Month: October 2011

Ottolenghi’s one pot wonder

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As I might have told you several times already, I am a huge fan of Ottolenghi’s cooking. Mostly I adore his cookbook Plenty but I also like the Ottolenghi cookbook that was published before Plenty.

This recipe is another one of his creations, an all-in-one-pan-kind-of-meal with quite basic ingredients (potatoes, onions, chilli, garlic, yoghurt, eggs) and some unusual seasoning (sumac and tahini) but it made a perfect weekday supper, would be perfect for breakfast or to cure any bad hangover.

Unfortunately I was all out of tahini without realising it, when I made this dish, so I substituted for the next best thing; za’atar and that worked really well.

Ottolenghi’s one pot wonder, serves 2

Adapted from Ottolenghi’s recipe.

olive oil

3 onions, thinly sliced (I only used one red onion)

200 g baby potatoes, sliced into 5 mm thick slices

1/2 red chilli, finely chopped

1/2 tbsp sumac

salt & black pepper

1/2 tsp caster sugar

1 clove of garlic, pressed

100 g Greek yoghurt

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp olive oil

300 g cherry tomatoes on the vine

4 eggs

1,5 tbsp tahini paste (I used 1 tbsp of za’atar instead)

1 tbsp chopped coriander (which I forgot)

Heat up olive oil in a sauteuse pan. Add the onions, potatoes, chilli, sumac, salt and pepper and cook on medium heat for 20 minutes until the potatoes are soft. Then add sugar and garlic, and adjust the seasoning if needed.

Mix yoghurt, lemon juice and olive oil in a small bowl and set aside. In a seperate pan, add the tomatoes, vine facing up, when the pan is hot and cook the tomatoes for 3-4 minutes until well charred. Remove from the pan.

Spread the potatoes and onions evenly in its pan and break four eggs on top. Try to keep the yolks whole. Fry for three minutes, until the whites start to set. Then cover and cook for another minute or two for the whites to set completely. Add dollops of the yoghurt, avoiding the yolks, then sprinkle with tahini or za’atar (again, avoiding the yolks). Place the tomatoes, still on the vine, on top and sprinkle with coriander. Serve straight from the pan. 

Triple lemon yoghurt cake

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I have seen this recipe on most of the Swedish food blogs I read religiously, and now finally have I tried to make it myself as well.

The recipe is courtesy of fabulous Anne of Anne’s food, another Swedish food blog in English, and the cake is just fantastic.

It disappeared in a heartbeat at work and the combination of lemon zest in the cake with the lemon syrup and icing, this is just fab.

Triple lemon yoghurt cake, 8 portioner

After Anne’s recipe.

3 eggs
125 ml vegetable oil
250 ml natural yoghurt 
220 g caster sugar
zest form 2 lemons
0,5 tsp vanilla extract 
375 ml plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
0,5 tsp salt

Lemon syrup:

80 g caster sugar
100 ml fresh lemon juice

Icing:

250 ml icing sugar
2-3 tbsp lemon juice

Turn the oven on 175C. Beat eggs, oil, yoghurt, sugar, lemon zest and vanilla together. Mix flour with baking powder and salt in a seperate bowl and add it to the mixture. Pour the batter into a buttered and lined dish. Bake for 50 minutes.

Meanwhile make the syrup. Let the cake cool a little before removing it from its tin. Once removed, prick lots of holes all over the cake with a toothpick or similar. Then pour the syrup onto the cake trying to get most of it into the little wholes. Leave to cool completely before making the icing and pouring it over the cake.

Nigella’s autumnal birthday cake

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The September cakes for work were three quite different ones. The first one was Nigella’s autumnal birthday cake which sounded amazing when I read the recipe, but I was rather disappointed actually.

It sponges were quite dry. Admittedly, mine was baked slightly too long because I followed the recipe, but it would have been dry anyway I think. The meringue frosting is lovely, but would have worked better with a more buttery sponge. And the addition of maple syrup to both cakes and frosting sounded wonderful, but didn’t actually taste much in reality.

I won’t make this cake again, but I could definitely use the frosting for something else. And doesn’t the cake look rather good, despite the very simple decorations.

Autumnal birthday cake, serves 8-10

After Nigella’s recipe.

For two sponges:

175 g softened butter

100 g caster sugar

3 eggs

350 ml maple syrup

500 g self-raising flour

175 ml hot water

Frosting:

2 egg whites

125 ml maple syrup

125 ml caster sugar

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla essence

Topping: 125 g pecans (I used only 40 g walnuts instead) chopped

Heat the oven to 180C. Beat sugar and butter until fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at the time. Add the syrup gradually while stirring. Alternate the flour and water, adding while stirring. Divide the batter between two 20 cm springforms, buttered and lined with baking parchment. Bake for 40 mins (I think 20 will be enough). Leave to cool completely on a wire rack before assembling the cake.

Mix all the ingredients for the frosting apart from the vanilla in a bowl that fits a sauce pan. Fill the pan with water so it comes up just below the bowl. Bring to the boil and place the bowl om top. Beat with a handheld whisk for 5-7 minutes until stiff peaks. Remove from heat and add the vanilla. Assemble the cake and coat it all around with the frosting. Sprinkle the nuts on top.

This cake is best the same day it is made.

Baked figs with white chocolate and muscovado

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I had some left over fresh figs and wanted to make an easy dessert with them, preferrably without having to leave the house to buy any ingredients. After a little google session I found a similar recipe to this on a Swedish dairy website. And lucky me, I had all the (few) ingredients at hand.

Baked figs with white chocolate and muscovado, serves 2

2 fresh figs

50 g white chocolate, roughly chopped

2 tbsp light muscovado sugar

Heat up the oven to 175C. Rinse the figs and cut in half. Almost cut the halves in two and place in a small tray skin side down. Sprinkle the sugar and the chocolate on top and bake for 10-15 minutes. Serve with lightly whipped cream while still warm. 

Cepe confit

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I’m really into duck and goose fat at the moment, perhaps because it is the season for roast potatoes again.

If you want to make the most wonderful roast potatoes, you need this type of fat. Vegetable oil just doesn’t cut it, both the taste and the texture is different. I mean when my British boyfriend’s British mother compliments my roast potatoes, I know I have done it right. 😉

But it can be even better than that, with goose fat flavoured with cepe mushrooms (also called porcini). You achieve this by making a confit and then saving the fat.

But the mushrooms are nice too, although I must admit I made this more for the idea of the roast potatoes. Served on toast with some parmesan, this is a real treat.

Cepe confit, serves 2 on toast

400 g cepe mushrooms, brushed and sliced

400 g goose fat

Place the mushroom slices in a glass dish and cover with the goose dat. Place in 85C oven for ,5 hours. Leave to cool. Drain away the fat and keep it and cherish it. Place the mushrooms on a plate and put in the fridge.

Later fry the mushrooms brown and crunchy in some olive oil. Place on buttered toast and add parmesan shavings and some parsley if you have. Enjoy!

Wonderful Friday!

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Apples, Grönby, Sweden 2009

The past week has been quiet and I have spent every weeknight at home actually. The chores needed to be done, and I neede to prepare for tonight’s dinner party as well. Jess and Chris are coming over for dinner, and on a Friday night I prefer to be in the kitchen as little as possible, and at the dinner table with a glass of wine in hand as much as possible, hence the preparations. 🙂

Then early tomorrow morning I’m off to Sweden for a quick visit at my parents. I want to go for a walk in the woods, catch up with the parents and enjoy my mother’s cooking.

Because I am away, the weekly menu will be a bit shorter this week, Christopher can eat whatever he wants when I’m away (I’m nice like that) but I have a feeling it will be a big steaks and sausages.

The rest of the week we will be eating this:

  • chicken breasts stuffed with smoked ham and mozzarella
  • Chilli and corn bread
  • potato and leek soup

Have a nice weekend!

Poussins with rosemary and lemon, and the most wonderful jus

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It is not the first time I have cooked poussins this way. I followed my usual recipe but simplified it and didn’t brown them before roasting them, and they turned out better than ever! However, it was the simple but lovely jus with rosemary and shallots that really improved the dish. Served with roast potatoes and chanteney carrots and a wonderful Rioja, this was a joyful meal.

We finished this meal off with Christopher’s signature dessert – tarte tatin. We usually serve it with vanilla icecream but had pouring cream with it this time, and it was almost as good.  Poussins with rosemary and lemon, serves 2

4 poussins

100 g softened butter

1 garlic clove, pressed

1 lemon, the zest and some of the juice

1 bunch rosmary

salt and white pepper

Rinse the chickens and place them in a roasting tray covered with tin foil. Mix butter, lemon peel and juice, garlig and some rosemary leaves in a bowl. Make  cut at the top of the breast and insert your finger underneath the skin to create a pocket. Fill this with the butter and repeat for all the chickens. Make 2 cuts on each thigh and smear butter over it. Use the rest of the butter to coat the birds on each side. Season with salt and pepper on all sides. Place two rosemary sprigs on each bird, but remove them before serving. Fry in 200C for about 20 minutes or until the liquid is clear from the thigh joint. Wrap in tin foil and let it rest for at least 10 minutes.

Jus with rosemary and shallots, serves 4

1 shallot, finely chopped

a little olive oil

the juice from the poussins (about 500 ml)

500 ml chicken stock

2 rosmary sprigs 

1 msk smör

Fry the onion until soft in the oil in a large frying pan. Pour into the meat juices and stock and turn the heat on high. Place the rosemary in the liquid and let it reduce to around half and thicken. It goes slowly in the beginning, but since it has started to thicken it won’t take long until it is done. Remove the rosemary and lower the mat. Add the butter and turn the heat off. pour the jus over the chickens and serve. 

Jerusalem artichoke soup 2.0

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Jerusalem artichoke is one of my favourite root vegetables and something I would love to grow if I had a garden. Since I don’t, I get mine in Waitrose or at Borough Market.

This soup was well liked on Saturday, which I am grateful for, since it was the best version I have made so far. Richard, Christopher’s brother, described the flavour similar to smoked bacon and I see what he means. I will try his suggestion of topping the soup with crispy bacon instead of girolles next time.

Jerusalem artichoke soup, serves 4 as a starter

2 shallots, finely chopped

1 tbsp olive oil

600-700 g Jerusalem artichokes, peeled

water

2 tsp concentrated chicen stock (like Touch of Taste)

50 ml single cream

salt, white pepper

Topping: Girolles fried in butter, salt and white pepper and some fresh chopped shallots.

Fry the onions soft in a large saucepan on medium-low heat. Add the Jerusalem artichokes and fry for a minute or so. Cover with boiling water. Add salt. Bring to the boil and cook until the artichokes are soft. Drain away half of the cooking water, but save it for later. Puré the artichokes with the remaining water with a blender or stick blender. Add the cream and enough of the cooking water to get the thickness you require. Add the stock and season to taste. Bring to the boil again and serve. 

Cliveden Manor

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We spent the weekend in Buckinghamshire where my boyfriend is from. It was sunny, 30 C, no wind and wonderful to breathe fresh countryside air.

It was his mother, Elieen’s birthday on Saturday so we went to Clivenden Manor during the day to have a look around, then stopped at a pub for a drink on the way home, and in the evening we cooked a nice meal for her. We used recipes I have written about before, but it was sooo good this time, I have to post it again with the new and improved instructions.

Recipes will be posted the following days, but today I give you some more nice pictures of the Manor.