Contest time - make a superfood sandwich!

I bake most of my own bread at the moment, but that certainly isn't always the case. I'm glad that we have so much store-bought bread to choose from, and that it's becoming better and better. Just out (in stores from Monday) is the new Frökusar from Fazer - a dark bread with rye, spelt wheat, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and linseed that's both tasty and good for you. (And no scary ingredients!)

I'm partnering up with Fazer for a competition - you can enter by composing a superfood sandwich, and sending a photo plus description to contest@annesfood.com

The first prize is a half-year supply (coupons for 52 packets) of this bread! The first and second runner-up will get 26 packets! And since this is pretty Sweden-specific, one winner outside of Sweden will get a wonderful book about Swedish bread, cookies and baking: In Grandma's Arbor by my friend Kinna Jonsson.

(When you enter, tell me if you want to go for the bread, or for the book.)

The contest is open until October 21, so you have three weeks to come up with a great idea. Any photos might be published on this blog.

What's superfood? Well, that's up to you. The general idea, according to Wikipedia, is that it's a term sometimes used to describe food with high phytonutrient content that may confer health benefits as a result. But I'll leave the definition to you - if you feel that your sandwich is superfood and can argue for that, that's fine.

Personally, I feel that the sandwich above - my lunch - was pretty super! It had cream cheese (which is pretty low in fat, compared to butter. Avocado, which contains lots of good fats. Red pepper, which is high in phytochemicals (anti-oxidants, really). And if I had planned ahead, I would have added some crumbled bacon, which as we all know, is superfood for the soul.

Pretty cupcake

Isn't this gorgeous? No, I didn't make it. I ate it, though!

It has Swedish "messmör" in it, which might sound scary - it's soft whey butter, and a popular sandwich spread here. It's sweet, caramelly and slightly salty at the same time, and I get a hankering for it about once a year. Here, the messmör is used to flavor a white chocolate cream, and it's paired with a cloudberry mousse and a dark chocolate cake. Delicious, in every way. I wish I had another one.

Chicken Marsala Pasta

This is a recipe for my friend Linda in Gothenburg. She has a favorite pasta dish from her local take-out, and I tried it when I was there. It really was delicious, and this is my attempt (over a year later) to re-create it. It might not be just like the original, but it's very tasty!

Chicken Marsala Pasta
(printable recipe)
Serves 3-4

400 g boneless chicken thighs
1/2 lemon - zest and juice
black pepper
salt
100 g mushrooms, in small pieces
1 garlic clove, minced
butter
50 ml marsala wine
250 ml cream
freshly grated parmesan
1-2 fresh tomatoes, diced

Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces and mix with lemon juice, lemon zest, salt and pepper. Leave for half an hour.

Fry with mushrooms and garlic in butter. When the chicken is just about cooked through, add some marsala wine and let it reduce for a few minutes. Add cream and let it cook for a few more minutes.

Meanwhile, boil some pasta, drain and mix with the sauce. Add grated parmesan and fresh tomatoes, and serve right away.

Recipe in Swedish:
Kycklingpasta med marsalavin

Fika at Brygghuset

Svindervik's Café Brygghuset is Open Thursdays to Sundays, and it's quite lovely. I had a rhubarb-strawberry cake with cardamom cream.

Creamy Caramel Sauce

A creamy caramel sauce is a great little thing to have up your sleeve! Or well, the sauce itself might get sticky... but the recipe is good. Real good.

I like caramel a lot, and will gladly eat a sauce like this with nothing but ice cream, but it also works really well with other desserts - brownies in the photo, would be perfect with some mixed berries, or with an apple pie. Leftovers? Just dip your finger.

However you make it, caramel can be scary. It does involve melting sugar and it does get hot. So be careful, and keep the kids away from the stove for this one.

Creamy Caramel Sauce
(printable recipe)

100 g sugar
150 ml heavy cream (35-40% fat content)
pinch of salt

Melt the sugar in a heavy pot, over medium heat. Don't stir it. Wait until the sugar is golden brown, and remove the pan from the heat. Stir in half the cream. It will bubble and sizzle a lot. Stir until all the caramel has melted, and place the pot back over medium heat if you need to. Add the rest of the cream and a pinch of salt. Serve warm or at room temperature. It will keep in the fridge for a few days, and can easily be re-heated.

Recipe in Swedish:
Krämig kolasås

Panic dessert

I invited guests for dinner, without realizing that I would get home about half an hour before. I needed a super fast dessert. This fit the bill. Vanilla roasted plums from the freezer with whipped cream and crunchy walnut topping.

Yummy crackers!

I don't talk all that much about new products on this blog, but I have to tell you about these delicious crackers! Carr's is a pretty old brand, but I always associated them with "Water Crackers" that I felt was mostly tasteless. These new little "Melts" though... they're wonderful! Rosemary & Thyme is herby and great with goat's cheese. Cheddar is perfect as it is - just as a quick nibble before dinner.

Pistachio Macarons

Here's my first macaron "failure", and it's really just due to the filling. I was going for a simple ganache, but got too lazy and didn't look up a proper recipe. I just winged it - I used about 200 g milk chocolate and 100 g of cream, and as you can see, that wasn't great. Next time, I'll add 100 g of dark chocolate, both to stabilize and to make it a bit less sweet. However, this was delicious, even if it wasn't very pretty.

Pistachio Macarons
(printable recipe)
about 20

3 egg whites, at room temperature
2 tbsp caster sugar (or in my case, homemade vanilla sugar)
200 g powdered sugar
110 g pistachios
green gel (or powder) food coloring

Combine powdered sugar and pistachios in your food processor, and grind until very fine. Sieve. Re-grind any lumps or big pieces of pistachios. Mix carefully (they tend to separate a little bit when sieving, since the sugar falls through first.)

Beat egg whites and sugar until you have a thick, glossy meringue. Don't overbeat. Stir in the pistachio-sugar powder, and food coloring if you'd like, and fold together. Don't overmix this - most seem to say that you should use less than 50 strokes. (You can try it by dolloping a little batter on a baking sheet - if the peak falls down, it's ready. If it doesn't, try a few more strokes.)

Pipe small rounds on a baking sheet with baking paper. If you'd like, sprinkle some extra ground pistachios on half of them. Leave at room temperature for 30-60 minutes, to form a skin.

Bake at 150°C for 15-20 minutes. (I have a convection oven, and 15 minutes was perfect for me.) Let them cool completely before filling. Unused shells can be frozen, or kept in an air-tight container for a day or so.

Recipe in Swedish:
Pistagemacarons

Orange-Apricot Lamb Stew

This is incredible! It's such a perfect dish for the transition between summery hot weather and the cooler, crisper fall, and lamb is really at its prime now. The candied orange peel does take a little bit of effort, but the reward is great so don't skip it. In fact, I had to make a lot more than I had originally planned on because when I tasted it... I really had a hard time stopping.

Orange-Apricot Lamb Stew
(printable recipe)
Serves 4

700 g lamb, cut into large dice
3 yellow onions, thinly sliced
3-4 carrots, thinly sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
5 cardamom pods
2-3 tsp cinnamon, ground
3 oranges, the juice of
2 oranges, supremed (that means each segment cut out, no pith.)
1 lime, the juice of
10-15 dried apricots, diced
salt
cayenne pepper
pistachios to garnish

Candied orange peel:
30 g butter, unsalted
3 oranges, thinly sliced peel (no pith!)
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt

Start with the orange peel. Cut very thin slices of the zest, without getting any of the pith. A zester is perfect for this. Bring a small pot of water to boil. Add the peel, and let it boil rapidly for three minutes. Drain.

Put the peel back in the saucepan with the butter, sugar and salt. Fry on medium heat until the sugar caramelizes and the peel turns very lightly golden. Don't let it burn!

Use tongs to take the peel out of the pan and place it on baking paper or a silpat mat. (Don't try placing it on regular kitchen paper - it will stick.) Reserve the butter!

Now, get started on the lamb. Brown the lamb pieces in olive oil in a heavy pot, a little at a time. Set aside. In the same pot, add the butter from the candied orange peel and fry the onion in this for a few minutes on medium heat. Add the cardamom pods and cinnamon, stir well. Add the lamb back into the pot, and squeeze over all the citrus juice. Add water so that the meat is just about covered.


Bring to boil. Cover with a lid and let it cook on low heat for about an hour. Add the carrots and cook for another 20 minutes. Add the orange segments and the apricots, and cook for a final 10 minutes. (The meat cooks for a total of 90 minutes.)

Season with salt and cayenne pepper. Serve with chopped pistachios and the candied orange peel, and something like bulgur wheat, quinoa, cous-cous or rice.

Recipe in Swedish:
Lammgryta med apelsin och aprikoser

Freshly baked

I felt inspired by the bread books, but too lazy to bake. So, I went
to get morning bread at Gamla Enskede bageri, which is always delicious.

Cookbook Watch: Great books on bread

If you're a Swedish bread-lover, you're in luck. Two new books just came out and both are really incredibly good! The first one has been talked about quite a lot - it's Surdegsbröd (Sourdough Bread) by Martin Johansson who blogs at Pain de Martin. It's a real blogging success story - he started baking, got into it, blogged about it and eventually got to write a book! I've tried several of his recipes from the blog and they've all turned out nicely. The book has a lot of all sourdough recipes, with no added yeast, and since that's my current obsession (it's just so much fun!) I really look forward to baking my way through this one. And yes, he has a lot of recipes on the blog, but the book is so well structured it's well worth getting.



And then we have Bröd (Bread) by Heléne Johansson. Ah. She runs a bakery called Brunkebergs Bageri that consistently gets great reviews, but I've never managed to go there while they're actually open. After reading through the book, I clearly need to make more of an effort! Everything sounds lovely - and surprisingly approachable. It has great variety - from parmesan crackers to the darkest of sour rye breads - and sourdough as well as yeasted breads. I wish there had been a recipe for their cinnamon buns, which apparently are quite famed, but other than that, it's pretty perfect. In fact, I can't wait to get baking - and that is truly the mark of a great cookbook.

Sleep well, Ywette.

Heaven has another kitty today.



Last night, Ywette passed away. We had our veterinarian friend come over and give her a shot, and it was all very peaceful. We held her until she wasn't there anymore.



Ywette came to live with us on 9/11 - THAT 9/11. So, we had her for eight wonderful years, and she was the mother of many, many beautiful kittens. In the past few months, we'd noticed her losing a lot of weight. Her fur lost its shine, and started to become matted and tangled. In combination with an increased thirst, that pointed to kidney problems.



We took a blood sample, and our fears were realized - she had hypertyreosis. Quite common in humans, and not exactly uncommon in older animals (Ywette was 12), and the prognosis can vary. In this case, it wasn't good. Her kidneys were already quite damaged, and the chance of her responding well to daily and lifelong medication was so-so. We decided that it was better for her to have a good ending.



This is the hardest thing one has to do as a pet owner - to decide, when they can't. Give your kitties an extra hug tonight, and send a thought to our Ywette, who was such a good companion for so many years.

Carrot Raisin Salad with Nuts

Ridiculously tasty! This salad hits all the spots - it's sweet, sour, crunchy, chewy and just incredibly satisfying. Try it tonight!

Carrot Raisin Salad with Nuts
(printable recipe)

2 carrots
50 ml yellow raisins
a small handful pine nuts
a small handful pistachios
1 tbsp sherry vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
salt

Toast the nuts in a dry frying pan until they're fragrant and slightly golden. Peel and grate the carrots coarsely. Mix with raisins and nuts, and add sherry vinegar and olive oil. Season with salt.

Recipe in Swedish:
Morotssallad med russin och nötter

Lamb-Feta Meatballs with Ajvar Relish

You can have these as little snacks, stuff them in pitas with some sort of yogurt-based sauce (some variation on tzatziki would be nice) or eat them with pasta and tomato sauce. Very versatile! Ajvar Relish is a great condiment - bright red from roasted peppers, and slightly sweet and sour, while subtly spicy. It's also really good to stir into créme fraîche for a quick sauce.

Lamb-Feta Meatballs with Ajvar Relish
(printable recipe)
Serves 3-4

500 g lamb mince
1 egg
2 tbsp ajvar relish
75 g feta cheese
2 tbsp capers
1/2-1 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ancho chili powder

Mix all ingredients, and shape into small balls or patties. Fry on medium heat until they're just cooked through.

Recipe in Swedish:
Lammfärsbiffar med feta och ajvar

Fika at Anna's

Driving home from Motala, we decided to stop and visit an old friend I
hadn't seen in a very long time. She made this super blackberry-red
currant crumble - the perfect balance between sweet, sour, soft and
crunchy.

Surprise!

We just had dinner at P:s parents. Lovely packages made from parchment
paper, filled with potatoes, carrots, spring onions and snow peas.
They were served with fillet of lamb, and a chanterelle-bacon gravy.
Yummy!

Blueberry Nectarine Muffins

Remember the blueberry syrup I made for my macarons? Well, that landed me with a little bit of blueberry preserves, as well. Not being one to waste, I used them to make these fabulous muffins. The recipe was based on one I'd previously used, but instead I added the blueberry preserves to the batter, and finely chopped nectarines as well.

Blueberry Nectarine Muffins
(printable recipe)
Makes 15

250 ml all-purpose flour
250 ml cornmeal (or possibly polenta)
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
110 g butter, melted
1 egg
3-4 tbsp honey
75 g sugar
180 ml milk
100 g blueberry preserves
3 nectarines, diced

Mix flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, beat the egg with the butter, honey, sugar and milk. Mix in the blueberry preserves. Add this to the dry ingredients, and stir as little as possible to just combine the ingredients.

Fold in the nectarines. 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.

Recipe in Swedish:
Blåbär- och nektarinmuffins

Tomato Nectarine Salsa

Here's another fast and easy side dish - absolutely yummy with barbecued meat of all kinds. It goes well with fish as well as beef, pork or chicken - extremely versatile! Nectarines are only in season for a short while, so make this while you can!

Tomato Nectarine Salsa
(printable recipe)

2 tomatoes
2 necarines
1/2 yellow onion
1/2 lime
handful of fresh coriander
salt, pepper

Dice tomatoes and nectarines. Finely mince the onion and chop the coriander. Squeeze the lime, and mix everything together. Leave for at least half an hour before eating, it'll help the flavors to develop.

Recipe in Swedish:
Tomat- och nektarinsalsa

Puy Lentils with Dijon Mustard

Lentils is not something I eat a lot, and few of my friends seem to be big fans. However, I like serving lentils or chickpeas as a simple side dish, and this one has big flavors. It's super simple to make, and it keeps well in the fridge. You can serve this cold, warm or at room temperature.

Puy Lentils with Dijon Mustard
(printable recipe)

350 ml Puy lentils
1 shalott, finely minced
1-2 tbsp dijon mustard
1-2 tsp sherry vinegar
salt, black pepper

Boil the lentils in plenty of water until tender but not mushy - about 25-30 minutes.

Whisk shalott, mustard and vinegar. Stir into the warm lentils, and season with salt and pepper.

Recipe in Swedish:
Puylinser med dijonsenap

Cookbook watch: Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

Ok, if you're even slightly inclined towards baking, you should get this book. It's all about cupcakes - every imaginable flavor. There are plain ones, but most are decorated, and they range from very simple frostings to elaborate piped designs. The photos are absolutely beautiful, and as with so many Martha Stewart publications, they're incredibly inspiring. I haven't tried any of the recipes yet, but I did place a huge order for cake decorating supplies. Oops.

I can't tell you any one recipe I'll try, because I'm pretty much aching to make all of them. I just need someone to eat them all - because sadly, I'm not that fond of actually eating cupcakes. But I'm most definitely bringing out this book for my next party!

Sunday Caesar salad

I love Caesar salad, and frequently order it when eating out. I'm still nervous when it comes to mixing the dressing myself though, but I'm determined to get the hang of it. I made this one - based on a recipe from Cindy Pawlcyn's Fog City Diner - in my blender, and it was really thick and creamy. I tried it in a food processor as well, but the blender was definitely better. (Albeit a lot harder to clean.)

Caesar salad often has chicken. I wanted something different - bacon is a no-brainer, it goes so well with the strong flavors, and avocado provides a nice creaminess. I rarely do wine recommendations on this blog, but I like Les Fumées Blanches with this, a sauvignon blanc from the Languedoc region.

Sunday Caesar salad
(printable recipe)
Serves 4

2 heads of romaine lettuce
140 g bacon
2 avocado
2-3 slices of bread
olive oil
flaky sea salt
200 ml grated parmesan

Dressing:
6 anchovies
1 egg
100 ml grated parmesan
1 tbsp dijon mustard
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
2 garlic cloves
200 ml olive oil



Mix the dressing in a blender or food processor. Start by mixing the anchovies, egg, parmesan, mustard, vinegar, worcestershire sauce and garlic. Slowly, with the motor running - drop by drop - add the oil until you have a nice, thick dressing.

Make the croutons - rip, or cut, the bread into dice. Toss with a little bit of olive oil and flaky sea salt, place in a roasting pan and toast for about 8-10 minutes in a 200°C oven. Leave to cool.

Fry the bacon until crispy. Dice the avocado.

Assembly time! Rip the lettuce into large pieces. Mix with bacon, avocado and croutons. Toss gently with the dressing and the parmesan.

Recipe in Swedish:
Söndagsceasarsallad

Weekend Baby Blogging

I had to share these with you. Straight from the camera, taken today.



Life with baby is fantastic.

Blueberry Macarons

More macarons! I made these for Titus christening, and was really pleased with them. I chose to keep the shells uncolored, but you could certainly tint them blue or violet if you want to match the filling. To get a really strong - but still natural - blueberry filling, I made a syrup from blueberries and sugar, and reduced it. It worked really well, and the leftover blueberries were eventually used in another baking adventure - muffins - but more on that another day.

Blueberry Macarons
(printable recipe)
makes about 20

3 egg whites, at room temperature
2 tbsp caster sugar (or in my case, homemade vanilla sugar)
200 g powdered sugar
110 g almonds, blanched

Combine powdered sugar and almonds in your food processor, and grind until very fine. Sieve. Re-grind any lumps or big pieces of almonds. Mix carefully (they tend to separate a little bit when sieving, since the sugar falls through first.)

Beat egg whites and sugar until you have a thick, glossy meringue. Don't overbeat. Stir in the almond-sugar powder, and fold together. Don't overmix this - most seem to say that you should use less than 50 strokes. (You can try it by dolloping a little batter on a baking sheet - if the peak falls down, it's ready. If it doesn't, try a few more strokes.)

Pipe small rounds on a baking sheet with baking paper. If you'd like, sprinkle some extra ground almonds on half of them. Leave at room temperature for 30-60 minutes, to form a skin.

Bake at 150°C for 15-20 minutes. (I have a convection oven, and 15 minutes was perfect for me.) Let them cool completely before filling. Unused shells can be frozen, or kept in an air-tight container for a day or so.

Blueberry Buttercream:
200 g frozen blueberries
200 g sugar

3 egg yolks
75 g sugar
82 g corn syrup (or if you're in Sweden, white baking syrup works perfectly)
225 g unsalted butter, softened

Start by combining sugar and blueberries in a small saucepot and boil for 15 minutes or so - you should have about 50-100 ml of fairly thick syrup. If you have more, just reduce it further. If it's less, no worries, you'll still get all the flavor. Press through a sieve, and save the solids for something else. Let the syrup cool completely.

Beat the egg yolks until fluffy. Bring sugar and corn syrup to a boil, and immediately remove from heat. Pour over the egg yolks and beat at high speed until fully cooled. (Try not to get any on your beaters, or it will spin to the sides of your bowl.

Add the butter, a pat at a time, until fully incorporated. Finally add the reduced blueberry syrup, a little at a time.

Spread - or pipe - the cream onto half of the macaron shells, top with the remaining shells. Eat right away or freeze.

Recipe in Swedish:
Blåbärsmacarons

Golden risotto with veal

This was SO good! I made a basic saffron risotto, but with mushrooms - dried porcini, reconstituted in warm water, stirred in at the end. We served it with some sautéed veal on top. Yum!

Salsiccia Frittata

So simple. Fried salsiccia slices, fried red pepper. Eggs, whisked with a bit of milk and a pinch of salt. A simple salad from maché, cucumber, avocado and nectarines with a bit of sherry vinegar on top. Delicious!