Sweden’s answer to Nigella is definitelty Leila Lindholm. She is equally good at whipping up girly cakes as to cook for a dinner party. She’s a famous face in Sweden after her TV shows, and her cookbooks have been translated into English.
The newest addition to her empire is her online shop Leila’s General Store. It has some vintage kitchen items and lots of nice baking accessories and other nice things for the kitchen. Some of the items are quite pricey, but I would still buy from there.
As you might know by now, I bake the birthday cakes for my office once a month. We haven’t got a budget big enough to get patisserie cakes and we were all so bored of the supermarket varieties. So the company pays for the ingredients and I bake away one night a month. I really enjoy it as I get to choose what to make and I have always loved to bake.
This month people had requested a traditional Victoria sponge so I made this classic with only one little addition – fresh strawberries. It went down a treat and it really is a wonderful summer cake.
I hade made this before, but this time I made the cake slightly higher and below is that recipe. The cake is incredibly easy to make, just don’t open the oven door until 30 minutes have passed (to avoid it sinking in the middle), then you’ll be fine. I prefer to make one sponge and cut it in half with a serrated knife, but feel free to use two cake tins (same size) if you wish.
Victoria sponge, serves 10
260 g plain flour
260 g caster sugar
260 g softened butter
5 eggs
1,5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
Filling:
200 g strawberry jam
200 ml whipped cream
150 g sliced strawberries
Place all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and beat together with an electric whisk. Pour into a buttered and lined cake tin (or two of the same size). Place in a 175C oven for 35-40 minutes. Do not open the oven door until 30 minutes have passed.Cut the cake in half with a serrated knife and let it cool completely.
Place the bottom sponge on a cake plate and spread the jam onto it. Add the sliced strawberries and on top the whipped cream. Place the other sponge on top. Decorate with a few strawberries and dust with icing sugar.
Now when the sun is out almost everyday I love to go outside exploring with my camera in hand.
Below are some photos from my Sunday walk around North London that I wanted to share with you.
This past weekend was absolutely glorious with the sun shining both days so to go for a for a nice long walk followed by a pub lunch was the perfect Sunday activity.
With sunglasses on I met Laura at Belsize Park around lunch time, where she showed me around her new neighbourhood. We then walked across Hampstead Heath and onto The Bull & Last for our 2.30 reservation.
We liked the pub immediately. The decor is traditionally pubby with some nice touches, like double doors to the loos, stuffed animals and hunting trophies.
The groundfloor was really busy and quite loud when we walked in, perfect for chatting with friends, but it was nicer to eat upstairs in the more quiet dining room, like we did.
Last year the pub won an Observer award for best Sunday lunch and as we walked through the pub we could see just how popular the roast beef with yorkshire pudding was. It looked delicious but after a walk in the sunshine we were up for something a bit lighter. All the maincourses were quite heavy so we had two starters each instead. Well I did anyway. 🙂
I chose a salad with beetroot, horseradish, smoked eel and cod’s cheeks and it was an absolute delight. It had different textures (smooth eel, crunchy beetroot crisps, creamy horseradish) and lots of nice flavours. Laura had some of it and we also had a side of triple cooked chips. I mean, how could we resist?
They were lovely and crisp on the outside and soft in the middle and served with homemade mayonnaise. Need I say more?!
Instead of the maincourses we chose a board each; fish for Laura and meat for me. They were huge and it would have been perfect to share one for two people as a starter. As a maincourse it was definitely enough and we were pretty full by the end of it.
The fish board consisted of a haddock croquette, sprats, mackerel paté, potted shrimps and beautiful gravadlax (with beetroot for the colour I presume) and soft soda bread.
My meat board was equally packed with goodies; the chicken liver parfait was velvety smooth and probably my favourite as well as celeriac slaw, thin slices of duck breast, duck rillette and a lovely ham hock terrine. The pig’s head was shredded pieces of meat in a croquette and the bread was toasted and brioche-like. I enjoyed it all, although some things could have done with a tad more seasoning.
As I said, the boards were quite filling, but not having icecream on a sunny day is almost a crime, so we had a scoop each after a little breather.
Laura’s prune and armagnac is above and my mint chocolate chip is pictured below.
We spent around two and a half hours in here and enjoyed every moment. The service was good and relaxed and you definitely didn’t feel rushed. And since we were part of the late lunch service they probably didn’t need our table until dinner service a bit later anyway.
As soon as we stood up it hit me how full I actually was, so we decided to walk some more to digest the food. After a stroll to Highgate and over the Heath we were back at Belsize Park and it was time to go home.
We had a lovely Sunday and to go for a nice long walk combined with nice food is just great. We will definitely be back to eat our way through the menu, which might prove a challange as we were told it changes every few days…
The Bull and Last 168 Highgate Road London NW5 1QSÂ 020 726 73641
I discovered the lovely herb blend za’atar on my trip to Syria about a year ago. It consists of sesame seeds and dried thyme, but depending on the blend it can taste quite different. I bought a large bag of my favourite blend, a special blend a Damascus spice wholesaler made so it is probably one of the best you can get.
I love to cook with this blend and have used it in a few different dishes. Last week I marinaded drumsticks in a mixture of za’atar, lemon juice, Japanese soy, olive oil and garlic for about 48 hours and the cooked chicken was lovely and moist and coated of a golden layer or the marinade.
I used dried limes (also purchased in Syria) and whole cardamom pods to flavour the rice, which is popular in the Middle East. Once drained and the spices removed I sprinkled some sumac on it for extra flavour. The sauce is a simple mix of creme fraiche/soured cream, sambal oelek and fresh lime juice.
If you don’t want to eat the chicken with rice for supper the drumsticks work well on a picnic as well.
Chicken drumsticks with za’atar marinade
6 chicken drumsticks
4 tbsp za’atar
1/2 lemon, the juice
2 tbsp Japanese soy
2 whole garlic cloves
1/2 olive oil
salt, black pepper
Mix all the ingredients in a large ziplock bag and shake to combine. Leave in the fridge to marinade for at least 24 hours, but preferrably 48. Cook in a 200C oven on a rack with a tin foil covered roasting tray below for about 20 minutes.
Yesterday I went to Tate Modern with my friend Maria and her colleague Hannan. The exhibition was Boetti and Kusama. In general I don’t really like modern art (probably because I don’t get it most of the time) but I really enjoyed Kusama’s work.
Since it was a beautiful evening I decided to walk across the Thames from my office and wander down the Southbank. I love that stretch of the river bank and the view is lovely. You see Westminster and Big Ben looking left, near you you have the London Eye and to your right you have St Paul’s Cathedral and The City.
On days like this, when I have time to really experience my London, I get an instant reminder of why I chose to live here and why I’m still here four years on. I just love my city! That is of course why I wanted to share these pictures with you.
The pictures are taken with my old iPhone, but they turned out pretty good this time.
It is not the first time I got so inspired by a Smitten Kitchen post that I had to try it straight away. Yesterday I saw Deb’s latest post on carrot cake pancakes and last night I had it for supper.
These pancakes are of course even better for a lazy weekend breakfast or at a brunch with friends. Either way, you just have to try them. And of you’ve had a substantial lunch they’re pretty good for supper too (evidently).
The original recipe is from Joy the Baker but Deb at Smitten Kitchen made a few changes and I made some. My only change really was to omit cinnamon to the cream cheese topping and instead add lime zest to it, which I normally have with a carrot cake. To me it was the perfect touch of freshness the pancakes needed.
Carrot cake pancakes, makes about 15-16
Adapted from this recipe.Pancakes:
1 cup plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1 egg
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 cup butter milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups finely grated carrots (about 3 large carrots)
butter for frying
Cream cheese topping:
115 g Philadelphia
1/4 cup icing sugar
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
grated zest from 1/2 lime
Mix flour, bicard, baking powder and spices in a large bowl. Mix butter milk, egg and sugar in a smaller bowl. Add the grated carrots to the wet mixture then transfer to the large bowl and mix it all together. Leave to rest for a few minutes whle preparing the topping.
Beat the cream cheese until smooth in a bowl. Add the sugar, vanilla and lime zest and combine.
Melt the butter in a large frying pan on medium-high heat. Use about 2 tbsp mixture per pancake and fry 3-4 at the time. Keep the fried ones warm in the oven until you’re done with all the pancakes. Serve with a generous dollop of the topping. Dig in!
When I went to Partridges last time I found some lovely tagliatelle from my favourite brand De Cecco. For some reason I haven’t found this pasta in regular supermarkets, but I am happy I found it at all.
I cooked it al dente and mixed it with some melted butter both for flavour and for it not to be sticky from the starch. Adding truffle oil and plenty of freshly grated parmesan and some black pepper made this into a fabulous meal. It feels decadent yet it is so simple to make.
As always when going for less is more, good produce is key. Make sure you use good quality pasta, nice parmesan (I prefer Parmiggiano Reggiano) and choose a good truffle oil. I found mine in Partridges as well, and it is more pungent than a supermarket bottle.
Pasta with truffle oil and parmesan, serves 2
3oo g tagliatelle
1 tbsp salted butter
truffle oil
plenty of grated parmesan
black pepper
Cook the pasta al dente. Drain in a colander. In the mean time, melt the butter in the pasta pan. Add the drained pasta and toss. Add truffle oil after taste and toss again. Serve in shallow bowls and add plenty of grated parmesan, black pepper and maybe a pinch of salt.
To slowcook meat has its advantages. Because it is best done with more flavoursome but tough cuts of meat, the result is always tasty very tender meat.
For me I probably started slowcooking big cuts for roasts. Even less tough meat benefits from gentle cooking and more time and lower temperature in the oven. After that I made stews like Boeuf Bourguignon, soon after I tried pulled pork and by then I was totally hooked.
So I bought a Crockpot slowcooker and have never looked back since. 🙂
These cheeks were first browned in a frying pan then transferred to the Crockpot, to which I added white wine, a bay leaf, thyme sprigs, half an onion and water. I left it on the low setting for about 10 hours and by the time I got back home the flat smelled amazing.
The meat was very tender but I still let it rest while I added cream and mustard to the sauce. It doesn’t take much to throw a lovely supper together when it almost cooks itself…
Slowcooked pig’s cheeks with white wine, thyme, mustard and cream,serves 1-2
Step 1:
4 pig’s cheeks
butter/oil for frying
100 ml white wine
150 ml water
4 thyme sprigs
1 bay leaf
1/2 red onion cut into wedges
Step 2:
100 ml cream
100 ml milk
2 tbsp white wine
1,5 tsp dijon mustard
1/2 tbsp soy sauce
gravy browning
salt, white pepper
Brown the meat in a frying pan. Place in the slowcooker and add the other ingredients from step 1. Put the lid on and turn on the low heat and leave it for 9-10 hours. If you are using an oven then place the casserole dish with the lid on in a cold oven and turn it onto 80-90 degrees. Check on it after 6-8 hours.
Remove the meat from casserole dish and let it rest covered with tin foil while you make the sauce. Pour all the liquid from the pot into a saucepan and add milk and cream and bring to the boil. Add the rest of the ingredients and season to taste. Once the sauce has thickened pour it through a sieve. Serve with pressed boiled potatoes and the tender lovely meat. Vegetables are optional.
When I was a little girl we used to go on holiday and neartby Denmark, and I have many fond memories from our trips there. The light at Skagen was amazing, all the fresh fish in the harbours, the icecream lollies that were different to home, all the seashells one could pick on the beach… And while eating at a restaurant, I almost always chose deep-fried plaice with remoulade sauce. It is such a classic Danish dish and I really enjoy it.
This is the at home version where I have panfried the plaice fillet and made a sauce similar to remoulade. Similar in the way that it does not contain curry powder, where as real remoulade does. I used turmeric instead and seasoned it with dijon mustard and lemon juice.
Panfried plaice fillet with remoulade, serves 1
1-2 plaice fillets
a large knob of butter for frying
Sauce:
1 egg yolk, at room temperature
150 ml sunflower oil (or other neutral oil)
1/4 lemon, the juice
1-2 tsp dijon mustard
1,5 tsp turmeric
salt, white pepper
6-7 cornichons, chopped
To serve: boiled potatoes, lemon wedge
Whisk together the mayonnaise with an electric whisk, by adding the oil drop by drop to the egg yolk while beating. Add the lemon juice, turmeric and mustard. Season with salt and pepper. Add the cornichons.
Melt the butter in a frying pan. Add the fillets skinside down. Fry until the skin is golden brown. Turn and fry for another 1-2 minutes. Turn again and serve skinside down. Spoon over the melted butter. Add salt and pepper.
Scandelights