I’ve always enjoyed being on tour. The opportunity to just play music every day, meet new people and see new places never grows old. Time and reality seem to exist in a suspended state. This past tour was definitely the longest I’ve been ever been out on the road at one time. It was such a joy to see friends and family amongst all the new adventures. I can’t believe how fast it went.
Finally being back home now, I really have the desire to get back into the kitchen. Morten is the master of all things meaty, hearty and comfort-giving. My job is to prepare the vegetables. During the winter, I roast almost everything: broccoli, green beans, cauliflower, beets, etc. Right now, though, I’m craving salads. (We were in California for over 2 weeks and I was back in my salad mode.)
In typical American style, we found a bagged salad at the grocery store while we were in LA. It was one of those “super food” salads with kale, cabbage, brussels sprouts, broccoli, cranberries, roasted pumpkin seeds and poppy seed dressing. We ate a LOT of it.
Living in Denmark, I’ve been happy with the produce, but I haven’t been so thrilled with the Danish concept of salad. I know I’m generalizing here, but it seems like most salads I see with cabbage in them are either cooked or coleslaw. Even perusing Danish websites for cabbage recipes, I just don’t see a lot of color on the plate. There are, of course, exceptions.
I like this salad a lot, but it has so much flavor that it doesn’t always go with some of the meat that we’re eating for the night. We also have teenagers in the house that aren’t much for cilantro (coriander for my Danish friends). We tend to do this salad more in the summer (without the chicken) with something hot off the grill.
This week, I’m blending what I love from the US (that bagged “super food”) with items that are fresh and plentiful in Denmark. Really, this should be the national salad. The colors are wonderful, the flavor is hearty, and even teenagers love it. I take the time to chop most of the items myself. The kale (grøntkål), does come in some nice small pieces here, so I like to use that. Otherwise, I chop and mix everything and store it in the refrigerator so it is ready to go when we’re ready to eat. I “eyeball” it in terms of color and flavors that I like. This isn’t usually like me. I’m a big recipe follower, but maybe this is my way into food improvisation.
In a big salad bowl, mix the following together:
- kale (grøntkål) cut into small pieces
- white cabbage (spidskål) cut into small pieces
- brussels sprouts (rosenkål) cut into very thin slices
- broccoli (either cut into thin slices or use that broccoli slaw that you can find in a bag)
- shredded carrots
- red cabbage (rødkål) cut into very small pieces (mostly for that splash of color)
Poppy Seed Dressing:
Adapted from the Epicurious App (originally from House & Garden | June 1956)
- 1/3 cup sugar (or a bit less)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup wine vinegar (I like both red and white)
- 1 heaping tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1/2 small onion, fine chopped
- 1 cup olive oil
- 1 1/2 tablespoons poppy seeds
I’m really lazy with this and just throw everything (except the poppy seeds) in the blender. Fire up the blender until everything is smooth and blended. Stir in the poppy seeds at the end. Mix a little dressing with the salad.
Top the salad with a nice sprinkle of dried cranberries and roasted pumpkin seeds.
Do you have a favorite salad recipe? Let me know about it. I don’t want to be stuck in any kind of a salad rut….
