Denmark

I chose Denmark because this article ranked it as the "happiest" country in the world.
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/05/24/the-10-happiest-countries-in-the-world/#photo-1?a_dgi=aolshare_facebook

Israel ranked 6th. Not bad. 
This week our friends Zina and Ron from Boston visited. Also 4 girls (1 from England and 3 from the US) stayed with us.

Jewish Life and History

For Jews, throughout history, life in Denmark has been good. There are many famous stories of the Danes and how they protected the Jews when Denmark was occupied by the Nazis. 
Today there are less than 7000 Jews in Denmark and most live in Copenhagen.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Denmark.html
http://www.jewishgen.org/scandinavia/history.htm

Food

Roasted Summer Soup

Egg Dumplings: AEggboller

Roasted Chicken

Potatoes: Kartofflor

Friday Night Dinner

Prepared for 15.

Roasted Sumer Soup  

I am not sure this is really a typical Danish soup or just prepared by someone while in Denmark. 
Since some of our guests were vegetarians, I wanted to prepare a soup they could eat. 
This was a great choice. Easy to make, easy to find ingredients, and very good.
 Initially I sensed a little hesitation from my boys when I passed them their bowls. After one or two spoonfuls they started saying how good the soup tasted. They asked for seconds. 
I served the soup with dumplings. The dumpling recipe is after the soup recipe.


original recipe: http://sheisred.com/2011/08/15/roasted-summer-soup/

My  Soup Recipe

Ingredients

• 6 tomatoes, sliced into wedges
• 6 red peppers, sliced into wedges
• 2 onions, sliced
• olive oil
• fresh oregano
• 3 cups vegetable broth prepared from various vegetables. I used leek, carrots, onion, garlic,basil, bay leaves, celery, and zucchini

Preparation 

1. Prepare broth ahead. Just put all vegetables in a pot with salt and pepper. Cover with water and bring to a boil. I let it simmer a couple of hours. Before using, remove the vegetables.
2. Bake tomatoes and peppers in 200 C oven until cooked (about 30 minutes).
3. Use food processor or blender, process tomatoes and peppers until almost smooth.
4. Saute onions in soup pot with a little olive oil until they are soft.
5. Add oregano, salt, and pepper.
6. Add tomatoes and peppers.
7. Cover with broth.
8. Simmer 15 minutes.

Serve soup with dumplings. 

Egg Dumplings- AEggeboller

These came out very flat, like a pancake. I followed this recipe and did not make any changes (except using margarine instead of butter). 

Here is the link to the recipe and the recipe itself
http://www.mindspring.com/~cborgnaes/pancake_frame.html

• 6 egg whites
• 4 egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• Salt
• ¼ cup butter

• Preparation 

1. Beat the egg whites until stiff.
2. Stir remaining ingredients, except for the butter, together. 
3. Mix well. 
4. Fold the beaten egg whites into the mixture. 
5. Shape dough into small dumplings and place in a baking dish. 
6. Melt butter and pour over dumplings.
7. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in a preheated 350º oven.

Roasted Chicken

When I searched for Danish recipes, I found several for roasted chicken. Since we have so much rosemary in our meshek and I like rosemary, I chose to roast the chickens with fresh rosemary.

Original recipes: http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/282/Danish-Roast-Chicken88577.shtml

http://www.yummly.com/recipe/Roast-Chicken-With-Rosemary-Allrecipes

My Roasted Chicken Recipe

Ingredients

• 3 chickens, cleaned and most of the fat removed
• 2 cups fresh rosemary
• paprika
• salt
• pepper
• 3 onions

Preparation 

1.  Clean chickens. I removed as much fat as possible.
2. Sprinkle each chicken with salt, pepper, and paprika.
3. Stuff each cavity with 3/4 cup rosemary and 1 onion (I used white onions).
4. Cook at 350 for about 2 hours.

Potatoes Kartofflor

The Danes must like their potatoes sweet. I made two types of potatoes. Both were sweet. 
If you like very sweet food, use the first recipe. I thought it was too sweet and they were still left over at the end of the week. The second recipe was also sweet, but much tastier.

original recipes: http://www.danishnet.com/info.php/food/caramelised-potatoes-273.html

http://www.food.com/recipe/kartofler-danish-style-potatoes-136227

My  Potato Recipe 1

Ingredients

• 300 grams small potatoes
• 250 gram margarine
• 2 cups sugar

Preparation 

1.  Boil pototoes until tender.
2. Let cool.
3. Melt margarine.
4. Add sugar.
5. Stir constantly until carmalized.
6. Add potatoes.
7. Mix

My  Potato Recipe 2

Ingredients

• 10 potatoes 
• 1 tbsp margerine
• 2 onion sliced
• 3  tbsp  vinegar
• 3 tb tbsp  sp sugar
• salt and pepper

Preparation 

1. Boil pototoes until tender.
2. Let cool.
3. Melt margarine.
4. Saute onion.
5. Add potatoes. 
6. Add sugar and vinegar.
7. Salt and pepper to taste.

Shabbat Lunch

Open Faced Sandwiches smørrebrød
Sweet and Sour Fish
Meatballs in Curry with Rice (Boiller i karry)

Prepared for 15.

Open Faced Sandwiches (smørrebrød)

These were fun to make. I prepared the potatoes, sweet and sour fish, and eggs before. I placed different combinations on the Danish bread (bought at the supermarket). I sliced everything thin and small. 
I looked at several recipes:

original recipes:
http://www.danishsandwich.com/2011/04/kartoffelmad-potato-food.html

http://www.alleasyrecipes.com/recipes/5/2/the_danish_way_with_sandwiches.asp

My Open Faced Sandwiches (smørrebrød)

Ingredients

• tomatoes, sliced
• potatoes, boiled and sliced thin
• hard boiled eggs
• smoked salmon
• cucumber, sliced
• red onions, sliced
• sweet and sour fish ( see recipe below)
• mayonnaise
• Danish bread

Here are some of the combinations I prepared

1. Tomato and mayonnaise
2. Potato, onion, and mayonnaise
3. Smoked fish, tomato, and cucumber
4. Sweet and sour fish and onion
5. Cook at 350 for about 2 hours

Boiller i karry (Meatballs in Curry with Rice)

I mixed up a few recipes and came up with this. I prepared the meatballs, then the sauce and stored them separately. I warmed everything together before lunch. I served this with rice.

original recipes:http://www.food.com/recipe/danish-meatballs-in-curry-sauce-boller-i-karry-423942

http://www.copenhagenet.dk/CPH-Map/CPH-Recipes-8-10-BollerKarry.asp

http://www.danishnet.com/info.php/food/meatballs-curry-sauce-335.html

My Boiller i karry Recipe

Ingredients for preparing meatballs

• Groundmeat, chicken, or turkey. I used 1 kilo meat and 1 kilo chicken.3 tomatoes, sliced
• 1 onion, chopped per kiloe
• 1/1 cup soy milk per kilo
• 1 egg per kilo
• 3 tbsp flour per kilo
• 2 gloves grated  garlic, per kilo
• salt and white pepper
• Chicken broth

Ingredients for preparing sauce

• 2 tbsp curry 
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 cup soy milk
• 4 cups broth

Preparation 

1. Mix meat with soy milk, garlic, chopped onion, salt, and white pepper.
2. Refrigerate for 1/2 hour.
3. Prepare a chicken or meat broth. I just took the left over fat and necks from the chicken and added salt and paprika.
4. Form meatballs from the meats.
5. Bring broth to a boil and boil meatballs about 5 to 10 minutes.
6. Separately mix all sauce ingredients and store until ready to use. The sauce should be fairly thick but enough so it is not solid. 

Sweet and Sour Fish (Stegte Fisk i Eddike)

I used this fish as one of the smørrebrød ingredients. Since I had plenty, I served it for Kiddish as well. 

original recipes:

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/sweet_and_sour_fish_stegte_fisk_i_eddike.html

My Sweet and Sour Fish  Recipe

Ingredients

• 6 pieces white fish such as talapia
• four for coating
• oil for frying
• 2 onions sliced
• 3/4 cup vinegar
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 4 tbsp sugar
• 8 pepper corns
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/4 cup water

Preparation 

1. Coat fish in flour and fry until cooked in oil.
2. In sauce pan, heat the other ingredients.
3. Place fish in a pan and pour the liquid over it.
4. Refrigerate. ( I prepared this on Thursday night and served it Saturday for lunch.)
5. Remove the fish from the liquid when you serve.

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