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

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Eton mess with strawberries, cream and meringue.

I am sorry tiramisu and crème brûlée. I am messing with someone else. In the summer I long for strawberries and Eton mess.

How many English desserts have you heard of? Britain has many delicious desserts, yet I dare say few people outside Britain has ever heard of them. The British dessert is the shy guy in the corner never being asked to dance.

Typical British dessert

Eton mess is probably the most typical British dessert after strawberries and cream. It has traditionally been served at the annual cricket match between Eton and Harrow, two of Britain’s most prestigious boarding schools. There are only four boys-only boarding schools in Britain. Eton and Harrow both belong to this exclusive club. Eton College was founded in 1441 and is situated near Windsor which is home to Windsor Castle. At Eton boys from 13 to 18 years old attend before entering Oxford or Cambridge.

Eton’s arch-enemy is Harrow School from the town of Harrow in northwest London. While Eton has educated 19 prime ministers, authors like George Orwell and the poet Percy Shelley. Harrow may not equal Eton in the number of prime ministers, but Harrow has educated the greatest of them all, Winston Churchill. Eton and Harrow are called public schools – a confusing term that might make you believe these are ordinary schools when they indeed are private schools.

Fagging was a tradition at public schools until the 1980s

Fagging is a system where younger students (called fags) act as servant to older students. The author Roald Dahl who also attended public school recalls in his autobiography ”Boy” how he in the winter had to warm the toilet seat for older boys at Repton. Roald Dahl had to choose between two boarding schools, Repton and Marlborough, and in his familiar style he chose the former because it was easier to pronounce. Public schools also had a tradition with punishment, e.g. flogging day at Eton, a tradition that was not ended until 1984.

No wonder the boys needed respite!

A jolly good cricket game and a jolly good dessert. Eton mess consists of strawberries, cream and meringue mixed into a ”mess”. You can use many types of summer fruit but strawberries is the most traditional choice. Try it also with slightly poached rhubarb or crushed raspberries.

Eton mess is the perfect dessert: It is easy, delicious and clever. In many dishes like custard, ice cream, mayonnaise, béarnaise or spaghetti carbonara, you only use the egg yolks which means that you have to throw away half the egg. Instead of wasting food, whip the whites with sugar to make meringue. Eat immediately or store in a box for later and you will have a delicious dessert in no time. Once the meringue is done, Eton mess is as easy as whipping cream. In Norway meringue is known by the name ”a girl’s kiss” (pikekyss).

Eton Mess (makes 3)

3 big meringues or 6 small ones
1 punnet strawberries (500 g / 17 oz strawberries)
300 ml / 10 oz double or heavy cream (similar to Norwegian 38 % kremfløte)
1 + 1 tbsp sugar

Meringue (makes 6 big meringues):
2 egg whites
100 g / 3,5 oz sugar

1a. Start with the meringue. Preheat the oven to 130C/260F/Gas 1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Tip the egg whites in a clean bowl. Beat them on medium speed with an electric whisk for about a minute. Then continue whisking while you add the sugar, a spoon at a time, incorporating the sugar before you add the next spoon. Do not over-beat. When finished the mixture should be stiff enough to make “soft peaks”.

1b. Scoop of a heaped spoon and with another spoon place the meringue on the baking sheet. Bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes. The meringues should be chewy on the inside and crispy on the outside. They will keep in an airtight tin for several weeks.

2. Wash and hull the strawberries. Purée ¾ of the strawberries in a blender with one tablespoon sugar. The remaining strawberries should be used as garnish so cut them in half and mix with the rest of the sugar.

3. Break the meringue into large pieces. Whip the double cream and fold in the meringue. Finally, fold the strawberry purée into the meringue-cream to make a marbled effect. Spoon in individual serving bowls with the remaining strawberries on top.

More desserts?

Panna cotta with strawberries

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Panna cotta with strawberries.

Make the most delicious panna cotta with strawberries and serve it like a present, wrapped in a little jar for your love to open.

It is finally strawberry season. The Norwegian strawberry season has been two weeks later in the south of Norway and the yield only 1/3 compared to last year. Large crops have suffocated because they have been covered by ice in the winter instead of snow. The farmers call this phenomenon ”icefire” (isbrann). In addition frozen ground and a rainy June worsened the conditions. Still, the ones that have survived are tastier than ever because the temperature has been not too cold and not too warm – making the berries extra sweet.

Panna cotta is unthinkable without vanilla, the dried fruit of a tropical Mexian orchid. It was introduced to Europe in the 1520s by the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés. Vanilla was used by the Aztecs who mixed it with chili peppers and cocoa beans to make chocolate. In Europe, however, it was difficult to grow because the vanilla orchids had to be pollinated by Mexican bees. Vanilla is an example of how important insects are as pollinators. Luckily in 1841 a slave, Edmond Albius, discovered that it was possible to hand-pollinate the orchids. Albius came from the French island of La Réunion outside Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. Today vanilla from La Réunion is regarded as the finest vanilla in the world.

Lime panna cotta

The original panna cotta is a combination of cooked cream, sugar, vanilla and gelatin. I also add yogurt and lime. I once added yoghurt to lower the fat content in a panna cotta and found out that it worked. Lime (and lemon) do magic in the kitchen. Like salt lime enhances the flavour, but remember that the most aromatic flavour is in the skin. If you add sour lime or lemon in desserts, you also need to add more sugar to balance the flavour. The result is both sweet and sour. Gelatin thickens the cream. The most important thing about gelatin in panna cotta is to add as little as possible. You want it creamy, not like wobbly jelly. With just one leaf of gelatin, the panna cotta needs at least 3 hours to set (or the night to set), and because it is so creamy, this panna cotta is made to serve in a glass.

Panna cotta, Italian boiled cream.

Panna cotta with strawberries, an edible present for you love.

Panna cotta (makes 2–3):

Cream:
½ vanilla pod
50 g / 1,7 oz sugar
200 ml / 0,8 cup double cream or heavy cream (similar to Norwegian 38 % cream)
125 ml / ½ cup thick Greek yogurt
1 leaf of gelatin
1/2 lime

Topping:
275 g / 10 oz strawberries
1 tbsp sugar

1. Soak the gelatin in cold water in a small bowl until jelly like. It takes about 5 minutes.

2. Cut the vanilla pod in two and split lengthways. Scrape out the vanilla seeds and place seeds and pod in a small pan with the sugar and double cream. Bring to simmer.

3. Squeeze the water out of the gelatin leaf, then add to the pan and take off the heat. Stir until the gelatine has dissolved. Place the pan in cold water for 5 minutes.

4. When cold, add the yogurt, juice and zest of half the lime.

5. Pour the cream into a jar (or in small glass) and leave in the fridge for at least 3 hours or overnight.

6. Before serving: Cut the strawberries in half and mix with the sugar. The sugar sweetens the flavour and adds a beautiful glaze to the berries.

More Italian dishes?

Pasta with slow-roasted vegetables
Pick me up, tiramisu
Pasta bolognese

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