Danish Potato Salad

Danish Potato Salad

Potato salad is a classic at danish BBQ's. Most families have their own recipes, and sometimes you just take the easy way out and use a store bought. But homemade is best. I like to have different textures in my potato salad, and the asparagus, peppers and radishes gives me just that. 

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds (ca. 1 kg) potatoes, use small firm potatoes like Fingerlings or Yukon Gold

• 2 teaspoons salt for the boiling

• 6 radishes, finely sliced

• 1 bunch scallions

• ½ cup fresh peas

• 5 asparagus, chopped

• ½ red bell pepper, diced

• ½ green bell pepper, diced

• chives

Dressing:

• 16 oz (475 ml) sour cream or creme fraiche

• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise

• ⅛ teaspoon curry powder

• 1 clove garlic

• salt & pepper

Directions:

Place the potatoes in a large pot of water. Bring the water to a boil and add the salt, then lower the heat and simmer for 15-18 minutes, until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a knife. It's important to start with the potatoes in cold water, this will prevent overcooking the outside of the potatoes before they are done.

Drain the potatoes and rinse in cold water. Peel the potatoes, and set aside in the refrigerator to cool completely.

Mix all the ingredients for the dressing, and set aside. 

Wash and slice/dice the vegetables. Slice the cold potatoes, and mix it all in the dressing.

Store the potatoes salad in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve it.

Enjoy!

The Danish version:

Kartoffelsalat

Ingredienser:

• ca. 1 kg kartofler, brug en fast kartoffel såsom asparges- eller samsøkartofler

• 2 tsk salt til kogevandet

• 6 radiser, skåret tyndt

• 1 bundt forårsløg

• 1 dl nybælgede ærter

• 5 asparges, skåret i stykker

• ½ rød peber, skåret i tern

• ½ grøn peber, skåret i tern

• purløg

Dressing:

• ca. 5 dl creme fraiche

• 2 spsk mayonnaise

• ⅛ tsk karry

• 1 fed hvidløg

• salt & peber

Directions:

Kog kartoflerne i en stor gryde i 15-18 minutter, indtil de er møre. Start med koldt vand og tilsæt først saltet når vandet koger. Dette bevirker at kartoflerne ikke koger ud. Hæld vandet fra kartoflerne og skyl dem med koldt vand, for at stoppe kogningen. Pil kartoflerne og sæt dem til afkøling i køleskabet.

Bland dressingen, smag til med mere ekstra salt og karry.

Vask, og skær grøntsagerne, skær kartoflerne i skiver og bland det hele i dressingen. Opbevar kartoffelsalaten i køleskabet indtil den skal serveres.

Velbekomme!

Quinoa fruit salad

Quinoa fruit salad

I have a thing about colorful foods, I really like my meals to have a least 3 colors to be a healthy meal. Well, it might not hold up scientifically, but I think it's a good guideline.

When we start with the BBQ season, I like to make a good salad to eat with the meat or fish going on the grill. Today I craved fruit, and I had some cooked quinoa in the fridge, so I mixed up this fruit salad, that would go perfectly with a piece of grilled lamb.

Ingredients:

Quinoa:

• 100 g quinoa
• 2,25 dl water
• salt (to taste)

Fruit:

• strawberries
• raspberries
• blueberries 
• mango
• pineapple

Dressing:

• 1 lime, juice of
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint

Directions:

Quinoa:

Rinse the quinoa. Bring quinoa and water to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until quinoa is tender, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and add salt to taste. Let the quinoa stand, covered, for 5 minutes. If any more water remains, drain it. Let the quinoa cool.

Dressing:

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl.

Fruit:

Rinse, peel and slice the fruit and put them in a bowl. Add quinoa and dressing, and serve the fruit salad.

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.

Kale Salad

Kale Salad

Kale has never been one of my favorites until I tried this salad. Kale is filled with vitamins A, C and K and calcium, so it's one of the healthiest things you can eat. Curly kale is fibrous and grassy tasting and it goes well with a creamy and lemony dressing, like the one I use here. The kales call for more dressing than a regular salad like iceberg or butter salad.

The dressing I use is a old-fasioned creamy dressing called mormordressing (grandmothers dressing) made with whipping cream, lemon juice, sugar, salt and pepper. My mom made another version of this dressing substituting the whipping cream with a fermented milk product called ymer, kinda like the Icelandic skyr, you can get in most supermarkets.

I love this Kale salad with different curries or with a nice pork chop. 

Ingredients:

Salad:

• 1 pound kale curly red or green

• 75 grapes

• 1-2 mango

• ½ cup (50 g) almonds, chopped

Dressing:

• ½ cup (1 dl) whipping cream

• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

• 1 tablespoon sugar

• salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

Dressing:

Mix the ingredients and add lemon or sugar to taste.

Salad:

Rinse and cut the ribs out of the kale leaves, and finely chop the leaves. Discard the ribs.

Rinse the grapes and cut them in halves. 

The mangos should be ripe and soft, so you can peel of the skin without using a knife. Peel mango and dice it. 

Mix it all in a large bowl with the dressing, so all the kale is covered in a thin layer of dressing.

Chop the almonds and sprinkle them on top of the salad. 

Enjoy.

Citrus Salad with Liquorice Vinaigrette

Citrus Salad with Liquorice Vinaigrette

I decided to make a new dish for the christmas dinner. I know that the Danes are really set the their ways, especially when it comes to their christmas dinner. But I love trying new things, so I hope my husband's family will love this citrus salad inspired from "Lakrids i Maden".

When I read that the salad called for a liquorice vinaigrette, my first thought was "how would the salty liquorice syrup taste with the dark espresso balsamic from The Olive bar?" I can only say "faaaantastic" - and on a slice of orange it tastes even better.

Here is my take on the citrus salad.

Ingredients:

Dressing:

• 1 tablespoon salty liquorice syrup
• 2 tablespoons dark espresso balsamic

Salad:

• 3 oranges
• 2 pink grapefruits
• 2 pink lemons
• Tunisian blood orange olive oil
• 1 handful Italian parsley, chopped
• 2 tablespoons shallots, finely chopped

Directions:

Whisk the the liquorice syrup with the balsamic, set aside.

Peel oranges, lemons and grapefruits and slice them thinly. Arrange the slices in a platter and sprinkle with olive oil and salt.

Drizzle the dressing un top, and sprinkle with onion and parsley.