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A favorite lunch!
Sweet Chili Chicken Drumsticks with a mango-coriander sauce
Awfully good with this mango salsa (recipe coming soon!), and some cous-cous or bulgur wheat. This is another recipe inspired by Samantha Larsen's cookbook about movie set food.
Sweet Chili Chicken Drumsticks
8 chicken drumsticks
4 tbsp sweet chili
4 tbsp chili sauce (Heinz-style)
3 tbsp Japanese soy sauce
2 tbsp concentrated chicken stock
2 tbsp canola oil
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp dijon mustard
1/2 tsp sambal oelek (chili paste)
Mix all ingredients for the marinade. Reserve half, and add the chicken drumsticks to the rest. Marinade for at least an hour.
Place the drumsticks in a roasting tin and bake at 175°C for 20 minutes. Take them out, and brush with the reserved marinade. Bake for an additional 5-10 minutes. Check to make sure they are cooked through.
Mango-Coriander Sauce
200 ml crème fraiche
1 tbsp sweet chili sauce
3 tbsp mango chutney
2 tbsp fresh coriander, finely chopped
salt, pepper
Mix everything, and season to taste.
Brassicas, Soufflés & Okra: Single Subject Cookbooks
Remember when people hated broccoli? And Brussels sprouts? And kale and collard greens were something only Southerners ate, but that was about it. Happily the brassicas which also include bok choy, cauliflower, cabbage, kohlrabi, mizuna and tatsoi are in vogue. But if you only know a few ways to cook those glorious cruciferous greens, you should check out this book. The recipes sound like dishes you’d find on a trendy menu— Kimchi Pancakes, Moroccan Turnip and Chickpea Braise, Smoky Kale Salad with Toasted Almonds and Eggs. While it's a shame this book didn't come out in the Fall, that is my only quibble with it.
The French Cook: SoufflésI love soufflés. I just need the encouragement and reminder to make them more frequently. That is the role of Greg Patent aka The Baking Wizard, who offers up sound advice regarding the importance of separating whites and yolks, the freshness of eggs, the use of salt and sugar and the most crucial question of all, when are the whites beaten enough? As a chronic overbeater, this is something I desperately need to learn. From savory to sweet to frozen, there are recipes for 2, 4-6 and 8-10 so for just about any occasion. If you’ve only ever had a cheese or chocolate soufflé, try your hand at the Spinach and Mushroom Soufflé, Fresh Apricot and St. Germain Soufflé or Meyer Lemon Soufflé.
Okra: A Savor the SouthA whole cookbook on okra? Yes! This book takes on a vegetable that some love and others don’t. But seasoned chef and all around charmer, Virginia Willis can do magic with okra, frying it crisp, turning it into gumbo and also shares African, Mediterranean, Caribbean and Indian recipes for this odd vegetable. This book is a must for okra lovers, but also those, like me who don’t have a clue how to prepare it. I bought some okra just the other day and plan on making the West African Chicken Stew with Okra and Peanuts as well as the Limpin’ Susan, with rice, okra and bacon. When tomatoes are in season I want to try the Old School Okra and Tomatoes.
Disclaimer: These book were provided to me as review copies. This post includes Amazon affiliate links.
when in Brussels...
I'm in Brussels for a conference. As some of you know, I work in politics and I'm very excited about the European Parliament elections in May! I hope everyone who can do so will vote, and for parties that are prepared to work hard on solving the issues where we can't stand alone. in Sweden, that means Folkpartiet. Over and out. :-)
Pasta with pork tenderloin, mushrooms & blue cheese
This was a super tasty meal. Never mind that it's horribly unhealthy with all that cheese and cream. Think of it as a special treat, and enjoy.
Pasta with pork tenderloin, mushrooms & blue cheese
serves 4
600 g pork tenderloin, cleaned and diced
1 yellow onion, or 2 shallots, finely diced
300 g mushrooms, finely diced
butter for frying
200 ml cream
200 ml creme fraiche
100 g St Agur blue cheese (substitute gorgonzola)
Heat the butter in a large frying pan. Fry the tenderloin until browned, and mostly cooked through. Remove from pan. No need to add more butter, just add the mushrooms and the onion, and fry until nicely softened and the mushrooms have shrunken. Add the pork back to the pan, as well as the cream, creme fraiche and blue cheese. Cook on low heat until the cheese has melted, stirring all the time. Season with black pepper, you probably won't need any salt.
Serve over pasta.
Yummy snack - caramel popcorn!
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!
Yet another panna cotta
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.
Best. Idea. Ever.
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.
Shrove Tuesday
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
Homemade hamburger buns
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.
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