An old favorite!

I don't re-post recipes all that often, so forgive for this one. It's just that this little salad is so perfect now that fall has arrived, it's the perfect thing to take you from summer to autumn in one smooth transition. I heartily recommend it.

Besides, I like the new photo a lot better!

Beet Salad
Serves 3-4

1 bag (about 100 g) of rocket or baby spinach
4-5 medium beets
150 g cheese - feta, chèvre or blue cheese, crumbled (blue cheese is the very best here)
100 ml (a little less than 1/2 cup) wheat berries
140 g bacon, diced
50 g cashew nuts

Dressing:
2-3 tbsp neutral oil
1/2 lemon, the juice
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1-2 tsp dijon mustard

Boil the beets - unpeeled - until soft. It'll take about 30-60 minutes depending on size, so make sure you check them. Small ones are done even faster. Peel (the peel is very soft, just rub them) the beets and cut into wedges. Meanwhile, boil the wheat berries according to instructions on the packet.

Rinse the rocket or spinach. Fry the bacon until crispy. Whisk together all ingredients for the dressing - and then it's all just a matter of assembly.

Dill Bread

Yesterday was a peculiar sort of day. Fun, but not my usual Wednesday at all! I had lunch with fellow food blogger Stellan, I went to a tasting of a new porter beer by Mariestads (which was served with oysters and chocolates!) with Chris and I went to a release party for a new cocktail book from the popular Stockholm night club Café Opera. Where they served free cocktails of course - the invitation said samples, but this was most definitely full sized drinks - and lots of them. And they were super delicious, too. The book looks extremely promising as well - I will tell you more about it in a few days. (I know, famous words coming from me, but really, I promise.)

Today, it's all about baking. Bread. This is the bread I served at our Crawfish party. It was really successful - dill goes so well with crawfish, and with much seafood so you could try it with just about anything. The dill flavour in these is quite pronounced. It's not something you'd have for breakfast - but it wouldnt' be half bad for a buffet-style dinner.

They're very easy to make, so even if you're not used to baking, you can definitely manage these.

Dill Bread
Makes 24 rolls

50 g fresh yeast
500 ml water (2 cups)
2,5 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
100 ml finely chopped dill (0,4 cups)
1 tsp dill seeds, crushed
720 g flour
50 g butter, thinly sliced

Crumble the yeast into a bowl. Add half of the water and stir until yeast is dissolved. Add the rest of the water, sugar, salt, dill and dill seeds. Stir well. Add the butter and the flour, and work into a dough. I gave it about five minutes in my Kitchen-Aid. It will be a fairly soft and sticky dough.

Transfer to a clean bowl, cover with plastic wrap (or a towel - but it will become sticky) and leave it to rise to twice the size. It rises quickly - mine took about half an hour.

Form small rolls, and place on a lined baking sheets or in greased muffin tins. Cut a cross in the top of each roll, and leave to rise under a towel for half an hour. Bake at 225°C for 8-10 minutes.

Recipe in Swedish:
Dillbröd

A perfect peach

This might be the best peach I've had this year. Or any year, possibly. See, it's homegrown. Well, not by me, but by a friend with a greenhouse. I'm pretty impressed - I had no idea you could grow peaches in Sweden. But apparently, it works just fine. It was incredibly flavorful, perfect ripe, and a lot more fuzzy than other peaches I've tried.

Garlic, Lime & Ginger Chickpeas

My goodness - this is my 1000:th blogpost! Wow! Time sure flies when you're having fun...

Today, I have a small side dish for you. I am not a fan of chickpeas (or any peas or beans, with few exceptions) but I'm trying to get around to liking them. This dish was actually really good, even my husband liked it and he hates chickpeas with a passion. So - it's worth trying !

Garlic, Lime & Ginger Chickpeas

1 can of chickpeas (400 g)
a thumbsized piece of fresh ginger
1 lime - the zest and the juice
1-2 cloves of garlic
3 tbsp olive oil
sea salt
chilli flakes

Rinse the chickpeas very well to get rid of the "can"-flavour. Drain.

Grate garlic and ginger, and mix with the lime zest, lime juice and olive oil. Stir in the chickpeas and season with salt and chilli.

Recipe in Swedish:
Kikärter med vitlök, lime och ingefära

Homegrown

Look! I am so lucky - these gorgeous chillis were given to me yesterday by my new friend Chris, who's a Swedish food blogger. We spent a few happy hours chatting and walking at Formex, a really big design fair in Stockholm to which we had both been invited. She grows her own chillis and I'm completely envious. I'll try it for next year!

The big green one immediately got finely diced and mixed with sharp Västerbottenscheese and red onion, and stuck between two tortillas to make delicious quesadillas. I don't know what to do with the rest, but I'm contemplating a big pot of this.

Hazelnut Chanterelle Risotto

Tonight's dish was created for Swedish food blogging event Cyberkocken, a take on Paper Chef, which in turn is a take on Iron Chef. Four given ingredients are combined into something delicious. This month, we were given rocket (arugula), any nuts, any mushrooms and green beans. I first thought about a salad, then about a pasta.. but I landed on a risotto, which is definitely one of my favorite kinds of dishes. This one turned out to be extremely tasty, so do try it!

I add half of the hazelnuts right at the beginning, so that they will soften. If you don't like soft nuts, just stir them in at last minute instead. And as always, I cook my risotto in a wide pot, on high heat. Just stir, and add stock whenever it looks dry.

Hazelnut Chanterelle Risotto
Serves 2

200 ml risotto rice (I use avorio or arborio)
1 litre chicken stock
1 onion, diced
50 ml dry sherry
100 g golden chanterelles
75 green beans
25 g rocket (arugula)
2 tsp runny honey
100 ml (small handful) parmesan, shredded
100 ml (small handful) pecorino, shredded
3 tbsp hazelnuts, toasted
butter
olive oil

Start by preparing a bit - bring the stock to a boil in a small saucepan, toast the hazelnuts and chop them coarsely, boil the green beans for three minutes and then plunge into cool water to stop the cooking. Cut them into smaller pieces. Rinse the rocket, chop it. Fry the chanterelles with some oil, chop them. (Save some for serving.)

Melt some butter in a large pot. Fry the onion until it softens a little, but before it turns brown. Add the rice and a splash of olive oil, and fry until the rice turns a bit brown. Add the sherry and let it cook into the rice. Add half of the hazelnuts.

Start adding stock, one ladleful at a time. Whenever the risotto looks dry, add more. You might not need all of it, it all depends on your rice. After 17-18 minutes, your rice should start to feel done. It should have be soft, but still have some bite.

Add the rocket, the chopped up chanterelles and the green beans. Add both kinds of cheese and the honey.

Serve topped with the rest of the hazelnuts, some more cheese and the reserved whole chanterelles.

Recipe in Swedish:
Risotto med kantareller och hasselnötter

Weekend Cat Blogging - Ywette

We're having our house re-painted, so the cats aren't allowed to go in their outdoor cage. Ywette is not very happy.

Glinda on the other hand is having fun getting to know the painters, through the window. (I don't have a photo of that, though.)

Head over to Paulchen's foodblog for more beautiful kitties and this week's round-up. This week, we remember all the darlings that are no longer with us. Me, I'm lighting a candle for Edith.