IMBB #17 - Tea-Truffle filled Raspberries

The very exciting theme for this month's edition of Is My Blog Burning? is TasteTea, and it is hosted by Clement at A La Cuisine. (Who, for his last hosting adventure, made everyone play with puff pastry! Wow! That was QUITE a challenge!)

For this one, I was a little less worried. After all, tea? That's not difficult. So, what to do, what to do... I'm not much of a tea drinker - I'll enjoy a cup every now and then, even a couple of times a week, but I like fruity scented teas, and I really don't like the more "advanced" teas like Lapsang Souchon or even Green Tea. So, I don't consider myself a tea drinker. Much. I even buy tea bags, which I know some people totally shudder at the very thought of.

I had a punnet of perfect raspberries waiting in the fridge, and I couldn't stop thinking about them. Hmmm.. raspberries, and tea? No. That needs something else. When in doubt, turn to chocolate. Hence the creation above - raspberries filled with a chocolate truffle infused with tea. The tea I used is by Lipton and called Indian Spice. It's very good - spicy cardamom and red fruits. The chocolate is also quite fruity, a dark Chocovic, and I thought the combination would be great. And it was indeed! The recipe is dead simple, and so is the method. Sure, it's a bit fiddly, but not much of a problem. And they're absolutely wonderful. Could not taste better.

Tea-Truffle filled Raspberries

20-30 perfect raspberries
60 g dark chocolate
2 tbsp (30 ml) heavy cream
1 tea bag - Indian Spice by Lipton

Chop the chocolate. Heat the cream, and let the tea infuse in it for five minutes. Discard the bag, and pour the still hot cream over the chocolate and let it melt. Pour into a piping bag, and pipe the truffle into the raspberries. Chill, serve and impress.

Weekend Cat Blogging #8

Ywette and her daughter Glinda, 8 months, hanging out. Aren't they cute and cuddly?

I'm joining the fun world of weekend cat blogging for the first time! Head over to Clare at Eat Stuff to see the other ones!

Avocado and Crawfish

A simple, quick and tasty dinner. Toasted bread - from Gateau bakery, this one is called Grand Blanc and is really yummy - topped with avocado mashed with garlic and lemon, and quickly sautéed crawfish with garlic and chili. Yum!

We also had some fried halloumi, cubed. It's a really good snack, I love the rubbery styrofoam feel that it has, but I realise how incredibly off-putting that must be to some. Sorry!

Ribs

I'm not so good with ribs. Indeed, I have never cooked them before. Per has been begging me to try it for a long time, so I finally gave in. They came out ok I guess, but I really would like some more ideas for next time. This time, I used a simple barbecue sauce that comes from a very secret family recipe that my American friends mom passed on to me. I'm not going to post it, but I'm sure it's very similar to lots of other things - it's ketchup-based with brown sugar, worcestershire sauce, a bit of mustard and water, nothing terribly exciting there. But it's really tasty. Anyway, so I marinated the ribs in this, and baked them in the oven for a long time at a low temperature. Per loved them, but I was not so thrilled.

What are YOUR favorite ways to cook ribs? Please do share - I have two more large slabs of ribs in the freezer!

Oh - I've been tagged for two memes! Exciting! I'll post some answers soon, promise!


Little Habanero sure enjoyed the ribs though!

Goat Cheese Pasta with Lemon

Here's another really quick weekday meal, also from a UK food mag - probably Waitrose, but I can't remember for sure. It's simple, tasty and filling - and I'll be making it again. I've augmented quantities a bit, the original recipe was even heavier on the fats.

Goat Cheese Pasta with Lemon
Serves 2, generously

150 g dried pasta spirals
150 g chevre goat cheese, in two slices
15 g butter
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, sliced
peel of one lemon + 2 tbsp of lemon juice
50 g rocket

Turn the oven to "grill". Cook the pasta according to instructions. Grill the cheese for 4-5 minutes, it should melt a bit and bubble.

Melt butter and olive oil in a saucepan, fry the garlic gently. Add the lemon peel and juice. Toss with the pasta and the rocket, season with salt and pepper. Top with the melted cheese.

Sirloin Steak with Basil Cream Sauce

This is one of the best things I've tried lately. I found the recipe in one of Johanna's food magazines - Waitrose, maybe? - and promtply copied it down into my PalmPilot. I've made it twice already, it's incredibly tasty and really easy to make. The sauce would go well with pork tenderloin too, but so far I've tried it with sirloin. (Or entrecote, as we say in Sweden.)

The second time I made it was in Dalarna, and I had somehow forgotten that I needed white wine for it. So, I had to resort to using red wine since that was what we had. Results.. well - stick to white wine. The flavor was pretty much the same, but the sauce was seriously purple. So, unless you mind eating with your eyes closed, or want a colorful dish... use white.

Sirloin Steak with Basil Cream Sauce
serves 2, generously

2 sirloin steaks, seasoned with salt and pepper

2 shallots or a red onion, finely diced
100 ml white wine
2 tomatoes, finely diced (and peeled, if you have the patience)
100 ml creme fraiche (I used a lower fat version, worked out well)
20 g (big bunch) of basil, shredded.

Fry the meat as you normally would, which to me is in a mixture of olive oil and butter. Lift out of the pan, and allow to rest under tinfoil while you make the sauce. In the same pan, fry the shallots or onion gently for 2-3 minutes. Add the wine, and let reduce until about half is left. Add the tomatoes, creme fraiche and basil.

Serve with pasta or new potatoes. The article suggested pairing it with a Pinot Noir - I haven't tried that though.

Daddy's Lemon Marmalade

When I visited my parents a few weeks ago, Dad had just finished pouring something gorgeously glisteningly yellow into jars. I asked what it was, and he replied "Lemon Marmalade. With Elderflower." I begged until I was given one of the jars. (Come on, wouldn't you have?)

He made it with lemons that he had first used to make Elderflower Cordial. My parents have an elderflower tree in their backyard, and occasionally my dad makes cordial from it. He keeps it in the freezer, and likes to drink it with gin. It's made with a lot of lemons, and after the cordial was done, he used a stick blender to cut up the lemons, added sugar, and boiled until it was marmalade. Amazingly easy - or so it sounded.

It's delicious on toast, or on crackers. Yum. Thanks dad!

Cranberry Shortbread

Here's what I think might be the last post about the food at my wedding. (Amazing, huh?) It's a recipe I borrowed from The Domestic Goddess herself, Jennifer. She made these for her weddings, and I couldn't resist having them for mine, too. I followed her recipe to a T so I won't re-print it, but I didn't have the heart to cut out hearts (heh) since that would waste so much precious cookie. Instead, I made simple squares. Small ones, because they are really rich. And delicious. Of course. (Although, Jennifer's are a lot prettier. I will try this with a roll-out shortbread dough sometime!)

Herbed Potato Salad

Just a very quick post to share my potato salad recipe. I made this for the wedding, too, and it was really popular! Most potato salads that you buy ready made are so-so - I won't eat them at all, generally, due to the high fat halt and the in general yucky texture. But this one was a lot nicer. I'm still not a huge fan, but Per adored it and wants me to make it all the time now.

It's very easy. You need:
new potatoes, boiled and halved (if you're fussy, peel them - but I didn't.)
creamy yogurt (greek or turkish, fat content about 10%)
mayo
yellow onion, sliced into half-moons
capers
flat leaf parsley
coriander
mint
basil
salt
black pepper

I put all the herbs in the food processor - I was making massive amounts of this, and if you're just making a little, coarsely chop by hand instead. As for amounts, I used mostly parsley, then coriander, not so much mint, and just a little bit of basil. Adjust to your own likings.

Mix a large dollop of yogurt with a small dollop of mayo. Add salt, pepper, capers, onions and all the herbs. Toss with the still warm potatoes. And that's that. Easy, isn't it?

Savoury Sablés

Here's another recipe from Canapés. This was absolutely perfect to serve with some bubbly after our wedding ceremony. People loved them - I used the heart-shaped ones, and saved the star-shaped for the cold buffet. The only difference is that the heart-shaped ones have some poppy seeds on them, and for the stars, I used half roquefort cheese instead of all cheddar. (And omitted the cayenne.) The original recipe suggests gruyère cheese, but I don't like that much and opted for a sharp English cheddar instead. (And they included mustard powder - but I don't have that in my pantry so I just skipped it.)

They turned out just fine, everyone loved them and wanted loads more. They make almost a puff pastry - I suppose it's all that butter.

Savoury Sablés
Makes 60-80 depending on size (mine are small - I got about 100!)

250 g flour
175 g cold butter, diced
250 g sharp cheddar cheese or gruyère, grated
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 egg yolk beaten with some water

Use a food processor, and mix flour, butter, cheese and cayenne until it forms a pastry. You may need to use a little bit of cold water to get it to bind together. Roll out on a floured surface until about 0.5 cm thick. Use a cookie cutter to get the shapes you like, place on a baking sheet. Brush with a little bit of the egg yolk, and sprinkle over poppy seeds if you want to.

Bake for 10 minutes in a 180 degree warm oven. (350F). The recipe said to refrigerate the cut-out sablés before baking. I don't know about you, but my refrigerator certainly won't hold cookie sheets on most days, and decidedly not two days before a wedding. So I skipped that step, worrying like crazy that they wouldn't hold their shape.. but they came out fine.

For the roquefort variety, omit the cayenne, and use 125 g of cheddar and 125 g of roquefort. Otherwise proceed as above.

Keeps very well for a couple of days in an airtight container.

I have a few more wedding-related recipes to post - stay tuned for the creamy potato salad! It was a huuuuuge hit.

Olive and Pine Nut Biscottini

This is a recipe from Canapés, by Eric Treuille and Victoria Blashford-Snell. A wonderful book - I picked it up in London at the insistence of Johanna, and I don't regret it for a second.

These biscotti turned out a little soft for my liking, so next time I'll dry them for longer. And maybe I'll finish them with a spray of oil and a dash of sea salt - but they were fine like this too. I needed them to be very portable, so I didn't want to mess around with them more, but if you have other possibilities, then do the salt thing. I think they'd benefit from it.

Olive and Pine Nut Biscottini
makes 60-80, depending on size

100 g pine nuts
250 g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp fennel seeds
2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
100 g pitted green olives, chopped
3 eggs

Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F) and when it's done, toast the nuts for 7 minutes until they are fragrant and golden. Let cool.

Use a food processor (or just mix it all by hand) and mix the flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, fennel, parmesan, eggs and olives into a rough dough. Add the pine nuts by hand. Divide the dough into 3 or 4 pieces, and roll into logs that are about 2.5 (1 inch) thick. Place on a baking sheet, and bake for about 25 minutes. The logs should be firm.

Take them out, and when they're cook enough to handle, slice them diagonally. Place the slices back on the baking sheet, and bake again until dry and crispy - it should take about 15 minutes. Cool completely.

This keeps very well for a couple of days in an air-tight plastic container.

And, as you can see, I'm home! :) I had a wonderful, wonderful time in Dalarna, and I'm gearing up to tell you all about it. Actually, that will be fast, since we didn't have any exactly exciting culinary adventures. But, with beautiful weather, lots of sleep, strawberries, ice cream and barbecue - what more can you really ask for? Oh, and I forgot the best part - lots of time for just me and Per.

Thanks to Lena for keeping you entertained in the mean time - I hope you'll come back, or why not start a blog of your own? You cook GREAT food! And thanks to all of your wonderful well-wishes, it's been wonderful to read all the comments!

The food was a nice bonus.

Today I will continue to tell you about some of the very nice food I had the privilege to eat during my stay at Il Poggio in Celle sul Rigo a small village in Tuscany, Italy

This was our Sunday dinner; first we got served a small omelet with spinach in a salted waffle standing in on a pecorino cheese sauce as the antipasto. The salted waffle was so thin and crispy, the omelet was a regular omelet with some spinach, I am not too fond of spinach but it was really tasty together with the waffle and the cheese sauce. The creamy and flavorful pecorino cheese sauce was the thing that gave this course its twist. This pecorino cheese was a product of the Il Poggio farm another thing I had to buy and take back with me to Sweden. If you have not tried pecorino cheese, give it a chance, it is has kind of a salty exceptional taste full of flavor more so than parmesan.



The primo was a wonderful risotto in saffron sauce served with black truffle. The golden yellow risotto was really creamy and had a rich taste from saffron and cream. The truffle taste was strong and earthy and worked in nice harmony with the risotto. This was definitely one of my favorites during the week, I can still close my eyes and taste it.



The main course, the segundo had a rather dull appearance but an exquisite taste. It was veal slow cooked with aromatic herbs and served with grilled eggplant and cheese. The meat was so tender it almost melted when you put it your mouth it had a rich flavor of several herbs including thyme, bay leaf and a hint of garlic so even though it had a grayish look not to colorful look it was memorable.



To the risotto and the veal we had a red vine. To be more precise it was a Chianti classico, Fonterutoli from 2003. It worked perfectly especially with the risotto but it was also nice together with the veal. It had a ruby red color and a soft fruity taste with touch of vanilla and oak.

The Sunday dinner finale was a mint parfait with white chocolate sauce and strawberries. Mmmm... so good! Both the parfait and the white chocolate sauce had a wonderful soft texture, making it feel like I was eating the finest silk. The parfait had a nice light green color and a fresh strong taste of mint. The white chocolate sauce was oh, so tasty but oh, so sweet, it was ok though since the parfait wasn’t that sweet at all.

By now I guess you are all thinking, did she go to Italy only to indulge in food and vine? No not at all actually, as I told you the food was included in the hotel reservation and it was just a nice bonus to the trip. So why did I go? Well the purpose of the trip was to do some horse back riding in the beautiful Tuscan country side. You see this place do not only have a hotel with a nice gourmet restaurant and a farm making it its own ham, cheese and olive oil it is also have a very nice riding center. Hmm.. I’m beginning to sound like an advertising ad for the place, sorry. Any way I had a very nice memorable time riding in the country side, I just loved it and I have to go again some time

Some Italian food coming up....

Who is this guest-blogger any way? Well as Anne has already told you my name is Lena. I have known Anne for almost two years know and we have become really good friends, we have quite a lot in common, we both live with computer-loving guys, we both love cats (Anne actually sold me my first cat, that is how we met) and as you might have guessed (since this is a food blogg..) we both love food. I especially like to eat food, but also to cook if I have the time and good recipes. In any case I am not as advanced or as good as Anne at cooking so what I will share with you is some of my eating experiences from my summer vacation in Italy. We had the best vacation in the small village of Celle sul Rigo in Tuscany, we were staying at the hotel Il Poggio and in our reservation it was included half board so all our dinners over the week we had in the hotel restaurant. When we arrived we were not sure what to expect from this half board, so the first evening we were really delighted to learn that it was a full Italian gourmet dinner waiting for us. For those of you who are strangers to the ways of how Italians eat dinner, I can tell you that they eat well and give large servings. A traditional Italian dinner has four courses, first comes the antipasto which typically can be some cold cut meat and cheese or an omelet. Second there is the primo which is normally pasta and after that comes the main course, the segundo, which can be veal, chicken or fish together with vegetables, potatoes or rice. Last is the dessert, a sweet pie or ice cream.

The antipasto of our first dinner at Il Poggio was a selection of cured meat and salami from the farm that is a part of Il Poggio, therefore I took a picture of this nice dish as a way to remember what to buy to bring with me when we go home. But when the next dish was served, I just had to take a picture of that one too, and after that I was caught up in the food picture taking so... I ended up with pictures of all our courses (except for one antipasto when I was too hungry and took a big bit before remembering the camera) and wines for the whole week.



Well well... back to the dish that caught my eye, it was a generous serving of small bit size gnocchi covered in a rocket salad sauce and fresh tomatoes. The sauce, which I can best describe as a pesto but with rocket salad instead of the basil and a generous amount of ricotta cheese instead of the nuts, had the most beautiful light green color that made a really nice contrast to the bright red tomatoes lying on top. So did it taste good? Oh yes! It had a fresh taste of rocket salad a soft touch of garlic and a very distinct flavor of the most wonderful olive oil (the Il Poggio olive oil is one thing I brought home with me several bottles of, it is the best one I ever tasted) on top of that came the taste of ricotta which was also mixed into the sauce and the sweetness of the tomatoes that also served as the garnish. The bit size gnocchi was just perfectly cooked, not too hard and not to soggy, soggy over cooked gnocchi is too common in “Swedish-Italian” restaurants and not something I like. So to summarize it was good really good!

Oups, this contribution to the blogg got a whole lot longer than I planned, sorry for that. To my defence I can say that this is my first blogg entry (ever) so please have patience I will try to be more to the point. So to finish of I will tell you about the last course of this our first Italian dinner. It was an almond cake with raspberry jam and raspberry sauce. The cake had a nice crust with a soft taste of almonds and a touch of vanilla, inside the cake was a sweet tasty raspberry jam. The best part of this desert was definetly the raspberry sauce it had the most beautiful intense ruby red color and a strong but not that sweet raspberry taste, in fact the taste was so strong I do not want to think about how long the chef had worked to reduce the fresh mashed berries in to this heavenly sauce.

Ah.. finally married

It was wonderful. We had the best day, ever. Everything went just as it should, and it was perfect.

Thank you all so much for your well-wishes, we were so happy to come home and read them! We spent the night at Grand Hotel Saltsjobaden, which is in the little place where I grew up. It's beautiful, right on the seafront, and we had both dinner and breakfast overlooking the water. Gorgeous. And great food. But more on that some other time.

I thought I'd do a quick post to let you all know that it went well. The food was just enough for everyone (I had some leftover pasta salad, and cookies - but not much else. Phew!) and everyone said that they loved it. It wasn't all that difficult to pull off, either - I had most things prepared well in advance. Yesterday morning, all that remained to be done was transferring most things into pretty bowls and baskets, and tossing the green salad at last minute. That was that!

I'll be posting the remaining recipes "soon", but we're going away for ten days in Dalarna tomorrow and I won't be at a computer for most of that time. I might do some quick checking-ins at the library, but that's it.

So. I thought I'd leave you with a guest-blogger for a little while! Let me introduce Lena. Lena is a dear friend, whom I met by selling her and her boyfriend Nico a cat. Since then, we've spent a lot of time together, over dinners and fika, and they've ended up buying a second cat. (One of the cute little silvers from the latest litters - Kellycats Silver Habanero.) Lena and Nico were recently in Italy, and when they got home, she excitedly told me that she had taken pictures of all their amazing dinners. Well - perfect! So, hopefully she's going to drop by to tell you all about it. :)

Full wedding menu

The cheese pies - eight of them in total

Cooking for my own wedding - catastrophy, one might think. But it really wasn't that bad. Everything was finished around lunch time yesterday, and then I've been having lots of time for just me. Time to go get ready - the wedding ceremony is in just over two hours!

Here's the full menu:

Nibbles for after the ceremony:
Cheddar Cheese Sablés with Poppy Seeds
Biscottini with Green Olives, Fennels and Pine Nuts

Drink:
Rose de Pinot, Italy
(a bubbly rosé)

Cold buffet:
Smoked salmon
Smoked turkey
Air-cured ham with Cantaloupe Melon
Roquefort Sablés
Pasta Salad Tricolore with Pesto and Bacon
Creamy Pasta Salad with corn, cucumber, leeks and red pepper
Yogurt Potato Salad with Capers, Onion, Mint, Coriander and Parsley
Salad with Cucumber, Pineapple and Purple Onion
Vasterbotten Cheese Pie
Roe SauceRadishes with Cheese and Herb Vinaigrette

Drink:
Drosdty-Hof, a South-African red wine.

Dessert:
Almond cake
Fresh Strawberries
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Cranberry Shortbread
Syrup-Cranberry Cookies

Coffee

Last day as a spinster

Tomorrow is the big day - my wedding!

All the preparations are pretty much done, and cooking has gone surprisingly well. I went about it with military precision, having long lists of everything that needed to be done at what time, and it worked like a charm. I'll post the full menu tomorrow morning, so you can all join in and celebrate virtually with me and Per!

For now, a quick snack. One of our friends tipped us off about a great flavor combination - ripe gorgonzola cheese, and finely diced red onion. Preferrably served on a piece of butter-fried kavring. So that's what we had the other night. It was indeed absolutely marvellous, and I urge you all to try it.

Now, I'm going to go kick my feet up for a little bit, and do absolutely nothing.

Lamb kebabs

It's getting so warm here, finally. Let's hope for good weather on Saturday too - the big day for my wedding. I'm cooking up a storm - but besides preparing all the food, I need to eat something, too.

Here's a nice little dish - quick to prepare and very very tasty, and easy to vary using different spices and herbs. It made for some nice leftovers, too.

Lamb Kebabs
Serves 3-4

400 g of minced lamb meat
1 egg
1 red bellpepper, finely chopped
cumin
sambal oelek (chili paste - use whatever you have)
handful of finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

sesame seeds

Mix all the ingredients except for the sesame seeds, and pat them onto wooden spits. Drizzle with sesame seeds. Barbecue, or just bake in the oven for 10 minutes. (Oven should be hot - 225 C or 450 F)

As you can see in the picture, we had these with couscous and coriander tzatziki. (Yogurt, cucumber, garlic, coriander, salt, white pepper, pinch of sugar, dash of lemon)

More on the Henley Regatta

My first Pimm's. Isn't it beautiful? And as you can see, we were RIGHT on the water. Very nice!



Amazing food. Here, you can see the round sandwich Johanna made, that has pastrami, watercress and a cream from mayonnaise, capers, parsley, gherkins and mustard. Wonderful! And behind that is Jeanne's quiche with butternut squash and feta. She also brought muffins that somehow must have snuck out of the shot - with pecorino and peppadew. Mmm!



And here we have foie gras crackers, another quiche with asparagus and bacon, and the amazing Jägerwecken. That was a thick baguette, holed out and stuffed with ham, cheese, gherkins, parsley, cream cheese and boiled eggs, all chopped up. Tasted incredible, I loved that!

And not in pictures, but still present, were salmon roly-polies with cream cheese and herbs, a yummy mackerel dip, and for dessert, chocolate-chili cremes. And in addition to the Pimm's, there were lots of wines and wonderful bellinis that Andrew had brought. Mm!

Decidedly the most up-scale picnic I've ever been to, that's for sure! And as a bonus, I have almost all the recipes, since they're all to be found on various blogs! A thousand thanks to Johanna and her family for having me - it was a great way to spend a weekend!

Oh, and what did I do on Sunday? I went shopping, of course. Quite a task considering the sales had started in London, and I lugged my bag around all day. I had to refresh myself several times with.. this.

Risotto Bites

First things first - I spent the weekend in London, and I had such a great time! I was invited by Johanna, the Passionate Cook, and she kindly let me stay with her wonderful family just a short ways from London centre. On Saturday, we went to the food blogger's picnic at Henley. It was nothing short of amazing - it was great to be able to meet a few fellow bloggers - Jeanne, Christina, Andrew and of course Johanna - and their friends and families. And the food - oh, the food. I will post pictures later. I think the drinks made the most impression me though - because I finally got to taste Pimm's. Oh, heavenly nectar - I loved it. And is it sold in Sweden? No, it is not. I bought two bottles at the airport, and will hoard them.

Now, back to some regular scheduled wedding woes. Just to recap - getting married on Saturday, doing the cooking myself, planning on 60 guests. Stupid? That's my middle name.

My biggest problem has been to come up with something small and savory to serve with the bubbly. I got a ton of suggestions right here, thank you all - and one of them was Ilva who had just posted on her blog about these risotto squares. I made them, and loved them. Per didn't, so we won't serve them at the wedding, but they're excellent, and I'll definitely make them for dinner, or for picnics. Here's the recipe - I followed Ilva's but it's in Swedish so a bunch of you can't read it. I did use a bit less rice than she did, because it seemed a little much to go with that quantity of stock. Just use your usual amount for that amount of stock - all rice behave differently. And I added some dried mushrooms I happened to have - chanterelles. You can probably go with porcini, I think they're similar.

And - oh yeah - I've finally made up my mind. Johanna showed me a great book - Canapés by Eric Treuille and Victoria Blashford-Snell - and I promptly bought it in London on Sunday. It has a recipe for savory sablés - perfect. I've made two kinds - one with sharp cheddar and poppy seeds, and one with roquefort. Both taste great. Will post about them later. I also made a savory biscotti from the book - with green olives and pine nuts. I haven't tried them yet, but they look great.

Back to the risotto, yeah?

Risotto Squares

200 g arborio rice
1 onion, diced
500 ml vegetable stock
two large handfuls of shredded parmesan
2 eggs

about a cup of dried mushrooms
hot water

butter
breadcrumbs
salt
pepper

Fry the onion gently in 25 g of butter. Add the rice, and fry for another minute. Add the stock, all at one time, and cook until the rice is done. Meanwhile, soak the mushrooms in hot water. When done, squeeze gently and add to the rice. Toss away the soaking water - it will be bitter. Take the risotto off the heat, and let it cool.

When it's cool, preheat the oven to 175 degrees C. (350F) Butter and bread an oven-proof dish. Beat the eggs, and add to the rice with half of the parmesan, salt and pepper. Pat into the oven proof dish, and top with the rest of the parmesan and small pats of butter. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until golden and bubbly on top. Let cool, and cut into squares.

Utensils - a constant search for perfection

I love kitchen stuff - not just food, but all the toys. The knives, the china, the glassware, the cookware, the cutlery.. everything. But what I love the most is probably the gadgets - the fun stuff. Sam asked us to post a little bit about our fave utensil, since she wanted some ideas. Well, my fave and most extravagant gadget is definitely my Kitchen-Aid (deep glossy red!) but since I know that Sam already has one, well, no use in talking about that one.

Instead, I will talk a bit about a sharpening stone. See, many of us spend a whole lot of money on knives. I know that I certainly do. So, when I saw a guy from Japan visiting one of our department stores, I asked how I could keep them sharper. I already had a small handheld sharpening device, but I wanted something better. Something fiercer. And he showed me the stones. He taught me how to use them, and of course, I couldn't very well leave without one. He said that they were selling a lot of Global knives in Sweden - so many that apparently people didn't know how to sharpen and just bought new knives instead. Amusing. Global knives are really popular here - mostly because of their "coolness" and appearance. Not that I don't love mine though - it's absolutely perfect for my small chubby hands.



The whetstone is expensive - I paid about 600 SEK for mine. But it's SO worth it. I spent a whole morning sharpening all my knives - I have a bunch, as you can see in the picture above. (Hey - see that neat knife holder? That's also one of my favorites, and all the more meaningful to me since it was made for me by an inmate a couple of years ago when I spent a summer working as a prison guard. Thank you Mikael, wherever you might be.) Anyway. The knives became so incredibly sharp again. And it was so much fun! And they've staid really, really sharp for this past month. I'm truly impressed. And every kitchen fanatic should have one! There, I'm done with the selling. :) It's called a Mino Sharp Whetstone, and I have the medium one. There is a coarser one if your knives are really dull and damaged, and then there's a fine one which is apparently just for real fine-tuning.



Now, for something a bit cheaper. I was going to talk about my stick blender - but what's there to say? It's excellent, and everyone should have one. The picture is blurry - sorry about that. In it, you can see my latest toy, a Misto oil sprayer. Very neat! I love it already! But, I'll turn to something a lot more basic. A wooden spoon. The Perfect Wooden Spoon.

I have one. It's the one on the very left. It's perfect. For everything. Unfortunately, it is broken. The handle broke when I was making gingerbread last winter, and I'm in serious mourning. I'm on the hunt for one JUST like it, but so far, no luck. You can see that I've acquired a bunch of other spoons so far, but none of them is perfect. So, the search must go on. (If you find a spoon that might fit the bill - please let me know!) Anyway, a wooden spoon is a true essential in any kitchen, and I encourage all of you to go out and hunt for your perfect spoon!