Pasta with green pea pesto and feta cheese

I think I have mentioned previously that I'm going to start on a part-time MBA program in September. I love science, but I want to learn more about business and finance and hopefully that will give me more opportunities in the future.

Anyhow, the MBA tuition fee isn't exactly cheap, so right now I need to save a lot of money. Fingers crossed, I might get a scholarship, but otherwise I'll have to live on quite a restricted budget for the next two years. One area I need to spend less money on is food. I'm already quite good at saving money when it comes to food as I cook most of my own meals for example and I try to eat according to the seasons (so no expensive strawberries in January for example). Still, I need to improve. So from now on (or actually since beginning of the summer, this is a recipe I did earlier but didn't manage to post at the time), this will be a gourmet on the cheap blog. It is possibly to eat great food for very little money.

This dish is one example that food doesn't have to cost a lot, or be complicated to do, to be delicious. I used one of my staples, frozen green peas, in this dish. If you have fresh green peas you can use that instead, but green peas is one of the few vegetables that I think freeze really well.

I use the term 'pesto' in the loosest possible way here, as there is no pine nuts or parmesan in this recipe, just peas, basil, onions and spices blended to a 'pesto' like sauce.

Pasta with green pea pesto and feta cheese (serves 4-6)
500 g pasta, I used conchiglie
5 (3 +2) dl green peas, fresh or frozen
1 yellow onion, finely diced
3 garlic cloves, finely diced
1 lemon, zest
1 tsp lemon juice
1 dl chicken stock
1 pinch of chili flakes
2 dl fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
200 g feta cheese, diced
olive oil
salt and pepper

Start with heating up a large pot with salted water for the pasta.

Add the pasta to the boiling water.

While the pasta cooks, prepare the sauce.

If you use frozen peas, cover the peas with boiling water for 1 min, then drain

In a frying pan, saute the onion, garlic, chili flakes and lemon zest for a couple of minutes.

Add 3 dl of peas and the chicken stock to the frying pan, simmer for a couple of minutes

Add the peas with the stock and spices to a blender, add the basil, lemon juice and a drizzle of olive oil and mix to a smooth consistency. Taste, and add more salt, pepper, or lemon juice if required.

Drain the pasta, stir in the pea pesto, 2 dl green peas, and the feta cheese.

Smaklig måltid!

Pizza with radicchio and gorgonzola

I and my sister J went to Sardinia for a weekend earlier this year. We both live abroad, I in London and J in Århus in Denmark. We see each other a couple of times a year, but I do miss my sister and want to see her more. So last year we decided to start going for a weekend away just the two of us once a year instead of buying Christmas and birthday presents. The first sister weekend was this year in Alghero on Sardinia. We had a lovely time, despite quite a lot of rain, and of course we had a lot of good food. In Alghero I had one of the best pizzas I ever had was with radicchio and gorgonzola.

When I got home, I decided to try to recreate it. The recipes I used for the pizza dough and tomato sauce are both recommendations from J, who got them from the Swedish food magazine Allt om mat The result was great, with crisp thin dough topped with slightly bitter radicchio and cheesy gorgonzola. Yum yum yum.

The recipe below is for one large pizza. Any leftover dough can be used to make bread rolls or can be frozen and used later. Likewise leftover tomato sauce can be used on pasta or frozen to be used another day.

Pizza with radicchio and gorgonzola (serves 2)
Pizza dough
3 dl water
15 g dried yeast, I use Sainsbury's fast action dried yeast
4 dl strong flour
1.25 tsp salt
1.25 tbsp olive oil

Tomato sauce
1 can of whole tomatoes of good quality
1 garlic clove, minced
5 tbsp olive oil
0.5 tsp black pepper
1 tsp sugar
2 bay leaves
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp oregano
1 sprig of fresh rosemary
salt

Topping
4 small radicchio heads, roughly chopped
250 g gorgonzola, cubed
100 g mozzarella, sliced
olive oil
black pepper

Start by making the dough by mixing flour with yeast and salt.

Heat up the water to 45C and add to the flour mix. Knead the dough for 10-20 min. If necessary, add more flour

Add the olive oil to the dough and knead for another 5 min. The dough should be elastic and easy to work with. Add additional flour if necessary

Cover with a tea towel and leave to prove for 40 min

Take up the dough and knead for a couple of minutes and then divide the dough into two balls. Lightly dust the dough with flour and leave on a tray covered with a lightly damp tea towel to prove for another hour

While the dough is proving, make the tomato sauce

First lightly fry the garlic in the olive oil in a medium sized pot

Add all spices, herbs and sugar and saute for 1 min, then add the tomatoes. Lightly crush the tomatoes

Cover the pot with a lid, and simmer the sauce on low heat for 30 min

Mix the sauce using a blender or stick blender to a smooth consistency. Add salt to taste. Let the sauce cool down before use

Heat up the oven to 300C. If you have a pizza stone, heat it up, otherwise do like I did and heat up a large flat oven tray

With a rolling pin, roll out one of the dough balls into a thin rectangular shape the same size as the oven tray for one large pizza. I do this on a baking sheet dusted with flour, as I think it makes it easier to transfer the pizza to the oven tray. If one dough ball is not enough, use also part of the other one. Otherwise you can freeze the leftover dough for another day

Cover lightly with tomato sauce. Don't add a thick layer, as it will usually make the pizza too doughy and it won't cook properly

Drizzle the radicchio with olive oil and sprinkle it over the pizza. It will look like a lot of radicchio, but it will wilt and shrink when it's cooking. Sprinkle over the cheese

Take out the hot tray or pizza stone from the oven, slide on the pizza and put it back in the oven

Cook for 5-10 min

Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper

Smaklig måltid!

Potato gnocchi with tomato sauce

I've tried making gnocchi before, and it was a disaster. Instead of beautiful fluffy potato pillows, I got chewy and doughy clumps...., quite disgusting. I wanted to give gnocchi another go, and after reading loads of different recipes, I decided to use one of my food heroes, Jamie Oliver's, recipe. This recipe use baked potatoes instead of boiled potatoes, the idea is that this will result in drier and fluffier potatoes for the gnocchi, thus requiring less flour and lighter gnocchi. I was so right to trust Jamie, the result was great! I served the gnocchi with tomato sauce and Parmesan, but if you want to be really indulgent, serve with Gorgonzola cheese and fried sage....

If you aren't cooking all the gnocchi, they can be frozen on a tray. Once frozen, they can be stored in bags and then cooked by dropping directly into boiling water for 1-2 min, super easy when you need a quick meal.

Gnocchi with tomato sauce (serves 4)
Gnocchi
750 g potatoes
1-2 egg yolks (1 large or 2 small)
1 tsp salt
1-2 dl flour
0.5 tsp black pepper
1 pinch grated nutmeg

Tomato sauce
1 can of high quality tomatoes
1 garlic bulb, cloves sliced in thin sections
1 tbsp capers, finely chopped
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp fresh basil, finely chopped
0.5 tsp dried oregano
1 bay leaf
1 pinch of chili flakes
1 pinch of sugar
salt and black pepper

olive oil

Parmesan cheese, grated
black pepper

Bake the potatoes at 225C for about an hour until soft

While the potatoes are cooking, make the tomato sauce. First saute the garlic in olive oil in a pot on gentle heat for 2-3 min, then add the capers and chili flakes. Saute for another minute, then add tomatoes, tomato paste, vinegar, sugar, and herbs. Simmer for 30 min. Add water during the cooking if the sauce starts to get to thick or dry. Add salt and black pepper to taste.

Let the potatoes cool slightly, and then, while they are still warm, scoop out the flesh. Put the potatoes through a ricer or sieve into a large bowl

Add the egg yolk(s), salt, pepper, and nutmeg, stir into the potatoes. Add enough flour to bind the mixture until you have a doughy consistency. The dough should keep together, but be soft and supple without being wet or sticky. Be careful not to add too much flour as the more flour added the firmer the gnocchi will be.

Divide the dough into three parts, and on a flour dusted surface, roll each part out into long roll around 2 cm wide

Cut the rolls into 1-2 cm long pieces, and using a fork lightly press down on each piece to make a ribbed pattern

Let the gnocchi rest for 10-15 min on a floured tray.

Cook the gnocchi in gently boiling salted water for 1-2 min, or until they float to the surface

Serve with the tomato sauce, a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese and freshly ground black pepper

Smaklig måltid!

Artichoke and feta dip

I don't know how you feel when you leave work, but I'm usually starving. In fact, I would say that I'm pretty ready at that stage to do almost anything for something to eat. And I hate anyone who gets on the train with food (I'm talking to you, blonde girl who gets on in Harrow with a hamburger every night!), because I so envy them.

This is the worst time for me when it comes to trying to eat healthily, as I have absolutely no will power when I'm hungry and it is so easy to buy some nuts, a muffin or crisps on my way home. I've tried taking fruit with me to eat on the train home, but find that it doesn't really satisfy me, and for awhile I've instead brought mini houmus pots and some vegetables.

I really like houmus, I do, but recently I find it quite boring, and the full fat one is quite heavy on the calories anyway. The broccoli dip I posted about quite recently is an attempt at getting away from houmus, but it's really best when freshly made, so not ideal for me as I like to be able to do a batch and use it for a week.

So I needed to come up with something new. A dip that would be salty, savoury, easy to make, and could be done as a batch. The solution was this artichoke and feta cheese dip. It is not pretty, to cite my friend Sigrid - the winner of Swedish Masterchef, 'I do ugly food that tastes good'. So no, it won't win any beauty contests, but wow, does it taste good! This is definitely my new favourite dip. Great as a dip for vegetables, and also as a spread on bread. You could also have it on crostini and serve as canapes.

Artichoke and feta dip
180 g of grilled artichokes
100 g feta cheese
2 tbsps quark (or you could use cream cheese, sour cream or creme fraiche)
1 small garlic clove, crushed
1 tbsp lemon juice
0.5 tsp honey
1 pinch salt
1 pinch black pepper
1 pinch chili flakes

Mix all the ingredients, I used a stick blender

Taste, and add more lemon or spices if needed

Serve as a dip for vegetables or as a spread on bread

Stored in an airtight container in the fridge, it will last up to one week (well, it can be stored that long, but if you're like me, it really won't last that long...)

Salty licorice chocolate truffles

Hi, my name is Saga and I'm addicted to salty licorice.

Salty licorice is hugely popular in Scandinavia, and it is by far my favourite type of sweets. I really do get cravings for it, and I cannot have it at home without devouring it immediately. Anytime anyone comes to visit me from Scandinavia, they have to bring salty licorice to me. When the cravings gets to bad, I also usually go to Scandinavian kitchen at Great Titchfield st or Totally Swedish on Crawford st for a hit. Cyber candy in Angel and Covent garden also have salty licorice, but the most impressive store is a new sweets shop in Covent garden on Long Acre, Sugar sin. It is owned by two Swedish sisters, and they have an impressive range of Scandinavian sweets that you can pick n mix. The shop is so cute, with old-fashioned sweets jars. I highly recommend a visit if you like sweets, and in particular if you share my addiction of salty licorice.

Sugar Sin. Picture borrowed from Hop Interiors, where you can see more pics and read an interview with the owners of Sugar Sin.

I love the combination of salty licorice and chocolate, it is a match made in heaven combining to great things into one! My favourite one is Fazer's Salmiakki, with a soft salty licorice centre encased in milk chocolate. Marabou Black, with milk chocolate and splinters of salty licorice, is pretty good too. Inspired by these two, I decided to try to make my own chocolate truffles with salty licorice. After a quick googling I found a recipe at Söta saker, that I tweaked by adding milk chocolate and adding more salty licorice. The result was delicious! I will definitely make these again.

Salty licorice chocolate truffles (20 truffles)
100 g milk chocolate, chopped
100 g 60% dark chocolate, chopped
1 dl double cream
1-1.5 dl salty licorice (I used Turkisk peppar), crushed

Start by splintering the salty licorice. Place the salty licorice caramels into double plastic bags, and place onto a tea towel. Using a hammer, crush the caramels. You want a quite coarse powder with some larger pieces.

Heat up the cream, and pour into a bowl over the chopped chocolate. Stir until the chocolate has completely melted and you have a soft even mix

Stir in the salty licorice. Reserve 1-2 tsp of the finer powder for decoration. How much salty licorice to add is a matter of taste, I added quite a lot.

Pour the truffle mix into a small square tray lined with baking paper. The truffle mix should be approx 1 cm high.

Sprinkle with the licorice powder, then leave the tray in the fridge for about one hour

Transfer the now hardened truffle to a cutting board and remove the paper. Using a sharp knife, cut it into 2 x 2 cm square truffles

Store in the fridge until serving

Lemon curd chocolate truffles

This Easter have been very food orientated, went to two Easter dinners two days in a row for example, and really indulged in heaps of delicious food. For the first dinner, I made white chocolate and lemon curd truffles, and they were a definite hit. My only creative streak is cooking, as was very clear when we during the party played the boardgame Cranium... As part of the game, I had to try to make a microscope out of clay, you would think with me being a scientist that would be easy, but I so failed at that. Very embarrassing.

Anyhow, this is an incredibly easy recipe, and the result is amazing. Soft lemony centres encased with white chocolate, yummy! I used Sainsbury's Taste the difference lemon curd (my preferred ready made one) as I didn't have a lot of time, but of course the truffles may be even better with homemade curd. Something I really would like to try is to do the same with blood orange curd or rhubarb curd, I think that would be really lovely too.

For the white chocolate encasing the centres, I used white chocolate chips. These melt at a higher temperature, and thus doesn't melt as easily in room temperature, making it easier to serve and eat the truffles

Lemon curd chocolate truffles (20 truffles)
200 g white chocolate (I used Green & Black's), chopped
1 dl lemon curd
1 tbsp double cream
200 g white chocolate chips

Melt the white chocolate. I usually melt chocolate in a glass bowl in the microwave the following way and find that it usually gives a perfect result without burning the chocolate: Start with 1 min at full effect, stir the chocolate, and then stir every 10-15 sec at full effect until completely melted

Stir in the double cream.

Stir in the lemon curd, one tablespoon at the time, until you have smooth glossy mixture.

Leave the filling in the freezer for 1 h

Using a melon scoop or a teaspoon, take out balls of the filling and use your hands to shape them further into spheres. This is quite messy to do, try to work as quickly as possible to avoid the filling to become to soft and start melting

Put the chocolate/lemon curd balls back in the freezer for 1 h to harden before dipping them in white chocolate

Melt the white chocolate chips.

Stick a toothpick into each lemon curd ball, and dip them into the melted chocolate. Leave on a sheet of baking paper to harden.

Store in the freezer or fridge until serving

Broccoli garlic dip

Reading a recent post on Picki picki about broccoli side dishes reminded me of a broccoli dip/spread/sauce I used to do quite frequently last year, and I made it again last weekend. I use it as a spread on fresh bread, or as a dip for carrots when I'm trying to be healthy (while conveniently forgetting the fact there is quite a bit of cheese in the dip), or I stir it into pasta for a quick dinner.

The dip can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for a couple of days but loose some of its vibrant green colour.

Broccoli garlic dip
1 medium-sized heads of broccoli
1 lemon, juice
2 garlic cloves, minced
3-4 tbsp olive oil
100 g parmesan, grated
a pinch of chili flakes
salt and pepper

Cook the broccoli florets in lightly salted water for 2-3 min.

Drain the water and mix the broccoli with the other ingredients. I use a stick blender to do this.

Add salt and pepper to taste

Enjoy!

And since that was such a quick recipe, you now have time to see Peacock, a lovely film with a fanatastic performance by Cillian Murphy :)

Swedish semlor

I'm baaaack!!!

Hi and merry Christmas and Happy New Years and long time no see. So, I decided to continue. I do like blogging about food, but I might add a post or two about other stuff too.

First out is a recipe for semlor (semla sing, semlor pl), a cardamon flavoured sweet bun filled with almond paste and whipped cream, traditionally eaten on Shrove's day, or, as it's called in Sweden, Fat Tuesday. Here in the UK the tradition is to eat pancakes on this day, usually with lemon and sugar. Really tasty too, but almost nothing beats a semla. Fat Tuesday was this week, but I hadn't time to bake then and therefore baked this weekend instead.

The other reason I decided to bake semlor is that it reminds me of home. My grandma always makes here own, usually smaller than the one's you find at the bakeries, and with her homemade slightly chunky almond paste. I thought a lot about my grandparents and family during the past weeks, as my granddad has been very ill and sadly passed away a couple of days ago. Sometimes it is very hard being an expat, you never feel more far away than on occasions like this.

Anyhow, I used a basic semla recipe, but I tweaked it a bit by adding more cardamon and changing the filling slightly. Here in the UK, you can't find mandelmassa, a less sweet almond paste compared to marzipan, and I like my filling to really taste of almonds and be a bit chunkier, like my grandma's, so I added chopped almonds to it.

The result was delicious, so delicious I had more than two. The exact number will however remain a secret as it's slightly embarrassing. In particular as I still managed to eat a full dinner....

Semlor (12 buns)
7.5 dl strong wheat flour
25 g dried yeast
0.75 dl sugar
2 tsp ground cardamon
a pinch of salt
100 g butter
2.5 dl milk
1 egg, beaten

Filling
200 g marzipan or mandelmassa
150 g chopped almonds
0.5 dl milk or cream

5 dl whipped cream

Mix flour, yeast, sugar, cardamon, and salt together in a large bowl

Melt the butter, add the milk and warm to 40C, slightly hotter than finger temperature

Add the butter and milk to the flour mix, stir together to a dough.

Knead the dough for a couple of minuter, add more flour if necessary.

Leave the dough in the bowl, covered with a tea towel, to rise for 45 min

Divide the dough into 12 pieces, roll each to a small bun, and place on a buttered oven tray.

Cover with a tea towel and leave to raise for another 30 min

Brush the buns with egg wash

Bake for 10-15 min in the middle of the oven at 225C

Remove from the hot oven tray and let the buns cool down

To make the filling, coarsely grate the marzipan (this is easiest to do if you first leave it in the freezer for 30 min) and mix together with the chopped almonds and milk.

Whip the cream, it should still be a little loose

Cut of a thin lid from the buns. Scoop out a hole in the middle of the bun, this additional bread can be added to the almond paste if you like (I usually don't bother...).

Add the almond paste to the bun, and also add a generous amount of whipped cream. Place the lid on top. If you like, sprinkle the lid with icing sugar (I didn't have any at home, and don't think it's really necessary).

Enjoy!

Red lentil and feta lasagne

I'm going to move out of my flat in West Hampstead in about a month's time. As I'm putting all my stuff in storage for the first 6 weeks while I'm lucky enough to go traveling in China and Laos, I'm trying to finish off all the food in my cupboards. Feels a bit unnecessary to pack lots of dry goods like rice and bulgur in boxes to store for two months, and believe me, I have enough stuff that needs to be packed as it is....

This recipe come about so that I could finish off my red lentils, some leftover red wine, and because I was in a mood for comfort food, and to me lasagne is for sure all about delicious comfort.

Red lentil and feta lasagne (4-6 portions)
2.5 dl red lentils
1 can of chopped tomatoes
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
0.5 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp oregano
a pinch of sugar
a pinch of dry flaked chili
2 dl of chicken or vegetable stock
2 dl of red wine
250 g of fresh or dry lasagna sheets (if you use dry lasagna sheets, you can speed up the cooking time in the oven by
5 dl milk
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp butter
300 g feta cheese, grated
olive oil
salt and pepper

Saute onions and garlic in a little olive oil in a large frying pan for a couple of minutes.

Add the lentils, wine, stock, sugar and spices. Let simmer for 20-30 min until the lentils are soft. Add more water if the sauce starts to go dry before the lentils are cooked. Add salt and pepper to taste. It shouldn't be too salty as the bechamel sauce with feta will be quite salty

Make a bechamel sauce: Start by melting the butter in a medium sized pot, then add the flour and stir on low heat to form a paste.

Add the milk and bring up to nearly boiling, all the time stirring to avoid the sauce to burn. Continue to simmer, whilst stirring, on lower heat until the sauce reaches desired thickness.

Add 2/3 of the feta cheese to the sauce and stir until the cheese is dissolved. Remove the pot from the heat, and add nutmeg, pepper and salt to taste.

Layer lasagna sheets, the lentil sauce and bechamel sauce in a oven dish. Top with a layer of bechamel sauce and the remainder of the feta cheese.

Cook for 20-30 min in the middle of the oven.

Enjoy with a fresh salad like rocket, spinach and watercress with a little olive oil and lemon juice.

Lemon coconut biscuits

Since I moved to the UK I've really developed an addiction to biscuits. Today I'm working from home and really fancied something sweet, but our cupboards were completely devoid of even the tiniest crumble of biscuits or sweets, so I decided to bake something instead. This is an easy recipe based on what I could find at home. These biscuits are heavenly, melt in your mouth delicious, with a light lemon flavour and a bit of crunch from the coconut.

Lemon and coconut biscuits (15 biscuits)
100 g butter
0.75 dl sugar
zest from 1 lemon
1 tsp baking powder
1.5 dl flaked coconut
1 dl ground almond
1.5 dl flour

Preheat the oven to 150C.

Cream butter and sugar, stir in lemon zest and baking powder.

Stir almond, coconut and flour into the butter mix.

Roll out the cookie dough into a 2-3 cm wide log, and cut into 1 cm slices.

Transfer slices onto a buttered baking sheet and flatten slightly with a fork.

Bake for around 15 min.

Let cool slightly and devour with a cup of tea or coffee.

Spaghetti alla Norma - pasta with roasted aubergine

I love Italian food! A lot of my appreciation and first insight into how to cook Italian food is thanks to Davide, who I was living with when I moved to London the first time to work as a waitress, and who is an amazing cook. One of my most memorable meals will always be the 10 (!) course dinner he cooked when I decided to go back to Sweden to study.

Spaghetti alla Norma is a classic Sicilian recipe with tomatoes and fried aubergine. It is delicious, but that aubergine really do soak up a shocking amount of olive oil. Something I really like is the Middle Eastern dish baba ganoush, a dip of roasted smokey aubergine, so I decided to instead of frying the ingredients for this dish, I would roast them in the oven instead. The result was delicious, with a soft smokiness and that rich flavour of roasted garlic and roasted peppers.

Spaghetti alla Norma - Sicilian pasta with roasted aubergine (4 portions)
2 small-medium aubergines
2 red peppers
2 red chillies
1 large red onion
1 garlic bulb
1 can of good quality plum or cherry tomatoes
small bunch of fresh basil
1 tbsp capers
0.5 tsp smoked paprika
a pinch of sugar
olive oil
salt and pepper
parmesan or pecorino cheese, grated

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Cleave the aubergines lengthwise. Add a little olive oil at the bottom of a oven tray, and place the aubergine halves with the cut side down in the tray. Drizzle with a little more olive oil. Roast in the oven for 45 min until the aubergines are black and wrinkled. Take out and let cool down. Once cold enough to handle, scrape out the soft flesh.

While the aubergines are roasting, half and take out the seeds of the red peppers and chillies. Place in another oven tray, and add the quartered onion.

Cut of the top of the garlic bulb, exposing the cloves within. Place in the tray with the peppers, chillies and onion, and drizzle olive oil over all the vegetables. Roast for about 25 min until the skin of the peppers and chillies are charred and the garlic cloves are soft.

Take the charred peppers and chillies and place in a plastic bag and leave it to cool down (the steam coming off in the bag will make them easier to peel). Once cold enough the handle, remove the skin and squeeze out the garlic cloves.

Using a blender, blend all the roasted vegetables, including onions and garlics, with the canned tomatoes, basil, capers and smoked paprika. If I would do this during the summer, I would roast 4-5 good tomatoes as well, but as it is so difficult to find good tomatoes at this time of year, I opted for good canned tomatoes instead.

Add a pinch of sugar, and salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with spaghetti and grate over some parmesan or pecorino cheese when serving.

Enjoy!

Apricot and meringue cake

Today it was my turn to bake for the cake club at work. We take turns bringing in cakes, it's an easy way of making a boring Monday slightly better. Belonging to a cake club makes me feel a bit... old? It's not very rebellious at least. Maybe it is time to admit that I'm 35, and the most exciting thing happening on Monday is not a cool gig anymore, it is being treated to a piece of cake.

Whatever reason you've got to make a cake, you should make this golden cake. It's got a light sponge, filled with apricot compote, and topped with meringue. It was best at the day of making it, as the meringue was still a bit crunchy. It was still good today at the cake club, but then the meringue was more like a soft marshmallow fluff.

The apricot compote is also great spread on toast or with a croissant. Or maybe on porridge or in yoghurt if you want to be a bit more healthy. But in that case, maybe you shouldn't be reading cake recipes :)

Apricot and meringue cake
Sponge
5 egg yolks
175 g butter
2 dl sugar
2 cm fresh ginger, grated
zest from 1 lemon
1.5 tsp baking powder
4 tbsp milk
1.5 dl flour

Meringue
5 egg whites
2 dl sugar
2 tbsp ground almond
1 dl chopped blanched almonds (or use flaked almond, I was going to but forgot to buy it and therefore used chopped almonds instead)

Apricot compote
250 g dried apricots
juice from 1 lemon
1 dl water

Preheat the oven to 175C.

Butter and bread a 30 x 20 cm rectangular cake tin, or a 24 cm round cake tin.

Stir sugar and butter together until smooth, then add the egg yolks one at the time

Stir in lemon zest, ginger, baking powder and milk.

Finally add the flour and stir until you've got a smooth batter

Pour the batter into the cake tin.

Make the meringue by first beating the egg whites until stiff.

Then add the sugar and whisk for a couple more minutes

Cover the cake batter with the meringue topping. You might not need all of the meringue, you want around a 3 cm uneven layer

Sprinkle the cake with ground almond and chopped almonds

Bake for 20-30C, or until the meringue has settled and the cake is done.

Leave the cake to cool.

While the cake is baking, make the apricot compote.

Add apricots, lemon juice and water to a pot.

Simmer whilst stirring on low heat until you have a smooth glossy compote (takes around 10-15 min). If necessary add more water if the compote starts to get dry while you cook it.

Let the compote cool.

Divide the cake into two halves

Cover the bottom one with the apricot compote and then sandwich the two together

Rhubarb mousse

I'm not a big dessert person, I usually prefer salty and savoury dishes. I think that's why I love rhubarb, that fresh tartness make dessert and cakes less sweet. Another reason to love rhubarb is that it is one of the first signs that spring is on it is way, and that early forced rhubarb also has an amazing pink colour.

I was so happy when I found rhubarb at Borough market last Saturday. I love classics like rhubarb crumble, or rhubarb cake with almonds, but with this young and pink rhubarb I wanted to do a light dessert that kept the beautiful colour.

Rhubarb mousse (4 portions)
5 thin stalks of rhubarb (around 500 g), chopped
1 dl sugar
2 cm fresh ginger, grated
1 lemon, zest and juice
1-2 tsp honey
2 dl creme fraiche
1 dl whipping cream, whipped
6-8 shortbread biscuits, broken into crumbs (I used my favourite lemon shortbread biscuits made by Duchy)

Add the rhubarb, sugar, ginger and lemon juice to a pot and cook on medium heat for 5 min, stirring occasionally

Simmer for a couple of more minutes until you've got a nice smooth compote. Leave to chill.

Whip the cream, add the creme fraiche, honey and lemon zest, and whip until smooth.

Fold in the rhubarb compote until you got a luscious light and pink mousse.

Divide the mousse into bowls or glasses and leave to set in the fridge until serving.

Break the biscuits into crumbs. This is easiest done by putting the biscuits in a small plastic bag and bash it with a rolling pin.

Sprinkle the biscuits crumbs on top of the mousse before serving.

Broccoli soup with chili omelette

This is a very easy soup, with a beautiful light green colour that almost feel a bit like spring. I made this soup after a long walk on Hampstead heath in glorious sunshine. There are times I really question why I moved to London, but then there are days like this past Sunday, when it's 10C and sunshine and green grass in January, and you can walk up to Parliament hill and see the amazing view of one of the greatest cities in the world, when I really remember why I love London so much.


Anyhow, the combination of broccoli, garlic and nutmeg in this soup is a classic, and it's lovely with an addition of a strong cheese like Stilton or Parmesan, but I wanted to give a bit of a twist. If you're a chili fiend like me, you want to add that kick to almost everything, here I added into an omelette topping and also sprinkled a little extra on top.

Broccoli soup with chili omelette (4-5 portions)
2 heads of broccoli, chopped
1 large yellow onion, chopped
5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 cubes of chicken or vegetable stock
water
1 dl half-fat creme fraiche
freshly grated nutmeg
salt and pepper
oil

Saute the onions and garlic for a couple of minutes in large pot on medium heat. Add the broccoli and barely cover the vegetables with water and add the stock.

Cook for 10-15 min until the broccoli just become soft. Pour of half of the water into a container

Blend the soup, and add the creme fraiche. If necessary add more of the reserved cooking water.

Add grated nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste. I think I added around 0.5 tsp nutmeg, how much to add is really a question on your view on nutmeg. My dad hates it, but I quite like it.

Chili omelette
4 eggs
2 tbsp water
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1-2 red chillies, finely chopped
5 spring onions, finely chopped
oil or butter

Beat the eggs with the water and soy sauce.

Fry the spring onions and chili for a couple of minutes in a frying pan on high heat.

Add the eggs and cook the omelette until golden on both sides.

Cut the omelette in strips and add to the soup.

If you like, sprinkle some additional chili and spring onions onto the soup.

Curried parsnip soup with apples and chickpeas

I know that is not that long ago since I posted a recipe for parsnip soup, but I love parsnips so here is different one. That parsnips are very cheap at the moment is also a bonus if you like me need to save a bit of money.

Curried parsnip soup with apples and chickpeas (4 portions)
1 kg parsnips, peeled and chopped
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
1/2 large leek, white part finely chopped
5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tbsp dried thyme
1 tbsp dried marjoram
0.5 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp mild curry
1 tbsp honey
a pinch of chili flakes
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 cubes of chicken or vegetable stock
water
1-2 dl of half-fat creme fraiche or single cream
olive oil
salt and pepper

2 apples, chopped
1 can of chickpeas
1/2 large leek, green part finely chopped
2 tsp mild curry powder
juice from half a lemon
salt and pepper

Saute the yellow onion, white part of the leek and garlic on medium heat together with the spices for a couple of minutes.

Add the parsnips, vinegar and honey and saute for a couple of more minutes.

Add stock cubes and cover with water. Cook for around 15 min until the parsnips are soft.

Blend the soup until smooth and add creme fraiche or cream. Also add more water if necessary.

Add salt and pepper to taste. The soup should be mild and delicate.

Drain the chickpeas and fry together with apples, the sliced green part of the leek and curry for a couple of minutes in a little oil. Squeeze over lemon and add a pinch of salt and pepper.

Serve the soup topped with the curried apples, chickpeas and leeks.

Saffron cake

I'm not a big fan of Christmas as a holiday, it's to commercial and I find a lot of the traditions quite restraining. Maybe I would feel differently if there wasn't Christmas stuff in the shops already in September. It's only November now, but I've already heard enough Christmas songs. At work I'm for sure the grinch, and my colleague S is definitively the Christmas fairy.

Anyhow, there are things I do like about Christmas, like a lot of the traditional food and drinks. In Sweden we make a lot of cakes and buns with saffron before Christmas. This is a slightly different saffron cake compared to the traditional ones. It got a beautiful yellow colour, and helps me feel maybe a tiny bit more happy about Christmas approaching.

Saffron cake
200 g butter
0.5 g saffron
2 eggs
3 dl sugar
1.5 dl milk
1.5 cm fresh ginger, grated
4 dl plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
juice from 1-2 lemons

Preheat the oven to 175C

Butter and bread a 24 cm cake tin

Melt the butter

Using a pestle and mortar, powder the saffron threads with a little sugar

Whip eggs and sugar. Add saffron, butter, ginger, and milk.

Add the baking powder

Finally add the flour and make a smooth batter

Pour the cake batter into the tin, and bake for 45 min.

While the cake is still hot from the oven, pierce the surface with a fork and pour onto the lemon juice.

Dust over the cake with icing sugar before serving.

Here is a different Christmas song, Achtung Christmas by Tyskarna från Lund (the Germans from Lund). The band started as part of a Swedish comedy group, Varanteatern, and makes fun of stereotypical synth music.

Butter bean and garlic soup

I have been a lazy cook and food blogger lately. There's been a lot of things going on lately and I haven't really had time to cook or blog about it. November is such a depressing month, it's so dark (and still it is lighter here in the UK then in Sweden...), wet and boring. I feel like I have no energy left. I hate winter!

Anyhow, this soup, which is a version of a Tuscan bean soup, is smooth and filling, with a sweetness from lots and lots of garlic. One thing is for sure, if you eat this soup, you really should be safe from both vampires and colds :) Despite the number of garlic cloves, it doesn't taste very strongly of garlic as you roast the cloves first.

Butter bean and garlic soup (4 portions)
2 cans of butter beans
1 large potato, chopped
2 parsnips, chopped
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp thyme
4 bay leaves
1 pinch chili flakes
chicken or vegetable stock
1 dl milk
15 garlic cloves, unpeeled
olive oil
salt and pepper

Start by roasting the garlic cloves in a little olive oil in the oven at 225C. Once the cloves are soft, peel and keep the soft roasted flesh

Whilst the garlic cloves are roasting, fry the chopped onion and garlic on medium heat for a couple of minutes in a large pot

Add herbs and spices, beans, potatoes and parsnips. Cover with chicken stock and boil for 20-30 min until the vegetables are soft.

Remove bay leaves, add the roasted garlic and milk, and puree the soup. Add more water if necessary

Add salt and pepper to taste.

I served this with homemade bread, delicious!

Here is a song that get's me dancing, trying to shake of my November blues, Cardiac arrest by Teddybears

Parsnip soup with home-made bread rolls

Fresh bread still hot from the oven must be one of the most delicious things ever! Just the incredibly smell that fills the house when you bake bread is a reason good enough to make you're own bread. I love baking, it is easy and doesn't take much time at all. I made this to go with a parsnip soup last week when I had a friend over for dinner. Soup is such comforting food when it is chilly outside. Soup, bread, some wine, and hours spent in company with your friends, that is truly quality time.

The soup is easy to make (sorry C, there is some creme fraiche in it, but you can make it without it. The creme fraiche makes it a little bit smoother and enhances the flavour), and the bread as well. The dough needs some time to rise, you can do it for half the time than I suggested but the longer time will develop the taste of the bread. So far I have never been able to find fresh yeast here in the UK except if I go to Scandinavian kitchen to buy Swedish yeast or by asking for it at bakeries, here in the UK I almost always use dry yeast. It works well, I particularly like Sainsbury's dry yeast.

I added crispy smoked bacon and portobello mushrooms to the soup when I served it. The saltiness of the bacon goes very well with the slight sweetness of the soup.

Basic white bread rolls (20 rolls)
45-50g yeast
6 dl milk or water
50 g butter or 2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar or runny honey
10-12 dl strong wheat flour

If you use fresh yeast:

- Dissolve the yeast in a little milk or water first in a large bowl
- Melt the butter, warm the milk or water. If you use fresh yeast, warm the liquid to 37C (finger temperature)
- Add the warm liquid to the yeast mixture and stir until the yeast is completely dissolved
- Add sugar/honey and salt, then add 2/3 of the flour and stir together
- Add more flour until you have a smooth dough
- Knead the dough for a couple of minutes in the bowl or on the kitchen counter
- Leave it to rise in a bowl covered with a kitchen towel for 30-60 min

If you use dry yeast:

- Add 10 dl of flour, sugar (if you use honey, add it to the liquid instead), salt and yeast to a large bowl and mix it together
- Melt the butter, warm the milk or water. If you use dry yeast, warm the liquid to 45C (slightly hotter than finger temperature)
- Add the warm liquid to the flour mixture and stir together
- Add more flour until you have a smooth dough
- Knead the dough for a couple of minutes in the bowl or on the kitchen counter
- Leave it to rise in a bowl covered with a kitchen towel for 30-60 min

Once the dough has risen for the first time, take up the dough and knead it on the kitchen counter. Add more flour if the dough is loose and sticky.

Divide the dough in two, then roll out each half to a long roll and divide into 10 equal pieces. Roll each piece to form a small bun and place on a buttered baking tray. Make sure to not place the buns to close together as they'll grow in size.

Cover the baking trays with kitchen towels and let them rise for an additional 30 min.

Bake at 225C for 10-20 min until golden. Both the top and bottom should be golden, and the rolls should feel 'light' and not heavy and doughy.

Parsnip soup (4 portions)
5 large parsnips, chopped
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
1 small celeriac, chopped
5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 dl white wine
4 bay leaves
1 tbsp honey
0.5 tsp dried thyme
0.5 tsp smoked paprika
2 cubes of chicken or vegetable stock
a pinch of dried chili flakes
1 dl creme fraiche
water
olive oil
salt and pepper

6 slices of smoked bacon, finely chopped
4 portobello mushrooms, finely sliced
1 garlic clove, pressed

Saute onions, garlic and celeriac in a large pot for a couple of minutes without the colouring the onions

Add the parsnips, wine, spices, and stock cubes. Add enough water to cover the vegetables.

Cook for 15-20 min until the parsnips and celeriac are soft.

Remove the bay leaves and blend the soup until smooth, and return it to the stove.

Add the creme fraiche, and if necessary more water.

Add salt and pepper to taste. The soup should have a delicate slightly sweet taste.

Fry the bacon until crispy and remove from the pan. Fry the mushrooms together with the garlic in the bacon fat. Stir together bacon and mushrooms, and let everyone add it to the soup themselves when serving.

Here's one of Robyn's latest songs, Hang with me, to go with the soup

Roasted root vegetables with feta cheese

I'm trying to save a bit of money at the moment as I want to go on a longer trip to China next year, and one way to save money is food. However, cheap food doesn't have to be boring, there is really no need to just eat pot noodles because you're skint. Although I do remember one summer as a student when I was pretty broke and partially survived on massive courgettes from a friends garden, pasta, and apples from the gardens around where I lived... That wasn't much fun, but just at little bit of money is really enough to eat very well.

One way of saving money on food is eating according to the seasons, at the moment things like root vegetables and apples are really cheap. That they are tasty and good for you is another bonus. This is an easy dish, I think it's good on it's own with a spicy feta cheese mix, but you could of course have it together with for example a roasted chicken too.

Roasted vegetables with feta cheese (4 portions)
4 carrots
8 parsnips
6 large potatoes
2 red onions
6 garlic cloves, pressed
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1-2 tsp dried thyme
1-2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp smoked paprika
olive oil
salt and pepper

250 g feta cheese
1 dl sour cream
1-2 tsp harissa (I used Belazu rose harissa, one of my favourites)
1 garlic clove, pressed

Cut the vegetables in equal sized wedges, and place in a large oven dish

Drizzle the vegetables with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, add the garlic, smoked paprika, herbs and salt and pepper, and toss the vegetables to cover them with the oil and spices

Place the dish in the oven and roast at 200C for 30-45 min until the vegetables are golden and soft.

In the meantime, grate the feta cheese, add the sour cream, harissa and garlic and mix together for a coarse sauce.

Enjoy! And why not listen to the lovely Elegi by Lars Winnerbäck whilst eating this?

Cauliflower and lentil curry

I made this today to have for lunch during this week, roughly following a recipe I found in the latest number of Delicious. Delicious is my favourite food magazine here in the UK, I find inspiring recipes in most of the numbers. I love food magazines and cook books, preferably reading them in bed. Nothing wrong in indulging in a bit of food porn :)

This curry is quite mild and filling, with mushy lentils and crisp cauliflower. You could have it with rice or bread, but I think I'll have it as it is. Next time I'll be sure to add some turmeric, as the recipe suggested, to give it a nicer brighter yellow colour, but I forgot to buy it when I was at the grocery store (along with a lot of other stuff I should have bought, sometimes I really am a goldfish). I think I would also add some mustard seeds at the start together with the cumin seeds, and maybe also add some cardamon pods.

Cauliflower and lentil curry (4 portions)
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 large cauliflower, cut into florets
150 g red lentils
1 yellow onion
2 cm ginger, grated
6 garlic cloves, pressed
1 red chili
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
0.5 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp mild curry powder - I added 1.5 tbsp
1 can of coconut milk
200 gr tomatoes, chopped
juice from 1 lime
large bunch of coriander
1 cube of vegetable stock
mild olive or sunflower oil

Fried spices
1 tsp black mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
6 cloves
0.5 tsp chili flakes
mild olive oil or sunflower oil

Put the lentils into a small pan with 450 ml cold water, bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer gently for 10-20 min until the lentils are soft and almost like a puree.

Heat a little oil in a frying pan and add half of the cumin seeds and the cauliflower florets, cook for a couple of minutes on medium heat until the cauliflower starts to have coloured spots.

Add some oil, the rest of the cumin seeds, and once the seeds starts sizzling, add the chopped onion. Cook gently until the onions has softened but not browned.

Add the ginger, garlic, and chili, and cook for a couple of minutes.

Add ground coriander, cumin, turmeric and curry powder, cook for another minute and then add coconut milk and tomatoes. Simmer for 10 minutes or until the cauliflower is just tender.

Stir the lentils into the curry with the lime juice and add salt to taste. Simmer for a couple of more minutes.

Add the chopped coriander and turn of the heat.

Fry the cumin seeds, mustard seeds, cloves and chili flakes in a little oil quickly, and then stir into the curry. Let the fried spices infuse the curry for a couple of minutes before serving.

Mmmmm, already looking forward to lunch tomorrow (and Wednesday, and probably Thursday, but will be quite happy to go out for lunch on Friday to eat something else)!

Today's music suggestion is one of my favourite songs my Anna Ternheim, To be gone. For some reason I always associate it with autumn.