Aeblekage (Danish Apple Cake)

When dessert time came at my grandparents' house, there were usually several desserts waiting in the refrigerator or on the sideboard. Of all of the delicious desserts that my grandma made, one of my very favorite was her apple cake. It is a fairly simple recipe, requiring just three ingredients - but it does require several hours for the cake to cool in the refrigerator, so you may wish to bake the cake the night before you plan to serve it and chill it overnight. Depending on how much time you'd like to put into this recipe, you can either make your own applesauce (see my recipe here) or use chunky applesauce from the store.

Aeblekage (Danish Apple Cake) (8-16 servings)
3 cups applesauce
2 cups graham cracker crumbs (or breadcrumbs)
8 oz. whipped topping

1. Preheat oven to 320F.

2. Butter or use cooking spray to coat all sides of an 8x8 baking dish (or other oven-proof dish). Layer graham cracker crumbs and applesauce in pan, 1/2 cup of crumbs, 1 cup applesauce, 1/2 cup crumbs, 1 cup applesauce, 1/2 cup crumbs, 1 cup applesauce, 1/2 cup crumbs.

3. Bake at 320F for 1 hour. Cover and refrigerate for several hours or overnight, until completely chilled throughout.

4. Slide a knife between cake and edge of pan, then turn out onto a large plate. Frost with whipped topping. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

Not-Quite-Vegetarfrikadeller (Root Vegetable Bake)

The Wikipedia article about frikadeller mentions that vegetarians can now enjoy a meatless version of frikadeller and links to a recipe for vegetarfrikadeller. The recipe is in Danish, although that wasn't too difficult to handle, given the wide variety of internet resources that can be called upon to aid in translating Danish to English and metric to units more familiar to folks in the US. However, when I started in on the recipe, I was quickly foiled by the amount of shredding necessary to create the fine-grained mixture needed to create vegetarfrikadeller. Perhaps if I had a full-sized food processor, grating beets, parsnips, and carrots would prove to be fairly easy, but in this case, I decided to use the ingredients I had to create a slightly simpler dish. So in this post, I present two recipes - first, the root vegetable bake I actually made, and second, a translation of the recipe for vegetarfrikadeller mentioned above, should anyone with better shredding or food processing abilities like to give it a whirl.

Root Vegetable Bake (10-12 servings)
3/4 lb. parsnips, cut into thin strips
3/4 lb. beet, cut into thin strips
3/4 lb. carrot, cut into thin strips
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic
2 eggs
2/3 cup milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper

1. Preheat oven the 350F.

2. Mix all ingredients together in a large (9 x 13) baking dish and spread evenly in dish.

3. Bake at 350F for one hour, stirring twice. If vegetables are still too crisp, increase heat to 400F and bake until desired tenderness is reached.

Vegetarfrikadeller (translated from Danish recipe)
(note: some measurements have been slightly adjusted to account for differences in measurement systems and the desire to make units more simple)
1 lb. parsnips
1 lb. beets
1 lb. carrots
4 eggs
2/3 cup milk
1-2 bouillon cubes
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic
salt
pepper
2-3 T. flour

1. Shred parsnip, beet, and carrot and mix with eggs.

2. Heat milk and dissolve bouillon cubes, add onion, garlic, salt, pepper, and flour.

3. Combine vegetable and milk mixtures, pour off excess liquid.

4. Shape into balls with a tablespoon and fry in butter or vegetable oil, 10 minutes per side.

Frikadeller (Danish Meatballs)

Growing up, my mom would occasionally have a few days (or even a week!) off of work, and if my dad and I were lucky, she would use some of her vacation time to prepare a "golden week of food" consisting of meat pies, sweet potatoes, and (if we were really lucky) frikadeller. Frikadeller, or Danish meatballs, are the national dish of Denmark and can be made with beef, veal, pork, lamb or a combination of these meats. These aren't the kind of meatballs that you serve with spaghetti, though - frikadeller stand pretty well on their own, swathed with a bit of gravy and complemented by rødkål and some potatoes or rice. If you have leftovers, frikadeller reheat well and you might even consider making frikadeller sandwiches.

Frikadeller (Danish Meatballs) (6-8 servings)
2 lbs. ground meat (beef, veal, pork, or lamb - or a mixture)
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. nutmeg (or allspice, cinnamon, or other spice)
1/2 cup milk
1 T. flour or bread crumbs
1 onion, diced

1. Combine meat, eggs, salt, pepper, nutmeg, milk, flour / bread crumbs, and 1/2 of onion in a large bowl. Mix well.

2. Caramelize other half of onion in a deep frying pan.

3. Shape meat mixture into balls about the size of an egg and place in pan with caramelized onion. Add enough water to cover meatballs, boil meatballs for 20 minutes. Cook in batches if necessary, add more water to maintain level. [Alternative: Flatten meatballs slightly and fry in butter or vegetable oil, 5 minutes per side or until cooked through.]

4. Remove meatballs from water and add flour to water in pan, stir to dissolve and continue heating until gravy is desired thickness.

Rødkål (Danish Red Cabbage)

When I think back to the many days spent at my grandparents' house, one of the strongest memories I have is of the various smells associated with my grandmother's cooking and baking. On entering their house on the day of a big meal, one of the scents sure to greet visitors was that of Danish red cabbage (rødkål), a sweet and sour cabbage preparation that serves as the perfect accompaniment to frikadeller (meatballs), medisterpølse (sausage), or other main dishes.

Rødkål takes a few hours to prepare and cook and can easily be reheated, so you may wish to prepare this a night in advance and then warming at low heat the next day while finishing up cooking whatever other dishes you are preparing.

Rødkål (Danish Red Cabbage) (enough for a crowd)
1 medium head of red cabbage (about 3 lbs.), shredded or cut finely
3 T. butter
1 T. sugar
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 medium apples, peeled / cored / finely chopped
1/2 cup red currant jelly (I grabbed seedless raspberry from the store by mistake - it also works!)

1. Melt butter in a large pot / kettle over medium-low heat and add sugar, stir until it dissolves in butter. Add cabbage and cook for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly so that cabbage is coated in butter / sugar mixture.

2. Add vinegar, water, salt, and pepper and simmer (covered) for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally, until cabbage is very tender.

3. Add apples and red currant jelly (and if necessary, additional vinegar, water, or sugar to balance flavor). Simmer for an additional 30 minutes.

Danish Food Festival, Part II

Last week, I posted a short piece about the Danish food party I was planning in honor of my grandfather, who was born 100 years ago yesterday (November 1). But since it was my grandmother who actually did the cooking in the family, the party was also in honor of her. So...

To Chris and Irene Rasmussen, Skaal!

The menu at the party included:

• Danish cheeses: Havarti, Danish Blue, and Fontina
• Aebleskiver (Filled Pancakes)
  
• Rødkål (Danish Red Cabbage)
• Root Vegetable Bake (with bonus recipe for Vegetarfrikadeller)
• Frikadeller (Danish Meatballs)
• Aeblekage (Danish Apple Cake)
• Danish Butter Cookies
• Halloween Candy Cache Brownies
• Beverages: Carlsberg Beer, Apple Cider, Wine
  

Danish Food Festival

Next weekend I am throwing a Danish food festival to celebrate the 100th anniversary of my grandfather's birth. Christian Rasmussen was born in Odense, Denmark (Hans Christian Andersen's hometown) on November 1, 1908 and emigrated to the United States as a young man. Chris settled in Detroit, MI and married Irene Petsch (the daughter of German immigrants) in July, 1933. They had three daughters - Ann Marie, Karen Lee, and Sallylou. By the time my mom came along in 1950, Chris and Irene had moved to Sandusky, MI, where they had a small dairy farm.

When my mom graduated from college, Chris and Irene sold the farm and moved to a small island in Caseville, MI year-round. The "house on the big water" is where I spent many a holiday, family birthday, or plain lazy summer afternoon. Their tiny house was always full of delicious smells - frikadeller, roasts, pies, cakes, or whatever else my grandma happened to be cooking or baking that day. When it was time to eat, Grandma would send me out to call folks to the table with "vaske spise!" (wash up and eat!)

I'm planning several of my favorite Danish dishes for next Saturday's party - so stay tuned for the recipes! I'll be making aebleskiver, rødkaal, frikadeller, vegetarfrikadeller (okay, my grandma would never have made vegetarian frikadeller, but I'm intrigued and will try it), and aeblekage.