Food is Food

I have to tell you about a marvelous baking book called Nytt Fikabröd! (Fikabröd means.. well, cakes and cookies and anything you'd have with a cup of coffee, basically. Nytt means new.) The authors, Jessica Frej and Maria Blohm, have already written about bread but have now made this new book as well. It's not out yet, but I've seen a review copy - and what can I say? It's good news for all gluten-intolerant people out there. It'll be released on August 8.

I've tried one recipe from it so far, and it was a huge success. I won't give away the recipe - but perhaps I can publish a version of it later on.

Browned butter makes everything better - even the eternal Swedish favorite chocolate balls. Browning the butter makes the flavors much more intense and caramelized. Yummy!

Brown butter chocolate balls

110 g butter

50 g dark chocolate

400 ml oats

110 g sugar

1/2 tbsp vanilla powder

3 tbsp cocoa

3 tbsp espresso

salt

To decorate:
Pearl sugar or coconut

Place the butter in a small saucepan, ideally one with a light inside color. Heat until it's caramel-colored, or maybe a little bit deeper. It will smell heavenly.

Chop the dark chocolate and place in a bowl. Pour over the hot butter, and wait for a minute. Stir until smooth. Next, stir in the oats, sugar, vanilla, cocoa powder and espresso, and a little pinch of salt.

Place in the fridge to firm up, then shape very small balls and roll in pearl sugar. Some prefer shredded coconut, I'll leave that up to you.

I wanted a zesty, fruity sauce with high acidity to go with a duck breast. I'm not a sauce cook, really, but this one turned out great! As you can see, with ate this with noodles and veggies, but it's also great with rice.

Makes enough for four people, with perhaps a little leftovers.

Orange Sauce
2 tbsp sugar

4 tbsp white wine vinegar

2 oranges - juice and zest

1 tbsp concentrated veal stock

250 ml white wine

Salt

1 tbsp corn starch
1 tbsp water

1 tbsp butter

Start by mixing sugar and vinegar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and keep cooking until the mixture turns a light caramel. Remove from heat, and add in orange juice (but reserve the zest for later!), veal stock, wine and salt. Cook on high heat until it reduces quite a bit - perhaps for 5 minutes. Lower the heat and cook for an additional 5, maybe 10 minutes.

Stir the corn starch with the water and add to the pan. Bring to a boil and cook for a few minutes, until it thickens. If it's too thick, add more water. If it's perfect, add the orange zest, whisk in the butter, and serve.

I wanted to try out my Chef'n Sweet Spot ice cream maker, but I didn't have that much cream at home, and I was too lazy to go shop. I looked around for a frozen yogurt recipe, couldn't find any that I liked, and decided it was easy enough to improvise. Was it? Yes, it was.

Here's what it looks like "in progress"

Vanilla Frozen Yogurt
4 small servings

400 g Turkish (or greek) yogurt - about 10% fat
50 g cream (full-fat)
100 g sugar (I used a nice organic raw sugar)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Stir together. Chill, and then churn - in an ordinary ice cream machine, or if you're lucky enough to have one of the Sweet Spots, in that. It'll turn out lovely and creamy and perfect as a base for whatever mix-ins you want. Titus chose gummy bears, and I had some already-cooked cherries (that I used for homemade cherry soda!) in the fridge that were perfect to fold in.

Yummy! And not horribly bad for you, either. Now I'll have to buy some cream so I can make a proper ice cream base - the kids weren't crazy about the yogurt-ness of this, they're pretty picky...

I had leftover strawberries after Midsummer, turning a little soft and mushy. What to do? Jam. Obviously.

So. I used 500 g of strawberries, zest and juice from one lemon, and seeds from one vanilla bean. I blitzed this quickly with a stick blender, then added 400 g of jam sugar (with pectin). I let it sit for about an hour, then boiled it vigorously for five minutes. And that was that. Done.

Made three small jars. (And a half, actually.)

Hands down my son's favorite food. We only eat it when it's just the two of us, or maybe when we're three - never when my husband's home though. It's our little special treat. No real recipe, just a sketch...

Fry some bacon in a pot. Add corn - from a can or frozen is fine. Cook on high heat until it starts to smell a little like popcorn. Add a little flour and stir it in well. Gradually add milk. Cook until it's thickened a little. Stir in creme fraiche and a spoonful of chives. Season with salt if you need it, and ground white pepper.

Lovely.

Hazelnut Milk Chocolate Cookies
about 50 small cookies

185 g butter, softened
150 g brown sugar
140 g white sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
70 g ground hazelnuts
130 g toasted hazelnuts, coarsely chopped
210 g flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
300 g chocolate (I used about 75 g dark, the rest milk chocolate)

Start by beating the butter with both sugars until very fluffy and well combined. Add the vanilla and the eggs, and keep beating until smooth.

In a separate bowl, mix ground hazelnuts, chopped hazelnuts, flour, salt, baking soda and chocolate. Add this to the cookie batter and mix until combined.

Chill for at least one hour. Use a cookie scoop or your hands to shape balls - I make these pretty small, about the size of a small walnut. Place on a cookie sheet (I could fit 12) and bake at 175°C for about 8 minutes.

I also freeze the un-cooked cookie-scoops, and bake directly from frozen. In that case, you might want to add a minute or two to the cooking time.

I know, I don't usually write recipes with multiple components. Maybe I should though, because lately I've been gravitating towards those kinds of recipes myself. I'm often so tired and with so little fantasy for menu planning, and it's really nice to get suggestions for things that go together. This recipe, just like many others I've been posting recently, was adapted from Samantha Larsen's cookbook. It's built just like that - around meals, rather than individual dishes. Just the thing for this mama! As always, the measurements and ingredients vary slightly from the original, to make this my own - and I encourage you to do the same.

It's certainly not the most authentic Indian Chicken Tikka Masala. I know that! But bear with me and try this - it's delicious. And do make the sides, at least the spicy cauliflower & cashew because that was just wonderful. In fact, I can't wait to make it again.

I know this looks like an awfully long recipe, but don't despair.

Chicken Tikka (kind of)
4 chicken breasts

marinade:
100 ml yogurt
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
1 tsp garam masala
1 garlic clove, minced
1 red chili, finely chopped
2 tbsp tomato purée

sauce:
1/2 tbsp neutral oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cardamom
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
400 ml (1 can) crushed tomatoes
1 chicken stock cube
300 ml cream
3 tbsp apricot preserves
lemon juice to taste

Mix all the ingredients for the marinade, and let the chicken rest in it for at least an hour.

For the sauce, heat the oil (I use canola) in a heavy saucepan. Add the spices and fry on medium heat until very fragrant. Add the onion and garlic and fry until soft. Add the tomatoes and the chicken stock cube and cook for ten minutes. Add the cream and cook for another five minutes and then finally the apricot preserves. Season with salt and some lemon juice.

When ready to cook, heat some oil in a frying pan and brown the chicken before removing to a roasting pan. Cover with the sauce and cook in the oven, at 175°C, for about 20 minutes.

Serve with rice and some fresh bread. (And all of the following sides, if you wish.)

Spicy Cauliflower & Cashews
1 small head of cauliflower
1 tbsp canola oil
1 onion, in fine wedges
100 ml cashew nuts
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 tbsp mango chutney
3 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped

Divide the cauliflower into small florets. Heat the oil and fry the spices and the florets on medium heat for five minutes. Add the onions and cashews and fry for a few more minutes. Stir in the mango chutney, and finally the coriander. Season with salt and pepper if you wish.

Melon Salad with cucumber
1 small cantaloupe melon
1/2 cucumber
large handful fresh mint, chopped
1 lime
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tbsp canola oil

Peel and seed both melon and cucumber. Cut into large dice. Zest the lime, and stir together with the juice, brown sugar, oil and mint. Toss with the cucumber and melon.

Raita
300 ml yogurt
1/2 tsp dried mint
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp garam masala

Stir together everything and leave in the fridge for at least an hour to let the flavors mingle.

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.

Food is Food

Category

Blog Archive

New Gluten-Free cookbook

Brown butter chocolate balls

Orange Sauce

Vanilla (Cherry) Frozen Yogurt

Strawberry Jam

Quick dinner or lunch - corn soup

Hazelnut Milk Chocolate Cookies

Chicken Tikka (kind of) with spicy cauliflower & cashews, melon salad and raita

Potato Chip Cookies with Hazelnuts

Spinach Mascarpone Pasta

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