Sons of Norway Cooking Class

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.

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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

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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!