All About Food

Swedish Pancakes paired with unlikely partners

If you're Swedish, look away. Really, just close this window, because I've done something of which I'm sure you won't approve. But, if you come with an open mind and a sense of adventure, then, please, read on. I love having you stop by for a visit. And, you'll be leaving with a recipe for the most wonderful Swedish pancakes in the world.

If you've been reading my weekly newspaper column and my blog for a while, you know I've got lots of Hungarian blood running through my veins. And, since my mom was 100% Hungarian, I grew up eating and learning to prepare lots of delicious Hungarian dishes. When my friend, Cathy, invited us over to her house many years ago for some of her Swedish pancakes, she was confident we would love them at least as much as Hungarian palacsinta. I was not so sure of that.

On the day I was introduced to Swedish pancakes, Cathy's kitchen smelled sweet, as if vanilla cupcakes were baking in the oven. But, there was an underlying aroma of eggs frying in a pan. The fragrance reminded me of the thin pancakes my German father-in-law would always make when we stopped by for breakfast.

Cathy rolled each thin, fluffy Swedish pancake right in the pan and lined a large plate with the soft, golden breakfast cakes. When we make the pancakes, we cook both sides, then fold each pancake into quarters, creating triangles.

As any Swede will tell you, these thin pancakes, rich with eggs and butter, are best served with lingonberry preserves. I'm pretty sure that's what Cathy had on the table, along with some syrup, if I remember right.

My friend's Swedish breakfast treat had won my heart. I left Cathy's house that day with her recipe for Swedish pancakes tucked safely in my purse.

Every once in a while, when we feel like splurging on breakfast, we make these pancakes. And this time, we really got extravagant. I had some Honey-Roasted Pears in the refrigerator. The recipe for those pears is in my column this week. They are quite delicious with a knob of goat cheese and walnuts. But, wow, they are so right when they are nestled up to warm Swedish pancakes. Drizzled with a ribbon of sweet and tart 18 year aged balsamic vinegar.

Almost as thick as syrup, the balsamic vinegar that I used comes from a relatively new specialty shop in Minneapolis. Vinaigrette, at 50th & Xerxes, is one of those trendy new stores selling imported balsamic vinegars and olive oils, all held in stainless steel containers, ready to be tasted. I used the fig balsamic vinegar from Vinaigrette when I made the Honey-Roasted Pears. I bought some of the orange infused olive oil (oranges crushed with olives to make this olive oil) to mix with the fig balsamic vinegar for drizzling over a salad of fresh greens. And, the 18 year aged balsamic was drizzled over my Swedish pancakes for breakfast.

I know some Swedes would say honey-roasted pears and balsamic vinegar on Swedish pancakes is downright sacrilegious. But, once they tried it, they'd discover their lovely pancakes become divine with these unlikely partners.

Oh, what an enchanting Valentine's Day breakfast this would be.

Cathy's Swedish Pancakes

Mix ingredients in order given. Heat 10- to 12-inch shallow non-stick pan over medium heat. Pour just enough batter into the pan to create a thin pancake. Swirl pan to spread the batter evenly. When there is no trace of liquid, begin at one side and roll the pancake. Transfer to plate. Mix the pancake batter between each pouring, as the butter tends to separate.

P.S. When we make Cathy's Swedish Pancakes, we cook both sides of each pancake before transferring to a plate. We like the golden specks of color on both sides of the pancake.

Posted by: sdoeden on 2/07/2010 at 12:01 AM | Comments (1) | Permalink

Tags: balsamic vinegar, breakfast, food, honey-roasted pears, pancakes, swedish pancakes, valentines day breakfast

Quick -- You've Still Got Time to Make Super Bowl Sausage

Sorry -- no picture. But really, there's not much to this sausage snack. It is so easy to make, takes little time, but delivers satisfying flavor that goes great with beer. And a good Super Bowl game.

I'll confess, I tune into the game mostly for the commercials. This year we'll be gathering at the home of some friends with a group of football-loving, food-relishing, alcohol-drinking (in moderation, of course) friends. We'll all contribute food and beverages and as we nibble and nosh, we'll catch some of the game and all of the commercials.

I prepared this hardy sausage on my Lakeland Public Television food segment that runs every Wednesday on the 10:00 news. Before I could snap a picture, Tom, the cameraman whisked the dish out to his car to take back to the station to share with his co-workers.

I'll give you the recipe. You still have time to run to the store to get some Kielbasa (Polish sausage, fully cooked, smoked, traditionally pork, but today in the stores you'll find turky kielbasa and a mix of beef and pork) before the pre-game show on Sunday. You can watch me make the Super Bowl Sausage at the Lakeland PTV website. Click here to go right to the video.

Just slice, simmer, stir and savor. This is a winner.

May your favorite team win!

Super Bowl Sausage

Cut kielbasa into 1/2-inch thick slices. Place the kielbasa slices in a large skillet. Add wine. Bring to a boil over high heat. Allow to boil vigorously until liquid is almost evaporated. Remove skillet from heat. Add sugar and stir until you no longer see any of the sugar. Stir in mustard. Sausage slices will appear glazed. Serve immediately with toothpicks.

 

Posted by: sdoeden on 2/06/2010 at 4:28 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Tags: crock pot snack, easy appetizer, food, kielbasa, sausage and wine, slow cooker sausage, super bowl snack

Heavenly Brandied Apricot and Almond Pound Cake

 Usually, pound cake is a Spring thing for me. I make it each year around Easter and maybe again a little later when fresh, locally-grown strawberries are ready to pick. The sweet berries with their bright juice are a perfect companion for pound cake. But in the midst of my almond paste frenzy, my apricot brandy pound cake seemed like a logical place to try to add almond paste. So, I did. And I was right. Brandied Apricot-Almond Pound Cake is the result of a match made in heaven.

Remember the brandied apricot topping on those almond bars I posted last week? Well, here it is again, swirled like birthday ribbons through apricot brandy-spiked pound cake laced with almond paste. I made some adjustments to my original pound cake recipe. The resulting texture is not exactly that of my original pound cake, but it comes pretty close.

It's best to make the cake a day or two before serving. Seal it up tight and store it in a cool place. The flavors develop with such depth and the fragrance that wafts up through your nostrils when you open the cake is intoxicating.

On serving day, make the glaze and spoon it over the cake. It not only looks lovely, it tastes divine.

I actually divided the cake batter between 6 mini-heart-shaped cakes in a Wilton cake pan that I have. The remaining batter was baked in a small Bundt pan with an 8 or 9-cup capacity.

Did you notice the little apricot hearts? I used a rolling pin to make dried apricots a little thinner and used a tiny heart-shaped cookie cutter to create the sweet little edible decorations.

Another wonderful use for a can of almond paste. I've got a couple more ideas, though. My almond paste frenzy is still well-fueled. 

Brandied Apricot and Almond Pound Cake

Brandied Apricot Ribbon:

Pound Cake Batter:

 Apricot Brandy Glaze:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 12-cup tube or Bundt pan. Set aside.

Place apricots and 1/2 cup brandy in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring the brandy to a boil. Cover saucepan. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Measure apricot brandy, orange liqueur, rum flavoring, almond extract and vanilla into a small bowl. Into another bowl, sift flour with baking soda and salt. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and almond paste together until smooth. Add sugar gradually and beat until light and creamy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time. As one egg becomes incorporated into the batter, add the next egg. Add sour cream and blend. Add dry ingredients and liquid ingredients alternately in small amounts, beginning with the dry ingredients and ending with dry ingredients.

Puree cooled apricots and brandy in food processor until smooth.

In another mixing bowl, combine the apricot puree with 1 3/4 cups of the cake batter. Blend well.

Spoon apricot batter over the almond paste cake batter. Use a rubber spatula to fold the apricot mixture into the batter, just enough to marble. Do not over-mix.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and bake for an hour. Check cake with a wooden pick. If there is batter on the pick when you remove it from the cake, bake for another five mintues. Continue this process until cake tests done. Do not overbake the cake.

Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Invert the cake onto a rack to cool completely.

To make the glaze, sift 2 cups of powderd sugar into a mixing bowl. Whisk in brandy and 1 tablespoon milk until smooth. Add remaining tablespoon of milk or cream to make a thick glaze. Spoon glaze over the top of the cooled cake, letting it drip down the sides. Cake may be stored, covered, at room temperature for a few days or frozen for up to 1 month.

Makes 12 to 14 servings.

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted by: sdoeden on 2/03/2010 at 2:30 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Tags: almond paste, apricot glaze, brandied apricots, bundt cake, food, pound cake

Chocolate for the pasta bowl

More than 20 years ago, I used to take cooking classes from Andrea Halgrimson in Fargo. At that time, she was the librarian and food columnist at the daily newspaper in Fargo and had a reputation for her expert cooking skills. She'd have a small group of eager home cooks into her intimate condo kitchen. We'd give our full attention to Andrea as she prepared gourmet meals, teaching us her tips and techniques as she deftly created the most beautiful and delicious meals I'd ever eaten. I still have all the recipe handouts from those classes, with my notes written in the margins.

I remember one of the classes I attended in Andrea's kitchen focused on chocolate. One of the desserts was based on chocolate crepes, cut into strips to resemble fettuccine. She served the chocolate pasta in large balloon glasses. A sauce of dark chocolate was drizzled over the dessert and served with whipped cream.

I've made the Chocolate Fettuccine several times since that class, but never with a glass of champagne as Andrea did those many years ago. I was a young mother at the time, and that class was probably one of the most extragavant things I had ever experienced.

The chocolate crepes along with dark chocolate sauce can be used in many ways. The sauce can be used as an ice cream topping, of course. It's also good drizzled over cheesecake, pound cake, pecan pie or poached pears. The possibilities are endless.

The crepes don't have to be cut into strips to become a decadent dessert. I've come up with an almond filling to stuff into the thin disks of chocolate and then use raspberry and chocolate sauces to serve with the dessert crepes. You can see a picture of them and find the recipe in my column this week.  Click here to go right to the recipe for Almond-filled chocolate crepes.

If you like crepes, you may be interested in the recipes I posted for Hungarian-style crepes with ricotta filling. Just click here and here.

The good news: Anyway you serve chocolate crepes, they're chocolate. And that's a good thing. The bad news: Andrea no longer teaches cooking classes in Fargo, but you can sample some of her recipes in a column that she writes for The Forum.

Posted by: sdoeden on 1/31/2010 at 12:28 AM | Comments (3) | Permalink

Tags: chocolate, chocolate pasta, chocolate sauce, food, raspberry sauce, valentines day dessert

Amazing Brandied Apricot and Almond Shortbread Bars

I'm amazed at myself. It's not that I had purposely laid out a plan early in December to mix up more cookie dough than I could possibly have time to bake before Christmas just so that I would have extra dough to play with in January. No, I'm amazed that I remembered I had a wad of cookie dough in the freezer.

In November, when I was participating in a marathon Swedish Ginger Snaps baking day with three other women, I had the opportunity to taste a few kinds of holiday cookies that our hostess, Judy, had already baked up and was storing in her freezer. And this was the middle of November!

Judy shared recipes with me for Chocolate Caramel Thumbprint Cookies. I made those chocolatey two-bite morsels with the soft caramel filling and posted them on this blog. I've added that recipe to my line-up of cookies that I make every holiday season. You can click here if you'd like to go right to that recipe.

I was lucky to get Judy's recipe for Holiday Shortbread Logs. Both ends of chubby little logs of shortbread are dipped in a brandy-flavored glaze and then in chopped pecans. They were melt-in-the-mouth buttery delicious. I mixed up a batch of the dough, but..........never got around to making the logs.

That's the dough I just rememberd I had in the freezer. I decided to pat the thawed dough into a 9- x 13-inch baking dish and use it as a crust for some apricot topping. Simmering dried apricots in apricot brandy for a couple of minutes, softens the apricots and spikes them with a subtle punch of brandy flavor.

Maybe I've been living under a rock, but I did not know that Solo was selling almond paste in a can these days. Solo Almond Paste is available in just about every well-stocked supermarket. It's soft and moist with distinct yet mellow almond fragrance and flavor. And since I have a real love for the combination of apricot and almond, I had to include it in these bars. Into a struesel topping it went, along with butter, brown sugar, sliced almonds....all good things. I didn't use the whole 8-ounce can, but almond paste can be refrigerated for a week or so and also stores well in the freezer.

Once baked, the shortbread crust is rich and crunchy. The apricot filling is not too sweet so that you can still taste apricots. And the topping -- I'm already making plans to use it on an apple pie.

When Brandied Apricot and Almond Shortbread Bars are cut into dainty little triangles, they are well-suited for tea parties. I think they would be a pretty and tasty addition to a tray of Christmas cookies, too.

For any day, they are just amazing. It's handy having some of this shortbread dough in the freezer.

If you like this recipe, you might like to see my recipe for Buttery Shortbread.Click here to go to that post.

Brandied Apricot and Almond Shortbread Bars

Brandied Apricot Filling:

Almond Struesel:

Shortbread Crust:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

First, make Brandied Apricot Filling: Place dried apricots in a small heavy saucepan. Pour 1/2 cup apricot brandy over the apricots. Place over medium heat and bring to a boil. Boil, covered, for 2 minutes, until apricots are soft. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.

Puree cooked apricots with any brandy left in the pot in a blender or food processor. Slowly pour in remaining 1/2 cup apricot brandy and continue to puree until mixture is quite smooth. Set aside.

Make the Almond Struesel: Whisk flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt to blend in medium bowl. Add almond paste and butter. Rub in with fingertips until mixture begins to clump together. (It can also be mixed with a food processor.) Add almonds and work in with fingertips until well incorporated. Refrigerate until ready to use. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and keep refrigerated.)

Combine all ingredients for Shortbread Crust in a large mixing bowl. Beat at low speed, scraping bowl often, until ingredients are well mixed, about 3 to 4 minutes.

Line a 9- x 13-inch baking dish with parchment paper, allowing enough paper to come up over the sides of the dish. These will serve as handles to pull the cooled bars from the dish.

Bake the Shortbread Crust in preheated 350-degree oven for 20 minutes, or until the top is just starting to brown.

Remove dish from oven. Spread Brandied Apricot Filling evenly over the hot Shortbread Crust. Sprinkle Almond Struesel over the filling. Press the Filling slightly.

Return to oven and bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes. Cool bars completely in dish on wire rack.

Use the parchment paper to pull the cooled bars from the dish. It's much easier to cut them when they are on a cutting board rather than in the dish.

Cut 4 rows from short end to short end and 8 rows from side to side. Cut each square diagonally to make triangles.

 

 

 

 

Posted by: sdoeden on 1/27/2010 at 12:01 AM | Comments (4) | Permalink

Tags: almond paste, brandied apricot filling, food, shortbread