Swedish Beer - Part VI / Yule Ales

Living now in Sweden, I expected certain traditions regarding Christmas and beer to be observed. I was not let down. After I returned from Brazil, Systembolaget had rearranged some of their goods to make space for a few shelves dedicated to Christmas beers. Anticipating pre-Christmas visitors I picked up a handful.


Åbro Julbock didn't quite live up to my expectations - while it was dark and clearly in the style of Scandinavian Christmas beers in general, it seemed lacking in taste when compared to the two excellent Christmas beers from Nynäshamn Ångbryggeri and Nils Oscar. The Winter Ale from Oppigård was a pleasant surprise: true to its name, and unlike the others it is actually an ale.

Jackfruit

I recently went to Brazil and one of the cities I visited was the city of Ribeirão Preto, in what was once the heartland of Brazilian coffee production. Now, according to locals, the only coffee trees that remain in Riberão Preto are those separating the two directions of traffic down the middle of Avenida do Café. On the grounds of what used to be one of the very largest coffee plantations in Brazil, but which now belongs to the Ribeirão Preto campus of USP (Universidade de São Paulo), one finds the Plínio Travassos dos Santos municipal museum and it's direct neighbour, the Coronel Fransisco Schmidt coffee museum.

Shortly after entering the municipal museum a lady working there inquired as to my origin, and my attempts to explain Sweden were initially stumped by my lack of proficiency in Portuguese (as far as I could understand the only language she spoke). Then when I found the museum's collection of coins which contained a few Swedish coins, I was able to tell her Suécia. After trying to explain to me some details of a painting of the coffee plantation that used to be there she gave up on me for a while, only to come to me later to make sure that I also visited the neighbouring coffee museum.

Guiding me through the garden towards the coffee museum, she suddenly pointed to some rather large fruits sitting several meters up a tree in the garden and exclaimed "Jaca". Judging alone by size of the fruits I guessed that these might be jackfruits - which is correct according to wikipedia. Not thinking much more of it I entered and quickly toured the coffee museum. The quickness of my tour was due mainly to (a) the relatively modest size of the coffee museum (b) my poor ability to read Portuguese (even if better than my ability to speak it) - more so than the fact that I don't actually drink coffee. Upon exiting the coffee museum, I found my new friend approaching with a plate of palish yellow pieces of fruit flesh.. yes, it was time for me to taste the jackfruit.

My new friend proceeded to show me how each seed sits in a coat of fruit flesh, which can be torn from the fruit and eaten. It was quite sweet and personally I rather liked it.

Bowmore Laimrig

As it turns out this purchase was more special than I realised at first.

Passing the shelf with whiskey, someone nudged me and asked if I didn't want a bottle. Well .. put like that .. how could I not? I glanced over the selection.. what to choose: something new or an old favourite?

When I did pick Bowmore Laimrig, it was based partly on my previous experience with Bowmore and partly on the lovely amber colour. Little did I know that what I was buying was something I couldn't have bought any old place: Bowmore Laimrig is made especially for the Swedish market and is sold exclusively by Systembolaget.

The beautiful colour that caught my attention in the first place is no doubt influenced by the two-stage ageing: first in old bourbon casks and then in old Oloroso sherry casks. The latter of these is likely what lends the taste a particularly smooth edge - the smokiness comes out much in the after-taste in this one.

Liver with Bacon and Capers

Not so long ago I went out for lunch. My eyes scanned the short menu and upon seeing the 'Veal liver with bacon and capers in red wine sauce' there was no turning back. I had to try that. And after trying it, I had to make it myself as well.

Ingredients:
- potatoes
- green beans
- 1 large onion, sliced
- 50 g (2 oz) thinly sliced bacon
- 650 g (1.4 lbs) beef liver, sliced
- salt & pepper
- 1 dL (¹/₂ cup) red wine
- 1 dL (¹/₂ cup) cream
- capers
salad:
- lettuce
- baby plum tomatoes
- pea sprouts

I started by preparing the salad, then rinsed the potatoes and boiled them in lightly salted water. The green beans were boiled in lightly salted water in a separate pot (on account of needing less time).

The bacon was fried till nicely crisp, then removed from the pan and chopped - in the same pan, the liver slices were fried with salt and pepper. When the liver slices were done, they were removed from the pan, and the onion rings were caramelized - then removed. Lastly, the red wine was added to the pan, allowed to concentrate a little before adding the cream to obtain a sauce.

The fried liver slices were served with bacon bits and capers on top. The potatoes with onion rings, and red wine-cream sauce, green beans and salad on the side. And a glass of the red wine..

Next time, I think I'll try a different approach with the red wine sauce - it wasn't bad, but it wasn't quite like the one I had at the restaurant either..

Black Balzam

Having noted my taste in various spirits, a friend of mine picked my a bottle of this potion when he went to Riga this summer.

I hadn't heard of it before, and so was intrigued. Turns out its a herbal bitter - think along the lines of Gammel Dansk, Jägermeister, or Killepitsch.

I was also happy see that someone out there is keeping alive the old tradition of selling spirits in earthenware bottles.

Potato Pizza 2

We read about a variation on this concept .. and realised it was sufficiently different to merit a post on its own. I think the two are equally good - just different.

Ingredients:
- 2 portions pizza dough
- olive oil
- 4 yellow onions, finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- fresh thyme
- salt & pepper
- 8-10 potatoes, thinly sliced
after baking:
- parmigiano reggiano, freshly grated
for serving:
- fresh arugula (rocket)

The finely diced onions were caramelized in a little olive oil together with crushed garlic, fresh thyme, salt and pepper - then set aside.

Each portion of the pizza dough was rolled aided by durum flour.

Each pizza was topped with a layer of caramelized onions, then potato slices and sprinkled with oil, salt and pepper.

The pizzas were baked in the oven at 225 C (450 F) for 20 minutes.

After baking the pizzas were sprinkled with more fresh thyme and freshly grated parmigiano reggiano - and served with a little fresh arugula.

Danish Beer - Part VI / Bear Beer II

Danish brewery Harboe's is probably most famous for Bjørnebryg^[1] - which would translate as 'Bear Brew', but in the US I saw it sold under the name 'Bear Beer' (in Trader Joe's) - with the trademark polar bear on the label. Interestingly, when I bought Bjørnebryg in the US it was probably the first time in my life I ever bought it - and mainly for warped nostalgic/patriotic reasons. Thing is - to my mind Bjørnebryg has a rather dismal reputation: it's not famous for being a particularly good beer, but much more so for being a relatively cheap strong beer (traditionally 7.7% ABV). In short, it has the reputation of being a beer for alcoholics.


But if Bjørnebryg's raison d'être is it's comparatively good alcohol/price ratio rather than the taste experience itself, then that begs the question of why the Swedes seem to want a low-alcohol content version of that beer? While Systemet sells Bjørnebryg holding 7.2% ABV, some Swedish supermarkets sell a version with 2.8% ABV. Naturally, I was intrigued. Unfortunately, as I expected, there is no good reason for buying this beer. And the real one is so intensely alcoholic that I ended up mixing the two for a more drinkable (if not memorable) compromise.

^[1] While Danish brewery Carlberg also sells a strong beer leaning on the imagery of the raw power of exotic animals (Carlsberg Elephant Beer, 7.2% ABV) this sales tactics not unique to Danish breweries as witnessed by e.g. the Finnish Kahru and the American Rhino Chasers.

Yggenyk Cookies

When I was a child one of the stories I really enjoyed was the story about the yggenyks (which are three-legged birds) stealing the round tower in Copenhagen. The yggenyks then demanded a ransom of yggenyk cookies for returning the popular tower. The book even had the recipe for authentic yggenyk cookies - complete with a warning not to leave the window open when baking them since yggenyk might get attracted by the lovely scent. I, of course, loved these cookies as a child too.

Earlier this year, I felt like making yggenyk cookies myself and googled the subject. This is when things got complicated. Spellings varied 'yggenyk', 'yggenyg', 'ykkenyk' and I suddenly had three fairly different recipes all claiming to be the recipe for authentic yggenyk cookies. The three recipes were quite similar except for a few key issues: one didn't include eggs (seemed at the very least unusual), another didn't include any obvious leavening agent, while the last one called for both eggs and hartshorn.^[1]

It seemed the confusion stemmed at least partly from the fact that the author had in fact given two different recipes for authentic yggenyk cookies - one in the book I remembered, and another one in the book in which the yggenyks steal the queen's palace in Copenhagen demanding a cookie ransom (yes, a fairly similar plot).

After discussing the matter with my external consultant^[2] I opted for the recipe including both eggs and hartshorn... and was somewhat disappointed with the resulting cookies. They were not as hard as I remembered them, and in hindsight I guess I used too much hartshorn (the recipe calls for 'a pinch'^[3]). Some time went by and I tried again - the result was better, but still not quite to my satisfaction. On the third attempt I was finally learning to use sufficiently little hartshorn for the cookies not to rise too much.

Ingredients:
- 250 g (9 oz) granulated sugar
- 250 g (9 oz) margarine, chunks
- 100 g (3.5 oz) dark chocolate chopped
- 3 eggs
- pinch of salt
- pinch of hartshorn
- 500 g (18 oz) flour
optional coating:
- 130 g (4.5 oz) milk chocolate

The margarine was cut in chunks and worked into the sugar using a ladle.^[4] The eggs were stirred in one by one, and then the chopped dark chocolate. Salt and hartshorn were added and lastly the flour was stirred in in three portions.

The dough was rolled into 50 balls which were placed on two baking sheets and baked sequentially on the top rack at 200 C (400 F) for 16 minutes each. Once out of the oven the cookies were transferred to a rack to cool.

The cooled cookies were flipped upside down and the bottoms were coated with melted milk chocolate (melted with three 20 second pulses in the microwave oven). The milk chocolate was allowed to harden before storing in cookie tins.


The resulting cookies were much like I remembered them (if still less hard), although the grown-up me has to concede it's basically just a chocolate chip cookie. I'm not sure I'd bother with the milk chocolate bottom coating next time - it didn't add that much to the overall result.

^[1] Hartshorn = Ammonium bicarbonate (aka 'powdered baking ammonia').
^[2] i.e. my mom.
^[3] In Danish 'a pinch' is 'en knivspids' - i.e. "as much as lies on the tip of a knife".
^[4] This part is clearly easier if the margarine is allowed to warm to room temperature first.

Green Enchiladas with Prawns and Chèvre

I admit it: when I was living in California, I neglected enchiladas. Why? I'm not sure, I was vaguely aware that they existed, but for some reason I underestimated their potential. Last year I realised this had been a mistake when I went to dinner at a friend's place and had some enchiladas there. Then I kinda forgot about it for a while, until I saw a recipe for green enchiladas in bon appetit, but thought I couldn't do anything about it as I hadn't seen tomatillos anywhere since leaving California. But recently I found some at a market right here in Stockholm, and here follows the result.

Ingredients:
- 12 tortillas (medium sized)
salsa verde:
- 4 tomatillos
- 7 jalapeño peppers
- 2 cloves garlic
- juice of 1 lime
- salt
filling:
- 400-500 g (1 lb) tiger prawns
- 1-2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 large red onion
- small bunch fresh oregano
- 2 jalapeño peppers
- 8 scallions, chopped
- 150 g (¹/₃ lb) chèvre
topping:
- 1 bunch cilantro
- 1 avocado

I started with the salsa verde:
The tomatillos were de-husked, rinsed and boiled for 15 minutes, then blended with crushed garlic, jalapeño peppers, lime juice and a little salt.

The prawns were fried with ground cumin, then added onion boats, oregano, and finely chopped jalapeño peppers.

The bottom of an oven-proof tray was coated with a little less than half the salsa verde.
Working one at the time, the tortillas were added a line of prawn-onion mixture down the middle, then added chopped scallion and a little chèvre. The tortilla was then rolled and placed in the tray. The tray was nicely filled up once all the tortillas were rolled and the rest of the salsa verde was spread over them. They were baked at 200 C (400 F) for 20 minutes.

The enchiladas were served with freshly chopped cilantro and avocado wedges.

Delicious! Now I really want to make more enchiladas...

Grilled Zucchini & Eggplant Pizza

Although I was quite happy with the recipe for pizza dough I picked up recently, one tiny detail did bother me: That the dough has to stand and rise for an hour makes for some rather late dinners if I make the dough when I come home from work.

So, I started thinking: what happens if I make the dough the evening before? Will it work? Or does yeast dough 'un-rise' if left for too long?

Well, only one way to find out.

The dough was mixed and kneaded just like in the other recipe, but after coating the ball of dough in a little olive oil and placing it in a bowl under film it was left standing overnight. The next morning the dough was parted in two equal portions, each wrapped in film and stored in the fridge until after work. The doughs were rolled with a little durum flour as usual - and the result was just as great as always. So, now the question is: for how long can I store pizza dough in the fridge?

Anyway - this batch was topped with:
- tomato sauce
- mozzarella, sliced
- black olives, sliced
- 1 eggplant, sliced and broiled
- 1 zucchini, sliced and broiled
after baking sprinkled:
- salt
- pepper
- dried oregano
- fresh rocket salad
served with:
a glass of Chilean Errariuz Pinot Noir - a very smooth red wine

Swedish Beer - Part V / Oppigård

Systemet carries a whole selection of beers from Swedish microbrewery Oppigård - so far I have seen Golden Ale, Single Hop Ale, Summer Ale and Starkporter - and they are generally very good. I'm looking forward to trying the Winter Ale, which I expect to be available any time now...

The great beer aside, there is another detail which I quite like. The brewery started selling beer as recently as 2004 and the labels say Gott öl från Dalarna - Början på en tradition which translates as Good beer from the Dales - The beginning of a tradition. I say: Skål to that.

Leek-Lemongrass Soup

Seeking inspiration for a soup I came across the notion of a leek and lemongrass soup - and immediately thought: that sounds good... soup with lemongrass sounds like just what I want right about now.

Ingredients:
- 6 leeks, sliced at 45 degree angle (to give oval slices)
- 3 sticks lemon grass, finely cut
- oil
- juice of ¹/₂ lemon
- 3 egg yolks
- 6 tbsp Turkish yogurt
- 1.5 L (6 cups) vegetable bouillon
- ground nutmeg
- salt & pepper
coriander raita
- juice of 1 lime
- same amount olive oil
- salt and pepper
- 8 scallions, finely sliced
- 1 bunch coriander, coarsely chopped
for serving
- bread


The coriander raita was prepared first, so it could stand while preparing the soup. The juice of a lime was stirred with an equal amount of olive oil, then added salt and pepper. Finally, coarsely chopped coriander and finely sliced scallions were stirred in.

For the soup, leeks and lemon grass were cleaned, cut and mixed. The leek-lemongrass mixture was sautéed quickly in a little olive oil in portions (if you have a really huge pan you might get away with doing it in one go) making sure not to give them so much that the leeks browned or turned soft. The sautéed leek-lemongrass mixture was collected in a bowl and added lemon juice.


The egg yolks were stirred together with the yogurt and this mixture was stirred into hot (recently boiling) vegetable bouillon. Then the leek-lemongrass mixture was added together with ground nutmeg. The soup was brought to a boil and seasoned to taste with salt and pepper. Then removed from the heat and served immediately with coriander raita on top and bread on the side.

Mint Julep Cake (Round 1)

I happened upon this concept one day as I was searching for ways to use the rest of a can of sweetened condensed milk - I didn't go for it on that day as I lacked several other key ingredients, but it wasn't long before I returned... that it ended up being a project which took me several days to complete, is then another matter.

Ingredients:
- 340 g (12 oz) flour
- 400 g (14 oz) sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¹/₂ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp vanilla sugar
- 225 g (8 oz) margarine
- 2.5 dL (1 cup) A-fil^[1]
- 4 eggs
butter bourbon sauce:
- 75 g (2.6 oz) margarine
- 85 g (3 oz) powdered sugar
- 3 tbsp water
- 2 tsp bourbon (I used Jack Daniels)
white chocolate ganache:
- 1 can (397 g / 14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
- 300 g (10.6 oz) white chocolate
- 6 tbsp mint syrup

In a large bowl was stirred together flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and vanilla sugar - this dry mixture was then left with a crater in the middle.

In a separate bowl was whisked together margarine, a-fil, and eggs (hand-hell mixer on low setting). This wet mixture was then then whisked into the dry mixture (above) - at first on low speed to merely mix the two, and then 3 minutes on medium speed to create a homogeneous batter.

The batter was poured into a buttered and floured 9 inch spring form and baked at 175 C (350 F). It took an hour and 10 minutes before the cake was sufficiently done (knife inserted at the middle came out clean) - obviously a bundt cake or a sheet cake would require different baking times.

While the cake was baking the butter bourbon sauce was prepared: powdered sugar, water and margarine was stirred over medium heat till melted and homogeneous (shouldn't reach boiling). Then it was removed from the heat and stirred for an additional two minutes before the bourbon was stirred in.

While the cake was still hot holes were poked in the top (with a knife) and the butter bourbon sauce was poured over. Then the cake was allowed to stand and cool while absorbing the butter bourbon sauce.

Later, the cake was covered with film and stored in the fridge for a couple of days before I could continue.

The ganache was prepared by heating condensed milk and white chocolate on low heat with constant stirring until the chocolate melted and the mixture became homogeneous. Then mint syrup was stirred in (again till homogeneous) and the ganache was allowed to cool for 10 minutes before trying to apply it to the cake.

At this point the ganache was far too runny and only about half was applied. Then the cake was placed in the fridge for 15 minutes to let the applied ganache set (and let the rest of the ganache cool down further). Then more of the ganache was applied, but it was still a bit too runny - after cooling the cake in the fridge for an additional 20 minutes the rest of the ganache could finally be applied.

The cake was served with a few leaves of fresh mint - very delicious. However, next time, I think I'll try more bourbon in the butter bourbon sauce, as well as more mint in the ganache - and quite possibly less ganache and of course more cooling before applying it.

Update: For an updated version of this recipe see here.

^[1] The original recipe called for buttermilk - however, this is not available in Swedish stores as all buttermilk produced is currently delivered directly to bakeries. I decided to opt for A-fil because of it's tangy freshness - for more on A-fil see here.

Mint Syrup & Quick Mint Julep

Since we started growing our herbs we became interested in trying some cakes with mint. Towards this goal, the first can be the production of a mint syrup.

Mint syrup:
- 1.25 dL (1/2 cup) fresh mint leaves
- 167 g (1/3 lbs) sugar
- 2.5 dl (1 cup) water

Water and sugar was brought to a boil in a small pot, then added the rinsed and chopped mint leaves. The heat was reduced to allow the pot to simmer for 10 minutes. Then the pot was removed from the heat and allowed to cool before filtering and storing syrup.





Cake recipe(s) to follow.

As an added bonus, this syrup is an excellent starting point for a quick mint julep: mint syrup and bourbon was mixed in a roughly 1:1 ratio and added a couple of ice cubes and fresh mint leaves.

Bacon, Beef & Blue Cheese Stew

I see I haven't been particularly diligent about my promise to follow up here with dishes from the bacon book I got a while back. Well, time to do at least something about that.

Browsing aforementioned book, a beef, bacon & blue cheese stew caught my attention, and decided to have a go at it - with some minor modifications.

Ingredients:
- 125 g (4.4 oz) bacon
- 3 large onions, coarsely chopped
- sunflower oil
- 1.13 kg (2.5 lbs) beef cubes
- 8 tbsp flour
- 2.5 dL (1 cup) Bedarö Bitter^[1]
- 5 dL (2 cups) beef broth
- fresh thyme
- dried rosemary
- 3 leaves bay laurel
- 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
- salt & pepper
- blue cheese^[2]
- bread for serving

In a large pot, the bacon was fried over medium/high heat till crisp, then removed from the pot. The heat was reduced to medium/low and the coarsely chopped onions were added. The onions were cooked with occasional stirring for over an hour till caramelised - actually I think this part need some optimisation: the recipe said to caramelise the onions at low heat for 20 minutes, but this appeared to be far too little for proper caramelisation - then onions were removed and the heat upped to medium/high and oil was added.

The beef cubes were coated in the flour, and browned in the pot after removing the lightly caramelised onions. Then the beer and beef broth were added. After stirring well (to ensure that no lumps of flour were still stuck to the bottom and sides of the pot) the thyme, rosemary, bay laurels, vinegar, salt and pepper were added and the were onions returned to the pot. Contrary to the recipe I was following I did not return the bacon to the pot at this point. The pot was brought to a boil, covered and let simmer for two hours.

The stew was then served with crumbled bacon and crumbled blue cheese on top - and a piece of bread on the side. The reason I didn't add the bacon before simmering for two hours, but instead afterwards was that I wanted to retain some crispness in the bacon.

It was truly delicious - very intense flavours and quite a heavy dish too. I'm strongly considering trying this again with some mashed potatoes and a green salad on the side.

^[1] Obviously not essential which ale - I'd go for any good, strong IPA.
^[2] The original recipe recommended Maytag (from the US) blue cheese, and I used Swedish Kvibille Ädel (30%), but any good blue cheese sufficiently hard to crumble should work.

Swedish Beer - Part IV / Bedarö Bitter

Bedarö Bitter was the first beer made by Swedish microbrewery Nynäshamn Ångbryggeri (Nynäshamn steam-brewery) when they started out in 1990's and it is named after an island in the Nynäshamn archipelago.

I can see why it's sufficiently popular to be widely available in systemet: It truly is a bitter ale - very fresh and delicious. The bitterness is reminiscent of excellent pale ales from the West Coast of the US, but the alcohol content is more modest than those.

Chocolate Porter Layer Cake

After reading about a chocolate stout layer cake in bon appetit the Mrs. wanted to try it out, and since I'm all for cooking with beer I was most supportive of the idea and went myself to systemet to procure a good porter. After buying all the ingredients, we thought the amount of frosting suggested in the original recipe sounded a little over the top (1 lb of chocolate and 2 cups cream) and decided to go for only half the amount of frosting.

Ingredients:
- 280 g (10 oz) flour
- 85 g (3 oz) 90% chocolate
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 200 g (7 oz) margarine
- 250 g (8.8 oz) + 3 tbsp sugar
- 3 eggs, separated
- 1 ⁷/₈ dL (0.8 cups) Carnegie Porter
- 1 ²/₃ dL (0.7 cups) freshly brewed coffee
frosting:
- 250 g (8.8 oz) 57% chocolate
- 2.5 dL (1 cup) cream
- 1 tsp powdered instant coffee

First some coffee was brewed, the egg yolks were separated from the whites, and the 90% chocolate was melted over hot water. Meanwhile the salt, baking powder and baking soda was stirred into the flour in a mixing bowl.

In a separate bowl, the margarine was beaten (using an electric mixer) together with the large portion of sugar until fluffy. The egg yolks were added to the margarine-sugar mixture and beaten well into it. Subsequently, the melted chocolate, porter and freshly brewed coffee were beaten into the mixture one after the other. Finally the flour mixture was beaten into the dough.

In a separate bowl (and with clean beaters) the small portion of sugar was beaten with the egg whites until stiff. This egg-white foam was gently mixed (not beaten) into the dough, which was baked in two portions in baking paper lined baking pans (vertical sides, 22 cm (9 inch) diameter) at 175 C (350 F) for 25-30 minutes (until a knife inserted into the centre came out clean).

The two cake pieces were allowed to cool 20-30 minutes in the pans before taking them out and letting them cool completely.

For the frosting, the cream was heated in a small pot together with the coffee powder with occasional stirring - once it reached simmering, it was poured over the 57% chocolate (broken into large squares). After letting it stand for a minute, it was easily stirred into a homogeneous mixture. The frosting was covered and chilled in the fridge - with occasional stirring - until it had thickened sufficiently for easy assembly of the cake: some 2-3 hours.

One cake piece was placed upside-down on a large plate and approximately half the frosting was spread on it in an even layer before placing the other cake piece on top (upside-up) and spreading the rest of the frosting evenly over the entire cake.

We had the first piece of it the same day but although it's not as heavy as certain other chocolate cakes, we still had to save some for later. Interestingly, the notes of coffee and porter were much more notable on the first day - which could be good or bad depending on your point of view. Personally I liked it that way and was a little disappointed that it was 'merely' a very good chocolate cake the following days as we ate the rest.

And no, we never thought there was too little frosting on it...

Update: I have since made this cake again a couple of times and note the following improvements to the procedure: (1) Rather than melting the dark chocolate separately, it can simply be dissolved in the freshly brewed coffee. (2) The electric mixer is only really good for beating the egg whites with sugar to a white foam - for everything else, I find it's preferable to just mix using a ladle. (3) With a spring form that is 5 cm (2 inches) tall all the batter can be baked in one pan (takes about 60-70 minutes at 175 C (350 F)) - once cooled it is reasonable easy to cut the cake in two and assemble the layers as above.

Chanterelle Risotto

At the urging of my muse, I tried out a variation of the risotto using seasonal mushrooms - that is: chanterelles.

Ingredients:
- olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic
- 3 medium onions
- 330 g (11.5 oz) chanterelles
- 500 g (1.1 lb) arborio rice
- 3 x 1 dL (3 x 0.4 cup) white wine
- 7 x 1 dL (7 x 0.4 cup) chicken stock
- 1.5 dL (0.6 cup) cream
- 50 g (1.7 oz) parmigiano reggiano
- salt & pepper
served with:
- one head cauliflower

Crushed garlic and and chopped onion was sautéed in a little olive oil in a large pot. After a few minutes the rinsed and coarsely chopped chanterelles were added and the heat was reduced to medium. After an additional few minutes, the rice was added followed by the first portion of white wine. The volume was reduced with occasional stirring before adding the second portion of wine. And so on with the third portion of wine as well as the portions of chicken stock.

While the risotto cooked, the head of cauliflower was boiled in lightly salted water.

When the last portion of chicken stock was absorbed by the rice, the cream and freshly grated parmigiano reggiano was added and the risotto was seasoned to taste with salt and black pepper.

Served with the cauliflower on the side - dense, so don't serve too much.

The white wine, by the way, was an Argentinian sauvignon blanc and quite respectable.

Chicken Spinach Quesadilla

Heavily inspired by real simple, this variation on the quesadilla was tried.

Ingredients:
- oil
- 1 chicken breast fillet
- salt & pepper
- juice of 1 lime
- 70 g (2.5 oz) fresh baby spinach
- 200 g (7 oz) white cheddar, grated
- 6 flour tortillas, 22 cm (8-9 inches) diameter
served with:
- sour cream
- guacamole
- black beans

The chicken breast was seasoned with salt and pepper and browned on both sides before adding the lime juice and covering. While the chicken breast was cooking, the beans and the guacamole was prepared.

When done the chicken breast was sliced and then mixed in a bowl with freshly grated white cheddar and rinsed spinach leaves. A tortilla was placed in a pan over high heat, loaded with ¹/₃ of the cheddar-spinach-chicken mix and another tortilla on top. After a few minutes the cheese had melted enough to allow flipping the whole thing over on the other side without things falling out (with a little luck and/or experience). Care should be taken not to leave them for too long as they char quickly after being done. The finished quesadilla was removed from the pan and parted before continuing making the rest.

The spinach actually worked quite nicely.

Swedish Beer - Part III / Carnegie Porter - Part I

Now, after covering some of the basics, the time has come for considering some quality Swedish brews.

The old school label of the Carnegie Porter was the first thing about it that appealed to me. Turns out that this label is authentic as well - unchanged since they started brewing this beer in Gothenburg in 1836.

You'll notice that the top of the label reads "Årgang 2009", which translates roughly as "Year 2009" or perhaps "Vintage 2009"... Yes, the Carnegie Porter supposedly matures over time, changing the taste notably towards the smoother and more balanced in a year or two. But the process is supposed to continue for years and years after that, so that a 10-year-old Carnegie Porter is a taste sensation of both extreme richness and extreme lightness. Curiously, however, the smaller label on the back clearly states a Best Before date already some time in 2011 !?!?

At present, the bottle I opened was already a good beer. A good dose of hoppy bitterness makes for a quite balanced taste and thus a comparatively non-sweet porter. Next time I go to Systembolaget, I shall buy some more and store them away for future tasting.

To be continued... here...

Ratatué

Yes, I know it's conventionally spelled 'ratatouille' - but I have my reasons for spelling it as I do. Other than the spelling, I guess the most important difference is that I like it spicy.

Ingredients:
- olive oil
- 2 onions, coarsely chopped
- 1 red bell pepper
- 2 green bell peppers
- 1 zucchini
- 1 yellow squash
- 1 eggplant
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 orange habanero chilli
- 800 g (28 oz) crushed tomatoes
- concentrated tomato paste
- 400 mL (1 ²/₃ cup) water
- ^[1]
- salt and pepper


In a large pot, the coarsely chopped onions were sautéed in olive oil till translucent, then added diced bell peppers. The zucchini, the yellow squash and the eggplant were each quartered along their longer axis and then cut in roughly 1 cm (¹/₂ inch) thick slices and added to the pot. The seeds and stems were removed from the habanero chilli and it was chopped finely before adding to the pot together with crushed garlic. At last the crushed tomatoes and the tomato concentrate was added together with water. The pot was brought to a boil before reducing the heat and letting it simmer for 50 minutes. At last seasoned to taste with salt and black pepper.

Served with bread.

^[1] If none of those about to eat this dish object to celery, this can be added as well.

Rosehip Jam (less chunky)

I hadn't been living in Stockholm for a long time before I started noticing that rosehip bushes were by no means scarce around here - I saw them on my way to work, I saw them when I went jogging and at various other places around town. As I passed them daily it was easy to follow their progress: By September there were lots of ripe berries on the bushes and I decided to make an excursion (it's no coincidence that the Swedish word for 'autumn' is 'höst' which also translates as 'harvest').

Not wanting to ingest more exhaust fumes than I have to I wanted rosehip bushes not standing next to major streets. I knew two good spots off of the top of my head: one which I usually pass jogging and one which I pass on my way to work - the latter was further from my home and so lost out. So, at the end of a quiet street that ends into the park next to it I was able to quickly pick 1.25 kg (2.75 lbs) of suitably ripe rosehips.



At the time I was a little afraid that I would end up being sorry I didn't pick any more (there were plenty more to be picked).

Now, looking back, I'm glad I didn't pick any more than I did - I literally spent hours on rinsing them. Fortunately, after being rinsed they can be stored in the fridge overnight before proceeding.

After rinsing them, I was left with some 800 g (1.75 lbs) of rosehip shells, and given the results last time, I cut them in smaller pieces this time (quarter shells or smaller).

I also decided to change the taste a little by adding vanilla.





Ingredients:
- 800 g (1.75 lbs) cleaned rosehip shells
- 5 dL (2 cups) water
- juice of 1 lemon
- juice of 1 lime
- 500 g (1.1 lb) + 66 g (2.3 oz) sugar
- 1 vanilla pod
- 2.5 tsp red label Melatin^[1]
- 4 times 2 tsp Atamon^[1]
Storage:
- Three 0.5 L (2 cup) glass jars









The rosehip pieces were put in a large pot together with the water, the lemon juice and the lime juice and brought to a boil. As another tool towards reducing the chunkiness of my previous batch, I let them boil for 35 minutes under a lid before adding the larger portion of sugar. Simultaneously, I added the seeds from a vanilla pod and let it boil for another 15 minutes (no lid this time, and keeping an eye on it that it didn't foam too much). A pre-stirred mixture of the red label Melatin and the smaller portion of sugar was added along with 2 tsp Atamon. After boiling an additional 2 minutes the pot was removed from the heat.


Each jar was shaken with 2 tsp Atamon - excess liquid was poured out (but the walls of the jars should be moist with Atamon for preservation of the jam) before filling the jars while the jam was still warm.

I am happy to report that this batch is indeed less chunky than the previous one - and that I quite like the added taste of vanilla. A success.

^[1] Fortunately, the brand that sells both Atamon and Melatin in Denmark also operates in Sweden - both products were easily found at the supermarket. See previous post for more details.

Chickpea Soup 2

As the title implies, I always intended to post variations on this recipe - but somehow I forgot. Well, I recently thought about it again, and wanted to try (again) a variation in which lemon juice and soy sauce are added to taste. As things turned out, it also became a somewhat thicker soup, and the onion/parsley topping was done with an interesting twist.

Ingredients:
- olive oil
- 4 leeks, cleaned, sliced
- 4 cans chickpeas^[1], drained, rinsed
- 2 L (¹/₂ gallon) vegetable broth^[2]
- 4 tsp salt
- 4 tsp ground cumin
- 4 tsp brown sugar
- 0.25 L (1 cup) cream
- juice of 1 lemon
- 4 tbsp soy sauce
- bacon fat
- 6 brown onions
- bunch flat leaf parsley
- salt & pepper
- bread for serving

In a large pot, a the leek slices were sautéed in a little olive oil (until they 'collapsed' a little), then the drained, rinsed chickpeas were added together with the vegetable broth. While the soup was brought to a boil, salt, ground cumin, brown sugar, and cream was added. Once boiling the heat was reduced, the pot was covered and allowed to boil gently for 40 minutes.

While the soup was boiling, the onions were peeled, rinsed and cut in boats. The onion boats were caramelised in bacon fat, seasoned with salt and pepper and then mixed with coarsely chopped flat leaf parsley.

After boiling the soup, it was partially liquefied using an immersion blender. Finally lemon juice and soy sauce was added to taste (I ended up using all the juice of one lemon and 4 tbsp soy sauce).

The soup was served in bowls with some caramelised onions on top and bread on the side.

Apart from the added taste of the lemon juice and soy sauce the soup was quite a bit thicker than last time - not all that bad, but I might aim for somewhere between these two extremes next time.

The most interesting part was how much flavour the bacon fat imparted on the caramelised onions - I had kind of expected the bacon notes to drown out in all the other flavours, but that wasn't the case at all. I'll use that trick again, for sure.

^[1] That was 4 cans of 410 g (14.4 oz) each, giving a total of 1 kg (2 lbs 3 oz) chickpeas when drained.
^[2] I would likely have used more if I had had a larger pot.

Finnish Beer II / Kukko Tumma

In Finland several of the major beer brands make both a lager, a pilsner and a dark beer.

When I went to the restaurant Sokeri Jussin Kievari in Oulu I decided to have a Kukko Tumma (dark) with my reindeer stew.

I was quite pleased with this - both the beer itself and the combination.

I don't know if Kukko beers are available outside of Finland, but so far I haven't seen them in Sweden (where all we seem to get is Lapin Kulta and Kahru).

Coconut Macaroons

I had most of a can of sweetened condensed milk left over and wondered what to do with it, so I started browsing for inspiration. I got a few ideas, some of which were much more complicated than what I was looking for (not least for requiring ingredients I couldn't get at the time). When I happened upon the notion of coconut macaroons I knew I had something doable - I even had some grated coconut lying about.

Ingredients:
240 g (8.5 oz) sweetened condensed milk
150 g (5.3 oz) grated coconut
8 g vanilla-sugar ^[1]

The ingredients were stirred together, then loosely shaped with a tea spoon into 20 balls which were placed on baking paper and flattened slightly. They were baked at 175 C (350 F) for 12 minutes, at which point they were browning at the edges. After removing from the oven they were transferred to a grid to cool (and they were loosened from the paper before cooling completely). Tasted great while still warm - those left-over were kept in a paper lined cookie tin.


^[1] Aiming for the equivalent of 1-2 tsp vanilla extract.

Pork Wok w/ Thai Basil

Until I saw one at the supermarket I had no idea there was such a thing as 'Thai Basil'. In hindsight it makes perfect sense, though: all those times in Asian food I had something which was almost exactly like basil, yet unmistakeably somehow ... different.
When we first got it home it looked kinda sad, but after being watered and allowed to stand in our eastbound kitchen windowsill it looked much happier. Now, weeks later, it's still going strong and I hope to have it for a while yet even though the hours of daylight here are rapidly declining.

I decided to use some leaves of it one day when I was in the mood for pork..

Ingredients:
- oil
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 medium-strong chilli, seeds removed
- 350 g (12 oz) thinly sliced pork chops, cut in strips
- 3 red onions, cut in boats boats
- 1 head cabbage, coarsely chopped
- 1 can coconut milk
- freshly cooked rice
- roasted peanuts
- fresh leaves of Thai basil

The pork chops (which were only some 3-4 mm (¹/₆ inch) thick) were cut in strips about 1.25 cm (¹/₂ inch) wide and stir-fried with crushed garlic and finely cut chillies till browned all over. Then the onion boats were added, and a few minutes later the cabbage together with the coconut milk. When everything was warm, it was served on rice with roasted peanuts and fresh leaves of Thai basil sprinkled on top.

Grolsch Kanon

On my most recent trip to the Netherlands, I didn't really have time to shop around for beer (although I did enjoy a lot of witbier at a dinner - it was summer, after all).

As if to make up for that a friend had done some shopping for me and send me home with a couple of bottles of Grolsch Kanon. At first I didn't give the name much thought, in fact I didn't even read the fine print on the label until after I tasted it and found it surprisingly alcoholic. Turns out that was with good reason: it holds some 10-11% ABV.