Ever heard of Danish ‘smørrebrød´? It’s the Danish word for open sandwiches, and they make up a key part of the diet in Denmark. Served on a rye bread base, we top these open sandwiches with various deli toppings, often including cold cuts or fish, and dress them with one or more relishes or mayonnaise dressings. Here, we wanted to share an old recipe from Karen-Anne’s family, where the fish, in this case salmon, is mixed together with mayonnaise, curry and pineapple, creating a scrumptious, creamy salmon salad. It’s easy to make, will keep for a day or two in the fridge, and makes for a delicious ‘smørrebrød’ topping. ‘Smørrebrød’…
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Nordic carpaccio
This dish is for everyone who, like me, loves raw meat. Maybe it is the Viking in me that it appeals to. Even as a kid I loved beef tartare. And as soon as sushi appeared in Denmark, I was hooked on raw fish as well. The quality of course has to be outstanding, and perhaps that is part of the reason why I love raw meat and fish so much. Because it is really honest food. What you see is what you get, and you can’t disguise bad quality meat or fish in sushi or dishes like beef tartare or carpaccio. This Nordic carpaccio is my Scandinavian take on…
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Divinely decadent shrimp appetizer
Here is our second appetizer for our Roaring ‘20s Gatsby themed New Year’s dinner. We started out with oysters, or what we called Roaring Rockefeller oysters, and we thought that a natural next step is a fresh little bite with shrimp and herb cream with a touch of lemon and watercress. We recommend you use a very small type of shrimp, as we thought this would be one in a row of appetizers, and small shrimp will make this dish look very elegant and delicate. North Atlantic shrimp are great, or maybe you can even get your hands on a batch of Danish ‘fjordrejer’ (frozen as the fresh ones are…
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Coleslaw with a twist
This Indian coleslaw salad is inspired by my never ending attempts to lose weight. If I summed up all the weight I have lost and gained again it would be more than I weigh today, so I can’t say that I have been successful. My recent diet is all about not eating carbs, which is why some of our recipes are titled “low-carb”. My family loves butter chicken and we eat it at least once a month, but butter chicken goes with basmati rice and that is a no-no on my diet, so I had to substitute it with something. Here is where this Indian coleslaw salad comes into the…
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Seared tuna starter
This seared tuna starter with pickled red onions, caper berries and honey mustard mayo is inspired by the most amazing appetizer I had in an Italian restaurant in Tivoli in Copenhagen about 15 years ago. Sadly, the restaurant is no more, but all these years I’ve never forgotten that appetizer! For many years I didn’t dare try and copy it for fear of being disappointed, but finally I decided to give it a go, and the result here is so good. I really should have done this years ago! When I was a kid we had lots of tuna, but back then in the ’80s and ’90s the tuna would…
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It’s Friday!
This is just the most easy peasy simple yet addictively delicious appetizer! Perfect for a Friday night to celebrate that you’ve finally arrived at the weekend. And perfect too with a glass, or two, of bubbles. When I serve these shrimp with cilantro lemon mayo dip the main challenge is to make sure I’ve made enough. More than once I’ve found that the whole platter of shrimp and dip I just put on the table a minute ago has already mysteriously vanished! You can easily prepare the cilantro lemon mayo dip in advance, but otherwise it’ll only take you 5 minutes max to whip up right before serving. Just make…
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Crispy fresh chicken lunch
In Denmark we like to make different mayonnaise based salads that are served for lunch with bread and/or a green salad. This chicken salad with apples and celery is a particular favorite of mine and was created by accident one day when I ran out of curry. Classic chicken salads in Denmark typically include curry or asparagus, but since I didn’t have either, I tried something else and ended up with a salad I thought was even more yummy than the one I originally intended. For me it is a go to recipe because it uses ingredients I usually always have in stock. I simply need to buy chicken and…
