Asian coleslaw

Like many others I've started this new year with new goals and resolutions, determined to make positive changes to my life. The vegan resolution is going really well, it's been such a positive thing that I might continue for longer than just one month. Anyhow, today it was time for the next step, to join a gym again. That's how original I am, like thousands of others, I join a gym in January....

After signing up, I went to Whole foods market at Kensington High Street for the first time. I've thought about it before but never got around to it. Which probably is a good thing for my wallet, because it was so amazing and I wanted to buy enough food to last me for months! Things like freshly made pistachio butter, marcona almonds, red quinoa (which I see in so many recipes but I never find), fresh chantarelles... In addition, a pretty amazing cheese room and nice organic meat selection. I will go there again for sure when I want something special or to indulge. Or if I want something ready made, they had an impressive selection of salads, cold and hot dishes for take away, including vegan dishes.

After browsing through the store for a ridiculously long time, I finally got home and had some of the coleslaw below. Coleslaw is easy to do, well at least once you get past all the peeling/shredding/grating, and a large batch will last for up to 5 days in the fridge. This recipe is again a modification of a recipe from River Cottage Veg Everyday. I made this to complement the sweet potato and peanut gratin, but this could be served with so many different things, from spare ribs to noodle salads to tortillas.

Asian coleslaw (serves 4-6)
0.5 small white cabbage, finely shredded
0.5 small red cabbage, finely shredded
4 medium carrots, coarsely grated
1 bunch spring onions, chopped
1 bunch coriander, chopped

Dressing
2 limes, zest and juice
1 red chili, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp light brown sugar

Combine cabbage, carrots, spring onions, and coriander in a large bowl

For the dressing, whisk all of the ingredients together

Pour the dressing over the vegetables and toss thoroughly. Leave to marinate for 15-20 min before serving

Smaklig måltid!

Linguine with asparagus and scallops

Today the rain is pouring down, and my umbrella broke when I went out for Sunday roast :( I have no idea how many umbrellas I buy every year, but quite a few as they either break or I leave them on the tube. It's not the only thing I leave on the tube or bus, I have a habit of loosing everything I own, from phones to umbrellas to wallets to once a box of rat brains (that I luckily got back!). The last one was not a box of ingredients to cook with, I'm not that brave with my food, but from an experiment for work. In addition to being an amateur cook by night, I'm also a scientist by day.

Anyhow, the weather today has been awful, but yesterday it was a lovely spring day. I love spring, the lighter mornings and evenings, all the spring flowers (the daffodils are in bloom outside my house), and of course all the vegetables that comes with spring.

Inspired by spring I decided to make pasta with asparagus and scallops. This is a lovely light dish, with the green asparagus and sweet scallops, with a little tangy lemon and salty pecorino,

Linguine with asparagus and scallops (serves 2)
160 g dry linguine
1 large bunch of green asparagus
6 scallops, divided in halves
100 g pecorino cheese, grated
1 medium lemon, zest
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 pinch of chili flakes
2 tbsp olive oil
1 egg yolk, beaten
salt and pepper

Snap of the dry woody ends of the asparagus. Cut of the top 3-4 cm of each stalk, and cut the rest of the asparagus in 1-2 cm pieces.

Heat up the olive oil in a frying pan and add the chopped asparagus. Fry for 1-2 min and then add the garlic, fry for another few min, take care to not burn the garlic. Stir in a pinch of chili flakes and the 3/4 of the lemon zest, put the pan to the side.

Cook the linguine in plenty of boiling salted water according to pack instructions. Add the asparagus tips for the last 2 min of cooking time.

Drain the pasta, reserving 1-2 dl of the cooking water.

Return the pasta to the pot, stir in the egg yolk, fried asparagus, and cheese. If the pasta feels dry, add in some of the reserved cooking water, I usually add in around 1 dl.

Divide the scallops in halves, and fry in olive oil in a hot frying pan for 1-2 min on each side until golden.

Add the scallops on top of the pasta, sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper and the rest of the lemon zest.

Smaklig måltid (bon appetite in Swedish)!

Summery lemon pasta with chicken

Back to reality after returning from holiday.... Not exactly ecstatic over going back to work, but at least it's summer now and I've also moved so the commute to work is much better. Coming back from holiday also means starting to cook again, and that's lovely. I do miss cooking when I'm traveling. Partly because it drives me crazy walking through the fantastic food markets in China or elsewhere and see all the lovely produce and not have anywhere to cook it.

As it is summer now, at least it is possible to find good fresh vegetables and fruits also here in the UK. One of my new flatmates told me about a street market close to where I now live that apparently got good veg and fish, so I really need to check that out soon.

I don't like food to be to heavy during the summer, and this green and lemony pasta feels very fresh and light. It is inspired from a recipe for Sicilian lemon pasta. Sorry for the poor picture, I left my camera at a friend's house so had to use my phone.

Summery lemon pasta with chicken (4-6 portions)
500 g pasta, I used penne
4 chicken fillets, sliced
1 tbsp Colman's mustard powder
0.5 dl light soy sauce
3 garlic cloves, pressed
1 tbsp honey
2 zucchini, sliced
4 spring onions, sliced
1 bag of rocket, roughly chopped
1 bunch of basil, chopped
150 g mange tout or sugarsnaps, roughly chopped
juice from 4-5 lemons
zest from 1 lemon
1 red chili, finely sliced
0.5 dl virgin olive oil
150 g parmesan cheese, grated
black pepper
salt

Start by marinating the sliced chicken in a marinade of mustard, soy sauce, 1 pressed garlic clove, and juice from 1 lemon for 30 min

Beat lemon juice from 3-4 lemons (number depending on size and juiciness), with the zest of 1 lemon and the olive oil. Add the grated parmesan and 1 pressed garlic clove. The sauce will become thick and creamy. Add more lemon juice or a little water if very thick. Add pepper and salt to taste. If the lemons are very sour, add some honey or sugar to balance it.

Start cooking the pasta. If you like me use pasta like penne that takes 10-15 min to cook, you got time to cook the vegetables and chicken while the pasta cooks. Otherwise prepare the rest before boiling the pasta as it should be piping hot at the time of serving.

While the pasta cooks, first fry the zucchini until it starts getting golden, then add spring onions, 1 pressed garlic clove, the red chili and mange tout and cook for a couple of minutes.

Fry the chicken until golden. The honey in the marinade will give it a caramelized finish.

Once the pasta is al dente, pour of the water and return the pasta to the pan. Stir in the sauce, the parmesan will melt as it is mixed in to the pasta. Then stir in basil, rocket, the vegetables and chicken. Grind over some black pepper.

Serve immediately. If you like, sprinkle over some additional lemon zest and fresh finely chopped red chili.

Spicy sausage and kale bulgur salad

I've never tried curly kale. For some reason I've been a bit intimidated by the thought of cooking with it, as I don't really know how to use it. Anyway, curly kale is supposed to be very nice and also very nutrious, so when I was aimlessly wandering around in Waitrose trying to find something to cook for dinner, I thought that I should try something new and use kale. But what to eat and cook it with? I knew that you can steam and stir-fry kale, and that I had a lot of bulgur at home, so I decided on a warm salad with kale and spicy sausages. Spring has finally come to London, but it's still been freezing in the mornings so if I'm having a salad it has to be a warm one.

I'm very happy with my first attempt of using kale, turns out it's easy to use, with a nice taste, cheap, and apparently good for me, so I will defentely try it again.

Spicy sausage and kale bulgur salad (4 portions)
200 g curly kale
1 large leek, chopped
1-2 red chillies, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 cm fresh ginger, finely chopped
200 g plum tomatoes, halved
1 lemon, zest and juice
400 g spicy sausages, I used Waitroses sweet chili pork sausages, but merguez or chorizo would be really good as well
2 dl bulgur, you can substitute the bulgur for quinoa or couscous
5 dl chicken or vegetable stock
salt and pepper

Add bulgur and stock to a pot and cook on low heat for around 10 min until soft. If there is any water left, drain it and fluff the bulgur with a fork to separate the grains

Fry the sausages in a frying pan. For pork sausages like the ones I used, fry them whole and then slice them. If you use chorizo, you might want to slice them first and then fry to them to get them a bit crispier and release some of the fat.

Steam the kale lightly for 1-2 min. I think it's easiest to steam using the microwave. Just add kale, and a couple of tablespoons of hot water

Fry the leeks, chillies, garlic and ginger for a couple of minutes in a large frying pan. Add the kale and tomatoes and stir-fry for another couple of minutes until the kale is soft and starts to wilt.

Stir together the vegetables and bulgur with the lemon juice and zest.

Serve the kale and bulgur topped with the fried sausages.

Salmon fish cakes with beetroot salad

I had a food production day the other day. I try to bring in lunch every day at work, and I don't really have the time and energy to cook something new every night for my lunch, so I do mass production instead. To not get bored with eating the same thing for weeks, I try to make a couple of different dishes, preferably food that can be easily varied. I do a lot of different fish cakes, and chicken or lamb burgers, because then I can freeze them in portions and eat with different types of salads, roasted vegetables, in bread, with pasta...

As almost everyone I know, I have vowed to try to be healthier this year (no more pizza for me...). One thing that is very healthy, easy to make, tasty, and dirt cheap, is salads with grated root vegetables. This type of salad is one of my staple foods during the winter, and is easy to vary by additions of nuts, chili, herbs, and fruits. A larger batch will survive for 2-3 days in the fridge. The addition of fruit juices keeps it nice and moist, and makes it unnecessary to add any sauce to the fish cakes. The only negative thing is doing all the grating, I recommend investing in a food processor. It saves time and your knuckles.

Salmon fish cakes (4-5 portions)
400 g salmon, skin and boneless
0.5 dl salt
0.5 dl sugar
2 potatoes, boiled and mashed
0.5 red onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp grainy mustard
1-2 tbsp capers
l lemon, juice and zest
salt and pepper

I like to first cure the salmon for 20-30 min, I think it improves the texture and taste. Rub in the mixture of salt and sugar on both sides of the fish and let it rest for 20-30 min in room temperature or in the fridge.

Fry the fish in a hot pan and let it cool.

Mash up the fish and mix together with potatoes, onion, capers, mustard and lemon. Taste, and add pepper and salt.

Form small fish cakes and fry on both sides in a hot pan until golden.

Grated beetroot salad (2 large portions)
4 medium-sized carrots, grated
2 large beetroots, grated
2 apples, grated
3 spring onions, finely chopped,
1 orange, juice
1 lime, zest and juice
1 chili, finely chopped
1 tsp honey
salt and pepper, a pinch of each

Mix everything together and let stand for 10-15 min before serving to let the flavours blend.

Osso bucco brisket with celeriac mash

What to do on a rainy November Sunday? Cook of course! I love slow-cooked food, it requires a minimum of work for maximum of taste. This is a version of a classic Italian dish, Osso bucco. Osso bucco should be made with veal shanks, or possibly lamb shanks instead, but if you do like me and go food shopping on a Sunday afternoon, the meat counter can be quite empty. Today I instead used brisket, which is one of my favourite meats for slow-cooking.

I think osso bucco is traditionally served with saffron rice or risotto, but it's great served also with polenta or potato gnocchi. My original plan today was actually to make gnocchi, but I felt a bit lazy and ended up making celeriac mash instead. I used half potatoes and half celeriac, I think the mash becomes to watery with just celeriac. I think mash is the ultimate comfort food, smooth, silky, buttery, mmmm.....

Osso bucco brisket with celeriac mash (4 portions)
800 g brisket, sliced into 2 x 3 cm cubes, or 4- 6 thick slices of veal shank (2-3 inches), or 3-4 small lamb shanks
2 carrots, sliced
2 yellow onions, chopped
300 g celeriac, finely chopped
8 garlic cloves, chopped
1 can of whole tomatoes
1 bottle of white wine
8 bay leaves
1/2 tsp marjoram
1/2 tsp sage
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
2 cubes of beef, veal or chicken stock
flour
salt and pepper

For the mash
500 g celeriac, chopped
500 g potatoes, chopped
milk
2 cubes of chicken stock
butter

Gremolata
1 small bunch of parsley, finely chopped
grated lemon zest from 1-2 lemons
1 garlic clove, grated

Start by dusting the meat with flour, and then browning it at high heat and lightly season with salt and pepper

Saute onions, carrot, celeriac and garlic for 5 min in large pot.

Add the meat, wine, bay leaves, tomatoes, herbs and stock cubes to the pot.

Cook on medium heat until the wine has reduced to 1/2 the volume.

Cover the pot with a lid and continue cooking the osso bucco at low heat for a couple of hours until the meat is tender. Alternatively cook in the oven at low temperature. Add more water if necessary if the stew is going a bit to dry and concentrated.

While the osso bucco is cooking, make the mash.

Add the chopped potatoes and celeriac to a pot, cover with milk and add the chicken stock.Cook until the vegetables are soft.

Drain and reserve the remainder of the milk. Puree the vegetables, add 50 g of butter and enough of the reserved milk to give a smooth consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve the osso bucco with the mash and sprinkle over gremolata. Enjoy!

Chicken burger with quinoa salad

I had such a bad day today, you know one of those days when you really should not have bothered getting out of bed. Monday, rain, too much work, delayed trains.... When I'm in a bad mood and I just want to punch someone, anyone, I cook instead. Once I've chopped through an onion I'm at peace again. Cooking and food, that's my kind of therapy.

This chicken burger is packed with flavours, hot chili to get that chill out after waiting for the bus in the drizzle, zingy lemon and ginger and lime to help you escape the bleakness of a rainy September night that feels like November. If you like me feels like Life has kicked you in the stomach, this will hopefully make you feel a least a little bit better. And if you're happy and content already, good for you and this will still be a fantastic meal. I served this with a quinoa salad and yoghurt dressing, but another option would be to serve as traditional burgers with maybe lightly toasted ciabatta and sliced avocado.

Chicken burgers (12 small burgers, or 6 portions)
700 g chicken fillets, finely chopped to a mince
1 bunch of spring onions
3 red chillies, finely chopped
4-5 pressed garlic cloves
zest from 2 limes
3 cm fresh ginger, finely grated
2 tsps lemongrass paste
1 egg
salt and pepper
olive oil

It's easy mincing chicken fillets, it just takes minutes with a sharp knife to mince the meat. Or you can use a food processor if you have one.

Mix the minced chicken with all the other ingredients, adding the egg last.

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan, form the chicken mince to small burgers and fry on both sides until golden. Make small burgers, this will make it easier to turn them when you're cooking them, and also makes it easier to make sure that they're really cooked through properly.

This burgers freeze well if you want to eat them later.

I served the burgers with this easy quinoa salad. Quinoa is one of my favourite grains, actually quinoa is not a grain but the seeds from a plant related to spinach and weeds like tumbleweed, but biology lesson aside, it's filling and healthier than other grains like couscous.

Quinoa salad (4-6 portions)
2 dl quinoa
chicken stock
3 small courgettes, thinly sliced
200 g cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 bunch of spring onions, finely chopped
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
2 small bunches of coriander
Juice from 1 lime
1 pressed garlic clove
salt and pepper
olive oil

Cook the quinoa in chicken stock on gentle heat until soft, drain of the excess water

Fry the courgette with the garlic in olive oil until golden. Add the tomatoes, red onion and spring onions and fry for a couple of minutes.

Mix the quinoa with the vegetables, coriander and lime juice. Add salt and pepper to taste.

This salad is good warm, lukewarm and cold, perfect for the lunch box.

Yoghurt dressing
1 dl yoghurt
2 tbs sweet chili sauce
1 small pressed garlic clove
Juice from 1 lime
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
salt and pepper

Mix all of the ingredients, add salt and pepper to taste.

The other thing that always make me happy is music. This is one of my current favourites, from Swedish electro clash band Alice in Videoland, listening to this I just want to dance.

Happy Monday all of you!!!

Puy lentil salad with goats cheese

I love a filling salad, and I eat them all year around, in particular for lunch. Lentils are one of my favourite pulses, for salads I prefer the small slightly spicy puy lentils whereas for soups I prefer the softer red lentils. Lentils, in contrast to most dried beans, don't need to be soaked prior to cooking and cook quite quickly. This salad is beautiful together with chicken or steak, but will also be very good on it's own. It also holds quite well for a couple of days in case you make a larger batch or get any leftovers, and is delicious both slightly warm and cold.

I do this salad a lot with slight variations. I quite often add some mustard, a little bit of sugar, and finely chopped fresh tarragon instead of the blushed tomatoes, and add Parmesan cheese instead of goats cheese. Or add other salad leaves like spinach. Or add chopped dry fruit like apricots and toasted cashews. Or finely chopped coriander, lime juice and zest and finely chopped red chili for a more Asian flavour.

Puy lentil salad with goats cheese (4-6 portions)
200-250 g puy lentils
4 bay leaves
chicken, beef or vegetable stock
250 g cherry tomatoes, halved
one bag of rocket leaves
250 g blushed tomatoes
2 tbsp capers
150-200g soft goats cheese
zest and juice from one lemon
1 finely chopped red onion
2-3 finely chopped garlic cloves
1-2 handfuls of chopped fresh basil
1 sprig of finely chopped fresh rosemary
finely chopped fresh thyme
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper

Start by rinsing the lentils in cold water and then boil in stock together with the bay leaves. Drain the lentils when they're soft but still slightly chewy, this should take 20-30 min, and remove the bay leaves.

During the time it takes to boil the lentils, finely chop the red onion, herbs, garlic and blushed tomatoes. Mix with the still warm lentils and also stir in the lemon juice and zest, capers, apple cider vinegar and olive oil. As the lentils are still warm, they will soak up a lot of the lovely flavours from the garlic, lemon and the other goodies.

Quarter the cherry tomatoes and add to the salad. Once the salad is slightly warm/room temperature, add the roughly chopped rocket. Add salt and pepper according to taste, top with chunks of goats cheese and serve.

Asian steak salad with strawberries

I've been thinking about starting a food blog for ages. Once I took the descision to do it, I started to obsess about what should be the first recipe. I wanted something with a wow factor, something that would stand out. I cooked a lot during the last weeks, but either something went wrong, or I forgot to take a picture of a delicious dinner.

In the end I just decided to go with one of my lunch boxes. I usually bring in my own lunch to work, that way I get something I like, and that is reasonable healthy. Now during the summer I tend to do a lot of salads. I love fruit and berries, but normally I prefer them on their own and I don't really like it in food. If you want to hear me rant, you just need to get me started on the subject of warm bananas in food, or raisins in general.

Anyhow, I digress. This is an Asian-influenced salad where the hot spiciness from red chillies and sour lime meet the sweetness of melon and strawberries. This would work equally well with mango. I've used steak, but this salad would be very nice also with chicken or seafood. Instead of chopped peanuts on top, roasted sesame seeds or cashew nuts would be lovely as well. The measures are not exact, I'm quite an impulsive cook and never follow recipes to the letter. Taste everything until it tastes nice for you!

Oh, and sorry about the poor picture quality. My camera is not working at the moment so I have to use my iPhone.

Asian steak salad with strawberries (2-3 portions)
2 rump steaks a' 150g
Marinade:
1 tsp sambal oelek
1 dl light soy sauce
1 tsp honey
2 garlic cloves
2 cm fresh ginger
1 stalk of lemon grass
1 lime
Salad:
1 head of romaine salad
baby spinach
100 g mange tout
3 spring onions
fresh herbs: finely chopped basil, coriander and mint
1/2 galia or cantaloupe melon
150-200 g strawberries
Dressing:
juice from 1-2 limes
1 garlic clove, grated, finely chopped or pressed
1 finely chopped red chili
1/2 tsp fish sauce or light soy
a couple of drops of sesame oil
1/2 tsp honey
(salt and pepper to taste)
2 tbs chopped salted peanuts

Grate garlic, ginger and the lime peel. Mix with soy sauce, juice from the limes, honey, finely chopped lemon grass and sambal oelek (can be substituted with freshly chopped chili or chili paste). Marinate the steaks in the mixture for at least 30 min in room temperature or overnight in the fridge.

While the steaks are marinating, quarter the strawberries, chop the melon into cubes (1-2 cm in size), chops the mange touts, and finely chop the spring onions and herbs. Tear the salad and spinach, and mix with the other vegetables, herbs and fruit. Make the dressing and dress the salad, and chop the peanuts.

Heat up a griddle or frying pan, and fry the steaks a couple of minutes on each side, and then let them rest before slicing in thin sections.

Plate up the salad, add a couple of slices of beef, drizzle over some of the meat juices, and sprinkle with the chopped peanuts.