Lemon Asparagus Soup

Here is a delicious, healthy, and (if you hurry) local ingredient recipe that I found on Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution Facebook page. If you don't have one or two of the herbs in your herb garden or spice cupboard, I would suggest substituting your own favourites. If you don't have home made chicken broth, organic is strongly recommended.

Enjoy.

Ingredients:

2 cups asparagus

1 cup onion

2 cups (preferably home made) chicken broth

1 Tbsp organic butter (Extra Virgin Olive Oil may be substituted)

1 tsp lemon juice

2 Tbsp parsley, chopped

1 Tbsp lemon balm, chopped

1/2 Tbsp dried tarragon

Sea salt & pepper to taste

Preparation:

Wash a bundle of asparagus well to get all the sand out of the heads. (Soak in cold water and let the sand fall to the bottom) Break off the woody ends and chop the heads and stems until you have about 2 cups. Peel and chop a sweet onion.In a medium size pot, melt the butter and gently sauté the onion until it is translucent. Add the chopped asparagus and continue sautéing until the asparagus has turned bright green. Add the chicken broth, parsley, lemon balm, lemon juice, and tarragon. Cover the pot with a lid and let simmer until the asparagus in tender (about 10 minutes).Transfer the soup to a blender and liquefy. Note: This can be a dangerous procedure if you are not careful. Let the soup cool slightly, blend in small batches if necessary, and be sure to cover the lid of the blender with a towel to protect yourself in case of "eruptions."

Return the soup to the pot and keep warm.

Brauðterta – Icelandic style sandwich loaf: Salmon and egg

I had planned to post a sandwich loaf recipe much earlier, but since I rarely make them and when I do I don’t use a recipe, I had to find a set recipe first. I finally did find it, in fact several of them, which I will be posting in the following weeks.

Sandwich loaves, or ‘bread cakes’ as they are called in Iceland, are an enduring presence at Icelandic celebrations where cakes are served. While not an Icelandic invention (I think they may have originated in the USA), they have been popular here for at least 50 years and there seems to be no stopping them. While the fillings change according to fashion and whim and we don’t use half as much mayonnaise in them as once was the case they continue to be a vehicle for cooks to display their talents with garnish, and a savoury palate cleanser in between nibbles of all the sweet cakes usually served at traditional birthday parties.

They are generally made from white bread, and you can buy the bread pre-cut for the purpose.

There are two kinds of sandwich cake bread available. One is basically a pan-baked loaf of white sandwich bread that has been sliced lengthwise, like this (for a bit of a laugh at the expense of yesterday’s cookbook authors, keep clicking the “next” button until you get to the end of the pictures).

The crusts are removed, leaving between 4 and 6 long slices of bread.

The other kind are rolls. These are big, thin slices of bread that look like the cake layer of a jelly roll before it's rolled up. They can either be rolled up or layered to make large sandwich cakes. In a pinch, the other kind can be used instead, but care is then needed when rolling them up.

These cakes can be made using any sandwich filling or anything you will find as a topping for Danish smörrebröd, but certain fillings are more common than others.

The most common are:
Ham and asparagus
Ham and egg
Shrimp salad (shrimp, egg, ham or shrimp, ham and pineapple)
Roast beef (roast beef with French-fried onions, remoulade sauce, and either sliced pickled cucumber or slices of canned peaches or apricots)
Tuna spread (tuna and egg and sometimes either chopped onion or sweet corn)
Salmon and egg

Traditionally, the fillings are held together with mayonnaise, and here arises a problem: Commercially made Icelandic mayonnaise is like no-other kind I have tried. It is not only thicker, but it is not as vinegary-tasting. I have on several occasions tried to make these kinds of fillings (in small portions suitable for sandwiches) with imported mayonnaise, but the only time it has worked out was when making tuna spread, and then only because I not only drained the tuna thoroughly, but I actually squeezed out all the juice before making the spread. Still, the flavour wasn’t as good. When I tried making shrimp salad with Hellman’s mayonnaise, the mayonnaise turned soupy and ruined the salad.

These days, a mixture of mayonnaise and sour cream is generally used, and sometimes the mayonnaise is dispersed with and cream cheese is used instead.

I never, ever use a recipe myself, but when you have never made one of these before a recipe is a good starting point. I rarely get the opportunity to make sandwich loaves, but I plan to take photos whenever I get the chance and will add them to show how these creations can be decorated. This and the other sandwich loaf posts are therefore going to become rerun posts, so if you leave comments, I will append your comments to the bottom of the appropriate post whenever I refresh it and bring it back to the top because Blogger erases the comments when you repost a blog entry with a new date.

And now for today's featured sandwich loaf:

Salmon & egg sandwich loaf
This is a delicious variation on the traditional salmon and egg salad loaf. A traditional loaf includes mashed hard-boiled eggs, but this uses scrambled eggs instead.

3 layers of sandwich bread

Salmon spread:
300 g smoked salmon, thinly sliced
5 eggs, hard-boiled
200 g mayonnaise
100 g sour cream

Keep back some extra slices of salmon

Chop the salmon and eggs into small pieces and mix well with the mayo and cream. Chill.

Scrambled eggs with salmon:
4 eggs
3 tbs cream
100 g smoked salmon
Salt and pepper to taste

Lightly whip together the eggs and cream and season with salt and pepper. Purée the salmon in a food processor and add to the egg mixture, stirring lightly together. Fry the scrambled eggs until well done and set aside to cool.

Put 1/3 of the salmon spread on the bottom layer of bread, top with the second bread layer, then the scrambled egg, then more bread and end with salmon spread. Smooth the remaining salmon spread on the ends and side of the loaf. Decorate with thin slices of salmon (or cover the whole thing with salmon slices) and garnish with vegetables, e.g. tomato roses, slivers of red bell pepper or cucumber. Egg slices are also suitable decoration.

PESTICIDE CLEANING OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

There are lots of local fruits and vegetables coming to your market these days. Unfortunately, local doesn't mean organic, and many of these lovely local delights may still have been sprayed with pesticides. Once a pesticide has been sprayed on a fruit or vegetable, it penetrates the skin of the food and begins to make its way into the flesh; but a good pesticide wash is, at least, a start. Organic is still best.

Grapefruit Seed Extract can be found in health food stores.

Enjoy.

Instructions
Things You'll Need:
· spray bottle
· funnel
· small bowl
· 1 cup water
· 1 cup white vinegar
· 2 tbsp baking soda
· 20 drops grapefruit seed extract
1. In small bowl combine 1 cup water, vinegar, baking soda and grapefruit seed extract. Stir.
2. Place a funnel in the mouth of the spray bottle and gradually pour liquid into the bottle.
3. After closing container; spray concoction on fruits and vegetables. Let it sit for an hour or two. Rinse.

Skyr dessert

200 g oatmeal biscuits/crackers (e.g. Graham crackers)
60 g butter
1 tbs sugar

Crumble the crackers finely. Melt the butter and stir into the crumbs with the sugar. Press into the bottoms of several small serving bowls.

4 sheets gelatin
The juice of 1/2 lemon
300 g plain skyr
100 g sugar
2 eggs
150 g sour cream
1 tbs sugar

Soak the gelatin sheets in cold water for 5 minutes. Remove from the water, squeeze out the remaining water and put the gelatin in a bowl or the top of a double boiler with the lemon juice. Heat gently until the gelatin is melted.

Separate the egg yolks from the whites. Mix together sugar and skyr and add the egg yolks, one by one. Fold in the sour cream.

Lightly whip the egg whites with 1 tbs. sugar. Mix the gelatin into the skyr mixture and then gently fold in the whipped egg whites. Divide the mixture between the bowls and cool in the refrigerator.

This can also be made into a whole dessert, in which case use a large, deep pie dish.

Liver with bacon (Lifur með fleski)

I love liver with bacon. I haven't tried this recipe, but I plan to.

750 g liver
100 bacon
1 tsp salt
1/3 tsp pepper
1/6 tsp ginger
1/6 tsp ground cloves
60 g cooking fat
400 ml boiling cooking liquid
150 ml cream
40 g flour
200 ml cold water

Clean the liver and cut into thin slices. Mix together the flour, salt and spices and roll the liver slices in it to coat. Lay a rasher of bacon on each liver slice and roll up the slices. Tie together with cotton string. Heat the cooking fat ion a pan and brown the liver slices in it. Add the milk and water and cook for 15-20 minutes. Thicken the sauce with the flour (make a paste with a little cold water to avoid clumping). Cook the sauce for a couple of minutes, then add the cream.

I imagine this would be nice with mashed potatoes, redcurrant jelly and a salad.

GRILLED STEAK WITH CHIMICHURRI SAUCE

Outdoor grilling season makes me so happy. The addition of the chimichurri sauce is really fun, especially if you are growing flat leaf parsley. The sauce should keep in the refrigerator for a few days, but it probably won't last that long.
Enjoy.

Ingredients:
¾ cup finely chopped fresh Italian (flat leaf) parsley
½ cup olive oil
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 ½ tablespoons finely chopped garlic
2 ½ teaspoons dried crushed red pepper (see note)

2 grass‐fed beef steaks, your favorite cut, 4 to 6 ounces each (about 1 inch thick)

Note: Use any kind of dried hot spice you like for the crushed red pepper. For instance, I am a fan of ground chipotle pepper. Also, when it comes to adding spices, start slowly, taste, and then decide if you want to add more.

Preparation:
1) Place all ingredients except the beef in a food processor. Pulse until a smooth sauce is achieved.
2) Refrigerate if time permits. (Can be made 1 day ahead.) Bring to room temperature before using.
3) Sprinkle both sides of steaks with sea salt and pepper.
4) Place steaks on barbeque grill and cook until desired doneness, about 3 minutes per side for medium‐rare.
See our notes about cookware here, or in GOOD FOOD if you are cooking on an indoor grill pan.
5) Once the steaks are cooked, let them rest off the heat for at least 5 minutes before slicing and serving them. Slice steaks crosswise (across the grain of the meat) and arrange on a platter. Spoon chimichurri sauce over the steaks and serve.

Restaurant Quality Caesar Salad, Complete with Croutons and Dressing

My Romaine Lettuce was fully grown and ready to harvest. I had raw Parmesan cheese from the organic market. Nothing left but to develop a Caesar Salad worthy of my high quality ingredients. Thank goodness for a quiet, rainy Sunday when there’s recipe development to be done.

If you are on the Core Plan, your crouton options include whole grain bread. Just toast it and rub it with fresh cut garlic, then slice it into cubes. If you are on the Advanced Plan, you do not have the bread option, but the crouton substitutions are easy. One option is to use whole raw walnuts or pecans for croutons. We used Parmesan Tuiles (a kind of cookie) broken into pieces once cooled. There are many ways to make the tuiles, but the method below allows make-ahead preparation.

The salad is so delicious, the crouton question will not be an issue. The recipe will serve 4, so make a party of it.
Enjoy.

Parmesan Tuiles

Ingredients:
1 cup freshly grated raw or imported Italian Parmesan Cheese. For best results, grate with a micro-plane or other grater that produces a fine grate.
Yield: 4 to 5 tuiles
(If you have lots of raw Parmesan on hand, you may want to double this amount.)

Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. For each tuile, spread 3 tablespoons of the grated cheese on the paper to form a 3-inch round.

Bake until golden brown, about 12 minutes. Cool for 1 minute.

Using a metal spatula, transfer the tuiles to another piece of parchment paper and cool completely. Use immediately or store in an airtight container for up to 24 hours. For the Caesar Salad “croutons,” break cooled tuiles into bit sized pieces.

Caesar Salad Dressing

Ingredients:
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves fresh garlic, peeled, then smashed and minced, or grated with a micro-plane
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (plus more to taste if desired)
4 ounces raw or Imported Italian Parmesan cheese, grated
1 teaspoon anchovy paste, or 1-2 anchovies, smashed and minced
2 egg yolks
freshly ground black pepper (1/4 teaspoon or to taste)
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)

Note: Anchovy Paste is widely available in grocery stores and specialty markets. Be sure to check the label, though, because some anchovy paste products contain canola oil. You don't want that.

Preparation:
In the salad bowl, whisk together the olive oil and garlic. Let this mixture stand for half an hour to infuse the olive oil with the garlic flavor.
Add anchovies and egg yolks to the oil and garlic mixture. Whisk until creamy. Add salt and pepper and 1/4 cup of lemon juice. Whisk in half of the Parmesan cheese. Taste, add more lemon juice to taste. The lemon should give an edge to the dressing, but not overwhelm it.
Add torn Romaine Lettuce (approximately 1 or 2 large, or 3 small heads) and toss to coat the lettuce leaves with the dressing. Add the Parmesan Tuile “croutons” and the remainder of the Parmesan Cheese, and toss to serve.

Stuffed sheep's hearts - Fyllt hjörtu

5-6 sheep's hearts (or 4-5 pig's hearts)
10-12 prunes (stoneless)
600-700 ml mixture of equal proportions water and milk
50 g butter
50 g flour
salt and pepper
sauce colouring

Chop up the prunes and stuff the hearts with them. Sew closed. Melt the butter in a pan and brown the hearts in it. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, add the milk/water mixture and cook for 1-2 hours. Remove the hearts from the cooking liquid.

Make a paste of the flour and a little bit of cold water. Bring the cooking liquid to the boil and stir in the flour paste to make a sauce. Add sauce colouring if desired.

Cut the hearts into slices, and serve with the sauce on the side.