Sticky Cinnamon Buns: Daring Bakers strike again!

Ah, time for another Daring Baker's challenge! As someone who more or less grew up on cinnamon buns, I won't say that this month felt particularly daring - but fun nonetheless.

Swedish cinnamon buns differ from American ones - mostly in that they're usually smaller and individually baked in paper cups rather than in one pan, and that they never have icing. Instead, they're often topped with pearl sugar, and/or flaked almonds. The dough often contains cardamom (and I've never come across one with lemon peel, as this one had) and there's always, always lots of butter smothered on the dough rectangle before it's sprinkled with sugar and spices, and rolled up.



I learned to appriciate the American variety while living in Long Beach, CA. There's this little place called Sweet Jill's on Second Street, with the very best cinnamon buns ever. In fact, I drool a little just thinking about them. They're just huge - I bet one of those is probably enough calories to last an entire day. But what a wonderful treat to have once in a while! To have breakfast there at least once is an absolute must when I visit California. (Which really isn't often enough!)



Marce who chose the recipe from Peter Reinhart´s The Bread Baker´s Apprentice told us to use whatever spices we wanted. I went the easy route and used a ready-made spice sugar with white and brown sugar, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, vanilla and nutmeg.

You can find the recipe on Marce's blog, here. I opted for sticky buns, and I admit that I only made half the recipe - I was much too afraid that I'd eat them all! (Per is not a caramel fan.) And as I don't have anything called instant yeast, I just used normal fresh yeast - about 10 g for half a batch turned out to be right. I added a bit more flour than stated in the recipe to get the right consistency for the dough.



I got nine buns out of it, and it fitted quite nicely into my 8-inch square pan. I also made half a batch of the caramel topping - but oh my god, that was some seriously good stuff. I had to forcibly keep myself from eating it with a spoon! I also added some roughly chopped up almonds, but I skipped the dried fruit.



And the results? Well, while certainly very tasty, I have to admit that I found the dough itself a bit plain - and I missed not having cardamom in it. I also didn't like that the top of the buns - which became the bottoms, as the sticky buns are baked wrong side up - became a bit too dark and crispy. I prefer my buns pale and soft, so if I made this again, I'd probably cover them with something. The caramel glaze was delicious though - and I think it photographed beautifully!



Will I make them again? No, probably not. But I should make regular Swedish cinnamon buns soon - after all, October 4th is the official Cinnamon Bun Day in Sweden! That's how much we love them!

Don't forget to see what all the other Daring Bakers thought of this!

Black Currant Chicken

For some reason, I'm always hesitant when it comes to cooking chicken whole. I don't know why - it's not that it hasn't been successful in the past, it's just that I somehow think it's harder than it really is. And that goes for dividing a whole chicken as well - I usually opt for buying ready-cut pieces. Which is really quite stupid. But I do need to practise - because I just don't know the proper way to divide a bird, I just don't. Luckily, it doesn't matter all that much - after all, I'm a home cook, not a chef. (Although if I was a chef, I bet I'd know how to do it properly!)

Anyway. This is a really beautiful chicken dish I made a few weeks ago, for dinner with my sister and Peter the Sushi chef. It was hugely successful - we ate every last piece of it. Do use fresh or frozen currants if you have them - but if you don't, I think this will be fine just using cordial, too. That's what I'll be doing this winter!

Black Currant Chicken
Serves 4

1 fresh chicken
butter
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
5 small carrots, halved
5 small yellow onions
200 ml fresh or frozen black currants
10 sage leaves, large
100 ml blackcurrant cordial, undiluted
400 ml water
1 tbsp concentrated chicken stock
1 tbsp runny honey
black pepper

For the sauce:
500 ml stock from the chicken
2 tbsp soy sauce
2-3 tbsp corn starch
water - if it's too thick
salt, pepper

Divide the chicken into suitable portions. Melt the butter in a large, heavy-bottomed pot, and brown the chicken on all sides. Crush the garlic, clean the onions, and cut the carrots into smaller pieces. Add this to the pot, as well as black currants and sage.

Add cordial, concentrated stock, honey and water, and some black pepper.

Cover with a lid and cook on low heat for at least 30 minutes, but the chicken will be more tender if you cook it for an hour.

You need about 500 ml of the cooking fluid for the sauce, so pass that through a sieve into a small saucepan. Whisk in the corn starch and the soy, and bring to a boil. Let it simmer until it thickens, and add some water if it becomes to thick. Season with salt and pepper.

Put the chicken pieces, the onions and the carrots in a bowl (discard the rest of the stuff in the pot) and pour over some of the sauce. Serve with boiled potatoes, and more sauce.

Recipe in Swedish:
Svartvinbärskyckling

Cookbook Watch: Adventures of an Italian Food Lover

I know that a lot of bloggers have already raved about Faith Heller Willinger's lovely book; Adventures of an Italian Food Lover. This is really a gem of a book - if you like Italy, and Italian food. It has a different layout than most other books, and it focuses on the people rather than on the food. In a way - the food is still very much the focus, of course. After all, that's what this is about.

The book is divided by regions, and then further divided into starters, mains, desserts and so on (or rather, antipasto, primi, secondi, dolci) and with a nice section of text to each recipe, presenting the person behind it. I like Willinger's style of writing, and this is a great read for any foodie. It might not be a definitive Italian cookbook, but it feels more like a treasure chest of cherished recipe favorites - and I much prefer that.

The only thing I miss is photographs. The book is illustrated, and very nicely so, but I still really do enjoy photos of food in my cookbooks. Then again, this is not really a cookbook, in the classical sense. What this really makes me want to do is not so much cook, but travel. Oh, travel. For a long time. In Italy, obviously. She writes about all the places she visits, and the friends she has, in such a loving and heartfelt way that you immediately feel welcome in her life. Although I'm sure she won't want to have ten thousand readers show up on her doorstep in real life - but it sure feels like she'd be happy about it.

Caramelized Carrots

I had an absolutely lovely time in Tallinn! It was great to finally meet Pille, and it was a lot of fun to spend time with Kristina and Dagmar. We walked a lot, ate a lot and shopped a little bit. (Dagmar took a lot of photos, I just snapped a few - will show them later.)

Now, more about carrots. The post yesterday was a bit short, I know - I really meant to tell you how wonderful that easy preparation was. Cooking the carrots like that, with no water, turns them so juicy and flavorful. Really highly recommended!

For something entirely different, I served a carrot cake at a job function recently. A bought carrot cake, actually. However, I made some caramelized carrots for decoration, and I dare say that this turned something good-but-not-great into at least something pretty-great. And when I make my own carrot cake (I have to admit - I never have! Not for any particular reason really, I just haven't.) I will definitely make this again. I like the neon orange, and it's much easier than, say, sculpting tiny carrots from marzipan. (But if that's what you like, don't let me stop you!)

Caramelized Carrots

3 small or two large carrots
250 ml water (1 cup)
250 ml sugar (1 cup)

Peel the carrots and shred finely. I used a zester, to get fine, long strips. Combine sugar and water in a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Add the carrots, and boil for 4-5 minutes, until they turn a bit translucent.

Fish out the carrot strips with a slotted spoon, and set aside for now. Bring the sugar syrup to a boil again, and reduce until it thickens slightly. Add the carrots back in, put a lid on it, and remove from heat. Let it cool completely, then drain the carrots on some paper before using.

Recipe in Swedish:
Karamelliserad morot

Microwaved carrots

You need carrots, some salt, a little bit of butter, a bowl, and plastic wrap.

Slice the carrots thinly, and put them in a bowl with a little bit of salt. Cover with plastic foil - twice if your foil is thin. This has to be tight!

Microwave for 3-4 minutes (that's for about 2 carrots which is what I used), remove the plastic wrap (but be careful, it will steam!) and add a tiny bit of butter. Delicious!

Tasty marinades for pork

The grilling season is pretty much over, I know. However, there might be some sunny days left before we pack up the Weber, and I hope we can have at least one more barbecue party. We'll see! At least we sure ate a lot of grilled meat this summer. Here are two simple and good recipes for making pork really, really tasty. The first is a classic marinade, the second is really more of a brine. Pork really needs some spices or infusions to taste great - unless you're lucky enough to have a very good source of meat. The stuff I get at the supermarket definitely improves after some marinating. I'm contemplating get an instant vaccum marinater for next year - has anyone tried one of those?

I'm off to Tallinn with Dagmar and Kristina - to see Pille! A real food blogging trip - I'll be back to tell you all about it on Wednesday! (But I'll make sure something magically appears here tomorrow, so you won't notice I'm gone.)

Ginger Marinade for Pork
Makes enough for 1 kg

juice of 1/2 lemon
5-6 cm fresh ginger, thinly sliced
1/2 tbsp dried ground chilli, or about 2 small whole dried chillies, crumbled
2 tbsp runny honey
3 tbsp soy sauce

Mix everything in a large plastic bag or in your preferred container of choice. Add the meat, turn to cover well, and leave it for at least a few hours before frying or grilling the meat.



Tarragon Lemon Marinade
Makes enough for 1 kg

200 ml water
2 tbsp sugar
1,5 tbsp coarse salt
100 ml fresh tarragon (loosely packed)
3-4 fresh sage leaves
1 lemon - zest and juice
black pepper

Chop tarragon and sage. Mix the water with sugar and salt, and stir until it's dissolved. Add the herbs, the lemon zest and the lemon juice. Add the meat, and leave to infuse for about two hours. Remove, add plently of black pepper, and grill or fry the meat.

Recipe in Swedish:
Två bra marinader till fläskkött

HotPan

I love finding new, cool kitchen gadgets. One that I've encountered recently is the HotPan, produced by Kuhn Rikon in Switzerland, and in Sweden, sold by Roswi. In effect, this is a two-part pot. Innermost, a normal pot with a tight fitting lid, in stainless steel. It has a very thick and heavy bottom to ensure good heat distribution throughout. Outermost, a melamine bowl. The cool thing about that is that it works like a thermos.

So - what you do is put everything you're going to eat in the pot. Bring it to a boil, but only boil it for about a third of the time you normally would. Then place it in the bowl, and voila - it'll cook on its own, until finished. It will also keep warm for up to two hours, so you can cook something until it's finished, and then it'll wait until you're ready to serve it. Nice for dinner parties!

The main attraction here is definitely energy saving, but it's also convenient in general as you need to spend less time actively working in the kitchen, and the same time waiting for the food to be ready. An added bonus? I'd say the bright colors, they're really quite pretty.

I got to borrow an orange one from Roswi to try out, and I've been really pleased with it. Granted, I haven't tried a ton of things, but what I have tried has turned out very nicely. I've had great success with a lentil soup, and I did some long-cooked broccoli that was just excellent.

The drawbacks? It's not perfect for everything, of course. I'd say it's best for things where you can put all in at once, and just let it meld together. Like stews, or soups. It'd also be good for things that steam, like rice or cous-cous, and probably bulgur or wheat berries too. And I *think* it'll work really well for poaching things like salmon or chicken, but I haven't tried that yet.

So, do I want one of these? Yeah, kinda, sorta, I think so. I'll certainly miss the one I'm trying out! However, the biggest drawback is the price. These are expensive. Really. I'm not completely sure of the cost, but it's about the same as Le Creuset, if that tells you anything. They're also sold in fairly few places in Sweden so far, but I think you'll see them in more places soon. After all, energy saving is very popular, and I think that's the main feature these pans really have.

The HotPan comes in orange, black, blue, green and red, and with matching utensils and a special cookbook. There are five sizes - 1, 2, 3, 4.5 and 5 litres.

For exact information on price and where to buy, contact Roswi or if you're not in Sweden, Kuhn Rikon for information.

SHF #35 - Caramelized Figs with Spicy Yogurt

This month's Sugar High Friday is hosted by Ivonne at Creampuffs in Venice - a fellow Daring Baker! She has chosen a really interesting theme: figs. Now, I had to rack my brains a bit, because my loving husband does in fact not love figs. At all. And I had to work around that. In the end, I decided that he'd get someting else, and I got the figs all to myself. Easy. (He got nectarines, prepared in the same way. Nice.)

I didn't want to do something elaborate, because I'm not completely at ease with figs myself. (But very much looking forward to the round-up!) I think simple dishes are better, and roasting figs with a little bit of butter and sugar not only brings out the flavor, it also creates the most delicious syrup!

You could serve these with ice cream, or whipped cream, but I served them with a spicy yogurt instead. I used my homemade spice sugar - it's very nice to have a jar at hand.

Caramelized Figs
Serves 2

2 fresh figs
butter
muscovado or demerara sugar

Halve the figs. Dot with a tiny amount of butter, and sprinkle with some sugar. Caramelize in the oven at 225°C for about 10 minutes.

Spicy Yogurt
Serves 2

100 ml thick yogurt (Turkish or Greek style)
1 tsk homemade vanilla sugar (that'd be vanilla beans in a jar of sugar - very simple)
1-2 tsk homemade spice sugar
1 tsk lemon zest

Simply mix together, and chill before serving to let it thicken up a bit.

Recipe in Swedish:
Karamelliserade fikon med kryddig yogurt

Crunchy Raspberry Semifreddo

Finally Friday! (Didn't I write just that last week? Anyway, the sentiment is the same.) And time for something sweet. This one was actually a dessert a while ago, but as always, I rarely blog about things immediately after making them. In any case, this is really a lovely dessert. It takes almost no effort to pull together, and it can be prepared well in advance and kept in the freezer. Just remember to take it out a while before eating, or it will be much more "freddo" than "semi".

It has meringues which gives a great crunch, and I added half a jar of my gooseberry elderflower curd – yum! Just use lemon curd if you don’t happen to have anything home made around, it will be excellent.

Crunchy Raspberry Semifreddo
Serves 8-10

300 g raspberries, frozen and lightly thawed
300 ml cream (for whipping, so between 35-40% fat)
150 ml thick Turkish or greek yogurt
3 eggs
100 g sugar
100 ml gooseberry elderflower curd (or lemon curd)
100 g meringues, lightly crushed

Start by lining a loaf tin that holds about 1 litre with clingfilm.

Mix the eggs with the sugar over a pan of simmering water. Beat with electric beaters until it’s very fluffy and pale. Remove from heat and continue to beat until it’s almost completely white.

Beat the cream until fairly stiff, fold in the yogurt. Fold this into the eggs, and add the meringues. Mix carefully but gently.

Crush the berries and pour half into the prepared tin. Add the other half to the batter, and add the curd as well. Mix a little, just enough to give it a marble effect. Pour into the tin, and freeze – preferably overnight.

Recipe in Swedish:
Krispig hallonsemifreddo

Finally, Suovas

I've promised this for a while, so finally. I went to Smaklust a few weekends ago, a large food fair with locally produced food from all over Sweden. I also went to a workshop about suovas, a very special product that's part of the Slow Food Movement. It's from Lapland - the very Northern part of Sweden. Suovas is reindeer meat that's dry-salted and then smoked. Sometimes it's also dried afterwards for a short or long period of time. It's a family tradition, so all suovas is made slightly differently. It's traditionally made to be the perfect snack when you're out herding reindeers. Nowadays, I say it's just great food.

Laps eat a little at a time, and often. Food is not very ceremonial, but a necessity. And out of respect for the animal, all parts are eaten and taken care of, and are made useful. I like that sentiment.

The workshop was led by Piero Sardo who's the president of Slow Food, and he did a great job of guiding us all through the tasting of three different suovas, some lovey pickled chanterelles, a special Laplandish bread (similar to Polar-bread which is sold all over Sweden and in some other countries as well) and we also tried a beautiful wine, Ciliegiolo Sasso Tondo from Emilia-Romagna.

Top row:
Karsten Thurfjell (wine journalist) and Piero Sardo
Suovas
A Kåta, a traditional lappish tent where the suovas is being smoked

Middle row:
pickled chanterelles
more suovas (you can see the three different kinds here - the middle one is dried after smoking, and the third one is smoked for a longer time)
an ostrich egg and ice cream made from ostrich eggs. (Very creamy!)

Bottom row:
Coffee-cheese - a special kind of cheese made to put in your coffee. I know, it sounds gross. It was the first time I tried it and to my great surprise, it wasn't bad at all. It's sort of like a non-salty halloumi, it has the same squak.
Pastry chef Jan Hedh forming a swan out of sugar. I talked to him at a cookbook release party a few days afterwards, and he said that someone had come up to him after the swan-making, and asked him for the recipe. He had replied "two pounds of sugar". Heh.
Dalecarlian horses - but the blow-up kind. And the sign says "don't feed the horses". Cute.

Mediterranean Burgers with Zucchini

The Swedish term "pannbiff" is really one of the hardest ones to translate. It's ground beef, mixed with various things, and then shaped into a beef patty. But beef patties? Not a great term. And meatballs are not correct either - for me, meatballs are small and always round. So, I think I'll just call these burgers. Which is not really correct either. But hey, you get the gist of it. I hope.

This is a great weekday meal - it takes at the very most 30 minutes to put together. Probably less. Serve it with fresh pasta if you'd like, but dried will work nicely too.

Mediterranean Burgers with Zucchini
Serves 4-5

800 g ground beef
3 tbsp breadcrumbs (homemade if you've got it)
5-6 fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
grated peel from one lemon
2 tsp salt
1 tsp white pepper
5 sundried tomatoes, finely chopped
175 ml milk

1 zucchini
pasta

Mix all ingredients except for the beef, and leave to swell for a few minutes. Add the beef, and mix well but gently. Form round patties and brown them in a little bit of butter, then remove from heat.

Cut the zucchini into batons, and fry until golden, on high heat. Set aside.

Sauce:
750 ml cream - use a light option, unless you're feeling extravagant
15 sundried tomatoes, finely chopped
10 fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
3 tbsp capers
salt, pepper

Mix all ingredients in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the burgers, and let them cook through. It's ok to leave them for longer, but it will only take a few minutes. Add the zucchini right before serving.

Serve with pasta boiled in plenty of salted water.

Recipe in Swedish:
Medelhavsbiffar med färsk pasta och zucchini

Today, a poem

This Is Just To Say

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast.

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold.

-- William Carlos Williams

I love this little poem. And I love my gorgeous plums.

Asparagus Bacon Frittata with Manchego

Here's yet another recipe from Brunch by Marc Meyer - it's really turned out to be one of my favorite books this summer. We made this for an extra-special weekend breakfast a while ago, and it's really delicious! I happened to have some Spanish manchego cheese to use up, but you could substitute parmesan or pecorino if you'd prefer.

Asparagus Bacon Frittata with Manchego
Serves 1

3 eggs
salt, pepper
2 tsp olive oil
3 asparagus stalks
35 g bacon
1 tbsp grated manchego cheese

Turn the oven grill on, at the highest setting.

Boil water for the asparagus. Break off any woody ends, and cook for three minutes. Immediately transfer to a bowl of cold water, to stop the cooking.

Fry the bacon until crispy, and drain.

Beat the eggs with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a skillet on high heat. Add the eggs and lower the heat immediately. Fry like you would any omelet - gently move the edges that bake faster towards the center, and let the eggs run out towards the edges. When it's nearly done, arrange the asparagus, bacon and manchego on top, and pop the whole thing in the oven. Bake for 30-60 seconds, and serve right away.

Recipe in Swedish:
Sparrisfrittata med bacon och manchego

Weekend Cat Blogging - Ywette and Glinda

Big yawn.


I don't know who's hosting this week, but I had to show you some of the new pictures with my new lovely macro lens! I've only played with it for a few minutes, but I can tell that it'll be a great addition to my camera.


Ywette's paw.

In kitty-related news, I'm happy to tell you that Gisele had a very nice date last week. Keep your fingers crossed that we'll have some happy announcements in about three weeks!


Glinda.

Cookbook Watch: Café Operas Cocktail Book

Time for another cookbook in Swedish! This one is different in several ways. First, it's the first cocktail book to come out in quite a while. Second, it's the first good cocktail book I've seen in a *very* long time. Third, it's the first book by famous Stockholm hotspot Café Opera. And fourth, it came with a party.

Me and a lot of other people were invited to a release party at - of course - Café Opera. We were treated to many, many of the drinks from the book, and a buffet to go with it. Mind you, this was in the afternoon, and I had a meeting to attend, so I only carefully sipped a few cocktails, but tastewise, I'd have been more than happy to stay there all night!



This one is called a Bramble, and made with, among other things, blackberry liquor and gin.



Here's a Blueberry Sour, with vanilla vodka, lemon and blueberry liquor. Very, very yummy.



The food. Nice, but not spectacular.



Our table after a little while - I sat with some girls from Allt Om Mat, one of Sweden's largest food magazines. If you notice the martini glasses, with the etched lines? We each got one of those. I was very excited, as it was the very glasses I had fallen in love with, and had promptly put on my wishlist. So now at least I have one! (Orrefors Street.)

So, about the book then. I have to say - I really, really, really like it. It has great recipes, they're easy to understand, and it's a good mix of old favorites and new more innovative drinks. And it's categorized into "vodka drinks", "gin drinks", "rum drinks", "champagne drinks" etc - I like that. This book would make a great gift for the aspiring bartender!

It's only available in Swedish - at least for now - and it's published by Ica Bokförlag. Link to Adlibris, bookstore.

Gooseberry Meringue Pie

It's been a while since I blogged about something sweet (a very concious effort, I can assure you!) but after all, it's Saturday! And besides, I need to tell you about this lovely pie before it's too late and none of you can find gooseberries anymore. In fact, it might already be a bit late - but hopefully some of you have some, or at least some in the freezer. Frozen works just as well here.

The idea comes from a BBC Good Food recipe, and it made total sense to me. After all, gooseberries are tart and sweet, much like lemon, and treating them like lemons is not a very far stretch.

The pie crust will make too much for what you need, so just freeze any leftovers and use them for another day. And be aware that this is a fairly sweet pie, so serve it with strong coffee, in small slices.

Gooseberry Meringue Pie
Serves 6-8

Pie crust:
100 g butter
100 g sugar
20 ml milk
1 egg
200 g flour

Run butter, sugar, milk and egg in a food processor. Add the flour and run until the dough starts to form a ball. Let the dough rest in the fridge for at least an hour before rolling it out.

Filling:
50 g butter
100 g demerara or muscovado sugar
500 g gooseberries

Meringue topping:
2 egg whites
100 g sugar
1 tsp cornstarch

Roll out the pastry and line a greased pie dish. Use pie weights if you have them, and blind bake at 180°C (160° if using a convection oven) for 15-20 minutes, or until the pie shell turns lightly golden.

For the filling, mix butter and sugar in a large pot. When the sugar has dissolved, add the gooseberries and cook for a few minutes until they start to burst. Stir well and let it cool.

Beat the eggwhites for the meringue until fluffy. Add the sugar a spoonful at a time, and beat until stiff and glossy. Add the cornstarch.

Pour the filling into the pie shell and spread the meringue on top. Bake at 140°C (120°C with a convection oven) for about 40 minutes.

Recipe in Swedish:
Krusbärsmarängpaj

New Cookbooks

This is a great fall for cookbooks - SO many new ones are out, and many of them are really good. Here are three - I promise many more reviews to come. (Including Nigella Express and Jamie At Home - both on their way to me from the bookstore! Yeay!)



Njuta ("Enjoy!")
Håkan Lönnberg
Ica Bokförlag

Håkan Lönnberg is one of the more successful business owners within Ica, Sweden's largest chain of grocery stores. This is his first book, and it has all of his favorite recipes. All of them are easy to cook, and most are suitable for parties as well as for weekday cooking. And all of them has fairly easy-to-find ingredients. The photographer is Bruno Ehrs, who makes the food look really good - and I notice that they've been using the same pottery as I do, from Mateus - the brightly colored plates and bowls that I so often use. No surprise there really, they look pretty in pictures. (Which is partly why I have so many, of course!) The book is well structured, and I like that the author also gives suggestion for menus, and for suitable wine. I'm particularly keen to try his chocolate pancakes with vanilla ice cream, or maybe the reindeer tenderloin with parmesan soufflé!



Persiska Bufféer (Persian Feasts)
Maria Masoomi
Ica Bokförlag

Another book from Ica, and another book with the same photographer, Bruno Ehrs! His photos are really different in this book as compared to the one above though - this has many pictures of large spreads, and fewer large photos of the individual dishes. It's also shot outdoors, for the most part, rather than in a studio.

Maria Masoomi has worked with food for many years, and she's catered for tons of people. She know what works for a buffet - and what doesn't. What I really like about her book is not only that the recipes sound delicious, but also that she has a section about middle eastern (persian mostly) food habits that I found fascinating. Something I'm definitely going to try is Sekanjebin, a salad dressing with sugar, water, mint and vinegar that's supposedly also great with fruit. And another lovely-looking dish is broad bean triangles - sort of a tortilla. Yum!



Brownies
Linda Collister
Damm Förlag

And finally, a book that you can find in English. And I suggest you do, quickly! Linda Collister has written several books about sweets, but this is the first one to find its way onto my bookshelf. Brownies - I mean, really? Who can resist that? This essentially has three chapters: brownies, blondies, brownie desserts and then some sauces. And everything; EVERYTHING! - sounds brilliant. Really. I have no idea where to start. The choko rum brownies? The blondies with white chocolate and raspberries? Brownie cheesecake? Extra nutty brownies? (Probably those!) I better invite lots of friends over - quickly!

Saganaki

I got up very early this morning (3.30!) to drive my mother and two sisters to the airport. They're going to my mom and dad's house in Spain, just south of Torrevieja, for three weeks. Jealous? Just slightly. (Although to be fair, they did ask if I wanted to come.)

Saganaki is not Spanish, but a greek dish of fried cheese. The cheese used probably varies, but I used one that's marketed specifically as saganaki, made from goat's milk. It's extremely delicious - and although it's something I made right here at home, it'd also be the perfect holiday dish to eat in hot weather, under blue skies. Oh, I shouldn't complain - the sky outside my window is blue, too, and this weekend's weather forecast looks pretty good!

This is a pretty rich appetizer (come on, fried cheese?) so serve something fairly light for the main dish.

Saganaki
Serves 4 as an appetizer

300 g of cheese for saganaki (I bet a mild feta would do in a pinch)
100 ml (0.4 cups, but go ahead and just use 1/2 C) flour
1 egg, beaten
200 ml (0.8 cups, but no need to be exact) breadcrumbs. I suggest panko, Japanese breadcrumbs, they're much better.)

salt
fresh lemon wedges
salad
watermelon
olive oil

Cut the cheese into 12 sticks. Roll them in flour, then in the beaten egg, and finally in the breadcrumbs. Heat olive oil in a large frying pan, and fry the cheese until golden all around. You need to do this on fairly high heat, since the cheese will melt before you get a crispy surface if it's not hot enough.

Divide salad on four plates. Add the cheese sticks, and serve with wedges of lemon, flaky sea salt and if you'd like, some watermelon.

Recipe in Swedish:
Saganaki

Mustard Vinaigrette Potato Salad

You can probably tell by now that I have quite a backlog of summer recipes! I'll keep going for a while - bear with me. I promise to post more about fall-ish food soon, and about all my new cookbooks too. Just yesterday I picked up Kinna's book, which I wrote about a few days ago. I leafed through it when I got home, and it really is beautiful. She had a great pick-up-your-book-party, with coffee, loads of cookies and homemade dandelion wine. I only wish I could have stayed longer!

This salad was a real favorite this summer, I made it a lot. I'm really warming to the taste of mustard. I used to hate it, but now? Getting better, a lot. I still don't eat it as it is, but maybe soon - I don't know. For this one, you want a sweet, grainy mustard and not a smooth, dry one like Dijon.

Mustard Vinaigrette Potato Salad
Serves 4

600 g new potatoes
1 small red onion, sliced
1 handful of kalamata olives
1/2 small jar of capers
1 bunch of radishes, sliced

Mustard Vinaigrette:
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp sweet grainy mustard
1 garlic clove, crushed
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp dried thyme

Boil the potatoes until soft. Mix all ingredients for the dressing. Slice the potatoes while they're still warm and mix with the vinaigrette. Add all other ingredients and serve.

You can either use pitted olives (not recommended), pit them yourself (just smash them with a knife and pick out the stone) or leave the stones in, but make sure you warn your guests.

Recipe in Swedish:
Potatissallad med senapsvinaigrette

Cod with Chèvre Sauce and Beetroot

This is more of a sketch than a recipe. I had something similar in a restaurant last year, and it was delicious! I tried to make it myself and while very very good, I still don't feel that it's as good as the one I had. So, no recipe today, but feel free to experiment!

Basically - wrap a nice piece of cod or other firm white-fleshed fish with a thin slice of dried ham of some sorts. (Parma ham, serrano, something local - even bacon will do.) Fry it, or bake it, until the ham is crispy and the fish cooked through.

Serve with wedges of roasted beetroot, boiled potatoes, large caper berries and a sauce made with chèvre, goat's cheese. The sauce is where I didn't really find a perfect solution. I wanted something light, yet creamy and flavorful, and preferrably foamy like a cappuccuino. This was a bit more soupy and a little too watery. In fact, I can't even remember exactly what I did - it just wasn't very good. So, next time, I'll try harder. In any case, it's a great flavor combination.

Pimentón de la Vera Glaze & Bacon Spinach Salad

I know that I've written that summer is just about over, but supposedly it'll be warm again next weekend! Perfect, I really hope we can make something more on the barbecue before it's time to pack it all up. This is something we made this summer, and it's really tasty. The meat - any meat that you'd usually barbecue - is glazed with a smokey paprika sauce, and then served with a bacon spinach salad. Add some grilled asparagus if you can! Super tasty!

I use filmjolk, Swedish fermented milk that's somewhat similar to buttermilk and yogurt, in the dressing, but you can substitute regular yogurt. Pimentón de la Vera is a very special paprika powder, from Spain. For the glaze, make sure you use the picante version of the paprika, and not the sweet.

Both recipes are from Jonas Borsséns book "Killen vid Grillen", which translats into "The guy at the grill".

Pimentón de la Vera Glaze

150 ml red wine vinegar
75 ml demerara or muscovado sugar
1,5 tsp pimentón de la vera, picante
1/2 tsp salt

Mix vinegar and sugar and bring to a boil. Simmer over low heat for 5-10 minutes, or until slightly thickened. Add the pimentón and the salt, whisk well and boil for another minute. Remove from heat and let it cool, before liberally glazing meat with it during barbecuing. Use any remaining glaze as a sauce.

Bacon Spinach Salad
Serves 4

140 g bacon
160 g baby spinach
50 ml filmjolk or yogurt
2 tbsp dijon mustard
50 ml olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tsp red wine vinegar
salt, black pepper

Whisk olive oil and filmjolk or yogurt with the mustard, garlic and the vinegar. Season with salt and pepper. Fry the bacon until crispy. Arrange the spinach on plates or a large platter. Drizzle with the dressing and top with the crunchy bacon.

Recipe in Swedish:
Pimentón de la Vera Glaze & Spenatsallad med bacon

Another visit to Chaikhana

Jessika and I had tea at Chaikhana tea house a few weeks ago. Iced tea, this time, as it was extremely warm. I had a rooibos, delicious! And with it, this excellent hot sandwich, with both blue cheese and some sort of cheddar. Yum!



Chaikhana is well worth a visit if you're in town, and if you're a tea lover.

Puy Lentil Salad with Feta Cheese

Phew - almost one week without posting anything terribly unhealthy! See, I really can do that :) I cook way more healthy things than I bake or make desserts, but somehow, it's more fun to blog about the cookies, buns or ice creams, meaning that the other dishes sit unpublished for a while. Like this one!

I made this about two weeks ago, and it was really wonderful. Like I've said several times, I'm trying to eat more beans and lentils, and I've never had a problem with puy lentils or with green beans so this dish is perfect. I got the idea from an old Is My Burning, where I found a recipe by Moira who used to blog at Who Wants Seconds? I really like reading through old event round-ups - it's great for inspiration.

Puy Lentil Salad with Feta Cheese
Serves 2 as a main dish

100 g Puy Lentils
250 ml water (1 cup)
1 bay leaf
150 g haricot verts
1 large carrot, or two small
1 red onion
75 g feta cheese
bunch of coriander
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp runny honey
salt, pepper

Place lentils and the bay leaf in a small saucepan. Add the water and bring to a boil. Cover with a lid, and cook for about 20 minutes, or until the lentils are soft but not mushy.

Slice the carrot, and boil in salted water until the slices have softened but still retain some bite. Move to a bowl of cold water to stop the cooking.

Boil the green beans for 2-3 minutes in salted water. Immediately move them to a bowl of cold water to stop the cooking.

Dice the onion finely. Whisk together the oils, the vinegar, honey, salt and pepper for the dressing, and chop the coriander.

Rinse the lentils in cold water and drain. Put them on a large serving plate and toss with the beans, carrot, onion and coriander. Drizzle with the dressing and finish by crumbling over the cheese.

Recipe in Swedish:
Linssallad med gröna bönor och fetaost

An old favorite!

I don't re-post recipes all that often, so forgive for this one. It's just that this little salad is so perfect now that fall has arrived, it's the perfect thing to take you from summer to autumn in one smooth transition. I heartily recommend it.

Besides, I like the new photo a lot better!

Beet Salad
Serves 3-4

1 bag (about 100 g) of rocket or baby spinach
4-5 medium beets
150 g cheese - feta, chèvre or blue cheese, crumbled (blue cheese is the very best here)
100 ml (a little less than 1/2 cup) wheat berries
140 g bacon, diced
50 g cashew nuts

Dressing:
2-3 tbsp neutral oil
1/2 lemon, the juice
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1-2 tsp dijon mustard

Boil the beets - unpeeled - until soft. It'll take about 30-60 minutes depending on size, so make sure you check them. Small ones are done even faster. Peel (the peel is very soft, just rub them) the beets and cut into wedges. Meanwhile, boil the wheat berries according to instructions on the packet.

Rinse the rocket or spinach. Fry the bacon until crispy. Whisk together all ingredients for the dressing - and then it's all just a matter of assembly.

Dill Bread

Yesterday was a peculiar sort of day. Fun, but not my usual Wednesday at all! I had lunch with fellow food blogger Stellan, I went to a tasting of a new porter beer by Mariestads (which was served with oysters and chocolates!) with Chris and I went to a release party for a new cocktail book from the popular Stockholm night club Café Opera. Where they served free cocktails of course - the invitation said samples, but this was most definitely full sized drinks - and lots of them. And they were super delicious, too. The book looks extremely promising as well - I will tell you more about it in a few days. (I know, famous words coming from me, but really, I promise.)

Today, it's all about baking. Bread. This is the bread I served at our Crawfish party. It was really successful - dill goes so well with crawfish, and with much seafood so you could try it with just about anything. The dill flavour in these is quite pronounced. It's not something you'd have for breakfast - but it wouldnt' be half bad for a buffet-style dinner.

They're very easy to make, so even if you're not used to baking, you can definitely manage these.

Dill Bread
Makes 24 rolls

50 g fresh yeast
500 ml water (2 cups)
2,5 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
100 ml finely chopped dill (0,4 cups)
1 tsp dill seeds, crushed
720 g flour
50 g butter, thinly sliced

Crumble the yeast into a bowl. Add half of the water and stir until yeast is dissolved. Add the rest of the water, sugar, salt, dill and dill seeds. Stir well. Add the butter and the flour, and work into a dough. I gave it about five minutes in my Kitchen-Aid. It will be a fairly soft and sticky dough.

Transfer to a clean bowl, cover with plastic wrap (or a towel - but it will become sticky) and leave it to rise to twice the size. It rises quickly - mine took about half an hour.

Form small rolls, and place on a lined baking sheets or in greased muffin tins. Cut a cross in the top of each roll, and leave to rise under a towel for half an hour. Bake at 225°C for 8-10 minutes.

Recipe in Swedish:
Dillbröd

A perfect peach

This might be the best peach I've had this year. Or any year, possibly. See, it's homegrown. Well, not by me, but by a friend with a greenhouse. I'm pretty impressed - I had no idea you could grow peaches in Sweden. But apparently, it works just fine. It was incredibly flavorful, perfect ripe, and a lot more fuzzy than other peaches I've tried.

Garlic, Lime & Ginger Chickpeas

My goodness - this is my 1000:th blogpost! Wow! Time sure flies when you're having fun...

Today, I have a small side dish for you. I am not a fan of chickpeas (or any peas or beans, with few exceptions) but I'm trying to get around to liking them. This dish was actually really good, even my husband liked it and he hates chickpeas with a passion. So - it's worth trying !

Garlic, Lime & Ginger Chickpeas

1 can of chickpeas (400 g)
a thumbsized piece of fresh ginger
1 lime - the zest and the juice
1-2 cloves of garlic
3 tbsp olive oil
sea salt
chilli flakes

Rinse the chickpeas very well to get rid of the "can"-flavour. Drain.

Grate garlic and ginger, and mix with the lime zest, lime juice and olive oil. Stir in the chickpeas and season with salt and chilli.

Recipe in Swedish:
Kikärter med vitlök, lime och ingefära

Homegrown

Look! I am so lucky - these gorgeous chillis were given to me yesterday by my new friend Chris, who's a Swedish food blogger. We spent a few happy hours chatting and walking at Formex, a really big design fair in Stockholm to which we had both been invited. She grows her own chillis and I'm completely envious. I'll try it for next year!

The big green one immediately got finely diced and mixed with sharp Västerbottenscheese and red onion, and stuck between two tortillas to make delicious quesadillas. I don't know what to do with the rest, but I'm contemplating a big pot of this.

Hazelnut Chanterelle Risotto

Tonight's dish was created for Swedish food blogging event Cyberkocken, a take on Paper Chef, which in turn is a take on Iron Chef. Four given ingredients are combined into something delicious. This month, we were given rocket (arugula), any nuts, any mushrooms and green beans. I first thought about a salad, then about a pasta.. but I landed on a risotto, which is definitely one of my favorite kinds of dishes. This one turned out to be extremely tasty, so do try it!

I add half of the hazelnuts right at the beginning, so that they will soften. If you don't like soft nuts, just stir them in at last minute instead. And as always, I cook my risotto in a wide pot, on high heat. Just stir, and add stock whenever it looks dry.

Hazelnut Chanterelle Risotto
Serves 2

200 ml risotto rice (I use avorio or arborio)
1 litre chicken stock
1 onion, diced
50 ml dry sherry
100 g golden chanterelles
75 green beans
25 g rocket (arugula)
2 tsp runny honey
100 ml (small handful) parmesan, shredded
100 ml (small handful) pecorino, shredded
3 tbsp hazelnuts, toasted
butter
olive oil

Start by preparing a bit - bring the stock to a boil in a small saucepan, toast the hazelnuts and chop them coarsely, boil the green beans for three minutes and then plunge into cool water to stop the cooking. Cut them into smaller pieces. Rinse the rocket, chop it. Fry the chanterelles with some oil, chop them. (Save some for serving.)

Melt some butter in a large pot. Fry the onion until it softens a little, but before it turns brown. Add the rice and a splash of olive oil, and fry until the rice turns a bit brown. Add the sherry and let it cook into the rice. Add half of the hazelnuts.

Start adding stock, one ladleful at a time. Whenever the risotto looks dry, add more. You might not need all of it, it all depends on your rice. After 17-18 minutes, your rice should start to feel done. It should have be soft, but still have some bite.

Add the rocket, the chopped up chanterelles and the green beans. Add both kinds of cheese and the honey.

Serve topped with the rest of the hazelnuts, some more cheese and the reserved whole chanterelles.

Recipe in Swedish:
Risotto med kantareller och hasselnötter

Weekend Cat Blogging - Ywette

We're having our house re-painted, so the cats aren't allowed to go in their outdoor cage. Ywette is not very happy.

Glinda on the other hand is having fun getting to know the painters, through the window. (I don't have a photo of that, though.)

Head over to Paulchen's foodblog for more beautiful kitties and this week's round-up. This week, we remember all the darlings that are no longer with us. Me, I'm lighting a candle for Edith.