Blomkål suppe med kjøttboller
(Cauliflower soup with meatballs)
~
Berlinerkranser
(Berlin Wreaths)
Last weekend, the NVO and I were fortunate enough to teach a cooking class for
our local Sons of Norway Lodge Meeting.
The NVO taught an amazingly delicious soup:
Cream of Cauliflower with Meatballs
This soup became a Utah award winner in the 70's and 80's at my parent's
Scandinavian Bakery/Restaurant in Salt Lake City, Utah.
In the 90's I served the same soup as a very tired owner and operator of a similar type Scandinavian Bakery/Restaurant in Park City, Utah.
(Now I sleep-in until 6:00 AM and have time to blog. :-) )
I taught a beloved Norwegian Christmas Cookie:
Berlinerkranser
I have blogged about this cookie before as it is one of our favorites.
See
this post and
this post for additional information about the cookie that I apparently don't want anyone to forget. :-). I have listed the recipe below (again) but this time it's doubled.
You will likely need a heavy duty mixer like a Kitchen-Aid for both these recipes.
Here are the recipes:
Oops you can't read that.
So here are the recipes:
Blomkål suppe med kjøttboller
(Cauliflower soup with meatballs)
Scandia Kaffe House was founded by Asbjørn and Erna
Neergaard in the 1970’s. This soup received
several awards including “Best Soup in Utah” by Utah Holiday magazine.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Soup
Large
cauliflower, rinsed and cut into 1-inch pieces
Beef
Broth – 32 ounces
Parsley,
freshly Chopped or dried – 1 Tbls
White Pepper – 1
tsp, more as needed
In a large pot
over medium heat, combine the cauliflower, broth, parsley, and white
pepper. Cook (covered) until the
cauliflower is tender when pierced with a knife (10 to 15 minutes). Meanwhile, make the meatballs.
Meatballs
Ground
beef – 1 lb
Potato
or Corn Starch – ½ cup
Onion,
minced, finely
Nutmeg,
freshly ground – 2 tsp
Salt
– 1 tsp, more as needed
Black
Pepper – 1 tsp
Heavy Cream – ½
cup
In a bowl of a
standard mixer with the paddle attachment, combine the ground beef, potato
starch, onion, nutmeg, salt, black pepper and cream. Mix on low speed, about 5 minutes. Transfer the meat mixture to a large pastry
bag or a resealable plastic freezer bag with one corner cut off.
Raise the heat
to high on the cauliflower mixture. When
the liquid begins to boil squeeze the pastry bag and pinch off ¾-inch balls of
the meat mixture and drop into the boiling cauliflower mixture. Spread the balls over the cauliflower (it
will begin to get crowded). Do NOT
stir. Reduce the heat to low and cook
the meatballs, covered, about 8 minutes.
Sauce
Butter,
unsalted – ½ cup (1 stick)
Flour
– ½ cup
Milk
– 2 cups
Heavy Cream – 2
cups
In a medium
sauce pan, melt the butter over medium heat and add the flour. Stir occasionally until the mixture is smooth
and lightly golden, about 2 to 3 minutes.
Using a whisk, add the milk and cream and stir until the sauce is smooth
and homogeneous. Reduce heat to low.
Carefully stir
the cauliflower meat mixture to incorporate the cooked meatballs into the
soup. Add about 1 cup of the
cauliflower-meat mixture into the sauce and stir until blended, then pour all
of the white sauce into the cauliflower-meat mixture. Stir to combine. Cook over low heat, covered and stirring
occasionally, about 15 minutes. Season
to taste with salt and white pepper.
Makes 8 to 12 servings.
Berlinerkranser
_________________________________________________________
5 hard-boiled egg yolks
5 egg yolks (reserve whites for later dipping)
325 grams of sugar (sorry it's my Norwegian parents
recipe; hence, the grams)
Mix above ingredients in stand-alone
mixer, then slowly add:
1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1000 grams flour
625 grams unsalted butter
Mix on slow for 3 minutes, or until well mixed.
Chill dough for 30-60 minutes
Meanwhile, whip egg whites with fork for about 30
seconds until a little frothy and place in a shallow bowl. Then pour some
*sprinkles of choice in a shallow bowl, as well.
Roll pieces of dough in little snake or tube
shape (a little wider than a pencil), then shape into a ring and dip in
egg white mixture first and then the *sprinkles and place on sheet with
parchment paper. (In addition to the ring shape these photos show the heart
shape - this is a little trickier but can be achieved via practice.)
*The Norwegians use something called pearl sugar, it looks like Margarita or pretzel salt, but it's not - it's
sugar. Additionally, I use different colored sprinkles for different holidays and seasons. The NVO loves non-pariels
and, they come in many colors for any occasion but some pretty pastel
colors for Easter could be nice.
Bake 375 for 10 minutes maybe 11 maybe 12...the
edges will be slightly golden brown.
These flaky cookies will undoubtedly melt in your
mouth. Make sure they cool a bit before removing from cookie sheet as they
crumble when hot.
Non-Pariels
Pearl Sugar
Here are the soup photos:
That's the NVO in the viking hat.
And this is me asking for volunteers from the audience.
And here we are with a couple of our volunteers.
The helpers did a good job, eh?
BTW - they were gone in sixty seconds. :-)
(The cookies, that is, not the volunteers. hehe)
And I had to end with this photo of the ladies in their Norwegian sweaters watching the demonstration.
Too cute!
Some temporary pinned-on flowers from Lesley Stanfield's book:
.JPG)
