Still talking sweets

While Easter isn't a too-distant memory, I have to show you my favorite candy for Easter. It's all from Danish confectioner Anton Berg, and it's marzipan eggs, almond chocolate eggs, and marzipan logs. (The latter can be found all year round, thankfully.) Yes, I love almonds. Yes, I'm really thankful I'm not allergic.

Cake

I have to show you my latest cake - another attempt at using sugarpaste, two full years after my last (and first) try. I made this at a cake class, with Maria at Jungbo - she's a really good cake baker, and occasionally offers classes. She also has a gorgeous little cabin that she rents out in the summers - I'll have her tell you more about that some time soon!

So - the cake consists of chocolate layers, coffee mousse and dumle ganache which I have tried before. It's then covered with a mixture of marzipan and sugar paste. And that's it! Really simple and really tasty. I enjoyed trying out the techniques for getting it to look "pillowy", and I probably never want to make the ropes again because that was no fun at all...

Ggaman kong drink hits the spot

Ggaman kong means black bean. As a drink, it's delicious! I can taste roasted beans in every sip. The drink contains no sweetener. My friend says this drink is popular here.
I drank mine at Gyerong Station, near Daejon:

This tea hit the spot after a dehydrating weekend at the buddhist temple.

Musangsa Temple Stay

I enjoyed my brief weekend at Musangsa, a buddhist temple near Daejon. This temple was perfect for foreigners, since most of the monks were European or American. In fact, I met a few twenty-something American monks. (Do they write "unemployed" on their income tax forms?)
I expected strict rules based on a booklet I had read. I knew the food would be vegetarian, based on local produce, and free of onions, garlic and other spices. (Perfect for me!)
The first night we ate in silence on individual mats. Fortunately they served pasta and sandwiches along with Korean food. I chose carefully because we had to eat everything. At the end of the meal, the monks filled their empty food bowls with warm water, swished it around, and drank it. I sneakily wiped my bowl with a napkin and went to bed thirsty.

The next morning after at 3am wake-up drum, 108 bows in the Zen Room, morning chanting, and 1:20 of sitting zen, I enjoyed gruel in silence:

The gruel was a tasty mix of grains and pine nuts. Side dishes included peanut butter, soy sauce, kimchi'i, radishes, beans, and tofu.

I could barely stomach another meal in silence. I guess we were supposed to focus on our food. Instead, I yearned for social contact. Fortunately, after this meal and some chores we had a second breakfast. We shared lively conversation about movies and ate chocolate, homemade pizza, fruit, and tea. One monk made a Polish fruit-and-nut concoction to share.

Fortunately on Sundays the lunch was open to the community and thus very lively. The monks ate in silence at separate tables. Here was the monk spread (eaten with rice, of course):

Here is a view of the mens' table from the outside:

One thing missing was a drinking cup. If we didn't drink from our dirty bowls then we went thirsty. I know that in many countries people do not drink water with meals. Americans, though, are drinking water anywhere, all the time, these days.

Anyway, our meal included salad, Korean pancakes, side dishes, and rice:

We also ate pumpkin rice cakes:

Don't be misled - they might be called "cakes," but they are not sweet!
We also ate this delicious corn chowder:

In our free time we took walks. We found the temple's kimchi'i pots:
And watched several older ladies pick this plant (ssuk), an ingredient for some green-colored rice cakes:

I hope to return again in June or July!

Daring Bakers: Pear Cardamom Cheesecake

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

Daring Bakers time again! I missed last month, but I'm back - and I got cheesecake! This month, we were asked to get as creative as we wished, with a basic baked cheesecake recipe. Cheesecake is one of those things that I don't mind, but I never make. Or choose, for that matter - there's usually something else that I want more, when it comes right down to it.

So, I was a little bit hesitant.. and as usual when I am hesitant, I don't make a full recipe. I didn't really have an occasion to serve it, and I didn't want to end up throwing half, so I simply cut the recipe in third which made four individual cheescake in ramekins. Perfect! And it came out really, really tasty, too! A little bit cracked on top, probably because I didn't take the time to properly let it cool in the oven, and since I accidentally used low-fat cream cheese, it wasn't as smooth as I imagined it would have been. But who cares? It was still excellent.

For my flavor combination, I wanted to use up a bunch of pears that were starting to look a bit sad in the fruit bowl, and my favorite spice to use with pears is cardamom. And vanilla. So - that's what I did. I omitted the lemon in the basic recipe since I thought that might clash just a bit, and instead upped the vanilla a little. For the full recipe, see Jenny's blog. This is an adaption, and the way I actually used it.

Pear Cardamom Cheesecake
4 individual sized ramekins

Crust:
60 g digestive biscuits
40 g melted butter
1/2 tbsp sugar
drop of vanilla extract

Filling:
200 g cream cheese
65 g sugar
1 large egg
80 ml heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground cardamom

Poached pears:
2 firm but ripe pears
100 ml water
100 ml sugar
1/2 lemon, the juice of

Begin with the pears. Peel and cut into dice. Mix water, sugar and lemon in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower the heat, add the pears, and simmer until soft - 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat and let the pears cool in the syrup. This keeps well in the fridge, if you don't use up all of it.

Now for the crust. Finely crush the biscuits and mix with melted butter, sugar and vanilla. Press into the bottoms of four ramekins.

Beat the cream cheese with the sugar. Mix in the egg and the cream. Stir in vanilla and cardamom and beat everything until well mixed.

Place a few poached pear dice on top of the crust. Top with the cheese mixture, and make sure you divide it evenly between the ramekins.

Place all the ramekins in a small roasting pan. Add boiling water to the pan, so that the water level goes about half way up the sides of the ramekins. Put in the oven at 175°C and bake for about 25 minutes.

Turn the oven off, and open the door slightly. (I propped it open with a wooden spoon.) Leave to cool for an hour, then transfer to the fridge and leave them there overnight.

Serve with some powdered sugar on top, if desired.



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

Recipe in Swedish:
Cheesecake med päron och kardemumma

Pita-pizza

One of the quickest, and tastiest dinners, in a long time. I had a red pepper in the fridge, half a packet of feta cheese, and one spicy sausage, begging to be used up. I diced the sausage and pepper, and fried each in a bit of olive oil. I also fried some diced onion with the pepper. I put it all on top of pita bread, topped it with feta cheese and placed them in a 200°C hot oven for 7-8 minutes - just to get the feta soft and a little bit browned.

Recipe in Swedish:
Pita-pizza

Coconut Crisp Muffins

Here's the recipe I promised you weeks ago - the amazing muffin my friend Jisan made. I finally got around to making them myself - and they really are delicious. And really quick and easy to make, as most muffins are.

You can use buttermilk, filmjolk or yogurt in these - Jisan particularly recommends vanilla yogurt, if you have it. As for coconut, the original recipe called for a bit more, but I only had a certain amount, so I used that. I also used more butter in the topping at first, but it turned out a bit too oily so I tweaked that down a bit, too.

They keep well in a close-lidded container for at least a day or two, but I don't know if they'll last that long!

Coconut Crisp Muffins
Based on a recipe from Dagens Muffin
16 normal-sized muffins

50 ml unsweetened coconut
120 g all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
200 g sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
50 ml neutral oil
100 ml buttermilk/filmjolk/yogurt

Crispy topping:
75 g butter
100 g sugar
200 ml unsweetened coconut flakes

Mix all ingredients for the topping in a saucepan. Let the butter melt, and mix well.

Mix coconut, flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a bowl. Add vanilla extract, oil, eggs and buttermilk/filmjolk/yogurt. Stir carefully, and don't overmix.

Place muffin liners in a muffin tin, or use double liners. Half-fill the liners - don't attempt to fit in more, because they will rise quite a bit! Add about a teaspoon of topping to each.

Bake at 200° for about 10 minutes. Be careful not to burn the topping.

Recipe in Swedish:
Kokosmuffins med topping

Chocolate Bean Coffee

I’m not a coffee purist. I know some people think that adding
hazelnut and caramel and amaretto and so forth dilutes the flavour of
the beans, and to those people, I say, hello? Do you not realize you
can drink coffeedrink desserts all day? You are SO missing out! Anyway,
the Chocolate Bean has a long list of specialty coffees or you can add
flavors to regular drinks.  In the interests of a fair review, of
course, I had to try a bunch of coffees, and the boring Americano is
nice too, but a cappuccino with hazelnut is definitely my favorite. The
prices are better than Starbucks, too.

The Chocolate Bean doesn’t have Caramel Apple Crack
but they do have my beloved pomegranate green tea, New York-texture
bagels (not bread with a hole in the middle), and smoothies. Did I
mention the gelato? Very Meg-friendly!

What do you think?

Via The Chocolate Bean on Simpson’s Paradox.

On Homemade Food

I read this over on Woulda Coulda Shoulda » Love is fundamental

Besides, EVERYONE knows that bread you bake yourself doesn’t have any calories. I’m sure I read that somewhere

Exactly what I say. Everything I cook from scratch has zero calories.

Better, fluffy pancakes

A while ago, I asked for help. I needed a new recipe for pancakes - the fluffy kind. The ones I had made previously just weren't very good - and they sure weren't fluffy enough. Dear reader dp gave me a recipe that I tried - and made again, and again. Sorry - I never did get around to the other recipes, because this one was just the way I wanted. It's perfect! The trick is using both baking powder and baking soda, so don't leave one of them out!

I serve this with crispy bacon and maple syrup, but I'm sure it'll be great with fruity stuff as well. I just happen to think that pancakes with bacon is such an incredible food...

Better, fluffy pancakes
10-12 small pancakes

250 ml (1 cup) buttermilk or Swedish filmjolk (I use "lättfil")
2 tbsp neutral oil
1 egg

2 tbsp sugar
250 ml (1 cup) all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Whisk all of the wet ingredients, and add them to the dry ones. Stir until smooth, and then fry small pancakes on medium heat in some butter. Turn when they're starting to look a bit dry on the surface.

Recipe in Swedish:
Fluffiga pannkakor

Caramel Apple Crack

Caramel Apple Crack at Starbucks.

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.

Via Thanksgiving on Simpson's Paradox.

What do I do with black rice?

I have black rice at home. I have no idea what to do with it. Help? (And as it comes in a pretty jar rather than in a package, I have no instructions at all.)

Tana Ramsay's Lentil Soup

Here's another yummy soup recipe from Tana Ramsay's book (yes, that's Gordon's wife) Homemade. I really like the book and I really liked this soup even though I'm generally no fan of lentils or beans. This one has both... but it also has bacon, and lemon which does a lot to brighten the flavors.

Tana Ramsay's Lentil Soup
Serves 4

70 g bacon, finely chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, coarsely chopped
2 carrots, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp dried chili
150 g red lentils
400 g (1 tin) crushed tomatoes
400 g (1 tin) large white beans
1 tbsp tomato purée
1 litre water
1/2 tsp sugar
zest from one lemon
salt, pepper
thick yogurt, to serve
fresh coriander

Fry the bacon in a big pot until it's slightly crispy. Add the olive oil, onion, and carrots and fry for 8-10 minutes on low heat. Add garlic, garam masala and chili, stir well and add the lentils.

Add tomatoes, beans, tomato purée and water. Bring to a boil, cover with a lid and lower the heat. Simmer for 45 minutes until lentils and carrots are soft.

Remove the pot from the heat, and stir in lemon zest and sugar. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with a dollop of yogurt and some fresh coriander.

Recipe in Swedish:
Linssoppa med vita bönor

As close as I get to a frappuccino

Also very good, but certainly not the same. It's an iced latte with a
splash of vanilla, from my favorite coffee chain.

I Love Cadbury Eggs

“Hey, Stick, do you know what the day after tomorrow is?!?”

“The day after Ea—The day Cadbury eggs go on sale.”

“Oh. Guess you already knew then.”

“Meg, we’ve been dating for five years.”

Related: Last year’s post on Cadbury Eggs.

• Cadbury Egg! on April 14, 2008
• Abrupt Change Of Plans on July 3, 2008
• Eight on April 1, 2009
• Sabado Gigante on September 8, 2008
• Birthday Omelette on January 11, 2008

Via Simpson’s Paradox » No Surprises.

Free Cone Day

Don't miss Ben & Jerry's Free Cone Day - Tuesday April 21. I think it's worldwide! In Stockholm, you can find it in a few locations, including a brand new one in Old Town. For worldwide locations, see the website.

While we're at it - what's your favorite flavor? Mine was Cherry Garcia, but that's no longer available in Sweden. *sad sigh*

Why No New Posts?

The time has come to bring my blog to a close. We're leaving in a few months. My interest in Korean foods has waned as my focus has shifted towards my next home. Since my area will have a Lotte Mart, I'll be able to buy my favorite snack foods. I'll abstain from the photo-taking though!
This blog will end, but I will keep writing. My friend and I have been discussing plans for a new blog. I might have to steal her ideas again if she doesn't write anything!

April 4 - Eight Year Anniversary

My husband and I celebrated our eighth anniversary with a pasta/pizza dinner at Timo in Itaewon. I had pizza with sweet potato piped on it like icing on a cake. Before dinner we took our annual "reminiscing route" around Itaewon. In 2001 on my first Saturday night in the "ville," I met Eric at Pancho's (then Nickleby's). He gave me his number on a napkin! A week later we met near the Hyatt, a hotel between our apartments. We had our first date at this nightclub: Our "route" starts at Eric's old apartment and follows a narrow, steep path to my old apartment. Then we continue towards Itaewon, where we pass each significant bar and tell stories about the old days. We thought we should have drinks and go dancing at Spy Club, but we've passed that phase in life. Instead, we were home by 9pm and up early for a duathlon!
Much different from the old days, when we drank Kool-aid and soju from cut-off soda containers (Mandy) and ate greasy egg sandwiches from the same old lady's cart (Eric).

The Oaxacan Cuisine

While Mexican cooking varies from one region of the country to another, no State compares with Oaxaca in the variety of cuisines found within it's borders.

The natural geographic divisions created by the mountain ranges (Sierras)criss-crossing the state, have given rise to distinct cultures and micro climates within Oaxaca. Differing local foods and their culinary use by indigenous peoples combine to provide the enormous variety of Oaxacan dishes.

Chocolate Toffee Cake

This one is delicious. Really, really, really delicious. And I had a hard time writing about it since it's made to taste like a Swedish candy: Dumle. (Hence the Swedish name.) It's basically chewy soft caramels with milk chocolate. And the filling for this cake, while mostly milk chocolate, does taste just like it with the addition of toffee essence. Which most of you probably can't find, but don't worry - it's optional and I bet it'll be really good anyway.

This recipe comes from Swedish pastry chef Daniel Roos who works at Operakällaren, which is one of Sweden's top restaurants. He has a blog where he showcases his desserts, and often gives recipes and ideas for things to try at home - I love that. He's really talented and very inspiring.

This is pretty rich and could serve a lot of people - potentially. However, we were seven when I served this at Easter lunch, and it was pretty much devoured. So, it will depends on how hungry, greedy or sweet-toothed your guests are. (When in doubt, make two.)

Chocolate Toffee Cake
serves 8-10

Cake:
150 g hazelnuts, ground
65 g sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
50 ml white baking syrup (or glucose)
100 g egg whites (about three)

Filling:
200 ml cream (35-40% fat)
350 g milk chocolate
90 g butter
1 tsp toffee essence - you can skip this, but in Sweden it can be ordered from Essence-fabriken)

Heat the oven to 175°C. Mix all the ingredients for the cake in a bowl, and pour into a lined or buttered springform tin. (Mine is 24 cm, about 8,5 inches)

Bake for about 10 minutes. Let it cool completely.

Melt all the ingredients for the filling in a saucepan on low heat, and pour on top of the completely cooled cake. Place in the freezer to set for at least a few hours, or over night. Let it thaw before serving though, or it will be very hard to cut through.

Top with a few berries, and serve with some lightly whipped cream. If you want your edges to look better, line your tin with sturdy plastic before pouring in the filling.

Recipe in Swedish:
Dumletårta

Jamie's Lamb Korma

This is the first recipe I've tried from Jamie Oliver's latest book, Ministry of Food. It's really a chicken korma in the book, but I used some pre-cooked lamb that I had in the freezer and that was just fantastic. Feel free to try it with chicken though, or raw lamb for that matter, but it might take a little longer to cook. And do brown the meat before you do the rest, in that case.

I know the recipe looks long, and with a whole lot of ingredients, but most of them goes in the spice paste and that's super easy to make. So, don't worry - this is *really* easy.

I've just made some minor changes from the recipe, as I was running low on chili and coconut, but if you want Jamie's original recipe, get the book. It's a nice one!

Lamb Korma
serves 4, generously

600 g diced lamb meat, cooked
2 yellow onions, thinly sliced
1 thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, minced
small bunch of fresh coriander, separated into stalks and leaves (and stalks chopped)
400 g (1 tin) chickpeas
some neutral cooking oil
400 ml (1 tin) coconut milk
3n tbsp flaked almonds
1 batch korma paste, see below

Korma Paste:
2 garlic cloves
1 thumb-sized piece fresh ginger
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp neutral cooking oil
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 green chilis
3 tbsp coconut (unsweetened)
2 tbsp almonds, finely chopped
small bunch of fresh coriander
2 tsp whole cumin seeds
1 tsp whole coriander seeds

Start by toasting the cumin and coriander seeds in a dry pan, until golden and fragrant. Grind them in a pestle and mortar. Peel the garlic and ginger, and mix all ingredients in a food processor until you have a smooth paste.

Then move on to the korma itself. Heat a little bit of oil in a deep pan or pot, and fry the onion, ginger and coriander stalks on medium heat for 10 minutes. Stir well so it doesn't burn. Add coconut milk, the korma paste, flaked almonds, chickpeas and the cooked lamb. Add 100-200 ml of water. Bring to a boil, cover with a lid and lower the heat. Let it simmer for about 30 minutes. Season well with salt and pepper.

Serve with rice and the fresh coriander leaves. Additional flaked almonds are good too, and if you'd like, a spoonful of thick yogurt is perfect.

Recipe in Swedish:
Lamm Korma

More news about ice cream

Carte d'Or is our big ice cream company's "luxury line". (That's GB, owned by international UniLever and the same ice cream is marketed as Wallis in some countries.) It's generally pretty good - I like it. It's obviously not home made, or close to it, and it doesn't hold a candle to my favorite Häagen-Dazs, but it's good. And available, everywhere. Even at some gas stations.

Anyway, they've released some new flavors this spring! The one above is wild strawberry and definitely my favorite of the new ones. Another is called Caramel Cinnamon Waffle, inspired by Dutch stroopwaffels. However, that one has small pieces of cookies (supposedly waffles, but really, cookies) on top and as I've told you before, I don't really like to mix cookies and ice cream. With the exception of cookie dough. Or crushed oreos. But this one doesn't really work that well for me.

And then there are five new flavors in smaller sizes - two sorbets (pear and raspberry) that are layered with thin flakes of chocolate (but not real chocolate, unfortunately) for an interesting contrast, and three really dark chocolates (one plain, one with orange and one with chili.) All of them are pretty good, but my annoyance lies with the packaging. It's exactly half the size of the full sized ones (which are 900 ml), so about one pint. That's fine - but they cost exactly the same as the big ones. And that's really not ok, in my opinion. They're still affordable options, especially compared to more luxurious lines, but I think they should have priced the new ones at least a little bit below the full-sized containers...

Chorizo Stroganov

Another dinner you can easily whip up in the time it takes you to boil some pasta! I love this - for me, it's a simple variation of a dish called "Korv Stroganov" which is a sausage version of "Beef Stroganov". While usually made with sour cream, I've never taken to that myself, I much prefer cream of some sort. (Feel free to experiment, obviously!)

Swedish falu-sausage is very fine-milled and mild. It's actually quite similar to simple hot dogs, so use that if you don't have access to "falukorv" as it's called in Swedish.

Chorizo Stroganov
Serves 2

200 g Swedish "falu-sausage" or something similar, diced
1 chorizo, thinly sliced
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
salt, pepper
250 ml cream - I use single cream
1 tbsp tomato purée
olive oil

Fry the chorizo in a little bit of olive oil until crispy. Remove from the pan, and fry the other sausage in the same pan. When it has browned a little, add garlic and onion, and fry for a few minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the chorizo again, stir in the cream and season with tomato purée and more salt and pepper if you'd like. Serve over pasta.

Recept på engelska:
Chorizo Stroganov

Happy Easter!

May you all get loads of candy. (That's what Easter is all about.. right?)

More On Mangosteens

We found mangosteens in the supermarket today! I recognized them from the Yihai market, but I really didn’t expect to find them in such close proximity to drive-thru hush puppies.

Via Mangosteen Disconnect on Simpson's Paradox.

Swedish Dammsugare

Here's a special treat for Easter - classic Swedish "dammsugare". The name means "vaccum cleaners", and that's a very strange name for a cookie indeed. The reason? Well, traditionally these are made with lime-green marzipan and chocolate dipped ends, and maybe there was an early vaccum cleaner model that looked like that..? I really don't know, and there doesn't seem to be a simple answer out there, so it'll have to remain a mystery.

And it has many names, "dammsugare" just happens to be most widely used one. "Punschrulle" is also quite common, getting it's name from the liqueur used to flavor the filling. Punsch, as I've written before, is made from arrak and very sweet. If you can't find it, try using something like Amaretto or Frangelico instead - won't be the same, but it'll be really good.

It's impossible to give exact measures here. A lot depends on the type of crumbs you use. I had biscotti crumbs, but if you use something like pound cake, you're getting a much softer texture and might need less alcohol and more sugar to firm it up. My advice is to have extra of everything, and add more as you go along to get a good, firm, rollable texture.

I made marzipan from almond paste, some glucose and powdered sugar, but it's easier to buy ready-made and ready-colored marzipan. You will need about 300-350 g - I ran out and had to throw out the extra filling.



Swedish Dammsugare
about 40 cookies

200 g cake or cookie crumbs (as long as they're neutral in flavor, use anything)
150 g butter, softened
3 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp powdered sugar
2 tbsp punsch liqueur

marzipan, see above
150 g dark chocolate, melted

Start by placing the crumbs in a bowl - a regular bowl if you're doing this by hand or with handheld beaters, or in the bowl of your Kitchen-Aid if you have one. Mix in the butter, and then cocoa, powdered sugar and punsch. You need a fairly firm dough, that can easily be shaped, so add ingredients accordingly - and taste it, too.

Roll out thin logs of the dough, and place in the fridge to firm up. Roll out the marzipan and shape it around the dough logs. Place them with the seam-side down, and cut into smaller lengths.

Dip the ends in melted chocolate, and something more if you like - I used some colored sugar, but sprinkles, crushed nuts or coconut would also be nice.

Keep them in a cool place. And if you can stand it, they're better the day after they're made...

Recipe in Swedish
Dammsugare

I would post, but...

I managed to really burn one of my fingertips while wiping down the still very hot stove after making Korean noodles (Chapchae - yum by the way!). It hurts, a lot. And I hate typing one-handed, so.. sorry folks, that's all for tonight.

More about the christening

No, this hasn't turned into a baby blog... at least not yet. But with just five weeks to go, you might guess that baby stuff is on my mind a lot.

Anyway. I had to show you these two photos from our god-daughter's christening. On top, a lovely photo of Nelly with her grandmother, who's my big sister Ehva. (The one of the gorgeous kitchen!)



And then, the cakes and cookies served. As is quite common, there was no food, just a large offering of sweets. The cakes - the pink one for Nelly, the blue for her brother Alex who was also christened on the same day - are both "violet cakes" which I've written about before. Delicious! Just above those are nougat oatmeal squares that were totally awesome, and Per's favorite was a "dream swiss roll".

Cookbook Watch

Natur och Kultur, a Swedish publishing house that always has an interesting array of cookbooks, just came out with a series of small books that have been translated from English. The originals are "200 easy suppers", "200 veggie feasts", "200 low-fat dishes" and "200 pasta dishes". The first two are my favorites. "Easy suppers" is written by Jo McAuley, and it's full of really fast and tasty recipes. Perfect for quick weekday wonders that won't take a lot of preparation. I'm particularly interested in trying the spicy quinoa salad or the cider-cooked pork with pasta.



"Veggie feasts" by Louise Pickford is equally inspirational. I admit that I rarely cook with the intent to make it vegetarian - a lot of my food is, but it's really more of an afterthought. I do find it difficult to make vegetarian main dishes that aren't some kind of soup, pasta, risotto or salad. And, honestly, most of the dishes in this book are also some variations on that - but that's ok. In fact, it's quite good because a lot of it can be served as a first course, or as part of a buffet. First on my list is the homemade falafel (I've tried before, but not with huge success), and although fall seems far off, I really want to try the roast pumpkin with walnut pesto.



Korean food isn't very common in Sweden, but we do have some Korean restaurants. The most famous is probably Arirang, which has been open since 1975 - it was actually the first Korean restarant in Scandinavia. The founder's two daughters still run the restaurant with their mom and aunt, and now they've also authored a cookbook on Korean cuisine in Sweden. It's simply called "Koreansk Mat" which translates into "Korean Food", but with an undertitle of "kimchi, bulgogi and bibimbap". My experience with this type of food is.. well, limited, to say the least. I'm not extremely experimental, and some things, like kimchi, don't appeal to me at all. There's a lot of things that do sound good though - *very* good. I'd love to try the pickled cucumbers (oi namul), or mung bean pancakes (nokdo chun). And I already have the right noodles (made from sweet potato starch) for Chapchae, a noodle dish with veggies and beef that sounds right up my alley.

Arugula Risotto

The sun is shining, and it's truly a beautiful day. Spring is finally here, and I hope we've seen the last of the snow until next winter. Food-wise, spring makes me crave slightly lighter dishes - no more stews, and more veggies. However, risotto is a favorite all year for me. It works so well in any weather - except maybe for those extremely hot summer days, but we really don't have many of those in Sweden...

Anyway. This is a light-flavored risotto, with fresh arugula (also known as rocket), some mushrooms, and some sun-dried tomatoes. I use chicken stock, but you can definitely use vegetable stock instead to make this totally veggie.

Arugula Risotto
Serves 2

200 ml of your favorite risotto rice - I use avorio, but arborio and carnaroli are also fine choices. Cooking times will differ a little.
50 ml vermouth
1 onion, finely chopped
240 g mushrooms, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
3 sun-dried tomatoes, finely chopped
50 g arugula, coarsely chopped
Salt, pepper, grated parmesan cheese
1 liter good stock - I use chicken
butter, olive oil

Heat a bit of butter and olive oil in a large pot. Meanwhile, heat the stock in a saucepan. Fry the onion on medium heat in the butter and oil until slightly softened and glossy. Add the rice and turn up the heat - fry while stirring until the rice has turned lightly golden. Add the vermouth, still on high heat, and let it reduce completely.

Now, add the stock, one ladle at a time, and stir after each addition. The rice will absorb the stock and turn soft and creamy. Don't be afraid of high heat - I generally keep mine on high the entire time. When the rice looks dry, just add more stock. And taste the rice to see if it's done - mine usually takes about 20 minutes. Don't let it become overcooked, or you'll have a very mushy risotto.

You might not need all the stock, or you might run out - it will vary. If you do run out, just add hot water.

At the same time as you're stirring and adding stock, fry the mushrooms with the garlic and sundried tomatoes in a separate pan. Add the arugula, and set aside.

When the risotto is done - that is, when the rice is soft and creamy - add the arugula mixture. Add a handful of grated parmesan, and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Recept på svenska:
Ruccolarisotto

Nelly

Meet Nelly! She's just had her christening, and Per and I are her
proud godparents.

Oatmeal Blueberry cookies with Lavender & White Chocolate

Friday! And that means, in my ideal posting routine, something sweet. I made these yummy cookies from a recipe over at Life, Lightly Salted (go there for the original recipe with US measurements) for my sister's birthday party and they were definitely a hit. The lavender is quite unexpected, but goes very well with the blueberries!

Oatmeal Blueberry cookies with Lavender & White Chocolate
about 40 cookies

175 ml brown sugar r
220 g butter, softened
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
750 ml oats
310 ml flour
90 g dried blueberries
1 tsp dried lavender buds, ground in a pestle and mortar
200 g white chocolate, coarsely chopped

Heat the oven to 175°C. Beat butter and sugar until fluffy, then add the baking soda, vanilla and salt. Stir in the eggs and make sure you have a smooth batter.

Add oats, flour, lavender, blueberries and white chocolate. Shape the dough into small balls, and place on a baking sheet - leave room between the cookies, they will spread some.

Bake for 10 minutes, or until lightly golden brown. Leave to cool on a rack.

Recipe in Swedish:
Havrekakor med blåbär, lavendel och vit choklad

Creamy Bacon Pesto Pasta

Need dinner in fifteen minutes? Here's an idea. It's the simplest thing really - pasta, bacon, pesto, cream. And some onion, but that's really optional. I like it. And my pesto? Generally comes from a jar. Homemade is better, but is obviously more of an effort.

Creamy Bacon Pesto Pasta
serves 2

200 g pasta of your choice - I like farfalle
140 g bacon, diced
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
100 ml cream - you decide the fat content
100 g pesto
salt, pepper

Boil the pasta in plenty of salted water. Fry the bacon until crispy and towards the end, add the onions and let them fry along for a minute. Add the cream, and simmer on low heat until the pasta is done.

Drain the pasta and stir in the pesto and the bacon-cream mixture. Season with salt and pepper, and serve straight away.

Recipe in Swedish:
Krämig pasta med bacon & pesto

Crazy-good Coconut Muffins

I have to share this photo of what might be the tastiest muffins ever. And no, I haven't made them. I will though! It's my friend Jisan who made them for a recent fika session - and they're simply incredible. I'll share the recipe after I bake them myself.