Food is Food

I learned to love caramel popcorn when I visited the US but I never really made it at home. It seems like a bit of a hassle and since I'm the only one who eats it - there's not much point. It hasn't been easy to find here before, which is why I was quite happy when my husband came home bearing these two containers! They're made by a local company, Dreampop, and I'm happy to report they're quite delicious! The original has no specific flavor, but the rainbow ones come in blue raspberry, cherry, apple, orange, and lemon. Crazy, but good!

No, I'm not giving you yet another recipe for panna cotta, just another serving idea! It was very similar to this one - with vanilla, yogurt and white chocolate. All good! But best was the cherry topping - which again was super simple. I heated some sour cherries with a large pinch of sugar, a grating of lime zest and when it had cooked for a few minutes, I stirred in half a sheet of gelatin to make it a little more jam-like and less soupy. Done in a flash! Would have been awesome with vanilla ice cream, as well.

I can't tell you how good this is, but I can say that I would gladly eat this every week. (Maybe every day!) It's incredible. Whoever thought of the idea of frying store-bought potato gnocchi in oil instead of boiling them deserves a medal. And it's the simplest dish. Get out a large pan. Heat some olive oil in it - quite a lot. When it's hot, add the gnocchi. Toss and fry really well, it should get a good brown crust on it. When it has, add a few spoonfuls of pesto, a handful of chopped out tomatoes, and give it all a good toss. Finally top with some crumbled chèvre cheese. And enjoy.

It's Shrove Tuesday - unusually late this year, isn't it? Well, in Sweden, you eat a semla today.

It's a yeasted cardamon bun filled with almond paste and whipped cream, and I assure you it''s much better than it sounds. Well, in truth, there's a big range from horribly bad to heavenly good, since ever store offer up semlor this time of year . You can find them in 7-11, gas stations and grocery stores, but my advice is to seek out the very best bakeries instead. (And even many of those cheat with fake almond paste, or cheap additives.)

People often ask me for a recipe. Sorry, I don't have one. I've never made them. For good reason - I don't want to make and eat a whole batch! I like eating just one, so I stick with the good bakeries. However, Dagmar can make some great semlor, and she has posted a recipe in English

I've never tried making my own hamburger buns before - I thought it'd be way too hard and that I'd end up with crusty bread, not at all suitable for burgers. So I'm glad I finally tried because I was totally wrong. It was very simple to make, and the result was fantastic. So much better than storebought bread! And perfect to go with juicy, home made burgers!

The photo shows the buns on the next day - after the second rise, I placed half the buns in the fridge - unbaked - and baked them the next morning for breakfast. I floured them instead of eggwashing. Great for breakfast too - and a good way to use up leftovers, because one batch makes way too many breads for one burger night. At least in our family.

My burgers - with cream cheese, cheddar, pickled onions and caramelized onions

Homemade hamburger buns

40 g yeast
500 ml milk (full-fat)
850 g strong bread flour (Vetemjöl Special in Sweden)
15 g salt
25 g sugar
50 g honey
75 g neutral oil (I use canola)

egg wash:
1 egg
pinch of salt
a few drops of water

Start by crumbling the yeast into a bowl. Add milk, and then flour, salt, sugar, honey and oil. Mix, and knead very well - I used my Kitchen-Aid for about 12 minutes. It'll be a pretty stiff dough. Cover the bowl with plastic, and leave to rise until doubled in size. Mine took about two hours.

Shape round buns. Mine were about 90 grams each, and were a little on the large side for the burgers we made (also about 90 grams). Place the buns, well-spaced, on a baking sheet and leave to rise, covered, for about an hour. At this point, you can move them into the fridge to bake off at another time, and I think you could probably freeze them too. (Haven't tried that, though!)

Make the egg wash - place the egg in a bowl, add a small pinch of salt and a little splash of water. Brush the buns with this. You could also sprinkle them with sesame seeds if you want to.

(Instead of egg wash, I just used some flour on my breakfast bread.)

Bake at 215°C for about 8-10 minutes.

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? :-)

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.

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)

The Rainforest Alliance sent me a collection of Rainforest Alliance Certified and Verified chocolate. I liked some it, including fun candy bars from Bixby and chocolate bars from Dagoba. I would love to be able to tell you that a simple logo like the Rainforest Alliance frog or one of the fair trade certifications like UTZ or Fair Trade USA guarantees that the products you are buying are better for people, animals and the environment. But I can’t. It’s just not that simple.

Certifications are all about transparency, but I couldn’t find details on the fees on the Rainforest Alliance website and a representative of the Rainforest Alliance didn’t supply them to me (some details on the comments section). In speaking with people who work both for companies that do and don’t carry the Rainforest Alliance logo I learned that the fees that are charged for verification and certification are not insignificant and it's likely those costs are passed on to consumers.

The cost for independent certifiers who can reportedly charge as much as $750 per day, in countries where the average monthly salary is only $50. Also only 30% of cacao might meet the standards and other ingredients might not meet any of the standards, one such ingredient is palm oil which can be very destructive to the environment. So is certified better?

I think certifications programs are intended to do good, but ultimately, knowing the company that produces your chocolate is even better than any logo. Some chocolate companies I greatly respect for their products as well as their values include Amano Chocolate, Guittard and Pacari. Some have the Rainforest Alliance certification and some don't.

Read more about the FairTrade, UTZ and Rainforest Alliance certifications and what they mean, the positive and the negative.

Disclosure: My thanks to the Rainforest Alliance for sending me samples

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!

Food is Food

Category

Blog Archive

Yummy snack - caramel popcorn!

Yet another panna cotta

Best. Idea. Ever.

Shrove Tuesday

Homemade hamburger buns

Cookbook watch: best right now

Springtime cauliflower soup

Bok Choy Salad Recipe

Is Certified Chocolate Better?

No-Knead Twisted Cinnamon Buns

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