Spinach Pie Quesadilla

Spinach Pie Quesadilla

I stumbled over Cara Eisenpress and Phoebe Lapine’s recipe for spinach pie quesadillas. I had to try them, becauce they sounded like spanakopita minus the crispy filo pastry. And I love spanakopita, this crispy salty creamy greek spinach pie snack.

I'll think the filling will work great in a pita bread, frying it the same way. Served with a salad It would work great as dinner or lunch. And if you slice it in wedges you could use it as a appetizer.

makes 2 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• ½ small onion, finely diced
• a small bunch scallion, sliced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• ¼ tsp salt
• freshly ground pepper
• pinch of thyme
• pinch of oregano
• pinch of cayenne
• 1 bag (170 g) fresh spinach
• 2 whole wheat tortilla, 8-inch in diameter
• 2 large egg 
• 2 tablespoon plain Greek yogurt
• 4 tablespoon crumbled feta cheese

Directions:

In a small nonstick pan, heat the oil. Add the onion and scallions and cook until soft, 3-4 minutes. Add garlic, salt, pepper, and the spices.

Add the spinach a handful at a time and cook until wilted a bit before adding more. When all the spinach is wilted, pour the mixture into a bowl to cool a bit. When cooled, drain the mixture.

In another bowl whisk together the egg white, yogurt, and half the feta. Mix in the cooled spinach.

Clean the pan and brush with a splash olive oil.

Over low heat put the tortilla in the pan. Warm the tortilla on one side and turn it, before sprinkling the rest of the feta over the one side of the tortilla and get it to soften slightly. Turn the heat to medium and pour the egg-spinach mixture over the same half of the tortilla, fold the other half over and cook on one side until the egg begins to firm up about 3-4 minutes. Flip and cook on the other side for 2-3 minutes, then cut into wedges and serve immediately.

Guacamole Deviled Eggs

Guacamole Deviled Eggs

Easter is upon us and it is time for a lot of easter egg dishes. I didn't have deviled eggs before we moved to the US, but they are really good.

I’m sure there are as many deviled eggs recipes as there are families, but have you ever had a guacamole deviled egg? Compared with regular deviled eggs made with mustard, you have real devils here, from the spiciness of the jalapeño. The avocado makes the deviled egg healthier because you get the creaminess from the avocado and don’t have to use mayonnaise.

Makes 12

Ingredients:

• 6 hard boiled eggs

• 2 ripe avocados

• 1 tablespoon lime juice

• ½ teaspoon salt

• 1 tablespoon sour cream

• 1-2 tablespoon chopped cilantro + 12 leaves for garnish

• ½ jalapeño pepper, minced

• ¼ teaspoon cumin

Directions:

Hard boil eggs:

Place eggs in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to a rolling boil. Turn the heat down so the water is simmering, cook for 7 minutes from when the water starts to boil. Drain and rinse with cold water. 

Deviled Eggs:

Carefully peel the hard boiled eggs and cut them in half. If you don't have a deviled egg platter, cut a little slice of the bottom, so the egg won't wobble then served. Place eggs on a serving platter, and scoop out the cooked yolks and set aside.

Cut the avocados in half. Remove the pit. Scoop out the avocado flesh into a bowl. Mash it with a fork. Mix two of the cooked egg yolks in the mashed avocado. Add lime juice, salt, cumin and sour cream, and mix until incorporated. Fold in the chopped cilantro and the jalapeño pepper.

Put the mixture into a pastry bag and pipe it into each well of the egg whites. Top with a small sprig of fresh cilantro.

Now the Danish version:

Guacamole Deviled Eggs

12 stk.

Ingredienser:

• 6 hårdkogte æg

• 2 modne avocadoer

• 1 spsk limesaft

• ½ tsk salt

• 1 spsk creme fraiche

• 1-2 spsk hakket frisk koriander + 12 blade til pynt

• ½ jalapeño, finthakket

• ¼ tsk spidskommen

Vejledning:

Hårdkogte æg:

Kom æggene i en gryde og kom vand på til det dækker. Kog æggene 7 minutter fra vandet starter med at koge. Hæld vandet fra og nedkøl æggene med koldt vand. Pil æggene.

Deviled Eggs:

Skær de pillede æg i halve. Hvis du ikke har et fad med fordybninger som æggene kan ligge i, så skær en lille stykke af bunden på ægget, så det ikke vipper, når du skal fylde dem. Tag forsigtigt blommen ud af æggene.

Skær avocadoerne over og tag stenene ud. Kom avoccadokødet ned i en skål. Mos avocadoen og bland æggeblommer, limesaft, salt, spidskommen og creme fraiche til en homogen masse. Vend koriander og jalapeño ned i.

Kom massen i en sprøjte pose og sprøjt massen ned i æggehviderne. Pynt æggene med et koriander blad.

Gravad Lax - Gravlax with Mustard Sauce (Rævesauce)

Gravad Lax - Gravlax with Mustard Sauce (Rævesauce)

Gravad lax, gravad laks or gravlax is a dill-cured salmon, normally served with a mustard sauce. Gravad lax means buried salmon, referring to back in  the old days, where the fishermen cured the fish and buried it in the ground for a few days. Now you would never put the fish in the ground when you have the refrigerator. 

Gravad lax is one big favorite in my house, if you ask my husband IT IS the favorite, when it comes to fish cold cuts, way better than smoked salmon. Gravad lax is perfect for appetizer, for small Hors d'oeuvre or on an open-faced sandwich on rye bread. The sweet salty salmon almost melt in your mouth, and with the mustard sauce, it's a little slice of heaven.

Eating Raw Seafood - What You Need To Know:

It's always best to cook seafood thoroughly to minimize the risk of food-borne illness. However, if you choose to eat raw fish anyway, one rule of thumb is to eat fish that has been previously frozen for 24 hours. FDA

Ingredients:

• 750 g (26 oz) fresh salmon filet with skin on

• 3 tablespoons sugar

• 2 tablespoons salt

• 2 teaspoons crushed white pepper

• 2 bunches dill, chopped

Directions:

To minimise the risk connected with eating raw fish, you should freeze the salmon before preparing it. When defrosted, scale the salmon and remove all small bones, but leave the skin on.

Mix salt, sugar and pepper and sprinkle it all over the salmon, cut the salmon in half. In the dish you are going to marinate the salmon in, sprinkle a good layer of dill, place the one piece of salmon, skin side down. Sprinkle a thick layer of dill on that, and place the second half on top sin side up. Sprinkle the rest of the dill on top. Put some plastic wrap over the salmon and use a weighted cutting board to press on the salmon. Refrigerate for 24−48 hours, turning the salmon filet a few times. Rinse the salmon in cold water, and pad it dry. 

Use a sharp knife to cut the gravad lax. (Filet knives, boning knives, and Japanese sashimi knives work well for this role.) The gravad lax should be sliced paper-thinly at an angle (15-20 degree angle), making sure not to get any skin on the slices. 

Serve the gravad lax on a slice good bread, with a mustard sauce.

Mustard sauce - Rævesauce

Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoons brown sugar

• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

• 8 tablespoons oil (use a neutral oil - not olive oil)

• dill, finely chopped

• salt & pepper to taste

Direction:

Whisk sugar, mustard and vinegar together and add the oil in a thin stream to make the emulsion. Stir in the dill and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Shrimp cocktail - the 80's are calling

Shrimp cocktail - the 80's are calling

Shrimp cocktail might be the only seafood appetizer of the 80’s. We had it in a martini glass or in an avocado. It was everywhere, at every party and special occasion. The only excitement was whether you got the avocado in your lap or not. 😀

But to be honest I liked the shrimp cocktail of the 80's, greens, shrimps and a thousand island dressing. If it could be a little lighter, the shrimp cocktail would be perfect, as the flavors are so good.

Last week I was going through some of my cookbooks, and I read Claus Meyers updated version of the shrimp cocktail. (From the book Salatværkstedet). I used this recipe as my inspiration. I used my own version of thousand island dressing, another kind of salad and bread, otherwise I leaned against Meyer's recipe.

I use cold water shrimps because they have more flavor than warm water shrimps.

Serves 3-4

Ingredients

Shrimp cocktail

• 275 g cold water shrimps (I used shrimps from IKEA)
• 12 green asparagus
• 3 slices sourdough bread, cut into logs
• 2 small lemons, zest and fillets
• 10 leaves of romaine lettuces
• dill
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt & pepper

Thousand island

• 1 cup (240 ml) sour cream
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 6 small sun-dried tomatoes
• ¼ cup (½ dl) tomato ketchup
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• ¼ teaspoon chili powder
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
• ½ tablespoon lemon juice
• salt & pepper to taste

Directions

Thousand Island dressing

Blend tomato and ketchup together. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and season to taste. Set aside.

Shrimp cocktail

Heat olive oil in a skillet, and toast the bread logs in the oil. When they get a nice color, place them on a piece of kitchen towel, to remove any excess oil. Sprinkle with salt.

Wash the asparagus and snap the dry stem ends off of each asparagus. Use the same skillet to roast the asparagus for about 2 minutes. The asparagus should be cooked, but still have a bite. Cut the asparagus into bite size pieces, save some bigger pieces and the heads for garnish. Set aside.

Using a lemon zester, make strips of lemon zest, bring these to a boil in some salted water. Leave the zest in the water until you need to use them.

Fillet the lemons with a sharp knife. Cut the top and bottom off the lemon. Set your knife where the white meets the flesh and start cutting downward in a curved motion following the shape of the lemon. Keep doing this until you have peeled the lemon. Carefully cut the filets out.

Chop the romaine lettuce finely, leave out the core part. Mix the romaine, dild, asparagus, lemon-zest and -fillets. Dress the salad with a splash of olive oil.

Assembly

Serve the shrimp cocktail in a maison jar or another rustic glass, to set it aside from the shrimp cocktails of the 80's.

Layer the cocktail: salad, shrimps and dressing. Layer until you have a nice serving size. Garnish with bread logs, asparagus and dild.

Enjoy.

Brussels Sprouts Salad with Dijon Vinaigrette

Brussels Sprouts Salad with Dijon Vinaigrette

I'm trying to cut down on the starchy sides at dinner time. I wanted to try another way to eat brussels sprouts. I  been cooking with brussels sprouts in my brussels sprouts purée, and the crispy salad on top, made me think of making a salad.

Ingredients:

• 10-12 medium brussels sprouts, thinly sliced

• 1 shallot, thinly sliced

• 1 handful hazelnuts, toasted with honey

• 1-2 blood oranges

Dijon vinaigrette:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 1 teaspoon dijon mustard

• blood orange juice (I squeezed the core after filleting it

• salt & pepper

Directions:

Dressing: Shake the ingredients in a mason jar, season with salt and pepper.

In a large bowl toss brussels sprouts and shallot together with the dressing until everything is well-coated. Plate the salad and top with blood orange fillets and hazelnuts.