Foody Two Shoes

A Couple of Hippies and a Beetroot Cake

foodytwoshoes — Mon, 21 May 2012 19:06:09 +0000

Over the past couple of years we’ve been striving more and more in our house to eat locally grown/produced food, waste less etc. – it just feels like the right thing to do and I find it makes me enjoy my food more. (It does have its downside too though, in that it can turn you into a ‘fussy cow’ when going out to eat. I find myself over-thinking things more and more with the like of, I wonder where this came from, was it sprayed?, was it produced by some kind of slave labour? and, not least, did this animal have a good life?, as I study menus.)

To support these efforts to eat local food, we joined the Copenhagen food co-op, Københavns Fødevarefællesskab, earlier this year. It’s a fantastic initiative where, for only 100 kr. (less than $20) a week (and 3 hours volunteer work a month), we get a bag of locally grown, organic vegetables of the season.

Inspired by this we have also been making attempts at growing a few herbs and veggies in raised beds in our small back garden. We have yet to see if this will yield much – we are true amateurs! (I’m particularly sceptical as far as my own-raised bed is concerned. In my experience plants don’t seem to like me much. I have even managed to kill cactuses in the past.) Time will tell.

Reverting back to the food co-op, I’ve been really happy with the veg bags we’ve been getting every week. It’s always exciting to see what is in it, especially at the moment with the dawn of the spring veg season. I have to admit though I was beginning to suffer a little from root veg fatigue towards the end of March.

It was that very fatigue that has led me to this post. A couple of weeks ago we had lots of guests from the Irish side of the family coming to stay. That always calls for having home-baked goods in the house. I come from a long line of baking matriarchs, so it would be a major faux-pas to have empty cake tins on their arrival and would probably be talked about scornfully for years afterwards – “and do you know, she didn’t bake a thing…shocking, absolutely shocking hostess…blah, blah, blah…” [said with strong Irish accent for effect].

This need for home-baking happened to coincide with me coming across a recipe on BBC Food for a beetroot cake and recalling that I had some forlorn, and somewhat forgotten, beetroot in my fridge – had just about had enough of it at this point. So, narrowly escaping the compost (yes, we have that now too ;), the slightly wizened beetroot was magically transformed into this wonderful, not entirely unhealthy, cake. So, ladies and gentlemen, next time you’ve got some of this stuff lying around, here’s what you can do with it…

Beetroot and Seed Cake

I had them all sitting drumming their fingers while I snapped these few shots – the joys of being around a food blooger

Ingredients
225g good quality flour*
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
180ml cold-pressed rapeseed oil, or similar
225g/8oz light muscovado sugar
3 organic eggs, separated
150g raw beetroot, peeled
juice of half a lemon
75g dried fruit (I used cranberries)
75g mixed seeds (such as sunflower, pumpkin and linseed)

For the icing
8 tablespoons icing sugar
a little lemon juice or orange blossom water
poppy seeds, to garnish

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Lightly grease a rectangular loaf tin (e.g. 20cm x 9cm x 7cm), then line the base with baking parchment.

Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and cinnamon.

Beat the oil and sugar in a food mixer until well combined, then introduce the egg yolks one by one, mixing after you add each egg yolk. Grate the beetroot coarsely and fold it into the egg mixture, then add the lemon juice, dried fruit and the assorted seeds. Pulse until combined.

Fold the flour and raising agents into the egg mixture whilst the machine is on a slow setting.

Beat the egg whites until light and almost stiff. Fold gently but thoroughly into the cake mixture, using a large metal spoon (a wooden one will knock the air out). Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake for 50-55 minutes, covering the top with a piece of foil after thirty minutes. Test with a skewer for doneness. The cake should be moist inside but not sticky. Leave the cake to settle for a good twenty minutes before turning out of its tin onto a wire cooling rack.

To make the icing, sift the icing sugar into a bowl and stir in enough lemon juice or orange blossom water to achieve a consistency where the icing will run over the top of the cake (about three teaspoonfuls), stirring to remove any lumps. Drizzle it over the cake and scatter with the poppy seeds. Leave to set before eating.

*I like to use the stone-ground flours that are available in many supermarkets and smaller speciality shops nowadays and I try use wholegrain where I can get away with it. These flours may cost a bit more, but they are far superior to the cheaper, mass-produced stuff.

Bunny Business and Carrot Cake

foodytwoshoes — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 18:56:35 +0000

Spring has sprung here in Denmark, albeit in the usual pubescent kind of way where it doesn’t really know whether to rain, hail or shine. One of the things I love here is that after enduring the long, dark winter it’s like everyone gets a new lease on life when spring raises its pretty little head each year. As soon as the daylight starts streaming in the windows I always get hit by an uncontrollable urge to spruce up and de-junk the house. This year has been no exception. During this past spring-break week bin-bags have been filled, the garden tended to and the home just generally brightened up a bit. That hasn’t kept me out of the kitchen though. Here are some shots taken over the last few days, which is then rounded off by yet another fantastic carrot cake recipe. Yum.

Plants for sale at the Botanical Gardens, Copenhagen

Easter decorations at home

Eggs for my Easter cake

Collecting eggs left by the Easter bunny

Flowers in Ørstedsparken, Copenhagen

Foody/Fifth Floor Carrot Cake
My eldest daughter and I have a big soft spot for carrot cake. Given the amount of Easter bunny action in this house at the moment, I thought it was appropriate to bake a carrot cake for the weekend. I have until now only ever baked the family favourite, but this time I thought we’d live on the edge a little and try a new recipe. A few months ago my fellow food blogging friend, Kristina of Fifth Floor Cooking, posted her favourite carrot cake recipe. I decided to take inspiration from Kristina’s cake recipe, adding my own icing made with mascarpone. The result was a real yumster and it seems the family now has two favourite carrot cakes :)

The girl who loves carrot cake

For the cake
3 eggs
350g/3½ dl sugar
150g/3 dl walnuts, chopped
1½ tablespoons ground cardemom
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
250g/4 dl flour
200g/4 dl grated carrots
250 ml neutral oil

For the icing
250g mascarpone
4 tablespoons cream
200g icing sugar
grated zest of 1 lemon
Seeds from 1 vanilla pod

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4.

Beat the eggs with the sugar until white and foamy. Add the walnuts, cardemom, cinnamon, baking powder, salt and flour to the sugar/egg mixture and combine. Add the carrots and oil to the mix and combine until smooth. Grease a large springform cake tin and pour in the batter. Bake in the middle of the oven for 35-40 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Leave the cake to cool completely.

To make the icing whip all the ingredients together until smooth. Spread over the cooled cake and decorate as you wish.

Back in Black…and a Cup of Soup

foodytwoshoes — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:55:03 +0000

So much for the signs of spring mentioned in my last post. Winter is truly upon us here in Denmark. I realised after I’d taken some of these photos how much black clothing predominated in them. At least that day. It did provide a nice contrast to the snow-dusted surroundings though and is quite in keeping with the recipe I was planning to post next – a creamy black bean soup. (I wonder would AC/DC approve…)

Big and small checking out the newly frozen lake

“Let me in”

Creamy black bean soup

There is nothing better than hot soup after being out and about in these chilly climes. I love soup and have been making lots of different ones recently. This one may not look particularly pretty, but what it lacks in good looks, it makes up for in taste. Rustle up some herby garlic bread and you’ve got yourself a hearty, winter-warming meal. This recipe is based on one by Claus Meyer, but tweaked a little by yours truly.

Ingredients
300g organic black beans, soaked overnight
2 onions
2 cloves garlic
2 sprigs rosemary
4 dessertspoons cold-pressed rapeseed oil
vegetable stock, preferably organic
4 dessertspoons apple cider
1 dessertspoon caramelised vinegar (optional)
sea salt and black pepper
flat-leaf parsley for garnish
cream, for drizzling (optional)

Directions
Drain and rinse the soaked beans. Leave them to drip in a colander.

Chop the onion and garlic. Remove the rosemary needles from the stalk and chop. Fry the onion, garlic, beans, and rosemary gently in some rapeseed oil for a couple of minutes. Add enough stock to reach 5cm above the top of the beans. Bring the soup to the boil, cover and leave to simmer gently for about 45 minutes.

Remove from the heat, take out a few spoonfuls of the beans and set aside. Pour the soup into a blender and blitz it until smooth. Add the vinegars and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Rinse, dry and finely chop the parsley. Serve the soup, adding some of the reserved beans, a drizzle of cream and rapeseed oil and a sprinkle of chopped parsley.

Serve with some homemade herby, garlic bread or other bread of your choice.

Baby it’s Cold Outside – Plants, Life and a Coleslaw

foodytwoshoes — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 21:46:45 +0000

I’m the first to admit that food-blogging in the winter hasn’t been my strong point. I’d much rather take photos in those bright Scandinavian days of spring and summer. I think it’s time for a new strategy in 2012 – to start with I’m trying to embrace winter and capture some of the atmosphere and charm that can be found in this season – making the most of it, you might call it. So, this blog post is not the usual type of recipe with food shot(s) that I would normally whack out here. I’m including a few snaps of this and that from around these parts.

First sign of spring – very cheering :)

Young Halley (5) letting off some steam in the park

Crab apples – jewels of the winter garden

Fairy lights add a little magic to the dark winter months – I love them

Seasonal Coleslaw

This recipe is for a ‘Roasted Sesame Winter Slaw’ that I found on this lovely blog My New Roots. I’ve pretty much followed the recipe except for using some different type of cabbage, because that’s what I happened to have in my fridge. This Coleslaw is great eaten on its own or with any kind of meat, if you are a meat-eater. Who said January had to be boring?

My Coleslaw is featured here on my treasured Bunbury Board – a gift from good friends Eddie and Tremayne in Ireland. Each board is hand-made from a tree sourced from sustainable Irish woodland and individually stamped with a code. By entering the code into the Bunbury Board website you can discover the story of the tree from which the board was made as well as see a picture of it. Very cool.

Makes a lot
Ingredients
3 cups each shredded red cabbage and sweetheart cabbage – any cabbage would work though
2 cups shredded carrots
2 scallions
1 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
½ cup sesame seeds

Tahini Cream Dressing with Orange
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon runny honey (or agave, maple syrup)
1/3 cup tahini
½ cup water
season to taste with salt & pepper
zest of 1 organic orange

Directions
1. Wash and shred the cabbage as finely as possible and place in a large bowl.
2. Shred the carrots, finely slice the scallions and chop the parsley.
3. Add to the cabbage.
4. Whisk the dressing ingredients together. Add water to thin to desired consistency.
5. Roast the sesame seeds on a dry pan until they begin to pop. Remove from the heat immediately. Sprinkle over the salad ingredients.
6. Toss everything together in the bowl and serve. Pour the dressing over only after the salad has been plated – this way you get some bites with lots of dressing and some without for the best balance. Garnish with extra sesame seeds.

Our resident bunnies love to munch on the vegetable trimmings

Pear and Kale Salad with Blue Cheese and Walnuts

foodytwoshoes — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 14:15:34 +0000

Hello foody friends, life has somewhat been on the hectic side of late and although that never effects my interest in food, I’ve been a bit remiss in putting stuff on the blog. To add to this, a few weeks ago I came home from a trip to find that my enthusiastic, pre-teen, blogging daughters had done something to rub the camera up the wrong way and it went on strike. I seem to have now managed to put a work-around in place until I can bring myself to fork out for a new one – I’m told it’s not worth having the old one fixed.

Anyway, I digress. You may have noticed that I have a bit of a soft spot for kale – this is neither the first nor the last time it features on my blog. Kale is super healthy and makes a great alternative to lettuce. I think it’s great for making salads more hearty in the cold months of the year. This recipe is another from good ol’ Claus Meyer and goes well with most meat or simply as a meal in itself.

Salad
200g kale
5 ripe (but firm) pears
100g mild and creamy blue cheese
60g walnuts, roughly chopped
lemon juice
cider vinegar
sugar
sea salt
cold-pressed rapeseed oil

Dressing
50ml cold-pressed rapeseed oil
3 dessertspoons cider vinegar
1 dessertspoon honey
1 clove garlic, chopped
sea salt
black pepper

Place the kale leaves in cold water to freshen and crispen them up. Heat the oven to 180° C (350° F). Wash the pears, cut into quarters and remove the cores. Slice three of the pears into long, thin pieces and set aside. Cut the remaining two pears into ‘boats’ and toss them in a little cider vinegar, sugar, salt and oil. Spread them on a lined baking tray and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until they are soft and golden. Leave the pears to cool.

To make the dressing, blend the ingredients in a bowl.

Slice the kale thinly and cut the blue cheese into small cubes. Toss the kale with the dressing, blue cheese and both the raw and the cooked pears. Season with salt and pepper. Add a little sugar should you think the salad needs to be sweetened slightly. Sprinkle the walnuts over the top and serve.

Blackcurrant and Amaretti Biscuit Trifle

foodytwoshoes — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 15:50:26 +0000

Hello food-lovers! This post is a dedicated to my very good friend and neigbour, Maria, who recently said that if she didn’t know me, she would hate me because of my blog. Luckily she’s the type of friend who can get away with saying things like that. She does actually like my blog, but as some of you know I sometimes feature my kids and our garden and the (limited) produce we get from it. This can all seem so picture-perfect and “oh we’re so happy and wholesome” and “I’m that, yes that, mother who does all that cool stuff with my kids”. Maria knows though that our “garden” is about the size of a postage stamp, that my kids can drive me up the walls and, as often as they are included in the kitchen, I’m equally often relieved when they just leave me to it! So there you have it – the camera can actually lie, things are not always what they seem ;)

This leads me to this particular recipe. I dug it out recently as we, for the first time ever, got a crop of blackcurrants from our “garden”. We have had two blackcurrant bushes growing here for about 7 years now and every year, despite our intentions to put netting over them, the berries all get eaten by the birds before we do so. Not this year though, we actually stopped procrastinating and bought the said netting. So when we ended up with a nice hefty portion of berries, I remembered I had this recipe tucked away. I got it from my Mum, but I think it’s originally from Leith’s. I can really recommend it – it’s easy to make and really yummy! (I made mine for Maria ;)

450g blackcurrants (works well with frozen berries too)
170g sugar
4 tablespoons Crème de Cassis
1 teaspoon chopped mint (that came from my garden too – sorry, Maria)
325g mascarpone
440ml Greek yoghurt
icing sugar to taste
340g Amaretti biscuits (Danish readers, you can also use ‘makroner’)
30g flaked almonds, toasted

Wash the berries and remove any stalks. Put them in a saucepan with the sugar. Heat slowly until the sugar has dissolved. Then simmer until the fruit is soft. Remove from the heat, add the Crème de Cassis and the mint. Leave to cool completely.

Mix the mascarpone and Greek yoghurt together until smooth. Sweeten to taste with the icing sugar.

Break the Amaretti biscuits into pieces.

Layer the blackcurrant mixture and Amaretti biscuits in a large glass bowl or in individual glasses. Top with the mascarpone and yoghurt mixture. (You’ll see I included layers of the cream in my trifle pictured above, but that was only because I had extra cream that day.) Sprinkle the toasted almonds over the top.

Tomato Salad with Redcurrants and Red Onion

foodytwoshoes — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 19:45:47 +0000

Claus Meyer‘s ‘Salatværksted’ cookery book has become something of a salad bible in my kitchen. He has a talent for putting ingredients together where I start by thinking “huh, really, hmm not sure about that…” when I read the recipe, and end up all like, “ahhh, that’s so good!” after tasting it. This salad is a great way to use redcurrants when they are in season and they go great with the tomatoes. Give it a try :)

The Salad
700g summer-ripe tomatoes
150g redcurrants
1/2 handful lovage leaves (løvstikkeblade)
1/2 handful parsley
1 small red onion
cane sugar
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

The Dressing
4 dessertspoons cold-pressed rapeseed oil
2 dessertspoons cider or balsamic vinegar
crispy bread slices*

Rinse the tomatoes, redcurrants and herbs under running cold water. Cut the tomatoes into pieces. Fold the lovage and cut into slices. Pick the parsley into small florets. Peel the onion, slice thinly and separate into rings.

Place the tomato, redcurrants, onion and herbs into a large bowl and toss with some sugar, salt and freshly ground black pepper. Drizzle the oil and vinegar over the top and garnish with the crispy bread slices*.

Eat at room temperature .

* To make the crispy bread, thinly slice some bread (preferably at least a day old), spread on a baking tray and brush on both sides with oil. Toast in the oven at 130° C/260° F until golden brown (20 minutes or so).

Feels Like Heaven

foodytwoshoes — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 19:04:19 +0000

I’ve decided to take a short break from posting ~~cake~~ recipes and instead pay tribute this time to a place I love, namely, Falsled Kro. For my birthday this Spring, Mr. Foody surprised me with a stay at this amazing Danish inn. Falsled Kro is situated in the South Western part of the beautiful Danish island of Funen, also known as the garden of Denmark, which is about a 2 hour drive from where we live in Copenhagen.

The experience of staying here is nothing but magical – everything, and I mean everything, is perfect. It has just the right balance of comfort, style, homeliness, good service and, not least, great food! During our stay we opted for the Almanac menu, which is based on the best ingredients of the season, either from local, specially selected producers or from the Inn’s own abundant garden. I hope the pictures below give a little taste of what this is all about.

Himself, enjoying the afternoon coffee

One of the many treats served with the afternoon coffee – dreamy caramel, topped with lightly whipped cream and cocoa nibs

Blooms on the chives in the ever-expanding herb garden

The dining room which looks out onto the luscious grounds and Helnæs Bay

And not just any tonic…

A fun appetiser, nick-named ‘lollipops’ – this one is a piece of cucumber, pickled in beetroot and topped with crispy crackling

Our stay coincided with asparagus season at its best – this dish was a mix of white and green asparagus from local Torup Bakkegård (farm) with poached Quail eggs and an asparagus froth

Last shot before daylight diminished – breaded turbot with broad beans, bacon, spring onion and a ‘snow’ of dairy cream

Breakfast wasn’t bad either ;)

Lemon Curd Layer Cake

foodytwoshoes — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 20:41:51 +0000

I love lemons. There is very little that I cook that doesn’t get a dash of lemon thrown in. Therefore, it’s no surprise that this cake is one of my firm favourites – it’s lemony through and through. Most people that have come by our house have had it dished out to them at one point or another – some even go as far as to request it. The recipe is from Delia Smith’s Winter Collection. Despite the name of the recipe book, this cake always makes me think of spring and summer. I made it again recently (when the spring flowers were still in bloom, as you’ll notice in the photos ;) and it was as yummy as ever.

175g plain flour
1 heaped teaspoon baking powder
175g butter at room temperature
175g caster sugar
3 large eggs
Grated rind of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon lemon juice

For the lemon curd
75g caster sugar
Grated zest and juice of 1 large lemon
2 large eggs
50g unsalted butter

For the icing
50g sifted icing sugar
Zest of 1 large lemon
2-3 teaspoons lemon juice

Grease and line the bases of two (18cm) sandwich tins, greasing the paper too. Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 3/170° C/325° F.

Measure all the cake ingredients into a mixing bowl and beat until you have a smooth, creamy consistency. Divide the mixture evenly between the two tins and bake them on the centre shelf of the oven for about 35 minutes or until the centre feels spongy.

While the cakes are baking, make the lemon curd. Place the sugar and grated lemon rind in a heat-proof bowl, whisk the lemon juice together with the eggs, then pour this over the sugar. Add the butter, cut into little pieces, and place the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water. Stir frequently until thickened – about 20 minutes.

When the cakes are cooked, remove them from the oven and after about 30 seconds turn them out onto a wire rack. When they are absolutely cold carefully cut each one horizontally into two, using a sharp serrated knife. Then spread the curd thickly to sandwich the layers together.

To make the icing, begin by removing the zest from the lemon – it’s best to use a zester to get long, curly strips. Sift the icing sugar into a bowl and gradually stir in the lemon juice until you have a soft, runny consistency. Allow the icing to stand for 5 minutes before spreading it on top of the cake with a knife. Then scatter the lemon zest over the top and leave it for half an hour for the icing to firm before serving.

Rhubarb Squares

foodytwoshoes — Mon, 16 May 2011 19:15:24 +0000

I love rhubarb and feel like doing a little happy dance every year when it comes into season. Just as the small amount of rhubarb that grows in our garden was starting to call out to me “pick me, pick me”, I came across a very nice looking recipe on the White on Rice Couple’s blog. So, I thought I’d give it a go – although I was a little cheeky and altered the recipe here and there. My result is also a little different due to the shape of the dish I baked mine in. Therefore, I felt it more appropriate to name it Squares as opposed to Bars. Also, I had a little rhubarb left over, so I made a compote to go along with the Squares.

My little helper joined me for this baking project. As always, she was very excited about this and it was a nice Sunday afternoon activity to do together – it has to be said though, it wasn’t without its power struggles. Then again, nothing new there :)

For the Streusel
1/2 cup (115g) butter, melted (plus a little extra for greasing the baking tray)
3/4 cup (160g) light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon (2g) sea salt
1 1/4 cup (160g) all-purpose flour

For the Squares
1 lb (450g) rhubarb, cut into 1 cm pieces
1 1/2 tablespoon (15g) light brown Sugar
1 1/3 cup (200g) all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon (3g) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon (3g) sea salt
3/4 cup (170g) butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cup (140g) icing sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
3/4 teaspoon (3ml) pure vanilla extract or seeds from 1 vanilla pod

Icing sugar for dusting the top

Preheat oven to 170° C/350° F. Line a medium sized baking tray or dish with greaseproof paper, leaving an overhang on the sides. Butter and flour the lined pan/dish, tapping out excess flour.

The Streusel: Whisk together butter, brown sugar, and salt. Add flour and mix together using a fork or your fingers to create large crumbs. Refrigerate until ready to use.

The Cake: In a medium bowl, combine rhubarb, brown sugar, and 1/3 cup (50g) of flour. Sift or whisk together remaining flour, baking powder, and salt, then set aside.

In a mixer, beat butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy. Slowly add eggs and vanilla. Stir in flour mix until just incorporated.

Spread batter in prepared pan, top with rhubarb mix then top with streusel topping.

Bake for 50-55 minutes or until golden and a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in pan, then remove from pan using the overhanging parchment tabs.

Cut into squares and dust with icing sugar. Serve with crème fraiche, whipped cream or ice cream.

The Compote: As mentioned above, I made a compote with the remaining rhubarb. It is nice to serve a small amount of this along with the squares and cream. To make the compote, I simply cut the rhubarb into bite-sized pieces and placed them in a saucepan with a splash of water, a splash of ginger wine (only because I had it – you could use more water), a good sprinkling of sugar and the empty pod from the cake recipe. Bring to the boil and simmer on a low heat for 15 minutes or until the rhubarb is soft. Leave to cool.