And the winners are...

Happy winners of the Lucia Bun earrings - Ptasia and Anna in Toronto! Congratulations!

This giveaway thing is fun, isn't it? Luckily, I have another one in the works... Check back in a few days!

Italian Lentil Soup

Frankly, I don't know what's Italian about this soup, but that's the name of it. And let me tell you, it's a great, great soup. Per often votes against soup for dinner, claiming it won't be enough food, or just not good enough. But this one? Oh, this one got slurped up, and with a surprised look he exclaimed that it was delicious! And filling, too! It will definitely be a staple here - not only is it quick and easy to make, it has basic ingredients that I often have at hand.

I got it from an online friend who has a great foodblog! in Swedish - I've changed the quantities a bit, but it's basically the same.

My veggies were all small-medium - if yours are huge, use fewer than the recipe specifies.

Italian Lentil Soup
(printable recipe)
Serves 3-4

1 onion
1 garlic clove
2-3 carrots
2 parsnips
3 potatoes
100 ml red lentils
70 g bacon
800 ml water or vegetable stock
1 tbsp concentrated vegetable stock (if using water) or stock cube
200 ml milk
100 ml cream
1 tsp dried thyme
2 bay leaves
salt, pepper
butter

Chop onion and garlic. Peel the carrots, parsnips and potatoes, and cut into coins and dice, respectively. Cut the bacon into strips.

Fry the bacon in a dry frying pan until it's lightly browned. Add some butter and the onions, garlic, carrots and parsnips. Fry for five minutes, then add lentils and potatoes. Fry for a few more minutes, then add water, stock, thyme and bay leaves.

Cover and cook for about 20 minutes, until all the vegetables are soft. Add milk and cream, and season with salt and pepper.

Recipe in Swedish:
Italiensk linssoppa

First Sunday of advent

Happy advent! We just got home from Glögg with friends and are now
ready for the first Julvört bread of the year, with some aged cheese
from Allerum.

Giveaway!

Some of you might know that I sometimes create tiny jewelry from fimo (a sort of polymer) clay. I haven't done much since before Titus was born, but I recently got going again, which means I have some new ones to share with you. And I do mean share, because I'd love to give away two sets of earrings - each featuring Swedish "lussekatter" or Lucia Buns.

And if you win, you have to promise to wear them on Lucia Day, which is December 13th! I wish I could send you actual Lucia Buns as well, but since they dry out extremely fast they don't travel very well. Sorry! (But I do have a recipe, of course.)

All you have to do is leave a comment on this post, and don't forget to leave your e-mail or some way to contact you. The giveaway is open until Sunday, Nov 29.



This also means I have some mini cupcakes (and some more lucia buns, and one pair of Princess Cake earrings) for sale. They can be made into earrings, or as pendants with lobster clasps. Check out the Flickr Set - anything that says "available" is still for sale. (Basically, start at the bottom - that's where the new stuff is.) E-mail me for prices. All hardware is sterling silver.

Cookbook Watch: A little bit of this, a little bit of that...

Portugal has a pretty bad food rap, at least here in Sweden. My friends went there on vacation and came back and really ranted about the bad food. With this in mind, I was wary when I received David Leite's book "The New Portuguese Table". I have to say, I've really changed my mind now - this food is anything but boring and repetitive, and it looks very fresh and flavorful. Leite has a Portuguese heritage, and many of the recipes were favorites as he grew up and have a very comfortable, homey feel. Others are modern and exciting, and something I really want to try is the milk-based "mayonnaise" which seems very intriguing. The book as a whole is really nice if you want to learn more about a new cuisine - the recipes are well-written, the photos are beautiful, and it makes me want to get in the kitchen. (Or really, on a plane, but I'll have to settle for the kitchen.)



Mitt Nära Kök ("My Close Kitchen" - not available in English) is written by Henrik Norström who runs one of Stockholm's fanciest resturants, Lux. (Where I'd love to go, by the way - Per has been there several times and loved it, but I haven't had the chance yet. It's the sort of place you'd pick if someone else is paying, to put it mildly - not in my maternity leave price range, that's for sure.) I was really excited to get this book, as it's something akin to getting a book by Heston Blumenthal, or even Ferran Adría. (Well, maybe with slightly more traditional techniques.) However, it's about as approachable, too. The recipes are short, and they sound SO simple. However, I look at the photos (which are beautiful!!) and just go "huh?". They look WAY more complicated than what I can accomplish at home, and that really turns me off, in a way. So, this is a book that I love to look at and leaf through, but for actually cooking, I'll choose something else.



Klara Desser has written a lot of books about eating according to the GI - Glycemic Index - method, and her new book, Klaras hälsomat ("Klara's Health food" - not available in English) has the same approach but is even more basic. It doesn't specifically talk about GI, but lists five steps to a healthier way of life - eating more lentils and veggies, eating less sugar and quick carbs, choosing healthy fats, saving indulgences for the weekends and getting more exercise. Makes sense, no? As a health book, this is really nice for those who need inspiration to make a change. As a cookbook, it's not bad - the recipes follow the rules above, and many of them sound very tasty. Or how about roast veal with root vegetables and apple chutney? Or chicken in tomato sauce with almonds and capers? Sounds good to me.



And finally, a much awaited book by the cake-guru Rose Levy Berenbaum. I have, and adore, her Cake Bible, and this new book is just as good. Rose's Heavenly Cakes has tons of cakes, helpful hints, and detailed recipes for success. She doesn't leave anything to chance - this is not for those of you who won't follow recipes, because these recipes are meant to be followed. And if you do, deliciousness will follow! I like this book slightly more than the old Cake Bible because of one particular feature: photos. This has full color photos of everything, which is also something I desire in a cookbook. So far, I've tried some Vanilla Bean cupcakes and those were most definitely amazing - all about those some other time...

Apple Cornmeal Muffins

I made this version of my blueberry cornmeal muffins for a brunch - they turned out just as delicious. They're not overly sweet, so perfect for brunch!

Apple Cornmeal Muffins
(printable recipe)
makes 15

250 ml all-purpose flour
250 ml cornmeal
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp cinnamon
110 g butter, melted
1 egg
3-4 tbsp honey
75 g sugar
180 ml milk
2-3 apples, peeled and finely diced



Mix flour, cornmeal, baking powder, cinnamon 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 apples. 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!

Recept på engelska:
Äppelmuffins med majsgryn

And the apron winner is...

Kimberly Pye! (of Kimberblog)

Congratulations - I used random.org to draw the winner, but I wish I could send something to all of you guys!

And a huge thank you to PhaseThree, for this fun opportunity!

Apple Walnut Sourdough

For some reasons, I find bread the hardest to blog about, in the sense that I usually put it off for a very, very, very long time. Maybe because the recipes are so involved? Because lets face it, most bread *does* take a little bit of time and some extra love and handling. Not much skill though - I'm a firm believer that anyone can produce great bread, especially with just a little bit of practise. And a good machine to knead it - unless you have some good arm muscles.

Anyway. I bake a lot of bread, and I have *so* many recipes to share with you. This one is from a Swedish bread blog that is very popular, and he's even written a wonderful book that I talked about a while ago. I've modified it a bit, but go to the blog for his original. (In Swedish, though.)

It's an all sourdough recipe, so you have to have a strong, lively starter.

Apple Walnut Sourdough
(printable recipe)
2 loaves

The night before: 

100 g rye sourdough starter
300 g tepid water
180 g rye flour, fine (rather than coarse)

500 g peeled apples
50 g brown sugar

200 g crushed wheat or like me, a mixture of crushed rye, wheat, barley and oats
300 g boiling water

In one bowl, combine the sourdough starter with water and flour. Cover with plastic and leave at room temperature.

In your food processor, mix apples and sugar. Place in the fridge overnight.

Mix the crushed seeds with boiling water. Cover with plastic and leave at room temperature.

Next morning:
500 g bread flour (preferably a strong, high-protein one)
150 g rye flour, fine rather than coarse
250 g walnuts
20 g salt

Mix everything - the sourdough, the apple mix, the seeds from last night, and both flours, walnuts and salt. Work in a machine for about 10 minutes (twice that time if you're doing it by hand.) It will be quite sticky, because of the rye. Cover with plastic and leave to rise until it's doubled in size. (Mine rose for 3-4 hours.)

Grease two bread tins with butter and divide the dough. Sprinkle some additional rye flour on top if you want to. Cover with a tea towel or with plastic wrap, and leave to rise for 1-2 hours - the dough should rise to the edge of the tin.

Preheat the oven to 250°C. When it's hot, place the bread tins in the oven and lower the temperature to 200°C. Bake for about an hour - check with a thermometer, they should have a core temperature of 98°C.

Recipe in Swedish:
Surdegsbröd med äpple och valnöt

Bread

More or less every weekend, one of us goes to Gateau bakery to buy
bread. It's definitely an indulgence for us, and a delightful one. We
buy bread for our breakfast, and sometimes a pastry. Then we come back
home, make coffee and always some soft-boiled eggs, too. That's our
weekend breakfast routine - what's yours?

Spicy Pork Wraps

Spicy Pork Wraps
(printable recipe)

1 pork tenderloin
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp paprika (the spicy, smokey kind - Pimentón de la Vera)
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp ancho chili powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
salt, black pepper

Mix all the spices. Dice the pork and place in a plastic bag with all the spices - shake it to make sure it's well distributed. Leave the bag in the fridge for at least two hours.

Fry the pork in some oil until cooked through. Serve with tortillas, tomatoes, onions, fresh coriander, grated cheese and some avocado mashed with garlic. Yum, yum, yum!

Recipe in Swedish:
Kryddiga fläskfiléwraps

Quick and late dinner.

We got home really late today, and just finished a super-fast dinner.
We pan-fried salmon fillets, and served with bulgur mixed with fried
bacon, edamame, leeks, fennel and a handful of cherry tomatoes. For
sauce, some greek yogurt stirred through with dijon mustard and chili
paste.

Mango Chicken

I'm really excited about all the interest on the apron giveaway - yeay! Still a couple of days left, so don't forget to enter the drawing if you haven't already! I have another little giveaway coming up soon, too - featuring homemade fimo jewelry, shaped like baked goods. Very cute and I hope you'll like it.

Now, something I should have posted about months ago, but I was reluctant because of the lousy photo. So, never mind that - it *does* come out rather brown and boring, like most stews, but the flavor is great. Do what I did and serve it with a colorful medley of veggies - I used various peppers and carrots, and dressed them up with a little bit of butter and cumin.

Mango Chicken
(printable recipe)
Serves 4

2 chicken breasts
2 chicken thighs, boneless
butter
1 red chili, finely chopped
100 water
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 leek, finely sliced
200 ml crème fraîche, full fat or diet, as you prefer
4 tbsp mango chutney
100 g diced mango
corn starch to thicken, optional

Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces, and fry in butter until lightly golden. Fry in a pot or a deep pan. Add the chili and leeks, soy sauce and water, and cook until the chicken is cooked through and the water has mostly reduced. Add the mango chutney and crème fraîche, and let it cook for about five minutes. Add water if it's too thick, and some corn starch if it's too runny. Fold in the mango dice.

Serve with rice.

Recipe in Swedish:
Mangokyckling

Apron giveaway!

One of my favorite Etsy stores, PhaseThree, has offered to host a very special giveaway this week! You can enter to win this supercute apron, called "Vintage Fruit", and all you have to do is to visit the store, then leave a comment on this post, telling us which your favorite PhaseThree apron is. Don't forget to include an e-mail address unless you have a google account - I need to know how to get in touch with you if you win!

In addition, they offer free shipping in the US for all of my readers this week, and international shipping for just $5. Just make sure to tell them "Anne's Food" when you order!

The giveaway and the shipping promotion is open until Sunday, Nov 22. Anyone can enter, no matter where in the world you are!

My own personal favorite? I have a hard time deciding - maybe this one? Or this one? I'm indecisive, as always.

Sometimes...

..an omelet is perfect. I like it for weekend lunches - this one was particularly good, with smoked ham, a little bit of leftover cream and gruyère cheese. The salad is a simple one made from snow peas, and tomatoes dressed with a little bit of olive oil and apple cider vinegar.

Christmas candy: Cashew Brittle

It might seem a little bit early for christmas candy, but hey, you can always start planning. I got this recipe from a wonderful new book by Karen DeMasco - "The Craft of Baking". She talks about this recipe in her introduction, and I knew I wanted to try it right away - I love brittle in general, but I don't think I've ever tried it with cashews. Using salted cashews help give this candy an awesome sweet-salt balance - delicious! She also includes lots of ideas for other brittles - cooca nib brittle, anyone?

It's really very easy, but be careful as always when working with hot sugar. This is half a batch - it makes plenty. I use white baking syrup instead of corn syrup - it works well.

Cashew Brittle
(printable recipe)

250 g sugar
40 ml corn syrup (or white baking syrup)
60 g water
55 g unsalted butter
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tbsp flaky sea salt
170 g salted cashew nuts

Mix sugar, syrup, water and butter in a saucepan, and boil on medium heat without stirring. It should turn golden brown. (Count on at least 10-15 minutes, but it will vary depending on temperature and the pan you're using.)

When it is golden, remove it from heat and carefully stir in the baking soda and the salt. It will bubble and fizz a lot. Stir in the cashews, and immediately turn it out onto a teflon or silicone baking sheet (a silpat mat would be perfect). Press on it with the back of a wooden spoon to make it as even as possible before it sets.

Leave to cool completely, then break into pieces and store in air-tight containers.

Recipe in Swedish:
Cashewbräck

Arugula-filled fresh pasta with lemon sauce

Here's the pasta Feline and I made with the Bosch MUM86. It turned out really great - but we didn't write down the recipe, so it was a one-shot. The pasta dough was very easy to work with - I used three whole eggs, 150 g regular wheat flour and 150 g durum wheat flour which is a harder sort of wheat, perfect for pasta.



The filling has arugula, a few black olives to add saltiness, ricotta, nutmeg and pepper. The sauce is mostly lemon zest and crème fraîche. I did the rolling, Feline did the filling and shaping - it all turned out nice!

My favorite childhood dish - Chicken in mild curry sauce

I finally made this - my very favorite dish from my childhood, and still something I request frequently from my mom. I've tried, and failed, before, so I was happy to really re-create it this time. And it couldn't be simpler. Really. Poach a chicken - or a few chicken breasts, that's what I did - and pick off the meat. Make a simple white sauce - butter, milk, flour, some cream if you have it, some concentrated chicken stock - and flavor it with lots of mild curry powder, salt and white pepper. Add the chicken. Serve with rice.

See? Hardly needs a recipe. But it's so, so good.

What's your favorite childhood dish?

Coconut Chicken

This is a fast dinner dish which transports you to warmer climates - which is sorely needed, Sweden in November isn't much fun weather-wise. This dish is sort of thai-ish, but with typically Swedish shortcuts like sambal oelek which is a very popular paste here, made from hot chili and oil - I always keep it in my fridge and use it when I don't feel like chopping fresh chili.

I like to use yellow peppers to give the whole dish a rather sunny vibe! I served this with homemade pappardelle, which came out terrible - I'm not blaming the sauce though, that was lovely. The pasta was watery and slimey - I blame the recipe, which was one I hadn't tried before. (And obviously, never will again.) You can serve this with rice or any sort of noodles or pasta - I'll go for rice noodles next time, since I love their chewiness.

And the recipe does make a lot of sauce - it's somewhere in between pasta and ramen, but with coconut milk rather than broth. Add more, add less - play with it.

Coconut Chicken
(printable recipe)
serves 2

2 chicken breasts (unless huge, in which case one will do)
1 small yellow onion
1 yellow (or red) bell pepper
freshly grated ginger
2 carrots, coarsely grated
400 ml coconut milk
1 tsp sambal oelek
1/2-1 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp japanese soy sauce
olive oil

Cut the chicken into smaller pieces. Dice the onion, cut the pepper into strips, grate the ginger and the carrots. Fry the chicken in some olive oil, and when it's browned slightly, add the onions, peppers, ginger and carrots. Fry for a few minutes, then add the coconut milk and season with sambal oelek, fish sauce and japanese soy sauce.

Serve over fresh pasta or other noodles - I think rice noodles would be great here.

Recept på svenska:
Kokoskyckling

A look at Bosch MUM86

Side by side. Which one do you like better?

I've been borrowing a new stand mixer for a few weeks now - a Bosch MUM86. I am a true Kitchen-Aid fan and have had my machine for many years now, but as I've been baking more bread recently, I'm thinking about getting something a bit more powerful. Hence, the trial of Bosch.

And I have to say, right away - it *is* better for baking bread. A lot better. It's much more powerful at 1600 watts compared to 300, and it doesn't get as warm nor smell funny like my Kitchen-Aid does after a heavy batch of dough. It also has a smarter lid, that actually keeps stuff in the bowl (I hate the so-called pouring shield on the KA - I always end up with a huge mess) and it also has a really smart little shield right where the hook attaches to the engine. So, for baking - I love it, I really do.


Fitted with the pasta roller attachment.

It's sturdily built - it's heavy and since it has little suction feet, it doesn't move around on the counter. However, it's a bit clunky and hard to operate - you have to press down hard at the button to release the arm, pull up hard on the arm itself, yank attachments out with force, etc. Not for the timid! And one thing I really dislike is that the bowl has really sharp edges, and easily scratches the machine body itself.



It has pretty much the same extra equipment available - I've tried the pasta rollers, and they rock. I haven't tried the KA rollers yet though - I hope I'll be able to borrow some soon. But it sure is much more fun than rolling by hand! I've also tried the food processor attachment, which is a bit small to be a real option for me.



And now for the downside: it can not deal with small amounts like the Kitchen-Aid can. I can easily whip up 100 ml of cream, or just two eggs, in my KA. In the Bosch - forget it. It just won't work. And I really love that feature in the KA - I use it a lot for small stuff, like making aioli or a small batch of buttercream.


The flat beater, which is quite different from Kitchen-Aid's.

So, which one would I choose? Both! I don't know if I'll be buying the Bosch, since it's pretty expensive (a bit more so than the Kitchen-Aid, which is already hugely expensive in Sweden), but if I had the extra cash, I probably would. Bread baking is a big hobby for me, and this machine really, really helps. But I feel that the Kitchen-Aid is more of a multi-tasker - and something I'll never be able to be without.

Dinner

As always, we are really rushed on Friday nights, since Titus goes to
baby swim classes. So, tonight we're having gnocchi in a cheese sauce
with bacon and spinach. Maximum taste, and it took ten minutes to make.

Swedish candy news!

I recently noticed quite a few news in the candy aisle, and of course I tried them all. All in the blog readers best interest, of course! Of course!

So - first, chocolate. Marabou is the Swedish chocolate giant, and they had three new flavors. "Vinter" is the most exciting in my opinion - it's their signature milk chocolate, studded with crunchy cacao nibs and flavored with ginger, cardamom and cloves. It's very, very winter-y and gives a great christmas feeling, without being over the top gingerbread-y. I love to keep this one in the fridge, it's much tastier when cold. (Incidentally, "Sommar" was milk chocolate with freeze-dried strawberries.)

Then they have two new filled chocolate bars. Toffee & Walnut is very, very sweet and would have been much better with more walnut bits. As it is, it's a walnut-flavored toffee, and tiny bits of nuts. My bar was also quite crushed, which was disappointing, but other than that, I liked it. Raspberry & Yogurt has tiny pieces of freeze-dried raspberries which makes for a nice texture. I liked this one - it's also quite sweet, but not too much.

Lamb Mince Sauce

Quick but yummy pasta recipe today - I think the original comes from Nigella, and is called something like "greek bolognese". I like it a lot - it's simple, tasty and the lamb is so much more flavorful than beef.

Sorry for all these super short postings, but it's hard to find the time to sit uninterrupted at the computer for much more than minutes at a time right now.

Lamb Mince Sauce
(printable recipe)
serves 4

1 yellow onion, minced
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
150 g mushrooms, finely chopped
500 g lamb mince
250 ml red wine
2 tbsp tomato purée
1 tbsp milk
2 tins (each 400 g) crushed tomatoes
salt
pepper
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp dried oregano

Fry the onion and garlic in olive oil on medium heat for a few minutes, until the onion has softened. Add the mushrooms and let them cook until they've released some of their liquid, and shrunk in size. Add the mince and fry until it turns light brown rather than pink. Add the red wine and let it cook in almost completely on medium high heat. Stir together milk and tomato purée and add this to the pot with the tinned tomatoes, sugar, salt, pepper and oregano. Cover with a lid and let it cook for at least 30 minutes.

Serve with pasta, and if you have some feta cheese, it'd be perfect to crumble on top.

Recipe in Swedish:
Lammfärssås till pasta

Cashew brittle

Making cashew brittle from Karen DeMasco's The Craft of Baking.

Bibimbap?

This was my first bibimbap ever, on Friday. I liked it, and P loves
it. I'd like to try making my own, so naturally I turn to you. Any
favorite recipes?