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!

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.