Welcome, kittens!

We got new kittens yesterday. Meet the new little darlings:

Number One:


Number Two:


Number Three:


We're still thinking about names. We do keep to both a first letter, and to a theme. For example, or C-litter was named Cato, Cleo, Caruso and Cuatro. (Well, it's a loose theme.) E-litter was singers - Elton, Edith and Eminem. So, the starting letter for this litter is probably going to be H. (We have had C, D, E, F and G - no A or B) I'm thinking spices/condiments - can you think of any starting with H? I have three nice ones - Harissa, Habanero and Honey. (Hummous - but I personally hate that, and would never name a cute kitty something so vile. Sorry all hummouslovers. Maybe I haven't met the right one yet.)

Please help if you have any good ideas!

Cappuccino Cupcakes

Here's what I almost made for last IMBB (check out that amazing round-up!), but I was interrupted and had to continue at a later time. Warning - these are super, super rich! I could eat one and that was that. What on earth am I going to do with the five left in my fridge? Note to self - make these mini-sized next time! They taste wonderful though.

I have almost no experience with frosting - it's not at all a part of Swedish culture, so I first encountered it when I was an exchange student in the US. And.. well, I don't like it all that much in general - but this one, mm. This is good stuff.

The yield is terrible on this recipe - sorry about that. It was supposed to give eight large or 12 normal-sized cupcakes. I halved it, and got 11. That prompted me to make the full recipe of frosting, thinking that the frosting otherwise wouldn't be enough.. um, mistake. It made a lot, a LOT, of frosting. So, be forewarned, and have another muffin tin ready.

Cappuccino Cupcakes

200 g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
375 g flour (650 ml)
60 g cocoa powder (100 ml)
2 tsps baking powder
200 g butter, room temperature (I used regular salted butter - if using unsalted, add half a teaspoon of salt)
250 g sugar
2 eggs
75 ml milk
100 ml cold, strong coffee

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C. Mix butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs. Add the milk and coffee, and blend well. Mix the dry ingredients - flour, cocoa powder and baking powder - and add the wet ingredients to the dry. Stir in the chocolate pieces. Divide into lined muffin tins, and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Cappuccino frosting
100 g cream cheese
3 tbsp butter, room temperature
300 g icing sugar
30 g (50 ml) cocoa powder, sifted
3 tbsp strong cold coffee

Beat the butter and the cream cheese ith an electric mixer. Add the sugar and cocoa powder, and mix into an even cream. Add the coffee, a spoon at a time, until you have a nice spreadable frosting. Frost the cooled muffins.

Pasta with Spinach and Mascarpone

So starved it didn't occur to me to take a picture before I started eating. Sorry.

I've spent most of today in bed, keeping my cat Kelly company. She's due to give birth at any time - I'm guessing sometime in the next two days. She likes me to be close, and preferrably rubbing her tummy. The kittens are kicking and rolling inside her tummy, they feel like little aliens trying to get out.

Also cat-related - we were at a cat show yesterday, and did really well. Yeay for us! All the cats (we had five offspring there - our own Glinda, two of her littermates, and two of our older offspring, all with their new owners) got great individual judgings, and one was even nominated for the final. To top it off, I won the best breeder award for the shorthairs - very, very fun! I went home with a truckload of kitty food, candy and toys. So my sleeping in today was very well-deserved.

For dinner, we fixed a new recipe from Jamie Oliver's Jamie's Dinners. I know I'm totally pushing this book at you - but seriously, everything I have tried from it so far? Delicious. Incredible. And easy. I do love it. This recipe was certainly no exception! Per read it, sighed and said that he didn't really like spinach. At all. I insisted, so we still fixed it.. and he nearly licked his bowl for more. I'm giving you the quantities I used - it made two very large portions, and would certainly be enough for 3, possibly 4 if you're not very hungry. But we were.


A closer look.

Pasta with Spinach and Mascarpone
by Jamie Oliver

250 g tagliatelle
200 g spinach, rinsed, dried and cut into fine shreds (depending on your patience)
2 cloves of garlic, finely sliced
1/2 nutmeg, grated
olive oil
knob of butter
salt, pepper
150 g mascarpone
100 ml cream (I used full-fat, I'm sure something less would work too.)
2 handfuls of grated parmesan

Cook the pasta in your normal way. Meanwhile, get a large pan and melt the butter and oil. Add the garlic and nutmeg, and when it's warm, add the spinach. Let it wilt for 3-4 minutes. Season it with salt and pepper. Add the mascarpone and the cream, and a little bit of pasta water. Season again, if necessary.

When the pasta is done, drain it and RESERVE SOME WATER. That's important. You need it. Add the pasta to the sauce, mix well, and add the parmesan. Mix again, and loosen it with several glugs of pasta water, added gradually. You want a soft, silky sauce, not a thick mess. Serve immediately - this can not wait.

My Easter Lamb

Today is Good Friday (why is it called that? Jesus spent all the on the cross - what was good about that? The Swedish name is much more apt - Long Friday.) and I have spent the afternoon sniffing the most wonderful aroma, coming from my oven. I decided to try my hand at cooking a leg of lamb - not particularly exciting for many of you, but the first time for me. I wanted to use my new Anthony Bourdain Les Halles cookbook, in which he has a wonderful recipe for seven-hour lamb - that's right, seven hours. I ended up cooking mine for about five - it was a bit smaller, and five hours was plenty. The meat is absolutely incredible - moist, flavorful, incredibly soft. You can carve it with a spoon, it just falls apart. (Um, so presentation is not great. No nice slices here.)



I served this with a very good salad that my friend Helmy made for me this summer. It has parsley, cherry tomatoes, grilled red peppers (from a jar is fine), flat leaf parsley, red onions and a splash of balsamic vinegar. I added some rocket and feta cheese. Helmy served this on thick slices of home-grown squash, yum! The salad worked really well with the lamb, too - the tanginess cut through the pungent richness in a divine way.

We also had some simple boiled potatoes. I'll make a garlicky potato gratin to go with the leftovers, mmm! Now - go make your own lamb! It's easy! It just takes a little bit of time. Accidentally, this turned out a fairly low-carb meal - if you skip the potatoes. It's fairly low-fat, too - just don't use much olive oil. I threw out the pan drippings, as they were a little too oily for my likings.



You need: a leg of lamb - mine weighed about 3 pounds. (Bourdain suggested 5-6 pounds.) Akso: garlic, at least 20 cloves, 2 small onions, 2 medium carrots, 2,5 dl (1 cup) of dry white wine, some flat leaf parsley, some thyme, a bay leaf or two, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees. Peel the garlic cloves. Chop the carrots into 2-3 pieces each, thinly slice the onions. Bash 3 or 4 garlic cloves with the back of your knife and slice them roughly. Make incisions all over the lamb, and stuff the garlic slivers in the pockets. Rub the lamb all over with olive oil, and season well with salt and pepper. Put in a large pot with a tight fitting lid. Add the garlic cloves, the carrots, the onions, the parsley, bay leaf and thyme. Pour over the wine. Put on the lid, and place in oven. Let it be for as long as you can stand it - watch every now and then so it doesn't go too dry. (Didn't happen for me - but I worried, since Bourdain said to seal the lid with a mixture of flour and water. Seemed a little over-pretentious to me, so I skipped it.) The garlic and onion slices will caramelize beautifully.

IMBB #13 - Raspberry-Marzipan Muffins

What's the difference between a cupcake and a muffin? I have no idea. I sure hope to find out though, since the theme for this months blog-event Is My Blog Burning? is just that - cupcakes and muffins. I'm tentatively guessing that cupcakes have frosting, muffins don't. I was going to do one of each for today, but.. time did not work out for me. My cupcake project is resting in the freezer, and I have no time to frost them so that will have to be a different post for another day.

So. Over to the ones I actually did make. The recipe is from a Swedish site called Dagens Muffin - the Daily Muffin. Lovely concept, isn't it? It has hundreds of recipes - all for muffins. (Or well, cupcakes.) They were really easy to make, and they came out great! Only, make sure to use paper cups even if you have a muffin tin - since they have filling, they don't hold together all that well. I used a homemade raspberry-red currant preserve from last summer - delicious!

Raspberry-Marzipan Muffins
makes 12

300 g (5 dl) strong flour
175 g (2 dl) sugar
2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup (2,5 dl)milk
a little less than 2/3 cups (1,5 dl) melted butter

For the filling
2-3 tbsp raspberry preserves
150 g almond paste or marzipan
chopped almonds


Pre-oven

Preheat oven to 390 F (190 C). Divide the almond paste/marzipan into 24 pieces. (Easiest way is to form a roll, and cut it into appropriate thin slices) Put a little bit of raspberry jam on half of the marzipan, and cover with the rest.

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, stir the egg, milk, butter and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients, and mix well. Divide half of it into muffin tins, add a piece of raspberry-filled marzipan, and cover with the rest of the batter. Sprinkle some chopped almonds on each. Bake in the center of the oven for about 20 minutes.

Cookies, lots of cookies!

Yummy yummy Mocha Rounds

One of the more important things in Swedish culture is fika. Fika refers to several things. In the workplace, it's a coffee break. It's also what Clotilde refers to as "goûter" - a snack, sort of. Fika is something you can invite your friends over for if you don't feel like cooking real food. Or something you'll have in the afternoons, when you're feeling peckish.

Fika almost always includes something sweet, to go with your coffee or tea. Buns are considered fikabröd (fika-bread), cakes, cookies.. you name it. Sometimes sandwiches, too, but never JUST sandwiches. That'd be awfully boring. Anyway. I was invited to a large fika on Saturday, with a group of people I hang out with on the Internet. We're all cat aficionados, and hang out at a cat forum. Sometimes, someone decides that they want to meet up irl, and invite everyone for a fika. This time, we went to Marie who happened to have gorgeous five-week old kittens. Aww.

Everyone - we were almost 20 - brought something to eat. I decided to go with cookies, since most people seemed to find that a bit daunting to make. I love baking - and I had seen so many good recipes lately. I went with two different cookies - one a simple cut cookie that was flavored with chocolate, coffee and cinnamon, and one a delicious, extravagant merengue chocolate cookie. The first one came from Nic at Baking Sheet. It's called Mocha Rounds, and you can find the recipe here. I didn't bother with the dipping, thinking that it'd be nice to have a plain cookie to go with coffee. Oh yes. It was very good indeed, the flavors subtle but complementing each other.



The second cookie came from Deb at In My Kitchen. She said that she wasn't very successful with the texture. However, I gave it a try - and oh wow, they came out wonderfully fluffy and airy. The flavor - to die for. Very very chocolatey. Everyone loved these. I had some straight from the oven - do try that if you make them, that was the very best part. They're dead simple to make, but you do need to whip a lot - a Kitchen-Aid comes in VERY handy. The recipe is here. Oh, and next time - there will certainly be a next time - I think I'll add some finely chopped hazelnuts. That should go well.

So, were the cookies a hit? They were. And they went down well on Sunday, too, when I had another event for which I had promised to bring some fika. (Also cat-related - a seminar on breeding.)

Don't forget IMBB 13 - all about cupcakes! Personally, I'm not so sure what the difference is between a cupcake and a muffin, but I look forward to finding out.

Sugar High Fridays #6 - Oranges in Caramel-Almond sauce

Caramel - isn't it great? It's one of my fave things in the world. I like it - it's sweet, smooth.. mm. Per hates it. And I mean hate it. So desserts featuring caramel aren't very often made in our household. However, I was planning on trying something new for Sugar High Fridays. That didn't happen. Time ran out - as it so often does - and I'll share an old favorite with you instead. I *do* look forward to trying all of your creations though - many thanks to Debbie for hosting this!

This is a real comfort dish for me, something I'll make myself as a treat, particularly when I'm feeling a little low. I've made it for years - I think I had it the first time on a skiing trip when I was ten years old. It's very bright and cheery - and extremely tasty. The orange warms up from the hot caramel sauce, and it's tanginess is a perfect match for the sweetness of the sauce. The almonds add crunch. The caramel takes on - of course - a gorgeous subtle orange flavor. I ended up licking the plate. (As you can see, Hamlet was going to beat me to it. One of these days I have to write about proper cat nutrition. This is not it. Don't feed this to your cats. But I bet you already knew that.



These measurements are fairly rough - I don't usually measure anything in this recipe.

Oranges in Caramel-Almond sauce
Serves 1 hungry girl

2 oranges, peeled and sliced
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp cream (low-fat is what I use most of the time since it's what I have around the house, although full fat is better. Isn't it always?)
handful of chopped almonds

Set the oranges on a plate, or in a bowl. In a small saucepan, melt the butter. Add the sugar. Add the almonds. Let it toast for a little bit, and add the cream. Mix until you have a lovely caramel sauce, and pour over the oranges.

Amazing slow-cooked meat

Yet another recipe by Jamie Oliver. I know. Despite this concentration on Jamie recipes, I don’t really cook that much by him. Really. I don’t. But some of the recipes are especially good – that seems to be particularly true of the ones that have "amazing" in their name. He’s not overexaggerating – they are. This one is on his website, so I don’t feel bad posting my version of it that I did the other night. I modified some things – but I have made the original recipe too, and that’s good as well.

Amazing Slow-cooked Meat
Serves 6

800 g meat – I use a cut named “högrev”, but I have no clue what the equvivalent would be. Use something that’s reasonably priced and good for stewing.
Handful of fresh parsley
250 g cherry tomatoes
1 onion, finely chopped
1 stick of celery, finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
375 ml red wine
500 g can (400 g is fine if that’s what you have) crushed tomatoes
2 tbsp barley
water
salt, pepper, sugar

Start by preheating your oven to 225 degrees. (450F) When it’s hot, put in the tomatoes in any oven-proof dish – you want them to roast a bit. Cut the meat into a few big hunks. Brown in a little bit of oil in a large, deep pan. Add onion, garlic, carrot, celery and parsley, and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the wine, and cook on fairly high heat until all the wine is absorbed. Remove the cherry tomatoes from the oven – they should have cracked a little bit, and leaked some fluids. Add them to the pan, and add the crushed tomatoes too. Add the barley, and enough water to just cover everything. Put a lid on it, and let it all simmer for as long as you can stand. Two hours are good. Hour and a half will usually work, depending on what kind of meat you use.

When you think it’s done, remove the meat, and shred into small pieces using two forks. Add back into the pan, and season with salt, pepper and a pinch or two of sugar. Serve with pasta and some parmesan on top. Yum!

Broccoli-lemon risotto with honey

I love risotto. It's one of my favorite things to eat, and to make. I don't really remember when I first tried it - but I do know that I've never had one fail. They all turn out excellent - every single one.

The other night, I was sort of wanting to make the Citrus Risotto with seared Garlic-Chili Shrimp that Linda wrote about (and I still DO want to make that) but I didn't have a lot of the ingredients. So. I invented. And this is what I came up with:

Broccoli-lemon risotto with honey

2 dl (3/4 cup + 1 tbsp, roughly) risotto rice (I use arborio)
1 l good stock (chicken or vegetable)
1 small bunch of broccoli, divded into florets
1 onion, diced
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
100 g mushrooms, diced
2 tbsp sherry
1 tbsp honey
the peel of a lemon, shredded
the juice of half a lemon
a good handful grated parmesan
black pepper
olive oil
butter

Bring the stock to a boil. Meanwhile, in a large pan, melt butter and a glug of olive oil. Fry onion and garlic gently on medium heat for about five minutes. Add the rice, crank up the heat, and fry until it gets a bit of color. Add the sherry, and let it cook into the rice. Add the stock, gradually, as you would with any risotto. I never measure how long my risotto really takes, but somewhere from 15-20 minutes is a good estimate. You may not need all the stock, and you may need more. (And yes, warm water will do in a pinch.)

After about five minutes of stock-adding, add the mushrooms. After another five, add the broccoli. When the rice is done - chewy, not crunchy - remove from heat and add lemon juice, lemon peel, freshly ground black pepper and honey. Add the parmesan. And that's it. We had it with chicken, but it's good on its own too. (That's what I had for lunch the next day.) The recipe was enough for dinner for two very hungry, and a leftover lunch.

Sunday Morning Cookies

I woke up pretty late today, and the sun was shining. A beautiful Sunday! And nothing planned - well, except for a magazine that I have to edit and finish today. And I feel so not motivated.

I started off by reading e-mail, checking forums, and reading my blogroll. When I came to Orangette, I was dizzy with hunger (notice that I sit at my computer before breakfast -especially since Per wasn't up yet) and her post on cookies just pushed me over the line. I had to bake. Now. I followed her recipe closely, except I substituted almonds for pistachios (it's impossible to find non-salted, non-roasted pistachios here - at least I haven't had such luck yet) and I only baked them for 11 minutes. I got 18 large, delicious cookies - they have incredible flavor from the cinnamon and apricots, and a lovely chewy/crispy texture. They're a little bit too sweet - I might try omitting a little bit of the sugar - but would go very well with tea. Mm.

Saturday Night Quesadillas

I discovered quesadillas a while ago, and haven't been able to stop eating them since. My recipe comes from Jamie Oliver's Jamie's Dinners - a book that I know I've been promoting like crazy, but it truly has some great recipes.

My quesadillas has cheese, chili, chopped red onion, grilled chicken and koriander inside them. (And it's as easy as that - mix cheese, chili, koriander and onions. Put on a tortilla. Add shredded chicken. Top with another tortilla. Fry in a dry pan.) What's not to love? I then dip them into my lovely guacamole, and sweet love happens. We're having it again tonight, while watching the Swedish finals of the Eurovision Song Contest. When I was a kid, there was just one Swedish installment of the Eurovision, but nowadays, they have four different competitions held in different cities - a little tour - and the top two from each heat go to the final. Which is tonight. I bet most of Sweden will be watching.

Edith - a small cat with a big heart

Edith is a smoke-colored British Shorthair, born in November 2003. She was the loveliest kitten we had ever had, always friendly, fun and cuddly. We were planning on keeping her for breeding, but when she got her shots, we discovered a heart murmur. An ultra-sound confirmed that she had indeed a problematic heart - due to a tight artery, her heart has thickened. We decided to keep her, of course - I'm not selling a cat with a heart condition - and she's been our lovely pet ever since. My niece refers to her as "the cat you pet and then she falls over", very appropriate. Edith loves being petted, and will lay down on her side and have you rub her tummy if you show the slightest interest.

Around christmas, she started going into heat. She's been on the pill, but that's not a good long-term solution as that generally leads to various kinds of cancers for cats. (And wouldn't that suck - the heart can beat on for a normal life-time, but what if she died of cancer at three?) On Monday, we had another ultra-sound done, with Sweden's leading cat cardiologist, and she said that the condition hadn't changed at all. The heart is not getting worse, and although there's very little research done on heart conditions in cats she wagered a guess that Edith could have a normal, long life.

So we decided to go ahead and try with a neutering. The risk, of course, is anesthesia. If you put a cat with a heart condition under, she might not wake up. As we were informed by the vet who was performing the surgery - "these cats often die on the operating table. Just so you know."

But - surgery went fine, and she's now at home. Tired, and she hates her collar, but she's dealing with it. Keep your fingers crossed for a speedy recovery, and that she won't have any complications.

Hasselbackspotatoes

This is a fabulous way to enjoy potatoes! It's a dish that originated at resturant Hasselbacken (=Hazel Hill) in Stockholm, a very old restaurant that's been around since 1760. The potatoes are delicious, and very easy to make.

Hasselbackspotatoes
2-3 medium-small potatoes per person
melted butter
salt
white pepper
breadcrumbs

Preheat the oven to 225 degrees (about 450 F). Wash and peel the potatoes. You then need to slice them thinly, but not all the way down. The easiest way to do this is to place the potato in a wooden spoon, and cut until you hit the edge of the spoon. Do this as thinly as you can. Brush the potatoes with some melted butter, and put them in a baking dish. Bake for about 45 minutes total. (Maybe a little less) After 20 minutes, brush with some more butter, and add salt and pepper. When it's just ten minutes remaining, sprinkle over some breadcrumbs. The potato should be soft and done, with crispy edges. The slices should have moved slightly apart.

Give me a Starbucks!

Let's talk about coffee. (I admit to being a bit influenced by the aforementioned books by Diane Mott Davidson, where Goldy the caterer indulges in several large espresso drinks every day.) I like coffee, but I don't drink it all that much. I used to drink it more regularly, and nearly ended up in the hospital with a bleeding ulcer around christmas 2003 - a nice melange of stress, stress, some more stress, ibuprofen and coffee. Since then, I've cut back. Way back. I now have it a couple of times a week, and that's fine.

Since I don't drink it much, I want it to be good. Real good. I don't care much for black coffee - I need milk and sweetener, and flavoring is nice, too. They say Starbucks is taking over the world. Ohoy, Starbucks? Here. Look here. Sweden. Take us over, please. Now?

I know they're toted as an evil corporation. I can live with that. If I could just please have one, right here. I love Starbucks coffee. I've only had it on very few occasions, while visiting the US.. but I love it. And I want more. I have even toyed with the idea of starting a franchise myself. It seems like a lot of work, though.

So what does Sweden have? Copycats. And lots of them. We have a lot of "american-style" coffee-houses all called things like Coffee Cup, Coffeehouse by George, Wayne's Coffee and Steve's Coffee. For some reason, none of them have Swedish names. They're not bad, but they are impostors. Please, please. Give me a Starbucks!

My copycat chicken salad

A while ago, Linda posted about a delicious-sounding chicken salad. I knew I had to try it. Salads as sandwich fillings are not at all common in Sweden, so while this may be a family favorite in many parts of the world - it's not here. I've tried it, but never quite got the hang of it to tell you the truth. I had this one with slices of toasted baguette, and it was absolutely wonderful. I followed Linda's recipe with a few small exceptions:

-I used much less celery, since celery is a scary ingredient for me. (Although I'm proud to have use it in three whole recipes in ONE week. Definitely a record for me.)
-I added a couple of squeezes of lemon juice.
-I added a small red onion in thin slices

Next time (and there will definitely be a next time) I'll probably substitute the whipping cream with some light creme fraiche instead. It tasted a little too rich for my taste. Other than that, it was perfect. Thank you very much Linda, this was really satisfying! All in all, I've had a lot of fun with my "copycat week". I'm glad to have had a chance to try out so many new recipes. Next week is back to work, and I have late meetings three days out of five, so don't expect any culinary miracles here. :)

Sourdough Rye

I'm not much of a bread-baker, but I desperately want to be. I can handle basic bread, and I usually have a fairly good result... but I don't feel like a baker. Or rather, I didn't feel like a baker. Yesterday, that all changed. Sourdough can do that to you. I am immensely proud of myself!

I have never tried to make it before myself, but I have been curious. My dad makes a wonderful Estonian sourdough bread, very very dark. He has an old wooden barrel that he uses each time, and never washes, so it has plenty of sourdough living in it. He just soaks it in water before each new batch, which reactivates the little darlings just enough to do their job. Bread is always great, but very, very dark. I hated it as a child, but enjoy it now, preferrably with a sharp cheese. He always gives me a loaf after each time he bakes.

Not that it was hard, but it is a little bit involved to start a sourdough. (I didn't dare to use the barrel - I don't know how to adapt recipes that well.) I started about a week ago, by combining coarse rye flour and water. I let it sit for three days, stirring it every day, and then on day four, I added more flour and more water. On day five, it was ready to use. I froze most of it in small portions, and used the last one to bake. I also made a poolish, which is also a kind of pre-dough, that has to sit for 24 hours. It has a tiny bit of yeast, fine rye flour and water. On the actual baking day, yesterday, I combined the two, added regular flour, more yeast, salt, honey and more water.



Nic posted about baking sourdough the other day, and was concerned that her crust wasn't quite crusty enough. Mine is really, really crusty, so I thought I'd share the method of baking. It was very simple, but it involves a couple of steps. First - put the breads in a very hot oven. Mine was 250 degrees Celsius (480F), and as I mentioned before, they went straight onto a pre-heated baking sheet. I also sprayed in a lot of water into the oven, to create steam. After ten minutes, I lowered the heat to 200 C (390F) and vented the oven door for a few seconds. I repeated the venting twice more, at regular intervals. In total, my bread baked for about 55 minutes.

So how did it taste? Marvellous! It was really, really good. Great flavor, very well developed, and a wonderful texture. I sliced and froze most of it, and will toast the slices directly from the freezer. Perfect for a hearty breakfast bread! I will definitely make this again, and now I will try other recipes too. I would love to make a wheat sourdough starter too, it'd be nice to have both kinds at hand. And isn't it convenient that it keeps so well in the freezer? I certainly think so.

Pasta Bianco

Lunch today was marvellous. I made my very favorite dish right now - Jamie Oliver's Pasta Bianco. I don't feel bad about sharing his recipe - but you *should* buy the book: Jamie's Dinners. It's one of his best books, and it has so many yummy recipes! This dish is amazing. I could eat a bucketful. It's obviously not healthy, but the creamy, silky, cheesy, garlicky sauce makes it all worth it. Take a brisk walk afterwards if you feel guilty. I don't.

Pasta Bianco
Serves 1
3-5 balls of tagliatelle (depending on how hungry you are)
20 g butter
1-2 cloves of garlic
1 large handful shredded parmesan

Put on water for the pasta, and when it's boiling, add the pasta. Grate your parmesan. Grate your garlic - I use a nifty little garlic grater, but just use whatever you have on hand.


Edith, inspecting my garlic grater.

Melt the butter in a saucepan, and add the garlic. Fry gently for a couple of minutes. When the pasta is done, drain it over a bowl - you need some pasta water for the sauce to come together. When just doing this for one person - add the pasta directly into the saucepan with the garlic butter, also add the parmesan and a few tablespoons of pasta water. Toss the pasta and move it around until everything blends into a creamy sauce. You might need some more pasta water. Pour into a bowl, add some white pepper and some more parmesan - and enjoy immediately.

The only thing I don't like about this is that it leaves a lot of clean-up. But it is worth it.



Ah, stay-at-home-week continues, with more glorious food! It's wonderful to have so much time to cook. Last night for dinner, I made Potted Chicken, a family favorite lovingly posted about by Julie. Her post was part of a little mini-contest about fond food memories, and as soon as I read it I knew I wanted to make it. It would never occur to me to eat meatballs AND chicken in the same meal - it seems abundant and even a bit frivolous. However, it was very tasty and the chicken meat was extraordinarily tender. Next time - I think I'll do just the chicken, and I'll use ready-cut-up pieces. I really suck at cutting chicken, and I'm too squeamish for it.



Tomorrow, I will post about my first sourdough breadmaking experience. My loaves are rising, and ready to go into the oven in a little bit.

Wonderful soup, thanks to Debbie!

So, this is my big copycat week. I'm home from work, and I have all the time in the world to cook, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to make a lot of lovely food that I've read about in blogs. Yesterday, Per ruined this little quest by requesting falafel - which is fine, and I was glad to eat that, too - but on Monday, I made Debbie's Beef and Barley Soup. Mmm! It's really tasty, and I'll definitely save the recipe. Next time, I'd go a little easier on the soy sauce though. Mine turned out very dark, much darker than the one in Debbie's picture. I don't know if my soy sauce was more potent, or what. I let my soup simmer for close to two hours, and it was wonderfully flavorful and rich. I even used celery - normally something I can't stand, but I braced myself and figured it would help bring the flavors together.

Tomorrow, I will be baking my first sourdough bread! I made a sourdough starter on Saturday night, and I've been faithfully stirring it every day since. Today, it was time to add more stuff to it, and tomorrow, it will be ready. I'm making a bread that also has poolish, a different kind of starter, so I've got one of those going too. It only takes 24 hours, so it will be done tomorrow morning. Exciting! I love baking bread, I just don't love that it takes so long to do it!

Chocaholic Cookies

A little while ago, I rediscovered, and subsequently bought all the books by Diane Mott Davidson.

I had read a few earlier, and I had one – the Cereal Murders – but as I re-read that one, I got a sudden urge to own them all. I found a good deal on Ebay, bought the rest from an Internet bookshop, and have been happily reading ever since. For those not familiar with these books, they’re called Culinary Mysteries and is a certain little genre of their own.

The heroine, Goldy, is a caterer in Aspen Meadow, Colorado. She tends to stumble upon crimes, again and again. The books are classic murder mysteries – but they’re also peppered with recipes! As Goldy cooks for her various engagements, she’ll share recipes with the readers, and boy – some of them sound absolutely excellent. I haven’t tried that many yet, but I really look forward to doing so. However, I made these wonderful chocolate cookies for mine and Per’s anniversary – we’ve been a couple for six years!

Diane Mott Davidson call these Chocaholic cookies, and they are indeed – shock-full of chocolate, and yummy beyond belief. I halved the original recipe, so you can easily double this. I find that the yield in the books is usually a little bit off, but not by too much. I got 24 cookies out of this, and according to the recipe, it should have been 30. Oh well. These are some of the best cookies I’ve ever had. They’re deep, dark and thoroughly satisfying. The creamy white chocolate glaze really sets off the chocolateness of the cookie – I couldn’t help myself, and wolfed down four as soon as the glaze was starting to set. Do try them!



Chocaholic cookies
From The Main Corpse, by Diane Mott Davidson

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup good quality dark chocolate, chopped
1 stick (115 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
¾ cup flour
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt (I omitted this since I used regular butter instead of unsalted)
¼ cup of unsweetened cocoa (actually – this is the amount in the regular, doubled recipe – but it worked well for me. More chocolate = better.)
1 large egg
½ tbsp milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
100 g white chocolate
1 tbsp vegetable shortening

Preheat oven to 175 C / 350 F. Combine the oats and the chocolate chips, set aside. Sift the flour with the salt, baking soda and cocoa. Set aside. Beat the egg with the milk and the vanilla – set aside. Beat the sugars with the butter until soft and creamy. Add the flour/cocoa mix and blend well. Add the egg-milk-vanilla mixture. Finally, add the oats/chocolate mixture, and blend everything into a well mixed though. (I used my trusty Kitchen-Aid.)

Use a two-tablespoon scoop (here is where my yield is probably off, since I didn’t have one and just guesstimated) and drop batter 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet. Bake 9-12 minutes and let cool on a rack.

Melt the white chocolate with the shortening, and dip the cooled cookies.