Our daily bread...

Today, I want to link to a text written by Sébastien Boudet, a French baker in Sweden who's putting a lot of hard work into reforming the way we think about bread. This text was refused by a Swedish bread magazine (BAKA), because they didn't want the debate. Pretty sad! So, instead, head over to Sébastien's blog and read it there. Swedish only, I'm afraid.

It's about the bread industry, and all the shortcuts that are going on. The flour is so inferior it needs additives to behave properly, and a lot of bakers don't learn the proper craftmanship that baking really is, since they use shortcuts and "cheats". (Among these ascorbic acid, sourdough powder, and yeast, too.) I might not agree with every word he says, but he sure is passionate about his beliefs, and his knowledge is immense.

I've written about Sébastien before, when I had an opportunity to take a two-day baking class with him. Great experience!

Lunch!

Very tasty lunch. I started by making a dressing - mayo, lemon juice, a little chipotle sauce and salt, which I tossed with baby spinach, diced cucumbers and a little grated Västerbottensost cheese. (Parmesan would do the trick.) On top of that, tomatoes, avocado, a handful of shrimp and hard-boiled eggs.

Delicious!

Chili from leftovers

Leftovers is not something that excite me, in general. I usually get tired of eating a dish and never want the leftovers on the next day. However... if you turn those leftovers into a totally new dish, that's usually ok. And sometimes, it's just brilliant.

Naturally, if you have something as tasty as leftover pulled pork or carnitas, there's not really a problem. You could make just about anything with that. But I don't know why it hadn't occurred to me before that you can make a nice chili soup/stew?

It's so delicious, and so versatile. Feel free to add in more vegetables - carrots, potatoes, anything goes! (Just adjust the cooking time accordingly.) More chili? Sure! The spice level really depends on how spicy your leftovers is to start with, so adjust accordingly.

I used green roasted chilies since I recieved a tin of that in my latest Blogging By Mail exchange, and that was lovely. I can't find it here, so next time, I'll use fresh ones, I suppose.

Chili from leftovers
serves 4-6

500 g leftover carnitas, pulled pork or similar shredded and seasoned meat
1 large yellow onion
1 tbsp finely chopped garlic
1/2 tbsp neutral oil
500 g crushed tomatoes (tinned)
400 g kidney beans (tinned)
125 green roasted chili (a small tin) - substitute with fresh green chilis
4-500 ml water
1 tsp brown sugar
salt, to taste

Heat the oil in a large pot and fry onion and garlic for a few minutes. Add in all other ingredients and let it cook for about 30 minutes. Season with salt and other spices as needed.

Serve with sour cream, grated cheese and fresh coriander.

Recipe in Swedish:
Chili på rester

Cookbook Watch - Taste of a Traveller

One of my readers suggested this book to me a while ago - Taste of a Traveller, by Brett McGregor who won the first Masterchef New Zealand. I had some trouble locating it, but finally wrote to the publisher - Random House New Zealand, and they helped me. (You can order the book here or here.) And you'd do well to get it - it's a really nice cookbook. Brett shares recipes from several parts of the world - south east asia, Spain, Morocco and of course his home country of New Zealand. I have to admit that last part was my favorite, since I knew so little about it. Spain is much closer, and I have Thai food all the time - but Kiwi Cuisine? I know nothing about that.

His food is bright and flavorful, and the recipes are easy, and always from scratch. Lots of spices, too! The book is full of photos - decent food shots, and also tons of personal photographs from Brett's travels. I think that gives it a more personal touch, which definitely brings something extra to the book.

Salsiccia & Cabbage Risotto

Some of you might have noticed that my posting frequence is down a bit. Sorry about that! I just can't handle daily blogging at the moment, but I'll try to post as often as possible. I have lots of cookbooks and new fun stuff to tell you about - I just have to get around to actually write.

And cook. I cook less new things at the moment, which also means less to blog about. But lately, I cooked this great risotto with fresh salsiccia sausage, and cabbage. You might think cabbage is a strange thing to add to a risotto, and.. well, sure. But it's really, really good, so do try it! I first did it when I had a leftover cabbage wedge that I wanted to use up, but since then, I've repeated it many times.

Salsiccia & Cabbage Risotto
serves 3

3-4 small, fresh salsiccia sausages
1 yellow onion
300 ml risotto rice (I use avorio)
150 ml white wine
1 liter chicken or vegetable stock
300 ml cabbage, finely sliced
50 g parmesan, grated
olive oil

Start by putting on a pot to heat the stock, which should be simmering.

In a large pot, heat the olive oil. Squeeze the salsiccia from the casings, and divide into small pieces. Dice the onion, and fry along with the salsiccia for a few minutes. Add the rice and fry for another minute, until the rice is shiny.

Add the wine and let it reduce for a few minutes on high heat.

When it looks dry again, it's time to start adding the stock, a ladle at a time. Add more as soon as the risotto looks dry. It usually takes me about 20 minutes in total. Taste the rice - it should be cooked through but not mushy. You might not use up all the stock, or you might have to add a little hot water.

When there's a few minutes left - add the cabbage.

When the risotto is done, add the parmesan.

Taste to see if you want any seasonings - I often add a little bit of lemon or honey, and sometimes a few drops of a smoky chili sauce.

Recipe in Swedish:
Risotto med salsiccia och vitkål

Saffron macarons

Just a teaser - I made these lovely saffron macarons, filled with white chocolate ganache, for a magazine feature! It'll be published in about a month, and I'll post the recipe then. They're really delicious!

Sausage Stroganov

This dish is a Swedish family favorite, and I bet most families eat some sort of variation on this quite often. It's really not very close to the internationally known Beef Stroganoff, that often has mushrooms and sour cream, but this is how it's done in Sweden. Well, not that my version is super authentic - I add a splash of cognac and a little tarragon, which is definitely not what most people would do. Very tasty though!

It's made with Swedish falu sausage, which I think you might be able to find at IKEA in other countries. It's really not comparable to any other sausage - except possibly some hot dogs. It has nothing in common with what's often sold as sausage in the US, but is in fact seasoned minced pork.

Sausage Stroganov
serves 4

600 g Swedish falukorv - falu sausage
1 yellow onion
2 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tbsp tomato purée
2-300 ml milk
1-200 ml cream
1 tsp tarragon, dried
1 tsp cognac
salt, pepper
butter for frying

Dice the sausage and the onion. Fry in a little butter until the sausage is browned, and the onion soft and shiny. Stir in ketchup and tomato purée. Gradually add the milk and cream - start with just a little, and stir all the time.

Let it cook for a few minutes. Season with dried tarragon, a little cognac, salt and pepper. Serve with boiled rice.

Recipe in Swedish:
Korv stroganov

Sinful Salad

I wasn't sure whether to name this Sinful Salad or Successful Salad, because it sure was both. Can a salad really be that sinful?

Yes.

It all came to be one evening, when I looked in my fridge. I had a botched batch of aioli, that never thickened up, but I stuck it in the fridge anyway, thinking it must be useable somehow. I had half a head of romaine lettuce. I had some grated cheese. And a little bit of red bellpepper, and a few cherry tomatoes.

A minute later, I had a salad.

And a few minutes after that, I had this.



Success! And sin! All in one bowl!

Spanish Tortilla

I have no idea why it took me so long to try a Spanish tortilla, made from leftover potatoes. I've been thinking about it every now and then, but I guess I thought it'd take longer than it did, or be more involved. And I was a little afraid of the flipping part, which turned out to not be a problem at all. The tortilla is lovely as part of a fingerfood spread, or to bring on a picnic. My two-year-old loves it.

Two tips. DO fry the potatoes beforehand, just a little. I tried one tortilla without doing that, and it barely held together at all. And second - really heat up that oil, before adding the batter. Then immediately lower the heat to real low. This helps create the crust, which is fundamental and really helps with the flipping. And for flipping, you can use a cutting board - just slide the whole thing out, and then flip it back into the pan. (I guess that's a third tip - think of it as a little bonus.)

Coriander haters can leave that out. Me, I'd rather leave it in. A lot of it.

Spanish Tortilla

4-500 g boiled potatoes, thinly sliced
1 small yellow onion, or two shallots, finely diced
4 eggs
salt
bunch of fresh cilantro, chopped
olive oil

Start by frying the potatoes and onions in some oil for a few minutes. It should color a little, and become heated through.

Crack the eggs into a large bowl, and whisk together with a pinch of salt. Add the coriander, and the potatoes and onions.

Heat plenty of oil in a fairly small frying pan (8 inch). Add the batter when the oil is really hot, and immediately lower the heat. Fry the tortilla on low heat, for 10 minutes on each side.

Recipe in Swedish:
Spansk potatisomelett

Our new favorite pork

This is probably the thing we've eaten most during this summer. We buy a large piece of pork, slice it thinly and whatever pieces are too uneven to slice nicely get stuck in the freezer for a later destiny (usually carnitas). The slices marinate for an hour or two, and are then grilled. Super simple, super fast, and super tasty. It goes with anything, so you can definitely serve your favorite side dishes with this. I'm particularly fond of BBQ Potatoes, Parmesan Sauce and a simple salad.

The cut we use is fläskkarré in Swedish, which is sometimes translated to loin of pork, or collar. I think shoulder is similar. It's a marbled cut of meat, with some fat and lots of flavor.

Our new favorite pork
serves 4

1 kilo loin of pork
50 ml olive oil
1 tbsp garlic, chopped
2 tsp sambal oelek (or similar chili paste)
2 tsp runny honey

Slice the meat very thinly. Mix all ingredients for the marinade, and place with the meat in a plastic bag. Leave at room temperature for a few hours, and turn the bag a few times to make sure all the meat gets marinated. Grill at high temperature, for a minute or two on each side.

Recipe in Swedish:
Vår nya favoritkarré

Brand new toy!

Ooh, I just recieved this little beauty in my mailbox! It's a Microplane box grater, and I have high hopes for it! My old box grater is.. well, old. Perfectly serviceable, but hard to clean and I'm always worried that I might scratch myself. While I think *that* is a concern with this new one as well, the cleaning issue has been solved! This one has removable sides, that you can slide out and wash in the dishwasher. Pretty cool - and I look forward to trying it out.

Wednesday bookmarks, September 14

We're on our second week with Middagsfrid, so I haven't had that much to share with you food-wise. I miss the creative part of cooking - while it's convenient having groceries delivered, it's just not much fun. So, this will be the last week - it was fun to try, but it's not really our thing.

Anyway! Let's link to some awesome-looking recipes! (And you can find more links at my Delicious page)

I keep bookmarking more things to try in my crock-pot - it's just the perfect kitchen help, really. I find myself in a rush when I get home from work and have picked up Titus, so having dinner pretty much finished = perfect. I want to make this Summer Chicken Chili from Back to Her Roots, this Peach Pulled Pork and maybe these Tamale Balls - I'm hesitant, having never tried a tamale, but it sounds good!

I reviewed Rachael Ray's cookbook Look + Cook a while ago. I ended up giving it to a friend, but not before bookmarking her Saffron Carbonara. Looks great - just the thing for a rainy night!

Spaghetti with Coppa di Parma & Orange

You may have noticed I don't post as many pasta recipes as I used to. It's because our little boy really isn't a big fan. (I know, weird kid, huh?) He'll eat plain pasta with ketchup, or pasta with pesto, and he certainly doesn't turn down a good Bolognese, but for the creamier sauces that I love... not so much. So we don't make them as much right now - but still, sometimes... pasta remains my favorite comfort food, and I hope Titus will grow to like it eventually.

This pasta is just the thing for me. It's creamy but with lots of tang, and salty from the Coppa di Parma which I like even better than prosciutto - much more flavorful.

Spaghetti with Coppa di Parma & Orange
Serves 2-3

230 g spaghetti
1 tbsp butter
80 g Coppa di Parma, torn into pieces
1 orange - finely grated zest and juice
100 ml cream (full-fat)
100 ml parmesan, grated
black pepper, to taste

Cook the spaghetti in plenty of salted water. When it has a few minutes left, melt the butter in a large pan and fry the Coppa for a minute or so. Add the orange zest and juice, and the cream. When the pasta is cooked, add that to the pan as well, and some of the pasta water if you want it to be saucier. Stir in the parmesan, and season with black pepper.

Recipe in Swedish:
Spaghetti med Coppa di Parma och apelsin

Crock-Pot Apple Butter

Apple butter is like a very reduced apple sauce and brown and thick. It's nice on oatmeal, but also with ice cream, pancakes or as a filling for various baked goods. I made mine in the crock-pot which was very convenient! You can do it on the stove, but you'll have to watch it to make sure it doesn't burn.

I know it's a huge portion in the photo, but I was scraping out the remains after filling a few jars, and it's so delicious I couldn't stand to throw any of it away.

Start this in the afternoon, and then you can add the sugar and spices overnight.

Crock-Pot Apple Butter

1500 g peeled and cored apples, cut into smaller pieces

Put the apples in your crock-pot. Cover with a lid and place on low heat for four hours. Stir, and mash up the apples.

Then add:
200 ml white sugar
200 ml brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1-2 vanilla beans (mine were dry so I added two - if they'd been softer, I'd have scraped one out and stirred in the seeds.)

Cover with the lid, and cook on low heat for eight hours.

And that's it! Pour into jars and keep cool - or freeze, which is what I do.

Recipe in Swedish:
Långkokat äppelmos i Crock-Pot

Citrus Strawberry Icecream

Well, summer is mostly gone, but maybe you feel like ice cream anyway? We've had a few really warm and sunny days, as well as a lot of dark and rainy ones. This ice cream is one of those super-quick affairs. It helps to have a food processor (and an ice cream machine), but since it's egg-free, you don't have to make a custard, which in turn, doesn't need to sit overnight to let the proteins swell. It stays reasonably soft once it's frozen, but it's best enjoyed within a few days.

Citrus Strawberry Icecream

1 lime - zest and juice
1 orange - zest and juice
3 large strawberries
125 g sugar
200 ml milk
300 ml cream (full-fat)

Zest lime and orange directly into the food processor and add the sugar and juice from both fruits. Add the strawberries and process until the sugar has dissolved - a few minutes. Add milk and cream, and process for a few more minutes, until it thickens.

Chill the mixture for at least one hour. Then run in the ice cream machine until frozen - in my machine, it takes about 15-20 minutes.

Recipe in Swedish:
Citrus-jordgubbsglass

Broccoli and ham risotto

We enjoy risotto a lot, and eat it at least every two weeks. Lately, we've often had a head a broccoli in the fridge, and as it happens, broccoli is great in risotto. I usually cook the florets by themselves, for a few minutes in salted water and then shock with cold water to retain their color. I just stir them into the risotto at the very end. But the broccoli stalks can be used as well! Peel off the tough layer, and chop the rest finely, and add to the risotto from the beginning, with the onions. Yum!

This particular risotto had ham as well - bacon would be good, too, or no meat at all.

Sorry for no actual recipe - I have plenty of risotto recipes in my archive to the right, so I think you can easily adapt one of those or your own favorite basic recipe! :)

Bacon Cream Cheese Balls

I've seen a few variations on cream cheese balls, and I'm not sure what might be original or not - all I know is I was pretty sceptical. After consulting my Twitter friends, and having been assured that yes, they are indeed tasty, I decided to try it. And I remained sceptical while making them - they're a bit messy, as cream cheese doesn't lend itself well to rolling - but then I served them... and they were a hit. A huge hit. I even liked them myself.

Well, at least the bacon version. The cheez doodle version - it was ok, but not as good as the ones with bacon.

Oh, and it's a pretty good idea to serve these on toothpicks, to to avoid messy hands.

Bacon Cream Cheese Balls
about 25

200 g cream cheese
10 dried apricots, finely chopped
4 tbsp toasted almonds, coarsely chopped
1/2 tsp dried chili flakes

150 g bacon

Mix the cheese with apricots, almonds and chili. Chill until the mixture is
firm enough to roll, and then roll into small balls - about the size of a small cherry tomato or a large hazelnut. Chill for at least an hour, or longer.

Fry the bacon until very crispy, and crush. Roll the balls in the bacon, and serve right away.



You can use cheez doodles (or something similar - cheetos?) instead of bacon. Just crush it and roll the balls in it. They'll soften pretty fast, so make sure you serve them right away.

Recipe in Swedish:
Ostbollar med baconkross

This year's glögg: Blossa 11 Arabica

Glögg is a pretty big deal in Sweden, and drunk all through the christmas season. It's basically a spiced wine - sometimes pretty strong, and sometimes with much less alcohol.

One of Sweden's biggest Glögg producers, Blossa, has a special flavor every year, limited edition. It's always preceded by much speculation, and I was pretty excited to go to their press event today. We first got to try the slim green bottle in the photo, which is an apple white Glögg, low in alcohol. It was served over ice, and absolutely delicious.

Then for the main event, we got little cups of the new yearly edition, Blossa 11. It's flavored with coffee! Perfect, in my opinion. I really liked the combination, the bitterness of the coffee took some of the sweetness out of the glögg - lovely.

You won't find on the shelves of your local Systembolaget, unfortunately - you need to place a special order. But it's well worthy it - I promise.

Tomato, Avocado & Feta Salsa

We already know that tomatoes and avocado are great together. As are tomatoes and feta cheese. But all three, in the same bowl.. really? Yes, really. Delicious! The creamy avocado, the salty feta, the bright tomato.. and a little crunch from red onions. Awesome.

Tomato, Avocado & Feta Salsa

2 large tomatoes
75 g feta cheese
1 small red onion
1 avocado
1-2 tsp white wine vinegar
black pepper

Coarsely chop the tomatoes. Crumble the feta. Finely mince the red onion, and dice the avocado. Mix all ingredients in a bowl, and season with vinegar and pepper. (No salt needed, as the cheese is quite salty.)

Recipe in Swedish:
Tomat och avocadosalsa med fetaost

Formex exhibition

Phew - I'm exhausted after spending the whole day at Formex, a huge exhibition for everything in kitchenware and so much more (jewelry, home furnishings, children's rooms and lots more). I didn't take a single photo, but I had fun looking at all the new stuff and made a major wishlist. There was a lot of fun new things from Lékué, including a super-smart macaron silicon mat that I really need. And little snack forks from Vacu Vin with christmas characters... too cute.

Formex is directed towards buyers for shops basically, and there's always quite a lot of edibles as well - tea, coffee, chocolates, jams and those sort of thing. One notable new trend in Sweden is licorice. Lots of it. Swedes love their licorice, preferably really salty. I tried an awesome kind from Iceland - yummy! I did get some nice tea samples that I'll tell you about as I try them, and also gumdrops in classic Swedish flavors, inspired by nature. I do need to take pics, though!

Swirly cookies

Shortbread cookies are traditional in Sweden, and can be varied a million different ways. They are often baked as checkerboard cookies, but I wanted to make it swirled instead. You can add more flavor if you want to - add some coffee to the dark dough, perhaps, and vanilla or lemon to the light one? They're good just as this too, though.

And I won't lie - they aren't the easiest cookies to make. Not that they're hard, but a bit finicky. The dough softens quickly, so you might have to chill it a few times.

Swirly cookies
about 40 cookies

Light dough:
200 g all-purpose flour
100 g butter
50 g sugar
2 g salt
1 egg yolk

Dark dough:
170 g all-purpose flour
30 g cocoa powder
100 g butter
50 g sugar
2 g salt
1 egg yolk

Make both doughs in a food processor - they shouldn't be overworked. Make the light one first, that way you don't have to clean it between batches.

Add butter, flour, sugar, salt, and cocoa (for the chocolate dough), and mix until it resembles coarse crumbs. Add the egg yolk and mix until the dough is just combined. Wrap in plastic and let it rest in the fridge for a little bit.

Knead it a little, and then roll out both doughs into same-sized rectangles. Place on top of each others, and chill for a little while again.

Roll, starting the long side. You want to make it nice and tight, with no air pockets, so press gently all the time. Chill the finished roll for a while.

Cut into 1/2-cm thick slices, and bake at 175°C for about 8-10 minutes.

Recipe in Swedish:
Snurriga mördegskakor

Baked Sweet Potato Wedges

As much as I love oven roasted potatoes and carrots, which we eat often, I always like to discover new favorites as well. And these sweet potato wedges are excellent - both as a side dish with any kind of meat or chicken, but also as part of a finger-food spread. I like to eat them with a spicy, garlicky aioli, and my toddler loved them. Bonus: They cook much faster than regular potatoes!

Baked Sweet Potato Wedges
serves 4

1 kilo sweet potatoes (ideally small-to-medium ones)
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp ancho chili pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

Peel the sweet potatoes and cut into wedges. Toss with oil, sugar and spices, in a roasting pan.

Bake at 225°C for 20 minutes - they should be completely soft and cooked through, but a little crispy on the edges. Serve with some pressed lime and fresh coriander.

Recipe in Swedish:
Bakade Sötpotatisklyftor