Ooops

I really don´t know what happened today. After work I set off towards one of Stockholm´s shopping malls in quest for a new egg slicer. 20.00 I entered our flat with the following: one jeans jacket, one wallet, three vest tops, two short-sleeved tops, one shirt, one vest, a lot of socks, one potato peeler, one tea infuser and a bag of clamps for plastic bags. No egg-slicer.

But I am happy, because normally I can spend hours and hours walking in and out shops, in vain. This morning I said for the umptieth time: I have nothing to wear! With the spring coming and all. Now I do! That we cannot slice our morning eggs properly seems like a minor problem now, when I have my new clothes. (No, I am not rich - I just got my salary. And yes - a lot of sales going on! I got everything but one of the tops and the wallet on sale. And thank God, I don´t have to buy clothes for a long time now! I hate it.)

I will try to buy an egg-slicer again tomorrow. You see, I didn´t find anything for my legs (trousers, skirts, whatever)and maybe the phenomenon will happen again - that I set out for the slicer and actually find things.

When I got home I made an imropvised pasta with spinach, chorizo, onion and food yoghurt - quite good but nothing to write about. Cannot live without chorizo though! It is so good, real comfort food. Not that I needed comfort, but anyway. And now if you excuse me I am going to pick out a great outfit for tomorrow...

Cyberkocken

Sorry, I am posting this in Swedish since I participate in the Swedish edition of Paper chef, called Cyberkocken, hosted by Ilva of Lucullian delights. I will try to post in English about it too but don´t have time right now, sorry.
And now over to my mother tongue...

Hej alla, dagen till ära skriver jag på svenska även om det inte hör till vanligheterna här på min blogg...
Jag känner mig nästan lite fuskig eftersom jag har tillagat en rätt till Cyberkocken som jag gjort massor av gånger förut, men de givna ingredienserna passade som hand i handske. Dessa fyllda paprikor kom till en gång för rätt många år sedan när jag skulle bjuda en bunt människor på vårbuffé. En av vännerna var både laktosintolerant och vegetarian men jag ville väldigt gärna bjuda henne på något riktigt matigt och gott ändå. Lösningen blev att jag gjorde fyllda paprikor, men istället för den sedvanliga färsen inuti kokade jag en rätt tjock linsröra som jag fyllde paprikorna med. Jag kryddade med massor av örtkryddor och lagerblad för att få mycket smak trots frånvaron av kött och ost - och det blev SÅ lyckat. Alla älskade dessa paprikor, även de mest inbitna köttätarna. Så sedan dess har jag gjort dessa ett otal gånger, ofta när det kommer mycket folk. Paprikorna är lika goda vare sig de serveras varma, ljumma eller kalla och passar jättebra att servera på en buffé eller också som tillbehör till kött. Och eftersom jag inte är laktosintolerant har jag ofta lite smulad fetaost på - men som sagt är de precis lika goda utan.

För att uppfylla tävlingsreglerna uppfann jag en sidosallad med ruccola som får ett litet ringel av yoghurt smaksatt med lite citronskal, och överströdd med nyrostade osaltade pistagenötter. Och ser ni, ena paprikan är gul också! Jag serverade hela härligheten tillsammans med en kycklingklubba...

Kristinas linsfyllda paprikor med vårlig ruccolasallad
6 port på buffé och annars 3-4 personer

6 paprikor, gärna i olika färger, inte för stora
1 gul lök, finhackad
1 burk hela tomater eller 3-4 färska tomater som skållas, skalas och hackas grovt
1 stort lagerblad
2 dl röda linser
salt och nymalen svartpeppar, örtkryddor. Jag använder ofta herbes de Provence eller timjan
ev. lite smulad fetaost. Idag hade jag ett halv paket halloumiost som behövdes tas om hand...

Skär av ett lock på paprikorna och ta bort kärnhuset. Skölj dem och ställ i en smord form (skär av en pytteskiva i botten om det behövs för att de ska stå stadigt men skär inte hål i botten!). En del hävdar att paprikor ska förvällas men jag tycker det är förspilld kvinnokraft. Finhacka locken och löken
Fräs paprikahacket och löken i lite olivolja tills det börjar mjukna lite. Tillsätt de röda linserna och tomaterna tillsammans med salt, peppar och lagerblad och rör om. Låt detta puttra under lock tills linserna mjuknar, ca 20 minuter. Smaka av med örtkryddor och ev. mer salt och peppar.
Ta en stor sked och fyll paprikorna till brädden. Strö över lite ost om du vill ha det. (Om det blir linsröra över gör det ingenting, spä ut den med lite buljong så har du en god linssoppa!) Pytsa in i ugnen, 200 grader, ca 20-30 minuter tills paprikorna känns lite mjuka och osten har fin färg.

Salladen gjorde jag så enkel att det nästan inte behövs något recept: bred ut ruccolabladen på ett fat. Blanda ca 1/2 dl matlagningsyoghurt med 1 msk rivet citronskal (skrubba citronen noga om du inte tar en ekologisk) och droppa över ruccolan, det behövs inte mycket. Rosta pistagenötterna i het stekpanna i sista minuten så de fortfarande är lite ljumma när salladen serveras. Eventuellt kan du smula över lite gott flingsalt på salladen. Ursäkta den något suddiga bilden...

Nu ser jag fram emot att läsa alla andras bidrag! Och tack till Ilva som tog initiativet till detta!

Sweet and sour

Today I received a complaint. What about all these cats? I do have a dog in the family too. Let me introduce Sasha, my aunt´s and uncle´s Tibetanian spaniel. Sasha saw my latest post with yet another cat and got a little upset, so he sent me this photo for you to admire. And isn´t he a beautiful doggy? When I visit he sometimes sit down on my feet which is very nice on a cold day. Random facts about him: when he was a puppy he liked to chew on visitors´shoes, he spends lots of time by the sea and he has a brother with the intriguing name Body Rocks Lou Bega. So there. I hope you are more content now Sasha, and I also wonder which pet in the family will demand some blogging space next. Maybe my sister´s horse? I have no pets myself apart from the odd dust rat.

I stick to the Asian connection but change the subject to food. This Saturday I found a pork loin in the freezer I wanted to get rid of in a tasty way. For most Swedes Chinese food equals something in a sweet and sour sauce, but I have understood that this has very little to do with real Chinese cuisine. Nevertheless, it is yummy sometimes. The recipe is from one of my cookbooks, in translation The season´s food, Årstidernas mat, by Caisa Stenmark. I like it because you use quite ordinary staples at least I usually have at home. You also use what you want instead of pork, (chicken would be nice) and you use the veggies you have on hand. Next time I think I will play around with some more root vegetables, for example...

Pork loin in sweet and sour sauce
Serves 5-6 people

600 grams pork or chicken, cut in bite-size pieces
1 yellow onion in wedges
1 large carrot in toothpicks
1 red pepper
1 tin of crushed pineapple (mine was about 200 grams with juice)
about 20-30 ml plain flour
salt and pepper

The sauce
200 ml juice from the pineapple, and water if necessary
50 ml caster sugar
50 ml dark soy sauce
50 ml vinegar, I always use apple cider vinegar
50 ml tomato purée

Prepare the veggies and the meat. Put the meat in a plastic bag with the flour and shake it well. Mix the sauce in a bowl.
Use a frying pan and brown the meat in butter or oil. Salt and pepper. Transfer it to another pot and keep warm. Sautée the veggies until a little soft and put in the pot with the meat. Pour over the sauce and stir in the pineapple, bring to a boil and let simmer just for a few minutes until the sauce thickens a little. Check that the meat is ready, spice to taste and serve at once with plain rice and a good beer.

Happy Easter!

Easter is my favourite foodie holiday because I feel it is allowed to play around a little with the food. Christmas has more traditions (also delicious). We are going to A´s parents tonight and have a little Easter buffet. Our contribution will be some pickled herring, a delicious salmon paté with cloudberry sauce and some egg halves with (I plan) a dollop on each with a mix of yoghurt, dill, mayonnaise and dijon mustard and topped off with some fresh prawns. I also have a Janssons frestelse in the oven right now but we will keep it for ourselves. Besides, my father-in-law makes a great one.
On the menu from this kitchen for the Easter is also salmon, pork loin, asparagus and muffins with yoghurt and banana - stay tuned for recipes (now I am too hungry and will go and make myself and egg and anchovy sandwich).

Today´s picture is from another kitchen, my parent´s, where Nisse the cat celebrate the sun with a good cleaning!

Happy Easter, all!

Waiting for nettles

My fellow foodblogger Kinna is on Easter holidays in the very south of Sweden and picked nettles yesterday! Read her post about it (if you know Swedish) or just admire the nice pictures. So now I have nettle cravings but I think I will have to wait a while. My new nettle picking gloves lies on the kitchen counter, ready to go.

Just outside the barn at my parents´ farm was a large bush of nettles when I was little. They burnt, we knew that, and cried bitterly when we accidently stepped in them. But in early spring we also knew that Mum would soon come in in the evening with the first tender, delicate nettles in a bowl and make nettle soup for supper... Just thinking about it, dark green with egg halves...aaah! And it just doens´t taste incredibly good, it is good for you. Lots of iron, lots of vitamins. Just remember to pick very very tender, new shoots and rinse in many waters so nobody says tasting it: "these hard and crunchy things, is that the iron?"

I don´t have a recipe right now but use any recipe for spinach soup, that will work fine. My goal every year is to pick a lot of nettles and prepare them for the freezer so I can have nettle soup whenever I want and also try new ways to eat it (you can have it in bread, with fish, with eggs and so on). But I have not succeeded this far! Maybe my new gloves will help.

Snack time

What do you snack on?
Myself, I know I should be snacking on more things like carrots and stuff, but I tend to want to drink my snacks. Oh the joy to pop into the kiosk before I hop on the commuter train and buy a yoghurt or a fruit smoothie or some carrot (yes! I don´t mind carrots) juice... But it is too expensive to go on like that, so I try to restrain myself most of the time. This post, however, is on two snacks I like and one I don´t like but have to snack on these days.

1. The milky frothy thing you see in the picture is my very special milkshake, my own invention. You take a large glass and fill it to 2/3 with milk, to measure, then pour the milk in a mixing bowl. Add a banana in large pieces and a dollop of lingonberry jam and mix everything. Pour back into the glass and drink immediately...Yum!
2. My Japanese friend Maiko introduced me to something called Ocha-zuke when she took me on a guided tour in a Japanes shop here in Stockholm. It is basically flakes of seaweed and stock powder and some other things neatly packed in a little envelope. When you for example (often happens to me) comes home in the evening after a meeting where you have had sandwiches allright, but you crave something warm and more food-like, then Ocha-zuke is your friend. Probably (often happens to me) you have some leftover rice in a plastic box in your fridge. Heat that rice up in the microwave, then drizzle over the contents of the little envelope and pour on some Japanese green tea, or just water (didn´t have Japanese tea, often happens to me). And voilà, a bowl of warm, comforting, incredibly tasty rice soup in no time at all! So take a look after those little envelopes, mine are striped in red and black and yellow...
3. Whole white peppercorns has been a common snack for me the last 24 hours. A. has caught calici virus which - ah - affects your stomach in an awful way. Hence the peppercorns. The incubation time is 12-48 hours and so far so good. 24 hours to go before I am safe, and these peppercorns are helping me with that (I hope, it tastes awful). 4-5 white peppercorns swallowed whole with water at least three times a day - a great tip from my sister. Fingers crossed, please. The Easter is coming up and it is my favourite foodie holiday. It would be tragic spending it feeding on water crackers, chamomile tea and puréed carrots!

Polenta dinner

I am home alone this weekend, which caused me to indulge in Italian charcuteries - prosciutto and salami. Why eat boring just because you are alone? And also today I got the happy news that one of my best friends gave birth to a baby girl yesterday, so this dinner is also in celebration of little S.

I am trying to make something about my kitchen cabinets again, which are bulging with this and that. Today when I rummaged around for something to pair my salami with I caught sight of an unopened box of polenta and two tins of beans. I have never had polenta, but I bought the box because I liked the idea so much. Sadly the polenta didn´t live up to my expectations. It was good, but didn´t taste much though I had used quite a lot of fresh basil, salt and pepper. Next time I will cook it with some stock instead, and also next time I will have learned how to smear it out (with the back of a spoon which you dip in cold water). I don´t give the recipe here, follow the instructions on the box instead! I followed the recipe from a cookbook and all went wrong...

With the beans I made a simple but crunchy and flavourful salad, one of my own favourite recipes - made up by yours truly for an emergency lunch once upon a time.

Bean salad
serves 3-4
200-300 ml of mixed cold cooked beans, I used black beans and big white beans because I had them on hand. Chick peas and kidney beans are also great.
Mixed greens like cucumber, tomato, peppers, avocado - use what you like
A small handful of finely cholled or sliced onion, this time I used spring onions but red onion is good too
And now the secret ingredient: one peeled and diced tart apple. This salad is not nearly as good without it

Combine everything in a bowl and drizzle over a simple vinaigrette sauce. I made mine just plain today with olive oil, vinegar and a pinch of herbes de Provence - but use garlic or dijon mustard if you like. (Proportions? 2 parts vinegar, three parts oil (or two parts oil and one water). Spice to taste with salt, pepper, herbs, mustard or something and whisk together.)
Mix carefully and let it sit for a little while to let all the flavours explode

Serve (this time) with slices of fried polenta and Italian charcuteries. Enjoy your meal! I did. The somewhat bland polenta was excellent in company with the meat and the salad.

Direct from Paris!

I have participated in quite a few BBM´s and EBBP´s by now but this Saturday when I got to the post office something new happened. I immediately recognized the name on the box (no, not my own but the sender´s). Most foodbloggers know who David Lebovitz is, and in this fourth EBBP I was his "chosen one" to receive a parcel of goodies. In triumph I carried the precious box through the melting snow and mud and finally reached my kitchen table where I could open it and find this:

• First of all a nice letter and postcard explaining about the contents and his book The Great book of Chocolate
• Fleur de sel, a really really good salt from Brittany which I am not supposed to cook with, merely sprinkling it over vegetables, meat (or chocolate!) to feel the taste. I am such a sucker for good salt so this was very welcome!
• Gavottes, a kind of cookie (also from Brittany) which is served with ice cream. They are kind of thin, rolled wafers but I am trying to save them for a special occasion and hasn´t opened it yet.
• What I did open though is the next cookie box with Traou Mad, yet another kind of cookie from Brittany made with "lots and lots of butter". Well, I don´t mind. Butter is goood. In Brittany they apparently bake with salted butter which brings an extra touch to the flavour. David, I think you would like the Swedish cookie culture because we use salted butter all the time here! Unsalted butter is available but I have only seen recommendations to use it in some dessert recipes.
• Then I got a jar of the finest Dijon mustard, Edward Fallot. I really like mustard and look forward to use this for example in my roulades some time soon when I lay my hands on some good tender meat...
• Chestnut cream, this is intriguing! When I studied French at high school we buggered our teacher to make some cookie (I don´t remember exactly) with chestnut cream but it took him two years to get some and then we didn´t like it... I am sure my palate has developed remarkably since and cannot wait to try this! David recommends me to try it on crêpes or for baking. Maybe I should contact my old teacher and get his recipe?
• Finally some green lentils which are called "the caviar of lentils" in France, with a recipe on (I assume) one of many ways to cook them, with vinaigrette, goat´s cheese and walnuts. I think I will try this with some lamb chops, for example. Lentils is a favourite in this house.

Thank you so much David for these wonderful, hard-to-get-in-Sweden goodies! I loved everything and will enjoy it for a long time. Also a big thank you to Andrew for arranging this! You can read his round-up here for more parcel-stories!