A Slice of Heaven in Copenhagen - The American Pie Company

Copenhagen is city spoilt for choice when in comes to quality konditories & bakeries, so much so that one almost gets cinnamon bun fatigue... tough times indeed! However, I recently discovered something a little different that revived my jaded tastebuds - The American Pie Company. I caught up with owner Grace Lovig to find out more.

A Family Affair

Grace makes all her own pies in the shop, from scratch. Every time I go in the shop she emerges smiling from the kitchen smiling through a cloud of flour. As  a baker Grace is clearly passionate about what she does. So, what inspired it all? 

"My great grandmother started a small resort called Wilson's Camp Prattville in Lake Almanor to feed and lodge the gold miners & loggers of the time. She was a fantastic cook. Her pies were pretty good too. My grandfather took over when she died and he just happened to have a wife who was an amazing pie maker. The restaurant part of the resort is still run by my grandmother Carol and the resort is run by my brother. People travel miles for a taste of her pies. I spent my summers there working in the kitchen. After college I did a small stint at CIA , California Culinary Academy, but most of my practical training was done at the Ritz Carlton Mauna Lani and Campton Place, San Francisco. I left the food industry after my daughter was born and ran a production company for 15 years. Last year and decided it was time to return to my true love - food."

A true love that inspired Grace to swap the sunny West Coast of America for chilly Copenhagen. 

"I met some exchange students at University of Oregon from Denmark, Norway and Sweden. I hooked up with them when I decided to come to Europe to travel. And every time I left I ended up missing it and returning. Met a Danish man, married, had a child, got a dog, bought a house in the suburbs, same ol, same ol, blah blah and then ditched the guy, kept the kid and the dog and moved back to the city!!!! Big changes, all of which included the birth of the American Pie Company."

A New Path in Life - The Bad Ass Baker

Grace has dreamed of opening a bricks & mortar pie shop since she wrote the cook book 'American Pie' with her business partner Erin. 

"The Danes loved our take on having fun cooking American sweets and pies. After running my own production company for too many years I felt i wanted to take a new path in my life. I knew I wanted to return to food, so I started putting the thoughts in motion, looking for kitchens and talking to people in the industry. I started creating the energy to make the dream come alive. I had no idea how it would unfold but i knew it would somehow."

 A meeting with one of Erin's clients, Dorte, a huge fan of Americana, gave them their next business partner and the stimulus to get the ball rolling. As Grace says,

"we both felt that the gods had just handed us the missing part of what now makes up the all woman triage of The American Pie Company. Erin Chapman has owned an advertising agency for many years here in CPH. She is known as the Pie Pusher. She handles all PR and Marketing and design. Dorte Pripp is our CEO. She is a business powerhouse. And me…. I am the pie lady otherwise known as the Bad Ass Baker."

Everything We Love In One Dish

So, what inspires Grace's recipes?

"Everything inspires me. Often I have dreams of what pies i am going to conjure up. More often than not I draw my inspiration from peoples desires. People desire, and I mean desire, chocolate and caramel and salt and fresh fruit and butter and sugar. Its never hard for me come up with a new combination or revisit some of our oldest and most loved American staples and add a Gracie twist to it. Thats the great thing about Pie. Its everything we love all in one pan."

On a recent visit I tested out Grace's Pecan & Bourbon Pie - a normal pecan tart is one of my favourite sweet treats, but add bourbon to a  deep pie? It was fantastic. The pastry was just right and the bourbon helped to take the edge off the sweetness.

As this is Denmark Grace also has a Cinnamon Breakfast Pie as a staple on the menu - a kind of familiar safety net for the wary Danish palate! The pie just melts as you eat it - all the best components of Danish & American baking rolled in to one dish.

Fear not if you don't have a sweet tooth - there are also savoury pies on the menu - the Chicken & Thyme is highly recommended.

Tempted to pay a visit? You should be. The shop is on Skindegade in the centre town. Find out more here.

Weekend Man-Food - Spiced Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs

As regular readers will know I've been away with the British Army for a long while and, horror of horrors, have had to subsist on the slop provided by their civilian contractors for the last year. The MOD should be utterly ashamed of what it feeds its troops, but I digress.

Well, I'm home now and have had an emotional reunion with my kitchen! So, here's the first Weekend Manfood post for a long time. I had this at a restaurant last year whilst nursing the mother of all hangovers after a friends' wedding. I knew immediately I had make this dish at home.

I give you meat stuffed with cheese... or mozzerella stuffed meatballs.

Meat. Cheese. Oh yes!

Assemble the following:

500g beef mince
100g chorizo, diced in to small cubes
1 hunk mozzarella, diced in to small cubes
250ml bread crumbs
100ml milk
2 eggs, beaten
3 tbs of Herbs de Provence
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp ground garlic
1tsp ground black pepper
1tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp chilli flakes

Throw the whole lot in to a large glass bowl and mix thoroughly.

Form the meat in to ball and press the mozzarella cube in to the centre and re form.

Brown the meatballs in a large pan, then pour in some tomato sauce. Bring to the boil then lower the heat and simmer partially covered for an hour. (I have to admit I cheated here and used a jar of ready-made passata but it's easy enough to make your own sauce.)

Serve with penne. Simple as that. Have a good weekend chaps.

Weekend Man Food - Pot Roast Ox Cheeks With Red Lentils

On a recent trip to England I was excited to see ox cheeks in an excellent local farm butchers, Brogdale Farm in Faversham.

Until relatively recently ox cheeks have been unavailable. Classed as offal and obviously part of the head, they were binned because of the BSE scare. Traditionally most butchers have chucked them in the mincer, but with the growing popularity of slow cooking ox cheeks are making something of a comeback.

Rightly so. After a long slow cook they yield some of the most tender meat I've ever thrown down my gullet - so tender in fact that I could have eaten them with a spoon.

Anyway, a mere £4.50 later I emerged smiling from the butchers armed with two large cheeks and set about researching how to best cook them. Clearly a slow cook was a given, but what spices and ingredients to use?

It's here that I have to admit to actually reading what one friend has referred to as "that organ of wrongness," The Guardian. Assuming this is not enough to put you off slow cooking forever I found a Tom Kerridge recipe online under the title "10 Best Slow Cooked Recipes" in the Life & Style section.

After I recovered from a bit of a middle class existential crisis, I realised that, context aside, the recipe looked fantastic. I love using spices in my cooking, this dish being the bastard child of a curry and a traditional pot roast. Or is it technically braising? 
I won't lose any sleep over it and neither should you. All I've done is tweak it to my tastes slightly.

The great thing about this type of cooking is that you can add what you like.

Raw meat marinating in beer. That equals a weekend win in my book.

Amass the following:

(Serves 4)

2 large ox cheeks, about 400g each, cut in half
300ml stout
4 star anise
2 tsp coriander seeds
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp dried chilli flakes
1 tsp ground ginger
Rapeseed oil
2 onions, finely chopped4 garlic cloves, grated
150g fresh root ginger, finely chopped
600ml beef stock

For the spiced red lentils:

250g red lentils
4 tbsp rapeseed oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, grated
2 tsp turmeric
1 chilli, finely chopped
1 cinnamon stick
800ml chicken stock
Freshly squeezed juice of 2 limes 
Salt and pepper, to taste

For the parsley yoghurt: 

Slack handful parsley, finely chopped
200g plain yoghurt
1 tsp black pepper

Proceed as follows:

1. A day before you plan to serve this, mix the stout, star anise, coriander and cumin seeds, chilli flakes and ground ginger together in a large bowl. Add the ox cheeks, cover and marinate in the fridge for 24 hours. (I left the cheeks untrimmed.)
2. The next day remove the ox cheeks from the marinade and pat dry with a tea towel. Reserve the marinade. Heat 4 tbsp rapeseed oil in a flameproof casserole over a medium heat. Add the ox cheeks and sear on both sides until browned. Remove from the pan and set aside.
3. Add the onions to the fat in the pot, reduce to low and fry, stirring occasionally, for at least 5 minutes until softened, but not coloured. Add a little extra oil to the pot if necessary, then add the ginger and garlic and fry, stirring, for 4–5 minutes until they are browned, but not burnt.
4. Return the meat to the pot, pour in the stout marinade and the beef stock and bring to the boil. Cover the pot and simmer low on the stove for a minimum 3½ hours until the beef is very tender.
5. Take pot off the hob and leave on one side for at least 1 hour. (Or leave it to sit its own juices for 24 hours. It is supposed to taste better, but I was too impatient.)
6. Meanwhile, make the spiced red lentils. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4 and place the lentils, in a roasting tray, in the oven. Toast for 10–15 minutes until lightly tinged. Remove from the oven and set aside.
7. Heat oil in a large saucepan over low heat. Add the onion, chilli and garlic and fry, stirring occasionally, for at least 5 minutes until softened, but not coloured. Stir in turmeric and keep stirring for a further 1–2 minutes. Add the lentils and the cinnamon stick, then pour in the chicken stock and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer the lentils, uncovered and stirring occasionally to make sure they don't catch on the base of the pan , for about 40 minutes until they fall apart and you have purée in the pan. Add lime juice and season.
8. Just before serving, mix the parsley, yoghurt and black pepper together. Reheat the ox cheeks and their cooking juices. Serve the cheeks with a little of the cooking juices, the red lentil purée and a good dollop of the yoghurt.

In combination with the zesty red lentil side dish, the ginger and star anise cut through the gelatinous meat perfectly. If you have any left over cooking liquor you can recycle it as a soup - we simply added the left over lentils and some diced boiled potatoes.

Hopefully ox cheeks don't become so trendy as to rocket in price. That would be a shame. They are a true thrift cut of meat, but more importantly taste fantastic.

I've no idea if I'll be able to find ox cheeks now I'm stranded back in Denmark, I guess I'll just have to smuggle some more back next time I fly over.

I urge you to visit the butchers at Brogdale Farm if you're in the Faversham area - it is nothing short of meat Valhalla - more recipes to follow soon using their wares.

Weekend Man Food

Slow Cooked Chilli

This dish is a firm favourite here at NU. A big one pot dish, cooked at the weekend, will feed you in to the week. You won't get bored of eating the same thing either. Chilli is versatile and can be served in a number of ways.

We normally have it with rice at first then use up any left overs to make burritos with sour cream & guacamole.

If you have the patience the chilli benefits from being left in the fridge overnight after you've cooked it. The flavour always seems to improve.

The following was is based on a recipe I found on BBC Food, but has gradually evolved over the years to what you see here. 

Most recipes use beef mince only, but I prefer the deeper more rounded flavour that a pork / beef mix gives. I have also stopped using mince. The end result is much improved by using chopped braising or stewing steak and a fatty cut of pork like shoulder.

Feel free to improvise with the amount and type of chillies and the spices, the following is merely what works for me.

Ingredients:

1. 500g pork shoulder, roughly chopped
2. 500g beef stewing steak, roughly chopped
3. 2 or 3 onions, finely chopped
4. 2 cloves garlic, crushed
5. 2 peppers, finely chopped
6. 1 stick celery, finely chopped
7. 4 chillies, finely chopped
8. 1 bay leaf
9. 1 tbsp cumin seeds
10. 1 tbsp coriander seeds
11. 1 tbsp dried oregano
12. 1 cinnamon stick
13. 1 tsp black pepper corns
14. 1 tbsp paprika
15. 2 tsp cayenne pepper
16. 1 dollop, tomato puree
17. 2 x 400g tinned tomatoes
18. 250ml beef stock
19. 1 x tin lima beans
20. 1 x tin kidney beans
21. square, dark chocolate, chopped
22. handful, fresh coriander, finely chopped

Method:

1. Gather all ingredients together first. Chop all the vegetables & meat. Measure out your spices and toast all the seeds & cinnamon for one minute in a small dry frying pan. Crush in mortar & pestle (or grinder) and mix together with other spices and herbs.
2. Heat large pan with olive or rape-seed oil. Fry the meat until browned. Remove from pan and set aside
3. Add all the vegetables and fry for 5-6 minutes until golden
4. Then add the spices and mix in
5. Return the meat to pan and stir to combine
6. Add the tomato puree, stock and tinned tomatoes. Bring to the boil
7. Reduce heat and leave to simmer, partially covered, for 4 hours or until the source has thickened up and the meat is on the verge of falling apart.
8. Add the chocolate, kidney and lima beans and simmer till hot through
9. Sprinkle with the fresh coriander and serve with riceYou can use any leftover to make burritos too. This is really good with a pale ale or ballsy Spanish red wine.

If anyone has any suggestions or comments on what they put in their chilli we'd love to hear it.

Have a good weekend chaps.

Weekend Man Food

Pot Roast Pig Cheeks With Chorizo.

I make no apology for featuring another pork recipe this week... I do live in Denmark after all.

Slow cooked pork goodness.

I don't need to explain what part of the pig the cheeks come from, but being part of the head they are technically offal. Do not let this put you off. Pig cheeks are some of the tastiest meat I've ever had, with a much richer flavour than other parts of the animal.

A sinewy cut, cheeks respond wonderfully to a long slow cook. Unwanted by the ignorant masses, cheeks are thrown in to the mincer by most butchers, but given a bit of notice they will be happy to prepare you some.

To Irma's (Danish supermarket) immense credit they have started stocking pig cheeks at the weekends - presumably after they've butchered enough pig during the week. Grabbing them immediately I set about researching how to cook them.

This Spanish influenced recipe is my version of one I found here.

Ingredients:

1. 1 medium carrot, finely chopped
2. 3 or 4 celery stalks, finely chopped
3. 2 small onions, finely chopped
4. 3 cloves garlic, crushed
5. 2 bay leaves
6. 150g chorizo, chopped in to largish chunks
7. 1 tbsp paprika
8. 2 tsp mixed herbs
9. 8 pig cheeks, cut into large chunks
10. 1 tin lima beans
11. 300ml chicken stock
12. 250ml red wine
13. 2 tins chopped tomatoes
14. small bunch parsley, chopped
15. rapeseed oil, for frying

Procedure:

1. Heat oil in a large heavy pan and fry the chorizo until the fat in the sausage starts to run out.
2. Add the onion, carrots, celery and garlic. Fry until soft and golden.
3. Add the paprika and fry for another minute. Take out of pan and set aside.
4. Add a dash more oil and thoroughly brown the meat.
5. Return the vegetables and chorizo to the pan. Add the mixed herbs.
6. Add the wine. When reduced by half add the stock and tomatoes and bring to the boil.
7. Turn down heat, partially cover, and simmer on the stove for 4 hours, or until the meat is just falling apart.
8. Add the lima beans and leave to heat through.
9. Before serving mix in the chopped parsley.
10. Serve with rice or potatoes. Wash down with a robust Spanish wine.

This recipe is really quite delicious, a carnivores dream.

Have a good weekend chaps!