Pig’s cheek ragu with white wine and sage

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When you have friends staying over the slowcooker becomes your best friend. It feels a lot safer leaving that on the oven (plus it uses way less energy) and it is so nice to let dinner cook itself when you’re busy socialising with friends.

While we had a day out in Canterbury, the slowcooker made this lovely pork cheek ragu with white wine and sage for us. All you need to do when you get home is to reduce and season the sauce, shred the meat and mix it with the sauce and cook some pasta.

Pig’s cheek ragu with white wine and sage, serves 4-6

spaghetti or tagliatelle, cooked al dente

The ragu – step 1:

1 kg pig’s cheeks

400 g chopped tomatoes

150 ml water

3 stems sage

1 garlic clove

150 ml dry white wine

The ragu – step 2:

salt, black pepper

pinch of sugar

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

To serve:

grated parmesan

Place all ingredients for step 1 in the slowcooker, turn on low heat and leave for approx 8 hours. Remove the meat from the pot and reduce the sauce to half and season with the ingredients for step 2. Pull the meat apart and mix with the sauce. Serve.

Foodies Festival at Hampton Court

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I think the organisers were hoping for better weather…

Last weekend the Foodies Festival at Hampton Court took place and thanks to my nice friend Charlie I got free tickets.

The weather was definitley not the best for anything outdoors as it was grey and miserable. We walked around and tried different things, bought quite a lot of interesting products as well as ate lunch.

A few things I haven’t encountered before was the popchips that are popped potato crisps and therefore less greasy as they have not been deepfried. They were nice, but I do like proper crisps better, you kind of want and expect the greasyness.

For healthty crisps I would much rather go for Whole Food’s kale crisps, but the price was pretty steep so I prefer to make my own I think. Something we did enjoy from Whole Foods was their prosecco for £2.50 a glass (!). Suddently the weather didn’t matter that much.

There was plenty of different types of food, from like these wonderful looking pork pies…

… to healthy vegan cakes and bread with added moisture from fruit and vegetables.

We looked at this table quite a lot as everything looked amazing. I bought a spinach and ricotta strudel (to the left) and it was nice, but not as amazing as it looked unfortunately. Laura was very pleased with her salad box though, and it looked really good.

My lunch this day was a bahn mi from Bahn Mi 11 with BBQ pork, coriander, chilli sauce and carrots. It was my first bahn mi but it was sooo scrumptious it is definitely not my last.

We also had a look then the actress turned television chef Fay Ripley (from Cold Feet) cooked live. She made seabass with pesto and dressed spaghetti as well as small Italian cookies with nutella. Pictured above are Fay (left), the annoying presenter (middle) and a volunteer from the audience rolling cookie dough (right).

I really liked the look of these mini victoria sponges – adorable.

On our way out we stopped for a free gin & tonic at Hendrick’s gin. They had an old-fashioned corner with different gin cocktails and were dressed up in tweed.

Scandi tip #23: mini trips to Scandinavia

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Today I’m off to Gothenburg for a long weekend, and I advise you to do the same. It is very easy to find flights to many Scandinavian cities, and unless you are really into winter holidays the best time to visit is definitely now in spring, during summer or early autumn before it gets dark.

I have friends in Gothenburg so I have been there many times before, but it is the first time for my friend Laura to visit Sweden so I will do my best to be a good tour guide. She is also running a half marathon (that’s the reason we’re going) while I will do my best to cheer. Apart from that bit we plan to eat well, eat as much of fresh seafood as we possibly can and hopefully spend time with some of my Swedish friends.

 

Meringue cake with dulce de leche

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In my fridge there always seem to be a gathering of egg whites, sometimes just a few but more often than not quite a few. I simply hate throwing food away, and egg whites keep for several weeks in the fridge, so I rather use them than throw them away.

Meringues is always a good way to use them up, but to be honest I find meringues on their own a bit boring. But with icecream or cream it is a different matter, and that is why I like this simple meringue cake so much.

If you just have made the meringue bases all you need is a tin of dulce de leche (caramel) and some whipping cream, and it literally takes 5 minutes so assemble. The cake also keeps for a few days in the fridge although it will loose some of its crispness.

Meringue cake with dulce de leche, serves 8

Double this recipe for two meringue bases

1 tin (398g) dulce de leche

300 ml whipping cream

milk chocolate shavings for decoration

Place one meringue base on a cake plate and spread half the dulce de leche on top, then add half the whipped cream on top of the caramel. Add the other meringue base and repeat the layers. Decorate with some milk chocolate shavings.


A little trip to Canterbury

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Last weekend when Maria and Daniel were visiting we decided to escape rainy London for a day and got on the train to Canterbury in Kent. Kent always remind me of home because of all the rapeseed fields – love it.

When I lived in England the first time around (ten years ago now) I lived in Kent, not too far away from Canterbury so I have been there quite a lot, but not for a few years. Apart from the fact that it was nice and sunny and it felt like we were abroad, it is a very cute town with old gates around the town centre, a famous cathedral and university.

We had a look around a few shops, had lunch and went to the cathedral. Sadly we couldn’t see it all because of a Sunday service, but what we saw was really pretty.

Ricotta stuffed mushrooms with persillade, parmesan and lemon

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Just like the French I really enjoy a meal with two or three courses. Not because I always want to indulge but because eating the food in batches is good for me (anf my tummy). If I am really really hungry (starving) I am not a pleasant person to be around, and when food is then put in front of me I can’t control myself, my inner cave woman takes over and inhales the food, which most often than not gives me a tummy ache. Not ideal and yet I do this over and over… So the best way for me to eat is to break up the meal in courses so I can’t inhale so much food at one single time.

Also I love starters and finger food and see this argument as a good excuse…

Anyway – stuffed mushrooms are great, and I have a few different recipes on the blog already, but I still had to give you this recipe, because it turned out really well. There is enough lemon in the ricotta to feel fresh and zesty but not so much that it overpowers the parsley and garlic, instead the flavours just marry together. Serve as a starter with some rocket, balsamic vinegar and nice bread or as little rustic canapées.

Ricotta stuffed mushrooms with persillade, parmesan and lemon, serves 3

250 g chestnut mushrooms

150 g ricotta

100 ml grated parmesan

zest from 1/2 lemon

3-4 tsp persillade

salt, white pepper

melted butter for brushing

Rinse the mushrooms and remove the stalks. Brush all around with melted butter and place hollow side up in an oven tray.

Mix ricotta, parmesan, lemon zest, persillade, salt and pepper in a bowl and stuff the mushrooms with the mixture. Bake in 200C for about 20 minutes. Serve warm.

Lunch at Daylesford Organic, Notting Hill

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Saturday was a particular rainy and grey day in London. Not what you want when you have Swedish friends in town, but not much more to do than grab the umbrella. We went to Portobello Road, which was more painful than usual as all you could see where umbrellas everywhere. Also I think the whole population of Italy was there that day. After a few pit stops in shops and at Hummingbird Bakery we escaped tourist central and entered the real Notting Hill; Westbourne Grove.

We had lunch at Daylesford Organic and a look arond their shop and it was so nice to feel dry before heading out in the rain again.

If you want lunch here it is normally a queue, which is fine, but this time we didn’t have to wait very long at all, and the service in general had definitely improved since last time I was here.

The menu is quite simple and offers an eclectic mix of dishes; some brunch dishes, a few starters and some more substaintial platefuls. Daniel, who was really hungry had the burger with potato wedges while Maria and I chose some lighter dishes but made up for it by sharing a cheeseboard as well.

Daniel’s burger was really nice and came with a homemade bun, chunky potato wedges and strong melted cheese. He also got to try their own ketchup which was really tasty. Plenty of tomato flavour and perfectly balanced sweetness.

Maria had the soup of the day; asparagus soup and liked it although it was rather plain to begin with. It somewhat improved after a few spoonfuls.

I had a Cornish crab toast which was really nice, so nice that my table neighbour got order envy once she saw it arrive.

The cheese platter was also nice, consisting of three hard cheeses and one creamy goat’s cheese, all from their own label. It came with apple wedges, celery, bread and a chutney and was a nice finish to our meal.

Daylesford Organic
208-212 Westbourne Grove
Notting Hill
London W11 2RH

 

Vanilla muscovado icecream with lime marinated strawberries

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One particular Swedish food blogger is in my opinion the Queen of Icecream. This recipe is courtesy of her.

Both myself, Maria and Daniel can vouch for the excellence of this icecream, because we managed to almost finish the whole batch after having had both starter and maincourse – and that is quite something.

Vanilla muscovado icecream

After Annika’s recipe.


400 ml cream

200 ml whole milk

1 vanilla pod (I used 1 tsp vanilla instead)

4 egg yolks

150 ml light brown muscovado sugar

Beta the egg yolks and sugar until pale and fluffy. Heta up the milk and cream with the vanilla. Pour the warm half and half over the fluffy eggs while stirring. Place the mixing bowl in a bain marie and whisk while the mixture thickens. Let it cool down, then place covered in the fridge over night.

Freeze the container to put the icecream in. Then pour your icecream mixture into the icecream maker for about 45 minutes. Transfer to the cold container and freeze for at least an hour before serving.

Lime marinated strawberries

300 g fresh strawberries

1/2 lime, the juice and perhaps some zest

2 tbsp icing sugar

Clean the strawberries and remove the green. Cut in halves. Place in a bowl and add the lime juice (and zest). Mix in the icing sugar.

Lavender chicken

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Here’s another recipe with inspiration from The Little Paris Kitchen. Unfortunately the recipe is not to be found on the BBC website, only in Rachel Khoo’s cookbook, but after seeing the program it was quite easy to make my own version. It worked really well, my dinner guests can certainly guarantee that.

I served it with simple sides so the chicken took centre stage. Green beans and new potatoes also work with the French theme. For the sauce I just reduced the juices from the pan and added some butter to it. Truly delicious!

Lavendel chicken, serves 4

With inspiration from Rachel Khoo.
 

1 whole organic cornfed chicken, 1.5 kg approx

Marinade:

3 tsp dried lavender

2-3 tsp fresh thyme leaves

1 lemon, the zest and juice

2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp mild olive oil

salt

black pepper

For the sauce:

2 tbsp butter

Cut the chicken into any pieces you like. Mix all the ingredients for the marinade in a big mixing bowl and cover the chicken with it. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave in the fridge for 24-48 hours.

Preheat the oven to 200C and remove the chicken from the fridge. Place the chicken pieces in a roasting tray and cook in the oven until the meat juices are clear, approx 40 minutes. Let the meat rest under tin foil while making the sauce. Pour all the juices from the roasting dish into a saucepan and reduce till about half. Whisk in the butter and serve with green beans and new potatoes.

Once again: asparagus with wild garlic mayo and parmesan shavings

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On Friday when Daniel and Maria arrived from the airport I had prepared a three course dinner, starting with this spring time favourite from last year; asparagus with wild garlic mayo and parmesan shavings.

I bought some lovely British asparagus from the supermarket and used some of my hidden freezer treasure of wild garlic for the modified mayonnaise recipe.

Wild garlic mayo 2.0

15 wild garlic leaves, steamed and drained

200 ml sunflower oil

1 egg yolk, at room temperature

lemon juice

salt

white pepper

Blend the oil with the wild garlic to a smooth oil. Place the egg yolk in a beaker and add the green oil drop by drop, later a little by little, while beating with an electric whisk. Season to taste with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Leave for 30 minutes to deepen its flavour.

Asparagus with wild garlic mayonnaise and parmesan shavings, serves 2

8 asparagus stems

wild garlic mayonnaise

parmigiano reggiano or other matured parmesan

extra virgin olive oil

Maldon sea salt

Break the ends off the asparagus, where it breaks naturally. Steam in salted water for 1-2 minutes. Drain. Place a large dollop of mayonnaise on each plate. Place the asparagus next to it, add shavings of parmesan, drizzle some olive oil and add a pinch of sea salt. Serve with crusty bread or as it is.