Berry Salsa

May 4, 2015Brunch, Dinner, Spread & DipsTove Balle-PedersenComment

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Today will be filled with Mexican traditions here in California. The margaritas will flow, tequila will be poured. People will eat taco's, salsas and guacamole.

Let the Party begin.

Ingredients:

Filling:

10 medium strawberries, chopped
100 g blueberries, chopped
1 prickly pear or cactus fruit, chopped
¼ red onion, finely chopped
1 jalapeño, minced
¼ habanero pepper, minced
½ yellow pepper, finely chopped
1 handful cilantro, chopped

Dressing:

1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar, I used a blackberry /ginger flavored
½ lime, the juice from
¼ teaspoon salt

Directions:

Combine the filling in a large bowl. Whisk together the dressing, and pour it over the filling. Let the fruit marinate in the dressing for about an hour in the refrigerator before serving.

Serve the salsa with tortilla chips.

Enjoy!

Grove Hveder - Grove Hvedeknopper

April 28, 2015Bread, Breakfast, Brunch, DinnerTove Balle-PedersenComment

Hveder is a white cardamom roll eaten before the Bededag aka Prayers Day in Denmark. This year I wanted to add a little fibers to the roll, while still keeping the roll nice and sweet. I think I hit the mark with this recipe. I didn't come up with a heathy version, but 1.6 grams dietary fiber per roll is a little better than 0.

Ingredients:

50 g live yeast or 4 teaspoons dry yeast
200 ml water, finger warm
75 g butter
150 ml buttermilk
1 egg
10 g (1¾ teaspoon) salt
5-10 g (3 teaspoons) cardamom
25 g buckwheat
50 g quick oats (quaker oats)
100 g whole wheat flour
450 g all-purpose flour

Directions:

In a large bowl dissolve the yeast in the water. (Add a teaspoon sugar if you are using dry yeast, and wait until it starts to foam.) Mix in the butter, sugar, buttermilk and egg. Mix salt and cardamom with the flours, oats and buckwheat, and add that to the water-mixture. Hold some of the all-purpose flour back, because you want a soft smooth dough, and might not need it all. Knead the dough for about 7-10 minutes until the dough is shinny and elastic. Let the dough rise covered for about 20- 30 minutes.

Pour the dough onto a lightly floured workspace, fold the dough over 3-4 times and divide the dough into 12-18 small balls. Place the balls only about 1 cm (about ⅓-½ inch) apart on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Cover the dough balls with a dampen kitchen towel, and let them rise for another 60 minutes. They are meant to grow into each other, you want the soft sides on your rolls, when you pull them apart.

Preheat the oven to 400℉ (200℃). (375℉ /190℃ for convection oven).

Bake the hvedeknopper/rolls for 15-20 minutes until they are dark golden brown. Let them cool on a wire rack.

Before serving, cut them in half and toast them. Serve them hot with butter and jam or with a good cheese.

Enjoy!

Grapefruit Margarita

April 27, 2015DrinksTove Balle-PedersenComment

I love a good margarita, but I have mostly been making frozen margaritas, and mostly made from frozen Minute Maid Limeade. I think It was time to try to make a more simple margarita from fresh ingredients. This is what I came up with. The grapefruit juice gives the margarita the bitterness I normally get from Triple sec. I like that these margaritas are on the weaker side, but feel free to add more tequila if you like a stronger drink. This pink margarita was perfect on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Makes 2 drinks.

Ingredients:

1 fl. oz. (30 ml) lime juice
4 fl. oz. (120 ml) grapefruit juice
2 fl. oz. (60 ml) clear tequila, (I used Patrón Silver)
1 teaspoon light agave nectar
ice for shaking and in the glass
a little lime juice and baker's sugar for the rim

Directions:

Add tequila, lime juice, grapefruit juice, syrup and ice in a cocktail shaker. Shake and strain into a sugar rimmed glass.

Please drink responsibly.

Enjoy!

Raspberry Jelly Roll - Hindbærroulade

April 22, 2015Brunch, Cake, DessertsTove Balle-PedersenComment

Raspberry jelly roll, aka hindbærroulade, is a traditional cake in Denmark. The kind of cake you would buy at a gas station or at the supermarket. My mom did sometimes buy the jelly roll in the supermarket, and I saw her dressing it up, by covering it with whipped cream and some fresh berries. As a working mom, she didn't have time to do all her cooking from scratch, she did cut some corners, as did a lot of housewives back then, and now.

My mom loved to bake, when she did have the time. I found this recipe in her handwritten recipe book dating back from before she married my dad.

Well, you can get a better version of this jelly roll by making it yourself or buying it at a good bakers shop. The supermarket cake really doesn't make this cake justice. If made well, with good ingredients the jelly roll is very delicious. Soft, sweet and with a crunch of sugar. A perfect cake to bring for a picnic. The soft cake travels well, and can easily be cut, and eaten off a napkin.

Makes 1 cake, serves 10-12.

Ingredients:

3 eggs (room temperature)
125 g sugar
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon vanilla paste
60 g potato starch
60 g all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon hjortetaksalt (baker's ammonia/Ammonium bicarbonate (NH₄HCO₃))

Filling:

raspberry jam

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425℉ (225℃). Line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper, and spray it with coconut oil, set aside.

Sift potato starch, flour and baker's ammonia, and set aside.

Whisk the eggs light and foamy with the sugar, it takes about 5 minutes to get maximum foaming when whisking on a stand mixer. Whip in the vanilla and water.

Very gently fold the dry ingredients in the foamy eggs. Be very careful not to deflate the egg mixture to much.

Pour the batter in the prepared baking pan in a thin layer. Bake the cake for 7-9 minutes until golden brown.

Place a new piece of parchment paper on your counter. Sprinkle the paper with a thin layer of sugar on the parchment paper.

Remove cake from the oven. Flip the cake (top-side down) onto the sugar. Gently remove the parchment paper from the back side of the cake. Spread jam all over the cake, leaving about ½-inch from the edge on the side you are rolling it up towards. Using the parchment paper, roll the cake up tightly. Let the cake cool completely. Trim the sides, and serve the cake on a platter.

Enjoy!

The Ultimate Iced Coffee

April 18, 2015Brunch, Desserts, DrinksTove Balle-PedersenComment

This iced coffee is a special treat. I look at it the same way as a ice cream cone or a slice of cake. It's not an every day occurrence. But It is really good on a hot day for a special day pick me up.