Mmm

I made really good cookies this morning. Really, really good. I'll
tell you all about them tomorrow, ok?

Scallops with Cauliflower Purée & Crumbly Bacon

Another dish from our 13-course dinner! It's something I dreamed up a few days before, when P said that he'd really like to have scallops soon. I love the way the crispy surface of the scallops give way to the chewiness, and it's perfect with a smooth, creamy purée. Try it even if you're not a huge fan of cauliflower - the flavors work really well together, and with the bacon and garlic... ah. (This is again proof that bacon really should be thought of as a spice - it adds such wonderful flavor.) Really . do try it!

It's easy to scale this up or down, and it's actually easy to cook for quite a crowd too, but you can't really make the scallops in advance. The purée and the bacon crumble can definitely be made beforehand, just heat the purée before plating. (No need to heat the bacon bits.)

Scallops with Cauliflower Purée & Crumbly Bacon

(printable recipe)
Serves 4

Cauliflower Purée:
150 g cauliflower
50 ml milk (full-fat)
50 ml cream (full-fat)
salt

4 scallops
olive oil

70 g bacon
1-2 garlic cloves
1 tsp olive oil (use one infused with chili if you happen to have it)

Cut the cauliflower into small florets and place in a saucepan with cream and milk. Bring to a boil, cover with a lid and cook on low heat until the cauliflower is completely soft. It takes about ten minutes. Mix it in a blender or with an immersion blender, season with salt, and set aside. (Keep on low heat if you're about to eat, otherwise reheat just before serving.)

Cut the bacon into very small dice, and finely mince the garlic. Heat the oil in a frying pan, and fry the bacon until very crispy. Add the garlic for about a minute, but it burns easily so be careful. Set aside.

Cut the scallops in half along the middle, so you end up with two "coins" from each scallop. Dry the surfaces with a paper towel, and salt lightly. Fry in olive oil on medium heat for about one minute per side, until nicely colored and crispy.

To plate, place a dab of purée on each plate. Add two scallops and top with the bacon crumble.

Recipe in Swedish:
Pilgrimsmussla med blomkålspuré och baconsmul

Blood Orange Vanilla Sorbet

This might turn out as an actual sorbet, or it might turn out as a granita. It's hard to predict, as it will really depend on how sweet your oranges are. Although, to be on the safe side, you can add more sugar syrup, as that will make it freeze softer. I didn't want this to be very sweet, so I was fine with an icier texture - I served it as part of our huge 13-course meal and it was the perfect palate cleanser.

Blood Orange Vanilla Sorbet

(printable recipe)

300 ml blood orange juice (from about 5 oranges)
100 ml vanilla simple syrup

Juice your oranges and mix with simple syrup. Add a little at a time to get it as sweet as you'd like. Place in the fridge until very cold, and then run it in an ice cream machine for 15-20 minutes.

Vanilla Simple Syrup
500 ml sugar
500 ml water
2 vanilla beans

Mix water and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Make sure all the sugar has dissolved. Score the vanilla beans and scrape ut the seeds, add them and the beans to the syrup. Pour in a bottle, keep in the fridge for a few months.

Recipe in Swedish:
Blodapelsinsorbet med vanilj

Winners!

Finally, time to announce the winners of my recent giveaways!

The Krusell cases go to Gabriela (green), Julie (red) and Catarina (beige). The sour rats go to Shirley!

Congratulations all!

Pierre Marcolini

Just a note. If you're in Brussels, there's chocolate, everywhere. The best one, however, is made by Pierre Marcolini and it's absolutely great. I always force my friends who go to Brussels to bring me back a box - it's horribly expensive, but still worth it. However, I think you have to go to one of the actual shops, i don't think it's available at the airport. (Or is it? Does anyone know?)

Take-home sushi

I've promised it several years now, but still haven't gotten around to it - making sushi, that is. And you know what? I don't think I will. I really doubt it's worth the trouble - it's too hard to get the good ingredients and they cost a lot, so I think I'll stick to buying my sushi when the craving hits. I'm picky though - but luckily, I rather like the sushi nearest to me, Neko Sushi. It's a chain, and they're not remarkable, but they're definitely fresh, clean and well, good enough. I really don't like nori at all, so I never order any rolls. (If I liked rolls, it would definitely be worth making them at home, but alas, I don't.) My favorite is salmon, and sometimes shrimp. I only like tuna if it's REALLY good, and the one at Neko isn't. Avocado is ok once in a while, but I have to remove the strip of nori first.

What are your sushi habits? Do you eat it often? Make it yourself? Favorite pieces? Discuss!

Chocolate Coffee Ice Cream Sandwiches

I never was much fond of ice cream sandwiches, but they're my husband's absolute fave, and he'll go for them every time we get ice cream. So, for our 13-course dinner, I thought it would be fun to make some myself. Remember, you *could* make these with store-bought ice cream, and cookies too - or use any cookie, and any ice cream. Go ahead and experiment!

Chocolate Coffee Ice Cream Sandwiches

(printable recipe)

The cookies are from Fanny at Foodbeam, and the ice cream from David Lebovitz.

Chocolate Cookies:
180 g flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

200 g dark chocolate
30 g unsalted butter

2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract
150 g brown sugar

Mix flour with baking powder and salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl, melt chocolate and butter. (In the microwave, or over a waterbath.)

Beat eggs and brown sugar until fluffy. Add vanilla extract and the melted chocolate-buttermix. Finally stir in the dry ingredients. Drop round cookies onto a lined baking sheet - leave some room, but they won't spread a lot.

Bake at 175°C for 6-8 minutes. If the cookies are still mounds rather than flat when they come out (mine did), use a small ball of aluminum foil and press them flat. Let them cool completely, then freeze.

Coffee Icecream:
250 ml cream (35-40% fat), divided
375 ml milk (full-fat)
pinch of salt
150 g sugar (I used homemade vanilla sugar, a jar of regular sugar with a few vanilla beans)
125 coffee beans (whole)
5 egg yolks
pinch of ground coffee

Mix together 125 ml of the cream with milk, sugar, salt and coffee beans in a saucepan. Heat until boiling, then cover with a lid and remove from heat. Let it steep for one hour.

Whisk the egg yolks in a bowl. Add the warm cream mixture while beating, and then scrape the whole thing back into the saucepan. Heat gently while stirring all the time, until the mixture thickens and coats the spoon. Pour through a sieve into a clean bowl, and add the remaining 125 ml of cream along with a pinch of ground coffee. Stir over an ice bath until cool, then leave in the fridge overnight. Freeze in an ice cream maker.

Let the ice cream freeze for a few hours to firm up. Assemble the sandwiches, and let them freeze in a baking sheet or a cutting board until really firm. Then wrap them in plastic or keep in a tight-lidded box.

Recipe in Swedish:
Chokladsandwich med kaffeglass