Maple flavored roasted sweet potatoes

Sweet potatoes always bring back memories to me of my grandmother. She used to fry slices of sweet potato until they had a golden caramelized crust and I was standing next to her and couldn´t wait until a batch was ready to eat them straight from the pan, burning my mouth and fingers... yum

This warm salad I served together with the bacon wrapped pork tenderloin. A good match.

click here for a printable version

Serves 4

850 g       sweet potatoes, (the ones with the orange coloured flesh!!)
2 tbsp      olive oil
                coarse sea salt
                freshly ground black pepper
50 g         walnuts
4              spring onions, cut into thin slices
4 tbsp      roughly chopped flat leave parsley
1/4 tsp     red chili flakes
35 g         raisins

Dressing:

4 tbsp      olive oil
2 tbsp      maple syrup
1 tbsp      sherry vinegar
2 tbsp      lemon juice
2 tbsp      orange juice
2 tsp        freshly grated ginger
1/2 tsp     ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 190 °C. Wash and trimm the sweet potatoes but don´t peel them. Cut the potatoes into 2 cm big cubes. Spread them out on a baking sheet covered with parchment, drizzle with the olive oil and sprinkle with some salt and pepper. Mix everything with your hands until the potatoes are eavenly coated with the oil. Roast in the oven for about 30 minutes, turning the potato cubes carefully after 15 minutes.

Toast the walnuts in a non-stick frying pan, cool and brake into pieces by hand.

Whisk together all the ingredients for the dressing and season with salt and pepper.

When the potatoes are just tender transfer them to a large bowl while still hot. Add the parsley, spring onion, chili flakes, walnuts and raisins. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss gently to blend. Serve still hot or at room temperature.

Chèvre Chaud Salad

When I´m walking my dogs a place I frecuently like to pay a visit to on the way is an old farm dating back to
the 1300. It had burned down and was rebuilt in the late 1700. It is situated beautifully in the midst of a unique nature reserve. It is open year round and in winter they carve out the snow from underneath the outside tables so you have place for your legs and feet and provide you with some warm blankets. Indeed we were sitting outside last January having a cup of coffee and ALL the tables outside were occupied and people were actually having lunch at minus 2°C!! (It was a sunny day though :-) ). Inside it is the most cozy place you can imagine with low ceilings, beautiful old furniture and a blazing fire in the fireplace. And the first thing you perceive when you enter is the delicious smell of homebaked cakes and breads and freshly  baked waffles...

They don´t have a large menu at Långangens Gård, but the plates they offer are so tasty and the cakes can´t be made better at home.

One of my favorite dish there is a chèvre chaud salad. So on my way back from town today I thought I could make a similar version of this dish at home for a quick lunch.

I omitted the cucumber, bell pepper and tomato and added caramelized pine nuts, physalis (cape gooseberries), blackberries, fir honey and mild white onion.

click here for a printable version

Serves 2:

150 g            mixed greens
1 small          white onion, cut in thin wedges and washed and drained in a sieve to loose some sharpness
                     good quality balsamico
                     good quality olive oil
                     coarse sea salt
                     freshly grated black pepper

2 large           slices of french or italian country bread, toasted and cut in halves
350 g             goat cheese, cut into 4 slices

4-6               thin slices of San Daniele or other Parma ham
1 handful       physalis
1 handful       blackberries

30 g              pine nuts
2 tsp             organic sugar

2-3 tbsp       warmed fir honey


Heat a small, non-stick frying pan and caramelize the sugar and pine nuts stirring with a wooden spoon. When golden brown, remove from the pan onto a plate and let cool (don´t be tempted to lick off the caramel from the spoon!! A mistake you will only make once :) )

Wash and spin dry the salad, toss gently in a bowl with the salt, pepper, balsamico and olive oil.

Set each slice of cheese onto half a toasted breadslice. Place them on an ovenproof dish and grill in the oven until golden brown.

Arrange the salad on two large plates. Add two chèvre chaud crôutes on each salad, roll up two to three slices of procuito in a decorative way and place on the salad. Garnish with blackberries, physalis and pine nuts.

Drizzle the warm honey over the salad and serve immediately.

©Just Cook!

Mini latkes with löjrom

click here for a printable version

serving 4-6 as an amuse gueule (2-3 pieces each)

500 g       shredded potatoes, pressed to eliminate all liquid
1              shredded onion, pressed to eliminate all liquid
1 tbsp      flour
3/4 tsp     salt
1/4 tsp     pepper
2 tbsp      sunflower oil
100g        crème fraîche
100 g       löjrom (or trout caviar)
2 tbsp      very finely diced red onion

Combine potatoes, onion, flour, egg, salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a coated pan. Add the potatoe mixture with a teaspoon in the hot oil. Bring in shape with the back of the teaspoon and fry until golden and crispy on both sides. Let drip off on paper towel and let cool slightly before adding half teaspoon of crème fraîche, one teaspoon löjrom and some onion dice on each latkes. Serve immediately.

Black Tiger Prawns served on Asparagus-Bean-salad

click here for a printable version

Serves 4

250 g       fresh green soy beans or lima beans
                sea salt
250 g       white asparagus
1              leek
12            Tiger Prawns, raw
20 g         Arrugula
                pepper
1-2 tbsp   good quality sherry vinegar
3 tbsp       olive oil
2 tbsp       Tomato-compôte (see recipe below)
1/2 tbsp    Acacia honey
3 tbsp       cider vinegar

Blanche the beans in boiling salted water for four minutes. Drain and cool in ice water instantly. Twist the beans out of the shells.

Wash the asparagus, peel and trimm off the ends. Cut the Asparagus with help of a potatoe peeler into thinest slices.

Clean and rinse the leek with running cold water. Cut the white part into thin rings.

Halve the tiger prawns lenghtwise but not all the way. Keep the tail end untouched. Clean and rinse them. Pat dry with paper towel.

Wash the arrugula and spin dry.

Mix the honey with the cider vinegar.

Combine arrugula, asparagus, leek and beans and  season with salt, pepper and a good sherry vinegar.

Fry the Tiger prawns in two tablespoons olive oil two minutes on each side.

Arrange the Tomatoe-Compôte on four plates, dress the salad and the prawns ontop and drizzle with the cider-honey mixture and some drops of olive oil.


Tomato Compôte:

Blanche 1 kilo of aromatic, ripe tomatoes to peel. Cut in quarters and take out the seeds. Now cut into small dice. Cut a shallot into brunoise and sauté in a deep pan with two tablespoons of olive oil until tender. Add the tomatoes and let cook over medium heat for 15-20 minutes. Now add a bouquet garni consisting of leek, sellery leaves and fresh thyme. Crush two garlic cloves and stir into the tomatoes. Add half a teaspoon sugar, 1 g saffron, sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Leave on the stove over medium-low heat for another 20 minutes.

Remove the bouquet garni and season with some fresh thyme and some best quality olive oil. Best if prepared a day in advance and kept in the fridge. Can be served cold or hot.

Polenta alla Romana

A tasty side dish with grilled meat or a small lunch or light dinner with a fresh green salad.

click HERE for a printable version

To prepare the polenta:

1               small onion

2               garlic cloves

3 tbsp       Olive oil

1-1,5 l      chicken broth

2               bay leaves

170 g        polenta
                 how to make Polenta

                 salt, pepper

30 g          freshly grated parmesan cheese

To prepare the tomato sauce:

3 tbsp       Olive oil

1               onion, cubed

2               garlic cloves, chopped

800 g        canned tomatoes, chopped

1               bay leave

1               chili pepper

2               sprigs thyme

1               sprig rosemary

2               sprig oregano

                 salt, pepper, sugar

5 tbsp       Olive oil

70 g          freshly grated parmesan cheese

4               garlic cloves

10             sprig fresh thyme

• Cut the onion and the garlic into smallest dice. Heat the olive oil in a pot to medium heat, add onions and garlic and sauté until translucent. Add 1 liter of the chicken broth and bay leaves. Bring to a boil and then slowly trickle in the polenta stirring constantly with a wire whisk. Bring to a boil once more, then reduce the heat to low. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and let cook app. 30-45 minutes stirring occasionally. If needed add some more broth. The polenta should be soft and fluent. After the cooking time whisk in 30 g of Parmesan cheese.
  
• Remove the bay leaves and pour the polenta onto a wooden board or a baking sheet covered with waxed paper and let cool completely.
  
• For the tomato sauce heat the olive oil in a saucepan and add the onion and garlic and sauté for a couple of minutes until soft. Add tomatoes, bay leave and chili pepper. Let cook uncovered over medium heat.
  
• Wash and pat-dry the herbs. Take off the leaves and finely chop them. Add them to the sauce after 40 minutes and let simmer 10 to 30 minutes more until most of the fluid has evaporated. Stir from time to time.
  
• Season with salt, pepper and sugar.
  
• Cut the Polenta with a round cookie cutter (6cm) or with the knife in the desired shape.
  
• Heat the olive oil in an oven safe frying pan and fry the polenta on each side for three minutes.
  
• Take from the stove and  place one tablespoon of tomato sauce onto each polenta cookie. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
  
• Peel the remaining garlic cloves and crush them slightly. Add garlic and thyme sprigs to the pan and gratinate in the preheated oven (220°C) until the cheese takes some colour.

steamed eggs with polenta- by RouxBe

Oriental style eggplant with tahini sauce

What could I prepare today?? A look outside - snowstorm - a look into the fridge - one eggplant left.
That´s not really much of a basis to prepare a tasty dish for my blog I thought  but I must say that I am quite pleased with the outcome. Actually the ingredients used are more or less the same as in Babaganoush - a well known oriental mezze recipe. The only difference is that this recipe uses basil instead of Parsley and  it´s not a puree but more a salad. I think it´s a perfect dish in summer with a barbeque but also served as an appetizer with some crispy - maybe even ovenfresh? - bread it is quite appealing.

The recipe source is from Ottolenghi: The Cookbook with some adaptions.

Last weekend I was searching the web for new and interesting sites. I stumbled over RouxBe. What is RouxBe? It´s an online cooking school that teaches cooks of any level to become better and more confident cooks. Here´s a link to a video about the school: The RouxBe cooking school  The school  guides users along the same learning paths used to teach aspiring chefs in professional culinary schools around the world. I´m sure that by learning fundamental cooking skills and techniques you will enjoy cooking a lot more and will be satisfied and proud with the results you´ll achieve. I hope this might encourage and inspire you to cook more at home.

So in future I will add some links in my recipes that will take you to short videos which will explain e.g. a certain technique. Hope you´ll like it. There´s always something more to learn..

click HERE for a printable version


Serves 8 as a side dish or small appetizer:

4               Eggplants, medium sized
4-5 tbsp    Olive oil
                 Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

To marinade the eggplant:

6 tbsp       Olive oil
6 tbsp       Lemon juice
1-2           Red chili peppers
1              Garlic clove
4 tbsp       Fresh basil
                Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Tahinisauce:

100 ml      Lemon juice, freshly squeezed
100 g        Tahini
75   ml      Water
  1             Garlic clove, chopped
3-4 tbsp    Fresh basil leaves, chopped
                 Sea salt, freshly ground black pepper


Preheat the oven to 200 °C and line a baking tray with parchment.

Trim the ends of the eggplants, then cut the eggplants into halves transversely and cut these halves into equal wedges. Set the wedges skin side down on your baking tray and brush them with olive oil, salt and pepper and bake until golden brown for about 20 to 25 minutes.

In a large bowl combine the lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Cut the chile peppers and the garlic into brunoise (what is brunoise?)separating the seeds from the chili peppers beforehand if you don´t like it too spicy. Add to the bowl.
Cut the basil into chiffonade (how to chiffonade) and add to the bowl as well.

Once the eggplant has reached an appetizing golden colour and brown tips, remove from the oven and mix immediately but with care so the eggplant will keep it´s shape with the marinade. Let sit at room temperature for one hour.

Combine all the ingredients for the tahini sauce in a food processor and mix well.

Serve the eggplant toghether with the tahini sauce and crispy, fresh bread.

Elsässer Flammkuchen - Alsatian Tarte Flambée

During my stay in Germany in September/ October my sister-in-law prepared this dish twice and I am so so grateful to her for passing on this outstandingly delicious recipe to me. It was the first thing I prepared when I was back home in Stockholm and the whole family is completely crazy about it. You just can not stop eating... I hope you will enjoy it the same way we do. 


A little background information:


"Tarte Flambée is one of the most famous gastronomical specialties of Alsace.

Legend says that the creators of this dish were those Alsatian farmers who used to bake bread once a week. A tarte flambée would be used to test the heat of their wood-fired ovens. At the peak of its temperature, the oven would also have the ideal conditions in which to bake a tarte flambée. The embers would be pushed aside to make room for the tarte in the middle of the oven, and the intense heat would be able to bake it in 1 or 2 minutes. The crust that forms the border of the tarte flambée would be nearly burned by the flames.

The name itself comes from this method of baking, the English translation of the original Alsatian name meaning "baked in the flames"."



These Tarte Flambée or also the similar german "Zwiebelkuchen" is served often during early fall when it´s time for "Federweisser". Since there is no english equivalent to this word I can only give you a definition of what it is


" - the cloudy beverage in the process of fermenting, i.e. somewhere in between must and wine, is called Federweisser. Once fermentation has ended, it is referred to as "young" wine - "


and can assure you that it is very pleasant to the taste and a perfect combination with Tarte Flambée. Regrettably the season is short for Federweisser and here - in Sweden - we  have no access to it. But any wine or even a cold beer is an equivalent "companion". 


Go to the recipe in german



Alsation Tarte Flambée - Elsässer Flammkuchen


click HERE for a printable version


Ingredients
for 4-8 servings (depending on your appetite)

20 g      fresh yeast
500 g    flour
200 ml  butter milk
3 tbsp   olive oil
1-2 tsp  salt
400 g    red onion
200 g    bacon, diced (lardons)
250 g    Crème fraîche
             black pepper, freshly ground
             Baking paper
             Cling wrap





Preparation

• Dissolve the yeast in 50 ml of lukewarm water. Sieve the flour into a bowl and press a hollow in the center. Pour the yeast in the hollow and mix in some flour from the edge. Add the buttermilk, olive oil and salt. Mix all ingredients into a smooth, supple dough (this will take app. 10 minutes). Knead the dough into a ball and place in a bowl, cover with a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm, draft-free place (such as in the oven at 50 degrees) at least 1 hour.
  
• Cut 8 sheets of baking paper and plastic wrap into your baking tray size.
  
• Peel onions and cut into very thin rings. Finely dice the bacon. Preheat the baking tray in the oven on highest level (about 250 degrees) for at least 30 minutes (convection not suitable).
  
• Knead the risen dough once more and then divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. Place each piece of dough on a lightly floured baking paper sheet and roll out with a rolling pin into an oval. Cover with plastic wrap. The dough has to relax a little before rolling it out further (remove the plastic wrap for rolling out).  Repeat this procedure until the dough is  approximately 2 mm thick.
  
• With a tablespoon spread app 3 tablespoons crème fraîche on each Tarte and add 2 tablespoons of bacon bits and 4 tablespoons of red onions on each. Season with a good amount of freshly ground pepper. Place the tarte with the baking paper on the baking tray on the middle rack and bake for 4 to 5 minutes. Serve immediately. Proceed the same way with the remaining Tartes. 

Poivrons rôtis aux anchois - grilled bell pepper with anchovis

click HERE for a printable version

Let´s start with

Poivrons rôtis aux anchois - grilled bell pepper with anchovis

Ingredients for 4 portions:

150 g                               Anchovis filets in salt (if you can´t find those substitute with anchovis in oil)
4                                      large red bell peppers

1                                      small bunch flat leaf parsley

3-4                                  garlic cloves

1 tablespoon                    vinegar (e.g. Banyulvinegar - Banyul is a sweet wine from the region)

5 tablespoons                  fruity olive oil

                                       Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

• Rinse the anchovis and let them sit in cold water for 1 hour, changing the water as often as possible.

• Heat the oven to 250° C. Cut the bell peppers in halves, clean and rinse them and lay them - skin part up - on a baking sheet. Bake them for about 15 minutes until they turned dark. Let them cool for 10 minutes. In the meanwhile wash and dry the parsley. Pick off the leaves and cut/chop them finely. Peel the garlic cloves and chop them finely as well. Whisk the vinegar with the oil until you have a creamy consistency and add salt and pepper.

• Skin the bell peppers and cut lengthwise into stripes. Place them on a nice serving dish and drizzle with the vinaigrette. Mix the parsley and garlic and sprinkle over the dish. Let the anchovis dripp off thoroughly and arrange them on the bell pepper.

Serve with fresh baguette (if possible on your terrace), a chilled glass of white wine and some french music

Grilled vegetable terrine

click HERE for a printable version

Since I take my second "profession" as a part time tourist guide for our visitors quite seriously I did not find the time yesterday to do my work on my postings. We´ve been  roaming the streets in and around Stockholm for the last two days. But since some "complaints" have reached me that my friends family is not having any food on the table due to a lack of recipes I will catch up on this today.

I had prepared a Grilled Vegetable Terrine yesterday and luckily summer came back to Stockholm so it turned out to be just the right dish for a sunny and warm day.

If you would like to prepare it, you will need the following ingredients: (serves 6 as a starter)

3-4                      red bell peppers, cleaned, seeded and cut in quarters
2                         yellow bell peppers, cleaned, seeded and cut in quarters
1                         large eggplant, cut into slices of 0,5 cm lenghtwise (use a breadslicer
                           if you have one)
2                        small zucchini, cut into slices of 0,5 cm lenghtwise
6 tablespoons     olive oil
1                        large red onion, sliced thinly
75 g                   raisins
1 tablespoon      concentrated tomato puree
1 tablespoons     red wine vinegar
600 ml                tomato juice
3 tablespoons      gelatine powder (or 3-4  sheets of gelatine)
                           salt, pepper
                           fresh basil leaves

Vinaigrette:

6 tablespoons  olive oil
2 tablespoons  red wine vinegar
                       sea salt, black pepper

• Set the bell peppers on a baking sheet and place them underneath your oven grill until the skin turns black. Place them in a freezer bag and let them cool off a little. Then peel the skin off and set aside.
• Place the eggplant slices and the zucchini slices on separate baking sheets. Paint them with olive oil and grill them in the oven until they turn golden brown, turning them once.
• Heat the remaining olive oil in a frying pan and stew the onions for 3-4 minutes. Add raisins, tomato puree and red wine vinegar and let the liquid reduce. Set aside.
• Paint a terrine mold or loaf cake pan (1,5 L) with some oil and line it with clingwrap letting it hang well over the sides.

• Heat half of the tomato juice in a sauce pan. Season with salt, pepper and e.g. sellery salt, tabasco, lemon juice.... as you like. Add the gelatine powder (if you´re using gelatine sheets, soak them in water before until soft, drain the water and add to the warm tomato juice) and let dissolve over low heat.
• Place a layer of red bell pepper on the bottom of your mold/ cake pan and cover it slightly with the tomato juice. Then repeat this with the other vegetables - having the onion in the middle - always covering with a little juice. The last layer should be the other half of the red bell pepper.
• Add the other half of the tomato juice to the remaining juice in the saucepan, Rectify the seasoning and pour it onto the terrine. Move it around a little so the juice can spread in the mold. Cover the mold with the overhanging cling wrap and set into the fridge for a couple of hours.
• Mix all the ingredients for the vinaigrette. Turn the mold and take off the clingwrap from the terrine. Cut with a sharp knife into thick slices, drizzle with vinaigrette and sprinkle with the fresh basil.

Bon Appétit!

The ultimate summer soup

This cold little soup is so very yummy on a hot summer day but you have to see to it to use tomatoes of a really good quality (organic if possible) and they have to be ripe.

It has a nice effect if you serve this soup in a glas that was cooled in the freezer before.

This recipes I´ve drawn from one of my favorite cookbooks from Lea Linster, Avec amour. Her cooking is unpretentious so you don´t spend hours over preparing a single dish but the results always are really satisfying.

Leas cold tomatosoup

click HERE for a printable version

For 4 - 6

1 kg                        ripe Tomatoes (e.g. Roma)

1 teaspoon               Salt

                               Pepper
1 tablespoon            powdered sugar

4 tablespoons           very good Olive Oil

2 tablespoons           Sherry vinegar
4-6 teaspoons          Goat Cream Cheese
8-12                         Mintleaves
                                a bit of coarsely crushed black pepper

Wash the tomatoes and cut out the green core (is it called that? Well, I hope you know what I mean). Cut up roughly then puree with the hand blender and add salt, freshly ground pepper and the powdered sugar. This you now pass through a hair sieve into a stainless steel bowl (if you have one, otherwise glas will do). With a wire whisk mix in 3 tablespoons of the olive oil and the sherry vinegar. That´s all for the moment. Now your soup has to rest some hours in the fridge. Before serving it stir it once more. Add a teaspoon of the goat cream cheese to each glas or bowl, fill up with the soup, pour a couple of drops of the remaining olive oil onto each serving and devorate with the finely cut mint and the coarsely crushed black pepper. Perfect.