Angélica's food corner

Norwegian Almond Cake - Suksess Terte

2010-12-01T18:47:00.002+01:00

Long time no blogging. And as always I really don't have a good excuse as to why I have not been blogging lately. I do have a theory though: I work with food all day, at the deli at the local supermarket, so when I get home from work the last thing on my mind is more food. So, not only has the work at the deli killed my joy for blogging about food, it has also managed to kill most of the joy I get from actually cooking good food. Very sad!

Anyway, here I am, back in the saddle. Or so I hope. I have a few recipes to share with you, some that I have made during my absence.

I'd like to start you off with a delicious Norwegian almond cake. I baked it for church a couple of weeks ago, and lo and behold, I sold out! That has not happened in I don't know how long.

Norwegian Almond Cake "Suksess terte"

Base
250 g almonds
250 g icing sugar
5 egg whites
1 tsp baking powder

Chocolate spread
100 g dark cooking chocolate
2 tsp instant coffee powder
2 tbsp water

Custard
5 egg yolks
100 g icing sugar
1 dl (100 ml) heavy cream
4 tsp vanilla sugar
100 g butter

Heat the oven to 180 C.

1. Start off by grounding the almonds. Leave the skins on as this will make the base a lovely dark colour. Mix the icing sugar and the baking powder into the ground almonds and set aside. Whisk the egg whites until fluffy and fold in the almonds. Stir to combine.

2. Line a 9 inch/23 cm cake pan and pour in the base mixture. Bake on the bottom rack for 30-35 minutes. Allow the cake to cool off still in the pan.

3. Chocolate spread: Melt the chocolate using a bain marie (water bath). Pour the water into a small glass and stir in the instant coffee powder. Add the coffee to the melted chocolate, and spread the chocolate/coffee spread onto the cake. Allow the chocolate to set a little before applying the custard.

4. Custard: Add egg yolks, icing sugar, heavy cream and vanilla sugar to a sauce pan. Stir to combine and keep stirring and heat on a low heat until the mixture thickens. Do not up the heat as the custard will go from not thick to THICK in a matter of seconds. Allow the custard to cool off a little before adding the butter. Keep stirring while the butter is melting. Spread the custard on top of the chocolate spread.

Sprinkle some sliced almonds on top and serve.

Egyptian food

2010-10-18T12:49:00.000+02:00

Check out the recipes for these flavoursome and delicious Egyptian dishes over at The World On Our Plates.

Tagin samak bi-al-kuzbara (White fish in garlic tomato sauce)

Michoteta (Feta cheese salad with cucumber and red onion)

Homemade butter

2010-10-06T15:56:00.000+02:00

Break didn't last very long. I guess the act of saying to myself that I don't have time to blog, made me realize that, actually, I do have time to blog. I've just been lazy- shame on me!

Anyway, I was browsing the net the other day and came across a video made by the people over at showmethecurry.com where they demonstrated how to make homemade butter. Honestly, I can't believe I haven't made my own butter before. I mean, it's dead easy and it requires a whooping 1-2 ingredients; whipping cream and salt.

The more I thought about making my own homemade butter the more I realized that I have known all along how to make it. A push from the smtc should not have been necessary. I heard it as a mantra every time I whipped cream as a kid: "don't whip the cream too much, or it'll turn into butter". Sound familiar? I guess I never thought it was true. But, lo and behold, it is true.

That is really how you make homemade butter. It's as simple as that.

Homemade butter
Adapted from showmethecurry.com

3 dl whipping cream
salt, to taste (optional)

1. Pour the whipping cream into a bowl. Using electric beaters, beat until you have made whipped cream. Continue to beat until the creams gets kind of heavy. Keep on beating 'til the liquid separates, and voilá, you have now made butter.

2. Take the butter out of the bowl and mix with salt. At this stage you can also go on and add herbs, spices or garlic to make flavoured butter.

Store the butter in an airtight container in the fridge.
The flavoured butter will keep for about a week in the fridge.
Butter with no flavours, except salt (optional), will keep in the fridge for a good couple of months.
Both flavoured and plain butter freezes really well.

I'll be back shortly...

2010-10-06T10:30:00.000+02:00

I hate when blogging becomes a must instead of a want... therefore I am on a little bit of a blogging-vacation.

Onion Tart

2010-09-22T19:19:00.000+02:00

With no meat in sight in the fridge or the in freezer, but about a ton of onions in the pantry, I set out to make an onion tart for dinner. Having never made an onion tart before I was pleasantly surprised with how easy it was to make, and with how absolutely tasty the finished tart was.

Next time I'm going to try and use a mild blue cheese instead of just normal cheese, to give it a little more flavour.

Can't wait to make this again!

Onion tart
Adapted from Bärbloggen
Serves 4

Pie crust
3 ½ dl flour
150 g cold butter, cut into pieces
a pinch salt
about 2 tbsp ice cold water

Filling
4 medium onions
3 eggs
2 ½ dl milk
3 dl grated cheese
salt and pepper
a little paprika powder

Preheat the oven to 200° C.
1. Start by making the pie crust, as this needs to rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Place the flour, butter and salt in a food processor. Mix/pulse until you have a crumbly mix, then add in 1 tbsp of water and pulse. The dough might come together at this point, but if it doesn't, add in a little bit more water until the dough comes together. Place the dough in a plastic bag, flatten it out and place in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, start on the filling. Cut the onions using a mandolin, or a sharp knife, into really thin rings. Heat some butter or oil in a pan, and fry the onions on a medium to high heat until translucent. Set aside to cool off.

3. Take the pie crust dough out of the fridge and roll it out onto a floured surface. Lift up the dough and fit into a tart pan. Make sure the edges are covered all the way up if you are using a pan with low edges. Prick the pie crust and line it with some parchment paper, and fill with ceramic baking beans or rice. Blind bake for 15 minutes.

4. While the crust is blind baking in the oven, combine the eggs, milk, cheese and spices in a bowl. Whisk to combine.

5. Take out the pie crust from the oven and remove baking beans and parchment paper. Add the, now chilled, onions to the crust. Pour the egg and cheese mix on top, and place the whole thing back into the oven for 30 minutes or until the eggs have set.

Serve with a green salad.

Apple cake

2010-09-20T19:58:00.002+02:00

In preparation for making the apple butter I went to my bf's parents' house to pick apples from some trees they have growing in their garden. I picked, and picked, and picked, really without paying too much attention to how many apples I picked. I left their house with 2 grocery bags worth of apples. To say the least, I've had my work cut out for me trying to figure out what to do with all the apples.

Last week I made apple sauce, I've used apples in salads and in my cooking, and I am thinking about maybe having a go at making apple chutney. On Saturday, of last week, I made an apple cake. Yum! It wasn't for me though, I made it for the café at church. And as I have previously said here on the blog, baking cakes for the café requires demographics. You have to know who will show up (as in what age-group. Older people= stuff smothered in whipped cream, younger people= modern cakes, such as cheesecakes or things made of chocolate). I thought I'd play it safe this week, since Irene was making a cake made out of meringue and whipped cream (not a pavlova, but a cake called "Verdens beste"- "The world's best"), I decided to make an apple cake. Old, as well as young people love apple cakes, don't they?

I can tell you, they do. But do you know what they love more than apple cake, or "Verdens beste" for that matter? They love apple cake baked by the new volunteers at church. There I was, selling my cake, when the new volunteers showed up, German and Austrian apple cake in hand, and they barely had the chance to put the cake down before people were fighting over the pieces.

Needless to say, I returned home with half the cake...

Apple cake
Adapted from Allt om mat
Makes about 30 slices

7 dl plain flour
4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp powdered vanilla sugar
2 eggs
4 dl sugar
3 dl milk
4 tbsp (50 g) melted butter
2 tbsp apple butter, optional

1 kg apples, peeled, cored and cut into wedges
2 tbsp cinnamon
0,75 dl sugar

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200° C. Mix flour, baking powder, powdered vanilla sugar, normal sugar in a large bowl. Crack the eggs in a different bowl, whisk in the milk and the melted butter, and the apple butter, if using. Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in a little of the egg mixture. Stir to combine using a wooden spoon. Pour in a little more of the egg mixture and stir again, keep doing this until you have incorporated all the of the egg mixture into the flour,and you are left with a smooth batter. Do not use an electric beater for this.

2. Place the peeled, cored and wedged apples in a large plastic freezer bag. Pour in the sugar and the cinnamon. Close the bag and shake it to ensure each wedge of apple is coated.

3. Line a baking tray (30 x 40 cm) with baking parchment. Spread the batter onto the parchment. Press the apple wedges down into the batter one after another in neat rows until you have covered the entire cake with apples. Discard any left over apples, or eat them with some ice cream or some yoghurt.

4. Place the cake on the middle shelf of the oven for 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake-bit of the bake comes out try and free of crumbs.

Serve the cake with ice cream or pour over some vanilla custard.

Spicy chicken & bulgur one-pot

2010-09-13T23:08:00.009+02:00

I only just recently discovered the wonderful world of one-pots. A one-pot is a dish where everything is basically cooked in ONE POT. However, if you go to Wikipedia and search for one-pot, you get One-pot synthesis, which I guess after having read only the first couple of line, isn't too far from the truth. In a way....

Back to the subject of one-pots. When I say I only just recently discovered one-pots, what I really mean is that I earlier today discovered and realized the wonderful world of one-pots. I was browsing through some cooking sites and, as always, stumbled across a recipe for the, said, one-pot. Not only did the recipe seem quick and simple to make, I also knew I had "all" but one ingredient already at home, which is a big plus in my book since my pantry and fridge/freezer are literally begging me to fill them. What I mean by "all" is that I actually did not have chicken thighs or couscous at home, as the original recipe called for. But I had chicken breast fillets and bulgur, so I simply substituted the couscous with bulgur and the thighs with breast fillets.And because I had some green lentils and some raisins in the cupboard I decided to add them to the recipe.

When I cooked this dish I feared it'd get too dry, and that I would have to have some kind of sauce or raita to go with it, but the lemon juice at the end really brightened the flavour and somehow made the dish moist. But by all means, go ahead and serve this dish with a raita or some other yoghurt-based sauce of your choice.
This one-pot is definitely a dish I'll be making again, soon. All the flavours worked really well together, it remind me a little bit of Middle-Eastern or North African flavours, and it was yummie!

Spicy chicken & bulgur one-pot
Adapted from BBCGoodFood
Serves 4

4 chicken breast fillets
2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp garam masala
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 onions, finely sliced
3 cloves of garlic, sliced
500 ml chicken stock (I used stock from a cube)
10 black or green olives
1 dl raisins
1- 1½ dl cooked green lentils
zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 dl bulgur
parsley

1. Start off by putting the chicken fillets into a plastic bag. Add in 1 tsp turmeric and ½ tbsp garam masala, also add in a pinch of salt. Close the bag and massage it so that the chicken fillets gets coated with the spices. Allow to marinade for at least 30 minutes.

2. Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a saucepan or a saute pan. Add in the chicken fillets and fry for 2 minutes on each side. Take the fillets out of the pan and place them on a plate. Add the rest of the oil to the pan and tip in the onion and garlic, and fry until golden, about 8-10 minutes on low-medium heat. Stir in the remaining 1 tsp turmeric and ½ tbsp garam masala. Allow the spices to fry for 1 minute. Pour over the stock and add the olives and the raisins. Bring to the boil. Place the chicken fillets back into the pan and cover the pan with a lid, or some aluminium foil. Over medium heat, simmer until the chicken is done. This can take anywhere from 10-20 minutes, depending on how large/thick your fillets are.

3. When the chicken is done, take them out of the pan and place on a clean plate, cover with some aluminium foil to keep them warm. Add the bulgur and the lentils to the pan and stir. Cover and allow the bulgur to cook, check every now and then to ensure there's enough water in the pan. You can always add in a bit more stock or some water if the pan gets dry. Taste to check if the bulgur is done after about 10-15 minutes. Depending on the size of the bulgur used, the time may vary.

3. Place the cooked chicken back into the pan. Squeeze over the lemon juice, and sprinkle the lemon zest and parsley on top.

I had some sliced almonds in the cupboard that I roasted in a pan until golden. I then scattered them on top of the dish together with the lemon zest and the parsley.

Food Network Canada

2010-09-11T19:06:00.000+02:00

I'm, like, famous in Canada!!!

A few days ago, when I made the apple butter, I decided to post the photo I took on the site where I'd found the recipe (Food Network Canada). Little did I know that not many days after posting the photo it would be selected pic of the week. I feel so honoured, and it's great being famous, even if it's all the way over in Canada.

Check out the photo HERE

Homemade apple butter

2010-09-08T15:42:00.002+02:00

Canadian apple butter

It is Canada week over at The World On Out Plates, and I decided to make Canadian apple butter.

Apple butter, for those of you who are not in the know, is a really thick apple sauce. It tastes like the best apple sauce you have ever tried. I promise, you'll love it.

Apple Butter
Makes about 1 large jar
Recipe by Michael Smith from Food Network Canada

10 apples, peeled, cored and quartered
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup apple juice
1/4 tsp each of ground nutmeg, cardamom, cloves and allspice
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Place all the ingredients in a large sauce pan, stir to combine. Over medium to high heat, cook the apples until they become very soft. Let the mixture cook until the liquid had reduced with about 80% and you have a thick, dark brown sauce.

2. Remove from heat, and using an immersion hand blender, purée the apple butter. Pour the apple butter into sterilized jars.

Zucchini fritters

2010-08-31T18:59:00.000+02:00

Tonight's dinner- Zucchini fritters

Zucchini fritters
Makes 4

1 rather large zucchini, about 30 cm long
½ red chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped
2 spring onions, finely chopped
1 egg, beaten
½-1 dl flour
salt and pepper

1. Grate the zucchini in the coarse side and place the grated zucchini in a bowl. Sprinkle with some salt, mix and set to rest for about 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, place the zucchini in a colander and press down to squeeze out any zucchini juices.

2. Place the zucchini back in the bowl and mix with the rest of the ingredients. The fritter "batter" should be quite loose.

3. Heat some oil in a frying pan and fry as large or small fritters as you want. Flip over when the bottom has turned golden and crisp.

Serve with a dollop of yoghurt and your favourite topping, such as sliced chicken, bacon, prawns or eat them as they are.

Light Chicken Korma

2010-08-30T18:02:00.004+02:00

I made a deal with myself a while ago not to eat too many carbohydrates in an attempt to loose some weight. So far I have more or less managed to stay clear of potatoes, rice and pasta, but the tricky part is really to stay clear of bread... And since I'm not much of a pulse person, I'd pretty much rather be fat than to eat beans and lentils. So, so far I have tried to make tasty dishes and have simply left out the high carb side-dishes . I don't know if that's how one does it, and I can't tell a significant weightloss as of yet, but I'm hanging in there.

Tonight's light chicken korma was low in carbs, if one left out the bread. But seeing since I didn't have anything even close to a lettuce leaf in my house at the moment I decided to serve the korma with a side of homemade naan-breads. I did however substitute half the flour with a store bought mixed rye- and wheat flour, which I guess made it a little bit more healthy...

Light Chicken Korma
Serves 4
Adapted from BBC Good Food

4 skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
a small knob of fresh ginger, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1 onion, sliced
1 ½ tsp garam masala
150 ml chicken stock
3 tbsp fromage frais (I used quark)
2 tbsp ground cashew nuts
handful of baby spinach leaves, roughly chopped
2 spring onions, the green bits only, cut into 1 cm pieces
corinader/cilantro leaves
1 tbsp sultanas

1. Fry the ginger, garlic and onion in the oil until softened. Add in the chicken and allow the chicken to brown, this takes about 5 minutes. Stir in the garam masala and fry for an additional minute.

2. Pour over the stock and simmer for 10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. 5 minutes into the 10 minutes of simmering the chicken in the stock, add in the spinach leaves and the green bits for from the spring onions.

3. In a small bowl, mix the fromage frais/quark and the ground cashews. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the fromage frais/quark- and cashew mixture. Do not return it to the heat or it will split. Garnish with the sultanas and sprinkle over some leftover cashews.

Serve with homemade naan-bread or rice.

You can add in more stock and fromage frais at the appropriate times if you feel there isn't enough gravy.

Ethiopian food

2010-08-29T19:04:00.000+02:00

I made Niter Kebbeh, Doro Wat and Injera bread on Wednesday for week 4 in "The World On Our Plates"-project.

Check out how it went + recipes HERE

Malaysian Chicken Curry

2010-08-22T22:00:00.009+02:00

I came across a recipe for Black Beef Cry Curry over at Fuss Free Cooking, and I immediately knew that this was a dish I really wanted to make one day. As I am a bit low on cash at the moment, I'm pretty much in-between jobs, I figured if I could make some minor adjustments to the original recipe I would be able to make it with the stuff I had in my pantry/fridge.

So, instead of the beef I used chicken, and I did not know exactly what kind of Malaysian curry powder she was referring to so I used the Malaysian meat curry powder I made a while ago. Also, I had never heard of Ketjap Manis, nor did I have money to buy it from the shop were I to come across it, so I decided to make my own from a recipe I found online. This did not turn out all that good, I think I just let the "sauce" reduce way too much, so instead of a syrup kind of liquid it turned out like thick, thick, thick syrup. I had to dilute it with hot water to even get the spoon into it. The moral of this story is; buy the Ketjap Manis at the shop!

Here's my version of Fuss Free Cooking's Black Beef Dry Curry.

Malaysian Chicken Curry
Serves 2
Adapted from Fuss Free Cooking

3 small chicken breasts, or 2 medium, diced
1 ½ tbsp Malaysian meat curry powder
water
2-3 tbsp Ketjap Manis
about 5 curry leaves
1 onion, sliced thinly
2 ½ garlic cloves, chopped roughly
½ inch ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
1 small green chilli, de seeded and halved
1 tomato, quartered
salt and sugar, to taste

1. Start by soaking the curry powder in the water for 30 minutes.

2. Heat some oil in a pan and fry the curry leaves. Add the onion, garlic, ginger and green chilli. Fry until fragrant.

3. Add in the curry and water mix and stir to combine. Fry for 10-15 minutes until the oil starts to separate.

4. Add in tomatoes, chicken, ketjap manis, and some salt and sugar. Also add in enough water to just cover the chicken and cook until the liquid has just about halved and the chicken is cooked through.

5. Serve with spiced rice or with a side of fresh salad.

I added some sweet corn at step 4 because I found an open box of sweet corn in the fridge that needed to be used up.

Chicken and Sweet Corn Soup

2010-08-19T17:09:00.007+02:00

I picked sweet corn at a farm not too far from where I live yesterday. I paid 25 NOK/kg, about $ 4/kg. It might sound horribly expensive to some of you, but stuff, especially food, is really expensive in Norway.

Yesterday we boiled some corn on the cob and served them with butter and salt as an evening snack. We had the same for lunch today. I am trying to eat them all before they go bad as last year I had a rather bad experience with freezing fresh sweet corn.

Tonight I made chicken and sweet corn soup. I didn't have any dairy products at home, so I had to come up with a soup without milk or cream... It turned out great, I just threw together some ingredients that I had in the fridge.

Chicken and Sweet Corn Soup
Serves 3-4

vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, grated
1 bay leaf
1 tsp Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce
1 ½-2 tbsp Heinz ketchup
1 chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces
1½-2 cubes chicken stock
1 litre water
kernels from 2 corn on the cob
1-2 tsp garam masala
salt & pepper
some flat leaf parsley

1. Heat about 2 tbsp of vegetable oil in a large sauce pan. Add in the onion, garlic and bay leaf and sauté for a couple of minutes. Stir in the chili sauce, ketchup and crushed stock cubes. Add in the pieces of chicken breast, water, corn kernels and half the garam masala.

2. Bring soup to the boil, turn down to medium heat and allow the soup to simmer for 10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked. Add salt and pepper, and more garam masala, to taste. Chop some parsley and add it to the soup, right before you serve it.

Serve the soup in individual bowls, drizzle over some olive oil and sprinkle some more parsley.

Chicken Roulade With A Fresh Bulgur Salad

2010-08-11T00:45:00.005+02:00

Yesterday's dinner was a quick chicken breast roulade filled with homemade sun-dried tomato pesto served on a bed of a cucumber, red pepper, leek, raisin, carrot and parsley bulgur salad. The bulgur salad was dressed with a splash of lemon juice and olive oil to keep it moist. The rather disgusting looking brown/black bits scattered around and on top of the bulgur are fried mushrooms. They added nothing to the dish, and if I could take them out of the picture I would.

The World On Our Plates

2010-08-10T02:20:00.003+02:00

Me and my friend Josefin are launching a new blog. The blog's called "The World On Our Plates". To explain the concept of the blog to you, I have to explain the entire story, so here it goes...

Me, Josefin and Susanne (the girl I went to Copenhagen with, and the girl who has designed the awesome logo for out new website) met up one Wednesday at Susanne's apartment for some food and boardgames, and we got to talking about one thing or the other which led Josefin into mentioning a film she had recently seen: Julie&Julia. She said that after watching the film she was inspired and wanted to do something similar, but instead of cooking from a Julia Child's cookbook (which has obviously been done before) she wanted to cook food from around the world. As an eager foodie I couldn't resist to invite myself along on her project and that's how "The World On Our Plates" came about. We decided we wanted to cook ourselves around the world and came up with the idea of cooking one dish per week each, from one country each, for an entire year.

104 countries in 52 weeks.

I don't think it's overly ambitious, but I might have chosen some rather difficult countries, such as Kiribati, The Solomon Islands and Micronesia. But I'm sure I'll find recipes, eventually.

My first country is Israel; I made bagels, and Josefin's first country is Paraguay.

So, please do come check us out at "The World On Our Plates"

Sushi, take 2

2010-08-04T20:20:00.002+02:00

Today's dinner was homemade sushi filled with cucumber, leeks, red pepper, baby corn and smoked mackerel or salmon. Served with wasabi and soy sauce.

Cupcakes

2010-08-01T22:33:00.005+02:00

When my friend asked me the other day if I wanted to hang out and watch a movie, I said yes on one condition: that she would let me teach her how to make cupcakes from scratch. You see, I had a couple of weeks earlier been gobsmacked when said friend told me that she did a little bit of baking, but that she always used the "just add water"-cake mixes. I really couldn't believe what I was hearing, and vowed to give her a lesson in baking when I had time.

Since she didn't have any of the ingredients I had to bring flour, baking powder, sugar and eggs. The rest of the ingredients we picked up at the store on our way to her place, she came to pick me up in her car since it was raining and I don't have a car, nor do I drive.

The cupcakes turned out great and I left my friend with the recipe, she even asked for it, and said, quite a few times, while we were baking that "this wasn't as difficult as I'd expected it to be". Yay, mission accomplished!

Cupcakes
Makes about 20 cupcakes
Adopted from Laila bakar

100 g butter, melted
2 eggs
1.5 dl caster sugar
1 tsk vanilla sugar
2 dl milk
1 lemon, the zest
4 dl flour
2 tsk baking powder
1 pinch salt

Frosting:
100 g Philadelphia cheese
60 g soft butter
300 g chocolate/strawberry flavoured powdered sugar
the juice of ½ lemon

1. Pre-heat your oven to 200 C fan, or 220 C if you use a normal oven.

2. Start by beating the eggs and the sugars until you have a pale yellow, fluffy batter.

3. Pour in the melted butter, milk and the lemon zest. Mix to combine.

4. Using a wooden spoon or a spatula, fold in the flour, baking powder and salt.

5. Line a cupcake tin with cupcake liners and fill each liner 3/4 of the way up. Place on the middle shelf of the oven for 10 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out dry and clean.

6. Allow to cool some in the tin before tipping the cupcakes out to cool completely on a wire rack.

7. Make the frosting:
Cream butter, powdered sugar and lemon juice. Mix in the cream cheese.
Spread or pipe onto the cupcakes and garnish with sprinkles or flowers.

Danish Red Hot Dog

2010-07-30T17:00:00.000+02:00

On Thursday of last week, me and my friend Susanne went to Copenhagen, Denmark for the day. And when in Denmark, do as the Danes, right? This we did, and went straight for the hot dog stand and bought ourselves a Danish red hot dog each. It was alright I guess, but I like the normal hot dogs better. But the mustard was surprisingly nice, rather tangy and more spicy than normal mustard. Yum!

Lunch at Wagamama

2010-07-30T15:36:00.004+02:00

My main reason for going to Copenhagen was to go eat at my favourite restaurant Wagamama. Wagamama only has one restaurant in the whole of Scandinavia, at the Tivoli amusement park in Copenhagen. I haven't decided if it's a good thing or a bad thing that there's only one Wagamama in Scandinavia. On the one hand it's good because you can't go there too often and risk getting tired of the delicious Japanese food, but on the other hand it's really not very good as you go there way too seldom, plus, even though I love Copenhagen, it would be good if I didn't have to go there to visit a Wagamama restaurant.

Since going to Wagamama for the first time sometime in 2004 I have only ever had one other dish than the one featured above (Ebi kare Lomen). Ebi Kare Lomen is my absolute favourite though. It's ramen noodles in a spicy coconut and lemongrass soup topped with prawns or grilled chicken, beansprouts and cucumber, garnished with coriander and lime

Susanne had this dish, which I think is noodles in a spicy chicken soup topped with a marinated grilled and sliced chicken breast, fresh chillies, sliced red onions, bean sprouts, coriander, spring onions and a wedge of lime.

Sushi

2010-07-30T13:35:00.007+02:00

I went to Sweden last week and got to spend some time with my best friend Hanna in Gothenburg. We made homemade sushi. Neither of us had tried making sushi at home before, but we were very proud of how it turned out. We made some great tasting, and pretty good looking sushi, and served it with the normal condiments of miso soup, soy sauce, pickled ginger and wasabi.

The Nigiri is topped with avocado and salmon. The Maki is filled with cucumber, avocado and prawns.

Grilled marinated shrimp

2010-07-13T12:36:00.009+02:00

Prawns + garlic + lemon juice + olive oil + grill= drop dead combination!

I can't believe I didn't come up with this recipe myself, I guess I love the plain ol' prawn too much. But from now on I am going to be making this grilled version of my beloved prawn whenever the weather allows me to fire up my grill.

We made this recipe this past weekend when my friend Hanna and her boyfriend Jamal came to visit. Hanna actually came across the recipe while looking through one of my many food magazines. We served the shrimps as a starter for our Saturday dinner, chicken grilled whole on the BBQ with a side of oven roasted potatoes and toum, my new favourite sauce. The recipe for toum will be added shortly.

Grilled marinated shrimps
Serves 4
Adapted from Maison Mat & Vin 3/2010

0,5 dl olive oil
3 cloves garlic, grated
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp salt
600 g pre-cooked shrimp with the shell on
you can also use raw shrimps

1. Combine the olive oil, the grated garlic, the lemon juice and the salt in a bowl.

2. Place the shrimps in a ziploc bag, and pour in the marinade. Close the bag and massage it gently to ensure that the marinade covers all the shrimps. Place the bag in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

3. Thread the shrimps onto wooden or steel skewers and grill the shrimps until the shell turns a little white or golden brown. It will take a little longer if you are using raw shrimps.

Serve with mayo, warm baguettes and a glass of white wine.

Focaccia bread

2010-07-08T11:55:00.002+02:00

There really isn't anything better than homemade bread, don't you agree? However, and unfortunately, I am not really a talented bread baker. I don't know what tends to go wrong but there's always something that goes wrong, and I end up with a just good enough bread. I would want my bread to be perfect, but never.

The only bread I do seem to be successful at making, though, is focaccia bread. And it's not exactly rocket science making focaccia bread.

I haven't made any in a while though, but talking to my friend Titta, who was making her own bread, the other day got me inspired.

Focaccia bread
Makes 12 squares
Adapted from BBC Good Food

500 g plain flour
7 g fast action fry yeast
300 ml hand-warm water
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp runny honey

Topping of your choice.
I used sun-dried tomatoes, sprigs of Rosemary and a sprinkle of grated mozarella cheese

1. Mix the flower, yeast and salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl or jug, pour in the water, the oil and the honey. Pour the liquid into the flour mix and and combine to make a soft dough.

2. Tip the dough onto a floured surface, and knead for a good 5 minutes until the dough no longer feels sticky. Add a little more flour if you need it. Stretch the dough to fit a Swiss roll tin.

3. Place the dough in the tin and sprinkle over your toppings. You might want to make little indentations on the dough to ensure that the filling won't fall off. Cover with a lightly oiled sheet of cling film and leave to rest in a warm place for 40 minutes.

4. Heat the oven to 200C. Remove the cling film and bake the bread for30 minutes. When golden brown and risen, remove from the oven, allow to cool for 10 minutes and then cut into 12 squares.

Enjoy!

Lemony chicken wings

2010-06-30T21:51:00.004+02:00

I saw this recipe a while back and I immediately knew I had to try it. I have been enjoying chicken wings quite a lot lately but have only ever made Spicy, honey glazed chicken wings and it felt like I needed a change of scenery, if you will.

And boy, the recipe for Lemony chicken wings was just the change of scenery that I needed. They were just delicious, just incredibly juicy and lemony!

YOU need to make these, YOU need to try them for yourself. They're really that good, I promise!

Lemony chicken wings
Serves 6
Adopted from Leila på landet

1 kg chicken wings
2 cloves garlic, grated
2,5 cm (1 inch) ginger, grated
2-3 lemongrass stalks
the zest from 2 lemons
3 tbsp tomato purée
3 tbsp Japanese soy sauce
2 tbsp light muscovado sugar
1 tbsp sesame seed oil

1. Place the grated garlic and ginger in a bowl.

2. Peel off the outer layers of the lemongrass, discard. Smash the lemongrass with the back of your knife. Finely chop the white part of the lemongrass and discard the more green and woody part. Add the chopped lemongrass to the bowl with ginger and garlic.

3. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir to mix.

4. Place the chicken wings in a large Ziploc bag or in a 5 litre plastic bag (you might want to put one bag into another bag to ensure that if the bag rips the marinade won't cause a mess). Pour the marinade into the bag with the chicken. Close the bag, pressing out as much air as you can while you close the bag. Massage the chicken wings to ensure each wing is coated with the marinade. Place in the fridge to marinade, preferably overnight.

5. Fire up the barbecue and grill the marinated chicken wings until done. To check if the wings are done, pierce the thickest part of the wing with a knife, if the juices run clear, then the wing is done. If the juice is a little bloody, keep grilling the wing until the juice runs clear. If you use small wings, like I did, you can place a double layer of aluminium foil on top of the grid/grate to keep the wings from falling onto the charcoal.

6. Serve as finger food at a party or as part of a BBQ-meal.

Enjoy!

Last day at work...

2010-06-30T14:16:00.004+02:00

Today was my last day as an intern at the International Office at Telemark University College. It's been a blast working there, I have had wonderful colleagues and I have learnt so much about internationalisation and student exchanges. It's been so much fun.

As a farewell gift I was given this HUGE tomato plant! There's also some parsley, coriander/cilantro and rosemary in the pot. It's awesome and I am so thankful. Can't wait to try some new and exciting tomato dishes this summer.

Takk alle sammen på FA for en fantastisk tid sammen med dere, og takk for den fantastiske tomatplanten som jeg fikk av dere. Gleder meg til å lage masse spennende tomat retter i sommer. Håper vi ses igjen til høsten!

Quiz-gruppen, denne er for dere: hva er den laveste temperaturen som noen gang blitt målt på sydpolen?

Mushroom, mozarella and spinach ravioli

2010-06-29T19:46:00.009+02:00

I have been wanting to make ravioli for ages but have never gotten around to it, until now that is. I set out for the store yesterday to buy myself some ingredients for the filling. I had in my mind decided on making a mushroom, spinach and mascarpone filling, but they didn't carry mascarpone at the supermarket. What kind of a country do I live in wherea decent supermarket doesn't carry mascarpone? The answer is Norway, also known as "FSC" or "friend-stealing-country" to some of us!

Well, I had to rethink and decided on putting some shredded mozarella in the filling instead. What a wonderful idea, and I am sure it would have been so tasty had I invested in some proper mozarella instead of relying on the pre-shredded stuff we bought at the supermarket the other week.

I was also a little worried the process of making the actual ravioli would be extremely time consuming, but all went well, it didn't take long at all. Maybe all that dumpling making finally paid off?!

Anyway, to make a long story short, the ravioli were good, but could have been so much tastier had I used the ingredients I first intended to use. Ah well, next time I'm making ravioli I'm going to have a go at making homemade mascarpone. Wish me good luck, I think I'll need it!

The filling

Ravioli. I made some different shapes, mostly because my
ravioli folding skills need some work.

Yum, the finished product!

Mushroom, mozarella and spinach ravioli
Serves 1-2

pasta dough for 1 person
5 smallish button mushrooms, thinly sliced
125 g baby spinach leaves, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, finely sliced
150-200 g mozarella (a little less than a ball)
salt and pepper

1. In a frying pan, melt some butter and add in the garlic and the spinach, allowing it to wilt. Remove and place on a plate to cool down.

2. Using the same pan, tip in the mushrooms and cook until most of the water has evaporated. Add in just a little butter and salt and pepper, stir. Remove and place on a plate to cool down.

3. Make the pasta dough while the vegetables cool down.

4. Using a pasta machine, roll the pasta dough to desired thickness.

5. Place the rolled dough on a clean and floured surface. Cut out squares.

6. Place the cooled vegetables in a mixing bowl, add the mozarella, stir to combine.

7. . Place 1 tsp of the filling in the centre of each pasta square.

8. Fold the square diagonally to create a triangle. Press down on the edges to ensure the filling doesn't leak out. Lift up the triangle and place it on your index finger with the base pointing towards the palm of your hand. Wrap the two corners that stick out around your finger to create a ring. Pull the ring off of your finger and place on a floured plate. Do this until you have no dough left.

9. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Tip in the ravioli and boil for 2-3 min or until the tortellini float up the surface.

10. Drain and serve with a drizzle of olive oil and a few shavings of parmesan cheese on top.

Spicy pork noodles

2010-06-29T19:10:00.005+02:00

Tonight I found myself with a piece of pork, some noodles and about a ton of button mushrooms. I decided to make a noodle stir fry. It turned out great, but be aware of the chilli bean sauce as it's super hot.

Spicy pork noodles
Serves 1

100 g ground pork
1 pack (60 g) uncooked egg noodles
4 button mushrooms, cut into 4
1 small red onion, sliced finely
1 spring onion

Sauce:
1 tbsp hoisin sauce
½ tsp chili bean sauce
½ tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
75 ml water

1. Cook the noodles according to the instructions on the packet.

2. Mix all the ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl. Set aside.

3. Heat a wok, when hot drizzle in some oil and fry the onions for about 30 sek. Stir in the pork and allow to brown (about 5 min). After about 3 min, add the mushrooms to the wok.

4. Stir in the sauce, and add in the noodles. Wok until the noodles are hot.

5. Serve with a drizzle of toasted sesame on top.

Roasted Chickpeas

2010-06-24T13:23:00.008+02:00

Last Friday we arranged a farewell-/birthday for friends who are leaving to go back to Germany this summer after a year in Norway working as volunteers at our church.

A few days before the party I stumbled across a recipe for "ROASTED CHICKPEAS WITH GARLIC, CUMIN AND PAPRIKA" at The Perfect Pantry. I didn't want to just serve the girls potato chips so decided to make the chickpeas.

I also made a pavlova, which was tasty, but the girls liked the chickpeas better I think. (Correction: Hannah LOVED the cake but "you can't eat too much of such a cake"). I had to give most of the cake away the next day but I didn't have a single chickpeas left by the end of the evening.

Michaela turned 20

Roasted chickpeas with garlic, cumin and paprika
Serves about 6
Adapted from The Perfect Pantry

1 can (400 g) chickpeas
1 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, grated
3/4 tsp ground sweet paprika
3/4 tsp ground cumin
salt
pepper

Set the oven to 220C.

1. Drain and rinse the chickpeas. Dry them off on kitchen paper. Place then in a bowl, add the olive and garlic to the bowl and shake to ensure that all peas are covered.

2. Spread the chickpeas on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Roast the chickpeas for about 20 minutes, shaking the tray every few minutes so that the peas are roasted evenly.

3. While the chickpeas are roasting, line a plate with kitchen paper. Place the roasted chickpeas on the kitchen paper to drain. While still warm, sprinkle over the rest of the spices. Transfer the chickpeas to a serving plate or allow them to cool down before storing them in a airtight container.

Sorry Doro, but that's the only photo I have of the almost empty plate!

Fish & Prawn Gratin

2010-06-17T12:38:00.004+02:00

I was lucky enough to grown up in a little town in Bohuslän and we always had access to the best and freshest fish, and I remember eating prawns that had been caught that very same morning. It was like eating a little piece of heaven!

This dish reminds me of where I grew up - the Swedish west coast; fish and prawns in a creamy dill sauce is about as close as you get to being a Bohuslänning (a person from the province of Bohuslän) without actually being from Bohuslän.

Fish & Prawn Gratin
Serves 4
Adapted from Tasteline.com

400 g fish, I used Pollock
1 ½ tsp salt
½ tsp white pepper
1 tsp lemon infused black pepper
1/4 leek, chopped
1 dl peeled prawns
1 dl blue mussel meat (optional)
2 ½ dl cooking cream
½ dl chopped dill

Set the oven to 225°C.

1. Start by seasoning the fish with the salt and pepper, and then place the fish in a lightly greased oven proof dish.

2. Mix the cooking cream with the leeks, the prawns, the mussels and the dill. Pour the mixture over the fish.

3. Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes.

Garnish with a wedge of lemon and some fresh dill sprigs.

Serve with rice or riced potatoes.

Hawaij spice mix

2010-06-11T23:58:00.003+02:00

(Photo to be added shortly)

Hawaij spice mix
Yields 3/4 cup
Adopted from The Chef Maven

6 tbsp whole black pepper corns
3 tbsp whole seeds
2 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp green cardamom pods
1 tsp whole cloves
3 tbsp ground turmeric

1. Place all the spices, except for the turmeric, in a dry skillet over medium heat, stirring often to keep the spices from burning.
2. Heat the spices for a good 5 minutes, then transfer the spices to a plate to cool.
3. Take the cool spices and grind them using a spice grinder, or in an electric coffee grinder.

Note: Please don't use your everyday coffee grinder as the spices will make your coffee taste horrible.

Hatsulim Mamulae

2010-06-11T22:37:00.007+02:00

Being not Jewish, this dish introduced me to Kosher cooking. Before googling kosher cooking, I couldn't tell you what differed kosher from "normal" cooking, but reading up about it made me think that my dish was anything but kosher while being kosher. I did not follow the rule of using utensils that had not been in contact with non-kosher foods, the ground beef I used was most certainly not slaughtered in accordance to kosher rules and I know I have used the pots and pans to cook pork.

Now that I know more about kosher cooking, I feel really bad about not following the rules. I feel like a bad Jew, without being Jewish. Does that make sense? I guess it's my inner foodie coming out, and this foodie's respect for different food cultures. But unfortunately, what's done is done. And I wasn't about to go out and invest in a whole new set of pots, pans and utensils.

Even though I didn't have a proper recipe, I just had the scribbles I made while watching Planet Food: Israel and Palestine where they cooked the dish, I set out to give it a try. With no exact measurements and the episode on pause/play on the TV I managed to create a lovely dish. It wasn't as spicy as I had hoped it would be, but this can easily be fixed next time I make the dish by simply adding more spices!

By the way, you might be wondering what this dish is called in terms you might understand. I don't have the direct translation, did I say I'm not Jewish?, but it's something along the lines of "Eggplant stuffed with meat in spicy tomato sauce"

The recipe calls for simple ingredients and does not require you to be a master-chef. However, if you do not happen to live in a place with easy access to the Hawaij spice mix you will have to make it yourself. I made it myself, I wouldn't even know where to look for it here...

Hatsulim Mamulae
Serves 4

1 medium-large eggplant
400 g ground beef, kosher or non-kosher depending on your preference
1 small chopped onion
2 cloves chopped garlic
salt
ground pepper
2 egg
bread crumbs
seasoned flour
vegetable oil

1 medium onion
2-3 cloves garlic
2 tsp sweet paprika
1-2 tsp Hawaij spice mix
1 red bell pepper
1 bay leaf
2 medium chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato puree

Set the oven to 220C.

1. Start off by making the meat stuffing. In a bowl, place ground beef, chopped onion, chopped garlic, salt, pepper, one egg and a good handful of breadcrumbs. Mix gently but well. Set aside.

2. Cut the eggplant into 3 cm thick disks. Then, take each disk and cut as if you were cutting the disk in half to create 2 disks. But instead of cutting all the way through, cut as if you were cutting a sandwich, so that the two pieces are still connected at the bottom.

3. Roll the meat filling into golf ball size balls and stuff each eggplant sandwich with a meatball. Press down on the eggplant sandwish, and mould the meat so that it fits snuggly inside the eggplant.

4. Once you have done step #3 with all the eggplant, roll the eggplant sandwiches in the seasoned flour (flour+salt+pepper), then in the egg (which you have lightly whisked in a bowl), and last but not least you roll the sandwiches in the bread crumbs.

5. Heat the oil in a skillet and fry the eggplants until golden brown and crispy on the outside. The meat should still be mostly raw. When golden and crispy, remove from heat and place in oven proof dish.

6. While the eggplants and browning up in the skillet, make the sauce.

7. In a saucepan, fry the onion, garlic, sweet paprika and Hawaij spice mix in a little bit of oil until the entire kitchen is filled with the most wonderful smell, about 3-5 minutes.

8. Add the rest of the ingredients and allow to reduce for 5 minutes. Add in the tomato puree and about 1 to 1 ½ dl of water and bring to the boil. At this stage taste the sauce and add more spices if needed.

9. Pour the sauce over the eggplants and place in the pre-heated oven. Bake for 45 minutes. If the top starts to burn, cover with aluminium foil.

10. Serve with rice.

Ethiopian food

2010-06-08T18:21:00.003+02:00

I'm going to learn how to cook Ethiopian food tomorrow, and I'm so excited!

My Norwegian friend Ingeborg spent part of her childhood in Ethiopia but for some unknown reason she never learned how to cook proper Ethiopian food. I was appalled at this, and urged her to learn to cook a dish or two when she went to visit her parents, who still live and work in Ethiopia, a few weeks ago.

Tomorrow she's coming around to teach me to cook Ethiopian food. I am not quite sure we're cooking, but it's got something to do with chicken and some spice that can kill you- or something along those lines.

So, provided I'm still alive after tomorrow's cooking class I'm planing on uploading the recipe and photos this weekend.

To be continued (hopefully)...

Ok, so this didn't happen. My friend said she didn't feel inspired and her motivation for cooking was zero... so, maybe I get to experience some real Ethiopian cooking when she returns after the summer...

To be continued (for sure this time)...

Crispy Chicken Bits

2010-06-07T17:44:00.009+02:00

A while back I bought a packet of Santa Maria's Crispy Chicken Bites Spice Mix.
It's been sitting the cupboard ever seen, almost forgotten. But the other day I decided to try it out. I don't know why I bought the packet at the store that day, but I'm glad I did. Not so much because the chicken bits turned out too-tasty-to-be-true but because it made me think I could make it myself- with a better, tastier, result.

I must admit I haven't tried it yet, but I instructed my friend Susanne on how to make them, and she tried them out on Saturday. She was delighted with the way they turned out. I can't wait to make them myself, from scratch this time and not from a packet.

Photo by Susanne Lindberg

Crispy Chicken Bits
Serves 4

150 g cheese flavoured nacho chips
15 g extra spicy taco seasoning mix, or to taste
3 large chicken breasts

1. Start off by crushing the nacho chips. Keep them in the bag when crushing them, but be sure to open the bag a little bit so that air can escape, or else the bag'll explode once you start hitting it with your weapon of choice- I used a rolling pin.

2. Mix in the taco seasoning mix.

3. Cut the chicken into thin strips or bite-size pieces. If the chicken bites are dry, dip them in a little bit of oil before coating each piece with the nacho chips mix.

4. Heat some oil in a frying pan and fry until the chicken juices run clear and the crust is golden brown and crispy. You can also bake the chicken in a 220C oven.

5. Serve the chicken bites with soft tortilla bread and an assortment of toppings; such as bell peppers, lettuce, grated cheese, sliced onion, sweet corn and/or guacamole or any other sauce of your choice.

Thanks Susanne for being my guinea pig for this recipe. You're a star!

Stir-fried corn with chilli, ginger, garlic and parsley

2010-05-31T18:24:00.006+02:00

If you know me it comes as no surprise that I have a crush on Jamie Oliver! He is an amazing chef with a relaxed cooking style which makes my life so much easier.

My friend Ingeborg left for Ethiopia about 2 weeks ago, and before leaving she offered me to borrow her Jamie's Dinner cookbook. I obviously said yes! I immediately found this recipe for stir-fried corn with chilli, ginger, garlic and parsley.

It's an amazingly easy dish which tastes delicious as a side dish with a grilled piece of steak or you can use it in a salad.

(Susanne, detta är Jamie Oliver-majs).

Stir-fried corn with chilli, ginger, garlic and parsley
Adapted from Jamie's Dinner

2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp chopped ginger
1 tsp chopped chilli
1-2 chopped cloves garlic
handful of chopped parsley
2 tbsp soy sauce

Heat the oil in a wok pan, tip in all the ingredients and stir-fry until heated through.

Thai Cucumber Salad

2010-05-24T18:42:00.005+02:00

I found this recipe on the back of the Satay Seasoning Mix package. It turned out to be the Thai version of a similar cucumber salad I had with some Chinese friends a few years ago. It's really delicious and sweet with a little bit of a kick from the chilli.

Thai Cucumber Salad

Adapted from the back of Satay Seasoning Mix package

4 tbsp vinegar (I used white wine vinegar)
5 tbsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1 cucumber, in slices
1 red chilli, finely chopped
1-2 shallots, finely sliced (I used red onions)

1. Mix the vinegar, sugar and salt in a small saucepan.

2. Heat until the sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

3. Arrange cucumber, chilli and shallots in a bowl. Pour over the vinegar mixture, stir, and serve.

Zucchini soup with bacon

2010-05-21T13:43:00.007+02:00

Not too long ago my volleyball team went on a tournament for the weekend. It was great fun, but I don't think we did all too well. To tell you the truth I didn't care about the results, that's why I don't know them.

For the duration of the tournament all the teams stayed at Norsjø Hotel, in beautiful Norsjø, Norway. Norsjø Hotel might not be the best hotel in the world, but the food is delicious! For dinner on Saturday we were served a three-course meal, I love three-course meals and can't for the life of me understand how anyone could eat more than a three-course meal. I guess the portions are much smaller when you eat a, say, seven-course meal.

Anyway, let's get back on track. The menu for the three-course meal was

Starter
Zucchini soup with bacon

Main course
Braised beef tenderloin served with potatoes and vegetables

Dessert
Home-made coffee ice cream with chocolate brownie

I absolutely loved the Zucchini soup, the rest of the meal was all-right. I have had better food, but I'm not complaining.

I have been searching for a recipe for Zucchini soup ever since I had it that weekend and with a little help from my friend Susanne, who had told me before of a delicious Zucchini soup that she used to make, I set out to make a soup similar to the one I had had at the hotel.

This soup was really nice, really tasty and easy to make. And it was fairly similar to the one at the hotel. Try it yourself, I don't think you'll be disappointed!

Zucchini soup (with bacon)

Serves 4
Adapted from sopprecpet.se

600-800 g green Zucchini, chopped into small cubes
3 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, chopped
1 clove garlic, grated
½ tsp dried rosemary (I used thyme)
1 tsp tomato puree
8 dl vegetable stock
ground white pepper, to taste
salt, to taste

fried bacon
garlic bread

1. Heat the olive oil in a large enough pan to hold the finished soup. Tip in the onion and fry until soft and translucent. Add in the Zucchini and allow to soften some. Add in the grated garlic, rosemary, tomato puree and vegetable stock.

2. Bring to the boil and allow to cook for about 15-20 minutes.

3. With a hand blender or in a mixer, mix the soup until smooth, or to desired consistency.

4. Bring back to the boil and boil for another 10 minutes. Add in more stock/water if you want to, at this stage.

5. In the meantime, fry some cut up rashes of bacon until crisp to sprinkle on top of the soup. Obviously, for a vegetarian dish, leave out the bacon. Prepare the garlic bread. I cut up some ready-to-bake baguettes and spread some garlic butter on top, placed the bread on an oven tray and baked it in the oven for 10 min on high heat.

Serve the soup in bowls, sprinkle some bacon on top, drizzle over some olive oil and eat with some garlic bread on the side.

Pork tenderloin with thyme

2010-05-19T23:40:00.007+02:00

I can't for the life of me remember how I did this dish, but I just love the photo and has been meaning to post it for the longest time.

Pork Tenderloin with Thyme

Pytt i panna

2010-05-18T19:27:00.006+02:00

Pytt i panna is a traditional Swedish dish. I love it. It's super easy to make and doesn't call for more than 3 ingredients. It's basically diced and then fried potatoes, meat and onions.

Confession time: I don't normally make my own pytt i panna, I buy it ready-made from the frozen section at the supermarket. Blasphemy!! I know, but I really like the ready-made version.

Anyway, yesterday I made home-made pytt i panna using a potato, a small onion and the left-over grilled meat from last night's barbeque. YUM! Tasted much better than the store-bought version, obviously!

Pytt i panna
Serves 4

4-5 medium potatoes, cut into 1 cm cubes
1 medium to large onion, chopped
3-4 pork chops or other meat, meat cut into 1 cm cubes

To serve:
fried eggs, sunny side up
pickled beet roots

1. Heat some vegetable oil, or butter, in a frying pan. Depending on if you use raw or boiled potatoes the cooking time will vary. Tip in the potatoes and fry the potatoes until almost done. About 15 minutes if you use raw potatoes.

2. Tip in the onion, fry for 2 minutes.

3. Add in the meat, and fry until done.

4. Serve with a fried egg on top and some pickled beet roots on the side.

Strawberry Cheesecake

2010-05-09T22:17:00.006+02:00

Tonight, "the dessert-" God was looking after me, my cake sold out at the café at church. Hallelujah!

Due to me forgetting my camera at home I had to make due with the camera on my phone.... which resulted in a crappy photo of a delicious cheesecake.

Strawberry Cheesecake
12 slices
Adapted from BBC GoodFood

Base
250 g Digestive biscuits
100 g melted butter

Filling
Seeds from 1 vanilla pod
600 g soft cream cheese
100 g icing sugar
284 ml heavy cream

Topping
400 g strawberries
25 g icing sugar

1. Place the biscuits in a plastic bag and seal the bag. Crush the biscuits using a rolling pin until you have a fine crumble. Transfer the crumbles to a bowl. Pour in the melted butter and mix to ensure the crumbles are completely coated. Tip the crumbs into a 23 cm wide loose-bottomed cake tin and press firmly down to create an even layer. Set to chill in the fridge for 1 hour.

2. Meanwhile, make the filling. Place the soft cheese, icing sugar and vanilla seeds in a bowl, then beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Tip in the cream and continue beating until the mixture is completely combined. Now spoon the cream mixture onto the biscuit base, working from the edges inwards and making sure that there are no air bubbles. Smooth the top of the cheesecake down with the back of a dessert spoon or spatula. Leave to set in the fridge overnight.

3. Bring the cheesecake to room temperature, about 30 mins before serving. To un-mould, place the base on top of a can, then gradually pull the sides of the tin down. Slip the cake onto a serving plate, removing the lining paper and base. Purée half the strawberries in a blender or food processor with 25g icing sugar and 1 tsp water, then sieve. Pile the remaining strawberries onto the cake, then pour over purée.

I had real trouble with the filling, it would just not set... I placed the cake in the freezer for 10 min which kind of helped but after about 10 min out of the freezer the filling was more liquid than solid... Don't let this scare you from making the cake, it was delicious!!!!! I'm gonna try whipping the cream before adding it to the soft cheese mixture next time... I'll get back to you with the result.

Falafel

2010-05-08T22:20:00.005+02:00

I have been meaning to post this recipe for falafel for a really long time now, but for some reason I've been stalling it.

I think remember the first time I had falafel, it was in London in 2003. I don't exactly remember them as an "explosion of Oriental flavours in my mouth", it was more like "hmm... these were pretty good". I think they were bought at Marks & Spencer, which might have been the reason why there weren't all that delicious. But obviously, they were delicious enough for me to want to try falafel again, so over the years I've had the odd falafel.

However, it wasn't until fairly recently, say about a year ago, that I realised I could make them at home. I had always envisioned the process time-consuming and tedious. This was until I came across an easy recipe for falafel-"burgers" at BBC GoodFood.

I know, a falafel-burger sounds pretty horrid, but the recipe is great for making small patties to stuff in toasted pita-breads and serves with side dished such as tabbouleh, crisp salad, thinly sliced red onions and a minty yoghurt sauce to drizzle on top. It sounds pretty delicious, right?!
The recipe calls for canned chickpeas, and after having tried both the canned sort and the dried sort that you have to soak in water for at least 12 hours, I can definitely say I prefer the canned peas for this particular recipe. I couldn't get the dried peas soft enough, and deep-frying the falafel didn't help to soften them one bit...

Falafel
Serves 4
Adapted from BBC GoodFood

400 g can chickpeas, drained
1-2 garlic cloves
1 handful parsley
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
½ tsp harissa or chilli powder
2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp oil

To serve
pita breads, chopped tomatoes, tabbouleh, red onions and yoghurt sauce

1. In a food processor, mix the chickpeas, garlic, parsley and spices plus the flour to a rather smooth mix. You can leave it chunkier if you prefer more texture.

2. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry small-ish balls of the chickpea mixture until heated through, golden brown and crisp on the outside.

Chicken Biryani

2010-04-29T20:38:00.004+02:00

Last year, while being unemployed, I got a little bit obsessed with the website showmethecurry.com. I could spend hours browsing through all the recipes and I even forced my friends to share in my excitement.

What I like about showmethecurry.com is that almost all the recipes come with an instruction video on how to prepared the dish. It's fabulous and so easy to follow.

Ok, this post isn't about why showmethecurry.com is such a wonderful website, I just felt I needed to give homage where homage was due.

I came across this recipe for Chicken Biryani the other day over at.... you know where. I was a little bit unsure about it, seeing how it contains a daunting 29 ingredients!!! But I remember my boyfriend having Lamb Biryani (he loved it) on our 4 year anniversary some 20 days ago, and decided I'd give it a go.

It turned out great, although the recipe said to keep it in a 120 C oven for an hour. I tried it, it was only lukewarm, I upped the oven to 200 C and it only took 10 min to get the dish nice and hot. Also, next time I'll add in some more spices to give it that extra kick.

PS. Sorry guys, I'm usually not one for copying recipes from someone else's site and posting them here, but I couldn't be stuffed to re-write the entire recipe....

Enjoy!

Chicken Biryani
Serves 4
Adapted from showmethecurry.com

4 small chicken breast
1 ½ cup Basmati Rice
6 cups water
1 cup Yogurt
1 medium potato
1 ½ tbsp oil
1- 1 ½ tbsp Clarified Butter (Ghee)
1-2 tbsp grated garlic
1-2 tbsp grated ginger
Green Chili – to taste
5 cm Cinnamon stick
2 Bay leaves
1 Black Cardamom
3 pieces Mace (optional)
2-4 green cardamoms pods
4 Cloves
Whole Peppercorns – to taste
1 tbsp Golden Raisins
1 tbsp Cashews (heaped)
Salt – to taste
1 tbsp Black Cumin
1 tbsp Cumin Powder
1 tbsp Coriander Powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp Saffron (Kesar)
2 handfuls chopped Mint Leaves
1/4 cup chopped Cilantro/Coriander
½+ ½ cup Fried Onions (divided)

1. Wash and soak the Rice for a minimum 1/2 hour.
2. In a pan, bring 8 cups of water to boil.
3. Once boiling, add Green Cardamoms (2), Bay Leaves (1), Salt and Oil (1tsp).
4. Add in the washed Rice to boiling water.
5. Once the Water starts boiling again, time and cook for 5 minutes (the Rice needs to be 3/4 way done).
6. Drain the water from the Rice and keep aside.
7. In a separate bowl, mix Saffron and Water (1tbsp), keep aside and allow it to soak.
8. Heat a pan on medium heat, add in the Oil and the Clarified Butter.
9. Once hot, add in the Cashews and Golden Raisins, fry for a couple of minutes till the cashews get a light golden colour.
10.Remove from the Pan. Make sure you drain all the Oil. Keep aside.
11.Add in the balance of whole spices – Cinnamon Stick, Mace, Bay Leaf, Black & Green Cardamom, Peppercorns & Cloves.
12.Fry for under a minute.
13.Add in Black Cumin (use regular Cumin if Black is not available).
14.Allow them to sizzle.
15.Add in Ginger & Garlic, fry for another minute. Keep stirring.
16.Add in the washed, cleaned pieces of Chicken. Mix well.
17.Once the Chicken looks sealed, add in the following while stirring constantly – Yogurt, Fried Onion (1/2 cup), Cilantro (save some for garnish), Mint, Green Chili, Potatoes and the dry spices – Coriander, Cumin, Turmeric, Red Chili & Salt.
18.Mix very well. Cover and cook for about 10-15 minutes (the chicken should be 3/4 of the way done).
19.Pre-heat oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit (aprox 121 degrees C).
20.Coat an oven-proof dish with a little oil.
21.Start by layering the Chicken at the bottom of the dish along with a few pieces of Potatoes (saving the gravy for top layer).
22.Fluff up the Rice and add a layer of it on top of the Chicken with half of the Rice.
23.Layer the balance of the potatoes and all the gravy on the rice layer.
24.Next spread the balance of the Rice.
25.Layer the Cashews, Raisins, Fried Onions, Cilantro and Saffron.
26.Drizzle a little bit of Oil.
27.Cover with an air-tight lid or a foil and bake for 1 hour or till the potatoes are cooked.
28.Once out of the oven, take a ladle and mix it gently but well.
29.Allow it to sit for 5 minutes and serve with Cilantro and Mint Raita

Sponge sandwich cake

2010-04-20T23:41:00.010+02:00

I do volunteer work at a missionary church nearby about once a month. I was more or less coaxed into it by the very enthusiastic pastor who thought there were way too few young people at church, so he signed my up for the Sunday church café rotational.

I don't mind, it's nice to have something to do on Sundays, and I do love baking. I work with a lady named Irene and we have decided I should bake a cake, and the waffle mix for each Sunday that I'm on duty. Two Sundays ago, I was too lazy and bought a packet of a "just add water"- waffle mix and the whole thing was a disaster. Didn't know you could fail such a basic instruction...

Anyways, during my first two cafeteria-Sundays I made chocolate muffins and no one bought them. I realised old people do not like chocolate. For the third Sunday I made a roll-up cake filled with strawberry jam and served it with a big dollop of whipped cream on top. It went down a treat. I realised old people love stuff covered in whipped cream.
With this in mind I set out to make a classic sponge sandwich with a strawberry jam and whipped cream filling for last Sunday's café. Little did I know that this Sunday most of the old people in church were away and left were the slightly younger crowd (40+) and they were apparently not too fond of whipped cream and jam... I was left with 4 pieces of cake... Irene's cake sold out. Her cake was more "modern" and "youthful", I guess.

I had no idea doing cafeteria work, once in a blue moon, required demographics.

So, here's a great recipe to make for granny's birthday.

Sponge sandwich cake
8 slices
Adapted from BBC Good Food

Sponge
200 g soft butter
200 g self-raising flour*
1 tsp baking powder
200 g sugar
4 eggs
2 tbsp milk

Filling
142 ml double cream
50 g sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
100 g strawberry jam
icing sugar, for dusting

1. Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Grease and base-line 2 x 20cm non-stick round sandwich tins with baking parchment, then lightly grease the parchment. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl, then tip in all the other sponge ingredients. Using an electric whisk, beat everything together until smooth. Divide the mix between the cake tins, then bake for 20-25 mins until cooked and golden. When cool enough to handle, remove the cakes from the tins, then leave to cool completely on a rack.

2. To make the filling, whip the cream with the caster sugar and vanilla until it holds its shape. Build the cake by spreading one sponge with jam and the other with cream. Sandwich the whole thing together, then dust with icing sugar.

*= if you live in a country where it is impossible to find self-raising flour, like Norway, you can make your own. Here's how:

For each cup of flour, add 1 ½ tsp baking powder and ½ tsp salt. I put about 4 cups flour in a big jar and added in 1 ½ x 4 tsp baking powder and ½ x 4 tsp salt. Closed the lid and gave it a good shake. It's a great store-cupboard essential.

Pitahaya (Dragon fruit)

2010-04-08T16:12:00.012+02:00

Look what I found at the supermarket the other week. It's a Pitahaya, also known as a Dragon fruit.

Isn't it pretty?

Don't get your panties in a twist over the Pitahaya, though. I had no preconceived ideas about it, I had never tried it before. However, now that I think abut it, I did at one time buy a funny-looking drink at my local Asia food store when I lived in Halmstad because my Thai friend liked it. It was a Dragon fruit pop, it was not tasty at all, too sweet and yeah, not my cup of tea at all.

Anyways, I had obviously forgotten about this pop when I bought the fruit. I actually kept the fruit sitting in the fruit bowl for a few days unsure of what to do with it. Does one just cut it into wedges and eat? I didn't know, so googled it and found out that most people eat it as it is, or cut it into pieces and serve it in fruit salads.

I decided to just cut it into wedges and eat it. First bite: it was like chewing on a whole lot of NOTHING. The dragon fruit tasted of absolutely NOTHING. And all the black seeds freaked me out.

I am not buying this fruit again.

Easter meatballs

2010-04-04T15:09:00.005+02:00

Made these for Easter. They were out of meatballs at the supermarket...

"Spicy" meatballs
Makes about 30 small meatballs

500 g ground beef
½ dl bread crumbs
1 dl milk
1-2 garlic cloves, grated
½ dl parsley
1 tsp cumin powder
salt, pepper
½ onion, chopped
1 egg
butter/oil

1. Start by combining the bread crumbs with the garlic, parsley, cumin and salt & pepper in a mixing bowl. Pour in the milk and leave to swell while you fry the chopped onion until almost see-through.

2. Add the onion to the bread crumb mix and stir to combine.

3. Add in the ground beef and the egg. Using your hands, mix to combine. If the mixture feels too loose, add in some more bread crumbs.

4. Heat some oil to medium high in a frying pan. Using you hands or two spoons, form the beef mixture into bite size meatballs. Fry until done, place on a serving platter, or allow to cool and place in freezer.

(5. The meatballs on the picture were served with a simple tomato sauce made from crushed tomatoes, onion, garlic, herbs, a little bit of red chili, a splash of balsamic vinegar and some salt & pepper).

Curry-scented beef soup

2010-03-29T22:43:00.004+02:00

I am not a big fan out what Swedes and Norwegians call "husmanskost". I can't seem to remember the English translation, but I guess it's somewhere along the lines of "traditional home cooked food". A little googling by my friend Titta came up with the term "homely fare".

However, let me rephrase, I am not a very big fan of Swedish and Norwegian "homely fare". The way I see it, I like Thai food, and Indian food, and Chinese food, and Mexican food and, yeah other kinds of food and I assume the foods I like from these countries are their "homely fare".

Anyways, what I am getting at is that I am not a big fan of Swedish and Norwegian "homely fare", but my bf is, unfortunately, a huge fan. He longs for boiled potatoes, and other things he is used to from his childhood. I on the other hand can't stand boiled potatoes, except for new potatoes cooked with large twigs of dill and served with sour cream and chopped chives on a warm summer day.

So, I don't cook boiled potatoes and other Scandinavian homely fares, I make Thai curries, Chinese stir-fries and Mexican enchiladas. But from time to time I cook traditional foods, and yesterday was one of those times. I didn't want to make it all traditional though, so found a recipe combining the traditional Swedish beef-soup with the flavours of Indian curry powder. Yum!

Curry-scented beef soup
Serves 4
Adapted from tasteline.com

400 g beef
2 onions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, grated
1 tart apple, cut into small pieces
1 tbsp butter
3 tsp curry powder
1 l water
3 tbsp reduced veal stock (in Swedish: kalvfond)
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 can (400 g) crushed tomatoes
2 tbsp lemon juice
salt & pepper

1. Start by browning the meat, onions, garlic and apple in the butter in a sauce pan. Sprinkle in the curry powder, stir to mix and allow to fry for a couple of minutes.

2. Add in the water, tomato paste, reduced veal stock and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper and bring to the boil. Allow to simmer for about 10 minutes.

3. Serve with a dollop of cream fraiche on top and a slice of garlic bread on the side.

Penne with salmon and creamed spinach

2010-03-28T20:48:00.005+02:00

Yum, this was a great little dinner for one tonight. I just cooked some Penne pasta, wilted some spinach in a frying pan, tossed in some thinly sliced garlic, some sweet corn and poured in some heavy cream. Salt & pepper.

Delicious, simple and quick!

Mexican egg rolls

2010-03-28T18:22:00.007+02:00

I was invited to attend "Den store gavefesten" at Ibsenhuset last Tuesday. It's a big concert featuring local talents, not only singing but also line dancing, football skills and agility, sponsored by one of the local banks here in Skien. There was a great orchestra entertaining us in the foyer and we were served an assortment of finger foods, Spanish meatballs, little mini-quiches and tasty little Mexican egg rolls.

I ate quite a few of these Mexican egg rolls, hello it was free and I was hungry! and quite enjoyed myself. But I couldn't help but think of how I could improve on the flavour.

Here's my first attempt

Mexican egg rolls
Makes lots

400 g ground beef

1 yellow onion, chopped
1 packet taco seasoning
1 dl taco salsa
100 g sweet corn
2 tbsp chopped jalapeños
1 dl water

1 packet spring roll wrappers
oil for deep frying

1. Start by browning the beef and the onion in a frying pan. Pour in the rest of the ingredients and fry for 10 minutes.

2. Take out a spring roll wrapper, if using the large variety cut it in half. Place about 1 tbsp of the taco beef at one end of the wrapper. Fold in the corners and roll into a finger-looking thing. Do this until you either run out of filling or wrappers.

3. Heat the oil and deep fry until golden and crispy.

4. Serve with an assortment of dipping sauces.

Under construction

2010-03-27T13:54:00.000+01:00

As you can see my blog does no long look like it used to... this is due to a silly misstake by me. I am trying to solve it, but I am afraid I have lost the old design. I need to find another design that I'm happy with, but in the meantime you'll see some different designs.

Sorry!

Potato and spinach quiche

2010-03-25T20:59:00.007+01:00

I'm back, as per usual I don't have a good reason for being away from such a long time.

I found the recipe for this quiche well over a year ago on the back of the bag that the potatoes came in. I scribbled it down and put it in my recipe folder thinking I'd get around to trying it out sometime soon. This was not the case, I forgot all about the recipe and only came across it again a few days ago when I was rummaging through the recipe folder looking for inspiration for dinner. Next time I make it I'm going to add in some feta cheese for a little extra flavour!

Potato and spinach quiche
Serves 4

Crust:
150 g butter
3 dl flour
2-2½ tbsp ice cold water

Filling:
300 g boiled, cold potatoes
200 g baby spinach, roughly chopped
1 red onion, cut into thin rings
50 g sun-dried tomatoes, roughly chopped
4 eggs
2 tbsp Parmesan cheese
1 dl heavy cream
1 tbsp dill, chopped
salt & pepper

Set your oven to 200° C.
1. Start by making the crust. In a food processor, combine flour and butter. When crumbly, add in a little water at a time until the mixture forms a ball. Wrap in plastic film and place in the fridge to chill for about 1 hr. When chilled, roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface and line a springform pan, letting the pastry come up around the edges about 5 cm. With some aluminum foil, cover the edges so when you bake it the edges will not collapse. Pre-bake the crust for 10 mins.

2. While the pastry is chilling in the fridge, prepare the filling. Cut the potatoes into slices and then cut the slices in half. Mix with the spinach, red onion and the sun-dried tomatoes. In a separate bowl, crack the eggs, add the heavy cream, Parmesan cheese, dill and salt & pepper, whisk to combine.

3. Place the dry filling in the now pre-baked crust, and pour in the egg mixture.

4. Bake the pie at (the recipe says 170° C but I had to use 200 ° and my oven is only about 3 years old- I say, if it doesn't set at 170° C up the temp to 200° C) 170° C for 15-20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Valentine's chicken pot pie

2010-02-17T23:11:00.006+01:00

This chicken pot pie is a staple in my family in Sweden. We have probably served it to every single guest we've ever had, at one time or another. I am sure I've had it for every birthday for the last 10 years. It's so delicious.

My bf made this for me for Valentine's Day.

Try it, you won't be disappointed!

Valentine's Chicken Pot PieServes 4-6 people

Pie dough:
3 dl flour
1 pinch salt
75 g unsalted butter
1 small egg
2-3 tbsp cold water

Filling:
pulled meat from 1 rotisserie chicken
400 g whole canned mushrooms

2 ½ dl heavy cream
1 ½ tbsp flour
3 tbsp chilli sauce or ketchup (Heinz)
1 ½ tsp salt
2 pinches pepper
1 tsp paprika powder
1-2 cloves of garlic, grated
½ dl sesame seeds
1 dl chopped chives

Preheat the oven to 225°C

1. Combine all the ingredient, except for the egg and the water, in a food processor until the dough crumbles. Mix in the egg and 2 tbsp of water. Add in more water if the dough does not come together to form a ball in the mixer. Kneed for a minute or two, flatten to a disc, wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

2. Fry the pulled chicken meat and the mushrooms in a pan.

3. Pour the heavy cream into a bowl, sprinkle over the flour, add in the chilli sauce/ketchup and the spices. With an electic beater, whisk the cream until foamy. Stir in the garlic and sesame seeds. Add the mix to the pan and allow to heat through. Add the chives and stir to combine.

4. Pour the filling into a oven dish. Roll out the dough, quite thinly, and place it to cover the oven dish, as a lid. Cut off any excess dough and cut out little shapes to put ontop of the lid for decoration. Use a sharp knife to make small holes in the lid, to allow hot steam to escape. Brush the lid with a beaten egg.

5. Bake at 225°C for 20-25 minutes.

(Excuse the crappy photo)

Pan-fried pollock with curry sauce

2010-02-17T22:32:00.004+01:00

I love the little recipe-booklets you get for free at the supermarket. They might not be filled with the most sophisticated recipes but they are good enough for a mid-week dinner.

I found the recipe for "Pan-fried pollock with curry sauce" in a booklet called "Fisk" (Fish in English) from Meny, which is one of the upscale supermarket-chains in Norway.

Pan-fried pollock with curry sauce
Serves 4

800 g pollock fillet

1 tsp salt

½ tsp pepper
2-3 tbsp butter

The curry sauce:
2 tbsp butter
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 tart apple, chopped into small cubes
1 tbsp curry powder
4 dl fish stock
2 dl cooking cream
2 tbsp chopped chives
1-2 tsp corn starch/flour
salt and pepper

1. Dry the fish by patting it carefully with some kitchen paper. Season with salt and pepper on both sides.

2. In a saucepan, sauté the onion, apple and the curry powder in the butter. Add the fish stock and bring to the boil, boil until the sauce has reduced to half.

3. Add the cooking cream and allow to simmer for 10 more minutes. Season with salt and pepper, and stir in the corn starch or flour if the sauce is too thin. Add in the chives right before serving.

4.While the sauce is simmering, fry the fish in the pan.

5. Serve the fish and sauce on a bed of rice.

Italian pork chops

2010-02-14T17:13:00.000+01:00

Yum, yum, yum! These pork chops are tasty! And so easy to make. There's no reason for you not to try this recipe at home.

Italian pork chops
Adapted from "alltommat.se"
Serves 4

4 pork chops
½ tbsp fresh sage, finely chopped
salt and pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
2 dl cooking cream
½ dl parmesan cheese

1. Dry off the pork chops on kitchen paper, season with salt, pepper and sage.

2. Heat olive oil and butter in a pan. Brown the pork chops for 1-2 minutes on each side.

3. Add the cooking cream to the pan, cover with a lid and braise for 5 minutes or until the pork chops are cooked all the way through.

4. Sprinkle the grated parmesan on top and serve the dish with oven-roasted potatoes and a simple salad.

Spicy, honey glazed chicken wings

2010-02-14T16:58:00.002+01:00

Sometime last year I bought a little Chinese cookbook at the local supermarket. You know, the small cookbooks with no author but published by one of the more well-known publishing houses. I have a whole stack of them, they are so practical when you don't have a lot of time to search for a recipe for a quick and cheap dinner.

The recipe for "Spicy, honey glazed chicken wings" was really easy to make. It didn't call for a lot of preparation, all you have to do in advance is to marinate the chicken wings 1-2 hours before you plan to start cooking dinner. The ingredients are store-cupboard essentials for most of us, and if you don't have them at home they aren't very expensive to get at the store.

So, from me to you, on this Valentine's Day, enjoy!

Spicy honey glazed chicken wings

Adapted from Den lille kokebokserien "Kinesisk"
Serves 4

450 g chicken wings
2 tbsp vegetable oil

Marinade

1 crushed dried red chilli

½-1 tsp chilli powder
½-1 tsp ground ginger
zest from 1 lime

Sauce

2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
2 tbsp clear honey
2 grated garlic cloves
1 tsp sesame seeds

1. Start preparing the chicken wings about 2 hours before you plan to start on dinner. Make the marinade by mixing the crushed dried chilli, the chilli powder, the ginger and the lime zest in a small bowl. Transfer the spices into a large ziploc bag, add the chicken wings. Lock the bag and massage to mix the spices with the wings. Place in the fridge to marinate.

2. Heat the vegetable oil in a large wok pan. Add the marinated chicken wings and fry for 10-12 minutes until golden and crisp. Be sure to stir continuously to keep the wings from sticking to the bottom of the wok.

3. In a small bowl, mix soy sauce, hoisin sauce, honey, garlic and sesame seeds. Pour the sauce over the chicken wings, stir to coat.

4. Lower the heat and simmer for 20-25 minutes until the chicken wings are cooked. Make sure to stir continuously.

These wings are freezer friendly, meaning you can freeze them cooked or raw (+ the spices for the marinade).

Kerala Prawn Curry

2010-02-07T00:17:00.000+01:00

Saturday's dinner. Delicious, quick and so simple anyone can make it!

Kerala Prawn Curry
Adapted from BBCGoodFood
Serves 2

1-2 red chillies, de-seeded and cut into larger pieces
1 small red onion, peeled and cut in four
2.5 cm ginger, peeled and cut into pieces
1 tbsp vegetable oil
½-1 tsp black mustard seeds
½ tsp fenugreek seeds
14, or less, curry leaves
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp cracked peppercorns
250 g jumbo prawns, or scampi
150 ml coconut milk

1. Blitz chillies, the onion and the ginger in a food processor. Add a little water, but no more than 3 tbsp.

2. Heat the oil in a wok. Add the mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and curry leaves to the hot wok. Be careful, the seeds will crack and pop. Fry for about 10 seconds before adding in the chilli paste. Turn the heat down a little bit, then cook for 5 minutes. Pour in some water if it starts sticking to the bottom of the pan.

3. Add the turmeric and the peppercorns. Stir to mix in the spices before adding the prawns and the coconut milk. Bring to a simmer and cook for 1 minute until everything is heated through and the prawns are done.

Serve with rice, sprinkle some coriander/cilantro and a wedge of lime on top.

Homemade pizza

2010-01-31T13:03:00.003+01:00

This recipe needs no explaining, it's just simply delicious!

Homemade pizza
Makes 2 pizzas

Pizza dough

25 g fresh yeast
2 ½ dl finger warm water
2 tbsp olive oil
½ tsp salt
7 dl all-purpose flour

Filling

tomato sauce
mushrooms
red onion
ham
yellow peppers
dried oregano/basil
mozarella cheese
or whatever you like

Set the oven to 230 C.

1. Crumble the yeast into a small bowl. Pour over some water, and stir until the yeast has dissolved. Add the rest of the water, oil and salt. Put the flour in a bigger bowl. Make a small well in the flour, add in the yeast-mix and by using your hands, make a dough. Add more flour if needed. Cover with a cloth, and set to rest in a warm place until the dough had doubled in size.

2. Take the dough out of the bowl and place it on a flour-dusted surface (preferably a piece of parchment paper). Kneed the dough for a bit, knocking the air out of it. Divide the dough into two equal parts. Keep one covered while working with the other. Roll out the dough into a large disk. Spread half the tomato sauce on top of the pizza and then put the fillings on top.

3. Place the pizza on a warm pizza stone, or a warm oven tray and bake for 13 minutes or until the dough is golden and the cheese has melted.

Golden spicy fish soup served with homemade naan

2010-01-30T14:30:00.003+01:00

I've had this recipe for "Spicy fish soup with chapati" for a little over a week now, meaning to cook it but always finding myself cooking something else for dinner instead.

But last night, Friday night, I finally went to the supermarket to buy some fish, went home, and got cooking!

I must admit I don't really have any fond memories, or any memories at all, as a matter of fact, of fish soup growing up. I'm not complaining though, fish soup can be tricky to make and I'm a bit of a picky eater. Plus, I don't even think I have a proper mental picture of what a good fish soup should look like... Come to think of it, that's pretty sad.

Maybe my new mental image of good fish soup should be the soup I made last night. It was golden, creamy, spicy, and just delicious. My bf scored it as a 5 out of 6 (fresh fish, I used frozen, would have made it a 6), and I must agree with him, but not because of the fish, but because I didn't like that there were so much lentils in the soup. Next time I'm gonna half the amount of lentils I use. And maybe add in a splash of white wine. The original recipe calls for chapati bread but I make an awesome naan bread, so...!

Golden spicy fish soup served with homemade naan bread
Adapted from Arla.se
Serves 4

300 g firm fish, for example pollock (coaley), cod or salmon
1 leek, finely chopped
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp turmeric
1 ½ tsp ground chili, or to taste
1½ tsp ground cumin, or to taste
2 cubes chicken stock
5 dl water
1 ½ dl red, or green lentils
5 dl cooking cream
½ tsp salt

Naan breadAdapted from bbcgoodfood.com
Serves 4

450 g all-purpose flour
7 g fast action yeast
300-350 ml water
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp salt

PS! If you are planning on using green lentils, either soak them in water for 1 hour, or add about 10 minutes cooking time.

Cut the fish into bite size pieces. Melt the butter in a saucepan, and sauté the leeks. Stir in the spices, chicken stock cubes, water and lentils. Bring to the boil, cover with a lid and allow to cook for 10 minutes. Turn down the heat, add the fish and the cooking cream. Simmer for 3 minutes or until the fish is done. Add salt to taste.

While the soup is cooking, prepare the naan dough. Heat the grill in your oven to high. In a bowl, mix all the dry ingredients. Make a well in the middle and water and oil. Mix to a rough dough. Leave it as it is for 5 minutes, than knead the dough for 1-2 minutes until smooth and springy. Cover with oiled cling film and leave to sit for 10 minutes. It won't double in size, but don't worry.

Roll the dough out into a circle on a floured surface. Cut the circle into pizza slices, 8 in total. Transfer to a lined baking tray and grill for 3-4 minutes, turning half way.

Serve the soup in individual bowls, sprinkle chopped leeks on top and drizzle with olive oil.

I am...

2010-01-26T23:46:00.000+01:00

too busy to blog. Is that blasphemy?

Happy new year

2010-01-08T23:45:00.001+01:00

Long time no see folks. I am sorry but things have been kind of hectic since just before xmas, really. First we had a friend from the US visiting for a couple of days, then I went home to Sweden to celebrate xmas with my mum and my brother. (Oh before I forget, I bought myself a new camera for xmas. A Nikon D3000 SLR). I went back to Norway a few days before new years and started an internship at the study abroad office at Telemark University College on Monday. So, at least compared to my usual lazy standards, I've been busy.

However, I haven't been too busy not to cook up some delicious food to feast on while the temperature outside has been dropping to a freezing -15° C. Let me tell yall, it's freezing outside, it's so cold outside that the lock on ,the inside of, our front door has frost on it. That's cold!!!

I made this delicious chocolate raspberry pavlova for new years, and I'm sure I'll be making it again, it was yummie!

Chocolate raspberry pavlova
(Adapted from Nigella Lawson)
Serves 4-6

For the meringue base:

3 egg whites
150 g caster sugar
1 ½ tbsp cocoa powder
½ tbsp balsamic or red wine vinegar

25 g dark chocolate, grated

For the topping:
250 g double cream
250 g raspberries/exotic fruit/mixed berries
1 ½ tbsp dark chocolate, grated

1. Preheat the oven to 180° C. Line a baking tray with baking parchment.

2. In a bowl, beat the egg whites until they resemble fluffy white clouds.Continue to beat, adding a tablespoon of sugar at a time until the mixture is thick and glossy. Pour in the vinegar, chocolate flakes and cocoa powder, fold in gently.

3. Pour the mixture on to the lined baking tray and flatten some so that you have a fat circle.

4. Place the tray in the oven, then immediately turn down the temperature to 150° C and bake for about 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes. When it's ready the top and the sides should look crisp and dry but if you press down on the top you should be able to tell it's still soft on the inside. Turn off the oven and open the door slightly, and leave the meringue to cool completely.

5. Whisk the cream and place on top of the cooled meringue (that you have preferably moved to a serving plate). Scatter the berries over the whipped cream and sprinkle the grated chocolate over the top.

I'm on....

2009-12-21T23:07:00.000+01:00

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...

Moussaka

2009-12-08T17:14:00.001+01:00

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

2009-12-08T16:41:00.001+01:00

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.

Gingerbread cookies

2009-12-06T19:25:00.000+01:00

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.

Gaeng Chöt- soup

2009-11-27T17:54:00.000+01:00

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.

Wilderness flavored cottage pie

2009-11-23T11:56:00.002+01:00

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

Frutti de mare

2009-11-12T23:51:00.000+01:00

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

2009-11-12T12:47:00.001+01:00

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.

Peanut Butter Brownies

2009-10-29T00:21:00.007+01:00

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.

Peanut butter cookies

2009-10-23T17:00:00.003+02:00

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.

Malaysian Meat Curry Puffs

2009-10-19T20:43:00.007+02:00

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

2009-10-19T20:33:00.003+02:00

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

This must be candy heaven

2009-10-19T20:12:00.006+02:00

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.

Malaysian Meat Curry Powder

2009-10-16T11:49:00.005+02:00

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.

Fennel seeds?

2009-10-08T10:36:00.004+02:00

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...

Cat caught your... cupboard?

2009-10-05T13:41:00.003+02:00

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

2009-10-05T13:30:00.003+02:00

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.

Chocolate cookies

2009-10-04T23:17:00.005+02:00

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!

Homemade Chinese takeout

2009-10-01T16:30:00.004+02:00

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
2½ 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!

Homemade farfalle pasta

2009-09-27T11:36:00.005+02:00

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!

Blueberry muffins

2009-09-25T16:06:00.005+02:00

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.

Self-picking heaven

2009-09-19T17:19:00.000+02:00

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.

Spring rolls in September

2009-09-13T13:30:00.002+02:00

It was Saturday, the sun was shining from a clear blue sky, and where was I? Inside, in front of the TV, watching Ching's Kitchen with Ching-He Huang on BBC Lifestyle. And did they only show one episode? No. Two? No. Three? No. The truth is they showed a whopping 8 episodes, from 1-4:30 pm.
Needless to say, I am a big fan of Ching. She makes Asian food easy.

Both me and the bf were inspired by her recipe for spring rolls and decided on making it for dinner. Our previous plan had been to make what we had had the day before, which was pan-fried pork fillets with herb-crusted oven roast potatoes and Bearnaise sauce.

Here's Ching's recipe for spring rolls

Spring rolls
Makes 6-8 large spring rolls

2 small chicken breasts, or equivalent amount of other meat
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp Chinese five spice
4 dried Chinese mushrooms, soaked in hot water for 20 minutes and drained
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 cm ginger piece, grated
75 g bean sprouts
2 large spring onions, or 5 cm leek, finely sliced
1 medium carrot, coarsely grated
1 tbsp oyster sauce
12-16 spring roll wrappers
1 tbsp cornflour
1 tbsp water
750 ml vegetable oil, for deep frying

1. Chop the chicken or other meat into very small pieces, almost minced-looking. Heat the 1 tbsp oil in a wok, or frying pan. Stir-fry the chicken for 2-3 minutes, stirring all the time. Season with soy sauce and five spice powder. Take the chicken off the heat, and allow to cool while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

2. Coarsely chop the mushrooms. In a large bowl, combine the vegetables. Add the cooled chicken and the oyster sauce, stir well to combine.

3. Place two spring roll wrappers on top of each other. Place 1-2 tbsp of the filling in the center of the sheet. Mix water and cornflour. Dip the tip of your finger into the mixture, and brush the edges of the wrapper. The mixture will act like a glue, stopping the rolls from opening when you deep fry them. Fold in the corners, then roll it up into a cigar-looking thing.

4. Heat the oil in a wok, or deep saucepan. DO NOT HAVE THE KITCHEN FAN ON as if the oil catches fire, the fire will get sucked into the fan!! Deep fry the spring rolls until golden brown, 3-5 minutes. Drain on some kitchen roll paper. Serve with sweet chili dipping sauce.

På svenska
Vårrullar

Banana cake

2009-09-07T09:49:00.000+02:00

My boyfriend's parents threw him a birthday party for the family on Saturday, and I just felt I couldn't show up empty-handed. Being the foodie I am I decided to bake a cake- a banana cake.

Banana cake
Adapted from Leila Lindholm in Leila bakar

1 dl caster sugar
2 dl powdered sugar
150 g soft butter
3 ripe bananas
2 eggs
3 dl all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
0.5 tsp ground cinnamon
0.5 tsp ground ginger
(50 g walnuts)

1. Heat your fan oven to 175° C.
2. Cream together the sugars and butter.
3. Mash the bananas, add to the buttermix. Combine. Add the eggs.
4. Sift in the dry ingredients and tip the walnuts into the mix, fold to combine.
5. Pour the banana cake mixture into a greased and floured 24 cm round cake pan.
6. Bake on the middle shelf for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Dust with powdered sugar and enjoy with a cup of coffee!

Homemade Tahini

2009-09-03T19:27:00.001+02:00

With nothing else to do I found myself watching BBC Lifestyle's Chef At Home with Michael Smith. Today's inspiration was Morocco, and he made a chicken stew and some other dishes, one of them being hummus. One of the ingredients in hummus is Tahini. Tahini is a sesame paste, made from sesame seeds and vegetable oil, used alot in Middle Eastern- and some Asian foods.

My friend Hanna once gave me the recipe for hummus, and one day I decided I'd make it for a dinner party I was hosting for a few friends. As the recipe called for Tahini I went to the local Middle Eastern food shop and the only jar I found was a huge plastic thing. Well, I needed Tahini so I bought it, and then only used however much the recipe called for and then never again.... I think I threw it out when I moved here...

So, inspired by Michael Smith's Moroccan feast and Hanna's hummus in mind I decided on making my own Tahini, so that I have a batch at home when I feel in the mood for some Middle Eastern flavours.

Tahini

1 cup hulled sesame seeds
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Roast the sesame seeds in a 170° C oven for 5-10 minutes, keep an eye on them so they don't
burn. Chill

In a mixer, tip in the seeds and half of the oil. Mix to combine. Stop to clean the sides with a rubber spatula from time to time

After about 1 minute, slowly pour in the rest of the oil. Don't add all of it at the same time, as by adding a little at a time you can control how thick or thin you want you Tahini.

Store the Tahini in an air-tight jar in the fridge for quite a few weeks.

Meatball nachos

2009-09-02T21:38:00.000+02:00

Simple dinner for 2, for the days when you don't feel like slaving over of the stove for hours.

Meatball nachos
Serves 2-3

15-20 meatballs
2 dl sweetcorn
½ onion, chopped
½ dl aubergine, chopped
½ dl zuccini, chopped
200 g bacon, fried until crispy
1 bag/21 g TORO Pepper sauce mix (can be substituted for any pepper sauce mix)
nacho chips
grated cheese

Heat your oven to 220° C

1. Fry the vegetables in some oil for 5 minutes until the onion has turned translucent and the aubergines and zuccini feels soft.

2. Add the meatballs and fried bacon, heat through.

3. Make the sauce according to the instructions on the bag. (Should be about 3 dl finished product).

4. Pour the vegetable- and meatball mix into an oven proof dish. Pour over the sauce. Cover with nachos and the grated cheese.

5. Place in the hot oven and bake until the cheese has melted. Sprinkle with dried oregano.

Enjoy!

Canja De Galinha

2009-09-01T21:24:00.000+02:00

I know I said in an earlier post that the food I ate on the Azores was terrible, and for the most part of it that was the truth. However, I did have one thing that really struck my fancy. A gorgeous chicken and rice soup.

According to the waiter at the restaurant where we had this soup it was a typical Azorean soup, but according to the Internet, and we all know just how reliable the Internet is, claims this soup originated in Brazil. I will not go further into the history of the soup, all I need to know is how to make it for myself.

I don't normally make soups, but today called for soup. I have an extremely sore throat and what's better for the soul than chicken soup? In fact, I had had my heart set on mushroom soup for the entire day, but then the bf came home and suggested the soup we had on the Azores. I googled the recipe and realized the soup contains chicken giblets and would require up to 2 ½ hours cooking . No thank you, I thought!! But I decided on making my own version, and believe it or not, but it turned out delicious.

So, here's my take on Canja De Galinha

Canja De Galinha
Serves 2

2 chicken thighs bones in, cut into thigh and drumstick
1 red onion, finely chopped
pinch of salt
pinch of thyme
1 bay leaf
1 dried chili
2 ½ cups/ 6 dl water
1 cup cooked rice
1 tsp mint leaves, chopped
pinch of turmeric
1-2 tbsp lemon juice
pepper
olive oil

1. Drizzle olive oil into a hot saucepan. Add the onions and fry until translucent, but make sure they do not brown or burn. Add in the pieces of chicken, stir.

2. Add salt, thyme, bay leaf, dried chili, and water. Bring to the boil, turn down the heat to a simmer and simmer for about 20-30 minutes.

3. Check that the chicken is done, if it is move on to the next step, if not, keep on cooking until the chicken juices run clear.

4. Take out the chicken, remove the meat from the bones. Return the meat to the soup, add the rest of the ingredients, bring to the boil, remove from the heat.

4. Serve in a bowl, drizzle with olive oil and a piece of white bread on the side.

Enjoy!

Taco flavoured chicken lasagna

2009-09-01T15:27:00.000+02:00

I have been absent for quite some time now, I haven't felt any inspiration at all lately. I have been cooking, but only half-heartedly.

However, the other week I made a delicious lasagna filled with goodness such as rotisserie chicken and taco spices. YUM! Here's the recipe:

Taco flavoured chicken lasagna
Serves 4

500 g chicken meat
2 onions
1 boccolli (250 g)
1 red bell pepper (200g)
2 bags of taco seasoning (80 g)
1 ½ dl water
2 dl light creme fraiche
200 g cream cheese (for example Philadelphia cheese)
2 dl milk
9 lasagna noodles
1 dl grated cheese
oil

1. Heat your oven to 175°C.

2. Peel and chopped the onion. Cut the broccolli + stem into smaller pieces. De seed and cut the bell pepper into smaller pieces.

3. Cut the chicken into strips. Fry the chicken and the vegetables in the oil for 5 minutes. Add the taco seasoning and water.

4. Stir in the creme fraiche, cream cheese, and milk. Bring to the boil.

5. Cover the base of an oven-proof dish with some of the chicken sauce. Cover with lsagna noodles, add another layer of chicken sauce, cover with noodles. Keep on doing this until you have used up all the sauce and noodles. Be sure to always start and end with a layer of sauce. Sprinkle with the cheese.

6. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes.

- As seen in Buffé #2, 2009

Friday treats #3

2009-08-18T17:29:00.000+02:00

Spare ribs with homemade french fries. So easy to make, and utterly delicious!

I marinated the ribs in a store-bought marinade for about 8 hours. Washed a bunch of new potatoes, cut them into stripes and drizzled with some olive oil, then whacked it all in the oven for about 30 minutes.

YUM!

Orange and lemon flavoured cupcakes

2009-08-14T14:15:00.000+02:00

Despite the sun shining brightly outside, I am inside baking cupcakes. I had been sitting outside, reading food magazines , when I came across this recipe. It looked yummie, the yellowie cupcake with its blue frosting, topped off with black currants. How could I resist an image like that? I just had to make my own batch.

I tried to wait for as long as I possibly could before going back inside to bake the cupcakes. When I couldn't wait any longer, I kept telling myself that "well, it's 1p.m-ish, and that's when the sun shines at it brightest", as if that was of any concern to me; being born in India, the only time I'd ever gotten sunburned was once on a snowboarding trip to Chamonix, France. Apparently, high altitudes does burn even my Indian skin....

Orange and lemon flavoured cupcakes
Makes 16

3 eggs

150 g sugar
zest of one orange or lemon
200 g all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp powdered vanilla sugar
½ tsp salt
½ dl milk
3/4 dl orange juice
2 tbsp lemon juice

Frosting

200 g powdered sugar/icing sugar
1 tbsp water
1 tbsp lemon- or lime juice
food colouring or fruit juice
fresh berries

Preheat your oven to 180°C

Beat the eggs and sugar together in a bowl. Add milk, lemon-/lime juice, and zest. Carefully fold in the flour mixed with baking soda, powdered vanilla sugar, and salt. Line an oven tray with 15-20 cupcake paper liners, or line standard cupcake tins with paper liners.Fill each paper liner 2/3 full. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Allow to cool on wire racks.

Mix the icing sugar with water and lemon- or orange juice. Add a couple of drops of food coloring/fruit juice, stir. Using a spoon, garnish each cupcake with frosting and fresh berries.

På svenska
Citron- och apelsinmuffins

Quick dinner

2009-08-14T09:54:00.000+02:00

I opened my fridge and found.......... NOTHING! And it wasn't even like I had an empty fridge, I just couldn't find a single thing in the fridge that I felt like cooking for dinner. I hate when that happens, I have a full fridge and still nothing to cook.

In the end, I made homemade pasta- gosh, I just love my pasta machine- fried some button mushrooms and grated garlic in a frying pan. Poured over half a tub of creme fraiche, and sprinkled some fresh basil on top, gave it a good stir, mixed the pasta and the sauce together in the pasta casserole, and served.

Orange flavoured chocolate cupcakes

2009-08-10T15:37:00.000+02:00

Today's project, after yesterday's nearly lethal spicy dinner, is to make birthday cupcakes for my bf's dad who turns 70 today.

I have been browsing through different blogs looking for the perfect recipe. I knew what I wanted, something easy to make, but at the same time something utterly delicious. Don't know why I thought that one excluded the other!!

I stumbled across several recipes that sounded yummie, Martha has some great ones over @ MarthaStewart.com, but I decided on this recipe from DagensMuffins in the end. I tweaked it some, the original recipe does not call for orange zest....

Orange flavoured chocolate cupcakes
Makes 15-20

2 eggs
3 dl sugar
1 ½ dl all-purpose flour
4 tbsp cocoa
2 tsp powdered vanilla sugar
a pinch of salt
100 g margarine or butter, melted
zest from 1/4 orange
15-20 squares of chocolate

Pre-heat the oven to 200° C

Beat eggs and sugar together in a plastic bowl.

Add the flour, cocoa, powdered vanilla, and salt.

Whisk well to combine until smooth.

Add in the melted margarine/butter, and mix to combine.

Grate orange zest into the mixture, and whisk some more to combine.

Line an oven tray with 15-20 cupcake paper liners, or line standard cupcake tins with paper liners.

Fill each paper liner 2/3 full. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes. When done, transfer onto wire racks, press a chocolate square into each cupcake, and set to cool allowing the chocolate to melt ontop of the chocolate cupcake.

På svenska
Apelsinsdoftande chokladmuffins

Chilli beancurd and mixed oriental mushroom stir fry

2009-08-09T19:44:00.000+02:00

Before I write anything else, allow me to issue a WARNING!! This dish is extremely spicy. My boyfriend almost self-combusted!

I don't even know what to write about this dish, it was probably one of the spiciest dishes I have ever cooked and/or tasted.

I blame the spicyness on the chili bean sauce; the recipe called for one entire tablespoon of this hellish sauce. I am not kidding you, I will NEVER use 1 whole tbsp of it ever again. NEVER!

Let's just get to the recipe, because the dish was really tasty, except for the feeling of being on the verge of bursting into flames.

Chili beancurd and mixed oriental mushroom stir fry
Serves 4
Ching He Huang

1 tablespoon groundnut oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
1 medium red chili, deseeded and chopped
100g oyster mushrooms, halved if large
100g enoki mushrooms, separated into small
bunches
100g shiitake mushrooms, sliced
400g fresh tofu (beancurd), cut into 2cm cubes
50ml vegetable stock
1 tablespoon chili bean sauce DO NOT USE 1 TBSP! I'd use 1 tsp, maybe less!
dash of light soy sauce
2 spring onions, sliced diagonally
handful of coriander leaves, finely chopped

Heat the wok over a high heat and add the groundnut oil. Add the garlic, ginger
and chillies and stir fry for a few seconds.

Add the mushrooms and stir fry for less than one minute. Add the tofu and
carefully stir well.

Pour in the vegetable stock then add the chili bean sauce and light soy sauce
and cook for less than 1 minute. Add the sliced spring onions and coriander and
serve immediately.

I substituted the mushrooms in the recipe for button mushrooms and dried Chinese mushrooms, and the beancurd for chicken cut into bite size pieces.

Homemade pasta

2009-08-07T23:39:00.001+02:00

Got a gift card from Clas Ohlson for my 25th birthday the other week. (Yes, I am now a quarter of a century old... yikes!) With the gift card in my hand, I headed in to Clas Ohlson, and came out one Mercato Atlas pasta machine richer!

This is how you make homemade pasta:

100 g plain flour per person

1 egg per person

Combine in a food processor until the dough resembles cooked couscous. Tip out and press down on the dough, be sure to catch any straggling bits.

Place the dough in the pasta machine, roll through and fold in half on the thickest setting 4-5 times.

Now, take it down notch and roll trough. Do this again and again, taking it down a notch each time until you have the desired thickness of your pasta.

Make the pasta sheet into tagliatelle or angel hair by using the different attachments on your pasta machine. Or cut the dough with a knife, either one works!

Cook the pasta in lightly salted water for 45 seconds to 1 minute.

Watch Jamie Oliver make pasta

Red Currant Puree

2009-08-07T10:40:00.000+02:00

I spent about 1 hour the other day picking red currants from a bush at my bf's parents house. I picked loads, and we made red currant cordial. I also brought some berries home with me, and browsing on MarthaStewart.com I came across this recipe for Red Currant Puree. Martha says you can use the puree for a Red Currant Champagne Cocktail. I'm always up for a drink, so I decided to take on the challenge of making my own red currant puree.

Red Currant Puree

680 g red currants, frozen or fresh, stemmed
0.9 dl sugar
2 tbsp sugar

Place the ingredients in a saucepan. Stir to combine. Bring to the boil on medium to high heat, lower heat to simmer for 15 minute,s or until all the juices have been released.
Sieve through a fine meshed sieve into a bowl. Allow to cool. Can be stored in the fridge for 7 days. I poured the puree into ice-cube bags and placed them in the freezer.

Red Currant Champagne Cocktail
Serves 1

2 tbsp red currant puree
Champagne, chilled

Place red currant puree in a champagne glass. Slowly pour over the champagne.

På svenska
Röd vinbärspuré

I am back...

2009-07-17T09:49:00.000+02:00

...from two weeks of vacation in the Azores. Sadly without a single good food experience. I even said to my boyfriend, on the plane last night, right after I had finished the air plane food, that "this was the best food I've had in two weeks".

Well, welcome back to me, I guess!

More later, now laundry!

Homemade hamburger buns

2009-06-26T13:46:00.001+02:00

As you might have figured out by now I am a huge fan of grilling. I think I could grill no matter season, and I have met Americans who grill outdoors even though they have to dig in about 4 ft of snow to find the grill! Those hamburgers where by far the second best hamburger I have ever tasted! Thank you, the Lehman family in Muncie, IN.

This is how much I love hamburgers. HA!

The best hamburger I ever tasted was at the local YWAM base in my hometown. I was on a work experience in 9th grade and I helped at the local elementary school. In the class where I helped out was a little American girl. It became my task to take care of her, and help her communicate with her peers, she knew very little Swedish and they knew very little English. As a thank you for helping her in school, her parents invited me over to the base, where they lived, for a BBQ. They made me American hamburgers and I can remember they were YUM! I don't know what they put in them to taste like a little piece of heaven, but they were truly divine.

Hamburgers is such a great thing to throw on the grill for a quick dinner that still tastes delicious. I hate the hamburger patties you can buy in the supermarkets over here, they are so thin and I don't know what they put in them to make them taste like... paper. I love making my own hamburger patties, and with the weekend being just a few hours away I am planing what to eat on Saturday and Sunday. I have to plan for Sunday (lunch and dinner), as all stores are closed on Sundays, which leaves no room for whims of inspiration and creativity. Extremely annoying!!!! Or maybe this is where my cooking skills really are put to the test?!
We're having hamburgers this weekend. Surprised?

As I said I tend to make my own hamburger patties, but I tend to buy the hamburger buns. I hate them almost as much, if not more, than I hate the store-bought hamburger patties. The buns here are DRY! So, to celebrate the good weather (25° C in the shade), and to stay out of the sun for a couple of hours - I'm too far from the ocean for my liking, I am making my own hamburger buns today. Found the recipe in MAISON MAT & VIN.

Before I set them to rest a second time... they grew enormous in those 45 minutes.

This is how they came out. YUM!

Hamburger buns
Makes 8 huge buns. I suggest you make 10-12 smaller buns

550 g flour
½ tsp salt
3 tbsp unsalted butter
3.6 dl lukewarm water (37° C)
25 g fresh yeast
1 egg 2 tbsp milk
sesame seeds

1. In a bowl, mix the flour, salt, and butter.

2. In a seperate bowl, dilute the yeast in the lukewarm water. Set to rest for 10 minutes.

3. Pour the liquid into the flour mix and kneed for a good 8-10 minutes. (You can do all this in your Kitchen Aid or similar device, if you're luck to have one. OR you can do as me and use the hands God gave you).

4. Cover the dough with a cloth and let stand in a warm place for 1 hour.

5. Divide the dough into 8 (or however many you decide to make) equal parts, and roll each part into a ball. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the balls on the prepared baking sheet and press down slightly.

6. In a glass, or small bowl. Mix the egg and the milk. Using a brush, or the back of a spoon, brush the egg mix onto each ball of dough. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Cover with a cloth and let stand for another 45 minutes.

7. Preheat the oven to 225° C. Bake the buns for 30-35 minutes.

8. Allow to cool before storing in an airtight container.

From my experience these buns do not freeze very well, they become too dry! So you should really try and eat them that same day or any time during the next couple of days.

Midsummer tart

2009-06-25T11:01:00.000+02:00

Shrimp-, crayfish-, tomato-, artichoke- and button mushroom pie
Serves 6

Pie crust:
3 dl flour
1 pinch salt
150 g unsalted butter
water

Filling:
2 tomatoes
6 button mushrooms
1 can artichoke hearts
300g crayfish tails
or 150 g crayfish tails and 150 g shrimps
4 eggs
2 dl heavy cream
2 dl milk
salt and white pepper

1. Start off by making the pie crust. Mix the ingredients in a food processor or by hand. Add water, a little at a time, until you have a ball of pie crust dough. Chill for 1 hour.

2. Pre-heat the oven to 200° C. Roll out the pie crust and pre-bake it for 15 minutes.

3. Dice the tomatoes, mushrooms, and artichoke hearts. Fry the mushrooms in a little butter until all the liquid has evaportated.

4. In a bowl, combine the eggs, cream, milk, and salt and pepper. Place the filling the pie crust, pour over the egg mix.

5. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes. After 12 ½ minutes cover the pie with aluminum foil.

I must have done something wrong when I made this because I had to have it in the oven for well over 1 hour before I got it to set properly... Hope yours goes better.

2009-06-24T13:43:00.000+02:00

Midsummer is a really big thing in Sweden. More in the olden days than these days, Swedes danced around an upside-down phallic symbol, something to do with fertility apparently. These days people get together with friends and family to enjoy traditional Swedish summer food and to enjoy each others company.

Being a Swede abroad I thought I'd bring Swedish midsummer to me, rather than the other way around. I invited a friend from Sweden to come celebrate with me and all was good. I had planned on making mum's traditional midsummer dinner (probably the same as everyone else has at midsummer); herring, dill-boiled potatoes, meatballs, mini sausages, sour creme and chopped chives. But for some reason I got side-tracked, and we ended up having a savoury pie for a first course, shrimps in baguettes from our main course, and sticky chocolate cupcakes for dessert. We had already started off the festivities with a delicious, and super easy to make, salad for lunch.

Shrimps, sweet corn, tomatoes, apples, feta cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, romaine lettuce, red onions, and yesterday's garlic chicken leftovers.

Shrimp-, crayfish-, tomato-, artichoke- and button mushroom pie. Click for recipe

Sticky chocolate cupcakes with chocolate- and coffee flavoured frosting.

Harissa chicken burger

2009-06-16T13:03:00.000+02:00

I found this little cute can of Harissa at my local Asian/International food market the other week. I have been looking for Harissa for a long time, and I even had the perfect recipe for making it myself last year, but it got lost in the move and now I can't seem to find it anywhere. In fact, the Harissa I made myself was ten times better than the canned stuff. Gosh, I hate that I can't find the recipe.

Anyway, the local soccer team (ODD Grenland) played a home game on Sunday, and we had planned on having friends over after the game for, what we call a BBQ but what the rest of the world refers to as a grilling or a cook-out. When we have BBQ's at our house I take care of the condiments, such as potato salads, vegetables, sauces... yeah, that kind of stuff, and each guest brings his or her own meat to grill. That way me and my boyfriend don't end up feeding the entire neighbourhood each time we have a cook-out.

For Sunday's cook-out I had decided on making chicken burgers and since I had just bought the can of Harissa I wanted to try it out. The result was good, but not as spicy as I had hoped, and wished, for. It actually started to rain when we were on our way back from the game, which we won by the way, so we decided on going out for dinner instead. So, in order not to spoil the hamburgers, I had already made them before the game, I ended up frying them, and then we had them for dinner the next day. I think they would have been much more tasty had I grilled them instead of frying them.

Harissa chicken burger
Makes 4 large patties, or 8 small

400 g ground chicken
½ small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, grated
2 tsp harissa

1 egg

1 dl breadcrumbs

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and set to chill in the fridge for no less than 1 hour.

Heat a nonstick pan, or fire up your grill. Dip your hands in cold water. Divide the chicken mince into four equal parts using your hands. Roll each part into a ball. Place the balls in the pan, and flatten them into hamburger-like patties. If grilling, you will need to make the burgers before placing them on the grill. fry, or grill, til the juice runs clear. Serve with your favourite condiments, such as tomatoes, onions, pickles, ketchup, lettuce and dressing. Don't forget to heat your hamburger buns. I popped mine in the toaster for about ½ minute.

På svenska
Harissakryddad kycklinghamburgare

Friday treats #2

2009-06-15T11:17:00.000+02:00

It was a little runny, but oh so good!! Maybe if I had used a little more mayo and a little less sour cream...oh well, maybe next time. This dish is called "Västkustsallad" in Swedish. Translated into English- "West coast salad". In England we used to call it "The prawn thing". It's made from sour cream, mayo, prawns, button mushrooms, dill, and lemon juice, salt & pepper.

We ate this with baked potatoes on Friday night. I don't know why, but I always have trouble getting my baked potatoes perfectly cooked. They are always real hard in the middle, no matter how long I have them in the oven for. Unless I microwave my baked potatoes, of course. Then they come out perfect, but then I have to put them in the oven to crisp up the skins... What a hassle!

Calzone

2009-06-10T20:13:00.001+02:00

I used to love pizza. I can't remember when I had my first bite, not like I do with my first candy-experience (but that's another story for another day). However, I do remember what we used to call pizzas in my house. I think it was my dad's -may God rest his soul- idea and it kind of stuck with the rest of us. He used to call it "en rund en"- "a round one". Probably not the most inventive nickname, but I think it's cute and it became like a secret word in my family. I think dad was pretty proud of his nickname, his very own contribution to the family dictionary.

My favourite pizza growing up was called Mexicana. This pizza had a thin spread of super-hot minced meat and a slight sprinkle of cheese. I loved it, I still love it. And you can get a variety of it almost everywhere in the world. Another kind of pizza that I love is "Kebab pizza". However, this pizza is very hard to come by anywhere else in the world, except for in Sweden. I have been to a number of corners of the world and have never come across a satisfying kebab pizza. Why is that, I wonder?

Anyways, here's my attempt at a Calzone, my brother's favourite pizza. However, he likes it stuffed with ham and cheese, only.

Calzone
Makes 2 pizzas

Pizza dough
25 g fresh yeast
2 ½ dl finger warm water
2 tbsp olive oil
½ tsp salt
7 dl all-purpose flour

Filling
meat from one rotisserie chicken
1 can crushed tomatoes with basil and oregano
1 small can button mushrooms
1 clove garlic, grated
1 medium onion, cut into pieces
½-1 tsp hot chili powder
salt & pepper
4 dl shredded cheese

Set the oven to 230 C.

1. Crumble the yeast into a small bowl. Pour over some water, and stir until the yeast has dissolved. Add the rest of the water, oil and salt. Put the flour in a bigger bowl. Make a small well in the flour, add in the yeast-mix and by using your hands, make a dough. Add more flour if needed. Cover with a cloth, and set to rest in a warm place until the dough had doubled in size.

2. Meanwhile, combine all the ingredients, except for the cheese, in a bowl.

3. Take the dough out of the bowl and place it on a flour-dusted surface (preferably a piece of parchment paper). Kneed the dough for a bit, knocking the air out of it. Divide the dough into two equal parts. Keep one covered while working with the other. Roll out the dough into a large disk. On half the disk, spread in layers the cheese, and the filling. Flip over the top half and press the two edges together using your fingers or a fork.

4. Place the pizza on a warm pizza stone, or a warm oven tray and bake for 13 minutes or until the dough is golden and the cheese has melted.

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Calzone