Millionbøf - Million Beef

Millionbøf - Million Beef

Millionbøf can be translated to a million steaks or beef. But its roughly a danish bolognese, without the tomatoes and only seasoned with salt and pepper. Generally oldschool Danish food is kinda bland. We didn't use many spices or herbs. Danes are basically meat and potatoes people. Well a bit more potatoes than meat, because the potatoes were inexpensive. Nowadays the Danes eat a lot of meat. But like everyone else that is changing again. The food trends in Denmark are to eat more local produce and less meats.

Millionbøf had a lot of names. Tusindbøf (thousand beef) and væltet lokum (tipped toilet 😳) is coming to mind. But it’s actually quite tasty in contrast to the nasty name. Growing up we had millionbøf regularly, it’s an easy weeknight dinner. Normally we would get it with mashed potatoes and pickled beets. But it’s not uncommon to serve it with pasta and pickled cucumber or Danish cucumber salad. This time I added some brussel sprouts to my boiling potatoes the last 5-10 minutes. I chopped them and added them to the mashed potatoes, giving it some texture.

Serves 4-6.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon butter

• 400 g ground beef (about 1 pound)

• 2 yellow onions, chopped

• 3 bay leaves

• 400 ml beef stock

• salt & pepper to taste

• kulør (gravy browning)

For thickening:

• 100 ml water (mix with the flour, to thicken the sauce)

• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

• a pinch of salt

Directions:

Saute the onions in the golden brown butter. When they start taking color, add the ground beef, and brown it well. This is an important process to create flavor. Add beef stock, bay leaves and pepper. Let it simmer for about 20-30 minutes with the lid on. Stir occasional. Mix the water and flour and add some of it in the million beef while whisking, add more until you have the desired consistency; not to runny and not too thick. Season the million beef with salt and pepper, and add the gravy browning.

Serve the million beef with masshed potatoes and pickled beets.

Enjoy!

Franske Snegle - Cinnamon Palmiers

Franske Snegle - Cinnamon Palmiers

Normally these cookies are large, in fact huge. But I wanted to make them smaller, so you get a delicate cookie rather than a huge piece you cannot finish. So I decided to cut the roll into even smaller pieces than I described in the directions, so I ended up with cookie sized cinnamon palmiers. I hope you will try these, they are relatively easy to make.

Makes 12-16.

Ingredients:

• puff pastry, store-bought and defrosted

• 100 g butter, room temperature

• 100 g sugar

• optional 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• 10 ml simple syrup (half sugar and half water boiled into a thick syrup)

• extra sugar for sprinkles

Icing:

• confectionary sugar (powder sugar)

• Unsweetened cocoa powder (I use Valrhona)

• and a little warm water

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 355℉/180℃ with convection, if you don't have convection, then preheat the oven to 400℉/200℃).

Cream the butter with the sugar, so you have a soft light mixture. Mix in the cinnamon.

Roll the pastry in to a 20 x 16 inch (50 x 40 cm) rectangle. Gentle spread the fluffy filling all over the pastry. Roll the pastry up tight. Cover the roll in plastic wrap, and let it sit in the refrigerator for 10-20 minutes to firm up a bit.

Cut the roll into 1 - 1.5-inch (3-4 cm) thick slices. Place slices on its ends, and press them flat to about ⅓-inch (1 cm) high. Brush both sides with the simple syrup. Place on a baking sheet with parchment paper. Sprinkle with sugar on top.

Bake the palmier for 20-30 minutes until deep golden brown. Let the palmier cool, before icing.

Enjoy!

Teriyaki Glazed Lamb Sirloin with Green 'Couscous'

We really enjoy eating lamb. But this cut was new to us. Not sure if it would be a tough piece of meat or what. I decided to try to cook it medium, hoping for the best. And it turned out perfect. Clearly not the last time I’m serving lamb sirloin.
I was looking for a non-starchy side, because I want to cut a little back on starchy carbs. This cauliflower couscous was a good replacement for regular couscous. Easy to make, no cooking needed. Next time I will add some kind of fruit, to give it some sweetness.

Recipe inspired by Årstiderne.

Serves 3-4.

Ingredients:

• ¾ - 1 pound lamb sirloin ‘steaks’

• 100 ml teriyaki-sauce

• olive oil for frying

Green 'Couscous':

• 1 bunch kale

• 1 medium cauliflower

• 1 preserved lemon , finely diced

• 1 small handfull almond, dry roasted on a skillet

• 1 shallots, thinly sliced.

Directions:

Sear the sirloins on both sides in olive oil. Turn the heat down, and keep cooking to the desired doneness. I cooked it for about 5-8 minted and ended up with medium steaks. Add the teriyaki sauce, and turn the steaks så they are glazed all over. Slice before serving.

While cooking the steaks, wash and trim the kale of the stems, and chop finerly. Wash and grate the cauliflower. Peel and thinly slice the shallots. Mix all the ingredients for the ‘couscous’ putting the almonds on top - set aside.

Plate ‘couscous’ and sliced steaks.

Enjoy!

Rhubarb Mazarin Cake

Rhubarb Mazarin Cake.

I really love rhubarbs. They are tangy, sour and are perfect in desserts and cakes. So when I found this recipe, it was a no-brainer. I had to bake it. And it was ohhh so good. And it is the perfect cake to bring to a summer barbecue.

Serves 6-8. (Recipe from the magazine Søndag).

Ingredients:

• 200 g rhubarb

• 200 g sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

• 150 g marzipan

• 150 g butter

• 3 eggs

• 80 g all-purpose flour

• 80 g almond flour

• 1 lime, the zest of

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350℉ (175℃).

Clean the rhubarb and cut them into small bite-sized pieces. Place them in a bowl and stir in with ¼ (50g) of the sugar + the vanilla, set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy, mix in the grated marzipan, making sure the mixture again gets light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, and mix just until fully incorporated. Gently fold in the flours and lime zest.

Pour the dough into a non-stick tart pan. (I used a 9-inch square pan with removable bottom). Place the rhubarb on top of the cake, and bake it for about an hour, until it's firm in the middle and golden brown.

Let the cake cool before serving it with a dollop of creme fraiche or ice cream.

Enjoy!

Cauliflower Soufflé - Blomkålsgratin

Cauliflower Soufflé - Blomkålsgratin

I remember cauliflower soufflé as a dish we got in the cafeteria in High-school. And I loved it. Growning up I never had it at home. Maybe because it has soufflé in the name, my mom thought it would be difficult to make. And honestly I was really surprised that it alway turned out great. Admittedly it does have a lot of steps, but it’s not difficult at all.

This soufflé is of course light and fluffy and with at nice crispy top. A perfect light weeknight dinner.

Serves 4.

Ingredients:

• 400 g cauliflower

• 200 ml water

• 200 ml milk

• 75 g all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoons salt

• 4 eggs

• 225 g ham, diced

• Butter to grease the baking dish

• 2-3 tablespoons plain breadcrumbs (sprinkled on top)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350℉ (175℃). Grease an ovenproof dish (1 liter/4 cups) and sprinkle it with plain breadcrumbs, set aside.

Clean the cauliflower, and cut it into florets, cook them for 3-5 minutes in lightly salted boiling water. Strain the florets, and keep 200 ml of the water.

Add water, milk, salt, and flour to a saucepan. Cook it while whisking, until it thickens. Remove from the heat, to cool for a while.

Separate the yolks from the egg whites. Whisk the whites to medium stiff peaks, set aside.

Whisk one yolk at the time into the now warm thick mixture, incorporating it completely before adding the next yolk.

Mix in the well strained cauliflower and ham. Lastly gently fold in the egg whites. Pour the mixture into the prepared dish, and sprinkle with breadcrumbs, and bake it for about 60 minutes.

Serve immediately with a side salad.

Enjoy!