Bloglagged 3

It's been quiet around here lately - unusually quiet.

Since my last posting our daughter was born and we've moved again (still in the Stockholm area).

Days just fly by. It's not that I don't have time for cooking these days (I'm tempted to add: obviously .. but maybe that isn't all that obvious) it's just that I'm not finding the time for sitting down and writing about it. This is something that I hope will change in the future, but I have no idea when things will start happening around here again or how much activity there'll be.

Maybe one day - when/if things start happening around here again - I'll be posting some recipes inspired by this book I recently received as a little surprise gift. I am looking forward to reading it.

Bacon Hueva-/Quesadilla

Remember the 'huevadilla' ?

I must admit I forgot about it for a while myself, but now it's back.

And how! ..in the shape of a hearty breakfast: bacon, eggs, cheese, beans and all.

Ingredients:
- 50-60 g (2 oz) thinly sliced bacon
- 4 wheat tortillas, ~ 22 cm (8-9 inches) diameter
- 4 eggs
- cheddar, grated
- 1 avocado
- pico de gallo
- refried pinto beans



The pinto beans were refried and left over low heat while preparing the rest.

Thinly sliced bacon was fried crisp, then removed from the pan and cut in smaller pieces. The fat was poured off (and saved for other cooking purposes).

Over medium heat a tortilla was placed in the pan. Grated cheddar was put in wide ring along the rim leaving a spot for 2 eggs and half of the bacon bits in the middle. This was topped with another tortilla and left on medium heat for a few minutes - it was flipped over when the eggs were sufficiently set to do so without making a mess of it.


When suitably done on both sides, it was removed from the pan and cut in slices to be served with avocado wedges and crude salsa on top and refried pinto beans on the side.

This I'll do again for sure.

Almond-paste Rolls

When I first started baking egg-free treats I thought I would need to bake and bring for work more often than turned out to be the case. In fact, now I've been here for 2 years and the position is over, so there will be no more group meetings for me to which I have to bring egg-free baked goods. This leaves me with a surplus of ideas, so if I find the time the series will continue on this page.

These rolls are based on a recipe I got from my mother when I first told her I needed egg-free cake recipes. I baked them recently for one of the last work-related occasions: the celebration of the acceptance of my latest paper.

For these rolls I used an almond paste not sold as marzipan^[1] but I think marzipan should work quite well also.

Ingredients:
- 250 g (8.8 oz) margarine
- 2 dL (⁴/₅ cup) milk
- 50 g (1 ³/₄ oz) fresh yeast
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar (+ extra for sprinkling)
- ¹/₂ tsp salt
- 500 g (1.1 lb) flour (+ extra for rolling)
- 250 g (8.8 oz) almond paste^[1]
- 1-1.5 dL (²/₅-³/₅ cup) heavy cream (for brushing)


The margarine was melted over low heat, then milk was poured in and heating on low was continued until the mixture was lukewarm. The milk-margarine mixture was transferred to a bowl and fresh yeast was stirred in followed by sugar, flour (in portions) and salt. This dough was set aside to rise for half an hour.

The risen dough was parted in 4 roughly equal portions, and each of these were rolled to a circle some 24-25 cm (10 inches) in diameter. Each circle was divided into 8 triangular slices. Each triangle was added a thin layer of almond paste and rolled.

The rolls were placed on a baking sheet lined with baking paper and allowed to rise an additional 15 minutes before brushing with heavy cream^[2] and sprinkling with granulated sugar.

The rolls were baked 225 C (450 F) until golden (12 minutes) and transferred to a grid to cool.


The rolls were quite popular - more have already been requested...

^[1] The almond paste I used is 50% almond, 50% sugar - marzipan is often a different composition (usually less almond and more sugar).
^[2] If you are not in need of strictly egg-free rolls, you could certainly brush with a lightly beaten egg in stead of heavy cream.

White Asparagus Tagliatelle

White asparagus are in season around here these days, but we've never had a habit of using these. One reason for that is that Mrs. Throat-Erator isn't a big fan of the hollandaise sauce often suggested served with white asparagus.

When we saw a recipe for a starter with white asparagus and no hollandaise we decided to try some elements of that - along the way it became a meal rather than just a starter.

Ingredients:
- 6 large white asparagus
- juice of 1 small lemon
- same volume olive oil
- salt
- white pepper
- tagliatelle
- ¹/₂ dL (¹/₅ cup) sunflower seeds
- ¹/₂ dL (¹/₅ cup) pumpkin seeds
- 25 g (~1 oz) walnuts
- 125 g (4.4 oz) mozzarella
- fresh chives
- fresh dill

The asparagus were peeled and boiled gently for 10 minutes in water containing 1 tsp salt. The water was drained from the asparagus and they were allowed to cool a bit while preparing a marinade of lemon juice, olive oil, salt and white pepper. The boiled asparagus were then marinaded while preparing the rest.

Tagliatelle was cooked.

The seeds and nuts were chopped coarsely and roasted in a dry pan with constant stirring till turning slightly golden and fragrant.

The marinaded asparagus were served on a bed of tagliatelle, drizzled with some of the marinade and added toasted seeds/nuts, sliced mozzarella and fresh herbs.

It was quite nice, although based on this I see little reason to prefer white asparagus over the green kind we normally get...

BBC: Bacon, Bean & Cabbage (Soup)

I'm behind here - this was something I cooked in the fall (which I'd say is a much more appropriate season for this dish). Once again with heavy inspiration from James Villas I went for a soup combining some of my favourite ingredients: bacon, beans and cabbage..

I'll trust him on his claim that this is a Serbian soup. The original recipe calls for green cabbage, but I went for red cabbage - more on this in a bit.

Ingredients:
- 250 g (~ ¹/₂ lb) bacon^[1]
- 2 yellow onions, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 medium large head of red cabbage, chopped
- 2 L (~ ¹/₂ gallon) beef broth
- 3 cans cannellini beans (drained)
- flat-leaf parsley, coarsely chopped

The bacon was fried in a large pot until a good amount of fat had been rendered out of it, then removed from the pot. The onions and garlic were rendered soft in the bacon fat before adding the cabbage together with beef broth, beans, bacon and parsley. The pot was brought to a boil and allowed to simmer for 45 minutes before serving.

I found the soup delicious, but I have to admit the red cabbage gave the soup a special colour. A colour I personally have no problem with but which I can see why some people might not like. So I guess going for white cabbage or maybe even kale would be a good idea.<sup>[2]

[1]</sup> I used thinly sliced bacon, which I think was a mistake - I think this recipe would work better with diced bacon.
^[2] I'm not sure Villas means kale when he writes 'green cabbage' (which is what think of when I use that term). I think maybe he means what I'd call white cabbage - but there's no picture for this dish in his book, so I am not sure.

Chickpea Salad

Sometimes I see a recipe and I instantly know I want to try it out. Such was the case the chickpea salad I noticed in the April 2011 issue of Bon Appétit. I've adjusted the amounts a little bit, but the most significant change to the original recipe is the additional of rocket.

This salad isn't merely a side - it's a meal in itself!

Ingredients:
- 2 cans chickpeas, about 460 g (1 lb) drained
- juice of ¹/₂ lemon (2 tbsp)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 clove garlic, very finely diced
- 1 yellow onion, finely diced
- 65 g (2 ¹/₃ oz) rocket
- fresh basil, chopped
- 40 g (1 ²/₅ oz) freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano

The chickpeas were rinsed, then mixed with the rest of the ingredients and tossed to mix.
Delicious - I know I'll be making this again. As promised the lemon juice, chickpeas and parmigiano-reggiano make for a really nice combination. Personally I think the rocket blends really well with that trio.

Koldskål (2)

Remember the "cold bowl" ? After a long winter it's like it's suddenly summer in Sweden and we recently found ourselves craving a good cold bowl of.. well.. cold-bowl.

However, as I've lamented around here before, one cannot buy buttermilk in Swedish stores, and buttermilk is the cornerstone of koldskål as I've always known it. For other purposes I've tried substituting various kinds of thickened milk (fil as they are known in Sweden) for buttermilk, and I figured it might work for koldskål as well.

Ingredients:
- juice of ¹/₂ lemon (2 tbsp)
- 50 g (4 tbsp) granulated sugar
- vanilla sugar
- 1 L (1 quart) of fil

The sugar, vanilla sugar and lemon juice was whisked together and the fil was poured in with continued whisking.

Served chilled with either rusk or roasted oats.

Roasted Oats

I guess it's some kind of simplified, very simplified, granola. I use them for koldskål when I don't have any rusk handy.

Ingredients:
- 25 g (~ 1 oz) unsalted butter
- 4 tbsp sugar
- 2 dL (⁴/₅ cup) rolled oat

The butter was melted over high heat, then the oat and the sugar was added and stirred over medium high heat for until the oats turned golden (about 10 minutes). The oats were then transferred to baking paper to cool.

Served on koldskål.

Naan...ish

Given that naan simply means 'bread' the recipe below does of course qualify. But in terms of giving the kind of breads I was thinking off - the kind you tend to get when you order naan at an Indian restaurent - it's no so successful. However, I think they are quite nice in their own right.

When I started looking up naan recipes and asking my Indian friends, I quickly realised I was in trouble: Almost every source advocated the use of a baking stone in order to achieve the desired product. I didn't want to get a baking stone, nor did I want to give up just yet - so in the end I got what follows:

Ingredients:
- 1 dL (²/₅ cup) lukewarm water
- 50 g fresh yeast
- ¹/₂ tsp sugar
- 880 g (almost 2 lbs) wheat flour + more for rolling
- ¹/₂ L (2 cups) A-fil ^[1]
- 1 tsp salt
- 5 tsp nigella seeds

The yeast was stirred into the lukewarm water, followed by sugar, about half of the flour and the A-fil. Then the salt and the nigella seeds was added and the rest of the flour was stirred/kneaded in in portions. The resulting dough was slightly sticky.

The dough was left to rise for 2 hours (1 hour most likely would be sufficient), before dividing into 8 parts. Each piece of dough was rolled into oblong breads about ¹/₂ cm (¹/₅ inch) thick using plenty of flour.

The breads were placed on a baking sheet lined with baking paper - the size of oven I have now fits three bread on one sheet. They were baked at 225 C (450 F) for 15 minutes.

As I said, they weren't quite what I originally had in mind, but I still liked them - especially as a side to curries.

^[1] Lactobacillus acidophilus-containing thickened milk. Buttermilk, unsweetened yoghurt or a mix thereof are probably good substitutes (although this may then change the amount of flour needed).

Hummus

The other day when I was about to make some hummus, I search my archive for the recipe and realised I never did get round to adding the good hummus recipe here. Well, this needs correction..

Ingredients:
- 2 'cans' chickpeas ^[1]
- juice ¹/₂ lemon (2 tbsp)
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 large clove garlic, crushed
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3-4 tbsp tahini
- salt & pepper to taste

The chickpeas were drained and puréed in a blender (I added as little water as the paste is otherwise very thick) in portions. The chickpea paste was transferred to a bowl and the rest of the ingredients were stirred in. Depending on your preferences you might adjust the amounts of tahini and olive oil - although I personally find it hard to believe, I know some people are not fond of tahini. Paprika also adds a nice touch.

^[1] Actually the stores around here have taken to selling various beans in a new paper based container. My guess is this is motivated by environmental concerns. Anyway, these new packages are roughly the same size as the usual can, so that each holds 230 g (8 oz) after draining the liquid.

Red Basil

Not unlike other varieties of basil, I was unfamiliar with red basil until I came across it at the store. As before when faced with such options, the new item went directly into the shopping basket - what to do with it could always to be found out later.

I found this plant to be surprisingly (and a bit disappointingly) mild and subtle in flavour - I haven't seen any more since, so I don't know if this is general. Because of this, using it for wok and curry dishes is almost kind of wasted as the flavour is easily trumped by other strong flavours - although I must say it does look beautiful.

I did use it with some success for baking fish: pieces of white fish (e.g. cod) were wrapped in foil together with leaves of red basil and baked in the oven.

Carne de res con sol

One day I was flipping through my copy of Diana Kennedy's The Essential Cuisines of Mexico looking for inspiration, when I noticed the recipe for Carne de res con sol - ground beef with cabbage. After trying it out, I decided I would like it better by adding a little ground cumin and allspice to the recipe.

And so, with slight modification from Diana Kennedy, it goes...

Ingredients:
- 360 g (~ 13 oz) ground beef
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- ¹/₄ tsp allspice
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 2 tomatoes, diced
- 1 jalapeño (w/ seeds), diced finely
- 800-900 ml (~ 3.5 cups) cabbage, chopped finely^[1]
- fresh coriander, chopped
- oil
- ~ 1 dL (~ ¹/₂ cup) water
served in:
- hard taco shells

Crushed garlic, salt, black pepper, cumin and allspice was mixed into the ground beef (using the hands), which was then allowed to stand while chopping the other ingredients.

In a pan, the onion and chilli was cooked in a little oil for 1-2 minutes before adding the tomatoes. When most of the juices from the tomatoes were absorbed the spiced meat was added to the pan. When the meat as browned, the cabbage, fresh coriander and water was added. After about 15-20 minutes of cooking over medium heat with occasional stirring, the amount of liquid was reduced significantly (but not completely gone).

I like serving it in hard taco shells.

^[1] Personally I like it equally well with white or red cabbage, but Mrs. Throat-Erator finds the dish visually unappealing with red cabbage.

Eggplant Pasta Salad

Another quick delicious pasta dish.

Ingredients:
- 2 eggplants
- balsamic vinegar
- 300 g (²/₃ lb) pasta
- salt
- 70 g (2.5 oz) rocket
- 2-3 tbsp sun-dried tomato pesto

The eggplants were cut into square rods (¹/₂ inch to the side, half the length of the eggplant), placed on a foil lined baking sheet, drizzled with balsamic vinegar and baked in the oven at 250 C ( F) for 10-15 minutes.

The pasta was boiled in lightly salted water.

Boiled pasta, baked eggplant, rocket and sun-dried tomato pesto was tossed in a bowl and served immediately.

Pickled Tomatoes (1)

Last fall I tried my hand at pickling to-ma-toes.

By now all I have left is one jar of my jalapeño pickled yellow cherry tomatoes. These were the least popular with the various guests I served them for. The basic principle worked as intended: the tomatoes really took up the hotness of the jalapeño. Personally I like them, but I am not surprised the other two went faster. If I try to to pickle yellow cherry tomatoes again I shall be careful to boil them less.

The cinnamon pickled red cherry tomatoes were quite popular with some of my guests. The cinnamon flavour, acidity and sweetness made for a delicious whole. When I do this again, I shall a larger batch - and also for these try less boiling than the first time around.

As previously mentioned the vanilla pickled green tomatoes turned out pretty nicely. Unlike the other two kinds these were certainly not overcooked - rather the opposite (if anything). I think I might try using vanilla bean instead of vanilla sugar, just to see if it makes a difference.

Frikadeller - Updated recipe

I have a confession to make: I generally chop quite coarsely. And for the most part I am quite happy with the result.

But when making meat balls too coarsely chopped onions tend to towards undesirable effects when shaping and frying the meat balls. So, lately I've started chopping the onions for my meat balls not by hand as I've always done in the past but in the cutter that came with our new electric hand-held mixer/whipper/cutter unit (a purchase of debate in the household - while the need for a new one was indisputable, the type I bought met with some critique).

I've also recently discovered that making meat balls with bread crumbs and milk tends towards juicier meat balls (as opposed to flour and milk - or neither of the two). Here follows an updated recipe for frikadeller (a type of Danish meat ball).

Ingredients:
- 850 g (1 lb 14 oz) minced pork/beef^[1]
- 4 small onions, very finely chopped
- 3 eggs
- ~5 dL (~2 cups) bread crumbs^[2]
- 5 dl (2 cups) milk
- salt and pepper
for frying:
- margarine
to serve:
- rye bread
- red cabbage sauerkraut

The onions were chopped very finely using an electric cutter, then mixed with minced meat, eggs, salt and pepper. Milk was stirred in in portions until the texture was as desired (for frikadeller I usually aim for a little more on the liquidy side than I would for most other types of meat balls).

The meat balls were shaped using a teaspoon (see the original post on frikadeller for pictures of the shaping procedure) and fried in a large pan (medium heat) with some margarine, working mostly in batches.

As you can see I made a heap of them. We ate some right away on rye bread with red cabbage sauerkraut - a perfect combination. I put a lot of the rest in the freezer.


^[1] I used a 50:50 mix available from the local store. This kind of meat balls could also be made mixed pork/veal or even pure pork - but pure beef wouldn't be 'right' for frikadeller.

^[2] I don't buy bread crumbs. I simply grate some old dried out white bread. Whenever I buy fresh bread and don't manage to eat it all before it goes dry, I just leave the bread in a dry place for a couple of weeks (or even longer - it usually doesn't go mouldy if stored in a dry place) to make sure it is really dry - then it is easy to grate to bread crumbs.