Potato Carrot Gratin with Feta

 Here's a nice new side dish that's perfect for early fall, and goes very well with chicken or pork. Or hey, anything. Or nothing - it's a good vegetarian main dish as well, perhaps with a hearty bean salad on the side. The flavors really complement each other - the salty feta, the earthy carrots... very yummy indeed.

Potato Carrot Gratin with Feta
serves 4

900 g potatoes, peeled and cut into smaller pieces
300 g carrots, peeled and cut into smaller pieces
1 red pepper, cut into smaller pieces
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 tbsp neutral oil (like canola)
 salt, pepper
150 g feta cheese
300 ml cream

 Prepare the veggies. Fry on medium heat in the oil for about ten minutes in total - start with the potatoes and carrots and add the pepper and onion towards the end. Season with salt and pepper.

Put half of the veggies in an oven-proof dish. Crumble in the feta. Top with the remaining veggies, and then add cream. Bake at 200°C for about 45 minutes, or until everything is cooked through. Watch closely though, you might want to cover the dish with foil to prevent burning.

Chanterelle & potato frittata

I'm way, way behind on my postings. I have photos, and I have half-written blog posts all over the place. I need time, lots of uninterrupted time, to sit down and work. But.. alas, that's not going to happen any time soon. Christmas is coming, and I'm pretty busy with my lovely baby who's slowly learning how to feed himself - more on that some other time! :-)

However, this is a great dish, a frittata or an open omelet, that I made when I had a vegetarian visitor for lunch. Åsa is a food blogger too, from Gothenburg. You can find her, in Swedish, at Miss Meister's.

Chanterelle & potato frittata
serves 3-4, as a light lunch

300 g chanterelles
2 tbsp butter, divided
200 g cooked potatoes, diced
4 eggs
2 tbsp water
Grated cheese, ideally Swedish Västerbotten, but otherwise parmesan

First, clean the mushrooms. Cook them in a dry frying pan - no butter yet - on medium heat until they start to release their liquids and then dry again. Then add one tablespoon of butter and let them cook on low heat.

In another pan, melt the remaining butter and fry the potatoes until browned. Add the mushrooms to this pan too.

Whisk the eggs with water in a bowl, and add the cheese. Pour this on top of the potatoes and mushroms and fry gently on low-medium heat until set. Season with salt and pepper to your liking, and if possible, top with some fresh herbs.

Potato Lemon Soup

Another basic soup - nothing terribly exciting, but hey, it tasted good. The original recipe had thyme - I had sage, so that's what I used - and I ended up puréeing the soup. You can leave the potato chunks whole, but I couldn't get past the fact that it's basically just potatoes in a creamy broth, and therefor, mixed mine until fairly smooth. But that's all up to you.

It's a good vegetable soup, but if you're so inclined, go ahead and serve it with some smoked ham or crispy bacon.

Potato Lemon Soup
serves 3

1 onion, chopped
1 tbsp butter
500 g potatoes, cut into 1 cm dice (if planning on puréeing, never mind the size)
250 ml cream (full-fat)
5-600 ml vegetable stock (or more) (from a cube is fine)
1 tbsp fresh sage, finely chopped
1 lemon, zest and juice
salt

Fry the onion in the butter, until softened. Don't let it color, though. Add the potatoes and cream. Bring to a boil, and simmer on medium heat (with a lid) for about 15 minutes. The potatoes should be fairly soft. Add the stock, bring to a boil again, and cook for a few more minutes.

Add the sage and lemon zest. Season with the lemon juice (don't add it all at once!) and salt. Pepper is totally optional, we skipped it.

Lemon & Tarragon Butter Chicken

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

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

Lemon & Tarragon Butter Chicken
Serves 4

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

500 g potatoes
8 small fresh yellow onions

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

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

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

Recipe in Swedish:
Kyckling med citron & dragonsmör

BBQ potatoes

YOU HAVE TO TRY THIS!

Sorry, I don't usually shout. But really. This time. You have to.

This is the perfect side dish to go with grilled meat (or chicken), and it's absolutely great now that new potatoes are starting to pop up in the stores. There are a few unusual ingredients - chipotle paste which is a smokey chili paste, and smokey paprika which is really lovely and you should seek it out. There are two versions - picante (hot!) and dulce, and this time, I used dulce.

It also went really well with this parmesan sauce.

BBQ potatoes
serves 6-8

1,5 kilo new potatoes
2 red bellpepeprs
2 garlic cloves
2 tsp chipotle chili paste
2 tsp smokey paprika powder (Pimentón de la Vera)
1 tsp salt
4-5 tbsp canola oil



Clean the potatoes and place on a rimmed baking sheet. Cut the bellpeppers into large dice or strips, and add those. Mince the garlic, and mix with chipotle, paprika, salt and oil in a bowl. Toss with the potatoes - it's easiest if you use your hands.

Roast at 200°C for about 30 minutes.

Recipe in Swedish:
BBQ potatis

Spring is here!

Or at least, almost here! It's sunny and not as cold as before, and most of the ice seems to be melting off the streets, leaving gravelly slush behind. Ok, that part is not so appealing, but I hope it will be gone completely in a week or so. I can't wait to get out my new spring jacket, and I already have to use sunglasses. Spring. At last.

What you see in the photo: potato pancakes, one of the tastiest and simplest things there is. Just take potatoes, grate them - some coarsely, some finely. Squeeze out as much liquid as you can. Add an egg, salt and pepper. And fry. Top them with anything you'd like - I had sour cream, bacon, red onions and Västerbotten Cheese, or eat them plain, I like them like that too. They're irresistibly crispy and salty, and always hit the spot for me.

As you might have noticed if you read my Twitterfeed, I'm also pretty interested in makeup, and read a lot of makeup blogs as well as food blogs. One of them is called Lip Gloss Bitch, and she's always a good read - it's in Swedish though. She's hosting a giveaway for a MAC Mineralize skinpowder - let's hope I win, I sure could use some bronzer!