Cookbook watch: best right now

11:00 PM 0 Comments

I haven't done a proper cookbook post in a long while, but I'm happy to have three really nice books to talk about today. First is a real find - "Samantha's movie food" or "let's break for lunch" by Samantha Larsen. (Swedish title: Nu bryter vi för lunch! Samanthas filmmat.) It's written by a movie set cook, and her food is highly appraised by all those who have been lucky enough to encounter her. As a bonus, the photography is just beautiful - no surprise, as the photographer is the super-talented food blogger Helena Ljunggren. I love her style!

The book is divided into weeks, much as a real movie shoot would be. She always serves chicken on Mondays, soup for Tuesdays and so on, so the book (and her real life lunches) have a good variety. What I particularly love about this book is that everything is presented as complete meals. I made her chili-marinated chicken, but also a lovely mango salsa and a coriander sauce. A ginger yogurt to dollop into the curried lentil soup. And an Indian feast of Chicken tikka with the most heavenly cauliflower-cashew stir fry, as well as raita and melon-cucumber salad. It just has a very thought-through feel to it, this book. I want to make just about everything!



I admit that I don't love Jamie's latest books as much as his first three or four. I never really took to the "Jamie does" series, and I'm not fond of the 30- or 15-minute meals either. However, I've always admired Jamie's ability to combine flavors that are so spot-on. That hasn't changed. I like that this book has less restrictions than the previous ones. He's focused on cheap cuts ingredients, sure - but that't not very limiting at all, thankfully. I haven't cooked from this book yet, but on a quick read-through, I found lots of things I wanted to try.



I can't seem to get enough of mexican/texmex/latino cookbooks! Well, of the food really. I love it, it has exactly the flavor profile that I prefer. And I'm not alone in this - it's super popular in Sweden, despite Mexico being very far from here and we have virtually zero Mexicans. I've said it before, but most Swedish families eat some sort of taco variation at least once a month - and many every week. Taco Friday is a common expression, and the taco shelves at the store are very well stocked. (Sadly, we lack a lot though, most notably short shelf-life corn products like masa harina, fresh corn tortillas, thin taco chips and a few other things, due to the fact, I'm guessing, that we don't grow much corn.)

Anyway. This book is great. It has tons of ideas for taco fillings and salsas, dips, salads.. all you could want. I want to get my friends together for a great big taco feast, so we can try a lot of things at once - perhaps for May 5? :-)

Springtime cauliflower soup

5:35 AM 0 Comments

This post is long overdue.. this soup actually won me a competition last year. It was the Swedish dairy producer Arla that had put up a recipe contest with set ingredients. They included cauliflower, chicken, cream, bacon and a number of other things, and as soon as I saw them I knew I wanted to make a light and delicious cauliflower soup with parmesan, bacon and sugar-fried cauliflower. Turned out the jury agreed with me - it was a great dish! (And I later found out I was the only contestant who opted to not use chicken!) My prize was a cookalong with Sigrid Bárany who won the first season of Sweden's Masterchef - a great fun-filled afternoon that I really ought to tell you more about sometime... But for now, make some soup!

Cauliflower Parmesan soup with Bacon
serves 4

1 large cauliflower, broken into florets (set aside a handful for the topping, see  below)
2 small potatoes, diced
1 yellow onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp butter
100 ml white wine
800 ml chicken stock (or vegetable stock, by all means)
100 ml cream
100 ml grated parmesan cheese
1/2 tbsp fresh tarragon, minced
white pepper, salt

140 g bacon, diced

Sugar-fried cauliflower:
100 ml cauliflower florets, cut small
1-2 tbs butter
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Start by frying the onion and garlic in a heavy pot, on medium heat. They should become shiny and fragrant. Add the cauliflower and the potatoes. Add the wine and let it cook away. Add the chicken stock and cook until the veggies are soft - about 15-20 minutes. Use a stick blender to purée the soup. Add cream, parmesan and tarragon. Season with white pepper and some salt.

For the garnish: Fry the bacon until crispy, and drain on a paper towel. Melt the butter and heat until it becomes lightly brown and very fragrant. Fry the small cauliflower florets for about 3-4 minutes. Sprinkle with sugar and salt and caramelize for a minute.

Serve the soup with bacon and the caramelized cauliflower.

Bok Choy Salad Recipe

1:06 PM greens , salad , vegetarian 0 Comments

Recently I learned that bok choy is the number one vegetable in China. It seems to be the number one vegetable in my CSA box lately. It's a very healthy vegetable with a ton of vitamin A, vitamin C and vitamin K plus and is even a good source of calcium and iron, but I have to admit, after serving it steamed or sautéed again and again, I was looking for a new way to prepare it.

As luck would have it, at a Chinese New Year's dinner I stumbled upon a terrific dish at Fang restaurant. It was served raw, as a salad with a soy and sesame vinaigrette alongside some chunks of short rib. Bok choy is very mild flavored but it has great texture. The leaves are tender and somewhat herbal without being bitter, and the stems are very juicy and crisp. I had never considered using bok choy in salad but after trying that dish, I couldn't stop thinking about it.

Looking around online I found plenty of Asian inspired recipes for bok choy salad, and a few takes on coleslaw and even a chopped salad. My idea was to make a more Italian style salad using extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice and Parmigiano Reggiano. The result is a salad at once familiar and yet fresh. It's a great choice for a potluck or dinner party, because it is very sturdy and won't easily wilt. You could mix in other greens, add cherry tomatoes or even fresh fava beans when in season.

Bok Choy Salad
1 serving (multiply for as many servings as you like)

Ingredients

1 cup sliced bok choy
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Parmigiano reggiano, preferably young less than 18 months
Croutons
Freshly ground pepper

Instructions

Toss the bok choy in a bowl with the lemon juice and olive oil and a tiny pinch of salt. Shave long strips of Parmigiano using a vegetable peeler and add those and about five or so croutons to the bok choy. Season with pepper before serving.

Enjoy!


More inspiring bok choy salad recipes:

Bok Choy and Avocado Salad

Thai Steak and Bok Choy Salad

Bok Choy Salad with Corn & Edamame

Turkey Bacon & Bok Choy Salad with Shaved Parmesan (chopped salad style)

Bok Choy with Sesame Soy Vinaigrette

Bok Choy Salad (with ramen noodles and almonds)

Crunchy Bok Choy Slaw (like coleslaw)

No-Knead Twisted Cinnamon Buns

6:17 AM 0 Comments

Super-easy to make, but time consuming. I made these when I had to stay at home to take care of Titus who had a fever. He spent the day on the sofa, but felt a lot better when these were finished. I got the recipe from one of my very favorite bread bloggers, Pain de Martin.  (Recipe in Swedish.)

I used about 25 g of yeast whereas Martin specified 10 - mine was past it's "best before"-date, so I figured it might need an extra boost. Use your discretion. It's a low-yeast recipe in any case, because of the long rising times.

No-Knead Twisted Cinnamon Buns
about 30

10-25 g fresh yeast
250 g water, cool
250 g milk, cool
150 g butter (at room temperature)
150 g sugar
6 g salt
10 g cardamom, freshly ground in a pestle and mortar
900-950 g strong bread flour (not all at once)

Cinnamon filling:
200 g butter, at room temperature
175 g sugar
20 g cinnamon
1 tbsp flour
a little water

Sugar Vanilla Syrup:
100 ml water
100 ml sugar
1/2 vanilla bean, scraped out

I used my Kitchen-Aid, but you can do this by hand. Mix yeast, butter, sugar and salt until smooth, and add water, milk, cardamom and about half of the flour. Mix until well combined, then add the remaining flour, a little at a time. You should have a fairly stiff dough. No need for kneading, but make sure it's all come together. Cover with plastic and leave at room temperature for about 90 minutes.

After this, the dough should have risen a bit. Turn it out onto a very lightly floured surface, and fold it a few times. You want it to be fairly square shape. Again, cover with plastic and leave it for another 90 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare your filling - just beat butter, sugar and cinnamon together until smooth, then add a little flour and a little water to make it perfectly spreadable.

When your dough looks nicely puffy, flour your rolling surface, and get rolling. Aim for about 80*50 cm - mine was a little smaller, I don't have awesome rolling skills. Make it as even as possible, though.

Spread on your filling, nice and even. Now fold your dough - in thirds from the top, like you would a letter? I hope that makes sense. Give it a quarter turn so that the long side is closest to you. Roll it a little, aim for about 60*25 cm.

Now come the tricky part, the twisting. Cut thin strips of the dough. Fold twice around your fingers then on top of itself - Martin made a very helpful little video of this because my description is clearly lacking. It's easier than it sounds, if that's any relief.

Let the buns rest on a baking sheet for another hour. Then, bake at 225°C for about 10-12 minutes. Make your syrup - combine water and sugar and vanilla, bring to a boil and let cook for about a minute. When your buns come out of the oven, immediately brush them with syrup to make them nice and shiny.

Eat!

Panini!

4:05 AM 0 Comments

I've had a tabletop grill for several years but I finally gave in and bought a proper panini press. I LOVE it! Here's my lunch - cream cheese, st agur blue cheese, and some smoked ham. Awesome! And it took me all of five minutes.

Pork tenderloin in Blue Cheese Sauce

11:16 PM 0 Comments

Not the prettiest of meals, but I assure you you're in for a taste sensation!


Pork tenderloin in  Blue Cheese Sauce
400 g pork tenderloin
1 yellow onion, diced
1 tbsp butter
100 ml marsala wine
150 g blue cheese (I prefer St Agur)
100 ml cream
100-200 ml milk
black pepper

Cut the pork into small dice, and fry along with the onion in butter until mostly cooked through. Pour on the marsala and cook on fairly high heat until it's mostly absorbed. Lower the heat and add the cheese. Let it melt, then add cream and 100 ml of milk and stir together. Let it cook on medium-low heat for a few minutes, and then season with black pepper. Add more milk if you want it to be thinner. Check to see if you need any salt - the sauce will be pretty salty without it.

Serve with plenty of veggies - we had steamed broccoli, green beans, wax beans and tomatoes - and rice to soak up the delicious sauce.

Banana whoopie pies

3:45 AM 0 Comments

I have never baked whoopie pies before. To tell you the truth, I'm not a huge fan of cake, so cakey-cookies... probably not my thing. However, it was a slow Saturday afternoon. I was in the mood for something sugary, and I had leftover, very ripe bananas. I had this recipe from Baking Bites in my Delicious save file, and.. the rest is history.

Turns out, I do like whoopie pies. At least these! They're very yummy and satisfying - but pretty darn sweet, so serve with coffee or a tall glass of milk.

Banana whoopie pies
about 12 double, large cookies

60 g butter