves 3

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds (1 kg) ripe tomatoes
• 1 serrano pepper (I roasted two, and used one for the topping)
• 1 onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 2 cups (500 ml) water
• 2 teaspoons chicken base
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme
• Salt, pepper
• Some olive oil

Topping:

• 5 thin slices prosciutto roasted to crisp in the oven 
• a dollop sour cream
• roasted serrano pepper

Direction:

Preheat the oven to 400℉ (200℃)

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Wash tomatoes and cut into eight pieces. Peel onions, cut in pieces and peel the garlic cloves. Cut the chilies in half and put it all on the baking sheet. Sprinkle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast the vegetables in the oven for 35-40 minutes.

Transfer roasted vegetables together with the roasting juices into a pot and add water, chicken base and thyme. Bring to boil and simmer for about 20 minutes.

Remove the thyme sprigs and puree soup. Seasoning with salt and pepper to taste..

Serve the soup immediately with the toppings. 

Venison with Port/Blueberry Sauce

Venison with Port/Blueberry Sauce

Happy New Year.

Thank you for visiting my blog, and getting my new adventure off to a good start. I had a blast the last months and I'll do my very best to keep coming up with new things. Having this blog forces me to try new recipes and making my own twist on them.

I look forward to the 2014 and to face the challenges it may bring. 

From my family to yours, have a fantastic 2014, filled with light and laughter.

Cheers.

We rarely have game like venison, but when I see it on the menu, I have to get it. It's so lean and I love the taste and texture. 

Growing up we didn't get game very often. We might get rabbit or wild duck, but that was it. When we visited my dads family in Jutland, we could be lucky to have some venison, cause both my uncles were hunters.

I find the venison at the German butcher i Los Altos/mountain, I haven't found it anywhere else.

This is how I make venison:

Serves 4 

Ingredients: 

• 2 lb venison loin roast

• butter and oil for searing

• salt and pepper

Sauce:

• 350 ml Port wine

• 1 handful fresh blueberries

• 1 teaspoon butter

Directions:

Take the meat out of the refrigerator, and get it to room temperature before you start searing.

Preheat the oven to about 200℉ (just under 100℃).

Heat a large ovenproof skillet over high heat, and add an oil with a high smoking point, like sunflower oil or grape seed oil.

Season venison with salt and pepper. Sear venison on all sides, so it has a nice color.  Place the skillet with the venison in the oven for about 10-15 minutes. 

Thinly slice the venison and serve with the port/blueberry sauce.

The sauce:

Reduce the port to a syrup over low to medium heat. Remove from heat when the port can cover the back of a spoon. Stir in a teaspoon of salted butter, this will thicken the sauce a bit. Add the blueberries so they just get heated. 

The sauce is perfect with any kind of red meat.

Kransekage with Liquorice

Kransekage with Liquorice

With all the liquorice I've been using, I had to try liquorice in the kransekage

Kransekage: 

• 50 g almonds blanched
• 100 g sugar
• 1 egg white
• 250 g marzipan (I used Ren Rå, a 60% almond paste)
• 15-25 g marzipan with liquorice from Lakrids by Johan Bülow

Icing:

• white chocolate
• a sprinkle raw liquorice powder

Directions:

Put almonds and sugar into food processor with the steel blade in place and process until finely pulverized. Add the egg whites and process until smooth. Be careful not to heat the mass to more than 95 - 104°F, else the egg white will cook. 

Shred the marzipan and add it and the almond/egg white mixture to a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat it until it's completely smooth and free of lumps. Form the dough into a ball, and refrigerate for 2-3 hours.

Preheat oven for 375℉ (190℃).

Roll the dough into logs as thick as your finger, and cut into 3 inch long pieces. Cut about 1 inch of each the pieces. Roll the 2 inch piece thinner, and flatten the log, and form a little slit where you put some marzipan with liquorice. Top the piece of with the rest of the dough you cut of.

Bake for about 12 minutes or until golden.  Allow to cool completely before decorating.

Kransekage with orange zest or chocolate

Kransekage with orange zest and chocolate

When I make kransekage for New Year's Eve, I always make small pieces with different flavor profiles. The classic with the danish nougat, a soft chocolate made with hazelnuts. Another flavor profile I really love is with orange zest.

Kransekage: 

• 50 g almonds blanched

• 100 g sugar

• 1 egg white

• 250 g marzipan (I used Ren Rå, a 60% almond paste)

• zest of 1 orange or

• 15 g nougat (the golden package on the photo)

Icing:

• confectionary sugar

• water

Directions:

Put almonds and sugar into food processor with the steel blade in place and process until finely pulverized. Add the egg whites and process until smooth. Be careful not to heat the mass to more than 95 - 104°F, else the egg white will cook. 

Shred the marzipan and add it and the almond/egg white mixture to a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat it until it's completely smooth and free of lumps. Form the dough into a ball, and refrigerate for 2-3 hours.

Preheat oven for 375℉ (190℃).

If you make the one with orange zest, add it when you mix the batter.

Roll the dough into logs as thick as your finger, and cut into 3 inch long pieces. Press the top part, making a top. 

For the ones with nougat, cut about 1 inch of the pieces. Roll the 2 inch thinner, and flatten the log, and form a little slit where you put some of the nougat. Top the piece of with the rest of the dough you cut of.

Bake for about 12 minutes or until golden.  Allow to cool completely before icing them.

Kransekage - Danish Almond Cake

Kransekage

Kransekage is a traditional cake served at New Year's Eve at midnight with champagne, at weddings (back in the days) or at special occasions. I like kransekage with a  sweet champagne, because the sweetness of the cake makes the champagne very sour. Served with coffee it is actually perfect, but not very festive. 

Kransekage is made from Marzipan, an almonds paste, sugar, almonds and egg whites. 

Kransekage: 

• 100 g almonds blanched or ¾ cup slivered almonds

• 200 g (1 cup) sugar

• 2 egg whites

• 500 g marzipan (I used Ren Rå, a 60% almond paste)

Icing:

• confectionary sugar

• water

Directions:

Put almonds and sugar into food processor with the steel blade in place and process until finely pulverized. Add the egg whites and process until smooth. Be careful not to heat the mass to more than 95 - 104°F, else the egg white will cook. 

Shred the marzipan and add it and the almond/egg white mixture to a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat it until it's completely smooth and free of lumps. Form the dough into a ball, and refrigerate for 2-3 hours.

Preheat oven for 375℉ (190℃).

Divide dough in 4. Roll each part into a 45 cm (18 inch) long sausage. Wet your fingers with a little water and gently press each log into a rounded triangle, continue to wet fingers as needed but careful not to get dough too wet.

For a kransekage top you'll need these lengths: 

The process

• 7 cm (2 3/4 inches) to make the top ball.

• 8 cm (3 1/6 inches)

• 12 cm (4 3/4 inches)

• 16 cm (6 1/3 inches)

• 20 cm (7 7/8 inches)

• 24 cm (9 1/2 inches)

• 28 cm (11 inches)

• 32 cm (12 2/3 inches)

Form the rings on a baking sheet lines with parchment paper.  Level the top of the rings by putting a baking sheet on top. Don't press to hard.

Bake for about 12 minutes or until golden.  Allow to cool completely.

Put the icing on the baked rings. Start with the biggest. Make sure to put the next on top of it before the icing is dried. Or glue the rings together with small dots of icing.

Decorate the kransekage with flags and confetti. 

Notes: 

You can use tempered chocolate instead of the icing.  

Edit.

This year, I weighed opted for another approach.
Making a 10 tiered top, I used 4 X 165g of the dough and rolled then into 4 x45 cm logs. + 1 x 81 g for  one 22 cm log.

The logs were then cut into these lengths:

• 8 cm

• 10½ cm

• 13 cm

• 15½ cm

• 18 cm

• 20½ cm

• 23 cm

• 25½ cm

• 28 cm

• 30½ cm