Weekend Cat Blogging #69 - Ywette

"I can not believe the humans ran out of cat food. I just can not belive it."

And yet, it did happen. We are so very sorry. And the cats are angry. They came into bed this morning - we thought they wanted to cuddle, but they had a very different message to deliver. We're out of food!

Still playing in Photoshop. Now that I'm back from the pet store, obviously. The cats are busy stuffing themselves. Ywette is still in shocked disbelief.

This week, you can see Weekend Cat Blogging over at House of (the mostly) black cats.

A new cookbook. Or three.

Popular Swedish chef and restaurateur Melker Andersson runs four restaurants now. (F12, Restaurangen, Grill and Kungsholmen.) All are very successful. On Wednesday, I was at the release for his new cookbooks. Or well, his restaurants' cookbooks. The recipes come from him and the three head chefs, and the rest of the books are filled with tidbits and articles written by a plethora of different writers. Articles? Yes - these books are quite different. They're more like thick, glossy magazines - with food. Interesting concept. Interesting cookbooks? Well.

I have to be honest. I'm not blown away. The three cookbooks are quite similar - one is called Oas (Oasis), one is Eld (Fire) and the last is Smak (Flavour). Oas is twice as thick as the others, by the way. And it's the one I've read most thoroughly so far. I do like the concept, I really do. And the recipes are interesting. Many of the pictures are beautiful.

But many are not. Many are standard stock photos, not so much for the food but for the articles. And the articles themselves seem *very* random. An example: a checklist for a successful wedding, including tips like "make sure you choose an entertaining toastmaster". Err, yes. Thanks.

The recipes are poorly written. (I don't know if I have a a pre-copy, I hope so and I hope that someone will send the thing through spell-check before properly released.) There are ingredients that you won't be told what to do with - or even explained. Many of them have no points on assembly - when clearly, assembly is a key, if you look at the photos. Many will leave you hanging half way. Or have instructions starting with something immediate, followed by something you should have made the night before. They're not in order. And if you're not used to complicated recipes - they're just confusing. But in all fairness, this comment is mostly for the recipes in Oas. The other ones, at a glance, seem a bit better in this respect. Still, it gives a hurried, un-thought through impression. Not at all what I expected from this group of cooks.

And the tidbits. Come on. This is an advanced cookbook. (Or set of cookbooks.) Or at least the recipes are. There's ice, jelly or foam in just about every recipe. Deconstructed and reconstructed dishes. Exciting stuff! So why not use the space for notes, tidbits and articles on something related and NOT on "choose a good chef's knife, you'll be happy!" or my favorite "with a cold enough fridge you can keep fresh fish for up to a week!". (and um, eww at that one. Who would want to?)

I would have loved to see an article on lardo for instance, which is used in quite a few recipes. (And dismissed with an explanation that it's the fat off cured pork products, like parma ham. Which is very much simplyfying it.) And it'd have been great to learn more about techniques, and tools. Now, things are just tossed into the recipes. Often special tools are requested that I don't even know where to find.

Sorry, this is perhaps a bit harsh. I do like the food itself. (Hey, the food we got at the release party was absolutely top-notch!) A high point is some of the beautiful photography - the exhibition of women with raw food on them (a meat dress, a fish dress etc) are stunning. I do like that the books are done in a new and different concept, and with advanced recipes. I just think that it's not very well followed-through. It could have been so much better. And well, I'm sure the authors are thinking about their very unique restaurants and that that needs to be taken into account - but for me, I want a book that can stand on its own.

Anyway. If you want to buy the books, I heartily recommend online store Adlibris which has the books at almost half of recommended retail price. Here's the whole set, Eld, Oas and Smak. Oh, and maybe pointing out the obvious here - but sorry, the books are in Swedish, for all you English-speakers out there.

Chewy Nut Cookies

These are absolutely irresistible. One batch makes around 30, and if you can leave them, they will keep for a few days in an air-tight jar. However, they're absolutely at their best when freshly baked, so go ahead and have seconds. (If you want to keep some, the freezer is your best option. Then you can gently re-heat in the oven when you want to eat them.)

Make sure to leave a lot of room - these will spread. As you can see in the picture, I ended up with an entire cookie sheet full of cookie, and had to cut mine into squares. But whatever - the taste is the same.

If you feel like a bit more effort, you can roast and peel your hazelnuts before baking. I never bother.

Chewy Nut Cookies
Makes 30

200 g hazelnuts
25 g butter
2,5 dl (1 cup) sugar
2 eggs

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Put aside 30 whole hazelnuts, and grind the rest finely in a grinder or in a food processor.

Melt the butter and let it cool a bit. Add the nuts, sugar and the eggs, and mix until uniform. Place spoonfuls well apart on a lined cookie sheet, and top each cookie with a reserved hazelnut. Bake for about 10 minutes. Don't burn yourself eagerly trying to stuff one into your mouth - they cool very quickly.

Nötkakor

Southwest Bulgur Salad

Very inspired by this post from What We're Eating, I decided to pull together a simple little bulgur salad to serve with lamb chops the other day. The results were great! I didn't follow Amanda's recipe all that closely, but somewhat. I boiled bulgur the way I always do (twice the amount of water, lightly salt, bring to a boil, cover with a lid on low heat...) and tossed it with finely diced tomatoes, red onion, red pepper and cilantro, and for a dressing just olive oil, garlic, lime juice, lime zest, cumin and dried chipotle pepper. Delicious - and so easy.

Maltesers

Oh, happiness is a big bowl of Maltesers.

Monkey Bread

I had never heard of Monkey Bread until I found this post over at Bakingsheet. It sounds like a great idea to me. I love cinnamon buns – but I really don’t like the crisp outside, just the fluffy, soft inside. And this Monkey Bread gives you pretty much just insides – since it’s baked in a pan. Great. Perfect, in fact. I decided to try the idea but using a regular old cinnamon bun dough recipe. I happened to have half a package of fresh yeast left over. It turned out wonderfully – it rose beautifully and made a big loaf tin full of delicious yumminess. I ate a few and stuck the rest in the freezer – it should keep well enough.

Monkey Bread
75 g butter plus 25 g
250 ml milk (1 cup)
25 g fresh yeast
70 g sugar
salt, a pinch
7-800 ml flour (about 3 cups)
white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon

Melt the 75 g of butter in a small saucepan or in the microwave. Combine with the milk, and bring to slightly warm temperature, about 40°C. Crumble the yeast in to a bowl, and combine with some of the liquid. Stir until the yeast is dissolved, then add the rest of the liquid, the sugar, the salt and most of the flour. Work either by hand or with a machine, until you have a silky dough. It shouldn’t be very sticky, but don’t put too much flour in it either, as that will make it tough. Add a little at a time, until you have it just right.

Let it rest in a clean bowl with a towel on top for about half an hour or until doubled in size.

Melt the remaining 25 g of butter. Combine equal amounts of white and brown sugar with a little cinnamon to make the topping.

Brush some of the butter in a loaf tin, and sprinkle with a little cinnamon sugar.

Gently knock the dough back, and pinch off golf-ball-sized pieces. Roll each gently into a ball, and dip into first the butter, and then the cinnamon sugar. It should be completely covered. Place into the tin. Repeat with all the dough.

Cover the tin and let it rise for about half an hour again, or until well risen. Heat the oven to 225°C. Bake the bread for ten minutes at this high temperature in the middle of the oven – then lower it to about 175°C, lower the bread to the lowest rack and bake for ten more minutes.

Monkey Bread

Swedish Mexican Food

I'm cited in a column in LA Times today! :) The columnist, Gregory Rodriguez, read my post on tacos and called me up for a chat.

You might need to register to read the article, which you can find here.

Weekend Cat Blogging - Kelly, painted

No, not really painted. But it's amazing what Photoshop can do nowadays! I really wish I had the time - and a teacher - to explore all the cool things about Photoshop. As it is, I learn a bit here and there. Above is one of my newest toys, a cool filter that makes your photos look painted. Kelly is in her usual spot on the couch, where she happily watches tv with us. Instead of going into heat I might add, we're waiting, and waiting.. but nothing. Hence, no kittens in sight. But I'm hoping...

ChefSarahJane is hosting Weekend Cat Blogging this week. Head over here to check out more lovely kitties!

Baguette from Fine Food

This was another very yummy baguette, from a new foodie hangout in Stockholm called Fine Food. It's a small store, stocking only select goods of the highest quality. They have a small deli counter, with excellent meats and cheeses, a small veggie corner with the finest seasonal produce, and a large section with high quality pasta, grains, oils, vinegars, spices and breads. And speaking of bread, they make this baguette in-house, and it is very good indeed.

And hey - it's the only reliable source of Mountain Dew that we've found in Stockholm! (Yes, Gray's have it every once in a while, but usually not.) So Per is happy - that's hands down his favorite drink.



I found this excellent Manitoba Cream flour. All the rage among foodies here, it's a very high protein flour that helps develop extra gluten for extra special chewy bread. Stay tuned for my experiments with this!

Fine Food is located in Hammarby Sjöstad, near the station "Luma". It's not easy to find parking.

Fine Food
Hammarby Allé 62
Stockholm

Baguette by Paul Hollywood

I've been baking quite a bit lately. No matter how stressed I am, breadmaking always calms me down. It's really good for the soul. And when the results are so good, well, it's hard not to find the time. Anyway. This baguette is from Paul Hollywood's book "100 great breads". It's a soft baguette, and the inclusion of butter makes it tighter in crumb than those fluffy, hollowy french breads. I'd say that this is perfect as a sandwich bread, rather than eating with just butter or cheese - but that's just me. In a few days, I will post a baguette recipe that I like a lot more - the results are more chewy, crusty and in general, more baguette-y. However, this recipe is easy, and that's really important too. The dough is easy to handle, it's not sticky or runny, and it's very hard to mess this one up. (As indeed with many Hollywood breads. I very much recommend his book - it's been very reliable for me.)

Please note that you need to start this one day before you plan on eating. Don't worry, it'll just take a minute.

Baguette
makes 1

500 g white flour, preferrably extra strong
20 g fresh yeast
warm water
1 tbsp salt
50 g butter, softened

Day 1:
Mix 200 g of the flour with all the yeast, and enough water to make a thick batter. Cover with plastic wrap or a towel, and leave overnight.

Day 2:
Add the rest of the flour, the salt and the butter. Add enough water to make the dough smooth and elastic, but not sticky or wet. Leave to rise in the bowl for 1 hour.

Punch down the dough as to remove the air, and shape into a baguette form. Place on a baking sheet, and let rise for another hour.

Heat the oven to 220°C, and just before you put in the bread, make several diagonal slashes in it. Bake for about 30 minutes.

Baguette

Five things to eat before you die

This Meme has been travelling for a bit, and I have been tagged at least thrice. I'm very late in participating - but hey, better late than never, as they say.

So. Without further ado. Here's five things you really should try to seek out. (And here's the enormous round-up.)

-Warm cloudberries over good quality vanilla ice cream

-Swedish Västerbotten Cheese (very sharp!) on crisp rye bread

-Swedish-style crawfish

-tomatoes from your own garden

-Swedish meatballs with mom's lingonberry jam, the berries picked and prepared with lots of love

Cole Slaw

I realize that there must be a million ways to make cole slaw. My favorite is this - very simple, and very clean in flavors. And not completely drowning in creamy dressing - that is good, but.. not so good for you. (If you want a real decadent cole slaw in Stockholm, head over to Texas Longhorn - they have a great one.)

Anyway. Here's what I usually do: Mix 1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar with 1/2 tbsp sugar, a little salt and pepper. Beat in 2-3 tbsp mayonnaise until smooth. Stir in 1/2 small head of cabbage (shredded), 1-2 shredded carrots and preferrably 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced. And sometimes I add half a green apple, too.

Cole Slaw

More summer pictures

I still feel surprisingly un-inspired so here are some more pictures from this summer. Up top, an amazing red currant cake made by my friend Lena in Linkoping. She shared the recipe, so I'll try it myself soon. It was very yummy, the crust is chewy yet crisp, and meringue-like.



Don't laugh - these may be cheap (and they sure were) but they were also surprisingly tasty. The green jar has hazelnut filling, the brown is almond. I can't decide which one I like most. Good thing that there's a lot of both.



A big coffee order from Kaffegrossisten. I haven't had time to try it yet though, still working my way through a huge bag of Mauro Deluxe.



My very cute red knock-box that I got from the same store as the coffee. Brilliant, whatever did I do without it? (Oh yes, clogged the pipes, that's what I did.)



Finally, a picture from a short car-ferry ride. It was a beautiful day.

Woohoo!

The election is finally over, and it looks like I can relax. With the preliminary counting of the votes, it seems like there are three things to be happy about.

1. We have a new goverment!
2. I probably got into local parliament!
3. I will probably continue to be employed! (nice one)

I promise to go back to more normal food blogging tomorrow. For now, just for inspiration - a peach salad with thinly sliced red onions, and a simple garlic lemon vinaigrette. It was great with a piece of grilled beef.

One hour left.

Sorry, no food post - I can't concentrate on anything but the election. Today is the day. And the voting closes in less than an hour. It looks like it will be a very, very tight race, and I'm fairly excited and very nervous! (Not so much for myself - that doesn't matter - but if Sweden gets a new government, that's a huge deal!)

Weekend Cat Blogging - Kelly, Glinda and the spider

The girls found a spider a few mornings ago. (You can kind of see it, to the left in the picture.) This was apparently the best toy they ever had - especially Glinda loved it and played for at least an hour. Until the spider broke. As spiders tend to do.

Grilled Cheese

A feeble attempt to re-create the amazing cheese sandwich I had in London, at Borough's Market. It was very good, but not the same. I used Gruyère cheese, and the bread is from Gateau, their signature bread. Delicious - and fairly close to Pain Poîlane. It also has plenty of garlic and finely minced red onions.

Mini Pavlovas

Brilliant summer dessert - or a dessert for whenever you wish it was still summer. I served them for Midsummer's with whipped cream, fresh strawberries and the best strawberry sauce ever. (Just strawberries with white syrup - but I don't know of white syrup is available outside of Sweden, or at least I have no idea what the equivalent would be. Sorry!)

Fresh berries aren't so much in season here any more, but this would be great using some of the preserves I made this summer. (And maybe you made some, too, dear reader?) Or don't use fruit, and go for whipped cream, shaved dark chocolate and caramel. Mmm. I'm thinking of an autumnal version with cinnamony caramelized apple wedges and vanilla custard.

This particular recipe comes from Nigella, and it's really big - I made it in two batches because I had my doubts about beating that much meringue at a time. If you feel more confident, go right ahead. Also, my oven is not big enough. But other than that, this is really easy to make. You can make them at least a day ahead, just keep them in an air-tight jar. Or freeze them, that works too! The meringue nests will be crisp, yet chewy and fluffy.

Mini Pavlovas
makes about 18 (but some will inevitably break.)

8 egg whites
pinch of salt
500 g sugar
4 tsp corn flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp white wine vinegar

Preheat the oven to 180°C, and line three cookie sheets with parchment paper. Beat the eggwhits with a tiny pinch of salt until they're firm but not stiff. Add the sugar, a little at a time, and beat until you have a wonderful glossy, fluffy meringue. Sprinkle over corn flour, vanilla and vinegar, and gently fold in.

Form little rounds of the batter, about 10 cm across, on the parchment paper. Use the back of a spoon to make them slightly bowl-shaped. (in order to hold more filling, of course.)

Put them in the oven, and lower the heat to 150°C. Bake for 30 minutes, turn off the heat, and bake for 30 minutes more. (At least - an hour or two won't hurt at this stage.) Remove gently from the paper and leave to cool on a rack.

Små Pavlovor

Election day - coming soon!

Today is Wednesday, and the Swedish elections are on Sunday - just a few short days away. I don't normally write much about politics here, but I'll make an exception. See, politics is my job. I work, full time, for the Swedish liberal party - Folkpartiet. And in this election, I''m also a candidate. So - if any of you happen to live in Nacka, and you'd like to vote for me: I'm number 8 on the list. And if any of you who don't live in Nacka still would like to support me - a vote for Folkpartiet would be great!

It's been a hellish campaign season. We've had plenty of scandals in the press, plenty of dirty campaigning, and even some real dangers - yesterday, someone tried to blow up one of our campaign huts in Malmö! I'm sick again, bad cold, but it doesn't matter. It's almost over. And I hope that this time we'll manage to kick the socialist party out of government. The polls are very close, but it's looking somewhat hopeful.

And for those of you who don't care at all, that's fine, just ignore this post, and enjoy the food!

Slow-cooked Summer Blush

This is an excellent recipe. Simple, but so tasty. I made it as part of my Midsummer's spread, and it went perfectly with the rest of the large buffet - and it can be made ahead. I roasted the veggies the day before, kept in the fridge over night and just took out a couple of hours in advance so it'd be at room temperature. Perfect. And any leftovers can easily be transformed into a pasta sauce, or even a soup - just toss it all in the blender! (But peel those garlic cloves first.)

Slow-cooked Summer Blush
From BBC Good Food (but scaled down a bit)

10 red peppers, quartered and de-seeded
10 large ripe romatoes
2 garlic heads, divided into cloves but not peeled
4 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp sugar
2-3 tbsp red wine vinegar
fresh thyme
fresh basil

Heat the oven to 160°C. Cut peppers and tomoatoes into quarters. Mix with the oil, sugar, vinegar, garlic cloves and thyme in a very large roasting pan.

Roast for two hours. Remove from heat and let cool, and finally stir in the basil. (I know, I didn't give a quantity - use as much, or as little, as you want. Personally, I like a whole lot of basil.)

Ugnsrostade tomater och paprikor

Some summer pictures

Summer is definitely nearing its end here, despite some warm and sunny days. Here are some way overdue pictures.


An amazing basil plant - the biggest I've ever seen. Belongs to my good friend Helmy.


Early golden chanterelles. I generally tend to "pick" mine at the market rather than in the woods.


The tastiest ice cream ever? Could very well be. Also from Helmy - this is a wild strawberry ice cream, home made of course. I can still feel the flavor, if I close my eyes and think back...

Mango Avocado Chicken

A bad picture of an ok dinner. It's chicken and onion, pan-fried, with added curry, créme fraîche, chicken stock and mango chutney, and then finally with avocado pieces stirred in. Not very complicated. The original recipe - in Swedish - can be found here. (Incidentally the blog of Camilla Läckberg, a successful Swedish writer!)

Omelet with Chorizo and Chèvre

I know - I do post a lot of recipes with chèvre - but it's so good! Here's a real quickie, taken from BBC Good Food which happens to be my fave foodie mag for now.

Omelet with Chorizo and Chèvre
serves 2

4 eggs
2 tbsp water
handful of chives, finely chopped
olive oil
1/2 chorizo sausage in thin slices
dried chili flakes
100 g chèvre cheese

Beat the eggs with the water and chives, add a little salt. Heat some olive oil in a frying pan and fry the chorizo slices with chili until crunchy. Remove to a bowl, and crumble over the chèvre.

Return the pan to the heat, and tip in the eggs. Swirl around a bit around the edges, and cook until it starts to set. Then add the chorizo-chèvre mixture to half the omelette, and flip over the other half. Cook for another minute, until cheese starts to melt. Serve right away, preferrably with a tasty salad.

Omelett med chorizo och chèvre

Weekend Cat Blogging - Happy Birthday, Hamlet!

Hamlet, my beloved big boy, is turning 6 today! I can't believe how fast time has passed. Hamlet was the first British Shorthair that Per and I bought. (Not our first cat together - we had one that sadly passed away after just a month - but almost.) I remember calling his breeder, hoping that she'd have a cat just for us, and we talked for hours. Next day, another phone call, plans were made, and so, just before christmas 2000, we went down to Malmo to look at Hamlet. He was a scared little thing, wanting nothing to do with us, preferring to play with his slightly older half sister. Love at first sight? Hardly.

Per, however, saw that this was the cat for us, and persuaded me into buying him. Which of course I'm very grateful for now. Hamlet is so important to me - he's gentle and friendly, and with lots of little endearing quirks. Not so endearing is his fondness for chasing the girls around the house, enjoying it particularly when they hiss and scream at him. (When he was an active breeding male, we lovingly called him "the rapist". Charming, yes.)

Hamlet celebrated by getting a whole plate of his favorite food (tuna and olives, as it happens) all to himself. The girls looked on in mad disbelief - he's usually the one to eat last, and he cherished this moment by finishing almost everything on his plate. (Until Ywette finally decided that enough was enough, and moved in on it.)

For more cats, head over to Chefsarahjane! She's hosting WCB this weekend.

Another new mug

Here's a shot of my new morning latte mug. It's from Ikea, and appropriately enough named Frukost (=breakfast). What I like is that it's low enough to fit under my espresso machine, so I don't have to brew into a separate cup. Nice!

(And no, I still can't make latte art. I know.)

Terrific Tomato Soup

This soup is seriously good! I made it a few nights ago, inspired by a recipe in BBC Good Food, and even my cold-infested tastebuds got a real kick out of this! The acidity of fresh tomatoes is heightened by the use of vinegar, and coupled with the sweetness of the sugar, and with the cayenne.. oh, amazing. This is something I can't wait to make again.

Terrific Tomato Soup
Serves 2, generously, or 4 as a starter. Can easily be doubled.

1 kilo fresh tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic
3 shallots
400 ml water
1,5 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1-2 tbsp olive oil
salt
1-2 tsp cayenne pepper
pesto, to serve

Cut the tomatoes into large dice. Chop shallots and garlic coarsely. Fry in the olive oil in a large pan (big enough to hold the soup) on low heat for about ten minutes. The garlic and shallots should turn soft, but not brown. Add the sugar, the vinegar and the water, together with the tomatoes. Bring to a boil, and let cook on medium heat, partially covered, for about 35 minutes. Stir once in a while.

Using an immersion blender, or a regular one, mix the soup until smooth. Season with salt and cayenne - don't skimp, you need quite a bit to get the kick this soup should have!

Serve with a dollop of pesto, and a good crusty bread.

Fantastisk tomatsoppa

London, food stuff

I know, I am so late. Time flies - it's nearly two MONTHS since we visited London, and still no pictures. All I've said is that I did go to Wagamama (fab, fab!) and we did have dinner at Kahn's, which was also great. We also went to Borough Market, which you can read a lot more about here at The Passionate Cook.


The best cheese sandwich ever.

This was our real find at Borough Market, by the way. There were these guys running a raclette stand.. this sandwich has some aged cheddar, minced garlic and leeks. And a little piece of heaven it was. Just fabulous!!


Gorgeous Olive-Rosemary Bread from the market

Oh. And I had - this should surprise no one - a frappuccino every day. Man, I love them. Starbucks, come here, please? Pretty please?

Saffron Shrimp Salad with Peaches

At least I got a pretty picture.

Ok, when I first read the recipe for this dish, I thought it sounded just fine, so I bookmarked it. (It's from Elle's food magazine, but it's published here too, in Swedish.) Then I decided to make it, bought what I needed, decided to trade jumbo shrimp for regular, and I got cooking. It's easy enough - sure, it had a lot of steps, but they were fairly straightforward.

When plating, I realized how many flavors and textures there would be. And when I tasted it, I realized that it was way too many. Way.

This salad has:
- crisp salad leaves
- shrimp marinated in chili and garlic oil
- grilled peaches
- roasted almonds
- roasted garlic
and to top it off, a dressing with saffron, garlic and parsley.

It's too much. Everything was fighting for my attention, and it just didn't work. The saffron was what finally killed it for me, I think. It didn't go very well with the rest and if I'd make this again - not so likely, by the way - I'd go for a simple vinaigrette with garlic and lemon, and not a trace of saffron or parsley.

You're not getting a translation of the recipe. And you should be a bit thankful for that, actually. But it *was* pretty, so here's another picture.

Root Veggies Julienne

I know, root veggies aren't usually very exciting. However, they're really tasty and nutritious, they're cheap, and what's more, they're in season. This is a fast and easy way to prepare them, but it's extremeley helpful to have a mandolin or a food processor - or very good knife skills. Cutting something "julienne" means to cut it in match-stick sized pieces.

This would be fab with the chèvre sauce I posted about the other day.

Root Veggies Julienne
Serves 2

1 medium sized fennel
2 carrots
1 leek
100 g celeriac
100 ml water
1 tbsp concentrated vegetable stock
1 tbsp butter
2-3 tbsp chopped parsley

Slice the fennel and the leek thinly, and cut the carrots and the celeriac into small thin pieces. Bring the water to a boil in a wide pan. Add the veggies, the stock and the butter. Cover with a lid and cook for about five minutes. Add the parsley, and serve right away.

Strimlade rotfrukter

Pecan Nut Streusel

Here's something sweet to finish off this week. Per and I have both caught colds and have spent most of the weekend sniffling on the couch, watching movies. Nothing wrong with that!

This is a great topping for ice cream, and it's especially good with strawberries, if you can find them anymore. I know I'm a little late in posting this. And if you cant find pecans, substitute walnuts. That'll be great too. In fact, I bet it's nice with hazelnuts, too. Any leftovers - ha, ha - will keep well in the fridge for at least a few weeks.

Pecan Nut Streusel

1,5 dl (1/2 cup plus about 2 tbsp) pecans
50 g butter
2 dl (0,85 cups) rolled oats
1 dl (0,4 cups) sugar
1-2 tbsp maple syrup

Chop the nuts coarsely. Let the butter melt in a large pan, and fry the rolled oats until they get some color. Add the nuts, and fry for an additional minute. Stir in sugar and syrup, and stir until the sugar is melted. Serve with ice cream.

Pecannötsströssel

Zetas Garden

Last weekend, we visited Zetas Trädgård - "Zetas Garden". It's a lovely place - a plant nursery, and also a café. They have a beautiful large property in Kungens Kurva with lots of dwindling walkways between thousands of plants and trees. We're considering putting in a new tree and taking down our elderflower which is sadly infected by bugs every year. Choosing between apple and cherry - not sure yet.

Anyway. We tried two of the many pies that were on offer. I had the one up top, with a thick caramel layer on a crunchy oatmeal-coconut bottom, and Per had this beauty with pineapples and passion fruit. Very tasty.



Next time, I think I'll try to go there for lunch, because some of what they were serving looked and smelled really great. Impressive, as they had a tiny tiny kitchen!

Zetas Trädgård
G:a Södertäljevägen 194
141 70 Segeltorp - Kungens Kurva

Big Apple Cake with Cardamom Sugar

Today is September 1. It's the first official day of autumn, and I can feel cool crisp air streaming through my window. The sun is up and while it will probably be pretty warm today, the air has a new chilly bite.

What better to cook than something with apples? This is one big apple cake. It serves 30 - or less people, if they want seconds. Perfect for those big, but informal functions. As my other "large scale recipes", this is also based on one from the book "Kyrkkaffe", "Church Coffee". The original recipe didn't include the cardamom sugar, but I think it added a nice touch. You could use cinnamon instead, or perhaps more vanilla. Anything goes.

You can use any apples for this - but it's best if they're crisp and not too sweet.



Big Apple Cake with Cardamom Sugar
30 pieces

5 eggs
650 ml sugar (2,5 cups)
250 g butter
750 ml flour (3 cups)
5 tsp baking powder
3 tsp vanilla sugar
5-6 crisp apples

2-3 tbsp cardamom sugar (mix 1/2 tsp cardamom with 2-3 tbsp sugar - you can make a big jar in advance and have at hand, if you'd like.)

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Beat eggs and sugar until fluffy. Melt the butter and stir in with the eggs. Mix the dry ingredients - flour, baking powder and vanilla sugar - and add that to the batter. Pour into a rimmed cookie sheet, or another big pan. (You're going to need a very big pan.)

Core and slice the apples, but don't peel them. Arrange the slices on the cake as prettily as you can. Sprinkle with cardamom sugar.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until the cake is golden brown.

Urshultsbygdens äppelkaka med kardemumma