Quinoa salad

This is something I tried for the first time a little while ago, for my birthday. We had it with grilled pork chops and various sausages, and it was excellent. Quinoa is apparently a "super food" - I don't know much about that, but I know it was "super good". It had a mild pleasant flavor and a really pleasing texture. Definitely worth playing more with.

Quinoa salad

250 ml (1 cup) of quinoa
½ red bellpepper
70 g rocket (aragula) salad
½ cucumber
2 spring onions
½ red onion
½ lemon
1-2 tbsp olive oil
salt, pepper

Rinse the quinoa thoroughly with hot water. Boil in plenty of lightly salted water for 10-12 minutes. Pour off the excess water, and spread the quinoa on a plate to cool. Drizzle with a little bit of olive oil and the juice of half a lemon.

Cut bellpepper, cucumber and onion in small dice. Roughly cut the rocket into smaller pieces. Mix this into the salad, and season with a little salt and pepper.



Quinoasallad

My new mugs

I finally got them - Jasper Conran casual collection mugs, by Wedgewood. I love their simple, clean lines, and the soft ivory glazing. Perfect for lattes!

I got four. The only question is whether I should get four more, perhaps in blue.. Hmm...

Strawberry Salsa

Absolutely brilliant to accompany any grilled dishes - perfect for a summery feast. It looks like something that should be served for dessert, but the combination of savory flavors with the sweet berries is just amazing. Do try!

Strawberry Salsa

500 g strawberries
juice of half a lemon (or one lime)
2-3 tbsp finely chopped parsley
2 spring onions, thinly sliced
2 tbsp neutral oil
2 tbsp brown sugar
salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper

Cut the strawberries into small pieces. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, and place in the fridge for at least one hour to let the flavors combine.

Sommarsås

Weekend Cat and Dog Blogging - Edith, Ixion, Stumpan

Edith is checking out my bowl of "filmjölk" - fermented sour milk - with strawberries, bananas and oat "pillows"



And here's, I'm sorry to tell you, the very last picture of my aunt's dog, Stumpan. Stumpan passed away last week, after having led a very long and happy life. This is her with my husband Per and one of the greek kittens, little Ixion.

For more cats, go to Clare at Eatstuff!

For more dogs, go to Sweetnicks!

Frozen Lemon Merengue Cake

This is not the scrumptions blackberry cake I posted about - that one Anna made, and I have to wheedle the recipe out of her first - but another cake I made for my birthday. It's really tasty - and it's easy to make, and keeps well. If you have any nut allergics around, just skip the almonds. And if you feel like cheating, go with store-bought lemon curd and just fold it into the cream - I haven't tried, but I have a feeling it will work just as well.

Frozen Lemon Merengue Cake

Merengue layer:
3 egg whites
175 ml sugar
100 ml finely chopped almonds

Lemon cream:
3 egg yolks
4 tbsp sugar
50 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
50 ml water
1 tbsp corn starch (optional)
300 ml whipping cream
2 tsp vanilla sugar

Preheat the oven to 150°C. For the meringue, beat the eggwhites with electric beaters. (A Kitchen-Aid is real handy here.) Gradually add the sugar, and beat until the meringue is shiny and very stiff. Fold in the almonds. Spread on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper into a circle, about 25 cm in diameter. Bake in the bottom of the oven for about 50 minutes. Take it out and let it cool.

For the lemon cream, mix egg yolks, sugar, lemon and water in a small saucepan. Heat on low, stirring constantly until the cream thickens. It must not boil. If it doesn’t thicken – mine didn’t – stir in corn starch mixed with a little cold water. As soon as the cream thickens, remove it from the heat, and plunge into a cold water bath until completely cold.

Beat the whipping cream with the vanilla sugar until stiff. Fold this gently into the lemon cream.

Remove the meringue from the paper, and place on a piece of aluminum foil. Use a strip of foil to make a “collar” for the cake. Spread the lemon cream on top of the cake, and place in the freezer. After at least four hours, you can re-pack the cake in plastic foil instead. The finished cake will keep for several weeks in the freezer – just take it out 15 minutes before serving. Decorate, if you wish, with fresh berries or shaved dark chocolate.

Citronmarängtårta

Espresso with Honey

One of my birthday presents was a long-wanted cookbook, which my inlaws sent me. It's "Största Möjliga Njutning" by Henry Bronett, who is not just a cookbook authour, but also a circus director! (And he blogs, in Swedish, here.) The book is filled with stories of his life at the circus, and dotted with great recipes. Everything sounds delicious - and since it's a manageable amount of recipes, I think this might actually be a book I'll try everything from. (Ok, maybe I'll allow one or two outs - the "Swedish Sushi" didn't really appeal to me all that much.)

The first thing I had to try was an espresso with honey. Using honey as a sweetener instead of sugar (or fake sugar, which is my usual choice) - I would have never thought of it. But I have to say it was pretty spectacular. It brought out new nuances in the coffee and brought a silkier, softer feel. Next step will be to try it in a latte - it's definitely worth trying!

Some of my birthday gifts

I haven't taken pictures of everything yet, but here are at least two of my food-related goodies!



First, Lena and Nico gave me a much-coveted red glass bowl, made by Iittala, and designed by Marimekko. I absolutely adore it!



Lena and Nico also gave us Marghrete bowls from Rosti in new summery pastel colors, and so did Tesse! I already got one - red, of course - for christmas, and let me tell you that it's the best plastic bowl ever. So sturdy, so good quality.. and frankly, so good looking...



Anna brought me a birthday cake - a blackberry merengue cake that was just amazing. It was even better than her Raspberry Nut Roll that I was lucky enough to eat a few weeks ago.



And I have to show you this picture of Lena and Anna snapping away with their cameras. Food photography in full action! (And hey, a sneak view of my new kitchen!)

Oatmeal Lace Cookies

This is a real Swedish classic! They’re incredibly fast and easy to make – the only thing to beware of is to place them too closely, in which case they will float together and form one giant cookie.

These can be varied by adding nuts or citrus peel, or you can layer them with, say, a chocolate ganache, and have sandwich cookies.

Oatmeal Lace Cookies
Makes about 30

100 ml (0.4 cups) flour
100 ml (0.4 cups) sugar
100 ml (0.4 cups) rolled oats
2 tbsp golden syrup or light molasses
2 tbsp cream (any fat content will work, even milk)
75 g butter
½ tsp baking powder

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Mix in all the other ingredients, and then place small dollops of batter onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Be careful to keep good distance between the cookies! Bake for five minutes. Leave to cool for one minute on the baking sheet, then transfer to a rack to cool completely. You can also bend the soft cookies over a rolling pin or a beer bottle.

Havreflarn

Birthday Pancakes

TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY! To get the celebrations going, we had a grill party last night for some of our best friends. It was wonderful - we had a great time, and I got some lovely gifts. Food included grilled pork chops and sausages, a basil-orange potato salad with mozzarella, a strawberry salsa, a homemade barbecue sauce, a salad with quinoa and rocket, cookies, and a very yummy blackberry birthday cake that my friend Anna made. Will tell you more about the food in other posts! (And yes, I *will* tell you more about the house, soon!)

Today, we had pancakes for breakfast, topped with heaps of fresh strawberries. Is there anything better? I doubt it.

Birthday Pancakes

125 g flour
1 tbsp sugar
pinch of salt
1,5 tsp baking powder
1 egg, lightly beaten
35 g melted butter
375 ml (1,5 cups) buttermilk

1 tbsp sugar
pinch of salt

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. Stir in the buttermilk, the egg and the melted butter, and mix gently to a thick batter. Drop in large spoonfuls in a hot, buttered frying pan, and fry on medium heat on one side until you see large bubbles. Then turn, and fry for a little while longer. Serve with lots of maple syrup and fresh strawberries.


Födelsedagspannkakor

Weekend Cat Blogging - cold

Glinda thinks the new house is a bit cold. So we got her a sweater. Unfortunately, Glinda can only walk backwards in it, so far.

More cats? Go to Clare.

More about Scan

I told you a few days ago about the cool release party for Scan's new grill products, but I didn't talk so much about the food. Well, I won't go into details now, either, but the biggest hit was something called "Mammoth Steaks". It's large pork chops, without bone, and the big surprise: they were really juicy. They come pre-marinated, and you just toss them on the hot grill for a few minutes - instant success. It's what I'll be having tomorrow for my birthday party, along with some other stuff.



This was a really tasty noodle salad with a lime-coriander dressing. Will make it myself and post the recipe - definitely!

They also released a new spicy sausage - this time, it was an Andouille. I don't know if it has all that much in common with a *real* Andouille, but since this is the closest I come (unless I make it myself), I'm still quite happy with it.

Ok, now time to unpack a little bit more.. give me another week, then I promise to have the blog back in shape :)

Caesar Salad at Texas Burger

Had dinner at Texas Burger Co in Kungshallen the other day - and I had this.. umm.. inventive Caesar Salad. It was pretty good, but not great. Not enough parmesan, the dressing was tasty but not very Caesar-y, but the really cool thing was that the croutons were made from hamburger bread. And *that* was pretty good! :)

Creamy Leeks

This is awesome with a salty main dish. We made it with the "Royal Burgers" and that was a great combination. It would also be great as a side dish to grilled meat - or fish, for that matter.

Creamy Leeks
Serves 2

1 large leek
100 ml single cream or half and half
pinch of sugar
salt, white pepper, nutmeg

Cut the leek into thin slices, and put in a small saucepan. Add cream, salt and sugar. Let boil, without a lid, for about ten minutes, until it's slightly thickened. Season with white pepper and freshly grated nutmeg.

Gräddkokt purjolök

Barbecue season

I've put this post off for way too long. See, a couple of weeks ago, I was invited to a launch at Scan, Swedish Meats. They were releasing some new products in their barbecue line - a line I wasn't really aware of, I have to shamefully admit. See, living in an apartment, we never did much barbecuing since it was always too involved. Now that we have a house however, I'm looking forward to doing a *lot* more grilling. Anyway, Scan had a lot to say. They had done a survey of the Swedes barbecue habits, showing that in most homes, men are in charge of this particular cooking task.

Barbecuing is intimately linked with summer, for obvious reasons. (Even though, sure, some people barbecue all year round.) What else is linked with summer? In Sweden, one answer is bound to be "soccer". Especially this summer, since it happens to be time for the World Championship. Hence, Scan has decided to link "soccer" and "barbecue", and because of that, the spokesperson for this launch and for their commercials is the guy you see in the top photo, between me and Kristina from Clivia's Cuisine: Thomas Ravelli. Swedes reading this should know him, and perhaps a few soccer enthusiasts. (He's a goalie, the one who was chiefly responsible for Sweden winning the bronze in the '94 championships.) We each got signed soccer balls, by the way, very nice.

I'll talk more about what we ate in a few days time, we also got a recipe collection to take home. For now, some more pictures:

Roasted Chicken with Fennel and Orange

Woohoo, we're done! We've moved everything, and unpacked most stuff and.. we love it. Ok, there were some setbacks, the most important one that our bed would absolutely NOT go up the stairs. There was no possible way. So, two choices - quickly decide that the living room is now a bed room or buy new beds.

Good thing IKEA was open.

Anyway. Other than that, we're doing fine. Per is busying himself with various power cords and network cables, and I'm happily organizing in the lovely kitchen. I promise to post photos soon. Meanwhile, have some dinner. This is a great dish - fast, simple and fairly healthy. Recipe comes from a Marcus Aujalay, a Swedish chef. I've done a few adaptions, as usual.

Roasted Chicken with Fennel and Orange
Serves 4

1 large fennel bulb, cut into thin slices
1 red onion, in thin slices
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 large leek, cut into large pieces
2 oranges
900 g chicken thighs, legs or whatever pieces you want to use
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tbsp olive oil
salt, black pepper

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Mix fennel and red onion with the vinegar, and let it steep for ten minutes.

Mix the chicken with fennel, the red onion, leek, thyme and olive oil in a large roasting pan. Season with salt and pepper. Roast for about 40 minutes. Stir a couple of times.

Peel the oranges with a knife and cut out nice segments - garnish the dish with these, and serve with potatoes or rice.

Ugnskyckling med fänkål, rödlök och apelsin

Supersize me! Or, my house.

Ok, an update on the move. We're just about done! All furniture, all stuff, all cats are safely stowed in the new house. There are some small things left in the apartment - some light fixtures, and curtains. Nothing we can't take care of in an hour. Everything else - done. The kitchen is all unpacked and ready to go - I did cook last night (pasta with bacon and cheese sauce, took me all of ten minutes) but I look forward to more organized cooking again.

Tonight, I'm blogging from my parents home, since we won't have our computers up and running for quite a while. Mom has cooked an amazing-smelling lasagna, it'll be so good to have some real food. Because... as for the title of this post, I hate to admit it, but in the past four days, I think I've eaten at McDonalds 6 times... Well, when a girl is really hungry and all her stuff is in boxes... yeah.

A huge thanks to Per's parents and to Lena and Nico who helped us move today. You all did a great job!

Creamy Salmon with Lemon

This dish is originally called "Mörrumsgryta", and you find a lot of hits when you google, so I don't know who's the original author. It's appeared in many magazines. And for a good reason - this is really tasty stuff! And, it's very quick to make, perfect for a weeknight. I don't know about you, but I'm always looking for more fish recipes to add to our routine, and this one is definitely one of them.

I've made some smaller changes to the recipe - for instance, the original has dill. Not a fave with us, so I skipped that.

Creamy Salmon with Lemon
serves 2

300 g salmon fillet, in approx 1 cm cubes. (1/2 inch or so)
1 small onion, diced
1 carrot, coarsely grated
peel of 1 lemon, finely grated
200 ml water
1/2 tbsp concentrated vegetable stock (or 1/2 cube)
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
100 ml cream (full fat or a lighter alternative is fine)
1 tbsp corn starch mixed with 2 tbsp cold water
butter
salt, white pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a large pot. Gently fry the onion, lemon peel and grated carrot for a few minutes. Add water, stock, vinegar and cream, and bring to a boil. Let it cook for five minutes, then add the cornstarch mixed with water. Season with salt and white pepper.

Add the salmon cubes gently, and stir. Let cook on low heat for five minutes or until the salmon is done.

Serve with rice, boiled potatoes, or like we did, with riced potatoes.

Mörrumsgryta

Are you a Festis?

Festis is a brand of non-carbonated soft drinks, very popular in Sweden. There are many flavors, and a couple of them are sugar free. (My favorite is blackcurrant.) This summer, they're releasing two new "functional" drinks, Festis Deluxe. They're full of "extra" ingredients, vitamins andx extracts, but in very tiny amounts.

They have a special spokesperson for this campaign - Ivan. He even has a blog - check it out! Ivan called me, which was indeed great fun. :) Now, for the products...


Festis Lust - Strawberry Lime. According to the spokesperson Ivan, this is "like liquid Viagra". And it was accompanied by two.. yes, that's right, condoms.


Festis Doctor - Kiwi Pineapple. Supposedly this makes you healthier. Well.

The verdict? I'm sorry. I have to tell you but.. these just don't taste good. As much as I like the concept - it's definitely cute - I just don't like the drinks. Both feel a bit "thick" in the mouth, and they are too sweet. The flavors are very synthetic, and not refreshing at all. Back to the drawing board, please.

Royal Burgers

I had no idea what to title this post. This is a recipe borrowed from another blog, Kardemumma. She blogs in Swedish - but for those of you who read Swedish, head over to visit her! The original recipe is called Kejsarbiffar. A "biff" is a small flat meatball - kind of a beef patty, or a hamburger. "Kejsar" is the same word as German "kaiser". Hence my lame translation of "Royal Burgers"... Burgers can be flavored in tons of ways, of course, and for this recipe, capers provide the dominant inspiration.

Royal Burgers
From Kardemumma

500 g minced beef
200 ml sour cream
2 tbsp capers
1 small yellow onion, minced
2 tbsp finely chopped parsley
tabasco, a few drops
1 tbsp soy sauce
pinch of white pepper
salt
butter for frying

Mix all ingredients - except for the butter - and shape into small, round, flat patties. Fry in butter until deeply golden and cooked through. Serve with potatoes and veggies.

Kejsarbiffar

Yum.

I was at my friend Anna's house the other day, and she had some really great treats. First, the gorgeous cake you see above.. it's like a Princess Cake in that it has regular cake layers and a marzipan lid, but it had some kind of chocolate filling rather than the usual vanilla-and-cream. Delicious!



And then Anna made her famous nut roll with hand-picked raspberries. Aaaah. This was so yummy! If you all ask very nicely, maybe I'll get permission to post the recipe some time :)



The moving is coming along, we're taking over small things as fast as we can...

Ravioli Thai Soup

I doubt I'll be doing any proper blogging until after the move - phew, so much to do. Oh well, it will all be worth it - we're moving into a beautiful house, and it will be so much fun.

Had this for lunch the other day, and it was truly delicious. Embarrassingly enough, I have to tell you that it's all pre-made... I bought a carton of Kelda Thai Soup, a dairy-based spicy soup with loads of lemongrass and chili, and a packet of ricotta-spinach ravioli. Combine, heat.. eat. That's it. Great stuff when your kitchen is all in boxes.

Weekend Cat Blogging #48 - Boxes, Boxes, Boxes

"This is getting ridiculous. There are boxes *everywhere*. In this one, I've packed all my toys, so I better guard it well."

Hamlet's right. There are boxes all over our apartment. One week to go before our move!

More kitties? You know where to go.

Finally Friday

Great vanilla ice cream, caramel sauce, toasted pecans.. heaven.

Camera advice - what to choose?

As you probably have noticed if you visit here regularly, I love taking photos. Ok, so most of what I shoot is a) food and b) cats, but still. Love it. And I always have. I first got interested in cameras and photography about fifteen years ago, and it's an interest that just never left me.

And I'm looking to move up. I want to take the big step out of compact cameras to an digital SLR. But this is uncharted territory for me, and while I have asked many friends and contacts on what to choose, I'm just not done yet. My first choice was Nikon or Canon, and I'm fairly sure I'm going with Nikon. I don't want to spend too much on the really great models, and as far as the budget models go, the Canon isn't built the way I like it. Besides, my father has a bunch of old Nikon lenses, that would be fun to use.

So, Nikon. But which one? D50, or D70s? Please, if you have one or the other, or a strong opinion either way - let me know! :) I have looked at what feels like a million sample pictures, and I can't help feeling that the D50 pictures aren't as crisp as the D70s. Could be just those pictures, of course.. or not. The kit lens is better with the D70s, too - but there's a very attractive package for the D50 with two lenses, and for a very decent price. In fact, I'm leaning towards the D50... but I am worried about the crispness factor. Look here to see what I mean. Maybe it's just that I've seen more great shots with a D70s than with a D50? Anyway. Help would be very, very, very appriciated.

Now, back to food. Or in my case, breakfast!

Apple Chocolate Cake

Yum - a great combination of chocolate, orange and apple! This is a really quick cake to put together. The recipe makes two cakes (or one, huge cake) and they freeze very well. Just like the Apple Cake with Almonds, this is from Claes Karlsson's book "Mer än bara äppelkaka". Although he said this would make *one* cake.. well, I found the yield off in his other recipe too.

Apple Chocolate Cake

4 eggs
250 ml (1 cup) of sugar
60 g butter
50 ml single cream or half and half
250 ml (1 cup) of flour
50 ml (3 tbsp + 1 tsp) cocoa powder
1 tbsp baking powder
shredded peel from one orange
3-4 apples, peeled and diced
1 tbsp cinnamon, optional

Preheat oven to 190°C. Beat eggs and sugar until pale and fluffy. Melt the butter, and mix with the single cream. Stir this into the eggs and sugar. Add flour, cocoa powder, orange peel and baking powder. Pour into two buttered 9-inch springform pans (or one giant pan). Mix the apples, if you wish, with cinnamon, and sprinkle on top of the cake. Bake for 30 minutes.

Chokladsockerkaka med äpple och apelsin

Beet Risotto with Fresh Garlic and Fava Beans

Sometimes it's nice to update an old favorite. I love risotto with beets, and I've posted about it before - here - but I tried it a few nights ago with a couple of new twists, and the results were so great I had to tell you about it.

Beet Risotto with Fresh Garlic and Fava Beans
Serves 3-4

200 g of your favorite risotto rice (I use arborio)
2 large raw beets, peeled and finely diced
1 large red onion, in large dice
2 cloves of fresh garlic, finely chopped (and some garlic greens are nice, too)
olive oil
butter
1,5 litres of vegetable stock
1 tbsp honey
2 tsp dried chipotle
2 tsp lemon juice
50 g smoked turkey, in thin strips
100 g hard sharp goat's cheese, shredded
handful of peeled, cooked fava beans (If using frozen, like I do, just blast them in the microwave for a minute, then peel.)

Heat the stock. Melt the butter and olive oil (as much as you'd like) in a large pan. Add the onion and the garlic (plus garlic greens if using) to the pan, and rfy on medium heat for a few minutes. Add the beet cubes. Turn the heat to high, and add the rice. Stir, while frying until rice is golden. (Actually, it's going to be a deep magenta, so just go on for a few minutes.)

Start adding the stock, working as with any risotto in small increments. You might not need all the stock, or you may need a little bit more. This particular risotto uses more stock than my other ones usually do, since the beets need a lot of liquid to cook. It will also take a little bit longer. (And if you run out of stock, just use hot water.) When the rice is done, and that is when it's soft but not mushy, stir in the honey, chipotle powder and lemon juice. Taste to see if you want any more seasonings, but remember that you still have to add the cheese, so don't salt. Stir in the turkey strips and most of the cheese. Serve, and top each serving with the bright green fava beans and a little bit more of the cheese.

Rödbetsrisotto med färsk vitlök, bondbönor och getost

Foodie Gifts: A Spanish Cookbook

My sister Eva and my mom brought back a Spanish cookbook for me. Great! So, how good is my Spanish? Umm. I'll be working with this one for a while, that's for sure. Anyone wanna help me translate? :)



And the pictures are from my other sister's, Åsa, birthday party a little while ago. She made an excellent lemon-coconut pie, and scrumptions peanut cookies. Yum! I'm definitely not the only baker in the family.

What's that? You want to see kittens? Oh, ok then. Click here!