Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Shortcuts

krustader-baconost

Here's one of the best shortcuts I know. It's perfect as a tiny snack to have with drinks, as it's very salty. People are always quite impressed, despite it being completely effortless, and it's embarrassing to give out the recipe.

See, here in Sweden you can get processed cheese in squeeze tubes. It comes in various flavors, such as bacon, shrimp and mushroom and it's extremely popular. Most people eat them on their breakfast sandwiches, and some cook with them as well. I'm always quite sceptical of processed food but the label isn't very scary here - it's made from actual hard cheese and then processed with special salts to make it melt. And then flavored with *actual* shrimp, bacon or mushrooms, or whatever flavor it happens to be. Not aromas, not extracts. It's not that bad.

Anyway, enough with the defense. This is really the only time I use them. And I pair them with ready-bought crispy little shells, croustades. Just half-fill them with cheese, and stick in a hot oven (200°C) for ten minutes or so. Voilà!

15 comments:

Jessica said...

vilket märke?

Anne said...

Av vad? Osten? Spelar ingen större roll, men jag väljer nog Kavli... krustaderna har jag ingen aning, små rosa paket som står typ bland kex och knäckebröd.

Jessica said...

osten menade jag. Krustaderna kvittar, jag tror att det bara finns en variant, ev. två på mataffären där hemma.

Anonymous said...

Can you give us readers a photo of the ingredients, please?

Anne said...

Pene, I don't have any right now, but here's a link to a photo of the mushroom cheese.

Kevin said...

Anne,
You can find those tubes all over Europe - I fell in love with the ham way back in 1970. After my last trip to Spain in 1996 I came up with my own version:

http://seriouslygood.kdweeks.com/2005/09/canap-spreads.html

Murasaki Shikibu said...

Great idea. I have some of the shrimp cheese in my refrigerator. :)

Annika said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Annika said...

Jag älskar krustader, men gjorde misstaget att läsa innehållsförteckningen. Det skulle jag inte ha gjort :(.
Härdat vegetabiliskt fett. Inte för att jag egentligen är förvånad, men det gör det lite mindre kul att köpa dem...

Anonymous said...

I'll look for it here in Eesti, & see if I can find it. Estonians love cheese!!

Anne said...

Annika - det är helt klart en nackdel. :( Men ett par gånger om året kan jag stå ut med det.

Anonymous said...

It might be better to fill the croustades after taking them out of the oven. There'll be a temperature difference between the filling and the shells, but otherwise the shells may lose their crispiness.
And I would recommend using Arla's Puck cheese spread, if you have access to it.

Anne said...

Can - oh no, the cheese really needs to be warm, in my opinion. I don't like the cheese spread cold, at all. The shells don't really lose their crispness either - possibly a bit at the very botton, but not something I've noticed since the edges even crisp up from the oven.

Never heard of Arla Puck - where is this sold?

Anonymous said...

I guess the moist from the cheese permeated and softened the shells. Maybe I should have kept them in the oven a bit longer.
Arla Puck is not sold in major grocery chains (it is originally intended for the Saudi Arabian market, if I am not mistaken) but may be found in individual stores selling oriental foodstuffs. There is one such shop in Jönköping and I am sure that there are similar ones in Stockholm.
I have always been skeptical of industrial food, but Puck's ingredient list is not that scary. And its taste, texture and packaging (it comes in a glass package that rather looks like a drinking glass than a jar) are remarkable.
Btw, I think these shells would make an amazing accompaniment to cold lager beer.

A said...

Men gud. För gott. Jag köpte hem delarna direkt när jag läst detta men det har inte blivit av att testa förrän idag. Som miniförrätt. Nu är ugnen på igen. Jag MÅSTE ha mer! Ååh.