Ottolenghi, Blumenthal and I

I love birthdays, especially my own, as it was on Friday. We had a real foodie day, my husband and I for breakfast and lunch and then our little family for dinner. We'd planned lots of things but I had woken up with a cold the day before so it became a more muted affair. But ah, what a treat! First Ottolenghi every foodie's favourite café packed with beautifully composed cakes, biscuits, sandwiches and salads. Then lunch at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal at the  Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Mr Blumenthal has come up with a menu inspired by historic British gastronomy and dates the dishes on the menu so that you know when they used to be popular. I had the Meat Fruit (first picture) from around the 1500's as a starter and my husband Salamugundy (second pic) c.1720 which was chicken oysters (supposedly the most flavourful and tasty part of the chicken).  We had dinner at home with the kids and I had chosen to do gnocchi with gorgonzola (sorry no pic) which is one of our favourite dishes. Utterly decadent! 

The inspiration of the day translated into cooking a couple of traditional Swedish dinners this week. Namely Kåldolmar (stuffed cabbage rolls) and Fiskgratäng med dillsås (fish pie with dill sauce, cooking tomorrow so pics and recipes to follow) but then not to overdo it I had to mix it up with something Asian so today I did minced chicken with lime and ginger (pics and recipe to follow). On Thursday we are having beetroots and parsnips with goat's cheese and steak haché. Every Wednesday I usually start thinking about what to cook the following week. Do you have any inspiring ideas you'd like to share with me for next week's menu? 

My husband said the cabbage rolls were the best thing I had ever cooked. However, you should know that it's a dish his Grandmother used to make him quite often as a small boy so he probably has very fond memories to go with the taste. Try them if you like. The kids liked them too. Original recipe here Savoydolmar pa lamm. 

Savoy cabbage rolls with lamb
Ingredients for 4
1 savoy cabbage
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 apple
1,5 dl of pecan nuts
400 g of minced lamb
1 tbsp of Agave syrup (or honey)
1 tbsp of light soy sauce
3 dl of cream
1,5 tbsp of liquid veal stock
black pepper

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 175ºC.
Remove the first couple of loose leaves from the cabbage then pick off as many as you need. I used about 12. Blanche the leaves you are going to use 1-2 minutes in boiling water, then leave to cool.

Roast the pecan nuts in a dry pan then whiz in a food processor. Grate or chop finely onion and apple and slice the garlic finely. Mix the pecans, onion, apple, garlic, lamb mince, syrup, soy sauce and season with some black pepper.

Remove the thickest part of the leaf vein on each cabbage leaf. Then wrap as much of the lamb mix as you can on each leaf. Place tightly in an oven-proof dish. Heat the cream (no need for it to boil) and stir in the veal stock. Poor the cream sauce over the cabbage rolls. Place in the oven and bake for about 50 minutes. Serve with potatoes and lingon- or cranberry sauce.

Lamb with sweet spices

It was my oldest daughter's first day back at school yesterday. At drop-off (after a hectic morning trying to remember all the bits and pieces she has to bring) she seemed very content as she chatted to her friends and hardly noticed me and her little sister waving goodbye. Everyday after school I try to get her to tell me a thing or to about what has happened but it is usually "I can't remember, mummy" and then she's off on her scooter to catch up with one of her friends. Good thing I know from the school bulletin what she has for lunch, at least, so I can ask leading questions like "were the fish fingers nice today" when I know that she's had pasta. That usually triggers an answer. One thing I have thought about is this lamb obsession that is going on. Once a week they get served lamb like lamb lasagna or lamb bolognese. Also, from friends in Sweden using a service where you get sent home ingredients for the week's dinners which you then cook yourself, I know that there is some sort of lamb fetish among chefs with lamb burgers being served left, right and centre. Not being a huge fan myself apart from perfectly cooked lamb racks I thought I had to give a couple of child friendly recipes a try. Here's one that might have won me and my kids over by the look of their plates last night. 

Lamb with sweet spices (original recipe in Swedish can be found here http://hemmafru.taffel.se/2009/09/03/arabisk-lammfarsgryta-med-sota-kryddor

Ingredients (for 4 people)
400g lamb mince
2 onions
2 cloves of garlic
1-2 carrots
1 tsp cardamom seeds
2 cinnamon sticks
1 dl of white wine
1 tin of chickpeas
1 tbsp honey
1 dl creamed coconut (or open a tin of coconut milk and use only the thick cream that usually gathers at the top of the tin)
6 apricots, chopped
1 small pomegranate
1 small bunch of fresh mint leaves
a dollop of greek yogurt to serve

Preparation
Chop the onions, garlic and slice the carrots. Heat a pan and add some olive oil and then cook the onions, garlic and slice on low heat for 5 minutes. Remove from pan and place on a plate.

Add the lamb mince to the pan and cook through. Then add back the onions, garlic, carrots and chopped apricots.

Grind the cardamom seeds in a pestle and mortar then add to the pan along with the cinnamon sticks, rinsed chickpeas and white wine. Cook until the moisture has absorbed a bit.

Add the coconut cream and let it melt in the pan. Add honey, salt and pepper to taste.

Sprinkle with chopped mint, pomegranate seeds and serve with rice and a dollop of greek yoghurt.