Wednesday bookmarks, August 31

The photo is an update on my Middagsfrid grocery service - this was the second dish I cooked, and although not photogenic, it was much better than it sounded on paper or looked on the plate. It's aubergine and mozzarella, in a tomato sauce. Pretty tasty - surprisingly, since I don't really like aubergine OR mozzarella.

I honestly haven't had a lot of time to surf this week, so I haven't bookmarked a whole lot of recipes, but at least I have three to share with you! (And as usual, my Delicious account is open for browsing.)

Black Currant and Nectarine Jam caught my eye, in one of our Swedish food mags. Sounds delicious!

And it would go so well with these Pancake Muffins from Cupcakesfluffan, also in Swedish. It's kind of small, individual oven-baked pancakes. I think I'm going to love them, and they're perfect for my toddler, too.

And then what looks like real indulgence - an almond tart from Chez Panisse, courtesy of David Lebovitz. Chez Panisse recently celebrated their 40th birthday, and he mentioned this recipe from his archives. I love caramel and almonds, so it's definitey something I want to try.

Our first dinner from Middagsfrid

Chicken marinated in orange zest, honey, garlic and soy, with bulgur wheat, and a sauce made from the marinade and cream. Lightly boiled veggies. It was tasty, but perhaps not something I'll make exactly the same way again. The sauce was way too salty, so I'd cut back on the soy sauce. It had a very nice orange flavor though, and the chicken was tasty. All in all, a good start from this week's dinner provider, Middagsfrid.

Lemon & Tarragon Butter Chicken

I'm in quite a cooking funk at the moment. I can't seem to think of anything to do, and I'm quite stressed now that the summer vacation is over and we're all back at work. So, we've decided to try the company Middagsfrid for a week - they deliver groceries and recipes, and we do the cooking. We got our first delivery last night and it looks decidedly promising - maybe not the most exciting of recipes, but most things sound very tasty and the ingredients all looked great. I'll update as I cook, and let you know what I think!

Anyway. I made this chicken a few weeks ago, and it's absolutely splendid. I had tarragon in my garden, and it was a great match with the lemon zest and garlic - but basil or thyme would also be great. Or all three! Any fresh herbs really - you can't go wrong...

Lemon & Tarragon Butter Chicken
Serves 4

1 small chicken
50 g butter, at room temperature
1 garlic clove (small-ish)
2 lemons - the zest only, grated
1 tbsp fresh tarragon, finely chopped
salt, pepper

500 g potatoes
8 small fresh yellow onions

Mince the garlic, and mix with the lemon zest, tarragon, butter, salt and pepper. Rub this all over the chicken, pushing some underneath the skin as well.

Peel the potatoes and cut into smaller pieces. Cut the onions in halves or quarters, depending on size. Place all the veggies in an oven-proof dish, and then the chicken on top.

Cook in the oven at 175°C for about 40 minutes. Check to make sure the chicken is completey cooked through.

Recipe in Swedish:
Kyckling med citron & dragonsmör

Nordic Ware Cakelifter

I really, heartily recommend this specialized piece of kitchen equipment if you like baking cakes, and like me, often break them while trying to move them. This cakelifter, from Nordic Ware, is pure genius. It's heavy, sturdy and I bet it can hold any cake - although I've just tried it out once so far, on a very fragile almond paste-chocolate cake that nearly broke just from getting it out of the pan.

Strawberry Macarons

It's been a while since I made any macarons! These are from earlier this year, when I invited some friends over for a macaron "workshop". We decided to make one batch with strawberries, since they were in season, and for decorations, I tried my food markers that Stephanie sent me! Turned out to be a brilliant idea that I'll use many more times - the finished cookies were so cute. And tasty, of course!

Strawberry Macarons
About 20 finished cookies

3 egg whites, at room temperature
2 tbsp caster sugar
200 g powdered sugar
110 g almonds, blanched
red food coloring, preferrably powdered.

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 your food coloring, if using, and fold together. Don't overmix this. 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. Leave at room temperature for 30-60 minutes, to form a skin.

Bake at 150°C for 10-15 minutes. (I have a convection oven, and have recently found that 10-12 is 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.



Strawberry filling:
1/2 batch buttercream
200 g fresh strawberries
50 g sugar

Mix the strawberries until smooth. Add the sugar, and place the mixture in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, and lower the heat to medium. Let the berries reduce for about 10 minutes. Pass through a sieve and leave to cool completely.

Add to the buttercream.

Buttercream:
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

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. Divide into half, and mix one half with the strawberries. (The other half keeps well in the fridge or freezer, but might need to be re-beaten before using.)

Spread - or pipe - the cream onto half of the macaron shells, top with the remaining shells. Decorate if you'd like. Eat right away or freeze.

Recipe in Swedish:
Jordgubbsmacarons

Friday fika

At one of favorite cafés in Stockholm, Vetekatten.

The Baltic Chain, in Stockholm

Today's blog post is not about food, but about something very important and dear to my heart. (Well, obviously food is also very important and dear to my heart!)

Nearly 70 years ago, during the second World War, my grandfather and his family (including my dad) escaped from Estonia to Sweden. It was a frightening trip to say the least - they barely survived, and slowly made a new life in Sweden.

My Estonian heritage isn't exactly something I think about every day, but I do get reminders every now and then. One such reminder is Östersjöfestivalen in Stockholm, which is an annual music festival. As it happens, it's exactly 20 years since the Baltic countries gained their freedom from Russian oppression.

To celebrate, the music festival opens by re-creating the Baltic Chain - a peaceful protest where 2 million people joined hands, and stood together all the way from Lithuania to Estonia.

2 million.

That's a lot of people. No wonder this demonstration is on Unesco's world memory list.

Obviously, this one won't be as large. But everyone is welcome to join - so if you're in Stockholm on August 27, go to Berwaldhallen at 5.45 pm and join in.

Wednesday bookmarks, August 24

It's been a while since I did Wednesday bookmarks, but I'll really try to do these round-ups more frequently! I bookmark so many recipes when surf the web, and I really love to share them with you guys. I also think that linking is important - it benefits everyone, and if it can help you find a new favorite food blog: excellent!

Some of the recipes are in Swedish, but you can always enjoy the pictures - and there's always Google Translate. So, without further ado... here are some of my recent finds.

Blueberry Cheesecake, from Kickis blog. Blueberries are everywhere in the Swedish woods right now, and this gorgeous berry cheesecake makes me want to go out and pick some.

17 and Baking has another cheesecake idea: a whole cheesecake sandwiched between two layers of red velvet cake! Now, doesn't that sound incredible? I need a special occasion, so I can make this.

I'm back to work after the summer, and I really need to keep some healthy snacks in the office to avoid getting too hungry in the afternoons. I usually work out during my lunch hour and then have a very quick (and light) lunch. The whole grain krispie granola bars from Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy are perhaps not that healthy... but they sure sound good.

My friend Pille over at Nami-Nami has marinated her own olives! I've never tried that, so I'll give it a go some day soon. Her flavor combination sounds great!

My husband is currently working on a project where he needs to travel frequently to the US. The upside of this is that he can bring me back yummy food stuff (the obvious downside is being left home alone for weeks at a time - NOT my favorite) and from a recent trip to Alabama, he brought me grits. I haven't cooked with them yet, but I did bookmark this recipe for Creamy Bacon Cheese Grits from The Pioneer Woman. Really, how could I not?

Titus favorite food at the moment seems to be chicken. All sorts of chicken, but especially chicken legs. They had a picnic at his pre-school, and when I picked him up that day, all his teachers gleefully informed me that he had eaten more chicken legs than anyone else - including the teachers. Well done Titus! I bet he'd love these marinated chicken legs from Annika at Smaskens.

And something else I plan to make for him - a carrot cake smoothie, from Lilla Matdériven. No, it's not actual carrot cake, but it does have cooked, mashed carrots, goji berries and lots of spices. What a smart idea!

That's all for today - but feel free to visit my Delicious account to view all of my bookmarked recipes.

Avocado Mango Salsa

This is the sort of recipe that's hardly a recipe at all. But it's good. With a lot of things. So, I'll post it anyway. I hope you enjoy it - feel free to alter it and make it more your own - chili would be a great addition, and I could see some diced melon or peaches for a fruitier version.

Avocado Mango Salsa

1 avocado, diced
100 g mango, diced
1/2 red bellpepper, diced
1/2 red onion, finely diced
1 lime, juiced
2 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
salt, pepper

Mix. Season with salt and pepper.

Recipe in Swedish:
Mango och avocadosalsa

Apple picking time!

We have no trees of our own, but we were invited to pick in our friends garden. Titus really enjoyed it. I'm freezing some, for future pies, and I think we'll make some apple butter as well.

Parmesan Pancakes

I always like to try new sort of pancakes, and these caught my eye over at Weelicious. They were very tasty, especially with a little bit of maple syrup and crispy bacon. They turned out just a little bit flat though, and I think I'll add just a little bit of baking soda next time.

Parmesan Pancakes
15 small pancakes

250 ml cornmeal
30 g parmesan, finely grated
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg
200 ml milk
2 tbsp neutral cooking oil, plus more for frying

Whisk together cornmeal, parmesan, oregano, basil, salt, sugar and baking powder. Add the egg, milk and oil, and leave the batter for about 15 minutes.

Fry small pancakes in oil, on medium heat, until golden on both sides.

Recipe in Swedish:
Parmesanpannkakor

Got a kid? Get this book.

Sorry for the crappy iPhone picture. And sorry for not posting a more extensive review. But you have to get this book: River Cottage Baby and Toddler cookbook, by Nikki Duffy. Well, at least if you cook for kids, or babies, or toddlers. I just love it - such a great read, such a great cookbook, such a great philosophy. I whole-heartedly stand beside the same ideas about feeding your child as the author has, and well, it's just great. Good, clean food, from scratch. No worries.

Hummingbird Cake

I sometimes make cakes for other people's birthdays, and I usually do what they request, which is more often than not very simple cakes - ordinary cake layers, perhaps some mashed banana or vanilla custard and then whipped cream. That's like the very basic Swedish birthday cake.

And I'm pretty bored with it. Nor do I like it that much. I'll keep making them for my husband (who's even happier if I decorate it with gummy bears) but for Titus this year, I wanted to make a high, American-style cake with frosting.

Hummingbird cake kept popping up - in cookbooks, on blogs - and I couldn't ignore it any longer. It's similar to a carrot cake, but has pineapple and bananas to keep it moist, rather than carrots. It's absolutely delicious. And should you have leftovers, they'll keep well in the fridge.

Hummingbird Cake

450 g all-purpose flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
225 g white sugar
225 g brown sugar
3 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
250 ml neutral oil (sunflower or canola is good)
250 ml (about 250 g) crushed, fresh pineapple
4 large bananas, mashed (about 450 g)
250 ml walnuts, toasted and finely chopped (about 120 g)

Mix flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Beat both sugars with the eggs, until really fluffy. Add vanilla, oil, crushed pineapple and banana. Stir in the flour mixture, and finally, the walnuts.

Divide in two well-greased cake tins, about 20 cm in diameter. Bake at 175°C until they're no longer sticky inside - about 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely, on a rack.



Frosting:
170 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
600 g cream cheese, at room temperature
1 vanilla bean - the scraped-out seeds
200 g confectioner's (powdered) sugar

Whisk all ingredients to a smooth and fluffy frosting.

Frost in between the cake layers, and all around the cake, when the layers are completely cool.

Recipe in Swedish:
Kolibritårta

Strawberry Orange Frosty

I suppose I should have posted this while strawberries were still in season! Oh well - maybe you can still get them where you live? And the good news is, frozen berries will work very well too, and you need less ice for that.

Strawberry Orange Frosty
2 small glasses

2 oranges
6 strawberries
handful of ice

Juice the oranges, and place with the berries and ice cubes in a blender. Whizz until smooth, and serve straight away.

Recipe in Swedish:
Jordgubbs- och apelsinshake

Yasuragi Kids

We spent two days this summer at Yasuragi Kids. It's a Japanese Spa in Stockholm that has a special summer deal where you can actually bring your kids. (Let me state right away that it's not a great idea if you don't have kids, and want to actually relax - it's pretty noisy!) We had a great time, and so did Titus. We mostly played in the pool, and enjoyed the outdoor hot pool as well. And everyone walks around in their robes, yukatas, that you get at the spa. Even little ones!



The food was great - there was a superb kids' buffet with Yakitori Chicken Skewers, Chicken Dumplings, rice, all sorts of vegetables, poached salmon and much more. I opted for a not so healthy option, but oh so good - tonkatsu, which is deep-fried pork. It was served with a very salty, thick dipping sauce. For dessert, a slightly over-baked chocolate fondant, with marinated strawberries and a matcha whipped cream. It was pretty disappointing, mostly because I realized I really, REALLY don't like matcha. We plan to go back to eat at their Teppanyaki restaurant later this fall, as they're closed over the summer.

Milk Chocolate Cookies

It's Saturday. Have a cookie.

Cut cookies like these are so quick and easy to make - you can easily make a lot of them, and the freeze well. Use a really good quality milk chocolate for these, one that you like to eat, as it'll definitely be dominant in the finished cookies.

Milk Chocolate Cookies
makes about 40

170 g butter, at room temperature
45 g white sugar
45 g raw sugar (or brown sugar)
3 tbsp golden syrup
300 g all-purpose flour
1,5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla sugar (or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract)
150 g milk chocolate, chopped

Whisk the butter with both sugars until pale and fluffy. Add the golden syrup, and then all remaining ingredients. Mix into a supple dough.

Shape logs (in my case, three), that are about 2-3 cm thick. Place on a baking sheet, and bake at 175°C for about 20 minutes. They will start to look cracked on top - this is normal.

Leave to cool for a few minutes, and then cut into 2 cm thick cookies, diagonally. Leave to cool completely on the sheet

Recipe in Swedish:
Mjölkchokladsnittar

An awesome food blog...

I can't wait to share my latest food blog find:

Inn at the Crossroads.

See, I'm an avid fan of George R R Martin, and his book series A Song of Ice and Fire. As you might know, the first book was recently made into a TV series, Game of Thrones, and that's how I was introduced to it. Since then, I've read all the books, and am currently in the middle of the last one. They're really, really good - even if you don't like fantasy much.

They're very well written, and I find them engaging, funny, upsetting, clever... and they happen to be filled with food. As I read, I often find myself thinking "hey, that sounds pretty good! I wonder if I could make it.. oh, I wonder what the recipe is for that?"

So, I googled. And found out that I wasn't alone. Inn at the Crossroads is all about the food in these books - they're recreating each and every dish! (Well, except for roast horse, jellied eels and a few others.. um, that's ok.) I immediately added them to my Reader, and I urge you to visit if you like the books or the show - I think you'll love it as much as I do.

Dumplings in Stockholm

Recently, several places that serves dumplings have opened in Stockholm. Tiny, hole-in-the-wall type places. I've only managed to try out one of them, called Peking-Mormors Dumpleria ("Peking-Grandma's Dumpling place") and I'm happy to report it's very tasty. Not as good as making your own dumplings - few things are - but still, very good. And filling. One standard order is five dumplings, a tiny salad, and sauce, and I was afraid that wouldn't be enough but it was. You get a choice between chicken, lamb, pork, veal, veg and seafood. Lamb was my favorite, followed by chicken. It's perfect for a quick meal!

Apple Hazelnut Sourdough

Remember how I told you I won a sourdough bread baking contest? Well, it wasn't with this bread, but this was one of the breads I tried out during that time. I didn't submit it because I was pretty sure they'd never want to produce anything with nuts due to so many people having allergies, but the bread came out great, and I love it. I hope you'll try it! It DOES take a long time, but if you plan ahead, it's pretty effortless.

The dough is pretty sticky, which is why I opted to make loaves using a tin - but feel free to shape it into rolls, just be prepared to use a bit of flour.

You can leave out the yeast if you have a REALLY active sourdough, but I personally prefer to use a bit of yeast to make sure the bread rises well.

Apple Hazelnut Sourdough

Step 1:
150 g bubbly, active sourdough starter
500 ml water
200 g rye flour
200 - 250 g bread flour
350 g "rågsikt", a Swedish mixture with about 60% wheat, 40% rye
10 g fresh yeast

Lightly mix all the ingredients into a dough, and leave to rest for two hours.

Step 2:
The dough from step 1
15 g salt
150 g grated apple
150 g toasted hazelnuts

Mix into the dough, and knead really well - at least ten minutes using a stand mixer, and longer by hand. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl or box, cover wth a lid or plastic, and leave to rise overnight in the fridge, for 12-16 hours.

Step 3:
Take the dough out of the fridge, and shape it. You can make one large free-form loaf, rolls, or simply bake it in a lightly oiled tin.

Leave to rise at room temperature for two hours.

Step 4:
Heat the oven to 250°C. Put your bread in, and lower the heat to 200°C. The time will vary depending on how large you made your bread, but check the inside with a thermometer. The bread should have a core temperature of 98°C. Let the bread cool completely before slicing.

Recipe in Swedish:
Surdeg med äpple och hasselnötter

Summer lunch

Quick summer lunch - perfect for hot days. It's fresh tortellini - this one was mushroom-filled. Asparagus, cooked for just a few minutes. Wedges of perfectly ripe nectarines. Red onions. Parmesan cheese. And a light drizzling of olive oil and white wine vinegar.

Watermelon & Feta Salad

I can't tell you how much watermelon we've bought, and eaten, this summer. I try to keep some in the fridge at all times. We all love it, it's so refreshing.

This simple salad can be adapted in a hundred different ways. This is very basic but feel free to add things you like - maybe some black olives, capers, chopped coriander or maybe just some black pepper.

Watermelon & Feta Salad
serves 4

1 large watermelon wedge, in large dice
70 g feta cheese, crumbled
1/2 small red onion, finely diced
1 lime, juiced

Just toss to combine.

Recipe in Swedish:
Sallad med vattenmelon och fetaost

Apple Muffins with Caramelized Hazelnuts

Today, I'm blogging at Sweden.se again, and I've just put up a marvelous recipe for apple muffins, topped with caramelized hazelnuts! I hope you'll enjoy it!

Dulce de Leche Strawberry Cake

I'm obviously super late to the party, when it comes to Dulce de Leche. Can you believe I had never made it before? Barely tasted it, in fact. And I LOVE caramel. So goodness knows it was about time for me to make it. I guess I was reluctant due to the scares of "be careful or it will explode!" and I wasn't about to make "dulce de bombe" in my kitchen. However, when I got my crock-pot, I quickly learned that that could indeed be used to make a totally safe dulce. So that's what I did!

I removed the label from the can of sweetened condensed milk, and placed it with lots of water in my crock-pot. I put it on "low", and went to bed. Next morning, I fished out the can and let it cool. And when I opened it: luscious, beautiful caramel. Like magic, really.

I made this cake for my dad's birthday party - it was much appriciated.

Dulce de Leche Strawberry Cake
serves 10-12

Basic Cake Layers
4 eggs
375 ml sugar (1 1/2 cup)
400 ml flour (1 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp + 1 tsp)
2,5 tsp baking powder
120 ml boiling water (just under 1/2 cup)

Beat eggs and sugar until very fluffy. Fold together flour and baking powder in a bowl. Add this, along with the water, to the egg mixture. Stir in a little at a time - first flour, then water, more flour and so on until everything is added and folded into a smooth batter.

Butter and flour a 24-cm springform pan. Pour in the batter and bake at 175°C for 35-40 minutes. Leave to cool in the pan. When it's completely cool, turn out the cake and divide it lengthwise into three (or even four) cake layers. (It's easy - use a serrated knife and cut while turning the cake, that way it'll come out really even.)

For the filling
1 tin of Dulce de Leche
2 litres of strawberries
500 ml cream, for whipping

Start by removing the best, evenly-sized strawberries for decoration. You need about 300 grams worth.

Slice the remaining berries, and whip the cream into fairly firm peaks.

On the first layer, spread half of the caramel, and top with berries. Repeat with the second cake layer. Place the third one on top, and spread the entire cake with a thin coating of whipped cream.

Slice the berries that you set aside for decorating, and place them in a pretty pattern. Finish by piping cream all around the cake.

Recept på engelska:
Dulce de Leche Strawberry Cake

Cod with Vermouth

Honestly, I'm not sure how to sell you on this recipe. It's not photo-genic. And it doesn't sound very exciting. It is, however, pretty good. And I really need to expand my fish recipes - Titus happens to love fish and therefor I really want to cook it at least once a week. So, any ideas for quick, preferably healthy and not too fish-y fish dinners? Do tell!

Cod with Vermouth
serves 3-4

400 g frozen cod, semi-thawed (other firm white fish is ok)
2 tbsp vermouth
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
salt, pepper

Slice the fish in cm-thick slices (about 1/2 inch). Place in a small oven proof dish and drizzle with olive oil, vermouth and a few pats of butter. Season with salt and pepper.

Bake at 175°C for 15-20 minuter. We served this with a vegetable risotto, but boiled potatoes and a good veggie side dish would be nice as well.

Recipe in Swedish:
Vermouth-torsk