Panzanella

I don't remember where or when I first heard about this Tuscan bread and tomato salad, but in recent years I've grown really fond of it - especially in the summer, when there's usually an abundance of ripe tomatoes.  The exact types of bread or tomatoes are not crucial, but ripe tomatoes are key for good panzanella. The recipe calls for stale bread, but I guess it would work with fresh bread too - but stale bread is just fine.

Ingredients:
- 3 tbsp anchovies, finely chopped
- 4 tbsp capers, finely chopped
- a generous pour of olive oil
- salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1,5 tsp apple cider vinegar
- fresh basil, coarsely chopped
- 4 ripe, "normal" tomatoes, coarsely chopped
- 2 ripe beef tomatoes, coarsely chopped
- a handful of datterino tomatoes, coarsely chopped
- a 10 cm of stale bread, coarsely diced
- 125 g mini-mozzarella, quartered

The finely chopped anchovies and capers were stirred with olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Then tomatoes, basil and bread was added, and the ingredients were mixed with tongs. Mozzarella was added lastly. Best left to soak for a while before consuming.

I love it, and it's quite filling too.

In this version I used a mix of tomatoes and for an even more colourful version one could use more different kinds of tomatoes.

This time I also added a number of ingredients I often do not use - cutting it down to basics it's still delicious.

Basic panzanella:
- stale bread, coarsely diced
- ripe tomatoes, coarsely chopped
- fresh basil, coarsely chopped
- salt
- black pepper
- olive oil

For the basic version, I usually just add alternating layers of bread, tomatoes, salt, pepper, basil and olive oil - often in a lunch box in the morning and then consume for lunch at work.

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.

Cucumber Chilli Salad

The inspiration for this came partly from a traditional simple cucumber salad - and partly from the likes of green papaya salad.

Ingredients:
- 2 cucumbers, very thinly sliced
- 4 tomatoes, thinly sliced
- 4 red chillies, de-seeded, thinly sliced
- large bunch scallions, sliced
- large bunch parsley, chopped
dressing:
- juice of 1 lime
- approx. same volume of sesame oil
- 1 tsp honey
- salt and black pepper

The cucumbers were sliced and left in a sieve to allow excess juice to drip off while slicing the other ingredients. After mixing the dressing all the ingredients were tossed in a large bowl. The chillies and lime add a nice spicy and fresher touch to this cucumber salad.

Ungerslaw

For a couple of years I lived together with some friends in a house in California. On of them made - from time to time (and as I recall it often as a side to a nice grilled roast, tri-tip or something like that) - a coleslaw that was IMHO the best I've ever had. When I asked him about the recipe he said the 'secret' was the fresh, home-made mayonnaise - and then told me how to make it. As a tribute to him I name it "Ungerslaw".

Ingredients:
- 1 head of cabbage, finely sliced
- 3 tomatoes, diced
- 1 onion, finely diced
- 1 red long sweet pepper, diced
- 1 can of corn
- bunch of fresh coriander, chopped
Mayonnaise:
- 1 egg yolk ^[1]
- zest of 1 lemon, finely grated
- 2 tsp mustard
- 3 tsp red wine vinegar
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- salt
- pepper
- smoked paprika
- 2.5 dL (1 cup) rapeseed oil ^[2]
- 2 tsp lemon juice

The mayonnaise was prepared first: The egg yolk was beaten for 15 seconds before adding lemon zest, mustard, vinegar, garlic, salt, pepper, and paprika. After beating for an additional 30 seconds, the oil was poured in slowly with constant beating - the mixture emulsified as planned. Finally the taste was adjusted with lemon juice, salt and pepper. As the picture shows the resulting mayonnaise was rather yellow - no doubt my choice of vinegar and the amount of paprika used played a part in this. The mayonnaise was covered and stored in the fridge while cutting the vegetables for the 'slaw. The 'slaw was mixed in a large bowl and served immediately.

For this occasion, I served it with a beef roast that was covered (I didn't prepare, so there wasn't time to marinate) with a mixture of olive oil, vinegar, chopped chipotle chillies^[3], and salt; roasted at 175 C (350 F) for 1 hour and sliced thinly. The chillies made the roast nicely spicy - but only on the outside.

^[1] Since all chickens in Sweden are supposedly free of salmonella I just used an egg yolk from a fresh egg - had I been elsewhere, I might have gone shopping for pasteurised egg yolks or tried to sterilise the egg shell before breaking it.
^[2] Rapeseed oil is a comparatively taste-neutral oil (I see from the label on the jar of store-bought mayonnaise in my fridge that it also based on rapeseed oil). In particular you should be careful basing it on extra virgin olive oil, as it can give an off taste.
^[3] Chipotle chillies are smoked, dried jalapeños. In one of the shops near my new home there's a really good selection of dried chillies - a subject which I am sure I shall return to on this page.

Bean-Onion Salad

This is a quick attempt to copy a very nice bean-and-onion salad I tried at a vegetarian buffet not that long ago.

Ingredients:
- 4 cans of beans (mixed brown, white and red)
- 1 large red onion
- 1 large yellow onion
- a large bunch flat-leaf parsley
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp vinegar
- salt & pepper

The canned beans were rinsed with cold water and left to drip off a bit.

The onions were peeled and quartered along the axis, each quarter of an onion was further quartered to give onion wedges.

The parsley was chopped coarsely.

The oil, vinegar, salt & pepper was mixed in a large bowl and everything else was stirred in.

I like the raw onions in this salad - but they become overpowering if not balanced by a reasonable amount of beans. On this occasion I had this salad as a side to some baked potatoes and a piece of baked fish.

Cucumber salad

Cucumber salad is a side dish that's fairly simple, but is best prepared at least a few hours in advance. I guess maybe you can even buy it, but I never looked for it.

Ingredients:
- 1 cucumber, thinly sliced
- 1 dL (ca. 0.4 cup) water, boiled
- 1/2 dL (ca. 0.2 cup) sugar
- 1 dL (ca. 0.4 cup) white wine vinegar
- salt and pepper

First the water was boiled and the sugar was dissolved in the warm water.


While the sugar water was cooling, the cucumber was sliced thinly (conveniently done on the tool shown). Juice was allowed to drip from the cucumber slices while stirring vinegar, salt and pepper into the sugar water.

Finally, the cucumber slices were placed in the liquid, the bowl was covered and left in the fridge for a couple of hours (keeps good for at least a couple of days).

Quinoa Tricolore

I guess I didn't think about it before I moved, but if anyone had asked me if I expected to be able to buy quinoa in Sweden, I might have expressed doubts. As it turns I would have been wrong: not only can I get quinoa here, but unlike other places I have lived so far, both ordinary quinoa as well as red and black quinoa is readily available. Such an abundance begged me to mix them up and get a colourful result...

Ingredients:
- 4 red bell peppers
- 3 fillets of chicken breast
- oil
- salt & pepper
- smoked paprika
- fennel seeds
- the juice of 1 + 1 limes
- 9 dL (3.8 cups) mixed white, red, and black quinoa
- 1.8 L (7.6) water
- bunch of scallion

The bell peppers were rinsed and quartered, and the seeds were removed. The bell peppers were broiled until most of the skin was blackened. After removing them from the oven, they were allowed to cool before the skin was peeled of. The remaining pieces were chopped coarsely.

The chicken fillets were seasoned on both sides with salt, pepper, smoked paprika and fennel seeds before searing in a pan with a little oil. When they were nicely browned on both sides, they juice of 1 lime was poured over, the pan was covered and the heat was reduced to medium. Left like this while cooking the quinoa.

The water was salted and brought to a boil, then the quinoa was added, the pot covered and the heat reduced to low. They were deemed done when all the water was absorbed.

The scallions were rinsed and sliced thinly.

The finished chicken fillets were sliced.

Everything was mixed in a large bowl and added the juice of the last lime. Can be eaten at once, but is also delicious cold.

On this occasion it was served with freshly boiled cauliflower.

Chunky Potato Salad

As I have been alluding to in several posts over the past couple of months another move was impending. As you might have guessed the recent lack of posts coincided (more or less) with the actual time of the move: Now I'm in Sweden and things are very similar to what I grew up with in Denmark and yet oddly - sometimes surprisingly - different. I'm sure I'll have more to say about that.

When I lived in Denmark I never really gave much thought to the differences between yoghurt and what is known as tykmælk ('thick milk'), which I used to consume on a regular basis. Then I moved to the US and realised I had only the option of yoghurt - and still didn't give much thought to it. I have to say that there were times when I missed a milk product similar to tykmælk - the taste and the texture being different from yoghurt - but I got by with yoghurt.

Now that I'm in Sweden, I'm realising that tykmælk is common Scandinavian tradition. The taste and texture is due to the different bacterial cultures used for fermenting the milk. Here in Sweden it's called filmjölk or simply fil. To my delight I can also get A-fil, which appears highly similar to the Danish product A38 (an old favourite of mine) in that it's fermented with lactobacillus acidophilus - in the following recipe I used A-fil, which as these things goes might be difficult to get if you're not in the Scandinavian countries, but for substituting I would choose a plain yoghurt, preferably a less viscous variety.

Ingredients:
- 8 potatoes, large chunks, boiled
- 2 eggs, hard-boiled, quartered
- 1/2 cucumber, cut in large chunks
- 3 tomatoes, cut in boats
- a hand-full of caper berries
dressing:
- 3 dL (a little more than 1 cup) A-fil^[1]
- 1 tbsp mustard
- salt
- pepper
- fresh basil, chopped
- one onion, finely chopped

The potatoes were rinsed and cut into largish chunks and boiled till tender - the water was discarded and the potato chunks were allowed to cool.
The eggs were boiled hard, cooled, then peeled and quartered.
The cucumber and tomatoes were cut in similarly large chunks.

For the dressing, mustard was stirred into the A-fil, then added salt, pepper, freshly chopped basil and finely diced onion.

Everything was mixed in a large bowl.

Served with fried lamb sausage, mustard, and ketchup.

UPDATE: It's actually better after having stood overnight in the fridge..

^[1] Lactobacillus acidophilus-fermented milk.

Red Cabbage Salad

Based on a recipe we read in a newspaper we tried this over a year ago - the newspaper said it would be rich, and they weren't kidding. In fact, we thought it was way too rich, so in trying to adapt it better to our taste we used more cabbage and only half the dressing of the original recipe.

Ingredients:
- 250 g (1/2 lb) red cabbage, finely cut
- 100 g (3.5 oz) corn salad
- 9 cherry tomatoes (168 g / 6 oz), quartered
- 1 onion (85 g / 3 oz), cut in thin strips
- 142 g (5 oz) brown mushrooms, finely sliced
- 25 g (~1 oz) pecan nuts, coarsely chopped
- 25 g (~1 oz) brazil nuts, coarsely chopped
- 1 tbsp honey
dressing:
- 75 g (2.6 oz) blue cheese^[1]
- 3 tbsp milk

The cabbage, corn salad, onions, tomatoes, and mushrooms were simply mixed in a large bowl.

The nuts were candied by first toasting them on a hot, dry pan for a few minutes (taking care not to burn them), then adding the honey, which melts and bubbles. After quickly coating the nut pieces in the honey, the candied nuts were transferred to a sheet of baking paper.

While the nuts were cooling off, the milk and blue cheese was whipped together using a fork. When the dressing was ready it was poured over the salad and mixed well. At last, the candied nuts were spread on top.


^[1] I used Blue Castello - for other cheeses it might take a different amount of milk to get the right texture ... just add one tbsp at the time.

Roasted Sunchoke Salad

I first had (and tried) the idea of adding roasted sunchokes to a salad while on vacation this past summer, but I never really got back to it till recently. I'm sure this isn't exactly like the first time I made it, but the essentials are there.

Ingredients:
- bacon, thinly sliced
- onion, diced
- sunchoke, diced
- butterhead lettuce
- corn salad
- cucumber, half slices
- cherry tomatoes, halved
- pickled caper berries
mint raita
- yoghurt
- fresh mint, chopped
- garlic, mashed
- salt & pepper

The bacon was fried in a pan till nicely crisp, then added the onion and a few minutes later the sunchokes, and the heat was reduced to medium high - occasional stirring was continued while mixing the other parts of the salad. In the end the lovely taste of the roasted sunchokes was brought out while retaining most of the crunch of the fresh sunchokes. Mixed with the rest of the salad and served with a little mint raita.

Mashed Potatoes de Luxe

When I recently made 'burning love' I was reminded that I hadn't made the luxury version of mashed potatoes for a while (a recipe I picked up from a previous house mate) .. clearly a mistake. But easily fixed. It goes particularly nicely with a steak and some salad.

Ingredients
- 450 g (1 lb) potatoes, peeled, cut in chunks
- 50 g (~ 2 oz) bacon, diced
- 4 scallions, green parts, sliced
- 100 g (3.5 oz) sour cream
- 0.5 dl (~ 2 oz) milk

The potato chunks were boiled in unsalted water.

While the potatoes were boiling, the bacon was fried in a pan.

When tender, the water was drained from the potatoes, which were mashed with ladle. Sour cream, milk, bacon, and scallion was stirred in. Seasoned to tasted with salt and pepper.

Served on this occasion with ostrich steaks (fried together with the rest of the scallions), and a salad made from corn salad, cucumber and sun dried tomatoes - I've had ostrich a number of times by now, but I'm still a little amazed (although nothing that compares to the first time I tasted it) how much like beef this bird tastes. The corn salad ('rampon' around here) was a first for me. We'd been noticing it at the stores for a while and on a day it looked particularly fresh and delicious we decided to try it... it won't be the last time.

Tabbouleh

To aid us in our quest for cooking more middle eastern food, we bought another book, Claudia Roden's New Book of Middle Eastern Food, to get more inspiration.

As it turns out our copy of the book is flawed by a production error - more specifically the same set of pictures appears twice, leaving us guessing as to which pictures we are missing. Amazon.com wasn't able to tell us whether it was just or copy, or their entire set - so instead they refunded us the value of the book, and let us keep it at the same time. Hooray.

First up in a string of post on the subject is a variation on tabbouleh, one of several bulgur salads.

Ingredients:
- 2 dL (4/5 cup) bulgur
- cold water
- juice of 1 1/2 lemon
- 5 tomatoes, diced
- 2 small onions, finely diced
- fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
- fresh mint, chopped
- salt, pepper
- olive oil

The bulgur was soaked in cold water for 10-15 minutes, then drained and put in a large bowl. The lemon juice and tomatoes were added and the bowl was left for half an hour to let the bulgur absorb the juices and turn tender. [1] The rest of the ingredients were mixed in.

Tabbouleh might be eaten as a stand alone dish (supposedly it is traditional to scoop it up with lettuce leaves), or as a side dish.

[1] At this point the texture of the bulgur still seemed somewhat 'uncooked', which was a little worrisome, but in the end the result was just fine.

Fish Dinner

In no particular style (so far as I can tell) I made this dinner because it was Saturday night, and I felt like it - everything turned out quite nicely, I do think.

Ingredients:
creamy potatoes:
- 4 large potatoes
- 1 medium onion
- 1 dL (1/2 cup) heavy cream
- 2 dL (1 cup) water
- salt, pepper
salad:
- 1/2 head fine frisée lettuce
- 75 g (3 oz) feta cheese
- 4 sun dried tomatoes
- 1 handful pistachio nuts
dressing:
- juice of 1/2 lime
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp mustard
- 1 tsp honey
fish:
- olive oil
- salt, pepper, paprika
- Dorado fillets
- 1 leek
- 1 green chilli [1]
- 20 fresh leaves oregano
- juice of 1/2 lime
- 1 tsp honey

The potatoes were sliced, and put in an oven-proof tray together with a sliced onion, salt, and pepper. The cream and the water was poured over and the tray was put in the oven at 200 C (400 F) for at least an hour.

I found fine frisée salad at the store, but less fine frisée (i.e. ordinary) would probably work well too) - it was rinsed, cut roughly, and mixed with crumbled feta cheese, strips of sun dried tomatoes, and a handful of pistachio nuts.

The salad dressing was made simply by stirring all the ingredients together (needs some stirring as not everything mixes naturally).

In large pan a little olive oil was heated, then salt, pepper, and paprika was stirred into it before adding the fillets of dorado (aka mahi-mahi), which were fried for a few minutes on both sides. Pushing the fish towards the side of the pan, the leek and the chilli both cut in long strips was added, then poured over with a mix of honey and lime juice, and finally added coarsely chopped fresh oregano.

[1] The green chillies I buy here are called "Piments Verts" in the store, which tells me no more than what I can see by looking at them: They are green chillies. Trying to correlate them with the chilli types I know, I'd say they are about as thick as jalapeño peppers, about as long as Anaheim peppers - the overall looks of them are most like Anaheim peppers, but in hotness they are much closer to the jalapeño.

Roasted Bean Salad

We had some left-over meat[1] and needed a side dish to go with it.

Ingredients:
- 500 g (1 lb) green beans
- 1 onion
- oregano
- olive oil
- salt & pepper
- lemon juice
- 1 handful pine nuts

The beans were rinsed and placed in a large baking pan together with onion wedges. This was sprinkled with olive oil, salt, pepper, and oregano. The baking pan went in the oven at 225 C (450 F) for about 20-25 minutes (beans tender and starting to blacken in spots). After roasting the beans were sprinkled with lemon juice and pan-roasted pine nuts.

Served with fresh radishes as well.

[1] And yes, the previously sliced meat, but quite rare was roasted some more.

Bean Salad 2

This is just a slight modification of this salad.

Ingredients:
- 500 g (1 lb) green beans
- water
- 2 tbsp white vinegar
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- salt & pepper
- 1 bunch Italian parsley (chopped)
- 100 g (4 oz) feta cheese (diced)
- 425 g (15 oz) white beans (1 can, drained & rinsed)

The green beans were boiled in slightly salted water.

While the water for the green beans came to a boil, the other ingredients were mixed in a large bowl. When boiled the green beans were drained and mixed in with the rest.

Was served with baked potatoes and lamb chops.

Bean Salad 1

This is a really simple bean salad with green & white beans.

Ingredients:
- 500 g (1 lb) green beans
- water
- 2 tbsp read wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 bunch Italian parsley
- salt & pepper
- 425 g (15 oz) white beans (1 can)

If necessary clean the green beans, then boil them, and when they are done drain them.

While the water for the green beans is coming to a boil, mix in a bowl the oil and the vinegar, then add chopped parsley. Mix in the drained and rinsed white beans as well as the green beans. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Jícama

When I first told one of my friends about the sunchokes, he asked me if they were anything like jícama. Shamed, I had to admit that although I had noticed jícama at the store I had never tried them and actually had no idea what they were like. He told me he had had them in salads, where they were somewhat like pears. I immediately resolved to buy one and see for myself.

I discovered that the jícama had an interesting texture, tending a little bit to fall apart in flakes. From my friend's description I guess I shouldn't be, but I was actually surprised at how sweet the taste was. In the simple salad that I made with it at first it didn't work very well.

However, balancing the sweet with something sour works quite well, and I was much happier with the result the second time around, when I cut the jícama in cubes and soaked it in a mix of freshly squeezed juice of 2 limes, 1/2 pink grape and 1/2 orange (added a little salt & pepper to taste). As I said, I liked this a lot better, but the result still isn't quite what I expect from a salad. More like a fruit salad.

Biksemad with sunchoke salad (Sunchokes ][)

Biksemad is Danish and translates roughly as "fiddled food" - I guess in America the term 'home fries' would cover the concept most accurately - and it's a typical left-overs dish. In my family we would traditionally get it when there were too many left over potatoes that needed to be used [1]. Other ingredients include any of the following: onions, carrots, green beans, bacon, meat balls, roast and so on.

In my cooking I rely somewhat less on boiled potatoes, and also often don't boil so many that I find myself with that excuse for making biksemad. Fortunately I've found that if you're willing to give it some extra cooking time the potatoes don't actually need to have been boiled and cooled first: fresh potatoes can be diced and fried just as well (particularly with a non-stick pan).

Biksemad tends to be a rather heavy dish, so adding a some salad on the side makes for a nice combination - and since recently I promised to use sunchokes, it will be a sunchoke salad.

Ingredients:
(biksemad)
- 4 medium-large potatoes
- 4 slices bacon
- 1 small onion
- 300 g (2/3 lb) frozen corn
- 2 eggs
(sunchoke salad)
- 6 leaves lettuce
- 6 sunchokes

Cut the bacon in small pieces and fry till crisp in a large non-stick pan, then add medium-finely chopped onion and stir till the onion is translucent. Then add diced (cubes 6 mm (1/4") to the side) potatoes and cook till the potatoes are cooked through. This takes a while and requires stirring relatively oftenly [2]. Then add the frozen corn and cook for a few minutes more. Make eggs however you like them. Serve with ketchup.[3]

The salad is really simple - coarsely cut the lettuce, add thinly sliced sunchokes and serve with a vinaigrette.

[1] Since boiled potatoes were the staple food of my upbringing this would not happen all too seldomly.
[2] If not using a non-stick pan this should be almost constant stirring.
[3] Of course this dish goes extremely well with beer.

Tzatziki

Another simple thing that goes well with a variety of dishes.

Ingredients:
- 1 cucumber *
- 1 lb plain yoghurt
- 1 clove garlic
- salt & white pepper to taste

Grate the cucumber into a sieve and let it drip off for 15-20 minutes, then put it a bowl, add yoghurt, pressed garlic, salt and ground white pepper. Mix well. Eat immediately or store cool for later.

* If in the US I strongly recommend buying so-called European or English cucumbers. Yes, they are more pricey and often smaller - but so much more delicious as well. The easiest way to destroy a cucumber is to overgrow it.