Homemade Ragusa Bites

Homemade Ragusa Bites

7th Day of Christmas.

Ragusa is a hazelnut chocolate bar, with whole hazelnuts and dark chocolate on top. As a teenager this was one of my favorite chocolate bars, there is just something about chocolate and hazelnuts, that makes me happy.
This is my first attempt to make ragusa, and I had no idea, that leaving the chocolate bar in the refrigerator for a few days, would make it impossible to cut in nice and clean squares. Well, ragusa chunks are tasty too.

Makes a 8-9 inch bar.

Ingredients:

• 250 g blød Nougat, hazelnut milk chocolate
• 100 g roasted hazelnuts
• 75 g dark chocolate (I use Valrhona)

Directions:

Melt the hazelnut chocolate over a double boiler. Add the hazelnuts, and make sure they all are coated in chocolate. Pour the mixture into a parchment paper lined loaf pan. Let the chocolate set in the refrigerator for a few hours. 

Temper the dark chocolate, and pour/brush it on top of the now set hazelnut chocolate. Let it sit in the refrigerator for 15 minutes, before cutting it into bites.
Enjoy!

Head Cheese - Sylte

Head Cheese - Sylte

6th Day of Christmas.

Sylte or head cheese as it is called in English is a cold cut danes often eat around christmas time. It might be an old tradition and maybe young people will not carry this tradition on, but if the sylte or head cheese is well made, it is very good. My dad was the one who made the sylte in my house. I loved the homemade version, but the commercial version was to hard, fatty and salty for my taste. Originally the sylte is made from meat from the head of the pig. But it is easier to use more available cuts, such as hocks, loin roast or pork belly.
I made this sylte so I can have this traditional cold cut for my Christmas lunch. 

Makes 2 medium or 3-4 small

Ingredients:

• 750 g pigskin from the pork belly
• 1 hock, with skin and bone
• ½ gallon (2 liter) water
• 200 ml vinegar
• 12 bay leaves
• 3 pounds (1½ kg) pork loin
• 5 teaspoons (35-40 g) salt
• 10 peppercorns
• 4-5 sheets husblas or 8-10 g non-flavored gelatin powder

Directions:

Put water, vinegar, Peppercorns, cubed pigskin and hock in a large pot, bring it to a boil and let it simmer for about 2 hours.  Discard the pigskin. Add the cubed pork loin to the soup, and keep simmering for another 1-1½ hours, until all the meat has fallen of the bone tender.

Remove hock and pork loin, and let it cool for a while, so you can handle it. Strain the soup into a clean pot. 

Soak the husblas in cold water or bloom the gelatin according to package instructions. 

In a large bowl, season the pork loin and the meat from the hock with salt. Pull some of the meat a bit apart. Fill 2-4 loaf pans ¾ up with the meat. 

Melt the husblas/gelatin in the soup and pour it over the meat. Cover the loaf pans and let them rest for about 24 hours in the refrigerator before slicing. 

Eat the head cheese on Danish rye bread topped with mustard and pickled beets.

Enjoy!

Homemade Mozart balls - Mozartkugler

Homemade Mozart balls - Mozartkugler

5th Day of Christmas.

Mozart balls or Mozartkugler is a small, round confection made of marzipan, nougat and dark chocolate, named after the famous musician and composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Normally the marzipan will be made of pistachios, but here I use regular almond marzipan, just adding chopped pistachios, for taste and crunch. 

These Mozart balls has been a family favorite for years.

Makes 15-18

Ingredients:

200 g marzipan

100 g soft hazelnut-chocolate (blød nougat)

20 g raw pistachios

150 g dark chocolate, I use Valrhona

Directions:

Chop up the pistachios very finely. Put in a bowl and set aside.

Dice up the hazelnut-chocolate into ⅓ inch (1 cm) cubes. Roll the cubes in the pistachios. Cover the cubes in marzipan. 

Temper the chocolate, and dip the balls in the chocolate. Place on a piece of parchment paper for the chocolate to set.

Store chocolates in an air tight container in the refrigerator. They will keep for a few weeks in the refrigerator.

Elgmørbrad med Blomkålspure

Elgmørbrad med Blomkålspure

Endnu engang deltager jeg i MadbloggerUdfordingen, denne gang nr. 10 - NytårsLøjer.

Jeg havde gruet lidt for at få tildelt "kransekagen" til kl 12, men jeg var utrolig heldig at skulle lave en hovedret. Rent tilfældigt havde jeg lige købt et par elgmørbrader, ved min tyske slagter, så det hele gik op i en højere enhed.

Til 6 personer

Ingredienser:

Kødet:

• 2 elgmørbrad

• salt og peber

Blomkålspure:

• 1 blomkålshoved

• 1 tsk smør

• 20 g parmesan

• 2 spsk creme fraiche (en fed version)

• salt

Sauce:

• 400 ml portvin

• ½-1 tsk smør

• 1 håndfuld blåbær

Tilbehør:

• 6 mellem-store faste kartofler

• 6 gulerødder

• 3-6 svampe

• et par kviste frisk timian

• smør og olie til stegning

Fremgangsmåde:

Kog kartofler i ca 10-12 minutter, de skal ikke være helt møre. Lad dem køle af, og skær dem til, så du får en stor terning pr kartoffel.

Rens svampene med en pensel, der skal endelig ikke vand på. 

Skyl gulerødderne grundigt.

Alle tre ting skal ristes godt af i en pande med smør og lidt olie. Kartoflerne skal få en god stege flade og få lidt sprødhed. Jeg har lidt frisk timian i panden, når jeg rister kartoflerne. Salt grøntsagerne.

Saucen:

Kog portvinen ind til en sirup. Dette skal gøres ved ikke for høj varme. Lige før serveringen tages siruppen af varmen og smør piskes i, dette vil tykne saucen lidt. Kom blåbær ned i den varme sauce og lad den varme igennem.

Saucen passer perfekt til al slags rødt kød.

Blomkålspure:

Kog blomkålen i 15-20 minutter i let saltet vand, til blomkålen er mør og blød. Lad blomkålen dryppe godt af, så pureen ikke bliver for vandet. Kom blomkål, smør, creme fraiche og parmesan i en blender, og blend indtil du har en glat pure. Smag til med salt.  Dette kan gøre dagen før og så bare varme pureen op næste dag. 

Kødet:

Fjern sener fra kødet. Krydr med salt og peber. Brun kødet på en varm pande med olie. Sørg for at få en god stegeoverflade hele vejen rundt. Steg videre på god varme indtil kødet er medium rare (xx℉/xx℃). I det sidste minut, kom en spsk smør på panden og vend kødet i det.

Lad kødet trække på et skærebræt, mens de ønvrige ting komme på varme tallerkener.

Skær kødet tyndt og kom det og lidt sauce på tallerkenerne. Server straks.

Velbekomme!

Til det lækre kød serverede jeg en 2013 Ridge, Pagani Ranch Zinfandel.

December 8th

Æbleskiver, ebelskiver

December 8th.  - Fourth Day of Christmas

Today my maternal grandmother would have turned wow .... 113. The whole family had the tradition to celebrate her Birthday by having Gløgg and Æbleskiver (mulled wine and Ebelskiver) at her place. It was a nice tradition getting the whole family together before the christmas stress set in.

Even though both my grandmother and mom passed away, I always use this day to remember all the good times we had, and send them a lot of love.

Please spread a little love today and enjoy some ebelskiver and mulled wine.

Cheers!