Risengrød + Risalamande

When I asked s what he would like to have for Christmas dinner, he said risengrød (rice pudding). He's had it as school lunch a few times. It always sells out if they have it as one of the two options! They serve it with cinnamon sugar and butter on top, but it is served as their main course.

 

This actually perfectly coincided with one of my own Christmas food wishes, which was to make risalamande (literally: rice with almonds), my style. It is a mixture of rice pudding and whipped cream and toasted slivered almonds, served cold with cherry sauce as Christmas dessert. It is definitely my favourite Danish Christmas food that I have found so far - but I hate cream, so the best ones I have had were plant-based. So my idea was to make my own version and experiment with what to add to the cold rice pudding to make a good taste / texture - perhaps greek yoghurt, perhaps plant milk or coconut milk, or a mixture of those. I had even already bought the pudding rice...

 

I looked at the recipes for risengrød and risalamande on the back of the packet of pudding rice, and realized that the Danish version of rice pudding is actually unsweetened - just pudding rice, salt, water and milk. So then I thought perhaps we could eat it like we do pancakes on pancake date - have a savoury round then a sweet round, and just have the plain rice pudding as the main thing (like a risotto), with lots of optional toppings / mix-ins for both rounds.

 

For the savoury round, I slow-roasted some cherry tomatoes, idea being that these and some grated cheese could be a good combo. We also had some surprisingly successful salt-baked root vegetables, so we didn't eat much of this in the end.

 

For the sweet round, we mixed up the risengrød and risalamande combos - so we had skyr (usually have this in the fridge, don't usually have greek yoghurt), toasted slivered almonds, cherry sauce (bought in a little tetrapak - easy but I am sure you could make a nicer one with real cherries!), and cinnamon sugar.

 

For the risengrød:

200 ml pudding rice 

250 ml boiling water

1/2 - 1 tsp salt (to taste)

1 litre milk

 

For risalamande, my way: 

Skyr (I think Greek yoghurt might be preferable but haven't tried it yet)

Slivered almonds, toasted (I used 100 g total to make about 3 portions of risalamande)

cinnamon sugar

cherry sauce 

To make risengrød, put the rice in a big saucepan, add the boiling water and simmer for 2 min. Add the milk, bring to a boil, and simmer gently for approx. 35-40 min, stirring frequently. Add salt to taste. Let cool completely if using for risalamande - or reheat as needed.

To make risalamande, take a good amount of risengrød, mix with about 2/3 the volume of skyr or greek yoghurt, lots of toasted slivered almonds, and a bit of cinnamon sugar to taste. Chill for at least an hour, and serve cold with cherry sauce and cinnamon sugar.

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.

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.

Plain stovetop rice pudding

It was the last day of børnehave in s's normal place on Friday, before they move to the summer situation next week. I think everyone had picked up early - he was the only kid left when I got there. As we were leaving, one of the teachers came running after us with two full cartons of milk - she gave them to us, saying we should take them, otherwise they go in the bin. So we did. We don't usually have normal milk in the house (oat milk and powered milk), and milk doesn't keep well, so we've been on a mission to use up all the milk ever since... We're doing quite well! I have been making s lots of milkshakes (milk blended up with banana and other fruit)... and then S had the idea of making rice pudding... Which, the more I thought about it, seemed like a good idea! I roughly followed this recipe, adding more spices but otherwise keeping it quite plain. 

120 g pudding rice

800 ml milk

200 ml water

2 tbsp maple syrup

3/4 tsp cinnamon

3/4 tsp vanilla powder

1/2 tsp grated nutmeg

Put all ingredients in a big pan, mix, then heat gently, stirring occasionally, for c. 45 min - until thick and creamy but still with a tiny bit of bite in the rice. 

We ate it with the options of (1) chopped fresh mango (the great pakistani honey mango season is still upon us!); or (2) summer fruit compote with mainly cherries, apple, blueberries and pink currants. It was surprisingly good - although s refused to eat it.

 

Pao de queijo (vegetarian not vegan)

We found somewhere in CPH selling pao de queijo! Which was exciting... and also reminded me that (1) they are easy to make; (2) I have never made non-vegan ones, which presumably are even easier than the vegan ones I made before; and (3) we were close to the best place I could think of to find tapioca flour.

I read around a bit on Google, and decided to use this recipe, because it was clear and seemed straightforward.

(makes c 24 medium sized ones)

1 cup milk (used oat milk)
1/2 cup veg oil
1 tsp salt
10 oz / 284 g tapioca flour
2 large eggs
1 packed cup grated cheese (used a mixture of parmesan, pråst and jarlsberg... the internet suggests that pretty much any cheese will do - most recipes use either parmesan or a mix of parmesan and mozzarella... pics of the real Brazilian cheese look quite like pråst - perhaps that's a good local sub?)

Heat the oven to 450F / 232C. Line two baking sheets with baking paper.

Bring the milk, oil and salt to a gentle boil over a medium heat in a medium-large saucepan (big enough to fit all ingredients and mix the dough). Stir occasionally. Remove when you can see big bubbles.

Add the tapioca flour and stir with a wooden spoon until there is no dry flour and the dough is grainy and gelatinous. Beat the dough for a few minutes until it smooths out and has cooled down enough that you can hold your finger against it for a few seconds. There may be a bit of an oily unincorporated bit.

Beat in the eggs one at a time - fully incorporate the first one before adding the second. Beat in the cheese until fully incorporated. It should be a sticky, stretchy, soft dough.

Scoop the dough into approx 2 tbsp sized balls and place on a baking sheet approx 2 in apart (should be 12 per sheet). Try dipping the scoop in water between scoops to prevent sticking.

Put the baking sheets in the oven and reduce the heat to 350F / 177C. Bake for 15 min, then rotate top-bottom and front-back. Bake 10-15 min more, until puffed, outsides dry, and golden brown on the bottoms (mine only needed 10 more min). Cool a few minutes and eat while warm.


I shaped them in the afternoon and let them sit for an hour or so, then baked half of them for dinner. The other half I put in the fridge for a couple of days and then baked, and they were good too. I wanted to try baking from freezing but the freezer was too full.

They were good! And simple and quick (for a bread). I kind of want to go back and try the vegan ones again - I remember them being really good too, and thinking you don't really need the cheese - the texture and savoury deliciousness is all you really need...

Also! I think potato starch might be easier to find and give a similar texture, and so I want to try making some with that instead of tapioca - I found a recipe, I'll add it when I've tried.

Birthday mohnkuchen; and birthday pasta cake

 It was S's birthday yesterday. I had decided weeks ago upon his cake: mohnkuchen. I'd bought the poppy seeds even longer ago, in Germany, and had been meaning to make mohnkuchen ever since. Seems like I make cakes less and less often... But birthday cakes are essential!

I used the same recipe as before, without veganising it this time. I made it the day before, and it was delicious on the day and he loved it. BUT it was the ugliest cake ever. I mean, black poppy seeds don't make for the most beautiful cake to start with, but on top of that the mohn mixture rose up in a wall all around the edges like crazy. This didn't happen before and I don't understand why it happened this time. Perhaps I didn't put the streusel mixture thick enough on top? Anyway, I trimmed that bit back down so it didn't look quite as bizarre, and it tasted great. It meant it was a bit more sunken in the middle and the mohn layer wasn't quite as thick as it should have been, but it held together well and I can't really complain.

We had a good day - a good balance of making plans and being spontaneous, and being lucky. Cake and presents for breakfast; bus over to the sauna, some sunny sauna action; up to Papirøen for good food (the best pizza place has gone completely vegetarian, including many vegan options - wahoo!); bus back in time for S to watch Dortmund, who won, and it started raining as soon as we got back... While S watched football and then spoke to his mum, I decided to cap his day off by making his this spaghetti pie for his dinner - I had seen the recipe a few weeks back and it had his name written all over - pasta, cheese, crispy pasta, more cheese... This was a perfect opportunity to make it!

butter for greasing springform
8 oz broccoli rabe, chopped into few-inch segments
1 lb dried spaghetti
1 1/2 cups milk
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
2-3 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp coarse salt
8 oz aged pecorino cheese, grated, divided
8 oz fontina cheese, grated, divided

Heat oven to 425F (220C, 200C fan). Butter a 9 in springform baking tin and wrap the outside tightly in foil. Set aside.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add broccoli to the pot and boil for 1-2 min, until just tender. Fish out with a large slotted spoon and drain well. Set aside.

Add spaghetti to boiling water and cook until 2 min short of done (i.e. very al dente) as the spaghetti will continue cooking in the oven. Drain well and let cool slightly.

Wring all extra moisture out of the broccoli and blot on paper towels to remove as much moisture as possible. Chop into very small pieces.

In a large bowl, whisk eggs and milk together with salt and pepper. Stir in all but 1/2 cup of each cheese and chopped broccoli. Add spaghetti and toss to coat.

Pour mixture into prepared tin and sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Bake for 50+ min (mine took more like an hour and a half), until the top is brown and there is no runny egg in the centre. If the top browns before the center is set, cover with foil for the remaining cooking time.

Cut around the springform ring to loosen, then remove ring. Run a spatula underneath the pie to loosen the base and slide onto a serving plate. Cut into wedges.


The mixture only just fits in the tin, but doesn't rise up so that's OK. It is huge, and very filling, so definitely serves many people or makes lots of leftovers. It took ages to cook: definitely not something to make in a rush or when hungry! It also messed up the springform quite a lot. I won't be making this often but it had a lot of impact for a special occasion for a pasta lover! He was pretty excited!

Fastelavn / Pancake Day

I like discovering new national events I never knew about before. The weirder the better. The more I can collect to celebrate, the funner a year becomes. I just discovered Fastelavn. It is a Danish holiday (also celebrated in Norway, but not so much in Sweden, oddly), timing-wise similar to Pancake Day. Also similar to Pancake Day in that there is a special, rich food associated with it. In this case it is buns: the Danish ones are cream-filled puff buns, all different fillings and toppings, called Fastelavnboller. The Swedish equivalent is called Semla, more bready, with cardamom. But there the similarity to Pancake Day ends. Children get dressed up in all sorts of costumes, and go out asking for buns or money, similar to Halloween. There is also a thing with barrel breaking. Apparently this originally involved putting a black cat in a barrel and smashing it up (perhaps for luck, since black cats are supposed to be unlucky?). But now it is more like a pinata, with kids bashing at a barrel strung up and full of sweets until it breaks.

So anyway, we ate one bun, with some sort of mildly almondy filling and a blob of chocolate icing on top. Mixing it up, we also had pancakes for breakfast yesterday. Since I am being vegetarian at the moment they were fully rounded dairy and egg -full pancakes - I used Delia's foolproof recipe, which I have used many times before. And our current place has a dreamy induction hob and nice non-stick pans, so there was none of the disastrousness of last year's attempts...

(makes about a dozen)

110g plain flour
pinch of salt
2 eggs
200 ml milk mixed with 75 ml water
butter, about 50 g

Sieve flour and salt into a bowl. Make a well in the middle and whisk in the eggs, adding milk gradually when it starts to thicken. It should whisk up nicely without lumps if you keep it gradual - just keep whisking if it seems lumpy and it should sort itself out. This batter will keep in the fridge overnight if desired, or can be used straight away.

When ready to make pancakes, melt butter in a small nonstick frying pan. Pour a couple tbsp melted butter into the batter and whisk. Put about 3/4 ladleful into hot pan at a time, tip to distribute, and then cook for a few minutes on each side until done.


We ate some with lemon and sugar, and some breakfasty ones with banana, yoghurt, honey, dried fruit and seeds.

If you have too much batter, you can either keep the batter til later, or you can make more pancakes and keep them in the fridge or freezer - they reheat very easily in a frying pan.

Making yoghurt

I've tried a few kinds of ferments or cultures, but none have been as successful for me as yoghurt making. When we first moved into this apartment the pilot light in the oven confused me, but I soon realised it creates a perfect incubator for stuff like yoghurt. So I started making yoghurt, using a plain old supermarket yoghurt as a starter culture and any whole milk. I kept it going for about six months before deciding to quit eggs and dairy.

Yoghurt is definitely the thing I miss most (followed by eggs). We had visitors last weekend from Germany (T+C), along with their 18 month old (she shares my name!) who needs milk to sleep at night and loves yoghurt. They left some of both behind in the fridge and I had a field day - the yoghurt didn't last long, but before it was all eaten I used some to make the milk into yoghurt (I've never cared much for milk).

 (do this in the evening and the yoghurt will be made by morning and ready to eat (although I prefer it chilled))

1 quart (~1 litre) whole milk
2 tbsp yoghurt (this time it was Greek; any live, plain yoghurt seems to work; this is the starter culture)

Put the milk in a large saucepan and heat. Bring it almost to the boil, so it just starts to froth (aiming for 85C). Then switch off the heat. Fill the sink with cold water (iced ideally) and bathe the base of the pan in it to speed cooling. Bring it down to 37C (body temperature - test with inside of wrist). Take out of the sink and whisk the yoghurt thoroughly through the milk. Pour the milk mixture into clean plastic tubs with lids (I use old yoghurt tubs), then put the lids on and put the tubs in the switched-off oven*. Leave for about 8 hours or overnight.

In the morning, open and check - it should have thickened and soured so it is recognisably yoghurt. Stir and then put the lid back on and keep in the fridge. I found it keeps well for up to two weeks. When it starts getting low you can use the homemade yoghurt as starter culture for a new batch with fresh milk - you will never have to buy yoghurt again!

*Must be an oven with pilot light so always warm. If you don't have this you need another way of maintaining 37C - airing cupboard, hot water bottles and towels wrapped around the tub... If you use the oven leave yourself a note so you don't forget it's in there.


This works really well. In those six months it worked every time (texture and taste varied a bit but it was always unequivocably yoghurt, and always tasty). It does tend to come out a little thinner than commercial yoghurt but that doesn't really bother me - you can strain it or try adding powdered milk if you'd like it thicker. I wondered if using Greek yoghurt culture might help with thickness, but I suspect this wouldn't last beyond the first few goes around as the proportions of bacteria probably shift. I have tried this yoghurt making protocol with non-dairy milks but never had any success.