My mom…not only is she the best mom in the world. (Well, I guess everybody feels that way about their mom). She is also the best grandma to my kids. I could say she wins hearts by always being ready to take care of my kids when they are sick, or being the matriarch who cooks dinner for the whole family almost every Sunday. And this is no small feat as we are 11 people and my mom makes everything herself so the rest of us can relax. However, all of this is nothing compared to the love my family bestows on her because of her cooking. Actually she is…
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The no fuss showstopper
Vitello Tonnato is a delicious dish for the taste buds, but not always so for the eyes. It tends to have a greyish color and with the capers on top it sometimes ends up looking more like a bowl of oatmeal gone bad. That doesn’t sound at all like the showstopper advertised above, but with a little twist or two it can be. Instead of the classic Italian starter, this version of Vitello Tonnato serves as the main course of a dinner where you finally have time to entertain your guests while wooing them with your fabulous cooking skills. The garnishing sauces for the veal can be made a day ahead, and…
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Pretty cheeky
Pork cheeks are an overlooked cut of pork in my opinion. So when some friends of mine told me they had bought too large a bulk of cheeks from Ibiric black foot pigs, I didn’t hesitate to say yes to the offer of taking them of their hands. One of the most efficient ways of tenderizing pork cheeks is adding wine or beer and letting them stew slowly for a few hours, so I decided to go all in on the booze and literally drown the cheeks in Marsala, and what do you know? All the dinner guests ended up with af smile on their faces. A cheeky one of…
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Not too hot for kids
When the weather turns cold, I like to eat something that’s a little hot and spicy to get the warmth back in my body. The problem is that my kids won’t eat anything hot and spicy, except this very mild version of the Indian dish murgh makhani or butter chicken as we Westerners like to call it. I only use the hot spices in this recipe in sparse amounts, and I use honey to soothe down the taste to accommodate the delicate taste buds of little ones, and yet there is still heat enough to get the internal fire going, but not enough to burn or scare off anyone. And…
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A pot and a pumpkin
The other day I bought three pumpkins at the local supermarket. I guess that’s a perfectly normal thing to do this time of year if it hadn’t been for the fact that our porch and front steps were already packed with little orange, green and yellow pumpkin faces. But I simply couldn’t resist buying just a few more of these gorgeous little veggie heads. And the great thing about pumpkins is that not only do they light up your home and mood on cold and dark days, they make for wonderful food too. Now, I’m not a big fan of winter, but one of my great consolations this time of…
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Creamy fish and lemon
Since Denmark is a country that basically consists of islands only connected to Germany in the south by the big peninsula Jutland, the tradition of eating a lot of fish for dinner should be a given. But actually I grew up in a home where we didn’t have fish for dinner at all (except the 2 times a year when my mom treated us to a piece of salmon). And chowder would have been a completely foreign word. It’s not that we didn’t eat fish, because I can’t remember a lunch at home that didn’t include pickled herring, but for dinner fish simply wasn’t an option. Now I love fish…
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Lasagna dressed for Halloween
Last week we celebrated Halloween, and what a fun night for kids and adults alike! While the kids of course are mostly focused on all the candy and treats they are going to haul in, it’s nice if the adults can look forward to being treated to some nice comfort food as a consolation prize after following the little munchkins around the neighborhood in the cold and the rain. If the little people have any appetite left for real food after stuffing themselves with candy, I find that traditional lasagna is a great option, as you can make it in advance and just heat it up, giving you time to…
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A little extra something for your cheese board
Up for a cheese feast? In our family we love cheese, and having guests over is the perfect excuse to serve a cheese board. Whether it’s a substitute or a supplement for dessert or something you want to do for a casual Friday night get-together with friends, it’s fun and easy to put together. Well, maybe it’s not so easy to choose between all the great cheeses at your local cheese dealer?! Well, ask them if they’ll let you taste and then choose your favorites. If they all turn out to be favorites, another good pointer is to choose a variety of mild and mature cheeses, to include both soft…
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Cod by a Frenchman
Last week my oldest friend from Denmark came to visit me in Toronto, and I was excited to show her around and had just bought a great book about strolls in Toronto. To me walking through neighborhoods in a city is the best way really to get a feel of the diversity a city has to offer. I guess it’s a bit as with food, you have to smell it to really know it and enjoy it. When we got home from one of our walks, we were tired in that pleasant way where you are ready for a nice glass of wine and comfort food. None of us, however,…
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Easy now… I already made dinner.
Need an idea for an everyday kid-friendly salad? Try out this easy to make chicken pasta salad! My normal workday starts at 8 a.m. and ends at 4 p.m. Before I go to work I need to wake and feed the kids (I have 3), get them dressed and drive the youngest of them to school. All of that takes about 1.5 hours. After I get off from work I have to pick up my youngest and drive home to make dinner. If dinner is not served by 6 p.m. I have 3 very hungry kids shouting and crying until they are fed. It all runs on af pretty tight…
