Fleming - Cook yourself happy - the danish way

The Danish Way

CAROLINE FLEMING

Photography by Lisa Linder

DEDICATION

I dedicate this book to my beloved parents and my three children, Alexander, Josephine and Nicholas.

My late mother was the first to hold my hand as we walked through nature, collecting produce. My late father was still alive for the majority of my recipe writing, always there to share ideas and good tips. Now he has very sadly joined my beloved mother in heaven. Not a day goes by when I dont miss them and wish they were here. My three beautiful children and I have so many precious memories of them. We will continue to keep their memories alive through the many generations to come with all the food we cook and eat and with all the love we have for each other.

First published in 2017 by
Jacqui Small
An imprint of The Quarto Group
7477 White Lion Street
London N1 9PF

Text copyright 2017 by Caroline Fleming
Photography, design and layout copyright Jacqui Small 2017

The authors moral rights have been asserted.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

Publisher: Jacqui Small
Senior Commissioning Editor: Fritha Saunders
Managing Editor: Emma Heyworth-Dunn
Design: CHD
Editor and Project Manager: Claire Wedderburn-Maxwell
Photographer: Lisa Linder
Food Stylist: Mikkel Karstad
Production: Maeve Healy

Digital edition: 978-1-91112-773-4
Hardcover edition: 978-1-91112-728-4

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

As a child I would often spend time with my mother and grandmother outdoors. On weekends we would go foraging for mushrooms or blueberry picking. I remember sitting in the fields eating glorious, crunchy green peas, feeling the warm breeze on my face and loving the pea shells and scented air around me.

A favourite pastime was climbing up our cherry tree, losing track of the height as I searched for the next juicy cherry. I would sit there for hours, eating the luscious dark cherries until my tummy hurt; on one occasion I had to be taken down by the fire brigade because I climbed too high to be able to get down alone!

Another tradition was rolling down the enormous sand dunes of Skagen followed by a sumptuous feast of fjord rejer mini baby prawns (shrimp). They seemed to take forever to peel, but it was always worth it for that very first bite.

Since I was a little girl, I just loved food. When other children may have asked for sausages or spaghetti, I wanted to have mackerel with tomato sauce and mayonnaise in an open Danish sandwich, or plain grilled (broiled) sardines with sea salt and lemon. I may also have asked for steamed mussels, baby prawns or warm smoked salmon all so delicious and fragrant, eaten with a warm newly baked loaf of rye bread.

So many of the recipes here are based on dishes I loved as a child, traditional food that my parents and grandparents enjoyed, and ingredients merged with impressions from my travels around the world.