Potato Gnocchi with Ramps

Ramps is something I hadn't heard about until a few years ago, and I'd certainly never tried it until just now. I got some in my produce box last week, and was excited to try it out. It's a close relative to garlic and onions, and does indeed taste very garlicky. I liked it - especially when paired with yummy potato gnocchi. The ramps get deliciously crispy as well. You can certainly eat this on its own, but it's also a nice side dish. In that case, it'll serve more than two. Maybe.

Potato Gnocchi with Ramps
(printable recipe)
Serves 2, generously

500 g potato gnocchi
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
about 20 ramps
flaky sea salt

Boil the gnocchi in plenty of salted water. You'll know it's done when it floats to the surface. Meanwhile, heat the butter and oil in a large frying pan.

With a slotted spoon, move the gnocchi to the frying pan as it's done. Fry on fairly high heat, and use a spoon to make sure that the gnocchi gets nicely browned on all sides.

When the gnocchi looks done, cut the ramps in coarse pieces (with scissors) and add them. Fry for about one minute. Season with a generous pinch of flaky sea salt and serve straight away.

Recipe in Swedish:
Ramslöksgnocchi

White Bean & Salsiccia Soup

Spring is knocking on the door, but it's not dependably warm yet. Some days are wonderful - warm and sunny, and others are.. well, most really... cold. I can't wait for summer. (Although I'm sure I'll complain about the hot weather as well - complaining about the weather is a national pastime in Sweden)

Anyway, cool, windy days call for soup. Here's a very simple one that will please even those that usually are wary of beans. (I am, definitely.) The salsiccia sausage makes it more hearty, but can easily be skipped or substituted if you want to make a vegetarian meal. (Bacon is always a good stand-in, too.)

Serve with a good, crusty bread on the side.

White Bean & Salsiccia Soup
(printable recipe)
serves 4

1 tbsp butter
1/2 tbsp olive oil
2 shallots, finely chopped
2 tsp dried sage
2 cans (each 400 g) cannelini beans
4 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
1 liter chicken stock
150 ml cream (full fat)
salt, black pepper

2 salsiccia sausages, in small dice

Melt butter and oil in a heavy pot. Fry the shallots for three minutes. Add the sage, beans and garlic and stir. Add the chicken stock and cook on low heat for about 15-20 minutes.

Using a stick blender (or a regular one), purée the soup until smooth. Add the cream, and season with salt and pepper.

Fry the salsiccia until crispy, and serve as a topping for the soup.

Recipe in Swedish:
Vit bönsoppa med salsiccia

A great Sunday

I had a really nice Sunday last week. My husband just bought an old Ford Explorer and he was aching to try it out so we went over to Dagmar to help her husband F haul stone for their garden.



While the men were busy, Titus practised his crawling all over their very large living room, and we had coffee.



And she let me have the Starbucks mug. That's true friendship.



And we had strawberries.



And physalis.



We enjoyed the sunny day.



She's been growing tomatoes - lots of them!



And then Titus fell asleep.

All in all, a great day.

Potato Patties

Again, one of those not so photogenic dishes! A very traditional Swedish dish, it's basically fried mashed potatoes (add an egg), served with crispy bacon (or really, unsmoked bacon), and lingonberry jam. Not a huge favorite for me - it's very "school lunch"-food to me - but I tried it at home a while ago and it was pretty good. Not great, mind you, but still worth telling you about.

Bacon-Sausage-Tomato Sauce

This is typical every day cooking for me. My husband loves Swedish falukorv - a special sort of mild sausage (you might be able to find it in IKEA?) that's a lot like regular hot dogs, and this is a nice way to make it a bit more exciting. It has a lot of veggies, and it's both colorful and very tasty.

You can definitely leave out the concentrated stock/bouillon cube - I happened to have it at hand and used it, but the sauce has a lot of flavor on its own and doesn't really need it. I prefer cooking with pure ingredients, to be honest - but now and again I use the shortcuts for extra flavor boosts.

Bacon-Sausage-Tomato Sauce
(printable recipe)
serves 3-4

250 g falu-sausage (or hot dogs), diced
70 g bacon, diced
1/2 zucchini, diced
1/2 yellow pepper, diced
1/2 red pepper, diced
1 small red onion, finely chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
400 g crushed tomatoes (one tin)
1 tbsp concentrated stock, demi-glace or a bouillon cube (optional)
250 ml cream (any fat content, low-fat is fine)
soy sauce
sambal oelek
black pepper

Start by frying the bacon in a heavy pot. After a few minutes, add the sausage and let it get some color. Lower the heat slightly, add and fry the zucchini, peppers, onions and garlic on medium heat for a few minutes.

Add tomatoes, and concentrated stock if using, and cook for 10 minutes. Add cream, and cook for another five. Season with soy sauce, sambal oelek and black pepper.

Serve over pasta or rice.

Recipe in Swedish:
Tomatsås med korv och bacon

One of my very favorite dishes

This is one of my very favorite dishes, and it has been ever since I was a small kid. As it happens, it's also one of the least photogenic ones. And it's not sophisticated, or complicated, at all.

What it is is a *very* simplified version of Pelmeenid. Or spagetti bolognese. Or both. In my family, we always called it "false Pelmeenid". And nowadays, I call it Estonian mince. While it doesn't really have much to do with Estonia, it was something my grandfather (who was Estonian) and dad would make, so to me, it's Estonian.

Anyway. You don't really need a recipe. Mince an onion. Fry it in a little bit of butter. Add ground beef. Cook for a few minutes while stirring - it should lose it's pinkness. Add salt, black pepper and a little bit of water. Cook for a few minutes. And serve with macaroni.

Sometimes I add a splash of distilled white vinegar as well, to get it more sour. And I always, always eat it with lots of ketchup.

Lemon Mango Mousse Cake

Let's be frank: this is not my simplest recipe. Yes, it's long. Yes, it's detailed. Yes, it's a bit fussy. It's however NOT difficult, not hard at all, so don't be intimidated. You can do it! It's very tasty - and it's gluten-free, by the way.

I made it for Easter, and because of that, I chose a mango compote to be the filling. I imagined an oozy, egg yolk effect that didn't quite happen, but it was delicious anyway. Next time, I'll double the cake and the mango filling, to make two cakes instead of one. The lemon mousse recipe makes a LOT so you'll end up with one very high cake.

And you need to plan ahead. The mango filling needs to be frozen beforehand, so it's best to start that two days before serving the cake. The chocolate cake layer needs to cool before it's time to fill it, and the whole cake needs to be in the freezer for at least a few hours. So, my suggestion is to do the mango filling two days ahead, and the rest of the cake the next day, one day before serving. It keeps well though, so you can make it much more in advance.

On the actual day of serving, just thaw it in the fridge for a few hours, and decorate.

Special equipment needed: A 22-cm springform, plastic wrap, a 24-cm springform, overhead plastic, tape, a sugar thermometer, a microwave... and a stand mixer is helpful.

Oh.. and this cake uses Kesella which is a quark, 10%-fat. I imagine you could use something else - ricotta maybe? - but I can't vouch for it.

Lemon Mango Mousse Cake

Mango Compote

250 g mango, cubed
150 ml sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 gelatin sheets

Soak the gelatin in cold water for at least five minutes. Place mango, sugar and lemon in a saucepan and cook for ten minutes. Mix, using a blender or a stick blender, until smooth. Add the gelatin, stir until it's dissolved and pour into a plastic-lined springform tin that's about 20-22 cm in diameter. Freeze.

Chocolate cake

4 egg yolks
45 g sugar
4 egg whites
90 g sugar
4 tbsp cocoa powder

Beat egg yolks with the 45 g of sugar until very fluffy. Sieve the cocoa powder and stir in, carefully but thoroughly.

Beat the egg whites until foamy. Gradually add the 90 g of sugar and beat into a shiny meringue. Fold into the chocolate batter. Pour everything in a lined 24-cm springform tin. Bake at 175° for 12-15 minutes. When you remove it from the oven, cut to loosen the cake from the side of the tin, then leave it to fall. (It will - completely.)

Lemon mousse

5 egg yolks
3 lemons (preferably organic and unwaxed)
4 gelatin sheets
600 ml cream (full-fat)
210 g sugar
85 g water
600 g kesella (quark)

Clean the lemons. Zest the peel, and juice them. Set aside 3 tbsp of the juice. Mix the rest, along with the zest, with the quark.

Soak the gelatin sheets in cold water. Beat the cream into soft and foamy peaks. Beat the egg yolks until foamy, preferably in a stand mixer.

Mix sugar and water (those 85 g) in a small saucepan and heat until it's exactly 122°C. Pour this hot sugar syrup over the foamy egg yolks, while still beating them, and keep beating on medium speed until the mixture is at room temperature.

Remove the gelatin from the water and place in a small bowl with the 3 tbsp of lemon juice that you set aside earlier. Heat on low effect in the microwave - for just a few seconds - until the sheets have melted. Add this to all the other ingredients - the egg yolk mix, the cream and the quark.



Assembly:

When the cake is completely cool, remove it from the tin, clean and dry the tin, and place the cake back again. Tape overhead film to the inside of the tin, to make a collar that goes a few cm higher than the tin itself.

Pour about 1/3 of the mousse onto the cake. Carefully place the frozen mango compote, and cover with the remaining lemon mousse. Place the whole cake in the freezer overnight (or for at least a few hours.)

Remove from the tin while still frozen - you might have to heat the tin itself gently, a hair dryer is great idea. Peel off the overhead sheets, and move the whole cake to a serving platter.

Thaw in the fridge for at least two hours, but preferably longer.

Recipe in Swedish:
Citronmoussetårta med mangokompott

Gluten-Free goodies

No, don't worry - I haven't suddenly become gluten-intolerant. I have a new friend who is, however. And I thought I'd just do a post with links to my baked goodies that are gluten-free. I don't really make an effort to keep things gf - using specialty flours or other ingredients - but I do make quite a few things that are naturally free of gluten. There are many more in my archives, but I thought I'd focus on cakes and cookies. Most of them contain nuts - so beware, if you're allergic to that.

Desserts:
Chocolate Walnut Cake
Rice Crispie Cake
Chocolate Toffee Cake
Chocolate Truffle Cake
Oscar II:s cake (Swedish Almond Cake)
Flourless Pecan Vanilla Mini Cakes

Cookies:
Chocolate Buttercream Macaroons
Ingegerd's Punsch Bars
Macarons - all of them (check out the links on the right)
Caramel Cornflake Cookies
Chocolate Meringue Cookies
Chewy Hazelnut Cookies
Chocolate Almond Orange cookies
Orange Rum Macaroons

Chicken Pad Thai

Bad photo, great food. I always, ALWAYS, get pad thai with chicken when we're eating thai, but since it's occurred to me that I can make it at home, we rarely buy it any more. I've tried shop-bought pad thai sauce, which is fine, and I've made my own which is also ok, but I want to try another few recipes to find a real winner before posting about it. (If you have any tips, please let me know!)

Anyway - it's awesome. I love stick rice noodles, they're really chewy and have great texture. Obviously, you can add pretty much anything to this dish, but I like red peppers and snow peas (mangetout).

What's your favorite thai food? Maybe I should order something else next time!

Chicken Pad Thai
(printable recipe)
Serves 2

chicken - 3 thigh fillets or one breast
2 garlic cloves
vegetables - for example, a bit of zucchini, red or yellow pepper, snow peas, mushrooms...
200 g stick rice noodles
2 eggs
pad thai-sauce (homemade or shop-bought)
soy sauce
ancho chili powder
peanut oil

to serve:
peanuts
fresh coriander
sriracha hot sauce

Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Finely mince the garlic. Cut all the veggies in thin sticks or slices. Soak the rice noodles in hot water until soft - the time will depend on how thick they are. Beat the eggs in a bowl.

Heat some peanut oil in a wok or large frying pan. Fry the chicken and garlic for a few minutes. Add the veggies and stir-fry for a few more minutes. Move everything in the pan to the side to get some room for the eggs, then add them. Stir them a little, so you end up with a scrambled omelet. When the eggs are set, add pad thai-sauce, noodles, soy sauce and some chili powder. Stir everything and season with more spices if you'd like.

Serve straight away, with fresh coriander, chopped peanuts and some hot sriracha sauce. A wedge of lime is also nice!

Recipe in Swedish:
Pad Thai med kyckling

Banana Semifreddo with Meringue and Caramels

Ok, here's another way to use up leftover bananas. I always seem to have them - especially now that I subscribe to produce boxes. I never really buy bananas, because frankly, I don't eat them unless they're perfectly light yellow with NO brown spots whatsoever. (And that means about a ten-minute window between not ripe enough and way too ripe.)

So. Always on the lookout for things to to with bananas. This one is very yummy - a bit like homemade Ben & Jerry's! Use any candy you want, but I had some chocolate covered caramels and tiny meringues the size of chocolate chips. (If you're using regular meringues, crush them lightly.) Milk chocolate chips would also be very nice.

Banana Semifreddo with Meringue and Caramels
(printable recipe)

4 small bananas
3 egg yolks
100 ml sugar
200 ml cream (heavy, double, whipping - whatever they might call the full-fat stuff where you live)
200 ml meringue drops (or crushed meringue)
160 g chocolate covered caramels, cut into smaller pieces

Mash the bananas, preferrably using a stick blender if you have it.

Beat egg yolks and sugar until fluffy. Fold in the banana. Whip the cream until soft and fluffy, and fold into the banana batter. Add meringue and caramels.

Pour the mixture in a mold - I used a silicone mold, but you can use a regular bread tin if you line it with plastic wrap. Freeze for at least six hours or over night.

Recipe in Swedish:
Banansemifreddo med maräng och gräddkola

Fish curry with apples

Ok. Another one of these dishes where I've held off blogging for so long, I've forgotten what I made. Which meant it wasn't particularly memorable, I suppose. Anyway - this was cod, with a mild curry sauce, and a lot of finely diced apples. A rather nice combination, especially with boiled potatoes, but nothing I'd go out of my way to make again. Still, maybe it'll be inspirational for those wanting to get more ideas for what to make with fish...

Weekend cat - and cake - blogging

Wow, it's been ages since I posted a cat photo! So, please enjoy this one - Glinda was very interested when I was decorating my Easter cake. I have to blog about the cake soon - it has a chocolate layer, a mango center and the rest is lemon mousse. Very yummy and spring-like.

Simple & Wonderful Tomato Sauce

You've probably seen this before, because it's been featured on a lot of blogs. I've seen it so many times, been intrigued, but didn't really think it would work. Surely something this simple can't be THAT good, can it?

Well, it is.

So go make it. That's all there is to it.

Simple & Wonderful Tomato Sauce
(printable recipe)

serves 4

2 cans (each 400 g) whole tomatoes
70 g butter
1 yellow onion
salt

Peel the onion and cut in half. Place in a pot with the tomatoes and the butter. Bring everything to a boil, lower the heat and let it simmer on medium heat for 40-45 minutes. Give it a stir every once in a while, and crush the tomatoes with a spoon. When you see little droplets of fat on the surface, you're done. Serve with freshly boiled pasta.

And if you want, add parmesan and black pepper, but frankly, I liked this better on its own.

Recipe in Swedish:
Enkel men underbar tomatsås

My latest obsession

I never did get a lot of cravings while pregnant, but... ever since Titus was born, I've been craving this. A lot.

And it's pretty basic. Mash up an avocado. Mince a garlic clove, mix. Add a small pinch of salt. Stir. Serve with snow peas/mangetout and.. that's it.

I feel quite good about this snack since it's actually quite healthy. Do you get obsessions like this? Please share!

Breadsticks

Yummy breadsticks - crunchy rather than soft and chewy - are perfect with a drink before dinner, with tea, with a salad, a soup... anything you can think of. And you can use any sort of topping for these - sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, crushed hazelnuts, dried herbs, chili, sea salt... any!

I bake these so they're still a little soft and not entirely crunchy. If you want them crisper, bake them for a few minutes longer.

Breadsticks
(printable recipe)
makes 30

10 g fresh yeast
250 g water
150 g wholegrain spelt flour (wholewheat works fine)
150 g flour (regular, all purpose)
75 g finely milled rye flour
20 g butter, at room temperatire
10 g honey
10 g corse sea salt

any toppings you might like - nuts, seeds, herbs etc.



Mix all the dough ingredients except for the salt. Knead - preferrably using something like a Kitchen-Aid - for ten minutes (If kneading by hand, count on twice the time). Add the salt and knead for five more minutes. Leave the dough to rise for 30 minutes.

Divide the dough in half. Roll each into lenghts and divide each into fifteen equal pieces. Roll each piece into a very thin rope. Brush with water and sprinkle with your chosen topping. Transfer to a baking sheet, and let them rise for 45 minutes.

Bake at 200°C for 10-12 minutes - or longer, for more crunch.

Recipe in Swedish:
Brödpinnar

Endive, Feta & Bacon Tartlets

Well, a produce box delivered to the door every other week will inevitably land you with some veggies you don't like. Case in point: endives. I hate, hate, hate endives. Bitter and horrid! So, I tried to mask their flavor in these tarts. They turned out pretty good - but to tell you the truth, they'd be even better sans endives. That's what I'll make next time...

Please ignore the fact that my onions look black - the balsamic turned them very dark, and they *are* slightly over cooked, but burned to a crisp which the picture would have you believe.

Endive, Feta & Bacon Tartlets
(printable recipe)

2 endives
1-2 tsp dried thyme
4-5 small red onions
70 g bacon
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp butter
150 g feta cheese
6 squares puff pastry (frozen)
1 egg, lightly beaten

Thaw the puff pastry for about ten minutes. Cut each one into half, so you end up with 12 rectangles.

Cut the endives in half. Cut out the hard core, and cut lengthwise into thin strips. Fry in half the butter on medium heat for 10-15 minutes. Season with thyme, then remove to a plate and let cool.

Halve and slice the onions thinly. Finely chop the bacon. Add both to a pan with the rest of the butter, and fry until the onion has caramelized. Add the balsamic vinegar and let it reduce into the onions. Remove to a plate and let cool.

Divide the endives among the tartlets. Leave a small border around each one. Add the red onion-bacon mixture, then crumble the feta on top.

Brush the edges of the tartlets with the beaten egg, and bake at 200°C for 10-15 minutes. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Recipe in Swedish:
Endivepaj med fetaost och bacon

Egg halves with shrimp

I mentioned this in passing, but I thought I'd show you a photo. This is essential - for me - for any Smorgasbord. I eat this for Christmas, Easter and sometimes for Midsummer's, too. Since I rarely enjoy sill (pickled herring), or various patées, this is one cold dish I can always rely on. And it couldn't be easier - you halve hard-boiled eggs, top them with mayo and a few peeled shrimp. Add dill if you want it more colorful, but frankly, I rather eat them just like this.

Rhubarb Cole Slaw

I was recently at a press lunch with Scan - the biggest meat producer in Sweden who presented their barbecue line-up for the summer. We got to taste most of them, along with a lot of salads and sauces. My absolute favorite was a rhubarb cole slaw. I e-mailed Scan to get the recipe and promptly made it at home. This isn't exactly it - the original had celery if I recall correctly - but it's close. And it's lovely. I will add even more rhubarb next time though - it's sour crunch goes so extremely well with the creamy slaw. Truly perfect with anything on the barbecue - a hunk of beef, some chicken, sausages...

Rhubarb Cole Slaw
(printable recipe)

200 g cabbage
1 thin rhubarb stalk
2 scallions/green onions
4 tbsp mayonnaise
2 tbsp smetana or crème fraîche
1 tbsp runny honey
salt
black pepper

Finely shred the cabbage. Slice the rhubarb and the scallions thinly. Mix in a large bowl. Stir together all the ingredients for the dressing and fold into the salad.

Recipe in Swedish:
Cole slaw med rabarber

Our Friday Feast

Lemon Cheesecake Macarons

Ok, I've officially lost my macaron mojo. I've made three not-great batches lately. These ones are actually excellent in terms of flavor, but they didn't come out looking like I wanted. They got very frilly feet, and are flatter than my usual, and the shells are softer which is probably a good thing. I baked these a bit shorter than usual - 12 minutes rather than 15. Colorwise... well, I just can't seem to get the hang of that. These were supposed to be yellow and had a good amount of yellow food coloring in them but you can't see a trace of it in the baked cookies. Oh well!

Anyway - I made them for Easter, and for Mac Attack 6! Head over to MacTweets to see a lot more - and much prettier - macarons.

Lemon Cheesecake Macarons
15-20 filled cookies
(Printable recipe)

3 egg whites, at room temperature
2 tbsp caster sugar
200 g powdered sugar
110 g almonds, blanched
yellow food coloring (optional)

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. Add food coloring, if using. 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. The batter will thin as you keep stirring it.)

Pipe small rounds on a baking sheet with baking paper. Leave at room temperature for 30-60 minutes, to form a skin.

Bake at 150°C for 12-15 minutes. (I have a convection oven, and 12 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.

Lemon Cheesecake filling:
150 gram cream cheese
60 gram unsalted butter, at room temperature
250 ml confectioner's sugar
finely grated zest from 2 lemons

Beat all ingredients until it's really light and fluffy. If it seems too runny, place it in the fridge to firm up for a short while, before sandwiching between the macaron shells.

Recipe in Swedish:
Citron-cheesecake macarons

Yummies from Sicily

I have a friend on Twitter who's really living her dream. She left Sweden for a sunny life in Sicily, with her Italian husband, and she's started a webshop with all kinds of Sicilian goodies. I've been lucky enough to try some - the olive oil from Don Nino is spectacular, and I recently got a package with what you see above. That's not just any candy, but Torroncino. That means, small pieces of torrone - which is almond and/or pistachio-studded nougat - dipped in chocolate. Amazingly good!

I also got a jar of Crema di Limone, which is fabulous to sandwich between cookies (perfect for macarons) and delicious on ice cream as well.

The webshop is in Swedish, but she'll ship anywhere in the world. If you're outside the EU, you have to e-mail first to get a shipping quote, though. And, as a special gift for my readers, if you use the code annesfood04 you get 10% off your order, valid until Wednesday April 14.

Butik Citronodlingen

Creamy Lemon Dressing

Need a new salad dressing? This one is very old-fashioned and might sound strange, but when you think about it, it's not so strange. It has lemon rather than vinegar, and heavy cream instead of oil, but the importance is in the balance of sour-salty-sweet and creamy.

Try it with nice, soft lettuce (not iceberg, but romaine might be good), and maybe some cucumbers and tomatoes. I could easily eat an entire bowl of this - it's very addictive!

Creamy Lemon Dressing

(printable recipe)

1/2 lemon, juiced
2-3 tbsp heavy cream (might also be called double cream, or whipping cream in some countries)
1-2 tsp sugar
salt
black pepper

Whisk together all ingredients just before serving. Toss with salad and serve right away.

Recipe in Swedish:
Krämig citrondressing

Titus eating quesadillas

He's getting so big! Soon, he'll be 11 months old. He's starting to enjoy food - quesadillas and steak are very popular at the moment. (and, dare I say, creme brûlée and pannacotta...) He was a very late starter with food, and never took to purées, but he likes feeding himself. Not a big fan of fruit or veg right now, but roasted carrots and potatoes are quite popular.

Very classic

We had a very classical Swedish sandwich for lunch today, at Gamla Konditoriet (the old pastry shop) in the beautiful little city Vadstena. Open-faced shrimp sandwich on soft bread, with a little mayo and boiled egg. Delicious!

Luxury

Stopping to visit friends on our way to Motala, and getting spoiled
with super yummy mini pavlovas.

Corn Chowder with Pineapple Salsa

I know it's supposed to be spring - come on, it's April 1! - but at least here, it's still pretty cold. So, rather than something light and cooling (say, a gazpacho?), let me offer you a warming corn chowder. It's real simple to make, and the pineapple salsa brightens it, making it suitable for the season.

Corn Chowder with Pineapple Salsa
(printable recipe)
serves about 3 - a little more or a little less depending on how hungry you are

1 medium yellow onion
1 garlic clove
2 small carrots
2 potatoes, medium
300 g corn (canned is fine)
1 tsp sambal oelek
1/2-1 tbsp olive oil
cumin
ancho chili
coriander (ground)
7-800 ml water
1 tsp white wine vinegar
salt, sugar (optional)
vegetable stock cube (optional)
1-2 tbsp crème fraîche (optional)

Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Fry in the olive oil in a pot large enough to hold the soup, on medium heat. It should soften but not brown.

Dice the potatoes and the carrots. Add the carrots to the pot and let them fry for a few minutes. Next, add the corn, sambal oelek, cumin, ancho chili and coriander, and fry for a few more minutes.

Then add the potatoes and water - enough to just cover. Add a vegetable stock cube if you feel like it - it'll add extra flavor, but isn't necessary. Bring to a boil, then cover with a lid and lower the heat. Let the soup simmer for 20-30 minutes, or until the potatoes and carrots are completely soft.

Blend the soup - using a blender or an immersion blender - and add more water if it's too thick. Stir in the crème fraîche, if using (it'll make it a bit milder and rounder in flavor) and season with salt, sugar and white wine vinegar.

Serve with the pineapple salsa, and more crème fraîche if you'd like. (I always like.)

Pineapple salsa
a small can of crushed pineapple
2 medium tomatoes, seeds removed, finely diced
1 small red onion, finely diced
splash of white wine vinegar
salt, black pepper

Let the pineapple drain in a sieve, and if the tomatoes seem watery, let them drain off a bit too. Place the onion in a bowl and combine with a splash of vinegar for about 15 minutes. Mix in the pineapple and tomatoes, and season with salt and pepper.

Recipe in Swedish:
Värmande majs & morotssoppa med ananassalsa

And the winner is...

Comment number 35, which is Anne (what a lovely name!, is the lucky winner of the Smorgasbord book. Thank you all so much for entering!