Marinated Cucumbers

During the summer when I was growing up, there was usually a covered Pyrex bowl of "pickled cukes" in the refrigerator. They were perfect in hot weather, and I would greedily dig out the cucumbers while doing my best to avoid the onions. Nowadays when making a cucumber salad, I have difficulty resisting dill weed, garlic, and other flavors. Still, I decided I wanted the taste I grew up with and mercilessly quizzed my mother on their preparation. The result was as good as I remembered, but I still don't eat the onions!

3-4 cucumbers, peeled and thinly sliced
salt to sprinkle on cucumbers
1 small sweet onion, thinly sliced
1/4 C distilled white vinegar
3/4 C water
1-2 Tbs granulated sugar

Peel the cucumbers. As you are slicing the cukes, place them in a colander in the sink, and sprinkle each layer liberally with salt. Allow the cucumbers to drain for at least half an hour. (I'll even share my secret for paper thin cucumber slices. Run the cucumber across the back of a perfectly clean cheese slicer.)

Combine the rest of the ingredients in a nonporous bowl. After the cucumbers have drained at least thirty minutes, squeeze the remaining moisture out of them with clean, bare hands and add to the bowl.

The conversation about this portion of the recipe went something like this:
"Mom, why do you squeeze them if you just add water back in with the vinegar?"
"To get the bitterness out."
"But cucumbers aren't bitter!"
"You were the one who wanted to know how I make them."

Bitter or not, there was a whole lot of moisture to be squeezed out. The squeezing also removed the majority of the seeds, even though my family isn't too good eat them! Once all the cucumber is squeezed out and then mixed with the other ingredients, the salad is ready to eat. The longer these last in the refrigerator, the better they taste. Generally, they don't last very long at all.

This recipe is my entry into the seasonal veggies "Go Ahead, Honey - It's Gluten-Free" blog event being hosted by Rachel of The Crispy Cook.

Belated Danish Braid

This post is long overdue, so my apologies to all the Daring Bakers who have stopped by to check on my pastry, and who I've also neglected to visit. (As my mom said, "That Danish Braid has been proofing all week!") First, thanks to Kelly of Sass & Veracity and Ben of What's Cookin'? for setting such a great challenge. (Yes, that's the same Ben, who was nice enough to send us our beloved Pop-A-Lot.) Due to his allergies my son had never eaten any kind of pastry, so I've contemplated trying to adapt a recipe, but hadn't been brave enough to do so. Kelly and Ben chose Sherry Yard's Danish Braid recipe with its fragrant, spiced dough, which was helpful when baking something that usually depends on butter for its flavor. (The original is in The Secrets of Baking.)

Rather than post the original recipe and my adaptation, I'll send you to Kelly for the original version, and just give you the changes I made to it. For my attempt I halved the recipe, which is why the quantities of the ingredients are so different.

For the dough (Detrempe):
1 packet active dry yeast
1/4 C coconut milk
2 Tbs granulated sugar
Zest of 1 orange, finely grated
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 C fresh orange juice
1 1/2 C + 2 Tbs all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt

For the butter(less) block (Beurrage):
1/2 C coconut oil
2 Tbs all-purpose flour

The original recipe called for two eggs. I left the yeast at a full packet, rather than halving it to compensate for any rise that would be lost. Since the coconut oil provides plenty of fat, I simply increased the amount of orange juice to compensate for the liquid removed from the recipe. It seemed to work well.

This was the first time I've used coconut oil for baking. I chilled it, as the butter in the original is, and quickly discovered that the expensive stuff becomes extremely hard in the refrigerator. I had a terrible time measuring it correctly. As difficult as it was to get out of the container, the oil came together beautifully with the flour and spread perfectly. If I use coconut oil for this technique again, I'll measure it warm, then chill just the portion I'll be using.

Forgetting that I was making half a batch, I rolled the dough out too thin and had a little leakage when folding the dough for the first time. I gave the dough one additional fold in half after the first turn and didn't have any other problems with it.

After resting overnight, I rolled the dough out to its final dimensions to match my cookie sheet rather than the recipe. (I twirled up the scraps of dough, sprinkled them with some sugar, and baked them into some yummy little breakfast treats.) I'll confess right now, I used a ruler to get these even strips!

For the filling, I had planned to use two mangoes, but one of them had mysteriously disappeared from my kitchen. So I cooked up the remaining mango with an eight ounce can of crushed pineapple to make up for the missing fruit. The filling didn't look very appetizing, but it tasted amazing.

The braid came together easily, but I realized later after seeing some of the other DB posts that I should have planned better to close the ends of the braid. I painted it with some of the leftover coconut milk and sprinkled it with turbinado sugar, then let it proof. The sugar should have waited until it was ready to bake, since the crystals tended to dissolve in the coconut milk

I was very pleased with how the braid turned out, and am actually looking forward to making more laminated dough in the future! Thanks again to Kelly and Ben for a great challenge.

Still Proofing...

It turns out I'm an alternative, procrastinating, Daring Baker. (Will need to update my profile at the forum, someday.) Here's a tease of my tropical Danish Braid: I used coconut oil and coconut milk as replacements for butter and milk in the dough. The filling is mango and pineapple. Instead of an egg wash, I painted it with more coconut milk and sprinkled it with turbinado sugar. I'll let you all know how it turns out and post the complete recipe this evening after I recover from the birthday party we're going to today!

Lemon Dill Salmon

A few months ago while shopping with The Kid, I went to the fish counter at my grocery store and asked for a couple of tilapia fillets. The Kid had other ideas. "No! I want salmon!" I tried not to laugh, because I really didn't want to encourage his bratty behavior, but the priceless look on the fishmonger's face did me in. I wish the "poor thing" people who think that a restricted diet means a life of deprivation could have seen my demanding four year old gourmet!

Yesterday the salmon was on sale, so I picked up some of our pink indulgence. The Scandinavian side of my family is probably to blame for my urge to reach for the dill and sour cream every time I get near a salmon, or a cucumber for that matter. The sour cream may have been banished, but my favorite baked fish is still pillowed in little green feathers.

This recipe is quick and easy, but the result is impressive and company worthy. The quantities here are for about a pound of salmon, but can easily be increased. Allow about a third of a pound per big person, about half that for the little guys.

Ingredients:
1 lb salmon fillet
1-2 cloves garlic, crushed
3-4 stalks fresh dill
1 lemon, very thinly sliced
1/4 C white wine
(Substitute 1/4 C white grape juice plus 1 Tbs lemon juice, if you prefer.)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Place salmon skin side down in a baking dish, preferably one without too much additional room. Evenly distribute crushed garlic over fish. Tear dill fronds from the stalk and sprinkle them over the fish as well. Cover the salmon with overlapping slices of lemon.

Pour the wine or substitute in along the sides of the baking dish. (The alcohol will evaporate during baking.) A friend, who is something of a gourmet guru, once explained to me that cooking wine is an abomination, since it is poor quality wine with salt added, originally done to keep the cooks from nipping at it. I've followed my friend's advice never to cook with a wine I wouldn't want to drink ever since. Of course, we drink very little alcohol, so I've taken to keeping little airplane bottles of wine in the cupboard for cooking.

Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil, and bake for 25-30 minutes until the salmon flakes apart easily with a fork. Watch out for steam when removing the foil, and don't tell anyone how easy it was!

Raspberry Orange Cookies

There are an infinite variety of Danish butter cookies. Recipes just for raspberry butter cookies include ones sandwiched, cut into shapes, and rolled in sesame seeds or almond bits. These ones are rolled in sugar and flavored with orange extract, rather than the more typical vanilla or almond. Since they normally depend heavily on butter for flavor, it is important to use a good tasting margarine. (I like Earth Balance Buttery Sticks.) It's not a bad idea to taste the margarine beforehand to make sure it's not too salty and reduce the salt in the recipe if it is. The orange flavor in the cookies is fairly subtle, so I'll probably add some orange zest to the next batch.

2 C dairy free margarine, softened
1/2 C sugar
2 tsp orange extract
4 C all-purpose flour, sifted
1/2 tsp salt
sugar to coat
seedless raspberry preserves

Cream margarine, sugar, and orange extract together. Gradually mix in flour and salt until completely combined. Divide dough into two balls, and wrap each separately in plastic wrap. Place dough balls in the fridge and allow to chill for at least one hour. (Nothing to stop you from only making one ball, but it lets you keep half the dough chilled while working with the other half.)

Preheat oven to 400F. Shape dough into 1" balls, roll in sugar, and place 2" apart on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Flatten slightly, and make an indentation in each ball using thumb. Fill centers with raspberry preserves, being careful not to overfill. Bake 12-14 minutes until edges very slightly brown. Makes 4-5 dozen yummy cookies.

Swedish Turkey Balls

Traditional Swedish meatballs are made from a mixture of ground beef and pork using bread soaked in milk as a binder. In this version, I use ground turkey with flax seed meal, which improves both the structure and the brownness of the meatball. The flax seed meal does have a distinctive nutty flavor, so I've also increased the spices to compensate. The result is a truly authentic tasting Swedish meatball! My Ama would be proud.

2 Tbs dairy free margarine
1/2 onion, very finely chopped
1-1/2 lbs. ground turkey
3 Tbs finely chopped flat-leaf parsley OR 1 Tbs dried parsley
1 Tbs flax seed meal
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground allspice
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 C hot chicken stock

Saute onion in 1 Tbs margarine until soft, then remove from heat. Combine all ingredients except remaining margarine and chicken stock in bowl and stir until mixed well. (Remember to wash hands and sanitize surfaces after handling raw poultry.)

Shape turkey mixture into balls 1-1/2 to 2 inches in diameter. Saute in remaining margarine over medium high heat until brown on all sides. Add chicken stock, then cover with lid and simmer over low heat for 10 to 15 minutes until cooked through.

Serve with potatoes or over egg-free noodles. The chicken stock makes a fantastic pan sauce.

Update: You may also enjoy Italian Meatballs with Angelhair Pasta.