Burning Love - mashed potatoes with topping of vegetable and bacon

 

A classic Danish main course is Burning Love (Brændende kærlighed), which is mashed potatoes served with a topping of fried bacon and chopped onions. I have found a recipe with extra vegetable in the topping, which I have used as inspiration. I served this dish as one of my regular Sunday dinners with my mother.

I have previously made this version of "Burning love" in form of Burning love - mashed root fruit with bacon topping

"Burning Love" - mashed potatoes with topping of vegetable and bacon:  - 4 servings

Mashed root fruits:

• 1000 g potatoes
• 2-2½ dl milk
• 25-50 g butter
• salt & pepper for seasoning

Bacon topping:

• 150 g bacon in small squares
• 2 red onions - finely chopped
• 2 carrot - finely chopped

Other topping:

• Pickled red beets
• Chives

1. Wash and peel the potatoes. Cut the potatoes into medium squares to obtain equal boiling time.
2. Place the potatoes in a medium-large cooking pot. Fill in water, so all the potatoes are covered with water.
3. Boil the potatoes in the cooking pot covered with the lid for approx. 20 minutes.
4. While the root fruit are boiling fry the bacon pieces on a hot frying pan.
5. When the bacon pieces are crispy and brown in colour, when add in the chopped onion. and carrots. 
6. Fry the onion and carrot , until they are soft. 
7. Keep the bacon topping warm on the frying pan, until serving the dish.
8. When the potatoes are soft, empty the cooking pot for water. 
9. Mash the potatoes into a rough puree.
10. Add the milk into the potatoes mash. Stir well. 
11. Add in the butter, and let it melt.
12. Season the mashed potatoes with salt and pepper.
13. Serve the mashed potatoes with bacon topping, pickled red beets and decorate with chopped chives.

Gnocchi with meat sauce

 

During this cold Spring it is good to serve a hot oven dish, so when I found this recipe on gnocchi in the weekly magazine Søndag (issue 12/2021), I decided to make and serve it for my mother on our weekly Sunday dinner.

The only changes, which I have made, was to reduce the amount of chili from 1½ teaspoon to 1 teaspoon, as my mother does not like to spicy food. The other change was to increase the amount of tomato concentrate from 2 teaspoons to the entire size of the small tin of 70 g.

Gnocchi with meat sauce: - 4 servings

• 300 g gnocchi
• 1 fresh mozzarella cheese - medium chopped
• 1 onion - medium chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic - finely choppped
• olive oil
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried chilii
• 250 g minced beef
• 70 g tomato concentrated
• 400 g tomato passata
• 1 dl water
• salt & pepper for seasoning
• fresh basil for topping

1. Heat up the oven to 200'C.
2. Fry the chopped onion & garlic in hot olive oil for a few minutes.
3. Add in the dried herbs, let the herbs fry for 1 minutes.
4. Add in the minced and fry it until it have changed colour.
5. Add in the tomato concentrate, tomato passata, water, salt & pepper.
6. Warm the sauce up.
7. Add the gnocchi into a baking tray, fill the meat sauce on top, and mix it well together.
8. Add the chopped fresh mozzarella on top.
9. Bake the dish at 200'C for 25 minutes.
10. Serve the dish hot together with fresh basil leaves.

One pot pasta dish

A pasta dish, where you prepare everything in only one cooking pot. I have located the recipe in the weekly magazine "Søndag". And I have made no changes to the recipe.

One pot pasta dish: - 2-3 servings

• 1 onion - medium chopped
• olive oil
• 1 clove of garlic - finely chopped
• 180 - 250 g minced beef
• 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2-3 carrots - peeled and medium grated
• 1½ tablespoon sweet chili sauce
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
• 2½ dl water
• 200 g paste
• salt & pepper  - for seasoning
• 1 handful of fresh basil
• Parmesan cheese - freshly grated

1. Fry the chopped onion in the olive oil in medium sized cooking pot.
2. Add in the chopped garlic and the minced beef. Fry until, the beef has changed colour.
3. Stir in the paprika & oregano together with the grated carrot. Fry it for 4-5 minutes.
4. Add in the chili sauce, chopped tomatoes and the water. Add in the pasta as well.
5. Put on the lid on the cooking pot.
6. Let the pasta simmer gently for 15 minutes. Check regular, that the pasta still have water during the cooking.
7. Before serving, season with salt & pepper.
8. Serve on a plate, decorate with fresh basil and freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

 

Morten's aften/evening - what to eat tonight

Today it is Mortens aften/evening, which typical is celebrated in Denmark by eating  roasted duck served with plain as well as brown potatoes, pickled red cabbage and brown sauce. For dessert we will typical enjoy the very Danish dessert ris a la mande (rice porridge) served together with warm cherry sauce. The food is more or less the food, which we will eat as well on Christmas Eve, so the evening could be considered as trial run on cooking the food to be served for Christmas.

As inspiration for food to enjoy on this evening I would like to the following recipes with you. Another way to the enjoy the duck part could be this:

seared duck breast

And to be served together with duck you could serve this

all currant jelly

The jelly can also be used for adding some character to the brown gravy. 

And for the rice dessert (ris a la mande) the cherry sauce could be this version:

  

cherries in rum

Pasta dish with pepper fruit & goat cheese

I have located this recipe in the weekly magazine Søndag (issue 27/2020). As I really, really dislike blue cheese, I decided to remove this type of cheese during my cooking.

And instead of using 2 red pepper fruits, I used a combination of one green and one red pepper fruit. So again use, what you have available already in your kitchen of various coloured pepper fruits.

The goat cheese is added after the cooking of the pasta sauce in connection with the serving. There I found, that the pasta sauce taste such as good without as with the addition of goat cheese. So, if you dislike goat cheese, as some people do, when exclude the use of goat cheese.

Pasta dish with pepper fruit & goat cheese: - 2-3 servings

• 1 onion - medium chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic - medium-fine chopped
• olive oil
• 2 pepper fruit (green, yellow, red) - seeds removed and medium chopped
• 1 can of chopped tomatoes
• ½ dl white wine 
• ½ dl water
• 1½ tablespoon tomato concentrate
• salt, sugar & pepper
• 200 g pasta 
• 100 g fresh goat cheese - medium chopped
• fresh basil

1. Add the chopped onion and garlic into hot oil into a medium-large cooking pot.
2. Add in the chopped pepper fruit, and let it fry for 4-5 minutes.
3. Add in the wine, water, canned tomato and tomato concentrate and stir well.
4. Place the lid on the cooking pot, and let it simmer gentle for 10 minutes.
5. Season with salt, sugar & pepper.
6. Meanwhile boil the pasta.
7. Drain the pasta from water, and add the pasta into the tomato-pepper fruit sauce.
8. Top the pasta dish with goat cheese and basil leaves.
9. Enjoy :-)

Pirog in Summer style

After having made this pirog with rice & tomato I decided it could be fun to make this pirog in more of a Summer style. The Summer style was for me a combination of tomato, pepper fruit & pea together with ham, cheese & eggs.

Any leftovers of this pirog can be re-heated in the microwave oven or serve cold in your lunch pack.

Pirog in Summer style: - 4 servings

• Dough:
• 50 g butter
• 125 ml water
• 15 g fresh yeast
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 250 g wheat flour
• Rice filling:
• 15-20 g butter
• 4-6 spring onions - medium chopped
• 1 green pepper fruit - medium shopped
• ½ teaspoon ground paprika
• 1 teaspoon of turmeric
• 2 dl rice
• 4 dl vegetable stock
• Extra addition into the rice filling after boiling:
• 90-100 g cooked and smoked ham - medium chopped
• 2 eggs
• 50-70 g grated cheese - I used Cheddar
• 6 cocktail tomatoes - cut into 4 for each tomato
• 1½ dl peas
• 1 egg/egg wash for glazing of the dough

1. Add all the ingredients to the dough into the mixing bowl of the stand-alone mixer. Keep the yeast and salt away from each other.
2. Knead the dough ingredients together at speed 2 for 6-8 minutes.
3. Afterwards increase the speed to 4, knead for 2 minutes. Check the consistency of the dough. If it is not OK, when knead it at speed 4 for another 2 minutes. Again check the consistency. If needed, knead again for 1 minute and when check consistency of the dough.
4. Let the dough raise in the mixing bowl covered by a tea towel for approx 45 minutes.
5. Meanwhile prepare the filling for the pirog.
6. Fry the spring onion and pepper fruit in the melted butter in the medium size cooking pot for 1-2 minutes.
7. Add in paprika, turmeric and rice, and let it fry for 2 minutes.
8. Add in the vegetable stock, bring the rice filling to the boil.
9. Let the rice simmer gently boil for approx. 20 minutes.
10. Remove the cooking pot from the heat.
11. Heat up the oven (conventional) to 200'C.
12. Roll out the dough on a piece of baking parchment in the size of 40x50 cm.
13. Place the rolled out dough with baking parchment on a baking tray.
14. Add in ham, cheese, eggs, tomatoes and peas into the boiled rice.
15. Add the pirog filling on one part of the dough.
16. Cover the pirog filling by the other part of the dough.
17. Press the end of dough firmly together. I use a fork to do this.
18. Glazing the surface of the dough with egg wash.
19. Bake the pirog in the middle of the oven at 200'C for approx 30 minutes.
20. Serve warm.

Pirog with rice, ham, cheese, egg, mushroom and tomato

For a rainy and windy Summer evening I decided to twist this recipe on pirog with rice, ham, cheese, egg and mushrooms with addition of cocktail tomatoes.

Any leftovers of this pirog can be re-heated in the microwave oven or serve cold in your lunch pack.

I am in the thinking box in relation to make a more Summer version of this pirog along the line of tomatoes, pea, corn or asparagus.

Pirog with rice, ham, cheese, egg, mushrooms and tomatoes: - 4 servings

• Dough:
• 50 g butter
• 125 ml water
• 15 g fresh yeast
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 250 g wheat flour
• Rice filling:
• 15-20 g butter
• 1 onion - medium chopped
• 1 clove of garlic - finely chopped
• ½ teaspoon ground paprika
• 1 teaspoon of turmeric
• 2 dl rice
• 4 dl vegetable stock
• Extra addition into the rice filling after boiling:
• 90-100 g cooked and smoked ham - medium chopped
• 2 eggs
• 50 g grated cheese - I used Cheddar
• 1 glass of mushrooms
• 6-8 cocktail tomatoes - cut into 4 for each tomato
• 1 egg/egg wash for glazing of the dough

1. Add all the ingredients to the dough into the mixing bowl of the stand-alone mixer. Keep the yeast and salt away from each other.
2. Knead the dough ingredients together at speed 2 for 6-8 minutes.
3. Afterwards increase the speed to 4, knead for 2 minutes. Check the consistency of the dough. If it is not OK, when knead it at speed 4 for another 2 minutes. Again check the consistency. If needed, knead again for 1 minute and when check consistency of the dough.
4. Let the dough raise in the mixing bowl covered by a tea towel for approx 45 minutes.
5. Meanwhile prepare the filling for the pirog.
6. Fry the onion and garlic in the melted butter in the medium size cooking pot for 1-2 minutes.
7. Add in paprika, turmeric and rice, and let it fry for 2 minutes.
8. Add in the vegetable stock, bring the rice filling to the boil.
9. Let the rice simmer gently boil for approx. 20 minutes.
10. Remove the cooking pot from the heat.
11. Heat up the oven (conventional) to 200'C.
12. Roll out the dough on a piece of baking parchment in the size of 40x50 cm.
13. Place the rolled out dough with baking parchment on a baking tray.
14. Add in ham, cheese, eggs, tomatoes and mushrooms into the boiled rice.
15. Add the pirog filling on one part of the dough.
16. Cover the pirog filling by the other part of the dough.
17. Press the end of dough firmly together. I use a fork to do this.
18. Glazing the surface of the dough with egg wash.
19. Bake the pirog in the middle of the oven at 200'C for approx 30 minutes.
20. Serve warm.

Vegetable bolognese with extra tomatoes

After having made this vegetable bolognese a la Søndag I decided to twist this dish by adding in some more tomato concentrate to have more flavour of tomato. I also added in some red pepper fruit together with the carrots, as I was having some left over pepper fruit in my kitchen.

The use of red lentils in this dish is really a large advantages, as it gives texture, which looks a bite like beef.

I served this dish together with freshly baked foccacia bread with olives a la Tupperware

Vegetable bolognese a la Søndag: - 4 servings

• 1 large onion - finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic
• olive oil
• 4 tablespoon tomato concentrate
• 1 tin (400 g) of canned tomato
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 carrots - peeled and medium grated
• 1-2 red pepper fruits - medium chopped
• 6 dl water
• 70 g red lentils
• salt & pepper for seasoning
• 400 g spaghetti
• grated parmesan cheese
• rucola

1. Fry the onion and garlic in hot olive oil, so the onion becomes clear in colour.
2. Add in the tomato concentrate and let it fry for ½ minute.
3. Add in the canned tomatoes with the dried herbs.
4. Add in the water, grated carrot, chopped pepper fruit, lentil. Season with salt & pepper.
5. Bring the mixture to the boil.
6. Let the bolognese simmer under lid for 1 hour.
7. Serve the bolognese with boiled spaghetti, grated parmesan, rucola and foccacia.

Vegetable bolognese a la Søndag

I have found this recipe on vegetable bolognese in the vegetable magazine of "Søndag" (issue 16/2020). The beef has been replaced with red lentils as the protein part of the meal. The original recipe is for two serving, however I decided to double up the recipe, so I had some extra portions for easy food later on in the weeks.

Next time I think, that I will increase the use of tomato concentrates to boost the tomato flavour. As options vegetable inclusion I would also consider to include some pepper fruit on the top of the carrot (vegetable bolognese with extra tomato).

The red lentils is actually giving a nice texture, a little like beef texture.

I served this dish together with freshly baked foccacia bread with tomato and rosemary..

Vegetable bolognese a la Søndag: - 4 servings

• 1 large onion - finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic
• olive oil
• 2 tablespoon tomato concentrate
• 1 tin (400 g) of canned tomato
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 carrots - peeled and medium grated
• 6 dl water
• 70 g red lentils
• salt & pepper for seasoning
• 400 g spaghetti
• grated parmesan cheese
• rucola

1. Fry the onion and garlic in hot olive oil, so the onion becomes clear in colour.
2. Add in the tomato concentrate and let it fry for ½ minute.
3. Add in the canned tomatoes with the dried herbs.
4. Add in the water, grated carrot, lentil. Season with salt & pepper.
5. Bring the mixture to the boil.
6. Let the bolognese simmer under lid for 1 hour.
7. Serve the bolognese with boiled spaghetti, grated parmesan, rucola and foccacia.

Chicken in enchiladas sauce a la Valdemarsro

I have found this recipe on chicken enchiladas by Valdemarsro. It is a very tasty recipe, and it is very easy to make, the only thing is, that is takes quiet some time to prepare. And you also need a pretty good selection on various herbs and spices in more kitchen.

I left out the smoked paprika spice, as I did not have this specific spice in my kitchen collection.

I decided to make two portions of enchiladas sauce, while I made this sauce. The rest of the sauce I have placed in my freezer, so I can make a new portion of enchiladas faster next time.

Chicken in enchiladas sauce a la Valdemarsro: - 4 servings

Enchiladas sauce:

• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 nip of cayenne pepper
• 2 cloves of garlic - finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• ½ onion- finely chopped
• ½ teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 tablespoon wheat flour
• 1 can of chopped tomatoes - 400 g
• 1 dl vegetable stock

Pulled chicken:

• 2 chicken breats
• ½ dl vegetable stock
• 1 can of chopped tomatoes - 400 g
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic - finely chopped

On top:

• 150 g maize corns
• 240 g black beans - boiled or from can
• 50 g Cheddar - grated
• 8 tortillas

Enchiladas sauce:

1. Add all the ground spices dry into a cooking pot.
2. Roast the spices, while stirring, until it smells great.
3. Remove the cooking pot from the heat, add in the olive oil, onion and garlic.
4. Fry the onions, until they are soft.
5. Sprinkle the flour over, stir well and when pour in the vegetable stock. Stir well to avoid the formation of flour lumps.
6. Add in the chopped tomatoes, and the sauce simmer gently without the lid on for 10-15 minutes.
7. Season the sauce with salt & pepper.

Pulled chicken

1. Add chopped tomatoes,garlic, olie, vegetable stock and chicken into a medium cooking pot.
2. Bring the content to the boil.
3. Let the chicken simmer under the lid for 30 minutes.
4. Cut the chicken meat into smaller pieces into the tomato sauce.

Enchiladas:

1. Heat up the fan oven to 180'C.
2. Spread some of the enchiladas sauce out on to a tortilla.
3. Fill pulled chicken, maize, black beans and grated Cheddar cheese on the tortilla.
4. Fold the content into the tortilla like a letter shape.
5. Place the folded tortilla up side down into a baking tray.
6. Bake the enchiladas at 180'C for 15-18 minutes in the oven
7. Serve the baked enchiladas together with guacamole, salsa and rice.

Asparagus risotto

Risotto is one of my favourite dishes, and during Spring time risotto made with asparagus is perfect. For this specific risotto I have used a combination of both green and white asparagus. The types of asparagus is added at different time, as the white asparagus needs more cooking time compared to the green asparagus.

As other Spring dishes with asparagus you could also have a look into Spring green risotto and asparagus soup.

Asparagus risotto: - 2-3 servings

• 1-2 tablespoons olive oil 
• 1 onion - chopped
• 300 g white asparagus - peeled and chopped into pieces of 2-3 cm
• 250 g green asparagus - chopped into pieces of 2-3 cm
• 200 g risotto rice
• 1 dl white wine
• 5 dl vegetable stock - warm
• 20-25 g butter - i smaller pieces
• Parmesan cheese - grated
• salt and pepper for seasoning

1. Chopped all the vegetable in the desired size.
2. Heat up the olive oil in a bigger cooking pot. Add the chopped onion and white asparagus and fry them for 2-3 minutes.
3. Add the risotto rice and stir them around for 1 minute to absorb the oil.
4. Pour in the white wine on top of the vegetable and rice and let the wine cook at lower heat, until the majority of the wine has boiled away. 
5. Afterwards add the warm vegetable stock little by little, let the rice absorb most of the liquid, before adding more vegetable stock. This part of the cooking process takes approx. 20 minutes.Keep stirring regular.
6. When there is 1 dl vegetable stock left, add this vegetable stock and chopped green asparagus. Doing it like this means, that these vegetable will not do be over-cooked.
7. Season with salt and pepper.
8. Add the smaller butter pieces and let them melt into the risotto.
9. Serve the risotto with grated Parmesan and chopped dill on the serving plates/bowls. 
10. Serve together with the white wine. 

"Burning Love" - mashed root fruit with topping of bacon

A classic Danish main course is Burning Love (Brændende kærlighed), which is mashed potatoes served with a topping of fried bacon and chopped onions. I recently noticed a recipe in the weekly magazine "Søndag", where the mashed potatoes was mashed root fruits. So for one of the regular Sunday dinners with my mother I served this dish.

You can replace the dairy cream with normal full-fat or skimmed milk together with 50 g butter instead of. I would normally used milk, but I had to dairy cream as left-over in the refrigerator.

"Burning Love" - mashed root fruit with topping of bacon:  - 4 servings

Mashed root fruits:

• 1000-1100 g root fruits - I used a a mixture of 400 g celeriac + 300 g parsnips + 300 g potatoes
• 200 g dairy cream - 9% fat
• 20-25 g butter
• salt & pepper for seasoning

Bacon topping:

• 300 g bacon in small squares
• 2 onions - finely chopped
• 2 carrot - finely chopped

Other topping:

• Pickled red beets
• Parsley

1. Wash and peel the various root fruits. Cut the root fruit into medium squares to obtain equal boiling time.
2. Place the root fruit pieces in a medium-large cooking pot. Fill in water, so all the root fruit pieces are covered with water.
3. Boil the root fruit pieces in the cooking pot covered with the lid for approx. 20 minutes.
4. While the root fruit are boiling fry the bacon pieces on a hot frying pan.
5. When the bacon pieces are crispy and brown in colour, when add in the chopped onion. Let the onion until, they are clear in colour.
6. Afterwards add in the chopped carrots.
7. Keep the bacon topping warm on the frying pan, until serving the dish.
8. When the root fruit pieces are soft, empty the cooking pot for water. 
9. Mash the root fruit pieces into a rough puree.
10. Add the dairy cream into the root fruit puree. Stir well. 
11. Add in the butter, and let it melt.
12. Season the mashed root fruit with salt and pepper.
13. Serve the mashed root fruit with bacon topping, pickled red beets and decorate with chopped parsley.

Massaman Chicken Curry a la Femina

So what did I serve for my mother for our regular Sunday dinner at my place ? Well, this Sunday it was Massaman Chricken Curry according to the a recipe in the weekly magazine Femina (issue 4/2019).

The changes I made was to use only 400 g chicken breast instead of 500 g kitchen breast, as I could get portions of 400 g kitchen breast in my local supermarket. I also decided to use plain olive oil and plain sugar instead of coconut oil and coconut sugar, as I did not have those ingredients in my kitchen. I cannot see, that to purchase such special ingredients, if you only have to use those for this one dish.

The taste of the final dish is not high in curry strength, which suits my mother excellent, as she is not a fan of spicy food. So if you want more curry flavour, you have to increase the level of curry paste or try another type of curry paste.



Massaman Chichen Curry a al Femina: - 4 servings

• 400 g chicken breast - cut into medium sized squares
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 2 tablespoon of curry paste
• 1 red onion - thinly chopped
• 500 g potatoes - peeled and cut into medium sized squares
• 500 g sweet potato - peeled and cut into medium sized squares
• 400 g coconut cream
• 2 teaspoons of sugar
• 2 tablespoons of fish sauce
• 50 g salted peanuts
• rice

1. Heat up the oil and curry paste in a medium sized cooking pot.
2. Fry the chicken pieces until, they are not raw anymore.
3. Add in the chopped red onion and it fry for 1-2 minutes.
4. Add in the chopped potatoes and sweet potato and let it fry for 2-3 minutes.
5. Add in the coconut cream.
6. Place the lid on the cooking pot, and let the dish simmer gently for 15 minutes, until the potatoes are boiled tender.
7. Meanwhile cook the rice.
8. Season the curry sauce with sugar and fish sauce prior to serving the dish.
9. Serve the chicken dish with boiled rice and salted peanuts.
10. Enjoy :-)

Pasta with pea and bacon

I have located this recipe on pasta with pea and bacon in the weekly magazine "Søndag" (issue 3/2019), as it is an easy dish to make, I decided to make it and served for my mother for our usual Sunday dinner.

I decided to reduce the bacon amount from 200 g to 150, as the pack of bacon contains 150 g, and I did not want to open another pack of bacon, which perhaps would be soiled, beofre I would the ramaining part of it.

For me this pasta dish have some Spring theme over it.

Pasta with pea and bacon: 2-3 servings

• 250 g pasta
• 300 g peas
• 150 g bacon in squares
• 1 leak - thinly sliced
• 1 dl dairy whipping cream, between 18-38% fat
• 3-4 tablespoons Parmesan cheese - freshly grated
• ½ organic lemon - zest and juice
• Salt & pepper for seasoning
• Parsley & dill- optional

1. Start by frying the bacon on a warn frying pan.
2. When the bacon is brown and crispy, when add in the sliced leak and let it fry in the fat from the bacon.
3. Meanwhile boil the pasta.
4. 3 minutes before the pasta is boiled, add in the frozen peas, and boil the pasta and pea for the remaining 3 minutes of the pasta's boiling time.
5. after 2-3 minutes frying of the leak on the frying pan, pour in the dairy cream.
6. Add in the lemon zest & juice together with the grated Parmesan cheese into the frying pan. Stir well.
7. Season with salt & pepper. Add in fresh parsley and dill.
8. Drain the pasta and peas from the boiling water.
9. Add the pasta & peas into the bacon-leak sauce.
10. Serve in bowls.
11. Enjoy :-)

Pasta with mushrooms in spicy tomato sauce

Apparently I have come into a period, where I am making various pasta dishes in spicy tomato sauce (I recently made this spaghetti arrabbiata), perhaps it is due to, that on cold Winter days it can be good to eat some food with a certain level of spiciness.

My mother would probably decide this pasta sauce as spicy, I would call it delicate in it´s spiciness, so you could consider to increase the level of chili seeds from 1 teaspoon to 1½ teaspoon.

This pasta dish is very filling, which I think come the tomato sauce, being filled in fried mushrooms. So all in all it is a dish, what I would to cook again.

I found the recipe in the weekly magazine "Søndag" (issue 52/2018). I have made the following modifications. I decided to use a combination of both onion and garlic. And I decided to add in the chili seeds, when I started the cooking time of the tomato sauce instead of first adding the chili seeds just before serving the sauce.

It is not a quick fix to too cook this sauce, as it takes minimum 20 minutes to cook the pasta sauce as well as frying the fresh mushrooms.

Pasta with mushrooms in spicy tomato sauce: - 4 servings

• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 onion - finely chopped
• 1 clove of garlic - finely chopped
• 70 g of tomato concentrate
• ½ dl of white wine
• 800 g canned tomatoes
• salt & pepper for seasoning of the sauce
• 1 teaspoon of chili seeds
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 400-500 g fresh mushrooms - thinly sliced
• 400 g dried pasta
• Parmesan cheese - freshly grated
• Basil leaves - optional

1. Fry the chopped onion and garlic in hot olive oil in a medium size cooking pot, until the onion is clear in it.
2. Add in the tomato concentrate and let it fry for ½-1 minute.
3. Add in the white wine, and let is boil down.
4. Add in the canned tomatoes, season with salt, pepper and chili seeds.
5. Bring the tomato sauce to a gentle simmer for min. 20 minutes.
6. Meanwhile fry the mushrooms in 1 tablespoon olive oil in a frying pan. 
7. When the mushrooms have be reduced in size and change colour as well as texture, they can be added into the tomato sauce
8. Meanwhile cook the pasta.
9. Serve the pasta with the mushroom-tomato sauce together with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and some basil leaves.
10. Enjoy :-)

Spaghetti arrabbiata

I have found this recipe on shaghetti arrabbiata in the one the weekly newsletter coming along with my weekly vegetable box from Årstiderne. I know it is not the season for fresh tomatoes from your own garden, but on a cold and windy Winter day it can be good to eat some food with a certain level of spiciness.

I used fresh cherry tomatoes. You can use other fresh tomatoes or canned tomatoes. I am considering to add in some tomato concentrate next time to have a more intense flavour of tomato. I would also consider to use more chili, as the taste was not very strong.


Spaghetti arrabbiata: - 4 portions

• 400 g dried spaghetti 
• ½ chili - de-seeded and finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic - finely chopped
• 2 tablespoon of olive oil
• 400 - 500 g fresh cherry tomatoes - cut into half size
• salt for seasoning
• fresh basil
• Parmesan cheese - freshly grated

1. Start by boiling the spaghetti for 9-10 minnutes
2. Meanwhile heat up the olive oil on a frying pan.
3. Start by frying the garlic and chili for 1-2 minutes.
4. Afterwards add the chopped tomatoes.
5. Let the tomato sauce simmer gently, until the spaghetti is ready.
6. Remove the spaghetti from the water and add into to the tomato sauce.
7. Serve together with fresh basil leaves and freshly grated Parmesan cheese
8. Enjoy :-)

Pirog with rice, ham, cheese, egg and mushrooms

For my recent Sunday dinner with my mother I made this pirog with a filling of rice, cheese, egg and mushrooms. I recall, that the original recipe was a part of the magazine "Samvirke" issued by COOP back in 80's. And here I actually made this dish very regular, when I was cooking at home at my parents. However, the recipe disappeared, and it is first recently, that I have located the identical recipe here Allans opskriftssamling.dk.

So it was really a trip down memory lane making this pirog again and serving it for my mother last Sunday.

I have made a few adjustments. Instead of margarine I have off cause been using butter :-) and on top I have been adding in some mushroom from glass. And instead of kneading the dough by hand, I used a stand-alone mixer for the "hard work" of kneading :-)

Any leftovers of this pirog can be re-heated in the microwave oven or serve cold in your lunch pack.

Pirog with rice, ham, cheese, egg and mushrooms: - 4 servings

• Dough:
• 50 g butter
• 125 ml water
• 15 g fresh yeast
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 250 g wheat flour
• Rice filling:
• 15-20 g butter
• 1 onion - medium chopped
• 1 clove of garlic - finely chopped
• ½ teaspoon ground paprika
• 1 teaspoon of turmeric
• 2 dl rice
• 4 dl vegetable stock
• Extra addition into the rice filling after boiling:
• 90-100 g cooked and smoked ham - medium chopped
• 2 eggs
• 50 g grated cheese - I used Cheddar
• 1 glass of mushrooms
• 1 egg/egg wash for glazing of the dough

1. Add all the ingredients to the dough into the mixing bowl of the stand-alone mixer. Keep the yeast and salt away from each other.
2. Knead the dough ingredients together at speed 2 for 6-8 minutes.
3. Afterwards increase the speed to 4, knead for 2 minutes. Check the consistency of the dough. If it is not OK, when knead it at speed 4 for another 2 minutes. Again check the consistency. If needed, knead again for 1 minute and when check consistency of the dough.
4. Let the dough raise in the mixing bowl covered by a tea towel for approx 45 minutes.
5. Meanwhile prepare the filling for the pirog.
6. Fry the onion and garlic in the melted butter in the medium size cooking pot for 1-2 minutes.
7. Add in paprika, turmeric and rice, and let it fry for 2 minutes.
8. Add in the vegetable stock, bring the rice filling to the boil.
9. Let the rice simmer gently boil for approx. 20 minutes.
10. Remove the cooking pot from the heat.
11. Heat up the oven (conventional) to 200'C.
12. Roll out the dough on a piece of baking parchment in the size of 40x50 cm.
13. Place the rolled out dough with baking parchment on a baking tray.
14. Add in ham, cheese, eggs and mushrooms into the boiled rice.
15. Add the pirog filling on one part of the dough.
16. Cover the pirog filling by the other part of the dough.
17. Press the end of dough firmly together. I use a fork to do this.
18. Glazing the surface of the dough with egg wash.
19. Bake the pirog in the middle of the oven at 200'C for approx 30 minutes.
20. Serve warm.

Pumpkin soup with parsnips and potato a la Føtex

As my way of  celebrating Halloween I was serving pumpkin soup yesterday evening using the recipe on Føtex græskarsuppe.

I made no changes to the recipe. It is a good recipe, however the use of the roasted pumpkin seeds did not bring anything special to me. It was actually pretty distracting to chewing these pumpkin seeds, so after a few seeds I got ride of the remaining pumpkin seeds !!!

I am wondering, if exchanging the coconut cream with mascarpone would bring some more body to the soup. Also the spice level is very moderate, so it is not harming anyone.

Pumpkin soup with parsnips and potato a la Føtex: - 3-4 servings

• 3-4 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 Hokaido pumpkin - 700-800 g - deseeded, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 onion - roughly chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic - roughly chopped
• 200 g parsnips - peeled and roughly chopped
• 150 g potato - peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon curry
• 2 teaspoon curry paste
• ½ l vegetable stock
• 400 g canned coconut cream
• 200 g rye bread - roughly chopped
• 1-2 tablespoon olive oil
• ½ teaspoon salt
• Pumpkin seeds and fried bacon pieces as optional topping

1. Fry the onion and garlic in the olive oil in a cooking pot for 2 minutes.
2. Add in the parsnips and potato, and fry for another 3-4 minutes.
3. Add in the various spices and them fry for 1-2 minutes.
4. Add in the pumpkin, vegetable stock and coconut cream, and let the soup simmer gently for 20 minutes.
5. Meanwhile mix the rye bread crumbs, olive oil and salt together.
6. Roast the rye bread crumbs in the oven (fan) at 175'C for 15-20 minutes.
7. Roast the pumpkin seeds on a dry pan for 5 minutes.
8. Blend the soup together.
9. Serve the soup with toppings in form of roasted rye bread crumbs, pumpkin seeds and bacon.

Bacon risotto

I am huge fan of making risotto. It is not a difficult dish to make, it "only" requires, that you have approx. 30 minutes, where you have to be present in the kitchen, as you have add in the liquid stock little by little.

I have found this recipe on bacon risotto in a the free magazine called " Kulør, issue October 2018". Instead of frying the onion and risotto rice in oil, I used butter. And I as I could not find dried boletus in my supermarket, I used a selection of dried forest fungo as alternative.

I did also change the way of adding in the vegetable stock from all the stock in one go to addition of the vegetable stock little by little compared to the original recipe.

Bacon risotto: - 2-3 servings

• 140 - 150 bacon squares
• 10-15 g butter
• 1 onion- finely chopped
• 1 clove of garlic - finely chopped
• 2 dl risotto rice
• 1 handfull of dried forest fungi - medium chopped
• 1 dl white wine
• 7 dl vegetable stock
• 3 tablespoon butter
• 50-75 g parmesan - grated
• chives

1. Start by frying the bacon squares on a frying pan, this takes approx 15 minutes.
2. Melt the butter in the cooking pan.
3. Fry the onion and garlic in the butter.
4. Add in the risotto rice, and let them fry for 1-2 minutes.
5. Add in the white wine. Let the rice absorb the white wine.
6. Add in the chopped dried fungi.
7. As starting point add in 2 dl vegetable stock.
8. Afterwards add in the vegetable stock little by little, let the rice absorb the liquid, before the next portion is added.
9. Stir regular during this part of the cooking process.
10. After the addition of all the vegetable stock, add in the butter and most of the Parmesan cheese. Stir until the butter and cheese are melted into the risotto.
11. Pour the risotto into individual serving dishes.
12. Decorate with fried bacon, slices of Parmesan cheese and chives.
13. Enjoy with a good glass of white wine.

Pea soup with bacon bites

Autumn time is many ways time for making and enjoying various home-made soups.

I have found this recipe on pea soup with bacon in the recipe collection of COOP. I have made a few adjustments. I did not have any lemon, so the lemon zest was not added into the soup. I also decided to fry the radish and nut in the fat of the bacon after the frying of the bacon. Instead of hazel nuts I used cashew nuts instead of, as I could not find the hazel nuts anywhere in my kitchen. And finally I increase the amount of vegetable stock from 1 dl to 2½ dl.

The original recipe states, that it can serve 4 persons, which I find a little hard to believe, at my mother and I almost empty the cooking pot with the soup !!! So in my opinion the recipe only serves 2 persons, if it is served as main course. If served as appetizer, when it can served 4 persons or more.

I found the soup to be a little to sweet in taste, which could be due to the lack of the lemon zest. Perhaps addition of ½-1 teaspoon apple/white wine vinegar could have reduced the sweetness of the soup as well ?

Another suggestion for soup based on pea could be this pea & courgette, and off cause soup on pumpkin is very most in season right here and now.


Pea soup with bacon bites: - 2 persons

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 cloves of garlic - roughly chopped
• 1 onion - roughly chopped
• 600 g peas - fresh or frozen, I used frozen
• 2½ dl vegetable stock
• 2½ dl dairy whipping cream with 38% fat, cream with lower fat content can also be used
• Salt & pepper for seasoning

Topping:

• 140-150 g bacon squares
• 100 g radish - medium-thin sliced
• 2-3 tablespoon cashew nuts

1. Fry the chopped garlic and onion in the butter for approx 2 minutes.
2. Add in the peas and vegetable stock.
3. Let the soup simmer gentle for 20 minutes.
4. Meanwhile fry the bacon bites on a frying pan.
5. When the bacon bites are crispy, remove them from the frying pan.
6. Fry the radish slices and nuts in the bacon fat for approx 5-6 minutes.
7. Blend the soup into a homogeneous mass
8. Pout the dairy cream and bring the soup to the boil.
9. Season with salt & pepper.
10. Serve the pea soup with the topping of crispy bacon bites, radish slices and cashew nuts.
11. Enjoy.