Food is Food

I consider these cookies to be among my very very best, ever. The perfect mix between soft, chewy, crunchy, sweet and salty! And they're super simple to make, too. I used thick-cut artisanal potato chips, but hey, use whatever you have as long as they're just plain salty.

Potato Chip Cookies with Hazelnuts
about 25

200 g butter, at room temperature
90 g sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract (or use vanilla sugar or vanilla powder)
40 g crushed potato chips
70 g toasted hazelnuts, finely chopped
250-300 g all-purpose flour (start with the smaller quantity, add more as needed)

for rolling:
4 tbsp sugar

for sprinkling:
4 tbsp crushed potato chips
pinch of salt

Cream the butter and sugar. Add vanilla. Add in chips, nuts and flour. Add the smaller quantity flour first, and see if you need more - mine was a little too sticky, so I added a bit extra.

Roll small balls, and roll in the extra sugar. Flatten slightly with a glass (if it sticks, dip the glass in sugar first).

Sprinkle with a mixture of more potato chips and a little extra salt.

Bake at 175°C for about 10 minutes

Actually a re-post of an old recipe from when I first started blogging! I had a miserable photo back then and this is such a great dish I thought I'd do a little re-promoting. Titus adored this and asks for spinach pasta all the time now. Can't blame him - it's delicious. And very, very fattening.

I've changed the quantities a bit... play around to make sure it's what you like.

Pasta with Spinach and Mascarpone
by Jamie Oliver

500 g tagliatelle
200 g spinach, rinsed, dried and cut into fine shreds (depending on your patience)
3 cloves of garlic, finely sliced
1/2 nutmeg, grated
olive oil
knob of butter
salt, pepper
250 g mascarpone
200 ml cream (I used full-fat.)
2 large handfuls of grated parmesan

Cook the pasta in your normal way. Meanwhile, get a large pan and melt the butter and oil. Add the garlic and nutmeg, and when it's warm, add the spinach. Let it wilt for 3-4 minutes. Season it with salt and pepper. Add the mascarpone and the cream, and a little bit of pasta water. Season again, if necessary.

When the pasta is done, drain it and RESERVE SOME WATER. That's important. You need it. Add the pasta to the sauce, mix well, and add the parmesan. Mix again, and loosen it with several glugs of pasta water, added gradually. You want a soft, silky sauce, not a thick mess. Serve immediately - this can not wait.

These days, we never mix anything into a risotto. We serve it plain. With toppings. On the side. Lots of toppings. That way, everyone can get what they like. We always have corn, peas, bacon and often mushrooms. On this occasion, we happened to have red bellpepper and cubed goat's cheese as well. A good night.

I have tons of risotto recipes in my archive.

Boiled eggs. (Fresh farm eggs, too!) A little mayo. Crispy bacon. Cilantro. And salt. And buttered sourdough toast.

Hungry yet?

Thai-Style ribs - sounds weird, but this was pretty darned good.

Recipe is from the winner of Swedish masterchef - Amir Kheirmand, and his book "Världens bästa mat". ("Best food in the world") I simplified the recipe a little and might simplify it even more next time, feel free to play around with it. (I omitted most of the heat - none of us appreciate spicy food, to be honest.) We ate the ribs with plain rice and some veggies tossed with teriyaki sauce.

The book is fun - I liked it a lot. It has great photos and plenty of recipes. Next on my list to try are skewers with spicy Indian chicken thighs, or maybe the coca-cola soaked ribs. I do like coca-cola. And my husband really likes ribs.

Thai-Style Ribs

two small slabs of thick-cut ribs (about 1,2 kilos), separated

thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, coarsely cut (don't bother peeling it)

2 lemongrass stalks, pounded and coarsely chopped

3 garlic cloves, smashed

1-2 red chilis, sliced

50 ml japanese light soy sauce

Place all ingredients in a pot. Add water to just cover the ribs. Bring to a boil, remove any scum, cover with a lid and let it cook on low heat for about 90 minutes. Meanwhile, get on with the marinade...

marinade:

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 red chili, minced

50 ml japanese light soy sauce

50 ml oyster sauce

3 tbsp fish sauce

3 tbsp brown sugar

100 ml ketchup

2 limes, juiced

humb-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated

Mix all ingredients for the marinade. When the ribs are cooked, drain them from the cooking liquid and place in the marinade for at least half an hour. (I haven't tried but I bet you can do this well in advance and chill the whole thing.) Heat the oven to 225°C and cook the ribs for about 15-20 minutes. Turn the ribs halfway through to ensure they don't burn, but crisp up evenly. Serve, and enjoy!

And finally a photo of my husband's lunch - leftover ribs, on toast, with a fried egg. He says it was delicious.

Have you tried making the three-second slushie? I have! Well, I have tried. It's hard to get the cola super-cooled before it actually freezes.. but it does work, kind of. Anyway, I love frozen soda. So yummy. Perfect when it's really hot outside.

My sister Ehva is an excellent and somewhat excentric cook. She has things in her kitchen that I rarely use, and mostly eats vegetarian food, always organic and high quality. And everything she cooks is delicious. Her pancakes are outstanding, as are her savory pies. And she once made me this pasta. It was lovely - a lot better than the one I made the other day, but that was still good as well. She just has a magic touch.

Broccoli Peanut pasta sauce
enough sauce for four

250 g broccoli, in florets
100 g toasted and salted organic peanuts
200 ml creme fraiche
pepper
grated cheese, to serve - parmesan or Västerbottensost

Cook the broccoli in boiling water for about five minutes. Meanwhile, rinse the peanuts to get rid of the excess salt, and then put them in a food processor. Blitz like crazy for a minute or two - you want them ground up but not turned into peanut butter. When the broccoli is tender, drain and add to the mixer. Mix.

Scrape out the contents of the food processor into a pot, and heat gently. Stir in the creme fraiche, and season to your liking. Add a little pasta water if it seems too thick.

While you're doing all this, you're also cooking your pasta. (Right?) When ready to eat, drain the pasta and toss with a little butter and serve with the sauce and plenty of grated sharp cheese.

I love meringue cakes and this was no exception. Store-bought meringue rounds, layered with whipped cream and frozen-then-thawed berries and a little sugar. Easy as.. cake. And yummy.

Simple and delicious - crunchy roast chicken, small-cut veggies and a lovely light lemon sauce. Do try this.

The veggies are extra delicious when they're cut pretty small. And the sauce brings the whole meal together, so don't skip that - it's truly a winner.

Herby chicken with root vegetables & lemon sauce

1 fresh chicken
2 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp thyme

marinade:
1 tsp sambal oelek (chili paste)
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp chili sauce (I used Heinz)

veggies:
4 carrots
4 large potatoes
2 parsnips
2 red onions
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp oregano
lemon zest
salt

lemon honey sauce:
1 lemon - zest and juice
200 ml crème fraiche
salt
black pepper
1 tsp runny honey

Start with the sauce. Zest the lemon, and use half for the sauce - half for the veggies, later on. Stir with the creme fraiche and the juice from the lemon. SAVE THE SQUEEZED-OUT LEMON! Season with a little salt and pepper, and add a drizzle of honey. Place in the fridge while you cook the rest of the meal.

For the chicken, mix together the butter with the dried herbs. Try to spread this under the skin of the chicken, as well as possible. Whisk together the marinade, and brush half onto the chicken. (save the rest for later!) Get those reserved squeezed-out lemon halves and stuff into the chicken. Place the chicken in a large roasting tin and roast for 10 minutes at 200°C.

Meanwhile, prep the veggies. Peel and cut the carrots, potatoes and parsnips into dice. Peel the onions and cut into thin wedges. Mix and place all around the chicken. Drizzle with olive oil, the dried herbs and salt, and the reserved lemon zest. Brush the chicken with the rest of the marinade.

Place the whole thing back in the oven for about 40 minutes. Check periodically - the chicken might need to be covered with foil to prevent it from becoming too dark, and the veggies will benefit from some tossing.

When the vegetables are soft and roasted, and the chicken is cooked through - you're all done. Serve with the Lemon-Honey sauce.

I feel like a broken record here, but yes, yet another recipe adapted from Samanta Larsen's brilliant cookbook. I keep pulling it out to try new things. Rarely have I liked a book this much - so seriously, if you read Swedish, you should get this. (If you don't, keep your fingers crossed for a translation.)

I let Titus help me make this soup -. he really enjoyed putting everything in the food processor. And he really - really - enjoyed eating it, despite it having a few ingredients he doesn't normally appriciate. And I didn't bother making it completely smooth like I usually do, but it was pretty popular despite that. The original was probably a bit spicier, too - I decided to go with something more gentle.

Curried Lentil Soup
serves 4

1 onion
2 garlic cloves
1 green apple, peeled
2 carrots, peeled
1 red bellpepper
1 tsp curry powder (I used a lovely fruity kind from Herbaria)
1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
2 cinnamon sticks
1/2 tsp cardamom, ground
1 - 1,5 litre vegetable stock
200 ml red lentils
neutral oil

Get out a food processor and mix onion, garlic, apple, carrots and bellpepper into very small bits. Scrape into a large pot, add a litte neutral oil, and cook until all the vegetables have softened. Add the spices and let them fry for a few minutes.

Pour in the vegetable stock (or water and stock cubes) and the lentils, and cook for at least 20 minutes. I used a smaller amount of stock to make the soup thicker, but that's up to you.

Ginger Yogurt
200 thick yogurt
2 tsp fresh ginger, grated
2 tbsp fresh mint, finely chopped

Stir together.

Food is Food

Category

Blog Archive

Potato Chip Cookies with Hazelnuts

Spinach Mascarpone Pasta

How we eat risotto

Quick Lunch Idea - Cilantro & Bacon Egg salad

Not bad at ALL - Thai Ribs

My sister's broccoli peanut pasta

A simple cake

Herby chicken with root vegetables & lemon honey sauce

Curried Lentil Soup with Ginger Yogurt

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