Thai Noodles

Thai food is often subject to take-away for us. That is of course a bit lazy, but sometimes it's getting late and sometimes we would like something more spicy than the kids can stomach. In the latter case it is well managed by ordering take-away so everyone gets what they desire. Normally that means sweet and sour chicken for the kids and a hot beef salad for the grownups. That is not was this post is about, but more like an explanation why it is sometimes OK to do take-away. And Thai take away can be quite good.
Today we set out for making it ourselves. This is a quick dish to make.

For 4 persons: (First put on a pot with water for egg noodles)

500 grams of chicken breast cut into thin slices.
100 grams of brussels sprouts
100 grams of mini corn
100 grams of sugar peas
200 gr mushrooms
garlic
onion
1 de-seeded chilli, finely chopped (this is the mild version)
The chicken is fried at a high temperature. When done (or even, as we did, use two separate pans) heat oil and fry the onion, chili and garlic and the add the peas and corn. Mix the chicken in and add some chicken stock and maybe a little white wine. Finish with some sesame oil,  fish sauce and lemon (or lime). In the meantime the water should have reached boiling point and the egg noodles should be about ready.
Mix it all and serve.
We had an Australian Riesling, Knappstein Winery 2008. Both food and wine and matching turned out to our liking 7,5/10

Pasta ai frutti di mare

Winter is here and even if it not as cold as it can be, it still feels a long way from Italy... one of our favourite places to be. Alas, we have one small way of consoling ourselves until next time. Italian food and wine! Today we go to the small village, Hornbæk, that was once a fisherman's village, but by now is one of the better summer resorts for the Danes. Still, there is a fishmonger on the harbour. The harbour no longer has any fishing boats and the fishmonger, we suspect, gets all his commodities from Copenhagen. We pick up some venus clams and since we already have langostini and mussels we are all set for a great dish of seafood pasta, or as they say in Italy, Spaghetti ai frutti di mare.

It is the easiest thing to make:

Briefly fry some finely chopped shallots, garlic and one de-seeded chilli in olive oil. Add a tin of peeled tomatoes and let it simmer until the onions soften. Add a couple of glasses of whitewine.

In the meantime you should be boiling the pasta - for this dish linguini is better. When the pasta is 5 minutes from done add your seafood. For us (4 persons) it was one langostini per person, two handfulls of mussels and 600 gr of venus clams. (Sorry about the different measures, but some of it was bought and split the night before - see Jambalaya). Put a lid on and let it cook/steam for 5 minutes. When the pasta is ready mix it altogether with some chopped parsley and serve.
Today we again try the Toledana Gavi di Gavi and it is very good. If you are a regular reader you may recall us mentioning it earlier. The thing is, we bought a case of them and we liked it very much. That has led us to try it out with different dishes, but this  time it is perfect.

Performance Anxiety

Like everybody else we have dishes we like and repeat now and again. Since starting our blog it has become a challenge to think up something new each day. If you think our posts have become less frequent then that is indeed the case, but please bear with us as we strain for something new and interesting to write about on days when we are not into big experiments.

Indeed the pressure of it hit T the other day. He went out shopping alone and was overcome with performance anxiety. Indeed he longed for the old days when he could decide for something he felt like. On this occasion he needed to consider if it was novel to the blog, if both he, K and also the kids would like it... and of course, what to drink with it. I hope you appreciate how challenging all this blogging has become.
Well, enough of excuses. T found some mussels and some langostini and then decided on Jambalaya. Actually, T's knowledge of this dish is solely second-hand, as he had this at an old acquaintance, so you may disagree with the recipe (even though this is also originally a left-over dish, and as such difficult to define what the original version is).

Home again and both K and all kids picked up, we bring forth our brand new christmas present – a Le Creuset Cast Iron casserole. Vegetables are fried: (red and yellow capsicum), onions, garlic a de-seeded chilli. After this we put in a sliced chorizo sausage – a Danish version from Aalbæk slagteren with Jalapeño. This is fried together with cubes of chicken (breast). When fried, two tins of peeled tomatoes and ½l of chicken stock are added. When it has reached a boiling level 300 grams of Aborio risotto rice are added and the we let it simmer for 20 minutes. Remember to stir as the rice will otherwise burn or just stick together – neither of which is very pleasant. After the 20 minutes we put some langostini and 3 handful of mussels in there and put a lid on so they will not only cook, but also let the steam work. Also a couple of handfuls of mini corn are tossed into the mix.

And that's it!

This was not a dish where we could easily tell what to drink with it. We consulted various experts. The choice ended up to between Riesling and Zinfandel! In the end we decided to go with Hugh Johnson and the Stawa 2005 Old Vines Zinfandel and we didn't regret it.

Leftover grease

December has been a month of plenty – and some of the plenty can make a January dinner into a feast. The christmas duck has left a huge bowl full of wonderful, rich grease to be used for a round of confit de canard. We gratefully thank Gastromand for the inspiration.

Day 1: Duck legs are thoroughly rubbed with a mix of 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar, zest of one lemon, rosemary, garlic, and pepper. Leave in the fridge for 24-36 hours.

Day 2 (and a half): rinse off the spices from the meat and put in a pan and cover with the fat. Cook at low temperature for 3-6 hours under lid.

Put the legs in a clean bowl or glass. Cover with the fat and put in the fridge. After 1-2 days the legs can be used. Remove from the container, heat on a pan or in the oven for about 10 minutes.

Eat with for instance mashed potatoes and a salad.

We also try to make a blend of greek youghurt (10%), grated horse radish, lemon zest and a pinch of salt. It tastes delicious – indeed so that we have it with some slices of bread since we by now have come to the very last drumstick.

It is not as fat and unhealthy as one might expect. The confit-method is an old way of preserving different kinds of meat. It keeps well as long as it is covered in fat and it tastes wonderful. Most of the fat melts right off the meat when it is re-heated, leaving just juicy, tender duck on your plate.
We generally try some grenache with the confit de canard, both from Chateauneuf du Pape – Reine Jeanne 2009 from Ogier and also from Priorat - Finca del Puig 2003. It tastes well, but maybe we should have tried some Pinot Noir instead. Oh, well. That'll be next year... if not sooner.

A starter for New Years

New Years eve we are invited to a pot luck party with good friends and family. We are asked to bring the starter and we feel the pressure! Perhaps not as much from the other attendees as from ourselves.
Cod is traditional for New Years in Denmark (usually boiled and served with potatoes and mustard sauce) and we decide on the cod but baked and served with a saffron sauce made from the broth of mussels and cream and and a side of spinach. The whole composition is actually a brainstorm. Neither one of us had a clear picture of how it should be from the outset. We went to Torvehallerne to get inspired and gradually we decided on the ingredients. In the end, we came up with something that could have been invented many times before and probably has, but the process was very inspiring.

Ingredients for two people:

one small fillet of cod (220 gr)

two handfuls of mussels

1 shallot

1 small carrot

1 half stalk of celery

1 large clove of garlic

1 chili (half of it de-seeded)

1 small handful of parsley

1 glass of white wine

1 dl cream

a pinch of saffron

s/p – perhaps a bit of lemon juice

200 gr of fresh spinach

1 tsp cold butter

a bit of lemon juice

The cod is cut into smaller pieces of appr. 30 x 40 mm. The cut-offs are kept for the sauce. The pieces are placed on a dish on baking paper, salted lightly, one slice of lemon pr person on the side and set aside briefly.
The spinach is cleansed and cooked in hot water for 2 minutes, whereafter it is drained with cold water. It is then blended with butter and some of the cooking water. Ideally it will be a thin puree, but depending on the amount of cooking water it can become more or less solid. If it cools too much you should re-heat it a little bit perhaps just by heating the plate it is served on.

The sauce is the clue to this dish:
First rinse the mussels. Discard any that will not close when you tap them or if the shells are broken. Put the mussels in a hot pot with lid for until they open. How long it takes depends much upon how many mussels you are preparing and on the heat. The important thing is to cook them until they have opened and is just done – but not overdone and dry. The mussels will leave a wonderful broth. Take the mussels out of the casserole leaving the juice. Discard the mussels that have not opened. Add to the broth; shallot, garlic, carrot, celery stalk, a little fresh chilli, parsley, the cut-offs from the cod and white wine. Let it simmer and reduce to about half. In the mean time take out the mussels from their shells.

Strain the sauce and add cream and saffron. Let it cook until the cream thickens. Just before serving put the mussels back in the sauce to just re-heat (but not cook on). In all honesty, the latter part worked well on our rehearsal dinner, but not quite as well on new years eve. The taste on new years eve was still great (we think), but the impression gets more messy with the sauce floating around on the plate.
When about ready, put the cod in the oven at 200 degrees and cook for 4 minutes. It is very important to get this right. If baked too long it will become dry, flaky and more difficult to arrange on the plate.

While the cod is in the oven, arrange the (heated) plates with the spinach in a half-circle. When the cod is ready place two pieces on each plate and pour the sauce with mussels on top. If you feel like it decorate with a small topping of salmon roe on top. Serve with small pieces of toasted pumpernickel (good for almost anything).
We tasted two different white wines to determine which went better. They were not particularly similar. The first was Toledana Gavi di Gavi. It was nice, but we were never in doubt and chose Henri Boillot's 2009 Bourgogne. We have later learned that this was reviewed well, but it was suggested that it did not go well with cream nor shellfish. Oh dear!

Christmas tradition

Do not mess with tradition. Do not try to change anything. The punishment will be severe if you do.

(K did try to do variations over the years but it was not popular)

This is it:

Rødkål (Red cabbage)

For optimal result start at least one day in advance.

1 head of red cabbage sliced thinly (easy if you have a food processor)

Duck fat (or butter)

1 glass of red wine

a good squint of balsamico (a couple of spoonfuls)

zest of one orange

juice of the orange

1 spoonful caraway

5 whole allspice

10 whole black pepper seeds

1 glass of lingonberry preserve (tyttebær)

a small glass of apple vinegar

sugar (a couple of spoonfuls or three+)

salt

Sauté the cabbage in the fat. Add wine and balsamico and let it reduce. Add the remaining ingredients. 

It is hard to say exactly how much sugar you need. It is up to your taste and the sweetness of the preserve.

Let it simmer for at least a couple of hours and taste. You may want to add more vinegar, salt or sugar.

And let it simmer again. 

Cool down and heat the next day. Repeat. Before serving add a bit of sauce and fat from the duck.

Risalamande (6 people)

rice porridge (risengrød):

130 gr short rice 

1 liter of skim milk

1 vanilla pod

75 gr sugar

1 squint of salt

Scrape out the vanilla from the pod and put vanilla and pod with all the other ingredients into a pot with lid that is ovenproof. Heat slowly while stirring. Careful – it burns easily. When boiling put in the oven at 150° C for 1 1/2 hour. Cool. This should be done one day in advance.

Skin 160 gr almonds. Chop coarsely. Remember to leave at least one whole for the almond present!!! (mandelgave)

Whip 4 dl of cream.

Mix all. Serve with cherry sauce. (1 glass of danish and 1 italian amareno cherrys mixed and heated)

Christmas duck (slow cooked)

4-5 people

1 big organic duck

1/2 an apple (belle de boskop) (spicy apple) per person

6 macerated prunes per person

salt and pepper

a bit of thyme

Thoroughly rub the duck with salt and pepper, in and out.

Fill with the apples, prunes and thyme and close with meat pins.
Put in oven at 130°C on a rack.
Fill about 1 l of water in a baking pan below.
Breast down for 4 hours, turn, breast up for the last 2 hours.

If not dark grill shortly at 270°C. (Watch all the time).

Remember to save the fat. It is delicious and can be used for many purposes, for instance confit or just on a slice of toasted pumpernickel with salt.

Duck sauce/gravy

Cook the giblets and tip of wings with an onion, a couple of carrots and other root crops, thyme, pepper, etc. for a base for the sauce.

Brown the ingredients, add some red wine, reduce, add water to cover, boil, skim and let simmer for 2 hours. Remove all meat but mash some of the vegetables into the sauce to make it thick.

Salt, pepper, a bit of the sauce from the baking pan. Perhaps a drop of cream, a bit of balsamico – and that should do it.

Serve with white and sugar-browned potatoes.

Brown potatoes:
Cook small potatoes until still firm (a bit undercooked)
Cool – peal.

Heat up sugar on an pan, sloooowly. When melted and browning, add butter.
Add potatoes and leave until they are nicely covered in caramel.
When serving, remember that the risalamande is the desert and should be served last.
Next year perhaps we will try this method from Politiken

Curry – great kongo style

During this month – the month of christmas – we have been trying to bring down the intake of calories in various ways and with various luck. It is hard work – temptations are numerous and hard to resist. Today we want spice and heat instead of animal fat. We can't quite agree on the origin of this curry. It is neither really north African nor eastern but we finally agree on great kongo curry.

Curry

1 spoonful cumin

1 spoonful coriander seed

black pepper

all burned on a hot pan

mortared with turmeric, chili, lemon zest, 2 cm ginger

350 gr cubed beef

3 carrots of various color

1 onion

1 bell pepper

1 fennel

1 leak

1 can of chick peas

1 can of tomatoes

4 cloves of garlic

1 green chili + 1 pepporoncini

Brown meat and vegetables, add curry and salt.
Found a bottle with some left over white wine (what, really???!!) and put in a small glassful of that.
Perhaps not authentic but good.
Then the tomatoes, a bit of soy, a squint of syrup.
lid on and low heat for about an hour.

After about 45 minutes the basmati rice were started – cooked with cardamom and at the same time the chick peas were put in the curry.

For once we could not finish it all. There was plenty left over. Enough for two and a half meals for K over the next days. And no calorie drawbacks. 9/10

With this we tried a very good Vacqueras, Dauvergne Ranvier 2009, which was rich in fruit, but already well balanced 9/10 and it was even quite good with the curry. so that was another 9/10