Warm Asian-Style Slaw

I love a crunchy slaw. Normally I use napa cabbage and a spicy asian-style dressing, like I used in the angry tacos. But adding the peanut butter to this warm slaw, gives the slaw a nice creaminess. 

This slaw will be perfect for a weekend BBQ, or served with tacos with an asian twist.

Serves 3-4.

Ingredients:

Dressing:

• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• sesame oil
• 2 teaspoons grated ginger
• 2 teaspoons grated Serrano pepper
• 4 tablespoons creamy peanutbutter

Slaw:

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 2 carrots, julienned
• ½ small red cabbage
• ¼ green cabbage
• ½ english cucumber, julienned
• 4 scallions, thinly sliced
• some fresh coriander, chopped
• season with salt

Directions:

Whisk together the ingredients for the dressing, set aside.

Heat the oil in a wok. Sauté carrots while stirring for about a minute,  add the cabbage and keep stirring, while cooking for about 2 minutes.  Remove from heat and add the rest of the ingredients and dressing, tossing well to coat.

Serve immediately. 

Enjoy!

Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Stuffed Chicken Breasts

I have been experimenting with stuffing chicken breasts for years. I wanted to stuff cheese and some kind of vegetables. Most cheeses will melt and disappear during the cooking process, but somehow goat cheese works perfectly, and the flavors from the scallions and bell peppers pair well with the chicken and sage.

Serves 2.

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts
• 3 tablespoons goat cheese
• 5 scallions, finely sliced
• ¼ red bell pepper, diced
• 1 teaspoon water
• 2-4 sage leaves
• 6 slices prosciutto
• 100 ml white wine
• a splash cream, optional

Directions:

 Preheat the oven to 400℉ (200℃).

Mix the goat cheese with scallions, bell pepper and water, so you have a paste. Place a chicken breast on the cutting board. Cut a pocket into the breast horizontally from the side. Place half the cheese mixture into the pocket you just made. Place a sage leave on top of the chicken breast. Wrap 2-3 slices prosciutto round the chicken breast, to lock the mixture inside. Place chicken breast in an ovenproof dish. Repeat with the other chicken breast.

Pour the wine and cream into the dish, and cook the chicken in the oven for 40-45 minutes. 

Serve the chicken with pasta and a nice salad.

Enjoy!

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble 

Crumbles was new to me when I moved to the US, I have no idea, why we never made this before. Crumbles is perfect when you need to make a quick dessert. And you can make it with fresh or frozen fruit. This time I made it with the classic combination: strawberries and rhubarb. 

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

Berry filling:

• 225 g strawberries
• 190 g rhubarb
• 20 g sugar
• 2½ tablespoons cornstarch 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla paste

Crumble:

• 125 g brown sugar
• 55 g all-purpose flour
• 60 g rolled oats
• 75 g slivered almonds
• 75 g butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425℉ (220℃). 

Wash and slice strawberries and rhubarbs and mix them with sugar, cornstarch and vanilla paste. Set aside while making the crumble. 

Mix brown sugar, flour and oats in large bowl. Add chilled butter, using your fingers, blend butter into mixture until coarse crumbs form, then mix in the almonds. 

Divide strawberry/rhubarb mixture among 3-4 ramekins. Divide oat mixture among dishes, sprinkling it evenly.

Place ramekins on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350℉ (175℃), and continue baking until the crisp topping is golden brown and rhubarb filling is bubbling at edges, about 15-20 minutes longer. Let the crumbles cool for a while before serving.

Serve crumbles with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or some cream fraiche.

Enjoy!

2 Kinds of Hveder - Wheat Rolls

Toasted rolls - ristede hvedeknopper

Even though I'm a expat, I do celebrate Danish Holidays. This gives me (almost) double-up on holidays, the more the merrier 😃

Store Bededag or Prayers Day is coming up on Friday. According to traditions everybody had the day off on Store Bededag even the bakers. You were actually meant to stop all work, play, travels and all games. To make up for not being able to get any fresh bread on Store Bededag, the bakers made an abundance of hvedeknopper (wheat rolls), to tie people over. And the tradition of eating the toasted hvedeknopper the night before Store Bededag was born. Ok people was meant to save the rolls to the next day, but who can resist a fresh-baked roll?

Hveder is one of my favorite rolls. The soft, sweet, fresh baked cardamom roll is so delicious served with some butter. Most people toast the rolls, but I prefer them not toasted. 

Here are my recipes for Hveder:

Traditional Hveder - hvedeknopper:

Hveder - sweet rolls

Grove hveder - 3-Grain sweet rolls:

Toasted 3-grain rolls - ristede grove hvedeknopper

Cinnamon Knots - Kanelsnurrer

Cinnamon Knots - Kanelsnurrer

This is a take on a cinnamon roll, without the frosting. In my opinion these are a million times better than the classic cinnamon roll. The cinnamon knot is still cake-like, but it is not overly sweet.
The cinnamon knots reminds me of the Danish kanelstang without the custard.
Yum, yum, yum.

This recipe is adapted from Claus Meyer.

Makes 12-15.

Ingredients:

Dough:

• 500 ml cold milk
• 50 g live yeast, 4 tsk dry yeast
• 1 egg
• 975 g all-purpose flour
• 150 g sugar
• 10 g salt
• 15 g cardamom
• 150 g butter, diced room temperature

Filling:

• 200 g butter, soft
• 200 g sugar
• 20 g cinnamon

Directions:

In the bowl for a stand mixer dissolve the yeast in the cold milk. Add sugar, salt, cardamom, egg and flour. Knead the dough for 7-8 minutes until you have a smooth not sticky dough.

Add the butter dices to the bowl and mix the butter into the dough on low speed. It's a bit messy, but the dough will come together again. Knead the dough for another 7-8 minutes. Let the dough rise covered for about 60-80 minutes. Place the dough in the refrigerator for 60 minutes.

Mix the filling by whisking it together with a hand mixer, set aside. 

Preheat the oven to 400℉ (200℃).

Divide the dough into 12-15 even balls. 

Roll out each dough ball into thin rectangles-ish. Spread some of the filling onto the dough in a thin layer. Roll up the dough to a log. Seal the log by pinching the edge into the dough.

Cut the roll in two almost all the way, and twist the now two strings around each other, filling-side up, and  finally tie a knot on the dough. 

Place the knots on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. 
Bake the cinnamon knots for 12-14 minutes.

Serve cinnamon knot with a nice cup of tea or coffee. 

Enjoy!