rødgrød med fløde

if you've ever tried learning danish, which i'm assuming is a very small number of you living outside of tiny denmark, you've probably been laughed at or teased in some way. one of the phrases that danes love using to make fun of your poor language skills is "rødgrød med fløde." it literally means "red porridge with cream." though it sounds like a throat disease, this dish is actually very refreshing and simple to make. this summer has really been asking for it with muggy rains and those few blazing hot days with sun. it's great to be able to pull something light and refreshing out of the fridge and it's even relatively healthy! well, if you don't use that much cream... or sugar... ^^;



a friend of mine had gone berry-picking with two of his friends that were visiting from canada and they had a lot leftover. i let one of them borrow my extra bike for the trip up to the farm and in exchange i got a tin full of delicious little strawberries. after my husband and i ate all we could, there was still half the tin left and it was going bad from being knocked about on the bike trip. luckily the next day i received some freshly-picked redcurrants from another friend of mine, as mentioned in my previous post. in exchange for that, i gave him half a loaf of my homemade rugbrød. he and his girlfriend really liked it and we're planning to do another trade later. trading rules. i hope my friends and i can organize the big foodswap i'm been picturing in my head someday. fresh fruit, herbs, kimchi, pickles, fresh-baked breads, pies- woo, i can see it now! anyway, my husband suggested i make his mother's (extremely detailed) recipe for rødgrød med fløde to deal with the berry surplus.

min svigermor's rødgrød med fløde

1kg bær (jordbær, ribs, solbær og hindbær) + eventuelt ekstra 200g hindbær
2 dl vand
300g sukker
1-2 spsk kartoffelmel
fløde og evt. mælk

bærrene skylles, ordnes (hvis der også bruges ribs, skal stilken ikke med (brug f.eks. en gaffel til at få ribsene skilt fra stilken) (jeg ville nok foretrække jordbær og hindbær. hvis der bruges solbær, skal man klippe stilk og den brune blomst af hver eneste solbær).

bærrene kommes i en gryde med vand og sukker. lad bærrene trække (altså stå i gryden med vand og sukker ) i et par timer. gryden sættes derefter over svag varme. kog bærrene op og fjern eventuel skum med en spiseske. lad bærrene koge 4-5 minutter.

tag gryden af varmen og rør eventuelt de ekstra hindbær i grøden. hindbærrene skal forblive så hele som muligt. (hvis du har hindbær i gryden i forvejen, så behøver du ikke putte de ekstra 200 gr hindbær i., da hindbær er ret dyre)

grøden kan jævnes let med et par skefulde kartoffelmel rørt op i koldt vand (bliver sådan en mælkehvid jævning). hvis du jævner med kartoffelmel, skal det ske, når grøden er lige under kogepunktet. (altså tages gryden med bærrene af komfuret, når de har kogt 4-5 minutter, hvorefter jævningen lige røres rundt i en kop umiddelbart før brug (ellers falder kartoffelmelet til bunden i koppen) og derefter hældes jævningen på grøden i en tynd stråle samtidig med, at der røres kraftigt i grøden (ellers klumper grøden). samtidig holder man lige øje med, om grøden har den konsistens, man ønsker. for meget kartoffelmelsjævning gør grøden tyk, og for lidt jævning, så bliver den måske for tynd.

grøden drysses med et tyndt lag sukker for ikke at trække skind, når den køles.

server rødgrøden med kold fløde + evt. lidt sukker, hvis man vil ha’ den sødere + evt. lidt mælk i stedet for ene fløde.

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my mother-in-law's red berry porridge with cream

1kg berries (strawberry, redcurrant, blackcurrant and raspberry) + optionally 200g raspberries extra
2 dl water
300g sugar
1-2 tbsp potato flour
cream and optionally milk

rinse and stem the berries. if also using currants, they can be separated by running a fork through the stems. (mom: i would probably prefer strawberries and raspberries) if using blackcurrants, cut the stem and the brown flower off each berry.

put the berries in a pot with the water and sugar. let them soak there for a few hours. then put the pot over low heat. boil the berries and remove any foam with a spoon. let it boil for 4-5 minutes.

take the pot off the heat and stir in any extra raspberries. they should stay as whole as possible. (mom: if you already had raspberries in the pot, don't add the extra 200g when they are quite expensive.)

note from me: i cooked the redcurrants separately and then strained them before adding to the other berries because the seeds are a bit too big for my liking. but if you don't care or you're lazy, feel free to cook them all together. :P

the porridge can be thickened slightly with a couple tablespoons of potato flour mixed with cold water (will become a milky-white slurry). you should add the slurry when the porridge is just below boiling (for instance, take the pot off the stove after cooking the berry mixture for 4-5 minutes, then pour the slurry in a thin stream while stirring vigorously (or else it'll clump up). at the same time, keep an eye on the porridge to get the consistency you want. too much potato flour will make it too thick and not enough will make it too thin.

sprinkle a thin layer of sugar over the porridge so it doesn't form a skin as it cools.

serve the porridge with cold cream and optionally a little more sugar if you like it sweeter and maybe a little milk instead of some of the cream.