Chicken Saffron Pies

Just a photo today: tiny pies with chicken and saffron. I made them for my mom's birthday party, and they went down well enough but it's probably not something I'd repeat. I was annoyed that there was very little space for filling - and as I don't really like pie pastry that much, this wasn't for me.

It's very basic - a wholewheat pastry dough, cooked chicken, eggs, milk and saffron whisked with a few snipped chives and some chilli, and poured over.

Pineapple Pie

For once, I felt that the photo with the cat actually turned out much better than the one without. Glinda was *very* interested in this little pie, and so were my guests. It's one of those recipes that I've had for ages, and made many times - but not for a very long while. As in, five years or so. I have no idea why - it's easy enough and it's very tasty.

I'm not a big fan or pie crust, but this one is a lot tastier than the regular versions. The rolled oats help to make it crispier and with a lovely nutty flavor. (Oh, you could of course use actual nuts in the crust - not a bad idea at all.)

Serve this with ice cream. I'm particularly fond of my coconut sorbet, that's really the ultimate pairing.

Pineapple Pie

Pastry dough:
125 g butter
100 ml sugar
150 ml flour
150 ml rolled oats
1 tsp baking powder

Filling:
1 egg
100 ml sugar
200 ml crème fraîche, low fat is fine and lactose free substitutes are ok too!
2 tsp vanilla sugar
1 medium sized can of crushed pineapple, drained

Mix the pastry dough in a food processor. Mix everything, and process until the mixture starts to form a ball. Press it (don't even try to roll it) into a pie tin, and place in the fridge for 30 minutes. Bake at 200°C for 10-15 minutes. (Using pie weights if you want to reduce the shrinking of the crust, but I never bother. As evident in the photos.)

Remove from oven and lower the temperature to 175°C.

Beat egg and sugar for the filling, until very light and fluffy. Fold in the other ingredients and pour into the pie crust. Bake at the new, lower temperature of 175°C for 25-30 minutes.



Recept på engelska:
Ananaspaj

Red Rice Salad with Egg

Today is one of those days when I would have preferred to just stay in bed. It's grey and gloomy outside, no snow, but fairly cold winds. And my office is really cold too. I feel like spring inside, but outside.. well, it's definitely still winter.

I found this recipe over at Heidi's excellent 101 Cookbooks, and as most of the recipes from her that I've tried, this was another winner. It's a fun one because you can add pretty much anything you want. It's like a Swedish Pyttipanna, but with completely different ingredients.

I happened to have red rice, but you don't have to use that. Regular white rice will do just as nicely - basmati would be particularly good, I think. And I bet black rice would look pretty! I'm trying that next time. Heidi suggests boiling eggs for this salad, but I preferred to top it with a fried egg instead.

Red Rice Salad with Egg
Serves 3-4

250 ml (1 cup) red rice, uncooked
500 ml water

1 tbsp oil
4 shallots, finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 red chilli, finely chopped
1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, finely minced or grated
1 tsp ground coriander
1 large carrot, thinly sliced
200 g green beans, cut into smaller pieces
160 ml coconut milk
3-4 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsk dark syrup or molasses
2 tbsp sweet chili sauce
1 large bunch of fresh basil, finely shredded
1 handful macadamia nuts, toasted and coarsely chopped

to serve:
lime
egg

Bring the water to a boil. Rinse the rice carefully and add it to the water. Cover with a lid and let it cook on low heat for 45 minutes. Remove from heat, and place the rice in a shallow bowl to cool off.

Heat the oil in a large wok or frying pan. Fry shallots, garlic, chilli, ginger, coriander, carrot and green beans for a few minutes. Add the coconut milk, soy sauce and syrup, and let it cook for a few minutes. Add the rice, and if the dish looks too dry, add some water. Stir in some sweet chili sauce, and taste - you might want to add some more soy sauce for saltiness. Finally stir in the basil, and top with the macadamias. Serve it with lime wedges to squeeze over, and a fried egg if you want to.

Recipe in Swedish:
Röd rispytt

Caramel Chicken

I try a lot of recipes. You probably know that, since I constantly find new things to post about here. Some are of the kind that I like well enough, but not enough to make again. Some are new favorites, that I know I'll make again, and again. This is one of those.

I found it over at Nika's Culinaria, and it's a recipe from a book called "2500 recipes". I don't have the book, nor any strong inclination to buy it, but this chicken.. wow, this chicken is really extraordinary.

Do use as good chicken as you can buy - it makes a big difference here. I used organic free-range chicken thighs, and it was absolutely delicious. I made it again with slightly inferior chicken and it wasn't half as good. So do opt for the good stuff - it will be well worth it, I promise!

Caramel Chicken
serves 3-4

500 g chicken thighs, deboned
corn starch
2 tbsp neutral oil
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
1-2 carrots, thinly sliced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp brown sugar
2-3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp worcestershiresauce
black pepper
salt

Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Coat them lightly in corn starch. Heat the oil and fry the chicken until it's cooked through, and slightly crispy on the outside. Remove to a plate.

Add more oil if you need to, and fry onion and carrot on fairly high heat for one minute. Add garlic, sugar, vinegar and worcestershiresauce and cook for a few minutes until the sugar has melted. Add the chicken to the pan and stir until it's well coated. Season with some black pepper and salt if you wish, and serve it with rice.

Recipe in Swedish:
Karamellkyckling

The Glenfarclas Family Casks Vertical Tasting

Here's a post long, long over due! I was invited to a really cool event in December - a full vertical tasting of ALL Glenfarclas Family Casks. That means whisky from every year from 1952-1994! 43 bottles! All in one weekend! (I have to admit that I only attended one day.)

I was intrigued. I like whisky, but don't know very much about it and I'm certainly not fanatic. My husband is somewhat of a whisky snob, and his friends are so even more. They were all very jealous, of course. Glenfarclas is a nice whisky, not very extreme like some single malts, but likeable and popular. Their family casks project is very unique - few distilleries even have casks that are so old! So, this tasting would be really spectacular.


George S Grant

And it was. It was led by expert Henrik Aflodal, and George S Grant from the Glenfarclas Distillery. It's the first time they've had such a large vertical tasting, and it's likely to be the only one! I learned a lot about Glenfarclas in particular, and the way Scottish distilleris run in general. And a lot about the whisky. I had no clue it would be so different - after all, it's all the SAME brand! Tastes the same, right? Oh, no. Not at all.



I was surprised right off to see that the colors were so different. These bottles were all cask strength, bottled right from the cask, without coloring or additives or any kind of altering. And the colors ranged from very pale yellow to deep reddish brown - all depending on what sort of casks they had been in. Many of the older vintages were from sherry casks (incredibly yummy!) which gives a very deep caramel color.



And the flavors? Way different. Each and every one. Ok, some were similar, but generally very distinct from each other. We were each given a small brown bottle to make our own blend - if we didn't want to drink all the whisky we were given (and you'd get *very* drunk if you did that) you could pour them into the bottle and make a custom blend. My whisky-nerdy friend paled when I told her this. I just thought it was kind of neat. And I still have that bottle - will drink it eventually, for a special occasion. It's very good, even though it's technically "just" 28 years old, since that was the youngest vintage that went in. The real enthusiasts brought tiny bottles for each and every vintage...



Most important then. Which one was the best? Well, I want to say that MY vintage (1976, which is also by the way George S Grant's vintage!) was the very best, but I have to admit that my very favorite was the 1960. It tasted of exotic fruits and had a very special aftertaste. Definitely not like anything else I've ever tried! Sadly, I'm not likely to ever get to try it again. If you get a chance to try any of the Glenfarclas Family Casks - I say go for it! It's an experience you're likely to remember for a very long time!

A big thank you to Sari and Patrik at Philipson & Söderberg for giving me this wonderful opportunity! And, to Henrik and George for sharing their fantastic knowledge!

Farmgirl's Fiesta Dip

Here's something I made a long time ago (for a Tupperware party) but never got around to tell you about. I have a massive backlog that I'm working through. Sometimes people ask me if I'll run out of things to blog about. Simple answer: no. I really don't think so. Ever.

Anyway. This is a nice, healthy dip, a nice change from the much fattier ones like guacamole (although oooh, yummy!) and it's a definite winner from Farmgirl Fare. I've made a few small changes, so head over to her site for her original recipe, and her story about tortilla factory tours!

Farmgirl's Fiesta Dip

500 g cottage cheese (diet versions are totally ok)
4-5 large tomatoes, diced
2 large red or yellow peppers, diced
3-4 scallions, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 small fresh chilli, minced
1 bunch fresh coriander, shredded
1 tsp worcestershiresauce
1 tsp cumin
salt

Mix everything, and ideally let it sit for a few hours before serving. It will probably be a little fluid at the bottom of the bowl, so carefully pour that out before serving. And while you could serve this with more vegetables, it was delicious with tortilla chips. Just so you know.

Recipe in Swedish:
Farmgirls Fiesta Dip

Fig-Feta Palmiers

This is so easy, you hardly need a recipe! It creates a gorgeous flavor explosion - sweet meets salty, and the crunch from the pastry.. oh, it's perfect together.

So - you need a sheet of puff pastry, and I don't bother making my own even though you certainly could, it'll make it even better. You need dried figs - say, seven or eight of them. Finely chopped. You need about 100 g of feta cheese, and a few spoonfuls of cream. Mash the cheese with the cream, and spread it on the puff pastry. Sprinkle with the figs.

Roll up from both long sides at once, so that they meet in the middle. Or hey, just make one simple roll if you prefer - then you've got pinwheels instead of palmiers!
Place in the fridge for a little bit, to make slicing easier. Then slice. You want these to be fairly thin, say 7-8 mm.
Place the slices. cut side up. Brush with a beaten egg. And then bake, at 225°C, for 10 minutes.