Our first Danish culinary experience
We were playing with an idea of hosting an international evening for quite some time. We have many friends from all over the world so sometimes it’s hard to pick.
David and Mark were our first choice. Not just because they can cook (that usually helps) but also because they are lots of fun.
I (Zuzana) have met Mark (from Denmark) and David (from France) at my husband’s office few years ago. We started to chat right away and they told me about their passion for cooking. I realized then and there that we have a lot in common. That’s why we decided for an unusual invite. We asked David and Mark to be our first guests and to contribute with their recipes to our blog. It doesn’t happen every day that you asked someone to come over to your house and to cook a dinner for you. They were very enthusiastic from the very beginning and agreed to come over on Saturday afternoon.
Mark and David are a joy to be around. They make cooking fun and are always eager to try new things.
They cooked and baked a mix of Danish and French cuisine.
Danish Frikadeller are meatballs, which are very delicious. And no, not only Swedish cuisine is famous for meatballs. Maybe frying them in a butter adds that unique tasty flavour and you can believe us…you won’t be able to stop eating.
Danish people eat Frikadeller for lunch with a bread, sometimes in the afternoon as a snack or for a dinner with potatoes and apples with jelly.
If you are looking for a new potato recipe then you should definitely try Danish caramelized potatoes recipe.
Maybe you will be surprized, but apples with jelly and cucumber salad are absolutely great companion to meatballs and potatoes.
We finished our evening with a French dessert, which is a typical dessert from the North part of France. We bet you didn’t know that you can rest your dough in the oven, yeah we didn’t know either.
We are delighted that Mark and David could join us and show us how something new. We also promised that next time they come over, they don’t have to cook 😊
David and Mark were our first international culinary guests, who gladly accepted a challenge to come over a cook for us. Unfortunately, David passed away. We will always keep this experience in our minds and we will always treasure David in our hearts.
Love
Zuzana and Veronika
Ingredients for Frikadeller
600g minced pork meat (150g per person), use meat with little bit fat so the meat is not dry
1 large onion
1 egg
75ml of cold milk
1 tablespoon of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon of corn starch
Salt and Pepper
Butter for cooking meatballs
Directions
1. Mix the minced meat with salt, pepper and an egg.
2. Add milk.
3. Stir in corn starch and chopped onions and place the meat into the refrigerator for approx. 15 min.
4. Make 14 meatballs. Use tablespoon for shaping the meatballs. Dip a spoon into the water occasionally so it’s not sticky.
5. Melt the butter and when it’s golden brown, start with frying meatballs. Fry the meatballs on both sides at low heat for approximately 15 min. Flip them few times.
Sauce for Frikadeller
Ingredients
150ml water
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
3 tablespoons ketchup
250ml double cream
1 tablespoon corn starch for thickening the sauce
Directions
1. Deglaze the Frikadeller pan with water.
2. Stir in Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, double cream and at the end a corn starch. Cook until sauce thickens.
Caramelized potatoes
Ingredients
Small potatoes - it depends on the number of guests
30g Butter
30 to 40ml water
50g Sugar
Directions
1. Boil the potatoes until they are almost cooked. Drain potatoes and peel off the skin.
2. In a non-stick pan, on low heat, melt the sugar. Stir with wooden spoon. When the sugar changes the colour to brown, add water and mix. When the caramel is becoming thicker, add butter and stir well.
3. At the end add potatoes and flip over few times, so they get a proper caramel bath. You should flip potatoes every 3-4 mins. In total approximately 20 mins. After that, it's just a matter of how caramelized you want your potatoes.
Apples cooked in vanilla syrup
Ingredients
1 apple per 2 people
100g sugar
Water
Red currant jelly
Vanilla extract
1 lemon
Directions
1. Peel apples. Cut them in half and remove seeds.
2. Squeeze some lemon juice over apples so you prevent them from browning.
3. Bring the water to boil and add a sugar and vanilla extract.
4. Cook the apples on low heat without a lid for approximately 5 min.
5. Set aside, let cool and fill them with red currant jelly.
Cucumber salad
Ingredients
1 cucumber
100ml white wine vinegar
4 tbsp sugar
Salt according to your preference
1/2 tsp pepper
Directions
1. Peel and cut cucumber.
2. Season with salt, pepper, sugar and vinegar. Mix well.
Sugar tart
Makes two tarts (you will need 24 cm non-stick cake tin)
Ingredients
500g all-purpose flour
6 eggs
Salt
100ml milk
2 tablespoons of black beer
Yeast
250g butter plus some for greasing the cake tin and for using it on the top of the cake
50g dark brown sugar
50g light brown sugar
1 tablespoon white sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon
10ml double cream
Directions
1. Heat up a milk and mix it with the yeast. Add black beer.
2. In a big bawl (which is you can later put into the oven) mix flour with 1 teaspoon of sugar and 1 teaspoon of salt.
3. Add eggs and yeast. Mix well.
4. Add melted (it shouldn’t be hot) butter. The dough should be sticky, but not hard.
5. Preheat oven to 30 degrees and grease the cake tin with butter and flour.
6. Cover the bowl with wet kitchen towel and put it into the oven for 40 minutes.
7. . When you take the dough out of the oven, split it in half and gently press into the cake tin. Put tarts into the oven for another 20 mins.
8. Take tarts out of the oven and sprinkle dark brown, light brown and white sugar over the tart.
8. Season with cinnamon, add few pieces of butter and 5ml of double cream on each tart. Put into the oven for another 5 mins.
