Bornholm, Denmark

Bornholm is a small Danish island located off the southern coast of Sweden. Called  “Solskins Øen” in Danish (the sunny island) Bornholm is a popular tourist spot for Danes, Germans, and Swedes. The island is accessible by ferry and plane, although since Cimber Airlines went bankrupt most people opt for the ferry. Find information about train and ferry travel here.

We caught the train from Copenhagen central station to Ystad, Sweden, about a five minute walk from the train is the ferry terminal. The whole trip takes about 3 hours, and it’s a beautiful journey through the southern Swedish countryside and then onto the ferry bound for Rønne, Bornholm. After docking in Rønne, most people travel to the smaller villages of Svaneke, Gudhjem, Allinge and Nexø.

In addition to beaches and bicycling, Bornholm is known for high quality seafood and smokehouses, called røgeri in Danish. Every village has at least one røgeri, which are easy to spot with their tall chimney’s and the smokehouse scent drifting through the air. The photos above are show the village of Allinge and Allinge Røgeri.

Ekkodalen or Echo Valley, is Denmark’s longest rift, stretching 12 kilometers from Vallensgård Mose to Salutana on the Northeast coast of Bornholm. Cows have grazed here since the royal edict of 1658, which gave peasants permission to use the land free of charge.

Stay tuned for another post about Bornholm’s historic round churches and the 13th century castle Hammershus!

Cherries are here!

After a long wait the cherry season is here! Unfortunately most of the cherry trees lost their fruit in a late spring frost, but a few survived and are full of lovely cherries!

On another note the currants have also arrived, I wish cherries grew as easily as currants.

Roadside Stands

I grew up in Nashville, TN, home to a great farmers market and not far from the countryside. As a child my mother used to take us to a roadside farm stand on highway 100, where we bought seasonal, local produce. Not sure if it’s still there, but I hope so!

Here in Denmark, farming is still a big part of life, and roadside stands are very common. The stands come in all shapes and sizes, and in the summer you will find, potatoes, strawberries, peas, flowers, honey and handmade crafts. However, one quality sets these roadside stands apart from their American counterparts – Trust – no one works the stands, just drop your payment in the locked metal box. It’s refreshing to see honesty and trust still exist, and hopefully no one takes advantage of it.

Caprese Salad bites

Caprese Salad is one of my favorite ways to enjoy fresh summer tomatoes. I needed a light starter for my pizza party, and caprese salad was the first idea that popped into my mind, however I also wanted something that was easy to snack on, so I decided to make mini caprese salad bites on a stick, drizzled with a balsamic glaze. They turned out beautifully and are so easy to make!

• 20 fresh basil leaves
• 10 cherry tomatoes, cut in half
• 1 ball of buffalo mozzarella cut into 20 cubes
• Crema di balsamico, or homemade balsamic reduction
• salt and pepper
• toothpicks

Directions

1. Wash tomatoes and basil, cut tomatoes in half
2. Cut mozzarella into cubes
3. With your toothpick in hand, add tomato, basil leave (folded in half) and mozzarella, repeat until you have assembled all of the bites
4. On a plate or platter arrange the salad bites, season with salt and pepper, and drizzle with crema di balsamico

A quick, healthy lunch

Today’s Salad in 10 minutes: leftover chicken, cucumber, tomato, avocado, blue cheese, romaine, and homemade balsamic vinaigrette, delicious!

Pizza Party

I read an article in Bon Appetite magazine about a great dinner party idea, homemade pizza. Turn your kitchen into a pizza parlor for the evening and let guests assemble their own pies. The pizza’s turned out perfectly, and the key is to have all the toppings prepared before your guests arrive; I chopped tomatoes, garlic, and artichokes, caramelized onions, and thinly sliced red onion, and since I don’t eat meat, my guests brought their favorite meat toppings.

The key to perfect homemade pizza is a pizza stone and an extremely hot oven, the no-knead dough is made the day before and left to rise for 18 hours. Bon Appetite’s recipe calls for white flour, but I used a mix of whole wheat and white. Make sure the dough is in a large bowl, because it will double in size and try to spill over the edges, it’s a very sticky, lively dough with lots of bubbles!

No-Knead Pizza Dough

• 7 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (1000 grams) plus more for shaping dough
• 4 teaspoons fine sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast

Preparation

1. Whisk flour, salt, and yeast in a medium bowl. While stirring with a wooden spoon, gradually add 3 cups water; stir until well incorporated. Mix dough gently with your hands to bring it together and form into a rough ball. Transfer to a large clean bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let dough rise at room temperature (about 72°) in a draft-free area until surface is covered with tiny bubbles and dough has more than doubled in size, about 18 hours (time will vary depending on the temperature in the room).
2. Transfer dough to a floured work surface. Gently shape into a rough rectangle. Divide into 6 equal portions. Working with 1 portion at a time, gather 4 corners to center to create 4 folds. Turn seam side down and mold gently into a ball. Dust dough with flour; set aside on work surface or a floured baking sheet. Repeat with remaining portions.
3. Let dough rest, covered with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel, until soft and pliable, about 1 hour. DO AHEAD: Can be made 3 days ahead. Wrap each dough ball separately in plastic wrap and chill. Unwrap and let rest at room temperature on a lightly floured work surface, covered with plastic wrap, for 2–3 hours before shaping.

To Make the Pizzas

• During the last hour of dough’s resting, prepare oven: If using a pizza stone, arrange a rack in upper third of oven and place stone on rack; preheat oven to its hottest setting, 500°–550°, for 1 hour. If using a baking sheet, arrange a rack in middle of oven and preheat to its hottest setting, 500°–550°. (You do not need to preheat the baking sheet.)
• Working with 1 dough ball at a time, dust dough generously with flour and place on a floured work surface. Gently shape dough into a 10″–12″ disk.

If Using Pizza Stone

• When ready to bake, increase oven heat to broil. Sprinkle a pizza peel or rimless (or inverted rimmed) baking sheet lightly with flour. Place dough disk on prepared peel and top with desired toppings.
• Using small, quick back-and-forth movements, slide pizza from peel onto hot pizza stone. Broil pizza, rotating halfway, until bottom of crust is crisp and top is blistered, 5–7 minutes.
• Using peel, transfer to a work surface to slice. Repeat, allowing pizza stone to reheat under broiler for 5 minutes between pizzas.

Recipe from Bon Appetite

Grilled Cheese, the ultimate comfort food

New Nordic Carrot Cake

As I child I always loved carrot cake, with the cream cheese frosting, cinnamon spiced interior, and cute frosted carrots adorning the top of the cake. I will always love the classic American carrot cake, but it’s quite indulgent, so I’ve been searching for a healthy alternative, which I found in one of my favorite Danish cookbooks Aarstidernes Livretter.

Thirty minutes north of Copenhagen, is Aarstiderne at Krogerup, an organic farm with accompanying farm boutique where you can buy fresh, seasonal, organic produce. The Farm boutique is a recent addition; Aarstiderne started out delivering weekly fruit and vegetable boxes to your front door. Today they deliver to around 40,000 households in Denmark and 5,000 in Sweden. The weekly boxes come with exciting recipes, which they have compiled into the cookbook Aarstidernes Livretter.

New Nordic Carrot Cake Recipe

• 500g carrots, peeled and grated
• 150g raw sugar
• 200ml taste free oil (I used sunflower oil)
• 4 eggs
• 150g white flour
• 115g wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 100g raisins
• 50g hazelnuts or walnuts (I used hazelnuts)
• Preheat oven to 185 celsius/365 fahrenheit

1. In a medium bowl whisk sugar and oil until combined, then whisk in eggs
2. To the sugar mixture add vanilla sugar and cinnamon.
3. In a large bowl combine flour, salt, and baking powder, then whisk in the sugar mixture until smooth.
4. Gently fold in the carrots (it seems like a lot of carrots but this is what makes the cake so moist) and lastly, fold in the hazelnuts and raisins
5. Pour the batter into two greased loaf pans and bake for 50-70 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean

For information about Aarstiderne visit their English blog