Weekend Cat Blogging - Mother and daugther

Ywette and Glinda enjoying a grooming session, side by side.

Ywette and Glinda enjoyed the sunlight today. They spent a lot of time sleeping on the windowsill, waking up for a quick grooming session. They really do love each other, and often cuddle like this. I'm thankful - it's not always a mother and daughter gets along like this.







For more cats, visit Tuxedo Gang Hideout for this week's round-up.

Tosca Cake for Dad, and a movie recommendation

This week has really rushed by for me! I can hardly believe it's Friday already, but hey, it is! And Friday means you get something sweet - so today: my dad's favorite recipe.

And, with a weekend coming up and all - I really want to recommend a movie: No Reservations (Kärlek på Menyn) with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Aaron Eckhart. I saw this a while ago, and loved it! Really, really loved it! It's a simple feel-good romantic comedy, but with a foodie twist. And Aaron Eckhart is just irrisistably charming. (I also loved him in Thank you for smoking which is one of the funniest movies I've ever seen.) I heartily recommend this one. Although fair warning is in order - you might feel like cooking afterwards. Pizza. Or saffron sauce. I know I did. And I also felt the strangest need to make some aprons. I've come as far as buying some fabric and finding a pattern, so we'll see how that goes...

My parents are coming over for dinner tonight. My dad has just spent two weeks touring Spain on motorbike, and it's nice to have him back home again. I've told you briefly about his favorite cake, but not with a picture, and besides, it was a long time ago. I've changed the recipe a bit too, to make the nut layer thicker and thus, better.

Tosca Cake for Dad

2 eggs
125 g sugar
100 g flour
1 tsp baking powder
100 g butter
2 tbsp cream

Topping:
50 g butter
100 g sugar
2 tbsp cream
2 tbsp flour
50 g flaked almonds
75 g hazelnuts, chopped
75 g almonds, chopped

Preheat the oven to 175°C. Butter and flour a springform pan, about 24 cm in diameter.

Beat eggs and sugar until very fluffy. Melt the butter. Stir in flour and baking powder with the eggs, and then fold in butter and cream. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes.

Meanwile, prepare the topping. Just mix all ingredients in saucepan and bring to a obil. Spread it on top of the cake, and bake for another 15 minutes. Let it cool more or less completely before taking it out of the pan.

Recipe in Swedish:
Toscakaka

Nature's candy!

Juicy blackberries, home-grown and picked by Chris. Thank you SO much!

Red Onion Apricot Chutney

Ok - you have to try this recipe with the cinnamon chicken. They go so well together! Or, try it with some nice cheese - that's really tasty too. Really, just try it. You'll be glad you did. This is spicy, savory and sweet, all at the same time. And it's made from stuff you usually have at home, so you can whip it up in an instant to spice up any meal!

Red Onion Apricot Chutney
Serves 4-5

3 small red onions
3 garlic cloves
100 g dried apricots
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cinnamon stick
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp cumin
100 ml honey

Slice onions and garlic thinly, and dice the apricots. Mix all ingredients in a small saucepan, and cook on low heat for 30 minutes, until the chutney is thick and sticky. Serve warm, or cold, as you prefer it. (And remove the cinnamon stick before serving.)

Recipe in Swedish:
Rödlökschutney med aprikoser

World Bread Day 07 Rye-Wheat Cakes

Today is World Bread Day, a blogging event hosted by Kochtopf! I decided to make something that I feel is very Swedish: rågsiktskakor. However, I could not for my life think of a good translation! So, Rye-Wheat cakes will have to do. They are baked with rågsikt, which is a special flour mixture that you can buy everywhere here, but I think it's almost exlusive to Sweden. No fears, you can make your own, very easily. What it is is sifted rye flour, and sifted wheat flour, all sifted together. Not in equal proportions - it should be about 60% wheat flour, and 40% rye flour.

This is a fairly sweet bread, as are many breads in Sweden. My husband loves this for breakfast, with butter and some sharp cheese. It must be eaten fairly fresh, or it will be very crumbly. They freeze well, so you can just defrost what you need for a day, and thus always have fresh bread. Perfect.

Rye-Wheat Cakes
Makes 4

50 g butter
500 ml swedish filmjolk, buttermilk works fine
50 g fresh yeast
3 tbsp dark syrup (molasses)
2 tsp salt
2 tsp aniseed, ground
2 tsp fennel seeds, ground
750 g rågsikt

Melt the butter. Add the filmjolk or buttermilk, and heat until about finger-warm, 37°C.

Crumble the yeast into a bowl, and stir with some of the liquid until dissolved. Add the rest of the liquid, the syrup, salt, fennel and aniseed. Add most of the flour, work well and add some more. Work well until the dough is elastic.

You might need some extra flour if the dough is very sticky.

Leave to rise, covered, until doubled in size. Roll out round cakes, 2-3 cm thick, and place on baking sheets. Prick them carefully with a fork, all over.

Leave to rise again, covered, for 30 minutes. Bake at 225°C for 10 minutes. Remove and brush with warm water, at once. Leave to cool covered with a tea towel.

Recipe in Swedish:
Rågsiktskakor

Cinnamon Chicken & Orange Cous-Cous

Seriously, Monday again? Already? I feel like it's not even weekend yet - I'm stuck in last week! Which was really busy. And I have spent my weekend cleaning out old stuff - bags and bags of clothes, and a *huge* amount of make-up. It feels really good - and not only because there is now more room for new stuff! It's really liberating to get rid of stuff - and come on, if you haven't used it for a year (or two, three, five...) you probably won't use it much in the future either.

Now, I should do the same with my kitchen cupboards, I have a feeling some things may be lurking in the back... And I have a perfect occasion coming up soon - I'm hosting another Tupperware party on Sunday (anyone wants to come, just e-mail me! You're all very welcome!) and I'll order some more containers, to properly organize.

Now, for some recipes! I made this tasty chicken and cous-cous a while ago, when my sister came to dinner. It was really delicious! I served it with a great red onion chutney - but I'll save that for tomorrow!

Cinnamon Chicken
serves 4

1 kilo of chicken pieces, preferrably thighs, but use your favorite
1 tbsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
2 tsp cinnamon
3 cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp flaky sea salt
1 tsp black pepper

Mix all ingredients, and let the chicken marinate for at least a few hours. When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 200°C. Bake the chicken in the oven for 30-40 minutes until it's cooked through and the skin is browned and crispy.

Orange Cous-Cous
Serves 4

500 ml (2 cups) cous-cous
500 ml (2 cups) chicken stock or water
150 ml orange juice
1 tsp flaky sea salt
1 tsp black pepper
1-2 tsp cumin
100 ml almonds, coarsely chopped

Start by toasting the almonds in a dry frying pan. Set aside when they're nicely toasted.

Put the cous-cous in a bowl, and add salt, black pepper and cumin. Bring the stock and the orange juice to a boil, and pour this over the cous-cous. Cover with palstic foil and let it sit for 5-10 minutes. Fluff with a fork, and stir in the almonds.

Recipe in Swedish:
Kanelkyckling med apelsincous-cous

The simplest of appetizer

This doesn't take any cooking skills whatsoever. Really.

-Sourdough bread, toasted. Homemade if you have it.
-Great-tasting Serrano ham
-Oozing camembert (mine could decidedly have been bit riper)
-Fresh figs, cut into wedges

You can add a bit of arugula/rocket, or maybe a smattering of black pepper - but I don't think either is necessary. For another take on this, check out Johanna's picnic sandwiches!