Category Archives: Snacks

Mushrooms with crispy herb topping

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It suits me fine that the BBC are currently repeating Nigel Slater’s  Simple Suppers at the moment, as I missed the series (boo) the first time around.

In one episode about not to waste food, Nigel came up with this simple yet delicious recipe to use up mushrooms. I so admire his ability to make up a delicious meal out of almost nothing.

I haven’t found a complete recipe for this dish, but follow the simple instructions below and you are good to go.

Mushrooms with crispy herb topping - a sketch

Fry some mushrooms whole in a mixture of butter and oil until brown on both sides.

Meanwhile, fry chopped spring onions and rosemary in another pan in some oil or butter on low heat. Add a chopped clove of garlic and a few handfuls of fresh (or made from stale bread) breadcrumbs. Add more butter if it looks dry. When the mixture is golden brown, season and add some lemon zest and chopped parsley.

Season the mushrooms, plate and top with the crispy mixture.

Toasted wild garlic bread

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It is no secret that Swedes take their seafood seriously. More or less every Friday of my childhood we had prawns (or crayfish when it was in season) for supper. Served as above with boiled eggs (cooked after everyone’s different preference), mayonnaise and a nice salas (preferably with avocado) this is such a relaxing way of eating prawns, peeling as you go.

And the prawns taste so much more when bought unpeeled. I find it so sad that it is near impossible to find unpeeled cold water prawns in the supermarkets here.

This meal wouldn’t be complete without some nice bread though, and sometimes we would just get a fresh loaf from the bakery and eat it untoasted with plenty of butter, or sometimes we’d have toasted bread or homemade garlic bread. With plenty of freshly picked wild garlic though, the choice was easy; I wanted to make toasted wild garlic bread. And it was just as delicious as I expected it to be. Prettier than regular garlic bread too, with its vibrant green colour.

Wild garlic grows all around the Southern parts of the UK at least, but if you struggle to forage some you can buy it from a good greengrocer (in Borough Market for example).

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Toasted wild garlic bread, serves 3-4

100 g softened salted butter

1 handful wild garlic, finely chopped

salt and white pepper after taste

12 pieces of good crusty bread

Mix the wild garlic with the softened butter until well combined. Season with salt and white pepper. Divide between the bread pieces and spread evenly. Place on a baking tray and toast in a 180-200C oven for 10-15 minutes until the bread is crispy and the butter has melted. Serve warm. 

Broadbean dip with dill and persillade

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My childhood friend Carina came to visit this weekend. Living in warm Vietnam at the moment she was very unimpressed with the weather, but we still had a great time. She arrived fairly late on Friday so I had prepared some nibbles and we had some wine once she arrived. We hadn’t seen each other for ages and ended up chatting until 3am although we were both very tired. It was probably the food that kept us going.

We had some serrano rolls with lemon crème, plain serrano ham, parmesan biscuits, Ossau-Iraty cheese (which I love) with truffle honey and crostini with broadbean dip.

I think crostini is a great way of serving up different dips or chicken liver mousse. It is a relaxed way of offering nibbles and always so good. This broadbean dip feels quite summery with the simple flavourings of dill oil, lemon juice and persillade and turned out delicious! This time I used tinned beans but I can’t wait for summer so I can use fresh ones.

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Broadbean dip with dill and persillade, serves four with crostini

1 tin (300 g) tinned broadbeans in water

1/2 lemon, juice only

2 tbsp mild olive oil

1/2-1 tbsp dill oil

1/2 tsp persillade

a pinch of salt

black pepper

Rinse the beans and drain. Pour them into a mixing jug and add all ingredients apart from salt and pepper. Mix with a stick blender until a fairly smooth paste. Season to taste with salt and pepper. 

Parmesan biscuits, with or without chilli

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Yesterday I was in the mood to bake and tried another one (yes, I’m going through a phase) of Simon Hopkinson’s recipe. This time it was his Parmesan biscuits that were as scrumptious as I expected. I will definitely make them again to have as nibbles at dinner parties or drinks parties, but they would go well on a cheeseboard too and would make a nice hostess gift.

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They are incredibly easy to make too; the ingredients are few and the dough is easy to handle. Just like Simon Hopkinson I put some sliced some green chilli on a few of them.

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Parmesan biscuits, makes 25-30

Adapted from Simon Hopkinson’s recipe.

100 g  cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks

100 g plain flour

a pinch salt

a pinch cayenne pepper

1 heaped tsp mustard powder

50 g mature cheddar, grated

50 g Parmesan, finely grated

1 egg, beaten

some more grated Parmesan

1 green chilli, sliced

Preheat the oven to 180C. Place the butter and flour into the bowl of a food processor with the salt, cayenne, mustard powder and cheeses. Process together to begin with, and then finely pulse the mixture in short spurts as you notice the mixture coming together – it will eventually bind without the need for egg or water. Wrap in cling film and leave to chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Lightly flour a work surface and gently roll out the pastry to about the thickness of two pound coins. Cut out the biscuits to the size and shape you wish. Lay them out on a greased baking tray with a little space in between. It may take two lots of baking to use up the entire mixture.

Carefully brush the surface of each biscuit with the egg and sprinkle over a little finely grated Parmesan. Bake for 10 minutes, or until they are a gorgeous golden-brown colour.

Carefully lift the biscuits off the tray using a palette knife and place on a rack to cool. Although the biscuits will keep well in a sealed container for a few days. 

Black salsify and feta fritters with wild garlic mayo

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While preparing my supper quite late last night my flatmate asked me what I was making. He looked puzzled when I said I was cooking with salsify and showed him the long dark sticks. He still didn’t know what it was, and I realised then that it is a rather unusual vegetable.

But it shouldn’t be. It grows in Britain and similar climates (like Sweden and Southern Europe), it is nutrious and as it is a root vegetable it makes this time of year a whole lot more interesting (as it is mainly root vegetables and cabbage that grows locally in winter).

In Sweden it is knows as poor man’s asparagus as it is similar in taste, and I read that it is also said to taste similar to oysters.

In this recipe I paired it with feta and lemon juice and added the subtle garlic flavour of the wild garlic in the mayonnaise. The whole dish feels like a promise of spring. Utterly delicious! I had it as a light supper but it also works as a lunch, brunch or even breakfast.

PS. If you haven’t got flavoured oil at hand, you can make the mayonnaise from fresh wild garlic instead.

Black salsify and feta fritters with wild garlic mayo, serves 1

3 black salsify, peeled and coarsely grated 

3 tbsp feta

1 egg white

4-5 tbsp plain flour

1 tsp lemon juice

salt, black pepper

butter and oil for frying

Fry the grated salsify in butter for a few minutes to soften. Then transfer to a mixing bowl. Add the crumbled feta, egg white (save the yolk for the mayo), flour, lemon juice and seasoning. Mix well. Heat up butter and oil in a frying pan on medium heat. Spoon the mixture into the pan shaping four fritters. Fry until golden brown on both sides.  

Wild garlic mayonnaise, serves 1

1 egg yolk, at room temperature 

ca 100 ml wild garlic flavoured oil

1 lemon wedge, the juice

salt, white pepper

Beat the egg yolk and add the oil drop by drop while whisking until you have a thick mayonnaise. Add lemon juice and seasoning. 

Tortilla pizza with salami and mozzarella

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The days you lack energy usually coincide with the days you need a little comfort food, don’t they?!

You know which days I am referring to. The days that feel longer than a week, when one is feeling unwell or hangover (or both!) and is incredibly tired. Those days when one can’t help to feel a little sorry for oneself.

Last time this happened to me, I rustled up these darlings from what I had at hand in my fridge and freezer. (I always store soft tortillas in the freezer, that way a quesadilla is only just a few minutes away).

These ‘pizzas’ are so simple I am almost ashamed to blog about them, but let’s be honest, these everyday things are probably more useful  for you than the time consuming and difficult recipes I post.

So, place some frozen flour tortillas on a baking sheet. Slather with creme fraiche and top with salami slices. Break a ball (or two – one can never have too much cheese) of buffalo mozzarella into pieces and scatter on the pizzas. Sprinkle with oregano. Bake in 200-220C until bubbly, crispy and golden (about 5-10 minutes). 

Curly kale crisps

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You can easily buy these healthy green crisps at Whole Foods, or even easier; make them yourself. I served them with a Nigella-inspired aperitif consisting of rose vermouth, pomegranate juice, lime juice and a splash of honey, and although the drink isn’t that sweet, these salty crisps complement it perfectly.

Curly kale crisps

2 bunches curly kale

1 tbsp mild olive oil

2 pinches sea salt

Remove the leaves from the stalks and shred into crisp size pieces. Add the oil to a medium-sized roasting tray. Add the leaves and salt and toss to coat the leaves. Place in a 150C oven for approx 20 minutes or until the kale have shrunk considerably in size and turned crispy. Serve.

Smooth chicken liver mousse with red wine and thyme

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I had a little gathering on the first Sunday of Advent treating my friends to some traditional Swedish Christmas treats as well as some other things. We started off with this heavenly smooth chicken liver mousse served with crispy crostinis. It went down really well and I am very pleased with the flavour combination of liver, red wine and thyme.

Even if you are not a serious charcuterie or offal fan, a chicken liver mousse is always a good place to start. Chicken liver is very mild in flavour compared to calf’s or lamb’s liver. And the other ingredients in this mousse don’t really enhance the liver flavour; it mere complements it.

To make the crostinis, all you need is a day-old baguette and some oil. Slice the baguette in 5 mm thick slices slightly on the diagonal and place on a baking tray. Drizzle with a nice olive or rapeseed oil, place in 200C oven until crisp and golden brown; it takes about 15 minutes.

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Chicken liver mousse with red wine and thyme, 1 batch

1/2 onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, grated

1 tbsp oil for frying

450 g chicken livers (about 350 g once tubes/tendons removed), roughly chopped

1tbsp butter + 1 tbsp butter

50 ml red wine

1 anchovy

1/2 tsk dried thyme

salt and pepper

65 ml double cream

Fry the onions in the oil on low heat until translucent, add the garlic and fry for another minute.

Turn the heat up and add 1 tbsp butter and the liver. Fry until the liver pieces are cooked all the way around but pink in the middle. Add the anchovy (whole), more butter, red wine and thyme. Fry while stirring until half the liquid has evaporated. Add salt and pepper. 

Remove from heat and pour into a food processor. Add the cream and mix until as smooth as possible. Season to taste with salt, pepper and maybe a pinch of sugar. Pour the mixture through a fine sieve, into the serving container. The mixture is a  bit liquid at this stage but it will set in the fridge. Refridgerate for several hours (about 4-5) for the mousse to set and the flavours to develop. 

Nachos Yankees style

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When I visited New York in the summer, we spent our last evening at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx and watched the Yankees beat Boston Red Sox.

The game itself was entertaining, but just as fun was the selection of food. We had hot dogs with sauerkraut and pleeenty of nachos.

The way the nachos were served there with a cheesy sauce and not with melted cheese on top was delicious, especially with heaps of sour cream and guacemole and extra grated cheese.

It is easy to make this at home too, and more substantial than popcorns while watching a film. And so yummy!

Nachos Yankee style, serves 2

Most parts of a bag of salted tortilla chips 

2 batches guacemole

1 batch salsa

100 ml sour cream

some grated cheese

(pickled jalapenos)

XCheese sauce: 

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp plain flour

300 ml milk

150 g strong cheese, like cheddar

salt, pepper

Melt the butter in a non-stick saucepan, add the flour while whisking. Add some of the milk while whisking, and as it thickens add some more, while stirring the whole time. Repeat with all the milk. Once the sauce is thick, add the cheese to melt and season to taste with salt and pepper. 

Place the chips in a bowl/dish and distribute the warm cheese sauce. Top with the other ingredients. Dig in! 

Our Good Friday dinner party

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I went back to Sweden on Friday and after a quick fika (coffee break with cinnamon buns in this case) I whipped up a cheesecake for that evening’s dinner when my best friend Emma and her fiancée Claes came for dinner at my parents’ house.

We started with some bubbly (Crèmant de Bourgougne) and served some olives, pistachios and parmesan crisps as nibbles. It was the first time I made parmesan crisps, but certainly not the last. They were really yummy!

We then sat down and enjoyed my mothers’ roast lamb with garlic, red wine and rosemary and we had a large rösti, creamy sauce, broccoli and carrots with it.

We then served the dulce de leche cheesecake with coffee, bailey’s and whisky. Although I have made it before and loved it, I was still surprised by how divine it is. Just try it!

It was a perfect first evening back home and we had such a great time together. It can be real fun to hang out with different age groups at the same time and I truly enjoy spending time with my friends and parents at the same time.

Parmesan crisps

Choose a good parmesan. Grate it finely and place in piles on baking parchment on a baking tray. Bake in 200C for a few minutes or until the cheese has melted and is golden brown. Leave to cool on the tray.