eG Foodblog: Anna N - Thirteen Steps to Dinner

[Anna N]

Anna, pics are beautiful. It's so good to see I'm not the only eG'er with a kitchen comfortably packed.   

Fettucini with EVOO, anchovies, garlic, red pepper, and Parmigiano was the first meal my now-husband ever cooked for me. He still does that one by request when I want a night off. 

And please, what is your special recipe for the Danish meatballs -- including ritual of course.

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I am at my daughter's house at the moment but let me see if I can give you the recipe and the ritual.

1/2 lb ground beef

1/2 lb ground pork

1 medium onion

2 teaspoons coarse salt

2 eggs

3 T flour

3 T breadcrumbs

1/2 t freshly ground pepper

35% cream -lots (at least 1/2 cup)

The ritual. Chop the onion very finely. Combine the meats, the onion and the salt and knead together with your hands until very well mixed. Rest -both you and the mixture for about an hour - the meat should go in the fridge but you don't have to.

After an hour add the eggs, flour, bread crumbs, pepper and at least 1/2 cup of cream. Beat this mixture for a long time until it is light in colour and quite sloppy. You might need to add more cream or if you are scared of cream then some good beef broth can be used for part of the liquid.

Rest as before for at least an hour.

Take a small scoop of the mixture and saute it in butter and oil so you can check the seasoning - often it will need more salt and pepper. Then, when you think you have it seasoned right for your taste, cook the rest as below.

Wet your hands and scoop up about 1/3 cup of the mixture - it should be sloppy and just able to hold its shape. Shape it into "eggs". Heat some butter and a bit of oil in a large saute pan until the butter just barely starts to color. Add the "eggs" without crowding the pan and saute, turning as they brown until done. They should be cooked right through so cut into one and make sure.

Serve hot or let cool completely and then slice and serve on open-face sandwiches. The texture is less like a meatball and much more like a pate.

Tomorrow I will post photos of the finished dish.

[Smithy]

Susan - the closed sandwich is a man thing - he used to work in the white-collar world and took |"proper" open-faced sandwiches for lunch but in a machine shop it seems men have to be "mannish"?  An open-faced sandwich might just signal something??? Who knows what.  Anyway, it's closed sandwiches at work and open ones at home.  And at home, rarely white bread.

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Well, who wants metal shavings sticking to the sandwich filling? At least, with a closed sandwich, he can brush it off the outside of the bread!

When I looked at that pasta dish you whipped up for lunch, I realized what the next foodblog enhancement will HAVE to be: we absolutely MUST work out a way to get the smells into these blogs! That looked beautiful, and I'll bet it tasted even better.

[suzilightning]

anna-

i have the recipe from johnnybird's g-grandmother on his grandfather's side who was from south of copenhagen. she did most of what you did with your recipe but she simmered her meatballs in beef broth then thickened it with a flour mixture.

are there regional differences? (my heritage is french/croatian/west indian/long island - ask me about cevapici or boiled tongue - not meatballs )

john's grandma also did a cucumber salad with onion and parsley with a dressing of oil/vinegar/sugar/salt. would this be something she brought from germany? my mother-in-law also loves "herrings in sauce". have no idea what the could be - any suggestions? i am 3+ generations removed from the danish influence(course since her mil called grandma the "tight dutchman" - and she was from germany )i'm sure i'm even further removed

actually love your space - it is organized, something i work on every day and i do covet your oven

good cooking

[tanabutler]

Anna, I am glad to see you blogging. I've always liked seeing your dinners, etc.

This is a great contribution. I like your kitchen. Mine is about the same size, but alas, there is a wall between me and the L-shaped living room. My life is spent craning my neck to see TV if it's on. (I usually cook for a gang during football season, including Monday nights.)

[Monica Bhide]

Anna - somehow I missed seeing this till just now. great stuff. Looking forward to reading more

[RSincere]

Anna, do the meatballs stay together pretty well or do you have to be really careful? And you said the shape of an egg--the size of an egg too?

They sound good!

[snowangel]

Thanks for blogging, AnnaN! I have a busy day tomorrow, and was at a loss for what to cook for dinner until I saw what you had for lunch.

My kitchen looks almost identical to yours, except our sinks and stoves are reversed. I also have a few tall (fine for me!) cupboards above the peninsula. I also have a deep pantry with shelves on a wall nearby. But, I need to do some retrofitting with sliders because the pantry is so deep I can't get to the stuff behind it, even with my very long arms!

Meatballs. I may have missed this, but do you serve them with a sauce?

[Anna N]

anna-

i have the recipe from johnnybird's g-grandmother on his grandfather's side who was from south of copenhagen.  she  did most of what you did with your recipe but she simmered her meatballs in beef broth then thickened it with a flour mixture.

are there regional differences?  (my heritage is french/croatian/west indian/long island - ask me about cevapici or boiled tongue - not meatballs )

john's grandma also did a cucumber salad with onion and parsley with a dressing of oil/vinegar/sugar/salt.  would this be something she brought from germany?  my mother-in-law also loves "herrings in sauce". have no idea what the could be - any suggestions?  i am 3+ generations removed from the danish influence(course since her mil called grandma the "tight dutchman"  - and she was from germany )i'm sure i'm even further removed

actually love your space  - it is organized, something i work on every day and i do covet your oven

good cooking

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There are likely as many variations on Frikadeller as there are Danes! Lots of recipes I have seen call for soda water rather than cream or just beef broth. I have tried a couple of other variations and tried adding other ingredients to mine but as soon as I mess with the recipe or the ritual you can bet somebody will complain!

The only herring dishes I am familiar with are pickled in some way. I have had them in a mustard sauce, a curry sauce, a sour cream sauce, and a few other variations but like the meatballs, when it comes down to it, we always come back to the ones in wine sauce. These are bought ready to serve in jars. I have never made my own - but then I have never seen herring for sale in this country.

I am not sure where the cucumber salad you mention might have originated. I know the one I use seems fairly common in Danish/Scandinavian cookbooks written in English. It closely approximates ones I have in restaurants in Denmark.

My oven is only one step above builder-grade but a million miles away from the Harvest Gold one we had in the apartment which would fail at the most inopportune times. This one is self-cleaning and while I am not that impressed with the self-cleaning feature, I love the heavy insulation required - it doesn't heat up the kitchen in summer.

[Anna N]

So here are the finished meaballs. I made double what I thought we would need for dinner and these were cooked in the late afternoon and were meant for leftovers. Ha ha - my daughter absconded with more than half of them.

And the red cabbage - leftovers? Ask my daughter!

The plating leaves something to be desired but I knew the kids had to eat and run so I plated quickly and didn't take the time to do it well. No one complained though.

And here they are wolfing it all down.

I have to work today and my daughter has offered to run me to a grocery store so I won't have a whole day to play in my kitchen but I promise more as I get my day organized.

[spaghetttti]

Delectable blog, Anna. I love the looks of the beautifully carved cucumbers, you have inspired me.

I'm guessing that the long beating time for the frikadellers insures the pate-like texture, is that correct? I know you don't like to mess with recipes or rituals for these, but I wonder if using all-beef would produce the same results. Have you ever tried it?

[Anna N]

Delectable blog, Anna.  I love the looks of the beautifully carved cucumbers, you have inspired me.

I'm guessing that the long beating time for the frikadellers insures the pate-like texture, is that correct?  I know you don't like to mess with recipes or rituals for these, but I wonder if using  all-beef would produce the same results.  Have you ever tried it?

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Yes, the beating time breaks up the meat and I have tried it with just beef and it's not as good - the texture is wrong but so is the taste. I suspect it's the proportion of fat in the pork that makes a huge difference. And somehow the hand beating with a hefty wooden spoon does a better job than the KitchenAid - I cheated yesterday and I could notice the difference but not enough to exhaust myself! I used to make The Dane do the beating

Here's lunch for him and breakfast for me - just the sandwich - the sliced meat is an attempt to show you the texture of the cold meatball but it does not show up too well using flash and it's still very dark outside so this will have to suffice.

[chile_peppa]

Hi, Anna,

I'm enjoying your blog!

The Biker Dude also needs a manly lunch to take to his construction jobs, and I'm alway looking for something different. The frikadeller sandwich would be a good alternative to the liverwurst he's been getting lately. I never would have thought of adding cucumber salad to a sandwich, but it looks mighty tasty!

[Anna N]

Hi, Anna,

I'm enjoying your blog!

The Biker Dude also needs a manly lunch to take to his construction jobs, and I'm alway looking for something different. The frikadeller sandwich would be a good alternative to the liverwurst he's been getting lately. I never would have thought of adding cucumber salad to a sandwich, but it looks mighty tasty!

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Remember to drain the salad VERY thoroughly else The Biker Dude will end up with a very soggy sandwich.

[Anna N]

The best laid plans...........

I had expected to go grocery shopping at 9:00 this morning but at that time I got a call to say it would be delayed until 11.00 - ouch! This has put me back somewhat on my plans but I will see what can be done to recover - first a nap! The real advantage of working from home.

While waiting for some groceries, I put together tonight's dessert. It's just a simple butterscotch pudding (at least the one in the ramekin is!) the others I kicked up a notch with a few glugs of rum. The ramekin will be for the youngster and the others for the adults. I will put a smidge of whipped cream on each just before I serve them - maybe...

Lunch was this stuffed acorn squash. The stuffing is reconstituted dried porcini and shiitake mushrooms, onion, dried cranberries and dried cherries, sage and bread crumbs. It was so good and I was so hungry that I now have a burned tongue.

I like to experiment at lunch with things I know The Dane will not even consider and so the acorn squash. I have eaten it before but only with butter and brown sugar. This was a revelation. I saw a recipe and adapted it to what I had on hand - hence the combination of dried cherries and dried cranberries and the dried mushrooms - don't know what the original would have tasted like but this was delicious.

After a nap I really have to move because I am taking dinner to my daughter's tonight as they are awaiting the delivery of a new 'fridge. I frequently take dinner over there or take the ingredients and finish it over there.

But now - zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[ruthcooks]

Hello Anna...I read every food blog "cover to cover" and this one is my kind of food.

Do your glazed potatoes have sugar on them? I have a recipe for Danish Glazed Potatoes in which you caramelize sugar in butter, add water to make a thin glaze, pour over boiled potatoes and bake at 400 degrees for about half an hour. Delightful. Also love my frikadeller (soda water added) and all versions of cucumber salad.

As for herring in wine, I prefer sour cream but don't like the too-sweet canned version. So what I do is buy herring in wine, drain it and mix in my own sour cream. Over shredded lettuce, a great low carb snack or lunch.

Your kitchen looks very workable. A small U-shaped kitchen was the most efficient I've ever cooked in, and the worst was 21 x 24. Don't know about those stairs, though.

[Anna N]

Hello Anna...I read every food blog "cover to cover" and this one is my kind of food.

Do your glazed potatoes have sugar on them?  I have a recipe for Danish Glazed Potatoes in which you caramelize sugar in butter, add water to make a thin glaze, pour over boiled potatoes and bake at 400 degrees for about half an hour.  Delightful.  Also love my frikadeller (soda water added) and all versions of cucumber salad. 

As for herring in wine, I prefer sour cream but don't like the too-sweet canned version.  So what I do is buy herring in wine, drain it and mix in my own sour cream.  Over shredded lettuce, a great low carb snack or lunch.

Your kitchen looks very workable.  A small U-shaped kitchen was the most efficient I've ever cooked in, and the worst was 21 x 24.  Don't know about those stairs, though.

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Yes, the potatoes were first steamed in their jackets then peeled and then sauteed in a sugar/butter mixture. Surprisingly they work really well. I remember being horrified at first at the idea of sugar and potatoes but the taste is not nearly as sweet as I expected.

I like the method you mention of baking the potatoes with a glaze and will certainly have to give that a try.

Just have to herring in wine sauce - it's more a comfort food - a reminder of my first intro to Danish food!

I am happy in my small kitchen (though I gather from other replies that I sound as if I am whining) - not at all - with a pantry upstairs it would be perfect! I find I am lost in a larger kitchen.

[Anna N]

Well I am nothing if not adaptable! The plan was to get dinner mostly ready and finish at my daughter's house while we awaited the delivery of her new 'fridge. But at 2:45 I got a frantic call saying that the 'fridge would be delivered within a half hour and could I drop everything and walk over to the school (in the rain) and collect Miss Jessica from kindergarten! So, with cauliflower all over my cutting board, veggies ready to go into the oven and half of my groceries not yet stashed, I headed to the school to collect the youngster. Dinner at my daughter's was now an impossibility. Every available surface in her kitchen (including that darned glass-top stove) was piled high with the food from the old 'fridge. So I headed home and re-arranged my tiny dining area to accommodate five people! I refused to drag up a leaf for the table from the basement and set up a buffet on the bar with the warmer tray I bought at a garage sale (thank you Suzanne in FL for that suggestion!).

Pan-fried tilapia fillets on a bed of blanched snow peas:

Roasted baby potatoes and carrots:

A cauliflower casserole:

and of course the rum-butterscotch pudding which went without its whipped cream garnish.

There were almost no leftovers. Even Miss Jessica ate all of her tilapia and deigned to eat ONE snow pea!

Edited October 21, 2004 by Anna N (log)

[jogoode]

Great Blog, Anna N!

You cook a lot like I do, but from the pictures I'd guess your cooking is more successful than mine . Very pretty meatballs.

[patti]

Yum, your dinner looks delicious! Is there anything more gorgeous than well roasted potatoes? And the tilapia and the cauliflower casserole? It all looks good.

I'm enjoying your blog very much. Thanks for the effort.

[bleudauvergne]

Dear Anna,

I like your plates. A few months ago I also invested in a square plate service with square bowls.

I was talking to a friend from Scandanavia (she is swedish) and she mentioned that the potato is extremely important in scandanavian food culture. She said that people where she's from go to great lengths to get certain kinds of potatoes, especially the different varieties of new potatoes.

Your new potatoes and carrots look very good.

[TheFoodTutor]

Anna, I love your blog and am most compelled by your meatballs to try some of my own. The leftover Frikadeller sandwiches look like the absolute bomb with the cucumber salad, as that would be similar to meatloaf sandwiches with pickles, only better. I have a feeling that my linehog would be thrilled to death to come home to that after a night in the restaurant kitchen, so I'm going to try to surprise him soon.

All of your other food looks great as well, but your name prompts my brain to repeat the song by They Might Be Giants, Ana Ng.

Ana Ng and I are gettin' old and we still haven't walked in the glow of each other's majestic presence.

Listen, Ana, hear my words. They're the ones you would think I would say if there was a me for you.

It's a good song, and a great blog. Have fun!

[Anna N]

Great Blog, Anna N!

You cook a lot like I do, but from the pictures I'd guess your cooking is more successful than mine . Very pretty meatballs.

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I have disasters just like most people - just not yet in this blog! But wait - there's still time..................

[Anna N]

Yum, your dinner looks delicious! Is there anything more gorgeous than well roasted potatoes? And the tilapia and the cauliflower casserole? It all looks good.

I'm enjoying your blog very much. Thanks for the effort.

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Thank you! On the whole it is a great experience but the pressure - oh the pressure! Remembering to grab the camera just prior to serving; yelling at people who put their drink down in the one spot I have set aside to take the photo; yelling louder when they dig in before I even have a photo. Could be my only friends left at the end of this will be egulleteers.

[Anna N]

Dear Anna,

I like your plates.  A few months ago I also invested in a square plate service with square bowls. 

I was talking to a friend from Scandanavia (she is swedish) and she mentioned that the potato is extremely important in scandanavian food culture.  She said that people where she's from go to great lengths to get certain kinds of potatoes, especially the different varieties of new potatoes. 

Your new potatoes and carrots look very good. 

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I ate the most incredible potatoes in Denmark. They were simply steamed but I swear they were grown in a vat of butter. They were almost the colour of butter and I could have eaten just potatoes for the whole meal.

[Anna N]

Anna, I love your blog and am most compelled by your meatballs to try some of my own. The leftover Frikadeller sandwiches look like the absolute bomb with the cucumber salad, as that would be similar to meatloaf sandwiches with pickles, only better. I have a feeling that my linehog would be thrilled to death to come home to that after a night in the restaurant kitchen, so I'm going to try to surprise him soon.

All of your other food looks great as well, but your name prompts my brain to repeat the song by They Might Be Giants, Ana Ng.

Ana Ng and I are gettin' old and we still haven't walked in the glow of each other's majestic presence.

Listen, Ana, hear my words. They're the ones you would think I would say if there was a me for you.

It's a good song, and a great blog. Have fun!

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Thank you! I am not familiar with the song but it does sound great!