Thirteen courses on Twelvth Night, 2010

For the fifth year in a row, we had our annual Twelvth Night (Eve of Epiphany) dinner two days ago. We did it the same way as always - invited friends, and let them do some of the cooking. This year, we were only three couples, so each couple made four dishes each. (I made five.) My recipes will be up shortly, and Dagmar will probably blog about hers, too. Anna, I don't know if you'll turn your or Martin's blog into a food blog!


FIrst off, drinks and a nibble. Anna & Martin were in charge, and made Berry Cider Mojitos, with olive nachos. A great start!


Dagmar and Fredrik taught us how to make Vietnamese spring rolls with basil, cilantro, pickled carrots, mango, cucumbers and lettuce. They were served with Nuoc Nam dipping sauce.


Titus had some mango.


I made sautéed scallops on cauliflower purée, with crispy bacon & garlic crumbles.


Next came something that might sound very exotic to some of you - smoked moose heart, with horseradish cream and sweet rye bread. Really very tasty!

I didn't manage to photograph my own dish that came next - a simple grilled cheese sandwich with caramelized onions and grated gruyère cheese. It was devoured before I had a chance to get out the camera. (We were still pretty hungry at this point, believe it or not.)


Next, venison! Wonderfully tender, served with cheesey potatoes and a delicious but potentially dangerous sauce of false morels. (It was very carefully prepared, as false morels contain a certain poison that's removed by blanching it, several times.) Think of it as the blowfish of the forest!


I made a blood orange sorbet or really more of a granita since it didn't become very smooth. Very light and refreshing!


Dagmar and Fredrik served pretty little galettes filled with roquefort cream and beef. They were so tasty everyone went for seconds!


Next, I made my first recipe from the Momofuku cookbook: ginger scallion noodles. I used soba noodles and topped them with pickled cucumbers and lamb ribs that had been slathered in hoisin sauce.


And then, the first of the desserts. Anna surprised us all by serving sweet olives, but along with other berries, lime sugar and vanilla mascarpone, they tasted great!


Dagmar served some exotic fruit with a spicy dipping sauce - golden kiwi fruit, mangosteen, rambutan, mango and rose apple!


I made ice cream sandwiches, with chocolate cookies and coffee ice cream.


And finally, Dagmar made beautiful heart-shaped cherry pies, with locally picked cherries. The perfect conclusion to a wonderful meal!

Want to see what we've had the other years?
2006
2007
2008
2009

Not blog-worthy bread

Let's be honest. I had planned to blog about all of these breads, painstakingly writing out the recipes for you, but let's face it, I won't. Some of them were made in.. let's see now, May? I think it's safe to say that I probably don't remember exactly what I did anyway. And they weren't all that good. So, basically this post is just a bunch of photos of bread, and most importantly: a promise that in the future I will blog a bit quicker about the things I actually want to tell you about. And while I'm making promises, I also promise to try and take better bread photos. I find that particularly hard, for some reason. (It could be that it's usually late at night, but I'm also very uninspired as far as styling goes. Sorry!)


Same light sourdough as the photo on top. Good, but not great. Second time I made them, they came out horribly flat.


A darker sourdough bread, made with both wheat and rye.


All-rye sourdough, spiced with caraway. Very flat, probably over-risen. Gave these to dad, who liked them.


Walnut Sourdough. Very tasty, but slightly over-risen and thus too flat.


Swedish limpa. I was quite excited about this, until I tasted it and realized it came out much too dense. I have no idea why, or what to do differently.


Same as above.


And finally, "bagels" from one of my favorite bread books this season, "Bröd" by Helène Johansson. (Actually, the failed limpa is also from her book.) This is.. well, good bread, but bagels? No. They're quite dense and chewy but nowhere near as good as my other bagel recipes, especially this one.

Dill-Mustard Sauce

This is a very traditional Swedish sauce that you'll find on every Smörgåsbord. It's usually served with gravlax, the salt-and sugarcured salmon that's very popular at Christmas, Easter and Midsummer. (And often in between, as well.) I made it for myself the first time this Christmas - I usually just buy it, but it's really simple to make yourself as well, and I wanted to give it a try. A lot of you have been asking for a recipe, so it was the perfect opportunity to try it out!

The measurements are by no means exact. Improvise as you go along. You might need more oil - or less! Season to your liking - there should be a good balance between sweet, sour and sharp!

Dill-Mustard Sauce
(printable recipe)

2 tbsp sweet and hot mustard
1 tbsp dijon-style mustard
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
black pepper, ground
white pepper, ground
salt
5-6 tbsp canola oil
100 ml finely chopped dill

Whisk both mustards with sugar, apple cider vinegar, black and white pepper and a pinch of salt. While whisking (I used the Kitchen-Aid), slowly add the oil, drop by drop. The sauce will thicken, just like a mayonnaise. Keep going until it's as thick as you like, and viscous. Add the dill, and season a bit more if you like.

Keeps in the fridge for a few days, but try to add the dill as close to serving as possible.

Recipe in Swedish:
Hovmästarsås

Giveaway!

Ok, first giveaway of the year! (I still have to draw a winner for the sour rats - I'll do it tomorrow, so if you want to enter, this will be the last day.) This one comes from Swedish accessory maker Krusell and isn't very food related - but I thought it was a nice deal so I accepted it anyway. They make small bags for your gear - cameras, mobiles, computers - and I've been given three cases to pass on to you guys. I have one laptop case - (fits up to 12") in beige, one green "Edge" case that's about the size of an iPhone, and one ruby red Luna case which is a little smaller. All are made from leather, and you can read more about them on the Krusell webpage.

To enter, you have to find out how many colors the Edge case comes in, and leave the correct answer in the comments.
1. 50
2. 10
3. 1

Don't forget to leave a way for me to contact you if you win, and also let me know which of the three cases you'd like to win. This is open for all readers, world-wide, and it'll be open for one week, until Sunday January 10.

Orange-Basil Dressing

First recipe of the new year is for something light. This is a delicious little sauce, or dressing, that I happened upon a few weeks ago. We ate it with seared salmon and a salad from risoni (rice-shaped pasta) , avocado and tomatoes. Delicious!

Orange-Basil Dressing

(printable recipe)
1 bunch basil
1 orange, squeezed
100 ml crème fraîche
salt, pepper (possibly a bit vinegar, too.)

So simple. Get your handheld blender, or a regular blender (or food processor) and mix the orange and basil until smooth. Add the crème fraîche, mix again, and season. Mix just before serving to make it airy and frothy.

Recipe in Swedish:
Apelsin-basilikadressing

First day...

Well, it's the first day of 2010, and I'm starting off this year's blogging by.. not blogging much at all. Sorry! I don't have any New Year's resolutions either - not for food, and not in general. In short, I plan to just keep on going like I have before.

New Year's Eve was a disaster, by the way. We were going to celebrate with friends, but my husband got some sort of stomach bug and leaving the house was out of the question. He ended up eating toast and tea, and I ate quick-cook pasta with Campbell's Mushroom soup (one of my embarrassing emergency dinners). Certainly the worst New Year's Eve I've ever had - but I decided we should have a do-over and we will: tomorrow. My parents are coming for dinner, and I'm planning on seared scallops with garlicky bacon bits over cauliflower purée, Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic and roasted Jerusalem artichokes, and blood orange sorbet. Sounds good, doesn't it?

First dinner of the new year was spicy pork tenderloin, with mashed avocadoes and garlic, and pickled red onions - all stuffed in pita bread. Delicious!

New Year's Resolution

Well, here you are, staring at 2010, thinking of 3 months of indulgence: Halloween candy, Thanksgiving feasts, Christmas goodies and what ever you put away New Years day during all the football games.

Now you want to make you're New Year's Resolution to eat right and lose 20+ pounds. Let Santiagos help with their Salad St. Miguel. This healthy salad is made with crisp lettuce, black beans, Oaxcan cheese, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions topped with grilled chicken and served with ancho chili dressing. That makes keeping your resolution a breeze!