Author: Hanna

Parsnip soup

Published on by HannaLeave a comment

I never get tired of soups during the autumn and winter, but I like to try new flavours and my aim is probably to try to make soup of most vegetables.

I have actually not made one with just parsnip in before, but this was really good. Parsnip is a sweet vegetable so it definitely needs the onions and garlic as well as the mushrooms on top to balance that out. Add a little truffle oil to enhance the mushrooms even more and this soup could be served at a dinner party as a starter.

Parsnip soup with fried mushrooms, serves 2

500 g parsnips, peeled and cut into smaller pieces

1/2 onion, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, pressed

water

1 tsp concentrated vegetable stock

100 cream

1 tsp dried thyme

salt, white pepper

To serve:

6-7 chestnut mushrooms, thinly sliced, fried in butter and oil + truffle oil

Fry the onion in olive oil in a large sauce pan without it browning. Lower the heat and add the garlic. Fry for 30 seconds. Add the parsnips and fry for a minute or so. Cover the parsnips with boiling water. Add the stock and bring to the boil. Cook until the parnips are very soft. drain 1/3 of the water but set it aside. Mix the 2/3 with the parsnips until smooth. Add more of the water if needed. Bring the purée to the boil and add cream and thyme. Season to taste with stock, salt and pepper. Add some milk if the soup is too thick. Pour into bowls and top with the mushrooms and truffle oil. Serve straight away.

Roast chicken with smoked salt and garlic, white wine sauce and butternut squash with feta and pine nuts

Published on by HannaLeave a comment

Last week we had the Sunday roast on the Saturday, which worked really well actually. I served it with a creamy sauce instead of gravy to make it worthy of a Saturday night supper, and it worked!

I also tried some smoked salt I bought a while ago from Halen Môn. I have been dying to try it and thought chicken was the perfect place to start. To make it adhere better to the chicken I crushed the salt flakes in my pestle and mortar first.

Apart from the smoked salt I only used butter, garlic and white pepper to season the chicken. It tasted lovely and came out very moist, but if you want a more distinct smoked taste you need to add more salt.

I also put some potato chunks and red onion in the roasting tray with the chicken so they could soak up the meat juices and taste all lovely. Roasted butternut squash with feta cheese and pine nuts as well as green beans was the perfect addition.

And then the sauce. It was a creamy concoction with white wine and a dash of balsamic vinegar and it was excellent with chicken. I will definitely make it again. Soon even.

Roast chicken with smoked salt and garlic, serves 4

1 medium chicken

3 tbsp butter

3 tsp smoked salt, crushed

white pepper

3 jacket potato sized potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

1/2 red onion, cut into wedges

Rinse the chicken and trim it if needed. Make a cut in the skin above each breasts. Stick your finger into the whole and create a pocket between the skin and the meat. Make two slashes on each thigh with a knife. Mix the butter with garlic and fill the breast pockets with this mixture. Smear it onto the thighs and rub what is left onto the whole chicken. Season with smoked salt and white pepper all around the bird. Place in a roasting tray with the potatoes and onions. Roast for 45-60 minutes in 200C or until the chicken is cooked through (clear meat juices by the thigh joint) and the potatoes are done. Leave to rest for 10 mins covered in foil before serving. Sprinkle on some more smoked salt when carved.

Roasted butternut squash with feta and pine nuts, serves 4

1/2 butternut squash

3 tbsp crumbled feta

1 tbsp pine nuts, toasted if you prefer

Remove the pips and cut off the ends of the squash. Cut into chunks and place in a small roasting tray. Sprinkle with feta and pine nuts, salt and pepper. Roast in 200C for 20-25 mins.

White wine sauce with chicken, serves 2

100 ml white wine

2 tsp balsamic vinegar

1 tsp concentrated chicken stock

100 ml cream

1 tsl mild chilisås

salt and pepper

Pour all the ingredients into a sauce pan. Bring to the boil and heat up. Adjust the stock and seasoning.

Here we go again – a Friday supper favourite

Published on by Hanna2 Comments

Some foods I never get bored of. Blue steak and homemade bearnaise sauce is one thing, baked camembert another. And these two things are usually served on a Friday in my house, as they provide instant comfort after a work week.

Last Friday we served the baked camembert oozing from the oven, together with some nice bread, charkuteries (Hungarian chorizo; chorizo, saucisson; Milano salami), cream cheese stuffed pickled baby peppers it was a fabulous supper although quite modest.

To make camembert is oh so simple, but just in case you have forgotten, let’s take it again!

Baked camembert, serves 2-4 depending on the spread

1 whole camembert, I normally buy the brand Le Rustique

bread for serving

also cornichons, pear wedges etc. works well with the cheese

Heat up the oven to 200C. Remove the packaging from the cheese. If it comes in a wooden case however, place it back in it. Otherwise place the whole cheese in a small ovenproof dish. Cut some wholes on the top of the cheese before placing in the oven. Bake until warmed through and runny, 20 mins approx. Serve immediately with bread and dip into the cheese like a fondue.

Scandi tip #5: St Lucia celebrations

Published on by Hanna1 Comment

Over at the Scandinavian Kitchen on Great Titchfield Street are they doing lots of Christmas specials. Among other things are they hosting St Lucia celebrations from the 10th-13th December.

A Swedish jazz singer (and also friends with my best friend) will sing together with her friends. The shop will close during the half hour performances and turn off the lights for extra ambiance.

Read more about the history of our Scandinavian St Lucia celebrations and to buy tickets here.

As you can see above, the picture is borrowed from http://www.photos-swede.com

Boeuf Bourguignon in the slowcooker

Published on by HannaLeave a comment

Since I bought my crockpot a while back it has provided me with some nice stews and a lot of pulled pork.

But would it work with the ultimate stew – the famous Julia Child Boeuf Bourguignon?

It did! I mean, it doesn’t cook itself like many other stews, but once you’ve done all the prepping, you can definitely leave the rest to the slow cooker.

I did all the chopping and frying in the morning, turned on the crockpot and went to a friend’s house for the afternoon. When I got back in the early evening, I fried some mushrooms and added them to the pot and got the potatoes roasting. Other than that supper was labour free.

Boeuf bourguignon in the slow cooker, serves 4

60 g streaky bacon

olive oil

450 g stewing steak, cut into cubes

1 small carrot, sliced

1/2 onion, sliced

salt & black pepper

10 g plain flour

230 ml red wine (Beaujolais, Cotes du Rhone, Burgundy, Chianti)

130 ml beef stock

2 tsp tomato paste

1 clove garlic, pressed

1/4-1/2 tsp thyme

1 bay leaf

150 g button mushrooms

Cut the bacon into lardons. Simmer rind and bacon for 10 minutes in water. Drain and dry. Preheat oven to 230C.

In a frying pan, sauté the bacon in oil over moderate heat for 2 to 3 minutes to brown lightly. Remove to a side dish with a slotted spoon. Leave frying pan aside. Reheat until fat is almost smoking before you sauté the beef.

Dry the beef; it will not brown if it is damp. Sauté it, a few pieces at the time, in the hot oil and bacon fat until nicely brown on all sides. Add it to the bacon.

In the same fat, brown the sliced carrot and onion. Place the bacon, meat, carrots and onions in the slow cooker pot and toss with salt and pepper. Then sprinkle on the flour and toss again to coat the beef lightly with the flour. Place casserole uncovered in the middle position of preheated oven for 4 minutes. Toss the meat and return to oven for 4 minutes more. (This browns the flour and covers the meat with a light crust.) Remove casserole and turn the oven off.

Stir in the wine, and enough stock so that the meat is barely covered. Add the tomato paste, garlic and herbs. Turn the slow cooker on low heat and leave it for 5 hours.

Before serving, fry the mushrooms. Place a frying pan over a high heat with some butter and oil. As soon as you see that the butter foam hasbegun to subside, indicating that it is hot enough, add the mushrooms (washed, well dried, left whole if small, sliced or quartered if large). Toss and shake the pan for 4 to 5 minutes. During this the mushrooms will first absorb the fat. In 2 to 3 minutes the fat will reappear on their surface, and the mushrooms will begin to brown. As soon as they have browned lightly, remove from the heat.

If the sauce is too thick, remove the meat and add some stock. Check the seasoning. Put the meat back. Add the mushrooms and heat up. If the sauce is not thick enough, remove the meat and reduce the juices. Check seasoning, put the mat back, add the mushrooms and warm up to serve. The sauce should be thick enough to coat a spoon lightly.

 

Steak tartare

Published on by Hanna1 Comment

For the first time ever I made steak tartare. As an adult I have thoroughly started to appreciate rare meat, and it was about time I made my first steak tartare. But there are sooo many recipes to chose from, I asked for help on Twitter. Maybe someone had the ultimate recipe at hand. It certainly paid off and the lovely Hanna at Swedish Meatball Eats London shared a link.

The recipe is courtesy of Anthony Bourdain, so it was bound to be good. I did chicken out regarding the anchovies though. I lika anchovies, don’t get me wrong. and in patées for example they are an essential, but I didn’t want my steak tartare to taste fishy. Next time I will try it with them though.

Only problem I had with the recipe was the size of the steak tartares. They certainly ended up bigger then the ones you get in restaurants so I think a smaller portion would be better.

Steak tartare, serves 2

adapted from Anthony Bourdain’s Les Halles Cookbook via Hanna
 

>300 g Sirloin steak

1 egg yolk

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

2 chopped anchovies – which I omitted

1 tsp ketchup – omitted as well

1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Tabasco (about 6-8 dashes)

black pepper

2 tbsp mild oil

1 tbsp Cognac

1/2 chopped onion (or 1 shallots)

parsley

small capers

cornichons, chopped

Chop and chop the meat. If you find that difficult like me, use a food processor, but be careful not to disintegrate it.

Mix the other ingredients apart from onion, capers and cornichons in a bowl. Mix in the chopped steak and then add onions, capers and cornichons. Shape to patties by hand or using a cooking ring. Serve with an egg yolk each, blackpepper and crusty bread or chips. 

Scallops with bacon and wild garlic mayonnaise

Published on by HannaLeave a comment

This is a great throw-together starter, that still has that something extra. Just serve with some nice bread.

I know that wild garlic is not in season now, but I happen to have quite a lot of it in the freezer, so I can use it for special occasions. I totally adore the flavour!

Scallops with bacon and wild garlic mayonnaise, serves 2

1 batch wild garlic mayonnaise

3 slices streaky bacon

6 large fresh scallops

mixed baby leaf salad

extra virgin olive oil or coldpressed rapeseed oil

salt

Make the mayonnaise. Cut the bacon into smaller pieces and fry until crispy. Drain on kitchen towel. Dress the salad with oil and salt. Cut off the muscles on the scallops (the tough white part) and fry in butter on high heat until just cooked through. Season. Plate and serve straight away.

Tray bake with chicken, chorizo, potatoes & parsnips

Published on by Hanna1 Comment

I love a good tray bake when I’m feeling lazy or am exhausted after a work day. It needs little preparation, and all you need to think about is each ingredient’s cooking time.

When I made this particular tray bake I wanted something comforting but with lots of flavour, and good chorizo does add all that. The fat from the smoky chorizo and the chicken melts nicely into the tray and get absorbed by the root vegetables, making the whole dish moist and crispy at the same time. There is no need to add a sauce, although creme fraiche with sweet chilli sauce, salt and white pepper would be a fab addition, but if you’re lazy a (big) dollop or good quality mayonnaise will do nicely too.I took my plate and curled up under the duvet, a ‘la Nigella and watched an episode of Rizzoli & Isles. That’s allowed when home alone on a gloomy and dark autumn evening.

Tray bake with chicken, chorizo, potatoes and parsnips, serves 2-3

3 baking potato sized potatoes, I used Maris Piper

1 parsnip

1 green bell pepper

1/2 chorizo ring, sliced

1 garlic solo, sliced

4 chicken thighs

1/2 lemon, the juice

mild olive oil

salt & pepper

Pour some oil onto a roasting tray. Dice the potato into large chunks (with the skin on). Peel and cut the parsnip into chunks as well as the pepper. Place it all in the roasting tray. Add salt and pepper and place it in the oven for 20 minutes on 200C.

In the meantime, brown the chicken thighs on medium-high heat in a frying pan. Remove the roasting tray from the oven after 20 minutes and add the sliced chorizo and garlic. Squeeze the lemon juice on top and place the chicken thighs in the tray. Put it back into the oven for another 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked.

Delicious quesadillas with chorizo, pickled hot peppers and spinach

Published on by Hanna1 Comment

One of the most fulfillinh feelings I can think of, associated with food, is actually not that of content after a delicious meal, but when I manage to create a lovely supper out of only leftovers. Not throwing food away is something my mother has always preached but in my teens and early twenties, it was difficult for me to eat leftovers. It was totally silly, but I just couldn’t do it, as it never tasted as nice as when it was just cooked. Since then I have learnt that ‘my thing’ is to transform leftovers into a new meal or if it is a lasange or pasta bake, have them as they are the next day.

So this is such a good feeling for me, overcoming wasting food, and now creating whole dinners out of only leftover food.

These quesadillas are a great example. We had tortillas left after a pulled pork feast, pickled hot peppers leftover from when I made a sauce, chorizo that needed to be eaten because it had been opened for a week, and spinach that was on the verge of wilting in its bag. Oh, and some left over cream cheese from a cheesecake and grated cheese that almost had gone a bit dry.

Throw all this into quesadillas, fry them in butter, which is oh so important for the flavour and serve either as they are as a simple supper or together with a soup. I managed to make a green pea soup out of leftovers as well, even using up some old white wine. Love it!

Quesadillas with chorizo , pickled hot peppers and baby spinach, serves 2-3

6soft wheat tortillas

3 tbsp cream cheese

150-200 ml grated cheese, I used Monterey Jack because I like the way it melts

9 slices chorizo

6-7 small pickled hot peppers, halved

baby spinach

2 tbsp butter for frying

Spread the cream cheese onto all the tortillas. Distribute grated cheese, chorizo, peppera and spinach on 3 of the tortillas. Place the plainer ones on top. Melt the butter (and perhaps some oil) in a large frying pan and fry the quesadillas on both sides until golden brown and crisp and until the cheese has melted on the inside. Cut every quesadillas in six wedges and serve straight away. 

Scandi tip #4: Swedish Christmas Market

Published on by HannaLeave a comment

Every year before Christmas the Swedish Church arrange a Christmas Market in the church in London. This church is more like a regular (but large) house and houses the actual market, hot dog stand and café.

I try to go every year as it puts me in the Christmas spirit. At the market you can find anything from tree decorations, to Swedish candles, to groceries. And yes, it is of course the latter I am most interested in.

The market starts on Thursday next week (see above) and the entry fee is £1 for all three days. The address is:

The Swedish Church in London
6 Harcourt Street
London
W1H 4AG
United Kingdom

Maybe I’ll see you there?

The picture above is from the Swedish Church in London’s website.