Mango ice cream with wild raspberries

Gå til norsk versjon

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.

Pasta salad with slow-roasted tomatoes, aubergine and feta cheese

There are several parks where we live, but the finest was an old garden right across the street. Overgrown and scruffy and surrounded by a tall wall.

Gå til norsk versjon

It was not a golf garden or pride of the neighbourhood, just a treasure for animals searching for a home or children searching for play. This is where Doris made her first steps outside – and learned to be an outdoor cat.

I would have wanted to know what they know
the leaves hanging there in all their splendour
do they know they soon have to let go
how they are turned to dust in the next chapter?
“Always loved autumn” by Kari Bremnes

Doris came to us when she was three. Fat and idle, the ad described her. Likes to play with hair bands.

She had a few pounds extra, but was not lazy at all. She loved to catch hair bands like a football keeper. She came to us because her former owners were afraid of their new Persian rugs.

She was not very socialized. She did not meow much, never held her tail in the air when she was happy, and she had never been outdoor in her life.

With a collar around her belly and neck I took her to the attic. A big attic, fit for a cat that was about to discover the world. Doris loved the attic from the first moment.

Soon she was ready for something bigger, the old garden. We let her out of the cat carrier, and for the first time she could feel spring beneath her paws.

Doris jumped. She had never before heard the sound of leaves.

The old garden was the perfect place for her. It was a safe haven to explore the world.

But she was not alone in exploring the garden.

One day we stumbled upon five small hedgehogs sleeping in the tall grass. This was one of the hottest summers in Oslo and so we put water in a bowl for them.

The blackbird was singing from the top of the tallest trees in the old garden. Already in February or March its melancholy tune could be heard at dawn.

Turdus merula is its name in latin, and the name itself is like a song.

Magpies also lived in the garden. Always noisy, they chased competitors away and raided the songbirds’ nest. They were also part of the garden.

In the summer when it was time for the juvenile magpies to leave the nest, they sometimes landed on the wrong side of the wall.

From my kitchen window I could see a juvenile magpie standing between the parked cars on its way towards the road. I fetched my umbrella and headed out.

I grabbed the little magpie and ran towards the garden holding the umbrella over my head in case the magpie mother would disapprove. Then I placed the bird on the other side of the wall, next to the garden, hoping for the best.

For years the old garden stood there. Scruffy and loved.

One day men with machines entered the garden. They removed all weed, but worst of all. They started cutting down the old trees.

The old garden with the old municipal building was going to be kindergarten.

The weed was replaced by lawn and play equipment. Luckily the old apple tree and two of the songtrees were saved.

But of the other trees there were only remains left. For more than a week the magpies sat next to the remains, mourning what was left of their home.

I do not know what happened to the hedgehogs. If they managed. If they found a new green patch to call their home. But since that time I have not seen hedgehogs in the neighbourhood.

Kindergarten kids moved into the garden. And we had a kid. A boy who loved the garden, one of several playgrounds in our neighbourhood.

The garden was also stomping ground for me, a place to photograph. It was particularly the apple tree that haunted me – a giant old apple tree holding all the apples of the world.

One late autumn evening Doris and I went foraging in the old garden. Our mission was to make apple trifle with the most locally produced apples we could find. Origin: Right across the street.

I did not know then that the hours and days with Doris this year were the best moments of my life.

Autumn turned into early winter, and the apple tree had completed its duty. This was the last autumn with Doris.

Spring is again upon us, and the apple tree is blossoming.

I wish my son could have shared more moments with Doris. I wish their encounter could have been longer.

But I tell him the stories about her. How she went for walks in a leash. How she went to a coffee shop with us. How she would have loved him taking her for a walk.

I tell him that mommy and Doris, we were here picking apples. And we had to shake the trees for the apples to fall. And there were lots of apples.

– Fall down, he says. Doris eat apples.
– Yes, I reply, Doris is eating apples.

Pasta salad with slow-roasted tomatoes and aubergines

This is one of my lunch salads, photographed in the old garden. The best part about the pasta salad is the tomatoes. They taste like sun-dried tomatoes, only better. You slow-roast or dry the tomatoes in the oven for about 4 hours, and the result is magical. I also bake the aubergines until they are creamy and tender.

About 8 big tomatoes
2 eggplants
2 tbsp olive oil
100 g / 3,5 oz pasta (e.g. fusilli)
1 cucumber
½ red onion
1 piece of feta cheese

Pepper vinaigrette:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice (or red or white vine vinegar)
1 tsp freshly ground pepper
a pinch of salt

1. Preheat the oven to 125C/250F/Gas1/2 and line two large baking trays with parchment paper.
2. Slice the tomatoes. They should be about 1 cm thick (0,4 inches). Place in the tray and season a little bit with salt and pepper. Bake in the oven for about 3-4 hours. Have a look at them towards the end, so they do not turn into chips.
3. Cut the eggplant in squares and place in the other baking tray. Add olive oil and seasoning and blend well. Turn on convection and bake in the oven together with the tomatoes for the last hour.
4. Shake all the ingredients for the vinaigrette in a little box (or stir in a glass).
5. Cook the pasta according to package instructions, drain well and place in a bowl with the vinaigrette. Blend well.
6. Slice the red onion and cut the cucumber and feta cheese in pieces.
7. Toss everything (except the tomatoes) together in a bowl with the vinaigrette. Serve with the tomatoes on top.

Recipes with a story?

Creamy rice porridge “Suzette”
Rhubarb tart 1938
Rhubarb lemonade

The post Pasta salad appeared first on Nordic Diner.

Heart-shaped Scandinavian waffles.

They are heart-shaped like in a Chris Isaak song. They are the epitome of Nordic hospitality and warmth. Waffles have a special place in the heart of Scandinavians.

Gå til norsk versjon

Waffles are eaten in all of the Scandinavian countries, but they have a special place in Norway. Waffles are just as important to Norwegians as the croissant is to the French. Waffles are ever-present in Norway, they are sold at cafés and made at home. Like another iconic Nordic dish, meatballs, they represent a sense of belonging. The taste of home.

You may sit under a palm tree in Palermo. Stay at a bed and breakfast in Brooklyn. Barter in a medina in the Middle East. The scent of waffles sends us home. Nowhere is this truer than in the Norwegian Church Abroad, Sjømannskirken.

Seaman waffles

The Norwegian Church Abroad was established in 1834 to serve as church for Norwegian seamen. Today 31 churches are spread around the world from Dubai to San Francisco. They are popular for Norwegian couples that want to get married abroad, but most of all they are social and spiritual havens open to all Norwegians; you can come by just to read Norwegian newspapers or have a cup of coffee and a waffle. Waffles and the Norwegian Church Abroad are tied together like a sailor’s knot. Each church abroad has their own particular waffle recipe, and during their yearly campaign “Hjertevarme” they hand out thousands of heart-shaped waffles as a symbol of generosity.

The most common way to eat waffles in Norway is with brown cheese or with sour cream and jam.

Volunteer waffles

Dugnad is one of the few Norwegian words that have seeped into the English language. And waffles and dugnad are intertwined. Numerous young volunteers have sold waffles to raise money for their school trips or for humanitarian causes. As in the story about Gimsøy secondary school, where the pupils during two hours managed to raise 80 000 kroner (13 500 dollars) to the Red Cross in the Philippines in the wake of typhoon Haiyan in 2013. The sum was a result of door-to-door donations and the sale of cakes and waffles.

Scandinavian waffles

Compared to American of Belgian waffles Scandinavian waffles are thinner and heart-shaped. They are not served as a dessert with whipped cream but rather as a meal in itself or served with afternoon coffee. They are usually sweet, not savory although there is a Norwegian counterpart to chicken and waffles, where they accompany a sausage. Scandinavian waffles are also delicious left-over food because they can be made with a wide array of milk products ranging from milk, butter milk, yoghurt, cream or sour cream. My mother always makes waffles when she has some old cream or sour cream to be used.

Waffles can also be eaten as tacos.

Singing waffles

Come on in and have some waffles, my mother would yell from the kitchen window. I would stop my work, usually painting the house or doing gardening work, rush in and wolf down hot waffles straight out of the waffle iron. One of the many adorable things about waffles, is their informal ease. You do not need clean hands, nice clothes or a chair to savour them. The best waffles should be eaten straight away and addresses only your appetite. Such waffles makes me sing.

Hospitable waffles

But do sit down with your waffles – and enjoy the taste of hospitable waffles. Waffles are commonly eaten with butter and brown cheese or a dollop of sour cream and jam. Scandinavian waffles do not require any yeast and can be whipped together in a hurry, making them easy to offer to guests. And in rural Norway, guests just come by. Where I come from in the North of Norway neighbours and friends knock on the door several times a day. One neighbour comes by to exchange the latest woman’s magazines. Another comes by just because he is a neighbour and it is a lovely day. In a culture where there is a lack of cafés, the café moves to your home. And in these homes the smell of coffee and freshly cooked waffles is the smell of hospitality.

Waffle break with cloudberries – best break there is.

Outdoor waffles

Norway is one of the most sparsely populated countries in Europe. In a population of 5,1 mill roughly 20 percent live in cities with more than 50 000 inhabitants. The rest live in rural areas or small towns with less than 25 000 inhabitants. My country is a country with plenty of space and wilderness. Even in the capital Oslo, the wilderness is just a 20-minute ride from downtown while in most other parts of Norway the forest starts where your garden ends. Dotted all over the Oslo Forest, like lighthouses, are wooden cafés. They pride themselves on whipping up the best waffles you can get in the forest.

One of my finest waffle moments was in the outdoor, after a trek. My brother cooked waffles over open fire using my mother’s old non-electric waffle iron. Eating the waffles with the view to the birch woods, the slender fjord and the snow-capped mountains looming above made these simple waffles a meal to cherish.

Scandinavian waffles is the smell of hospitality.

Scandinavian waffles (makes about 8)

If you do not have a Nordic heart-shaped waffle iron, use a Belgian waffle iron.

300 ml oats
300 ml water
3 eggs
150 g / 5,2 oz cottage cheese (sour cream or Greek yogurt)
100 g / 3,5 oz melted butter
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp ground cardamom
a pinch of salt
1 tsp baking powder
200 ml flour (gluten-free is fine)
about 200 ml full fat milk

1. Let the oats soak in water for 1 hour.
2. Mix the rest of the ingredients and blitz with a handheld blender. Let the batter rest for a 30 minutes to thicken it. The batter should not be as thick as an American pancake batter, but have the texture as a thick French crêpe batter.
3. Fry until golden brown in a waffle iron.

Hungry for more Nordic dishes and stories?

Rhubarb pudding and North of Norway
Everyday fishsoup with fishballs
Nordic apple trifle
Wild autumn stew with chanterelles
Danish berry pudding with cream

The post Scandinavian waffles appeared first on Nordic Diner.

30-minute vegetarian wok for the two most important persons in my life.

How to make a vegetarian, ethical and nutritious meal from scratch in just 30 minutes for the two most important persons in my life? The answer is a three-letter word and bouncing in a pan.

Gå til norsk versjon

I have always loved to cook. Indulging myself by reading cook books, lose myself in books about food history, plan menus, write long shopping lists. Spend hours in the kitchen while making romantic three-course dinners or party dinners for friends or family. I do not live by cooking, but I truly live for cooking. The world may tremble around me, while I ponder on my next dish.

All this time I have spent on food, was suddenly taken away when we had a baby

Now I have to hurry home from work and try to put dinner on the table in 30 minutes. Wok is easily made in 30 minutes if you follow a certain chronology. Put the jasmine rice on first. While the rice is cooking, prepare the greens and the sauce. Everything must be ready when you start to wok. The minute you start woking you need your hands free in order to make your ingredients bounce like the wok was a trampoline.

Then there is the sauce. You come a long way with some stock, soy sauce, chili and garlic. From Gordon Ramsey’s Great Escape Southeast Asia, I have adapted a recipe from Thailand, which has become a staple in our home. I have altered the recipe to make sure I can buy all ingredients from my local store. For instance, the original recipe calls for holy basil, but I do not hesitate using regular basil.

Wok is easily done in 30 minutes as long as you follow a certain chronology.

Wok is a dish that makes it possible to eat well without (much) meat

Norwegian chef Bent Stiansen describes how his teacher during av cooking course in Vietnam gave him 50 gram (2 oz) meat. The teacher thought this was enough to feed a family of four! This amounts to nothing more than an appetizer in the West. Even though most of us has learned about the connection between meat production, particularly cattle, and carbon emissions, surveys show that even people with a higher education refuse to see the consumption of meat as an act to improve the environment. A light in the tunnel though comes from a somewhat unexpected corner: In Norway the army has decided to opt for meat-free Mondays. Their argument: The solider’s health and the environment.

For seven years I was a vegetarian, primarily because of animal welfare. Today I eat organic or free-range meat from small farmers. I try to reduce my meat consumption by eating smaller portions and by having meat-free days. I do not think the majority of us will turn vegetarian or vegan overnight, but I do believe all change has a feeble start.

Low-carb: An ethical conundrum?

Professor in Nutritional Sciences Kaare Norum characterizes the low-carb diet as indecent. It is indecent, he claims, because:

• An area big enough to sustain 20–25 people if corn and root vegetables are cultivated can only sustain one human if meat and milk is produced on the same area.
• It takes 200 times as much water to produce a kilo meat than a kilo potatoes.
• About 80 % of all grain produced worldwide is used as animal fodder.

In Norway the popularity of the low-carb diet has increased the consumption of chickens at the expense of eating bread. In Norway we now throw so much bread that we could fill an 8-lane highway from Oslo to Trondheim, a distance of about 500 kilometers (310 miles). However, there is a decent low-carb diet. The solution is a more balanced diet with plenty of greens where a substantial part of the protein comes from beans.

“The bean diet” has been the natural diet for many throughout the world. Dishes ranging from falafel and hummus in the Middle East to dhal in India and rice and beans in Latin America. They are cheap and nutritious. We have a lot to learn from these food cultures. Beans play a meager part in the Norwegian food culture, with one exception: Yellow pea soup.

30-minute vegetarian wok (for 2 adults and a little one):

a big handful of cashew nuts
1 garlic clove
1 red chili
1 big carrot
a handful of baby corn
6 florets of broccoli
3 tbsp cooking oil
fresh basil or coriander

The sauce:
200 ml vegetable stock
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sweet soy sauce (kecap manis)
1 tbsp (palm)sugar
1,5 tsp maizena diluted with 2 tbsp water

Preparation:
1. Toast the nuts in a dry frying pan (or a wok) on medium heat, then put aside.
2. Peel the garlic and chili and mash in a mortar into a paste. Leave out the seeds from the chili if you want it less spicy.
3. Peel the carrot and cut thinly. Divide the baby corn lengthwise. Wash the broccoli and divide into small florets. Place all vegetables on a plate, separating them. This is because they need different cooking time.
4. Mix together the ingredients for the sauce, except the maizena.

Woking:
5. Place the oil in the wok or a frying pan. When hot, add the garlic- and chili paste and fry for about 30 seconds.
6. Add the broccoli and carrots and wok for 1 minute continuously shaking the pan, Add the baby corn and wok for another minute.
7. Add the stock and boil for about 2-3 minutes until the vegetables are al dente and the sauce reduced a bit.
8. Add the maizena while stirring until the sauce has thickens a bit.
9. Take the wok off the heat, add the basil/coriander and the reserved cashew nuts.

More vegetarian dishes

Pasta salad with slow-roasted tomatoes and aubergine
Greek salad, tzatziki and cheeze saganaki

The post 30-minute vegetarian wok appeared first on Nordic Diner.

Quick pasta with spinach and quinoa.

This quick pasta dish only takes 15 minutes, is fit for both midweek and weekend dinners and contains two super ingredients, spinach and quinoa.

Gå til norsk versjon

Spinach – the green knight from Persia

Spinach is one of the quickest and healthiest vegetables you can use in your kitchen. If you buy packages of prewashed spinach, it takes only two minutes to prepare. The spinach originates from ancient Persia (today’s Iran), and was brought to India and China by Arabic traders in the 7th century. Hence the Chinese called it “Persian vegetable”. The Arabs also brought it to Europe in the 9th century, to Sicily which at that time was ruled by the Arabs.

Quinoa – the secret from the Andes

On the other side of the earth a distant relative of the spinach thrives in a harsh climate. Quinoa has been cultivated for 3 000 years in South America. It is very nutritious and even gluten-free. The Incas held quinoa into high esteem, using the seeds in religious rituals.

Although the Inca population never exceeded more than 100,000, they have put their everlasting mark on history. Their empire stretched 2,500 miles through some of the world’s most mountainous terrain from today’s southern Columbia to central Chile. They built Machu Picchu as a royal retreat for one of their emperors. The Incas have been called the Romans of the New World. Their reign ended with the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century. The Spaniards forbid the cultivation of quinoa, forcing the Incas to grow wheat instead. The last Inca emperor, Túpac Amaru, was killed by the Spanish in 1572.

There is a good reason quinoa was revered by the Incas. Compared to wheat quinoa is more nutritious containing a high amount of protein, magnesium and iron. It endures extreme conditions and is cultivated at an altitude of 4 000 meters above sea level defying temperatures ranging from -8 degrees to 38 degrees Celsius. Because it is so hardy and nutritious, the United Nations has put quinoa to the fore under the slogan “A future sown thousands of years ago”.

The Spanish did not bring the quinoa back to The Old World. Quinoa remained an edible treasure hidden by the Andes range. Instead Columbus and the Spaniards brought the pepper (Capsicum annuum) home to Europe. And back in Old Spain pepper were to become one of the key ingredients in modern Spanish kitchen.

Pimentón dulce.

Red is for pimentón

Which colour do you associate with the Spanish kitchen? Maybe your answer is yellow and saffron, but there is another colour more integral to Spain’s food. Red. Red is for pimentón. Pimentón is a spice made from peppers (chili peppers or bell peppers) first dried and then ground to a fine powder. Pimentón is what gives chorizo its characteristic red colour. Pimentón comes in tree versions: mild (dulce), bittersweet (agridulce) og hot (picante). The spice is only produced in the region of Murcia and La Vera in Extremadura. In La Vera the peppers are smoke-dried on chunks of wild oak producing a smoky flavour and intense red colour.

Quick pasta with spinach and quinoa (makes 2–3):

In this pasta dish it is important to use raw sausages because they impart more flavour. You can use a common type of sausage like bratwurst, but then do add a garlic clove when you fry to spice up the sausage.

A bag of prewashed spinach (about 300 g)
2–3 raw sausages
1 tbsp pimentón (preferably Pimentón de la Vera)
200–300 ml heavy cream
a handful of parmesan
salt and pepper
rapeseed oil
quinoa pasta

1. First, start boiling the pasta water. You do not want to wait for it to boil after the sauce is finished.

2. Add a lug of oil to a frying pan and fry the spinach in two batches on medium heat until wilted. I takes about 1 minute. Place the spinach on a plate and squeeze out the water with your hands.

3. Add another lug of oil to the frying pan. Slit the sausages and squeeze small meatballs with your hand into the pan. Fry the sausage meatballs with the pimentón until golden, about 5–10 minutes.

4. Finally add the cream and cook until the sauce has thickened a bit.

5. Put the spinach back into the pan. Season with salt and pepper and serve with a generous amount of parmesan.

If you liked this post, maybe you also will like:

Smoothies with mango, lingonberry and spinach
Summer pasta with slow-roasted vegetables
Pasta Bolognese for non-Italians

The post Quick pasta with spinach and pimentón appeared first on Nordic Diner.

Three Nordic cupcakes.

It is piece of cupcake to make your own assorted cupcakes.

Gå til norsk versjon

I have never liked cupcakes much. I made an attempt when I was in London this summer and by accident came across the one and only Hummingbird Bakery in Islington. The bakery was situated not far from what must be the most beautiful name of any London tube station, Angel Station.

Assorted Nordic cupcakes with passion fruit icing, almond praline topping and apples

To me cupcakes resemble the hair fashion of the 17th and 18th century

A time when men from the European aristocracy wore perfumed wigs powdered with flour. Cupcakes may look lavish, and to top it all, they are often photographed in a high key setting. But in the end cupcakes are quite ordinary. I would rather prefer a down-to-earth muffin or a British fairy cake. I like cakes with the same on the outside as the inside.

My cat Doris.

One simple sponge will provide you with three varieties

So, I hereby introduce my mockingbird cupcakes! It looks like you have spent the whole evening in the kitchen baking, but you have not. Here I make a late autumn and early winter variety with this season’s last Norwegian apples, another with almond pralines and a third with passion fruit icing. Make your own assorted collection of cakes and give them as a gift.

A trick I learned from Jamie Oliver in one of his cookbooks was to substitute the water with orange or lemon juice when making icing. This way you add flavour and a little splash of colour to the icing. I choose my ultimate favorite fruit, passion fruit. Just remember the passion fruit is mature when it is wrinkled.

Almond praline cupcake (or toscakake in Norwegian)

Tosca cake is a Nordic sponge cake with an almond praline topping

As a child I did not like the sponge, so I only ate the topping. My mother, like most parents, did not approve of my action. Therefore I add the almond pralines both in the top and the bottom. This cake is to every kid out there who never had enough almond praline topping in their childhood.

Note! These are just as good with gluten-free flour.

Yields about 12 cupcakes (four of each type).

Cupcake with passion fruit icing.

Cupcakes with tree different toppings

The basic sponge:
175 g / 6 oz softened butter
175 g / 6 oz caster sugar
175 g / 6 oz flour
3 organic eggs
1 organic lemon
1 tsp baking powder

1. Preheat the oven to 175C/350F/gas 4. Take out the muffin tins.
2. Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add one egg at a time and incorporate well before adding the next one. Fold in zest of one lemon and sifted flour with the baking powder.
3. Now make each of the different types – see below.
4. Bake in the oven for about 20-25 minutes.

Almond praline topping:

40 g light brown sugar
40 g butter
1 tbsp flour
2 tbsp milk
60 g blanched almonds

Prepare the almonds first. You do not have to blanch the almonds, you can also roughly chop them. Melt the butter and sugar in a small pan. Add the flour and milk while stirring and boil for 5 minutes. When finished, add the almonds.

Place a generous tablespoon almond praline in the bottom of the muffin tin and add some of the sponge. About 10 minutes before the cakes are done, place another tablespoon of almond praline on the top, and continue baking until finished.

Apples and cinnamon:

1-2 small Norwegian apples (or Granny Smith with some lemon juice)
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Mix sugar and cinnamon in a little box and toss well. Peel and slice the apples. Push them into the batter and sprinkle with the cinnamonsugar.

Passion fruit icing:

1 passion fruit
lemon juice
powdered sugar

Place a small colander (or an open tea strainer) on a coffee cup. Slice the passion fruit into two parts and scrape out the pulp with a teaspoon into the colander. ”Scrape” out the juice (so the pulp remains in the colander and the juice in the coffee cup). Add gradually powdered sugar until thick and not runny. If it is too thick, just add a few drops of lemon juice. Place the icing on the cupcakes when they are cold. If you are going to serve the cakes soon, place some of the pulp on top of the icing.

If you liked this post, maybe you will also like these:

Brownies with salted caramel, pecans and ice cream
How to make a truck-birthday party
French toast with cinnamonsugar and gingerbread ice cream

The post Cupcakes three ways appeared first on Nordic Diner.

Brownies with salted caramel sauce and sugared pecans.

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

Gå til norsk versjon

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

The post Brownies with salted caramel sauce appeared first on Nordic Diner.

Roasted plums with cookie topping.

These roasted plums must be the easiest and best dessert I can think of. They combine wonderful Nordic plums with Italian flair for cooking.

Gå til norsk versjon

It has always puzzled me when people say they do not know how to make desserts. Or even worse, they do not like desserts. I cannot imagine life without desserts. I cannot imagine a good meal without a sweet ending. It does not have to be something advanced. I will be happy as a kid with a small cookie or some fruit and ice on my plate. Or even better, all of them.

Ingenious simplicity

Like I love dessert, I love Italian food. Though I love Italian food, for long their desserts disappointed me. I have always rated Italian desserts as quite poor compared to French or American desserts, but that has changed. Italian desserts may be easy, but it is the simplicity that makes them ingenious. The tiramisu with its coffee liquor, egg yolk-cream and lady fingers. The panna cotta with its cooked cream and vanilla. Or the magnificent semifreddo which is a whole lot easier to make than classic ice cream. Though easy to make they rival the best desserts in the kitchen.

Roasted plums with ice cream and plum juice from the oven tray.

Easy and versatile dessert

There is a dessert even easier which I discovered in an Italian cookbook, roasted figs with biscotti. Here the figs are roasted in the oven with a topping made of biscotti crumbs, cream, sugar and lemon peel. It is just as easy as it is adorable. 15 minutes to make. 15 minutes in the oven. It is a promise from me to you.

Roasted plums is also a versatile dessert. Use your best homegrown ingredients to make it. In August-September plums are abundant in Norway, so I substitute the Italian figs and biscotti with Norwegian plums and biscuits (havreflarn). You can also use peaches and oatmeal cookies.

Love your leftovers

I used to throw away lots of food or put it in the freezer. Sometimes my freezer was crowded with ten different cakes, most of them dying a slow and cold death, never to be eaten no more than once. Today I try to be more conscientious and utilise my leftovers. Leftovers are the hidden treasures in a chef’s pantry. I always keep leftover cookies in my pantry as a result of my penchant for venturing into new cooking projects. But instead of ending in the garbage, my old cookies come in handy in new desserts. For this recipe my old oatmeal biscuits are perfect with tender and juicy plums.

Roasted plums with cookie topping (makes 3-4):

7 small plums (the plums should be slightly firm and not overripe)
50 g / 1,8 oz cookies, preferably oatmeal cookies (or havreflarn)
1 tbsp palm sugar (or brown sugar)
1 tsp (white) sugar
25 ml / 0,8 oz heavy cream (light cream will also do)
1 organic lemon

I add palm sugar because it is healthier than white refined sugar and has a rich caramel flavour.

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Divide the plums into half and remove the stone carefully. Arrange them skin down in a baking tray.

2. For the topping: Put the oatmeal cookies in a plastic bag and crush them with a rolling-pin or your hands. Mix the crumbs together with the sugar, cream and zest of one lemon.

3. Squeeze some lemon juice on the plums and then, with a teaspoon, place the topping on each plum.

4. Bake for about 15 minutes in the middle of the oven. Use a spoon to check if the plums are finished. They should be soft but still hold their shape.

More Italian desserts?

Tiramisu (gluten-free)
Panna cotta with strawberries

The post Roasted plums with cookie topping appeared first on Nordic Diner.

Vagabond apples vs. commercial apples

The apples from garden trees of Oslo have bruises and come in all sizes. Still they tell the story about why we should eat seasonal and local food. Modern food industry has succeeded in preserving apples so much that the apple you pick in the store can be up to 13 months old.

Most commercial apples today, even organic, are picked under-riped and then induced into a kind of winter sleep where they are kept in an almost oxygen free atmosphere at about 0 degrees. The technique is called controlled atmosphere (CA) and is particularly common with apples and pears.

This is not a modern invention. Already in 1819 the Frenchman Jacques Etienne Berard discovered that the deprivation of oxygen stopped the apples’ “ageing process”. In addition apples today, in particular American apples, are waxed to slow down their decay. In sum, apples are edible mummies.

Vagabond apple from my neighbouring garden.

Norwegian apples are not vaxed, but they are chemically treated. According to Oikos, the national movement of organic producers and consumers in Norway, Norwegian apples are chemically treated about 7 times during their season, strawberries and carrots 6 times.

In the U.S. apples top the list of most chemically treated produce. According to the Environment Working Group, a non-profit focused on public health, apples turned up with the highest number of pesticides while peaches and nectarines moved up to the second and third spots. They put apples on the “dirty list”, together with celery, strawberries,  spinach, potatoes and grapes, to mention a few. So if you can get hold on farmers’ apples, do so.

What characterizes Norwegian apples?

What characterizes Norwegian apples is this sweet and tart flavour, a fair and semi-crunchy flesh with a thin skin, and a unique aromatic scent that will leave you breathless. It is a combination of warm summers and cold autumn nights that yield the unique sweet and tart flavour. On the downside Norwegian apples are fragile and do to tolerate much cooking before they disintegrate. Hence, they are not easily turned into tarte tatin.

The first Norwegian apples arrive in August, just in time to shake hands with the last raspberries. These are “early apples”. Later on the “winter apples” come with their bold flavour and longevity. When all leaves have fallen to the ground and frost is reigning, the last winter apples endure as far as December.

Nordic apple trifle (tilslørte bondepiker)

Tilslørte bondepiker is a trifle consisting of apples, whipped cream and a crunchy topping. The Scottish dessert cranachan is a distant relative and you will also find it in Denmark as bondepige med slør (farm girl with a veil). The Danes use rye bread, traditional Norwegian recipes use a type of dried bread (kavring). Instead of bread I use biscuits, preferably digestives (or mariekjeks).

The Norwegian name of the dessert translates into “veiled farm girls” and it is a mystery how it got its name. Norwegian chefs love to make their own twists and rename the desserts in countless ways. These farm girls are not only veiled, they are spoiled, drunk or city girls. If you don’t have Norwegian apples, what then? Choose a crisp and tart apple like Granny Smith, add some extra drops of lemon juice and cook it a bit longer.

What characterizes Norwegian apples is a sweet and tart flavour, a fair and semi-crunchy flesh with a thin skin, and a unique aromatic scent.

Nordic apple trifle (tilslørte bondepiker).

Nordic apple trifle (makes 4-5)

6 big apples
100 ml apple juice
3 tbsp sugar
a good squeeze of lemon juice
1/2 vanilla pod
6 digestive biscuits (or mariekjeks)
5 tbsp butter
3 tbsp sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
400 ml whipping cream

1. Core the apples. (Keep the skin on to preserve more vitamins and give the compote a beautiful red colour). Slice roughly and cook for 4-5 minutes in a pan with the apple juice, sugar, lemon juice and vanilla. They are finished when they start to disintegrate. Mash the apples roughly with a potato masher. Allow to cool.

2. Crush the biscuits with a rolling-pin. Melt the butter in a pan and add sugar, biscuit crumbs and cinnamon. Cook for 5 minutes while stirring. Leave to cool. The crumbs may not be crunchy while warm, but this changes when they get cold.

3. Whip the cream with the rest of the vanilla pod until soft peaks.

4. In a glass or serving bowl, arrange the dessert in layers. Start with the apple compote, continue with the cream and then the crumbs. Repeat. Finish with some extra crumbs on top.

More Nordic dishes?

Wild autumn stew with chanterelles
Scandinavian waffles with cardamom
Nordic BLT sandwich
Norwegian success tart

The post Nordic apple trifle appeared first on Nordic Diner.

Strawberry milkshake.

Strawberry milkshake made with fresh strawberries and vanilla ice cream is a real treat in the summer.

The Norwegian food writer Henry Notaker once said “Sugar is the Americans’ favourite spice”. I guess he had ketchup on his mind, but you could also add marshmallows in the fruit salad or frying bacon with sugar to make candied bacon. Then there is the love of ice cream. Serving strawberries with ice cream to make milkshake instead of strawberries and cream. Putting ice cream in soda drinks. Having cookie dough or brownies in the ice cream. I might as well admit it: I want it all! When I first arrived in the U.S. I bought the biggest cookie I could see.

But there is another America. Such as the Creole kitchen of New Orleans, the Tex-Mex kitchen of Texas, soul food of the Afro-Americans  or the super food of California. America has small villages like Woodstock where the only supermarket is organic and tiny  seafood restaurants on the coast of Maine serving chowder (soup) and lobsters. You think of fast food? I think of slow food. Barbecued ribs roasted for more than 8 hours. And the very best ice cream from Ben & Jerry’s, ice cream that has been fair-trade for decades.

If you leave out the ice cream, you get the liquado. This is the Latin-American type of milkshake, only healthier. Made only with milk, fruit and sugar, liquado is closer to the name – milkshake!

American food is the ultimate comfort food

And the ultimate comfort place is the diner with its most celebrated beverage: The milkshake. Like the milkshake that has existed since 1900, my journey also started long ago. I do not know when but sometimes in my childhood, a desire coming from the American films I watched on television. One of them being the Thorn Birds, an American TV-series from 1983 starring Richard Chamberlain. I sent him a fan letter, receiving a signed photograph. I did not know at that time that he was gay (well, I did not know that I was either).

But it was still years before I could go to there myself. I had to turn 30 years old. But then I really did it. Landed on American soil at JFK, New York and finally saw the skyline of Manhattan. It was the summer of 2001 and two months before the towers of World Trade Center were to collapse. I made it to the bookstore on the ground level of WTC, inhaling the views from Brooklyn Bridge and having lunch in Central Park. Then taking the bus up north to the little village of Woodstock, forever associated with hippies and the Woodstock Festival that actually took place in White Lake in the neighbouring county. Here I ate my very first American cookie at the café Heaven and got married, before jumping on the train to go, like so many before me, west. To San Diego, Santa Monica and San Fransisco. Dreaming the California dream.

Later I have come back twice. The second time a journey by car from New York to Southern Florida. The third time driving from Memphis to New Orleans to New York. Most of the time I have had decent or wonderful meals. Be it in a backyard in Brooklyn, in an ice cream parlour in Kingston NY, in a live blues club in Memphis or at home as a guest.

The milkshake was invented around 1900 with its predecessor dating back to 1885.

Strawberry milkshake (makes 4):

1 punnet strawberries (500 g / 17 oz strawberries)
4 large scoops of vanilla ice cream
200 ml / 7 oz milk
2 tbsp sugara (optional)

1. Wash and hull the strawberries and pat dry. All ingredients should be cold, so put the strawberries in the freezer for an hour.

2. Assemble the strawberries in a large blender. Add the milk and blend well. Add the ice cream and blend until smooth.

Music: Chris Isaac.

Also with strawberries:

Eton mess, my English summer flirt
Panna cotta with strawberries

The post Strawberry milkshake appeared first on Nordic Diner.