Sometimes easy is good. Like this sandwich for example. It is important to choose nice bread, a good mayo (homemade or Hellman’s), nice Icelandic prawns, and to boil the eggs exactly the way you want them (I want mine with the yolk very yellow and quite soft). And if you pipe the mayonnaise onto the eggs, it looks really pretty too. Yum!
Prawn sandwich, serves 2
1 nice baguette or ciabatta
butter
4 little gem leaves
3 boiled eggs (they way you like)
lots of mayonnaise
150-200 g peeled Icelandic prawns
red onions, cut in half and sliced
lemon
Cut the bread in half and spread on some butter. Place the rinsed and dried lettuce on top. Peel and slice the eggs and divide them between the two sandwiches, pipe lots of mayonnaise on top. Scatter the prawns on top. Sprinkle on some red onions and decorate with lemon.
We have the tiniest freezer. It is not even a freezer, it is just a tiny freezer compartment in the fridge. That is the only downside with our kitchen, but it is a big one… Well, a girl can’t have everything, and at least it stops me from baking lots of cinnamon buns that I would fill the freezer with if we had one.
But it is always a puzzle when you buy food, to not buy more food that needs to be frozen than we have space in the tiny compartment. So when I buy icecream I want to eat it quite quickly as we could use the space for other more important things than icecream… (Yes, there are such things! ;-))
This is why I came up with the excuse to make caramel sauce. I used Pioneerwoman’s recipe and it was really nice and easy. The first evening we had just vanilla icecream with still warm caramel sauce. Lovely and simple. The second evening we had icecream, cold caramel sauce, meringues and warm chocolate sauce. Yu-um. And last night we finished off the icecream with pancakes and some more caramel sauce. Not bad that either. 🙂 And now the icecream is finished so I have room for meat in the freezer instead. Job done.
This dish might look beige, but I promise there is nothing beige about the taste. The Stilton flavour is a bit subtle, but definitely there, well balanced by sweetness in the chilli sauce. The fennel is soft and fresh and you can definitely taste the lemon. Try this if you want a different side dish.
I used chicken thighs for this dish, because they are more moist and taste more than chicken breasts. But if chicken fillet is your preference, go for it!
The fennel is bubbling away.Nice and creamy sauce!
Chicken in Stilton sauce with fennel gratin, serves 2
olive oil
3 chicken thighs
10 cm leek, sliced
250 ml single cream
1 icecube homemade chicken stock (or a splash of concentrated chicken stock)
70 g Stilton
1 tsp mild chilli sauce (for sweetness)
salt
white pepper
1,5 fennel
2 cloves garlic, sliced
olive oil
salt
white pepper
1/2 lemon, juice from
500 ml vegetable stock
grated cheese
Take the skin off the chicken thighs and cut the meat into chunks. Fry them in olive oil, salt and pepper. Remove from skillet and add the leeks. Put the chicken back into the pan and add the cream and stock. Crumble in the Stilton, add the seasoning and adjust to taste. Serve with rice and the fennel gratin (below).
For the gratin, wash the fennel and cut into wedges. Slice the garlic. Fry these in some olive oil in a pan on low heat so they don’t brown. Add salt, pepper, stock and lemon juice. Bring to boil and cook for about 20 minutes until soft. Drain and place in an oven dish. Spinkle grated cheese on top. Bake in 200C for about 15 minutes.
My mother used to (and still does) distinguish weekday food from weekend food. On weeknights we used to have mostly peasant food like meatballs, sausages and mash, soups etc and on the weekends she would go all out with fillet of beef, seafood etc.
Fry the potatoes......until they're done.
I take after her, I always make the weekends something extra, I definitely spend more money on meat for the weekends, but my weekday food can sometimes be quite different from my parents’. I use more pasta and make different kind of soups, whereas my dad would be happy with boiled potatoes five days a week. I need to mix it up a little and try new things. But sometimes I go back to the peasant food. Last week I made this stewed spinach served with lots of fried things; diced potatoes, eggs and frankfurters (it works with bacon too).
Nice and green!
I have actually never made this before, or asked my mother for a recipe, but I was really happy that it tasted like my mother’s version. Yum!
Stewed spinach, fried potatoes, eggs and frankfurters, serves 2
4 large potatoes
butter
olive oil
salt
white pepper
sugar
flour
milk
nutmeg
frozen chopped spinach
eggs
frankfurters
Peel the potatoes and cut into small dices. Fry in plenty of butter and oilve oil on medium heat until they’re done. Season with salt, white pepper and 2 pinches of sugar (very important and the key to perfect fried potatoes). Make a roux of butter and flour, add milk (warm milk makes it quicker), stir the whole time and let it thicken. Season with nutmeg, salt and white pepper. Add as much frozen chopped spinach as you think is good (I used about 400 g for 750 ml milk). Let the spinach heat up. Fry eggs and frankfurters and serve with the potatoes and spinach-bechamel.
My friend Anna and I went to Marylebone yesterday (where the Swedish community is) and visited the Swedish Church in London‘s Christmas fair. The place was packed with people so it was impossible to take any photos, but I can tell you about it at least. 🙂
The fair was on the ground floor of the church and they had lots of Christmassy things for sale; Swedish candles, old-fashioned Christmas tree decorations, white moss (to decorate your Advent candles with), Christmas tree lights and of course groceries. There was plenty of sweets, both the famous cars (they have them at IKEA), Marabou chocolate and other things. The bread stall was the most popular one, with proper dark rye breads (I heard a few girls getting excited about it), soft flatbread and of course lots and lots of gingerbread.
Another food stall sold all the things that are difficult or impossible to find in English supermarkets, like Swedish syrup, Heinz chilli sauce, fresh yeast, pickled herring, swedish crisps and plenty of other things.
Happiness! 🙂
The things I just had to buy were: Dumle toffee that are incredible in rocky road together with chocolate, cashews, pistachios and marshmallows. Fresh yeast, which is a lot quicker and nicer than dried. Soft flatbread that I love, especially with some prawn cheese spread (weird I know, everyone in the office have told me that), Swedish syrup so my gingerbread can taste like my mother’s, anchovies for Jansson’s temptation (a common Swedish Christmas dish with potatoes and anchovies) and a tin of gingerbread for work.
After some food shopping we were ready to try out the caffée. It is the actual church room they have made into a caffé and you sit at communal tables with long benches. They had a good selection of sandwiches (Christmas ham with mustard; prawns and egg; meatballs with beetroot salad; smoked salmon) as well as sweet cakes and cookie. They had the typical princess cake with green marzipan, daim cake, saffron buns, cinnamon buns and lots of cookies and shortbread. We had a sandwich each and a niiice homemade cinnamon bun. Lovely!
You could also buy glögg (Swedish version of mulled wine served with almonds and raisins in the glass) and proper Swedish hotdogs. The whole place seems surreal since everyone around you are Swedish and speak Swedish in the middle of London. It is just weird hearing someone say ‘£4.50’ in Swedish… 😉
The only downside with this celebration is that everything is fairly expensive. But it is worth it. I carry over lots of food every time I visit Sweden and you just can’t carry everything you want to bring back. So it is great to be able to buy groceries here or in the Swedish food shops even if it is a bit more expensive.
About two weeks ago we went to the Wolseley for lunch with Ian and Anna to celebrate Christopher’s birthday. There was lots of celebrations for him! 🙂
When we arrived the place was packed with people and we had to wait in the tiny bar for a few minutes for our table. It always amazes me how small the bar is, but I do understand why. This is place where you come for food and not just drinks. The bar is only a waiting area, and it would be a shame if the took space from the restaurant to make a bigger bar.
After a few minutes of waiting Ian and Anna arrive and our table is ready at the same time. It took us quite a while to decide on what to have. I could eat everything on that menu, but tried to be tactic as we had cheese and a birthday cake waiting, not to indulge in something too heavy like the quail’s eggs with hollandaise. Instead I go for the beetroot soup with horseradish and Christopher chooses the same. The soup is nice and smooth with a swirl of white horseradish in the middle of the deep red. Christopher thought the portion was too large, but I didn’t understand what he meant and finished my soup. I was hungry… 🙂
Anna has the avocado vinegrette and Ian a chicken soup with dumplings. The avocado is perfectly ripe and comes with a lot of the vinegrette, it looks simple and lovely. Ian’s soup is a clear broth with chicken, vegetables and dumplings and he seems very happy with it.
For main courses, we all decided on different dishes, am sure the chefs loved us… 🙂 Anna went for fillet of oat-crusted whiting with remoulade, and it looked very nice. Christopher chose the roast beef with yorkshire pudding and gravy. He enjoyed it and said that it was as good as the one he’s had at Trinity, but that my roast potatoes where better. Ian chose the double lamp chop with bubble and squeak and was extremely happy with it. I went for the scallops and risotto nero. It was the best scallops I have ever had, they were silky and perfectly cooked and came with a nice herb oil. The risotto was a bit too salty (and I love salt) and had a bit too much ink in it. It made the pearl-coloured scallops go black as well.
We decided to skip dessert and have teas and coffees instead, as there was plenty of food awaiting us at home.
I really love this place, but compared to proper gourmet-places, this doesn’t really match the category. The food is always well cooked and nice, but it is not innovative and playful like gourmet restaurants. I think that the more I come here, the more I see it as a place for breakfast, a quick lunch when you’re out and about and a simpler evening meal, instead of a full on three course meal.
I still love the Wolseley, and will come back again and again, the food is always well executed, but very classic and the interior and service is amazing. It is well worth a visit if you come to London!
I was quite proud of myself on Tuesday because I managed to cook, take photos and Skype with my friend Malin, all at the same time. My coordination skills are a bit like a man’s so I am thrilled over my ability to multi-task these three things.
It was too much for me to follow a recipe though, but I used this one for inspiration. And I can say that I was very pleased with my version. Creamy and comforting without being too rich. And although all the flavours are mild you can really taste the mushrooms which is great. This lasagna is a bit different, because it is without the tomato sauce, and that makes this version so much better.
The copper pan is out again!
Try it on a boring weeknight when you need a little comfort food, open a bottle of red wine and serve with some nice bread.
Before...... and after.
Mushroom lasagna, serves 2 (and a small leftover lunch box)
Svamplasagne, 2 portioner + en liten lunchlåda
6-8 lasagne sheets
250 g mixed mushrooms or more (I had chestnut mushrooms and button mushrooms at hand)
butter
olive oil
flour
500 ml milk
100 ml single cream
300 ml grated cheese (I had red Leicester and Manchego)
1 large garlic clove, pressed
nutmeg
salt
vhite pepper
Rinse the mushrooms, cut the end of the stems off and slice them. Fry in plenty of butter and olive oil on high heat for a few minutes. Fry them quite hard to keep their texture in the oven. Season with salt and pepper when they’re fried, not during.
Cook the pasta sheets in water with salt and oil (to prevent them from sticking to each other). Cook for 10 minutes, then drain and place on a plate with oil in between each sheet.
Heat up milk, cream and garlic in a pan. Make a roux in another pan and add the warm milk bit by bit while stirring. Whisk while it thickens. Season with plenty of freshly grated nutmeg, salt and pepper. Add 150 ml grated red Leicester and let it melt.
Pour some of the cheese sauce into the bottom of a rectangular dish and spread it out with a spatula. Place a layer of pasta sheets on top, spread on some more sauce, scatter mushrooms and grated Manchego. Place another layer of pasta on top and repeat. The top layer should be pasta, cheese sauce and grated Manchego. Bake for about 30 minutes in 190C.
My mother used to have a wall full of copper pans and moulds in the kitchen when I was younger, which looked great in a country kitchen. And when she cooked paradise prawns on Fridays she always used a copper sauté pan. Unfortunately that pan can’t be used anymore as the tin has worn off and it is not easy to find someone who does re-tinning anymore as people in general have stopped using copper pans. A shame, because they are both pretty and very good to use.
When I was back home last time I found an unused copper pan in a charity shop for less than £4, which of course made me very happy. My mum has also managed to spare a few copper things for me. For me it is happiness to melt butter in a teeny tiny copperpan with a spout, on my gas hob instead of using a microwave (that we don’t even have).
Start with onions, garlic and leek.
When people ask me which country I prefer out of Sweden and England, I can never give anyone a straight answer – I love both countries! The conservative part of me loves England and all its old buildings and the fact that you don’t change anything unless there is a strong reason for it while the efficient part of me never will understans why people still have two taps on a basin instead of a mixing tap in England and why triple glazing is so rare. The old-fashioned part of me is appalled by the ‘out with the old, in with the new’ mentality Swedish people sometimes have while English people appreciate most old things. There are always two sides of things and I happen to like them both. 🙂
Add everything but the mussels and let it reduce to intense the flavours
Back to copper pans. On Monday when I got home from work and was really tired it made me happy to cook a pasta sauce in my £4 copper pan. 🙂
Add the mussels last and let them warm up
Pasta with mussels and sambal oelek, serves 2
250 g pasta
1 large schallots or 1 small regular onion
2 cloves of garlic, pressed
10 cm leek, cut lengthwise and sliced
400 g chopped tomatoes
50 ml water
4 tbsp creme fraiche
2 tbsp or more sambal oelek
a pinch of sugar
2 dashes concentrated vegetable or fish stock
salt
white pepper
chopped parsley or Gourmet Garden parsley
180 g mussels in brine
perhaps some lemon/garlic or truffle oil for serving
Cook the pasta according to the packet. Heat up some olive oil in a pan and cook the onions soft on low heat for a few minutes. Add the garlic and leek and let it cook for a few more minutes. Add everything but the mussels and let it reduce a littl. Season to your taste. When the pasta is nearly cookes, add the mussels to the sauce to warm up. Drain the pasta. Serve with oil of your choice.
We’ve really gotten into Sunday roasts the last couple of weeks without really thinking about it, but it is lovely this time of year with a proper hearty meal consisting of meat, sauce and potatoes, when the weather is cold and miserable outside.
I usually focus on the meat and the roast potatoes (which I now rock), but still have to work on all the trimmings and the Yorkshire puds, which I have never tried to make yet.
This Sunday we had a lovely pork belly roast. I made it once before, but it was a bit dry that time. Much better this time around! 🙂
Pour some olive oil into a roasting dish. Cut small incisions into the fat unless the butcher/supermarket has done that for you. Rub salt and black pepper into the meat, especially on the cuts in the fat, but all around. Place in the roasting dish. Put the dish into the oven on 220C for 20-30 minutes to crisp up the crackling. Then lower the temperature to 175C and cook for another hour. Let the meat rest 10 minutes before you serve it.
Roast potatoes, serves 2
5-6 Maris piper potatoes
2-3 tbsp goose fat
salt & white pepper
Peel the potatoes and cut them i half or in three depending on the size. Put them in a pan and barely cover with cold water. Add some salt. Bring to a boil and let them cook for 5-10 minutes. Meanwhile, scoop out some goosefat onto a roasting tray, and put it in the oven to melt the fat. Drain the potatoes and place them on the hot tray. Make sure to push them aroud so that they are all coated with goose fat. Add salt and pepper. When the oven is turned down to 175C, place the potatoes higher up than the meat and cook for about an hour, until they are golden and crisp on the outside.
Serve with boiled carrot batons and a creamy gravy (make a roux of butter and flour, add milk and cream, meat juice or stock, some rowanberry jelly, colouring agent, salt and pepper).
You might suspect my latest hang-up is squid, and you might be right. 🙂 So far I have cooked squid in the seafood bake and for yummy sandwiches, and up next is of course calamari.
Nearly done.
This is as far away from bad pub calamari; you know the ones that are all rubbery and difficult to chew and have soggy batter?! This is melt-in-your-mouth-soft squid in a light semolina and paprika coating, fried seconds before you munch them down with oven fries and aioli (or the lazy version: Hellman’s mayo and pressed garlic). Yum!
Oven fries with persillade.
Calamari and oven fries, serves 2
a few potatoes
olive oil
persillade
salt and white pepper
4-5 squid tubes
3 tbsp semolina
2 tbsp corn flour
1,5 tsp paprika powder
a pinch of salt
neutral oil (vegetable oil/ground nut oil)
For serving:
lime and lemon wedges
aioli
Wash the potatoes and keep the skin on. Cut into fries. Pour some oilve oil into an ovenproof dish and throw in the potatoes. Sprinkle some persillade, salt and white pepper over the potatoes and push them around a bit so it spreads evenly. Bake in 200C for about 40 minutes. Push the potatoes around a few times during cooking.
Cut the squid into rings. Pour semolina, corn flour, paprika powder and salt in a large ziplock bag and shake it. Add the squid rings and shake so the rings get coated by the mixture. When the potatoes are cooked, start frying the calamari. Heat up 2 cm high of oil in a large pan. Check that it is hit enough by throwing in a small piece of bread. If it browns it is hot enough. Remove the bread and add a handful calamari. Beware of the oil splashing about. Fry until the calamaris are golden on both sides. Remove with a slotted spoon or tong, drain on some kitchen towel. Fry the remaining squid in a few batches. Serve immediately!
Scandelights 