Shrovetide Buns (Egg-free)

While it is pointless to whip up an egg-free dough for a bun filled with an egg-based custard, it makes sense if you remember that Shrovetide buns can also be jam-filled. For these I used extra margarine as well as extra milk to make up for the missing egg in the dough.

This is a wee bit late for the season this year, but here goes anyway..

Ingredients:
- 150 g (¹/₃ lb) margarine
- 1.5 dL (²/₃ cup) whole-milk
- 50 g (ca. 2 oz) fresh yeast
- 5 tbsp sugar
- 400 g (14 oz) wheat flour
filling:
- ca. 200 g (7 oz) raspberry jam
glazing:
- powdered sugar
- optional powdered cocoa
- water

The margarine and milk was heated on low heat in a small pot until the margarine had melted, then transferred to a large bowl and allowed to cool until lukewarm. The fresh yeast was crumbled into the lukewarm milk-and-margarine, then the sugar was stirred in followed by the flour. The dough was kneaded for some minutes, then covered and left to rise for 1 hour.

After rising, the dough was rolled out to approximately 40 x 45 cm (ca. 15" x 18") and cut in 12 pieces. A largish tsp of raspberry jam was placed in the middle of each piece of dough and the dough was folded around the jam and the resulting buns were placed on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. The buns were then covered and left to rise on the sheet for 45 minutes.

The buns were baked for 10 minutes at 225 C (450 F) - and it appears I need to improve my technique for closing the buns as some jam ran out onto the baking sheet during baking.

The buns were served with a freshly applied glazing made by stirring together water and powdered sugar - approximate amounts (for one bun): 1 tsp water + 6 tsp powdered sugar (for a nice chocolaty variation substitute 1 or 2 tsp of the powdered sugar with powdered cocoa).

Frozen Pizza Dough

The next logical step after establishing that pizza dough can be made the day before and kept in the fridge until use was to try to freeze it. This would also allow me to make such a large batch of dough that I could use an entire pack of fresh yeast..

Ingredients:
- 5 dL (2 cups) lukewarm water^[1]
- 50 g (ca. 2 oz) fresh yeast
- 1050 g (2.3 lbs) wheat flour
- 4 + 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp salt

The fresh yeast was crumbled into the lukewarm water and stirred, then added 4 tbsp olive oil and half of the flour. The salt was stirred in before adding the rest of the flour in portions while kneading the dough. The dough is perfect when so much flour has been added that the dough is neither sticky nor crumbly when pressing it between your thumb and your index finger - after kneading it for some extra minutes, the ball of dough was coated with 2 tbsp olive oil, the bowl covered and the dough allowed to rise for 2 hours before parting in four (each portion good for a pizza some 30 x 40 cm (12" x 15")). They were then immediately put in the freezer.

^[1] Conveniently made by mixing 3 dL cold tap water and 2 dL boiling water - needed only to stand for a short while to cool to lukewarm.

Banana cake (test)

Last time I was baking my banana cake, I realised halfway through that I didn't actually have any baking powder - the packet I thought I had turned out to be baking soda. Now, baking powder is (or at least can be) a mixture of baking soda and an acid, so in order to use baking soda in stead of the baking powder the rest of the ingredients have to be sufficiently acidic. This - as I've understood it - is not merely a question of leavening, but also one of taste. Baking soda in a batter with too little acid might result in a somewhat alkaline taste, which is not desirable in any cake I'm familiar with.

For these reasons it's not given that baking soda can be substituted for baking powder, but then a friend of mine pointed out that bananas are in fact somewhat acidic (as per this list) and therefore the banana cake might work out just fine with baking soda..

Naturally, such an idea had to be tested: are bananas sufficiently acidic to make banana cake using baking soda?

Ingredients:
- 100g (3.5 oz) margarine
- 140 g (5 oz) flour
- ²/₃ tsp baking soda
- 200 g (7 oz) sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla sugar
- 3 eggs
- 2 well-ripened bananas
frosting:
- 100 g (3.5 oz) dark chocolate

While the margarine was melted in a small pot, the other ingredients were prepared in 3 separate bowls: the bananas was mashed with a fork, the flour was mixed with the baking soda, and the sugar, vanilla and eggs were whipped to a pale foamy viscous mass. The flour-mix and the melted margarine (which should be too hot) was stirred into the egg-foam and finally the mashed bananas were stirred into the batter as well.

The batter was poured into a greased and floured bread pan and baked at 175 C (350 F) for 52 minutes. After cooling in the bread pan, the cake was moved to a large plate and covered with melted dark chocolate.

After standing for several hours to let the chocolate harden, the cake was tested: it tasted just fine - so, bananas are sufficiently acidic...

Spicy Carrot Soup

This is a soup that is guaranteed to warm you up on a cold day: intensely flavourful, spicy and with a touch of sourness too.

Ingredients:
- olive oil
- fresh ginger, finely diced
- 1 habanero chilli, finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 2 onions, diced
- 265 g (9 oz) celery root, coarsely diced
- 345 g (12 oz) carrots, coarsely diced
- 5 dL (2 cups) beef (tongue) broth^[1]
- juice of ¹/₂ lemon
- 170 g (6 oz) Turkish yogurt
for decoration:
- 350 g (12 oz) carrots, finely diced
- a large bunch of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
to serve:
- some bread

In a large pot, using a little olive oil, the onion, garlic, ginger and chilli was sautéed for about 5 minutes before adding the coarse cubes of carrot and celery root. After an additional 10 minutes, the beef tongue broth^[1] was added. The soup was brought to a boil before reducing the heat and letting it simmer for 40 minutes. The soup was liquefied using an immersion blender (carefully - as it was quite thick, it had some tendency to spatter if not taking care) before stirring in the lemon juice and the yogurt.

In a frying the pan, the small carrot cubes were roasted in a little olive oil and when done mixed with the parsley.

The soup was served with the carrot-parsley mixture on top and a freshly baked bun on the side.

^[1] Last time I made tongue taco I concentrated the broth down to 5 dL (2 cups) - this made for a rather concentrated broth. To obtain an equivalent one would probably need to use a combination of beef and vegetable broth - concentrated to half volume.

Buns (Egg-free)

Continuing the egg-free baking theme I wanted to have an egg-free version of my basic bun recipe. To achieve this goal, I needed two slightly different egg-substitutes: some extra liquid for the dough (I went for soured/thickened milk) and something for brushing the buns immediately prior to baking (I went for whole milk). As an aside I felt like using whole wheat flour - and so it went..

Ingredients:
- 150 g (¹/₃ lb) margarine
- 5 dL (2 cups) milk
- 50 g (2 oz) fresh yeast
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1.1 kg (2.4 lbs) whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 2.5 dl (1 cup) A-fil^[1]
- 130 g (4.5 oz) flax seed
- 100 g (3.5 oz) sunflower seeds
- a little whole milk for brushing
- poppy seeds for decorating

The margarine was put in a small pot together with the milk and heated on medium-low heat till the margarine was melted. This mixture was transferred to a large bowl and allowed to cool to lukewarm before adding crumbled fresh yeast and sugar. The first half of the flour was stirred in, followed by the salt, thickened milk, flax seed, and sunflower seeds. The rest of the flour was added little by little and kneaded into the dough until the dough had the right texture (I aimed for neither sticky nor crumbly). When enough flour was added the final dough was kneaded for an additional couple of minutes before shaping 32 buns and placing them on baking sheets lined with baking paper - with good distance between them. The shaped buns were covered with a cloth and left to rise on the baking plates for 45 minutes.

The risen buns were brushed with a little whole milk and sprinkled with poppy seeds before being baked in the middle of the oven at 200 C (400 F) for 15-16 minutes. After baking the buns were immediately moved from the baking plate to a grid for even cooling.

This worked quite well.

^[1] Lactobacillus acidophilus-fermented milk.

Banana-Chocolate Herring

When I first came across the Icelandic speciality banana herring I was at a loss for words at first.

The sheer outlandish oddness of the dish never fails to stun people who encounter it for the first time.

That being said, it wasn't actually that long before we started brainstorming how to top this freakishness.

Credit should go to one of my dormitory friends for suggesting adding chocolate to the dish.

Once it was said I naturally had to try it. At least once. I don't make this often, but it still happens from time to time..

Ingredients:
- 4 tbsp sour cream
- 2 tbsp mayonnaise
- 4 tsp honey mustard
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 banana, diced
- 40 g (1.4 oz) 72% dark chocolate, diced
- 250 g (¹/₂ lb) plain pickled herring

The sour cream, mayonnaise and honey mustard was stirred together, then the paprika, banana and chocolate pieced were stirred in. Finally the pickled herring was added and stirred in so the herring pieces were coated in mixture. Covered and left in fridge overnight (or longer) before being served on wholegrain dark rye bread.

But how does it taste? Interestingly, the chocolate functions as a rather subtle addition to the flavour, but when served chilled the chocolate pieces add a welcome "crunch" to the texture. I should add that banana herring - with or without added chocolate - is quite rich and as such goes better as part of a larger selection of herring as well as other choices, such as a Danish Christmas lunch or similar..

Green peas (in white gravy)

This is food I grew up with, and in my parents house it was simply known as 'grønærter' (literally 'green peas'), but in reality we're talking about more than just that. Peas and bits of carrot in a white gravy with parsley - to go with boiled potatoes and certain varieties of pork. Interestingly, my muse doesn't like it very much, so it went on the list of things-to-cook-while-home-alone. One of the things it is traditionally served with (and which goes well in my opinion) is the Danish speciality medisterpølse - a long, spiralling sausage which is first boiled, then fried. Sadly I haven't seen it here in Sweden, and for the moment I have no ambitions about making my own sausages - so I simply went for some nice bratwursts.

Ingredients:
- 300 g (²/₃ lb) carrots, peeled and diced
- 300 g frozen peas
- 50 g (2 oz) shortening
- flour
- milk (around 5 dL = 2 cups)
- salt and pepper
- parsley, chopped

The carrot pieces were boiled in a minimal volume of water for 5 minutes before adding the frozen peas. The pot was brought back to boiling and boiled for another 5 minutes.
In a separate pot, margarine was melted, then stirred in flour (the amount which I could take with my large ladle). This paste was stirred into the carrot and peas, adding milk in portions and stirring constantly until a decent texture gravy was obtained. Chopped parsley (NOT flat-leaf parsley) was stirred, the gravy was seasoned to taste with salt and pepper.

Served with potatoes boiled in lightly salted water and a bratwurst.

Potato-Parsnip Mash & Beef-Chanterelle Stew

Around the New Year I was visiting friends who introduced me to something I hadn't really considered: adding other tubers to mashed potatoes. This works quite nicely, so I had to try my hand at it making this potato-parsnip mash.

To go with that I decided on trying a variation on this beef stew - more specifically a wine based beef-tube chanterelle stew.

Ingredients:
mash:
- 4 parsnips, peeled
- oil
- 10 potatoes, rinsed and quartered
- 1 dL (²/₅ cup) sour cream
- a little milk
- salt and pepper
stew:
- oil
- 1 onion, chopped coarsely
- flour
- 225 g (¹/₂ lb) beef strips
- 1 dL (²/₅ cup) red wine
- 450 g (1 lb) tube chanterelles
- 5 dL (2 cups) beef broth
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 3 dried juniper berries
- fresh rosemary
- salt and pepper

The peeled parsnips were drizzled with oil and baked in the oven at 200 C (400 F) for 1.5 hours.

While the parsnips were baking, I started on the stew: the chopped onion was sautéed in a large pot with a little oil, then removed from the pot. The strips of beef were coated in flour and browned on all sides in the same large pot with a little extra oil, then added the wine - stirred well to ensure no bits of flour left on the walls of the pot. Then the beef broth was added together with the tube chanterelles, crushed garlic, dried juniper berries and fresh rosemary. The pot was brought to a boil (took some time as the chanterelles were frozen), then the onions were added back, the heat was reduced and the stew was simmered for 45 minutes. At the very end it was seasoned to taste with salt and pepper.

While the stew was simmering, quartered potatoes were boiled in unsalted water. When tender the water was poured off and the baked parsnips were added. The tubers were mashed with a ladle, and sour cream and milk were stirred in till a good texture was attained. Seasoned with salt and pepper.

The stew and mash was served with baked green beans (basically a very basic version of this baked green bean salad) and a glass of the red wine...

Cinnamon Rolls (Egg-free)

Now that I'm living in Sweden I partake in 'fika' on a regular basis - to fika is to sit down with friends/colleagues/whoever and have some coffee and cake (although in my case it's tea and cake as I don't drink coffee). The majority of my fika experiences take place at work, and a substantial part of them occur at our weekly group meetings, for which we take turns at bringing bread and/or cake. It's sort of an unwritten rule that it should be home-baked, but that should be doable for someone like me.

Then my new colleagues told me about the tricky bit: our boss is allergic not only to nuts, but also to eggs. Off the top of my head I couldn't think of a single cake recipe in my repertoire that didn't include eggs - although after thinking a bit more about it I came up with one. Naturally, I felt compelled to overcome this challenge. Upon researching the subject, I found that there are in fact lots of recipes for baking without eggs on the internet. Never-the-less, I will post about here about my experiences with it.

For the first round, I chose the perhaps most quintessentially Danish/Swedish cake: the cinnamon roll. These are ubiquitous (if in somewhat different versions) in both Sweden and Denmark.


Ingredients:
dough
- 50 g (2 oz) fresh yeast
- 5 dL (2 cups) milk
- 125 g (4.4 oz) margarine
- ½ tsp salt
- 125 g (4.4 oz) sugar
- 5 tsp cardamom
- at least 900 g (2 lbs) flour
filling
- 150 g (¹/₃ lb) margarine
- 12 tbsp dark brown sugar
- 6 tbsp cinnamon

The milk and the margarine was mixed in a small pot and heated on low heat until the margarine was melted. The lukewarm mixture (let it cool for a little while if too warm) was poured over crumbled fresh yeast before adding sugar, cardamom, salt, and flour. The dough was kneaded for some minutes until smooth. The dough was covered and left to rise for a couple of hours (this was definitely plenty of time - if allowed to stand until the volume has doubled it should be sufficient).

While the dough was rising, the filling was made by mixing all the ingredients on low heat and then cooling the mixture to get a dark brown paste - if it's too runny it will cause problems later.

The risen dough was rolled out using a little little extra flour. The filling was spread evenly on the dough and then it was rolled into a log. The log was sliced and the slices were placed on a sheet of baking paper.

Tip: to prevent the rolls from uncoiling the outer end was stretched slightly and placed under the roll.

They were baked at 200 C (400 F) for 13-15 minutes.

Served warm - they can easily be frozen and re-heated in the oven. For the luxury version, they can be decorated with a frosting made from water and powdered sugar.