Balsamico-glazed Pork Tenderloin with Chanterelles

Got any chanterelles left? I still find them at the markets here, so hopefully you can too. Because if you do, this is the dish to make. It really, really is. It's so lovely, so fall-ish and so full of both color and flavor that you really owe it to yourself to make it. It'll cheer you right up - I promise!

The recipe comes from Ica, one of the largest grocery stores in Sweden. I've changed a few minor things, but it's still pretty much the same. You can serve this with anything you like, but I loved it with a potato-sunchoke gratin that I plan to give you the recipe for soon.

Balsamico-glazed Pork Tenderloin with Chanterelles
Serves 4-5

600 g pork tenderloin
2 cloves of garlic
100 ml balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp runny honey
olive oil
salt, pepper

200 g pancetta (substitute bacon if you must)
1-2 tart green apples
200 g chanterelles, cleaned
80 g rocket (arugula)

Brown the tenderloin all over, in some of the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Remove it to a warm oven (175°C) and let it finish there for 20-25 minutes.

Dice the garlic very finely, and mix with balsamic vinegar and honey in a saucepan. Add a pinch of salt and pepper, and cook until reduced and syrupy.

Dice the pancetta and apples. Fry the pancetta until it's crispy, then add the chanterelles. Finally, add the apple and rocket.

Slice the tenderloin and arrange on a platter. Drizzle with the balsamic glaze, and top with the chanterelle-pancetta mixture.

Recipe in Swedish:
Fläskfilé med kantareller och balsamvinäger

Food blog awards!

It's that time of year again... for a lot of things. And here's one! The Well Fed network are hosting the 2007 Food Blog Awards and the nominations just opened - so head over there and nominate your favorite food blogs!

Dilled lamb fricassé

Dilled meat is something with very Swedish flavours. It's sweet and sour at the same time, but not in an asian spicy sort of way but much more mellow. This dish can be made with lamb or veal, and it's something that you either love, or won't touch. I was firmly in the no-way camp until I actually tried it. And now I love it. And that's despite of the fact that I'm not a big fan of dill. Really, this is just a great dish - and if you're looking for something with a big Swedish flavour, this is definitely something to try.

As a bonus, it's really easy to make, but it will take a while to cook to make sure that the meat is very, very tender.

Dilled lamb fricassé
Serves 2

4-500 g lamb, I used a thick slice with a bone in the middle - not very tender
6 white peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1 carrot
1 yellow onion
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp butter
1-2 tbsp flour
500 ml (2 cups) stock, from boiling the meat
100 ml finely chopped dill
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp white distilled vinegar
salt, pepper

Peel the carrot and the onion, and cut into a few smaller pieces.

Place the meat in a small saucepan, and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, and let it boil rapidly for five minutes. Drain the water and rinse the meat. Clean the saucepan - then start over. Add the meat to the saucepan, as well as the onion, carrot, white peppercorns, bay leaf and salt. Add cold water to cover. Bring to a boil, cover with a lid, and cook on low heat for about one hour, or until the meat is very tender.

Drain the stock, and save 500 ml for the sauce. Shred the meat, and set aside for now. Discard the vegetables and the spices.

Melt the butter and whisk with the flour in a saucepan. Add the stock gradually, and then all of the dill, sugar and white distilled vinegar. Season with salt and pepper. (White pepper would be best here.)

Place the meat in the sauce, and serve with boiled potatoes.

Recipe in Swedish:
Dillkött på lamm

Turkey!

No time to write today - but here's a photo of the turkey. Carved. Sorry, again - I can't seem to remember to take a photo before carving it! Anyway - it was delicious, and once again I used Nigella's recipe. Worked wonders - the bird was brilliant, very moist and flavorful.

Crunchy Salad

After all that bread yesterday, how about a really yummy crunchy salad? This one is really super - perfect as a healthy lunch. And it's really good even in the winter, since this is when carrots are at their prime.

Crunchy Salad
Serves 2-3

2 large carrots, coarsely grated
1 small fennel bulb, thinly sliced
1 green apple, diced
1 shallot, finely diced
1 red bellpepper, diced
100 ml (about 0.4 cups) salted, roasted peanuts, rinsed

For the dressing:
100-200 ml thick yogurt
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tsp dijon mustard
2 cloves of garlic
2 tsp sugar
black pepper

Mix all the ingredients for the salad, and then everything for the dressing. Serve with a good bread - like that potato bread everyone wrote about yesterday!

Recipe in Swedish:
Knaprig sallad

Sticky Potato Bread. Ooops.

No, it's really called Tender Potato Bread. And it's the Daring Bakers Challenge for november 2007! And I'll admit it straight away. I cheated.

Yes. I did. Tanna specifically asked us to knead this one by hand but when it came to actually baking, which I did the night before Thanksgiving dinner and the night after my impromptu Christmas dinner, I just couldn't face the stickiness of it all. See, I *hate* kneading sticky doughs. I *hate* getting my hands all messy and.. well, I'm sorry. The Kitchen-Aid just does it so much better. So I did use it. I did. I know kneading by hand was part of this challenge, but I just couldn't muster the energy.

So, I used about 300 g of potatoes, and my go-to bread flour, which is called Manitoba Cream, and it's a rather strong flour. It really benefits from being *very* well kneaded, which gives a super gluten development. So, I let my machine knead it for quite a long time - about 15 minutes in total.

My dough was *very* sticky. Very, very, very, very sticky. I thought it was the way it was supposed to be, but... looking at pictures from other daring bakers, mine was a lot wetter. I have baked with wet doughs before, so I thought this was fine, but I realise now that it was probably too wet for what was expected. There was no way of shaping it, even by using extra flour. (That's what I get for cheating, by the way!) I pretty much dumped it in the greased tins, and that was that.

My bread turned out super!! It was very light and airy but with a pronounced chew and good substance. I made two loaves that I promptly stuck in the freezer to cheer up dark December mornings, and I made 24 mini rolls for Thanksgiving dinner, using my mini muffin tin.

I brushed the small rolls with some leftover egg yolk and water, and added a few grains of sea salt to each - that was it for adornment! And I have to tell you - it was absolutely devoured at dinner! Everyone loved it - even the teenager who made a face at hearing it was "potato bread". (I think she ate four.)



Don't forget to check out the Daring Bakers blogroll! You can see the challenge recipe here. Swedes - here's the version I actually used.

Recipe in Swedish:
Potatisbröd

Cooking up a storm!

Just a really quick note today - I'm busy in the kitchen, preparing a turkey and lots of food for a Thanksgiving dinner tonight with my family. I know it's not the proper date, but as it's not a holiday here, well - this is as close as we get!

To start off, I'm serving some spiced almonds, cashews and macadamias. The menu looks like this:

-Roasted turkey
-Roasted potatoes
-Cream sauce (from a carton, I'm afraid. I'm not Martha.)
-Apple Fennel Salad
-Sweet Potato Gratin
-Brussels sprouts with balsamic vinegar and bacon - using a recipe from Rachel Ray
-Apple Chutney, Maple Butter, Lingonberry Jam, Chilli Jelly - whatever condiments I can dig out from the fridge, essentially.
-tiny bread rolls

And for dessert, a nut truffle tart, that looks delicious in my fridge right now.

Yes - no stuffing, no cranberry sauce. We've tried. Not fans. So why bother?

Christmas came early this year

Or at least, we had christmas food early. Really early. Actually, last night. We just had such a hankering for it and I'm a firm believer in indulging. So, why not?

In this picture, you see a lot of traditional Swedish christmas food. (And some maybe not so traditional.) Many families eat a lot more stuff than this, but this is really all we need to have for a proper christmas. (And personally, I don't eat the herring, either.)

Back row, left to right:
-halved hardboiled eggs with mayonnaise, shrimp and black caviar
-christmas ham-boiled potatoes

Middle row:
-Liver paté (this one is seasoned with glogg-spices, like allspice - it was really quite tasty)
-Jansson's temptation
-Finnish Swede Bake

Front row:
-gravlax (cured salmon)
-meatballs and tiny sausages
-Christmas orange salad
-some condiments (two types of mustard and a dill-mustard sauce for the salmon) and two types of herring, one with mustard and one with dill.

Mocha Walnut Torte

This really is the festive season! Thanksgiving is just over in the US (but I'm having our annual dinner on Sunday, as usual), and christmas is around the corner. And I'm actually having a mini-christmas dinner today - a full month in advance! Why on earth..? Well, I happened to end up with a christmas ham. And some meatballs. And I decided that oh, why not. Let's eat some christmas food. So we will, tonight.

Anyway. It's also the season of many birthdays. Two important ones are coming up - my mom will be 70 on Christmas Eve (and she's got a Nintendo Wii on the top of her wishlist!) and my husband will have his birthday on Dec. 22. And my friend Tesse just celebrated her 30:th birthday, which brings me to the point: I made the cakes.

I'd had this recipe bookmarked for two years. Yes, I'm very patient. It was finally time to bake. The recipe is originally from Alice Medrich, but I've made some changes. First and foremost - no pecans. Pecans are ridiculously expensive, and I needed a LOT of nuts since I was making three cakes. So, I substituted walnuts, and that worked wonders. And the glaze - oh, the glaze! I made twice the recipe that I linked to and that made enough for the three cakes, so I've scaled it down for you. This is what you need for ONE cake. One delicious cake! Serve it with some whipped cream - it will go perfectly with the strong, dark flavors.

This is also an entry for Waiter, there's something in my topless tart!

Mocha Walnut Torte

180 g dark chocolate
160 g unsalted butter
4 eggs, separated into whites and yolks
170 g sugar, divided
250 ml (1 cup) ground walnuts
2 tbsp flour
1/8 tsp cream of tartar

For the glaze
200 g milk chocolate
120 ml heavy cream (35-40% fat)
1 tbsp instant coffee powder
1 tbsp (just barely) white syrup (corn syrup, in the original recipe)
30 g white chocolate, for marbling

Start with the cake. Melt butter and dark chocolate, in a waterbath or just in the microwave. Beat the egg yolks with half of the sugar, until pale and fluffy. Add ground walnuts and flour and mix well. Add the chocolate and butter, and mix some more.

Beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar until foamy. Gradually add the rest of the sugar, and beat until you have a stiff, glossy meringue. Add a few spoonfuls of this to the cake batter, and mix well to lighten the batter. Then fold in the rest of the meringue, gently but carefully.

Pour into a buttered pan (preferrably a springform so you can remove the sides) and bake at 175°C for 35-40 minutes. Test it with a toothpick - it should be moist, but not sticky.

Let the cake cool, then remove it from the pan, wash the pan, and place the cake back, but upside down. Let it cool completely before glazing. (You can prepare until this stage - the day before is fine.)

Plan on glazing the cake a couple of hours before you want to serve it, to give the glaze time to set. You can't place it in the fridge after glazing, or the glaze will become dull.

Mix the cream, syrup and coffee powder in a small saucepan and heat until the coffee has dissolved. Chop the milk chocolate, and add it to the hot cream. Stir until smooth, then pour over the cake. (It really helps to have the cake in the pan for this, or the glaze will slide right off. It sets after a while.)

Melt the white chocolate, and pipe it artfully onto the cake. Or do what I did - make circles, then use a toothpick to draw lines from the middle out towards the edges.

Recipe in Swedish:
Mockavalnötstårta

Porter Stew

Porter is a dark beer - somewhat similar to a stout, but not the same. A stout was originally called a stout porter - an extra strong porter. (You can read more about it on Wikipedia.)

I'm not much of a beer drinker, and porter is particularly dark and heavy - not my style at all. However, it's brilliant for cooking! I used Mariestad's Porter for this stew, but if you can't find that, any porter will do. Or in a pinch, I suppose any dark beer. But then it wouldn't really be a porter stew anymore, would it?

Porter Stew
Serves 5-6

1 kilo stewing meat, cubed
2 large yellow onions, sliced
3 cloves of garlic, sliced
4 shallots, halved
4-5 carrots, thinly sliced
neutral oil for frying
3 tbsp flour
330 ml porter
200 ml water
3 tbsp black currant cordial
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp concentrated veal stock (other concentrated stock is fine, or just omit.)
1 tbsp dried chanterelles, or other dried mushrooms
1 tsp dried thyme

Heat some oil in two large pans. In one of them, fry the onions and garlic on very low heat for about an hour, until they're lightly caramelized. (Skip this step if you must - it's not necessary, but it does add to the flavour.)



In the other pot, brown the meat over high heat. You can do it in batches, or all at once if you have a large pot. Add the flour, and turn to coat evenly. Add porter, water, black currant cordial, balsamic vinegar, concentrated stock and thyme. Let it cook, covered, for a total of three hours. Add the onions when they're caramelized. (Or if you're skipping the caramelizing - just add them before the flour.)

Add the carrots and the halved shallots after half the time has passed - about an hour and a half. Crumble in the dried chanterelles at this time, too.

Serve with boiled potatoes, and if you have some black currant jelly, or some pickled beets, they'd be lovely with this.

Recipe in Swedish:
Portergryta

White Sourdough Bread

I'll tell you straight away. This is not a quick bread. Nor is it a very simple one. Not that it's hard - no bread is really hard to make - but you need patience and a bit of confidence. And an active, happy, bubbling wheat sourdough. And, let me assure you, it's well worth the work. This makes a surpremely chewy bread with a strong crust and a very pleasing crunch and slight sourness.

White Sourdough Bread
12 small breads

day 1 (evening)
400 g water
400 g strong white bread flour
200 g wheat sourdough
7 g fresh yeast

Mix everything. Let it stand at room temperature for an hour, then cover and place in fridge overnight.

day 2 (morning)
300 g water
600 g strong white bread flour
25 g fresh yeast
20 g salt

Mix everything without the salt, and add the starter dough from the day before. Run in a kitchen-aid or similar for seven minutes. Add the salt, and work for three more minutes. (If you knead it by hand, it will take twice as long.)

Leave the dough to proof in an oiled, covered bowl for two hours. Pour the dough - it will be quite loose - onto a floured surface and divide into neat small breads. You might need more flour to shape them, but try not to handle them too much.

Leave the breads to proof for 30 minutes, on baking sheets.

Heat the oven to 275°C. When it's warm, place the breads in the oven and immediately lower the temperature to 250°C. Use a spray bottle to spray some water into the oven. Do this every five minutes, it will create a crustier surface for the breads. Bake at a total for 15-18 minutes.

(You can use a pan of water, or ice, to create the steam instead, but I prefer using a spray bottle.)

Recipe in Swedish:
Sega portionsbröd med surdeg

Chicken Curry Soup

I seriously feel like I haven't been cooking for weeks. I know I must have, but it's all a bit hazy. And I can't remember anything. Good thing I have lots of earlier stuff that I haven't written about yet. Sometimes people ask me if I ever run out of material. No. I can't see that happening. But I *do* need to get back in the kitchen - I am way too stressed out and I've had too much stuff planned for the evenings. Not a good idea - I really need to just.. relax.

So - let's try to achieve that with this nice, hearty, warming soup, ok? Don't get put off by the long list of ingredients - it's mostly spices.

Chicken Curry Soup
Serves 3-4

300 g chicken breast (or thighs), finely diced
2 carrots, thinly sliced
2 cloves of garlic, finely diced
1 yellow onion, diced
1 small fresh chili, finely diced
1/2 tbsp butter
1 tsp curry
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tbsp concentrated chicken stock (can totally be omitted if you don't have it)
5-600 ml water
5 tbsp barley
2 green apples (tart), diced
1/2 lemon, juiced
100-150 ml cream (any fat content that you're comfortable with)
salt

Heat the butter in a pot. Fry onion and garlic on medium heat until they brown slightly. Add chili and all the dried spices. Add the chicken, the chicken stock and about 500 ml of water. Add the barley and the carrots. Bring everything to a boil, cover with a lid and let it simmer for 40-50 minutes.

Mix the apples and the lemon juice, and set aside for now. Add these to the soup towards the very end, so they still retain some crunch. Let them simmer for about ten minutes - then finish by adding the cream, and seasoning with salt and more spices if you like.

Recipe in Swedish:
Kycklingcurrysoppa

Tomatin Whisky

It'll be a short post today. I'm in an all-day meeting, for the local parliament. (For the record, the food isn't all that.. lunch was nice though - baked salmon with rice and I think some kind of lime-wasabi sauce.)

Anyway. Whisky! I rather like whisky, but not as much as my husband who's a big fan. Only single malt makes it into our cupboard though, and it's pretty much just Scottish ones. (Although I snuck in an Irish one a while ago.) This one is pretty new to at least the Swedish market, but Tomatin is a big distillery, and they've produced a lot for different kinds of blender whiskies.

It's really smooth - and like all highlands, not especially peaty or smokey. It has a nice sherry finish, and I really recommend this to anyone who likes whisky, but does NOT like the overly smokey ones from Islay. (Personally, I think they're way too smokey - sort of reminiscent of licking an ashtray. Not very appealing.)

Oven Pancake with Apples & Bacon

Pancakes is one of the very favorite family foods in Sweden - and while it's usually thin, Swedish pancakes that's on the menu, sometimes it's much more convenient to make a thick oven-baked pancake. And this is great too! It's usually more savory than the thin kind (which is often served with jam and whipped cream) and I like to put apples and bacon in mine. However, I like to eat it with something sweet - jam, or why not maple syrup? It's delicious!

Oven Pancake with Apples & Bacon
Serves 4

140 g bacon, diced
2 apples
1 red onion
4 eggs
300 ml (1,2 cups) flour
800 ml (3.2 cups) milk
salt

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Put the diced bacon in a large, rimmed oven pan. Place in the oven for about five minutes.

Meanwhile, peel and slice the apples, and slice the onion thinly. Add the apples and onion to the pan in the and let it brown for a few more minutes.

Whisk together milk and flour, add the eggs and a pinch of salt. Pour this into the pan, and bake for 20-25 minutes until it's nicely browned and cooked through.

Recipe in Swedish:
Ugnspannkaka med bacon och äpple

Lime Pineapple Sorbet

I realise that a frosty citrusy dessert might not be exactly what people crave this time of year, but personally, I'm always up for something light and refreshing after a heavy dinner, and this is really a nice dessert to have. I like to serve it with some kind of seasonal fruit - I used nectarines when those were in season, but feel free to substitute something else.

Lime Pineapple Sorbet

1 small jar crushed pineapple in juice
600 ml water
150 g sugar
1,5 lemons, juiced
4 limes, juiced
the zest of 1 lime, finely grated

Use a blender to puree the pineapple and its juice, until smooth. Mix half the water with the sugar and lime zest, and heat until the sugar has dissolved. Add the rest of the water and the pineapple, and leave until completely cold, preferrably in the fridge over night.

Juice the citrus fruits - just before making the sorbet or they will lose a lot of that fresh flavor you're after. You should have about 300 ml of juice in total. Mix with the pineapple-sugar solution, and taste it - you might want a bit more sugar or more lime. Then run the whole thing in an ice cream machine until it's as frozen as you like. This is actually nice with a slushy thickness.


Marinated nectarines

4 nectarines, thinly sliced
2 tbsp Pineapple Sourz liqueur - or something similar
1 tbsp Rose's Lime Cordial

Mix everything, and place in the fridge for a few hours. When serving, spoon some nectarines into bowls or glasses, and top with the sorbet.

Recipe in Swedish:
Lime och ananassorbet

Speaking of gifts...

Lena just got back from another trip to the US - San Diego this time. I'm so envious! She brought me goodies! A powdered-sugar shaker from Williams-Sonoma, Skittles, Almond M&M:s (I'm surprised I had time to take a photo before wolfing them down!), Jelly Belly beans and a big, big, big block of yellow fake-cheese. Lovely! (That one is not in the picture - it's in the fridge.) I also got a yummy body cream from Bath & Body Works (I really love their stuff!) and a Williams-Sonoma catalog, oooh.



Like the idea of homemade gifts, but you don't really want to actually.. make them? Well, you can buy this beautiful heart-shaped pot holder (suitable for both right-handed people as well as lefties, as it can be turned inside out!) that's handmade by Jenny Jurnelius. I really love it - it's so pretty, and it comes in many colors so you can be sure to find one that will match your kitchen! Jenny has a homepage, and she'll ship internationally! She also makes unique hats - I'm going to the Street Christmas Market to check them out in person, and of course, to say hello!

Homemade gifts

I saw a very cool thing at my friend Nikka's blog. (Not much about food, more about sewing.) It's a giveaway! Here's how it works: "I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog."

So, you do need a blog to play, but it doesn't need to be about food. You must promise to send out three homemade gifts, and for that, you'll get one from me sometime in the next year. Exciting, isn't it?

You can live anywhere in the world, it doesn't matter at all. So, come on - it's gift-giving time!

Street Food

Recently, Stockholm got a new restaurant. Well, it happens every day, but this particular one is called Street Food and it's a concept by the rather famous Swedish chef Marcus Samuelsson who's the owner of Aquavit in New York. The restaurant is conveniently located at the central train station, and it's run by SSP who also owns tons of other restaurants. The plan is that a few more of these will open, at the airports, and eventually, in other places as well. The idea is to serve high quality street food from around the world.


Marcus Samuelsson, and the president of SSP

I was there for a special press event, and had the opportunity to try many things from the menu. I have to tell you - this is good stuff! I was especially fond of the pizza, where the bread comes from Johan Sörberg who wrote the book I told you about yesterday. His bakery, Riddarbageriet, is definitely one of the best ones in Stockholm. And he's developed not only the pizza, but also the hamburger and hot dog buns. (Which were good, but not as spectacular as the pizza.)



In addition to more mainstream food like pizza, burgers and hot dogs, you can also get ribs, satays, soups, salads and soft tacos. There are several side orders to choose from (try the cole slaw - it was delicious!) and for drinks, there's lingonberry cordial and freshly squeezed apple juice.



Some people have complained about the serving sizes. I asked Marcus Samuelsson about that, and he replied that they don't want to over-feed people, and also serve better food so that they won't need as much. Well, I still say that if people are still hungry when they leave, they might not want to come back. So, perhaps a small adjustment is in order. But I don't know, it's not my restaurant.



Oh - and another thing that was great in theory but not so great in reality: wooden utensils. I love the idea. But not the mouthfeel. However, that's a minor thing. And the pizza will have me coming back, for sure. There was also a very exciting array of sauces and spices that you could add to your order to make it more personal - and that's something I just love.

Stockholm Sourdough

I really do love baking bread. Sourdough is something I try to experiment with - sometimes successfully, sometimes a little less so. I'm using a sourdough starter from 1847 right now - I ordered it off the Internet for $1, and so can you. Just check it out here - it really does work, and it makes a lovely sourdough. I have it bubbling in my fridge right now - and I have a lot, so you will see several sourdough recipes on the blog over the next few weeks. This particular bread is from Riddarbageriets Bröd, one of my favorite bread books. It's written by Johan Sörberg, who's simply a brilliant baker.

Stockholm Sourdough
Makes 2 loaves

Day 1:
150 ml water
150 g wheat sourdough
200 g wholewheat flour

Mix everything, and work in a Kitchen-Aid (or similar) for 5-6 minutes on low speed. Cover with plastic and place in the fridge over night. (12-20 hours)

Day 2:

The starter from day 1
440 g high protein flour
250 g water
8 g fresh yeast
8 g light syrup (corn syrup works, or maple syrup, or even honey)
15 g salt

Mix everything except for the salt, and work in a Kitchen-Aid (or similar) for two minutes on low speed, then 6 minutes on a higher speed. Add the salt and work for four more minutes. Leave to proof for 2 hours.

Divide the dough into two, and shape into nice loaves. Place on a baking sheet to proof, covered, for 1,5-2 hours. Heat the oven to 250°C.

When the bread has risen, make a few shallow cuts in the tops. Place the loaves in the oven and at the same time, use a mister to spray in water. (This will make it nice and steamy, and that will help the bread develop a good crust. Lower the heat to 220°C and bake the breads for 25-35 minutes depending on the heat of your oven and how dark you like your breads. Keep misting with water every five minutes or so if you'd like.

Recipe in Swedish:
Riddar Sour Stockholm

Coconut Cauliflower

Here's a really simple dish, great for a fast lunch, or a quick dinner if you're not particularly hungry. It's satisfying, and a good way to get lots of veggies. The recipe comes from the Swedish cookbook "Köp Hem 5", and I think this particular recipe is written by Alice Brax who has an excellent food blog of her own.

Coconut Cauliflower
Serves 4

1 tsp oil
2 tsp curry
1 tsp cumin
4 tbsp coconut flakes
1 small head of cauliflower, in florets
400 ml (about 1.6 cups) cabbage, shredded

Fry curry, cumin and coconut in oil. Boil the cauilflower in salted water for 3-4 minutes, and the cabbage for just one minute. Drain, and add to the curry mixture, and fry for a few minutes. Serve with bulgur or rice, and a simple dressing with thick yogurt, cucumber, salt, garlic and fresh coriander.

Recipe in Swedish:
Currykokos med blomkål och vitkål

More about canneloni!

I actually made a different kind of canneloni the other day, too. And you're not getting the recipe for this one either, as it's my friend Félines special recipe, and I'm not so sure she wants to share it with the world just now. Very tasty but not very photogenique! It has beef and mozzarella filling, a rich tomato sauce and a yummy strong cheese sauce on top.

Sunchoke Carrot Soup

Ah, today is really quite cold - definitely below zero. We just got back from a long walk, and are about to cook some food. This soup would have been a strong contender (if we didn't already have other plans) because it's really just the thing on a cold day. It's simple to make, with strong, clean flavors, and it's nice and creamy. As a bonus, it's a sunny yellow. And it goes perfectly with some crispy fried bacon on top. What's not to love?

Sunchokes are also known as jerusalem artichokes, and they're funny-looking tubers that are a bit of a pain to peel. But they're super tasty, and well worth the trouble!

Sunchoke Carrot Soup
Serves 2, generously

1/2 yellow onion
2 carrots
2 parsnips
200 g sunchokes
water
salt
cayenne pepper
1 cube of vegetable bouillon
1 tsp olive oil

Cut all the veggies into smaller pieces. Place in a pot with a teaspoon of oil, and fry for a while. Add water to cover, and add the bouillon. (You can skip it if you don't have it handy, it'll still taste great.) Bring to a boil, cover with a lid, and boil for 20 minutes or so on low heat until the vegetables are cooked. Blend with a stick blender until smooth, and add water until you get the texture you want. Season with salt and cayenne pepper. And serve with bacon, if you'd like. (Something salty on top goes so well with the fairly sweet soup.)

Recipe in Swedish:
Matig rotfruktssoppa

More about Innocent

I professed my love for Innocent Drinks a short while ago. Well, I didn't tell you then, but I also recieved a couple of Innocent books from one of their lovely staff in Denmark! (Hi Emma!) And I am so excited, especially about the big smoothie book. It's packed with smoothie recipes - and it has plenty of "genuine" recipes for smoothies that are actually produced and sold by Innocent. So, if you can't get them in the stores, you can make them yourself! Well, involving *quite* a bit more effort. :) My main obstacle is that I don't have a juicer. I'm thinking about buying one, but I'm a bit hesitant - first because I don't know where I'll keep it, they're pretty big. Second because I'm pretty sure that I want a fairly pricey one to be content with the performance, and that means I actually have to pay up. So, well, we'll see. Maybe. Or maybe not.

Anyway. The book has loads of recipes that you don't need a juicer for too, and it's fine to start with a base of bought apple or orange juice. It might not be as good, but hey, it's definitely more convenient. And there are fairly decent juices to be bought these days. So, if you're a smoothie fan - do check out this book. What I particularly like is that it's (almost) all fruit. Smoothies in Sweden usually include yogurt, and as I'm not a big yogurt fan, I'm glad Innocent sticks to fruit for their smoothies. (Calling their yogurt-based drinks for "thickies".)

The small book is a very cute one - stay healthy, be lazy. That pretty much sums it up. I passed it on to my friend Pia who is also a fan of Innocent - share the joy!

Espresso Caramels

My friend just asked if it's too early for christmas candy. No, of course not! Or.. is it? Oh, who cares? Life is too short.

These divine espresso caramels come from Heidi at 101 cookbooks, and I love that it's such a simple recipe. Just four ingredients! Now, that's my kind of candy. These caramels are slightly smokey, and surprisingly, I find them almost chocolatey. It must be the color fooling me, because obviously there's no chocolate in them. It wouldn't be bad to dip them in dark chocolate though - that's definitely a good idea for christmas candy!

Espresso Caramels

250 ml (1 cup) heavy cream (35-40% fat)
250 ml (1 cup) honey
1 tbsp ground espresso coffee
1 tsp sea salt

Mix cream, coffee and salt in a small, heavy saucepan. Warm until almost boiling, then add the honey, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat a little, and boil until you can do a firm ball test (a drop of the caramel in cold water should be a fairly firm ball). Use a thermometer - it should reach about 130°C.



Pour into a small oiled or lined pan, and leave to cool before cutting into smaller pieces. Wrap in greaseproof paper.

Recipe in Swedish:
Espressokola

Romaine Lettuce with Peanut Dressing

I know, this is a not so great photo, but don't let that deter you from making this salad. Because it's special. It really, really is. In that I could eat a truckload of this. And nothing else. It's just so very tasty. If that's not enough, how about this - it takes about two minutes to make. I promise.

This one is also from Pink - definitely one of my favorite books this season.

Romaine Lettuce with Peanut Dressing
Serves 2

1 head of romaine lettuce
1/2 clove of garlic, minced
1/2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1,5 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3-4 tbsp peanut butter
2-4 tbsp water

Whisk all the ingredients for the dressing. Rinse the lettuce and tear it into nice chunks. Drizzle with the dressing. And if you're feeling spicy, add some finely chopped fresh chile!

Recipe in Swedish:
Romansallad med jordnötsdressing

Chanterelle risotto

It's that time of year again! Chanterelles are everywhere, although it's apparently not a great mushroom year. I do my picking at the grocery store rather than in the woods, and my favorite thing to make is this chanterelle risotto. I've told you about it before, but it's been a while! Here's the recipe as I made it last time, slightly different, but not much, from the old one.

Chanterelle Risotto
Serves two, generously

olive oil
butter
150 g arborio rice
125 ml white wine
1 litre of chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
1 yellow onion, diced
1 clove of garlic, minced
200 g golden chanterelles
handful of parmesan

Fry the golden chanterelles in a pat of butter until some of the moisture is evaporated. Set aside. Start the actual risotto by frying the onion and garlic in a little bit of oil (or butter, if you prefer). Bring the stock to a boil. Add the rice to the onion, and let fry for a couple of minutes, until lightly browned. Add the wine, and stir while it all evaporates.

Then proceed as usual, adding the stock one ladle at a time. Stir more or less constantly, and let the stock slowly melt into the rice. As soon as it looks dry, add more stock. Keep tasting - it'll take about 20 minutes. You might not use all the stock, and you might need more (just use hot water). It's impossible to tell in a recipe, really.

When it's pretty much done, add the golden chanterelles. Finally, stir in the parmesan, and if needed add salt, pepper, honey or lemon juice if you want it more salty, peppery, sweet or sour. All up to you!

Recipe in Swedish:
Kantarellrisotto

Broad Bean Bacon Pasta

I know, I know. Broad beans again? Well, since this is really the only bean I enjoy, I have to say.. yes. Broad beans. Again. Really. It's too bad that the season is pretty much over. I have some frozen ones still in the freezer, but other than that, it's looking a bit grim.

Anyway. This pasta is another delicious way to eat broad beans. You could substitute some bright green peas if you'd like - that's be really good too. I wouldn't use any other beans though - or hey, possibly some edamame.

Broad Bean Bacon Pasta
Serves 4

300 g tagliatelle pasta
70 g bacon, diced
1 onion, diced
800 g fresh broad beans (unpodded weight)
100 g mangetout or sugar snap peas
70 g blue cheese
200 ml crème fraîche
black pepper

Boil the pasta in plenty of salted water. Fry the bacon and the onion. Pod and peel the broad beans, and either add directly to the bacon, or blanch briefly in boiling water. (Some people get tummy aches from uncooked beans.) Sliver the mangetouts and add them as well. Crumble in the blue cheese, and stir in the crème fraîche. Finish with plenty of black pepper, and stir in the cooked pasta. Enjoy!

Recipe in Swedish:
Pasta med bondbönor och bacon

Broad Beans & Serrano

Not exactly cooking - but mix lightly cooked broad beans, podded and peeled, with some shallots, and garlic in some olive oil and sherry vinegar. Add strips of serrano ham. Eat with some great bread, and it'll be one of the best quick meals you'll ever have. At least that's my opinion.

Cooksister Jeanne has more detailed instructions. I added the sherry vinegar to her recipe, and used a little less oil, but otherwise, pretty much the same thing. Very delicious!

Weekend Cat Blogging - Gisele

I don't show photos of Gisele very often. She's Glinda's full sister, and while we still technically own her, she lives with my aunt. And, she is, hopefully hopefully hopefully pregnant! We're not completely sure - but with some luck, she'll give beautiful babies in a few weeks time.

We're hoping for a mini-Edith.

Baked Apple

I feel that sometimes we forget the simple things in life. And in cooking. Often, there's a rush, a strain to always experience new things, exciting things, unusual things. But let's not forget that sometimes, simple and old-fashioned can be just as good. Or even better.

This simple baked apple makes a wonderful dessert on a cold day. Serve it with cold vanilla sauce, or ice cream.

Baked Apple

1 apple, peeled and cored
1-2 tsp butter
1-2 tbsp almonds, chopped
2-3 tsp spice sugar (or use a mix of cinnamon and sugar if you don't have any spice sugar at hand. But you *should* make some!)

Place the apple in a small oven-proof dish. (I use ramekins from Le Creuset.) Push butter and almonds into the hole. Top with the rest of the almonds, if you like me can't fit them all inside. Sprinkle with spice sugar. Bake at 175°C for about 30 minutes, or until the apple is soft.

Recipe in Swedish:
Ugnsbakat äpple

Cookbook Watch - a little bit of this, a little bit of that...

I have four very different books to tell you about. Very, very, very different. From each other, that is. And, from the rest of the market, too. First, a book by Swedish food enthusiast (and blogger!) Lisa Förare Winbladh. It's called Ditt Nya Skafferi (="Your new cupboard")and it's published by Damm.

This is a truly beautiful book for those who love food, but it's not for the faint of heart. It contains tons of ingredients you've never heard of before (well, at least new to me!), and wonderful southeast asian-inspired recipes. And, what makes this truly different is Lisa's insightful advice and knowledge about all of this. She searches for the genuinely best, and gives you advice on what dates to use and why, what goji berries really are and why you should use them, and that dried shrimps can be kept in the freezer, to keep the scary smell away until you want to use them.

I was lucky enough to be invited to the release party, and thus lucky enough to taste some of the wonderful food. Well, I was also a recipe tester (albeit a not very good one, as I have a hard time sticking to a recipe without making modifications!) and have posted pictures of some of the food that I've made here here and here. So what's the first thing I'll make? Well, I think it'll have to be Bak Kut Te - a brothy, spicy, warming soup. And for dessert, brownies with orange blossom water and pistachios!



Enough with the books in Swedish, please! Yes, I know - many of you don't speak Swedish and are not so interested in the Swedish cookbook scene. Sorry. Well, this one is for you then! It's called The New Art of Japanese Cooking by Chef Masaharu Morimoto (published by Dorling Kindersley). Japanese food? Ah, sushi? And tempura? That's it, right? No. It's not. It's so much more. And this book really showcases that. It's playful, it's inspiring and it's fun. And it's, I'm sure, delicious.

Me, I'm dying to make gyozas with bacon-cream reduction. How tasty is that?! Or frozen lettuce with a caesar salad dressing?! Well, it's something I've definitely not thought about before, and that's why this book is so interesting. Chef Morimoto is well known as a celebrity chef, as he is Japanese Iron Chef on Iron Chef America. And he has restaurants all over the world. And now, a cookbook. That you should have, if you're at all interested in Japanese food, or at least in modern, playful cooking.



Not feeling up to all that complicated cooking? Well, that's ok. This little book is called Köp Hem Fem (="Buy Five") and it's a book from Allt Om Mat which is also one of Sweden's largest food magazines. (Published by Prisma.) Each and every recipe here contains no more than five ingredients (apart from certain cupboard staples) and everything is easy to find in your local supermarket. No need for specialty shopping here!

This book is certainly not a great read, like the others I've mentioned. It's nothing to leisurely leaf through and dream about all the food - but it's practical, and that's nice too. It has fast, simple every day recipes and that can be very good when you're not particularly inspired to "play in the kitchen" and just want something good to eat.

I also really appriciate that Allt Om Mat has a test kitchen, and really works through each and every recipe to make sure it can be replicated at home. That's good, because it means you can be confident about cooking. I'd say that this is the perfect book if you want to venture into more cooking, and adding a few easy dishes to your repertoire.



Finally, a book that I've mentioned briefly. It's written by my friend Kinna Jonsson and her mother, and the graphic design is made by Kinna's sister. The recipes are from five generations of women in their family, and I love that this is a real family project. But more than that, I love that it's a great book. It has all kinds of bread, cookies and cakes - each one sounding more delicious than the next! I haven't baked from it yet, but I've tasted some of the goodies from it and they're all super. So - this book is the perfect christmas present for someone who enjoys baking, and who's excited about traditional Swedish recipes. You can order it here, or find it in select bookstores.