Dinner!

Oh, this was good. It's a regular mushroom risotto, made with ordinary button mushrooms, and some dried (and re-constituted in warm water) funnel chanterelles. On top is a boneless chicken thigh, wrapped with prosciutto de parma. I browned that in a hot pan, then added a little apple cider and let it braise until the chicken was cooked. I finished off with a spoonful of cream, and let it reduce into the gorgeous caramelly syrup you can see on top of the chicken.

Very good, indeed.

Giveaway! Electrolux Ultramix Pro

So, like I wrote last night, yesterday was the biggest professional chef competition in Sweden, Chef of the Year, or Årets Kock. One of the main sponsors is Electrolux, and they had provided each finalist with a new mixer, the Ultramix Pro. Each one used yesterday was engraved with each chef's name, and after the contest, cleaned and returned to their boxes.

And now one of them can be yours! I've been asked to giveaway Fredrik Lagberg's mixer, to one lucky reader. Fredrik didn't win, but was voted "people's favorite". He made a gorgeous roasted beetroot purée with brown butter in his mixer. It's a pretty versatile tool - it can be used as a normal stick blender, but it also comes with a food processor bowl (which is really necessary for super smooth purées) and a beater attachment so that you can use it for whipping egg whites, cream and such things.




All you have to do to be eligible is to leave a comment, telling me what the first thing you'll make if you win would be. (And make sure to leave an e-mail address so I can contact you.) And sorry - Sweden only for this.

The giveaway is open until Saturday, January 28.

Congrats Klas Lindberg!

Klas Lindberg is Årets Kock - Chef of the Year - 2012! He's actually the only one of the six finalists I have met, as I was lucky enough to cook with him right before Christmas. He's a super nice guy, and I was definitely rooting for him today.

I was at the competition for a few hours today, and went to a pretty interesting seminar about Sweden as a culinary country. Nordic cuisine is very popular right now, and no doubt we have some brilliant fine dining restaurants - but we also have a lot of mediocre or downright bad food, and that needs to change.

Another thing that needs to change.. where are all the female chefs? All six finalists this year were male, and a vast majority of the jury, too. I hope to discuss this further, as I find it pretty sad - I'm sure there are excellent female chefs around, and I want to see more of them.

Favorite finds at Formex Spring 2012

I spent yesterday at the Formex fair with Lena and Dagmar. Formex is a huge fair for all sorts of interior decorating, mostly geared towards shops. Agents for all sorts of brands are there, and show off their new products. (And no direct selling allowed!) I was mostly interested in the food-related things, obviously, but it's fun to walk around and look at kid stuff, jewelry, handbags, and all the other stuff...

Here are some of my favorite things! First photo above is my favorite, ServeItUp from Fusionbrands. SO SMART! It's a loose cake stand - that can be attached to any plate. Bad explanation, let's try again: you can turn any plate into a cake stand. I need this. It comes in two sizes. I need both.


Yankee Candle: always a favorite. They had some gorgeous new scents, and my favorite was Wild Passion Fruit. Yummy!


Not sure of the brand, but two-part squeeze bottles to use two-color frosting? Smart!


The cutest patterned paper cups are always from [kala:s får:m]


An absolutely fabulous jam with oranges, lemons, vanilla and crushed cocoa beans. This was made by Äkta Sylt.


Licorice chocolate truffles by Skärgårdskonfekt. I'm not a huge licorice fan, but it's a very trendy flavor here, and you saw it everywhere at the fair. These were tasty though!


A tiny jar of SUPERTINY cookies, from Åre Bageri. Very cute. And very tasty, too.


Yummy cantuccini with cheese and beetroots - sounds odd but tasted great. I could imagine these instead of croutons, in a salad... or just to nibble on. Ninas Skorpor.


Adorable dinosaur chocolate molds - must get these. From Silikomart.


Cool Globe, a Swedish innovation. The domed lid holds an ice pack, to keep the food inside nice and cool. I want one of these for breakfast out on our deck in the summer!


Butterbox - the perfect way to store butter (which in Sweden comes in bricks, not sticks) and with a built in slicer.


Lovely bowls, patterned both inside and out, from Ib Laursen.


A super nifty little apron with pockets, not really for cooking, but perfect for gardening. Or for teachers. I am strongly considering this for a gift to Titus pre-school teachers. From Fröken Smart.


I've shown Frozzypack before - a lunch box where the lid is actually an ice pack. Very smart! They now come in pretty spring colors, and soon they'll have a slightly bigger size for sale, too.

A quick dinner

So, my blogging frequency: way down. Sorry. Can't say it'll change, because right now, being pregnant with my second, I'm not feeling 100% and I'm definitely not cooking a whole lot. (If it was up to me, I'd probably live off bagels.)

Still, I want to keep the blog going, and I'll definitely make an effort to post at least a few times per week. For now, here's a really simple but delicious dinner idea, perfect for a weeknight. The base is risoni pasta (called orzo in some places - basically it's rice-shaped pasta) tossed with pesto (and an optional spoonful of cream), topped with whatever you like. We had tomatoes, edamame beans, and feta cheese. Fried halloumi or bacon are wonderful as well, pickled red onions is another great addition, cubed avocado... Well, it's versatile. And we usually serve everything in separate bowls, so you can mix and match.

Brown Butter Carrot Mash

This is a small, but very powerful side dish. It's nutritious and rich, and just seriously tasty. Brown butter could very well be one of the most magical things in existence, and paired with the earthiness of the carrots and a squeeze of lemon... yeah. Just try it. You'll like it.

Brown Butter Carrot Mash

4-5 small carrots, peeled and sliced
1/2 yellow onion coarsely choped
1 small garlic clove, minced
100 g butter
salt, black pepper, freshly squeezed lemon

Start by melting the butter and let it brown, on fairly high heat. When it's golden, and smelling deliciously nutty and caramelly, add the carrots, onions and garlic, and lower the heat to medium. Cook, under a lid, until the veggies are soft, about 15-20 minutes. Drain the veggies (we're not saving the butter but I suppose you could), and mash them. I don't bother to make a smooth purée, I much prefer a rougher mash. Season with salt, pepper and plenty of lemon.

Recipe in Swedish:
Morotsmos med brynt smör

Lemon Snickerdoodles

So, maybe these aren't technically snickerdoodles, but they're very similar. They're thin (which means they spread a LOT, so make sure you leave a lot of room between them when baking) and chewy, with crispy edges. The flavor is wonderful - bright and lemony. I have a stash of these, unbaked, in the freezer so I can have freshly baked cookies in just ten minutes.

That's probably my best cookie tip of all time - freeze unbaked scoops of cookie dough in ziploc bags, just make sure you label them with the correct oven temperature and time! (And you might have to add a minute or two to the baking time.)

I found this recipe at Tove's blog - it's in Swedish.

Lemon Snickerdoodles
about 40

250 g butter, at room temperature
400 g sugar
1 egg
4 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
grated zest from 1 lemon
2 tsp vanilla sugar (or 1 tsp extract)
420 g all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
extra sugar for rolling, optional

Beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the egg, the lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla sugar. Mix well. Add flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder, and mix lightly.

Shape the dough - which will be quite soft and sticky (chill it a little if you need to) - into walnut-sized balls and place well apart on a baking sheet. You can roll the cookie balls in sugar first, but I didn't.

Bake at 175°C for 8-10 minutes, and let the cookies cool completely on the sheet (or they'll break easily). They should be pale, but lightly golden around the edges.

Recipe in Swedish:
Sega citronkakor