Vanilla Honey Butter

Vanilla Honey Butter

As a Dane growing up in Denmark I didn't know the existence of Honey Butter, and I was ok with that. First time I encountered honey butter was at a brunch, where they served it with biscuit and bacon - and OMG it was a party in my mouth. How could I not know of this????

Now I see that you can use this for many things - like cornbread, American pancakes, bagels, and of course biscuits. The addition of vanilla just makes it even better.

Depending on which butter and honey you use, you get different color and texture. I just used what I had in the house, and that was European style butter, and it was a bit more yellow. I used a dark raw honey, and it made my butter yellow. But you can easily end up with a beautiful white butter - there is no wrong color in honey butter.

ingredients:

• 2 vanilla beans, use the seeds scraped from pods

• 225 g (1 cup) butter, salted and room temperature

• 170 g honey

• 1 pinch salt

Directions:

In a Using a stand mixer, beat all ingredients for a 3-5 minutes until smooth and combined. Serve immediately or refrigerate.

Enjoy!

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!

Pickled Cucumbers

Pickled Cucumbers

My parents grew their own vegetable in their large vegetable garden, and of course my mom made sure to preserve the large amount of produce by pickling and freezing. We all loved my moms pickled cucumbers, with our dinner or on the open faced sandwiches. Especially on liverpate. So when I found crown dill and pickling cucumbers at my local grocery store, I had to try my moms old recipe. I have a hard time learning that the pickled cucumbers in my world are called pickles here in the States, but eventually I might learn to accept it. 😉

5-8 jars.

Ingredients:

Brine:

• 200 g salt

• 2 liters (68 oz) water

Pickling:

• 1500 g pickling cucumbers

• 1250 ml vinegar

• 780 g sugar

• 13-15 slices fresh horseradish

• 5 teaspoons yellow mustard seeds

• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds

• 2 teaspoon black peppercorns

• 8 crown dill (1-2 in each jar)

• 6-8 dried red chilies

Direction:

Combine the salt and water in a pitcher and stir until the salt has dissolved. Rinse the cucumbers thoroughly and snip off the blossom end stem. Prick cucumbers with a table fork. Set aside. Pour the salt water over the cucumbers. Place a plate on top to keep the cucumbers submerged. Let stand 12 hours in the refrigerator. Drain the cucumber and place them in scolded* jars. Add horseradish, dill and the spices to the jars.

I sliced 4 of the cucumbers in thick slices for some more spicy pickles. I placed the slices in 2 smaller jars with 1 fatalii chili in one and 1 habanero chili in the other. HOT HOT HOT  🌶 🌶 🌶  

Boil the vinegar with the sugar, and pour it in the jars, making sure to cover the cucumbers completely. Place the lid on the jars, not tightening them completely.

After 2 days, drain out the vinegar and let it come to a boil, maybe adding more vinegar and sugar. Pour the vinegar over the cucumbers again, adding new horseradish and/or sodium benzoate. Seal the jars tight. Do not boil the horseradish.

*You need to clean the jars and sterilize them by soaking them in boiling water. Same goes for the lids. Submerge the lid for a few minutes in a bowl of boiling water. Rinse jars and lids with alcohol like strong vodka or cognac. 

These will keep for a few months at room temperature, but you can keep them in the refrigerator  too. In my house they won't last long.

Vegetable Bearnaise

When you talk sauce, I'm a true Dane. I love sauce, and lots of it. But if you go the classic French sauce way, you have to use large amount of butter or other fats. I learned to perfect the traditional sauce bearnaise made in a blender or made sous vide. And even though they taste delicious, and a little goes a long way, it would be nice to have a sauce bearnaise where you can indulge in the tasty sauce, without eating a whole stick of butter with your steak. Vegetable bearnaise is the answer. With only 6 tablespoons of butter in a big bowl of sauce, that serves 6-8 sauce lovers, this is definitely on the healthier side, compared with the original bearnaise.

You can add pretty much any vegetables you like, just bear in mind that more carrots will give you a sweeter bearnaise. and generally the color of the vegetables will influence the color of the sauce. 

If you like a spicier bearnaise add a dash of cayenne or chilies to the mix. And for a garlic bearnaise add 1 cloves of garlic the last 5 minutes of the simmering. 

Serves 6-8.

Ingredients:

Reduction:

• 1 bunch fresh tarragon, save some leaves for finishing the sauce

• 4 small or 2 medium shallots, minced

• ½ cup (1 dl) white wine vinegar

• ½ cup (1 dl) dry white wine

• 6 whole black peppers (for the reduction)

Vegetable base:

• 1 medium carrot, peeled and roughly chopped

• ½ medium onion, peeled and roughly chopped

• 2-3 celery stalks, peeled and roughly chopped

• ½ medium cauliflower, in florets

• ½ cube chicken bouillon

• ½ teaspoon salt

• 1 cup (240 ml) water

• 2 sprigs of fresh tarragon

Finishing touches:

• 6 tablespoons butter, salted and cold

• 2-4 tablespoons reduction, to taste

• 3 sprigs fresh tarragon, leaves only, coarsely chopped

• salt, to taste

Directions:

Reduction:

In a small saucepan, combine sprigs of the tarragon, shallots, vinegar pepper and wine over medium-high heat. Bring to a simmer and cook until reduced by half. Remove from heat, strain the liquid and set it aside to cool. You can make larger amounts and freeze it in smaller portions in an ice cube tray.

Vegetable base:

Place the ingredients for the vegetable base in a saucepan, and bring it to a boil, turn down the heat and let the vegetable simmer covered for about 20-30 minutes until all the vegetables are tender. 

Put vegetable base, butter and reduction into a blender*. Season the sauce with salt and more reduction. Mix in the tarragon just before serving.

Enjoy!

*Be careful when blending hot liquids, it can make the lid pop off, and you may risk getting serious burns on you skin. You can remove the small cap on you blender lid and cover the lid with a clean kitchen towel. You need to hold on to the lid and towel. This will let the steam from the hot soup escape and avoid the lid from popping off. You can also get blenders like the Vitamix, where you can blend hot liquids, without any hassle.

Pickled Red Onions

Pickled Red Onions

These pickled onions are so good on a hotdog or a burger. Skip the raw onions and give these a try, you will not regret it. 

Danes like pickled things. My parents had a large vegetable garden, so my mom pickled a lot of the vegetables. I think most cultures pickle their different crops and even fish and meats to preserve them, for times with less abundance of fresh produce. Nowadays we do not have to preserve our produce, because of the global trading. You will always be able top get fresh strawberries, even in January. In my point of view this makes them less special, and you do not appreciate them as much, when you don't have to wait for the seasons.  From an economical and environmental standpoint, eating local produce when they are in season makes more sense. In a perfect world I would do that, and in my imperfect world I strive to do that.

Ingredients:

• 2 medium red onions

• 1 cup (240 ml) vinegar, I prefer a white vinegar

• 1 cup (200 g) sugar

• 10-15 peppercorn (I used red)

• 2 dried chilies

Directions:

Scald a glass jar and lid with boiling water, set aside. 

Thinly slice the red onions. Place the sliced onions in the glass jar.

Bring the vinegar to a boil, and dissolve the sugar in it. Add the spices and let it come to a boil again. Pour the hot vinegar over the onions until they are covered. Put the lid on, and let the onions cool down, 
Serve the onions on hotdogs, burgers or as a tangy side to your dinner.

Enjoy!