Pebernødder

Having not found the time to bake a whole series of Christmas cookies this year, I opted for one cookie that really brings the holiday spirit for me: pebernødder (which would translate as 'pepper-nuts').

Realizing I had never made them myself, I requested my mother's recipe and once I had that I went looking for ingredients. The tricky part turned out to be the ground (dried) bitter orange peel that the recipe called for an ill-defined amount of. This I didn't manage to find before making the dough, so I substituted finely chopped candied orange peel - ironically, I did find it in the local store while the dough I had made was resting in the fridge at home. Which brings up another point: my mother's recipe strongly recommends leaving the dough in the fridge for a day or two before shaping and baking.

Ingredients:
- 250 g (~ ¹/₂ lb) flour
- 125 g (~ 4 oz) unsalted butter
- 125 g (~ 4 oz) granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- ¹/₂ tsp ground ginger
- ¹/₂ tsp ground cloves
- ³/₄ tsp ground cinnamon
- pinch of white pepper
- zest of ¹/₂ lemon
- very finely chopped candied orange peel (about the same volume as lemon zest)^[1]

The butter was worked into the flour by hand, then all the other ingredients were added and kneaded to an only slightly sticky dough. The dough shaped into a ball, wrapped in film and stored in the fridge for a day before continuing.

Coming right out of the fridge, the dough is fairly hard - but with a little patience you can pry off a chunk and roll it into a rod approximately 1 cm (²/₅ inch) thick. As the rod becomes thinner and your hands warm up the dough it becomes progressively easier to work. The rod was sliced into approximately 1 cm (²/₅ inch) thick pieces. Each little piece was rolled to a small ball and placed on a baking sheet lined with baking paper.

They were baked at 212 C (415 F) for 10 minutes - and should be allowed to cool off completely before eating. I sampled one while they were still warm and was afraid I botched them, but by the time they were old I could taste I had done it right after all.

^[1] As mentioned above the original recipe called for "a little ground (dried) bitter orange peel" instead of candied orange peel.

Mint Julep Cake (Round 2)

Remember the Mint Julep Cake? I thought it was delicious, but I still felt that it could be optimised a little bit.

Most importantly I was disappointed that the mint wasn't sufficiently prominent in the ganache. I realise this was my own fault for using mint syrup instead of mint extract. When I tried it a second time I used a LOT more mint syrup than I did the first time, but we still couldn't really taste the mint. That's when I started considering caving in and actually buying mint extract - but then I realised that the mint extract you can buy (at least around these parts) is always peppermint extract. Peppermint is banned in the Throat-Erator household.^[1] I realise I could try to make my own mint extract (and maybe one day I shall), but in the interest of having a quick procedure I decided to see what I could squeeze out of some fresh mint...

I bought 2 mint plants at the store, picked all the leaves and mashed them (I used my garlic press for this). The mass of mashed mint leaves didn't volunteer any juice, but when placed in a small fine sieve and pressed I was able to obtain about 1 tsp of a dark liquid with a rather peculiar smell. Now, I know that smell is highly concentration dependent, so the peculiar smell did not concern me - in fact, it encouraged me since I was aiming for a highly concentrated mint extract substitute. I went ahead and used it all - scroll to bottom for the result.

While I was at it, I also adjusted the amounts of both ganache and butter bourbon sauce.

Updated recipe as follows...

Ingredients (day 1):
- 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^[2]
- 4 eggs
butter bourbon sauce (day 1):
- 100 g margarine
- 100 g powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp water
- 6 tbsp bourbon (I used Jack Daniels)
minty, white chocolate ganache (day 2):
- 265 g (²/₃ of a 14 oz can) sweetened condensed milk
- 200 g (7 oz) white chocolate
- juice squeezed from the fresh leaves of 2 mint plants

In a large bowl, flour was mixed with sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda and vanilla sugar.

In a separate bowl, softened margarine was whisked together with A-fil and eggs.

The liquid was poured into the dry mix and everything was mixed until a smooth homogeneous batter resulted. The batter was poured into a greased and floured spring form of 22 cm (9 inch) diameter. The cake was baked at 175 C (350 F) for an hour (the difference in baking time since the previous edition is due to the fact that I moved in between - the oven in my new apartment is different).

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 overnight before making and applying the ganache.

For the ganache I first squeezed the juice out of my mint leaves as described above. Then I melted white chocolate together with sweetened condensed milk over low heat with constant stirring. When homogeneous the heat was turned off and the mint juice was stirred into the mixture.

The ganache was allowed to cool for half an hour before applying it to the cake - after which the cake was immediately put in the fridge in order for the ganache to set (I did check up on it to make sure the ganache didn't flow too much - like the first time I made this cake).

I have to say I was very pleased with the result - the extra bourbon was spot on, as was the amount of ganache. But the best part was that this time we could taste mint!

^[1] To quote Mrs. Throat-Erator: "Makes me feel like I'm eating toothpaste!!"
^[2] 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.

Lamb & Potato Kheema

As it happened, a colleague of mine started talking about making curries and dhal for dinner, and we go to talking about various kinds of curries. When the subject turned more specifically to kheema, I felt a sudden urge to make something along those lines.

I can't say this is a very authentic recipe - I came up with it by reading some 10 different recipes after googling 'kheema' and applying the bits of each recipe that appealed the most to me.

Ingredients
- oil
- 2 red onions, chopped
- 800 g (1 ³/₄ lbs) minced lamb
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 2 red jalapeños, chopped
- salt
- ground cumin, allspice, cinnamon, cloves, and smoked paprika
- 3 tomatoes, chopped
- 3 leaves bay laurel
- 5 potatoes, diced

In a large, deep pan, the onions were fried in hot oil until softened, then added the minced meat and the spices. After the meat was browned all over, tomatoes, potatoes and bay laurels were added. The pan was covered and allowed to simmer for 40 minutes.

The kheema was very good - this time I served it with sabanekh bel hummus, brown rice and a very nice chutney.

Sabanekh bel Hummus

I was wondering if it might be an idea make something with spinach and chickpeas - as it turns out it is a good idea, just not a new one. According to Claudia Roden variations on this theme are common through-out the middle east. I decided to base my first attempt off of her recipe (which is supposedly an Egyptian version) but with the addition of onions and chillies.

Ingredients:
- oil
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- generous amount of ground coriander
- salt
- 2 yellow onions, chopped
- 900 g (2 lbs) frozen spinach (whole-leaf, not chopped)
- 2 jalapeño peppers, chopped
- 3 cans chickpeas, 400 g (14 oz) each
- juice of ¹/₂ lemon

The oil was heated in a large pot, then added crushed garlic, ground coriander and salt - after stirring the spices in the hot oil for about half a minute the chopped onions were added. When the onions were soft, the spinach was added together with chopped jalapeños (seeds included). The pot was covered and left on medium heat until the spinach was thawed. The chickpeas (drained and rinsed) were added and the dish was heated through. Sprinkled with lemon juice just before serving.

I was quite happy with the result - which I served on this occasion with a lamb & potato kheema, brown rice, and an apple-walnut chutney, which I'm going to have to see if I can learn how to make myself..

Bean-stuffed Zucchini

I was thinking about beans and zucchini when it occurred to me that maybe I could stuff zucchini with beans - making a variation of this theme. I would have preferred to make this with some nice large home-grown zucchini, but I couldn't wait for some to magically appear so I went ahead and did it with the small ones I can get at the stores - picking the largest ones they had.

Ingredients:
- 250 g (~ ¹/₂ lb) dried pinto beans, soaked overnight
- water
- lard
- 1 large yellow onion, coarsely chopped
- 1 large clove of garlic, chopped
- 1 jalapeño pepper, chopped
- 4 medium sized zucchini, halved lengthwise and hollowed
- grated cheddar cheese
to serve:
- pico de gallo

The pinto beans were soaked in an excess of cold water overnight.

The coarsely chopped onion was fried in lard until starting to brown. The soaked beans were added WITH the water they were soaking in. Added salt, chopped garlic, chopped jalapeño (including seeds). The pot was brought to a boil and kept boiling for 2 hours, adding more water as needed.


The zucchini were halved, hollowed with a tsp and arranged in a deep baking pan. The beans were distributed evenly between the zucchini halves and the whole thing was baked for 40 minutes at 200 C (400 F).^[1]


After removing from the oven, the bean-stuffed zucchini were sprinkled with grated cheddar cheese - served immediately with pico de gallo on the side.


^[1] If I had used large zucchini, I would probably have baked them a little longer to make sure they were done.

Bacon-Chanterelle-Blue Cheese Meatloaf

Fall is here, which means two things: (1) the shops have a wider selection of mushrooms than normally; (2) I tend the want heartier foods. This idea was built up in stages: first Bon Appétit planted the idea of a mushroom meatloaf in my mind. Then I thought of the bacon explosion, but didn't want to go all the way. Finally while shopping, trying to make up my mind about a few final ingredients, I remembered this stew and settled on blue cheese and fresh rosemary.

Ingredients:
- 125 g (4.4 oz) thinly sliced bacon
- 2-3 dL (~ 1 cup) chanterelles, chopped
- 100 g (3.5 oz) blue cheese
- 1 kg (2 lbs 3 oz) mixed beef-pork minced meat
- 2 yellow onions, finely chopped
- 2 dL (almost 1 cup) milk
- 2 eggs
- fresh rosemary, chopped
- salt & pepper
side: leek quinoa pilaf
- 3 leeks, sliced
- 4 dL (1 ²/₃ cup) quinoa
- 8 dL (3 ¹/₃ cup) water
- salt
salad:
- mixed lettuce
- mushrooms
- grape tomatoes

The bacon was fried till crisp, then removed from the pan and chopped into smaller pieces. In a bowl the bacon pieces were mixed with chopped chanterelles and crumbled blue cheese.

In a second bowl, the minced meat was mixed with finely chopped onions, chopped fresh rosemary, milk, eggs, salt and pepper.

Half of the meat mixture was placed in an oven-proof tray. The bacon-mushroom-blue cheese mixture was spread out on the meat and the rest of the was put on top as a lid. More salt and pepper on top. Baked at 200 C (400 F) for 1 hour.

Brunost

Brunost (= brown cheese) also known as Myseost or Geitost (= goat cheese) is a Norwegian speciality, and one of those food items that I remember switching from hating to loving. Different varieties are made either from cow's milk, goat's milk or mixtures - but it is always made from whey.

As a child I remember being highly suspicious of this product: not only was it made of goat's milk - it was brown. But my mother loved it (still does) - back then I wasn't sure if this wasn't just part of her loving everything Norwegian. You could buy it in Denmark, but it was rather expensive, so whenever anyone we knew went to Norway my mother would ask them to bring her back a kg or two. Which would always be consumed surprisingly quickly upon delivery: thinly sliced on bread, possibly with slices of cucumber on top. My mother even had a special cheese cutter she only used for this cheese. The latter was due to its unusually soft texture.

Some years ago I saw it in a store in the US and was suddenly curious - would I still not like it, like I used to as a child, or had my tastes developed ? As you can probably guess, my tastes had indeed developed. Suddenly I found the sweet caramel with a hint of sharpness oddly pleasing. I still don't think I am as crazy about as my mother (quite frankly, I don't think I ever will be) - I certainly don't consume as much of it as she does, but from time to time I get some (here in Sweden it is of course readily available).

Russian Tea Cakes

This is how it happened: We were getting close to the day that it would yet again be my turn to provide some egg-free baked delicacies for a work gathering, when suddenly Mrs. Throat-Erator tugged my sleeve and said: "Please make these so I can bring some to work for my birthday". I checked the recipe .. no eggs required. Then I checked with my boss about the detail of the nut allergy: "I'll survive pecans". And so I decided to make a large batch of cookies.

Ingredients:
- 760 g (~24 oz) margarine
- 860 g (~30 oz) flour
- 140 g (~5 oz) powdered sugar + more for rolling
- 3 tsp vanilla sugar
- 3 tbsp water
- 350 g (~12 oz) pecan nuts^[1]

The margarine was worked into the flour using the hands - the resulting mixture was quite sticky. The vanilla sugar, powered sugar, water and chopped pecans were worked into the dough - which was still rather sticky.

The dough was rolled into balls of about 2.5 cm (1 inch) diameter - in the end the cookies were a bit on the large side of what I'd expected, so I guess I'll aim for smaller somewhat balls next time, say 1.5-2 cm (³/₅ - ⁴/₅ inch) instead. The balls were placed on a baking sheet lined with baking paper and flattened slightly - to about 1 cm (²/₅ inch) thickness with the bottom of a drinking glass (this required a little patience and practice since the dough tended to stick to the glass). I got some 80 cookies out of this batch.

The cakes were baked at 162.5 C (325 F) for 25 minutes, then moved to a rack to cool.

The cool cakes were rolled in powdered sugar - and mighty delicious.

Since these go both by the name of Russian tea cakes and Mexican wedding cookies, I don't really know if they are truly Russian (or Mexican) - both seems unrealistic. But I do know that they go very well with tea, and I find them most appropriate since I'm currently drinking mainly Russian tea.

^[1] You'll find these cookies made with hazelnuts, walnuts, pecans, almonds, macadamias... you name the nut, basically. I think I'd like to try some other nuts in this recipe one of these days.

Bacon & Egg (Spelt) Pizza

Here's a concept that might be somewhat controversial: eggs on pizza. I know Some people don't approve - even I wouldn't want it all the time, but when I do want I think it's absolutely divine.
I made it this time on a spelt dough, but obviously that is optional.

Ingredients:
- 1 portion frozen spelt pizza dough
- durum flour (for rolling)
- ~ 250 g (~ ¹/₂ lb) chunky tomato sauce with garlic
- 125 g (4.4 oz) mozzarella, sliced
- 1 red onion, sliced
- 3 thin slices of bacon
- 2 eggs
- dried oregano
served with a salad:
- mixed lettuce
- chickpeas


The rolled dough was topped with tomato sauce, mozzarella slices, onion rings and bacon pieces. It was baked in the oven at 225 C (450 F). This time I baked it for 15 minutes, before taking it out of the oven and cracking the two eggs on top of it and putting it back in the oven for another 5 minutes. This was perfect for cooking the egg-whites but leaving the yolks runny.^[1] After removing from the oven the second time, the pizza was sprinkled with dried oregano and served with a simple salad.


And how was it?? In the words of my muse: "Honey, this is the best pizza you've ever made!"

^[1] If you want firmer yolks, I'd try baking 10 minutes before the eggs, 10 minutes with the egg. If you leave the eggs on for the entire baking time they get too much.

Pickled Red Tomatoes 1

I decided to complete my (first) 'traffic light series' of pickled tomatoes with some red cherry tomatoes pickled with cinnamon - another experiment the outcome of which I am looking forward to learning.

Ingredients:
- 450 g (1 lb) red cherry tomatoes
- 220 g (8 oz) sugar
- 1.5 dL (²/₃ cup) vinegar
- 1.5 dL (²/₃ cup) water
- 1 stick of cinnamon
- 2 + 2 tsp Atamon
for storing:
- 1-L (quart-sized) glass jar

In a pot the sugar, cinnamon, vinegar and water was brought to a boil before adding the rinsed tomatoes. The pot was brought back to boiling and the tomatoes were boiled for 3 minutes, causing the skin to come off of most of them.

Meanwhile the jar was prepared by filling it with boiling water, letting it stand for a few minutes to warm up the glass, then discarding the water. Immediately before filling 2 tsp Atamon was swirled around in the glass and then discarded.

The tomatoes were transferred to the jar using a slotted spoon.

The liquid in the pot was added 2 tsp Atamon and brought back to a boil before pouring it over the tomatoes in the jar and closing the jar tightly.

As can be seen the jar isn't all the full - I think I could have fit another 300 g of tomatoes in that jar (although maybe I should have reduced the volume of the liquid then).

I'm not sure how long these should stand before they're ready, but I guess I'll give them a couple of week for good measure.

Spelt Pizza Dough

Having discovered how easy it is to make pizza dough, I decided to start making variations. Following my previous recipe for 4 portions of pizza dough, and substituting about half of the ordinary flour with spelt flour gave a dough that was somewhat darker.

Ingredients:
- 5 dL (2 cups) lukewarm water
- 50 g (ca. 2 oz) fresh yeast
- 500-600 g (1.1-1.3 lbs) wheat flour
- 500 g (1.1 lbs) spelt flour
- 4+2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp salt

The yeast was crumbled into lukewarm water, which was then added 4 tbsp olive oil. The first 500 g of wheat flour was stirred in before adding the salt. The spelt flour was kneaded into the dough in portions - towards the end I added just a little more wheat flour to get the right texture. The dough was then kneaded for a couple of minutes more before adding 2 tbsp olive oil, covering and leaving in a warm place to rise for 1.5 hours.

The dough was parted in 4 portions - some was used immediately for a potato pizza and the others were frozen for later use. The final result is a bit different from the standard recipe, but still very good.

Bear Roast

Do you remember when I graduated? Although I took the time to celebrate this back then, there was something that bothered me - something that nagged. More specifically, what nagged was that although I did graduate the one big project that I'd worked on during my entire Ph.D. - the project which I'd estimate I spent some 60-80% of my time on, the project that took up the first 250 pages of my thesis - wasn't finished. It wasn't finished and there wasn't anything I could do about it. I had to move on. I had to leave it to persons unknown to me, to a future unknown to me. Would it ever be finished? Would I ever see that work published in any other form than the highly limited edition that was my thesis?

Several months ago now, I heard rumours that it had in fact been finished, but it wasn't till recently that it was submitted to one of the more prestigious journals in my field - and a few weeks later it had been accepted for publication after peer-review. This past Friday it appeared on the web site of the journal in question. In a week or so it'll be two and a half years since I graduated, so this all comes with a sense of justification: if it took this long to finish the project, I couldn't have finished it by just staying 3 months more.

But enough about that. This calls for a celebration! And what better way to celebrate than to take some time to cook a very special meal.


Other recent events include the beginning of bear hunting season in Sweden. I've been eager (to put it mildly) to taste bear for quite a while, so when a few weeks ago I saw a piece of frozen bear at one of the butchers in Östermalmshallen (one of the big in-door markets in Stockholm) I decided to splurge and bought it.

In a moment of karmic balance I decided to thaw the piece of bear on the very day the paper appeared online - that is: before I knew that it was going to be released on that day.

Ingredients:
roast:
- lard
- 4 small cloves of garlic, sliced
- 1.3 kg (~ 3 lbs) bear roast
- salt & pepper
- ~500 g (~ 1 lb) red boiling onions
- 1 L (~ 1 quart) water
sides:
- boiled potatoes
- 3 thin slices of bacon
- 170 g (6 oz) crayfish tails
- 200 g (7 oz) black chanterelles
- ¹/₂ dL (¹/₅ cup) cream
- ¹/₂ dL (¹/₅ cup) pan juices
- salt & pepper
- pickled green tomatoes
salad:
- green leaf lettuce
- pea sprouts
- sun-dried tomatoes
drink:
- Bollinger Special Cuvée


First I took the piece of bear and slit several deep narrow holes in it with small sharp knife. In each hole I stuffed several thin slices of garlic. Secondly, the roast was rubbed on both sides with generous amounts of salt & pepper. In a large pan on high heat, the roast was seared in lard on both sides until darkened appreciably. The roast was then placed in an oven-proof tray together with the boiling onions and 1 L of water. The roast went in the oven at 175 C (350 F) for 2 ¹/₂ hours (opening the oven occasionally to pour some of the pan juices over the roast) before being removed to a cutting board, covered with foil and left for 20 minutes before slicing.

The boiling onions were transferred to bowl (to be served as a side with the roast). ¹/₂ dL of the pan juices were set aside for the sauce and the rest (about 5 dL) was frozen as 'bear stock'.

While the roast was still in the oven, the salad was prepared, and the potatoes were boiled in lightly salted water.

While the roast was resting before slicing, the bacon was fried till crisp, then removed from the pan, chopped and set aside. The crayfish tails were fried in the bacon fat for a minute before adding the black chanterelles. After a few more minutes, the cream and pan juice were added. Once heated through, the sauce was ready.

Slices of bear roast were served with mushroom-crayfish sauce and bacon bits on top - salad, potatoes, onions and pickled tomatoes on the side.


So how was it?

The bear was excellent. Very tender and very tasty. This is most 'game' meal I have ever cooked - the meat was clearly recognisable as red meat, but it did have notes of something 'different' and these notes were stronger than when I've cooked venison or moose.

The black chanterelles were as delicious as I expected - this is the first time I've had them fresh (previously I only had dried ones), but I have to admit the crayfish didn't really do so much for the dish as I had hoped. I was going for some sort of Swedish surf^turf, but in the end the crayfish were too anonymous against the rest of the ingredients - so if I ever do this again, I'll leave those out (or maybe try to find something more bold).

This was the first time I tried my own pickled green tomatoes. They were a little firmer than I thought they would be, but the taste was pretty close to what I had in mind - sour, sweet and vanilla flavoured all at the same time. Perhaps a little too much vanilla. My muse didn't really like them, but I thought they went very well with the meat.

Roast Chicken with Spinach-Mushroom Stew

This came about with quite some inspiration from the 'Sunday supper' of the September issue of Bon Appétit. Some ingredients were changed but the main idea is quite similar.

Ingredients:
tubers:
- 8 medium-sized potatoes, diced
- sunchokes (about half as much as potatoes), diced
- fresh thyme
- a little olive oil
- salt & pepper
chicken:
- a 1.3 kg (shy of 3 lbs) chicken
- salt & pepper
- fresh oregano
- 1 dL (²/₅ cup) dry sherry
- 2 dL (⁴/₅ cup) water
spinach-mushroom stew:
- oil
- 2 yellow onions, chopped coarsely
- 3 portabello mushrooms, sliced
- salt
- 1.2 kg (2 ²/₃ lb) frozen spinach
- 1 jalapeño chilli, finely chopped
- pan juices from roast chicken

The potatoes and the sunchokes were rinsed, diced and put in a an oven-proof tray together with leaves of fresh thyme, salt, pepper, and a little olive oil. The tubers were roasted at 200 C (400 F) for 1.5 hours.

The chicken was rubbed with salt and pepper - and leaves of fresh oregano was put wherever I could find a spot (inside, under the wing, under the leg, in every crease of the skin .. etc.). The chicken was placed in an oven-proof tray and added the sherry and the water. The chicken was roasted in the oven at 200 C (400 F) for 1 h and 10 minutes.

The coarsely chopped onions were sautéed in a little oil, then added sliced portabello mushrooms and salt. After some additional minutes, frozen spinach was added together with a finely chopped jalapeño (not de-seeded). The pot was covered, but stirred occasionally until the spinach was thawed and heated through. Finally, the pan juices from the chicken roast were added and the stew was seasoned to taste with salt.

The tubers could quite possibly do with shorter roasting time, but the chicken - meat falling off of the bones goodness. The spinach-mushroom stew was a nice touch, and one that I think I'll be making variations on in the future.

Pickled Yellow Tomatoes 1

When I recently pickled my first own batch of green tomatoes, I started thinking about pickling other tomatoes and using other spices.

First up are some yellow cherry tomatoes, which I decided to try out with jalapeño.

Ingredients:
- 450 g (1 lb) yellow cherry tomatoes
- 200 g (7 oz) sugar
- 1.5 dL (²/₃ cup) vinegar
- 1.5 dL (²/₃ cup) water
- 1 jalapeño chilli, halved
- 1 + 1 + 2 tsp Atamon^[1]
for storing:
- 2 ¹/₂ L (pint-sized) glass jars

The jalapeño was rinsed, halved but not de-seeded. The two jalapeño halves were put in the pot together with sugar, water and vinegar. After bringing to a boil, the rinsed tomatoes were added. The pot was brought back to boiling and allowed to boil for 2 minutes. This caused the skins to come off of the tomatoes and I decided they had probably had enough.

Meanwhile the glass jars were prepared by filling them with boiling water, letting them stand for a couple of minutes, and then discarding the water before swirling a tsp of Atamon around in each of them (Atamon discarded afterwards).

Using a slotted spoon the tomatoes were transferred to the warm glass jars, making sure to put one half of the jalapeño in each jar.

The liquid in the pot was added 2 tsp Atamon and brought back to a boil before being removed from the heat and poured over the tomatoes in the jars. The jars were then closed tight.

It looked like I could have used another 100-200 g of tomatoes and still have them fit in the jars I used - although it might have required concentrating the juices a little after boiling the tomatoes.

I'm not sure how long these should stand before opening and tasting them. According to my little pickling book, pickled chillies need some 4 weeks before they're ready...

^[1] Brand-name aqueous solution of sodium benzoate used as preservative.

Oude kaas

When you go out for a drink in the Netherlands you can typically order some snacks with your meal. The selection of snacks varies from place to place, but there are certain classics which you find time and again.

One of those is Oude kaas: quite simply blocks of aged Gouda. Simple, yet brilliant.

On the way back from my most recent trip to Amsterdam I couldn't resist the temptation of bringing home a nice big piece of it. I had a lot of nice cheese this summer, but I think this one takes the prize ... so gooooooooooooooood!

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.

Swedish Beer - Part VIII / Wisby Klosteröl

This summer I spent a little time in Visby, home of Gotlands Bryggeri - makers of Wisby Pils (which I had already encountered). It turns out they make a whole range of beers, something which became clear to me during my time on Gotland.

While there I tried a couple of their beers, and I found Wisby Klosteröl ('monastery beer') particularly pleasing. They call it a 'fresh' beer because it's neither filtered nor pasteurised, but I found it a very refreshing and tasty as well.

I'm currently looking forward to tasting their Bulldog series of pale ales...

Pickled Green Tomatoes 1

Here is something I've been wanting to do for a while - ever since I had pickled green tomatoes as a side at a steak house I went to 2 years ago. I had a reminder last year when a friend served me green tomato jam, but somehow it got postponed again. Lately I started thinking about it, and have been on the look-out for some nice green tomatoes. This morning I found some lovely green tomatoes at the local market - pretty small too, which is the best kind for pickled tomatoes.

Ingredients:
- ~ 500 g (1 lb) small green tomatoes
- 1.5 dL (²/₃ cup) vinegar
- 1.5 dL (²/₃ cup) water
- 200 g (7 oz) sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla-infused sugar^[1]
- 4 tsp Atamon^[2]
For storing:
- 2 ¹/₂ L (pint-sized) glass jars

The tomatoes were rinsed, and deep holes were punched in them with a small fork. In a pot, the water, vinegar and sugar was brought to a boil and the tomatoes were added - I used a pot large enough to hold all the tomatoes in a single layer, but if this isn't possible it might be a good idea to do them in batches. The heat was reduced and the tomatoes were boiled for 7-8 minutes.

While boiling the tomatoes, the jars were prepared: to warm them up they were filled with boiling water, allowed to stand a little before pouring out the water. Each jar was then added 1 tsp Atamon which was swirled around in the jar and discarded.

After boiling, the tomatoes were immediately moved to the jars with a slotted spoon. The liquid in the pot was brought back to a boil, then removed from the heat before adding 2 tsp Atamon and the vanilla. The liquid was poured over the tomatoes in the jars, and the jars were closed tight.

Now comes the waiting time - I understand they should stand for at least a couple of weeks before trying to enjoy them.


Update: It turns out they are pretty close to what I was going for. They are a little firmer than I expected and perhaps the vanilla flavour is a bit too much. For uses see here.

^[1] I'm really not sure if I should have used vanilla pod or simply vanilla seeds. Crossing my fingers here.
^[2] Brand-name aqueous solution of sodium benzoate used as the preservative here.

Lentil Potato Stew

With heavy inspiration from this recipe, I first tried this dish back in January when the land was covered in fluffy white blanket and it was possible to walk on the ice from island to island. It's not nearly that cold yet, although the weather is changing more and more for fall these days. In my hands this soup became so think I'd call it a stew - or at least borderline so.




Ingredients:
- 125 g (4-5 oz) bacon, cut in smaller pieces
- 2 yellow onions, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 2 jalapeño chillies, finely chopped
- fresh ginger, finely diced
- yellow curry powder
- turmeric
- 1.8 kg (4 lbs) potatoes, diced
- scoop of flour
- 2 L (¹/₂ gallon) chicken stock
- 500 g (~ 1 lb) green lentils
- salt
- cilantro, for serving




In a large pot, the bacon was fried on medium-high. When crisp the bacon was removed, but the fat that had been rendered out was left in the pot. To this was added onion, garlic, chilli, ginger, curry powder and turmeric.^[1] When the onion had softened, the potato dices where added. A scoop of flour was added and the contents of the pot were stirred - just so the flour coated the potatoes. Then the chicken stock and the lentils were added. The pot was brought to a boil before covering and reducing the heat. After simmering for about an hour the stew was seasoned to taste with salt and served with bacon bits and freshly chopped cilantro on top.

^[1] Yellow curry powder of course contains turmeric, but I wanted a blend that was richer in turmeric.

Almonds

When my parents came to visit me in California we rented a car and headed for a national park. While I was busy at the wheel observing the road ahead, my parents were busy observing everything else, discussing plants and animals as we went along. Somewhere in the Central Valley, I understood, we were passing by some almond plantations. And for all I know that's about as close as I've ever been to an almond tree.

Interestingly, I never saw fresh almonds for sale while I lived in California (despite California being the single largest almond producer world-wide). While on vacation in southern France this summer, I suddenly found fresh almonds at the supermarket one day. Needless to say, I bought a handful just to have a look.


The fresh almonds (lower left corner) could be peeled (with some effort) to leave the shell bare (upper right corner). Cracking the shell of a fresh almond revealed the skin of the almond below which there was a white, rather soft nut that didn't taste all that much like the almonds I usually get - I'd say the taste was reminiscent of fresh beechnuts (although I haven't had those in many years).

Letting the almonds dry for a month or so, the peel could no longer readily be removed from the shell. Cracking open the shell at this stage revealed a dried, shrunk almond (upper left corner). Although very thin and having a funny texture, this almond tasted much more like the almonds I usually get. Soaking the dry almond in cold water overnight, produced nuts (lower right corner) there were quite similar to the ones found when cracking open the fresh almonds.