Spicy chicken & bulgur one-pot

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.

Zucchini fritters

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.

Chicken Roulade With A Fresh Bulgur Salad

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.

Sushi, take 2

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.

Danish Red Hot Dog

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

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.

Spicy pork noodles

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.

Fish & Prawn Gratin

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.

Zucchini soup with bacon

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.

Pytt i panna

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.

Falafel

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.

Easter meatballs

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

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

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!

Pan-fried pollock with curry sauce

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.

Spicy, honey glazed chicken wings

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).

Golden spicy fish soup served with homemade naan

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.

Frutti de mare

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

Frutti de mare
Serves 2

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lunch: Salmon sandwich

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

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

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

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

Sometimes fika also included a sandwich.

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

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

Salmon sandwich
Serves 1

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

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