the first Christmas party .... this year

That was it, a blazing success with wonderful food and friends. It's been a long time since I've enjoyed myself that much in a kitchen :) And now I've successfully made ​​all the stuff you need for a danish Julefrokost; patty with chicken and asparagus, marinated herring, bread, pate, fried meatballs, pork roast with sprinkles and instead of the mandatory white and brown/sugar potatoes, pickled red cabbage and gravy we made three fantastic crispy salads. You should try them out :)

Beetroot Salad

- Beets, very thin slices, like cut on mandolin iron.
- Coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley
- Feta cheese, preferably a block of feta broken / cut into pieces
- Balsamic vinegar or fruit vinegar
- Salt and pepper
- Elderberry syrup
      - 2 dl concentrated elderberry juice
      - ½ dl sugar

Mix the beetroot slices with a little vinegar, salt, pepper, the parsley and about 2 tablespoons elderberry syrup. Taste the beets, if they are really sweet, don't use too much syrup.
Let the salad rest for about 30 min., it should still be crisp.
Just before serving sprinkle with a little extra parsley and feta placed either on top (takes much colour from the beets) or served on the side.

Elderberry syrup: Pour elderberry and sugar into a pot and boil until is gets like a syrup. Be careful that it doesn't burn or get too thick.

This salad is a variation from here: http://saesonforgodsmag.dk/opskrifter/hyldebærsyltet-rødbedesalat

The best Green Cabbage Salad

300 g green cabbage
3 apples
hazelnuts (we also used some pecan nuts) you choose how many, I like a lot of crunch
8-10 dried dates
dries cranberries, about a handful

juice from one lemon
juice from one orange
1 ½ dl cream
salt
pepper

Finely chop the cabbage, the pieces need to be small otherwise some might struggle to chew it ;) Chop the apples into squares about 1x1cm. Also chop the nuts and dried fruits, and mix all of the stuff together.


Whip the cream, not to be too hard, and squeeze the lemon and orange into the whipped cream and add salt and pepper before stirring. Afterwards pour it over the salad, all of it needs to be coated.

Dress with a little extra nuts and berries.

This salad is also very nice the next day :) and if you don't want to use cream you can replace it with sour cream, but the taste won't be as rich then.

this recipe is made with a lot of inspiration from Suveræne succeser, which is a fantastic danish cookbook


Red cabbage salad

red cabbage
pomegranate
oranges

oil
balsamic vinegar
salt
pepper
lemon

Slice the cabbage very finely and chop the orange (without peel) in eating size chunks. Mix all the the ingredients for the dressing and pour it over the cabbage, pomegranate and oranges.