Supperis - Cold Rice Porridge with Raisins

Supperis - Cold Rice Porridge with Raisins

This is an old old side dish served with classic danish chicken soup or beef soup. I think this dish is known only in some parts of Denmark, it might be from Jutland, where my dad’s family are from. The dish is served cold, and is scooped into your hot soup. 

When I made this for my husband the first time, he was very skeptic. Why would anyone put sweet raisins in their soup? So as the good wife I am, I made two versions one with and one without raisins. Need I say that he happily ate my supperis with raisins?

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 400 g water 
• 70 g rice (danish grødris or aborio)
• 45 g raisins
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Directions:

Bring the water to a boil. Sprinkle the rice into the water, add the salt and let it simmer for about 30 minutes. Add the raisins and let the porridge boil for another 10-15 minutes. 

Pour the porridge into a bowl, and cool it in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve the soup.

Enjoy!

Beef Soup - Oksekødssuppe

Beef Soup - Oksekødssuppe

Having homemade beef soup reminds my of my childhood. My mom made the best beef or chicken soup. Making the soup takes time. It is a whole day project. 

There's a story in my family from before I was born, and my brother was about 3 years old.  My parents and my brother met my aunt when they went for a walk, and invited her to join them for the second day of having soup. My mom had to put more water in the soup, to make sure that there would be enough for the four of them.  Almost by the end of the meal, there's no more soup, and my brother declares: "if aunt hadn't come, there would have been enough food."  My poor mom laughed, but was embarrassed at the same time.

Serves 8.

Ingredients:

• 6 pounds beef soup bones 
• 2 pounds beef brisket 
• 3 large carrots 
• 2 leeks 
• 1 celery root + the top of
• water to cover
• salt

Directions:

Put bones and brisket in a large pot with cold water and heat it to a boil. Skim off the foam.  Add 1 teaspoon salt and the green top from the celery root.

Clean the leeks, carrots and celery root, and cut into chunks, add them to the soup. Let the soup simmer for about 2-3 hours. Discard the soup bones and the celery top. Take out the brisket, and let it cool. You will serve this on the side with a good mustard later.

Clean and peel more celery root, carrots and leeks, and cut them into bite size bites and boil them in the soup for about 15-20 minutes before serving.

You can skim of the fat and clarify the soup if you want to. I only skim of the fat, if there is a thick layer, but I hadn't done this here.

Serve the soup with Danish soup dumplings/melboller, boiled meatballs/kødboller, supperis and the brisket with mustard.

The sides

Angry Tacos

Angry Tacos

One of my husbands favorite dishes at Calafia  (the restaurant owned by one of Googles former head chefs) was their "very angry Tacos." Sadly they took it off the menu, so we had to come up with our own take on it. The thing making the taco angry is the diced habanero, a very strong chili. Habanero chili is rated to 100,000 - 350,000 on the Scoville scale.

I love this taco dish, it's easy to make and so taste- and colorful. You are in charge of how angry or spicy you want the tacos. Normally I won't add any habanero - I have no dead wish.

Serves 4-5.

Ingredients:

• 12  corn tortillas, 6-Inch
• One 2-Pound Flank Steak (About 1 ½ Inches Thick), fat trimmed

Marinade:

• ½ cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped
• ¼ cup packed dark brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoons sesame oil
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander

Slaw:

• ½ head napa cabbage
• 1 large carrot
• 8 scallions 
• 1 handful fresh cilantro 

Topping:

• 1-2 habanero chilies minced

Directions:

Marinate the steak. In a bowl, whisk the cilantro, brown sugar, canola oil, soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, jalapeños, black pepper, and coriander to blend well. Reserve ¼ cup of the marinade for dressing the slaw. Pour the rest of the marinade into a ziplock bag and place the steak in the  marinade and turn to coat. Marinate for at least 20 minutes at room temperature, or cover and refrigerate for up to 1 day, turning occasionally. 

Prepare an outdoor grill for medium-high cooking over direct heat.

Remove the steak from the marinade (and discard the marinade) and grill, turning halfway through cooking, for a total of about 10 minutes, until the meat is medium-rare. Transfer the steak to a cutting board and let stand for 5 to 10 minutes. Slice the steak across the grain to serve it.

Slaw:

Part the napa cabbage lengthwise and slice it crosswise

Peel the carrot and julienne it. Thinly slice the scallions, and chop the cilantro.

Dress the slaw with the saved marinade.

Taco: 

Heat the tortillas and fill the tortillas with slaw and the meat, top the taco with the minces habanero for spiciness.

You can add guacamole to the taco as well.

Roasted Tomato Soup

Roasted Tomato Soup

Soups are perfect for when you're having a cold or when it starts to get cold outside. I grew up with having soups for dinner and one of my favorites has always been tomato soup. Maybe because it was easy to make or just because me and my mom loved tomatoes.

I have several different tomato soups to choose from in my recipes, but I wanted to add another flavor profile to the soup by roasting the tomatoes first. And by all means it payed off.

Serves 3

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds (1 kg) ripe tomatoes
• 1 serrano pepper (I roasted two, and used one for the topping)
• 1 onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 2 cups (500 ml) water
• 2 teaspoons chicken base
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme
• Salt, pepper
• Some olive oil

Topping:

• 5 thin slices prosciutto roasted to crisp in the oven 
• a dollop sour cream
• roasted serrano pepper

Direction:

Preheat the oven to 400℉ (200℃)

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Wash tomatoes and cut into eight pieces. Peel onions, cut in pieces and peel the garlic cloves. Cut the chilies in half and put it all on the baking sheet. Sprinkle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast the vegetables in the oven for 35-40 minutes.

Transfer roasted vegetables together with the roasting juices into a pot and add water, chicken base and thyme. Bring to boil and simmer for about 20 minutes.

Remove the thyme sprigs and puree soup. Seasoning with salt and pepper to taste..

Serve the soup immediately with the toppings. 

Venison with Port/Blueberry Sauce

Venison with Port/Blueberry Sauce

Happy New Year.

Thank you for visiting my blog, and getting my new adventure off to a good start. I had a blast the last months and I'll do my very best to keep coming up with new things. Having this blog forces me to try new recipes and making my own twist on them.

I look forward to the 2014 and to face the challenges it may bring. 

From my family to yours, have a fantastic 2014, filled with light and laughter.

Cheers.

We rarely have game like venison, but when I see it on the menu, I have to get it. It's so lean and I love the taste and texture. 

Growing up we didn't get game very often. We might get rabbit or wild duck, but that was it. When we visited my dads family in Jutland, we could be lucky to have some venison, cause both my uncles were hunters.

I find the venison at the German butcher i Los Altos/mountain, I haven't found it anywhere else.

This is how I make venison:

Serves 4 

Ingredients: 

• 2 lb venison loin roast

• butter and oil for searing

• salt and pepper

Sauce:

• 350 ml Port wine

• 1 handful fresh blueberries

• 1 teaspoon butter

Directions:

Take the meat out of the refrigerator, and get it to room temperature before you start searing.

Preheat the oven to about 200℉ (just under 100℃).

Heat a large ovenproof skillet over high heat, and add an oil with a high smoking point, like sunflower oil or grape seed oil.

Season venison with salt and pepper. Sear venison on all sides, so it has a nice color.  Place the skillet with the venison in the oven for about 10-15 minutes. 

Thinly slice the venison and serve with the port/blueberry sauce.

The sauce:

Reduce the port to a syrup over low to medium heat. Remove from heat when the port can cover the back of a spoon. Stir in a teaspoon of salted butter, this will thicken the sauce a bit. Add the blueberries so they just get heated. 

The sauce is perfect with any kind of red meat.