Me-Me Time!

I got tagged for meme by Katie of Apple & Spice, and for once, I'm not going to dawdle. Let's get to it!

1) LAST MOVIE U SAW IN A THEATRE?
Made of Honor. Cute chick-flick, which I enjoyed with my girlfriends. Next one will most likely be Sex and the City, with the same girls.

2) WHAT BOOK ARE U READING?
Romancing the Dead by Tate Hallaway. I really, really like these books - they're cute girlie novels crossed with vampire-Buffyish-wicca-novels. Really amusing, the writer is great and expresses herself so well. She blogs, too! Also reading a Swedish crime novel in my PalmPilot. (Yes, I still have one.)

3) FAVORITE BOARD GAME?
Illuminati and Settlers of Catan. But Trivial Pursuit is great fun, too.

4) FAVORITE MAGAZINE?
BBC Good Food.

5) FAVORITE SMELLS?
Warm summer rain.

6) FAVORITE SOUNDS?
The patter of tiny kitten paws racing through the room. And the front door slamming shut when my husband gets home.

7) WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD?
I'm particularly averse to loneliness.

8) WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN U WAKE?
Honestly, it's always about going to the bathroom.

9) FAVORITE FAST FOOD PLACE?
Taco Bell. Yes, really. No, we don't have it here. I probably wouldn't love it half as much if I could eat it regularly. Of the ones we actually do have? I like McDonalds. (Shoot me now.)

10) FUTURE CHILDS NAME?
Not telling!

11) FINISH THIS STATEMENT—’IF I HAD A LOT OF MONEY I’D......
build a great house with a wonderful kitchen. And not work. I'd volunteer, and be active in politics, but I wouldn't work, exactly.

12) DO U DRIVE FAST?
No. I'm a cautious driver. Too cautions, thinks my husband.

13) DO U SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL?
Umm, well, ehhh.. I have a stuffed cat very close by, yes.

14) STORMS–COOL OR SCARY?
Both.

15) WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CAR?
A silver Saab. We named it The Flash.

16) FAVORITE DRINK?
Water. And lots of Pepsi Max. For alcohol, I like many wines and some whiskies.

17) FINISH THIS STATEMENT-IF I HAD THE TIME I WOULD…
sleep more.

18) DO YOU EAT THE STEMS ON BROCCOLI?
Yep!

19) IF YOU COULD DYE YOUR HAIR ANY OTHER COLOUR, WHAT WOULD BE YOUR CHOICE?
Dark brown with caramel highlights. I have naturally red hair and it's almost impossible to dye. (Everything washes right out.)

20) NAME ALL THE DIFFERENT CITIES/TOWNS U HAVE LIVED IN?
Saltsjöbaden outside of Stockholm where I was born.
Long Beach, California, for one year as a high school exchange student.
Linkoping, Sweden, where I went to university.
Nacka, outside of Stockholm, which is where I live now.

21) FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
Live, I don't mind hockey or basketball. On tv, I hate just about anything. The Olympic Games are somewhat ok though.

22) ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?
Katie has a delicious blog with yummy recipes, pretty pictures, and excellent writing! And she's a fellow Daring Baker, of course :)

23) WHATS UNDER YOUR BED?
Dust.

24) WOULD U LIKE TO BE BORN AS YOURSELF AGAIN??
Yes.

25) MORNING PERSON OR NIGHT OWL?
Morning. I don't do late nights.

26) OVER EASY OR SUNNY SIDE UP?
Sunny side up. The yolk is the best part.

27) FAVORITE PLACE TO RELAX?
At home in general, I love my house.

28) FAVORITE PIE?
Cherry.

29) FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR?
Häagen-Dazs Strawberry. Or anything homemade.

30) OF ALL THE PEOPLE U HAVE TAGGED, WHO IS THE MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND FIRST?
I'm not tagging anyone - but if you feel like answering these questions, please do, and leave a link to it in the comment section :)

Daring Bakers go for Danish

Apple Spice filled Danish Braid

This month's challenge for the Daring Bakers, chosen by Kelly and Ben, is a Danish Braid. I've always found it amusing that wienerbrod, which is really common in pastries here, is called Danish in English. Danish? Huh? I've never thought of it as particularly Danish, but.. I suppose it might be. Or maybe it's about as Danish as French Toast is French? The Swedish name means "bread from Vienna", by the way.


Almond-Orange-Cardamom-Chocolate filled Danish Braid

But what it is is basically a laminated yeasted dough. I've done that once before, for Pain au Chocolat. It was a real pain - that dough was much harder to work with, but it also yielded better results. That one was much more flaky, whereas this one was more like an ordinary yeasted dough. Not that I'm complaining - I don't like the flakiness at all, so this was more to my taste. And the Danish-lovers in my family loved it as well, so it might have been a pleasing compromise.



This was fun to bake! Basically, you make a yeasted dough without butter, but you don't let it rise just yet. (That's a major difference from the recipe I had tried before.) You then beat butter with flour, and spread that onto the dough. After that, you fold. And roll. And fold. And roll. It gets harder each time, but not hysterically so. It's do-able. After that, you roll it out one final time, fill it, braid it (really quite easy) and THEN you let it rise.



The filling recipe we got was for an apple filling. It was optional, but I liked the idea so I made it. I used three apples instead of four, and it was just the right amount for one braid. Per loved it, by the way, he's a huge fan of apple pastries. The other one turned out better in my opinion - I took about 200 g of almond paste, beat that with a little bit of unsalted butter and some white syrup to soften it, added the zest of one orange and about one teaspoon of crushed cardamom. I spread it onto the dough and topped it with chocolate chips. Yum!



The recipe called for an eggwash before the rise, which I found a bit odd (or maybe I just read the recipe wrong), so I waited until the end of the rise to wash the braids and top them with cinnamon sugar (for the apple filling), and chopped almonds and pearl sugar (for the almond-cardamom-orange filling).



You can find the recipe, with photos, here.

Ok, some more kitten pictures

I just bought the cutest cat bed at IKEA - flower-shaped - and I have to show you some more photos :)







And, finally, a Hamlet who's not amused by this whole kitten-thing.

Weekend Cat Blogging

Mommy Kelly with her two little ones tucked under her paw.

My two girls are now just over two weeks, and very strong and healthy. They slurp happily from their bottle, and are gaining weight every day. Still no names though - I must decide soon!


Tiny golden girl


Little silver girl

For more photos, see Flickr.

Vanilla Yogurt Panna Cotta

I've made lots of panna cotta, but this is the first time I try Kristina's recipe for a lighter touch. It uses yogurt instead of just cream, and there's some milk in there too. It's not as dense as regular panna cotta, but it's still creamy and delicious. And practically guilt-free! This recipe makes a lot - at least 8 servings, or many tiny ones if you use miniature cups.

For a topping, I used blackberries that had been left to steep in some simple vanilla-flavored sugar syrup and some lemon zest.

Vanilla Yogurt Panna Cotta

150 ml milk
200 ml cream (35-40% fat)
100 ml sugar (about 100 g)
1 vanilla bean, or 2 tbsp vanilla sugar
3 gelatin leaves
500 ml vanilla yogurt



Soak the gelatin in cold water for five minutes. Heat cream and milk in a saucepan with the sugar and vanilla bean, or vanilla sugar. Bring to a boil, and then let it cool for a little while. Scrape out the vanilla bean if using, and stir in the gelatin. Stir in the yogurt, and pour into glasses or cups. Leave in the fridge until completely set - count on at least 4 hours.

Recipe in Swedish:
Yogurtpannacotta

Heinz Sunshine

There's a plethora of different juice products out there, and several small "shots" that claim to be very good for you. Problem for me is that most of them taste disgusting. I admit that I fully expected to hate Heinz new product, which is tomato based, as I really can't stand tomato juice. But, I'm happy to report that it doesn't taste like tomato, at all! One is citrus, the other more of a berry flavor, and both are actually nice. They're not overly sweet, and packed with lycopene which tomato is the best source of. I don't know that I'd buy these - the whole idea doesn't appeal so much to me as I don't find it problematic to eat my fruit and veggies - but I'd gladly recommend them.

Match made in heaven

Lightly dressed babyspinach, with some mustard vinaigrette. Cooked beets, cut into cubes. Crumbled goat's cheese. Toasted pine nuts.

Honestly. It must be one of the very best things ever.

Teriyaki Garlic Beef Roulades

This might sound like a really, really weird recipe, but I assure you, it's tasty! I'm not so sure of what the cut of beef is called in English - it's called "lövbiff" here, which translates into "leaf-beef", since it's "thin as a leaf". It's basically a very thin slice of beef, that you can easily roll up. There must be something like it in your grocery store, yes? I don't generally use it much, since it goes so incredibly dry if you just fry it, but it's nice for rolling things inside of it. My mother-in-law makes awesome roulades with salami and cheese inside, in a red wine sauce. Very delicious!

Teriyaki Garlic Beef Roulades
Serves 2

4-6 very thin slices of beef (about 300 g)
100 g soft garlic cheese, such as Boursin
100 ml teriyaki sauce
1 tbsp sesame seeds
butter to fry in
salt, black pepper

Sprinkle the meat with salt and pepper. Place a spoonful of cheese near the end of each meat slice and roll them up. Use a toothpick to secure them.

Fry in a hot pan for about 2 minutes on each side. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds and add the teriyaki sauce. Serve right away, preferrably with rice and some boiled carrots or other veggies.

Recipe in Swedish:
Vitlöksfylld lövbiff med teriyakisås

Eating out - one recommendation and one blah

One of my favorite places for lunch is Albert & Jacks, a deli/café which serves delicious sandwiches on brilliant bread (serrano & manchego is my favorite) and huge salads (do try the cold cuts salad, but the caesar is great, too!) and also wonderful buns and baked goods. Photo is of a cardamom-chocolate bun, and a great latte. Highly recommended. They have two locations in Stockholm so far and rumors say there'll be more...



On to some less good news. We finally tried out Jimmy's Steakhouse (Hammarby Sjöstad location) after eyeing it for actually a few years since it opened. Unfortunately, we found it overpriced and not spectacular at all. My roast lamb rack was fine, but Per's Mixed Grill was a pathetically small serving and he ended up eating half of mine, too. And for those prices... sorry. I don't think we'll be coming back.

Couscous with halloumi, citrus & chili

I could eat some sort of variation of this theme every day if I needed to. Strong, assertive flavors balanced with soft couscous (or quinoa, bulgur wheat or wheatberries, even barley would be nice) and something nice and salty like halloumi, bacon or feta cheese. Or all of the above. Go crazy!

(This one was even extra pleasurable, seeing as I didn't have to cook it myself - thanks, darling husband.)

Couscous with halloumi, citrus & chili
Serves 2

Dressing:
Zest and juice from 1/2 lemon
1/2 red chili, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp sweet chili sauce
salt, black pepper

Couscous:
250 ml water
1 tbsp olive oil (divided)
200 ml couscous
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1 orange, diced
1 avocado, diced
2 tbsp almonds, coarsely chopped
250 g halloumi, diced

Whisk all the ingredients for the dressing, and let them sit for a while to better blend together.

Bring water and 1/2 tbsp of olive oil to a boil, and stir in the couscous. Cover with a lid, and remove from heat. Let it stand for 10 minutes, then fluff with a fork.

Fry the halloumi in the other half tablespoon of olive oil until golden and crispy.

Mix the couscous with the dressing, and stir in red onion, avocado and oranges. Top with the almonds and couscous.

Recipe in Swedish:
Couscous med halloumi, citrus och chili

Weekend Cat Blogging: How to feed kittens

I have food on my mind, all the time. It's just that right now, it's not human food I'm obsessed with - it's kitten food. Kelly apparently doesn't have any milk, or at least not enough, so we're feeding her cute little babies by hand. It's no picnic, since it has to be done every three or four hours, around the clock. Much like having a human baby, I suppose.



Their two brothers didn't make it. Both died last Saturday, but these two girls are strong and definitely doing well. You can see how chubby they're getting - just like kittens should be. So, I thought I'd tell you all something about how to hand-rear a kitten. I'm not an expert by any means, but this is how we do it.



Now, to hand-rear kittens, you must use special kitten formula. You can't use cow's milk, or any other type of milk - cat's milk is much higher in protein. My chosen formula is called KMR - not sure what's available where you live, but contact your vet and find out if you ever have to do this. I also mix in a little bit of powdered glucose, to give them extra energy. (About one teaspoon for every two tablespoons of dry formula.) It's not necessary, but I find that it helps.



To mix, I highly recommend a tiny electrical whisk. Formula is a pain to mix otherwise, clumping a lot. This little thing is really for foaming milk for lattes - it sucks at that, but is great for this. I mix the formula in a tiny tupperware container, and keep it in the fridge. I heat as much as I need at each feeding, just to body temperature. (Microwave - gotta love it.)



Then, you need a bottle. Many will use other things instead, droppers or syringes, but I definitely prefer a small, soft bottle. We have very long silicon teats, that we've fitted inside the teat that came with the bottle. Make sure it's *really* secure. The kittens will suck very hard, and you don't want them to swallow the teat. The hole in the teat must be small enough for the formula to just drip out a drop at a time. If it flows faster than that, it can drown the kitten.



The main hazard is that the kitten will get formula in its airway, drawing into the tiny lungs. To prevent that, don't turn the kitten on its back, and let it suckle at its own pace rather than forcing it to drink. You can keep a finger very lightly on its throat, to make sure it swallows.



Our little darlings got the hang of this very quickly, and will suckle really well now. After feeding, they purr contendedly (they started purring when they were about a week) and we usually can't resist placing them on their back and rubbing their chubby tummies.



If your cat mommy won't clean the kittens, you have to take care of that, too, but Kelly seems to be doing a good job so I'm leaving that to her. A risk with feeding kittens formula is that they can become a bit constipated - but I'll leave that worry for when I have to. We'll be doing this until the kittens are 3-4 weeks old - after that, they can move over to solid foods.

Cookbook Watch: More summer specials

Summer cookbooks seem to be all the rave, and this one probably takes the prize: The Summertime Anytime Cookbook by Dana Slatkin. Dana Slatkin runs a hotel in Santa Monica called Shutters on the Beach, and her customers have been asking her for years to write a cookbook. I can see why. This is really very nice - not only does everything sound delicious, it also has a very relaxed California-style to it. Aside from recipes, it has a few pages on how to create a beach-like atmosphere at home, and it has plenty of photos from the hotel and from Santa Monica. Beautiful - has any of you been there? I've just been to the Santa Monica promenade once or twice, but that's it. I'd love to stay at the hotel sometime... but for now, I'm happy with the cookbook. It has chapters like Sunny Days, Stormy Nights and Misty Mornings, and the recipes I'm mostly dying to make are Pappardalle with Mushrooms, Rosemary and light Tomato sauce, and Cranberry-Orange Pistachio Bread.



The next book is a nice addition to any summer kitchen: Bobby Flay's Grill It! This book starts with the idea that you know what you want to make: lobster, a steak or a burger, perhaps? Then, each chapter has plenty of versions of that. My favorite chapter was on corn, with recipes like Charred Corn Guacamole, and Mexicali-style corn with Lime Butter and Cilantro. I have to admit that it doesn't completely thrill me, but that could be because I already have five or six books on grilled food. (at the very least...) I also find it a bit impractical - I almost never cook with scallops or lobster, so those chapters are pretty much useless for me. (It's too hard to find decent quality here - and if you do, the price is far from right.) My main gripe with this book is however the lack of photos. There are some, and those are nice, but far from every recipe has a photo.



The last one is a Swedish one, written by mystery novel author Camilla Läckberg and the fairly decorated chef Christian Hellberg. Both are from a small place on the west coast called Fjällbacka (which is where Camilla's murder novels always are set) and the book is called Smaker from Fjällbacka. ("Tastes from Fjällbacka") It definitely has a lot of summer-style Swedish food, but again, I'm not crazy about this book. The main problem I have is actually the food itself - again, much of it uses pretty exclusive ingredients (at least to the east coast where I live!) that I rarely cook with, and almost all of the recipes uses huge amounts of butter and cream. Tasty as that may be, I don't find it very practical for every day, and thus this will not be the book to turn to for weekday dinners. That said, I've managed to tag quite a few recipes to try out, like the Cardamom Apple Muffins, Grilled Lamb with Artichoke Dip and a Herb-marinated Herring. The photos are great - and I love that there's also quite a few action shots of the two authors.

Happy Midsummer's Eve!

Buffy the drink

I'm feeling quite zombie-ish these days. The two kittens remaining are really strong and healthy, but they still have to be fed every three or four hours. Around the clock. So, not much sleep for me! I'll give you a proper kitty update on Saturday - for now, have a drink!

I have no idea why this drink is called Buffy - I can't see any Slayer connection myself, but I found this in a magazine, and.. Buffy it is. It's tasty though - not overly sweet, and not overly alcoholic, either. I made a virgin version with just lime, orange juice, grenadine and passion fruit, and that was nice as well.

Buffy the drink
makes 1

3 cl Passoa
3 cl white rum
1 cl freshly squeezed lime
10 cl orange juice
1 passion fruit, seeds

Shake Passoa, rum and lime juice with ice. Strain into a glass with more ice and passion fruit seeds. Top up with orange juice.

Recipe in Swedish:
Buffy

Delicious mint-ginger chews!

Oh, how delicious! I love ginger chews, and these are even better with a faint addition of peppermint. They're strong and assertive, and very, very refreshing. Yum!

Eating organic in the archipelago

Coming to Stockholm this summer? Then you absolutely must take a trip on one of the many boats in the archipelago. There's so much available - anything from short tours of Stockholm to longer day-trips out to the more remote islands. The viws are absolutely wonderful - truly amazing! And many of the boats serve great food, too! News this year is that Strömma Kanalbolaget, which is one of the largest organizers of these trips, have a focus on organic and locally produced food. I got to sample some of the goodies at a press lunch, but clumsily forgot to bring my camera. I can assure you it was delicious though - I especially remember the white asparagus with ramps, and a delicious ramekin with artichoke puré and braised boar.

Roasted Beets & Red Onions

Obligatory kitten news: we still have two girls, they seem fairly strong and they eat well when we feed them. So, I'm pretty hopeful, but as they're still so incredibly tiny, there's no knowing for sure if they'll pull through yet.

Now, for some food. This is a simple side dish that's incredible with some smokey grilled meat. Serve it with a cheese of some sort - goat's cheese or feta crumbled on top, or mashed with yogurt for a simple sauce, or this parmesan sauce. It'll be really lovely.

Roasted Beets & Red Onions
Serves 4 as a side dish

8 beets
4 red onions
3-4 tbsp olive oil
1 lemon - the juice and the zest
salt, pepper

Boil the beets without peeling them, for 20-25 minutes. They should still retain some bite, and not be mushy-soft. Peel and cut into wedges. Peel the onion and cut that into wedges as well. Place in an oven proof dish, drizzle generously with olive oil and lemon juice, and stir in the lemon zest, salt and pepper. Bake at 200°C for about 30 minutes.

Recipe in Swedish:
Rostade rödbetor och rödlök

Art Smith loves knäckebröd

I'm sure many of you know who Art Smith is. He's a pretty famous chef, and among other things, a personal chef to Oprah Winfrey. He's in charge of stocking her cupboards with all her favorite foods, and he likes to sneak in new products that he thinks she will enjoy. One day, he placed a packet of knäckebröd there - that's Swedish crisp bread, usually made from rye - and suddenly, Oprah declared on her show that she just "loved those little Swedish delights!".



A Swedish editor picked up on it, and was quick to ask Art to write a cookbook about knäckebröd, in Swedish. And so he did. And a few weeks ago, he visited Sweden to launch that book - "I Love Knäckebröd", and I was lucky enough to go to the press conference.

I also got a chance to chat to Art about blogging and new medias and he was very nice and interested. He seemed really excited about his book, which is so far just released in Swedish but the editor told me that they're definitely wanting to release this in English as well - I'll let you know!



The book isn't very extensive - after all, how many recipes using crisp bread can you think of? - and has a total of 32. It ranges from breakfast items to snacks and main dishes and even desserts. We got to sample several - a turkey chili, a frittata (that was divine!) and a mini burger that was also really good, as well as a muesli with knäckebröd, a chocolate cake and a key lime pie that was definitely my favorite.



It goes to show that crisp bread is *really* versatile, as well as healthy and tasty! Wasabröd is one of the largest producers of crisp bread and they export a lot so I bet you can find it pretty much all over the world now - at least in your local IKEA. You can also bake your own - I have a great recipe.

And... an update on the kittens - sadly, two of them have passed away. The other two - the girls - are doing quite well, but we're feeding them every other hour. I have high hopes for them, but do keep your fingers crossed for us. I'll update when they're a bit more stable, as it is I don't really want to disturb them by taking any photos.

Strawberry season

Strawberries are finally in season again! And local are always the best, so to me, there's just nothing like Swedish strawberries. I keep clipping tons of recipes using strawberries, but somehow.. I never get to them. I always eat them straight up - or with something simple, like ice cream. Well, maybe this will be the year to try something new...

Kittens are still tiny, still not gaining weight, but they're still alive and that's something.

Maya Gold Truffles

I'm going to be upfront with you: the kittens aren't doing so good. Kelly doesn't appear to have much milk, and she's really fretting about something and doesn't really let the kittens suckle as much as they need to. So, they don't gain weight. Any. At all. That's not good. So we're hand-rearing them, feeding them every three or four hours. It's nerve-wracking... but it's really all we can do. I sure hope they'll survive! Keep your fingers crossed for us, will you?

However, I want to share a little something that will definitely make YOU gain weight, for the weekend. Maya Gold is a chocolate bar by Green & Black, flavored with oranges and chili. It's really delicious and it's perfect to make complex-tasting truffles. I brought some into work, and one co-worker popped one in her mouth and said "ooh! This isn't appropriate for daytime! These truffles taste sexy!" And they do.

Maya Gold Truffles
makes 30

200 g Green & Blacks Maya Gold
150 ml cream (35-40% fat content)
25 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
cocoa powder

Chop the chocolate fairly finely and place in a bowl. Bring the cream to a boil and pour it over the chocolate. Stir until the chocolate is completely melted. Add the butter, and keep stirring. Place the bowl in the fridge to firm up, until you can roll truffles from it.

Roll them as rustic as you like, and then roll in cocoa powder. I then suggest placing in the freezer for a very short time to firm up, and then keep them in the fridge.

Recipe in Swedish:
Maya Gold-tryfflar

Carrot soup with garnish

I recently made carrot soup for a dinner party. It might not sound very exciting, and actually, the soup wasn't all that. It was pretty much straight carrot soup, flavored with fresh chili. But what was truly great were the various toppings! I had put out little bowls of toasted, chopped peanuts, crème fraîche stirred with some lime zest, and crispy slices of fried garlic. With some tasty bread, it made a great meal.

You could try it with this carrot soup - it has oranges and ginger in addition to the carrots, and that would work great with the garnishes.

What's my name?

Ok, many people ask what we're going to name them, and the truth is? I don't know. So, I thought maybe you'd have some suggestions? Here are the rules:

-All kittens will have the family name "Kellycats", and they'll be named after their color as in "Kellycats Golden XXX" or "Kellycats Silver XXX". (For example, Kelly's last litter were "Kellycats Golden Honey", "Kellycats Silver Habanero" and "Kellycats Silver Harissa".)

-The names have to start with a K.

-The names have to have a common theme (The H-litter was.. well, spices or condiments. We've also had greek names, romans, ducks, singers, mythological creatures, cheese, and Shakespeare characters. So any theme goes, really!)

-We want the names to be fairly short and something that you actually could call your cat - not a very fancy name that's just for show.

We have some ideas, but I'd love to hear yours!

And don't worry, tomorrow I'll be posting about food again... but I promise to keep you updated every weekend for Weekend Cat Blogging!

Four!

Kelly's kittens are here! All four of them!

A thoughtful gift of tea

My dad gave me a great birthday present this year. It was quite unexpected, as dad usually leaves the giftshopping to mom, but it was pretty spectacular! See, he had been on a trip to Gotland (Sweden's largest island) with some friends, and decided to drop into Kränku which is a pretty famous tea store. There, he got me the gorgeous cup with sheep you see above, and five of their signature teas.



And as if that wasn't enough, he went out to get five nice glass jars, labeled them and filled them with the teas. I was really touched by his effort! The tea is great by the way - number 2, which is Kalkstensdrömmar ("Chalkstone Dreams") is my very favorite. And - every morning I'm reminded of how much my dad cares about me, and that's the best part of all.

Bacon Guacamole & Stuffed Mushrooms

I don't know if you guys know who Ingrid Hoffman is? I didn't, until I got an e-mail from Clarkson Potter, asking if I wanted to review her new book: Simply Delicioso. (You can read more about the book, and about Ingrid, here.) Now, this book is all about latin food - light, colorful, flavorful latin food. Ingrid talks a lot about "chicas" and is completely geared toward women, and I rather like her style. She seems like a latino version of Nigella, kind of! The book has tons of recipes and beautiful photos, and the chapter that really appealed the most to me is about snacks. There, I found these two recipes that I've adapted a little bit to share with you. They're both brilliant - you just HAVE to try the bacon guacamole! I can't believe I hadn't thought of that before, because it was seriously one of the best things I've ever made. My guests all agreed - and jokingly said that if it had just had some cheese too, it'd have been the ultimate food.

I forgot to take a photo of the mushrooms, but they were also really tasty. I was extremely sceptical at first - stuffing mushrooms with grapes? - but I'm glad to report that it really, really worked. It gives a bite of sweetness that plays off the saltiness of the filling perfectly, and it works texture-wise as well. It can definitely be prepared the night before, so I'd say it's perfect party food.



Bacon Guacamole
140 g bacon, finely diced and fried until crispy
3 avocados, mashed
1 tomato, finely diced
1 small red onion, finely diced
1 fresh chili, finely chopped
3-4 tbsp fresh coriander, finely chopped
2 limes, juiced
salt, black pepper

Fry the bacon and let it drain off a little on some paper towels. Mash the avocados with the lime juice and add tomato, chili and red onion. Add coriander and bacon, and season with some salt and black pepper. Serve with corn chips.

Stuffed Mushrooms

about 600 g buttom mushrooms (choose small, firm mushrooms)
200 g cream cheese
100 g serrano ham
1 tsp fresh thyme
300 g seedless green grapes
olive oil
shredded parmesan

Clean the mushrooms: remove the stems, and clean up the holes so that they're easy to fill. Dice the ham and mix with thyme and cream cheese.

Place the mushroom caps on a baking sheet or in an oven proof dish. Place a grape in each. Top with some filling and cover the grape completely. Drizzle with olive oil, and finish by sprinkling some parmesan over it. Place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, to let the filling set. (Up to overnight is fine, but wrap it in plastic if you're leaving it that long.)

Bake at 200 degrees for about ten minutes, and serve warm.

Recipe in Swedish:
Bacon guacamole och fyllda svampar