Daring Bakers are all about flourless

he February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

Flourless chocolate cake is a very dense dessert, consisting of just three ingredients - chocolate, eggs and butter. I frequently make one by Rose Levy Berenbaum which also has a little bit of sugar, and uses a different method. I have to say that I much prefer that one, and won't be making this one again, but it was fun to compare them.

For this challenge, I decided to use up some of the chocolate I already had. Since it was such an intensely chocolate cake, I decided that slightly spiced chocolate might be perfect. So, here's what I ended up using:

90 g Organic Meltdown Indian Spices
100 g Green & Black Maya Gold
100 g Green & Black 70%
100 g Green & Black 85%
60 g Green & Black Milk

I quickly decided to take advantage of the option to not make an ice cream. It's not that I don't like ice cream, or am scared of making my own - oh no, I love it! However, I don't really like ice cream with cake. I much prefer ice cream on its own, and cake with whipped cream. So, I decided to serve this cake with raspberry whipped cream. The raspberries worked really, really well with the subtle spicing in the cake. However, the cake itself was too chocolatey, too bitter and too dry.

The instructions said to bake the cake until the internal temperature was 60°C and suggested 25 minutes. Well, after 18, mine was at 64°C so I took it out at that point. This resulted in, sadly, a very dry cake. I wish I had used a thermometer from the beginning, but I didn't think the timing would be *so* off. Oh well - lesson learned!



Do go to the blogroll or the forums and check out what everyone else made!

Boulangerie Frantzen/Lindeberg

Frantzen/Lindeberg is a really exciting restaurant, serving a "white menu" with a long list of ingredients but they won't tell you in advance exactly what you're getting. I have reservations there in a few days time, so I'll report back on that! However, they just opened a small bakery as well, and I had lunch there with Pia a few weeks ago. I had a baguette with cheese, ham, tomato, dijon mustard and raw red onions, and it was just perfect. For dessert, I tried a cardamom bun which was also really good but maybe a little bit on the over-baked side for my liking. The coffee was however pretty weird, and tasted burnt. Next time I'll go for tea, or hot chocolate. But I'll definitely go again, for the amazing, wonderful bread!


Pia's soup

The atmosphere is nice too - it's a tiny hole in the wall, across the street from the restaurant, and the cooks constantly run back and forth to pick things up. They also serve a soup and salad every day, so you can have lunch there even if you're in the mood for something more than a sandwich. And of course, you can buy bread or baked goods to take home.

Frantzen/Lindeberg Boulangerie
Lilla Nygatan 16
Stockholm (Old Town)

Cabbage Ground Beef Stew

This is one of those weekday dishes that sound fairly boring, and it's not much to look at. However, it's really good, and it should have a nice balance between sweet, salty and slightly sour. Cabbage is still very much in season, so buy a nice big head and try to use it up in a few days. It has lots of vitamin C, and it's good in a whole lot of dishes. Here are some of my favorite ways to use it:


Chicken Cabbage Salad with Feta Cheese
Lime Jalapeño Slaw with Peanuts
Chèvre Lemon Cabbage
and obviously - Cole Slaw.

Cabbage Ground Beef Stew
Serves 4

500 g ground beef
1 onion, medium size
2 garlic cloves
1 leek
400 g cabbage
oil, for frying
2-3 tbsp soy sauce
2-3 balsamic vinegar
1-2 tbsp brown sugar
salt, pepper

Chop onion and garlic, and slice the leek and cabbage finely. Fry the beef, garlic, leek and onion in a heavy pan with a little bit of oil. After a few minutes, add the cabbage and leave to fry for five more minutes or so. Add soy sauce, vinegar and sugar, and let it cook for five minutes. Season to taste, and serve - it's good on its own or with hot sauce, but for more traditional Swedish flavors, serve it with boiled potatoes and lingonberries.

Recipe in Swedish:
Kål- och köttfärsgryta

New flavor from Ben & Jerry

This week is all about yummy stuff, as you can see. Today, I recieved an advance sample of Ben & Jerry's new flavor here in Sweden: Chocolate Macadamia. I got an e-mail from one of my favorite PR contacts, who said it was due to launch next week. The craving hit immediately, so when she offered to send me some... well, it was a done deal.

And I have to say, this might be one of my favorite flavors ever from B&J! (I also really like Cherry Garcia and Chunky Monkey, but they tend to be a little bit gritty... and I don't like the fake "chocolatey pieces" that much.) I normally don't go for chocolate ice cream, but this one has chocolate and vanilla swirled together which makes the chocolate a lot less intense, and much smoother and softer. And then it has chocolate-covered macadamias. And this is just yummy beyond belief. I really love macadamias - they're so tender and flaky, due to their outrageously high fat content. The chocolate these are covered in - well, it doesn't seem to be straight up chocolate, it's more melting and a little bit salty, but I don't complain at all. It's delicious.

Finally!

Well, I *was* going to write that today is finally the official day to eat the semla - this basic yeasted bun filled with almond paste and whipped cream. It's been sold all over Sweden since christmas, but today is really "the day". The photos show a lovely little homemade mini-semla by Dagmar, which was absolutely delicious. She also has a recipe if you want to try this yourself.



However, the big news in Sweden today is that we're going to have a royal wedding! Our crown princess, Victoria, finally got officially engaged to her long-time boyfriend who will now be called Prince Daniel. Despite being a modern democracy, many Swedes are absolutely besotted with our royal family and thus very excited about this. (Me, not so much - I'd prefer a republic!)

New food mag: Jamie

I was pretty excited to see a new food mag on the shelves - Jamie. Seems Jamie Oliver has expanded his ever-growing empire to include a magazine! And first impression..? Well, a bit so-so I'm sorry to say. For me, it didn't hold a whole lot of inspiration, but then again I already have all of Jamie's books and am fairly jaded by food magazines in general. It seems to have an awful lot of plugging for his own series of china, or spices. I'll give this a few more issues before deciding, though. Has anyone else read it? What did you think?

Mexican fast-food in Stockholm!

I've been wanting a good mexican fast-food place in Sweden for a very long time. In fact, ever since I was introduced to Taco Bell in California. (Yes, yes, I know it might not be a particular "good" fast-food place but hey, I like it.) Sweden does however have Taco Bar, and that's all. And that sucks. Their food is just... not good. At all.



So. Imagine my delight when I got an e-mail from Einar Örn Einarsson, an Icelander now starting up Serrano in Stockholm. Serrano is a fast-food concept from Iceland, which is very successful there, and they just opened the first Swedish restaurant in Vällingby which is one of the Stockholm suburbs.



I haven't been able to go yet, but I promise to tell you as soon as I do. Einar has given me a bunch of free coupons though, and I'd love to share them with you - so, if you want to go eat at Serrano, just leave a comment below (making sure you have a valid e-mail address, or I won't be able to contact you for your address) and the first ten of you to do so will each reciece two coupons each, good for a burrito or a quesadilla off the menu.



All photos are published with permission of Serrano restaurant.

Another semla

The official day is February 24, but I hope I can cram in a few more semlas before then. This one, with a great latte in that pretty green glass, was served at Hurry Curry which is a nice little place to have coffee or lunch in central Stockholm.

Hurry Curry
Slöjdgatan 11
Stockholm

The best ever: Blueberry Cornmeal Muffins

Let me start by saying I don't like muffins much. I like making them, because they're quick, easy, and everyone else loves them. I just don't, generally, like eating them.

Generally. There are exceptions. And these ones? They are great. Absolutely brilliant, in fact. I found them via Debbie at Words To Eat By and followed the recipe fairly closely. I'll make many variations in the future though - blueberry are great, but so would chocolate chips, raspberries, bananas & walnuts or apple/cinnamon be. I plan on making them all. What makes these so special then? Definitely the combination of cornmeal and flour - the cornmeal makes them crunchy and golden, and the flour keeps them fluffy. Perfection!

And I'm very grateful that I have a fair amount of cornmeal stored away - because it's not sold in Sweden. You can use polenta instead, as finely ground as possible. And although I haven't tried it myself, you could soak the polenta in some of the milk beforehand, to make it softer and less crunchy. But you'll have to experiment on your own...

Blueberry Cornmeal Muffins
makes 15

250 ml all-purpose flour
250 ml cornmeal
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
110 g butter, melted
1 egg
3-4 tbsp honey
75 g sugar
180 ml milk
200 g frozen (or fresh) blueberries

Mix flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, beat the egg with the butter, honey, sugar and milk. Add this to the dry ingredients, and stir as little as possible to just combine the ingredients. Fold in the blueberries. Divide into normal-sized muffin cups, and bake at 200°C for 15-18 minutes. They should look golden, and feel springy to the touch. If you insert a toothpick into the middle of one, it should come out mostly clean. Cool on a rack, and enjoy!

Recipe in Swedish:
Blåbärsmuffins med majsgryn

A few new cookbooks on my shelves...

I bought three cookbooks at the end of last year, and they're really nice - I have to tell you about them. One is by Gordon Ramsay's wife, Tana Ramsay. I have some of Gordon's books but I have to tell you I vastly prefer Tana's. Gordon's are nice, but.. they just don't inspire me to get into the kitchen and cook! Tana does though - this book is called "Home Made" and is all about family food. This has the recipes she really uses for her kids - or at least it feels that way. I've tried several things already, including a fabulous chicken soup that I will tell you about soon.



Next, Jamie Oliver's new creation, "Jamie's Ministry of food". (I'm sure some of you have already seen the first few episodes of this as it's also a new tv-show.) The idea here is to get people to cook - people who generally don't, who buys take-out or frozen meals on a regular basis, and people who just never learned how to make things from scratch. Jamie wants you to learn a few recipes from each section of the book, and then teach your friends. Well, I probably won't follow his instructions to the letter, but it's a neat idea and as usual, I do love his recipes. I've tried two of his Indian curries so far and they both turned out really good. One, in fact, was so successful I'm aching to make it again!



Finally, a tiny thing I picked up... it's not available in English, unfortunately: "Drinks for when you're pregnant", or "Drinkar för gravida" is the title, and it's all about exciting and fancy cocktails and drinks. Sans alcohol, of course. Sweden has a very strict recommendation of drinking absolutely zero alcohol while pregnant, so a book like this can really become popular here. I love it for the fun ideas, and the beautiful photos. And when you're pregnant - well, you don't really want to be sipping boring soft drinks or mineral water all the time, especially not if you socialize a lot. Much better to have "mamatinis" or "baby bellinis"!

Potato Lentil Soup

It's been ages since I cooked anything that can't be described as quick and simple, and well, this soup is another one of those weekday winners. I'm always dead tired when I get home nowadays, and this is about at much cooking energy as I can muster. But hey, it's not too bad, because there's a lot of good things that can be made with a few ingredients and a little time. This soup takes no more than 30 minutes - or less if you're handy with a peeler and knife - and it can easily be scaled up to feed more people.

I don't give any measurements for the spices, because there's just no way of knowing what you prefer - start with a little bit of each, taste it and go from there. Trust your own palate - that's really the only way to cook, because who's to say what's right or wrong when it comes to taste..?

Potato Lentil Soup
Serves 2, generously

2 medium potatoes, diced
1 onion, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
150 ml red lentils
750 ml water
Salt
lemon juice
cayenne pepper
Garam masala
cumin
dried chili
sugar

Topping
50 g bacon, diced
1 small yellow bellpepper, diced

Start by prepping everything. Combine potatoes, onion, garlic, red lentils and water in a saucepan, bring to boil and let simmer, covered, until the potatoes and lentils are soft. It'll take about 15-20 minutes.

At this point, you can mash some of the potato against the side of the saucepan for a mushier soup, or even use a blender to make it completely smooth. (In which case you're going to need to add some water.)

Season with salt, some squeezed lemon juice, cayenne pepper, garam masala, cumin, chili and a pinch of sugar. Add more if you want a spicier soup, or use a light touch if you prefer.

Meanwhile, fry the bacon until crispy and the pepper for just a minute or two. Serve the soup with the toppings.

Recipe in Swedish:
Potatis- och linssoppa

Dinner at Smak på Restaurangen

Ignore my coffee cup, but do look at the very pretty tables with all kinds of spices, berries and nuts.

We finally managed to go for dinner at "Smak på Restaurangen", one of Stockholm's most talked-about restaurants. Their idea is quite unique. They have a menu of 20 dishes (5 of them are desserts), and you get to choose three, five or seven to make your own tasting menu. We chose seven courses, which is about the same amount as a normal three-course dinner. The dishes are all named after just one flavor, and built around that. At least in theory - we felt that some of the flavors were a bit mis-named. Everything was pretty good, but I can't say that anything really stood out and was all that memorable. The whole experience was good though, and we had a fun night out. The lighting is pretty dim so some of the photos are really blurry - sorry about that.


My first flavour: "Citron" (lemon) - a fluffy blini with lemon cream and bleak roe.


Per's first flavour: "Dill" - shrimp in some kind of emulsion with foam and a crispy bread slice


My second flavour: "Koriander" - a flavorful coriander broth with an avocado terrine and very tasty chorizo.


Per's second flavour: "Getost" (Goat's Cheese) - a goat cheese cream with crispy brioche, pecan nuts and I think some crispy ham was involved too.


My third flavour: "Pimiento" - fried fluffy crab balls with mojo rojo (and something that looked like half a yellow cherry tomato but was very strongly tasting of lime)


Per's third flavour: "Kapris" (capers) - foie gras with beets


My fourth flavour: "ras al hanout" - lamb in fried phyllo dough packages with a spicy dipping sauce and minty cucumber yogurt



Per's fourth flavour "salvia" (sage) - lamb saltimbocca


Our fifth flavour: "sesam" - delicious beef with a sesame dipping sauce


Our sixth flavour: "stjärnanis" (star anise) - a yummy infused crème brulée and a citrus salad (didn't go well together but both were good)


My seventh flavour: "kaffe" (coffee) - chocolate cake with marinated cherries, chocolate sauce and a lovely coffee ice cream


Per's seventh flavour: "kardemumma" (cardamom) - baked apple, cake crumbs, calvados sorbet and crème anglaise

Smak på Restaurangen
Oxtorgsgatan 14
Stockholm

My Valentine's Day

Sweets for... me.

I had a wonderful Valentine's Day. We mostly stayed in, cuddled up on the sofa, and watched very many episodes of Veronica Mars. Excellent! And of course we had great food, too...


Starter was a toast with avocado, Skagen salad with fresh shrimp and lemon


Main course: beef with Mascarpone Pine Nut risotto and sherry-vinegared sugar snap peas


And finally raspberries marinated in cherry syrup with vanilla ice cream and crushed meringues

Pork and mushroom

Another super-improvised dish for which I can't remember exactly what I did. I'm sure it was something like this:

Fry a bunch of sliced mushrooms. Set aside. Fry thin slices of pork tenderloin until lightly browned, and combine with the mushrooms. Add a carton (250 ml) of single cream (or go for full-fat if you're in the mood) and any flavorings you might think of - say, some minced garlic, a few spoonfuls of barbecue sauce, maybe some soy sauce... And serve with rice, and a nice salad. Nothing complicated about it - just quick and easy food that'll do you good.

Orange Strawberry Parfait with Chocolate

I love desserts you can prepare well in advance, and all the frozen ones are obvious choices. A parfait is sort of like a no-stir ice cream, based on egg yolks and cream. (And not on whole eggs - but I accidentally used whole eggs in this recipe and that was fine too. It did turn a bit icy after a few days in the fridge - but I'm not sure if I can blame the egg whites. Anyway, make it with just yolks - it's better.)

I got the idea from my friend Linda who always makes a parfait for New Year's Eve, but always has different flavor combinations. She served something similar to this a few years ago, but I think she also had crushed amaretti biscuits in it. Delicious, in any case!

I froze this in a large ice cube tray, and silicon molds are really convenient here as it's so simple to get the parfait out. But you can use any bowl, really, and just scoop it out to serve.

Orange Strawberry Parfait with Chocolate

3 egg yolks
100 g sugar
300 ml heavy/whipping cream
200 g frozen strawberries
3-4 tbsp concentrated orange juice
100 g dark chocolate, finely chopped

Serve with a simple chocolate glaze if you wish - finely chop 100 g dark chocolate. Heat 100 ml cream until boiling, then pour over the chocolate. Stir until completely melted.

Beat egg yolks with the sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat the cream into fluffy peaks in a separate bowl.

Run the frozen strawberries in a food processor until finely chopped. Add these to the egg mixture, along with the orange juice. Fold in the cream, and taste to see if you need more orange juice. Add the chocolate, and pour into whatever molds you would like to use. Freeze for at least four hours, or overnight.

Recipe in Swedish:
Apelsin och jordgubbsparfait med krossad choklad

Chocolate against chainsaws

Oh, isn't it nice to do something nice and have something nice at the same time? I was recently introduced to the chocolate brand Organic Meltdown, which in addition to the usual claims of being organic and also fair trade has an unusual twist: in each package is a code, and if you go to their website, you can register the code and the company will save one tropical forest tree. Not too shabby!

And how's the chocolate? Per loved the one with rooibos & raspberry. I liked the milk chocolate. The spiced dark chocolate - well, I think I'll put that in some cookies, because the indian spices are quite intense on their own.

What are you having for dinner on Valentine's Day?

Homemade gummy hearts

Valentine's Day is coming up, as I'm sure you're well aware. What are your plans? We're staying in (definitely not interested in eating out in this particular night - oh no.) and we haven't really decided on a menu but I'm leaning toward a really nice steak with some kind of salad. Maybe avocado and shrimp as a starter - classic, and light. For dessert... well, I think it'll most likely be chocolate mousse.

Lamb in tomato sauce

What to do with leftover roast lamb? Well, we froze a bunch of meat, and then used some of it in this great tomato sauce. I didn't write down the details, but it was probably nothing special - tomato, onions and garlic, lots of spices, a pinch of sugar... With the lamb, and then with bulgur, it was brilliant. A great weekday dinner!

Kettle Corn

Popcorn in Sweden is never sweet. Never. The traditional way to eat it is just plain, salted. Never with butter, either, until the microwave popcorn hit Sweden, with its ready-flavored fake-butteriness. Popcorn at the cinema is also mildly butter-flavored. (And no, it's *not* made in the theatres, it's delivered in great big bags, much like garbage bags, and just heated on the premises.) I definitely don't know anyone who'll pour their own melted butter on their popcorn - oh no. I think people like to think that popcorn are healthy, or at least relatively so.

Guess what? It's really not. (Unless, possibly, air-popped and un-buttered. And how fun is that?) But it can be really, really good. I got introduced to the wonders of more exciting popcorn when I was an exchange student in the US, and I became a great fan of caramel corn. It's not all that easy to make at home though, and I'm not so sure I want to - it's a bit too sweet, at least for eating a lot of. This is a very happy in-between. It has a definite hit of both sweet and salty and it's perfect for when the cravings set in.

Kettle Corn
80 ml (1/3 cup) neutral oil
80 g (1/3 cup) sugar
125 ml (1/2 cup) popcorn kernels


Pour the oil in a thick-bottomed saucepan with a lid - a big one. Add a few kernels and place on medium heat. When the kernels pop, add the rest of the corn and the sugar, cover with a lid and shake around a bit to make sure it all pops evenly. When it's not popping anymore, and seems done, transfer to a bowl and salt generously.

Recipe in Swedish
Kettle Corn

Weekend Cat Blogging - Klara

Klara, eight months old

I know many of you have wanted an update on Klara, the kitten we decided to keep last summer. She's gone from a tiny, squealing, constantly hungry little thing to a very pretty and quite substantial cat. She's eight months old, and really rather large for her age, at about 3 kilos already.


Klara, three weeks

And I can't resist re-posting this one...


My absolute favorite photo of Klara, at nine weeks

Orangettes

You have just over one week until Valentine's Day to make something special for your special someone.. My special someone happens to love Orangettes, so I thought it'd be nice to post about them. I made these for christmas but might make another batch soon. You can use other citrus peel as well - I bet lemon or grapefruit would be really nice. And do use a good chocolate, it'll really affect the outcome. I don't bother with tempering, but then again, I keep mine in the fridge.

Orangettes

Three oranges

Sugar syrup:
200 g sugar
200 g water

To cover:
100 g dark chocolate

Start by washing the oranges carefully. Use organic, unwaxed if you can find them, or just scrub regular oranges well. Dry them, cut the peel into fourths, gently peel and cut across to make nice little sticks of peel.

Place the orange peel in a small saucepan. Bring water to the boil in a kettle or another pan, and pour this over the peel. Let it boil for three minutes, then drain. Repeat this twice, with fresh water each time. This blanching will make the bitterness go away, and it'll also help the peel absorb more sugar syrup.

After the third drain, mix sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. add the peel, and leave to cook on low heat for 30-35 minutes. Be careful to not let it dry out so check on it!

Drain (and you might want to reserve the syrup, which is now lovely with its intense orange flavor) and place on rack to dry up overnight. On the next day, melt some chocolate, and dip the peel. Place again on the rack to dry.

Recipe in Swedish:
Syltade apelsinskal

Caviar Sill

Here's another very Swedish recipe for sill. You have to make a trip to your closest Ikea for some of the ingredients. You might find a neutral canned herring elsewhere but Swedish caviar is definitely quite unique. It's really a sandwich spread (some people love it on their eggs, too) with salted and sweetened smoked caviar mixed with other things to make a pinkish paste. I personally am not a fan... but it can be interesting to cook with. Do pick up a tube if you see it and yes, it does come in a tube... just like toothpaste. The most popular brand name is Kalles and it's made by Abba.


Caviar Sill
50 ml mayonnaise
100 ml crème fraîche
100 ml Swedish style caviar
1 small red onion, finely diced
10 cm (four inches) leek, finely diced
50 ml finely chopped dill
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp lemon zest
salt, pepper
1/2 tin Abba's five-minute sill (about 200 g)

Cut the sill into smaller pieces. Whish all other ingredients together and add the sill. Keep in the fridge - it'll be fine for a few days.

Recipe in Swedish:
Kaviarsill

Olive Hazelnut Cantuccini

Here's something really easy and really yummy. Serve it alongside drinks, or just as a nibble before, during, after or instead of dinner! I love making biscotti, and I did make a version of these for our wedding reception, but I fiddled so much with the recipe that I'm re-posting this, which is a much better version.

Olive Hazelnut Cantuccini
makes 25 (and you can easily make a double batch)

125 g all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tbsp flaky sea salt
1 egg
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp ground black pepper
3 tbsp grated sharp cheese (I like Vasterbotten, parmesan or pecorino)
50 g toasted hazelnuts, coarsely chopped
50 g green olives, finely chopped
1 tsp olive oil
flaky sea salt

Mix flour, baking powder and sea salt. Beat the egg in another bowl and add to the flour along with the fennel, black pepper, cheese and olives. Work into a smooth dough, and add the hazelnuts. Add olive oil if the dough seems crumbly.

Shape into two thin logs and place on a lined baking sheet. Bake at 175°C for about 25 minutes, until the logs are fairly firm and lightly golden.

Take out the baking sheet, and lower the oven heat to 100°C. Slice the logs at an angle into thin slices. Place them bake on the sheet, sprinkle with sea salt, and bake for about 15 minutes on each side. They'll firm up a bit more when they cool.

Recipe in Swedish:
Olivcantuccini med hasselnötter

Mushroom Bacon Risotto

Need a quick idea for dinner? This was a very delicious mushroom bacon risotto we made a while ago. It's a basic risotto, with some fried mushrooms and fried bacon stirred in at the end - couldn't be easier.

Weekend Cat Blogging - kittens, at 12 weeks

Lancia, with her new buddy Lisa (Thumbelisa, because she's so tiny) who's just eight weeks old.

The kittens are twelve weeks, which means that they're ready to move into their new homes! All photos are here.


Lexus


Lamborghini


Land Rover


Lotus


And my favorite, the very very black Lincoln