Christmas Frikadeller

This is just a quick recipe for Frikadeller which are Danish pork meatballs. I've given them a slight Christmas twist by adding a tiny bit of cloves. I've seen people calling out for the best frikadelle recipe but as these little buggers are so heavily steeped in tradition and "how-my-mum-used-to-make-them", I'm not even gonna try claiming that. These are just simply good frikadelles, but with the best sauce in the world (oh no, I see trouble brewing)...

Ingredients:

500g Pork mince

1/2 Onion, very finely chopped or shredded

1.5 dl Cream (Or milk if you're on a diet)

1 egg

3-4 tbsp of breadcrumbs

Pinch of powdered cloves

Pinch of cayenne

Salt and pepper (Go on, don't be shy)

Butter for frying

Sauce:

1 cup of beef stock

Something sweet and fruity like a jam. I used a raspberry balsamic vinaigrette I had. About a teaspoon

1 dl of cream

 Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Stir it well (use your hands if you like) until it starts sticking together like one big ball. Add a little more breadcrumbs if it's too loose. You'll have to be able to form small balls. On the other hand, don't add too much breadcrumbs as they might get dry.

 The easiest way to shape the balls is to use wet hands. If you don't like getting your hands dirty, you can use two spoons. Melt the butter over medium heat and wait for it to finish bubbling. Fry the meatballs on both sides until done. How long is that? Well, depends on how big you're making the balls and hot hot your frying pan is. I Start turning them over when I can see the mince turning greyish a bit over half way up.  

 Remove the meat balls and set aside somewhere warm. Add the beef stock to the pan to deglaze it. This basically means using all the meat bits and flavours from the frying to make this wonderful sauce. Let it reduce and thicken. Add the jam or whatever fruity stuff you're using.

Add the cream and turn off heat. The residual heat will be enough to cook the sauce through.

Serve and enjoy your holidays.

No-Name Chocolate Spread

Now, if I were a food manufacturer I could probably get in to all sorts of problems calling this a chocolate spread as it doesn't actually contain any chocolate. But it would probably be less trouble than if I called it Nutella which would clearly infringe the brand name. So I'll stick to chocolate spread and let you decide what to call it. However, I'll dare say that it's way more delicious than the one you buy in the store, and as taste is something individual they can't sue me for that. I'll let you be the judge. Is it healthier? Hey, if you're so concerned about health, don't go putting on chocolate spreads on your bread. Eat an apple. But if you want to indulge and leave the diet for January, try this out. 

Ingredients:

Equal amounts of toasted hazelnuts and butter. I used about 150g of each

2 dl of icing sugar

4 tbsp of cocoa powder (the dark intense stuff, not the sweetened)

Pinch of fine salt (if you use unsalted butter)

 Start by chopping and grinding the roasted and peeled hazelnut until you get a fine flour. It should be almost like a paste as it starts to release the oils in the nuts.

 Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until you've got a homogeneous paste. I used a food processor which really makes this so much easier to make. But you can do it by hand and feel proud of your effort afterwards. 

And that's it. Couldn't be simpler. Now you just need some toasted bread and to dig in.