Daim cookies

Published on by HannaLeave a comment

I think I had my first crush on Daim instead of a boy. We used to eat lots of daim bars at home when I was a child, and I loved them, but I didn’t have a crush on daim until I met daim icecream! OMG, it was sooo good! I still love it and everything with daim in it, and at the moment I might have a small crush on these cookies. They are so lovely I just can’t stop eating them.

Daim cookies, about 20

2 daim bars

300 ml plain flour

100 ml granulated sugar

1 tbsp syrup

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

150 g softened butter

Chop the daim. Mix all ingredients in a bowl, add the daim last. Shape into a roll, about 5 cm in diameter. Dress in parchment paper and leave in the fridge for an hour. Cut the roll into 5 mm thick slices, place on parchment paper on a baking tray. Bake in 200 degree oven for 8 minutes.

Madeleines take 1

Published on by Hanna1 Comment

Before I moved to England I had never encountered madeleines, despite being on holiday in France, but since I moved here I enjoy them quite often. Of course I would like to make my own instead of buying them, that is much more satisfactory, so I have begun the quest of the perfect madeleines.

This first recipe I tried, is from a Swedish TV chef called Leila, and it is pretty good. The cakes are very tasty and moist but taste eggier than I think madeleines should, and less buttery. It could also do with a stronger vanilla flavour and I used less lemon zest than the recipe and I think that worked well.

So, pretty good but not perfect. The quest continues…

Madeleines, 12

75 g softened butter
75 ml granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla sugar
1 lemon, the zest
2 eggs
150 ml plain flour
1 tsp baking powder

Whip butter, sugars and lemon zest with an electric whisk until creamy. Pour in the eggs and stir.  Mix flour and baking powder and fold it into the batter. Grease the madeleine moulds and divide the batter. Bake in 175 degree oven for 10 minutes in the middle of the oven.

Peanut butter cookies

Published on by Hanna3 Comments

I’ve been longing to make peanut butter cookies for quite a while, and finally yesterday I had the whole day at home and I was baking away. I found this recipe on a Swedish blog called Söta saker (Sweet things) and they are really tasty. Brittle and with a deep peanut flavour.

Peanut butter cookies, 25 or so

275 ml plain flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

100 ml granulated sugar

100 ml brown sugar

100 g softened butter

100 ml smooth peanutbutter

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla sugar

Mix sugars, butter, vanilla and peanut butter. Whisk in the egg. Mix the flour with baking powder and salt and add it to the batter, stir. Roll small balls of the mixture, put on a baking tray covered with baking parchment, flatten the balls slightly with a fork. Bake in 190-200 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

Stuffed mushrooms with ricotta

Published on by Hanna1 Comment

I have tried this Jamie Oliver recipe twice and really like it as a casual canapé. The first time I followed the recipe but had to use fresh thyme instead of oregano as the supermarket in Sweden didn’t have any oregano. It was still delicious! Yesterday I used chilli flakes and dried oregano and that worked well too. Both times I have used chestnut mushrooms but they don’t taste much, so I think it would be even better with a more flavoursome mushroom.

Fernandez & Leluu

Published on by Hanna6 Comments

Yesterday Gaby and I went to Fernandez & Leluu’s supperclub, and it was a very interesting evening. Either of us hadn’t been where they live before, and we misjudged how long the bus would take and was slightly late. So embarrasing, but they waited for us, which was really sweet. When we rang the bell a girl called Mia opened the door, and it turned out she was Swedish too. She was also our waitress for the evening and really sweet. When we approached our table with other supperclub ‘virgins’ we were greeted by a bunch of friendly people. Only one person at our table of 12 or so had been there before, five times! In the room we were about 25 people sat around 4 different tables, and everyone was outgoing and seemed to enjoy themselves. It was people of all ages and nationalities with one thing in common – they all love food! One lady was there to see what it was like because she was thinking of setting one up herself, one man was in the UK for business and had read about the supperclub in his newspaper in the US and decided to go, and around one table it was a group of eight friends and co-workers who decided to go together.

As one woman said, at a supperclub the food and the company is equaly important where as if you go to a restaurant you are there only for the food. I would say that it is worth going for the food alone, but meeting nice people with the same interest as you makes it a very different experience to a restaurant visit. It is more informal and much more sociable.

Both Gaby and I expected good food, since this is a very popular supperclub, but this was over our expectations. it was several courses, all very well executed and with amazing flavours. As the guy next to me pointed out: “there is no salt and pepper on the table – because you don’t need it”. We started off with a mackarel pate on endives with garlic foccacia, and it was wonderful. I really want the recipe for the bread! Next course was parma ham with ripe melon and king prawns with a lovely herb mayonnaise, I think this course most people could make, but simple is good when you have good produce. Next (I think, I am so afraid I will forget one of the many courses) was black squid risotto and it was superb. Full of flavours and not too rich, definitely one of my favourites. Next was marinated tuna cubes with chips and wasabi mayo. The tuna was amazing, very tender and rich in flavour and the wasabi mayo was lovely too, I don’t think chips was the best complement to it, but it was a fun take on fish and chips. Next was an octopus carpaccio, and lots of it, with small capers, and it was absolutely delicious. I would never come up with the idea myself to make it, but will definitely try it. Perfect inbetween courses or as tapas. Next was another of my favourites, slowroasted lamb with potato salad. The potato salad was quite ordinary, similar to the one I make, but the lamb, OMG it was lovely! It was crunchy and tender and tasted absolutely amazing!

By this point it was quite late for us, as we had to trek home and go to work the next day. Most other people in the room and certainly at our table had had quite a lot of wine, and Gaby and I wish we had too. We felt really really sober compared to some of the others, singing, shouting etc. So next time we will go at the weekend and make sure we bring lots of nice wines! 🙂 We were the first ones to leave, but eat the dessert quickly, and I’m glad we didn’t miss it. It was pannacotta with vodka and orange with berries on top and it was really good. I think pannacotta in general is a bit boring and playing it safe when it comes to dessert, but this one was really good. As Gaby pointed out, the vodka really takes the edge of it, so it doesn’t feel as creamy.

We managed to sneak upstairs into the large kitchen and say hello and goodbye to the hosts, and it was lovely to meet them! I certainly hope they keep up the good work because both Gaby and I are coming back!

Thank you so much, we had a lovely time!

Now I really want to bake

Published on by HannaLeave a comment

I received my much awaited (since yesterday) parcels today, containing cake decoration supplies, and really want to start baking at once.

Penguin, reindeer, butterfly and angel cutters
Sparkles in clear and pink
Pastel and ivory and white cupcake cases and snowflake sparkles

Isn’t it cute?! I really like the penguin cookie cutter and can’t wait to use the sparkles.

Supperclub

Published on by Hanna2 Comments

I will for the first time tonight go to a supperclub, something I was totally unaware even existed a couple of months ago. But I am so looking forward to it! I am going with my foodie friend Gaby and I hope we will have a great evening together with other foodies.

For those of you who haven’t heard about this phenomenon, I would describe it as a restaurant in someone’s house. Some foodies open up their private home for other foodies to come and eat there at communal tables, paying for the food and bringing drinks themselves. It seems like a very sociable food experience!

We are going to Fernandez & Leluu tonight, one of the most popular supperclubs in London at the moment. It is all very secretive; we received an email yesterday with the address, which of course needs to remain a secret as this is their private home and we won’t find out exactly what is on the menu until we arrive tonight. 

You will get a thorough description of the evening tomorrow.

Yummy sandwiches

Published on by HannaLeave a comment

What do to with leftover aioli? Make some nice sandwiches and spread them with beautiful yellow aioli, add parma ham, salami and cheddar. Soo tasty.

Yummy sandwiches

Simply bake some homebake ciabattas in the oven, leave to cool, cut in half and spread both halves generously with aioli. Place some parma ham and salami on the bottom half, slice some cheddar and put on top. Eat! Sooo good!

Fish soup with aioli

Published on by Hanna2 Comments

On Saturday I made fish soup for the first time, totally improvised but with my mother’s version in mind (although not knwing the recipe for it). I think I came quite close, and this is exactly how I like my fish soup. Although I should have used better stock! Only had stock cubes at hand and that’s just not good enough. But it was still pretty good, and with the homemade aioli it was even great! 🙂

Fish soup with aioli, 2 portions

For the aioli:

2 eggyolks

2 tsp dijon mustard

a pinch of salt

some white pepper

250 ml coldpressed rapeseed oil

1,5 small cloves of garlic, pressed

For the soup:

3 carrots

1 potato

1 layer of a fennel

150 ml cream

75 ml white wine

500 ml water + stock

1 clove garlic, pressed

1 trout fillet

1 whiting fillet

100 g peeled prawns

some chopped parsley

Start with the aioli: Mix the yolks with the mustard and salt and pepper in a steady bowl. Use an electric whisk to mix the oil, little by little, into the eggs. Using a good rapeseed oil will make the mayonnaise all yellow and pretty, but only give it a slight taste. You can also use a sunflower oil or something similar, but not a strong olive oil, it will give the mayonnaise the wrong flavour. Usually when making mayonnaise you add a little bit of white wine vinagar in the beginning as well, but I happened to all out of vinegar and since I add both the mustard and garlic, it is actually not needed, but when making regular mayo I think a little vinegar would make it even better. Press in the garlic after you have mixed all the oil with the yolks. I thought 1,5 small cloves was absolutely perfect for my taste, but taste your way to your best result. Cover the aioli with clingfilm and put it in the fridge while making the soup.

For the soup, peel the carrots and potatoes and chop them into similar sized pieces, cut one layer of the fennel into matching pieces, put it in a pan and cover with water, throw in some salt and boil until the vegetables are cooked. Then puree them, add cream and wine and water + stock until preferred texture and taste, press in some garlic, season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Then cut the fish into pieces, 1 x 1 inch, place in the soup and cook for a few minutes. Next throw in the prawns so they heat up, lastly sprinkle the parsley on top. Serve immeadiately with a large dollop of aioli in each bowl, some nice crusty bread and a nice chilled wine. Enjoy!

Schnitzel burger with potato wedges

Published on by HannaLeave a comment

Sometimes I’m in the mood for really greasy food. It usually occurs when I’ve had lots of wine to drink the night before… strange isn’t it?! This happened to me on Friday, all I could think about was comfort food with melted cheese. So instead of getting a way too greasy take away I made my own junk food, and it hit the spot. 🙂

Schnitzel burger with potato wedges, 2 portions

2 pork escalopes

100 ml natural breadcrumbs

2 eggs

2 seeded large burger buns

2 slices plastic cheese

Swedish pickled red pepper

6 large Maris Piper potatoes

olive oil

Cajun spice

Start by cutting the potatoes into wedges. I kept the skin on. Then pour some olive oil onto a roasting dish, place the potatoes in it and pour over a little bit more oil, then season with the Cajun spice and flip them around a bit so that all wedges are coated in oil and seasoning. Place in an 175-200 degree oven (depending on the oven) for about 40 minutes, Check on them a few times and flip them around a bit. When they have been in the oven for 30 minutes or so and have started to soften, it is time to start cooking the meat. Beat the eggs in a bowl and dip the pork in the beaten eggs, then coat it in breadcrumbs. Fry in butter in a frying pan until the meat is cooked through and the outside is crisp. Place a slice of plastic cheese on each schnitzel and let it melt. Toast the burger buns and serve with the pickled sliced peppers (I use a Swedish pepper salad, but you can buy pickled peppers here and just slice them). Some ketchup and mayo is perfect to dip the spicy wedges in. Yum!