Mint Syrup & Quick Mint Julep

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

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

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





Cake recipe(s) to follow.

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

Bacon, Beef & Blue Cheese Stew

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Swedish Beer - Part IV / Bedarö Bitter

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

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

Chocolate Porter Layer Cake

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chanterelle Risotto

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chicken Spinach Quesadilla

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

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

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

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

The spinach actually worked quite nicely.

Swedish Beer - Part III / Carnegie Porter - Part I

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

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

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

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

To be continued... here...

Ratatué

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

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


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

Served with bread.

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