Mango ice cream with wild raspberries

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Oslo, August 4

The last weeks I have been busy making ice cream. This is not so strange considering the hot Norwegian summer and how much my son loves ice cream. On my vacation up North I made home made smoothie ice cream. And when I found the loveliest wild raspberries some days ago, I knew I had to make something special, something I had not eaten since the 1990s, the ice cream I shared with the person I was going to marry. Mango ice cream with raspberries. An ice cream that reminds me of the best things in my life.

I had to photograph the ice cream so I climbed a chair to get the best viewpoint. In all my eagerness I took one wrong step and fell down from the chair. An old knee-injury made the fall hurt badly and I started to cry. My little son witnessed everything from where he sat in the sofa. When I started to cry, he started to weep.

I tried to console him, telling him that mommy just fell down from the chair. It was OUCH OUCH, but not dangerous. He pointed at one of my birthmarks and asked me If that was where it hurt? No, I said. It hurts inside my knee, but it is over now.

Gaza, August 4

I try not to care. But sometimes it is harder to cut the ties that bind you to the world. I have noticed how the ties are getting thicker now that I have become a parent. A French war reporter in an interview described how she was not afraid, until she had given birth to a son. Now she reflected upon what she really experienced out there in the war zone, what fears she exposed her child to.

Sometimes there is an extra tie, and this one had to do with ice cream. A picture of a child in an ice cream freezer. A little girl the same age as my two-year old son. The Palestinian hospital at Rafeh, Gaza, had to turn to old ice cream freezers because of lack of mortuaries as death toll rose. A child in an ice cream freezer in a cold-hearted conflict.

War deprives us of our humanity. Syria. Gaza. Iraq. Afghanistan. It is not here. But there are some stories that break trough. Another story I cannot forget is the picture of an abandoned fish bowl in Syria. The owner let the tap water drop into the bowl so the fish could live. The last deed of care before he had to flee.

Mango ice cream

Mango ice cream with wild raspberries

500 g mango flesh (about 2 medium mangoes)
50 g sugar
2 tbsp juice of lemon
225 g thick Greek yogurt (full-fat)
A handful of frozen wild raspberries (or ordinary raspberries)

1. Peel the mango and reserve a few slices for garnish which you cut into small cubes and leave in the freezer.
2. Cut the rest of the mango in chunks and put in a blender. Avoid the fibrous inner part.
3. Now you are left with the stone and the surrounding fibrous flesh. Squeeze it with your hands over a little pan. Add the sugar and bring to boil until the sugar has dissolved. Allow to cool. Add the lemon juice.
4. Blitz the mango with the yogurt and mango juice in the blender. Churn in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer’s directions. Serve with frozen raspberries and mango cubes.

P.S. If you use frozen mango chunks, it will take shorter time to make.

If you like this post, I can also recommend

Frozen yogurt ice cream + North Norway
Pasta salad and a story about loss and an old garden
Rhubarb tart 1938

The post Mango ice cream appeared first on Nordic Diner.

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If you are up North then
there is more than a ferry to loose
You are not the only one she leaves
and you will not be the last
If you are up North then
If you are up North then

Vacation. Nothing makes me more stressed out than going on vacation. The time when all pieces should fall into place and only the good times should roll.

Vacation up North. To the land where you need a ferry to travel. Where there is no difference between night and summer day. Where the dinner meant for 4 suddenly is for 8. Where there is always time, and a visitor is offered plenty of coffee and cakes.

To the North of Norway. Where autumn is orange not because of the leaves, but because of the cloudberries in the mires. Where the beaches are so sandy you could forget this is Norway, not Mexico or the Maldives, if you look beyond the red boathouses, the mountains and the cold water.

Where nature is magnificent but the weather is moody. Where mountains and beaches are wrapped in fog and storm. Where there is gratitude for the smallest glimpse of summer and 15 degree Celsius (60 Fahrenheit) is bikinisummer, worthy of sunbathing and smiles.

You never know what kind of weather awaits you when you are traveling to the North of Norway. My last summer vacation up North, the average temperature dropped to 8 degree Celsius (46 Fahrenheit). In July. The summer before was stormy, we mostly stayed indoors, my son was sick and we had a massive family quarrel.

No sun in December, this is the law in this part of the country
Night devours the day and she is always hungry
The stars have gone, they are selling themselves in stores
The sky has no borealis, and you cannot see the Polaris

If you are up North then
Just let the darkness roll
Because one night the curtain will open up
and there will be a divine Light
If you are up North then
If you are up North then

This year’s vacation started with me traveling north with chickenpox (in its last phase, doctor said it was ok to travel). The 20th of July is a magical date on the island where I come from. At that time the first cloudberries ripen, but in return the midnight sun is starting to fade away.

I came to the island of my childhood just in time to see the first cloudberries mature. It was so hot most days I could pick cloudberries on the mires in my running shoes. Simultaneously the local strawberries were also ripe and my mother had green rhubarb in the freezer for me.

We made beautiful and traditional food I associate with my childhood and the island I left when I was sixteen. Rice porridge topped with sour cream porridge. Tart rhubarb pudding with cream. Waffles with cloudberries. Reindeer stew. Pan-fried coalfish with potatoes. Always potatoes accompanying dinner. And black pudding.

The two general stores on the island are not like other stores. They always keep in stock shaved reindeer meet and frozen blood. It was the first time I bought one. A bucket with blood, labeled ”for consumption”. My mother taught me how to make my childhood favourite, black pudding with raisins, and suddenly I was there. A kid in my mother’s kitchen, munching black pudding.

We sunbathed at Silsand most days. Silsand is one of the sandy beaches on the island, lying where the road almost ends. From here there is view all the way to the town of Harstad and its wooden houses. Just a stones’ trow away lies ”End of the rock (”Bergenden”), the place to stay if you want to gaze at the midnight sun casting its spell on the distant Senja mountains, turning them blue, pink, orange and in the end, deep red.

To Silsand we brought along homemade frozen yogurt ice cream with mountains of raspberries, a dessert I made several times up there. It was up North my little two year old son had his first real berry meal consisting of nordic strawberries. And it was here he learned to throw stones in the ocean, not the sea.

Back in Oslo again. The chickenpox has been replaced with insect bites. My camera is filled with almost 500 pictures. My son is rid of his fear of bathing in the sea, and he has gotten to know for real his family living up North. He has almost turned into a Northener. He has learned to say ”Oh my God” and has driven an all-terrain vehicle.

You do not reach land before the wind has turned
What you give is just not returned
But you are not alone, there are many of us out there
Our boats crossing paths in darkness on an open fjord

If you are up North then
The winter darkness is behind you
Spring has pushed you through
You are soon on the other side
If you are up North then
If you are up North then.  

Rhubarb pudding with cream

This is the Norwegian counterpart to the more known Danish berry pudding. Cooked berries and fruit thickened with potato starch is an old tradition in Scandinavia, and something I remember from my childhood.

about 500 g / 18 oz peeled rhubarb
about 100 gr / 4 oz sugar
100 ml water
2 tbsp potato starch (or maizena)
heavy cream to serve

1. Cut the stalks into pieces. Place in a pan with the sugar. Let the rhubarb rest for at least an hour – the sugar will produce rhubarb juice.
2. Add the water and bring to boil on low heat for 10 minutes. Adjust the taste with more sugar if you find it too sour.
3. Stir the potato starch in a little water and pour into the pan while stirring with a whisk. It is important you pour it gradually until the pudding has the consistency of thin porridge. (The pudding will thicken more as it becomes cold).
4. Pour in a serving bowl, sprinkle with a little sugar and allow to cool. Serve with heavy cream.

Frozen yogurt with berries (makes 4–5)

In the summer I would rather spend my time outside than in the kitchen. So this is frozen yogurt ice cream the easiest way, made without ice cream machine. This is unpretentious food for the beach, for the hammock, for the balcony, for summer.

400 ml thick Greek yogurt (preferably full-fat)
125 g / 4 oz raspberries or strawberries
3–6 tbsp sugar (depending on how sweet you like it)

With a fork smash 100 g of the berries together with the sugar. Add the yogurt and stir a little. I like to keep it rippled. Place in the fridge at least an hour. After an hour it is more like cold cream, not ice cream. If you want ice cream scoops, freeze for 2–3 hours while you stir once in a while, particularly the edges. (Do not freeze more as it turns into granita rather than ice cream). Top with the rest of the berries divided into two and three.

Travel more?

Athens, Greek salad and holiday memories
Jambalaya and greetings from New Orleans
Tips to London and Paris, which one is the best food city?

A taste of North Norway?

Almond meringue tart with butter cream (suksessterte)
Nordic BLT with scrambled eggs
Scandinavian waffles with cardamom
Creamy rice porridge with orange sauce
Rhubarb tart 1938
Black pudding with syrup

The lyrics in this post is “E du nord” by Kari Bremnes, my translation from Norwegian to English.

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Danish berry pudding with cream.

Danish berry pudding with cream (rødgrød med fløde) is probably the most famous of all Scandinavian desserts. It surely is the national dessert of Denmark.

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A multitude of berries cooked with water or fruit juice thickened with potato starch resulting in a “red porridge” (rødgrød) and served with heavy cream. The national dessert of Denmark has been a staple since the late 19th century and together with ris a la mande they constitute the Danish contribution to the World heritage of desserts. Norway has no tradition of berry pudding, but we have a similar “fruit porridge” which consists of cooked and thickened rhubarb, also served with cream. These are desserts with an emotional ingredient: They remind you of childhood, the good childhood. Or how we want to remember childhood.

The scent of sunshine, vacation and freedom. Because it is hard to forget the enduring scent of boiled berries. They remind me of childhood the same way gravy from a roasted duck and pork roast do on Christmas Eve.

Thomas Herman, Danish star chef

Berry pudding is not the fanciest of desserts. It is the dessert most grandmothers made long time before creme brulé and chocolate fondant were household desserts. It is traditionally served with heavy cream, never whipped cream. The other defining trait is the use of an array of berries. It is made with at least three kinds of berries. According to the Housewife’s handbook dating back to 1903 redcurrants are important because they “yield the loveliest colour, but it is tastier with a mix of redcurrants, raspberries and blackcurrants.”

In some versions the berries are cooked until porridge. In other versions the berries are just dropped in the sauce at the end. The latter is the version I adhere to. I make the berry pudding in two phases: First I cook a flavourful syrup based on redcurrants, blackcurrants or cherries. When the cooking is finished I add strawberries and raspberries. Serve it either warm or cold, but if you serve it cold drizzle a little sugar to avoid the dessert developing a “skin” on top.

Because it is mid-July I use the berries in season: Redcurrants for colour and tartness, raspberries and strawberries for sour sweetness, making it into a dessert celebrating summer and its endless bounty.

Danish berry pudding with cream (makes 4–5)

100 g currants (red or black)
200 ml water
50 g sugar
150 g raspberries
300 g strawberries
2 tbsp maizena
50 g blanched almonds
heavy cream to serve

1. Add redcurrants (or blackcurrants), water and sugar in a pan and let simmer for 10 minutes.
2. Wash and hull the strawberries. Divide small ones into two and big ones into three.
3. Stir the maizena in a little water and pour into the pan while stirring with a whisk. It is important you pour the maizena gradually until the pudding has the consistency of thin porridge. (The pudding will thicken more as it becomes cold).
4. Remove the pudding from the heat and add the strawberries and raspberries. Serve with heavy cream in a jug.

More Danish dishes?

Rice pudding with cherries (ris a la mande)
Pork apples (æbleflæsk)
Apple trifle (pige med slør)
The open sandwich has returned from the past

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Strawberries with meringue and wild strawberries.

A handful of wild strawberries embracing garden strawberries. A doll-up of meringue. The loveliest strawberry dessert.

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Right now strawberries are on everybody’s lips. People have strawberry moustaches, and newspapers tell stories about strawberry “cocktails” you do not want to encounter. The lovely but disputed strawberries colour the Norwegian summer red with its peak in July. What is the best way to enjoy the jewels of summer? Is it Eton Mess? With panna cotta? Or the Wimbledon way with cream, which also is the preferred manner in Norway?

According to my lovely better half, there are two ways to enjoy strawberries: Au naturel or with raw meringue. I remember the first time I made lemon meringue pie. I was so disappointed. I thought the meringue should be like a pavlova – chewy and crisp, not like a mess of fluffy uncooked marshmallows. A meringue with a thin shelter of grilled crust, otherwise almost raw. I did not understand this was exactly the point.

Later on I tried an even rawer version. At the Oslo restaurant St. Lars, I had strawberries in a bay-scented syrup with fluffy, raw meringue. This time I got it.

The bitterness of the bay leaf may not be your first choice of spice to pair with strawberries, but it works well. However, here I opt for a much more local ingredient that grows in the garden right outside my window. My garden is a typical Oslo garden with patches of green in the shades of low apartment buildings. Here a few patches have escaped the tidiness of the lawn, bringing to life wild strawberries, tiny and almost hidden by weed and grass. In Norway they are called markjordbær, ground strawberries, because they grow so close to the ground.

I flavour the syrup with the wild strawberries to let their delicate flavour embrace the garden strawberries. If you are not lucky to have a patch of wild strawberries, use a bay leaf instead or go natural. Either way, the combination of strawberries and raw meringue enhances the strawberry flavour more than cream does. And if you are lactose-intolerant it sure is a good option.

P.S. If you do not want to use raw egg whites, leave the meringue for 15 minutes in the oven at 325F.

Strawberries with meringue and wild strawberries (makes 4)

Strawberries:
150 ml water
1 tbsp sugar
1–2 punnets strawberries (washed, hulled and halved)
a handful of wild strawberries (or a bay leaf)

Meringue:
2 egg whites at room temperature
100 g sugar

1. Put water and sugar in a small pan. If you go for the bay leaf syrup, add the bay leaf and boil on low heat until reduced a third, about 15 minutes. Allow to cool and add the strawberries. If you make the version with wild strawberries, let them marinate in the finished and cold syrup for 15 minutes before you add the strawberries.

2. In a clean bowl, whip the egg whites with an electric beater for at minute before adding the sugar, a spoon at a time until the mixture is thick and glossy. Best used within an hour or two.

3. Serve the berries with a doll-up of meringue and drizzle with some of the syrup.

More recipes with wonderful strawberries?

Strawberry panna cotta
Strawberry milkshake
Eton Mess, my English summer flirt

Music: Hard way home, Brandi Carlile

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Tiramisu.

When your kitchen is filled with the scent of vanilla, rum and espresso something magical is unfolding.

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Mention the word Italian dessert, and the classical answer is tiramisu. Tiramisu is not only the perfect dessert for grown-ups. It is the perfect dessert. Easy to make, it can be prepared in advance, and has a subtle yet wonderful scent and taste. There is only one problem. Its relative ease is based on buying ladyfingers. What if you are gluten intolerant?

The dessert that was almost invented in Venice

Veneto. V for Veneto. The region in the northeastern corner of Italy known for the cities of Verona and Venezia and valpolicella wine. Lately the region of Veneto has made claim to be recognized as the birthplace of tiramisu, the same way the city of Naples has been recognized for pizza. The town of Treviso not far from Venice claims to have invented tiramisu. What is undisputed is the fact that tiramisu is a quite new invention among Italian desserts, it does not show up in cookbooks until the 60s and 70s. Some say as late as the 80s.

Pick me up, but forget the amaretto

The word tiramisu means pick me up or lift me up, probably because of the invigorating effect of coffee. To me just thinking of tiramisu lifts me up. Traditionally tiramisu was made without egg whites and alcohol. Today there are many varieties, some containing egg whites, which makes the texture lighter. I like it when it is made more like a dessert with just one sponge layer and plenty of vanilla cream. It is important to soak the sponge just until moist and be generous with the mascarpone to achieve a quite dense cream. When it comes to alcohol, I prefer rum, but do try marsala, vin santo or even brandy. Just avoid the almond-flavoured amaretto liqueur. In my opinion it destroys the delicious vanilla-coffee flavour you want to achieve.

Gluten-free tiramisu

I am not allergic to gluten, but my better half does not tolerate gluten well. Hence most of the food at our home is gluten-free. Most of the time this works well, but sometimes it can be a challenge. Making profiteroles or cream puffs is a total failure resulting in wheat bullets, and it is far from easy making small pies as a starter when you have to make the puffed pastry yourself. Pizza on the other hand requires some practise but works fine in the end. If you want to enjoy a tarte tartin, just substitute the puff pastry with gluten-free pie dough. Instead of ladyfingers you can make a very easy sponge. It may not be as authentic as ladyfingers, but you will not taste much difference.

Magic in the kitchen

Egg yolks, mascarpone, espresso, rum, vanilla bean, cocoa and savoiardi biscuits (ladyfingers). These are the magical ingredients in a tiramisu. Leave the dessert overnight in the refrigerator for it to set and the flavours to develop even more. I also add bits of dark chocolate, just to drive home the grown-up flavours that perfectly melt together to create one of the world’s finest desserts.

P.S. If you want to make it without alcohol, substitute the alcohol with orange juice and serve it in individual portions. Also, I only use half the sponge and freeze the rest for another time to make tiramisu.

Gluten-free tiramisu (makes 3-4)

Sponge:
2 eggs
5o g / 1,8 oz sugar
75 g / 2,6 oz flour or gluten-free flour

Liquid for soaking:
40 ml espresso
1,5 tbsp rum

Cream:
2 egg yolks
35 g / 1,2 oz icing sugar
½ vanilla bean
100 ml heavy cream
250 g / 8,8 oz mascarpone (a tub)
25 g / 0,8 oz dark chocolate

To finish:
cocoa powder for dusting

1. Sponge: Preheat oven to 150C/300F and place parchment paper in a round baking tin (20 cm / 8 inch). Whisk the eggs and sugar with an electric whisk until pale and fluffy. Fold gently in the flour. Bake for about 20 minutes. Leave to cool and divide into two.

2. Liquid for soaking: Mix the espresso with rum and allow to cool.

3. Cream: Whisk the yolks and sugar with an electric whisk until pale and fluffy. Add the seeds of the vanilla bean and stir well. In another bowl whip the cream until soft peaks and fold in the mascarpone. Chop the chocolate roughly and add to the cream.

4. To assemble: Place half the sponge in a serving bowl and pour the coffee-rum evenly. Spoon the cream on top, cover and leave overnight in the refrigerator. Right before serving, sprinkle generously with cocoa powder.

If you like this post, you should try

Summer pasta with slow-roasted vegetables
Roasted plums with cookie topping
Chocolate cake with blood oranges
Gluten-free banana cake

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Cheesecake with passion fruit

Every cake tells a story, and this passionate cheesecake started with a sweet book.

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I love passion fruit, and the first time I encountered this passion fruit was in a cookbook called Sweet (Søtt) by the Norwegian pastry chef Nina Sjøen.

The art of deep-frying ice cream…

I remember the book as very difficult. I had to thoroughly study the recipes to understand them and the book contained daunting tasks such as deep-frying ice cream. This was in the year 2000, long before food blogs and instagram. If you wanted to find a recipe, you had to look in the world of books.

So the book Sweet became my trusted friend in the kitchen teaching me how to master the classic desserts such as tarte tartin, chocolate fondant and French apple tart. I have made almost every sweet dish in the book, and it is particularly one dish I return to, the passion fruit cheesecake.

Easy no-bake cheesecake

In the book Nina Sjøen made the passion fruit cheesecake with three layers: An almond base, a filling with passion fruit and passion fruit jelly on top. I make a simpler version with a biscuit base and cream cheese filling with yoghurt. This is a very easy no-bake cake. I also use shredded coconut in the base to enhance the tropical flavour.

This makes one 20 cm tin or about 6 tartelette sized pies. It is best to use a loose-bottomed tin. When buying passion fruits remember to choose the wrinkled ones.

Cheesecake with passion fruit sauce

Biscuit base:
20 g / 0,7 oz shredded coconut
60 g / 2,1 oz butter
30 g / 1 oz palm sugar (or brown sugar)
120 g / 4,2 oz digestive biscuits

Filling:
1 vanilla bean
zest of 1 organic lemon
400 g / 14 oz Philadelphia cream cheese (two packages)
60 g / 2,1 oz icing sugar
500 ml thick/Greek yoghurt

Passion fruit sauce:
8 passion fruits
2 oranges
50 g / 1,7 oz sugar
1 leaf gelatine

Biscuit base:
1. Toast the coconut in a pan for a few minutes. Place the biscuits in a plastic bag and crush to crumbs with a rolling-pin.
2. Melt the butter in the pan, add sugar and crumbs.
3. Fry on medium heat for about 5-10 minutes while stirring.
4. Transfer to the tin and press down firmly to create an even base. Chill.

Filling:
1. Scrape out the seeds of the vanilla bean and place in a bowl. Add the lemon zest.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until smooth.
3. When the biscuit base is cold, spoon the filling on top of the base with a spatula. Place in the refrigerator.

Passion fruit sauce:
1. Divide the passion fruits and scrape out the pulp with a spoon. Whiz in a food processor a couple of seconds. Place the pulp in a colander placed on top of a pan. Push with a spoon to make the juice.
2. Soak the gelatine in cold water for 5 minutes.
3. Squeeze the orange juice and add to the pan.
4. Add sugar and bring to boil. Take aside and add the soaked gelatine (remember to squeeze the gelatine first). Stir and let cool for a minimum of 3 hours or overnight.

Serve the passion fruit sauce on top of the cheesecake or in a mug for each guest to serve themselves.

More easy summer desserts?

Panna cotta with strawberries
Brownies with salted caramel sauce and pecans

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Clementine jelly with ginger.

When I was little my mother always had small packages of jelly in the kitchen closet. Small packages called Freia gelé which were incredible sweet and probably contained tons of artificial ingredients. The only thing you had to do was add boiling water to make jelly.

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Nowadays I have banned these packages from my life. They will never enter my life again now that I have discovered how simple it is to make jelly. And how much better it taste. When using fresh fruit or berries, jelly is a truly fine dessert.

You can make jelly from all sorts of fruits and berries (except kiwi and pineapple) or by using a quality fruit juice. Strawberries, raspberries or elderflower in the summer. Passion fruit, oranges or clementines in the winter. If you want to elevate the jelly dessert even more, you may add champagne or whole berries.

In Medieval England jellies were one of the showstoppers at banquets, but these jellies were a far outcry from what we are used to today. They were meatjellies containing fish or meat, sometimes hiding a whole fish. Everything to impress the guests and showcase the host. As time went by sweet dessertjellies became more common, but aspic is a ”leftover” from earlier times.

Before the production of gelatin was industrialized, it was a time-consuming and messy process that required the slow cooking of pig’s feet or veal knuckle. Still gelatin is made from boiling pigs or cattle (it is a byproduct of the meat and leather industry), but if you want a vegetarian option go for agar agar instead.

Here I make a winter jelly inspired by Jamie Oliver, clementine jelly with fresh ginger. Jamie serves the jelly with yogurt, but I opt for vanilla custard sauce. I also add some lime and oranges to enhance the flavour. Remember to make this dessert the night before, as the jelly needs the night to set.

Oh my darling Clementine.

Clementine jelly with ginger (makes 5-6):

400 ml orange juice (about 4 oranges)
small piece of fresh ginger (about 3 cm), grated
60 g sugar
300 ml clementine juice (about 10 to 12 clementines)
juice of 1/2 lime
5 leaf gelatin

1. Bring 100 ml of the orange juice to boil in a pan with the sugar and ginger. Let simmer gently for 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, squeeze the juice of the rest of the citrus fruits.
3. Soak the leaf gelatine in a bowl with cold water, about 5 minutes.
4. Remove the pan from the heat. Squeeze the water out of the gelatin and place in the pan. Stir well to dissolve the gelatin.
5. Add the rest of the citrus juice. Allow to cool, then pour into serving glasses. Leave overnight in the refrigerator.

Vanilla custard sauce (makes 5-6)

1 vanilla pod
500 ml full-fat milk
4 egg yolks
50 g sugar

1. Split the vanilla pod lengthways. Scrape out the vanilla seeds and place both seeds and the pod in a small pan with the milk. Bring to boil and take off the heat and leave to rest with the lid on.

3. Separate the eggs and leave the yolks in a bowl. (Do not throw away the egg whites. Use them to make pavlova or these Italian almond cookies). Whisk together the egg yolks and sugar with an electric hand mixer until fluffy (about 1 minute). Add the hot milk while beating with the electric mixer.

4. Pour the mixture back into the pan on low heat. Heat the sauce until it thickens while you continuously stir with a whisk. It is finished when it coats the back of the spatula. Do not allow the custard to boil, as it will curdle.

5. Leave the pan in cold water if you want the custard to cool down quickly. When cold, remove the vanilla pod.

If you are unlucky and the custard curdles, you may still use it. It will still taste wonderful.

More lovely citrus?

Heavenly fruit salad with clementines
Creamy rice porridge Suzette
Chocolate cake with caramelized blood oranges

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Rice pudding, Scandinavia’s favorite Christmas dessert.

Sprinkle stardust on your rice pudding and serve Scandinavia’s favorite Christmas dessert.

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Rice pudding is an old Scandinavian dessert dating back to the latter part of the 19th century in Denmark. Scandinavia has always had a love affair with porridge, so the leap was not very big from porridge to dessert. Rice pudding is made in Norway, Sweden and Denmark for Christmas. The dessert consists of rice porridge mixed with vanilla and whipped cream and served with a red sauce. Adding whipped cream makes the rice pudding very creamy. All three countries put a whole almond in the rice pudding, and the one who finds it receives a gift, often a pig made of marzipan.

When it comes to the sauce, the three Nordic countries choose their separate roads. Norwegians are quite down to earth and serve a red sauce based on berry juice thickened with potato flour. Swedes often serve their pudding with oranges and candied peel. The Danes elevate the dessert to a meal to remember. They embrace a sauce made of cherries called kirsebærsovs.

The easiest way to make the cherry sauce is to use a glass of preserved cherries. I always preserve cherries in the autumn in a flavoured syrup made with cinnamon stick and lemon peel. On Christmas Eve the only thing I have to do is thicken it with maizenna and add lemon juice to balance the sweetness. This way you are making slow fast food that has had several months to develop its wonderful flavour. But if you have no preserved cherries in your pantry, you can always use frozen cherries (as I have done in the recipe below).

Rice pudding is leftover food. At our house we eat rice porridge on the day before Christmas Eve. The next day the porridge is transformed into the most delicious dessert. This desserts gets even better the next day, so go ahead and make porridge the day before.

Rice pudding is called ris a la mande in Denmark, ris a la Malta in Sweden and riskrem in Norway.

Rice pudding (makes 6–7)

1 portion of creamy rice porridge (you find the recipe here)
300 ml heavy cream
1 tbsp sugar

1. Make the rice porridge. Place in a bowl. Allow to cool rapidly in cold water.
2. Remove the vanilla pod. Whip the cream with the sugar and add the porridge. Mix well. Place in the refrigerator (for some hours or until the next day).

Red cherry sauce

300 g / 11 oz cherries (frozen is fine)
75 g / 3 oz sugar
250 ml water
1 stick cinnamon
1 star anise
a little squeeze of lemon or orange juice
1–2 tbsp corn starch (maizena)

1. Add cherries, sugar, water and the spices to a pan. Bring to boil for about 30 minutes on low heat. I like to keep the berries whole, hence I pick them out after 15 minutes.
2. Adjust the taste with some lemon- or orange juice. Thicken the sauce with maizena while the sauce is still boiling. Add the maizena (gradually to control the thickness) while you are stirring.
3. Add the cherries to the sauce and allow to cool. The sauce is even better the day after. Remove the star anise before you serve it.

Stardust (almond brittle/croquant)

75 g / 3 oz sugar
125 g / 4 oz chopped almonds

1. Put a piece of parchment paper on a big chopping board. Heat a frying pan on medium heat.
2. Place the sugar in the pan and shake the pan to distribute the sugar evenly. The sugar will after a while start to melt into caramel. Do not stir the sugar. Be patient. Watch out, as the caramel easily burns. You might experience that the sugar melts faster in some areas, if so, shake the pan to move the sugar about.
3. When the sugar has turned into mediumbrown caramel, add the chopped almonds. Remove the pan from the heat and place the brittle on the parchment paper.
4. Finely chop the brittle and keep in a jar. It can be stored for several months.

Serve the rice pudding with almond brittle on top and the cherry sauce on the side.

More dishes for Christmas?

Creamy rice porridge
Heavenly fruit salad with clementines
Nordic cinnamon cookies
Traditional Norwegian Christmas and gingerbread nuts
English fruitcake

The post Danish rice pudding appeared first on Nordic Diner.

Fruit salad with clementines, oranges, apples, walnuts and cranberries.

I love Christmas, and I welcome it by making a bittersweet and heavenly fruit salad with clementines.

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The scent of clementines is Christmas to me

My mother always put clementine peel on the stove filling our home with our own incense. Clementines were a staple in our fruit basket at this time of the year and at Christmas tree parties (juletrefest), where the kids always received paper cones with clementines and candy.

In Norway a common dessert is a fruit salad called heavenly stew (himmelsk lapskaus). This dessert, with its small pieces of fruit, raisins and nuts, is the sweet counterpart to lapskaus – a traditional Norwegian stew consisting of diced vegetables and meat.

I make the fruit salad with apples, walnuts and the flavours and colours I associate with Christmas: clementines, oranges and cranberries.

Instead of plain syrup I use the juice from the citrus and reduces it into a syrup with a beautiful yellow colour. In order to make the syrup you need to segment the oranges. The syrup is flavoured with the bitterness of the orange zest and the tart sweetness of the cranberries. If you want to make the fruit salad more luxurious, it is never a failure to add half a vanilla bean.

Altogether the fruit salad challenges your senses – it is tart, sweet and bitter. Just like childhood.

Fruit salad is often called himmelsk lapskaus (heavenly stew) in Norwegian.

Heavenly fruit salad with clementines (makes 3-4)

3 organic oranges
3 big apples
4 clementines
juice of 1/4 lime
2 tbsp sugar
½ vanilla bean (optional)
a handful dried cranberries
a handful walnuts

1. If you have a zester, make zest of two of the oranges. If not, peel one of the oranges (making sure you avoid the pit) and slice the peel thinly. Bring the zest to boil in a little water, and drain. Repeat three times. This process reduces the bitterness of the zest.

2. Segment the oranges, leaving the juice in a little pan and the segments in a bowl. The process of segmenting is more closely described in another post.

3. Squeeze the juice of one of the clementines and add to the pan with the orange juice. Peel the other clementines and cut big segments into two (like a butterfly).

4. Bring to boil the citrus juice (lime, clementine and oranges), zest and sugar. Add the seeds of the vanilla bean (optional). Boil until thickened into a thin sirup, about 10 minutes.

5. While the citrus syrup is boiling, peel and cut the apples into thin wedges. Place in the bowl with the citrus fruit.

6. When the syrup is done, add the cranberries and allow to cool.

7. Place the fruit on a plate (or serve in small jam jars) and add the syrup and walnuts. In Norway it seems like most people serve the salad with whipped cream or custard, but I think the best choice is vanilla ice cream.

More Nordic dishes?

Creamy rice porridge Suzette
Nordic apple trifle
Piece of cupcake

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Brownies with salted caramel sauce and sugared pecans.

How to make brownies with salted caramel sauce and pecans on the side.

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Baking powder, flour, eggs and sugar. This is what we are taught most cakes need. But not brownies. Brownies chooses its own road. It does not want baking powder and is not fond of flour. Instead it helps itself with some extra sugar, steals some chocolate and flirts with Peggy Pecan.

Brownies are ubiquitous, but not all brownies are brownies. Some are fudgy chocolate cakes. In my opinion brownies should be a mix between chocolate cake and cookies. They should not be too dark, and they should contain so much sugar that the edges are slightly crispy but still moist and chewy on the inside. If you decrease the amount of sugar (and believe me I have tried) it will turn into a chocolate cake, not brownies.

The hardest thing about brownies is bake it just right. Long enough to avoid a mud cake, short enough to avoid it getting dry. In this respect, lots of sugar come in handy. The rich amount of sugar makes it more difficult to bake the brownies dry.

My version of brownies is pretty childish and becomes even more childish when served with ice cream, caramel sauce and pecans. If you want to make an easy dessert easier, skip the brownies and just serve ice cream with pecan nuts and caramel sauce. It is still a dessert that will haunt your guests. Buy the ice cream but make the caramel sauce yourself.

The rule of making your own caramel sauce is a spoon of butter and twice as much heavy cream as sugar. Drizzle the sauce on top of the ice cream while still warm. Also, you can easily substitute the flour with gluten-free flour. Brownies is one of those cakes that easily bares the transition from gluten to gluten-free. And the cake is also suitable for those allergic to nuts since the nuts are served on the side.

The cake is suitable for those allergic to nuts since the nuts are served on the side.

Brownies (makes 4-5)

150 g / 5,3 oz butter
50 g / 1,8 oz dark chocolate (70 %), chopped
200 g / 7 oz sugar
2 organic eggs
75 g / 2,6 oz flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder

1. Preheat oven to 175C/350F. Melt the butter in a pan. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Add the chopped chocolate. Stir until blended.

2. Whisk eggs and sugar until pale and fluffy, then add the melted chocolate and butter. Fold in sifted flour and cocoa powder.

3. Pour the batter in a small pan with parchment paper. Bake in the oven in the lower position for about 25-35 minutes. In contrast to other cakes, brownies should not come clean when you insert a skewer in the center of the cake. The skewer should come out with wet crumbs.

Salted caramel sauce

40 g / 1,4 oz sugar
100 ml / 3,4 oz heavy or double cream
1 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp flaky salt (e.g. maldon sea salt)

1. Place the sugar in a heavy-based pan and shake the pan so the sugar distributes evenly. Let stand on medium heat until the sugar melts into a light brown caramel. Have patience and do not stir. It may take about 5-10 minutes for the sugar to dissolve. Keep your eyes on the pan the whole time. When the sugar first starts to melt, it will turn from brown to burnt in just a few seconds.

2. Right after the sugar has turned brown, add the cream and stir well. The caramel will first harden and splutter. Keep cooking while you stir until the caramel has melted. Remove from the heat, add the butter and salt.

Sugared pecans

A generous handful of pecans
1 tbsp icing sugar
1 tsp water

1. Heat a frying pan on medium heat and add the pecans. Toast the nuts for about 5 minutes while you shake the pan often. They are finished when they start to smell.

2. Add the icing sugar and water, shake the pan well and remove from the heat.

More sweet delights?

Roasted plums with cookie topping
Cupcakes three ways

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