Weekend Cat Blogging - love, sweet love

Gisele Gruyère, left, has been on a date this week. On the right is her handsome boyfriend, Athos. Cross your fingers (and paws) that we'll get cute little kittens in nine weeks or so!

For more kitties, head over to Kiri and Clare at Eat Stuff!

Chèvre Grape Salad for the new year

Happy New Year! This year has been wonderful for me - and I hope all my readers feel the same way. I've had so much happening - the big thing: my wedding. I'm so very thankful for having found the one I plan to spend the rest of my life with, and having married him feels wonderful. I've also had the opportunity to travel a bit this year - to Paris, London and Spain - lovely. And of course, I've developed this blog quite a bit. Something which I plan to keep on doing next year, for sure.

I have very easygoing plans for this New Year's Eve - me and Per are going to a friend's house for dinner. I can't wait - her boyfriend is a great cook, and I happen to know they just bought an ice cream maker...

Now, for a recipe. This salad is one of the best I've ever eaten. Really. The flavor combination is incredible. The recipe comes from Jamie Oliver's Jamie's Kitchen cookbook, and he says that you should use fresh tarragon. Well, I rarely have that. (very rarely, indeed.) So, I use rocket instead, and I use some dried tarragon thrown in with the vinegar. Excellent. By all means, use fresh tarragon if you have it - at least try it that way, you might find it a little intense - but this way is very nice too. It makes a really, really good starter - or a great dinner all by itself if you're not so hungry. Do try it!

Chèvre Grape Salad
Serves 2 as a light main course, or 4 as a starter

3-4 shallots, finely sliced
good white vinegar, 4-5 tbsp
1 tsp dried tarragon
4-5 tbsp olive oil
2 large handfuls of rocket, washed and dried
2 bunches of seedless grapes, sliced in half
150 g chèvre cheese
salt, freshly ground black pepper

Start by placing the sliced shallots in a small bowl. Cover with the vinegar and add the dried tarragon. Let stand for at least fifteen minutes. This makes the shallots incredibly crunchy and almost pickled.

Place the rocket and the grapes in a large bowl. Add the shallots and their vinegar, add the olive oil. Toss. Season with a little salt and freshly ground pepper if you'd like. Divide unto plates, and sprinkle with crumbled chèvre.

Sallad med Chèvre och druvor

Snowy Day

It's extremely snowy in Sweden today.

Love Yummies

I have written about these before, but without giving a recipe. This is a lovely little cake, that goes by many names in Swedish. I grew up with them as "Mocha Squares", Per's family called them "Maj's Spring Squares" and nowadays they're often called "Love Yummies" in the coffee shops. I prefer the last name, isn't it cute?

It's also fast and simple to bake, and it was the first thing Per made for me when we first started dating. It freezes well, if you're so inclined. Serve with coffee - it's perfect with a strong espresso!

Mocha Squares

2 eggs
300 ml sugar (about 240 g)
150 ml milk
450 ml flour (about 225 g)
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla sugar or extract
1 tbsp cacao powder
150 g melted butter or shortening

Butter and line a sheet pan with bread crumbs. Heat the oven to 225°C (~435°F)

Beat eggs and sugar until fluffy. Add vanilla and cacao. Mix the flour and baking powder, and add this to the batter with the milk. Finally, add the melted butter or shortening. Pour the batter into the prepared sheet pan. Bake for about 15 minutes. Take out and let cool completely.

For the topping:

200 g sieved powdered sugar
4 tbsp melted butter
4 tbsp cold strong coffee
1 tbsp cacao
2 tsp vanilla sugar or extract
dessicated coconut flakes

Mix everything together, except the coconut. Spread over the cooled cake and sprinkle with the coconut.

Foodie Gifts: Mastiha and Halva

I was fortunate enough to meet some of my blog readers a while ago! Tülin and Sakos from Greece were in Stockholm for a tabletennis tournament, and we managed to meet up and had some lovely coffee (or tea, actually) at Vetekatten. Being the incredibly sweet and generous people that they are, they had brought gifts! What to bring for a foodie - well, obviously, food.

Do you know what Mastiha is? No? Me either. But I was about to find out!

Mastiha starts as a semi-transparent sap from lentisk trees (actually evergreen bushes) found only in certain areas of the Greek island of Chios. As resinous granules, it was the original chewing gum, and the name "mastiha" is the root word of "masticate," meaning "to chew."

Mastiha is used in sweets, cooking, as a flavoring for liqueurs, and in soap-making, cosmetics, and toothpaste, among others. Recent evidence of its positive effect on ulcers has resulted in a boom in purchases by large pharmaceutical companies.

So, lots of good-for-you properties! I got Mastiha alcohol, and a Mastiha cake (that I haven't tried yet, I'm saving it for a special moment!) - fun!

Read more about Mastiha here.


And, for christmas, I got a package of Halva from Tülin! A traditional turkish dessert, very very sweet and very very good. I believe this is what's also called Turkish Delight - and just what naugthy Edward asks the White Witch for.. yes, I recently watched Narnia...

Domestic Goddess Onion Soup

I can't believe I haven't had time to blog about this! It was a wonderful, wonderful soup, and I truly felt like a domestic goddess when I served it up. Contrary to what you might believe, the recipe is not at all from Nigella's book with the same name, but from another D G - Julia Child's classic "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" that was given to me by a friend who was moving and didn't want to lug the heavy book with him. (Thank you, thank you, thank you!)

It takes time - but it's time very well spent, no doubts about it. Do give it a try. Please. I urge you. I changed some things from the original - for one, the cream wasn't in there, but I like the round feel of it. (Besides, I had omitted quite a bit of the oil and butter, so I felt fine with adding some liquid fat instead.) Feel free to play around with seasoning, or serving - maybe with some toasted bread, croutons, a little floater with cheese.. anything. I liked mine as plain as possible, with some crusty bread on the side.

Classic Onion Soup
adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Julia Childs
2 generous servings, or 4 as a small starter

3 large yellow onions, very thinly sliced
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp flour
1 litre (4 cups) boiling water + 2 bouillon cubes, or 1 litre stock.
150 ml white wine
50 ml cognac
100 ml single cream

Melt the butter and olive oil in a large pot. Add the onion, cover with a lid, and let it sweat for fifteen minutes on low heat. Remove the lid, and raise the heat to medium. Add the salt and a pinch of sugar, stir well. Let the onions caramelize for 30 minutes, stirring every five minutes. It must absolutely not burn.

Sprinkle in the flour, and stir well for 2-3 minutes. Add the wine, water and bouillon cubes (or ready made stock). Put the lid halfway on, and bring to a boil. Let simmer on medium heat for 30 minutes. Stir every now and then. Just before serving, correct seasonuing, and add cream and cognac.

Some cool new things

I've done quite a bit of shopping lately, and that means some fun additions for my kitchen, too!



-New Espresso cups! I found these handmade, unique cups, at an arts & craft fair that I went to with my sister. I fell in love at first sight - they're not only just the right size, but they're also comfortable to hold and intensely gorgeous. The designer - Louise Fredriksson - only had two that were the same shape, but hey, I'm happy with two.



-Copper Cookie Cutter! I love cat cookie cutters, and I'm always looking for new, unique ones. This one is my favorite - it's very large, and makes beautiful cats! But this little cat's head that I found at the same fair as above will make a good second, I think. I like that it'll make a smaller cookie, and I can't wait to try it out.



-Mise en place bowls. We've changed the way we cook lately, and we try to think more in "mise en place" terms than before. This means we have to have some decent bowls, and these beautiful stainless steel bowls from Ikea certainly fits the bill! I'm excited - good organization really makes for easier cooking, and more efficient, too!

Pralinhuset

Some more chocolate pralines found their way into my home - and tummy - the other day. These were from Pralinhuset, a great chocolate store in Stockholm. They have two locations, and are also frequently at different fairs, where I have encountered their mouth watering displays.

So, which ones did I pick? Left row, front to back: Wild Raspberry, Apple and Cinnamon Marzipan, Ginger. Right row, front to back: Toffee Caramel, Hazelnut Nougat, Tiramisu. My fave was the Apple and Cinnamon Marzipan - great flavor combination. The Ginger was also really nice, it had a very strong and fresh flavor.

Pralinhuset
Drottinggatan 112
or
Gallerian

Foodie Gifts: Tableas

I couldn't believe it when Lori of Dessert Comes First offered to send me some chocolate tableas, all the way from the Philippines. But she did. And they arrived. And they are great. Amazing, really, how some cacao, sugar and whatever else goes in these, can end up being so fluffy and luxurious when mixed with milk. Really delicious! We don't have anything like it here, so I'll just have to go to the Philippines to pick up some more! :)

Foodie Gifts: Confit de Roses

I got this lovely pink jar of goodness from a Secret Santa exchange at a cat forum I frequent. Many many thanks to sweet Allycat for knowing just what I wanted! :)

Mandarine Orange Salad

I made this very fast and simple dessert when my parents came over for dinner. I like that it's so festive-looking, and that it's a lot of different textures and flavors playing. The recipe is from Jamie's Kitchen, Jamie Oliver, and I've been wanting to try it for a long time. Sadly, it doesn't work that well. He says to boil a syrup from 4 tbsp water and 6 tbsp sugar (and some vanilla seeds) until it's golden brown. Well. Mine never did turn golden, but it turned thick and sticky. It was like a sheet of glass over the fruit. Very difficult to eat - but tasty. Next time, I'm just making a simple sugar syrup with vanilla, and drizzling that over it.

It's just a matter of assembly. You need nice, small mandarin oranges, about two per person. Slice them thinly and arrange on plates. Sprinkle with some finely chopped or flaked almonds. Sprinkle with herbs if you'd like - Jamie suggests mint. Drizzle over some vanilla-flavored syrup, and top with shaved chocolate just before serving.

Another shot at Café Brulé

Just another picture. Better this time. I'm still completely in love with the concept, which I wrote about here.

and Merry Christmas again, to those who celebrate on the 25th. In Sweden, christmas is usually celebrated on the 24th. We've spent today driving, more exactly driving our kitty Gisele Gruyère to a handsome kitty lover, with hopes of getting tiny kitty babies in nine weeks.

And we've had leftovers. Of course. I didn't cook a lot of christmas food (we were at my parent's house anyway) but I had to make meatballs, a christmas ham, Jansson's Temptation (that's a potato/anchovy gratin) and a Finnish casserole with swedes and carrots. Yum... More about all of that another day though!

Merry Christmas!!

I wish all of you out there a very, very, merry christmas!


"Ok, here's the deal. I look gorgeous for five seconds so you can take your stupid picture, and then I'm totally attacking the ornaments."




"If I hide in the stocking, I'm sure I can catch Santa when he comes."

Christmas Candy: Lemon Vanilla Toffee

Yes, more christmas candy! As you might have noticed by now, toffee-making is really serious business in Sweden, as christmas approaches. You're swamped with recipes. This one is adapted - it was originally for lemon toffee but I got wild and crazy (ha!) and decided to add one of my very many vanilla beans. Yum!

Lemon Vanilla Toffee

300 ml cream (full fat)
1 vanilla bean
200 ml golden syrup
300 ml / 240 g sugar
2 tbsp butter
juice and zest from 1 lemon

about 70 tiny paper cups

Put the paper cups on a tray.

Start by putting the cream in a small saucepan. Score the vanilla bean, and put it in. Bring to a boil, remove from heat and cover with a lid. Let the cream infuse for fifteen minutes. Remove the bean, scraping the seeds into the cream, and discard.

Mix cream with all the other ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, and let boil slowly on medium heat until it's 122-125°C or passes the "soft ball test".

Pour the toffee carefully into each paper cup. Be very careful! Cool, and store in an airtight tin.

Still some time to give!

Hey, don't forget about the Menu for Hope II, ok? We've already raised an incredible amount of money, but maybe we can raise even a little bit more? The campaign will be open for two more days (ending on the 24th) and you can see the things which have been donated here. My prize is a Swedish cookbook with cakes and cookies - it's a Swedish staple and I promise, a lovely addition for anyone who likes to bake. If you want to donate, just go to the donation site, donate some money - every $5 will buy you a raffle ticket - and enter the prize you'd like to win in the comment section.

Christmas Candy: Peppermint Bark

Ah, delicous. I found this recipe last year over at The Domestic Goddess. I never got around to making it - but this year I did. And I will make it many more times, because the only fault with this is that there's not enough of it. More peppermint bark would make the world a better place, I assure you. It's dead simple to make, so go ahead and make a batch right now!

Peppermint Bark

Equal parts white and dark chocolate - I used 250 g of each
Mint essence - a few drops
100 g crushed peppermint candies (I used Polkagrisar, "Polka-Pigs".)

Melt the dark chocolate in a waterbath or in the microwave. Stir in a few drops of peppermint essence. Pour into a form or tray, and let it set. When it's solid, melt the white chocolate in a waterbath or in the microwave. Stir in a few drops of peppermint essence, and all of the candy. Spread this over the dark chocolate. Let it set. Break into suitable pieces, keep in the fridge.

I told you it was simple. But it's good.

Round up from Thanksgiving

Time really does fly. Thanksgiving was a few weeks ago, and I never really posted about the full spread. I should, though. Maybe it'll provide some holiday inspiration?

-Roasted Turkey
-Roasted potatoes
-Brussel sprouts
-Maple Roasted parsnips
-Corn Pudding
-Cornbread
-Honey Saffron Bread
-Gravy
-Lingonberry Chipotle Salsa
-Mixed Salad
-Chocolate Truffle Oblivion Cake

Christmas Candy: Gingerbread Toffee

Success! I managed to make toffee for christmas after all, even though I had a horrible disastrous experience early on. This recipe makes an incredible, gingerbread-dough-flavored toffee. It's a fairly soft toffee - nothing that you'll break your teeth on - but go ahead and boil it longer if you want it stiffer. At your own risk though!

Gingerbread Toffee

100 ml cream (full fat)
50 ml golden syrup
100 ml / 80 g sugar
1 tsp gingerbread spices (cloves, cinnamon, ginger and cardamom)
1 tbsp butter


Make a small form out of greaseproof paper, or use any small form and grease it.

Mix all ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, and boil on low-medium heat until you reach 122-125 °C. I strongly suggest using a thermometer, but if you don't, it's done when you can drop a little of the batter in cold water and roll it into a soft ball. This takes different time in different kitchens, but estimate 20-30 minutes. Or so.

Pour the toffee carefully in your prepared form, and let it cool. When it's cold, but before it's rock solid, cut into suitably large pieces, and roll up in greaseproof paper.

Brussel Sprouts with Lemon and Almonds

Brussel Sprouts are really yummy - truly a forgotten vegetable. Many people don't like them at all - and I can't really imagine why. They must not have had them cooked properly. I made this recipe, that I found on Elise's blog, for Thanksgiving and it was a huge hit!

Brussel Sprouts with Lemon and Almonds
1 lb fresh brussels sprouts
2-3 Tbsp butter
1/2 onion, chopped
Salt and Pepper
Juice of 1/2 lime
1/4 cup toasted slivered almonds

Super easy to prepare, too. Simply trim the brussel sprouts - remove the bottom and any discolored outer leaves - and boil them in salted water for a couple of minutes. Strain and put into a bowl of cold water until they're cool. Remove to a tray, and halve the sprouts. Set aside.

Melt 1 tbsp of butter in a large pan, and fry the onion until soft. Add the sprouts and more butter. Let them cook until fully cooked through. Season with salt, pepper and lime juice, and toss with the almonds.

Christmas Candy: Swedish Crack

I really wonder what kind of visitors I'll get with this title. Well. What is this post really about? It's about "Knäck", a Swedish christmas candy, that actually translates to.. crack. Really. I find that pretty funny. Especially since many people also find it horribly addictive. It's really a creamy almond toffee - but that doesn't sound half as fun. Wanna give it a go? There are many recipes, but I prefer this one. As opposed to most of them, this is made in the microwave, which means it's really fast. Here's the recipe!

Swedish Crack - Knäck
makes around 40

100 ml cream
100 ml golden syrup
80 g / 100 ml sugar
3 tbsp finely chopped almonds
tiny paper cups

Mix cream, sugar and syrup in a suitable container. This means something that can take a lot of heat, go into the microwave, and still have high sides so the whole thing doesn't boil over. I have a quart-sized Pyrex glass pitcher that's absolutely perfect. Put it the microwave on the highest setting, for exactly 7 minutes. (You might need to try this a couple of times - if it doesn't boil for long enough, it'll be very soft and chewy. If it's boiled too long, it'll be rock hard.) Remove very carefully - it's super hot - and gently fold in the almonds. Pour into tiny paper cups very fast, if it cools down it'll be a lot harder to pour. Place in the fridge until they're set. Keeps well in an air-tight container.

Maple Roasted Parsnips

I served these for Thanksgiving, and I'll definitely make them again. They go very well with salty meats, like ham, since they are so sweet. And they'd certainly work for Christmas! The recipe is from Nigella Lawson's Feast.

Maple Roasted Parsnips

1 kilo of parsnips, peeled and cut into suitable pieces
2-3 tbsp vegetable oil
3-4 tbsp maple syrup

Nigella suggested parboiling the parsnips, so I did that for about five minutes, way ahead of time. I then put them in a simple oven tray, and let them cool. When you're ready, preheat the oven to at least 200 °C, but a bit hotter works too if you have to do something else at the same time. Toss the parsnips with the oil and maple, and simply let them roast until golden bronzed - 20-30 minutes will do.

My best roast potatoes

I love roast potatoes. It's not something I grew up with, at all - this is indeed a fairly new addition to my life, and I don't think all that many Swedes eat it at all. Most eat boiled potatoes, or fried potatoes, or potato wedges - but roast potatoes like this? Not very common. I think I first learned it from Jamie Oliver, and later on, from Nigella.

It's very simple really. Peel smallish potatoes - or not, if they have thin skins. Cut them into smaller pieces - usually two or three per potato. Preheat the oven to very hot, 250°C is good. Boil the potatoes in salted water until they're almost soft - ten minutes or so. Drain, and shake the potatoes in the pan until they're a little mashed up around the edges. Remove to a large oven tray, and add liberal amounts of good olive oil and sea salt. And I mean lots, of both. Who said this was healthy?

Roast in the oven for half an hour or more, turning occasionally until they're golden brown all over. They'll be crunchy and salty on the outside, and deliciously fluffy on the inside.

By the way, I'm thrilled to see that there are so many other DMD fans!! I'll definitely try to post more of Goldy recipes in the future, there are tons that I really do want to try.

Weekend Cat Blogging

Janson, waiting anxiously for Santa to arrive. Because that means he'll get out of this ridiculous red bow, that Lena makes him wear for the holidays.



Glinda, taking up residence in baby Alvin's baby carrier. Alvin is my nephew. His carrier is apparently kitty nirvana.



Per, feeding shrimp to Edith and Glinda, who are both very excited about this.

That time of week again! Foodie Cat Lovers unite and show their furry darlings to the public. Check out Kiri and Clare at Eat Stuff for more feline links!

Christmas Candy: Chocolate Fudge with Cherries

Everyone who has read Diane Mott Davidson's series of culinary mysteries (I've written about them before) might have noticed one specific food item that's often mentioned but never given the recipe for. I'm talking about Julian Teller's chocolate fudge with dried cherries. I nearly drool at the very thought of it, so it finally occurred to me that I could just try any old chocolate fudge recipe and add dried cheerries to it. More specifically, some tart dried cherries from Hadley's, that I've been "saving" for over a year now.

Well, this is one of the un-successful things I've tried lately. It didn't turn out like fudge at all - but oddly, that was a rather happy surprise. Funny thing is, I don't much like fudge. Too crumbly and sweet for me. I prefer chewy, or silky candy. Hm. But something about the combination just sounds so very alluring... So, good thing this particular experiment turned out more like toffee, dense and chewy. The process was simple - melt sugar and milk, add honey, chocolate and butter, let boil until soft ball stage, then place in a water bath until it has cooled down a little, add the cherries, and beat until it's pale and fluffy. Problem? Didn't sound like it. But in the real world, my fudge got rock hard after just a minute of cooling. And it was still hot, too. Beat that? You'd need a jackhammer. So I ended up re-melting it and simply poured it into a small pan to harden. It ain't pretty, but it's surprisingly edible.

Next time I get that chocolate-cherry urge, I think I'll go for a truffle instead. Stay tuned for more christmas candy posts - with recipes, this time!

Frosty, the snowman...

... is now standing on my balcony. I've always loved American-style over-the-top decorations, and I was joyous when I found this giant snowman in a store near me. He came home with us and is now happily lighting up our glassed-in-balcony. Adorable, isn't he?

Foodie Gifts: Matcha

When I got home last night, I had a message from the post office, saying I had something to pick up.. and it turned out to be a wishlist-gift from FoodFreak! She had sent me Matcha tea - all the way from Japan via Germany! I'm so excited! FINALLY, I get to try all the cool Matcha recipes I keep seeing!! Foodie gifts are totally the best!

Glögg

I've mentioned Glögg - the Swedish holiday drink of choice. We're talking about a hot spiced wine here, often spiked with vodka, rum or cognac, sweetened, and flavored with cloves, cinnamon, oranges... various spices, really. It's served hot, and with raisins and blanched almonds. A newish version is white Glögg, which can also be served ice cold, on the rocks.

The most famous brand is probably Blossa. They've also taken to making special yearly editions. Last year's is the one in the pic, Blossa 04. It was flavored with calvados and apple, and a white type of Glögg. Delicious! This year, it's Cloudberries & Armagnac, and we haven't opened that one yet.

For traditional Glögg, there are tons of different recipes. I haven't tried this myself, but it looks like it'll give a good result.

Glögg (or Glogg, or Gloegg)
500 ml water
2 dried pieces of peel from bitter oranges
2 large pieces of dried ginger
2 pieces of dried cinnamon
15 cloves
2 tsp cardamom seeds

750 ml red wine
80 g / 100 ml sugar
100 ml cognac (optional)

Mix water and the spices in a saucepan, bring to a boil and let simmer for 30 minutes. Pass through a filter to get rid of the spices. Mix the resulting syrup with the wine and the sugar and the optional booze in a saucepan, and heat gently until the sugar dissolves. Don't let it boil! Serve hot in small cups, with blanched almonds and raisins.

Meme: You are what you eat

Sailu and Raquel tagged me in this fun foodie meme, and asked me to list my ten favorite foods. Well. That's a list that changes a bit from day to day, but.. sure, in rough drafts, I can do it!

1. Quesadillas and Guacamole
See picture above. I eat this if not every week, then definitely every other week. Seriously. Whenever Per and I are feeling grumpy and don't know what to eat - we look at each other and instantaneous burst out "Quesadillas!" Best food in the world.

2. Pelmeenid
This is what I grew up with as the most special food in the world. I love it. It's so incredibly tasty and so very different. Very comforting.

3. Mom's Chicken Curry
My mom makes the best chicken in curry sauce. I love it. It's very simple - a mild, smooth curry sauce, and plain cooked chicken. Over rice. That's it. I love it. I never make it myself, it's much more special when made by mom.

4. Kraft Macaroni & Cheese
Yeah, really. Don't laugh. I love that orangey stuff! I really, really, really do! We don't have fake cheese here!

5. Pasta Bianco
Decidedly a strong candidate for "most comfort, least effort". Tasty, creamy, garlicky, fatty.. what more could you want? (A heart attack, maybe?)

6. Caesar Salad
Delicious, almost regardless of how it's made or presented. I love just about every version of this.

7. Risotto
Again, almost all risottos are winners in my book. It's the creaminess that gets me. Mm!

8. Chocolate
Enough said, really.

9. Strawberries and pineapples
A tie between my two favorite fruits.

10. Fresh coriander
I discovered this - cilantro - when I was an exchange student in Long Beach, CA. Oh my god. What was this mysterious herb? Where could I found it? Thankfully, a couple of years ago, coriander became popular here too, and it's now readily available. It's probably replaced basil as my favorite herb!

Ok, so who should I tag for this? Let's pick five fun food bloggers:

Dagmar at A Cat in the Kitchen
Kevin at Seriously Good
Ilva at Lucullian Delights
Pille at Nami-Nami
Nic at Baking Sheet

Santa Lucia Day

Today is Santa Lucia Day in Sweden. Sweden is a very very dark country, so for us it’s very natural to celebrate when the days start getting longer again. This is technically on a different day every year, but traditionally, it’s celebrated on December 13 with Lucia. Learn more here.

In the picture, you can see Manja being a very traditional Lucia. This was taken Saturday night at Lena's place, when she had us over for traditional christmas rice porridge - also called Santa Porridge - and christmas ham on dark sweet bread. Yum! Manja graciously allowed me to take her picture, so you'd all get to see what a Swedish Lucia looks like.


Santa Porridge with sugar and cinnamon, and soon to be added: milk.

Every school and daycare center has their own Lucia celebrations today. One girl is Lucia - usually a matter of voting for the prettiest girl, but some are a bit more forward and will simply have a lottery - and the rest of the girls are Lucia's Maids, "tärnor". These have glitter in their hair, and carry candles. The boys are either in Santa costumes, Gingerbread Men, or "Lucia's Star Boys" when they wear white dresses, and white pointy hats with stars on them. (I wish I did have a picture for you.) Everyone sings the traditional Lucia songs.

There's also national celebrations with a Lucia of the year, on TV and live at various locations. A Lucia concert is an absolute must for every Swede, every year. And as for what to eat - this is the day for the "Lussekatter", the yeasted saffron buns. They're a pain to make as they usually go stale in a day or two, but they taste great. (See some here at Dagmar's blog - she was good and made her own this year.)

Menu For Hope II

Christmas time for me means a lot of things, but one of them is definitely giving to those in need. I used to be politically active in a youth organization for many years, and I've spent many hours collecting money in a campaign called "Christmas here, Starvation there". (Ok, slightly catchier in Swedish.)

Food bloggers are this year uniting to collect money for Unicef and the earthquake victims in NorthernIndia and Pakistan. The organizer is Pim, and she's doing it this way: She has had food bloggers sign up to donate prizes, and she's organizing a raffle! Basically, you donate $5 to Unicef, and get a virtual raffle ticket for the prize of your choice. And of course, you can buy as many raffle tickets as you want. You can see the full list of prizes here.

I'm donating a cookbook, a real staple in any Swedish kitchen: Swedish Cakes and Cookies. It's sold millions of copies in Swedish, but it's just recently been translated. The original name is "Sju sorters Kakor" which translates into "7 types of cookies" - and that really says a lot about this Swedish cookie culture which I would actually almost compare to our way of eating tapas. Traditionally, a hostess (and it is always a hostess) should serve up 7 types of cakes and cookies for a coffee party. And you should have some variation. Thus, you need a book!

Delicious cakes and cookies - so head on over to the donation site and enter "Anne's Food" or "Swedish cakes and cookies" in the comment section. You can win this great cookbook, or any of the other prizes if you so choose, but best of all, you'll be helping a lot of needy people in the process! Merry christmas!

Gulasch

Winter = cold. So bring on the hot soups and stews! My friend's boyfriend, Dan, makes an awesome gulasch stew, and he kindly gave me a recipe. I fiddled a bit with quantities, and so should you. Think of this as a rough draft.

Gulasch
serves 7-8

800 g beef, in small cubes
2 onions, in small dice
5-6 cloves of garlic, minced
100 g tomato paste
2 litres of hot beef stock
4 bellpeppers (2 red and 2 yellow)
1 kg potatoes, finely diced
paprika
chipotle chili
dried herbs - oregano, thyme, sage, basil
salt
cayenne pepper
cooking oil

Heat up a little bit of oil in a very big pot. Fry the onion and garlic gently. Add the beef, a little at a time, and let it brown. Add the stock - and this should be warm, so it doesn't cool everything down. Add the tomato paste, the peppers and the potatoes, and any spices you want to use.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cover with a lid. Let it simmer for at least an hour, and then let it stand and rest for another hour. (Or two, or three - this will just improve the flavor. Indeed, leave it over night if you can!) Heat up right before serving, and serve with aïoli and a good garlic bread.

Eat Like a Genius, 2005

Yesterday, December 10th, was Nobel Day. That means the day for the annual Nobel Party, with the Nobel Prize Awards and a fabulous feast. My invitation probably got lost in the mail, but others who were there were of course all the current winners (except Harold Pinter, who was unable to attend), some of our ministers and leading politicians, some lucky university students, and our royal family.

Instead of going to this exciting event, me and Per were invited to Lena and Nico for a pre-christmas dinner. We got rice porridge (Santa-porridge, as it's called here), christmas ham, great bread, lucia-saffron buns, gingerbread cookies and glögg - traditional Swedish christmas food. More on that when I get the pictures from Lena's camera.

Anyway. We watched some of the festivities on TV instead. The food looked great! Just imagining serving 1300 guests... And this is what they got:

-Crayfish panna cotta with fennel-baked Arctic char, scallops and Norway lobster on baby lettuce

-Ptarmigan breast baked in horn of plenty mushrooms with caramelised apples, poached onions and broad beans, served with Calvados sauce and potato cake

-Lemon and yoghurt mousse with Arctic bramble marmalade, fresh raspberries and raspberry-Arctic bramble sauce

The Crayfish Panna cotta sounds intriguing. I wonder if I can get the recipe. All the Nobel menus can be found here.

Gingerbread Swirls with Blue Cheese

Here's a perfect holiday treat! I served it with Glögg - Swedish spiced wine - but it will go well with any spiced wine or maybe some hot apple cider.

Gingerbread Swirls with Blue Cheese
From Tina. by Tina Nordström
20

2 large squares of thin, soft bread or tortillas
10-15 gingerbread cookies
150 g blue cheese (I like St Agur for this)
1-2 tsp olive oil
20 toothpicks

Crumble the cheese in a bowl. Add a little olive oil, drop by drop, and mix well with a fork, until it's a smooth paste. Spread this on the breads, and make sure to go all the way to the edges. Crumble the cookies evenly over the surface, and roll up tightly like you would a swiss roll. Wrap in plastic, and let the rolls rest in the fridge for at least half an hour before cutting. Cut the rolls into slices, and put a toothpick in each one.

Toffee-making: extreme disaster

Things don't always work out as planned. I'm not perfect. I make mistakes, just like everyone else. And I recently had a major kitchen disaster - the worst since my horrendous experience with the chocolate-plastic-wrap-uncooked-spaghetti-cake. (And no, I haven't made it again. I doubt I ever will. The very thought makes me cringe.)

Making candy is a big part of the holiday preparations for many Swedes. In particular, toffee is big. Almond Cream Toffee - "knäck" (named for the sound your teeth will make as they crack..) is a real staple. I had gotten a couple of new recipes from an online forum, so I thought I'd try them out. While at it, I figured I'd go ahead and make four types at once. Hybris? You could say that again.

All four kinds ended in disaster. I thought I was so well prepared, but when three kinds of toffee were done at the exact same moment, I had to realise I was defeated. There was just no way I could handle it. One toffee burned, another got hard as a rock. My fudge turned.. oh, into toffee, kind of (at least that's edible) and my tried and true Almond Cream Toffee boiled over in the microwave and made a complete mess.

I'd love to share the recipes, but I have to try them again first. And I feel quite traumatized right now. I'll get back to you. The only thing which keeps me going right now is Lena's kind words: "Extreme disasters are meant to be forgotten."

If you want to read about more successful candy-making, head over to A Cat In The Kitchen who posts about it here and here.

Beet Carpaccio

Beet is a much discussed vegetable. You either love it or hate it, but few are indifferent. Personally, I love beets. Their deeply red color always cheers me up, and the earty taste is quite amazing. I especially love fresh beets, either simply baked or boiled with a little butter or maybe some crumbled goat's cheese. I make a mean beet risotto, too.

When I had friends over for dinner a few nights ago, I was dying to try something different. So I made a very simple carpaccio from thinly sliced beets (Very thinly! Use a mandolin!) topped with olive oil, crumbled feta cheese and some sprinkled parsley and basil.

It was, as you can see, very decorative, and it tasted great too. It was, however, a little difficult to eat! You can't really use a knife since the slices are so thin, and you don't want to use your fingertips to eat beets. I found the best way was to gently ease the slices, one at a time, between the prongs of the fork. If you deal with this relatively small problem you'll be rewarded by a delicious mix of crunchy, silky and creamy, tangy, salty and earthy.

Oh, and as always with beets... don't be scared when you go to the bathroom.

A cool idea - Gingerbread Grissini

I saw this in a magazine not so long ago - have forgotten which one, sadly - and decided to give it a go. Pepparkakor - Gingerbread Cookies - are very seasonal here and really big in December. I served this along with some warm spiced apple cider for Thanksgiving, and it was a huge hit. I used ready made gingerbread dough, but feel free to make your own if you can't find ready-made.


In the making.

So. Get your dough. Roll it out on a well-floured surface. Make it slightly thicker than you normally would, or it will be really difficult to transfer the grissini to the baking sheets. Transfer to sheets, and bake for a couple of minutes in a medium-hot oven. (About 175°C) They burn very easily, so watch them!

Then make a sugar paste from 500 ml powdered sugar, 1 eggwhite and a few drops of lemon juce. Place in piping bag and decorate to your heart's delight.



Per now refers to this as our "Gingerbread Vase".

Paper Chef #13 - Fried Rice with Turkey and Saffron

I do love food blogging events, like Is My Blog Burning, Sugar High Fridays, Blog Party and all the other fun stuff people come up with. One of the most challenging is Paper Chef. I rarely participate, since it's so hard - but I feel up to it today. Owen at Tomatilla started this event, and the rules are quite simple. The inspiration, of course, comes from the TV-show "Iron Chef" where chefs compete to make the most out of special ingredients. This is the same idea. Every month, people can nominate ingredients. Four will eventually be chosen and then it's up to us bloggers to think of something to make!

This month's host is Noodle Cook, who won last month's event with this cool recipe. The ingredients this month are rice, carrots, anchovy and.. something from the other side of the world. Huh. Some are taking this very literally - but I won't. Did you know about this cool webpage where you can see your exact opposite place in the world? Well, my opposite is right out in the ocean. And I don't feel like cooking fish today. So, I interpret "other side of the world" loosely. And to make up for that, I'm using two "faraway" ingredients.. sort of. One is really from quite far away - saffron, from India. My other "super ingredient" is leftover Thanksgiving turkey. (Yes, it's definitely on its last leg.) Ok, the actual turkey was raised right here in Sweden, about an hour from where I live - but the idea of eating turkey, and to be exact, a Thanksgiving Turkey.. well, that's from the USA. Which is pretty far from me. (Let's hope the judges buy it.)

I know "leftovers" and "feast" rarely co-incides but in this case, I must say that this is a dish I'd be proud to serve to company. It's very tasty, and very comforting. Just the thing on a cold winter's night...

Fried Rice with Turkey and Saffron
Serves 2

1 cup of cooked basmati rice
1 onion, chopped
1 anchovy fillet
2 carrots, coarsely grated
200 g leftover turkey, in small pieces
1 yellow bellpepper, in strips
2 eggs
1/2 g saffron
cayenne pepper
pat of butter

Heat the butter in a large skillet. Add the onion, anchovy and carrot, and fry gently for a couple of minutes. The anchovy should melt. Add the yellow pepper, and rice. Fry for a little while, and add the turkey. Push everything to one side, and gently scramble the eggs in the same pan. Stir together with everything else, and add the saffron. Season with a little bit of cayenne pepper for a little bit of heat.

I tried to drizzle over a little real Canadian Maple Syrup to appease Judge John. (Not sure what he thinks about that - but hey, I tried.) Real maple syrup is, incidentally, one of my favorite things. Did it work here? Not so much, no. Per put soy sauce and sweet chili sauce on his and was happy; I liked it in the nude.

What to drink with this? The judges say that they'd like to hear more about beer, so I'm sorry to admit that we don't have any in the house at the moment. However, it's December.. so it's time for the Swedish drink Julmust. This is a seasonal soda, only sold around christmas. (And oddly, Easter. Except then it's re-labeled as Påskmusk.) Deee-lish. (And, as a little advice, this is perfect with lots of ice, and I'm sure it'll be pretty nice even in 45-degrees-Celsius-weather. Not that I'd know. I live in Sweden, remember?)

Noodle Cook asks for a little more than a recipe this time. So, here's some stuff about nomination..

To help the judges decide, I'm nominating myself Finalist for Paper Chef Super Saver. A very clever use of leftover turkey combined with the given recipes, given a golden touch by the wonderful christmas-y saffron. But I could also have nominated this for the "Nutrition Genius" category, as it's pretty healthy. Very low-fat! And hey, of course I'd like to win the "Paper Chef Personality". Sure. Please? I don't think I stand much of a chance for "Prestige" or "Supreme". (But a surprise would be fine, oh yeah.)

As for gifts... gee, I'd like anything. If I had a choice.. I think I'd prefer the bush spice sampler, but everything sounds really fun so it's not a very strong preference. It's been real fun to take part in this event, so I'm really just excited about that. :)

Some things I've tried lately

Like so many others, I keep a running list of things I've read about in blogs and need to try. I do try lots of new things, and I have to be better about reporting back! Anyway, lately I've been trying out two new cakes with fruit, and one great side dish that I served for Thanksgiving. Yum!



From Kevin at Seriously Good - a delicious Corn Pudding! Mmm.. Corn is my favorite vegetable, and this was no exception. Creamy, soft and fluffy. I made this the day before I wanted to serve it, and just heated it a bit in the already hot oven - that worked out well.



From Molly at Orangette - a Ginger Pear upside down cake. This turned out to taste exactly like soft gingerbread cake, with pears. And that's always nice around christmas. This was a lot more holiday-ish than I would have expected from just reading the recipe, and it was also very tasty. Went very well with a small dollop of softly whipped cream. (And a shot of Amaretto. Wish I'd had some Xanté at hand, that'd have been even better!)



And from my favorite Estonian Pille, at Nami-Nami: A (non)-Canadian Apple Cake! Yeah, I can't really see the Canadian-ness in it, but I can understand the appeal of the cake itself. It was very flavorful and great served with ice cream. I overbaked mine a little bit so it dried out just a tad - still good, but I bet it'd have been even better if I had taken it out of the oven five minutes earlier. Oh well!

Weekend Cat Blogging #26 - Ready for Show

Our bag is packed, we're ready to go.

A weary Edith looks on as Glinda is getting on top of things. Tomorrow is show day again. If anyone happens to be in Stockholm, we'll be in Viksjö Tennishall all day long - come and say hi! The rest of you, wish us luck.

For more food blog cats, head over to Clare Eats and Kiri!

Some kind of wonder

Cheese and marmalade are quite allowed these days, even a recommended pairing for new sensations. A while ago, I picked up a jar of chocolate-strawberry-raspberry marmalade (at the chocolate festival), but I never did get around to trying it until a few days ago. Oh, yummy! It's really nice - sweet and round, fruity and chocolatey at the same time. Mmm. I could eat this with a spoon. But why do that, when it was even so much better paired with a tasty cheese? I put it on Allerum XO, a strong, well-aged cheese, and.. my mouth positively exploded. Aaah. Heaven.

Avocado Crawfish Toast

Here's a yummy little toast. Perfect as an appetizer, or for a light dinner. We had it for Friday night, and followed up with some cheese and crackers. Yum!

Avocado Crawfish Toast
Serves 4

1 avocado
1 red onion
200 g crawfish tails
1-2 cloves of garlic
3-4 tbsp creme fraiche
1-2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
salt, pepper
bleak roe
optional: dill

Dice the avocado into large dice, and the onion very finely. Crush the garlic. Chop the crawfish tails roughly. Mix together with just enough creme fraiche to bind it. Add dill if you want to - I prefer it without - and season with salt, pepper and sweet chilli sauce. Place on toasted bread or on crackers, and garnish with a little bit of roe or some smoked salmon.