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.

Weekly menu and shopping list

Dear readers, 

I have taken the leap into committing to offering up the service of a suggested weekly menu including a shopping list. I will put together a menu of already existing recipes from this blog, add a shopping list and post it every Thursday (or so I'll try) so you have time to do the relevant shopping for the following week. In the meantime I am trying out new recipes on my little family and if they are received with standing ovations, empty plates and full tummies I'll post them here for you to try out too.  

This week I've done a lamb shank recipe from my favourite food blogger and another recipe of adobe from the Swedish food blogger of the year 2011. They were only just ok on my palate but I've had a bad cold which might have played up with my taste buds. The rest of the family seemed to like them both. Recipes now up for re-trial. 

Lamb shanks with couscous, peaches and pistachios

Weekly menu Feb 6, 2012

Monday: Kalops

Tuesday: Salmon Teriyaki (I have doubled the recipe in the shopping list to be enough for 4 people)

Wednesday: Lamb with sweet spices

Thursday: Coq au vin

Friday: Italian meatballs (for a good batch and some to put in the freezer)

Shopping list

400 g chuck steak 

4 salmon fillets 

400g lamb mince

4 chicken thigh fillets

800 g minced beef

100 g cubed pancetta

1 egg

3 dl of milk
1 dl grated parmesan

a dollop of greek yogurt 

4 carrots

2 parsnips

4 onions

6-8 small brown or red onions

12 cloves of garlic

1 tumbsize piece of fresh ginger

2 portabella mushrooms
2 handfuls of babyplum or cherry tomatoes

a couple of sprigs of lemon thyme
1 dl frozen soya beans

zest of 1 lemon

25 g of chopped parsley

2 cans of chopped tomatoes (or fresh tomatoes)

1 dl of white wine

1 dl red wine
1 tin of chickpeas

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)

1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp honey

1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 1/2 dl breadcrumbs

6 apricots, chopped
1 pomegranate (for two dinners)
1 small bunch of fresh mint leaves

2 tbsp corn flower

3 tbsp chicken stock 

2 tbsp veal stock

3 bay leaves

10 allspice berries

1 tsp white peppercorns

2 tbsp japanese soy sauce

1 tbsp mirin

1 tbsp sesame oil 

sesame seeds

1 tsp cardamom seeds
2 cinnamon sticks

butter

olive oil

Good night! 

Seriously ugly looking food

Ok, now don't be put off by the look of this beef casserole. It's lack of beauty is made up for in taste, honestly!  It's a traditional Swedish dish but actually has an English name. Kalops comes from collops which is the plural word for collop or slice of meat.

My paternal Grandmother would invite our family of seven and my Aunts family of six for dinner in her beautiful flat in Gothenburg. It was a very stately affair and all five of us kids would be dressed up and well behaved, at least during dinner. I remember the smell when entering her flat and this is exactly what our house smelled like yesterday when I cooked Kalops. Ritz crackers with various cheese for starters, then kalops with perfectly cooked potatoes as main. I had to think a bit about dessert, by that time the kids had probably been excused.  We  would find our way into my father's old room to look at his toys. I remember thinking of him as a little boy lying in his bed or doing his homework at his desk. This dish is a small homage to my Grandmother, the woman who raised my beloved and deeply missed Dad. 

Kalops

Ingredients
400 g chuck steak in 2 cm pieces
1 tbsp butter

2 carrots

2 parsnips

1 onion
1 tsp salt

1 bay leaf

10 allspice berries

1 tsp white peppercorns
water to cover
extra salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Peel and cut the carrots, parsnips and onions into large pieces. Heat the butter in a pan and brown the meat on all sides. Then remove the meat and add the carrots, parsnips and onion for a few minutes. Place the meat, carrots, parsnips and onion in a casserole, add the salt, bay leaf, allspice berries, white pepper. Add enough water to cover everything. Cover with a lid and cook for 1,5-2 hours. The meat should be very tender and almost fall to pieces when you cut it.

Remove the meat, some of vegetables and bay leaf. Whiz the remaining vegetables into a sauce and thin with water if desired. Add back the meat and vegetables, heat if necessary. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

The kids and husband ate with good appetite and it is a dead easy dish to prepare but as I said, not a looker!

You can't eat soup every day!

The cold I caught just before my birthday managed to get the best of me last week too. Only really did the most essential stuff so that I'd have some energy left for the girly lunch I had planned at my place on Friday. Which of course meant I didn't manage to take photos or post here. During the weekend the rest of the family followed my lead and so we have spent it convalescing. Around lunchtime on Saturday I put the little one to sleep and left the other two in each others' company watching a movie in bed, grabbed a quick lunch and my new cookbooks for an hour of exhilarating inspiration. See, I am so easy to please! 

The soup was left-over from Friday's lunch and I've had it for lunch both Saturday and Sunday to the point where my oldest said "Mummy, you can't have soup every day!" She probably thought it was some sort of treat, like the Saturday sweets she is used to, as I made these aaahs and ooohs every time I tasted a spoonful. Parsnip and coconut soup with ginger and lime. Today I had it with a toasty of my homemade sourdough fruit and nut bread full of delicious gruyere cheese, then a latte and my healthy muesli biscuits baked from one of my newly acquired cookbooks. 

I've just put all the food shopping away for next week's dinners. We are starting off with a Swedish dish called Kalops, a beef stew with succulent meat and allspice served with beetroots. 

Tuesday: favourite salmon teriyaki

Wednesday: Lamb shanks with couscous and peaches

Thursday: Pasta with tuna and tomato sauce

Friday: Adobo on chicken

By end of this week, you'll have these recipes and then I'll put together a shopping list for you so if you want, you can just copy paste the dinner recipes from this week to the next including the shopping list. 

Hope you've had a good weekend! 

Parsnip and coconut soup 

Original recipe Parsnip and coconut soup

Ingredients for 4 

3 parsnips

1 large leek

2 cloves of garlic

2 tbsp vegetable stock (I use liquid)

400 ml tinned coconut milk

2 lime

1/2 thumb of fresh ginger

green chili 

fish sauce to taste

Preparation

Peel the parsnips and chop into 2 cm pieces, slice the leek and garlic. Place in a large pan, cover with water, add 2 tbsp of vegetable stock. (I added half a small medium hot green chili too since the kids were not eating this). Cook until the parsnips are soft. 

When cooked, whiz into a smooth texture with a hand mixer. Add the coconut milk, add water to thin if necessary. 

Grate the zest of the lime. Peel and grate the ginger then squeeze out the juice and discard the fibrous left-overs. Add the ginger juice and lime zest, add a bit of lime juice and season to taste with fish sauce, salt and pepper.

Girly lunch! 

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.

Simplest noodles with chicken and vegetables

If you prepare the vegetable chopping this takes about 10 mins to make. Ah, I can hear a sigh of relief. It is not a particularly sophisticated dish and might not beat the competition to a Saturday dinner but it works a treat on a Thursday when the weariness starts kicking in. Everybody eats and for the adventurous there is a jar of sambal oelek to cleanse the taste buds.

Ingredients
Medium sized egg noodles
4 chicken fillets
2 carrots
2 handfuls of mange tout
1 red onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 mini courgettes
a neutral oil like rapeseed oil
1 lime (another to serve if you like)
1 thumb size fresh ginger
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp sugar
2 handfuls of cashews to serve
fresh coriander (for those who like it)
Sambal oelek to serve

Preparation
Peel and slice the carrots, onion and garlic finely. Slice the mange tout on the diagonal, slice the courgettes finely. Peel the ginger and grate it, then squeeze the juice out and discard the fibrous left-overs. Grind the coriander seeds in a pestle and mortar. Chop the chicken fillets in smallish bits.

Fill the kettle with water once it is boiling pour it into a pan and add the noodles. Cook according to instructions, then drain and cover with a lid.

Heat a frying pan and roast the cashews for a few minutes. Remove the cashews and pour in some rapeseed oil, add the chicken and season with salt. Cook for a few minutes, then remove, pour in some more oil and add the vegetables. Cook for a few minutes and then add back the chicken, ginger juice, coriander seeds, soy sauce, fish sauce and sugar. Cook for a few minutes then mix in the cooked noodles. Serve with cashews and fresh coriander.

Pork belly ribs with plum sauce and root vegetables

I first had roast pork belly at the Boxwood cafe in Knightsbridge (Gordon Ramsay's restaurant, now closed) quite a few years ago. Although the sound of it and indeed the look of it with all that fat would put any health conscious person off, it is such a treat for children. Cooking it slowly makes the meat juicy, very tender and full of flavour. Easily chewed down by little teeth. It was the first time I cooked it today but it seemed to go down well. I served it with a plum sauce and baked root vegetables; parsnips, onions, cauliflower, hazelnuts. I meant to add the remaining plums from the plum sauce but somebody had eaten them...

I bought the pork belly with ribs as my original recipe called for it and I wasn't experienced enough to question it but the guys at my local butcher, The Parson's Nose, helped me out. They are used to an international crowd arriving with requests for weird cuts of meet and always try to accommodate their customers. 

Roast Pork Belly (with or without ribs). Ask your butcher to score the crackling for you. 

Ingredients

1 kg for 4 persons ( I cooked 1,5 kgs with ribs but there is some left)

2 tbsp soy sauce

olive oil

1 tbsp fennel seeds

1 tsp coriander seeds

salt and pepper

Preparation

Pre-heat the oven to 240ºC grill

Grind the fennel and coriander seeds in a pestle and mortar. Rub the pork belly with soy sauce, olive oil then sprinkle the skin with the seeds, leaving about 1tsp for the plum sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Place skin-side up in an oven-proof dish and leave to cook for 30 minutes. Then lower heat to 160º, pour 2,5 dl of water in the dish and leave for about 1,5 hours. Add more water if it dries up. When it is cooked you can wrap it in aluminium foil but keep it open on top not to soften the crackling. 

Plum sauce

6 plums

1 thumb size fresh ginger

2 cinnamon sticks

1 tsp of fennel and coriander seeds (as mentioned above)

4 tbsp red wine vinegar

8 tbsp brown sugar

olive oil

6 tbsp water

Preparation

Chop the plums in small pieces, remove the stones. Peal and grate the ginger, squeeze the juice out of it and discard the fibrous left-overs. Heat some oil in a pan and add the plums, ginger juice, cinnamon sticks, fennel and coriander seeds, vinegar, sugar and water. Cook until it is as thick as syrup. 

Vegetables (original recipe, changed a bit by me, can be found here Lotta Lundgren)

half a small head of cauliflower

4 medium sized parsnips

2 red onions

4 plums

2 handfuls of hazelnuts 

salt and pepper

olive oil

agave or maple syrup

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 200ºC. Separate the cauliflower into small florets, peel and cut the parsnips into 2 cm chunks, peel and cut the onions into 4 wedges, de-stone the plums and cut in half. Place in a baking tray, pour over olive oil and syrup then season with salt and pepper. Place in the oven and leave for 30 mins. When there is about 5 mins left of the cooking time add the hazelnuts. The cauliflower goes a bit brown but it is supposed to happen. 

Timing wise I cooked the pork earlier in the day and left it out wrapped in aluminium foil while I did the rest. It was still nice and warm when we ate it. It might sound complicated but is a very forgiving piece of meet to cook.