Carrot cake pancakes

Published on by Hanna4 Comments

It is not the first time I got so inspired by a Smitten Kitchen post that I had to try it straight away. Yesterday I saw Deb’s latest post on carrot cake pancakes and last night I had it for supper.

These pancakes are of course even better for a lazy weekend breakfast or at a brunch with friends. Either way, you just have to try them. And of you’ve had a substantial lunch they’re pretty good for supper too (evidently).

The original recipe is from Joy the Baker but Deb at Smitten Kitchen made a few changes and I made some. My only change really was to omit cinnamon to the cream cheese topping and instead add lime zest to it, which I normally have with a carrot cake. To me it was the perfect touch of freshness the pancakes needed.

Carrot cake pancakes, makes about 15-16

Adapted from this recipe.

Pancakes:

1 cup plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground ginger

1 egg

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 cup butter milk

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups finely grated carrots (about 3 large carrots)

butter for frying

Cream cheese topping:

115 g Philadelphia

1/4 cup icing sugar

2 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

grated zest from 1/2 lime

Mix flour, bicard, baking powder and spices in a large bowl. Mix butter milk, egg and sugar in a smaller bowl. Add the grated carrots to the wet mixture then transfer to the large bowl and mix it all together. Leave to rest for a few minutes whle preparing the topping.

Beat the cream cheese until smooth in a bowl. Add the sugar, vanilla and lime zest and combine.

Melt the butter in a large frying pan on medium-high heat. Use about 2 tbsp mixture per pancake and fry 3-4 at the time. Keep the fried ones warm in the oven until you’re done with all the pancakes. Serve with a generous dollop of the topping. Dig in!

 

Pasta with truffle oil and parmesan

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When I went to Partridges last time I found some lovely tagliatelle from my favourite brand De Cecco. For some reason I haven’t found this pasta in regular supermarkets, but I am happy I found it at all.

I cooked it al dente and mixed it with some melted butter both for flavour and for it not to be sticky from the starch. Adding truffle oil and plenty of freshly grated parmesan and some black pepper made this into a fabulous meal. It feels decadent yet it is so simple to make.

As always when going for less is more, good produce is key. Make sure you use good quality pasta, nice parmesan (I prefer Parmiggiano Reggiano) and choose a good truffle oil. I found mine in Partridges as well, and it is more pungent than a supermarket bottle.

Pasta with truffle oil and parmesan, serves 2

3oo g tagliatelle

1 tbsp salted butter

truffle oil

plenty of grated parmesan

black pepper

Cook the pasta al dente. Drain in a colander. In the mean time, melt the butter in the pasta pan. Add the drained pasta and toss. Add truffle oil after taste and toss again. Serve in shallow bowls and add plenty of grated parmesan, black pepper and maybe a pinch of salt.

Slowcooked pig’s cheeks with white wine, thyme, mustard and cream

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To slowcook meat has its advantages. Because it is best done with more flavoursome but tough cuts of meat, the result is always tasty very tender meat.

For me I probably started slowcooking big cuts for roasts. Even less tough meat benefits from gentle cooking and more time and lower temperature in the oven. After that I made stews like Boeuf Bourguignon, soon after I tried pulled pork and by then I was totally hooked.

So I bought a Crockpot slowcooker and have never looked back since. 🙂

These cheeks were first browned in a frying pan then transferred to the Crockpot, to which I added white wine, a bay leaf, thyme sprigs, half an onion and water. I left it on the low setting for about 10 hours and by the time I got back home the flat smelled amazing.

The meat was very tender but I still let it rest while I added cream and mustard to the sauce. It doesn’t take much to throw a lovely supper together when it almost cooks itself…

Slowcooked pig’s cheeks with white wine, thyme, mustard and cream,serves 1-2

Step 1:

4 pig’s cheeks

butter/oil for frying

100 ml white wine

150 ml water

4 thyme sprigs

1 bay leaf

1/2 red onion cut into wedges

Step 2:

100 ml cream

100 ml milk

2 tbsp white wine

1,5 tsp dijon mustard

1/2 tbsp soy sauce

gravy browning

salt, white pepper

Brown the meat in a frying pan. Place in the slowcooker and add the other ingredients from step 1. Put the lid on and turn on the low heat and leave it for 9-10 hours. If you are using an oven then place the casserole dish with the lid on in a cold oven and turn it onto 80-90 degrees. Check on it after 6-8 hours.

Remove the meat from casserole dish and let it rest covered with tin foil while you make the sauce. Pour all the liquid from the pot into a saucepan and add milk and cream and bring to the boil. Add the rest of the ingredients and season to taste. Once the sauce has thickened pour it through a sieve. Serve with pressed boiled potatoes and the tender lovely meat. Vegetables are optional.

Panfried plaice fillet with remoulade

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When I was a little girl we used to go on holiday and neartby Denmark, and I have many fond memories from our trips there. The light at Skagen was amazing, all the fresh fish in the harbours, the icecream lollies that were different to home, all the seashells one could pick on the beach… And while eating at a restaurant, I almost always chose deep-fried plaice with remoulade sauce. It is such a classic Danish dish and I really enjoy it.

This is the at home version where I have panfried the plaice fillet and made a sauce similar to remoulade. Similar in the way that it does not contain curry powder, where as real remoulade does. I used turmeric instead and seasoned it with dijon mustard and lemon juice.

Panfried plaice fillet with remoulade, serves 1

1-2 plaice fillets

a large knob of butter for frying

Sauce:

1 egg yolk, at room temperature

150 ml sunflower oil (or other neutral oil)

1/4 lemon, the juice

1-2 tsp dijon mustard

1,5 tsp turmeric

salt, white pepper

6-7 cornichons, chopped

To serve: boiled potatoes, lemon wedge

Whisk together the mayonnaise with an electric whisk, by adding the oil drop by drop to the egg yolk while beating. Add the lemon juice, turmeric and mustard. Season with salt and pepper. Add the cornichons.

Melt the butter in a frying pan. Add the fillets skinside down. Fry until the skin is golden brown. Turn and fry for another 1-2 minutes. Turn again and serve skinside down. Spoon over the melted butter. Add salt and pepper.

Scandi tip #18: Easter traditions

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Sweden has been a Christian country since the Viking Age (that is how the religion travelled so far north) and a protestant country since the reformation in the 1500s. But many people are atheists as well.

Most holidays in Sweden are Christian but based on old Pagan traditions, although we still celebrate some pagan traditions as well as the Christian. A weird mix perhaps, but once you’re used to it you don’t really think about it.

Easter is definitely one of those mixed traditions. The last week of lent (Holy week) (although people don’t really give anything up for lent in Sweden) all the days have different names:

Palmsöndag (Palm Sunday), blåmåndag (Holy Monday), vittisdag (Holy Tuesday), skymmelonsdag (although my grandmother used to call is askonsdagen, Ash wednesday) (Holy Wednesday), skärtorsdag (Maundy Thursday) and långfredag (Good Friday). This week is to celebrate the pain of Jesus on the cross.

But on the Thursday we also celebrate a pagan tradition of little girls (and boys) dressing up like witches (påskkärring) in rags with head scaves, long skirts and painted freckles on their cheeks. They also have a broom stick (of course), a kettle and a black cat. Then the witches take a basket of Easter candy and walk around the houses and trade sweets for more sweets. Our way of trick or treat, I guess. The reason for dressing up like witches is that this is the day when they according to tradition all gather at Blåkulla to celebrate with the devil himself.

Odd, when you think about it that these two contradicting traditions are celebrated at the same time by the same people. But pagan traditions are really rooted and we hang on to them, just like midsummer.

I have no faith really (only on paper) but I do like traditions and what they represent.

Glad pĂĄsk! (Happy Easter!)

Pierre Victoire, Soho

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I seem to hang out a lot in Soho at the moment, and on Saturday I found myself there once again. This time I met up with Laura for an early supper at the French bistro, Pierre Victorie, on Dean Street.

This is a restaurant that I kind of liked, but it could be so much better if just the waiting staff were nicer. The food is hearty and well cooked and the prices are very reasonable (read cheap) and yet as a costumer you are not exactly blown away. And the reason for that is merely the staff. We were asked if we were ready to order by 4 different staff members in less than 4 minutes. That’s just stressy.

After enough interruptions we were ready to order and the food arrived efficiently.

Both of us went for soup as a starter, above is Laura’s French onion soup that was really good. Below is my potato and leek soup. It was nice and rustic and almost tasted homemade.

I went for a simple steak frites with garlic and herb butter and although it wasn’t very expensive, the steak was good quality and perfectly cooked. The fries on the other hand were a bit too pale and therefore less crunchy. A shame since it is so easily fixed with a few minutes more in the fryer.

Laura’s seabass with potatoes, fennel and gremolata looked beautiful and she thoroughly enjoyed it.

So there was defintiely noting wrong with the food (apart from the pale fries), but once we finished eating and wanted to sit for a few more minutes the staff resumed to being rude and it felt like they were kicking us out only so they could relay the table and make more money. But that is not the way a costumer wants to be treated, regardless of the quality of the food. A real shame.

Pierre Victoire
5 Dean Street
London
W1D 3RQ

Weekday wonders: hash with chorizo

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Bubble and squeak and the Swedish version hash are both great dishes for using up leftovers, so the other day I made a version of it that turned out really nice. But chorizo is a bit like bacon – it makes everything nice!

This is hardly a recipe, you can use which vegetables and volumes you like, but this is how mine turned out. I served it with a poached egg and a simple cold sauce made from creme fraiche, mayonnaise and a Swedish herb seasoning.

Hash with chorizo, serves 2

3 potatoes, unpeeled, diced

2 carrots, peeled and diced

1/2 broccoli, cut into small florets

1/4 chorizo ring

a pinch of sugar

salt, pepper

2 tbsp chopped onions (any kind you like)

butter and oil for frying

Served with: poached egg (description below)

Heat up oil and butter in a large frying pan. Add the potato and fry covered for 10-15 minutes or until almost soft. Stir occasionally. Add the carrots and fry for a few minutes. Remove it all to a bowl. Add more butter to the pan and fry the broccoli on high heat for a minute. Add to the potatoes. Fry the onions and chorizo for about 5 minutes, then return everything to the pan and let it warm through.

Poach the egg(s) while the hash is warming. Bring a large saucepan of water to simmer uncovered. Crack one egg at the time into a cup and lower it into the simmering water one by one. You don’t need vinegar in the water or to make a swirl in the water, but the fresher the eggs the better. Don’t poach more then three eggs at the time. The eggs are done aftre 3 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to a bowl of cold water to stop the cooking process. Transfer to kitchen towel to drain so the eggs don’t go cold.

The opening of The Jugged Hare pub

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On Thursday I was slightly out of my comfort zone, braving a pub opening all by myself. It wasn’t by choice as my friend Laura was suppost to come with me, but was ill and couldn’t make it. But since I wanted to go, I thought I can go on my own, hang out for a bit and leave early. Great plan.

But I didn’t stick to it. After my name was crossed off the guest list and I entered the pub I realised it was huge. After a tour around the room with my champagne glass in hand, two girls started talking to me, and suddenly I met lots of nice people. So nice in fact that we stayed really late, but we had so much fun I didn’t want to go home.

The Jugged Hare, was a much larger pub than I first anticipated, but it was still cosy inside. The bar counter was close to the entrance door, further in you had the kitchen to your left and an empty space where I expect the restaurant tables to be, and even further in at the back there were a few booths to sit in.The kitchen looked amazing with lots of copperware and Le Creuset dishes and a rotisserie cabinet with a suckling big being roasted. Later when it was served I luckily got the last bun and the last crackling. Delicious!

Apart from a few tables with drinks and the canapĂ©es that came out of the kitchen most of the action was on the lower ground floor where there you could taste different wines and cheeses. There wasn’t much information about the different cheeses and the man working there was really busy as everyone would flock around him and demand cheese. We definitely tried some lovely cheeses, but unfortunately I don’t know what they’re called.

The canapées I managed to get my hands on were all from the regular menu, but made bite sized. The wild garlic, turnip and leek broth was lovely and totally in season with the wild garlic. The little crab and crab mayo canapé on toast was also really nice and to my surprise I enjoyed the black pudding croquettes too.

Apsrt form the food and wine I really enjoyed meeting fellow foodies. The girl who talked to me studies at the Cordon Bleu, which I am mighty jealous of, and I also bumped into the well-known blogger The London Foodie which was a pleasure.

Although most people left around 10pm our group stayed on and the tweed clad waiters were happy to serve us more wine. When we actually decided to leave the pub was emptying quite quickly and on the way out we got a goody bag each. It was a nice touch since it contained both the menu, a recipe for Jugged Hare, the dish the pub is named after, a Jugged Hare beer and a apple chutney for pork.

The whole event seemed very professional and thought through, and I hope the service will be just as good once the pub is opening its doors properly today.

Delicious mango icecream

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Spring is here and with it my longing for icecream is even stronger. Stronger? you might wonder. Yes, I am one of those weird people that can happily eat icecream when it is freezing cold outside.

And since I now have a proper freezer instead of a tiny one, I will make up for lost time by making and eating lots of icecream this spring and summer. Already in January, I made a simple vanilla icecream, and this time I tried mango.

The recipe is from a very trusted source, the Swedish food blog Smaskens.nu. I have tried and tested a lot of her recipes and they are always very good. This icecream is no exception, but describing it as very good would be an insult. It is wonderful! Rich and creamy with a freshness of fruity mango. Dreamy.

I can just picture myself in the garden of our summer house by the south coast in Sweden resting after a sunbathing session at the beach a short walk away and refreshing myself with this icecream. It has summer written all over it.

Mango icecream, 1 batch

After Annika’s recipe.

Custard:

400 ml cream

200 ml milk

a splash (1/2 tsp or so) vanilla

5 egg yolks

200 ml granulated cane sugar (lightly brown)

Heta up cream, milk and vanilla in a large saucepan. Beat yolks and sugar fluffy in a mixing bowl. Once the cream mixture is warm, pour it into the mixing bowl while stirring to combine. Transfer the lot to the saucepan again and heat up while stirring continuously. Do not let it boil. Remove once it has thickened slightly. Pour into the mixing bowl again and leave to cool. Chill in the fridge overnight to thicken.

Mango purée:

500 g mango

50 ml granulated cane sugar (lightly brown)

Peel and cut the mango into smallish pieces. Place in a saucepan with the sugar. Bring to the boil and let it bubble for about 15 minutes. Mix until smooth and let it cool.

Mix into the custard just before adding the mixture to the icecream maker. Once the icecream is done, let it set in the freezer for a few hours before serving.

Smaka och dö en smula!