Month: January 2013

Almond butter chocolate chip cookies

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A lot of my cooking inspiration comes from cookbooks, blogs and TV programs, but a lot also comes from necessity.

I live with flatmates which means that I haven’t got a lot of kitchen cupboard space so I try to use things up before buying something else. And it is actually a fun exercise to come up with something tasty with the ingredients you have at hand.

This recipe is an altered version of peanut butter cookies. I changed the peanut butter for almond butter as I had some I wanted to use up and because I had some chocolate I hand I threw that in too.

This turned out to be a nice combination as the almond butter is less pungent and a more mature flavour than peanut butter so it needed the addition of chocolate to make it interesting.

Serving idea: Break into pieces and serve with three minute icecream and chocolate sauce.

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Almond butter chocolate chip cookies, makes 25

275 ml plain flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

100 ml caster sugar

100 ml soft light brown sugar

100 g softened butter

100 ml almond butter

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla 

70 g chopped chocolate of your choice

Mix sugars, butter, vanilla and almond butter. Whisk in the egg. Mix the flour with baking powder and salt and add it to the batter. Add the chopped chocolate and stir to combine. Roll the dough into small balls and place on a lined baking tray. Flatten the balls slightly with a fork. Bake in 190-200 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

Homemade pasta!

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Monday last week was a historic day. It was the day when I finally made my own pasta.

I used a recipe from Simply Italian, a series that really inspired me to try it. Michaela in the show just make it seem so easy. And it was!

I will definitely make use of my handsome pasta maker on a regular basis. There are so many things I would like to try.

But for that first time last Monday, I stuck to what I knew; the amazing tagliatelle with browned butter, truffle oil and heaps of grated parmesan.

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Homemade pasta, basic recipe

This is just a basic recipe that you can double, quadruple etcetera depending on how much you want to make.

100 g 00 flour

1egg

polenta

Pour the flour into a bowl or place in a heap on a surface. Make a dent in the flour and crack the egg. Combine with your hands or a wooden fork and knead into an elastic dough. If it is too crumbly, add 1 tsp olive oil, if too sticky add some more flour. Shape into a ball, wrap with cling and leave to rest for 30 minutes. 

Divide the dough into three pieces and flatted. While working with one, make sure the other two are covered with cling as not to dry out. Run the dough piece through the pasta machine, 3 times on the widest setting, then 1-2 times per setting as working your way down to the thickness you prefer. Repeat with the other dough pieces and cut into tagliatelle using the machine. Place on a plate and sprinkle with polenta (to stop them sticking to each other) and leave to uncovered to dry for 5 minutes. Bring a large pan of water to the boil and add salt. Add the pasta and let it cook for about a minute. When the strands surface they’re done. Drain and serve. 

Three minute icecream

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This is such a good recipe to have up your sleeve. When you want nice icecream but haven’t got time to wait for the custard to thicken, or when you realise the iceblock to the icecream maker is not frozen.

It probably actually takes less than three minutes to whip it up, all you need to do is lightly whip some cream and fold in a can of condensed milk and some vanilla or other flavouring.

I made it this week the day before I had a friend coming for dinner straight after work. Together with the amazing butterscotch sauce and salted peanuts this made a lovely sundae.

Three minute icecream, 1 batch

500 ml whipping or double cream

1 tin (ca 400g) sweetened condensed milk

Flavouring: 

1 tsp vanilla

Whip the cream until soft peaks. Fold in the condensed milk and vanilla. Pour into a freezable container and freeze over night. 

Buffalo chicken wings with blue cheese dip and avocado salsa

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At the moment there are barbecue restaurants wherever you look in London, but some dishes are just as easily prepared at home as in restaurants, like these scrummy buffalo chicken wings.

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As much as I like a certain twist on some classics, some things are just left alone. Like these wings. The combination of crispy skin, tender chicken meat, hot buttery sauce and cooling blue cheese dip is invincible. It is just the celery I am not that keen on, so I substituted it with something else green; an avocado salsa with red onion and coriander. It fits too, even though it is not a classic combination like cheese and celery.

The most important thing when cooking chicken wings is the crispy skin. And it is far easier achieved than you think. All you need is some boiling water and a colander. The hot water makes the skin cells contract and tighten resulting in crispy skin when cooked. Second most important thing when cooking wings is the sauce. It should be Frank’s Frank’s Red Hot Sauce, which I picked up in my local London supermarket. But failing finding it, the likes of Tabasco works too.

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Buffalo chicken wings, serves 1

With chicken wings I refer to the de-jointed pieces. Six is a small portion, so just double, quadruple and so on, but then fry the wings in batches.

6 chicken wings

500 ml neutral oil for deep-frying

2 tbsp butter

1 tbsp hot sauce

Place the chicken wings in a colander and pour boiling water oven them. Leave to drain. Heat up the oil in a large saucepan. Once it is really hot (try with a piece a bread – if it turn golden it is hot enough) add the chicken wings and fry for about 7 minutes until cooked through and golden brown. Drain on kitchen towel.

While the chicken is frying, melt the butter in a saucepan. Once melted, add the hot sauce and keep warm.

Place the fried chicken wings and spicy butter in a large tupperware box with a secure lid. Toss to coat evenly. 

Serve with crusty french bread, avocado salsa and blue cheese dip. 

Blue cheese dip, serves 4

200 ml sourcream

2 tbsp mayonnaise, preferably Hellman’s

2 tbsp crumbled Stilton

salt, white pepper

Mix all ingredients until smooth. Season. 

Avocado salsa, serves 2

1 avocado

1/2 red onion, finely chopped

1/2 lime, the juice

1 handful coriander, chopped

1 tbsp olive oil

salt, black pepper

Dice the avocado and place in a bowl. Mix with red onion and coriander. Squeeze in the juice of the lime, add a glug of oil and season. Eat immediately or cover with cling film to keep the avocado from browning. 

Roasted Jerusalem artichokes with lemon and parmesan

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This might sounds like something out of a rom-com, but sometimes I think some things are just meant to be.

And no, I am not referring to meeting Mr. Right (Darcy of course) or anything like that.

Instead I am referring to one Sunday when I watched a BBC re-run of Nigel Slater’s Simple Suppers and came across this recipe when I at the same time was contemplating how to use up my last Jerusalem artichokes.

Since I made (well, asked) my mother grow them for me, I feel I need to make them into something really nice every time I cook with them so it is worth the effort of her growing them, and pruning as they grow like weed, and me transporting them home.

This is a fabulously frugal dish (as long as you already have Parmesan at hand) and so delicious. But because it is a typical ‘less is more’ dish you need a really nice oil. I used coldpressed rapeseed oil but Nigel prefers a nice olive oil.

Roasted winter roots with lemon and parmesan, serves 4

Adapted from Nigel Slaters receipe.

750 g Jerusalem artichokes

250 g potatoes

penty of rapeseed or olive oil 

2 lemons

salt and black pepper

2 handfuls parsley

Parmesan

Pre-heat the oven to 200C. Wash the root vegetables but leave the skin on. Cut the Jerusalem artichokes in half lenghtways and cut the potatoes in similar size pieces. Parboil for about 10 minutes (I skipped this step). Place in a roasting tin and toss with oil. Halve the lemons and squeeze the juice of one and a half lemon into the tray and place the empty lemons in it. Season well and roast for 30-35 minutes (about 45 minutes without parboiling). The root vegetables should be soft and sticky. 

Plate, toss with more oil and squeeze with fresh lemon. Add more seasoning, parsley and shavings of parmesan.

Chewy vanilla toffee

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Sweets play a big role in Sweden. We are addicted to our pick ‘n mix (which is actually far better and represented in every single supermarket), love our cars and other chewy sweets.

When I run out of Swedish sweets I resort only to chocolate, as British sweets usually disappoint in comparison. Also, the only chewy British sweet that I really like; Bassett’s wine gums, you hardly ever see here apart from at the airport..

But even though I don’t know how to make perfect wine gums at least I can vary the chocolate with this amazing chewy toffee.

The recipe is straight forward and pretty standard, but it still tastes amazing! The easiest way to make toffee is to use a sugar thermometer; the toffee is ready once the sugar is boiling, at 120C. Or you can pour a spoonful of toffee mixture in a glass of cold water. If it easily shapes into a ball it is ready.

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Chewy vanilla toffee, makes about 50 sweets

Translated from Johanna Westman’s recipe from the book Julgodis (Christmas sweets).

200 ml double cream

100 ml golden syrup

300 ml caster sugar

100 g butter

1/2 vanilla pod

Line a rectangular dish with parchment paper. Mix cream, syrup, sugar and butter in a saucepan. Scrape the seeds out of the vanilla pod, and add both seeds and pod to the pan. Bring to the boil and cook until 120C. Pour the mixture into the lined dish. Leave to cool. Cut into shapes and wrap in parchment paper or cellophane.

Easy chocolate mousse

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When making the parfait with lots of egg whites for New Year’s Eve, I had a lot of yolks left over. And as I really despise wasting food, we used  some in bearnaise sauce and my mother decided to make a chocolate mousse out to the remaining once.

There are several different ways of making chocolate mousse, and this is an easy version. You only need chocolate, egg yolks and whipped cream.

The most important thing when making chocolate mousse is to make sure the ingredients are similar in temperature. So after melting the chocolate, let it cool down a little before mixing it with the egg yolks, that need to be at room temperature, otherwise you end up with a scrambled chocolate and egg mixture, and frankly that’s a waste of a pudding!

The whipped cream doesn’t have to be at room temperature though, once the chocolate and eggs are combined the mixture is more stable. If the mixture would scramble slightly though, my best tip is to pour it through a sieve before letting it set in the fridge.

We served the chocolate mousse with honeycomb pieces, and it worked really well. I like to combine different textures and a fluffy and smooth mousse needs something crunchy and with more bite to make it interesting, I think.

Easy chocolate mousse, serves 4

200 ml whipping cream or double cream, I would actually prefer whipping cream as it gives the mousse a lighter texture, but double cream works too

2 egg yolks, at room temperature

150 g chocolate, we mixed some milk chocolate with a lot of dark 

Melt the chocolate in a bain marie. Leave to cool slightly. Whip the cream until soft peaks. Add one egg yolk at the time to the chocolate and stir to combine. Then fold in the whipped cream. Pour into glasses, cups or bowls and leave to set in the fridge. 

Loaded potato skins with spring onions and cheese

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I don’t know about you, but I really dislike January. I am constantly tired, cold and it seems like the longest month ever.

At times like these one needs comfort, and I like mine in the form of food, scented candles, duvets or blankets and either a good television series or a good film.

Comfort food no 1 for me always involves melted cheese. Nothing can beat its gooeyness and oozing warmth. Paired here with spring onions for both texture and bite, sour cream for creaminess as well as a binding agent and fluffy baked potato and crispy skins. Yummy!

The inspiration is Nigella and of course America. And I will not give you a recipe – you don’t need one – just a quick sketch.

Loaded potato skins with spring onions and cheese

1 baking potato per person

grated strong cheese, cheddar or a matured Red Leicester works well

chopped spring onions

sour cream or creme fraiche

salt & pepper

Wash the potato(es). Bake it/them whole but pierced in a 200C oven until soft. This depends on both oven and the size of the potato but somewhere between 40 and 60 minutes. Cut the potato(es) in half lengthways. Spoon out the fluffy potato and place in a bowl. Mix with spring onions and grated cheese. Add sour cream and mix to combine. Season. Spoon the mixture into the potato skins. Top with some more grated cheese. Place on a baking tray and bake for another 5-10 minutes for the cheese to melt. 

Serve with crispy bacon and a salad, or just plain. 

 

Servera gärna med knaperstekt bacon och sallad. 

NYE 2012 – the dessert

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Being more a savoury than sweet person, I must admit, that when it comes to this particular dessert I may have changed sides. Because it has everything I like! Sweetness of course, different textures, creaminess and lightness and the lovely combination of sweet and salty in the sauce.

Ladies and gentlemen I present to you my favourite dessert: Iced chocolate nougat parfait with honeycomb and butterscotch sauce.

Neither one of the recipes are my own, although I have altered the nougat parfait a bit. But even so, I am just proud for bringing them together. As the last of four courses and plenty of wine on New Year’s Eve people still asked for seconds and loved it. I think that illustrates just how good this is.

You can also prepare it all ahead of time, and just heat up the butterscotch sauce, which makes it ideal for dinner parties. With that said, I must admit that although most of this dessert is fairly straight forward, one element can be rather tricky; caramelizing the hazelnuts.

But fear not, Delia can provide help with this very useful tutorial.

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Iced chocolate nougat parfait with honeycomb and butterscotch sauce, serves 6

Adapted from Michel Roux Jr’s recipe.

I doubled this recipe too serve nine, but you could easily stretch just one batch to eight or nine people.

150 g caster sugar

150 g blanched hazelnuts

200 g chopped dark chocolate, not too bitter

6 egg whites, at room temperature

225 g caster sugar

2 tsp vanilla

375 ml double or whipping cream, whipped until soft peaks

Start by melting the sugar in a saucepan (use Delia’s guide for a good result) until golden brown. Add the hazelnuts and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Spread/pour the mixture onto a tray lined with baking parchment. Leave to cool and set. Then roughly chop or break up the caramel by using a wooden spoon. 

In a bain marie, beat egg whites and sugar frothy until the sugar has melted. Then remove the bowl from the heat and continue to whisk until the bowl has cooled and you have stiff peaks in the meringue.

Fold in the hazelnuts, chopped chocolate, vanilla and whipped cream using a spatula. Pour the mixture either into individual containers or one large container, lined with clingfilm. I prefer to use a bread tin. Cover the mixture with cling film and tin foil. Freeze over night.  

Honeycomb, 1 batch

I used about half of this to serve nine people, but no point making half a batch, the honeycomb is so tasty and can either be eaten like sweets or used as sprinkles for icecream or other puddings.

Adapted from this recipe.

80 g butter

160 g caster sugar

80 g golden syrup

2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Line a 20 cm tray with parchment paper. Heat up butter, sugar and golden syrup in a saucepan on low-medium heat until the sugar has melted. Turn the heat up and let the mixture boil rapidly, without stirring until golden in colour, about 5 minutes. 

Add the bicarb and stir, but take care as this makes the mixture bubble a lot. Pour the mixture into the lined tray and leave to set. Then cut into pieces.

Chop or crumble in a pestle and mortar for rough crumbs for the parfait. 

Butterscotch sauce, 1 batch

One batch sauce is enough for two batches of nougat.

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen’s recipe.

60 g butter, I used salted

110 g soft light or dark brown sugar, not Muscovado

120 ml double cream

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix butter, sugar and cream in a saucepan. Bring to the boil and let it boil for 5 minutes until the mixture has thickened. Stir occasionally. Add salt and vanilla after taste. Can be kept in the fridge for three days and can be reheated. 

NYE 2012 – the maincourse

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I was very pleased with the maincourse on New Year’s Eve, and I still am. I prepped as much as I could the day before, so I could have fun with the guests and not spend my whole evening in the kitchen on the night. It worked really well, so I am including this in the recipe below.

It is not really difficult, just a lot of different things to juggle. But follow my lead and it will turn out well. Promise.

Pan-fried fillet of veal with Pommes Duchesse, yellow beet, mushroom hash, red wine jus and thyme foam, serves 9

Everything apart from the meat you can prepare the day before and reheat before serving. If you prefer to cook it all at once, you have to make sure to time everything well.

DAY 1: 

Pommes Duchesse

1,8 kg King Edward potatoes 

50-100 g softened salted butter

salt, pepper

Peel the potatoes and cut into similar sized pieces (so they cook evenly). Place in a large saucepan and cover with water. Add salt. Bring to the boil and boil on medium heat with the lid half on until soft. Drain and let the steam evaporate. Mush with a masher or an electric whisk. Add the butter in batches until a good consistency. It should be firm but smooth. Season. Leave to cool and put in the fridge until the next day. 

Yellow beets

1 kg yellow beets

Wash the beets and place in a saucepan. Cover with water, add salt and bring to the boil. Boil whole until soft. 

Drain and let cool a little. Once you can hold them with your hands without burning peel off the skin with your hands or scrape it off with a small knife. Trim them into rounds. Leave to cool and put in the fridge until the next day.

Mushroom hash

200 g chestnut mushrooms

150 g shiitake mushroooms

plenty of salted butter

1 large or 2 small garlic cloves, pressed

salt, black pepper

1 handful chopped parsley

Brush/wash the shrooms and slice. Fry in batches in plenty of butter on a high heat. Lower the heat, add more butter and the pressed garlic. Return all the mushrooms to the pan and season well. Stir in the chopped parslet. Leave to cool and put in the fridge until the next day. 

Red wine jus

This is not a recipe, because I didn’t make notes, but a rough sketch you can work with. Just taste if often and adjust the flavours.

2 onions, whole with skin on

3 garlic cloves, whole with skin on

mild oil

1 part red wine 

1 part beef stock 

2 parsley stalks

1 bay leaf

salt, pepper

balsamic vinegar

brown sugar

1 tbsp Maizena if needed

Cut the onion into wedges, unpeeled. Place on a roasting tray with the garlic cloves. Add oil and roast for about 20 minutes in 180C. 

Place onion and garlic in a large saucepan. Add wine and stock, parsley and bay leaf,. Reduce until half. Then add to your taste: balsamic, sugar, salt and pepper. Pour it through a sieve. To thicken add Maizena and bring to the boil. Stir until thick enough. Leave to cool and put in the fridge until the next day. 

Thyme foam

300 ml cream (single or double)

1 large handful fresh thyme sprigs

salt, pepper

Bring the cream and thyme to the boil. Reduce until half. Season to taste. Leave to cool and put in the fridge until the next day (leave the thyme in). 

DAY 2:

Pommes Duchesse

Mash since the day before

4 egg yolks, at room temperature

Heat the mash covered in 160C oven. Then add one yolk at the time and fold/beat into the mash. Season. Either pipe (with a sturdy piping bag) or shape into eggs with two spoons. Place the shapes on parchment paper, 2 shapes per person at least. Bake until golden, about 10 minutes, 170C. 

Yellow beets

the cooked beets

butter

Slice the beets into 1cm thick slices. Fry them in butter until golden and warm throughout. Season. 

Mushrooms hash

Heat up the mushrooms

Red wine jus

Heat up in a saucepan. Adjust the seasoning if needed and check thickness. Add water or maizena to adjust.

Thyme foam

the thyme-infused cream

100 ml skimmed milk

salt, pepper

Remove the thyme by pouring through a sieve. Pour the cream into a saucepan and add milk. Bring to the boil to heat up. Adjust the seasoning. Beat the mixture foamy with an electric whisk or stick blender. 

The veal

1,8 kg trimmed fillet of veal, at room temperature, cut into two

butter for frying

salt, pepper

Heat up a frying pan until very hot. Add the butter and brown the meat on all sides, including the ends. Season well. Place in a roasting tin and pierce the thickest part of the meat with a meat thermometer. Roast in 160C oven until the inside temperature of the meat is 68C (for medium). Remove from oven and cover the meat with cling film. Add the meat juices to the jus. Leave to rest for at least 10 minutes. Then cut into 2 cm thick slices. 

Serving

Place two beet slices in the middle of the plate. Top with a spoonful of the mushroom hash. Place two Pommes Duchesse shapes on one side. Place one or two slices of meat on top of the beets and mushrooms. Spoon the jus around the plate. Pour the foam on top of the meat.