Pizza snails

s’s birthday wish was to have his class from børnehave over to play. They do this sometimes for birthdays - the whole room of kids goes to the birthday boy/girl’s house for a few hours in the morning during børnehave time, with a pedagog or two. But we haven’t tried it before… 

Apparently pizza snails (pizza snegle) are required for such gatherings. Like overnight bread rolls, these seem to be something every Danish mum can whip up with her eyes closed.

I asked two different Danish mums about how to make pizza snegle, and both directed me to the same recipe, this one. So that seemed like a done deal. 

(makes about 30 medium snails - including some slightly small/awkward end ones - about 20 acceptably similar ones)

For the dough:

50 g fresh yeast

200 ml milk

150 ml plain yoghurt 

2 eggs 

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp honey

100 ml olive oil

250 g / 9 oz wholewheat flour

400 g / 14 1/2 oz plain flour

 

For the tomato sauce:

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1 400 g tin tomatoes

2 tbsp tomato purée

2 tsp dried oregano

Salt+pepper

 

To finish:

125 g (one pack) fresh mozzarella, finely chopped

1 egg, lightly beaten - for brushing

 

Make the dough:

Mix yeast in a large bowl with the milk. Add oil, yoghurt, honey, egg, salt and wholewheat flour and mix well together.

 

Add plain flour a little at a time until the dough is nice and flexible (it was a bit sticky). Put in a warm place to rise, with a tea towel over it, for about an hour or until doubled in size.

 

Make the tomato sauce:

Heat olive oil in a pan and sauté onion and garlic until soft and translucent. Add tinned tomatoes, tomato purée, oregano, salt and pepper. Simmer c 20 min until thick. Let cool, and keep in fridge until needed, esp if making in advance.

 

Assembly:

Roll out half the dough on a floured surface until c 1/2 cm thick rectangle/square. Spread half the tomato sauce out evenly on top, except c. 4 cm from one end. Sprinkle with half the cheese. Roll into a long roll and cut snails about 2 cm thick with a sharp knife. Put on baking sheets lined with baking paper, with a few cm between them at least, and make round and neat with your hands. Repeat with the other half of the ingredients. Let rise on the sheets for 30 min. Brush with beaten egg. Bake 16-18 min at 180C, until golden brown.

 

They came out well and looked legit. They didn't go down all that well with the kids (they preferred melon, salty popcorn and coconut water), but there were no major complaints so think I got them about right.

5th birthday: Dragonfish cake

For the first time this year I had a birthday cake request from s (who was turning five! FIVE!). Dragonfish. Perhaps I was too ambitious last year and got his expectations up? It's nice to be believed in, and I thought I’d try… Request was for coconut and mango. And blue. 

Decided to do a coconut cake and mango icing. Needed to get a few details for it to be a dragonfish - mainly a light- up lure and long, sharp, multitudinous teeth. Then also big weird eyes, and some spikes and spots along a long, thin body.

Hard to find good pics of dragonfish, since it cannot live above deep sea level. But I am pretty sure s got the idea from wild kratts so I partly based the look on that.

Pretty much followed this recipe for the coconut cake - baked in one round springform tin and one loaf tin.

For the cake:

250 g / 9 oz butter, softened, plus extra for greasing

250 g / 9 oz sugar 

4 eggs, lightly beaten 

1 tsp vanilla 

250 g / 9oz flour 

3 tsp baking powder 

75 g / 2 ½ oz desiccated coconut 

4 tbsp coconut cream

 

For the icing:

6 oz butter

6 oz icing sugar

c. 3/4 cup mango purée made from dried unsweetened mango covered in hot water and soaked for a few hours, then blended up

3-4 tbsp ground desiccated coconut

Food colouring (should be blue)

 

For Features:

1 fresh ripe/brown coconut

1 pack marzipan

c. 30 g dark chocolate

Small white chocolate drops / buttons

Food colouring (blue, green)

Small bike light

Tape

Kitchen foil 

To make the cake:
Heat the oven to 180C. Grease tins and line the bases with buttered baking paper.

Cream the softened butter and sugar together for 3–4 min, or until pale and light – do this as much as possible, here is where I wish I had a mixer of some kind. Gradually add the eggs, mixing well between each addition. Add the vanilla and mix again. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into the bowl, add the desiccated coconut and coconut cream, and beat again until the mixture is smooth and the ingredients are well combined.

Divide the mixture evenly between the prepared tins and bake for 25–30 min, or until the cakes are well-risen, golden-brown and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Leave the cakes to cool in the tins for 5 min, then carefully turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

To make the icing:

Beat the butter until really pale and light. Gradually add the icing sugar, mixing well between each addition. Add the thick mango puree and ground desiccated coconut and mix again. Finally add the food colouring until desired colour is reached (nb I wanted it to be blue but it ended up more green - think the orange-yellow colour of the mango might have skewed it). Chill until needed.

To make the features:

Teeth + spikes - fresh coconut - cracked open and flesh removed in as big pieces as possible; then sliced into thin spikes. Tooth pieces left white; tail spike pieces coloured blue by mixing with food colouring.

Lure+spots - marzipan, food colouring, bike light, tape, foil - marzipan coloured with food colouring by kneading briefly together until colour consistent, then squished into spots; bike light taped into appropriate shape then wrapped with foil, then foil covered with coloured marzipan to make the part that attaches the lure to the fish's body.

Eyes - Melted dark chocolate with small white chocolate blobs in the middle. 

To assemble:

Carve the cakes into shape, sticking together with icing. I used a couple of toothpicks hidden at the back of its head as well, to keep the jaws open. When the shape is OK, cover the outside with icing. Then add the features in appropriate places.

I made the cakes, icing and most of the features two days before the birthday, then chilled overnight, then assembled the day before and kept in cool room overnight. Ideally you could do it all in one day, but... life... All the components should be chilled when assembling - and definitely not at all warm - think it makes everything easier if stuff is stiffer.

I wasn't completely happy with the colour, and the fish was a little dumpier than I would have liked, but on the whole it turned out like I wanted - recognisably a dragonfish!

Whipped feta

This came about as a good way to use up part of a block of feta left over from something else. I love feta but it doesn’t keep long after you’ve opened it, and there never seems to be exactly the right amount in the block for what you’re making… This is really quick and simple and the rest of the ingredients we pretty much always have. 

1/2 block feta
1/2 cup skyr
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tbsp lemon juice
Pinch of salt
Little bit of garlic, crushed

Put all ingredients in a little blender and blend. Scrape into serving bowl and sprinkle additional salt, pepper and olive oil on top. 

Avocado grapefruit salad

If S is out in the evening sometimes I watch queer eye and shell walnuts at the same time. One time the food dude made an avocado and grapefruit salad, and I guess I took a mental note - I like both, don’t think I’d had that combination before, but it sounded good. Some time later, s insisted on grapefruit purchase but then remembered he doesn’t like them much, and it sat in the fruit bowl for a while until some ripe avocados arrived too, and I remembered about the avocado and grapefruit salad…

1 pink grapefruit
1 ripe avocado
Lettuce 
Chopped almonds
Honey
White wine vinegar
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Segment the grapefruit and remove all the pith and membranes. Do it over a bowl and keep the juice. Peel and chop the avocado. Put the lettuce (anything mild is good - little gem, spinach etc) in a bowl, add the grapefruit, avocado and chopped nuts. Add the vinegar, olive oil, honey, salt and pepper to the grapefruit juice and  whisk together to make a dressing. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss.

It was a great combination, why have I never eaten this before?!

Easter 2022: Aubergine kuku

I have decided that Easter is my favourite holiday. We get three days off work, it is Spring and everything feels full of possibility, the days are fresh and sunny (if we are lucky), and the garden is full of the best flowers and not yet too out of control. Spring and its regenerative effect feels like something to celebrate: potent and powerful. 

Eggs are so symbolic of all this. I make an effort to cook something big and eggy, and ideally using beaten eggs, so the shells can be painted later.

This time, I remembered this recipe, which had caught my eye a while ago, partly because of the fun name. I bought a pile of barberries a while ago and have been trying them out in different things. So we had all the ingredients except the aubergines, which I picked up from my favourite wee shop (along with some mangoes - the yellow South American ones are here - summer is on its way!) on my way home today.

120 ml sunflower oil, plus extra (used less - about 50 ml)
4 small onions, peeled and sliced
3 small aubergines, peeled
5 eggs
2 tbsp plain flour
1½ tsp baking powder
25 g chopped parsley, plus extra to garnish
1 tsp saffron strands, dissolved in 1 tbsp of hot water
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
½ tsp salt
Black pepper
20 g dried barberries, rinsed and dried

Heat the oven to 210C. Drizzle the oil in a big roasting tin, toss in the chopped onions, and put in the oven for about 7 min.

Meanwhile, cut the aubergines in two widthways, cut each half into 1 cm-thick slices, then cut each slice into 1cm-thick sticks. Add these to the onion tin, toss, and put back in the oven for 15-20 min, until the aubergines are completely soft (add a little more oil if needed, but not a lot). Set aside to cool down.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, flour, baking powder, parsley, the saffron and its water, garlic, salt and a good grind of pepper. Once smooth, fold in the barberries and the aubergine and onion mix.

Grease and line a 22cm spring-form cake tin. Pour the egg mix into the tin and bake for 30-40 minutes, until golden-brown and cooked through – insert a skewer in the middle to make sure the egg has set.

Remove from the oven and set aside to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature,with good bread. It will keep in the fridge for two days.

 

I made this with s, he liked the idea of a savoury cake. It is pretty quick and easy, especially if you do the aubergine-onion mix in advance. The recipe called for frying them, by the way - but generally I prefer to do them in the oven for these kinds of things.

Easter 2021: Pace Eggs

At some point I fell down an Easter google bunny hole, wherein I discovered that the Pace Egg is not only a peculiar play at Heptonstall, but also the name for beautifully dyed boiled eggs. Also the word 'pace' is closer to 'påske' (Danish for Easter) than 'easter', making me wonder about origins of both traditions. I've tried dyeing eggs naturally before but it didn't work that well, probably boiling is the trick. I used mainly this recipe, but took the tip about using flowers and leaves from this one.

 **save red and brown onion skins for a few weeks before Easter!**

Eggs

Onion skins

Small, pretty flowers and leaves (e.g. curly parsley)

Dampen the eggs, then press leaves or flowers (could also try cutting shapes from larger leaves, or plastic bags) gently onto them to stick.

Wrap onion skins (red, brown, or a mixture) around the eggs, covering the leaves/flowers.

Wrap tinfoil around the onion skins, encasing the egg.

Put the eggs in a pan along with the rest of the onion skins. Cover with water and bring to the boil.

Boil approx. 8 min, then let cool in the water.

Remove the wrapping carefully to see the pattern. Polish with a little butter to make them shine, if you wish.

They are mainly decorative - they are edible, but not the best-tasting boiled egg you ever had.

I tried shapes made from paper, but it didn't work very well - perhaps could cut shapes from larger leaves instead? I considered other dyes (turmeric? red cabbage? beets?) - but the beauty of onion skins, besides the good strong colour, is that it makes use of something I'd otherwise throw out.

Easter 2021: Creme Caramel

A whole year later, and here is last Easter's egg recipe. I like to make something at Easter that uses a lot of beaten egg, so I can blow the eggs and decorate the shells later. My mum used to make creme caramel often, and S+s like it (and flan - what is the difference?). I used this recipe.

(can do in individual ramekins - I used a smallish flat round-edged ceramic baking dish)

For the caramel:

160g/6oz sugar

butter, for greasing

 

For the custard:

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla essence

25 g / 1 oz sugar

600 ml / 1 pint milk (I used oat milk - normal would prob have been better but it worked OK)

Heat oven 150C / 300F. Warm the dish in the oven, so it is warm when the caramel is poured in

Make the caramel. Pour the sugar and six tablespoons of water into a clean stainless steel pan. Dissolve the sugar slowly, stirring with a wooden spoon over a low heat. When there are no sugar granules left, stop stirring and boil until the sugar turns a dark copper colour. Remove immediately from the heat to ensure the caramel does not burn. Quickly pour the caramel into the warmed dish. 

Set aside to cool and become hard. (Do not put in the fridge because the sugar will absorb moisture and go soft and tacky). Once hard, butter the sides of the dish above the level of the caramel.

For the custard, whisk the eggs, vanilla extract and caster sugar together in a bowl until well mixed. Pour the milk into a saucepan, gently heat over a low heat until you can still just dip your finger in for a moment, then strain the milk through a fine sieve onto the egg mixture in the bowl. Whisk together until smooth, then pour the mixture into the prepared dish. 

Stand the dish in a roasting tin and fill the tin half-way with boiling water from a kettle. Cook in the oven for about 40-50 minutes or until the custard has set. Do not overcook the custard – check around the edges of the dish, to make sure no bubbles are appearing. Take the crème caramel out of the oven, remove the dish from the tray and set on a cooling rack. 

When cool, transfer to the fridge overnight so that the caramel is absorbed into the custard.

To serve, loosen the sides of the custard by tipping the dish and loosen with a small palette knife round the edges. Place a serving dish on top of the dish and turn upside down.

Bath bomb

Little s got into baths a lot over Christmas - he got to have a few proper baths at Auntie S's house, she has a full-size bathtub. So bubbles and high jinks proceeded, and we continued the vibes after we returned to our little folding bath, by stocking up on bath bombs at the shopping centre. It struck me a few bath bombs in, while removing various little bits of plastic packaging and breathing in the super-synthetic scent, that perhaps we could make them ourselves. I found this recipe and incredibly had all the ingredients, so thought we should give it a whirl - figured s would be up for helping me make them, and it might make him quicker to jump in the bath!

(makes 1 medium or 2 small bath bombs - this is half the original recipe, once we've cracked it and passed the test phase it'd be worth making more at a time)

50 g bicarbonate of soda

25 g citric acid

12.5 g cornflour

12.5 g Epsom salts (optional - used them because we happened to have some laying around)

1 tbsp oil – such as sunflower, coconut or olive oil (we tried olive and coconut so far - olive seemed better than coconut - coconut left the bath and s a bit greasy)

1/8 tsp essential oil, such as orange, lavender or chamomile (we used rescue remedies cos that's what we had)

a few drops of liquid food colouring (or gel food coloring mixed with a few drops water)

orange peel, lavender or rose petals, to decorate (optional - we didn't try this yet, s wasn't into the idea)

little toys to hide in them (optional)

Put the bicarb, citric acid, cornflour and Epsom salt in a bowl, then mix with a fork until fully combined.

Pour the base oil, essential oil and food colouring in a small bowl (mix colouring with a few drops water first if using gel). Mix together well, combining the oil with the colouring as much as possible.

Very slowly add the oil mixture into the dry ingredients a little at a time, whisking between each addition. When all the oil is added, add a few tiny drops of water and whisk again (it will fizz when you add the water, so mix it in quickly). You're looking for the mixture to slightly clump together when pressed in your hand and keep its shape – it shouldn't be too wet.

If you're adding peel or flower petals to decorate, drop them into the bottom of your chosen mould. Pack your mixture tightly on top, pressing down and smoothing out the top with a teaspoon. If you're hiding a toy, put some mix in the bottom, then the toy, then pack the mix around it and on top as firmly as possible.

Leave your bath bomb in the mould to dry for 2-4 h, then carefully remove it. It's now ready to drop into the bath – watch it fizz away!

 

Worked quite well! s was v keen on hiding little toys in the middles of them, and choosing colours/scents. The first time we put in too much water and they didn't dry out properly and they lost their fizz. The second time we erred on the side of water-caution and they were a little bit crumbly but fizzed like proper bath bombs - hurrah. Used empty yoghurt pots for molds, but I think silicone muffin cups might work better.

Salsa di noci (walnut sauce for pasta)

We are hooked on the great Italian supermarket in Sydhavn. S snuck a pot of salsa di noci into our shopping basket last time we were there, despite my protestations at buying anything walnut-based, considering our epic quantities. But it turned out to be delicious, and a little different from any walnut-based pesto I'd tried before. I googled for a recipe, and it seemed pretty simple. So I tried this one. And it was great! So there is an argument for buying walnutty things after all - new ideas for our supply!

35 g white bread, crusts removed

100 ml milk

150 g walnuts, toasted

10 g parmesan, grated 

1/2 garlic clove 

40 ml olive oil 

lemon juice, to taste 

salt, to taste 

pepper 

extra chopped walnuts (optional)

chopped parsley (optional)

 

Put the bread into the milk and leave to soak for a few min.

 

Put the soaked bread in a blender along with the walnuts, parmesan, garlic and oil. Blend to a smooth paste, slowly adding the leftover milk back in to reach the desired consistency

Season the sauce with salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste

Often served with gnocchi or long, flat pasta shapes such as tagliatelle (we ate it with penne and it was still good). Garnish with extra toasted walnuts and chopped parsley if you like (we didn't have any so didn't, and it was still good). Had some roasted aubergine pieces on the side and that was nice mixed in, as an option. Oh and I think a bit of ricotta salata as an option too.

Apricot, walnut and honey loaf cake

I love a tea loaf. And anything that involves honey and walnuts tends to catch my eye - since I began dabbling in beekeeping I've always failed to keep up with the honey supplies (I read in a beekeeping book that beekeepers tend to start because of the bees and stop because of the honey - it struck a chord); and we have an epic quantity of walnuts dropping every autumn, that it is hard to keep up with. So I liked the look of this one - also because I liked the idea of cake as a vehicle for cheese...

I convinced s to help me make it this windy sunday afternoon.

150 g honey
100 g light brown sugar
250 g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
50 g oats

150 g dried apricots

2 eggs
125 ml black tea, cooled if possible

150 g golden sultanas (used mix of these and raisins)
50 g walnuts

Heat oven to 160C. Grease and line loaf tin. Gently warm the honey and sugar in a small saucepan, without stirring, until the sugar has dissolved. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and oats in a large bowl. Cut the apricots into small pieces and stir them in. Break the eggs into a small bowl, beat lightly with a fork.

Pour the warm honey and sugar mixture into the flour together with the tea and the beaten eggs. Then fold the golden sultanas and walnuts into the batter. Scoop the mixture, which will be soft and runny, like a gingerbread batter, into the lined tin.

Bake for 60-75 min until risen and lightly springy (mine seemed perfect at 60 min). Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin.

 

It fit perfectly in my regular sized loaf tin.