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A different Midsummer – Wyndstock

Published on June 26, 2013 by HannaLeave a comment

While my friends and family back in Sweden ate pickled herring and drank several aquavit I celebrated midsummer in a more British way. Together with my friends Gaby and Laura I went to Houghton Hall in Norfolk to attend Wyndstock – The Country House Party.

When I arrived on Friday evening my friends were already there, so they showed be around and we had some wine in the bar tent and enjoyed the bonfire. Then off to bed only to be woken up by torrential rain and we found out the hard way that the tent we had hired from the organisers was not waterproof. Luckily the weather improved, tents were repaired and we actually got a new (waterproof) tent for the second night.

On Saturday after breakfast we went on a tour with the game keeper in the deer park which was quite the sight.

At midday we got to go into the house and look at the new exhibition Houghton Revisited. For the first time since Catherine the Great bought Robert Walpole’s (the first British prime minister) art collection it has been returned – on loan – to Houghton Hall where he used to live.

After lunch (a nice paella with chicken, chorizo, squid, prawns and mussels)…

… we had tea and cakes. People from the local parish sold baked goods they had baked themselves. It was quite the spread!

We had a lovely cheese scone to share and a cake slice each. Gaby had glutenfree carrot cake and Laura and I had a delicious chocolate cake with both cream and frosting.

In the evening dinner was served either at 7pm or 9pm, we had the earlier slot and although it was well organised we were pretty disappointed by the food. The starter was just about OK, the maincourse dreadful but the brownie for pudding was actually delicious. We still managed to dance until pretty late and watch the fire works. And it was so nice with a dry night’s sleep. On Sunday we left after breakfast to get back to London for afternoon. Despite the weather I had a great time and although Saturday supper was pretty bad the food was otherwise quite nice and everything was very well organised.

Happy midsummer!

Published on June 21, 2013 by HannaLeave a comment

Today is the day when the Swedes eat plenty of pickled herring, new potatoes with dill and chives and wash it down with plenty of aquavit (snaps). Dessert is usually a strawberry cream cake or just simply strawberries and cream.

It is also tradition to raise a maypole to dance around and since it is the longest day of the year people usually party until early morning.

Even though I haven’t properly celebrated Midsummer for five years, this year I am a bit sad on missing out. But I hope my Swedish friends will celebrate for me to.

Happy Midsummer! And skål!

New year’s eve is approaching…

Published on December 30, 2012December 30, 2012 by HannaLeave a comment

I have spent the whole day today in the kitchen preparing for tomorrow’s new years eve party. My best friend Emma and her husband Claes are hosting and I’m doing the catering. I’ve had so much fun cooking away today that I thought I would share the fabulous menu with you. Recipes will follow in the next week or so.

New Year’s Eve Menu 2012

Vodka and chives pannacotta on bread base with salmon caviar and dill canapé

Prawn mousse with Melba toasts

Panfried scallops with truffled celeriac purée and apple caramel

Fillet of veal with yellow beet, mushrooms, Pommes Duchesse, red wine jus and thyme foam

(For the fish eaters: Panfried Arctic Char with Pommes Duchesse, herb cream sauce and braised fennel)

Iced nougat with butterscotch sauce and honeycomb

Happy New Year!

Taste of Christmas 2012

Published on December 12, 2012 by HannaLeave a comment

On our way to the Taste of Christmas fair on Saturday, Gaby and I were really excited about, although we had to go all the way east to the ExCeL for it. A few hours later we were tired and grumpy and rather disappointed. It was far too crowded for anyone to be able to have a good time, and without any sound proofing it was pretty loud in there too. We queued up to watch Michel Roux Jr (next to rubbish bins) on stage but couldn’t get a spot where we could even remotely see him, or even hear what he was saying. And it was the same wien Mary Berry was on stage before him. Later in the day when people had given up, and the probably lesser known Simon Rogan (of l’Enclume and Roganic) was on stage, Gaby and I suddenly liked it again, as we got seats to watch him cook. Compared to Taste of London in the summer, there were only a few restaurants represented, but a handful street food places were there as well, which was a nice addition. The first thing we had was a foie gras burger from Comptoir Gascon. We expected a burger with foie gras in it, but received a big sliver of perfectly cooked foie gras with some dressed lettuce in a brioche bun. Absolutely delicious! Next up was street food from Mark Hix; a fish dog with french fries and tartare sauce. Apart from the sauce which was weirdly bitter, it was really good. At Saltyard we tried comforting and yummy truffle mac ‘n cheese which really hit the spot. And the street food place The Bowler, served two types of meatballs, so good we tried both varieties. Left is the Thai meatballs in coconut milk and right is the pork shoulder meatball with cumin soured cream. Both were delicious, but the shoulder variety in tomato sauce was a tad better than the other one. Both were served with slaw and rice.

All in all I had a good day, party thanks to the company, and partly because it was less crowded in the afternoon. It was really not worth going around lunch time. Hope it will improve until next year.

Open lasagne with thyme fried mushrooms and truffle ricotta

Published on November 24, 2012 by Hanna3 Comments

While plucking up the courage to befriend my new shiny pasta machine, I have created a few pasta dishes of late.

This is by far the best, and utterly delicious. It is quite simple with only a few ingredients marrying together – but it really makes the dish come together and it is so so good.

I am actually so pleased with this recipe that I have considered eating it for breakfast, if we only had a proper stove at work…

When using only a few ingredients, they have to be of the best quality. Good dried lasagne sheets, fresh tasty mushrooms, fresh thyme and good quality ricotta. And try and get hold of a good truffle oil. It should be pungent, if it tastes more of oil than truffles, you might as well not bother with it.

Open lasagne with thyme fried mushrooms and truffle ricotta, serves 2

4 lasagne sheets

250 g fresh chestnut mushrooms or portabellini

1 handful dried mushrooms, like porcini or girolles, or a mixture

plenty of butter and mild olive oil for frying

1 garlic clove

3 sprigs of thyme (and more to decorate)

125 g ricotta

a few drops of truffle oil

2 tbsp finely grated parmesan

salt and pepper

Bring water to the boil in a pan large enough for the lasagne sheets. Add salt and a little oil to the water (for the lasagne sheets not to stick to each other).

Soak the dried mushrooms in warm water for a few minutes. Brush and slice the fresh mushrooms and fry in two batches in plenty of butter and oil on medium-high heat. Squeeze the water out of the dried mushrooms and fry them as well. When all the mushrooms are fried, transfer them back to the frying pan and add garlic, thyme, salt and pepper. Keep warm.

Cook the lasagne sheets until soft, about 8-10 minutes. While it is cooking, mix the ricotta with the grated parmesan. Season to taste with salt and pepper and truffle oil. You want a fairly strong truffle flavour; how much depends on the concentration of the oil.

När pastaplattorna är klara, ta upp dem med en tång ur vattnet. Lägg två plattor lite omlott på varje tallrik, långsida mot långsida. I den ena änden, klicka ut ricotta och toppa med svamp. Ta den tomma delen av pastaplattorna och vänd över som ett lock. Bred ricotta på toppen och toppa med svamp, riven parmesan och repad timjan.

To Scania!

Published on November 15, 2012November 15, 2012 by HannaLeave a comment

I am now on my way to my county, Skåne (or Scania) in Sweden for a long weekend to see my parents. This is the view from our house, and this flat land is a characteristic for the area where I am from in the south of Sweden (it is only 15 minutes away from the most southern point and the Baltic sea).

It will be so nice to spend some quality time with my parents; we’re going to Denmark for the day and to a Christmas market one day, but I will also make sure to cook a lot in my parents’ spacious kitchen and go for walks in the woods and just breath country air.

So long!

An early Thanksgiving dinner

Published on November 12, 2012 by HannaLeave a comment

Yesterday my American friend Laura invited a group of us over for an early Thanksgiving feast, since she will be spending the holiday back in the States with her family.

She went all out with the food, so we had turkey (of course), fluffy potato mash, candied sweet potatoes (yu-um!), gravy, cranberry sauce and stuffing. It was really nice and we all had too much, which seems obligatory on this occasion.

After a little break we were ready for a fabulous pecan pie, served with both brandy cream and honey comb icecream. So yummy! Thanks, Laura!

Halloween party!

Published on November 4, 2012November 4, 2012 by HannaLeave a comment

On Wednesday, on the All Hallows Eve, my flatmates threw a spectacular Halloween party. Our flat was transformed to a haunted house with a serious rat and bat infestation. I am thoroughly impressed by my flatmates efforts, and thought I’d share it with you. All the decorations and brilliant ideas are courtesy of Tiff – do pop in to her blog as well for further inspiration.

Oh, and as a bonus, you have a picture of my in my costume. Be afraid – very afraid.

-Off with their heads!

A Swedish luncheon

Published on October 24, 2012 by Hanna2 Comments

Yesterday I was invited to a Swedish luncheon in London’s Brick Lane, and I brought my friend Emily with me.

I don’t know what I expected from the lunch, but I was rather surprised of how nice it all was. First we were greeted by two ladies showing us in to a temporary red cottage where a large table was beautifully decorated in a nautical way. On one wall a slide show of Swedish scenery from the West Coast was displayed and at one end of the room we could see the chefs hard at work.

To start we had some elderflower cordial and were greeted by another lady chit-chatting to us about Sweden. Soon after our plates arrived showing an array of items smorgasbord style. We had a wonderful soup made from mushrooms and langoustines, Toast Skagen with langoustine, scambled eggs on crisp bread with mackerel, goat’s cheese crème with baked cherry tomato and two cheeses with quince jelly.

One of the chefs, Jenny, also came to chat to us, and told us about how they cooked the food (the soup contained smoked mushrooms for instance) and about where she was from.

It was a nice and efficient (I shouldn’t have doubted the Swedish efficiency either) event and I felt very proud of my country’s tourist board’s efforts.

I was invited to this event by SunVil, who organises travel to Sweden and many other destinations and the event itself was hosted by Visit Sweden.

Heston’s salted caramel popcorn icecream

Published on October 17, 2012 by HannaLeave a comment

I am not one to buy ready made meals very often, and when I do, I usually get very disappointed with them. Even if they don’t taste bad, I knew that I could have done it better myself. And some really do taste awful.

And then we have the nutritional value of processed food and the additives, to put us off. But most important is the taste.

That is why I quite like the idea of the Heston Blumenthal for Waitrose range of ready meals. When looking at the ingredients most are non-processed ingredients that you would use yourself, and I do hope the taste is there.

So far I have only tried the icecream, which of course was delicious. I am a sucker for salted caramel, and this is a fun ‘very Heston’ flavour. Reading the ingredients list there are some things you wouldn’t find in homemade icecream, but I find it more important that say the Shepherd’s pie contains nothing processed than an icecream.