Author: Hanna

Roast topside of beef with bearnaise sauce

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My little autumn cooking project will be to master all kinds of roasts and casseroles, ans it is so much fun.

We had this for supper last Saturday and it was lovely. If we have steak I prefer mine blue, basically just turned in a hot pan, but I prefer a roast rare, as topside needs longer to cook. And this was cooked to perfection with my references. It was a little bloody, proper red meat and still tender and juicy.

I served it with bèarnaise sauce, which I love and the recipe below is both easy and makes the perfectly balanced sauce. In restaurants you often get a terrible vinegary runny sauce, and this it is counterpart. The sauce is thick and velvety, has enough vinegar to not be buttery, but not so much that it takes over. I’m salivating just thinking about it…

Further, I served potato wedges and purple sprouting with the meal and red wine is almost compulsory.

Roast topside of beef, serves 4

600-800 g topside of beef

salt, black pepper

butter and oil for frying

Trim the meat and pat it with plenty of salt and pepper. Brown it in a hot frying pan in the butter and oil until nice and brown on all sides. Place in an oven dish or put the pan (no plastic handles) straight in the oven. Place a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the meat. Place it in a 150C oven for about 20 minutes or until the inner temperature is 43C. Remove the meat from the dish/frying pan and cover wuth tin foil. Let it rest for at least 10 minutes before serving in slices.

Bèarnaise sauce 2.0, serves 2-4

2,5 tbsp white wine vinegar

1,75 tsp dried tarragon

2 tbsp water

3 egg yolks

150 g butter cold or at room temperature, cut into small cubes

Add the vinegar and tarragon to a nonstick saucepan. Reduce on high heat while stirring and the fan on full until most of the liquid has evaporated. Make sure not to burn the herbs. Remove from heat and add the water. Add the egg yolks and stir. Place the pan on low heat and stir until it starts to thicken slightly, add a butter cube and while stirring, watch it melt. Add another and repeat. Remember to stir/whisk all the time. After a few cubes you can a few at the time. Repeat until all the butter has melted. Let it thicken some more if needed, and remember that it will keep cooking even when you remove the pan from the heat. Season with salt and white pepper if needed. Pour into a cold sauce bowl straight away and serve.

Sweet chilli chicken with ginger and pineapple

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I got this recipe in an email from my dear Mama (said like in Downton Abbey, my obsession at the moment) who in turn tasted the dish at a friend’s house. So I am afraid I don’t know the original source of the recipe. But that doesn’t matter, because it is really easy to make and very tasty.

Dear Mama only emailed me the ingredients, so below is my version of the dish. I know I usually recommend chicken thighs for more or less every chicken dish, but not this one actually, it works better with chicken breasts here, and they are anything but dry cooking in the cream.

Sweet chilli chicken with ginger and pineapple, serves 4

4 large chicken breasts/fillets

butter/oil for frying

3 tbsp tinned pineable chunks (in juice, not syrup)

1 cm grated fresh ginger

3-4 tbsp sweet chilli

300 ml single cream

a splash of dark soy sauce

salt, white pepper

Brown the fillets in butter/oil until golden brown. Add salt and pepper and place in an ovenproof dish. Mix the other ingredients in an saucepan and bring to the boil. Let it thicken for a few minutes and pour the saue over the chicken breasts. Place the dish in the oven, 200C for 15-20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked. Serve with steamed rice and vegetables (i.e. broccoli). 

Friday update and next weeks menu

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Already Friday again and less than three months left till Christmas. It feels very surreal considering that we had a 27C this week…

This week has just whizzed by and the only thing I’ve done is to attend a crash course in photography with my friend Jenny. We were taught both the basics and a few good tips, so I am really excited about photography at the moment.

Other than that, I have spent some time in the kitchen preparing the monthly cakes for work.

And tonight we’re going to Bucks to spend the weekend with Christopher’s mother and brother. It is his mother’s birthday, so we will put her in a comfy chair with a glass of bubbly while the rest of us take over the kitchen.

Next week’s menu is as follows:

Friday: just grabbing something on way to Bucks

Saturday: Jerusalem artichoke soup with girolles; poussins with lemon and rosemary, roast potatoes and jus; tarte tatin, vanilla icecream; truffles.

Sunday: tacos when we’re back home

No cosy dinner at home tonight for us, but we had a lovely one last week (picture at the top) so we’ll be ok. Have a great weekend, guys!

Mexican cornbread

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I borrowed a wonderful cookbook of my friend Gaby, the American equivalent to Delia Smith Mrs Beeton; The Fannie Farmer Cookbook.

Gaby suggested I’d try the cornbread recipe, and I had actually thought of baking cornbread just a few days before (but from a different recipe). The book also suggests alterations to the classic cornbread, such as this Mexican version with corn, jalapeños and cheese, which I just had to try straight away.

Served with a broccoli soup, which was nice, this completely stole the show, and I don’t remember the soup much at all anymore.

The cornbread is very moist and a bit like a sponge in texture. Together with a generous spread of salted butter, this is lovely on its own, together with a soup or perhaps some pulled pork. Just promise me you’ll make it!

Mexican cornbread, 1 batch

1/4 cup (60 ml) yellow cornmeal (I used polenta)

1 cup (230 ml) plain flour

1/3 cup (79 ml) caster sugar

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup (230 ml) milk

1 egg, beaten

2 tbsp melten shortening or bacon fat (I used vegetable oil)

2 tbsp chopped jalapeños (I used pickled)

1 cup (230 ml) tinned corn (drained)

1/2 cup (118 ml) grated cheddar or Monterey Jack

Turn the oven on 220 C. Grease a 20 cm square tin (I used a loaf tin though). Mix polenta, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Add milk, egg and fat. Stir to incorporate. Add cheese, corn and jalapeños, and stir to combine. Pour the mixture into the tin and place in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Leave to cool and cut into squares if you used a square tin and slices if you used a loaf tin like me. Serve with salted butter.

Chicken thighs with sambal oelek and basil

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Once again, I am promoting chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts. I like that this meat always come with skin that you can crisp up. It is also a lot cheaper than chicken breasts, but the main advantage for me, is that the meat is so much juicier, and it is almost impossible to end up with dry meat on a chickn thigh.

This dish is perfect as a weekday dish or even a casual dinner party dish if you prefer, as the cream adds a little pinch of sofistication. I am certainly pleased with the combination of basil and sambal oelek, it really works!

Chicken thighs with sambal oelek and basil, serves 3

800 g (ca 6) chicken thighs

butter/oil for frying

1 large leek, sliced

300 ml single cream

3 tsp sambal oelek

2 tsp Chinese soy

1 garlic cloves

a splash of concentrated chicken stock or 1/4 stock cube

salt, white pepper

a bunch or fresh basil, chopped

Brown the chicken thighs on high heat in the fat, until gold and crispy skin. Transfer to a plate. Fry the leek in the same frying pan until it has some colour. Place it in the bottom of a greased gratin dish. Place the chicken fillets on top, skin side up. Mix cream, soy, sambal oelek, garlic and stock in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Let it thicken while stirring. Season with salt and pepper, add the basil. Pour the sauce into the gratin dish and place it in a 200C oven for 15-20 minutes. Make sure the chicken is cooked through. A lot of meat juices will make the sauce thinner, which I quite like. If you want a thicker sauce pour it back into the saucepan, add thickening granules and let it thicken for a few minutes and pour it back into the dish to serve. Serve with potato wedges or rice and steamed broccoli. 

Tuscan wine tasting at Harrod’s

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I don’t think Harrod’s needs an introduction, and I am a big fan of their food halls, and of course the Laduree cafée. But this time we were there for a Tuscan wine tasting in their wine store in the basement.

I guess 100-150 attended this sold out event and we mingled around with our glasses trying 50 Tuscan wines. Most were red, but there were also a few whites and some vin santo.

But first, as a treat, we got to try four types of Bollinger champagne. It was two non-vintage; Special Cuvée NV and Bollinger rosé as well as La Grande Année 2002 and La Grande Année Rosé 2002. A few weeks back I got to try a Dom Perignon 2000 which was lovely, and actually a bit nicer than this Bollinger vintage. Don’t get me wrong, the Bollinger was nice too, and a lot cheaper if you want a vintage champagne, so I still recommend it.

Most wines at this tasting were, as I mentioned earlier, reds. Chianti and Brunello are the most common wines, and the most gommon grape is Sangiovese. Most reds had the main grape as Sangiovese but also had other grapes blended in.

We also got to try a wonderful rosé, that tasted Provence and a white vermentino that was absolutely fabulous. But the best memory from this evening was when we tried a beautiful vin santo. I have had several vin santo before, and other dessert wines, but this was something extraordinary. It was amazing and just blew us away. It was of course sweet, but had a deeper undertone that was just phenomenal. It is called Vin Santo di Carmignano Riserva 2005.

There were also canapées (much needed when trying that many wines!) and they were really good. They had arancini (being true to the theme), crisp salmon fishcakes, mini mini quiches with melt-in-the-mouth pastry and rare roast beef in a shortcrust crustade with horseradish, and a sweet lemon cheesecake to finish.

This was just a fabulous evening, and I learned so much about wine in general and Tuscan wines in particular from talking to all the vendors, but we also met lovely people mingling just like us, and I have a sneaky feeling we will see some of them at the next event.

Moist chocolate cake with frosting

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I love a good chocolate cake with frosting, partyly because I (like most people) really like chocolate, but also because of a dear childhood memory.

My maternal grandmother was a good cook and baker and when it was her or granddad’s birthday they would usually celebrate it the old-fashioned Swedish way with and afternoon cake party. Normally there would be seven types of cakes and cookies, including danishes or cinnamon rolls, a sponge of some form, and a proper birthday cake as the main attraction.

Some of these cakes could be quite grown-up in taste, so to please us grandchildren she would make a chocolate sheetcake with frosting, which we loved (well, I still do). And mind you, frosting didn’t even exist in rural Sweden in the mid-eighties, so she was well before her time.

But the cake was lovely and I think about it a lot. Unfortunately I never managed to get the recipe off her before she died, but my mother think she knows how she made it. I have yet to try that method for frosting, I think I have been putting it off because I so want it to be right.

But now, I can experiment again, because even if the recipe my mother has suggested turns out wrong, this Hummingbird Bakery frosting is so close to what I remember it tasted like, although containing completely different ingredients, that I am pleased either way.

My dear mommi Edith (my nickname for her when I was a child) – this is for you.

Moist chocolate cake with frosting, serves 8-10

400 ml caster sugar

330 ml plain flour

4 tbsp cocoa

2,5 tsp vanilla sugar

2,5 tsp baking powder

135 g melted butter

3 eggs

200 ml boiling water

Mix the dry ingredients. Add eggs, butter and water, stir to incorporate. Pour into a greased springform. Bake in a low oven, 175 C for 35-45 minuten. Leave to cool completely. Cut in half with a serrated knife (bread knife).

Chocolate frosting

200 g icing sugar

75 g softened butter

30 g cocoa

150 g cream cheese, cold

Beat sugar, butter and cocoa with an electric whisk. Add the cream cheese and beat until you have a glossy and even frosting.

Divide the batch into two. Use half as filling in the middle. Use the rest to either cover the cake all around or to pipe decorations on top. Sprinkle with icing sugar (which I forgot). 

Roast lamb shoulder with roast potatoes and red wine and porcini sauce

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I thoroughly enjoy the Sunday roasts so common in this country, and it is certainly the season for it again now. So last Sunday we had the frist roast with roast potatoes for a while, and it was lovely!

I used a half shoulder of Welsh lamb and was actually really pleased with the result. The oven was only on 150C, and I browned it before roasting to give it more flavour, and to get tender meat I rested it for 30 minutes. This left crispy bits on the outside and pink tender meat on the inside.

We also had perfect roast potatoes, red wine sauce with porcini and roasted root veg. A perfect Sunday supper!

Roast shoulder of lamb , serves 2

whole or half shoulder of lamb, bone in. (mine weighed around 800 g)

butter/oil for frying

4 rosemary sprigs

2 whole garlic cloves

a splash of red wine

Season the meat on all sides, don’t be shy with the salt. Brown it in a hot frying pan with the rosemary and garlic in the pan as well as oil/butter. Place it on a wire rack over a tinfoiled-lined roasting tray. Add the wine and place a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the meat (not by the bone). Place in 150C oven until it reaches 58C inside. Wrap in tin foil and let it rest for 30 minutes.

Roast potatoes, serves 2

ca 6 large Maris Piper potatoes, peeled and cut in half

2 tbsp duck or goose fat

salt, white pepper

Place the potatoes in a pan and add biling water just to cover them. Parboil for 5 minutes. Add the fat to a roasting tray and let it heat up in the oven. Place the drained potatoes on the tray and turn to coat them with fat. Season. Roast for about 35 minutes or until crisp and golden in 175-200 C oven.

Red wine sauc with porcini mushrooms, serves 2

a handful dried porcini mushrooms

water

200 ml red wine

meat juices

200 ml single cream

1-2 tsp concentrated beef stock

1 tsp mild chilli sauce, a pinch of sugar or a spoonful jelly

salt, pepper

Cover the mushrooms with water. Squeeze to get rid of excess water, but keep the water. Chop roughly and fry in oil (in a non-stick saucepan) until browned. Add the water from the mushrooms, red wine and meat juices into the pan and let it reduce for 5-10 minutes. Add the other ingredients and season to taste. Bring to the boil and let it thicken slightly before serving.

Roasted root vegetables, serves 2

2 parsnips

2 carrots

a chunk of swede

1/2 red onion

2 sprigs thyme or rosemary

2 tbsp olive oil

salt, pepper

Peel and dice the root vegetables. Peel and cut the onion into wedges. Mix it all in an small roasting tin with the olive oil. Add the herbs/salt and pepper (a lot). Place in 175C oven, preferrably covered with a baking tray not to brown, until soft. 

Crisp salted oatmeal white chocolate cookies

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I found the recipe for these irresistible cookies on the Smitten Kitchen blog (do check it out if you haven’t already).

I knew immediately after seeing the recipe that I had to make them. I am not one who can resist white chocolate or the salt-chocolate combo. And it was equally difficult to resist eating say five when the first batch came out of the oven.

I really enjoyed these, they are really crispy on the outside and with salted butter and the added salt in the recipe they have the perfect salt balance to the sweetness I think.

Making these also gave me the opportunity to finally use my lovely cup measures I got from my birthday. They are in the shape of babuschka dolls and incredibly cute. 🙂

Since I for once followed the recipe, there is no need for posting it on here, instead use the recipe on Smitten Kitchen’s website. You find it here!


Nice bubbles

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The drinking culture is quite I mean vast in difference between Sweden and England. To generalise: in Sweden you drink at special occasions, mainly Friday and Saturday night. In England you drink to socialise and it doesn’t matter what day of the week it is.

So my relationship to alcohol has definitely chaged since I moved here, it is more relaxed here, and the main purpose is to socialise and have a great time. To make something a special occasion or just to indulge, champagne always adds the oh la la. In Sweden that is reserved to very  special occasions, and just opening the bottle the two of you is rarely done.

But since I moved here and started working with mainly French people I have learned that there is always something to celebrate and you can drink champagen when someone is leaving the company, or starting, or just because you feel like it.

I love this approach and my English friends have the same approach. We love to start a dinner party with some bubbly, and sometimes we just share a bottle at home because we feel like it. Be it a Wednesday or a Saturday, it doesn’t matter.

Among the larger brands NV champagne I now have a favourite – Pol Roger. This brand was also Winston Churchill’s bubbles of choice and that is why one of their champagnes are named after him.

What I liked about Pol Roger Brut NV was that it is dry, which I prefer, and lovely little pillars of bubbles. It feels and tastes luxurious and I suppose the design of the bottle add to that experience too. Cheers!