As I get a little older, watching the waistline becomes mandatory. Weekends are more the time to indulge in baking and eating sweet treats. Rabbit rations are for the working week.
I was reminded of the wonderful ‘Hjonabandsaela’ or Blessing of the Marriage cake at a recent lunch! It is not only light and delicious, it is traditional comfort food at its best, and – it originates from Iceland!
And I am heading to a Thai wedding shortly. It’s an informal second wedding so a Bring a Plate concept is included. So to add some ‘Scandi flair,’ for which I am renowned. I will make an Icelandic cake.
Icelandic Wedding Traditions
Fridays are the traditional wedding day in Iceland.
The pagan Icelanders believed the day was dedicated to Frigga, who just happened to be the goddess of marriage! Engagements sometimes last for 3 -4 years, so after waiting that long, it is little wonder that cake features prominently in the celebrations!
At the wedding feast itself, a ‘Kransekake’ or traditional Scandinavian wedding cake, is eaten. This the wonderfully Scandinavian stack of crispy, concentric almond-based pastry rings, decorated with icing and flags, which looks and tastes incredible.
Another Icelandic tradition is for a groom to send presents to bride’s family, on the morning after the wedding. Whilst the ancient tradition is by and large, forgotten in modern times, it is still customary for a bride and groom to exchange personal “bed gifts and cake.” The traditional religious ritual, the ‘Blessing of the Marriage’ is undertaken by the priest, after the wedding couple leave the wedding feast, when the bride and groom are finally alone! This is the cake for such an occasion!!!
This weekend’s sweet treat!
Recipe – Hjonabandsæla -Blessing of the Marriage
Ingredients:
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup plain flour
1 cup dark brown sugar
150 gram butter
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda/baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cardamon (optional)
Rhubarb jam or other not very sweet jam such as cranberry.
Mix thoroughly softened (not melted) butter with the sugar. Add flour, bicarbonate of soda and oats
Press 3/4 of dough into greased tin. Spread jam on top, sprinkle the rest of the dough on top.
Bake in medium hot oven approx 30 -40 minutes.
To Make your own Jam
Bring to boil:
2 cups chopped rhubarb
juice of 1 orange
1/2 cup strawberry or cranberry (lingonberry) jam
2 tablespoon sugar
Cook 10 minutes and allow to cool. You can add more sugar if you think it is too tart.
NB Tips:
If mixing by hand, use quick cook rolled oats, instead of whole oats.
Instead of rhubarb jam, you can try cranberry, blackberry or plum jam.
This week’s Cake at the Home by the Sea is delicious served with tea or coffee or can be versatile enough for a dessert treat if served with some vanilla yoghurt, cream or ice cream drizzled with Raspberry Coulis.
Raspberry Buttermilk Cake Recipe
Ingredients
130g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
55g unsalted butter, at room temperature
145g sugar, plus a further 1 1/2 Tablespoon sugar, divided
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp finely grated lemon zest (optional)
1 large egg, at room temperature
1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk
1 cup (approx 140g) fresh or frozen raspberries
Topping:
1 dessertspoon butter, (melted)
1 tablespoon cinnamon (sprinkled over the top)
Method
Preheat oven to 205°C/400°F
Butter and flour a 20cm round cake pan.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside.
Beat the butter and first measure of sugar with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy.
Beat in the vanilla extract and lemon zest. Add the egg and beat well.
Switching the mixer to a low speed, mix in the flour mixture in three batches, alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour. Ensure that each time you only mix until just combined.
Transfer the batter into the cake pan and gently spread to fill the pan. Scatter the raspberries over the top and sprinkle with the final 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of sugar.
Bake until cake is golden and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean, which should take between 30-35 minutes.
Cool the cake for 10 minutes then turn out onto a rack to cool completely, then brush melted butter on top and sprinkle with cinnamon.
Variation: Add 100g white chocolate buds to the mix prior to adding the raspberries.
I love to try Nordic cooking and dishes. My connection with my Danish family feels a little stronger when I make something peculiarly Danish.
The bonus comes when the dish is healthy AND tasty.
Cucumbers are a humble yet versatile vegetable that hold an important place in salads and summer dishes.
Pickled cucumbers extend the life of salad vegetables, so we can enjoy them for longer. For those of us living in a warmer part of the world, cucumbers are an everyday part of life.
Nutritional Benefits of Cucumber
In just a single cup of cucumber slices, you’ll get 14% to 19% of the vitamin K you need for the day. In addition, you will find vitamins B and C along with minerals like copper, phosphorus, potassium, and magnesium.
Web.MD
Danish Cucumber Salad
This really quick and simple form of cucumber salad, (or in Danish, ‘Agurksalat’), that can extend the life of your salad vegetables and impart another flavour to your meals.
Tart and scrumptious with a tuna or smoked salmon sandwich, or with cold meats, this form of cucumber salad will keep in the fridge for days.
If you run out, you can reuse the liquid and top up with another cucumber or two before you dispose of it.
Recipe
Ingredients
1- 2 thinly sliced cucumbers (I use Lebanese)
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
ground pepper
Rosemary or Dill
Thinly slice cucumbers. Peel them if you prefer or have an issue with digesting vegetable skins.
Place in a bowl and sprinkle with a generous amount of salt. Set aside for an hour then drain off the liquid, or pat dry with a paper towel.
Place the sliced and drained cucumbers in a glass jar. Use a glass jar due to the vinegar. (2 cups is a good starting amount, but you can use up to 2 full cucumbers for the amount of vinegar and sugar.) Add more if you are using large cucumbers but equal quantities of vinegar and sugar.
Place the vinegar and sugar in a pan. Heat until sugar is dissolved. I throw mine in the microwave for a minute. (Feel free to add a couple of tablespoons of water if you feel that the vinegar is too strong.)
Pour the vinegar and sugar over the cucumbers. Add pepper to taste. (Black pepper is fine, but white is less noticeable.)
Place a sprig of dill or rosemary in the jar (optional) and chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour before serving.
NB. As you finish the cucumbers, you can slice some more and continue to use the liquid for some time.
Whilst everyone has their own individual recipe, there are many similar versions
There are some many benefits to eating magnesium-rich foods, and broccoli and spinach are good dietary sources.
If you have members of the family that aren’t keen on munching down on a large chunk of “little trees,” or broccoli, then this soup might tempt them to eat more than they would as a humble steamed vegetable.
Broccoli Soup Recipe
500 g broccoli (diced stalks and sprigs)
1 small potato, finely diced
Several large spinach leaves, chopped roughly (or silverbeet or rainbow chard)
1 onion, diced
Several celery stalks, sliced
4 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup cream, (for cream of broccoli soup)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/3 cup frozen or fresh peas
pepper and salt to taste
Lemon slices as garnish
Variation: 1 small chicken breast, cooked and finely sliced
Saute the onion and celery in a pan until the onion turns transparent.
Add potato and stir
Wash broccoli and cut into sprigs and add broccoli, chopped spinach, chicken stock and onion/ celery mix to a large saucepan.
Bring to the boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes.
Add fresh or frozen peas and simmer til broccoli and peas are cooked.
If wanting to make cream of broccoli soup, mash or process using a hand blender or victimizer-blender till smooth. Add cream and return to saucepan heating through whilst adding seasoning and lemon juice.
Or/ gently blend or stir til broccoli breaks up into small sprigs then add seasonings and lemon juice.
Garnish and serve.
Variation:
Adding cooked slivers of chicken breast cooked bolster the protein content of this dish and turn it into a meal.
A nice accompaniment to Broccoli and Spinach soup would be almond or walnut bread.
They’re healthy, contain a vegetable and decadent with jam and cream:
They are Pumpkin Scones.
For Americans, do you call them Pumpkin biscuits?
The following is not my usual recipe.
But it is a great way to gain some of the benefits of eating pumpkin, particularly if you don’t like it or have children who dislike it.
Pumpkin is a great source of potassium and beta-carotene, which is a carotenoid that converts to vitamin A. It also contains some minerals including calcium and magnesium, as well as vitamins E, C and some B vitamins.
The following recipe comes from a controversial figure – a wife of a highly conservative politician, known for Electoral Gerrymander, who became a conservative Federal Senator herself, Lady Flo Bjelke-Petersen. The recipe is good, but I do prefer my recipe for Pumpkin Scones.
She could make a good pumpkin scone apparently, but the higher oven temperature on the following recipe, is way too high and will result in burnt scones. I would err on the lower recommended temperture rather than the highest.
Tip: I also pat a little milk on the top of each scone so that they brown up nicely. There is nothing worse than a pallid scone – it looks uncooked.
Minerals in our diet. Not something we give much thought too, is it? But should we? What does it matter if we are deficient in a little, say, magnesium?
It turns out to be pretty important for our bodies! Without enough magnesium, one could suffer:
foot pain
muscle cramps
migraines
high blood pressure
anxiety disorders
asthma
chronic fatigue
irritable bowel syndrome
in severe cases: cardiovascular disease in the form of cardiac arrhythmia, or angina.
low magnesium has been implicated in diabetes.
Magnesium can help control premenstrual syndrome or (PMS), especially where it concern breast tenderness, headache and irritability.
Magnesium can also be useful in relaxing muscles and preventing muscular cramps, during exercise.
“It is generally recommended that women with severe PMS symptoms take 300 to 500 milligrams a day for the two weeks before and during menstruation. The RDA for magnesium is about 300 milligrams, but at least twice as much is needed to see preventive and therapeutic benefits. Supplements are definitely needed to prevent osteoporosis. Women over 50 that are not taking Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) probably need about 750 milligrams of magnesium every day, an amount that is hard to get through the diet alone,” according to
Oral supplements are readily available, but it is best to include as many magnesium-rich foods, into the diet, as you can, especially if you fall in to the post menopausal age group.
Dairy products, like non-fat yoghurt
Fish particularly tuna and halibut
Dark leafy greens, such as kale, mustard greens, collards, chard (silverbeet), dandelion greens, sorrel, watercress.
Foods very high in magnesium include:
Brazil Nuts,
Pumpkin and Squash seeds
Sesame seeds
Spinach
Broccoli
Almonds
Walnuts
Beans
Peas
Apricots
Avocados
Bananas
Molasses
Brown rice
Cantaloupe
Figs
Garlic
Grapefruit
Peaches
Tofu and soybeans
Wheat, and whole grains
Dark chocolate (Eating magnesium can be tasty too!!)
Several herbs, such as chamomile, cayenne, fenugreek, lemongrass, licorice, paprika, parsley, peppermint, and sage also contain magnesium.
Worth noting also is, “The consumption of alcohol, diuretics, anticonvulsants, antibiotics, digitalis, and lithium can interfere with magnesium absorption. People taking these medications should speak with their doctor about supplementing. Other factors that can decrease magnesium absorption are elevated levels of fluoride, zinc, and vitamin D; diarrhea; high-fat and high-protein diets; consumption of large amounts of cod liver oil; and frequent consumption of foods high in oxalic acid, such as cocoa, rhubarb, spinach, and tea,”
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A Home by the Sea 
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