Oven cooked Rhubarb or Rhubarb compote

I just LOVE rhubarb and it's one of the things that I look forward to the most when spring is here.

As I moved into my house here in Bayern last year it was therefor a huge surprise to find rhubarb growing in my garden along with many other fruit bushes.
I have eaten many really nice rhubarb cakes and tarts as a child but I needed a way to quickly cook my fast growing rhubarb that would suit the family(we love any jam with Greek yogurt on bread)...and nothing to complicated or time-consuming.
I like my rhubarb to stay in shape but to be slightly soft and sweet(but not over-sweet).
If you find that I add to little sugar or that the rhubarb should be cooked more then you can just add more sugar and extend the cooking time by 5-10 minutes.

Ingredients;

• 500 g Rhubarb cut into 1-2 cm chuncks
• 150-200 g sugar

Method;

First of all pre-heat the oven to 180ᵒC/360ᵒF

Cut the rhubarb, wash them well and spread them out in an ovenproof tray, that will be easy to cover with silver foil. 

Then cover the rhubarb with the sugar and gently shake to ensure that the sugar coats the rhubarb chunks all the way to the bottom of the tray.

Simply cover the tray with silver foil and place in the hot oven for about 35 minutes.

After removing the rhubarb from the oven you must leave the fruit to cool down whit the silver foil covering the tray.

Once the rhubarb is cold please pour into a clean container and keep in the fridge. 

I find that it stays fresh in a normal container for up to 2 weeks.

♥Pomegranate salad with Chicken and Almonds♥

This is my favourite winter salad!

I first experienced Pomegranates in California and this recipe was one that I found in my local US supermarket.
This salad is both colourful and tasty and has become a re-occurring family winter treat.

2 Pomegranates

½ cup golden raisins

1 pound cooked chicken breast, cut into 1” chunks

(I choose to fry the chicken in a bit of extra curry powder)

1/3 cup toasted sliced almonds

1 chopped apple

½ cup chopped or thinly sliced celery

1 tablespoon chopped Italian parsley

¼ cup chopped green onions/spring onions

¼ to ½ teaspoon curry powder (optional)

1/3 cup olive oil

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

In a large mixing bowl combine 

the pomegranate seeds, raisins, chicken, almonds, apple,

celery, parsley, onion and curry powder.

In a small bowl combine

By whisking combine the olive oil with the balsamic vinegar.

Pour the vinegar/oil into the chicken mixture and mix well.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

(Refrigerate until serving)

"Klassens-time-kage" med kærnemælk(Chocolate cake with buttermilk)

This is a traditional danish cake from my childhood in Denmark. 

"Klassens time" was, and may still be, a lesson in school where someone in our class would bring a cake...every week...and then we talked about everything but homework.

The original version is baked with normal milk but I have tested it with buttermilk & extra chocolate and it was really delicious! 

Her i vores familie er det faktisk kun min datter som er vild med chokolade og chokoladekage, så det er lidt af en opgave når der skal bages til hendes fødselsdag.

Derfor trak jeg denne klassiker fra min opvækst i Danmark frem og afprøvede den med kærnemælk & extra chokolade, som jeg havde set det forslået på internettet og det var en STOR succes for os alle herhjemme og i den tyske skole!

Ingredients:

• 250 g soft butter/blødt smør
• 350 g sugar/sukker
• 4 eggs/æg
• 500 g flour/mel
• 4 ½ tsp/tsk baking powder/bagepulver
• 1 dl cacao/kakao
• 3 tsp/tsk vanilla-sugar/vanillesukker
• 3 dl buttermilk/kærnemælk
• 100 g dark chocolate/mørk chokolade

English

Mix butter and sugar well.
Add the eggs one at a time.
Combine the remaining of the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and stir into the mixture intertwined with the buttermilk.
Chop the dark chocolate and fold into the cake-mix ones it is smooth.

Poor the mixture into a baking utensil(25x30cm) lined with baking paper and bake the cake in the lower part of the oven.
Baking time: 60 minutes @ 170ᵒC/340ᵒF 

Dansk

Rør smør og sukker godt sammen.
Tilsæt æggene et ad gangen, og rør dejen godt ind imellem.
Bland de øvrige tørre ingredienser sammen og rør dem i dejen skiftevis med kærnemælken. 
Hak chokoladen og vend det i dejen.

Hæld dejen i en lille bradepande belagt med bagepapir(25x30cm), og bag kagen nederst i ovnen. 

Bagetid: 60 minutter ved 170ᵒC

Irish coffee

Having moved back to a colder climate after 13 years in semi-warm to hot climates I find that the treats I enjoyed during my youth in Denmark are slowly returning to my life.

One of these is the "Irish Coffee"...the Danish way...it must be served with whipped cream, NOT runny!




Ingredients:

3-4 cl Whiskey(Tullamore Dew)
2 tsp brown sugar.
2 espressos(or normal strong coffee)
1 dl whipped cream.

• Heat up your glass with hot water.
• Empty the glass of hot water and poor in the Whiskey.
• Add the sugar and fill the glass with coffee until it is 3/4 full.
• Stir with a long spoon to ensure that the sugar is melted.
• Then lay the whisked cream on top of the coffee/whiskey and enjoy the drink through a straw. 

Crunchy Gingerbread cookies.

These cookies tastes great and I love to take them along as a treat on the go in December as they are easy to eat with or without gloves.


 Ingredients:


500 g(2 Cups) flour
2 tsp  natron (bicarbonate of soda)
180 g(6.4 oz) sugar
1 tbsp ground ginger
3 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
Juice from 1 lemon
250 g (8.82 oz) syrup
150 g(5.3 oz) soft butter

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. 
Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. 
Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead the dough well(if it is sticky then you may have to add extra flour)
Wrap the dough in clingfilm and place it in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours.

When you are ready to bake the cookies simply preheat your oven to 200°C (390°F), and roll the dough out on a lightly floured work surface to about ½ cm (¼ inch) thickness.
Stick out your cookies and place them on your lined baking sheet.
Bake them for around 10 minutes or until golden brown.

If you wish to hang your cookies later, then you will have to make a hole in the cookies as soon as they are out of the oven.

A gingerbread cookie makes a great decoration hanging on a bottle of wine or as an ornament on the Christmas tree as below.

Tasty curry chicken soup...with Port.

It's the cold season and here in Bayern we are truly enjoying the snowflakes and the fact that we soon will be off speeding down the alpine slopes in the alps.

And this is just the kind of soup that I could imagine enjoying after such a day on the slopes.

But it is unfortunately also the season for colds and husbands who bring home the common cold from the odd business-trips...so what better than to make chicken soup!

This was my first attempt and it was just SO delicious. Even the children where loving it.

1 Chicken, around 1 1/2 kg(3,33 lb)

2 Onions

2 sticks of celery

2 carrots

1 1/4 l (around 4 Cups) of water or chicken-stock

10 peppercorn

1 bay-leaf

15 g (0.53oz) butter

1 tbsp flour

1 tsp curry powder

1 dl (1/2 Cup) cooking cream

Grated nutmeg

2 tbsp Port wine 

Salt and pepper

Parsley

If you have a whole chicken then cut it into at least two halves.

Thereafter place the chicken pieces in your cooking pot along with the stock, onions (cut into quarters), celery and carrots(cut once lengthwise)

Add the peppercorn and bay-leaf and boil the chicken covered until tender for 40-45 minutes.

Remove the chicken from the pot and separate the meat from the skin and bones and cut the meat into smaller pieces.

Poor the soup through a sieve and keep the vegetables for later.

Melt the butter in the now empty pot. 
Add the curry powder and allow it to sweat for a short moment. 

Add the flour while stirring. 

Once the flour and curry-butter has melted together add the chicken-stock slowly while whisking. 

Allow the soup to boil for a few minutes.

Cut the boiled carrots and celery and add these and the chicken pieces to the soup.

Poor in the cream, port wine, nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste...I also like a pinch of sugar to bring out the flavors in the end.

Serve the soup with a little dust of extra curry powder and chopped parsley...and some nice toasted bread(we had garlic-bread just to help against the cold)

De bedste klatkager!

Jeg har igennem mine mange år som udenlandsdansker afprøvet et par forskellige opskrifter på klatkager og jeg har nu forelsket mig i denne opskrift, som jeg har fundet paa nettet.

Ingredienser;

• 5 dl risengrød
• 2 spsk sukker
• Lidt vanillesukker
• 60 g mel
• 2 æg
• Margarine til stegning

Fremgangsmåde;

Start med at forvarme panden. Klatterne skal nemlig steges med det samme da blandingen/dejen hurtigt bliver flydende.

Bland risengrød, sukker, vanillesukker, mel  og æggene sammen til en ensartet masse. 

Sæt klatterne på panden med en spiseske og steg ved svag til medium varme. 

Ø Steg klatterne i 3-4 minutter på hver side i margarinen.

Klatterne serveres varme med jordbærsyltetøj.