Finally

I am so very sorry for not having posted a single recipe for 4 months but the morning sickness of my third pregnancy came quickly and lingered for far too long. We have now escaped London for our house in southern Sweden where we intent to stay put for the entire summer. I can slowly feel the taste buds returning to some sort of normality as well as my desire to cook. 

My 5-year old went for a swimming lesson today but after about 10 minutes she was almost frozen solid. So we rushed home, put her in a steaming shower, dressed her warmly, snugged up under a duvet and made Austrian pancakes, Kaiserschmarrn, for lunch. My association with this dish is from fun days skiing with a bunch of friends as a child. After adventures in the slopes we would head for one of those rustic, genuine Austrian alp cottages to meet up with our parents for lunch. We would eat the most delicious Kaiserschmarrn with jam and defrost from the cold wind and snow. So apart from the snow the feeling is actually not too different to what we are experiencing in a cold and windy July in Sweden right now.

I hope that I will get the chance to share some of my summer recipes in the next couple of weeks. Although I typically have more time to cook when I am here it is also a place where there are so many other things to enjoy so practically all year around I am on the lookout for easy, guest and child friendly recipes for summery barbecue days. Especially taking advantage of all the amazing ingredients you can find growing in the fields around us. 

This recipe is very similar to regular pancake ones but with the difference that you beat the egg whites. 

Ingredients for 2 big and 2 little people with the addition of sausages or bacon. 

3 eggs

1 3/4 dl flour

1 tsp sugar (optional)

1/2 tsp vanilla sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 dl milk

butter for cooking

raisins or sultanas optional

jam and powdered/icing sugar

Preparation

Mix the egg yolks, flour, sugar, vanilla sugar, salt and milk. Then beat the egg whites until they are stiff. Add the egg whites to the flour and egg mix very carefully. Add raisins if you wish. Melt the butter and add the mixture to the pan. Cook on a low temperature until golden, then turn over, rip into pieces and continue cooking until finished. Place on a serving plate, sprinkle generously with powdered/icing sugar through a sieve and serve with your preferred jam and maybe sausages or bacon. 

See you soon again. 

Soba noodles with chicken

Oooh, nice Monday surprise. This easy peasy lemon squeezy dish was a sheer delight to make and was enjoyed by everyone. Soba (buckwheat) noodles in a chicken and dried mushroom stock with roast chicken left-overs, black beans, broccoli and spring onions. Not much to add really, just another addition to the favourite family dishes and I wave the flag for victory against predictable and unappealing family dinners. 

Good thing dinner was an easy task on Monday as I had an appointment at the physio for my lower back. Has been slightly achy for a while but thought going to the physio was all about getting rid of the pain...nooo, I am wearing the biggest plasters along my spine to keep me from overstretching or arching. Can't actually reach the top shelf of my spice collection so this week there will be no ready made fajitas, guacamole, lemon or rosemary salt (expiry date some time in July, 2010 though!!!). Instead we are cooking fish cakes, pasta with salsiccia and veal escalope with tabbouleh. 

Ingredients (original recipe here Soba med kyckling)
8 dried mushrooms (any kind will do but Chinese are preferred)
200 g soba noodles
1/2 roast chicken
2 tbsp concentrated liquid chicken stock + 1l of water
1/2 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
1 bunch of spring onion
1 tin of black beans
1 head of broccoli
a little bit of grated horseradish for those with grown-up taste

Preparation

Place the dried mushrooms in a pan and cover with hot water. Leave to soak according to instructions (can be left over night too). 

Cook the noodles according to the instructions. When cooked, drain and rinse with cold water. Return to pan and cover with a lid. 

Remove the meat from the chicken and tear it into smaller pieces. Chop the mushrooms and save the water it soaked in. Slice the spring onion finely and cut the broccoli into florets. 

To do the stock, add the water to a pan, add the concentrated chicken stock, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, chicken and mushrooms. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Season to taste with the left over mushroom water, salt and pepper. 

Add the spring onion, black beans (rinsed), broccoli and noodles. Cover with a lid and leave to simmer for one minute. Serve in bowls and top with some grated horseradish. 

Chicken on lemon grass skewers

Mummy, I like the chicken lollipop! These chicken mince skewers with ginger wrapped around lemongrass have just become a favourite at our dinner table. The kids can bite tender pieces of chicken holding the lemongrass in their hands. The only thing that takes a little bit of time is making the chicken mince and you need something heavy to pound on the thick end of the lemongrass so it breaks up into splinters and leave that perfume of lemon and lime on the chicken. Served with rice, sesame seeds and cashews and salad of melon and cucumber its an instant hit among the small people in our house. 

I have a casserole of knuckle of pork (yep, had no idea what it was before trying to explain this particular cut at the butchers this morning but it is basically the pig's leg) cooking for tomorrow's dinner. Mixed with cinnamon, fennel (supposed to be star anis but had run out), chopped tomatoes, soy sauce, honey, ginger and black beans (might have to be replaced with lentils as I couldn't get any today) and cognac (supposed to be calvados but didn't have any in that cupboard of alcohol that I haven't opened for about 5 years or since our firstborn). It will probably be completely disgusting so might have to keep a back up of my italian meatballs so the kids won't starve. This should teach me not to mess with proven recipes. 

I am spending the weekend husband less, but I think I already told you, so need to head off to bed to cope with the two monsters when they wake up tomorrow morning. Happy Saturday!

Ingredients (original recipe here kycklingspett pa citrongras)
500 g chicken fillets (I think thighs should work ever better so will try that next time)
1 thumbsize fresh ginger
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt
breadcrumbs (preferably Panko but there is one from Waitrose's cook's ingredients which has the same texture)
about 16 lemon grass (less if they are very thick)
1 dl toasted, chopped cashews
2 tbsp sesame seeds
soy sauce and lime to serve

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 175°C.
Whizz the chicken into mince with a food processor or a hand mixer. Grate the ginger and squeeze out the juice and discard the fibrous left-overs. Mix the chicken, ginger juice, egg, salt and enough breadcrumbs to keep the mixture together.

Pound on each of the lemon grass until it breaks up into splinters. Put some oil on your hands and roll the mixture into oval balls and place the lemon grass in the middle of the ball, fold the mixture around the lemon grass. Roll the skewers in more breadcrumbs. Add some neutral oil (like rape seed oil) into a pan and fry the skewers until they are golden all around. Place them in a baking tray and leave them in the oven for about 20 mins. Remove and place on a serving dish, sprinkle with the chopped cashews and the sesame seeds and serve with rice, soy sauce and wedges of lime. We also did a simple salad of cucumber and melon with a dressing of  limejuice, sugar and green tabasco (no tabasco for the kids though).

Childfriendly tuna pasta

I really like this simple tomato based tuna sauce. It's basically my bolognese recipe but with tuna instead of veal or beef. The kids love it which is why it's called childfriendly. I do have another recipe which is the unchildfriendly one as its a mix of basically everything my kids don't like. Anchovies, capers, olives and chili to name a few. 

This week I have also made a jerusalem artichoke soup (for adult indulging), a filo pastry pie with lamb (not greatly appreciated by the kids but I loved it), chicken skewers on lemongrass (Mummy, I like the chicken lollipop). Monday was salmon teriyaki. Tomorrow the kids will probably need something familiar so perhaps meatballs or bolognese. I am spending the weekend husband-less so will stick to simplest of the simplest to survive! 

Ingredients

Pasta of your choice (this is a very girly household so we chose butterflies today)

1 tin of tuna (I use white tinned tuna)

1 tin of chopped tomatoes

2 anchovy fillets

2 mini or 1 small zucchini

1 onion

2 cloves of garlic

zest of 1 lemon and juice of half
1dl of water

1/2 tbsp of honey
1 bunch of parsley
Maybe 1 tbsp of vegetable liquid stock

salt and black pepper

Preparation

Cook the pasta according to instructions. 

Peel and chop the garlic and onion finely. Grate the zucchini (or just slice finely on a mandolin). Grate the lemon zest. Chop the parsley. 

Heat a pan and add some olive oil, then add the anchovies, garlic, onion and zucchini. Cook it until the onion is transparent and the anchovies have melted. Then add the chopped tomatoes, lemon zest, and lemon juice, water, honey and salt and pepper to taste. If you want you can add the liquid stock. 

Let it simmer for 10 mins, then add the tuna and separate it with a fork into small pieces, add the parsley and remove from heat. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with lots of parmesan cheese and a green salad (or green beans for the kids). 

Chinese pancakes

For some reason I have to plan family weekend dinners better than mid-week ones.We tend to spend most of the day out and about and by the time we get back dinner needs to be quick and easy.  But then again I do want them to be a bit more luxurious then normal. Not an easy task but last Sunday's was seriously good. Slices of pork shoulder marinated in soy sauce then roasted in the oven for an hour. Tender and juicy, placed on a chinese pancake with spring onions, cucumber, roasted plums, hoisin sauce and sesame seeds. Works for the family but I'd easily treat friends to it too. There is only so much messing about with, filling pancakes and trying to eat it by yourself when you are only 20 months, that I can take so I had cooked some rice for the kids too.  

I got another cookbook over the weekend so am going to try and sit down with a cup of tea and imagine making the recipes and tasting the dishes in a little bit. I am starting to compile recipes for the summer already. Things that we can eat after spending a whole day at the little beach by our summer house in Sweden or when friends come over to enjoy the long summer nights. Yep, definitely slightly obsessed with cooking since I am at the same time starting to think about what to treat my relatives to this Christmas when we will be hosting it for the first time! Endless searches on favourite foodblogs and flicking through cookbooks. 

Ingredients (for the 4 of us)
3 slices of sliced pork shoulder (the butcher will slice it for you), about 1,5cm
1/2 dl of Chinese or dark soy sauce
8 plums
1 bunch of spring onions
1/4 cucumber
2 tbsp sesame seeds
hoisin sauce
10 chinese pancakes

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 175°C. Rub the soy sauce on both sides of the pork slices. Place on a baking sheet in a baking tray and cook for 1 hour, perhaps a bit longer depending on your oven.

Halve the plums and remove the stones. Sprinkle some salt on to the fruity side of the plums. Once the meat has cooked for 30 mins, place the plums, fruity side up, on top of the meat. 

Peel and slice the cucumber into 'juliennes", do the same with the spring onions. Dry roast the sesame seeds in a pan until they are golden brown. 

Remove the meat from the oven and slice it finely. Let everyone do their own pancakes with hoisin sauce, pork slices, plums, cucumber, spring onion and sesame seeds. 

Chicken with Pimenton de la Vera

Things are really busy around here. I am still cooking every day but for some reason when I intend to sit down and share the recipes I have kind of forgotten the quantities of all the ingredients I use. Well, I will just have to make them again then! Here's a really easy chicken casserole with a favourite spice, Pimenton de la Vera, smoked paprika powder. It's what makes Chorizo taste chorizo. My kids love chorizo so now I can make them eat chorizo without actually serving it. 

This casserole has chicken, parsnips and carrots. I served it with rice and green vegetables. Quick and easy. Original recipe here which I have changed. Chorizogryta utan chorizo

Ingredients

400 g chicken thigh fillets, cut in chunks

100 g pancetta, in cubes

1 clove of garlic, peeled and sliced

6 small onions, peeled

2 small carrots, peeled and cut in small pieces

1 parsnip, peeled and cut in small pieces

1 tin of chopped tomatoes

1 tsp pimenton de la vera, dulce

1 dl of white wine

1 tbsp of liquid chicken stock

olive oil

salt and pepper

Preparation

Heat a little bit of olive oil in a pan (one with a lid) and add the pancetta. Cook until crips, remove from pan. Add the garlic, onions, carrots and parsnip. Cook until the they have a nice golden colour, then remove. Add the chicken and cook until golden, then add a little bit of olive oil in a corner of the pan and add the pimenton in the oil. Stir a bit and then add back the pancetta, vegetables, chopped tomatoes, wine and stock. Stir and add salt and pepper. Put the lid on and cook for about 20 mins on a low heat. Then serve with rice or other grains and green vegetables of your choice. 

Lemony lasagna

Oh dear! What happened? It's practically been a month since my last post. Well, the life of this blog is very much at the mercy of my family life. It lives on the margin. Any unexpected events and my plans for a creative moment in the kitchen, with the camera or in front of the computer quickly has to jump to the end of the queue and patiently wait its turn. The past month has been full of such events, pleasant, like our trip to the sun but also tiring such as children, poorly with mean colds, needing heaps of tender and loving care. Then, when the colds are getting better and appetites return they need to fill their tummies with healthy but comforting food. Here is one of those. 

If you search for a recipe of a lasagna on the internet you will be overwhelmed. It will win any popularity contest single handily. It's hard, though, to make that perfect one and I find that it often gets a bit dry. The secret is adding fresh mozzarella and loads of bechamel. This recipe adds  lemon zest and nutmeg. You've probably noticed by now that I really LOVE using lemons in my food especially anything that has tomatoes in it. Sorry, but it makes such a difference.  

Lemony lasagna

I have not been very precise with the amounts in this recipe, it doesn't really matter much just make sure you add bechamel on top of every lasagna sheet. I had made a double recipe of bolognese and used what was left from dinner to make the lasagne. I think that is the way to do it otherwise it just takes too long. If you do make it from scratch probably about 400 g of beef (or veal or lamb) mince will be enough.

Ingredients
1 recipe of your favourite bolognese sauce (or this one, Bolognese)
fresh lasagna sheets
1 packet of mozzarella
tomatoes

Bechamel
2,5 tbsp flour
2,5 tbsp butter
6 dl milk

200 g of grated cheese (any mature one will do, gruyere or cheddar for example, I used this cheddar from the Park Farm which I bought at my local farmers market on Sunday).

the zest of one lemon

grated nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Melt the butter in a pan, add the flour and stir for a bit until it is mixed, then quickly add the milk and stir so that the flour and butter mixture is dissolved, then let it simmer for three minutes, stirring occasionally, so that the flour taste disappears. Then remove from heat and add the grated cheese, but save some to sprinkle on top of the lasagne, let it melt and then add the lemon zest, and nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste.

Cut the mozzarella and tomatoes in slices. In an oven proof dish add a layer of a third of the bechamel sauce, then lasagna sheets, then half the bolognese, tomatoes and mozzarella, lasagna sheets, a third of the bechamel, the rest of the bolognese, tomatoes and mozzarella, lasagna sheets, the rest of the bechamel. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Place in the oven for 30-35 minutes or until it looks golden brown.