Sunchoke Soup with seared Scallops

Sunchoke Soup with seared Scallops

Last weekend I went to the local farmers marked, the perfect place to find farm-fresh produce in season. It was here I found sunchokes, aka Jerusalem Artichokes, sunroots or earth apples. 

You can eat the sunchokes raw in salads or cooked in soups and gratins. The raw sunchokes has a nutty taste, while the cooked are sweet with a slightly bitter aftertaste. Sunchokes has a high content of vitamin C and K.

I decided to make sunchoke soup, a  creamy soup perfect for an appetizer, but filling enough to use as a main course. 

Serves 4 as an appetizer or serves 2 for a main course.

Ingredients:

• 400 g sunchokes, peeled and chopped
• 300 g potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 3 dl (1¼ cup) whole milk
• 1 dl (little over ⅓ cup) cream
• 2 teaspoons chicken base
• 6 dl (2½ cup) water
• salt and white pepper, to taste

Topping:

• 6-8 scallops
• 2 tablespoons dry chorizo or paprika sausage, chopped and fried
• 3 teaspoon chives, finely chopped
• a few drops truffle oil
• sunchoke chips (1-2 sunchokes)

Directions:

Soup:

Cook the sunchokes and potatoes in milk, cream, chicken paste and water until tender. Blend the soup mixture in batches. If using a traditional blender remove the middle-nob so the steam can escape and cover with a kitchen towel so you will not burn yourself on soup splatters. Puree until smooth. Season the soup with salt and white pepper. Keep the soup hot while you sear the scallops.

Sunchoke chips:

While the sunchokes and potatoes are cooking. Brush 1-2 sunchokes clean. Slice the sunchokes very thinly into a bowl of ice water. Heat grape seed oil in a saucepan. Pad dry 3-5 slices  and fry them in the hot oil until they turn golden. Let the excess oil drip off on some paper towel. Sprinkle with salt.

Scallops:

Heat some grape seed oil in a skillet and fry the scallops on high heat until golden on both sides. Just before removing scallops from the skillet, season them with salt and white pepper.

Pour the soup into a serving size bowl. Top the soup with 1-2 scallops  and the rest of the topping. 

Enjoy.

Tom Ka Gai - Coconut Chicken Soup my way

Tom Ka Gai - Coconut Chicken Soup my way

We love soups in my house, we try to have soups at least every other week. We had this soup as a "skrub af suppe" directly translated to "go away soup or go home soup." It's kinda midnight snack, a nice way to end a party, getting some salt into people there has been drinking all your wine a liquor. ;)

This is my version of Tom Ka Gai soup, it not the original recipe, but made to my taste.

Serves 2-3.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound (450 g)chicken breast tenders
• 2 teaspoons chicken paste
• 850 ml water
• 1 inch minced ginger
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 lemongrass
• 1 lime the juice of
• 3 teaspoons fish sauce
• 1.5 can coconut milk

Topping:

• 5 scallions/spring onions
• 1 chilli, thinly sliced
• a few sprigs fresh cilantro

Directions:

Cut chicken tenders into bite size pieces. 

Blend ginger, garlic and lemongrass with a splash of the coconut milk, till it has the texture of a thick paste. If you like the soup spicy, add some chilli  to the blender. Bring water, chicken paste, ginger paste and chicken to a boil while stirring. Let the soup simmer for about 5 minutes.

Add the coconut milk, fish sauce and bring soup to a low simmer. Season the soup with lime juice and salt. 

Serve the soup hot with scallions, cilantro and chilli as topping.

Enjoy!

Danish Soup Dumplings - Melboller

Danish Soup Dumplings - Melboller

Danish soup dumplings, aka melboller, are a must have in soups in Denmark. They feel soft, light, and fluffy. They kinda melts in your mouth and has a subtle salty flavor.

Most people in Denmark buys soup dumplings from the freezer aisle in the supermarket. But my mom always made them herself. So for me the store bought dumplings tasted kinda funny. I learned to make these as a kid. I would stand on a chair next to the stove, and cut the dough from the dough press (bollesprøjte) and the small dumplings would fall into the hot water. It might have been easier for my mom, if I hadn't helped her, but I wanted to help.

Ingredients:

• 75 g salted butter
• 200 g water
• 105 g all-purpose flour
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Bring the water and butter to a boil in a saucepan, take the pan off the heat. Add all the flour at once, and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon.  The dough should become cohesive and shiny. Heat the dough a bit, if it's not shiny. Whisk the eggs  and add a bit at a time to the dough while mixing. Add more egg until the dough is soft but still paste like. Be careful not to make the dough too thin. Mix in the salt.

Bring water to a boil in a large pot, take the pot off the heat. Place dough in a traditional danish bollesprøjte (like a cookie press) and cut the dough with a knife into the hot water (WATER MUST NOT BOIL). If you do not have a bollesprøjte use a spoon.

Bring the hot water and the dumplings almost to a boil three times, adding a splash of cold water to cool the water a bit. After the third time and when the dumplings are firm, lift them out of the water and let them drain. Make sure not to put to many dumplings in the water at the same time. You only want one layer dumpling in the water at a time.

Serve with soups, like beef soup.

Enjoy!

Bollesprøjte

Supperis - Cold Rice Porridge with Raisins

Supperis - Cold Rice Porridge with Raisins

This is an old old side dish served with classic danish chicken soup or beef soup. I think this dish is known only in some parts of Denmark, it might be from Jutland, where my dad’s family are from. The dish is served cold, and is scooped into your hot soup. 

When I made this for my husband the first time, he was very skeptic. Why would anyone put sweet raisins in their soup? So as the good wife I am, I made two versions one with and one without raisins. Need I say that he happily ate my supperis with raisins?

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 400 g water 
• 70 g rice (danish grødris or aborio)
• 45 g raisins
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Directions:

Bring the water to a boil. Sprinkle the rice into the water, add the salt and let it simmer for about 30 minutes. Add the raisins and let the porridge boil for another 10-15 minutes. 

Pour the porridge into a bowl, and cool it in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve the soup.

Enjoy!

Beef Soup - Oksekødssuppe

Beef Soup - Oksekødssuppe

Having homemade beef soup reminds my of my childhood. My mom made the best beef or chicken soup. Making the soup takes time. It is a whole day project. 

There's a story in my family from before I was born, and my brother was about 3 years old.  My parents and my brother met my aunt when they went for a walk, and invited her to join them for the second day of having soup. My mom had to put more water in the soup, to make sure that there would be enough for the four of them.  Almost by the end of the meal, there's no more soup, and my brother declares: "if aunt hadn't come, there would have been enough food."  My poor mom laughed, but was embarrassed at the same time.

Serves 8.

Ingredients:

• 6 pounds beef soup bones 
• 2 pounds beef brisket 
• 3 large carrots 
• 2 leeks 
• 1 celery root + the top of
• water to cover
• salt

Directions:

Put bones and brisket in a large pot with cold water and heat it to a boil. Skim off the foam.  Add 1 teaspoon salt and the green top from the celery root.

Clean the leeks, carrots and celery root, and cut into chunks, add them to the soup. Let the soup simmer for about 2-3 hours. Discard the soup bones and the celery top. Take out the brisket, and let it cool. You will serve this on the side with a good mustard later.

Clean and peel more celery root, carrots and leeks, and cut them into bite size bites and boil them in the soup for about 15-20 minutes before serving.

You can skim of the fat and clarify the soup if you want to. I only skim of the fat, if there is a thick layer, but I hadn't done this here.

Serve the soup with Danish soup dumplings/melboller, boiled meatballs/kødboller, supperis and the brisket with mustard.

The sides