The modest kitchen in the summer house doesn’t invite grand culinary adventures. Therefore, the food should be easy and straightforward – preferably requiring as few utensils as possible. Here, the grill often becomes our best friend.
However, are you getting a bit tired of the usual grilled sausages, chicken fillets, and burgers, accompanied by the potato salad from the refrigerated section and the good old store-bought Thousand Island or crème fraîche dressing? Then you should read on.
The Danish Summer Beckons
Finally, the holiday is near! The entire Danish landscape with its butter-yellow rapeseed fields beckons, and the charming summer house has been found and booked.
You have done your research and noted the area’s most family-friendly attractions, events, amusement parks, and dining spots. Everything is pretty much under control down to the smallest detail, and everything is set and ready – but you probably won’t be dining out every night, so what’s on the menu when you have to cook?
The Classic, Modest Summer House Kitchen
In the summer house, the challenge is often the same: You must manage in an unfamiliar or modest kitchen with a limited selection of utensils and equipment. It’s more the rule than the exception that you’ll have to make do with a mini oven, a single hotplate, and a grill on the terrace. Therefore, it is not unusual for the meals to be a simplified version of the dishes made at home. For the evening meal, the grill is the trusty companion many of us turn to because it requires neither wild tools, preparation, nor washing up.
Inspiration for Easy Alternatives
The limited equipment in the summer house need not be a barrier to delicious, homemade – and easy – meals that both fit into the summer house vibe and taste of more than simple “summer house food”. With a little preparation and planning from home, you can all enjoy delicious, flavorful meals that don’t require grand gestures at the holiday destination or a large cleanup afterward.
Here are our best tips for eating easy, delicious dishes in the summer house.
The Meat
You can plan and prepare some of the meat from home. For example, you can make the meatball mixture before you travel, so the meatballs only need frying when you arrive at your holiday destination.
Alternatively, the meatballs can be cooked from home, so they only need reheating. You can do this by warming them in the summer house oven – or you can vacuum pack the cooked meatballs in advance, so they only need warming at the holiday destination. You can easily do this by placing them either in the kitchen sink or a regular bucket with boiling water while you set the table and prepare the rest of the meal.
Meatballs
No matter how tempting and straightforward the pre-packaged grill pack from the supermarket may seem, you can safely give it a wide berth. No matter which cut is involved, you can bring the meat to the summer house and ensure the whole family a taste experience that doesn’t taste of supermarket.
If you are not already familiar with the sous vide method, you do yourself a great favor by becoming it. By preparing the meat in your sous vide from home, you only need to heat it in the kitchen sink or bucket and at the same time ensure a super tender and juicy piece of meat for the evening meal – even in the modest kitchen of the summer house.
All you have to do from home is season or marinate the meat as desired, then vacuum pack and cook it in your sous vide. Subsequently, place the vacuum bags directly in the freezer, then bring the vacuumed meat to the summer house in the cooler bag.
Place the vacuumed meat in a bucket or bathroom sink with warm water for half to one hour before mealtime. From here, the meat needs only a moment on the grill or pan to get a seared crust – and then there’s delicious and super-tasty meat for the whole family.
Below you can find easy guides for preparing different cuts using the sous vide method.
Sous vide chicken breast
Roast beef prepared sous vide
Confit duck leg sous vide
The Sides
Potato salad is a good old standby, both at the grill table and when we generally have lunch on the go. It is both easy, straightforward, and tasty. Isn’t the supermarket version the one you’re most excited to bite into? Although it is a fine substitute in the absence of something better, you can easily make your own homemade potato salad directly in the summer house.
Below you will find a range of suggestions for simple and delicious side dishes that can easily be prepared in the summer house.
Potato salad
Spinach salad
Bearnaise potato salad
Pea salad
The Dressing
To save washing up and effort, you probably happily skip the “sauce project” and stick to store-bought dressing. With very little equipment available, you can still serve wonderful, homemade dressings that only took a few minutes to make.
Peanut-lime dressing
Bearnaise mayo
Garlic mayo
Homemade Thousand Island Dressing
Vinaigrette
Tomato salsa
The World’s Easiest Bearnaise Sauce
The Dessert
After a long, cozy evening meal on the terrace, give the kids a fifty to go and get an ice cream from the kiosk. It adds a lot of good and delightful holiday spirit.
Here you can, for example, grill pineapple, banana, or watermelon over the residual heat from the grill and serve the grilled fruit with ice cream sticks from the kiosk – remove the sticks from the ice creams, for instance, and serve them on plates.
The banana is grilled in its skin and can also make a lovely dessert accompanied by brown sugar, whipped cream, and chocolate sauce.
You can also choose to surprise the whole family with a dessert that tastes as if you spent hours in the kitchen beforehand – which is, of course, not the case.
Below, you will see our suggestions for desserts you can create easily and without needing an overwhelming amount of time, energy, or counter space.
Lemon mousse
Tarte Tatin
Chocolate muffins
Crème Brûlée (sous vide)
The Breakfast
A lovely, sunlit breakfast table with freshly baked bread, juice, chocolate spread, and jam is a must during the holiday. When the holiday is marked on the calendar, the mornings should go as smoothly as possible, and you would probably rather rub the sleep from your eyes in peace than rush into the kitchen to bake bread.
Therefore, many – if not all – mornings in the summer house begin with a visit to the local bakery. However, you can easily add some variety to the usual buns from the bakery.
Here you can see our suggestions for breakfast that doesn’t require much time or energy in the kitchen, yet still tastes of more than “easy solutions”.
Poached Egg in Microwave
Crispy Waffles
Easy Brunch Rolls
Egg Pancake with Salmon
Oatmeal with Apples, Almonds, and Cinnamon Sugar
Overnight Oats
Vegan Pancakes with Cardamom and Syrup
