Author: Hanna

Maze on a Monday or when I met Gordon Ramsay

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I was suppose to post nice recipes from the weekend, but after the Monday night I had, I just have to tell you about it! Because I met Gordon Ramsay!

One of his restaurants in Mayfair, Maze, has an offer on at the moment (Maze on a Monday) to make people fill up the restaurant on the otherwise quiet Monday evenings. Their offer is three courses for £25 and a tour of the kitchen. Who could possibly resist?!

Yesterday we tried out the offer together with our dear friends Chris and Jess. The interior of the restaurant is laid-back modern and the ambiance is quite relaxed for a Michelin star restaurant (it has 1 star) and the cuisine has been described as innovative.

Although it was a limited menu, it sounded impressive and very in season. There were wild garlic, rhubarb and radishe on the menu for example.

For their starter, the boys chose the same. Confit chicken with caesarsallad garnish. They really liked it and thought the anchovies and chicken really worked together.

Jess had the marinated beetroot with goat’s cheese curd and pine nuts, which looked fab!

I chose the wild garlic soup with maple glazed chicken oysters and lemon emulsion. On my plate was just the chicken, emulsion and wild garlic flower and it looked rather sad, but when all of us had the starter on the table they poured the soup onto the plate. I love when the waiters get involved like that and it turned out all the three courses I chose had the element of pouring liquid onto my plate. 🙂 It was a great dish, the soup tasted very mildly of wild garlic and the lemon emulsions where like little island floating in the soup. Only thing I can complain about was the temperature of the soup. It was eaither not heated up properly or sitting on the hot plate for too long.

For the maincourse the each couple chose the same dish. Chris and Jess had the Loch Duart salmon with brown shrimps and fondue of leek. It looked lovely and Jess thought this was the best dish she had.

Chris and I chose the Szechuan spicy pork with crackling, edamame beans and thinly sliced black radish. It was really nice and tender, cooked to perfection, but less spicy than it seemed on the menu.

And so the desserts. The boys chose the same once again, this time ‘The summer crumble’; elderflower mousse with berry sorbet and granola.

I had the rhubarb soup with ginger pannacotta, icecream and coriander. It was quite a light dessert; not too sweet, not too creamy. And summery. 🙂

Jess had the pistachio parfair with cherry sorbet and griotte cherries. It looked wonderful and if I had liked cherry in any other form than just fresh, I would have chosen this.

All in all it was a wonderful meal wih two bottles of wine and lots of laughter, and although the portions were small we felt full. The food was nice and well executed, but I still think Gordon Ramsay at Claridges was slightly better on the starters and mains, but not on the desserts.

At the end of our meal, Christopher spotted Gordon Ramsay himself in the restaurant chatting to a table a few meters away. Of course we all turned and looked, and a few minutes later he was standing in between Jess and Chris and looking right at me! He was all smiles and pleasant, and we chatted for a little while until he moved onto the next table.

It was quite late by the time we got to see the kitchen, we were busy having a good time, but we were shown around and got to see the large kitchen with all the different sections and the massive hot plate.

The meatloaf who said ‘I told you so’

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What's red is the smoked bacon rubbing off colour, the loaf is cooked through.

A common occurence in our house is me being over-excited about cooking something and Christopher who looks at me and says: I don’t like it. He is not picky my boyfriend (I’m actually the picky one) but he does not see the appeal with certain things.

The same thing happened with the pasta bake. Christopher thought it would be awful, but I proved him wrong. And now we went through the same scenario with the meatloaf. And the meatloaf won of course. How could it not when it had the flavours of garlic and fresh basil, was wrapped in smoked bacon and glazed with the Pioneerwoman’s glaze (who by the way is the queen of meatloaves)?!

Meatloaf with garlic and basil, wrapped in bacon, serves 4

500 g beef mince

100 ml breadcrumbs

50 ml milk

1 egg

salt

black pepper

a handful of basil, chopped

1 large clove of garlic, pressed

1 packet of smoked bacon

Glaze:

100 ml ketchup

2 tbsp brown sugar

1/2-1 tsp Enlish mustard or mustard powder

tabasco to taste

Add breadcrumbs, milk and the egg to a bowl. Leave for a few minutes so the bread can soak up the liquid. Season with plenty of salt and pepper. Add the basil, garlic and the mince. Mix thoroughly.

Drizzle oil in a roasting tray and place the mince shaped as a loaf on it. Cover with the bacon, overlapping each slice, and tuck the ends in underneath the meatloaf.

Mix the ingredients for the glaze and spread it on top of the loaf. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes on 200C. Leave to cool for a few minutes before serving, which makes it easier to cut nice slices.  

Chicken thighs with asparagus couscous

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I know that a lot of people prefer the fillets when they buy chicken, but I have always prefered the darker meat. Which was perfect at home when I grew up. If he had a whole roast chicken, my dad would have the breasts and my mother and I the darker meats like thighs, wings and drumsticks.

Chicken breast is good for ceratain dishes, but it feels like people in general have forgotten about the other cuts. A shame… But good for me I guess. My favourite part of the chicken is the thighs, and they are really cheap in comparison. And juicier (it is almost impossible to end up with dry thighs) and it also has more flavours.

Last week we had this really nice, but oh so easy to make, dish for supper. Fried marinated chicken thighs with a delicious couscous salad, containing marinated red onions and fried asparagus, served with sweet chili creme fraiche (it goes so well with chicken).

Chicken thighs with asparagus couscous, serves 2

4 chicken thighs

4 tbsp garlic marinade (I used a store bought one)

300 ml vegetable stock (boiling water + concentrated stock)

couscous

a bunch of asparagus

1 red onion

1 lime, the juice

olive oil

rocket

creme fraiche

sweet chilli sauce

Pour the marinade in a ziplock bag and add the chicken. Leave to marinate in the fridge for at least an hour. Fry the chicken on high heat to brown, then transfer to a roasting tray and fry in the oven. 200C ,20 minutes.

Pour the hot stock into a bowl. Add enough coucous to nearly soak up all the water. Add some olive oil. Wait for a minute. Mix with a fork.

Cut the onion in half and slice thinly. Place in a bowl, add lime juice (or lemon) and some olive oil. Leave until everything is ready.

Break the ends off the asparagus, cut into small pieces, diagonally, and fry until soft in olive oil on medium heat. Re-use the pan used for frying the chicken.

Mix creme fraiche with as much sweet chilli sauce as you prefer, add salt.

Take out the chicken from the oven and let it rest while you finish off the salad. Mix the couscous with the asparagus, onion and the marinade for the onion. Put it on a large plate and add rocket. Serve with the chicken and the sauce. 

Sushi – oh how I love thee

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I have a great friend. Her name is Gaby, and she is the one who introduced me to Trinity (thank you!!) and Tsunami – my favourite sushi place. Both within walking distance from home. We met up for some sushi at Tsunami on Thursday and the whole day I had been craving it.

We had a few starters before though. I tried the yellowfin tuna tartare with a quail’s egg yolk on top. It was lovely presented in a coneshaped glass put in a bowl of ice.

Gaby had the marinated tuna, and we also shared the salt and chilli squid. With some squirted lime and the wasabi mayonnaise they were amazing.

It was all lovely, but the sushi is even better!

The shrimp tempura roll - am-a-zing!

We had the shrimp tempura roll, which is totally fantastic; the spicy tuna roll which also is wonderful and the dragon roll, which is similar to a shrimp tempura but with eel and avocado as well.

Spicy tuna roll - yu-um
The dragon roll - doesn't it look fantastic?!

I also had the scallop nigiri and Gaby chose the Japanese omelette nigiri. It was a lovely meal which we enjoyed a lot, and the sushi was just as amazing as I remembered it from last time. If you want a more thorough description of the flavours, have a look here. This time I got better pictures at least. Still used my iPhone, but daylight makes all the difference.

If you’re visiting London and want to try the best sushi ever, you don’t have to venture to where I live, because there is a Tsunami more central, on Charlotte St.

Pulled pork

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One of my foodie idols in Sweden has this great website called Taffel with articles, blogs and recipes, and that is where I found this recipe for pulled pork.

I had wanted to try this for a long time and had high expectations, but this was better than I ever could have imagined! We had it instead of tacos with soft tortillas, nachos, lettuce, avocado, grated cheese, homemade salsa and creme fraiche and we enjoyed every bite. Two days later we had the left-overs and it was even better that time.

Try this, so easy and sooo incredibly good!

Lisa’s Pulled pork, 4-6 portions translated from Swedish

1 kg pork tenderloin, rind removed

BBQ sauce:

1 large onion

4 cloves garlic

100 ml ketchup

1/2 – 1 tbsp chipotle paste

50 ml water

1 tbsp brown sugar

1/2 – 1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tbsp + 1/2 tsp grund cumin

1 tbsp whisky

Place the meat in a casserole dish. Peel onion and garlic and cut into thick slices. Mix all the other ingredients and spread onto the meat. Place onion and garlic on top. Put the lid on and place the casserole dish in the oven and put the temperature to 125C. Leave it for 4 hours. After an hour, push the onions to the bottom of the casserole.

Just check so the juices hasn’t evaporated so it will burn, if so add some water. Take out the casserole dish from the oven when the meat is so tender that it falls to pieces when you touch it. Leave to cool slightly. Pull the meat apart using forks and mix with the sauce. Add more spices if you prefer.

Green pasta salad with bacon

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On Monday when it was a bank holiday here, me and some friends tried to make the most of the extra day off, and met up for a picnic. It was very windy unfortuately, so we had to hold onto our didposable plates. But it is always nice to get together, drink rosé and eat nice food.

I contributed with this pasta salad. It is easy to make, and really nice on its own or with chicken.

Green pasta salad with bacon, serves 4 or 6-8 on a picnic

300 g fusilli pasta

3 tbsp pesto

3 msk olivolja

1 courgette

1 packet smoked bacon

a few handfuls baby spinach

Cook the pasta, drain and rinse in cold water to get rid of the starch. Slice the courgette and cut the slices in half. Fry in olive oil on medium heat until soft. Leave to cool.  Fry the bacon in small pieces until crispy. Drain from excess fat on kitchen towel. Mix pesto and oil in a large bowl. Add the pasta and mix thoroughly. Add courgette, bacon and spinach. Mix again. 

Asparagus and wild garlic quiche

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I am one of those people that are cold all the time. Weird I know, since I am from a cold country… I have certainly heard that before. Why I am so cold, I don’t know, but when I don’t move about I get cold straight away. And that is why I am no fan of winter. Here in the UK it’s ok, but the windy winters in southern Sweden are awful.

Now that spring is here and it is getting warmer, I am incredibly happy. I love spring and summer! Apart from pollen but everything else is great. The warmth from the sun, flowers in bloom and all the fresh vegetables.

In this quiche I have combined two of my favourite spring time veg – asparagus and wild garlic. Feel free to use even more wild garlic, I will do that next time. I served the quiche as a light supper with coldsmoked salmon and a cold sauce with creme fraiche, mayonnaise, caviar and dill. Lovely!

Asparagus quiche with wild garlic, 6 portioner

Pastry:

120 g softened butter

300 ml plain flour

1/2 beaten egg

Filling:

2 bunches asparagus

about 6 wild garlic leaves (or more)

100 g philadelphia cheese

3 eggs + the leftover half from the pastry

350 ml milk

salt

white pepper

100 ml grated cheese

Bring salted water to the boil. First blanch the wild garlic, which is very quick, just leave for a minute and then drain on paper. Break the harder part off each asparagus stem and blanch them for about 5 minutes. Drain and leave to cool. Pinch the pastry together and coat a pie dish with it. Use a fork to make small holes in the pastry. Pre-bake it for 10 minutes in 200C. Leave to cool.

Fill the quiche with asparagus and wild garlic, and distribute dollops of philadelphia. Sprinkle over the grated cheese. Beat eggs and milk, add seasoning. Pour it into the quiche and press down the cheese so it is covered with the milk-mixture. Bake for 35 minutes, 200C or until set and golden brown on top.


Cake for dad

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After the dinner at Trinity, we came back to ours and had coffee and cake. I had made the cakes in the morning and just had to put filling in between, which was easily done with whipped cream, custard and blueberries. The recipe for this cake is from a Swedish blog called Kryddburken.

My dad is very much into his motorbikes so with a motorbike cake topper and silver candles (one for each decade) the cake looked a little bit manly I think. At least it was a great cake for daddy since he loves both meringues and sponges, and this is cake contains both.

Sponge and crispy meringue cake, serves 6

100 g softened butter

150 ml caster sugar

5 egg yolks

150 ml milk

200 ml plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

5 eggwhites

250 ml caster sugar

400 ml rice krispies

Cream butter and sugar together, add one egg yolk at the time. Add the milk while stirring. Add flour and baking powder. Cover two round baking trays in the same size, with baking parchment and divide the batter evenly between the two.

Whip the egg whites and half the sugar until stiff peaks appear. Add the rest of the sugar and whip for a few more minutes. Carefully fold the rice krispies into the meringue. Divide the mixture between the two trays. Bake for 40 min – 1 hour in 150C in the lower part of the oven. Leave to cool.

Fill the cake with custard, whipped cream and berries. I put the same on top of the cake. 

Trinity once again

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On my dad’s birthday we took mum and dad to Trinity for their first time. We settled for starters and mains as we were going back to ours for coffee and a cake I prepared in the morning.

The weather was amazing and the glass doors were all open so it feels like you’re both indoors and outside at the same time.

Mum chose a terrine of confit of chicken, ham and leek with a prune sauce for her starter.

Dad went for a crab soup with crab ravioli and loved it.

Christopher and I both chose the pig’s trotters with crackling, capers and fried quail’s eggs. Delicious!For her maincouse mother chose skate wing with new potatoes and asparagus. Mum said it was the best seasoned fish she’s ever had.

Dad was a bit disappointed with his wood pigeon as it was rather dry and. Typical on his birthday and everything, but he enjoyed the rest of the meal.

I was very pleased with my choice: slowcooked bavette with triple-cooked chips, bone marrow and bearnaisesauce. I do love my meat. 🙂

Christopher chose the lamb which was similar to the lamb salad I had last time we went. But he got more meat, and unfortunately less wild garlic mayo (which is heaven). The meat was lovely and tender though and he certainly enjoyed it.

England: Buckinghamshire

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Buckinghamshire id the country where my boyfriend grew up and we stopped by there on the countryside tour, so my parents could meet his mother Eileen.

We stopped by Eton and Windsor, which you can walk between. Eton is where the famous boy’s school is and it is quite fun to see the pupils walking around the village in their school uniform, tails. It was Easter when we were there though, so no pupils in sight.

Windsor is known mainly for the castle, but we didn’t have time to go in. The town itself is quite cosy to walk around in though.

In the evening we went to the old nice pub Royal Standard (which I have written about before) for dinner. We had forgotten how big portions they serve so after a starter and main each there were just no way we could eat dessert.

All three Swedes chose the garlic prawns, which were messy but yummy.

Christopher tried the French onion soup with beef and bacon stock which was delicious.

Eileen had the goat’s cheese salad as a starter, and I had the same, but a larger version, for my maincourse.

We were there on a Sunday so everyone else had the Sunday roast. Either pork or lamb, but they had the option of chicken and beef too. It was a large portion with all the traditional trimmings.