The perfect lunch: Risoni & Halloumi

If I'm home at lunch time, I'm rarely very organized. I like to get something to eat preferrably fast, and I rarely feel very inspired to cook. Sometimes though, good ideas hit me. And this was one of those days.

Risoni & Halloumi
Serves one hungry girl

100 g risoni pasta
100 g halloumi cheese, cubed
olive oil
handful of rocket (aragula), roughly chopped
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 avocado, diced
2 tbsp pesto
4-5 cherry tomatoes, halved

Boil the risoni until tender. Fry the halloumi in a splash of olive oil until golden brown. And then mix it all together - stir the risoni with the pesto, add in rocket, onion, avocado, tomatoes and halloumi. Season if you want to. Enjoy.

Risonisallad med halloumi

Tarts with tomatoes and pesto

This is super simple and super quick! The recipe comes from BBC Good Food - one of my favorite food magazines. I made this for midsummer, and it was a huge hit. Next time, I think I'll cut the dough smaller from the beginning, rather than cutting the finished tartes, just to make sure no filling runs out.

I made one version with olives and one with capers, for those who (like me) aren't very found of olives. Both turned out great, and I can't wait to make them again!

Tarts with tomatoes and pesto

- 1 packet of frozen puff pastry
- handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
- 2 tbsp pesto
- sharp cheese, grated - I used Swedish "Brännvinsost"
- olives or capers

Let the puff pastry thaw for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200°C. Cut the puff pastry into smaller rectangles, and score each one about 1 cm from each edge.

Scatter over the tomatoes, the capers or olives, and the cheese. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until tarts are puffed and golden. Take out, and drizzle with the pesto. Serve at once, or at room temperature.



Smördegsflarn med pesto

Mystery recipe: Green Butter Lemon Chicken

Oh no. Here's another one of those dishes I meant to blog about.. but didn't get a round to. And now I forgot how I made it. I remember it vaguely - it was very tasty - and I think it was something like.. well, it was definitely a compound butter, containing butter, lemon, garlic and.. basil? And parsley perhaps? Hmm. I slathered that on the chicken pieces - thigh pieces with skin, if I recall correctly, and stuffed some under the skin as well. Then I cut up a vast amount of lemons, and placed those in a pan, and the chicken on top of the lemons. Into the oven, 200°C, for half an hour or so. I think.

I do remember that I served it with Risotto Milanese. For Easter. And that's it.

A meme of fives...

It's been a while since we had any meme here, so when I was tagged by Mahek at Love for Cooking, I was quite excited.

FIVE THINGS IN MY FREEZER
1. Baby fava beans from Spain
2. Homemade peach ice-cream
3. Several pints of Häagen-Dazs
4. Bacon
5. Frozen stock

FIVE THINGS IN MY CLOSET
Umm... I'll interpret closet as our larger, walk-in closet. (Otherwise the answer would be way boring: clothes.)
1. Vacuum cleaner
2. Gift-wrapping supplies
3. All my purses
4. Bedlinen
5. Fancy clothes, like tuxes and long dresses.

FIVE THINGS IN MY CAR

Oh, I don't keep much stuff in my car.
1. Brush for when it's snowy
2. Ice-scraper, see above
3. Tissue paper
4. A cd case, crammed with most of my music
5. Change

FIVE THINGS IN MY PURSE

Ouch, this is hard to narrow down to five. :)
1. Artificial sweetener
2. Small digital camera
3. USB stick
4. Business cards for my blog
5. At least three lip products (-balm, -gloss, -stick) at any given time

And now, whom to tag? I'll go for five newish-to-me blogs!

Matt at Deglazed (I love his writing - very entertaining!)
Monica at Swexan Thoughts (A Texan girl moving to Sweden!)
Fanny at Food Beam (definitely not new, but I haven't read her for very long. Lovely blog!)
Linda at Brazilian Linda (A Swedish girl living in Brazil.)
Dianka at Na Zdravi! (A Czech in Los Angeles!)

Pat's Barbecue Sauce

This is probably one of the simplest barbecue sauces in the world. And luckily, it's also one of the tastiest. It takes all of five minutes to put together, and it holds up very well in the fridge. You can experiment, adding spices and condiments as you wish, to alter the taste. Right now, I'm very fond of a dash of chipotle salsa, to give it more of a smokey spicey kick.

The recipe is from my best friend in the USA, Rebecca. Or rather, from her mom Pat. I begged her for this recipe last time I visited, and thankfully, she agreed. And I can't keep it quiet - it's so good, it needs to be shared. Enjoy!

Pats Barbecue Sauce

½ cup ketchup
1/8 cup water
1 tbsp worcestershiresauce
1 tbsp white vinegar
2-3 tbsp brown sugar
½ - 1 tsp mustard

Mix all ingredients in a small saucepan, and gently simmer until sugar is dissolved.

Den enklaste barbecuesåsen

Weekend Cat Blogging #55 - the new toy

I found this little cute mouse in a Whiskas Gift Pack for kitties that I picked up a few days ago. It's a snack dispenser. And my cats *so* don't get it. They like the snacks - especially Ywette, who usually doesn't like any cat candy - but they don't get that they have to hit the mouse in order for any snacks to appear.



More kitties at Eatstuff!

Midsummer's Day

Swedish strawberries - completely mandatory for Midsummer

Most of the world might not be aware, but Midsummer is possibly the most sacred holiday in Sweden. The stores are open pretty much all year round - Christmas Day, New Year's, Easter - but for Midsummer? Forget it. (Well, except for our exceptional Ica grocery store - that stays open.) Most Swedes celebrate Midsummer very traditionally - preferrably outdoors, preferrably in the archipelago, always with lots of friends, good food and plenty to drink.

We had a party. The food was excellent, although not very traditional. I'm not a big fan of "sill" - cured herring - so I skipped that. I made several side dishes. Tesse brought marinated meat for the grill, Dagmar brought halloumi vegetable skewers (not pictured) , Anna baked amazing baguettes and we all ate until we nearly burst. I also didn't get pictures of my raitziki sauce, my fab bbq sauce (but that will warrant a post of its own, soon!) nor Danne's great tapenade on toast, but it was all delicious. I'll give recipes for some of this stuff during the week, promise!


Summer blush, slowroasted tomatoes and peppers with garlic and basil


Crostini with broad beans, goat's cheese and mint


Mini omelettes with spinach and feta cheese (From Pille.)


Cheese-filled pierogies


Marinated new potatoes


Tomato-Pesto-Olive Tarte


Tomato-Pesto-Capers Tarte


Mixed salad with mango


Anna's amazing baguettes


Mini Pavlovas with strawberries, cream and strawberry sauce


Dagmar's exceptional chocolate truffle cake with walnut crust and a raspberry sauce

Oh, I won!

Bragging time - I just found out that I won Cyberkocken, the Swedish Paper Chef. *doing the happy dance* This means I'll be hosting, and judging, the event next time. Very exciting!

(Read more about it here.)

Salmon with Peach Bulgur

This is a lovely dish. The salmon is lightly cured in salt and sugar, which draws out some of the moisture, resulting in a firmer fish. It also helps to get a nice, caramelized surface. And it's absolutely delicious paired with the sligtly sweet and peppery bulgur salad. Serve this with a simple sauce - I like some turkish yogurt with a bit of sambal oelek, some dijon mustard and a little garlic.

Salmon with Peach Bulgur
serves 4

4 pieces of salmon fillets
2 tbsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
200 ml (0.8 cups) bulgur wheat
1 red onion
1 small can of peach halves
1 handful aragula (rocket) leaves
2-3 tbsp olive oil
juice of half a lemon
salt, pepper

Mix the salt and the sugar, and rub this mix into the salmon, on all sides. Let rest at room temperature for 20 minutes.

Boil the bulgur, and let it cool. Slice the onion thinly, and cut the peach halves into wedges. Roughly chop the aragula. Mix all the salad ingredients, add the olive oil and the lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper.

Fry the salmon on both sides in a very hot frying pan. It should take about three minutes per side. Serve immediately.


Snabbrimmad lax med rucola och persika

Barbecue plate

First real barbecue plate this season.

Jamie Oliver

I just watched a documentary about Jamie Oliver, and I got to say, I do like him. Sure, he can be silly. Sure, sometimes he feels fairly.. oh, I don't know. Stuck up, perhaps? He certainly has evolved from his early days on TV. But anyway. I really like him. Not so much for his shows - I find them entertaining, especially the earlier years, but they're not that great - but for his cooking. I have all of his books, and I got to say.. his recipes really seem to work for me. His flavor combinations are awesome. I can't think of a single thing I've tried that I didn't like. (And I've tried quite a few things.)

So, for me, Jamie Oliver will continue to be a household name, and I'll definitely keep on cooking his food. And if you haven't tried any of his books, I suggest you start with Jamie's Dinners. It's my favorite of the bunch. Excellent food that's fast to make. And if you don't feel like getting a book, head over to his website. Or just try some of the recipes I've cooked from his books and blogged about! (Hrm - with some adaptions.)

Jamie's Amazing Lasagna
Parmesan Fish Fillets
Pasta with Mascarpone and Spinach

and if you just try one recipe, please make it this one:
Chèvre Grape Salad

Dream Cookies

"Dream cookies" - Drömmar - is the Swedish name for some shortbread cookies, leavened with powdered ammonium carbonate (baking ammonia?) rather than baking soda or baking powder. This gives a very crisp cookie that melts in your mouth. It also gives off a horrible ammonia odour while baking - be careful when you open the oven! - but this is completely normal, and not dangerous in any way.

These are the cookies Ywette is sampling. What makes them special is the addition of corn flakes, which makes them even crunchier. If you want a more traditional "dream", just omit the corn flakes. (But they are good, I promise.)

The recipe comes from the book "Kyrkkaffe" - Church Coffee. It's a lovely book, composed from old favorite recipes. I haven't tried much from it yet, but what I have tried has been delicious.

Dream Cookies with Corn Flakes
Makes 40 cookies

100 g butter
200 ml sugar (0,8 cups)
100 ml neutral oil
400 ml flour (1,6 cups)
2 tbsp potato flour
1 tsp powdered ammonia carbonate
1 tbsp vanilla sugar
200 ml corn flakes (0,8 cups)

Preheat oven to 175°C. Mix butter, oil and sugar until white and fluffy. Add the flour, potato flour, powdered ammonia carbonate and vanilla sugar, and stir well. Crush the corn flakes (easiest way is to put them in a plastic bag and gently squeeze until they're broken) and mix this into the dough.

Form small balls and place on a lined baking sheet, leaving a bit of space in between. Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until they are very lightly golden.

Norrlandsdrömmar

Cyberchef #3

Ok, so I finally managed to get my entry in! This time, however, most of you won't get to read it, since it's in Swedish. Cyberchef - or Cyberkocken - is a Swedish version of Paper Chef, and thus, I've placed it on my Swedish blog. (That is usually just a place to put translated recipes.) But at least I will tell you about it.

This month's chosen ingredients were asparagus, lamb, phyllo dough and dark chocolate. How to combine? Well, the odd one out is really the chocolate - the rest is easy enough. I decided to try what has long been on my mind - a red wine sauce with chocolate. I did a decent version, with plenty of chili to spice it up, and it was nice with the lamb. (Which I grilled and sliced thinly.) Nice, but not *that* special. So I won't give you the recipe. (Unless you know Swedish, in which case you can go read it already.)

For the other two ingredients, I made an asparagus risotto (very simple, basic risotto with lots of asparagus and lemon juice) and placed into tiny little phyllo baskets. That was a hit indeed, I'd love to make that again. It makes a great little finger food, that can be eaten in one or two bites. Perfect!

Weekend Cat Blogging #54 - Ywette and cookies

I baked these cookies for work last week, and Ywette got to sample them. Kitty approved!

For more cats, head over to Clare at Eatstuff!

I'll be back later today with an entry for the Swedish version of Paper Chef - Cyberkocken. The ingredients this time are lamb, phyllo dough, asparagus and dark chocolate...

(And the wedding was absolutely beautiful! I took about 500 pictures, will sort through them eventually.)

Weekend House Blogging

Ok - I just made up that title, but so what. (There is not, as far as I know, an organized WHB - but maybe we should start one? I'd love to see how you all live!)

Anyway. I'm in a hurry, as today is my sister's wedding day and I should be off in half an hour, but I thought it's time to show some pictures of where I live. I snapped these the other day, it doesn't show very much of our house, but at least you get some idea.



Our kitchen, from outside.



This is the massive tree in front of our house, taken from our front yard.



The other houses in our little community, picture taken from our front yard.




Our patio.

Pimm's

It's summer, so I drink Pimm's. This great little beverage was introduced to me last summer, at a food blogger picnic in Henley, outside London. It was love at first sip.

Actually, it was love way before that. See, in many of my English novels - Jilly Cooper especially comes to mind - all the characters drink Pimm's in the summer. And I was always wondering, longing to try it. No Pimm's in Sweden, you see. So it was pretty great to finally get to try it. I bought a couple of bottles to bring home, and we're working our way through them. Good thing I have another London trip planned this summer, because I seriously need to re-stock!

How do you make it, you might ask? Well, I have no idea what's in the bottle - a secret mix, apparently - but you just take that, mix with lemonade of some sort (I use Sprite or 7-up) and toss in a bunch of cut-up fruit like strawberries and oranges. And don't forget the cucumber, it's essential.

Honey-Balsamic Strawberries with Vanilla Mascarpone

This is incredibly delicious. I love sweet-sour combinations, and this one is made in heaven. I'm sure that you'll get even better results using the very best ingredients - but really, this is great with whatever's available. I used rather ordinary strawberries, cheap balsamic vinegar, regular honey.. and the cheapest mascarpone - and it was still delicious beyond words. Great for a quick dessert on a hot summer evening!

Honey-Balsamic Strawberries with Vanilla Mascarpone
Serves 4

500 g strawberries
4 tbsp honey
4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
4 tbsp whipping cream
4 tbsp mascarpone
1 vanilla bean
1 tbsp sugar

Clean the strawberries and cut them in halves or quarters. Divide into four portions - glasses or bowls, it doesn't matter.

Mix honey and vinegar in a small pot, and gently heat. Let it simmer for a few minutes, until the sauce thickens slightly.

Mix mascarpone and cream with the sugar in a bowl. Score the vanilla, and scrape out the seeds into the mix. Beat until thickened and fluffy.

To assemble, pour the sauce on top of the berries, and finish with a generous dollop of vanilla mascarpone.

Serve immediately.

Jordgubbar i balsamvinäger och honung

Lemon Cheesecake

Ok, I know I promised some more sweet stuff this week. Well, guess what - here's a treat for you! Or well, for me. It's not something I made, but it's the latest offering from the Swedish cake company Almondy. They sell delicious frozen cakes, and their latest release was this lemon cheesecake, and also a raspberry cheesecake. Both are actually really tasty, but the lemon is superior. Very fresh flavor, and the texture is very good.

I'm going to make sure to have a bunch in the freezer this summer, definitely.

Couscous with Halloumi and Mushrooms

This is so embarrassing. I actually posted this yesterday, but managed to post it to my Swedish blog, where I just keep translations of the recipes. Anyway, better late than never!

I promise, I'll post some more baking recipes this week.. it's been a lot of salads and sauces lately - but well, it's summer. The weather here went from icy cold to steaming hot in just a few days, and we're busy trying to figure out how to keep cool.

Anyway, this is excellent as a side dish for barbecued dishes – a simple piece of grilled meat or fish. We had it with grilled lamb sausages, and with a variety of sauces (yogurt-chili, classic barbecue sauce and guacamole) and it made a great meal. It’s very easy and fast to prepare, and all the frying can be done in advance as it’s not served hot.

Couscous with Halloumi and Mushrooms
Serves 6

400 ml couscous
500 ml boiling water
500 g button mushrooms
1-2 bellpeppers, yellow or red
4 spring onions
1 halloumi cheese, about 250 g
2 cloves of garlic
olive oil

Halve or quarter the mushrooms, depending on size. Cut the bellpeppers into bite-sized pieces. Slice the spring onions, and dice the halloumi. Crush the garlic, or slice it thinly.

Heat some olive oil in a large pan. Fry the garlic for a minute, then add the spring onions and bellpeppers. Fry on medium heat until it’s softened a bit, but not so much that it colors. Remove to a bowl.

Heat more oil, and fry the mushrooms until golden brown. Remove to the same bowl.

Finally, heat more oil and fry the halloumi until it has some color. Remove from heat, and start with the couscous. Put the grains in a bowl, and pour over the boiling water. Cover with plastic foil, and leave to swell for about five minutes.

When ready to eat, just combine all ingredients in a large bowl or on a large plate. Season with salt and pepper if you like, or just use your favorite sauce as a dressing.

Couscous med paprika, svamp och halloumi

Weekend Cat Blogging #53 -Ywette

Ah, I love living in a house, it has so much to look at through the windows

Kitten news: All but one has moved out. We still have Ikaros, who was unfortunately unbooked - twice. So, if anyone wants a little cute Brit.. pet only, no breeding for this boy.. let me know. :)

More cats - go to Clare at Eat Stuff!

Chèvre Apricot Quesadillas

I've had very little inspiration for cooking lately. The move has really begun to take it's toll, and I'm feeling very tired, and very much not in the mood for anything kitchen-related. I hope it will turn soon. Anyway, I did make these really easy appetizers when mom came over for dinner a few nights ago. It's really easy. You need tortillas, a good round of chèvre cheese, some plump dried apricots, and a little bit of runny honey. If you happen to have some fresh rosemary, I bet that'd fit in nicely, too.

Just mash up the cheese, with a little bit of olive oil if you need to, until it's spreadable. Spread it on the tortillas. Cut the apricots into smaller pieces, and sprinkle these over the quesadillas. Drizzle over a bit of honey, and fold each tortilla into half. Grill - either on a barbecue or a contact grill (that's what we used this time) until you get some pretty brown marks. Then devour - preferrably with a nice glass of crisp white wine.

More stuff

One great thing about living in a house is that I can fit in so much more stuff. For example, light holders. I love them. And finally, I have room to have lots. Recent buys include the turqouise pair above, and this lot, from Ikea.

Apple and Red Onion Tzatziki

This is a great variation on a regular tzatziki - not that I'd ever get bored with that, but sometimes it's nice to have something different. This is perfect with a hunk of meat, or a nice quinoa or bulgur salad.

Apple and Red Onion Tzatziki

1 medium red onion
1 apple, fairly crisp (Jona Gold is a good kind for this)
½ lemon (the juice)
200 ml turkish or greek (thick) yogurt
1 tbsp runny honey
salt, white pepper

Cut the red onion into thin half moons. Peel and grate the apple coarsely. Combine in a bowl, and add the juice of half a lemon. Mix in the yogurt, and season to taste with honey, salt and freshly ground white pepper.


Äppel och rödlökstzatziki

My orange tree

I didn't show you this yet, did I? It's one of my birthday presents - from my aunt - a little orange tree! It's very cute, and I sure hope I don't kill it. I'm not very good with plants. This lives outside, and produces.. well, some sort of citrus. I ate one - it's edible, but very sour. The peel was tasty though, I think it'd probably be fine in some kind of marmalade. If I get enough fruits, that is!

Daim Dark & White

Daim is one of my ever favorite candy bars - a crunchy almond caramel, covered in tasty milk chocolate. It's been released in limited editions before - mint, and orange - and now, there are two more available. Daim Dark is obviously covered in dark chocolate, really good stuff, and White is.. yeah, with white. I liked the white very much, the dark - not as much. And I preferred the original, to be honest - but I still think I'll buy a couple of bars of the white kind.

Potato salad with mozzarella and orange

It's been a super busy weekend, since the kittens have been ready to move out. We've been sending them off - Ida on Friday, Io and Ixion on Saturday, and today Ismene moved. Ikaros is staying for one more week, before heading off to his new home.

Today, we've also managed to finally go visit Dagmar and Fredrik, who recently moved to Stockholm. Dagmar had made an absolutely delicious chocolate coffee icecream cake, and we were thrilled to discover that they, like us, love board games.

This recipe is another one I tried for my birthday a few weeks ago. It's a great take on a classic potato salad, and very tasty. Do try it with some grilled meat!

Potato salad with mozzarella and orange

800 g small potatoes, peeled
large handful of fresh basil
100 ml freshly squeezed orange juice
2-3 tbsp concentrated orange juice
100 ml olive oil
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
250 g mozzarella cheese
salt, pepper

Boil the potatoes until soft. Split larger potatoes in half. Cut the cheese into large dice. Using a food processor, mix the basil with orange juice, concentrated orange juice, olive oil and vinegar. Season with salt and pepper. Pour this over the mozzarella, and add the warm potatoes. You can leave this for an hour or two, the flavors will just intensify.

Potatissallad med mozzarella och apelsin

Strawberry Wine Cooler

It's totally summer. Or well, at least according to the calendar. I shouldn't complain - at 7 am, the sky is looking bright and clear, and the sun is.. at least not hiding out somewhere. So, hey, let's make a nice summery drink today!

This is a very simple mix of halved strawberries, a cheap white wine, and liberal amounts of Sprite Zero. Not much to it. Not very sophisticated. But it's very refreshing, and for me - very summery.

(Oh, and the glasses? Fairly new, and I really like them - they're made by Iittala and called Verna Maxi. They have a really good grip to them, and a pretty heavy feel.)

Another "mug shot"

My tea mug. (A wedding gift from my sister Ehva.)