Boneless Birds / Benløse Fugle

Classic Boneless Birds.

Boneless Birds is an old Danish classic, that you nowadays would call mormormad or Grandma food. It’s old school meat and potato food with a brown gravy. It’s a good comfort food on the heavier side. I served a side of lightly roasted carrots and some boiled fingerling potatoes along side, but other crispy vegetables and maybe a crisp salad would work too. But I still make this dish during the fall or winter months.

When my mom made it she used a piece of smoked speck instead of bacon, making the dish take a more smoky note. As a child the I really disliked the fatty piece of speck. Later she started using a thick piece of bacon, and the dish became more pleasing to me.

The name is kinda weird, but similar dishes, stuffed veal or beef, is known in France and England, where they are called headless birds or veal birds. And maybe beef were more common and cheaper compared to veal, so maybe that’s why veal birds became a beef dish.

I was lucky to get hold of a slap of nicely smoked bacon in the store, making me able to cut some thick slices that I cut into sticks, to roll into the beef. I have made a boneless bird dish earlier, but back then I used a smoked Gouda cheese for a more updated version.

Serves 4.

Ingredients:

• 4-6 slices of beef scallopini (thin slices of skirt steak)

• 4-6 thick slices of smoked bacon, cut into sticks the size of string cheese

• ½ medium onion, grated

• salt and pepper for seasoning

• 300 ml (1¼ cup) beef stock

• 3 bay leaves

• 200 ml (¾ cup) heavy whipping cream

• gravy browning

• gravy thickening (shake to mix some milk + 3 tablespoons flour+ pinch salt)

Directions:

Season the steak slices generously on both sides with salt and pepper.

Take a strip of the steak and lay it with the short side towards you. Place 1-2 sticks of bacon and about a teaspoon grated onion in one end, roll the steak up over the filling, securing it with a toothpick or trussing layers along the length of the roll. Repeat with the remaining meat slices.

Brown the rolls on all sides in a large sauté pan, making sure not to crowd the pan. Crowding the pan will boil the meat instead of searing. Add beef stock and bay leaves to the pan, and turn down the heat. Let the rolls cook on a low simmer for about 1 hour, until the meat is cooked tender. Remove the steak rolls from the pan, and add cream to the drippings/sauce. Let the sauce cook to a boil, and add the thickening and let it cook for a few minutes to remove the taste of flour. Season the sauce with salt and pepper, and add gravy browning to get a deep brown color. Place the rolls back in the pan, covering them with the sauce. Serve immediately with boiled or mashed potatoes.

Enjoy!

Beef Stroganoff with Celery Root Mash

Beef Stroganoff with Celery Root Mash

Beef stroganoff was a fall favorite in my childhood. My mom loved to make simmer food, especially when entertaining guests. She could get the dinner started, clean up and get ready for the guests to arrive, instead of sweating over the pots and pans, when the guests arrived. I totally get her. I believe this is the way to go, when you're having guests over. 

Normally stroganoff is served with pasta, but in my family we have always had mashed potatoes. Today I opted for at lighter version with the celery root mash

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Stroganoff:

• 10 slices bacon (10 thin slices or 5 thick cut), diced

• 2 pounds Beef stew meat

• 2 tablespoons paprika

• 1 tablespoon hot paprika (or regular paprika if you don't like the spiciness)

• 1½ teaspoon smoked paprika

• 3 onions (medium or 4 small), diced

• 2 tablespoons salted butter

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 400 g button mushrooms, sliced

• 3 tablespoons tomato paste

• 1 teaspoon beef base

• 200 ml water

• 200 g creme fraiche

• ½ cup (1 dl) whipping cream

• salt & pepper

Mash:

• 2 celery root

• 4 medium potatoes

• 2- 3 tablespoons butter

• ¼ cup (½ dl) hot milk

• salt to taste

Directions:

Stroganoff:

Place bacon in a large pot or Dutch oven and heat over medium heat. Cook bacon until crispy and fat has rendered, about 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer bacon to a paper towel-lined plate, leaving some of the fat in the Dutch oven. 

Sauté onion and mushrooms in some of the rendered bacon fat, until golden brown. Remove from Dutch oven, and set aside. 

Put some all-purpose flour in a ziploc bag, add paprika, some salt and pepper. Pad dry the meat, and place them in the ziploc bag, cover the meat with the spicy flour.

Heat the butter in the Dutch oven and sear the meat in batches so you get a good sear on the meat, and set aside. Wipe the pot clean with a paper towel. 

Heat the olive oil to the pot, add the tomato paste and cook until tomato paste turns a deeper red, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add  meat, onions, mushrooms, bacon, beef base and water. (Beef stock can be used instead of water and beef base.)  Cook the dish for 2-3 hours on a low simmer. Add creme fraiche and cream, and let simmer for another 30 minutes.

Mash:

Peel and dice the potatoes and celery roots. Put them in a large pot with enough water to cover them. Add about 1 teaspoon salt. Boil them for about 25-30 minutes, until soft. 

Drain celery roots and potatoes well, return them to the pot, and let the remaining water evaporate for a minute or two before returning the vegetables to the pot. Add butter and mash with a potato masher until smooth. Add the milk and season with salt. I whipped the mash to get it more creamy, but that is optional. 

Serve Stroganoff over pasta or over hearty mash.

Enjoy!

Chicken Braised in White Wine (Coq a Vin Blanc)

Chicken Braised in White Wine (Coq a Vin Blanc)

I really love the regular coq au vin. The first dinner i ever made for my husband  when I first met him, was coq au vin. Little did I know, that he didn't like wine. Well I didn't scare him off completely and now I learned him to drink wine. I must be a bad influence...

Normally I'll make coq au vin with red wine, but at a cooking class at Sur La Table we learned to make it with white wine, and it was so delicious, the perfect simmer food.

Ingredients:

• 200 g thick-cut bacon, cut into cubes
• canola oil, as needed
• salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 1 good sized chicken for roasting (4 to 5 pound), cut into 8 serving pieces 
• 1 large onion, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces 
• 2 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces 
• 2 large celery ribs, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces 
• 1 leek, trimmed, white and light green parts only, cut into 1-inch pieces 
• 3 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 head garlic, halved 
• ⅓ cup  (30 g) all-purpose flour
• 1 bottle full-bodied dry white wine, such as white Burgundy.*
• 2 teaspoons chicken paste
• 500 ml water
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme 
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 teaspoon cracked black peppercorns
• 3 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves, for garnish

Gremolata:

• handfull Italian parsley
• 2-3 lemons, the zest of
• 3 garlic cloves

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place a rack in the bottom third. 

Place bacon in a large Dutch oven and heat over medium heat. Cook bacon until crispy and fat has rendered, about 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer bacon to a paper towel-lined plate, leaving some of the fat in the Dutch oven. 

Season the chicken pieces generously on all sides with salt and pepper. Place chicken in the Dutch oven and sear to a deep brown on all sides, about 8 to 10 minutes, working in batches as needed. Transfer chicken to a rimmed baking sheet. 

Add onion, carrot, celery, and leek to Dutch oven and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are browned, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add tomato paste and garlic and cook, stirring often, until tomato paste turns a deeper red, another 1 to 2 minutes. Sprinkle flour over vegetable mixture and cook, stirring to incorporate, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add wine to Dutch oven and, using a wooden spoon, scrape the bottom of the pan to release any browned bits. Cook until wine mixture begins to thicken, about 4 to 5 minutes. 

Return chicken to Dutch oven along with any juices from the baking sheet and add chicken base and enough water to barely cover the chicken. Add thyme, bay leaves and peppercorns, stirring to combine. Cover the Dutch oven and place in the preheated oven. Braise the chicken until fork-tender, about 50 to 60 minutes. 

Remove Dutch oven from oven and, using tongs, carefully transfer the chicken to a rimmed baking sheet. Cover loosely with foil to keep warm. 

Discard the thyme sprigs and the bay leave. Place dutch oven over high heat and cook braising liquid until reduced and thickened, about 10 to 12 minutes, skimming the surface for excess fat. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed. 

Serve family style with gremolata, mashed potatoes or vegetables.

Serve immediately.

Gremolata:

Rinse the parsley, zest the lemons and peel the garlic cloves. Finely chop the ingredients together. I use the mini chopper that came with my Immersion Blender. 

* Don't use a oaked wine, since oakey wine can turn bitter when reduced.