Weekend Cat Blogging - get ready for some cuteness!

The car-kittens, as I call them, are now three weeks old and absolutely adorable. Four of them are already booked to new homes, which feels wonderful, and I hope we'll find worthy homes for the other two as well. We still have at least nine weeks to go, so it shouldn't be a problem! Not when they're as cute and lovable as this...

British Shorthairs are so plush and fluffy as kittens - really like tiny teddybears. Well, they stay that way, too, mostly. :)


Smokey Lamborghini, black smoke (for sale!)


Silver Lexus, silver classic tabby


Brown Land Rover, brown spotted tabby


Brown Lancia, brown spotted tabby (and the only girl!)


Black Lincoln, black (for sale!)


Black Lotus, black

The rest of the photos are on Flickr, here.

Watch out tomorrow - I have a really exciting giveaway for the first week of December!

Caramel Apple Crack

Not something I can cook, but something I really like: Starbucks' Apple Crack!

I don’t know if the Starbucks in China has this, because I was too busy slurping up all the real-bean coffee and then getting the jitters. I don’t know what’s in it, either. I asked Stick and he thinks maybe it’s sunshine and rainbows and highly addictive chemicals.

Note: This is not a paid advertisement, but if Starbucks would pay me I would totally advertise the Apple Crack. In fact, I’d even call it by its proper name.

Via Simpson’s Paradox » Blog Archive » Thanksgiving

Mario and Princess Peach

Another geeky gem from Cake Wrecks. What is it about the combination of sugar and gaming that makes these cakes so perfect?
Yes, it's a Mario wedding cake. (With a cake like this, I bet the bridesmaid dresses weren't too bad!) And here is the fondant duo that replaces the usual (LAME!) cake topper.

Go over to Cake Wrecks to see more amazing photos.

Daring Bakers: Caramel, again

This month, you'll encounter caramel cakes all over the blogosphere. All the daring bakers are taking on a recipe from Shuna Fish Lydon, for her signature caramel cake. Hosts this month is Dolores from Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity, Alex from Blondie and Brownie, and Jenny from Foray into Food.

I opted for cupcakes, and baked half a batch since I realized a full batch would mean 24 cupcakes and what on earth would I do with those? I live with a caramel-hater, and Swedes in general are wary of overly sweet baked goods so I knew I'd have a pretty hard time getting someone to eat these. That's why I also made a tiny amount of frosting, which was still hysterically sweet and everyone but me scraped it right off.



Baking was straightforward. I did follow the instructions for mixing etc, but really didn't find that the dry-wet-dry method improved anything - I had to fold quite a bit at the end to get a uniform batter. The cupcakes rose nicely and turned out quite nice - but I really don't think they tasted like much. Just regular basic cupcakes, I suppose - on the dense side. I baked them for about 18-20 minutes in total.



What I *did* like about this was the caramel syrup. I cooked it a day ahead and let it sit in the fridge to firm up to golden, thick deliciousness. It was really, really good and I look forward to making another batch of that to drizzle onto desserts, stirring into coffee, and probably many other things. That was truly lovely, and really easy to make - it took me about fifteen minutes in total. And I never, ever do the "brush with wet pastry brush to get rid of sugar crustals" - I just push the sugar crystals down toward the end, and they melt perfectly well. Daring, that's me!

So, the caramel syrup recipe, I'll re-post that right here, with metric measurements. I did half a batch, but will probably make the full batch next time.



Caramel syrup
500 ml sugar
125 ml water
250 ml water for stopping the syrup

Mix sugar and water in a small but heavy saucepan with fairly high sides - I used my beloved Demeyere Sauteuse. Turn the heat up to high, and cook until this bubbles into a nice, dark, caramel color. Now, stand back as well as you can and pour the 250 ml of water into the pan to stop the caramelization. This WILL sputter, and be careful not to get hit with the very, very, very hot caramel.

After it calms down, cook for a few minutes over medium heat, stirring all the time, to reduce it slightly. It should feel sticky when you touch it between two fingers - try touching the back of the spoon, carefully.



You can find the recipe here, the blogroll here, and the discussion forums - open to everyone! - here.

Soy Sauce And Garum

I saw this today on Fussy

From Larousse Gastronomique

Soy Sauce

The
following is taken from a traditional Chinese recipe. Boil 2.5 kg (5
1/2 lb. 13 cups) soya beans in water until they are reduced to a puree.
Add 1 kg (2 1/4 lb. 9 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour and knead well to
produce a thick dough. Leave in a cool dark place for 2 days, then hang
the container in a draught for a week. When a yellow mould appears on
the dough, place a jar containing 5 litres (8 1/2 pints, 5 1/2 quarts)
water and 1.5 kg (3 1/4 lb. 5 2/3 cups) salt in a sunny place. When the
water is warm to the touch, put the dough into the jar. Leave this
uncovered for a month, pounding the mixture vigorously every day with a
stick. The mixture will turn black as it ages.

Leave for 4-5
months without stirring or covering the jar, unless the weather is bad,
in which case the jar should be covered. Decant and store the sauce in
hermetically sealed bottles.

Who the hell thought this up,
is what I want to know. Who thought, Hmm, I need some salty black
delicious liquid to dip my dumplings in, maybe I'll just punch some
dough with a stick and then leave it out back until spring? Well,
whoever it was, whether individual or collective, I do thank you.
Because we're having sushi tonight.

I have to wonder if that's what garum would have been like.

Via Fussy

Thanksgiving 2008

Wow, is that a really tiny turkey? No, it's a simple roast chicken, of course. I decided to a tiny Thanksgiving dinner this year - not for the family for once since my parents are out of the country, but for a couple of friends instead. I made roast chicken, roast potatoes, brussel sprouts in cream with crispy bacon (more on that another day, because YUM!), Nigellas cornbread stuffing with orange and cranberries, my christmas-y orange salad, and some plain cream sauce.

Photos from a great lunch

Last week, I was invited to a lunch at F12, one of Stockholm's great restaurants. Or so I've heard - I'd never eaten there before. The host was Danish Meat Association, and we were treated to an entire menu with pork. Lovely stuff! We are promised to get the recipes shortly, and I really look forward to that.



When I do, this is what I'll be making first. It was a salad of celeriac and curly leaves, with a mayonnaisey dressing, marinated apples and crunchy candied walnuts. And, of course, crispy pork. Yummy!



This was nice too - slow-roasted porchetta, with fennel and apricots.



And this was neat - a tiny burger made from pig's cheeks, with a slice of fresh fig.

In addition, there were two courses that I didn't manage to take a photo of. First, an indiviudal bowl of cassoulet which was very yummy - the broth was really great and had sliced truffles in it. Second, thin lengths of pork tenderloin were wrapped in red chorizo, to imitate Danish "röd pölse", a red hotdog that's very famous. This was served with homemade ketchup and mustard.



And, though I hate to admit it, my favorite of all the dishes: dessert. This is a creme brulée with orange and cinnamon, and it was incredibly delicious.



Even the bread and butter were quite special - I loved the presentation.

Swedish Cheesecake Day

Oh, I almost forgot to post about this very important day: November 14 was Swedish Cheesecake day. Ok, maybe not so important. Or not at all, really. It's a new tradition, that started in 2004, probably as a reaction to Cinnamon Bun Day (which is October 4th)



So, what's Swedish cheesecake? It's very different from American cheesecakes, I'll tell you that! It's baked, it's grainy and it's almondy. And it's a pain to make yourself, since you need rennet. I, and just about everyone else, buy it ready-made at the store and bake it in the oven until warm. It's then eaten with jam and whipped cream. Delicious, and very, very rich.

I asked the main produced - Frödinge - if this was ever exported and sold in maybe IKEA across the world, but sadly, no. As it's a chilled product, it's hard to ship. But if you're ever in Sweden - try it!

Cashew Chicken Curry

I started with this recipe for Chicken Curry with Cashews from Epicurious.com, but then started to modify the ingredients

* 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
* 2 medium onions, finely chopped (2 cups)
* 2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
* 1 tablespoon finely chopped peeled fresh ginger
* 3 tablespoons curry powder
* 2 teaspoons salt -- I used garlic salt
* 1 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
* 1 (3 1/2- to 4-pound) chicken, cut into 10 serving pieces
* 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes -- I used tomato paste since I don't like the texture of tomatoes. Odd, I know.
* 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
* 3/4 cup cashews (1/4 pound)
* 3/4 cup plain whole-milk yogurt


* Accompaniment: cooked basmati or jasmine rice
* Garnish: chopped fresh cilantro

Saute onions, garlic, and ginger,
in butter, in a wok.  (note to self: am I able to cook anything w/out a wok?)

Add curry, garlic salt,
cumin, paprika and cook, stirring.

Add chicken, chopped mushrooms, 1/2 a potato, cilantro and stirfry.

Then add tomato paste and yogurt, simmer until it looks like curry.

Serve over rice!

Via Chicken Curry with Cashews Recipe at Epicurious.com

Supercute stocking stuffer

Crazy Magpie is a British designer who recently did a mini cookbook with her mom, and it's so incredibly cute! It came in a lovely printed wrapper, and the booklet itself is really nicely designed. It has 26 cake and biscuit recipes, all very British - like rock buns, malteser cake, classic shortbread and bakewell tart. I love the simple design of the whole thing - the photos are beautiful and clear, the instructions are easy to follow, and it's just a really well-thought out little thing. Perfect to give a friend for christmas!

Taco Pie

This is something which I suspect is purely Swedish. I've told you lots of times how Swedes love their tacos - which is what they say for all things remotely tex-mex, really. Taco night can be anything from fajitas to quesadillas, or, of course, normal tacos. (This is probably because we have just about no Mexican restaurants at all, except for one sub-standard fast-food chain.) Anyway. This is something I tried recently, but probably won't ever make again: a taco pie.

Mine doesn't have a pie shell though - I'm not a huge fan of pie crust, and found a recipe for making a pie "naked", so... I suppose it's more of a gratin. It's basically one layer of cream cheese and crème fraîche mixed together, topped with a layer of spicy ground beef with peppers and some other veggies. On top of that, lots of cheese.



This is how we ate it - with nacho chips, guacamole, salsa, crushed pineapple (some Swedes even like sliced bananas in their tacos - and peanuts, too!) and fresh coriander. It wasn't bad, but frankly, not all that great, either.

Weekend Cat Blogging

I have to show you how big Klara is getting! She's just over five months now, and quite a big girl.


Klara, doing her best Al Bundy imitation.


Looking out the window - a big favorite!

And for kitten photos of the car-themed kittens, look here.

Sushi Proposal

I saw this today on the Engrish Brog:

I recently received this cute email from a happy woman named Christin

My boyfriend proposed to me last
weekend after 7 years - we frequent a local sushi restaurant in our
area a few times a month (sometimes more), so it was very fitting that
he popped the question at the sushi place.  The miss-spelling only
added to the charm of it all, I just had to share.

Let’s happy marriage!

I would have said yes, too. Sushi and jewelry, what's not to love? Plus I could tease him about the misspelling for years to come!

Via An Engrish Engagement… | Engrish Brog

Another new apron

My very talented sister designed and made this apron (actually two - one for Dagmar, we wore them at the cooking contest!) for me. Isn't it adorable?

Great panini for Friday night

Did I ever tell you that I got the Top Chef cookbook? I don't think I did. Top Chef has long been one of my favorite tv-shows. It's just so entertaininig - I've never missed a single episode. I haven't tried many recipes though - even though many are available on the Bravo website, they usually strike me as poorly written and little more than notes.

So, it was with slight trepidation I picked up the Top Chef Cookbook which came out a few months ago. However, I needn't have worried. The book is much more carefully written, and it's clear that the recipes have been adapted slightly to work out for the home cook. Apart from recipes - which it has very many of - it also has tons of information about the competition itself. Loads of photos, loads of quotes, plenty of stats on the cheftestants, and everything else you could want. I love it.

And so far, I've only tried one recipe: Dave's salami panini from Season one, from the finale in Las Vegas. We used ciabatta bread, filled it with pepper salami and mild gouda cheese, and mustard mixed with a little bit of honey. I think we meant to put in roasted red peppers, but forgot. No problem, because this was really delicious just like this. And with a sandwich grill, it takes virtually no time to prepare. Perfect after a busy work week!

Braised Cabbage

I know that braised cabbage doesn't sound incredibly appealing. Believe me, I know. It took me over two years of having this bookmarked from Orangette before finally feeling the urge to actually... make it. But I promise, it really is very good.

For a special touch, I bet you can add a splash of white wine rather than water, I just didn't happen to have any at the moment. I will make sure of it next time. And do serve this with something nice and salty - I chose (not surprisingly) crispy bacon. And while Orangette served it with a great poached egg, my poaching skills sucked and after waiting for the cabbage for more than two hours I didn't want to waste more eggs, so I simply fried mine. That was good, too.

Braised Cabbage
Serves 2

1/2 small cabbage head
2 small carrots
1 yellow onion
3-4 tbsp water
2-3 tbsp olive oil
salt, black pepper and/or crushed chili flakes

Preheat the oven to 160°C.

Cut the cabbage into four wedges, and make sure that they still hold together. Place in an oven-proof dish, preferrably one that fits them quite snugly in one layer. Slice the onion and carrots and place on top. Drizzle with water and olive oil, and season with salt, black pepper and some crushed chili if you're feeling spicy.

Cover the pan with foil, and make sure it's nice and tight. Bake in the oven for an hour. After that, remove it and flip the wedges. Add more water if it looks dry. Re-cover with foil, and bake for one more hour.

Then, remove the foil, heat the oven to 200°C and bake the cabbage uncovered until the edges start to go brown - about 15 minutes. Then serve right away.

Recept på svenska:
Bräserad vitkål

Staying Fit My Way

My Usual Workout Routine

10 Go to the gym

20 Overdo workout in an attempt to cancel out unhealthy lifestyle

30 Go home achy and sore

40 Skip the gym because my stupid workout hurt me

50 Feel bad about not going recently and resolve to do a really good workout

60 Go to line 20

Via Simpson’s Paradox : Line 70 is “Become Smoking Hot”

What is Kohlrabi, anyway?

 Orangette has “The Y Chromosome Salad,”  a recipe for kohlrabi. 

Orange-raspberry juice

I normally don't drink juice very often, but we sometimes buy (or make our own, now that we have a juicer!) on weekend mornings. I got to try three new juices from Godmorgon, which is one of the most popular brands in Sweden. They pride themselves on having freshly squeezed juices, never from concentrate - but well, I assume they're still pasteurized. Anyway - the three new ones were orange, apple and orange-raspberry. The first two are special in that they use specific oranges and apples, from specific regions, and that will vary throughout the year. I liked the orange a lot, but the apple wasn't really my thing. The orange-raspberry though - yum!! It's very tart, but really lovely, and quite different. I'd definitely buy this again.

Let's say you could think up any combination of juice. What would you make? I'm thinking apple-lemon, pear-grapefruit, pineapple-ginger-lime...

Lemony Lamb with Cous-Cous

Hungry? I still have a whole lot of lamb in the freezer (after buying half of one earlier this fall) so I have to think of creative things to do with it. This is what happened with some of the mystery pieces lately. The basic idea comes from a cookbook compiled by the Swedish grocery chain ICA, with modern "husmanskost" which is.. oh, traditional Swedish food I suppose. This is not so traditional, but definitely a modern take on lamb cooked in stock and then served with a creamy sauce. The cous-cous is all mine. And oh yes, it's delicious.

Lemony Lamb with Cous-Cous
Serves 4

1 kg lamb - any piece really, but with bone. (It might have been about 6-700 g pure meat)
water
2 tsp sambal oelek (or other hot chili paste)
2 chicken stock cubes or concentrated stock
1 bay leaf
black pepper

For the sauce:
1/2 tbsp butter
1 garlic clove
3-400 ml of stock from the lamb
1-2 tbsp flour (I use a kind that won't clump in sauces, very convenient)
250 ml cream (I use cooking cream, a 15% fat variety)
1/2 lemon - the zest and the juice
salt, finely ground white pepper

Cous-cous:
3-400 ml cous-cous
boiling water
some of the stock from the lamb
cayenne pepper
cumin
salt

Place the lamb into a pot, not too large, it should be quite snug. Cover with cold water, and bring to the boil. Remove any scum that rises to the surface, and bring to boil again. Add sambal oelek, chicken stock cubes, bay leaf and a little black pepper, cover with a lid and lower the heat. Boil for 1,5-2 hours, until the meat is very tender.

Let the meat cool a little, and then pick it off the bones. Shred it into bite-sized pieces. Sieve the stock.

Start the sauce: chop the garlic finely and fry in butter until slightly golden. Add the flour and 3-400 ml of the lamb stock. Add cream, lemon zest, lemon juice and leave to reduce for a few minutes. Season with salt and white pepper, and when it tastes nice, add the lamb. Let it heat through.

For the cous-cous, don't worry about these instructions - just wing it. It will work! Place the cous-cous with the spices in a bowl with plenty of space. Pour on some of the lamb stock (maybe.. 250 ml/a cup or so?) and then boiling water to cover the cous-cous with 4-5 cm. Wrap the bowl with plastic wrap and leave to steam for five minutes. Fluff with a fork, and serve.

Recipe in Swedish:
Lamm i vitlöks- och citronsås

Weekend Cat Blogging - meet the Car Kittens!

So, we decided on names for the L-kittens! Linda in Gothenburg suggested cars as a theme (not so surprising since both she and her husband works in the car industry!) and we thought it was pretty funny so why not? Meet the little ones...

S*Hufflepuffs Black Lamborghini:


S*Hufflepuffs Silver Lexus:


S*Hufflepuffs Brown Land Rover:


S*Hufflepuffs Brown Lancia:


S*Hufflepuffs Black Lincoln:


S*Hufflepuffs Black Lotus:


You'll find more photos here.

(and I *promise* to blog more about food next week. Really!)

Very little energy

I have zero energy, but I wanted to let you know that Dagmar has posted more about the competition, and she's posted plenty of photos, too. Go here!

I'm incredibly honoured that the jury actually liked our food! I thought all the competitors did a good job, and we were *so* sure we hadn't won. Kurt Weid who was the head judge is a real legend in cooking competitions - he judges all over the world, and he calmly informed us that he would use the same points system as he did when he judged, for example, the cooking olympics. Oh, no pressure at ALL! :)

One might think that cooking competitions is a bit like music competitions - it's all so subjective. And of course, it is. Food is, after all, very much a matter of personal preference. I don't know that I'll ever do something like this again, but it sure was a great experience!

Me and Dagmar last night

We won!!

I can hardly believe it, but we won!!

Stockholm Chili

Ok, wish us luck tonight! It's time for the finals of "Årets hemmakock 2008" or "Home Chef of the year", and me and Dagmar (Lena has fled the country! Involuntary, though.) will be cooking this in front of a lot of people tonight...

Our mission was to create a nice Sunday dinner, using any cut of beef from the front of the animal. That means the cuts that are suitable for slow cooking, and we decided pretty fast to make a chili. This particular one evolved, and it's a great recipe, really. The coca-cola makes it quite sweet, so you have to add a lot of spice to make it balanced. In the end, it will be very aromatic, and matches perfectly with the slightly acidic tomatoes, the salty cheese, the crunchy chips and cool crème fraîche. It's also something you can prepare far in advance, no need to be in the kitchen as your guests arrive. And most of all, it's SO easy. I'm convinced absolutely anyone can make this!

The chips are made from the lavash crackers both Dagmar and I made for the Daring Bakers challenge a while ago, and they're spiced with salt and ancho chili, or cayenne pepper. We use spelt wheat, but it won't make a big difference if you use regular all-purpose flour. If you don't feel like baking - just substitute bought nacho chips. It works nicely too.

The chili itself uses three types of chili - fresh red, ancho and smokey chipotle. (If you're in Sweden, you should find chipotle paste from Santa Maria on the taco shelf in the grocery store, and ancho chili in powdered form from Santa Maria as well, among the other spices.) The oven dried tomatoes is something I've made before, and they're really yummy with this chili. They're really great with a smoked salt, but don't worry if you can't find it. Same with the white balsamic vinegar - it adds a lot of flavor, but regular white vinegar will still give you good results.

Stockholm Chili
Serves 6

1 kg stewing meat, in large cubes
500 g minced pork
2 yellow onions, cut into thin half moons
cooking oil
salt, pepper
4 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
2 red chili peppers, finely chopped
500 ml coca-cola
2-3 tbsp ancho chilipowder
2-3 tbsp chipotle chilipowder (or chili paste)
2-3 tbsp cumin
corn starch - optional

to serve:
Spelt Chips
oven-dried tomatoes
grated cheese (use your favorite)
fresh coriander
red onion, finely chopped
crème fraîche

Brown the meat, pork and onions in cooking oil in a large pot, in batches. Salt and pepper as you go along. Put everything back in the pot, along with the fresh chili, garlic, coca-cola, ancho chili, chipotle chili and cumin. Bring to boil, lower the heat and let the chili simmer under a lid for at least two but preferrably three hours. Check it every once in a while to make sure it doesn't dry out. If it looks like it might, add some water.

Towards the end, taste it and season with more salt and spices as you need it. Add more water if it seems to thick, but if it's too liquid, stir in a little bit of corn starch.

Spelt Chips
350 ml spelt flour, or all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp olive oil
100 ml water, warm
cayenne pepper or ancho chili
flaky sea salt

Mix salt, yeast, sugar, olive oil and water in a bowl. Add the flour and work into a supple dough. Knead very well - the more you work it, the easier it will be to roll out. Cover the dough and leave it to rise for about 90 minutes.

Roll out the dough on a piece of parchment paper, as thinly as you can. You might need some extra flour. Score the dough into squares or diamonds, sprinkle with water and then with cayenne or ancho chili, and salt.

Bake at 175°C for 15-20 minutes. Let the cool before you break them into separate chips, and be aware that they'll crisp up in a few minutes if you let them stand for a bit. They can be soft when they're still warm.

Oven-Dried Tomatoes
6 ripe plum tomatoes
1 tsp sugar (brown or white - doesn't make a big difference)
1 tsp smoked salt
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
2-3 tbsp white balsamic vinegar (or regular white vinegar)

Cut the tomatoes into wedges - six per tomato is about right. Place in an oven-proof dish, skin-side down, and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with sugar, smoked salt and cayenne pepper. Bake at 150°C (preferrably in a convection oven) for about an hour. The tomatoes should look fairly dry, leave them in for a bit longer if you need to. When you do take them out of the oven, drizzle with the vinegar and leave to cool.

Serve at room temperature.

Recipe in Swedish:
Stockholmschili med dinkelchips och ungstorkade tomater

I had a lunch date with a steam oven

No, not my kitchen.

I was invited to lunch by Siemens today. They were showing their latest innovation, a steam oven for home kitchens, and of course I was intrigued. I know Johanna of The Passionate Cook has been trying out one for quite a while, and I was excited to look at this one. (I'd be even more excited if I got to take one home, but alas, no.. then again, I have no idea where I'd put it.)

Siemens steam oven is pretty small, and it has a combination of steam and a convection fan so you can do pretty much everything in it. It's not great for baking cookies according to the chef who was demonstrating, but bread comes out perfectly. And the food we got.. very yummy. All the photos are from Siemens by the way, I only had my mobile phone and those photos were not half as good, so for once I'm using press photos.



So, the food? First, arctic char steamed in blood orange juice, with a salad of beetroots and red quinoa with watercress. Delicious, but I actually found the fish a little to acidic. The salad was nice though! (Both the quinoa and the beetroot were steamed.)



Second, also fish, steamed pike-perch with a coulis of marinated cucumbers, bleak roe and dill. Alongside that, a small mound of steamed apple sauce - yum!



Third, a rolled up lamb, braised in ale, filled with crispy pork and served with root vegetables and a soured yogurt. The garnish was really great - pickled shallots and chives.

Goose Day

Today is "Mårten Gås", the traditional day for a goose meal in Sweden. Or actually just in southern Sweden, Skåne. It's not a tradition I've ever had, so I'm not cooking a goose this year either. I never have. In fact, I can't remember ever eating goose.

Anyway. A goose is of course served, alongside baked apples and prunes (sometimes stuffed into the goose), but before that, a special soup: svartsoppa. This means "black soup" and is the liquid equivalent of black pudding, meaning it's made from blood. Those who have tried it - I've never had the opportunity nor the inclination - say it tastes somewhat like liquified gingerbread, sweet and aromatically spicy.

The meal should be finished with an apple cake - that's really the most appealing part to me!

Swedish fall cookbooks

En God Höst means "a good autumn" - or "a tasty autumn" and it's a really beautiful bright orange cloth-bound book filled with yummy, inspiring recipes for fall. And winter too, if you ask me. Everything in this book - many casseroles, a lot of potatoes and apples - makes me want to curl up under a blanket and come out sometime in the spring. Normally, I'm not super-fond of seasonal books like this, but I think fall might be my favorite food season, so this one is an exception. It's lovely.



Gårdarnas Mat by Maximilian Lundin is all about eating local and in season. He himself ONLY eats what's in season - which can sound extremely daunting in a country like Sweden where winter means.. well, ice and snow, basically. Nothing grows, so what you must rely on is whatever happens to be left over from fall - think root vegetables. Yet, somehow, it's possible to pull together an inspiring menu from this, and Maximilian definitely does so in this book which translates to "Food from the Farms". It's really quite nice - most of the dishes are however quite "restaurant-y" and I'm not so sure I want to try to cook anything myself.



Pasta Nostra by Giovanni Penco is another book that sounds like it might be in English, but sorry, just Swedish. It's a wonderful book focused on pasta as the title night suggest. It also has a small Italian-Swedish dictionary for food terms, and a few pages on Italian food in general. And lots and lots of photos! It's a very pretty book and it'd make a great gift to the Italian food aficionado. I have to make the Boscaiola, with parsley, mushrooms and salsiccia, and I really should try making tortelloni again. (I've failed miserably before, but maybe, maybe this time it'll work out!) In any case, I feel very inclined to get out my pasta machine and try a few new things!