Happy Halloween without tricky & treat

 

Happy Halloween

I am not celebrating Halloween by dressing out as a scary monster or handing out candy to children knocking on my front door demanding "tricky or treat".

For me a "celebration" of Halloween is more linked to decorating the outdoors with pumpkins, which you can light up either by candle light or electrical lights as a way of bringing light into a very dark time of the year here end of October and all of November. It is a very dark of the year as the month of December involves much more decoration of both inside and outside with plenty of lights.

And as pumpkins have become more and more in season here in Denmark, you will find more and more recipes on either soup or cakes having pumpkin as the main ingredients.

As inspiration you could look into these recipes:

• Pumpkin soup
• Happy Halloween soup
• Pumpkin pie
• Pumpkin pie with muscovado sugar

And tomorrow I will share the recipe on pumpkin soup with parsnips and potato, which I have enjoyed for Halloween evening of 2018.

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.

Tea cup set turned in a serving item

As a supplement for my collection of China to be used for serving of afternoon tea (China tea cups, White Element serving dishes & Blå Blomst tea cups), I have been upcycling a set of Blå Blomst China tea cup and cake dish into a serving  item.

I found the China tea set in a local second hand shop, afterwards I went to the local cafe & decoration shop Cafebutikken Vejle, where I have, that old China cups and plates have been turned to such serving items.

My mother could not believe her own hears, when I told what I had done !!! Destroying China ike this by drilling holes into it !!!! Vandalism !!!!

It costed me 129 DKK to have the Cafebutikken Vejle drilling holes and assembled into such a serving item + the price for the actually China. And it can happen, that the China breaks during the drilling process.

All in all I am very happy about the outcome. And my mother has forgiven me for my "vandalism against Royal Copenhagen China", when she saw the result.

I have a similar item in Christma style in the planning process for serving sweet treats in connection the upcoming Christmas.

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.

Ceramic vase by Jørgen Mogensen

During my recent shopping exhibition in the Limfjord area I stumbled over the retro/antique shop KrejlerbiXen in Nykøbing Mors. As I had already brought a local gin and plenty of dresses, I decided to have a look inside this shop as well.

Here I located some tea cups made by Royal Copenhagen in a old pattern call "Blå Blomst". I also found a "new" ceramic vase in my favourite of green. This vase is made by the ceramist Jørgen Mogensen, which still have a reasonable price level.

Meat balls in coconut-curry sauce a la Coop

Meat balls in curry sauce known as "Boller i karry" is a classic Danish food, which also is referred to mormormad (Grand Ma´s food). Meat balls in curry has always been one of my favourite food, which I always pick, when available for example in the canteen at work.

Quiet recently I served these "boller i karry a la Arla" for my mother at our weekly Sunday lunch. This time I located another recipe on boller i karry  from Coop with the use of fresh ginger, soya sauce and coconut cream.

Meat balls in coconut-curry sauce a la Coop: - 4 servings

• Meat balls:
• 450 g minced meat of veal and pork
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons dark sesame oil
• 1 onion - finely minced
• 3 tablespoosn wheat flour
• 2 cm fresh ginger - peeled and grated finely
• Curry sauce
• 35 g butter
• 1 onion - finely minced
• 2 teaspoon of curry
• 3 tablespoons wheat flour
• 2 dl of the boiling water from the meat balls
• 2 apples - peeled and medium chopped
• 3 carrots - peeled and medium chopped
• 400 g coconut cream
• salt & pepper for seasoning
• turmeric - optional
• rice boiled with 1 teaspoon turmeric in the water for boiling
• salted roasted peanuts
• mango chutney 

1. Start by mixing the minced meat and soy sauce together for 1 minute, which makes the meat texture more stiff in it. 
2. Afterwards mix in the minced onion, egg, sesame oil, fresh ginger and flour, stir well.
3. Let the meat mixture rest for ½ hour in the refrigerator.
4. Bring a cooking pot full of water (with salt) into the boil.
5. Form the meat mass into smaller meat balls, which when is added into the boiling water. The meat balls are ready, when they pop up to the surface of the boiling water. Boiling time is around 8 minutes. Remove the meat balls from the water. Keep the boiling water for later use in the curry sauce.
6. Let the butter fry at high temperature in a cooking pan without turning brown.
7. Add in the minced onion and curry, let it fry for approx. 1-2 minute.
8. Sprinkle over the wheat flour and let it dissolve into mixture.
9. Add in 2 dl of the boiling water from the meat balls little by little, as you whip the mixture.
10. Add in the chopped apples and carrots.
11. Afterwards add in the coconut cream, let the sauce simmer gentle for 5 minutes.
12. Season with salt and pepper and adjust if need the colour with tumeric.
13. Add in the boiled meat balls and heat them up in the curry sauce for approx. 5 minutes
14. Serve the meat balls in curry together with boiled rice, roasted peanuts and mango chutney.

Pecan nuts and baking magazines from US

Back again in my own little kitchen after a busy week in the US attending an internal company conference. We had a busy schedule from 7 AM to 8 PM all days, however some of us still managed to find both a supermarket in form of Whole Food (nick named whole pay check by our American colleagues) and a shopping mall, where we found some great stuff in Macy's, which was having a sale :-)

As the space in my suitcase was limited due to the shopping for cloth and boots in Macy´s, I only had room for some bags of pecan nuts, a small bag of gourmet gummies with champagne flavour and three baking magazines with focus on baking for the Autumn season and cookies.

My plan so fare is to bake a pecan pie and perhaps scones with pecan nuts. The pecan nuts could also be used for Mont Blanc tarts.

Tea cups in Blå Blomst

During my recent shopping exhibition in the Limfjord area I stumbled over the retro/antique shop KrejlerbiXen in Nykøbing Mors. As I had already brought a local gin and plenty of dresses, I decided to have a look inside this shop as well.

And here I located some tea cups made by Royal Copenhagen in a old pattern call "Blå Blomst", which is no longer in production. I found this pattern to fit perfect into the style of my other China tea cups in the pattern "Prinsesse" and "Musselmalet Halvblonde", so I went away with 2 tea cups, plates and serving dish for cookies. I also stumbled over a vase in my favorite colour of green, but more this vase at a later time.

So now I can invite 5 guests for a real fine afternoon tea party :-) And my good rowing friends were joking about, that now I could invite all of them around for afternoon tea and they would bring their own individual tea, as we each have our own personal preferences within tea (black, green or herbal), This means, that we on rowing trip bring along these individual teas with us, as we cannot agree about what tea is best !!

Making a new portion of tomato-ginger-garlic jam

As I am running out of this tomato & chilli jam I decided to cook a new portion of this specific jam. So fare I have been serving this jam together with cheese such as these small sandwiches with matured Cheddar. I would also think, that this jam would fit perfect as compliment for cold meat slices or as part of a sandwich.

As I got plenty of smaller jars with this tomato & chilli jam, I decided to bring some of them to work, where I will sell the extra jars for 15 DKK (approx 2 €) to my colleagues, which afterwards is donated to charity.

Two weeks ago I on behave of my colleagues donated 205 DKK to araceagainstbreastcancer.dk, as my colleagues have been busy buying (and hopefully eating) both gooseberry jam and blackcurrant jam (classic version).

Plum jam without addition of gelling agent

From the garden of my good friends in Horsens I have receive a portion of fresh plums, which I have turned into some jam using my jam recipe book as inspiration with a few modifications.

As I could not figure out, why some of the plum stones should be cracked and added into the cooking pan, I decided not to do to, so people eating the jam would hurt some of their teeth.

The texture of the final jam is a little to the slimy/ropy side, which I have no explanation to, why it is so.

Plum jam: - 4 glasses

• 700 g plums - washed, de-stoned and cut into half
• 225 ml water
• 700 g sugar

1. Prepare the plum by washing, de-stone and cut into half. Place the plum pieces into the cooking pan and pour the water in as well.
2. Put the cooking pan on the stove, heat up the content, so the plums are simmering. 
3. Let the apple simmer until the plums become pulpy in texture, it takes between approx 20-30 minutes.
4. Prepare the jam glasses either by heating up in the oven or adding boiling water to them.
5. Add the sugar to the plum mass and stir until it is dissolved.
6. Bring the jam to a rolling boil and boil hard until the setting point is reached. Stir the jam frequently.
7. Test of set after 5 minutes using the flake test.
8. When the setting point is reached, remove the pan from the heat and leave it to stand for approx.  5 minutes. As the jam settles, push any scums from the surface of the pan to the side and remove it with a metal spoon. The purpose for the waiting step is well to build viscosity in jam, so the fruit pieces will be trapped inside the jam inside of be going to the top of jam.
9. Gently stir the jam after the resting time and pour it into the prepared glasses, fill the glasses up to the brim. Remove any scum for the surface of the jam using a tea spoon. Close the glass with a lid.
10. Leave the glass upright and disturbed to cool and set.
11. Store at ambient temperature.