Month: March 2012

Scandi tip #18: Easter traditions

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Sweden has been a Christian country since the Viking Age (that is how the religion travelled so far north) and a protestant country since the reformation in the 1500s. But many people are atheists as well.

Most holidays in Sweden are Christian but based on old Pagan traditions, although we still celebrate some pagan traditions as well as the Christian. A weird mix perhaps, but once you’re used to it you don’t really think about it.

Easter is definitely one of those mixed traditions. The last week of lent (Holy week) (although people don’t really give anything up for lent in Sweden) all the days have different names:

Palmsöndag (Palm Sunday), blåmåndag (Holy Monday), vittisdag (Holy Tuesday), skymmelonsdag (although my grandmother used to call is askonsdagen, Ash wednesday) (Holy Wednesday), skärtorsdag (Maundy Thursday) and långfredag (Good Friday). This week is to celebrate the pain of Jesus on the cross.

But on the Thursday we also celebrate a pagan tradition of little girls (and boys) dressing up like witches (påskkärring) in rags with head scaves, long skirts and painted freckles on their cheeks. They also have a broom stick (of course), a kettle and a black cat. Then the witches take a basket of Easter candy and walk around the houses and trade sweets for more sweets. Our way of trick or treat, I guess. The reason for dressing up like witches is that this is the day when they according to tradition all gather at Blåkulla to celebrate with the devil himself.

Odd, when you think about it that these two contradicting traditions are celebrated at the same time by the same people. But pagan traditions are really rooted and we hang on to them, just like midsummer.

I have no faith really (only on paper) but I do like traditions and what they represent.

Glad påsk! (Happy Easter!)

Pierre Victoire, Soho

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I seem to hang out a lot in Soho at the moment, and on Saturday I found myself there once again. This time I met up with Laura for an early supper at the French bistro, Pierre Victorie, on Dean Street.

This is a restaurant that I kind of liked, but it could be so much better if just the waiting staff were nicer. The food is hearty and well cooked and the prices are very reasonable (read cheap) and yet as a costumer you are not exactly blown away. And the reason for that is merely the staff. We were asked if we were ready to order by 4 different staff members in less than 4 minutes. That’s just stressy.

After enough interruptions we were ready to order and the food arrived efficiently.

Both of us went for soup as a starter, above is Laura’s French onion soup that was really good. Below is my potato and leek soup. It was nice and rustic and almost tasted homemade.

I went for a simple steak frites with garlic and herb butter and although it wasn’t very expensive, the steak was good quality and perfectly cooked. The fries on the other hand were a bit too pale and therefore less crunchy. A shame since it is so easily fixed with a few minutes more in the fryer.

Laura’s seabass with potatoes, fennel and gremolata looked beautiful and she thoroughly enjoyed it.

So there was defintiely noting wrong with the food (apart from the pale fries), but once we finished eating and wanted to sit for a few more minutes the staff resumed to being rude and it felt like they were kicking us out only so they could relay the table and make more money. But that is not the way a costumer wants to be treated, regardless of the quality of the food. A real shame.

Pierre Victoire
5 Dean Street
London
W1D 3RQ

Weekday wonders: hash with chorizo

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Bubble and squeak and the Swedish version hash are both great dishes for using up leftovers, so the other day I made a version of it that turned out really nice. But chorizo is a bit like bacon – it makes everything nice!

This is hardly a recipe, you can use which vegetables and volumes you like, but this is how mine turned out. I served it with a poached egg and a simple cold sauce made from creme fraiche, mayonnaise and a Swedish herb seasoning.

Hash with chorizo, serves 2

3 potatoes, unpeeled, diced

2 carrots, peeled and diced

1/2 broccoli, cut into small florets

1/4 chorizo ring

a pinch of sugar

salt, pepper

2 tbsp chopped onions (any kind you like)

butter and oil for frying

Served with: poached egg (description below)

Heat up oil and butter in a large frying pan. Add the potato and fry covered for 10-15 minutes or until almost soft. Stir occasionally. Add the carrots and fry for a few minutes. Remove it all to a bowl. Add more butter to the pan and fry the broccoli on high heat for a minute. Add to the potatoes. Fry the onions and chorizo for about 5 minutes, then return everything to the pan and let it warm through.

Poach the egg(s) while the hash is warming. Bring a large saucepan of water to simmer uncovered. Crack one egg at the time into a cup and lower it into the simmering water one by one. You don’t need vinegar in the water or to make a swirl in the water, but the fresher the eggs the better. Don’t poach more then three eggs at the time. The eggs are done aftre 3 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to a bowl of cold water to stop the cooking process. Transfer to kitchen towel to drain so the eggs don’t go cold.

The opening of The Jugged Hare pub

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On Thursday I was slightly out of my comfort zone, braving a pub opening all by myself. It wasn’t by choice as my friend Laura was suppost to come with me, but was ill and couldn’t make it. But since I wanted to go, I thought I can go on my own, hang out for a bit and leave early. Great plan.

But I didn’t stick to it. After my name was crossed off the guest list and I entered the pub I realised it was huge. After a tour around the room with my champagne glass in hand, two girls started talking to me, and suddenly I met lots of nice people. So nice in fact that we stayed really late, but we had so much fun I didn’t want to go home.

The Jugged Hare, was a much larger pub than I first anticipated, but it was still cosy inside. The bar counter was close to the entrance door, further in you had the kitchen to your left and an empty space where I expect the restaurant tables to be, and even further in at the back there were a few booths to sit in.The kitchen looked amazing with lots of copperware and Le Creuset dishes and a rotisserie cabinet with a suckling big being roasted. Later when it was served I luckily got the last bun and the last crackling. Delicious!

Apart from a few tables with drinks and the canapées that came out of the kitchen most of the action was on the lower ground floor where there you could taste different wines and cheeses. There wasn’t much information about the different cheeses and the man working there was really busy as everyone would flock around him and demand cheese. We definitely tried some lovely cheeses, but unfortunately I don’t know what they’re called.

The canapées I managed to get my hands on were all from the regular menu, but made bite sized. The wild garlic, turnip and leek broth was lovely and totally in season with the wild garlic. The little crab and crab mayo canapé on toast was also really nice and to my surprise I enjoyed the black pudding croquettes too.

Apsrt form the food and wine I really enjoyed meeting fellow foodies. The girl who talked to me studies at the Cordon Bleu, which I am mighty jealous of, and I also bumped into the well-known blogger The London Foodie which was a pleasure.

Although most people left around 10pm our group stayed on and the tweed clad waiters were happy to serve us more wine. When we actually decided to leave the pub was emptying quite quickly and on the way out we got a goody bag each. It was a nice touch since it contained both the menu, a recipe for Jugged Hare, the dish the pub is named after, a Jugged Hare beer and a apple chutney for pork.

The whole event seemed very professional and thought through, and I hope the service will be just as good once the pub is opening its doors properly today.

Delicious mango icecream

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Spring is here and with it my longing for icecream is even stronger. Stronger? you might wonder. Yes, I am one of those weird people that can happily eat icecream when it is freezing cold outside.

And since I now have a proper freezer instead of a tiny one, I will make up for lost time by making and eating lots of icecream this spring and summer. Already in January, I made a simple vanilla icecream, and this time I tried mango.

The recipe is from a very trusted source, the Swedish food blog Smaskens.nu. I have tried and tested a lot of her recipes and they are always very good. This icecream is no exception, but describing it as very good would be an insult. It is wonderful! Rich and creamy with a freshness of fruity mango. Dreamy.

I can just picture myself in the garden of our summer house by the south coast in Sweden resting after a sunbathing session at the beach a short walk away and refreshing myself with this icecream. It has summer written all over it.

Mango icecream, 1 batch

After Annika’s recipe.

Custard:

400 ml cream

200 ml milk

a splash (1/2 tsp or so) vanilla

5 egg yolks

200 ml granulated cane sugar (lightly brown)

Heta up cream, milk and vanilla in a large saucepan. Beat yolks and sugar fluffy in a mixing bowl. Once the cream mixture is warm, pour it into the mixing bowl while stirring to combine. Transfer the lot to the saucepan again and heat up while stirring continuously. Do not let it boil. Remove once it has thickened slightly. Pour into the mixing bowl again and leave to cool. Chill in the fridge overnight to thicken.

Mango purée:

500 g mango

50 ml granulated cane sugar (lightly brown)

Peel and cut the mango into smallish pieces. Place in a saucepan with the sugar. Bring to the boil and let it bubble for about 15 minutes. Mix until smooth and let it cool.

Mix into the custard just before adding the mixture to the icecream maker. Once the icecream is done, let it set in the freezer for a few hours before serving.

Smaka och dö en smula!

Pasta with spinach and peanut sauce

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I thrive on inspiration from other blogs. Isn’t it great what the internet can provide us with?

Last week I found this recipe on a Swedish food blog I follow; Kryddburken [The Spice Jar] – a wonderful pasta recipe with a fabulous sauce made with spinach, peanuts, lemon, garlic and parmesan. It was utterly simple and tasted lovely. I think this will stick to my weekday repertoire.

I adapted the recipe a little (omitted pine nuts and halved it). You find my version below.

Pasta with spinach and peanut sauce, serves 2

Adapted from this recipe.

200 g pasta of your choice

100 g spinach, roughly chopped

50 g salted peanuts

200 ml half and half (half cream, half milk)

1/2 lemon, the juice

75 ml grated parmesan

1 small garlic clove, pressed

1 tsp chilli sauce

butter and oil for frying

salt and black pepper

Cook the pasta accordingly. Chop the nuts with a knife or in a food processor. Add the butter and oil to a frying pan on high heat. Add the spinach and nuts. Cook until the spinach has wilted and the water has dried away. Add the half and half, garlic and lemon juice and let the sauce thicken while stirring. Season.

Remove from the heat after about 5 minutes and stir in the parmesan. Serve with the pasta.

Scandi tip #17: Swedish Easter eggs

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Easter eggs as you know them in the UK, a chocolate egg with not much inside is quite nice, but very different from what I am used to from home.

In Sweden we give (and receive) cardboard Easter eggs with beautiful prints, filled with lots of mixed sweets including chewy dragé eggs that to me is a must!

When I was little my mother even painted Easter Eggs for the whole family and we use them every year. I have one really big pink one with my name on it, and another purple one that my granny made. Dad still wants his sweets in his childhood egg which is so huge it would take about 5 kg of sweets to fill it up, so normally we put some tissue paper in the bottom and fill up the rest so he doesn’t get more sweets than us.

On Saturday my friend Gaby mentioned (while looking at English Easter eggs) that her Swedish au pair used to give the children the paper version with all the sweets inside and I realised it is quite different to the British tradition.

I think this is partly because chocolate is so popular here. I mean, at home people eat a lot of chocolate too, and I prefer Marabou to Cadbury’s, but here people eat even more. But then again, we eat huge quantities of pick ‘n mix in Sweden and you don’t here, and that is probably because Sweden is better at producing nice chewy sweets. We even have different Haribo sweets in Sweden (although the brand is Danish) because what is on sale here just wouldn’t sell well in Sweden. Funny that.

I don’t actually know where/if you can buy the cardboard eggs here, but if you see them you should try our tradition too. One can’t have too many sweets, right?!

Barrafina, Soho

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I feel incredibly lucky working where I do. The company is great but this time I was actually refering to where the offices are located; just by the embankment. That means I can wander into Soho, Covent Garden and even Mayfair on my lunch breaks. Not bad, huh?

I am also lucky in the sense that I work with a fellow foodie, Caroline. Once in a while we go out for a proper lunch together, we have a long list of eateries we want to go through.

Last week we went to Barrafina, Caroline’s choice, but I loved it too. It is a small tapas bar (with emphasis on bar) consisting of one curved bar with 23 seats. When we got there at half past twelve they were all taken to our disappointment, but the waiter asked if we wanted to sit outside where they had a few tables on the side walk. Of course we wanted to sit in the glorious sun and enjoy our meal. And as  there were heaters all along the wall we were definitely not cold.

We got a menu in the form of a placemat on the table as well as a small black board with the specials. We chose (with difficulty as everything seemed delicious) a few dishes from each menu. We also settled for sparkling water and we probably had a bottle each, it just kept on coming and our waiter really looked after us.

We received the cured ham we ordered, Lomo, first of all, and shortly afterwards the lovely Pan con Tomate arrived; toasted sourdough with tomato pulp.

Next to arrive was the razor clams with olive oil, garlic and parsley. Lovely!

After that the pancetta wrapped cuttle fish with ink arrived and it was absolutely beautiful. I think this was both our favourite.

Next was the Morcilla Iberica, a blood sausage served with piquillo peppers and fried quail’s egs. The sausage was nice enough on its own, but paired with the egg it was really good.

One of the items from the special’s board was this kale with garlic, chilli and olive oil. Wonderful although so very simple.

We enjoyed the whole meal but a few dishes (the cuttle fish and the kale) were better than others. Everything was really fresh and well cooked. I will definitely come here again, and please stop by if you happen to be near here.

Barrafina
54 Frith Street,
London,
W1D 4SL

Chicken drumsticks with sweet chilli marinade

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I always tend to by chicken drumsticks when they’re on offer, as I like the darker chicken meat and these are perfect to snack on, bring to a picnic etc.

The recipe for this fabulous marinade is from a great Swedish food blog called Smaskens. Annika who runs it is one of my role models in cooking and all the recipes I have tried from her have been wonderful. This was no exception.

I ate the drumsticks in two ways. First served with couscous with lemon and spinach and a simple cold sauce with creme fraiche and sweet chilli. Second just lukewarm with corn on the cob. Both were delicious, and if you marinade the chicken for as long as I did, 48 hours, the meat is so tender and succulent you don’t need a sauce with it.

Chicken drumsticks with sweet chilli marinade

After Annika’s recipe.

1,8 kg chicken drumsticks

50 ml Chinese soy sauce

100 ml sweet chilli sauce

100 ml olive oil

4 cloves of garlic, grated/pressed

2 tsp sambal oelek

1 tsp salt

black pepper

Mix the ingredients for the marinade and pour it into a large ziplock bag (double-bag if needed) and add the chicken. Marinade for at least an hour, preferably longer. I kept mine in the fridge for 48 hours, turning it around a few times to the marinade to distribute evenly.

Place the chicken on a wire rack with a roasting tray underneath. Cook in 200C oven for about 30 minutes, turning after 15 minutes so the cook evenly.