Monday 21 December 2009

I'm on....

CHRISTMAS BREAK!!

I'll be back in 2010. I have a bunch of recipes in "draft"-mode that I'll post during the holidays.

To be continued...

Tuesday 8 December 2009

Moussaka

You should know by now that I love my food magazines and websites such as BBC GoodFood, Martha Stewart and Jamie Oliver. I love how easy it is to find good, healthy and affordable recipes online, especially since I can't afford to buy all the fancy food magazines each month.


Browsing through BBC GoodFood yesterday I came across this recipe for moussaka. I have never made moussaka, can't even remember ever eating mousaka but this recipe intrigued me, so I decided to give it a go.

I was very happy with how the dish turned out, however, next time I'm making it I'm going to fry the aubergine (not microwave it as the recipe tells you to, and as I therefore did), and I am also going to make a proper sauce since this sauce got a rubbery surface.

But over all I was delighted with this easy to make moussaka and I will definitely be making it again.

Moussaka
Adapted from BBC GoodFood
Serves 4

500 g lean ground meat
1 large aubergine
150 g non-fat Greek yogurt
1 egg, beaten
3 tbsp Parmesan, grated
400 g can crushed tomatoes in garlic and herbs
4 tbsp tomato-purée
400 g boiled potatoes, cold and cut into disks

Set the grill on high

1. Start by browning the meat in a hot pan for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, prick the aubergine with a fork, and place it in the microwave on high for 3-5 minutes or until soft.

2. In a bowl, mix yogurt, cheese and egg. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Stir the crushed tomatoes, tomato-purée and the potatoes in with the meat, and allow to heat through. Place the meat mixture in an oven-proof dish. Smooth the top with the back of a spoon. Slice the aubergine and place on top of the meat. Pour over the yogurt sauce.

4. Place the moussaka under the grill and grill until the sauce has set and turned golden.



Cinnamon swirls/buns

Cinnamon buns... oh the word sends my taste buds spinning and my nose fills with the smell of freshly baked goods!

The sweet smell of cinnamon buns takes me back to my childhood. I dare say my mum is the queen of cinnamon buns. Whenever we had a birthday party, guests or a school event my mum always made cinnamon buns. She would get up early in the morning to prepare the dough, and put the first tray in the oven just in time for us wake up to the promise of a cinnamon bun for our 11 o'clock fika.

I made cinnamon buns for the first time today!



Cinnamon buns

Makes 25

25 g fresh yeast
75 g butter, melted
2 ½ dl milk
1 ml salt
 ½ dl sugar
1- 1 ½ tsp ground cardamom
7 dl flour

Filling
50 g room temp butter
½-1 dl sugar
1-2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 egg, beaten

Decoration
pearl sugar

1. Crumble the yeast into a large bowl. Mix the melted butter with the milk and heat until tepid. Pour some of the liquid over the yeast, allow the yeast to dissolve completely before adding the rest of the liquid.

2. Add in salt, sugar and cardamom, mix. Now, slowly add in a little flour at the time until you have a dough that does not stick to the edges of the bowl or to your hands. Set the dough to rest, covered, for 30 minutes.

3. Divide the dough into two. Roll out each part to a large rectangle. Spread with butter, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Roll into a long snake-shape, starting at the long edge. Cut each "snake" into about 12 pieces, 1 ½ cm thick. Place each piece in a small muffin paper cup. Place the cups on an oven tray.

4. Brush each piece with the beaten egg, and sprinkle the pearl sugar on top. Set to rest for 30 minutes.

5. Heat the oven to 225°C and bake the cinnamon buns for 8-10 minutes on the middle shelf.
Allow to cool, covered, on a wire rack.

Enjoy with a cup of coffee, tea, or a glass of lemonade.


Sunday 6 December 2009

Gingerbread cookies

My entries are few and far between, I have no excuse other than that I don't do all that much "inspirational" cooking these days. And when I do cook something that might be suitable for the blog I don't have a camera around.

Anyways, Christmas is around the corner and what better way to celebrate that than to bake gingerbread cookies. It's such a Swedish/Scandinavian tradition and I love it.

Growing up I can't remember my mum making her own dough, I just remember her buying the dough and then trying, and mostly failing, at keeping me from eating the dough before it was time for us to bake the cookies. I can still remember some of my more clever ways of eating the dough without her noticing. Once she bought the dough in a plastic tub/box kind of thing and I figured out that if I took the dough out of the box, and cut myself a piece of dough from the bottom, the bit that would be laying on the bottom of the box, she wouldn't notice that I had been there for a treat. That idea worked brilliantly and I don't think she ever figured that one out.

Other not so smart ideas by me involves me stealing chips/crisps from the bag. I am a real sucker for chips and especially Dill & Chive flavoured chips. Growing up my brother and I were allowed a bag of chips to share on Friday nights, as a treat. Mum always bought the bag real early in the week, which meant that knowing the bag was in the cupboard without having any of it was pure torture. I remember once I opened the bag in the bottom, took out some chips and glued it back together. Once I stapled it shut, and once I taped it, those where the less good ideas as staples or tapes along the bottom of the bag is a real give-away for suspicious activity.

Ok, let's get back on track again. Where were we? Gingerbread cookies. My bf's mother makes her dough, I have to say I prefer the bought version, maybe I wasn't too keen on the home made dough because she put pepper in her dough, I don't know. Anyways, she and I made the dough on Thursday and yesterday she invited her grand kids and me and my bf to come bake cookies. It was great fun, however the kids got fed up real quickly and left us adults with a rather large batch of dough to deal with on our own.

Excuse the quality of the photos. I didn't bring my camera so had to rely on the camera on my mobile.







Friday 27 November 2009

Gaeng Chöt- soup

I gave my boyfriend a task yesterday; to find a soup to have for dinner before going out last night. He found a soup called Gaeng Chöt- a pork meatballs and glass noodle soup from Thailand ( I would say it's more Chinese, but who am I to judge?), over at the Norwegian site "Mat Prat" (Food talk).

It's a really easy soup to make and it tastes surprisingly good. I wasn't all too excited, it doesn't look like much at all... but I was pleasantly surprised. I didn't have any ground pork at home but I had plenty of store bought meatballs in the freezer, so... And I really hate the look of glass noodles, they remind me of jellyfish tentacles, so I used Chinese wheat noodles instead.

To make this dish vegetarian friendly, simply substitute the meatballs for tofu.



Gaeng Chöt
(Adapted from matprat.no)
Serves 2

Meatballs:
300 g ground pork
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

Soup:
4 dried Chinese mushrooms- shiitake
50 g glass noodles or other kind
5 dl / 2 cups water
½ dl soy sauce
1 spring onion, chopped
1 carrot, thinly sliced lengthwise
1 tbsp coriander/cilantro leaves

1. Soak the mushrooms in hot water for at least 20 minutes. Soak the noodles, or cook until almost done.

2. Mix the ingredients for the meatballs in a bowl. Make small meatballs.

3. Bring water and soy sauce to the boil. Turn down the heat and simmer the meatballs for 5 minutes.

4. Cut the mushrooms in half, add the mushrooms and the noodles to the soup.

5. After a couple of minutes, add in the vegetables, take the pan from the heat. Sprinkle the soup with the coriander soup, and serve.

Monday 23 November 2009

Wilderness flavored cottage pie

I have been away for quite some time now... I just haven't been cooking very inspirational food, and/or not had a camera around to capture my foods.

The wilderness flavored cottage pie is a dish I remember my mother cooking all through my childhood. And I loved it each time. I must admit, I don't like meats such as veal or moose quite frankly I think meats like that tastes like the forest, yuck! But thankfully this dish, even though it's called "wilderness flavored..." doesn't contain either veal nor moose. The wilderness flavor in this dish comes from juniper berries. I don't know if juniper berries are hard to come by in other parts of the world, but here in Norway they're in all the supermarkets.

Wilderness flavored cottage pie
Serves 4 people

400 g ground meat
1 tbsp butter
1 can whole button mushrooms
1 onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp flour
½ dl water
½ dl liquid from the button mushroooms
2 tbsp cremé fraiche
1 tsp juniper berries, crushed
salt & pepper

mashed potatoes

1. Heat a frying pan and melt the butter. Fry the ground meat, onions and button mushrooms until done. Sprinkle with flour and add liquids, cremé fraiche, juniper berries, and salt & pepper. Allow to cook for 5 minutes.

2. Take an oven proof dish and spoon the mashed potatoes along the sides. Put the meat in the middle.

3. Place in a 225° C hot oven and bake for 15 minutes.

Serve with black currant jelly and a light green salad.

PÅ SVENSKA
Köttfärs med viltsmak i potatismoskrans

Thursday 12 November 2009

Frutti de mare

My boyfriend said he wanted frutti de mare for dinner tonight. Great! I said and cooked frutti de mare á la Angélica.
Frutti de mare
Serves 2

pasta for 2 people
2 salmon cutlets
10 tiger prawns
1 clove garlic, chopped finely
2,5 dl (1 cup) tomato sauce
salt, pepper, red chili flakes

1. Cook the pasta according to the intructions on the packet.

2. Remove skin and bones from the salmon cutlets. Peel and de-vein the prawns. Cut salmon into bite size pieces, and cut the prawns in half. Season with salt, pepper and red chili flakes.

2. Fry the salmon pieces until done in a frying pan. Remove. Fry the prawns until pink. Remove.

3. Heat some oil in a sauce pan. Sauté the garlic for a minute. Add the tomato sauce and heat. Tip in the salmon and prawns. Cook for a few minutes.

4. Drain pasta and return to pan. Pour the tomato sauce over the pasta and toss to mix.

5. Serve in deep plates, sprinkle some fresh basil or parsely, grated parmesan cheese and drizzle with some EVOO.

Lunch: Salmon sandwich

Ever since I was a little girl I've never been very good at what we in Sweden call "fika". For those of you who are not familiar with the word "fika", let me explain it. Fika is what other people call coffee break with a few cakes or cookies, and can be enjoyed all through the day.

Growing up, on Saturdays, almost without fail, we had 11 o'clock fika at my house. This meant mum and dad drinking coffee, me and my brother drinking a glass of strawberry lemonade, and we all enjoyed a cinnamon bun and a few cookies each, most likely a Ballerina cookie and a Digestive biscuit.

My mom was, and still is, the queen of homemade cinnamon buns. I remember once, my friend Lena came home with me after school for a play date and mum served us cinnamon buns for our after school-fika. Lena didn't eat just one bun, she ate a whopping 6 buns, and when her parents came to pick her up mum gave her a bag of buns to go.

I have never tried making cinnamon buns, but maybe one day I will. However, they will never beat mum's homemade buns. They're the best. If I close my eyes I can still see the mountains of buns stacked on mum's kitchen counter, and I can smell them, the sweet smell of soft, warm, straight from the oven- cinnamon buns...

Sometimes fika also included a sandwich.

Sometimes we went on shopping trips to the local mall or to Gothenburg on Saturdays, and then dad always had a coffee craving at some point. Mum, dad and my brother always had a piece of cake or a cookie, but I almost always had an open-faced prawn sandwish. I don't know why I never felt in the mood for a piece of cake or a cookie, but I never did. So I always had a prawn sandwich made with a peice of white bread, lettuce, mayo, hardboiled eggs, prawns and a wedge of lemon and a slice of cucumber.

So, when I made today's lunch I was reminded of my childhood's fikas.



Salmon sandwich
Serves 1

1 slice of bread
butter
1 leaf of lettuce
potato salad
1, 2 or 3 slices of smoked salmon
chopped red onion
squeeze of lemon juice
black pepper

Just put the ingredients on top of the piece of bread in the order they appear above.

Thursday 29 October 2009

Peanut Butter Brownies

I seem to be baking an aweful lot these days. The day before yesterday I had a go at making macarons, I will post that recipe after the weekend, the other day I made peanut butter cookies, and today I made brownies. I have never made proper brownies before, although I have made the Swedish version - sticky cake, a sticky chocolate cake, plenty of times. Maybe I will post a recipe for sticky cake after the weekend too... we'll see.

Anyway, since I have never made proper brownies before I didn't have a recipe. I looked through numerous recipes, and finally found THE ONE. Martha Stewart's Chocolate-Chip Brownies. However, as always I didn't have all the ingredients, namely the chocolate-chips. But I had a jar of peanut butter, I was planing on using some of it for a new batch of Ashley's Peanut butter cookies... I think you understand where this story is heading... I substituted the chocolate-chips for peanut butter.

Peanut butter brownies
(Adapted from Martha Stewart)
Makes 16

113 g butter
2,3 dl (1 cup) flour, leveled
½ dl cocoa powder
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt (only if you use unsalted butter)
2-3 tbsp peanut butter
220 g chocolate, chopped
3 dl sugar
3 large eggs


Pre-heat your oven to 180° C. Line a 22 x 22 cm large baking pan with parchment paper. Grease the paper with some butter.



Melt butter and chopped chocolate in a bain-marie (also known as a water bath). When melted, mix in the peanut butter. Add in the sugar, mix to combine. Add in the eggs, be sure to stir continuously so that the eggs don't turn into scrambled eggs.



In another bowl, mix the dry ingredients.



Mix the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients. Be careful not to overmix. Stir just enough to combine.



Pour the brownie mixture in the baking pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes. To check if the brownie is done, insert a toothpick into the cake. If the toothpick comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached, it's done.

Cool in the pan for 30 minutes.



Using paper overhang , lift brownies out of the pan. Allow to cool completely on a rack, still in paper. When cool, cut the cake into 16 pieces. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 days. Or freeze for up to 3 months.

Friday 23 October 2009

Peanut butter cookies

Browsing through the many food blogs I read online, the recipe for Peanut Butter Cookies over at Big Flavors From A Tiny Kitchen by Ashley, caught my eye. Seeing how I am a sucker for pb (peanut butter) I thought to myself "Yum!".
However, I actually tend not to store any pb at home as I will finish the entire jar in only a couple of days. But not too long ago I bought a 500 g bag of Lebanese peanuts (can't quite remember why I bought them but I remember I only used a small amount and then put the rest of the nuts in the cupboard). So I had a whole bunch of peanuts in my cupboard and from them I decided to make my own peanut butter. I am not going to go into the process of making pb at home. It's basically like making Tahini = dead easy and so much tastier and healthier than the pb you buy.

So, the moral to the story is that I used the peanut butter I made in the peanut butter cookies, using a recipe from Ashley at Big Flavors From A Tiny Kitchen.

Peanut butter cookies
½ cup/64 g butter
½ cup peanut butter
½ cup sugar
½ cup brown sugar
1 egg
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 ¼ cups flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 190° C. Cream butter, peanut butter, and sugars in a bowl. Stir in egg and vanilla, followed by the dry ingredients.

Shape into 2,5 cm balls. To get the correct size; use a teaspoon measuring cup to scoop out the cookie dough, place the 1 tsp + a little more of dough in the palm of your hand and roll into a ball.
Roll in sugar. Place the balls 5 cm apart on a baking tray lined with parchment paper/silicone mat. Press down on the balls with a fork. Bake for 10-12 minutes on the middle shelf.

Allow to cool on a rack.

Enjoy with a glass of milk, a cup of coffee, or store in an airtight jar.

Monday 19 October 2009

Malaysian Meat Curry Puffs

Malaysian meat curry puffs
(adapted from Spicie Foodie)
makes about 13 puffs
These can of course be made vegetarian-friendly.

Filling
5 tbsp oil
1 medium onion
1 tbsp grated ginger
3 ½ tsp meat curry powder
½ tsp chili powder
½ tsp turmeric powder
2 large cooked potatoes, diced
2 tsp sugar
½ tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
400 g cooked meat, I used meat from a rotisserie chicken
60 ml water
1. Fry the onions and ginger until the onion is golden. Add curry, turmeric and chili and cook until fragrant. Next add potatoes, sugar, pepper and salt and cook for 10 minutes. Add chicken and water and cook until the mixture is almost dry. Set aside to chill.

Dough
500 g flour
150 g butter
200 ml water
½ tsp salt (ONLY if you use unsalted butter)

Mix all ingredients into a smooth pastry. Cover and set aside for 30 minutes in a warm place.
Cut the dough in half. Roll out the pastry, using a cookie cutter (10 cm) cut out circles.
Take 1 tbsp of the filling and place in each cut out circle.

2. Fold in half

3. Using a fork, press the edges together.

4. Place the puffs on an oven tray.

5. Bake the puffs for 30 minutes at 180 c. Serve warm or at room temperature with a spicy dipping sauce.

American food

A little piece of America, right there in Svinesund....

This must be candy heaven

The other week I went on a "Harry-tur" to Sweden. For those of you who have never heard this expression before:

Harry-tur- Norwegians going over to Sweden to buy cheap food, alcohol and tobacco.

Going on a Harry-tur always means going to Godishuset (The candy house) where they have over 1,000 different kinds pick n' mix candy. The reason one always goes there, except the obvious, is that pick n' mix candy in Norway cost about $ 2/ 100 g, and in Sweden you get it for $ 1/ 100g. I managed to contain myself and actually only bought about 200 g of smarties to put on future cupcakes.

Friday 16 October 2009

Malaysian Meat Curry Powder

I managed to get a hold of fennel seeds in Sweden, and set out to make the Malaysian Meat Curry Powder one night when my bf had a friend over.

Making the powder was really easy and well worth the effort. However my spice grinder, an old fashioned coffee grinder, did make the actual process of grinding the spices somewhat tedious and difficult. But plans are that I'm buying an electric spice grinder in the near future. Can't wait!

Malaysian Meat Curry Powder
(adapted from Spicie Foodie)

10 whole cloves
10 whole black peppercorns
4 whole cardamom pods
1(5cm) cinnamon stick
4 whole dried red chilies
4 tbsp coriander seeds
2 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp turmeric
Roast the spices according to size on medium heat starting with cloves, peppercorns and cardamom. When the spices start to smoke and release their fragrance tip onto a plate and allow to cool. Next toast cinnamon and chilies, then coriander seeds. Last but not least, toast the cumin- and fennel seeds.
Grind the toasted spices, either in a coffee/spice grinder or in a pestle and mortar, into a fine powder. Add in the turmeric.

Thursday 8 October 2009

Fennel seeds?

Ever since I stumbled across this recipe for Malaysian Meat Curry Powder over at Spicie Foodie, I've been meaning to make some. I store quite a good number of spices in my cupboard but I've somehow managed to overlook fennel seeds, and even though the curry powder only calls for 1 tsp I don't want to skip it. It won't be Malaysian Meat Curry Powder without the fennel seeds.

For some reason I've managed to forget to buy the seeds when I've been at the grocery store or the grocery store's been out of fennel seeds...

Come yesterday my bf was on his way to table tennis practice when I asked him if he would be so kind as to stop by at the grocery store just next door from where he plays table tennis. He said, no problem and promised he'd look for/buy fennel seeds for me. Yay, I was so excited when he returned.

I threw myself over the shopping bag and said:
Me: where are my fennel seeds?
Bf: I couldn't find any seeds.
Me looking inside the shopping bag and pulling out a vegetable
Me: What is this??
Bf (with a smile on his face): It's fennel, the vegetable
Me: I know what it is. Why did you buy fennel?
Bf: I thought you might want to use it instead of the seeds.
Me: Come again?!
Bf: Yes, I thought maybe you didn't need the actual seeds.
Me: Huh?
Bf: To be honest I thought you were just trying to save money by buying the seeds instead of the real thing... (apparently I'm always bargain hunting)
Me (making a face): Are you kidding me? This is like buying pumpkin seeds instead of a pumpkin for Halloween...
Bf: I thought maybe you could find the seeds inside...
Bf: I thought you'd be happy....
Me: I'm not happy!
I kept sulking for quite a while, murmuring in a low voice "this is like buying pumpkin seeds instead of a pumpkin for Halloween" while preparing dinner- roast carrot soup with creme fraiche and mint.

So, here I am, stuck with this ugly looking vegetable (and no curry powder) and no idea what to use it for. I don't even like fennel in food. Maybe I should challenge him to find a fennel recipe to cook for me?!

Please comment with similar stories...

Monday 5 October 2009

Cat caught your... cupboard?

Check out who I found lurking in my kitchen cupboard the other day:

Poe-Bjarne (or Poe Patrik Bjarne as I like to call him).
The wire shelf just above his head is where I keep his food...

Sunday dinner

A quick, easy and delicious Sunday dinner. Salmon cutlets sprinkled with lemon-infused black pepper, pan fried for a maximum of 3 minutes per side. Served with oven-roasted veggies (potatoes, onions and carrots) and a fresh herb- and garlic sauce.

Sunday 4 October 2009

Chocolate cookies

These cookies were utterly delicious. I happened to forget to time one tray and those cookies came out slightly crispier than the others, but that was all my fault. I also forgot to make them into "sandwiches", so we just ate them as normal cookies. The next time I make these I'm gonna be a little bit more attentive, and then I'm sure they'll all come out yummy! My next project is to make macaroons. Everybody else seems to be making them, I don't want to be left out....

The recipe for Martha's chocolate cookies
can be found HERE!

Thursday 1 October 2009

Homemade Chinese takeout

Buying takeout food, even something as simple as McDonald's or pizza, here in Norway is ridiculously expensive. A medium pizza cost anywhere from $15 and up- that's expensive!

With expensive takeouts in mind me and the bf decided on making our own takeout food at home. We decided on Chinese as we both love it.

Earlier that week we had talked about different chores around the house and I had half-heartedly complained that I always do all the cooking. Don't get me wrong, I love cooking (as well you know) but sometimes a little help goes a long way. He then said, and I have to agree that he was on to something, that whenever he tries to help I always watch him like a hawk and end up taking over because he's not doing whatever it is that he's doing the way I want it to be done... (It's not my fault that my way is the right way!!)

Anyways, I decided on handing over the responsibility for an ENTIRE dish, and lo and behold, he did brilliantly. Ok, I tried to "guide" him a few times when I sensed disaster was near, but he just told me to "shoosh and mind my own business". I was very proud of him for making an entire dish on his own, read: he chopped a lot of prawns and onions and spread them on top of bread....! But he was very proud of himself and who am I to take that pride away from him?!

Here's what he made

Sesame prawn toasts
Serves 4 as part of a meal

225 g peeled, de-veined and chopped tiger prawns
1 spring onion/scallion, chopped
½ tsp salt
1 tsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp cornstarch/potato starch
1 egg white, lightly beaten
3 thin slices bread, crust removed
4 tbsp sesame seeds
vegetable oil for deep frying


In a bowl, combine prawns, spring onion/scallion, salt, soy sauce, corn/potato starch and egg white.

Spread the mixture on the slices of bread, sprinkle with sesame seeds and press down hard to ensure the topping doesn't fall off when deep frying.

Deep fry for 2-3 minutes, turning half way through, until golden brown and crisp. Drain on kitchen paper. Eat!

My contribution to the Chinese takeout was, apart from being food"gestapo"incarnate, deep fried king/tiger prawns.

Here's the recipe:

Deep fried king/tiger prawns

Serves 4 as part of a meal

16 king/tiger prawns
oil for deep frying
200 g all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 egg, beaten
dl milk
1 pinch chili powder


Peel and de-vein the prawns, but keep the tail intact.

In a bowl, combine the dry ingredients for the batter. Pour in the wet ingredients and stir until you have a thick batter.

Heat the oil in a wok. Hold the prawn by the tail and dip into the batter. Carefully drop each batter coated prawn into the hot oil. Deep fry for about 3 minutes, take out and drain on kitchen paper. Eat!

Sunday 27 September 2009

Homemade farfalle pasta


I was looking for a quick dinner to have before volleyball practice on Monday and all I could come up with was pasta. Finding myself with a bit more time on my hands than I had planned I decided to make homemade pasta.

I am so tired of the boring pasta shapes the machine can make so I decided to try my luck at making farfalle pasta. Farfalle pasta is also called bow-tie pasta, and it looks more difficult to make than it actually is.

I am not going to go into the actual making of farfalle pasta, that you can read about here. Just wanted to get it out there. I made farfalle pasta and they looked good!

Friday 25 September 2009

Blueberry muffins

I just learned the difference between a muffin and a cupcake. According to a whole bunch of different internet sites, a muffin is something you have for breakfast, and a cupcake usually has frosting and is something you have for dessert.


With that in mind, here's a recipe for blueberry muffins. Perfect for brekkie!

Blueberry muffins
Makes 10 large muffins

240 g all-purpose flour
2 dl sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
25 g melted butter/margarine
1,5 dl milk
2 egg yolks
2 dl blueberries

1. Heat the oven to 225° C.

2. Mix flour, sugar, salt and baking powder.

3. Melt the butter and mix in with the flour. Pour the milk into a tall glass, add the egg yolks and whisk to combine. Add the milk mix in with the rest of the ingredients. Carefully fold in the blueberries.

4. Divide the batter evently into muffins cups. Bake on the middle shelf for about 15 minutes until golden brown and when a toothpick inserted in the center of one muffin comes out clean.

5. Cool on a wire rack and store in an air-tight container.

Saturday 19 September 2009

Self-picking heaven

Yesterday me and my bf's mother went on a little trip. We had made plans to go blueberry-picking in the mountains, and I was quite doubtful as to whether there would be any blueberries to pick at all this late in the season. As it turned out I didn't have to worry, there were plenty of berries to pick. On our way up into the hills we passed a sign announcing self-picking of potatoes, onions and carrots. I instantly knew we'd have to postpone our blueberry picking for at least an hour or two, I just had to pick some of the goodies advertised!

I love self-picking places and secretly, well not so secretly any more, dream of running my own self-picking farm in the future. I love that you get to see where the vegetables come from, you even get to pick them straight from the dirt yourself, instead of just seeing them in bag at the supermarket. I love searching for, and finding all the quirky looking vegetables. Like a three-legged carrot, or a huge knot of intertwined potatoes. It's charming!

They had two different kinds of potatoes to pick, almond potatoes and Beate potatoes. I only picked almond potatoes thinking I'd be back today for some Beate. (The weather today was not potato-picking friendly so I will have to return another day). Well, I got quite a few delicious almond potatoes and can't wait to cook some for dinner this week. Recipes anyone?

Picking onions was rather tedious work. The larger onions had been picked by someone else, not that I minded, the smaller onions taste much better, and a great number of small onions had been trampled. But I found a good kilo of small red- and white onions. I was happy!





Look at these funny-looking carrots. Aren't they just simply charming? Some carrots had been picked and tossed out by other people, but further down the field you could, with a pitchfork, dig for your own, fresh as can be, carrots. I dug for some but then went back to digging for small carrots in the dirt, carrots discarded by others but still left in the dirt instead of on top of it.

After spending, I was about to say a small fortune but that would have been a lie since the prices were really great, a little bit of money at the self-picking place we headed up into the mountains for some blueberry picking. We spent about 2 hours picking and came away with somewhere between 3-4 litres of delicious blueberries. I also picked a small handful of lingonberries, but quite honestly I don't know why I bothered. I don't like lingonberries and there isn't a whole lot one can do with only a small handful of berries anyhow.