Perfect, perfect French Bread

It's Daring Bakers time again, and this month, you'll see blogs overflowing with French bread. For French bread, surely you'd seek out a recipe from France, yeah? Ah, no, not really. Instead, our wise hosts, BreadChick Mary and Sara from I Like to Cook turned to the American cooking icon Julia Child. I have to admit that I know nearly nothing about her. I have a book - Mastering the Art of French Cooking vol. 1 - that I got from a friend who was moving and didn't want to lug this heavy book with him. I've read it (at the same time I read the archives at Julie + Julia, that uses the very same book), but I haven't cooked more than once or twice from it. I understand that many people, and many Daring Bakers, feel very strongly about Julia, but I really don't. Maybe it's an American thing.



That said, I frowned when I saw the recipe. 20 pages?? You're joking! Turned out a lot of it was quite skippable, and the recipe itself wasn't complicated at all. French bread contains four things - flour, yeast, salt and water. That's it. Julia also suggests using cornmeal, but Danielle Forestier who features in PBS Baking with Julia in the episode where they do this particular bread says that that's never done in France. And I admit, I skipped that part, seeing no real use for it. So, the recipe is long, and it takes a long time to bake. But, the only part I was worried about was shaping the bread. I watched this video clip of Julia and Danielle, and no more worries - it's really simple once you've seen it done.



I made Batards - a small baguette - and while I would have liked them a little longer, I'm not complaining. They rose perfectly and all in all, came out pretty perfect. They have a very crusty exterior, and fluffy, soft interior. The only thing I might have done differently is that I sprayed in more water in the oven a few times during baking, to provide a really moist environment. I think that might have contributed to the nice crust. Oh - and I needed more flour than the recipe stated to make it work - it was much too sticky at first, barely a dough at all.

I'm glad I made two batches at once - seeing as it took over seven hours from start to finish. Seven hours of fun and expectations! And you're rewarded with beautiful bread, so don't hesitate to make this if you happen to have a day free. It's well worth the effort!

For the full recipe, please go here.
And for the Daring Bakers Blogroll, go here.

Tagged again!

Me, with my trusty Nikon, February 2008

I've been tagged for several memes again! Fun! I suppose that means you want to know even *more* about me? Well, I'll play! Joelen and Greg both tagged me for the same one, and Cinnamonda for a shorter, but similar one.

What were you doing 10 years ago?

In 1998, I was in my second year at university. I lived in a dorm with seven great people. Partying hard, studying a little, having a lot of fun. I studied political science at the time, mostly - later on, I've expanded a bit and have degrees in something called "Science, Technology and Society in Europe" and English, as well as political science. Yes, I studied for quite a while. And 1998 was actually the year me and three of my friends won a big dart tournament and won a trip to London. (No, I don't really play darts. We were very lucky.)

What were you doing 1 year ago?

Umm.. that's much harder, for some reason. Same as I'm doing now, I suppose - except I didn't exercise as much, nor walk as much. I have the same job as I did then, the same house, the same husband... :) We did have gorgeous kittens this time last year - something I miss a lot, I hope we'll be lucky enough to have some later this year.

Five snacks you enjoy

- Honey-roasted cashew nuts (especially Planter's - incredibly yummy! And wouldn't you know, not sold in Sweden. Probably just as well, or I'd never stop eating.)
- Potato chips - preferrably just lightly salted. I like American Ruffles too, a lot. And I remember something called Sun Chips? Those were awesome. But never flavored, I really prefer the salted variety.
- edamame (fresh or frozen soy beans) with salt
- Oranges (especially if someone else peels them)
- Cheese

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire

I guess it depends on how much money I have, but let's assume I have lots - ok? And I'll be really honest here. This is really, truly what I would do.

- Not work
- Travel more
- Cook from better ingredients
- Buy more expensive clothes and accessories
- Give more gifts to my loved ones

Five bad habits

- I'm impatient
- I get really cranky when I'm hungry - and I refuse to admit that it's because I'm hungry
- I click my nails together
- I tear at my toenails. (really a very bad idea)
- I like things to be done MY way.

Five things you like doing

- Curling up on the sofa with a good book (generally crime, some of my faves are Val McDermid, Jeffery Deaver, Karin Slaughter...)
- Watching tv-shows (some of my faves are Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Hereos, Prison Break...)
- Cuddling with the cats
- Cuddling with the husband
- Cooking (obviously)

Five things you would never wear again

Oh, this is hard! I have no idea. Honestly, I don't really discriminate - I love nice clothes and accessories, but I have no problems buying something really cheap as well if it suits my style. And as for specific styles.. who knows? I don't feel like wearing bright turqouise now, but what's to say I won't like it in half a year? Never is a strong word!

- Anything that's big and shapeless, just because it might fit me
- Neon leg warmers
- anything with velcro
- a wedding dress (well, I didn't really wear a dress.)
- Bright blue mascara

Five favorite toys

- My Kitchen-Aid stand mixer
- My stick blender
- My Nikon d80
- My fancy water kettle that can heat water to 40, 60, 80 or 100°C.
- My makeup collection

And, finally, five bloggers to tag for this. I'll go with some old friends that I don't think has done this recently. (And one new friend!)

- Jeanne at Cook Sister
- Johanna at The Passionate Cook
- Dagmar at A Cat in the Kitchen
- Susan at Farmgirl Fare
- Inge at African Vanielje

Cod with a pinenut-crawfish crust

I don't eat fish very often (as you can probably guess from my recipe links to the right - very few fish recipes!) and when I do, it's usually just salmon in the oven, or poached fish or.. well, few very exciting things really.

However, I made this for New year's eve, and it's really tasty! I found the recipe in Ica Buffé, a magazine for all customers at Ica which is Sweden's largest chain of grocery stores. I used less than half of the butter suggested though - what were they thinking? They also had a recipe for a champagne sauce.. well, I made it, but it was actually not a big hit, so I'd suggest making a simple hollandaise or a lemon cream sauce to go with this. Or something else entirely - play up the dill and make a dill sauce, perhaps?

Use any fish you'd like - cod is an endangered species so you either want to make sure you use cod from a sustainable source, or another firm white fish like hoki or talapia.

Cod with a pinenut-crawfish crust
Serves 4

4 thick fillets of cod or other firm white fish
200 g crawfish tails (generally sold in brine here)
20 g butter
40 g pine nuts
100 ml fresh dill, finely chopped
white pepper, salt

Heat the oven to 175°C.

Salt the fish ligtly and place it in an oven proof dish. Drain the crawfish tails and chop them.

Melt the butter, and fry the pine nuts until lightly golden. Add the crawfish and the dill, and season with salt and some white pepper. Spoon this over the fish, and bake for 15 minutes.

Serve it with a tasty sauce, and some steamed sugar snap peas or snow peas. You can add potatoes, rice or bulgur if you'd like. (We had a very tasty bulgur with tomatoes, as you can see in the photo.)

Recipe in Swedish:
Pinje- och kräftbakad torskrygg

In today's mail

I found this. A totally adorable little hamburger! In crochet! I can't stop smiling, it's completely precious! And it has little individual slices of tomato and onions, a beef patty, cheese and lettuce - SO cute!

This is all thanks to the fabulous Nikka, who promised to send me something handmade this year - all it took was for me to make the same promise to three people - still haven't sent anything, but I will! Aww - thanks Nikka, you really made my day!

Red Curry with Shrimp & Chickpeas

This dish comes from Nigella Express, and it's perfect in the weather transition we're having - the sun is shining, and the papers are all reporting that spring is indeed here. In February? This feels a bit weird. But I'm not complaining - I don't miss the snow at all. And with this dinner, with bright and fresh flavors, yet hearty feel, I'm hoping that you'll feel the same.

Red Curry with Shrimp & Chickpeas
Serves 3-4

1 tbsp neutral cooking oil
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1-2 tbsp red curry paste
400 ml coconut milk
250 ml chicken stock
2 tsp fish sauce
1 can (about 400 g) chickpeas
200 g peeled shrimp
1 tsp lemon juice
150 g mango, diced
3-4 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped

Heat the oil in a deep frying pan or a wok. Fry the onion and the curry paste for a few minutes. Add coconut milk, chicken stock and fish sauce, and bring to a boil.

Rinse and dry the chickpeas very well, and add them to the pan. Let them boil for about 15 minutes. Add the mango and the shrimp and a little bit of freshly squeezed lemon juice. Taste to see if you want any salt or pepper, add the coriander, and serve straight away.

I had this with rice, but bulgur would be good too. Or just eat it on its own.

Recipe in Swedish:
Röd curry med räkor och kikärter

Cookbook Watch - from healthy to extravagant

Three new cookbooks to tell you about today! Let's get the healthy one out of the way before we move on to the others. Paulún's GI-månad (GI-month) is a new book by Fredrik Paulún who is known as the Swedish guru on GI-eating. GI, as in Glycemic Index, is incredibly popular here. It's along the same lines as the South Beach Diet, but perhaps a bit less severe. Definitely the latest diet fad here - or is it a fad? I suppose time will tell! Anyway. This book, which Fredrik has written with his wife, gives very easy and detailed instructions on what to eat for an entire month on this diet. It even has shopping lists, making it very easy to get going, if you feel that this is something you want to try. It has some basics on the science of this diet, and nutritional information, as well.

The recipes are simple, and I suppose pretty exciting considering this is a diet - but I don't really feel compelled to go cook. Which I suppose is also kind of the point! This isn't geared towards people who love to cook, but to people who want to learn how to eat the GI way, without too much hardship. Many of the recipes use shortcuts, such as ready-made meatballs or mackerel in tomato sauce, and very many of them use a lot of lentils and beans. I am pretty eager to try a few recipes but I have to admit I have no inclination of going an entire month!



The nexy book is called Salt & Peppar (I'm sure you can figure out what that means!) by Jody Vassallo and it's available in English as well as in Swedish. The theme is obvious - half the book is devoted to salt, the other half to pepper. To emphasize this, the first half of the book has everything photographed against white background, the second on black. I found this just a teeny bit obvious, but hey - the photos are really beautiful, Deirdre Rooney did a great job.

I'm not sure that salt and pepper are excellent themes though. Or at least not strong enough themes - after all, salt and pepper or at least one or the other is pretty much included in every single dish, isn't it? I would have expected the recipes in this book to be more focused on salt, or on pepper, but I find them a bit.. average, I suppose. That said, and neverminding the theme, this is a beautiful book with some really delicious-sounding recipes. I'm dying to try a Jansson's Temptation with Fennel, Feta cheese Chicken with Honey-Capers sauce, Avocado salad with Pink Peppercorn vinaigrette, and Lamb filet encrusted with Pistachios and peppercorns. It also has nice sections on different salts and peppers, which I enjoyed very much.



Finally, a book that's not really a recipe book, but more of an inspirational book. If you like cookies, that is. Or more to the point, decorating cookies. It's called Cookie Craft and it's written by Valerie Peterson and Janice Fryer. Oh, dear. What a book! How is it even possible to make cookies that pretty? I'm *not* very artistic, and piping designs on cookies is definitely beyond me. At least that's what I've always thought. But this book, with tons of photos and very detailed instructions on how to achieve different looks, is definitely inspiring me to try! I haven't yet, but I'm really eager to schedule a day of cookie decorating with a few girlfriends. It does have a few basic cookie recipes as well as plenty of recipes for icing - I'll give it a test run when I have the time, and I promise to let you know the results! I'll tell you this much right now - if you're at all interested in decorating cookies, this is a book you should add to your collection.

Glace au Four

Here it is finally - the recipe I promised to make during last year, but never got around to. Well, now I have! Glace au four is basically ice cream in the oven. Which sounds strange, doesn't it? I think it's called Baked Alaska in parts of the world, too. What it is is a cake bottom, ice cream, and then meringue. It's just in the oven long enough to brown the meringue, and not to melt the ice cream.

This particular recipe is probably a bit different from most. It has a crunchy caramelly cake layer, rather than the more common sponge cake, and it has a layer of strawberry preserves between the ice cream and meringue. I got it from Cissi, a close friend during my university years, who actually had a food blog for a while, but it's not active anymore. (Truly a shame, she was miraculous in the kitchen!)

This is not difficult at all. You do need to pipe the meringue carefully though, or it won't work as insulation. No holes! And choose the dish carefully. Here, I can buy ice cream in 500 ml blocks rather than in containers, and those work especially well here. My chosen dish is just large enough to accomodate two of those blocks. You want a fairly snug fit. Or, as long as you pipe the meringue tight enough, you can probably go free-form with this... but I don't dare try! :)

If you don't happen to have brick-shaped ice cream, I'd let regular ice cream soften a little, scoop and pack it on the cake, and the re-freeze for a while so it's still very cold before the oven. Again, haven't tried, can't guarantee it, but it *should* work.

Glace au Four
Serves 5-6

For the cake:
75 g melted butter
250 ml (1 cup) rolled oats
125 ml (1/2 cup) sugar
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp flour

Preheat the oven to 175°C. Mix all the ingredients, and bake in a small oven-proof dish for 20 minutes.

Let the cake layer cool completely and raise the oven to 275°C.



Make a meringue from 3 egg whites and 75 ml sugar (6 tbsp). Beat the egg whites until foaming, and add the sugar gradually. Keep beating until the meringue is stiff and glossy.

Cover your cake with ice cream - I use 2 500-ml packets. Cover the ice cream with good strawberry or raspberry preserves - homemade is of course ideal. Carefully pipe the meringue on top, making sure there are no holes. The ice cream and preserves must be completely sealed in.

Pop in the oven to brown for 3-4 minutes.

Recipe in Swedish:
Cissis Glace au Four

Pick & Mix

Pick & Mix, or as it's called here, smågodis (= small candy) is hugely popular in Sweden. You'll find it everywhere - in every single grocery store, and in many small convenience stores as well. It's usually a very large selection. I admit that I'm rather hooked on it myself, despite the artificial colorings and additives.

Here are some of my faves - sour octopus in neon colors, raspberry-flavored race cars, foam chanterelles, chewy fruit squares, hard salty licorice, and rhubarb sticks.

Salmon Rolls

This is one of Per's favorite foods in the world. It's something he grew up with, and he's really been trying to get me to love them too... but I have to say, it's only very recently that I even managed to try a bite. See, the combination of cured salmon and mustard.. it just didn't sound appealing to me. Especially not since I've only started to enjoy mustard at all - it's been a no-go food for me for many years.

But anyway. I saw the light. These are good. Really good, indeed. Per agreed that this latest batch was better than usual - what was different? A little less mustard, and a bit more salmon. It's all in the balance here.

You need a thin, soft bread - if you can't find Swedish-style flatbread, you could always try it with a wheat tortilla. Our bread is a little thicker, and sweeter, but it's at least in the neighborhood... one day, I'll see if I can find a recipe to make your own flatbread, without needing a special oven.

Salmon Rolls

thin, soft bread
cured salmon (gravlax)
grated cheese, preferrably rather sharp
grainy mustard, preferrably rather sweet
yellow onion, finely minced

Spread a very thin layer of mustard on the bread. Cover with thick-ish slices of salmon, and some minced onions. Top with grated cheese, and roll up. Place in an oven-proof dish, seam-side down, cover with some more cheese and bake at 200°C for 10-15 minutes.



Recipe in Swedish:
Laxrullar

Another Tosca

I made another Tosca cake for my dad a while ago - he had an operation and had to stay overnight in the hospital, so I made this for him when he got home. It's different from the regular tosca in that it has oats instead of chopped nuts or almonds. It still has the flaked almonds though, and about 100 g of oats. Definitely a delicious topping, and one that I'll certainly make again.

Ham filling for Jacket Potatoes

Wow, you certainly had a lot of suggestions for the American party! Keep 'em coming, everything is much appriciated! For now, how about something really simple for dinner? Jacket potatoes. An eternal favorite, really. And it couldn't be easier. Just pop them in the oven, put your feet up and relax for an hour, and then make a simple filling. Ahhh. Sometimes, that's just what you need, isn't it?

Just remember to bake the potatoes really well, because you don't want to encounter any of those hard bits. No, soft through and through is really what you're after here. And while some might think that it's ok to microwave the potatoes.. well, I personally don't, it's just not as tasty.

Ham filling
Serves 2

200 ml crème fraîche, low-fat is fine
120 g smoked ham, in thin strips or diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 small red onion, finely diced
100 ml sweetcorn
1 red pepper, finely diced
cayenne pepper, cumin, salt

Just stir everything together, season and enjoy!

Recipe in Swedish:
Skinkröra till bakad potatis

A little help, please...

I have to compose a small buffet, for about 40 people. The limits are like this:

-It must feel American. The people eating won't be American, but the theme of the meeting is the US election.
-It must be served at room temperature - there's a tiny kitchen and no chance of re-heating anything.
-It's not a full dinner, more of a filling snack

What I know so far is this:
-bagels with cream cheese, smoked turkey or salmon, sliced red onions and tomatoes
-cole slaw
-pickles (possibly?)

and cheesecake and chocolate chip cookies with coffee.

but I really, really need suggestions for what else I can add - maybe some salad? I'd love to hear your thoughts here, and if you have any favorite recipes, I'll gladly hear those, too. (Cheesecake and bagels will be ordered - I'm NOT baking this time. Just the cookies.)

Crayfish Avocado Toast

I have a new love, like I said a few days ago. Gordon Ramsay's Fast Food book - it's pretty darn great. At least for inspiration. His version of this just had crayfish (crawfish), mayo, avocado and truffle oil, but since I don't have truffle oil (nor am I very keen on getting any) I added some smoky chili sauce, a finely chopped shallot, and some thick yogurt to make it creamy without adding more mayo. It was absolutely brilliant, we had it for dinner on toasted baguette.

Crayfish Avocado Toast
Serves 2 as a main dish, four as a starter

1 avocado
about 200 g of crayfish tails
2 tbsp mayonnaise
2 tbsp thick yogurt (greek or turkish style)
a few drops of chipotle chili sauce or tabasco
1 finely chopped shalott

Dice the avocado, and mix with the crayfish tails, mayo, yogurt, chili and onion. Taste to see if you'd like any seasoning - I didn't add anything. Serve on toasted bread.

Recipe in Swedish:
Kräftstjärtsröra med avocado

Weekend Cat Blogging

Oh, another Kelly-photo this week. She's just so social these days, always hanging around me and my camera.

Vanilla Cranberry Cookies

Let's continue with the heart theme! If making your own candy seems a bit daunting (or obsessive), you might be happy to make these easy cookies. It's a really fun dough to work with - it will seem impossibly crumbly at first, but when you least expect it, it'll come together and become beautifully silky and smooth. Miraculous!

The baking ammonia is essential to get the right texture, but I haven't tried making them with, say, baking powder. I'm sure you'd still get a good cookie, but maybe not just the same.

Vanilla Cranberry Cookies
Makes 50 small cookies (and no, you don't *have* to make them heart-shaped.)

250 g cold butter
500 g flour
1 tbsp vanilla sugar
250 g confectioner's sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp baking ammonia
50 g dried cranberries, chopped

Dice the butter and mix with the flour using a food processor, a stand mixed or your fingers. The butter should be very well distributed throughout the flour, and crumbly. Add vanilla, confectioner's sugar, egg and baking ammonia. Knead until you have a smooth dough - you might not think this will ever happen, but keep going, it will. I used my Kitchen-Aid for this. Add the cranberries.

Let the dough rest in the fridge for at least an hour. Roll out and use a cookie cutter to get the shape you prefer. Bake at 175°C for 6-8 minutes. The cookies should be lightly golden at the edges, but the cranberries can burn easily so watch them!

Recipe in Swedish:
Vaniljhjärtan med tranbär

Gummy Hearts for Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

I tried my hand at making homemade gummy candy for the first time. Turned out it wasn't very hard at all. It took about half an hour, and then it needs one night to firm up properly. And that's all there's to it. You need some special equipment - a decent thermometer, and silicone candy molds. I actually used ice cube trays from Ikea - a great and cheap option.

I wish I had smaller ones though, so I could make smaller candies as well. You *can* make your own molds from cornstarch, but that seemed like a fairly messy option and I just didn't have the energy for that. Next time, perhaps!

You also need pure glucose, and some kind of candy flavoring. I used "wild strawberry", from Stockholms Eter & Essencefabrik, but I also bought a pure raspberry aroma that I'll try next. They had tons of flavors!

The recipe comes from Vinterns Söta - I've written about it here. It makes really firm gummies, and I think I'll try to cut down on the gelatine just a little bit - maybe half a sheet - next time. Oh, and a note on the gelatine. I used gelatine sheets, and I'm so sorry - but I can't guarantee that the ones I use are the same as the ones available where you live. Sorry!



Gummy Hearts
Makes about 16

6 gelatine sheets
50 g glucose
100 g sugar
250 ml (1 cup) water
a few drops of candy flavoring
a few drops of food coloring
fine sugar to roll
possibly citric acid, if you want sour gummies

Start by oiling your mold with a neutral oil - do this carefully so you can get your gummies out! Place the gelatine leaves to soak in cold water.

Mix glucose, water and sugar, and boil until it's 122°C. It will go slowly at first, and much faster as the water evaporates. Meanwhile, melt the gelatine with about 2 tbsp of water on low heat. Do NOT let it boil.

Add the gelatine to the sugar syrup with the food flavoring and color. Let it cool just a little, but not much - it will start to set. Pour it into the molds. Cover loosely with plastic, and leave at room temperature to set overnight.

On the next day, remove the gummies from the molds, and roll them in fine sugar. Mix the sugar with some citric acid if you want your candy to be sour.

Recipe in Swedish:
Geléhjärtan

Veggie Quesadillas

Oh, delicious! I found these beauties at The Pioneer Woman Cooks, and we tried them a few nights ago. Simple really - we fried sliced mushrooms, red pepper in strips, sliced onions, sliced zucchini and little bit of fresh spinach.

This, plus cheese, went into pre-fried tortillas, and then into the oven. Yum!

One admission though: I think I prefer to fill the tortillas, then pan-fry them in a dry pan with no butter or oil. I just don't like the extra crispiness they get with the added fat - and for once, since I prefer the lower-fat option, I think I'll stick with it.

Waiter, there's something in my... Pomegranate Bulgur Salad

I'm pretty excited that this month's theme of "Waiter, there's something in my.." is salad. Winter salads, in fact. Because I have just the thing. I love winter salads, actually, or any salads really. Or at least any salad that feels like a meal. It's perfect for dinner if you had a big lunch, or as lunch if you're planning a big dinner. I'm especially fond of it for weekend lunches, when we usually either skip lunch, or end up eating fast food if we're out and about.

This would also be a lovely light dinner for Valentine's Day! I'd serve it with some toasted sourdough bread, and follow up with a chocolatey dessert, like Chocolate Mousse or Rocky Road Semifreddo.

Pomegranate Bulgur Salad
Serves 2 as a main dish for dinner, more if you eat something else with it, or aren't very hungry

100 ml bulgur wheat
175 ml water
salt
100 g mixed salad leaves
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
2 oranges
1 avocado
1/2 pomegranate
125 g halloumi cheese
olive oil

For the dressing:
olive oil
white wine vinegar
salt, pepper
honey
dijon mustard

Bring the water to boil in a small pot with a lid. Add some salt and the bulgur, cover, and let it stand on low heat for 10-15 minutes.

Meanwhile, slice the onion in thin slices. Supreme the oranges - meaning cut out segments without any of the membranes - and dice the avocado. Get the seeds from the pomegranate, this is easiest to do by submerging it in a bowl of water, while you pick out all the seeds. (This prevents any bright red spattering on yourself, your counter, your cupboards, your pets. It's good.)

Dice the halloumi and fry in a little bit of oil until golden brown and crisp.

Make a simple dressing - just whisk olive oil and white wine vinegar, season with some honey and mustard, add a little pinch of salt and pepper.

Toss everything together - and eat with a good bread. That's all there's to it.

This also qualifies nicely for A Fruit A Month, which is hosted by Sra of When my Soup came Alive. Cool event - started by Beyond the Usual, and this will be my first time.

Recipe in Swedish:
Bulgursallad med granatäpple

Pork Piccata

Gordon Ramsay is a really good cook, and I have several of his cookbooks. However, they generally don't make me feel like "oooh, I want to make this RIGHT NOW". Well, I borrowed "Fast Food - Recipes from the F word" from my library and that all changed. Part of it might have been that I only had the book for a limited time, I suppose, but whatever the reason, I've been cooking a LOT from this book for the past few weeks. And everything's been delicious! Certainly a book to recommend!

Gordon suggested a veal piccata. Great, except I couldn't find veal at my store, so I bought simple pork chops instead, and prepared them the same way. Deeee-lish. Really, it was so good! We had them with gnocchi, much like we did with Nigella's mustard chops, and that turned out to be a great - and quick - combination. I didn't follow the instructions to the letter, but here's how I made them:

Pork Piccata
Serves 2

2 large pork chops
olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
salt, black pepper
thyme (fresh if you've got it, but dried will work)
100 ml white wine
1 tbsp capers
3 tbsp crème fraîche

Fry the chops in the oil on high heat until they're nicely browned. Lower the heat and keep on frying. It might take a while, especially if your chops are thick. After a few minutes, add the garlic - minced, with thyme, salt and pepper. When the chops are cooked through, remove them to a plate.

Pour the wine into the pan to deglaze it. Bring to a boil and let it reduce a little, add the crème fraîche and the capers. Season with salt and pepper, and serve straight away with the chops and freshly cooked pasta or potato gnocchi.

Recipe in Swedish:
Karrékotlett Piccata

Teriyaki Bowl

I first came in contact with teriyaki sauce during my year as an exchange student in California. (This was also when I first made contact with culinary highlights such as nacho cheese, fresh coriander/cilantro, bagels, Kraft Macaroni&Cheese, Sunny Delight, honey roasted cashews and I could keep going with this list for quite a while, actually.)

It was, as far as I can recall, in the form of a teriyaki bowl at Jack In The Box. For fast food, it seemed fairly healthy. (But of course, once I discovered the Ultimate Cheese Burger, there was no turning back.) Anyway. I had a hankering for something like it a few days ago, and made this simple bowl with chicken, onions, broccoli and sliced carrots over white rice.

I fried the chicken in bite-sized pieces until almost cooked through, and then added about 300 ml of ready-made teriyaki sauce. I fried the onions in a separate pan until really well browned, and I boiled broccoli florets and carrots in salted water for a few minutes. All the veggies went in with the chicken, and that was pretty much that. Simple and fast, but very satisfying.

Pretty pictures

Just another shot of the Parma Ham Roll-ups with Avocado.



Pasta made från left over slow-cooked Moose - frostbump! - and a sauce from dried chanterelles. Delicious!

Walnut Syrup Cookies

I'm not saying you should have cookies every day, but come on, a cookie every now and then won't hurt you. In fact, cookies as good as these can only be great for you - at least for your mood! You can use almonds or pecans instead of walnuts - or hazelnuts for that matter! - and you do need some kind of golden syrup to give them a caramelly flavor. They're crisp but with a little bit of chewiness to them, and everyone I've given them to loves them. I hope you will, too.

Walnut Syrup Cookies
Makes 40 small cookies

100 g butter, diced (and preferrably softened)
100 g sugar
1 tbsp vanilla sugar (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
1-2 tbsp golden syrup
50 ml (a little more than 3 tbsp) finely chopped walnuts
180 g flour
1 tsp baking powder

Preheat the oven to 175°C.

Beat butter, sugar, vanilla sugar or extract, and one tablespoon of syrup until smooth and fluffy. Add the flour, baking powder and the nuts. If it seems very crumbly, add a bit more syrup.

Shape into small balls and place on a lined baking sheet. Press down slightly with your hand to flatten them a little. Bake for 7-8 minutes, until lightly golden.

Enjoy with a big glass of milk - or a cup of coffee.

Recipe in Swedish:
Sirapskakor med valnötter

Chipotle Whisky Pork Tenderloin

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.

That's what I've been hearing all day. See, we're having the ventilation system updated at work. Updated as in they're tearing down the old one, which is about 50 years, and eventually, putting in a new one. Meanwhile, it's all dusty, dirty and bang-bang-bang. I think I'll be working from home a bit.

One amusing thing about the renovation is that none of the workers seem to understand how to operate our coffee machine at work. Which is really simple by the way - put your cup in the slot, press a button and presto! Coffee. Or what passes for coffee, anyway. Unfortunately for them, most of them don't speak Swedish (or English), and thus I can't help them. Ah, well. They have plenty of time to figure it out, at least.

On to a different topic - food. After all, this is a food blog, and not a whine-about-your-day-blog. Most of the time. Today, let me tell you about a nice little something I cooked up a few weekends ago, improvising as I went. It turned out rather nicely! If you want to add some veggies, snow peas or broccoli would be really nice (steamed, on the side) or something else green for that matter. And then you could probably serve more than three as well, as long as your tenderloin is on the larger side. Mine was tiny, so we only got two (large) servings and a small lunch out of it. Feel free to substiture the chipotle paste and sauce for something else - but the smokiness works really well with the whisky.

Chipotle Whisky Pork Tenderloin
Serves 3-4

1 pork tenderloin (ours weighed about 400 g)
1 yellow onion, diced
200 g button mushrooms, diced
1/2 small jar of miniature corn, halved (Oh, about 100 g, perhaps)
2 tbsp whisky
1 tsp chipotle paste
1 tsp chipotle sauce
salt
worcestershiresauce
1-2 tbsp strong, smokey barbecue sauce
250 ml cream (reduced fat is good here)
50 ml milk

Slice the pork about 1 cm thick. Fry the slices and place them aside. Fry the onions, mushrooms and miniature corn. Add whisky, chipotle paste and chipotle sauce. Season with salt, worcestershiresauce and barbecue sauce. Add the cream and bring the whole thing to a boil. Add milk if the sauce seems too thick. Add the meat to the pan, and taste for seasoning.

Serve with steamed veggies and rice.

Recipe in Swedish:
Fläskfilé med chipotle och whisky

Housekeeping!

-There's now a Google search box in the sidebar, to help you find what you're looking for.

-The recipe archives in the drop down menus are now up to date until January 31. The archives at Annes Mat, my Swedish page, will be up to date shortly, but aren't so just now.

-The monthly archives are now in reverse, with the latest month on top.

Hope you'll enjoy these small changes - they won't affect you much, but hopefully be somewhat helpful.

Other features that I would like to work out somehow include printable versions of the recipe and e-mail subscriptions. If there's anything else you'd like to see, please let me know! I'm happy to look at any suggestions!

Cookbook watch - some not so new books

Here are a few books that I've acquired lately, but they're not super-super new. Especially not Tessa Kiros - Falling Cloudberries is several years old, and Apples for Jam came out in 2006. I bought them as a set at the Christmas sale, and I'm very pleased. Both books are really beautifully designed, and I've had a lot of fun leafing through them. I have to say that Apples for Jam is definitely the one I prefer out of the two - it has many more recipes that appeal to me, and I am eager to try it out. Everything about it is really nice - the photos, the layout, the clear writing... And I always like cookbooks that are readable - not just something to idly leaf through but something you can actually read. This is definitely the latter - Tessa Kiros writes a lot of memories of her childhood, and it adds something special to both books.



For one that I enjoyed less than I thought I would, The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters. Alice Waters is a legend - known for her love of fresh, local food, she's one of the best known American chefs. I expected to be blown away, but I wasn't. It's possible that my expectations were off - I'm not saying that this isn't a good book, but it's definitely not a new favorite. It is in fact a rather basic book - something I would recommend for those who don't cook a lot, but who wants to start. It has a lot of tips and lessons - all quite basic - and a lot of information about ingredients and what goes well with what. All nice. But it doesn't get me in the kitchen. Not a single one of the recipes - and there are quite many - called out to me. I'm sure the food is very tasty - it's not that, it just doesn't excite me very much. I am also not thrilled about the recipe format itself, and while illustrations are nice, photos are nicer. I think I'll bring this book with me to my parents house in Spain where we always get wonderful produce and I think this kind of cooking will be quite nice.



I've saved the best for last. This book - American Masala by Suvir Saran - is nothing less than mouth-watering. I yearn to make almost every single recipe! Is it Indian food? Not exactly. It's more of eternal favorites like burgers, salads and lasagna, but with an Indian, spicy twist. It all seems so fresh and with nice, bright flavors! I also love the writing - every recipe has a personal note, and that really brings it all together for me. Photograps are beautiful as well. What am I dying to make? The lamb burgers. And every single salad in the chapter - they all sound marvellous!

I'm not including bookstore links, but you can find all of these easily in the online bookstores. Falling Cloudberries is the only one translated into Swedish.

Shrove Tuesday

Today is shrove Tuesday - the last day to fatten up before lent - and in Sweden, we prefer to do that with Semlor. We're talking about a yeasted bun, flavored with lots of cardamom, filled with almond paste and whipped cream. It's finished off with powdered sugar. And as if this wasn't enough, many people like to eat theirs in a bowl of warm milk. (Which I personally find rather off-putting.)

I was going to make my own this year. Really, I was! Except, well, umm.. no, I didn't. At least I haven't yet - I might still make them before Easter, but I just don't feel like baking today. (Good thing I didn't make my foodie resolutions yet, huh? Which by the way, I totally should.)

I've written about semlor before. And if you're looking for pancakes instead, I wrote about lovely Swedish pancakes last year.

Today is also Super Tuesday, which is a much bigger event as far as world affairs goes. I obviously can't vote in the US election, but if I could, my vote would go to Hillary.

Sunchoke Soup with Balsamico Braised Pancetta

By now, you might have learned that I love sunchokes, or jerusalem artichokes as they're also known. One of the best things to do with it is make a soup, and this particular soup is especially lovely. It's pretty rich, but the tangy saltiness from the braised pork.. oh, it just goes so well together. I served this as an appetizer for New Year's Eve. (And it's perfect if you have a lighter main dish planned.)

You can use bacon instead of pancetta, but it's better with something less smokey.

Sunchoke Soup with Balsamico Braised Pork
Serves 4

1/2 tbsp olive oil
500 g sunchokes
1 shallot
2 garlic cloves
100 ml white wine
300 ml chicken stock
200 ml cream
salt, white pepper, lemon juice

150 g pancetta, cubed
3-4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
50 g roasted cashew nuts, coarsely chopped

Begin with the pancetta. Fry it until crispy, then add the balsamic vinnegar and let it simmer until it's completely reduced.

Peel and chop onions, garlics and sunchokes. Fry everything on medium heat, with the olive oil, until the onion is translucent. Add wine and stock and cook for 10 minutes. The sunchokes should be soft by now. Add cream, and cook for 10 more minutes.

Pour the soup in a blender, or use a handheld blender, and mix until it's smooth. Add water if you feel that it's too thick.

Season with salt, white pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice. Divide the pancetta in four soup bowls, pour the soup, and finish with a sprinkling of chopped cashew nuts.

Recept på engelska:
Jordärtskockssoppa med balsamicobräserat sidfläsk

Chocolate Buttercream Macaroons

Ah, finally! Here's something I promised to make last year, but never got around to. It's a much loved Swedish cookie called Chokladbiskvi. A biskvi is made from almonds and sugar, and filled with buttercream, then glazed with chocolate. I've translated it into macaroons, because the cookie part and the filling part is indeed very similar, and I think that's the origin of this cookie. You can find it in pretty much every café in Sweden, but few people make their own.

You can play with flavors, but this is the most popular kind. I've got one favorite besides this though - banana buttercream, and really bitter chocolate glaze. Yum! I might try making that at home sometime.

I've only attempted this once before, using store-bought almond paste, but my neighbor had made homemade ones for her birthday party and once I had tasted those, there was no turning back. So, the kind neighbor not only gave me her recipe, but also let me borrow her almond grinder. Because that's something you do need here - grinding in a food processor won't give the same results.

This is fairly fast and easy to make, and I find that the most challenging part is dipping the cookies in chocolate. Or to be honest, the toughest part is tempering the chocolate. If you're going to eat these quickly - and there's no reason you shouldn't - don't bother to temper the chocolate, and save yourself the trouble. I tried tempering, but probably didn't do it exactly right. They kept well over night but had started to show a little bit of blooming the next day.

The store-bought biskvi typically has much more buttercream than mine does. If you want that, more of a pyramid shape, double the buttercream recipe.

And do, DO, try them with coffee. It really is a match made in heaven.

Chocolate Buttercream Macaroons
Makes 16-20

Macaroons:
200 g almonds
200 g powdered sugar (confectioner's sugar)
2 egg whites

Chocolate Buttercream:
100 g unsalted butter, softened
90 g powdered sugar (confectioner's sugar)
1 egg yolk
2 tbsp cocoa powder

To glaze:
100 g dark chocolate



Blanch and peel the almonds. Let it dry, and grind it finely in an almond mill. Mix with the powdered sugar to a grainy mass. Beat the eggwhites (just a little) and mix them with the almonds and sugar to form a smooth paste. Spoon rounded dollops of paste onto baking sheets lined with baking paper. (Use a piping bag if you want them to look neater.)

Bake the cookies at 200°C for about 10 minutes. They should just color slightly. Remove from the oven. Carefully slide the baking paper off the baking sheets, and run cool water over the sheets to cool them down. Place the paper, with the cookies, back on the sheets, and let them cool. They should peel off easily.

Beat all the ingredients for the buttercream until smooth, and then spread this liberally on the completely cool cookies. Spread it on the bottom of the cookie, which is now the new top. Place the cookies in the fridge or even in the freezer for a while, as this makes them much easier to dip in chocolate.

Melt the chocolate and temper it if you want to. Dip the buttercream quickly. This is easiest if you have the chocolate in a small, deep bowl. Set them on a plate to firm up.

Recipe in Swedish:
Chokladbiskvier

Weekend Cat Blogging

And this week, I give you our precious ball of fluff, our very own princess Kelly.

Punsch Parfait

Friday! And time for a luxurious dessert, don't you think? Here's the one I served for New Year's Eve (hence the sparklers)! You do need Swedish punsch which is "a traditional liqueur in Sweden and to a lesser extent some other Nordic countries produced from arrack, neutral spirits, sugar, water, and various flavorings. Arrack, originally a strong Indian liquor, was imported from Java and became the base ingredient for making punsch."

If you don't have this, substitute other sweet spirits that you might like - perhaps Malibu, Amaretto or Frangelico? In addition to punsch, this ice cream (a parfait is much like a semifreddo - an ice cream that doesn't need stirring.

Punsch goes very well with strawberries, so I made a simple warm strawberry coulis to serve with this - just heat strawberries with a few spoonfuls of punsch and if they need it, a little bit of sugar. Mash lightly, and that's it.

Punsch Parfait
Serves 6

3 egg yolks
100 ml sugar
300 ml double cream (35-40% fat)
3-4 tbsp punsch
100 g chocolate, chopped (mix dark and milk if you want to, I did and it was great.)

Beat egg yolks and sugar until it's very very thick and light in color. Add the punsch. Beat the cream until thickened and carefully fold it into the eggs. Add the chocolate. Pour into a mold (grease it if it's not non-stick) and place it in the freeze for at least four hours but preferrably over night. Remove a few minutes before serving and let it soften a little bit. Especially if you want to add sparklers!

Recipe in Swedish:
Punschparfait