Kidney bean patties

These patties are really versatile, and could probably be served in any way you could imagine. As a perfect light summer meal with a filling salad, on a cold autumn day with potatoes, gravy and boiled vegetables, stuff into a pita bread with crunchy vegetables and a dressing - the possibilities are endless! I made them sort of meat ball sized, but if made slightly bigger, they would be great in a veggie burger as well. The taste great cold for lunch the next day too!

Kidney beans patties:

1 tin of kidney beans, drained and rinsed (230 grams drained)
1 egg

1 onion

3-4 tbsp breadcrumbs

2-3 tbsp finely chopped almonds

2 tbsp finely chopped fresh herbs (I used thyme)

Place the kidney beans in a food processor and process until the beans are roughly chopped. Place the chopped beans in a bowl and add the remaining ingredients to make a dough. Leave the dough to rest for about 30 minutes, then shape the dough into patties. I used about a tablespoonful of dough for each patty. 

To bake the patties in the oven, place them on a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake at 200 degrees for 20 minutes, turning after 10.  Alternatively, you could fry them in a bit of oil, in which case they would probably look much prettier and golden than mine did. However, they taste great baked in the oven, and you get 20 minutes to finish whatever you fancy eating with them.

Hummus

Today, my sister Marie and I started our day at the gym, kicking our own butts in the name of bikini season. Continuing on in the same spirit, we went home to make a quick, healthy and delicious lunch, before spending a few hours roasting in the sun in my garden. What a shame I had to spoil all my beach body efforts with a take-away pizza for dinner :)

Our aforementioned quick, healthy and delicious lunch consisted of sticks of carrot, red pepper and cucumber, fresh peas, wholemeal pitas and a big bowl of freshly made hummus. Contrary to when I make falafels, for which I would never use tinned chickpeas, simply because it just doesn't work, I normally use tinned chickpeas for hummus- that way I can have a portion ready in five minutes and don't have to plan my hummus-cravings ahead of time. 

Hummus:

1 tin of chickpeas (400 grams/240 grams drained)

2 cloves garlic

1 tbsp tahini

1/2 - 1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp paprika

3 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp lemon juice

Salt and pepper

Stick it all in a food processor and whiz until smooth. If you want to change the consistency, add a bit of cold water. Season with salt and pepper. 

Green bean, potato and tomato salad with a poached egg

If you ever have potatoes and green beans left over from dinner, save them and make this lovely salad for lunch the next day.

 Green bean, potato and tomato salad:

Mixed baby salad leaves
Green beans, cut into bite-sized pieces and boiled for 3.4 minutes
Plum cherry tomatoes, quartered
Potatoes, boiled, peeled and sliced.
Capers
1 egg

Vinaigrette:

Olive oil
Lemon juice
Dijon Mustard
Salt and pepper

Combine salad leaves, green beans and tomatoes in a bowl. Mix a vinaigrette by combining the mustard and lemon, and then slowly adding the oil while stirring constantly. Season the vinaigrette with salt and pepper. Pour the vinaigrette over the vegetables and toss to coat. Arranges the vegetables on a plate, and scatter slices of potato and capers over the top.

To poach the egg, bring water to a boil in a small saucepan. Once it's boiling, reduce the heat so the water is just simmering. Add a few spoonfuls of vinegar to the water. Crack the egg into a small cup, bring the cup close to the surface of the water and gently drop the egg into the simmering water. With a spoon, gently push the egg whites closer to the yoke, to help hold it all together. Let the egg simmer for about 4 minutes. Serve the egg on top of the salad.

Egg salad and Danish summer salad (radish and cucumber salad)

A very common lunch in Denmark is what I have heard described in English as an open sandwich. I'm not a big fan of that term, since the term "open sandwich" is in its essence an oxymoron. The verb "to sandwich" means to insert or enclose something or someone between two other people or things. Similarly, the noun "sandwich" means two pieces of bread or a split roll with a filling inside, and there can thus be no such thing as an open sandwich. At least that's what the linguist inside me says.

In Denmark, one of these open sandwiches is simply known as a mad, which translates directly into a food. That really says something about how common these are in Denmark - they are the quintessential food. If made with rye bread, we call them a rye bread food (rugbrødsmad). If topped with ham, they're called a ham food (skinkemad), with egg, an egg food (æggemad), with cheese, a cheese food (ostemad) etc. Today, I had two of them for lunch - one with egg salad and one with a cucumber and radish salad, known here as summer salad.

Egg salad:

2 organic eggs
2 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tbsp creme fraice (I used 18% today, but less will do)
1/4 tsp curry powder
Cress, as much as you like

Boil the eggs for 8-10 minutes. Let them cool down a little, then peel and chop. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix it all together. Done!


Summer salad:

Around 10 radishes, thinly sliced
Half a cucumber, thinly sliced and quartered
200 ml creme fraiche 18 %
1 tbsp rygeost (Danish smoked soft cheese made with cows milk and buttermilk)
Salt and pepper
Chives

Mix all the ingredients together. Done :)