Monday, November 5, 2012

Veterans Day Parade

The weather was beautiful yesterday so my husband, our German friend Bernhard and I went to Hartford to see the Veterans Day Parade.
It should be one of the biggest parades in CT - 4.000 people in the parade. To bad there weren't more people watching.






























For us foreigners it is quite spectacular to see such a display of patriotism. We couldn't really imagine this happening in Europe. 

The paint job on this bike was amazing


Though guys with a teddy bear

We do not feel that same profound national pride that Americans do. 
It is not that we aren't proud of our country - but we would never stand up and celebrate how wonderful we think our country is.

  




Maybe it is because we have so many other countries close to us. Maybe we feel less need to show the pride because we are more curtain of our roots than the melting pot that makes the United States what it is today - I don't know.



But I do think it is wonderful that people honor the men and women that risk their life in combat. 
In the last 10-15 years Denmark has been an allied to the US in most of its battles in the world, but we do not celebrate our military.



But I can't help to feel sad that so many veterans end up as homeless here in the US - that is something I am not used to from back home.

Even our town was represented! 


This blog is supposed to be about food as well so I better out in a recipe for good measure.

In my last pickup from my CSA farm for the season I got a beautiful cauliflower and decided that it would be the main ingredient for dinner.


Cauliflower and Parsnip soup


Ingredients
1/2 a cauliflower
1 parsnip
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
Chicken stock
Olive oil
Cream
Salt and pepper

Cut up the vegetables and let them fry in a little olive oil. When slightly brown, ad enough stock to cover and cook until tender. 
Blitz it in a food processor until smooth and add cream, salt and pepper to taste.

Because I am following the Athlean XX regiment at the moment I am holding slightly back on carbs and fat, so I only added a table spoon of cream to this mix, but for the sake of the taste I would up the cream quite a bit.
Next time I make the soup I think I would also consider adding a ripe pear to the soup to up the sweetness.




2 variations over cauliflower and scallops


Ingredients
1/2 a cauliflower - save any small leafs
Chicken stock
A knob of butter
Salt and Pepper
6 Scallops

Thinly slice some cauliflower floretts and put them in ice water to keep them crisp. 
Cut the rest of cauliflower into florets and cook them in the chicken stock until tender  but max 10 minutes. After that you will lose the nice cauliflower taste and just end up with the cabbage taste.
Put the cauliflower into a food processor and blitz until it makes a pure. If needed, ad some of the hot stock. 
When you are happy with the consistency, ad some butter, salt and pepper.
Fry the scallops on a hot pan for a minute in each side.
Arrange and serve right away.


Crushed potatoes, beets and cod


This recipe is almost identical to one I found in a danish newspaper webpage - they only used a soft boiled egg and not cod.
The recipe is a modernisation of a danish new years classic, where we normally get potatoes and cod served with a mustard sauce.
It became a 3 course dinner because my husband had 2 work outs that day and the other 2 courses would not have kept him full.


Ingredients
Cod
Potatoes 
Bacon
Corsly cyt parsley
Grainy mustard
Beet
Onions - small is best
1 tbsp butter

Make thin slivers of beet - I used a speed peeler but a mandolin is better - and ad to ice water.
Peel and cook the potatoes until tender, drain the water and let them steam dry. 
Fry the bacon until crisp and dry the exec fat of with kitchen towel.
Cut the small onions in two and peel the slivers from each other and cook them over low heat in the butter until clear and sweet.
Now mix the dry potatoes, parsley, mustard and bacon in a bowl and crush them with a whisk or fork.
Fry the cod a couple of minutes on each side.
Arrange the potatoes in the bottom of a plate and arrange the iced beets and onions around it.
Top with the cod.

The dish becomes even better if you drizzle the rest of the butter over the potatoes and cod when you serve.








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