Pumpkin Tea Cake

Pumpkin Tea Cake

Fall is here, and that mean pumpkins everywhere. Denmark does not have a big pumpkin tradition. We don't celebrate Thanksgiving or Halloween in Denmark. Well we are embracing Halloween more and more. And nowadays Tivoli Gardens is open a week in the fall with displays of pumpkins and Halloween decorations.  

For me, pumpkins had been something my mom pickled with sugar - and I wasn't fond of it. Living in the US I learned to love Pumpkin spice Latte and Pumpkin bread. So When I got the cookbook 'Tartine', I had to try their pumpkin tea cake. 

I added some walnuts to give this moist cake some texture, and it turned out great. It won't be the last time I'll make this.. 

Makes 1 large loaf 6-8 servings. 

Ingredients: 

• 225 g All-purpose flour
• 1,5 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 17 g ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoon nutmeg (freshly grated)
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 255 g pumpkin purée
• 1 cup (250 ml) vegetable oil
• 270 g sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons sugar for topping
• a handful walnuts for texture. 

Directions: 

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Lightly butter the bottom and sides of a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan

This recipe is easily mixed by stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment or by hand with a whisk. sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves into a mixing bowl and set aside.

In another mixing bowl, beat  together the pumpkin purée, oil, sugar and salt on medium sleet until well mixed. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well before adding the next egg. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. On low speed, add the flour mixture and beat until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then beat on medium speed for 5-10 seconds to make a smooth batter. The batter should have at consistency of a thick purée. Fold in the nuts.

Transfer the batter to loaf pan and smooth the surface. Sprinkle evenly with sugar. Bake  until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, for about 1 hour. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 20 minutes, and them invert onto the rack, turn right side up, and let cool completely. serve the cake at room temperature.  

It keeps, well wrapped, at room temperature for 4 days or in refrigerator for about a week. 

Det Danish version: 

Græskarkage

Ingredienser: 

• 225 g hvedemel
• 1,5 tsk  bagepulver
• 1/2 tsk natron
• 17 g stødt kanel 
• 2 tsk  muskatnød (frisk revet)
• 1/4 tsk stødt nellike 
• 255 g grækarpuré
• 2,5 dl olie
• 270 g sukker
• 3/4 tsk salt
• 3 store æg
• 2 spsk sukker til drys på toppen
• 1 håndfuld valnødder

Tænd for ovnen på 165°C. Smør en sandkageform med smør. 

Denne dej laves lettest på en røremaskine med piskeris. Sigt mel, bagepulver, natron , kanel, muskatnød og nelliker sammen i en skål og sæt det til side . 

I en anden skål, pisk græskarpuré, olie, sukker og salt sammen på medium hastighed, indtil godt blandet . Tilsæt æggene et ad gangen, bland godt imellem æggene. Skrab siderne af skålen med en dejskraber. Tilsæt melblandingen og rør kun indtil lige indtil dejen er sammenhængende. Skrab siderne af skålen og rør i yderligere 5-10 sekunder for at få en glat dej. Dejen skal have konsistens som en tyk puré. Fold forsigtigt nødderne i. 

Kom dejen i formen og glat overfladen. Drys sukker. Kage bages i omkring en time, indtil en nål kommer ren ud, når den stikkes i kagen. Afkøl kagen i formen de første 20 minutter, hvorefter den vendes ud på en bagerist.

Server kagen ved stuetemperatur. Kagen holder sig godt ved stuetemperatur i 4 dage eller i en uge i køleskabet. 

Oven-roasted potatoes

Oven-roasted Potatoes.

Potatoes has been a big part of danish dinners for hundreds of years. Potatoes was a cheap and very filing food. But during the last couple of decades the starchy component of the danes dinner been switched to more and more rise and pasta. But the potato is a healthier choice. Both pasta and rice contains twice as much starch as potatoes, and having whole wheat pasta and brown rice doesn't help.

We had potatoes on the menu 5-6 times a week at home. The potatoes were peeled, boiled and served with a brown gravy and some kind of meat.  It was pretty boring. So the first 6 month of moving out, I didn't have potatoes - well I didn't make them my self. 

These oven-roasted potatoes is easy to make, they are tasty and colorful. You can use any vegetables you like, the method works for any root vegetables.  

Serves 3-4. 

Ingredients: 

• 8-10 Potatoes, small firm like fingerlings
• 2 onions
• 6-8 garlic cloves
• 8-10 sweet peppers
• 2-4 tablespoons pitted olives
• 1 handful cherry tomatoes
• canola oil
• salt
• piment d'Espelette 
• 3 sprigs rosemary

Direction: 

Vegetables ready for the BBQ.

Preheat the oven (or BBQ) to 400°F.
Wash potatoes, peppers tomatoes and rosemary. Peel the onion and chop it into bits-size pieces. Peel garlic cloves. Add all the ingredients to a baking dish (or make a bowl out of aluminum foil) drizzle with oil and season with salt and piment d'Espelette.  

Roast for 25-40 minutes until the potatoes are tender. Serve with fish or meats.

If you are roasting the potatoes on your BBQ, use indirect heat. 

Baked Salmon - the best ever!

Baked Salmon.

I love baked Salmon, the soft moist mild fish. It's so easy to make and is perfect to serve when you're having guests. Serve it with a cream sauce and pasta, sour cream dip and fingerling potatoes, the options are never-ending.

You can cook salmon in many different ways, but baking it like this is by far my favorite one, and properly one of the most healthy. 

Serves 3. 

Ingredients: 

• 3 pieces salmon, portion sized

• 1 lemon

• salt

• 1/2 cup wine or water

• 1/2 teaspoon canola oil (for greasing the baking dish)

Direction: 

Salmon ready for the oven.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Remove the skin and bones from the salmon.

Place the salmon fillet in an oven-safe baking dish greased with oil. Squeeze the juice of 1/2 lemon on top of the salmon and sprinkle with coarse sea salt. Slice the other half of the lemon in slices and lay them on top of the fish. Add wine or water to the baking dish. Bake in the oven for roughly 12-18 minutes or until cooked to desired doneness. 

Enjoy. 

Mango/habanero salsa

Mango/habanero salsa.

Mango/habanero salsa is sweet spicy and very addictive. Normally I wouldn't use habanero in any of my dishes, but trying this salsa taught me something else. As long as you have the sweet mango and only tiny cubes of habanero it's to die for.

Ingredients:

• 1-2 Habanero, depending on the spicyness 
• 2 Mangos
• ¼ Red Onion (medium sized)
• 1 ½ - 2 inches english cucumber
• 2 tomatoes, medium
• 1 lime, large
• Cilantro
• Salt

Directions: 

The mangos should be very ripe and soft, so you can peel of the skin without using a knife. Peel mango, onion and tomatoes. Dice them all finely along with the cucumber. Mix it with chopped cilantro and the juice of the lime. Chop the habanero extremely fine (use gloves handling the habanero), and mix it with the rest. Season with salt.

Serve with chips or with tacos. 

Brussels sprouts purée

Brussels Sprouts Puree.

Brussels sprouts and me had always had a hate hate relationship. I hate hate hate them. Why?? Well They looked cute, and are actually really pretty on the stalk.

But the taste was bitter, and the way my mom served them in a white sauce was not very interesting.

One night I had them roasted with garlic and bacon, OMG it was a good, really good. What is not better with bacon? Months later one of my danish friends served this dish for me, and it was love at first bite. I didn't need any steak, just pass me some more brussels sprouts purée.

This dish was created by Claus Meyer.

Ingredients:

Purée

• 700 g brussels sprouts
• 50 g butter
• sea salt
• black pepper (freshly ground)
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Dressing

• 1/2 lemon (lemon juice and zest)
• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 1/2 teaspoon honey
• sea salt
• black pepper (freshly ground)

Salad

• 2 shallots (or some thin sliced red onions)
• 1/4 cup Italien parsley
• leaves from the brussels sprouts.

Directions

Purée

Rinse the brussels sprouts, Cut off the brown ends of the brussels sprouts and pull off any yellow outer leaves. Save some of the green outer leaves for the salad. Set them aside in cold water.

Boil a pot of salted water. Cut out the brussels sprouts into quarters and blanch for about 2 minutes until they are tender, but not overcooked.

Put the still hot brussels sprouts directly in a blender and puree them with cold butter, salt, pepper, honey and lemon juice.

Salad

Mix up the dressing.

Chop the shallots finely and chop the parsley roughly. Drain the water from the brussels sprout leaves, and wipe them dry. Mix the shallots, brussels sprout leaves, parsley with the dressing.

Serve the salad on top of the puree.

The purée can be served hot or cold with a nice steak or roast. This could be a great side for Thanksgiving.