Kærnemælkskoldskål: Cold Butter Milk Soup

Koldskål is a thing we danes eat all the time in the summer. Either as dinner, desert or just a quick snack. It's just the best thing ever. 

Ingredients:

• 1000ml buttermilk (1 quart or 4 cups)
• 500ml plain yogurt (2 cups)
• 100g sugar (1/2 cup)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla sugar
• Juice and zest from 1 lemon

Top with fresh strawberries, crackers or granola. 

Directions:

1. With a handmixer, beat the eggs with sugar and vanilla sugar for 1-2 minutes.
2. Add the buttermilk and mix well. 
3. Add the yogurt and fold.
4. Add juice and zest. If needed, add more sugar.
5. Let sit in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours. Stir before serving.

Shrimp Salad with Avocado and Asparagus

In Denmark we loooove shrimps. Or is that an international thing? Well at least it's something we eat quite often here in Denmark, and one of the classics is the shrimp salad. Here is my own variation with avocado and asparagus.

Klassikeren rejesalat, eller rejecocktail som vi vist allesammen kender. Det er altså også bare alt for lækkert! Her er min egen variation med avokado og asparges.

Ingredients:
1 head romaine lettuce
1/2 avocado
1 medium tomato
handful cooked shrimp
2 white asparagus

1 romaine salad hoved
1/2 avokado
1 mellem størrelse tomat
En håndfuld kogte pillede rejer fra frost
2 hvide asparges 

Dressing:
1 dl creme fraiche or sour cream
1 tbsp ketchup or tomato puree
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp lemon juice
salt and pepper

Directions:
Cut lettuce, avocado, and tomato and put in a bowl. Cook asparagus for 3 minutes in the microwave. Cut as well and top with the shrimps and chopped asparagus. 
Mix all the ingredients for the dressing and put on top of the salad. 

Skær salat, avokado og tomat i skiver og kom i en skål. Kog asparges i mikroovnen i 3 minutter i en lille smule vand og med film over i en glasskål. Skær dem i små skiver og kom ovenpå salaten sammen med rejerne. 
Rør alle ingredientserne til dressingen sammen og hæld over salaten.

Enjoy!

Danish Butter Cookies

This other day I had a big farewell party, because I'm leaving USA and returning to my home country on the 7th of June. One of the really good Danish cookies we have are the butter cookies which you might have seen in stores, but you can actually make them homemade, and they're much better!

Ingredients:

1.5 cup butter

2 1/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp baking soda

4 cups flour

Directions:

1. Cream butter and sugar in a mixer, and add eggs and vanilla.
2. Mix flour and baking soda and add to the butter and sugar.
3. When all combined add to a piping bag with a big star pipe and make small cookies.
4. Bake in a preheated oven for 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Meatballs in Curry

I think all us Danes know what Meatballs in Curry is, and I'm also pretty sure we all love it to death! It has always been one of my favorite things. Curry is often a thing we combine with Indian food, but it's actually an ingredient we use in a lot of recipes in Denmark, and I am one of it's biggest lovers probably..

Ingredients:

Meatballs:
1 lb ground pork
1 onion (leave about half for the sauce)
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup oats
1/4 cup any kind of flour (whole wheat, buckwheat, white)
1 cup chicken broth or milk
1 tbsp salt
2 tsp pepper

Sauce:
2 tbsp butter or oil
2 tbsp corn starch
Rest of the onion
1 tbsp curry
3 cups chicken broth
1 cup milk
Salt and pepper

1 cup rice
3 cups water

Directions:

1. Start out with boiling water for the rice. When water is boiling add the rice and turn heat to low and let it simmer with a lid for about 30 minutes. 
2. Make the meatballs first by stirring ground pork until it makes a batter kind of.
3. Shred the onion directly into the ground pork on a grater. Same with the garlic. Leave about half of the onion unshredded for the sauce. 
4. Add oats, flour, chicken broth and salt and pepper.
5. Bring a big pot of water to a boil. Shape little balls about 1 inch in diameter and cook for 10-15 minutes in the boiling water.
6. Cut the remaining onions into small dice or mince. 
7. Melt butter or oil in a saucepan. Add the onions and curry and sauté for about 1 minute then add flour and cook that for 1-2 minutes as well stirring at all times to prevent it from burning.
8. Add about 1 cup of broth at a time.
9. Finish off with adding the milk and taste with salt and pepper. 
10. Before serving, put the meatballs back in the sauce and serve with a fresh salad and rice. 

Enjoy!

The Danish Open Faced Sandwich

To make good Smørrebrød (as we call it in Denmark) is really an art, but one of the most delicious things in the world. The good thing about it is that you can be super creative and make it with almost anything you like. All it requires is good rye bread, lunch meat or fish, and whatever other toppings you would like.

This one is one of my favorites, and it's super simple. Just a couple of slices of avocado and topped with a tablespoon of cottage cheese and salt and pepper. 

This is one of the classics. Start out with putting some kind of green base on the base. I used spinach in this case, but lettuce or rucola or whatever you would like would be good. Then you take a hard boiled egg and slice into 1/8 inch slices. Top with slices of tomato and cucumber and some mayonnaise, and don't forget salt and pepper.

 A thing that is very popular in Denmark on rye bread is different kinds of fish. Usually some kind of canned fish. In this case, I used tuna, and made a simple tuna and egg salad and put it on a base of spinach and topped with a couple of sliced tomato and cucumber. 

Other things to put on rye bread:

Nutella (SO GOOD)

Lunch meat

Boiled potatoes with mayonnaise

Peanut Butter with banana slices

Buckwheat Salad and Meatballs

In Denmark we have this kind of meatballs that is fried on the pan in a little oil or butter, and they're delicious! I've made them a couple of times for my host family, and they love them!
This time I choose to made them with a side of a buckwheat salad with a lot of colorful veggies. Yummy!

Ingredients:

Meatballs:
1 lb ground meat (preferable pork, but turkey and beef both work too)
1 egg
1/2 cup oats
1 cup stock
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup flour
Half onion
salt and pepper

Buckwheat salad:
2 cups cooked buckwheat
1 bell pepper
1 cup cooked broccoli
1/4 cup red onion
1 avocado
3 tomatoes
1 lemon
Fresh dild

Directions:

Meatballs:
Mix all of the ingredients together, and shape balls with a spoon and fry in a little olive oil or butter in a pan. Turn once.

Salad:
Cut bell pepper, onion, tomatoes, and avocado. Cook broccoli and mix all ingredients with the buckwheat. Squeeze lemon over the salad and finish with some fresh dild.

 Enjoy!

Flødeboller / "Cream buns"

Okay, så her i Utah had de som regel en dag om ugen, som de kalder for deres aften hjemme med familien, hvor de har en slags lektion, om et eller andet. Mine gode venner, og naboer, spurgte så, om jeg ville komme over her på søndag og give en lektion om Danmark. De synes nemlig det er super spændende at have en Dane, og så kommer deres familie også oprindeligt fra Danmark, så de ville gerne lære noget mere om Danmark osv. Fordi "moren" i den familie har gluten-allergi, og jeg ville lave en eller anden dansk treat, så tænkte jeg, at jeg ville give mig i kast med hjemmelavede flødeboller. Det var noget af en udfordring, men resultatet blev super godt, selvom det var lidt en prøvelse at få oversat de danske mål, men de endte med at blive rigtig gode!

This Sunday my good friends and neighbors asked, if I wanted to come over and make some kind of family home evening lesson for them about Denmark, because their family is originally from there or something like that. So as I was thinking of what to do, it came to my mind that I had to make some kind of Danish treat. The Mother in that family happens to be allergic to gluten, so I had to think about that as well, and then it came to my mind that I should make these cream buns, as you would call them directly translated. It's basically just a crust of marzipan and then with a whipped cream of egg whites and sugar, and covered in chocolate. Super delicious, but kind of tricky to make!!

Bunde:
150 g. sukker
70 g. past. æggehvider
350 g. ren rå marcipan

Hindbærskum: 
250 g sukker
75g vand
110 g glykosesirup
140 g past. æggehvider
15 g sukker
20 g hindbær (evt marmelade, gerne mere end 20 g)
evt. kornene fra 1 vanillestang

Overtræk:
Omkring 300 g chokolade
Frysetørrede hindbær til pynt.

Sådan gør du:

Bunde af kransekage:
Bland sukker og æggehvider i en lille skål og lad det stå og trække i en times tid, så sukkeret opløses i æggehviderne.
Ælt marcipan med sukker og æggehvide blandingen. Kom kransekagemassen op i en kraftig sprøjtepose, og sprøjt bunde ud på ca. 5 cm. i dia.
Bag dem i en forvarmet ovn på 190 grader i ca. 10 minutter. 
Køl dem af i fryseren eller køleskabet.

Flødebolleskum:
Kom vand, glukosesirup, 250 gr. sukker og vanille i en helt ren gryde. Kog massen op til det når en temperatur på præcis 117 grader.
Når massen har en temperatur på ca.110 grader, piskes æggehviderne og 15 gr. sukker, så det er klar når sukkermassen er klar.
Mens maskinen kører på fuld speed, hældes den varme sukkermasse ned til de piskede hvider og sukker i røreskålen. Sukkermassen hældes ned i skålen i en lind stråle og nu skal flødebollemassen bare piske et sted mellem 7-10 minutter, til den er helt stiv.
Laver man hindbærboller, så tilsæt hindbær syltetøj nu.
Sprøjt toppe ud på alle bundende med en sprøjtepose.
Lad flødebollerne stå og trække i minimum 1 time inden de overtrækkes med chokolade. 

Smelt/temperer chokoladen, dyp flødebollerne i chokoladen eller brug en ske til at overtrække dem.  Drys med pynt og stil dem på køl indtil de skal serveres. 

In English

Ingredients:
Crust:
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup egg whites
1 1/2 cup marzipan

Cream filling:
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
1/2 cup light sirup
2/3 cup pasteurized egg whites
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup raspberry jam
1 tsp vanilla

Coating:
About 1 1/3 cup of chocolate
Freeze dried raspberries


Directions:

Crust:
Mix sugar and egg whites and let it sit for about an hour in refrigerator. Mix in the marzipan and fill in a pastry bag. Squeeze out on a baking sheet in small flat circles. Bake about 10 minutes at 350 F. 
Take the "cookies" of the baking sheet and let cool down for about an hour in refrigerator while you make the cream filling.

Cream filling:
Put water, sirup, sugar, and vanilla in a small pot and heat to 242 degrees F. It's very important that it reaches this temperature so that it gets the right texture when you mix it with the egg whites. 
Whisk egg whites and sugar when the sugar mixture is almost ready, and pour in the sugar sirup mixture slowly in a straight line into the stiff egg whites. Whisk it for another 7-10 minutes until it has a creamy texture. 
If you want it with a raspberry flavor, put raspberry in now. 
Fill mixture in a pastry bag and squeeze on top of the individual crusts. 
Let them sit for about 1-2 hours before you cover them with chocolate.

Melt chocolate in microwave or over water steam, and coat the "cakes". This part can be kind of tricky. What I did was just put them on a baking rack and simply just pour the chocolate over with a spoon. 
Sprinkle with freeze dried raspberry or shredded coconut.

Enjoy!