Piccalilli - Pickles

Piccalilli.

Pickles, Piccalilli or chow chow, this delicious condiment is called different thing, in different places. Growing up it was a weird sour mustardy thing my dad loved, but as an adult I realized it was a delicious, sweet & sour, curry, mustard sauce with lovely crunchy vegetables. It’s pairs very well with meats, especially with a pariserbøf. But I also like piccalilli as a condiment with grilled sausages.

Previously I’d bought piccalilli, but after trying the homemade version, I won’t go back. The flavors are great, and the part of knowing what’s in it, is really nice.

Makes 8-10 small jars.

Ingredients:

1000 g vegetables, diced small

• 300 g cauliflower

• 100 g summer squash

• 100 g carrots

• 100 g fennel

• 100 g shallots

• 120 g green beans

• 130 g red bell pepper

• 50 g celery

• 50 g salt

Pickling juice:

• 320 ml vinegar

• 200 ml water

• 150 g sugar

• 40 g honey

Spice Paste:

• 50 g corn starch

• 3 teaspoons curry

• 1 teaspoon turmeric

• 4 teaspoons Colman’s mustard powder

• 1 teaspoon ground coriander

• 1 teaspoon cumin

• 1 teaspoon ground ginger

• 100 ml vinegar

Makes 8-10 small jars.

Directions:

Depending on how coarse you like your piccalilli, you can dice the vegetables in about ⅕-⅖ -inch (½-1 cm) pieces, or blitz them in a food processor. I like to be able to se what kind of vegetables I’m eating, so I do a coarser chop.

Wash and peel the vegetables, before chopping them. Mix the chopped vegetables with salt, and place them covered in refrigerator over night.

Prepare the jars and lids by cleaning them and scolding them in boiling water. Rinse them in a conserving agent, (I used a Danish conserving agent called Atamon, sodium benzoate) or rinse them in a 100 proof vodka.

Rinse the vegetables thoroughly in lots of water, drain them well. You can dry the vegetables on kitchen towels.

Make the paste in a bowl or a mini food chopper, making sure to get a homogeneous mixture. Set aside.

Heat the vinegar, water, and sugar until the sugar has dissolved. Mix in some tablespoons of the warm vinegar in the spice paste, two times, before adding all of the paste to the warm vinegar. Bring the vinegar to a boil while whisking. The vinegar will now thicken to a sauce, and let it boil for about 5 minutes. Add the vegetables to the sauce and let them get about 1-2 minutes of heat, before jarring.

Keep the piccalilli in the refrigerator for about 6 weeks before serving, giving the flavors time to mellow out and blend.

The Piccalilli will keep 6 months in the refrigerator.

Enjoy!

Flødeboller - Cream Puffs

Flødeboller (Cream Puffs) are classic Danish treats. When I grew up, it were the go to treat we handed out in school at our birthdays. But it were there store bought kind,

The past 15-20 years flødeboller began to be popular again, and now in a Gourmet version with a marzipan base. An along side came the possibility to make the at home. Here is my version of Flødeboller.

Ingredients:

Makes 18-20.

Base:

• 200 g marzipan/almond paste with about 63% almonds

Filling:

• 250 g  sugar 

• 110 g glucose syrup

• 75 ml water

• 150 g pasteurized egg whites 

• 3 tablespoons sugar

• ½ teaspoon vanilla bean paste

Chocolate coating:

• 200-250 g dark chocolate, a good one I used Valrhona

• 30 g cocoa butter

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350℉ (180℃).

Cut the marzipan log into 20 slices. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake the marzipan for 5-7 minutes until they are golden brown, let them cool completely.

Filling:

When making meringue it is very important that there are no fat residue on your bowl and whisk, otherwise the egg whites won't get fluffy.

Whisk the egg whites until they just turn fluffy, add the 3 tablespoons of sugar and whisk until stiff peaks. Meanwhile heat sugar, syrup and water in a saucepan. Bring it to a boil and keep it simmering until it reaches 243℃ (117℃). this will take a while.

Pour the scolding hot syrup into the egg whites while whisking. The meringue becomes pretty warm, but keep whisking for 12 minutes, until the meringue is room temperature. Mix in the vanilla bean paste.

Add the meringue to a piping bag with a plain round tip. Pipe the meringue in a high peak.

Let the flødeboller sit on the kitchen counter for at least an hour to dry out the surface. This makes it so much easier to cover in chocolate.

Temper the chocolate.

Pour the Chocolate into a glass or cup, large enough to dip the flødebolle top into. Dip the flødebolle into the chocolate, all the way, just reaching the cookie bottom. Raise the flødebolle just over the surface of the Chocolate, and let some of the excess chocolate run off for a few seconds. Place the flødeboller on a piece of parchment paper to let the chocolate dry. Sprinkle with desired sprinkle just before the chocolate dries completely.

Store the flødeboller at 16℃/61℉, they will only keep for a few days. Not really sure for how long, because they evaporates in my house.

Enjoy!