Anne's Food

Dinner!

2012-01-27T18:19:00.002+01:00

Oh, this was good. It's a regular mushroom risotto, made with ordinary button mushrooms, and some dried (and re-constituted in warm water) funnel chanterelles. On top is a boneless chicken thigh, wrapped with prosciutto de parma. I browned that in a hot pan, then added a little apple cider and let it braise until the chicken was cooked. I finished off with a spoonful of cream, and let it reduce into the gorgeous caramelly syrup you can see on top of the chicken.

Very good, indeed.

Giveaway! Electrolux Ultramix Pro

2012-01-26T13:11:00.001+01:00

So, like I wrote last night, yesterday was the biggest professional chef competition in Sweden, Chef of the Year, or Årets Kock. One of the main sponsors is Electrolux, and they had provided each finalist with a new mixer, the Ultramix Pro. Each one used yesterday was engraved with each chef's name, and after the contest, cleaned and returned to their boxes.

And now one of them can be yours! I've been asked to giveaway Fredrik Lagberg's mixer, to one lucky reader. Fredrik didn't win, but was voted "people's favorite". He made a gorgeous roasted beetroot purée with brown butter in his mixer. It's a pretty versatile tool - it can be used as a normal stick blender, but it also comes with a food processor bowl (which is really necessary for super smooth purées) and a beater attachment so that you can use it for whipping egg whites, cream and such things.

All you have to do to be eligible is to leave a comment, telling me what the first thing you'll make if you win would be. (And make sure to leave an e-mail address so I can contact you.) And sorry - Sweden only for this.

The giveaway is open until Saturday, January 28.

Congrats Klas Lindberg!

2012-01-25T20:37:00.003+01:00

Klas Lindberg is Årets Kock - Chef of the Year - 2012! He's actually the only one of the six finalists I have met, as I was lucky enough to cook with him right before Christmas. He's a super nice guy, and I was definitely rooting for him today.

I was at the competition for a few hours today, and went to a pretty interesting seminar about Sweden as a culinary country. Nordic cuisine is very popular right now, and no doubt we have some brilliant fine dining restaurants - but we also have a lot of mediocre or downright bad food, and that needs to change.

Another thing that needs to change.. where are all the female chefs? All six finalists this year were male, and a vast majority of the jury, too. I hope to discuss this further, as I find it pretty sad - I'm sure there are excellent female chefs around, and I want to see more of them.

Favorite finds at Formex Spring 2012

2012-01-23T18:48:00.001+01:00

I spent yesterday at the Formex fair with Lena and Dagmar. Formex is a huge fair for all sorts of interior decorating, mostly geared towards shops. Agents for all sorts of brands are there, and show off their new products. (And no direct selling allowed!) I was mostly interested in the food-related things, obviously, but it's fun to walk around and look at kid stuff, jewelry, handbags, and all the other stuff...

Here are some of my favorite things! First photo above is my favorite, ServeItUp from Fusionbrands. SO SMART! It's a loose cake stand - that can be attached to any plate. Bad explanation, let's try again: you can turn any plate into a cake stand. I need this. It comes in two sizes. I need both.

Yankee Candle: always a favorite. They had some gorgeous new scents, and my favorite was Wild Passion Fruit. Yummy!

Not sure of the brand, but two-part squeeze bottles to use two-color frosting? Smart!

The cutest patterned paper cups are always from [kala:s får:m]

An absolutely fabulous jam with oranges, lemons, vanilla and crushed cocoa beans. This was made by Äkta Sylt.

Licorice chocolate truffles by Skärgårdskonfekt. I'm not a huge licorice fan, but it's a very trendy flavor here, and you saw it everywhere at the fair. These were tasty though!

A tiny jar of SUPERTINY cookies, from Åre Bageri. Very cute. And very tasty, too.

Yummy cantuccini with cheese and beetroots - sounds odd but tasted great. I could imagine these instead of croutons, in a salad... or just to nibble on. Ninas Skorpor.

Adorable dinosaur chocolate molds - must get these. From Silikomart.

Cool Globe, a Swedish innovation. The domed lid holds an ice pack, to keep the food inside nice and cool. I want one of these for breakfast out on our deck in the summer!

Butterbox - the perfect way to store butter (which in Sweden comes in bricks, not sticks) and with a built in slicer.

Lovely bowls, patterned both inside and out, from Ib Laursen.

A super nifty little apron with pockets, not really for cooking, but perfect for gardening. Or for teachers. I am strongly considering this for a gift to Titus pre-school teachers. From Fröken Smart.

I've shown Frozzypack before - a lunch box where the lid is actually an ice pack. Very smart! They now come in pretty spring colors, and soon they'll have a slightly bigger size for sale, too.

A quick dinner

2012-01-22T19:00:00.000+01:00

So, my blogging frequency: way down. Sorry. Can't say it'll change, because right now, being pregnant with my second, I'm not feeling 100% and I'm definitely not cooking a whole lot. (If it was up to me, I'd probably live off bagels.)

Still, I want to keep the blog going, and I'll definitely make an effort to post at least a few times per week. For now, here's a really simple but delicious dinner idea, perfect for a weeknight. The base is risoni pasta (called orzo in some places - basically it's rice-shaped pasta) tossed with pesto (and an optional spoonful of cream), topped with whatever you like. We had tomatoes, edamame beans, and feta cheese. Fried halloumi or bacon are wonderful as well, pickled red onions is another great addition, cubed avocado... Well, it's versatile. And we usually serve everything in separate bowls, so you can mix and match.

Brown Butter Carrot Mash

2012-01-19T18:05:00.000+01:00

This is a small, but very powerful side dish. It's nutritious and rich, and just seriously tasty. Brown butter could very well be one of the most magical things in existence, and paired with the earthiness of the carrots and a squeeze of lemon... yeah. Just try it. You'll like it.

Brown Butter Carrot Mash

4-5 small carrots, peeled and sliced
1/2 yellow onion coarsely choped
1 small garlic clove, minced
100 g butter
salt, black pepper, freshly squeezed lemon

Start by melting the butter and let it brown, on fairly high heat. When it's golden, and smelling deliciously nutty and caramelly, add the carrots, onions and garlic, and lower the heat to medium. Cook, under a lid, until the veggies are soft, about 15-20 minutes. Drain the veggies (we're not saving the butter but I suppose you could), and mash them. I don't bother to make a smooth purée, I much prefer a rougher mash. Season with salt, pepper and plenty of lemon.

Recipe in Swedish:
Morotsmos med brynt smör

Lemon Snickerdoodles

2012-01-17T12:24:00.000+01:00

So, maybe these aren't technically snickerdoodles, but they're very similar. They're thin (which means they spread a LOT, so make sure you leave a lot of room between them when baking) and chewy, with crispy edges. The flavor is wonderful - bright and lemony. I have a stash of these, unbaked, in the freezer so I can have freshly baked cookies in just ten minutes.

That's probably my best cookie tip of all time - freeze unbaked scoops of cookie dough in ziploc bags, just make sure you label them with the correct oven temperature and time! (And you might have to add a minute or two to the baking time.)

I found this recipe at Tove's blog - it's in Swedish.

Lemon Snickerdoodles
about 40

250 g butter, at room temperature
400 g sugar
1 egg
4 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
grated zest from 1 lemon
2 tsp vanilla sugar (or 1 tsp extract)
420 g all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
extra sugar for rolling, optional

Beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the egg, the lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla sugar. Mix well. Add flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder, and mix lightly.

Shape the dough - which will be quite soft and sticky (chill it a little if you need to) - into walnut-sized balls and place well apart on a baking sheet. You can roll the cookie balls in sugar first, but I didn't.

Bake at 175°C for 8-10 minutes, and let the cookies cool completely on the sheet (or they'll break easily). They should be pale, but lightly golden around the edges.

Recipe in Swedish:
Sega citronkakor

Three-minute Ice Cream

2012-01-14T13:48:00.000+01:00

Three minutes. Or maybe less. No machine required. No stirring. And great ice cream. It sounds to good to be true, but it is indeed true.

You'll get perfect silky, dense, creamy ice cream, and it's perfect as a base for different mix-ins. I had some leftover creamy caramel sauce, and some caramelized walnuts, and it turned out to be a really delicious mix. My next batch will probably have raspberries, blueberries and coarsely chopped white chocolate. The base mixture is sweet, so I think something fresh and slightly sour will be a perfect match.

Three-minute Ice Cream
500 ml heavy cream
1 can sweetened condensed milk (about 400 g)
mix-ins, optional

Whisk the cream into soft peaks. Open the can of milk, stir into the cream. Stir in any mix-ins, and pour into a tin. Freeze until completely frozen - 5-6 hours, or overnight.

Recipe in Swedish:
Glass på tre minuter

Oatmeal Chocolate Balls

2012-01-12T10:19:00.000+01:00

Lots of people are familiar with Swedish chocolate balls - little yummies made from oatmeal, sugar, butter and cocoa. These ones are similar, but not the same. They're fluffier, and sweeter, and more oat-y. Instead of cocoa, they use instant chocolate drink mix, the kind you just stir into cold milk. The mixture is beaten for a long time, to make it really fluffy.

Oatmeal Chocolate Balls
makes about 20

180 g rolled oats
180 g sugar
30 g coconut flakes (unsweetened)
1/2 msk vanilla sugar (or 1 tsp extract)
4 tbsp chocolate drinking mix (O'Boy is the Swedish brand name)
150 g butter, at room temperature
50 ml hot coffee
50 ml milk
more coconut flakes, for rolling

Start by mixing all the dry ingredients, then add the butter. Mix and add the coffee and milk. Now use a stand mixer or electric handheld beaters to beat the mixture for a fairly long time - say 8-10 minutes. It should look quite fluffy.

Place the batter in the fridge until it firms up enough to shape balls. Roll small balls, the size of walnuts, and roll them in coconut. Keep cool - you can even freeze them.

Recipe in Swedish:
Havrebollar

Momofuku Milk Bar Compost Cookie, take 2

2012-01-10T15:18:00.000+01:00

I got the Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook for Christmas (thanks Santa!) and decided to give the Compost Cookies another try. I had made them before, but that recipe differed a bit from the one in the book, and although the first batch was really tasty they were also really flat and crunchy and I hoped that the correct recipe would remedy that.

Alas, no. Maybe it's something I'm doing wrong, or maybe they're supposed to be like this (but I don't think so), but they ended up pretty much identical. Or worse, but probably because I unwisely added a bunch of M&M:s and those turned out to be way too sweet for my liking. So, I won't even bother to give you a proper recipe - if you want to make them, check out my first post on the subject instead! It's a GREAT idea to mix in potato chips and pretzels though, I love the sweet-salty balance.

Melon Salad with Lime Coriander Salsa

2012-01-09T11:24:00.000+01:00

After a long holiday season with lots of heavy food, maybe you're craving something lighter? (Not me, really - I'll gladly have some pasta.) This melon salad is really tasty - it works well as an appetizer or a side dish. I prefer it alongside a juicy steak, but grilled chicken would also be good - or fish, for that matter. You could add other fruit too - I bet some sliced pear would be good. It's very versatile.

Melon Salad with Lime Coriander Salsa

80 g baby spinach
1 cantaloupe melon
1 red chilli
1 small red onion
1 garlic clove
handful fresh coriander
2 limes
3-4 tbsp olive oil
1/2-1 tsp flaky sea salt

Rinse the spinach and place it on a platter. Peel and slice the melon and arrange on top.

Finely chop chilli, red onion, garlic and coriander, and mix with the juice from the limes and the olive oil. Season with salt. Drizzle on top of the melon.

Recipe in Swedish:
Melonsallad med lime-koriandersalsa

Thirteen courses - 2012

2012-01-07T16:31:00.000+01:00

Last night, it was time for one of our favorite yearly traditions: 13 courses for 13-day (as the day after Twelwth night is called in Sweden - it's a national holiday). It was the usual gang - me and Per, Dagmar and Fredrik, Lena and Per, and we were joined by Kika and Mikael as well. As our theme this year, we asked everyone to come up with food connected to a movie or a tv-series. Not so easy! Everyone made a starter, a main course and dessert, and I did a drink and a snack as well, to bring the total up to 13 courses.

True Blood
I knew right away that I wanted to make something with a True Blood theme for my drink and snack, and I'm so pleased with how it turned out! The glasses are dipped in basically liquid hard candy to create the bloody rim, and the drink is a simple cranberry-lime-soda water, with vodka for some of the company. (Those not driving or pregnant.) The snack was black pudding, bacon, and apple, served on a lake of lingonberries. Surprisingly tasty, I loved it - despite not being much of a black pudding fan.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
As this movie is mostly set in Peru, Kika and Mikael had chosen a very traditional Peruan Ceviche. Yum!

Pingu
I was thinking this would be weird, and even though we weren't served seal or penguin, it sure was strange! We had cured salmon, served with roe, dill and... mustard ice cream. If we had awards, Dagmar would get the one for the strangest dish, for sure.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
I had no idea what this would be - I was guessing horsemeat and beans - but trust Lena to make something with cheese. It was three types of cheese balls! The good had bacon on the inside and cheeze doodles on the outside. The bad was... spicy! The ugly had blue cheese, and was rolled in walnuts. All three were delicious.

Fawlty Towers
This one was mine - I made a Waldorf salad!

When Harry met Sally
Maybe not what you'd expect, but there's an exchange about "too much pepper on my paprikash" which had made Dagmar and Fredrik curious about paprikash, and that's what they cooked. Very comforting and tasty, perfect winter meal. (And there was not too much pepper.)

Chicken Run
Chicken pot pies, obviously. I loved making these. And they turned out really well, I'll definitely make this again!

Canadian Bacon
Lena lived in Canada when this movie was big, so her inspiration was obvious. Bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin, with a potato-bacon rösti and maple syrup sauce. Super, super tasty, but at this point, I was getting painfully full.

Spongebob Squarepants
Very authentic Krabby Patty burgers! Very tasty too! And Kika had thoughtfully cut them into quarters, so you could eat.. a little.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Brownies - remember back in season one, Amy? Her mom made her miserable so she used to go over to Willow's house for brownies? Well, that was my inspiration. We served them with caramelized walnuts, vanilla ice cream and creamy caramel sauce.

Pulp Fiction
If this had been a main dish, I'm sure it would have been a "royale with cheese", but as it was dessert, Lena made a peanut butter vanilla milkshake, topped with whipped cream. I'm sorry to say I couldn't finish mine, but I was seriously running out of room.

Top Chef Just Desserts
Very interesting - Kika and Mikael made a Frosties tart filled with a mascarpone cheesecake, topped with tarragon sugar and served with raspberry quark.

Snow White
Apples, obviously! Fried in brown sugar, and served with an orange mascarpone cream. Despite being last, everyone loved this dish, and some people even had seconds. Hooray for Dagmar!

Want to read about the previous years?
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011

Bagels!

2012-01-05T22:52:00.001+01:00

I finally got around to baking bagels again, yum! Titus enjoyed stacking them...

Blueberry Sourdough with Sunflower Seeds

2012-01-04T10:06:00.000+01:00

If my last bread was something you can put together at last minute, this one sure isn't. Sourdough takes time, and even though I'm cheating a little bit here and adding some yeast, it's still a very slow process. I add a few grams of fresh yeast when I'm feeling insecure about how active my sourdough starter is. For this one, I had to use a specific starter - this was entered in a sourdough contest, and it wasn't the liveliest. (I won, by the way.)

It's a delicious bread - it gets some sweetness from the blueberries and apples, but it's still firmly in the bread, not pastry, camp. I like this with salted butter and a flavorful cheese. You can use any bread tins you like - I made mine in muffin tins for ease of transport, really. I had to travel across town with my half-risen dough somehow, and as it's VERY sticky due to all the rye, I didn't dare to go free-form. But if you're at home, feel free!

Blueberry Sourdough with Sunflower Seeds
makes two loaves, or about 20 "muffins"

Step 1:
140 g dried blueberries
Hot water

Place the blueberries in a bowl and cover with hot water. Soak until completely soft.

Step 2:
150 g bubbly, active sourdough starter
500 ml water
200 g rye flour
200 - 250 g strong bread flour
350 g "rågsikt" (it's about 60% wheat, 40% rye. Feel free to substitute as you see fit)
10 g fresh yeast

Mix into a dough, don't knead. Leave to rest for two hours.

Step 3:
the dough from step 2
15 g salt
100 g grated apples
150 g toasted sunflower seeds
the soaked blueberries from step 1

Mix everything together and knead very well - at least 10 minutes in a stand mixer, or longer if using your hands. Place the dough in a lightly oiled plastic box (or a very large bowl with a tight-fitting lid), and place in the fridge to rise slowly, for 12-16 hours.

Step 4:
Take the dough out of the fridge. Lightly oil your chose bread tins, and divide the dough between them. Using wet hands, smooth out the top of the dough. Top with some more sunflower seeds if you'd like - but use raw ones this time, NOT toasted. (They'll toast in the oven.)

Leave to rise at room temperature for about two hours.

Step 5:
Preheat the oven to 250°C. Place the bread in the oven, and immediately lower the temperature to 200 °C. Time will depend on your chosen tins - my muffin-shaped ones took about 20 minutes. (Loaf tins will take a LOT longer.) Use a thermometer to check the core temperature, which should be 98°C. Let the bread cool completely before slicing.

Recipe in Swedish:
Blåbärsbröd med äpple och solrosfrön

Peppermint Candy Cane Caramels

2012-01-02T11:50:00.000+01:00

Yes, one more holiday candy recipe - I didn't manage to post this before christmas, and I still have quite a backlog, but hey, this is appropriate all year round. (Or inappropriate, depending on your relation to candy, but that's another story.)

As with all caramel, don't attempt this without a candy thermometer, and don't let the kids help. It's a little scary since it's high temperatures involved, but it's not difficult at all. And the caramels are well worth any trouble!

Peppermint Candy Cane Caramels
makes at least 50

140 g glucose
280 g sugar
200 ml cream (full-fat)
80 g unsalted butter
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp vanilla powder or 1/2 scraped-out vanilla bean
1/2-1 tsp peppermint oil (or a little more if using extract)
100 g crushed candy canes

Start by combinining glucose and sugar in a saucepan, and heat until 165°C - watch it closely, it'll go quickly towards the end.

Meanwhile, bring cream, butter, salt, vanilla and mint to a boil in another pan, and keep it warm. When the sugar has reached the right temperature, add the cream mixture. Be VERY CAREFUL! It will sputter and bubble a lot.

Stir until it settles down into a homogenous mixture, and cook until it reaches 125°C. Pour into a prepared tin - I use a special non-stick foil, but you can just oil a tin.

Sprinkle with the crushed candy canes - if you do it right away, they'll melt, which is what I did. Wait for a minute or two if you want them to retain their texture and sit more on top.

Let the caramel set but not cool completely, and then turn out the whole slab on a cutting board. Cut it into good sized caramels. If it becomes too hard and brittle to cut, you can soften it briefly in the microwave, for 10-15 seconds.

Recipe in Swedish:
Pepparmintskola med polka

Quick Bread with Beer & Herbs

2012-01-01T17:19:00.000+01:00

This bread is so fantastic - it takes no time at all, since it's made with baking powder rather than yeast, and it's great to serve alongside a soup or a stew. You can vary the spices as you wish, and the recipe can be doubled.

I used a flavorful porter beer, and I can really recommend that - but try it with any beer, I'm sure it'll be just as good. I used a small loaf tin, but I might try muffin tins next time.

Quick Bread with Beer & Herbs
makes one small loaf - it was enough for three generous servings

225 g all-purpose flour
1,5 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp oregano, dried
1/2 tsp thyme, dried
175 ml porter beer or other dark beer
3 tbsp melted butter

Butter for the tin

Butter a small loaf tin and preheat the oven to 175°C. Mix flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, oregano and thyme. Add the porter and mix lightly. It'll be a very thick batter. Pour it into the loaf tin, and top the whole thing with the melted butter.

Bake for about 30 minutes. Serve right away.

Recipe in Swedish:
Snabbt bröd med porter

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T15:01:00.002+01:00

Yep, again!

My favorite kitchen tools of 2011

2011-12-30T21:04:00.000+01:00

I kind of meant to do a whole series of my favorites from 2011 - but I ran out of time! Anyway, some of my favorite tools this year:

Tovolo Better Batter Tool

This looks so strange, and possibly useless, but it's actually really convenient! I love it for stirring together things like pancake batter, or lightly beating a few eggs. Great! I had a friend buy it for me at Sur La Table, I don't know of any international source.

CrockPot

I'm so glad crock-pots finally made it to Sweden! I love mine, and I can't wait to use it much more. I need to get more organized though and plan ahead - this fall has been bad for cooking, in general. I've had a lot of other things on my mind...

Cake lifter from Nordic Ware.

Man, this is good. It's the solution to many broken cake layers and tarts. I love it.

Sil-Pin rolling pin

This looks so useless - but it really isn't. It's a tiny rolling pin for those of you who are, like me, pastry challenged. I can't roll out pastry to save my life, so I usually just press the dough into my tart tin - but with this little buddy, I can roll it out while inside the tin! It works surprisingly well.

Dualit toaster

And I have to mention my glossy red toaster, with extra wide slots to fit bagels. Awesome.

And an honorable mention to my all time favorite: my Kitchen-Aid stand mixer. It's served me for many years now, and I never want to be without it. It did suffer a small injury this year - the meatal band around the head fell off and I can't get it back on, but as it doesn't seem to affect performance in any way... I don't mind so much.

Crock-Pot Beef Stew

2011-12-26T11:08:00.000+01:00

So how about something other than holiday food? I know I'm pretty much done with christmas food by now, and I definitely don't want to see more candy.. for a while. (I still have a recipe or two to post, though.)

I look through my new cookbooks that Santa brought, trying to come up with a menu for New Year's Eve as well as something for our annual 13-course dinner... nothing set yet, so I'll have to keep looking! Meanwhile, I let the crock-pot do some work.

Crock-Pot Beef Stew
750 g stewing beef, in large dice
140 g bacon, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
150 g mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 leek, thinly sliced
10 shallots, peeled
4 carrots, sliced into coins
1 beef stock cube
150 ml porter beer (or another dark, flavorful beer)
350 ml red wine
butter or oil for frying
rice and smetana or crème fraîche for serving

Start by browning the meat, bacon, garlic and mushrooms, and add to your crock-pot. Add leeks, shallots, carrots, the stock cube, porter and red wine. Let the pot cook for 8 hours on low.

Serve with rice and a dollop of smetana or crème fraîche.

Recipe in Swedish:
Köttgryta i Crock-Pot

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-24T14:43:00.002+01:00

Wishing all my readers the very best this holiday season!

Holiday Cooking: Cheese & Prawn Egg Halves

2011-12-23T22:18:00.000+01:00

One last holiday dish! This is an easy one - but I never want to be without egg halves on my Christmas (or Easter) Smorgasbord, so it's absolutely necesary. This year, I added the cheese - I usually just do prawns and mayo. Feel free to add dill if you like it - I really don't, much.

Västerbottens Cheese is a gorgeous sharp, hard cheese from Northern Sweden, and if you absolutely can't find it, try parmesan. It won't be the same, but it'll be good.

Cheese & Prawn Egg Halves
makes 14

7 egg, hard boiled
500 g prawns, cooked, peeled (I buy mine frozen)
1/2 small red onion
2 tbsp mayonnaise
100 ml Västerbottens Cheese, finely grated

Cut the eggs in half. Set aside 14 large prawns, and coarsely chop the rest. Finely mince the onion and mix with the prawns, mayo and cheese. Dollop this onto the egg halves, and garnish with the reserved prawns.

Recipe in Swedish:
Ägghalvor med västerbottens-räkröra

Holiday Cooking: Cured Salmon, or Swedish Gravlax

2011-12-22T13:40:00.002+01:00

My dad makes the very best cured salmon - gravad lax - that I've ever had. He'll make it for Christmas and Easter, and this year, I asked to join him so I can document the process. It's very easy, but not quick - it needs a few days to cure, and then he always freezes it. You can freeze it beforehand for at least three days, but he always freezes it in convenient portions once the curing is done.

You serve this with Hovmästarsås - a dill-mustard sauce that is very easy to make yourself.

First, get yourself a nice piece of salmon fillet, fresh and skin-on. (A middle piece is best, the tail end is too thin.) For 1 kilo of salmon, you need 50 ml of coarse salt (iodine-free), 100 ml of sugar and one tablespoon of crushed white pepper. And a large bunch of fresh dill.

Run your fingers over the fish to detect any remaining pin bones, and pull those out using tweezers.

Mix salt and sugar, and rub it into the salmon.

Grind white pepper in a pestle, and rub that in, too.

Cut the salmon in half.

Cover one half with finely cut fresh dill, and top with the other piece, which you turn i180 degrees, so that the thinner end will match up with the thicker end.

Press down so it's nice and tight. Seal in double plastic bags, and place in a suitable dish. Place in the fridge for 48 hours. Turn it every morning and evening.

After that, it's done. Scrape off all the dill and any remaining spices, and cut into smaller pieces - the large piece in the photos became four smaller strips. (Two from each half.) Wrap tightly with plastic and freeze. Thaw overnight in the fridge.

Holiday Candy: Orange Vanilla Marshmallows

2011-12-21T21:25:00.000+01:00

Here's a brand new candy for you! And for me! I've tried marshmallows a few times before, but I haven't been very brave with my flavors. Then, about a week ago, I was invited to cook with Klas Lindberg of the Swedish Culinary Team, and among many other things, he served an orange compound Crème Brûlée. It was good, but the orange compound... was interesting. Bitter, a little tart, and a little sweet, I could imagine quite a few things to do with it...

So, first out, marshmallows. Great idea, if I may say so myself. It isn't difficult, but I wouldn't attempt this without 1. a thermometer and 2. a good stand mixer. Start with the orange compound - you can do that a few days in advance if you'd like, just keep tightly covered in the fridge.

Orange Vanilla Marshmallows
makes about 80

200 g orange compound
20 g powdered gelatine
1 vanilla bean
240 g water
460 g sugar
2 egg whites
1/4 tsp salt
powdered sugar

Orange compound:
oranges - ideally seed-free
sugar

Start with the oranges. Scrub as many as you'd like to use - I used two, and have about twice the amount of compound I needed. Place the oranges in boiling water for one minute. Drain, and repeat twice - basically you're boiling the oranges three times, each time for one minute, in fresh water each time.

Let the oranges cool a little, then weight them. Add half as much sugar as the weight of the oranges. (Mine were 460 grams, so I added 230 grams of sugar.) Mix until completely smooth in a food processor. Let the compound drain a little if it's very runny.

Place 200 g in a bowl, and add the scraped-out vanilla bean and the gelatine powder. (Save the rest of the compound for another day.)

Prepare a tin - mine is about 24*30 cm - by greasing it with oil and then sifting a thick layer of powdered sugar all over the tin.

Bring water and sugar to a boil, and cook on medium heat until it reaches 125°C. Remove from heat, and add the orange compound. Stir until smooth. Meanwhile, whisk the egg whites with the salt until frothy, and then slowly add the hot sugar syrup.

Beat on high speed until it's very thick, white and shiny. Keep whisking until it's just slightly warm to the touch, about 40°C.

Pour the marshmallows in the prepared tin. Spread it as smoothly as you can. It's easier if you sift some powdered sugar on top and then press down with a spoon.

Sift more sugar over the top, and place the tin in the fridge to set for at least three hours.

Next, turn the marshmallow slab out onto a cutting board. Cut into large dice, and sift more powdered sugar so that every side is covered - if not, it will be very messy.

When you're done, keep at room temperature, in an air-tight jar.

Recipe in Swedish:
Apelsinmarshmallows

Holiday cooking: Christmas Ham

2011-12-20T22:30:00.000+01:00

Swedish christmas ham is an absolute must on every christmas table. Well, maybe not for the vegetarians, but other than that. I know families that go through two or three hams during a holiday season, since they eat it sliced on sandwiches every morning - with lots of mustard. Me, I'm not a huge fan, but I do like a slice or two.

This year's ham is exceptional. I wrote briefly about the new "canola pig" - rapsgris - a while ago, and I was lucky to get one of very few hams from said pigs. It was indeed superior - very moist and succulent, and flavorful. I sure hope they'll be easy to get next year, because I doubt I can settle for anything less now!

So. Get a ham. Either a pre-boiled one, as most seem to do these days (I know I certainly did) or a salted one that you boil or bake yourself. Cut off any visible fat. Or don't. Preheat oven to 225°C. Take three tablespoons of hot, sweet grainy mustard, and one egg. Beat vigorously together until you have a uniform, silky mixture. Brush this over the top of the ham. Sprinkle over breadcrumbs - loads and loads of breadcrumbs - and press them into the mustard.

Bake in the oven for fifteen minutes, watch closely so it doesn't burn.

That's it! Eat cold, in thin slices. Will keep well in the fridge for quite a while, wrapped in foil.

Holiday Baking: Honey Saffron Bread

2011-12-19T15:37:00.000+01:00

I've posted about basically the same recipe before, but I've changed it a bit and am now using fresh yeast rather than dry. It still results in one really large bread, but feel free to make two smaller loaves instead. You can use loaf tins, too.

Anyway. It's yummy, and it goes very well with a sharp cheddar cheese. I highly recommend this for the holidays!

Honey Saffron Bread

500 g all-purpose flour
250 g wholewheat flour
50 g fresh yeast
400 ml water, cold
0,5 g saffron
1 tbsp warm water
1 tbsp salt
4 tbsp honey

Stir together half of the all-purpose flour, all the wholewheat flour, the yeast - crumbled - and the water. Don't knead it, just mix it. Cover and leave for one hour.

Mix the saffron with the hot water and add this to the dough, along with salt and honey.

Knead very well, and add additional all-purpose flour as needed, if the dough is too sticky. Different flours bind different amounts of water, so you might not need the full amount. I've baked this bread with anything from 500 to 750 g of flour.

Leave the dough to rest for 30 minutes.

Shape the dough into one large round loaf, and place on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with flour, and cover. Leave to rise for about one hour.

Slash the surface with a razor or a very sharp knife just before putting it in the oven. Bake at 200°C for 25-30 minutes. Let it cool completely before slicing.

Recipe in Swedish:
Saffransbröd med honung

Our yearly cookie swap

2011-12-19T08:14:00.001+01:00

A quick snap from my yearly cookie swap, which was yesterday. Yummy!!

Christmas Orange Salad

2011-12-18T21:00:00.000+01:00

I know, you're probably sick to death of christmas food. But I can't help sharing this recipe with you. It's so fresh and yet with christmas flavors - you really have to try it. It's dead easy, and takes about five minutes to prepare. Goes perfectly with salty, rich foods like ham or turkey, but it'll be fine with a simple steak, too.

Christmas Orange Salad
Serves 4

2 large oranges
1/2 red onion
2 tbsp white wine vinegar (balsamic if you got it)
2 tbsp mild olive oil
1 tsp allspice, whole
1/2 star anise
salt

Peel the oranges with a knife to get rid of any white bits. Slice thinly. Slice the red onion thinly, too, and arrange with the orange slices on a plate.

Use a pestle and mortar to grind the spices. Add vinegar and olive oil, and maybe a few grains of salt. Drizzle over the salad, and serve.

Recipe in Swedish:
Julig Apelsinsallad

Whoops!

2011-12-17T23:27:00.001+01:00

Nearly missed posting at all today. We've been busy decorating the tree, and having early Christmas celebration with my brother and sister and their kids. Titus tried on the stockings!

Cherry Knäck with Toasted Almonds

2011-12-16T19:56:00.000+01:00

I've given you several recipes for Knäck, but when I found this amazing idea at fellow blogger Anna Billing's site I knew I had to try it. I had an unopened bottle of Marasca Cherry Syrup on my counter, and using it to cook caramels was just brilliant.

I opted for toasted almonds rather than raw this time, it really pairs well with the sweetness.

Cherry Knäck with Toasted Almonds

200 ml cherry syrup
200 g sugar
200 ml heavy cream
2 tbsp butter, unsalted
toasted almonds, coarsely chopped

Stir together syrup, sugar, cream and butter in a thick-bottomed saucepan, and cook on medium heat until it reaches 125-126°C. Pour immediate into tiny paper cups (there are special ones for Knäck) and sprinkle with the almonds. Let them set completely, I usually put them in the fridge.

A tip for pouring easily: transfer the hot caramel to a small pitcher with a spout. It makes it a lot easier.

Recipe in Swedish:
Körsbärsknäck med rostad mandel

Christmas Porridge - Tomtegröt

2011-12-15T17:07:00.002+01:00

Well, this was my first attempt at actually cooking rice porridge. I soaked the rice overnight, and cooked it in lots of milk, a little sugar and salt, and a little butter. I can't give you measurements, nor can I tell you it was highly successful, so I'll have to try again. It tasted good, but I should have added more milk.

Holiday Cooking: Jansson's Temptation

2011-12-14T11:36:00.000+01:00

This is a very popular dish in Swedish holiday cooking. It's always present at christmas (and it's perfect with the meatballs and the ham) but it's common at Easter too, or just as a late-night snack.

It's very salty but still sweet - Swedish anchovies are cured in a sweet brine and not very fishy. You really DO need those, there's no substitute, so I hope you have a Swedish grocery source somewhere near you.

Jansson's Temptation

4-5 medium potatoes, roughly grated
1 small can of Swedish flat anchovies (125 g)
1 large onion, thinly sliced
salt, pepper
300 ml of heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 225°C. Mix the potatoes with the onions, and add a little bit of salt and pepper. Put half of the mix in a buttered oven proof dish. Top with all of the anchovies. Add the rest of the potatoes and onions. Drizzle over half of the cream, and put in the oven. After about twenty minutes, add the rest of the cream. Bake until it has some color - about twenty more minutes, so 40 minutes in total.

Recipe in Swedish:
Jansson's Frestelse

Cookbook Watch - some new Christmas cookbooks

2011-12-13T10:32:00.000+01:00

Well, not all of them are completely new - Ebbas Julstök by Ebba and Åsa Swanberg came out last year, but it's new to me. And a really nice and sweet book, as it happens. It's divided into four chapters, for the four weeks of advent, and has everything from candy and bread to gift ideas and crafty tips. It's probably my favorite of the bunch, as it's so friendly.

My second favorite is Mia Öhrn's latest book, Julens Godsaker. It's all about candy and baked goods, and since Mia is one of my favorite pastry chef.. no wonder this book is so good. Her recipes are really approachable, and not overly complicated. On top of my to-try list is her milk chocolate truffles rolled in toasted hazelnuts.

Johanna Westman's Julgodis came out last year but has been updated with a new edition this year, with lots of new recipes. We're planning to eat finger-food on Christmas eve, so I was happy to see a whole section on that. Bacon-wrapped dates is a classic, but serrano-wrapped pineapple was a new idea for me. A good one, too!

Finally, Pernillas Jul by Pernilla Wahlgren. Tons of recipes, and - be forewarned - tons of cutesy photos of Pernilla herself and her very photogenic home and family. Pernilla is a singer (well, originally) and not very known for her cooking, but judging by this book, she's not by any means lost in the kitchen.

Time to bake your Lucia-buns

2011-12-12T15:05:00.000+01:00

Tomorrow is Lucia, which is not exactly a holiday in Sweden but it's always much celebrated. It's the darkest day of the year, which means that once it's passed, it gets lighter. We celebrate this by having a Lucia procession - it's usually in all schools and pre-schools, and there are often performances in larger workplaces as well as in some shopping malls and of course, at Skansen. (Read more about this fairly peculiar custom on Wikipedia.) Me, I can't wait to see Titus pre-school's Lucia procession. It will be unbearably cute, I'm sure.

So... where do the buns come in? Not sure how then came into being, actually, but they're delicious so do make some.

Traditional plain Lucia Buns

Saffron buns with Almonds

Almond-filled Saffron buns

Saffron buns with white chocolate

Saffron buns with almonds

2011-12-11T14:12:00.000+01:00

I've posted similar buns before, but this is not exactly the same. I've changed the dough for one that I like better, and these buns are absolutely divine. The almond filling keeps them from getting too dry, which is always a danger when baking with saffron, and the extra saffron in the filling gives a lot of flavor.

Almond paste, which is common in my recipes, is a simple mixture of almonds and sugar, easily available in all grocery stores in Sweden. The ratio is usually 50/50, and it shouldn't contain anything else. Marzipan, in comparison, is sweeter.

Tomorrow, I'll post a round-up of all my saffron buns, so you can bake some in time for Lucia, which is on December 13.

Saffron buns with almonds
makes about 50

50 g fresh yeast
600 ml milk
1/2 g saffron
175 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 egg
140 g sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1100 - 1200 g all-purpose flour

Almond filling:
100 g butter, softened
250 g almond paste (with at least 50% almonds), grated
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 g saffron
1 tbsp white syrup (golden syrup or even corn syrup is ok, as is liquid glucose)

To decorate:
eggwash (a whole egg, whisked with a few drops of water)
chopped almonds
pearl sugar

Crumble the yeast into a bowl. Pour over the milk, and stir until the yeast is dissolved. Add the saffron.

Cut the butter into small cubes and add to the bowl, along with the egg, sugar and salt. Gradually add the flour, and work into a smooth and supple dough. (It took me about 10 minutes, using my Kitchen-Aid)

Cover with a towel, and leave to rise until it's doubled in size. It will take about two hours - since you're not heating the milk beforehand.

Meanwhile, make the filling. Mix all the ingredients for the filling with hand-held electric beaters (or by hand, if you're vigorous) until it's smooth and even. Add a little extra syrup if it seems too hard to spread easily.

Roll the dough into two large rectangles, and spread the filling on top. Roll from the long side, making sure you get it nice and tight. Cut into slices, about 1,5 cm thick.

Place the buns on a lined baking sheet and leave to rise for 30-60 minutes. Brush with eggwash. Sprinkle with chopped almonds and pearl sugar, and bake at 200°C for 10-15 minutes.

Recipe in Swedish:
Saffransbullar med mandel

Nobel Prize Menu

2011-12-10T19:31:00.001+01:00

December 10 is Nobel Day, and I'm right now watching the festivities on TV. The appetizer has just been served, and I have to share the menu with you all:

Lobster with pickled winter vegetables and Jerusalem artichoke purée

Guinea hen with porcini mushrooms and lingonberries,
poached pearl onions with parsley roots and velouté sauce

Mandarin and white chocolate mousse on a cinnamon-spiced cake
with raspberry marmelade and fresh raspberries

For all the menus of years past, look here. You can go to Stadshuskällaren (except it'll be closed for renovation in 2012) and eat any past Nobel menu (as long as you give a few days notice). I never have, but I really want to, sometime!

Holiday Cooking: Christmas Meatballs

2011-12-10T17:19:00.000+01:00

No Christmas table is complete without meatballs. And for me, homemade all the way. Many people don't bother though - there are SO many ready-made at the store, often cheaper than to buy just ground meat. (Isn't that scary?)

You can pan-fry these, but if you're making many, it's much easier to ust put them on a rimmed baking sheet and bake them instead. Much easier.

I didn't measure my spices, just add quite a bit of the white pepper, and just a dash of everything else. You can fry (sorry, for this you'll have to) one to try out the seasoning, but I never bother. And they're always good.

You can serve these with anything - potatoes and gravy, macaroni and ketchup, as part of a large smorgasbord, with any vegs, the possibilities are endless.

Christmas Meatballs

900 g ground meat
1 yellow onion, very finely chopped
1-2 small cloves of garlic, minced
1 egg
salt
white pepper
pinch of cinnamon
pinch of ground ginger
pinch of cardamom
pinch of allspice

Mix everything to an even batter, and form small, round balls. Put in a large roasting pan, and bake for about 15 minutes at 175°C. (I'm using a convection oven, if you're not, add a few minutes.) Shake the pan a few times to ensure an even surface on your meatballs.

... Or just pan-fry them in butter, on medium-high heat.

Recipe in Swedish:
Julköttbullar

Christmas Candy: Fig Amaretto Balls

2011-12-09T19:59:00.000+01:00

A simple but very tasty christmas treat!

Fig Amaretto Balls
makes about 60 small balls

200 g dried figs
60 g butter
160 g almond paste
50 ml amaretto liqueur
120 g breadcrumbs

dark chocolate

Cut the figs into smaller pieces, and remove the stalks. Place in a food processor with the butter, almond paste, amaretto and breadcrumbs. Process until you have a smooth paste. Shape into small, even balls and place them in the fridge for a while.

Melt the dark chocolate, dip and roll the balls so that they're evenly covered, and place on a piece of waxed paper to set. Keep at room temperature - and it keeps pretty well for a few days, at least.

Recipe in Swedish:
Fikon och Amarettobollar

Canola Pig

2011-12-09T07:48:00.000+01:00

I ate a great lunch yesterday, at Griffin steakhouse. It was a small press event with Scan, the biggest meat producer in Sweden. They talked about their new big thing: a pig fed with canola. This is originally a Finnish research project, and it results in a tender and flavorful pork that's also much higher in Omega-3 than regular pork. So basically - both tastier, and better for you!

It's just available for restaurants at the moment, but they plan to launch it for consumers next year. I might get to try a Christmas ham from this sort of pig this year - I'll report back, because I'm pretty excited about it.

Swedish Crisp Bread with Caraway

2011-12-08T18:23:00.000+01:00

Here's something you absolutely must make for your Christmas smorgasbord, if you want it to be authentically Swedish. Crisp bread is definitely a must. You can vary the spices, but caraway is one of my favorites - it will go very well with christmas ham or sharp cheddar.

This is a pretty basic recipe, and you can use it as a base to play with. Feel free to add other seeds if you prefer! The one piece of equipment that you might not have is a knobbly rolling pin, a kruskavel. It looks like this. Not absolutely necessary to have, but it does help here.

The traditional shape is large rounds with holes in the middle - the holes are actually for storage, because these were traditionally hung on a stick, from the ceiling.

Swedish Crisp Bread with Caraway

25 g fresh yeast
500 ml (2 cups) tepid water
2 tsp salt
600 ml (2,4 cups) coarse rye flour
600 ml (2,4 cups) wheat flour
2 tsp caraway seeds, bashed in a pestle and mortar
2 tsp sesame seeds
2 tsp linseed

Crumble the yeast into a bowl and add some of the water. Stir until the yeast is dissolved, then add the rest of the water, and all other ingredients. Mix by hand or with a machine until the dough starts to form. Add extra flour if it's too sticky. You don't have to knead it much, just enough to get a proper dough that holds together. Remove the dough to a clean bowl, cover and leave to rise for one hour.

Shape the dough into a large, thick rope and divide into 15 pieces. Roll out each piece into rounds, using a lot of flour so it won't stick. Roll it as thinly as you can (the crisper it will be!) and finish by doing a few rolls with a knobbly rolling pin, a "kruskavel". If you don't have one, prick the dough all over with a fork. Use a small glass or a cookie cutter to remove a hole from the middle of the round.

Or use cookie cutters - I couldn't resist making a cat.

Place directly on a baking sheet and bake at 200°C (that's for a convection oven, use 225°C in a regular oven) for 10-12 minuter. You have to turn them after half the time or they will burn.

Recipe in Swedish:
Knäckebröd med kummin

Holiday Cooking: Caviar Sill

2011-12-07T11:58:00.001+01:00

Sill is a must on the Swedish christmas table, preferrably in several varieties. I'm not a huge fan so I usually don't bother with it, but I did make my own a few years ago and here's the recipe for that. You have to make a trip to your closest Ikea for some of the ingredients.

You might find a neutral canned herring elsewhere but Swedish caviar is definitely quite unique. It's really a sandwich spread (some people love it on their eggs, too) with salted and sweetened smoked caviar mixed with other things to make a pinkish paste. Do pick up a tube if you see it and yes, it does come in a tube... just like toothpaste. The most popular brand name is Kalles and it's made by Abba.

Caviar Sill
50 ml mayonnaise
100 ml crème fraîche
100 ml Swedish style caviar
1 small red onion, finely diced
10 cm (four inches) leek, finely diced
50 ml finely chopped dill
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp lemon zest
salt, pepper
1/2 tin Abba's five-minute sill (about 200 g)

Cut the sill into smaller pieces. Whish all other ingredients together and add the sill. Keep in the fridge - it'll be fine for a few days.

Recipe in Swedish:
Kaviarsill

Christmas Candy: Knäck

2011-12-06T18:38:00.000+01:00

Knäck - Swedish christmas candy that actually translates to.. crack. Really. I find that pretty funny. Especially since many people also find it horribly addictive. It's really a creamy almond toffee - but that doesn't sound half as fun. Wanna give it a go? There are many recipes, but I prefer this one. As opposed to most of them, this is made in the microwave, which means it's really fast.

For variations, check these out:
Peppermint Knäck
Crisp Bread Knäck
Dark Walnut Knäck

Swedish Crack - Knäck
makes around 40

100 ml cream
100 ml golden syrup
80 g / 100 ml sugar
3 tbsp finely chopped almonds
tiny paper cups

Mix cream, sugar and syrup in a suitable container. This means something that can take a lot of heat, go into the microwave, and still have high sides so the whole thing doesn't boil over. I have a quart-sized Pyrex glass pitcher that's absolutely perfect. Put it the microwave on the highest setting, for exactly 7 minutes. (You might need to try this a couple of times - if it doesn't boil for long enough, it'll be very soft and chewy. If it's boiled too long, it'll be rock hard.) Remove very carefully - it's super hot - and gently fold in the almonds. Pour into tiny paper cups very fast, if it cools down it'll be a lot harder to pour. Place in the fridge until they're set. Keeps well in an air-tight container.

Recipe in Swedish:
Min enklaste knäck

Holiday Baking: Saffron Macarons

2011-12-05T18:38:00.002+01:00

These little wonders are amazing! You can use dark chocolate instead of white in the filling - and add a pinch of cardamom to spice it up! Super christmas-y!

I found the saffron made the macaron shells dried than usual, and I had some issues with cracking that I usually don't have. But remember: even ugly macarons taste great.

Saffron Macarons
makes about 25 cookies

3 egg whites, at room temperature
2 tbsp caster sugar
200 g powdered sugar
110 g almonds, blanched
½ g saffron

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 the saffron, and fold together. Don't overmix this - but don't be too gentle, either. (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 10-12 minutes. (I have a convection oven.) Let them cool completely before filling. Unused shells can be frozen, or kept in an air-tight container for a day or so.

White Chocolate Ganache
200 g white chocolate
100 g cream (35-40% fat content)

Coarsely chop the chocolate and place in a bowl. Heat the cream until boiling and add to the bowl, and stir until smooth. Let the ganache cool and thicken, so you can pipe it on top of the cookies.

Pair shells that are the same size. Dollop - or for neater results, pipe, a little ganache on one side, and then add the other.

Recipe in Swedish:
Saffransmacarons med vit chokladtryffel

Holiday desserts: Vanilla Panna Cotta with Cinnamon Apples

2011-12-04T19:39:00.000+01:00

While this is not, perhaps, screaming "christmas", it's such a great winter dessert. And certainly perfect if you're getting a bit sick of the usual holiday flavors. And if you're not, go ahead and add some gingerbread spices to your apples - some cardamom, cloves and ginger would be excellent with the cinnamon. Feel free!

Vanilla Panna Cotta with Cinnamon Apples
4 small servings

200 ml cream (full-fat)
1 gelatine sheet
2 tbsp sugar
1 vanilla bean, halved and scraped
1 cinnamon stick, crushed

Topping:
1 apple, very finely diced
1 tbsp sugar
the vanilla and cinnamon from above

Soak the gelatine in cold water for five minutes.

Put the cream in a small saucepan with the sugar, vanilla (both the scraped out seeds, and the bean itself) and the cinnamon. Let it infuse for ten minutes. Pass through a sieve (but save the vanilla and cinnamon!) and add the now-softened gelatine sheet. Stir well to make sure it's dissolved. Pour into suitable containers - small glasses or cups - and let it set for at least four hours in the fridge.

For the topping: Mix diced apples, sugar, and the leftover vanilla and cinnamon from the panna cotta, in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, and then remove from heat. Let it sit while the panna cotta sets. Fish out the spices, and then spoon the topping over the puddings just before serving.

Recipe in Swedish:
Vaniljpannacotta med kaneläpple

Christmas candy: Gingerbread Toffee

2011-12-03T16:12:00.000+01:00

If gingerbread cookies aren't your thing, how about some gingerbread toffee? This makes a soft, chewy toffee - you can cook it for longer if you want a harder toffee.

Gingerbread Toffee

100 ml cream (full fat)
50 ml golden syrup
100 ml / 80 g sugar
1 tsp gingerbread spices (cloves, cinnamon, ginger and cardamom)
1 tbsp butter

Make a small form out of greaseproof paper, or use any small form and grease it.

Mix all ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, and boil on low-medium heat until you reach 122-125 °C. I strongly suggest using a thermometer, but if you don't, it's done when you can drop a little of the batter in cold water and roll it into a soft ball. This takes different time in different saucepan, but estimate 20-30 minutes. Or so.

Pour the toffee carefully in your prepared form, and let it cool. When it's cold, but before it's rock solid, cut into suitably large pieces, and roll up in greaseproof paper.

Recipe in Swedish:
Pepparkakskola

Holiday Baking: Time for Pepparkakor

2011-12-02T15:50:00.000+01:00

No Swedish christmas is complete without pepparkakor, our crisp gingerbread cookies. The name translates into "pepper cookies" which is actually not very correct, as they don't contain pepper and aren't spicy in a hot sort of way. They're very aromatic though, flavored with cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, ginger and sometimes a small amount of bitter orange peel.

I have three recipes for pepparkakor. This one is perhaps the most traditional, and definitely the one that gets the most hits. This is similar, but made with dinkel - spelt - flour and results in a crunchier cookie. And this one is my current favorite, with a super-easy to make dough. I've made a batch already, and it's resting in the fridge. And the dough does need resting - for at least one day, but preferrably one week, or even two. (Or three, but that's the limit.) So it's a good idea to make the dough now, and bake in a few weeks time. (Or tomorrow.)

Holiday Cooking: Saffron Carbonara

2011-12-01T16:39:00.000+01:00

December 1! That means that the holidays are nearly here - well, I like to celebrate all through December. We have advent calendars too - Titus has one with small gifts that his grandmother prepared, and we each have a chocolate calendar. And I have a special luxury chocolate calendar as well... lucky me!

So, I plan to post christmas food, cookies and candy from now until christmas. Maybe a few gift ideas as well, and maybe some christmas-y cookbook reviews. Some will be new, and some will be old. But to kick-start things, try an easy weeknight dinner with holiday flavors: Saffron Carbonara. It's delicious!

Saffron Carbonara
serves 3-4

4oo g pasta (I used a kind called Mezze Maniche)
140 g bacon
2 garlic cloves
125 ml white wine
200 ml water
1/2 g saffron
3 egg yolks
100 ml grated parmesan cheese
black pepper

Start by bringing a large pot of salted water to boil, for the pasta. Cook it to al dente.

Meanwhile, in a small pot, bring the 200 ml of water to boil. Add the saffron, and let it simmer on low heat.

Fry the bacon until crispy in a large pan. Add the garlic and fry for an additional minute. Add the wine, and let it bubble away.

When the pasta is done, drain it but save some of the cooking water. Pour the pasta into the pan, and add the saffron water. Season with black pepper.

Whisk the egg yolks with 100 ml of the set-aside pasta water and add this to the pan, along with the cheese. Stir well and serve right away. (Add more pasta water if it's too thick.)

Recipe in Swedish:
Saffranscarbonara

Bacon, Leek and Potato Soup

2011-11-30T11:10:00.000+01:00

Sweden is unseasonally warm this year. This doesn't mean warm, of course, but there's no snow yet which is really unusual. Today is nice and sunny, but still cold. Perfect day for a brisk walk, followed by a hot bowl of soup. I really enjoy this thick potato soup with leeks and bacon - I found the recipe over at Sweetsugarbean, and pretty much stuck to it. I did make bread, too, but that'll be a separate post.

Tomorrow, I plan to start blogging about christmas food and candy! Maybe not completely exclusively all through December, but mostly. I'll re-use some old favorites from the archives, and my goal is a recipe for every day until christmas!

Bacon, Leek and Potato Soup

70 g bacon, diced
2 leeks, white part only, sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
8 medium poatoes, diced
1-1,25 liter stock - vegetable or chicken is good
2 tsp dijon mustard
cayenne pepper
250 ml grated cheese
125 ml cream
135 ml milk
salt, pepper

Fry the bacon in a large pot, until crispy. Remove it and set aside. Fry the leeks, in the bacon fat, for 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic and fry for another minute. Add the potatoes and stock - it should cover the potatoes completely. Stir in the dijon mustard, and a pinch of cayenne pepper.

Bring to a boil, cover with a lid, lower the heat and let it simmer on low heat for about 20 minutes or until the potatoes are completely soft. Remove the pot from the heat, and mix until smooth using an immersion blender. (Or a regular one, if you'd prefer.)

Stir in the cheese, milk, cream and half the bacon, and let the cheese melt. Season with salt and pepper, and heat gently if it's cooled down too much.

Serve with the remaining bacon, and some extra cheese if you'd like.

Recipe in Swedish:
Potatis- och purjolökssoppa med bacon

Sesame-crusted Salmon with Noodles

2011-11-28T18:52:00.000+01:00

I know I rarely post fish recipes, and that's simply because I don't eat much fish. It's not that I dislike it, but I never crave it and there's just so much food I prefer... anyway - once in a while I try to make an effort to cook fish, in part because Titus really likes it. He wasn't very fond of the sesame seeds in this dish, though...

Sesame-crusted Salmon with Noodles
serves 3

3 portions salmon fillet, skinless
1 lime, zest and juice
1 + 1 tbsp light Japanese soy sauce
fresh ginger, about 5 cm, finely grated
1 tbsp sweet chili sauce
sesame seeds
125 g egg noodles
250 g mixed veggies (I used a frozen wok mix)
100 g snow peas
oil for frying

Stir together lime zest, lime juice, 1 tbsp soy sauce, fresh ginger, and sweet chili sauce. Coat the salmon pieces in this, and then in sesame seeds. Save the marinade!

Bring a pot of water to boil, and cook the noodles according to the instructions on the packet. Don't over cook them! Add the snow peas for the last minute, then drain and rinse in cold water.

Fry the salmon in oil on medium heat, about 3-4 minutes on each side. The sesame seeds burn fairly easily, so watch the heat.

Heat more oil in a large frying pan or wok, and cook the vegetables for a few minutes. Add the noodles and snow peas and pour over the reserved marinade and the remaining tablespoon of soy sauce. Stir well for a minute or so, and then serve, with the salmon on top.

Recipe in Swedish:
Sesamstekt lax med nudelsallad

Gingerbread Biscotti with Toasted Hazelnuts

2011-11-27T21:05:00.000+01:00

Today is the first Sunday of Advent, which to me means that christmas season has begun! I've hung my advent stars, lit my candles, and finally there is something festive-looking lighting up the increasingly dark Sweden.

To celebrate properly, you must of course have some proper baked goodies to share with family and friends. I'm always fond of biscotti (or cantuccini, which is perhaps a more correct name), which are so easy to make. They keep very well in the freezer. This version is perfect for the holidays, and has a strong flavor of gingerbread spice, which is basically two parts cinnamon, two parts ginger, one part cloves and one part cardamom, all ground up. Make up a jar and keep for baking - it's actually good in bread and some savory dishes as well!

Gingerbread Biscotti with Toasted Hazelnuts
makes 40 biscotti

100 g toasted hazelnut, coarsely chopped
2 eggs
180 g brown sugar
1 tbsp gingerbread spices (see above)
1 tsp salt
240 g all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
100 g dark chocolate, coarsely chopped

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Mix the nuts, eggs, sugar, gingerbread spice, salt and baking powder.
Add the flour and chocolate, and mix into a somewhat sticky dough.

Roll out into thick logs - about 3 cm wide - and place on a lined baking sheet.

Bake at 180°C for 20 minutes, or until the dough is lightly golden. Remove from oven, and when cool enough to handle, cut into small biscotti. Dry in the oven, at 100°C for 40 minutes. (Place them with the cut side up, and turn them over after 20 minutes)

Recipe in Swedish:
Pepparkaksbiscotti med rostade hasselnötter

Mushroom crêpes

2011-11-24T09:33:00.000+01:00

(sorry, no photos of the actual crêpes...)

So, I'm still trying to master the art of pancakes. Swedish pancakes - thin ones, the size of a frying pan. We eat them with jam, some people add whipped cream as well, but I find that puts them firmly in dessert territory, and I like them as actual dinner. These photos show my new pancake pan - it's a little smaller than my other pans, very non-stick, and with short sides to make the flipping easier. I still can't flip pancakes in the air - definitely not - but this still makes frying pancakes a lot easier.

The trick to good pancakes? Lots of butter.

When I make pancakes for just me and Titus, we end up with lots of leftovers. So, that means we can eat crêpes! Crêpes are basically filled pancakes, and I like to fill them with a thick mushroom stew. Delicious!

I've got my pancake recipe here. (And omit the vanilla sugar if you're planning on making crêpes - just saying.)

Mushroom crêpes
8 crêpes

70 g bacon
300 g button mushrooms, finely chopped
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
1-2 tbsp flour (I use something called "ideamjöl" which is specifically for thickening)
200 ml milk
100 ml cream (full-fat)
1 tsp worcestershiresauce
2 tsp cognac
salt
pepper
8 pancakes, cold
handful of sharp cheese

Fry the bacon until it starts to crisp up. Add the mushrooms and onion, and fry until the mushrooms lose most of their liquid. Mix in the flour. Gradually add milk and cream, stirring all the while, and season with worcestershiresauce, cognac, salt and pepper.

You might need more flour (in which case you need to whisk it with some liquid beforehand), or more milk, to thicken or thin the stew to your liking.

Fill the pancakes, roll up and place, seam-side down - in a snug oven-proof dish. Sprinkle with a little sharp cheese, and gratinate at 225°C for 8-10 minutes.

Recipe in Swedish:
Svampstuvning till crêpes

Wednesday bookmarks, November 23

2011-11-23T10:50:00.000+01:00

Time for some more bookmarks! I've started thinking about the holidays (who hasn't?) and find myself bookmarking lots of delicious stuff that'll be perfect as gifts, or to serve to friends and family. Four of my bookmarks are to Swedish blogs today - I hope you don't mind too much, you can always ask if you need me to translate something! As always, more of my bookmarks are here.

I've never had American "nilla wafers" and I sort of feel like I've missed out on something. I'm sure they're not all that good though - at least not as good as Weelicious homemade Vanilla Wafers!

Another US classic, but one I actually have tried: cheez-its. Homemade wholewheat ones from Texanerin Baking is definitely something I want to try, too. I bet they'll beat the ones that come out of a box!

I rarely serve proper desserts on christmas - who has room for it anyway? But I admit I really want to try this amazing-looking Salted Caramel Six-Layer Chocolate Cake, originally from Martha Stewart, that The Bitten Word wrote about. Will you come help me eat it?

Another option, lighter but definitely not any less elegant, is a Praline Soufflé from Zen Can Cook.

I do make holiday candy. This year, I'm strongly considering Bacon Caramels, Hazelnut Brittle with Sea Salt, and French Nougat. (All links in swedish.)

A great holiday gift is homemade jam or marmalade. Helena Ljunggren (whose blog is well worth a visit for her gorgeous photography alone!) just posted about a christmas marmalade with figs and citrus - it looks divine.

Tomato Blue Cheese Pasta

2011-11-22T09:31:00.000+01:00

I love pasta. Should come as no big surprise to my long-time readers, but yeah, there it is. I love pasta. And I'm always fond of new recipes, new variations, new ways to spice up that little bowl of creamy goodness... so this tomato pasta with blue cheese is just the thing. In fact, it's incredible. I really recommend that you give it a try - the flavor combination is great.

I found this over at Amateur Gourmet, and adapted the recipe a bit.

Tomato Blue Cheese Pasta
Serves 3

70 g bacon, diced
1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
pinch of red chili flakes
1 tbsp tomato purée
400 g can of cherry tomatoes (or crushed tomatoes)
salt, pepper
200 g pasta
250 g gorgonzola, or some other sort of yummy blue cheese

Fry the bacon in a large pan until it's starting to color. Add the onions and fry for a few more minutes. Add the chili and tomato purée and stir well. Add the tomatoes, and crush any whole cherry tomatoes as much as you can. Season with a little salt and pepper (but remember that the cheese will add a lot of salt) and let the sauce simmer for about 30 minutes on low heat.

Boil the pasta in plenty of salted water, until al dente. Drain and add the pasta to the tomato sauce. Crumble in the blue cheese and stir until it's completely melted.

Recipe in Swedish:
Pasta med tomat och ädelost

Apple Cake

2011-11-21T13:16:00.000+01:00

Per and Titus baked a cake yesterday - isn't it lovely? It's a classic Swedish sockerkaka (much like a pound cake), with apples and cinnamon. He added a little lemon zest as well, and topped the whole thing with pearl sugar. It was delicious, and they seemed to have a lot of fun making it. I'm glad that Titus learns that mom is not the only one to cook and bake in this family.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies

2011-11-20T17:05:00.000+01:00

How about some awesome cookies? I'm a real sucker for anything with peanut butter, and when you add chocolate.. and oatmeal.. and actual peanuts? Well, these are some really good cookies, that's for sure.

As most cookies, they freeze well, but even better is freezing the scoops of dough, so you can bake a few cookies just when you want to eat them. Frozen cookies are fine, but freshly baked ones are always better. This was definitely a major discovery for me. As was cookie scoops, for that matter - such excellent tools!

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Makes about 35 cookies

125 g butter
100 g peanut butter
100 g brown sugar
100 g sugar
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder
125 g flour
80 g oatmeal
1 tsp vanilla sugar
125 g milk chocolate, coarsely chopped
100 g salted peanuts, coarsely chopped

Whisk butter, peanut butter and both types of sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the egg, and whisk for a few more minutes. Add all other ingredients, and mix until you have a cohesive dough.

Shape walnut-sized balls and place on a baking sheet.

Bake at 175°C for 10 minutes.

Recipe in Swedish:
Jordnötskakor med mjölkchoklad

Christmas plans

2011-11-18T15:01:00.000+01:00

Glögg and pepparkakor

Christmas is approaching, fast! It's just ten more days until the first Sunday in Advent, which is my own personal christmas deadline - that's when it starts! I decorate the house, I start cooking and baking, I wrap the gifts... and I spend a lot of time on the sofa, just enjoying the warm fuzzy christmas feelings.

I will not spend a lot of time blogging, this year. However, I thought I'd present christmas recipes, for food as well as candy and baked goods, every day. I'll dig through my archives and re-post the very best. I hope you'll like it - after all, not everyone spends a lot of time reading old blogs posts! (And I'll sneak in a few new things as well!)

This is Tina. She's just as friendly as she looks.

I ate my first christmas smorgasbord - julbord - yesterday. It was in a rather unexpected place: IKEA. All IKEA:s, in Sweden, will serve julbord starting on Monday and going every day until christmas. They did it last year, and it was a huge success - they're already talking about it like it's a permanent tradition, and I hope it is. It's super affordable, and the food was really, really good. They used chef Tina Nordström this year (Leif Mannerström last year) and I really enjoyed meeting her at the press event. She's such a bubbly and fun person, and I've watched her on TV so many times... to tell you the truth, I felt a little starstruck!

Putting the last touches on the food.

The food itself was classic Swedish christmas food, but it all felt very fresh and not as heavy as it can sometimes be. Tina has cut out most of the mayonnaise-based sauces, and opted for lighter alternatives. My very favorite food on the table was called "sirapsfläsk", and it's basically smoked pork belly cooked in equal amounts of golden syrup and white wine vinegar. Incredibly yummy, I'll definitely try to make my own version of this!

The cold dishes

Don't miss the christmas ham, which is flavored with star anise - delicious! The sill with thai flavors was great as well, very lime-y.

The warm dishes. (I'd skip the meatballs - they're just IKEA:s ordinary ones.)

So, if you're in Sweden - IKEA:s julbord is highly recommended! It's served daily from 3 pm, starting on Monday. (So no lunch service.) It costs 99:- for IKEA Family members, and 199:- for those who aren't yet members.

Chicken Salsa Ranch Pitas

2011-11-17T21:56:00.000+01:00

This is really, REALLY fast food. You basically fry chicken, add salsa and ranch dressing, and that's it. Well, and you stuff it into a pita bread with various veggies, but that takes no effort at all.

It's not upscale in any way, and you do use ready-made salsa and dressing (or feel free to make your own) but for a weeknight dinner, it's brilliant. And it's delicious. Really delicious.

Chicken Salsa Ranch Pitas
serves 3

6 pita breads
2 chicken breasts
100 ml salsa
50 ml ranch dressing
cucumber
grated cheese
red bellpepper
salad
butter for frying, salt, pepper

Cut the chicken into strips or slices, and fry in butter with some salt and pepper. It should be pretty much cooked through. Add salsa and ranch, and let it cook for a minute or two.

Serve with bread, cucumber strips, grated cheese, bellpepper and salad. Avocado would be nice, too!

Recipe in Swedish:
Chicken Salsa Ranch i pitabröd

Chicken Ginger Dumplings

2011-11-15T21:44:00.000+01:00

Once I tried making my own dumplings, I knew I wanted to do it again. And again. It's so tasty, and really, easier than you might think. Sure, rolling out the dough is a bit of a hassle, but I'm well prepared for next time: I bought the pasta roller kit for my Kitchen-Aid! (Haven't tried it yet, though.)

For a recipe for the dumpling dough, and instructions, go to this blog post.

Chicken Ginger Dumplings

400 g minced chicken
fresh ginger, a pretty large piece (I used about two thumbs), finely minced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp Japanese soy sauce
salt, black pepper
large bunch of fresh coriander, chopped

Mix all ingredients.

Dipping sauce:
2 tbsp Chinese soy sauce (dark)
2 tbsp Japanese soy sauce (light)
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp rice vinegsr
1 tsp sambal oelek
2 tbsp finely chopped coriander

Mix all ingredients.

Recipe in Swedish:
Dumplings med kycklingfärs

Green Chicken Skewers

2011-11-14T14:00:00.000+01:00

Here's another recipe that I first ate at Dagmar's. It's a really nice chicken dish - perfect as part of a small spread. Last time we ate it, we served it with dumplings, a noodle salad, and a wonderful dipping sauce.

Green Chicken Skewers

500 g chicken breasts, cut into strips lengthwise

Marinade:
2 garlic cloves
2 tsp fish sauce
2 tsp runny honey
3 spring onions, chopped
2 tsp vegetable oil (I mostly use canola)

Mix all the ingredients for the marinade in a blender or a food processor. Put the chicken in a plastic bag and cover with marinade. Let it soak for at least two hours, in the fridge.

Skewer the chicken (on pre-soaked wooden skewers) and grill on high heat for a few minutes on each side. Check to make sure they're cooked through.

You can cook these in the oven as well, if it's not exactly barbecue weather.

Recipe in Swedish:
Gröna kycklingspett

Flank Steak Tacos

2011-11-12T18:35:00.000+01:00

Here's something I should have shared long ago. It's Flank Steak Tacos - I got the recipe over at Steamy Kitchen, but it's basically just seared flank steak, tomatoes, avocado, coriander and I used crumbled feta cheese. Delicious!

Impressions from the food fair, Mitt Kök

2011-11-11T08:59:00.001+01:00

I spent a few hours yesterday at the annual food fair in Stockholm, currenty named "Mitt Kök", which means "My Kitchen". An apt name would have been "My Bar", because there were SO many wine and alcohol producers... Oh well, I suppose that's what people want, since the fair gets more and more of those each year. There was some food though, and I took some photos to tell you about the most interesting things I encountered!

Food from all over Sweden - the best was the ham, which was from Domta Gård. Worst was probably the Swedish wine, made from the grape "Solaris". And salt, produced in Sweden - really, salt is salt, and it tastes just like... salt. The aged cheese from Sivans Ost was delicious, as well as the Kalix löjrom.

I've tried Kettle Chips before, but I usually stick to "lightly salted" and that's it. However, I really liked Sea Salt and Balsamic Vinegar. Nice!

This Finnish rye bread by Sinuhe was so tasty! The pink bag has muesli mixed in, so it's really nice in texture - seeds, apples and almonds make it more interesting. I think it'll be great toasted.

Glögg from Muddus, a producer way up in Northern Sweden. This one tasted of lingonberries and blueberries - delicious and not too sweet.

Handmade chocolate from Ölandschoklad - they had one piece, with a chewy lemon caramel covered in chocolate that was to die for.

Eva Nordlinder, editor of the magazine Hembakat, with her new book with the same name! I looked through it and it looks great - perfect gift for someone who enjoys baking!

Frozzypack is a really cool Swedish invention! It's a lunch box, but the lid is really an ice pack. Stick it in the freeze, and it'll keep your food fresh and cool for hours.

Another really interesting invention is the Herb:ie from Indoor Garden. I really would love one of these - it's a special sort of pot with built in light to grow our own herbs or salad all year round. My only hesitation is that it takes up space, but it'd be nice to keep in a window.

And this is what I ended up taking home. Awesome Finnish rye bread from Sinuhe. Smoothies and juice from Innocent. Cherry marmalade and clementine marmalade from Werner's gourmetservice, and also chocolate covered pop rocks from the same company. Cherry-Violet marmalade (how could I resist?!) and a jam made from arctic raspberries (Rubus Arcticus, Åkerbär in Swedish) which is very hard to come by. And some sugared almonds, my favorite! (And sadly way too hard to make yourself - I tried.)

Chicken & Mushroom Tortellini

2011-11-10T20:26:00.000+01:00

I'm completely beat after having attended Stockholm's annual food fair, which I'll tell you about tomorrow! Here's a quick weeknight dinner, perfect for when you don't have a lot of time to cook. You need fresh tortellini - or any fresh pasta really - which I imagine you'd find in most supermarkets. The recipe originates from the Swedish superstar chef Mathias Dahlgren, who has pancetta in his version, and bakes the chicken in the oven, but I found this plenty salty and savory just the way it was.

Chicken & Mushroom Tortellini
serves 3

2 chicken breasts
8 sage leaves (fresh)
100 g mushrooms, sliced
2 tbsp butter
1 garlic clove, minced
250 g fresh tortellini
salt, peppar
butter for frying
parmesan, to serve

Cut a few deep scores in the chicken breast, and add the sage leaves. Season with salt and pepper. Brown in butter, and pan-fry on medium heat until just cooked through.

Fry the mushrooms in butter.

Melt the two tablespoons of butter, and add the garlic. Don't let it brown, but cook on low-medium heat for a minute.

Cook the tortellini according to package instructions, and toss with the garlic butter. Add the mushrooms. Slice the chicken, and add that, too.

Serve with plenty of parmesan.

Recipe in Swedish:
Tortellini med kyckling och svamp

Cookbook Watch - junk food and more!

2011-11-09T14:54:00.000+01:00

I'll try to review some more cookbooks soon - something to put on your christmas lists, maybe? Most books I get to review are just in Swedish though, as these three are.

Bengt and Börje - two Swedish male names - is a down-to-earth cookbook written by two guys who like good food. That pretty much sums it up. It's not fancy, but not basic either - it has good food, plain and simple. The photography is great, and I like that there are also a few fun food-related anecdotes by the two writers. It's from a small publisher called Kakor & Monster.

From the same publisher, and partly from the same author (Peter Göransson and his wife Lena) comes Smakresan ("The Flavour Journey") which is about food inspired from their travels. Lena used to work as a fashion model and as such, has travelled to many countries. The book has dishes from France, Japan, USA, and several other places. Some of the dishes might not be super-authentic, but rather personal takes on popular dishes. And everything uses easy-to-find ingredients, and seems adjusted to Swedish cooking. I like it a lot - it's very well written, and a lot of the food looks delicious. It's perfect for those who love to travel, but might not get to do it as often as they'd want. I know I love "travelling in my very own kitchen".

Junk Food. No translation needed there! This is written by Liselotte Forslin who's a very productive food writer - she's published many cookbooks and a lot of recipes for food magazines as well. The idea for this book came from her husband, who apparently loves "junk food", but the twist here is that everything is made from scratch with great ingredients. I love that there are even recipes for hamburger buns and homemade barbecue sauce, which isn't necessarily something you see in cookbooks focused on "junk". The one fault I think this book has is that it's a little too unfocused - it adds in so MUCH junk food, everything from falafel to hamburgers, with lots of tex-mex and pizzas in between. Not exactly a huge fault for that matter! If you like junk food, but is prepared to spend some time in the kitchen, then this is definitely the book for you.

Corn Pancakes

2011-11-07T17:45:00.001+01:00

Whenever Per is out of town - and he has been quite a lot this fall - Titus and I have pancakes for dinner. It's quick, he can help me, and it's guaranteed to be a hit. I'm always looking for variations to try though (although I do love my basic recipe) and when I saw Smitten Kithen's corn pancakes, I knew that was something to try.

Titus LOVES pancakes! And corn! This was a huge hit!

I ended up adjusting the recipe a bit, but it turned out to be absolutely delicious. A little more "foody" than plan pancakes, and therefor great for dinner. Bacon would have been good with these, but we were happy with butter and (plenty of) maple syrup.

Corn Pancakes
12 small pancakes

1 tbsp butter
about 200 ml corn kernels (I used frozen)
1 egg
200 ml filmjolk or buttermilk
100 ml thick, turkish or greek style, yogurt (or just more filmjolk/buttermilk)
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
200 ml all-purpose flour
3 tbsp cornmeal (or finely ground polenta)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

Start by melting the butter, and fry the corn for 4-5 minutes. They should color slightly. Set aside to cool.

Whisk the egg with your filmjolk or buttermilk, and yogurt, sugar and salt. Add the corn, flour, cornmeal, baking powder and baking soda.

Fry small pancakes on medium heat in butter. Turn over when they start getting small bubbles on top, and look slighty dry around the edges.

Recipe in Swedish:
Majspannkakor

New phone

2011-11-06T18:39:00.001+01:00

So, I got the new iPhone4s. As you can see by comparing tonight's dinner pic with yesterday's, the camera is radically better. Great!

And dinner was great, too. I made a huge batch of pork in the slow cooker, with lemon, orange juice, cumin and chili. We ate it on Tostaditos, a new product in Swedish stores (basically fried wheat tortillas) with avocado and an awesome cole slaw.

I used the feta cheese cream from last night, a little mayo, leftover pickled red onions, and lots of cilantro to dress my cabbage, and it was definitely a winner!

Fabulous dinner

2011-11-05T18:50:00.000+01:00

Yum, we just had dinner and it was such a good one! Do excuse the iPhone photos.. I know I rarely post really good photos anymore - I just don't seem to have the time. Or to take the time, really. I put my hope in the iPhone 4s, which I'm getting eventually!

Anyway - dinner! I made lamb meatballs - similar to this recipe, but with some torn up, day old bread, and a little cream instead of quark. I pickled red onion (super simple - just sprinkle with some salt and sugar, and cover with white wine vinegar), and sliced some avocado. And I mashed up some feta cheese with crème frâiche.

We ate it all stuffed into pita breads. And oh, what a glorious meal it was. Highly recommended!

The quickest mayo

2011-11-04T19:56:00.000+01:00

As much as I hate posting recipes without pictures, I need to make an exception to tell you about this fabulous way of making home made mayonnaise. (Besides, you all know what mayo looks like.) I've never had much luck with homemade mayo before - it usually turns out rather loose and runny, and while it tastes good, it's not great and not worth the effort.

I had heard of this method before, but hadn't dared to try it. Then I saw Nami-Nami's video of it, and I knew I had to make it.

In all honesty, I have failed this too, once. My ingredients were not all at room temperature, and I forgot the vinegar. Stupid. That batch was runny, but ended up as a fabulous salad dressing, so not all was lost.

And when it succeeds, it REALLY succeeds. Great, great mayo indeed!

The quickest mayo

Really do make sure your ingredients are all at room temperature. Really.

1 egg (yes, the whole egg!)
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp lemon juice or white wine vinegar
250 ml neutral oil - I use canola
salt, pepper
garlic, crushed - optional, but if you want to make aioli, this is how you do it.

Place all the ingredients, in order, in a bowl. I use a high, narrow jug that's perfect for my blender. Use an immersion blender, and hold it over the egg. Start mixing, and when you see streaks of mayo forming, slowly lift the blender, while still running. Make sure all is mixed - and that's it.

Recipe in Swedish:
Snabbaste majonnäsen

Hazelnut & Raisin Sourdough

2011-11-03T18:47:00.000+01:00

Ok. So I actually thought I had already posted about this, long ago. Apparently not? or have I? Anyway, it's a bread well worth making, if you like sourdough baking!

I like to make individual rolls that I slice and put in the freezer. That way I can just defrost them overnight and pop in the toasted for breakfast. You can certainly make loaves instead, but they need more time in the oven.

Hazelnut & Raisin Sourdough
about 20 bread rolls

day 1:
100 g active, bubbling rye sourdough starter
300 tepid water
180 g rye flour

Mix in a bowl, cover with a towel and leave at room temperature over night.

day 2:
the mixture from yesterday
400 g water
450 g bread flour (wheat)
300 g "rågsikt" (it's about 60% wheat, 40% rye. Feel free to substitute as you see fit)
20 g salt
200 g raisins
200 g whole, toasted hazelnuts (skinned if you have the patience)

Mix everything except for raisins and nuts and work into a dough - about five minutes in a stand mixer. Add raisins and hazelnuts and mix for five more minutes. (Or twice that time, if you're kneading by hand.)

Cover the bowl with plastic and let the dough double in size. It can take 2-4 hours, or more - depending on how active your sourdough is.

Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface, and shape rolls - each weighing about 100 grams. It will be pretty sticky so a good way to shape them is to keep folding the edges inwards, underneath - that'll give a nice shape in the end. Place smoothest side up on a lined baking sheet.

Cover with a towel and leave to rise for about 90 minutes.

Heat your oven to 250°C. Bake the rolls for ten minutes. Lower the heat to 200° and bake for ten more minutes.

Recipe in Swedish:
Surdegsbröd med hasselnötter & russin

Wednesday bookmarks, November 2

2011-11-02T20:54:00.000+01:00

I'm so glad I'm getting better at regularly sharing these bookmarks with you. I think linking to other blogs is a fundamental of blogging, and it's fun to share my finds with you. And it also inspires me to actually TRY some of the things I bookmark. (Although goodness knows, I'll never get through all of them.)

Last week, I asked you for ideas for vegetarian potstickers! As always, I know I can trust my readers, because you came up with some great ideas! And one of you linked to the blog Naturally Ella, which I immediately added to my Google Reader - it's lovely. I need to try both the Baked Sweet Potato Potstickers, and those with Roasted Corn and Cream Cheese.

I've tried a million Bolognese sauces, but that won't stop me from trying one more - from Framed Cooks. Her Weeknight Bolognese looks great, especially with those pasta shells.

You know what would go great with that pasta? I think Romaine Salad with Cornbread Croutons would be pretty perfect, so thanks Amateur Gourmet, for yet another bookmark.

Dessert will be in Swedish, from my old friend Jesper who blogs at Krubb. He shares a fabulous chocolate mousse, with orange zest, coffee and rum. Yum!

And on my to-do list is a serious update of my blogroll. It's really, really old and out of date. Sorry about that! Also out of date: my recipe index. I'll try to get around to that, too. Soon. Soon-ish, at least.

This remindes me of some other things I've been meaning to do. Like a new header - I have one, a great one in fact. And I have awesome ideas for a three-column design, with bigger photos. And I should migrate to the "new" blogger, which is what, three-four years now? And, I got an e-mail asking me to set up a Facebook page for the blog. That scares me a little, I'm not sure how to set it up so it pretty much works automatically, but I'll look into it. Promise!

So much to do. So little time.

Great dinner!

2011-11-01T17:53:00.001+01:00

Well, I didn't mean to show you an empty plate. It's just that I ran out of food. Me and Titus are having dinner at my parents house, and my mom made my favorite comfort food of all times - her creamy chicken curry. So, so good...

Peanut Noodle Salad

2011-10-31T13:44:00.000+01:00

This recipe is based on one from one of my favorite old bloggers, who sadly isn't updating anymore: Cloudberry Quark. I love the dressing, and you can certainly vary the veggies to fit your mood. If you'd like, you can cook the veggies slightly, but I left them raw this time, and used carrots, snow peas, some scallions (I think!) and red pepper. Fresh coriander is always a nice addition, but that goes without saying...

75 ml peanut butter
4 tbsp soy sauce (Japanese)
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp sambal oelek (or fresh red chillies, minced)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp ginger, minced
3-4 tbsp water, or possibly a little more

150 g rice noodles

Combine all ingredients for the dressing in a food processor and blend until smooth. Add more water if it seems to thick - it should be fairly runny.

Cook the noodles - usually rice noodles just need soaking in some hot water for a few minutes.

Drain and rinse with cold water. Drain again, and toss with the veggies and (most of) the dressing. It's nice to have some additional dressing on the side, too.

Recipe in Swedish:
Nudelsallad med jordnötsdressing

Apple Almond Crumble

2011-10-29T10:12:00.000+02:00

Swedish apples are finally really in season, and while I know - in theory - that there's so much you can do with them, I usually just opt for a simple crumble. After all, why mess with perfection? However, I rarely try the same recipe twice, and this one was new to me, using almond paste and almonds. It's lovely - but the almonds burn real easily (as you can see in my photo) so beware!

Apple Almond Crumble
serves 4-6

4 apples
2 tbsp sugar
1-2 tsp cinnamon
100 g almond paste
75 g butter
45 g oats
45 g flour
30 g almonds (mine were blanched, but it's not necessary)

Peel and slice the apples, and place in a pie dish. Toss with sugar and cinnamon.

Place the almond paste, butter, oats and flour in a bowl, and pinch with your fingertips until it forms crumbs. Put this on top of the apples.

Coarsely chop the almonds and sprinkle on top. Bake at 200°C for about 20 minutes.

Serve with vanilla custard or ice cream.

Recipe in Swedish:
Äppelpaj med mandelsmul

Overnight Breakfast Rolls

2011-10-27T09:55:00.000+02:00

I've posted a very similar recipe before, but that one uses "rågsikt" which is a Swedish flour made from both rye and wheat flours. Since it's not that easy to find unless you're in Sweden, I thought I'd attempt the same bread with just wheat flour. It turned out great - so I thought it'd definitely would be worth a post on its own.

It's really easy to make. You mix up the dough on the night before, put it in the fridge, and next morning, shape the bread rolls right before they go in the hot oven. Easy as that!

Overnight Breakfast Rolls

10 g fresh yeast
400 ml cold water
540 g all-purpose wheat flour
10 g salt
25 g honey

Mix everything - just mix, don't knead. Place in a bowl and cover with plastic. Place in the fridge over night.

In the morning, take your dough and tip onto a well-floured surface. Pull it into a long rectangle, and fold length-wise so that you have a long and skinny rectangle. Sprinkle with flour.

Heat the oven to 275°C, and pre-heat a baking sheet as well. When the oven, and the sheet, are hot, remove the sheet. Cut your dough into about ten pieces, and place on the hot baking sheet. Lower the heat to 225°C, and bake for about 10-15 minutes.

Please note: I use a fan-assisted oven, and your oven times might vary. Trust your instinct.

Recipe in Swedish:
Kalljästa frukostfrallor

Wednesday bookmarks, October 26

2011-10-26T11:29:00.001+02:00

*sniff sniff* I have a cold, as so many other people this time of year. It's not too bad, and I'm eating satsumas constantly to get more vitamin C - and drinking lots of water. But it sure is pretty outside - clear air, and lots of leaves in many colors.

I've actually made a few bookmarks this past week, too - and I hope you'll see something you like. Maybe find a few new blogs, too?

Cook Sister Jeanne is one of my favorite bloggers, since many, many years. I've been lucky enough to meet her a few times, too, and she's lovely. (The food blogger picnic at the Henley regatta, many years ago now, is one of my fondest food memories!) She's blogged about pasta with chanterelles and toasted almonds - I better make this while chanterelles are still in season!

I've had sweet potato fries before, but baked - not actually fried. I have to try Thai Fried Sweet Potatoes, as posted by She Simmers. They look irresistably crispy and yummy.

I finally got around to post about my homemade dumplings, and a friend eagerly commented on facebook that we should have a dumpling workshop. Well, that friend happens to be vegetarian, so I immediately started looking for good veggie fillings. Most included tofu, of which I'm not a fan, but then I found these with peas and ricotta, by White On Rice Couple. Oooh! And if you happen to have any other ideas for vegetarian dumplings, let me know!

A Swedish blog I really like is Lilla Matdériven (even though I'm not sure how to pronounce it!). She posts a lot of healthy and fun food for kids, and this time, she has tiny little bread rolls with carrots and sesame seeds. I really want to try those!
And as usual, for all my bookmarks, go here.

Hearty Corn Chowder

2011-10-24T14:08:00.001+02:00

Fall is definitely soup season, and it helps that it's probably Titus favorite food. (Well, in hard competition with risotto, and pancakes.)

Corn is one of my favorites, but the season for fresh corn here is really short. So I mostly rely on frozen, and I'm happy to report that it doesn't really make a difference in this soup, which is very delicious. Adding the corn meal, or polenta, does wonders for the texture, so don't skip that step!

I served this with a dollop of sour cream and - as always - some fresh coriander. Yummy!

Hearty Corn Chowder

70 g bacon, diced
1 tbsp butter
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
2 potatoes, diced
1 red pepper, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
450 g corn (frozen and thawed is fine, if you don't have fresh)
1-2 tsp sambal oelek (or similar chili paste)
800 ml chicken stock
100 ml cream (I use full-fat)
3 tbsp corn meal (or finely ground polenta)
4 tbsp water
salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper

Fry the bacon in a large pot. Add the butter, onion, potatoes, peppers and garlic, and fry for five minutes. Add the corn, sambal oelek, chicken stock and cream. Bring to a boil.

Stir together the corn meal and water, and add to the pot. Lower the heat and cover with a lid. Let the soup simmer for about 15 minutes. Check to make sure the potatoes are cooked through, or simmer for a few more minutes.

If you'd like, use an immersion blender to blend the soup - I blended a little, but not completey. Season with salt, black pepper and some cayenne pepper if you want more heat.

Recipe in Swedish:
Matig majssoppa

Happy 7th birthday, blog!

2011-10-22T21:09:00.000+02:00

Really, seven years of blogging? I can't believe it's been that long. It feels like it was only yesterday I was walking to work, talking to myself about food (and um, yes, I do that quite a bit) and decided that I might as well start sharing it with the world. Because that was really why I started.

And why I keep at it..? It's still the need to talk. I have things to say. And I'm so grateful that I have readers that apparently want to talk to me. The contacts and the feedback is really what makes it so much fun.

I know I've been slowing down this past year, and I might slow down even more, maybe posting 3-4 times per week rather than 6-7 - but I hope you won't mind.

I usually celebrate this day with a cake. This year... I'm a bit embarrassed, but as I get SO many e-mails about this cake, I thought I'd set the record straight. What you see above (so sorry about that sucky photo) is a Daim cake, made by the company Almondy. It comes from a box, frozen. It's what's served in IKEA:s all over the world, and, honestly, it's my most requested recipe.

And I've never made one. Not now, not ever. I probably won't. It's even available in gas stations, and very inexpensive. Not to mention I've never seen a recipe for it. What I do have is the cake that it's based on - the original Oscar II:s cake, with almonds and buttercream. No daim though - but you could just add that, and maybe some melted chocolate too. Ok, maybe I will try to make one, eventually - but not today. I like the pre-made version just fine, so today, I'll enjoy that.

For my previous birthday cakes, I've made Princess Cake, Black Forest Cake (Swedish style), Budapest Roll, Oscar II:s cake, and a humble vanilla bean jelly roll. (And that's just five, as I never managed to make a cake last year. Sorry!

Homemade Dumplings

2011-10-21T11:15:00.000+02:00

Dumplings. One of my favorite foods in the whole world. They're just so, so, so delicious. They have many names - potstickers, gyoza - but are often quite similar. And honestly - NOT hard to make at home! It took me a long time to try them, but after having eaten them many times at Dagmar's home, and helping her fold them too, I made them for myself and it was just fine.

You can buy ready-made dough (frozen) in some Asian supermarkets, but it's so easy to make your own. A pasta machine comes in very handy though, and a large glass for cutting out circles. And you need a frying pan with a lid.

You can freeze the finished, uncooked dumplings, and then just cook them directly from frozen. So make a big batch!

Homemade dumplings

dough:
(enough for about 30 dumplings)
300 g flour
180 ml boiling water

Place the flour in your food processor. Put the lid on and start the machine. Add the boiling water through the tube, with the machine running. Stop after a few seconds - the dough should look crumbly, and hold together if you pinch it.

Knead the dough carefully - it's HOT! - on your kitchen counter for about 30 seconds, or until it looks supple and elastic. Place in a ziploc bag and seal it. Let the dough rest for at least 15 minutes, but no longer than two hours.

Meanwhile, make your filling - feel free to experiment!

pork filling:
400 g ground pork
bunch of spring onions, finely chopped
bunch of cilantro, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp sesame oil
1-2 tbsp light soy sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1-2 tsp corn starch (depending on how wet the filling looks)
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Mix all of the ingredients together.

Now, time to actually fill and fold some dumplings! I don't have any photos of this so go to Dagmar's post on the subject which is much more thorough than mine. But - to put it simply, this is what you do:

-roll out the dough, using a pasta machine. Not too thin - they should be fairly thick. I went to 3 or 4 on my machine.

-cut out rounds, using a large glass

-place a spoonful of filling in the middle of each round, fold, and start pinching the edges together.

Repeat. And work fast - you don't want the dough to try out. (In fact, keep whatever dough you're not rolling in the sealed ziploc bag.) It helps to be at least two people, working together.

Next, heat some oil (I like peanut) in a frying pan with a lid. Have a small glass of water nearby. When the oil is hot, add some dumplings - but don't overcrowd the pan. Fry until the bottom is golden. Then, add the water and quickly cover with the lid, and let the dumplings steam for 5-7 minutes (a few more minutes if cooking from frozen). Remove the lid, and re-crisp the dumplings.

Recept på svenska:
Hemmagjorda dumplings

Wednesday bookmarks, October 19

2011-10-19T15:18:00.000+02:00

Time to check out some delicious things I've bookmarked in the past few weeks! I hope you'll find something tasty - and maybe new bloggers, too!

October is definitely soup season for me. Luckily, my little boy loves soups - he won't touch sauces, but soup is fine. (In fact, if you pour sauce into a bowl, he'll eat it.) This Bacon, Potato and Leek soup by Sweetsugarbean looks great.

How about some crackers to go with that soup? Petite Kitchenesse has a recipe for homemade cheez-its that looks great! I can't say I've ever had cheez-its but I'm sure these ones are even better.

AAAND over to the sweets. Titus has recently discovered candy, which I'm not thrilled about. We have to teach him how it's not for every day, and that some kinds are better than others. I'd feel ok about him having these Chocolate Peanut Butter treats, though! (And I'd definitely feel ok about having them myself.) Thanks Daily Bites!

If there's one kind of macaron I'm dying to make, it's one with salted caramel. I haven't dared yet, fearing that the filling would be too runny, but now that Kuala Lumpur sur Seine has posted a recipe from Pierre Hermé, I have to try it.

And finally a Swedish recipe, from the blog Trattoria. She's posted a recipe for brownies with walnuts and ginger - an excellent pairing, and they look intensely fudgey and dense. Yum!

And as usual, for all my bookmarks, go here.

Sweet Chili Chicken Legs

2011-10-18T21:39:00.000+02:00

Titus is a huge fan of chicken - in general, and of the legs in particular. The first time he ate them was at a preschool picnic, and the teachers all commented that he had eaten more than any other kid OR the adults, when I picked him up. He's not that enthusiastic all the time, but he sure enjoys his chicken legs. And us parents, we enjoy these ones in particular. They're really easy to make, and they have great flavor.

Based on a recipe from my blogging friend Annika, who blogs in Swedish. Well worth a visit!

Sweet Chili Chicken Legs
1 kilo chicken legs
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
50 ml sweet chili sauce
50 ml olive oil
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 tsk sambal oelek (or any other chili paste - or fresh chilies)
salt, black pepper

Mix all ingredients for the marinade, and mix with the chicken. You need a pretty big bowl. Leave at least an hour, and stir a few times during that hour to make sure the legs are all well marinated.

Place the legs on a rack on top of a baking sheet (ideally covered with foil, if you don't love cleaning), and brush with some of the marinade. Bake at 200°C for 10 minutes. Turn the legs over, brush with more marinade, and bake for another 10 minutes. Check to see that they're cooked through - if not, add a few more minutes of cooking time.

As always, I have a convection oven. You might have to adjust times and perhaps temperature, to suit your own oven.

Recipe in Swedish:
Kycklingben med sweet chili

Good in theory...

2011-10-17T15:15:00.001+02:00

I love both broccoli and cauliflower, and was really in the mood for a creamy gratin incorporating both of these. My idea was great. The gratin, sadly, was not. It turned out too thin and watery, and I'm not really sure what went wrong, but I need to try again!

Cookbook Watch - some fall news

2011-10-16T18:07:00.000+02:00

I'm way, way behind on my cookbook reviews, so I'll try to make up for it... first a batch with some books for kids, one for party people, and one by a Desperate Housewife!

Systrarna Eisenmans Mingelmat is written by Lisa & Monica Eisenman, who formerly ran the Cookbook Café in Stockholm. They closed down quite a few years ago, but I still remember that café fondly. Great food, great baked goods, great cookbooks. Since then, they've written several cookbooks - mostly about cakes and cookies, but also a few other ones. This one is ALL about party food of various kinds. And it's truly a bible in its genre, with 565 recpipes for canapés, toasts, mini pizzas and all sort of things. Anyone who likes to throw a party will love this book - and I know I'll use it often. A keeper.

I had no idea Eva Longoria could cook. To me (and I suspect to most people), she's Gaby in Desperate Housewives, and that she actually owns a restaurant was complete news to me. But she does. And she's written a cookbook, too. A nice one! In Eva's Kitchen, she shares her, and her families favorites. What I love is that the food is Tex-Mex - Mexican food, as cooked in Texas. It's fresh, feisty, and much healthier than you might imagine.

Mums för de minsta ("Yum for the smallest"") by Linda Hallberg is a coobook for babies, up to toddlers. It has a lot of nutrition basics, that new parents usually worry quite a bit about, and hands-on recipes for good starter purées as well as tasty food for slightly older and more adventurous eaters.

Laga mat med barn by Karolina Sparring translates to "Cooking with children" but the real aim is "Cooking FOR children", because this is a book that kids (6+) can use on their own. It's nicely laid out and attractive, and my only fault with it is that the recipes themselves aren't all that exciting. However, I realize that for most families, that's not much of an issue.

Coffee & Cocoa Macarons

2011-10-14T09:39:00.000+02:00

I actually haven't baked any macarons for a while - I've just neglected to tell you about these ones! The shells are flavored with cocoa powder (and I always find those more prone to cracking, so don't worry if yours do, too.) The filling is a basic buttercream, with instant coffee granules and cocoa powder. I was worried that the coffee should have been dissolved rather than just stirred in, but as it happens, it was perfect this way. The granules retained a little crunch, and more bitterness, which was very pleasant in contrast with the sweetness.

I'll make another batch of macarons soon though, because I got a very special piece of equipment to try out! It's a silicone baking mat specifically for macarons, by Lékué. (I got mine for review from Ninas Mat.) In theory, it looks great - perfect for making all your macarons the same size. I'm excited to see how they turn out though, I'm a little worried that the mat itself will prevent the shells from rising properly... but we'll see!

Coffee & Cocoa Macarons
20 finished macarons

3 egg whites, at room temperature
2 tbsp caster sugar
200 g powdered sugar
110 g almonds
2 tbsp cocoa powder

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

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

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

Bake at 150°C for 10-12 minutes. (I constantly vary this time, depending on the batch. I use a convection oven.) Let them cool completely before filling. Unused shells can be frozen, or kept in an air-tight container for a day or so.

Filling:
1/2 batch buttercream, see below
1 tbsp instant coffee granules
2 tsp cocoa powder

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 the finished buttercream in half - you can save one half in the fridge or freezer, but you might have to re-beat it before using. Add cocoa and coffee to the half you'll be using.

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

Recipe in Swedish:
Kaffe & Kakaomacarons

Apples

2011-10-12T22:01:00.002+02:00

Last weekend, we went apple-picking in Lena's garden. We came home with a huge bag, and Titus arranged the apples in this bowl. It looked so pretty I had to take a picture.

(I had a photo without his hand in it, but this one was much cuter.)

Pickled Cucumbers

2011-10-11T19:14:00.000+02:00

This is particular type of pickled cucumber, called "Smörgåsgurka" in Swedish which literally means "Sandwich cucumber" and obviously refers to how well this cucumber goes on.. sandwiches. If you like pickles on your sandwich? I don't. But I like these, as they are, alongside a plate of Pyttipanna. They're both sweet and sour, and not very salty at all. (I can't STAND "saltgurka", which is Swedish salt-pickled cucumbers. Disgusting!)

This is my first time making it. I happened to get a lot of suitable cucumbers - the small, short variety - from a friend, and this was my first thought. I would have used flowering dill, but I couldn't find any - apparently, there's been a shortage. I used some whole dill seeds instead, which give similar flavor.

Pickled Cucumbers

Day 1:
1 kg small cucumbers
1,25 liter water (5 cups)
250 g coarse salt

Clean the cucumbers, and place them - whole - in a bowl. Dissolve the salt in the water, and cover the cucumbers. Let it sit for 24 hours.

Day 2:
The cucumbers from above, sliced into 1/2-cm slices
350 g sugar
1-2 tsp dill seeds
1-2 tsp yellow mustard seeds
1-2 tsp whole white peppercorns
15 g fresh horseradish, thinly sliced
about 200 ml white distilled vinegar (12%), or as much as you need to fill your jar.

Layer the cucumber slices with sugar, dill seeds, mustard seeds, white pepper and horseradish. Add the vinegar to cover completely. Keep in a tightly lidded jar for 3 weeks before you taste it, and after that, keep in a cool place. (And while it'll keep pretty well, I'd suggest finishing these before too long, I never trust home-preserving all that much.)

Recipe in Swedish:
Smörgåsgurka

Thin Mint Cake Balls

2011-10-10T12:08:00.000+02:00

I made a Thin Mint Cake for Midsummer's, and when I evened out the cake layers, I was smart enough to put the scraps in a bag in the freezer. For Fourth of July, I defrosted those scraps, and crumbled them. I added a little bit of milk and cream cheese, and mixed until I had a nice dough. I rolled balls, froze them for a short while, and dipped in dark chocolate mixed with a little bit of shortening.

And then some sprinkles. I would have used red, white and blue... but I didn't have any. I did have these nice red and green non-pareils though, so expect a re-run of these at christmas!

And oh - they were great. Although I don't think I need to tell you that.

Chocolate Ganache Cake

2011-10-07T21:01:00.000+02:00

This cake makes me drool a little, just remembering it. It was really awesome. I served it at our annual Crawfish party - after the salty and very lean crawfish, a hefty chocolate dessert is just what you need. It's easy to prepare in advance, and thus perfect for a party.

Based on a recipe from Malin Landqvists "Svenska Kakor och Desserter" I just exchanged raspberry cordial for the suggested raspberry liqueur, to make it more kid-friendly.

Chocolate Ganache Cake
serves 12

Cake:
400 g almond paste (I had an extra-yummy version with 60% almonds)
1 tbsp cocoa powder
100 g dark chocolate
1 egg
2 egg whites

Chocolate Ganache:
300 g milk chocolate
200 g dark chocolate
300 ml cream (full fat - 36-40%)
50 ml concentrated raspberry cordial

To decorate and serve:
Fresh raspberries
whipped cream

Start by mixing almond paste, cocoa powder and chocolate in a food processor, until finely chopped. Add the egg and the egg whites, and run until smooth.

Press into a lined 24-cm springform tin. (When I say lined, I mean put a round of baking paper or ideally teflon on the bottom.)

Bake at 175°C for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool completely. Remove from the tin, clean the tin, and then put the cake back.

Chop all the chocolate for the ganache. Bring the cream to a boil, and stir in the chocolate. Keep stirring until completely smooth, then add the raspberry cordial. Pour into the tin, on top of the cake. Place in the fridge over night.

Decorate with fresh raspberries right before serving, and serve with whipped cream.

Recipe in Swedish:
Maffig Chokladtryffeltårta

Home Cook of the year 2011 - win a ticket!

2011-10-06T11:04:00.001+02:00

Remember three years ago? Dagmar, Lena and I won the cooking contest "Home Cook of the Year." It's a really fun contest, and winning was obviously fabulous.

It's that time of year agan, Årets Hemmakock 2011, and the contest final is October 19. I'll be there to cheer on the competitors - and you can be too! I have two tickets to give away to one of you - for you and a friend - and if you want to win, send me an e-mail with your favorite recipe inspired by something you had on a holiday. (That happens to be the theme of the contest this year.) It MUST be done in less than 30 minutes!

Last day to participate is Sunday, October 9.

The finals are in Stockholm, October 19, at 6 pm, so I'm afraid this contest is just open to those of you who can actually attend.

You can view the contest recipes here - too bad the food bloggers Tant Russin and Remsan didn't make it to the finals!

Wednesday Bookmarks - October 5, 2011

2011-10-05T18:53:00.000+02:00

Well, I sure am not posting these every Wednesday, as I had planned. Then again, some weeks I barely bookmark anything at all, so there wouldn't be that much to post...

I have a lot of things to share today though! First of all, I discovered a new to me food blog - The Homesick Texan. Almost everything on her blog looks awesome, but I'm especially eager to try Gingerbread Pancakes, a very approachable mole sauce and her uncle's granola. She's also written a cookbook which promptly went on my wishlist.

Joy The Baker doesn't just post about baking, you know. She recently shared a yummy edamame and avocado salad that's sure to hit most of my cravings in a single bowl.

After a salad, surely there's room for dessert. Two desserts, actually. Cheesecake stuffed strawberries, which I simply must remember until next summer when I can actually get strawberries again, and then salted peanut caramel clusters. Mmmm.

And as usual, for all my bookmarks (enough to keep me cooking for pretty much the rest of my life, I believe), go here.

National cinnamon bun day!

2011-10-04T13:06:00.000+02:00

October Fourth is the national cinnamon bun day in Sweden - Kanelbullens Dag.

This day is actually getting a lot of attention. All the bakeries are filled with fragrant buns, the food bloggers are all sharing their favorite recipes, and a lot of workplaces are serving cinnamon buns for their afternoon "fika", which is one of the more important cultural peculiarities about Sweden. (And a subject on which I must write more...)

I have several recipes. The ones above are cinnamon "knots", a sort of twisted bun.

Regular buns.

Buns free from eggs and dairy.

And finally, American style sticky cinnamon rolls. Not traditional in Sweden, but delicious.

Thin Mint Cake

2011-10-02T20:32:00.000+02:00

I know I don't have to introduce Thin Mints to my US readers, but they might not be as available in the rest of the world. Definitely not in Sweden, that's for sure. I remember having them in the US, and was thusly intrigued by the idea of the flavors transformed into an actual cake. I had to change the recipe quite a bit, since it starts out with a boxed cake mix and our cake mixes aren't even similar (nor the same size). So, I started with a from-scratch recipe for cake mix, and winged it from there. It turned out great!

I was really prejudiced against the so called buttercream, which as you can see, doesn't contained butter. I never use margarine, so I had to really take a leap of faith here. And I'm pretty glad I did, because it tasted great. I don't know if it's just in this particular cake, or if it's just a great frosting, but in either case, this is how I'll go on making it for this cake. A bonus is that it's pretty sturdy and thus easy to pipe with. (Please excuse my decorating job though - I usually don't make cakes with frosting, and my piping skills plainly suck. Not to mention my color-mixing skills. Next cake? Will be white.)

Thin Mint Cake

300 g flour
400 g sugar
100 g cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
55 g margarine
220 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 eggs
1 tbsp mint extract
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 banana, mashed
250 ml water

Start by mixing flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a food processor. Add the margarine and mix until it's well dispersed throughout the dry ingredients.

You can prepare up to here - this is basically a boxed cake mix, and it'll keep for weeks.

Next, stir together the butter, egg, mint, cinnamon and banana. Add the dry cake mix and the water. Divide into two well-buttered cake tins, and bake at 170°C for about 35-40 minutes. Check to make sure they're baked through and not wet in the middle.

Frost with this super simple "buttercream".

Super Simple Buttercream
150 g margarine
300 g powdered sugar
3-4 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Whisk all ingredients into a smooth frosting. Frost between and around the layers, and decorate the cake as you wish.

Recipe in Swedish:
Thin Mint-Tårta

Our daily bread...

2011-09-30T09:19:00.000+02:00

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!

2011-09-29T13:14:00.002+02:00

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

2011-09-28T14:48:00.000+02:00

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

2011-09-26T13:35:00.000+02:00

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

2011-09-25T12:21:00.001+02:00

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

2011-09-23T20:17:00.002+02:00

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

2011-09-22T22:00:00.000+02:00

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

2011-09-19T20:22:00.000+02:00

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

2011-09-18T20:49:00.000+02:00

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

2011-09-16T19:45:00.000+02:00

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!

2011-09-15T13:50:00.001+02:00

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.