Kitties are coming!

Wish us luck! I'm currently down in Dalarö with Gisele, our very pregnant kitty who lives here with my aunt, and she's about the drop her kittens at any time. It might be tonight, might be tomorrow - I'll keep you updated.

Meanwhile, today was Tuesday before lent - Shrove Tuesday, or "fat tuesday" as it's called in Sweden. That means we eat Semla. Read my post on that from last year - I don't have much to add as I still haven't had the energy (or the hankering) to make any from scratch. Shop-bought are fine with me.

Comfort Corn Soup with Tomato-Pineapple Salsa

For me, corn has always been the perfect vegetable. Not very healthy, I know - but it's so tasty. And comforting.. when I was a kid, one of my favorite meals was frozen corn, heated in some salted water, and topped with a dollop of butter. I don't eat it like that anymore, but I do like a few corn kernels tossed in when cooking various dishes. Per doesn't quite share my appriciation so I reserve my corn-based meals for when I'm alone. Like this soup. It's incredibly comforting, smooth and silky. It goes perfectly with the fresh salsa, which provides a nice contrasting texture and a hint of summer.

Comfort Corn Soup
Serves 2 for lunch (or just one, very greedy, person)

1/2 carrot, grated
1-2 cloves of garlic, grated
1/2 red onion, finely diced
1 pinch of dried oregano
1 pinch of dried thyme
1 tsp olive oil
300 g corn kernels (from a jar or frozen is fine)
salt
1 tbsp concentrated chicken stock
400 ml water (plus more, to thin out)
1-2 tbsp half and half, or regular cream

Heat the olive oil in a large pan, and add the carrot, garlic, onion and dried herbs. Cook for 2-3 minutes on medium heat until softened. Add the corn. Cook for five minutes, until it starts to smell real good. Add salt, stock and water, bring to a boil and let it cook for five minutes.

Get your handy-dandy blender-on-a-stick (or just use a food processor) and blitz the soup until smooth. Add water if you want a thinner texture. Finish with a little bit of cream, and serve. Top with the salsa.

Tomato-Pineapple Salsa
1 plum tomato, finely diced
1 tbsp pineapple, finely diced
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp red onion, finely diced
1 tbsp flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
salt, black pepper, pinch of sugar


This one is simple. Combine everything in a small bowl, and season with salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar. That's all there's to it.

Majssoppa med tomat-ananassalsa

Banana-pecan bagels with cinnamon

I told you about plain bagels the other day, so here are the fancier ones. These are really tasty - you can play around with spices and nuts, obviously. I like that these are "all in one" - you can eat them as they are. Perfect for a very fast breakfast - just pop one in the microwave, and eat on the go. Or, if you're less stressed, they're actually very good with butter and a slice of sharp cheddar. Or just fried in butter.. my friend Rebecca's mom Pat, in Long Beach CA, used to make them like that when I stayed with them. Yummy!

Banana-pecan bagels with cinnamon

2 1/2 tsp dry yeast
1 tbsp sugar
300 ml tepid water, divided
700 g flour (you might need more)
fat pinch of salt
2 very ripe bananas, mashed
handful of pecans, roughly chopped
1 tbsp cinnamon

Method is much the same, but the flour is much more variable in this recipe since the banana makes it a lot stickier. Also, it will vary due to the size of your bananas.

Mix the yeast, sugar and 100 ml of tepid water in a large bowl. Let it sit for five minutes. Mix in bananas and cinnamon. Then, mix the flour with the salt, and add gradually, and add the remaining 200 ml of water. I use a Kitchen-Aid for mixing, but you could of course be doing this by hand. I let my machine run for about five minutes. Add the nuts somewhere in the middle, after 2-3 minutes of kneading. You might need to add more flour - you're looking for a very smooth elastic dough, that doesn't feel sticky when you touch it. It shouldn't look dry and floury though!

Roll the dough into a ball, and place in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with a towel, and let it rise for about an hour, or until it's roughly doubled in size. Then, knock the air out of it, and leave it for ten more minutes. Divide into 8 equal pieces (kitchen scales are handy for this) and shape into balls. Taking each ball in your hands, make a little hole in the middle. Stretch this hole by twirling the dough around your fingers until you have a decent donut shape. Place on a baking sheet, cover with a towel, and let rest for ten minutes.

Bring a large pot of water with a pinch of sugar in it to boil. Lower the temperature - you want it to simmer. Poach the bagels, two or three at a time, for about one minute on each side. They should puff up. Lift up with a slotted spoon, and place back on baking sheet. Bake in a 225°C oven for 14-16 minutes.

Banan-pecan bagels med kanel

Goooooold!

Oh, just a short post to note that Sweden had it's best Olympic Winter Games, ever. The icing on the cake was decidedly the hockey game yesterday - absolutely amazing. Woohoo!!

Weekend Cat Blogging #38 - Glinda

What's going on? Mommy's been sick the whole weekend, no one has been cooking anything for me, and the other cats are just crazy.



Kelly's in love with Hamlet, who's.. well, not quite up to it. She follows him around, meowing loudly, and he's clearly bothered. Mommy says they're looking for another boyfriend for Kelly. I hope they find one soon. Real soon.



Because this is getting real old.


Check out more cats over at Clare and Kiri at Eatstuff!

Scones

I started typing "Really fast scones" as the title, but that would have been a bit pointless. After all, Scones *are* really fast. That's kind of "their thing". This is a very basic scones recipe - just the way I like it.

Scones
makes 8

215 g flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
50 g butter or shortening
150 ml milk

Preheat oven to 225°C. Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. By hand, rub in the cold fat, until it's nicely distributed. Add the milk, and work to a quick dough. Shape into two fat discs, and place on a lined bakingsheet. Cut the rounds into quarters, but not quite all the way through to the bottom. Bake for 12-15 minutes, and serve with cheese and marmalade.



Scones

Bagel with avocado and turkey

You don't need a suggestion on what to fill your bagels with, but here's what I had for dinner the other day - that little plump bread is filled with avocado, red onion, smoked turkey, lettuce, and a couple of shreds of Velveeta. Delicious!

Today, however, this is just a faint memory. I've managed to catch some kind of stomach bug, and have been completely out. Yesterday was bad, but today, I'm feeling a little bit better. Unfortunately I missed a blog-meet - talk about bad timing! Instead, I'm feasting on plain buttered toast and flat coca-cola...

Honey Baked Chèvre

Honey Baked Chèvre

Simple, but very very good. It's an excellent quick dessert, with a perfect balance of sweet and salty.

For each person, take a slice of chèvre. It should be about 1 cm thick. Put in a small ramekin. Drizzle over honey, and drop a couple of pistachios (roasted and salted) on top. Bake at 200°C for 8-10 minutes.

Chèvre med honung

Jansson's Temptation

I don't know where the name comes from, but the dish is really called Jansson's Temptation. And it's delicious. One of my faves from the christmas foods, but it's also served at Easter or as a late night snack. It's very salty but still sweet - Swedish anchovies are cured in a sweet brine and not very fishy. My favorite way to eat this is to pair it with meatballs. Yum!

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.

Spicy Almonds

Isn't it funny how sometimes, something you've made several times before just doesn't turn out at all like it's supposed to? This was supposed to be my Spicy Caramel Almonds, but.. as you can see where's the caramel? I either used too little oil, too little sugar, or didn't leave it on high enough heat. Oh well. Still tasty, but not the same.

Walnut Pasta Sauce

Pasta with walnut sauce is really tasty, and very simple to prepare. You can use any pasta you'd like, but I especially like a fresh filled tortellini with spinach. Make it yourself - or don't. The beauty of this sauce is that it's really fast to prepare, so making your own pasta would contradict that a bit. It's also something you can prepare in advance, and just heat up at last moment. And feel free to play around with seasonings and herbs! I decided to add coriander and lemon last time I made this, and that was really successful. What you can't substitute though - well, you really do need a food processor. Sorry.

Walnut Pasta Sauce
Serves 4

1-2 slices white bread, day old is fine
100 ml milk
100 g walnuts
3-4 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
juice and peel of 1/2 lemon
handful of shredded parmesan
handful of fresh coriander
salt
pepper

Rip up the bread into chunks, and let them soak in the milk for a little while. Place the bread and everything else in the food processor, and whizz until it's a nice, combined paste. (You can prepare up to here, if you want to.)

When you're ready to eat - which is pretty much when your pasta is boiling - scrape the sauce into a pan, and heat gently. Add more milk or olive oil if it's very solid, but you're also going to add hot pasta water to loosen the sauce and make it creamy. It should never boil - the fresh flavors here are important. Just let it heat up, loosen with water, toss with pasta, and serve at once!

Valnötssås till pasta

European Blogging By Post

Ok, it took its sweet time getting here (and it took me a week to write about it - the package arrived, very appropriate, on Valentine's Day) but it was well worth waiting for. Meg, of Too Many Chefs, sent me loads of comfort - which was the theme for this package exchange. I got gourmet pasta, a wonderful grey sea salt with cepes, absoutely delicious pink garlic, homemade chocolate oatmeal cookies, wine (did I mention she's in France?), a cheese that sadly didn't survive the trip, a lovely culinary mystery, and the piece the resistance - chocolate.

Tomato Sauce for Gnocchi all'Amatriciana

This is one of the first recipes I tried from my chrismas present, the Gourmet Cookbook. I didn't make my own gnocchi (yet!) but I did make this tasty sauce. It was really good, and I'll gladly make it again, both for Gnocchi and for regular pasta.

Tomato Sauce all'Amatriciana
adapted from the Gourmet Cookbook

1 tsp olive oil
140 g bacon, finely chopped
1 large red onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
500 g crushed tomatoes
100 ml water
pinch of sugar
pinch of salt

Heat the oil in a small saucepan, and fry the bacon and onion until it has some color. Add the garlic. Add the tomatoes, water, salt and sugar, and let it simmer for about 30 minutes or until it has reduced a bit and thickened. Serve over freshly boiled gnocchi or pasta.

Tomatsås All'Amatriciana

Bagels

I've just gotten back home from a weekend vacation in Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg. We've had a great time - we stayed in an awesome hotel, and indulged in great food and shopping. Highlights included a visit to Heaven 23, a restuarant with a full view of the city and a heavenly shrimp sandwich, and dinner with our friend Linda and Anders who own one of our kittens, Honey.

No weekend cat blogging this time - but just wait, we're expecting kittens next week. Now, for some baking.

Making your own bagels is so simple, really. And in a place like Sweden, with no commercial bagels to be found, it's pretty much the one way to get those lovely chewy rounds, because they are nowhere to be found. Ok, that's not entirely true - sometimes, you can find frozen bagels. And some coffeshops will have them - never plain, but with a variety of toppings. Anyway, I like making my own. It's nice to have a few stashed for a quick meal - and I like them for breakfast, lunch and dinner, they're so versatile.

A Kitchen-Aid or a similar machine comes in very handy. Bagels need good gluten development, and you get that by kneading, kneading and kneading some more. So if you don't have a dough machine - be prepared for a serious workout.

This time, I made plain bagels, and banana-pecan bagels with cinnamon. Let's start with the plain ones

Plain bagels

2 tsp dry yeast
1 tbsp sugar
300 ml tepid water, divided
500 g flour (you might need a little bit more
fat pinch of salt

Mix the yeast, sugar and 100 ml of tepid water in a large bowl. Let it sit for five minutes. Then, mix the flour with the salt, and add gradually, and add the remaining 200 ml of water. I use a Kitchen-Aid for mixing, but you could of course be doing this by hand. I let my machine run for about five minutes. You might need to add more flour - you're looking for a very smooth elastic dough, that doesn't feel sticky when you touch it. It shouldn't look dry and floury though!

Roll the dough into a ball, and place in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with a towel, and let it rise for about an hour, or until it's roughly doubled in size. Then, knock the air out of it, and leave it for ten more minutes. Divide into 8 equal pieces (kitchen scales are handy for this) and shape into balls. Taking each ball in your hands, make a little hole in the middle. Stretch this hole by twirling the dough around your fingers until you have a decent donut shape. Place on a baking sheet, cover with a towel, and let rest for ten minutes.

Bring a large pot of water with a pinch of sugar in it to boil. Lower the temperature - you want it to simmer. Poach the bagels, two or three at a time, for about one minute on each side. They should puff up. Lift up with a slotted spoon, and place back on baking sheet. Bake in a 225°C oven for 14-16 minutes.

Bagels

Anyone up for a cheese sandwich?

It might not be fancy. I know. But when you're home late from work, and not in the mood for proper cooking, what could be better?

These are made with Velveeta - the "cheese" of gods. And I love my contact grill, perfect for things like this.


Today is Cheese Sandwich Day, prompted by a not-completely-nice article in a US food magazine.

Finnish Swede Bake

I apologize for the silly name, but really, that's what it is. This is a traditional Finnish dish, made from swede, or rutabaga. It's very tasty, and usually served as part of the christmas buffet. It goes particularly well with christmas ham. It's pretty sweet, so it's perfect with salty meats. And not just for christmas!

This recipe comes from Vajlet, who is my dad's ex-wife. She would always make it and bring when she spent christmas with us and a couple of years ago I insisted on the recipe. It's pretty vague - more of a sketch really - but it always turns out just fine.

Finnish Swede Bake

swede (rutabaga), about 2-300 g, peeled and in large pieces
2-3 carrots, peeled and in large pieces
2-3 tbsp milk
golden syrup
breadcrumbs
butter

Boil the swede and the carrots in lightly salted water. Drain when soft, and mash with the milk. Butter an oven proof dish, and pour the mashed veggies into it. Drizzle over golden syrup, and a thin, even layer of breadcrumbs. Put a couple of pats of butter on top.

The original instructions said to bake for quite a long time in quite a low temperature. I usually do it at 175°C for an hour or so. The breadcrumbs should be soft and golden.

Finsk Kålrotslåda

Woohoo - gold!

Ok, so this is not about food - but I had to write about Sweden's first two gold medals in Torino! BOTH the women's and men's team managed to win the cross country team sprint today! Well done!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

(Oh, the pictures? They're of dried strawberries - a natural candy that's oh-so-suitable for today.)

For dinner tonight, we're having panko-fried lamb chops and a fennel-mushroom risotto. Finish? There are lots of contenders, but I think we'll be going with a chocolate fondue.

Chocolate mousse

This is the simplest chocolate mousse in the world. And, as it happens, one of the tastiest, too. I've written about it before - but I never had a good photo, so when I happened to make this for dessert last night, I thought I'd re-post it right in times for Valentine's Day. (Besides, I've fiddled a little bit with it.)

Chocolate Mousse

250 g dark chocolate (this time, I used a mix of my trusty Chocovic, some cheap stuff I had laying around, and some Michel Cluizel with a subtle coffee flavor)
300 ml double cream
3 eggs
3 1/2 Tbsp sugar (50 ml)
1-2 Tbsp flavoring - you can use your favorite liquor (this works well with whiskey or rum, or Kahlua, Amaretto or Frangelico) or coffee. Or nothing. I used Macallan single malt whiskey.

Melt the chocolate in a waterbath or in the nicrowave. Let it cool don a little bit. Beat the eggs with the sugar until you have a very pale yellow fluff. Beat the cream until it holds soft peaks. Add the chocolate and the flavoring to the eggs, stir well to combine. Gently fold in the cream. Spoon into glasses or ramekins and place in the fridge for at least four hours.

Chokladmousse

Weekend Cat Blogging #36 - the whole gang

Left to right - Kelly, Hamlet, Edith, Glinda, Ywette

Clare is hosting WCB as usual, but showing off a new beauty, Ruby. This week, she asks that we talk about our cats cutest habits. Well. I don't know, really. They all have such distinct personalities. I think sometimes that they are the cutest in their interactions with one another. So, hence a picture of all five. This is just after distributing their favorite snack, smoked ham, which is why they're all in the same spot. It's not usually like that.

But, for cutest habits.. I don't know. Kelly likes to dip her head under the water fountain so she doesn't have to wash herself so much. And with all her fur, I can't blame her.

Edith will stand on her legs if you give her a snack, and reach for it with her paw.

Glinda, well, she's just cute all the time. She's super cuddly and will snuggle up to you as soon as she has a chance. She's also really handy with small, fiddly things, and is of the very certain belief that all pens belong on the floor.

Hamlet will eat breakfast with me, every day, and he gets very worried if I'm nearing the end of my sandwich without him getting a bite. Then he'll gently paw my wrist, to remind me that he's there.

And Ywette. Well, the cutest is that she understands every word that I say. For real. We have an amazing communication, and that's really more fascinating than any feline thing she does.

A bonus picture of the sisters, Edith and Glinda.

Pecan Chocolate Toffee

I have a ton of pecans, so I'm looking for great things to make with them. I came across this recipe for Almond Buttercrunch Toffee at David Lebovitz, and substituted pecans. Oh, it worked very, very well. Very yummy! And easy to make! I made about half of his recipe - here's the quantities I used.

Pecan Chocolate Toffee

120 g pecans, lightly toasted and fairly finely chopped
1 tbsp water
55 g butter, in pieces
salt - a large pinch
110 g sugar
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/8 tsp baking soda (I actually didn't measure, just poured a very small amount into the caramel)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
75 g dark chocolate, finely chopped

Line a small baking dish with non-stick foil or just oil it. Sprinkle half of the nuts into it.

Make the caramel. Melt butter, water, salt and both sugars in a heavy saucepan. Boil until it reads 150°C on a candy thermometer. Remove immediately (it might be a good idea to be ready for this when it starts to approach 145°C - the last few degrees come fast!) and stir in the vanilla and the baking soda. Pour caramel over the nuts, as evenly as you can.

Sprinkle the chocolate over the caramel, and let it stand for two minutes, then spread in an even layer. Sprinkle with the rest of the nuts, and let it stand in a cool place until completely set. Break or cut into pieces.

Pecan och choklad-toffee

Foodie Gifts: Coffee Glasses

I simply adore these. They were a gift from our dear friends Bernt and Helmy, for our wedding. (Why I'm only blogging about it now, half a year after the event, I have no idea.) We got these two, and four more - all with unique cat designs. They're painted by Helmy's very talented sister, and I'm so happy to have them. They are perfect for things like Irish Coffee, or just when you need a little fancier than a regular mug. Gorgeous, aren't they?

SHF #16 - A Recipe for Love: Vanilla Ice Cream

When Jennifer from Taste Everything Once decided that this month's theme for Sugar High Fridays would be aphrodisiac desserts, I turned to a trusty spice: Vanilla.

While some might think it's boring, it's in fact an old and widely used aphrodisiac. Indeed, many studies show that the one scent that turns men on the most is.. vanilla. You can read lots more here.

So, what to make with vanilla? Why not go for a classic, simple creamy vanilla ice cream. I got the recipe from a lovely book called "Iskallt" by Elisabeth Johansson, but added another vanilla bean for extra punch. Serve with your favorite addition, or enjoy it as it is. I like to eat it with hot cherries, or with cloudberry jam.

You should start this the night before you plan to it, ideally. And yes, you need an ice cream maker for this particular recipe.

Vanilla Ice Cream

2 vanilla beans
350 ml milk
400 ml double cream
6 egg yolks
200 ml sugar (0,85 cups)

Score the vanilla beans. Scrape out the seeds into a small saucepan, add the beans and the milk and cream. Slowly bring to a boil, remove from heat and set aside.

In a large bowl, preferrably with a lip, beat the yolks and the sugar until pale and very fluffy. Sieve the vanilla mixture into the eggs, and mix well until smooth. Pour the mixture back in the saucepan, and heat gently, stirring constantly. The liquid should reach 85°C - but it must absolutely not boil. Remove from heat, sieve again, and pour it into a clean bowl or pitcher. Place in the fridge - preferrably over night so that the proteins have time to swell. This will help the flavors develop.

When the mixture is properly cold, run it in an ice cream maker until frozen through. My machine takes about 20 minutes. Scoop into a container, place in freezer until ready to eat. This never gets really hard and icy, so you can eat it straight from the freezer.

Tagged with: SHF # 16

Homemade Pizza

Still searching for the perfect homemade pizza dough. We're not quite there yet. But this one, from the Gourmet cookbook, was pretty tasty. Per liked it - it was very crisp. I prefer my pizzas a little chewier. Oh well, I guess we'll keep expeimenting!

My pizza had air cured ham, fresh tomato sauce with garlic, red onions, fresh mushrooms, mozzarella, fresh basil and pine nuts on it. Yum!

Brussel Sprouts Gratin

Brussel sprouts are one of my favorite veggies. It's so tasty - in the right company, at least. And this recipe is great - it's not very healthy, sure, but it's a great comfort food. Perfect in the winter time!

Brussel Sprouts Gratin
serves 3-4

500 g brussel sprouts, cleaned and trimmed
150 g bacon, chopped
1 onion, finely diced
2 tbsp butter
1-2 tbsp flour
200 ml of cooking water from the sprouts
200 ml cream (light cream will work nicely)
shredded cheese, optional

Preheat the oven to 225°C. Fry the bacon until crispy and add the onions so that they soften a little. Boil the brussel sprouts in lightly salted water until soft (5-10 minutes), drain and reserve the water.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter and add the flour. Make a paste, and then slowly add the reserved cooking water from the sprouts. Add the cream, and let it thicken into a thick sauce. Mix in the bacon and onions. Put the sprouts in an oven-proof dish, and pour the sauce over them. Top with shredded cheese, if using. (I usually don't as I'm not a very big fan of cheese in my gratins.)

Bake for 10 minutes. Serve with pasta or rice, or as a side dish.

Brysselkålsgratäng

Food Shoppings

Stockholm has some very fun food stores, that I don't visit nearly enough. This trip yielded as you can see, stuff from Japan and America, plus an egg poaching device that I found half off at Debenhams. Which sucks, by the way.

Just tonight, I was on another shopping expedition with two other food bloggers, Kristina and Kinna! Kristina blogs in English, here, and Kinna in Swedish, here. I had a great time with them - we were at Hötorgshallen, and it was lovely to wander around all the food stalls, trying things and giving each other tips on favorites. Admittedly, I was a bit passive in that regard - I'm actually not very adventurous! But I picked up some lovely green raisins, dried strawberries (yum!!) and a lovely bag of lavender nougat. Will blog about that as soon as I try it!

Japanska Torget
Tegnérgatan 6
113 58 Stockholm

Gray's American Food Store
Odengatan 39
Stockholm

Hötorgshallen
Hötorget
Stockholm

Chunky Guacamole

Taaaasty! As a change from our regular Guacamole, I decided to try this recipe from Too Many Chefs. Yum! It's very simple - avocado, onion, garlic, tomatoes, chili, lime, coriander, salt. The big difference from my usual (which doesn't have onion or chili) is that it's chunky. Which was very nice for a late evening snack.

Raspberry Cooler

Having an absolutely miserable day, and it's freezing outside. Anyone wanna join me for a drink? This is a very summery drink, but sometimes, even in the dead of winter, it's nice to pretend that it's actually warm outside. So, crank up the heater, put on a bikini and make a couple of these lovely pink drinks!

Raspberry Cooler
For each drink:

5 frozen raspberries
1 cl freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 cl Absolut Raspberri
10 cl white wine (I used a Chardonnay)
10 cl lemon-lime soda (I used Sprite Zero)

Muddle the raspberries with the lemon juice and vodka. Add wine, stir well. Add the sprite - and serve immediately.

Raspberry Cooler

Mushroom Barley Soup

This is one of those simple "toss-everything-you-got-in-the-pot"-type of soups. I love it - it's easy (although it takes two hours!) and very tasty. It's just the thing on a cold winter's eve... something which we happen to have an abundance of here in Sweden.

Mushroom Barley Soup
serves 4

1 large yellow onion
1 large carrot
1 parsnip
1 turnip
100 g celeriac
100 g rutabaga/swede
80 g barley
200 g fresh mushrooms
1,5 liters boiling water
handful of dried mushrooms
splash of dry sherry
salt, pepper
olive oil

Start by chopping all the vegetables. Feel free to substitute any that you don't like, adding or retracting as you please. Everything should be in fairly small dice, except the fresh mushrooms that I usually just divide in largish pieces.

Heat a large soup pot with a little olive oil. Fry the veggies, except for the fresh mushrooms, for a couple of minutes. Add a splash of sherry, and let it cook in. Add the dried mushrooms. Add the boiling water, which should cover everything well. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cover with a lid. Let simmer for two hours. After about one hour, add the fresh mushrooms. Season to taste before serving.

Korngrynssoppa med svamp

Noodle Stir-fry

Here's a fast and tasty variation with noodles. I don't use my wok very often, but it works perfectly for this recipe. If you don't have a wok, use a large skillet - that will be allright too!

Noodle Stir-Fry
serves 2

100 g egg noodles
1 tbsp sesame oil
200 g thinly sliced beef, in strips
2 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 red chili, finely chopped
1 carrot, julienned
150 g green beans, blanched in boiling water for a minute (or given 30 sec in the microwave, if you use frozen ones like I did)

For the dressing:
the juice of a lime
1-2 tbsp fish sauce
1-2 tsp honey
1 tsp chili paste (sambal oelek)


Boil the noodles according to the packaging, and rinse them in cold water. Set aside. Heat the sesame oil in a wok or a large skillet, and fry the beef and all the veggies. Add the noodles.

Mix the dressing, and adjust seasoning (lime makes it tarter, fish sauce saltier, honey sweeter (obviously!) and sambal oelek makes it hotter) according to taste. Pour over the stir fry and let it sink in for a minute. Serve!

Nudlar med lövbiff

Poached Egg on Turkey with Tomato Salsa

*drumroll*

Yes, I finally managed to make something for EoMEoTE - Eggs on Toast End of Month Extravaganza. I've been thinking about it for a very long time, but pretty much put it out of my mind since I virtually never eat eggs on toast. Or with toast, for that matter. Unless my regular weekend breakfast counts - soft boiled egg, with my sandwhiches.. but no, I never felt that that really did qualify.

So. I was home from work, having felt nauseous for a couple of days. Suddenly, the idea of a poached egg, on toast, with some turkey and tomato salsa sounded awfully good. (I had seen something similar on the cover of Delicious.) And, being scared of free-hand poaching, I had picked up a poaching device on sale. Perfect!

As I was finishing, it occurred to me that it was.. January 30th. Hey. That's end of month. This is eggs on toast. Extravaganza!!

A note on poaching. The poaching device totally, completely sucked. It's a little plastic basket thingie with four egg cups. You lower it into simmering water, crack the eggs in the cups, and watch them poach. In theory. In practice, the egg went all over the place. Congealed egg white in the pan. But not in the cup. In fact, after ten minutes of simmering, nothing had changed about the egg. That's when I gave up, removed the poaching device, poured the egg back in the pan, and hoped for the best. It didn't come out very pretty, but who cares. It was really tasty.

Now, EoMEoTE wouldn't be what it is without the literary additions. This time, Jeanne asked that we'd choose a poet, and write something in that style. The only thing that came to mind was The Lady of Shalott, by Tennyson. I love this one! So, here's a very botched attempt to be funny:

It left the hen, off to its’ doom
It came to me, into my room
On a day of grey and gloom
I cracked the shell with a resounding boom
For the purpose of this post
I poached it in a pan so wide
And swirled the water from side to side
It could not resist, no matter how it tried.
And that was that, the egg was toast

And what the heck, let's go for one more.. Dylan Thomas, anyone?

Do not go gently into that simmering water. Old eggs should burn and rave at close of day. Rage, rage against the setting of the yolk.


Poached Egg on Turkey with Tomato Salsa
2 portions

2 slices of toast, toasted
2 eggs
6-8 thin slices of smoked turkey, sliced into strips
1 tsp olive oil
1 tomato
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp finely chopped onion
1 tbsp finely chopped red pepper
1 tbsp finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
salt, black pepper, sugar

Start by mixing the salsa. Just combine tomato, lemon juice, onion, red pepper and parsley in a small bowl, and season with salt, black pepper and a little pinch of sugar.

Heat the olive oil in a pan, and quickly fry the turkey strips. Poach the eggs, as well you can.

To assemble, place the turkey strips on the bread, add an egg, and top with salsa.

Pocherat ägg på kalkon med tomatsalsa

Weekend Cat Blogging #35 - Glinda and Ywette

Mother Ywette and daughter Glinda sharing a special moment

Check out more cats over at Clare and Kiri at Eatstuff!

Sunflower Cookies

I recently bought "Två Systrars Söta", a cookbook by Lisa and Monica Eisenmann who are the owners of The Cookbook Café. The first recipe to be tried from the book - Sunflower Cookies. I actually had one of these when I was last in the café for lunch, and wow, it was delicious. So, I knew I was in for a special treat when I made them myself.

The sisters write in the recipe that you should make a triple batch, because no one can stop eating these. True - oh, so true.

Sunflower Cookies

200 g butter
230 g sugar
4 tbsp golden syrup
160 g flour
110 g wholewheat flour
1 ts baking powder
2 tbsp vanilla sugar
90 g sunflower seeds + 2 tbsp

Preheat the oven to 175°C. Beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. (Keep the butter cold and in small pieces if you use a Kitchen-Aid or similar, or let the butter become soft if you beat by hand.) Add the syrup, and stir. Mix in all the dry ingredients, except for the two extra tablespoons of sunflower seeds.

Shape into flattened logs on lined baking sheets, and sprinkle with the reserved seeds. Bake for 15 minutes. While still warm, cut into large cookies on a diagonal. Transfer to a rack, and let them cool completely.

Sega Solrossnittar

Foodie Gifts: Australian Spice Pack

I just got a huge package from Australia! It's from Noodle Cook, and I got it for participating in Paper Chef! (my entry was a turkey fried rice with saffron.)

I can't believe how much cool stuff there's in here! And the cookbook looks amazing, too! I have to get experimenting, that's for sure.

Foodie Gifts: Starbucks

I don't believe that any readers of this blog have missed that I'm a real sucker for Starbucks. I love it. I can't help it - sure, they may be an evil corporation, but god.. the coffee. The coffee. And to be precise, the frappuccinos. I'm drooling just thinking about it. And it's a snowstorm outside. That's saying something.

Anyway. A friend of mine went to Florida for a work-related conference. Vicariously living through others, which I have to since there *is* no Starbucks in Sweden (and yes, I have indeed written to their corporate offices. I would, in fact, be happy to run a Swedish Starbucks. No problems!) I told him to go have some coffee for me. He did. And what's more, he brought some back to me! Frappuccinos aren't very portable, but I got the next best thing: beans. Yeay!

And another Meme...

Here's another fun - and fairly short meme - that I was tagged for by Clivia.

Which recipe do you consider the best you published?
Oh.. The very best? Tough. I'll go with what first popped into my mind, and that's the Chanterelle Risotto. Super tasty!

Which picture do you consider is the best?
I have quite a few favorites, but the one that I like the very best is the one of my Tea-Truffle Filled Raspberries. No surprise really, since I use that picture *everywhere*... I even have stickers and business cards with it! I am seriously considering putting it on the wall - I'm that proud! (But my Biscotti photo is a strong contender!)

Which is your most visited recipe?
I don't keep that detailed statistics, but one that always seems to get a lot of hits is for the Amazing Lasagna.

What is (are) the best savory recipe(s) you borrowed from an other blog?
I think the one I like the best is one that I adapted from The Accidental Hedonist, for Gorgonzola Pork with balsamic vinegar and Granny Smith Apples.

What is (are) the best sweet recipe(s) you borrowed from an other blog?
This is much harder. I'll name two: The Chocolate Oblivion Truffle Torte from Heidi, and the Earl Gray Tea cookies from Linda.

And who to tag? This was a nice, short meme that forced me to think a bit about my blogging, I like that. Let's tag... Johanna, from the Passionate Cook!