Memoirs with food

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Every time I visit my friend Gaby I have a look in her book case and last time she lent me two memoirs with recipes, a for me new genre.

One of the two memoirs is written by Anna del Conte, whom Nigella Lawson has mentioned as one of her inspirations to Italian cooking. Funnily enough, Anna mentions Nigella in this book too. Risotto With Nettles, as it is called, is definitely worth reading. Anna tells us about her childhood in Milan, what it was like in Italy during the Second World War and how she ended up in Britain. Further we get to follow her family life and career and at the end of every chapter follow a few recipes. Apart from the lovely stories and the fabulous recipes I am very impressed with her ability to write in English; you certainly do not notice that Englsh is not her native language.

Madeleines In Manhattan is Colette Rossant’s memoir called. She guides us through her childhood on Egypt and later in France, yhe move to New York?, her career and all her travels.

The language in this book is a bit more basic than Anna del Conte’s but the fabulous stories more than make up for it. I can’t wait to try the recipes either.

This is a new genre for me, which I really enjoyed reading.

Lunch at Restaurang Kungstorget, Gothenburg, Sweden

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When we arrived to Gothenburg a few weeks ago, it was on a Friday morning. We went to my friend’s flat and dropped our bags off and then met up with him for lunch. He was busy at work so we chose a place close to his office.

When I walked in to Restaurang Kungstorget I recognised the gold-coloured chairs and dark sofas because we went here for cocktails last time I was in town. I had no idea it was a restaurant by day and was quite surprised when the food came out looking so good. Prejudice – me?! -No.

Linus chose the meatballs served with a creamy sauce, mash and lingonberries. A plate of Sweden basically.

I started regretting my choice of salad when I saw the meatballs, but my salad with plenty of fresh prawns, egg and mayonnaise was nice too.

Laura chose fried haddock with boiled potatoes and creamy sauce. Yes, Sweden is all about the creamy sauces. A nice place with nice food, all very Swedish actually.

Restaurang Kungstorget
Kungstorget 7
Göteborg

Lavender pannacotta with almond brittle

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When I had Jess and Laura around for dinner a while ago I had prepared this dessert the dat before because once again I made pannacotta.

I love this little concotion and will probably not stop making it until I have tried every flavour I can possibly think of – and maybe not even then.

This time I flavoured the pannacotta with lavender, and because of this particular flavour I used less sugar than usual. Instead I added sweet almond brittle to serve with it and it turned out really well. It was nice with the contrasting textures as well with the crunchy sugary nuts and velvety cream together.

I was in a hurry when preparing this and therefore I used quite a lot of lavender to flavour the cream quickly. If you have more time on your hands you can use less lavender with the cream and instead leave the mixture in the fridge for a few hours before making the pannacotta.

Lavender pannacotta, serves 3

400 ml cream

25-30 ml caster sugar

2 tbsp lavender

2 gelatine leaves

Place the gelatine leaves in a bowl and cover with cold water. Pour the cream, sugar and lavender into a saucepan and bring to the boil whilw stirring. Remove from heat. Squeeze the water out of the gelatine and add it to the mixture – stir to combine. Pour the mixture through a sieve to catch the lavender and let the creamy mixture cool for 15 minutes or so. Then pour into dessert bowls, ramekins or what you prefer. Leave to cool, then place in fridge overnight to set.

Almond brittle

1 tbsp salted butter

2 tbsp caster sugar

1.5 tbsp cream

two handfuls almonds

Place all ingredients bar the almonds in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Add the almonds and let the mixture become a golden colour, while stirring. Pour onto a baking sheet and leave to cool completely. Chop and place on top of the pannacottas before serving.

Roasted baby aubergine with pesto and mozzarella

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A little while ago when I had invited Jess and Laura over for dinner, I was not my usual organised self. I was battling a cold and only had the energy to clean the flat and prepare dessert the day before, and figured I could buy the rest at lunch time the same day and prepare it before my guests arrived.

That day I was particularly busy at work and didn’t have time to go to a nice supermarket. Instead I rushed in to the closest Tesco Express and was devestated when I realised they didn’t even have spinach in the shop, and I had re-plan the whole menu then and there.

But it turned out well. As my starter I served serrano rolls with lemon crème (but made with prosciutto instead) and roasted baby aubergines with pesto and mozzarella, served with crusty bread.

Even though this is more to throw ingredients together than actual cooking it was a nice dish, perfect for barbecues or summery buffets.

Roasted baby aubergine with pesto and mozzarella, serves 3

4-5 baby aubergines

1 jar fresh pesto (or homemade)

1 ball buffalo mozzarella

mild olive oil

salt, black pepper

Wash the aubergines and cut in half lenghtways. Place skin-side down in a roasting tray and brush the flesh with olive oil. Bake for 20  minutes in 200C oven. Remove from oven and spread a tsp of pesto on each half. Top with chunks of mozzarella. Season and bake for another 5-10 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown.

Seafood feast in Gothenburg

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The reason I went to Gothenburg the weekend before last was to keep my friend Laura company and show her around town as she hadn’t been to Sweden before. And the reason she went was to run the half marathon that was on that weekend, Göteborgsvarvet. One of the biggest half marathons in Europe apparently.

While she did the race I went food shopping to give her a nice feast to celebrate her efforts. Gothenburg is situated on the west coast of Sweden and that area is known for its excellent sea food so what could be better than fresh seafood and bubbly to celebrate?!

We had oysters with lemon, langoustines au gratin, radishes and avocado, cold smoked salmon, smoked prawns and fresh prawns (the cold water kind), a quiche with mushrooms and leek and bread.

Langoustines au gratin with garlic, serves 2 as a starter or for a buffet

2 fresh, raw, langoustines

3 tbsp butter

1 large garlic clove, minced

salt and pepper

Mix butter and garlic. Cut the langoustines in half lengthways and rinse. Place shell side down on a baking tray and place dollops of butter on the flesh. Put in 200C oven for about 10 minutes. Serve immediately.

Leek and mushroom quiche, serves 4-6

Crust:

120 g softened butter

300 ml plain flour

1 pinch salt

1/2 beaten egg

Filling:

200 g chestnut mushrooms, quartered, fried in butter and perhaps garlic

3/4 leek, finely sliced

3 eggs + 1/2 left over from making the crust

350 ml milk

200 ml grated cheese

salt and pepper

Mix the ingredients for the crust and knead together. Press it into a quiche dish and pierce it with a fork. Pre-bake for 10 minutes in 180/200 C oven. Place the leek and fried mushrooms in the crust and put the grated cheese on top. Beat eggs and milk and season. Pour it into the crust and bake for 30-40 mins until golden brown and set.

Björns Bar, Gothenburg, Sweden

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A Gothenburg restaurant I have wanted to try for a while is Björns Bar, a laid back restaurant in the basement of Kock & Vin, part of the same company as Restaurang Familjen where I went last year.

When we entered the basement restaurant it was already full, but we were put on the waiting list and had a drink at the bar to start. The bar was full too, and inconveniently we had to stand by the service area, but the staff were very nice to us even though we were clearly in the way.

After approximately 20 minutes we were shown to our table at the back of the restaurant. We ordered straight away having studied the menu at the bar and decided to start with a little platter of cheeses, homemade (?) cream cheese with herbs, olives and bread. We were extremely hungry and demolished it pretty quickly.

After the shared starter we waited for our maincourses for quite a while although there were only two warm dishes to choose from;  and one vegetarian. I had eyed up the meat option at the bar and could not wait to try the slowcooked ox cheeks with creamy polenta, gremolata and carrots. It was just as delicious as it looks.

Laura chose the vegetarian option being a plate of spring vegetables including thick white asparagus and wild garlic creme. I so wish I could have been able to eat both plates.

The food was very well cooked, was nicely presented and the basement restaurant had a nice atmosphere. The service was great too, with good attention to detail.

The only thing that was not satisfactory was the wait for the food. It took a while for our starter to appear but even worse was waiting for the maincourse. We were still happy because the food was so good, and I want to visit again, but it is a shame about the wait as it is an easy problem to fix.

Björns Bar
Viktoriagatan 12
411 25 Göteborg
Sweden

Atari-ya sushi bar, Swiss Cottage

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One evening when I found myself in Swiss Cottage in between flat viewings I stumbled upon a sushi bar that seemed promising.

You see, in London it is quite difficult to find good sushi, which I have trouble understandning. I mean, there is plenty of sushi to go around, but some chains are absolutely awful and it is difficult to find the good places amongst all the average ones.

So this sushi bar, named Atari-ya, looked promising because the menu seemed to offer authentic dishes made to order.

Once seated at the bar counter I realised that this must the the (small) chain of sushi restaurants my friend Laura suggested we would go to.

After having ordered way too much sushi, I received an amuse bouche in the shape of a little bowl filled with mooli (cooked daikon). Shortly after the most amazing miso soup arrived with fluffy bits of tofu and far from the prepacked stuff some chain restaurants use.

Then my sushi arrived. My favourite was the salmon and avocado roll which was just perfect. Next was the flavourful salmon skin roll which I also enjoyed. The only thing to disappoint slightly was the shrimp tempura roll. In general that is my favourite roll because of the crunchiness of the tempura. These freshly deep-fried prawns were a bit too light in the batter to be crispy. They were also paired with asparagus, which to be honest wasn’t a combination I liked because the asparagus took over. In all other contexts, though, I love asparagus, but it is quite a strong flavour and the prawn could not compete.

Apart from the food being delicious and freshly prepared, the staff was equally good. I had two waiters fussying around me yet still leaving me to enjoy my meal.

Atari-ya sushi bar
75 Fairfax Road
London NW6 4EE
Tel: 020 7328 5338

A day at London Zoo

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A few weekends ago my friend Helen and her little toddler Edward came up to London for the day so we could go to the Zoo together and hang out.

Eddie really enjoyed the Zoo – especially the fishes and the bugs. But other things like steps outside was very fun too for some reason! 🙂

Dinner with chewy lemon cake as dessert

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A while ago now I had my ex flatmates and their girlfriends over for dinner one weekday. I didn’t have time to prepare the supper the day before so I went shopping at lunch time and used some wellknown recipes for the dinner, but since  I wanted to try something new as well I baked a chewy lemon cake I had wanted to try for quite a while.

To start with I made Julia Child’s stuffed mushromms, served with dressed rocket and fresh baguette.

Next course was chicken thigh fillets with sambal oelek and basil, served with potato wedges and steamed broccoli.

For dessert I made the chewy lemon cake and served it with lightly whipped cream and fresh raspberries. I found the recipe on the Swedish food blog Pickipicki and it was just as popular as I expected it to be. It is chewy and gooey but light and fresh at the same time

Chewy lemon cake, serves 8

After Pickipicki’s recipe. 

2 egga
250 ml caster sugar
150 g melted butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 lemon
150 ml flour

Beat eggs and sugar fluffy. Add lemon zest and juice. Add vanilla and melted butter. Fold in the flour and pour into a greased springform. Bake in 150C oven for about 35 minutes. Serve cold, dusted with icing sugar together with lightly whipped cream and fersh raspberries. 

Mint Leaf, West End

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Maria and Daniel’s last day in London they wanted to eat proper Indian food as it is difficult to get in the south of Sweden. My first idea was to go to Tayyabs, which I had read about on a food blog, but it is quite a trek away from both where I work and live, so when I heard from two colleagues that Mint Leaf on Haymarket was good, we decided to go there instead. (And as it was a weekday we got 50% off food with my Tastcard.)

The restaurant is really nice and divided into different rooms to make it cosy. Our waiter was friendly and helpful to an extent but he couldn’t really answer our food related questions which was a shame.

We started off with some mini poppadums and two sauces; but not the usual mango chutney and raita. We chose to share a rabbit seekh kebab with honey and mustard drizzle to start. It was nice and tasty, but the seasoning didn’t feel Indian at all, which we coluld have guessed… It was then we realised that the food on offer was Indian but aimed towards Europeans and therefore not entirely authentic.

As their maincourse Maria and Daniel chose Tandoori chicken with dal makhani and sautéed broccoli. I chose a more curry-like dish called Tariwala chicken.

We also ordered pilau rice, raita and a naan each, and the naans were great – probably the best I’ve had. The rest of the food was a bit blander than expected. It had some heat but didn’t have the flavour punch you usually get from good Indian. You want all those spices to interact but it didn’t work all the way here which was the shame. The dal was still good though.

Next time I’m in the mood for Indian I will either try Tayyabs as we intended or Lahore One Kebab House which are probably the most authentic Indian restaurants in London.

Min Leaf Restaurant
Suffolk Place
Haymarket
London SW1Y 4HX
T: 020 7930 9020