Wednesday Recipe: Vegetarian Thai

Minced quorn with coconut and ginger
4 servings

Ingredients
400 g minced quorn (or minced beef or chicken)
olive oil
2 tbsp grated fresh ginger
1 finely chopped clove of garlic
1 can of coconut milk
1 onion (original recipe: 2 dl leek)
1-2 tbsp red curry paste (according to taste)
sea salt
1 red chili pepper
1.5 dl shredded cabbage
1.5 dl grated carrot

What to do
Fry onion and minced quorn/meat in oil. Mix ginger, garlic and chili (I put all of it in a mixer) and add to the pan. Add coconut milk and curry paste. Add salt according to taste. Lastly add cabbage and carrot and let simmer for a while. Serve with rice or glass noodles.

Recipe: Pepparkaksmuffins / Ginger Muffins

Upon popular request :)

Ingredients
200 gr butter or margarine
4 eggs
4 dl sugar (I used part brown and part white)
3 dl sour cream (or sour milk/filmjölk)
4 table spoons ginger mix spice (pepparkakskrydda), or 4 tsp ginger, 3 tsp clove, 5 tsp cinnamon
6 dl flour
4 tsp baking powder

Topping
300 gr cream cheese
3 dl icing sugar
3 tsp vanilla sugar
lingon berry jam or lingon berries (haven't actually made the topping yet so not sure about the quantity)

Instructions
Turn to oven to 200'C. Melt the butter. Whip eggs and sugar and add butter and sour cream. Mix the dry ingredients and add to the batter. Bake for about 15 minutes.

Mix cream cheese, icing sugar, vanilla and lingon berries (or cranberries and raspberries) and coat the muffins before serving.

Makes about 25 smaller muffins, i.e. more Swedish rather than American size.

Wednesday Recipe: The Makeover

Thought I'd get this going again but today I can't offer you a specific recipe, just a taste of my ongoing recipe project; I'm weeding recipe print-outs and clippings and pasting into a recipe book.





Via Anna's iPhone

First iPhone Post

Testing, testing. My dinner today: salad, crostini with pesto and a glass of white, probably followed by a cup of tea and dark chocolate later.

Wednesday Recipe: Whose Idea Was It?!

No time to do a recipe today (haven't had time to cook lately and won't until next week - busy times!) but I wanted to post something so I googled "Wednesday recipe"! Found that myself and Petchie were the top 4 results (potato & fennel gratin, kale soup, salmon & avocado salad and Swedish sandwich cake) but below that there were other blogs I didn't know about which also seem to have a Wednesday recipe thing going! Although not sure there is a connection between them. But maybe we should join forces?!

Wednesday Recipe: Kale Soup

Being a subscriber of Ekolådan forces us to try vegetables we have never eaten before and sometimes not even heard of. Kale, also called borecole - or grönkål in Swedish - is something I had never had before. And I was pleasantly surprised!

Kale Soup

Image from kardemums.blogspot.com

4 servings

1 kale head (c. 400 gr)
1 onion
2-3 dl water
1 litre stock from beef or other meat (or vegetable for a pure vegetarian soup)
2-3 dl cooking cream (semi-skimmed)
1 tsp salt
pepper
1 clove of garlic

1. Chop the onion and fry in a pot. Add stock and garlic (whole or chopped in half).
2. Chop up the kale and boil until soft (c. 15 min).
3. Add cream and seasoning and then use a mixer until you have a smooth soup. Simmer for a few minutes.
4. Serve with boiled egg halves

Enjoy!

Tip: If you don't like kale or can't get your hands on some, you can also make the soup with spinach.

Wednesday Recipe (on a Thursday): Potato & Fennel Gratin

My mum and dad found this recipe in DN and recommended it to us. We made it last night (on a Wednesday...) and really liked it. Hope you will like it too!

Potato gratin with fennel and saffron

Details
6 servings (we were five at the table and it was enough for two leftover servings to bring to work too)
Preparation: 15 min + up to 40 min in the oven

Ingredients
oil
0.25 g saffron (half a "Swedish package")
2½ dl semi-skimmed cream
3 dl semi-skimmed milk
1½-2 tsp salt (a little bit more than the original recipe)
1 kilo potatoes
1 fennel
½ tsp pepper
2 dl grated cheese

Instructions
1. Turn on the oven to 225'C

2. Peel and slice the onion and fry the together with oil and saffron. Pour in cream and milk and season.

3. Peel and slice the potatoes and the fennel (thinly). If you want you can fry the fennel a little bit with the onion earlier - that's supposed to enhance the taste of the fennel. Put everything in a pan, pour over the onion and cream "sauce" and finish with a layer of grated cheese.

4. Bake for 35-40 minutes.

Tip of the day! Goes very well with either fish or chicken - we had chicken. Also, I think it would be as nice without saffron if you don't like saffron or can't get your hands on some.

Image from the DN page which also has the recipe in Swedish

Wednesday Recipe: Parsnip Soup

It's autumn so soup features a lot in our diet. Plus we decided to give Ekolådan a try, i.e. one of those "organic-or-fair-trade-vegetables-&-fruit-to-your-door" services.


Parsnip soup with potatoes and carrots

Image from dinnertoday.blogspot.com

4 servings, 30 min preparation

Ingredients
2 parsnips
2-3 carrots
4-5 potatoes
half a leek
rapeseed oil
stock
1 garlic clove
salt & peppar
a few squirts of lemon

Instructions
1. Cut parsnip, carrots and potatoes in inch-size pieces and chop up the leek
2. Fry the leek and the garlic in some oil
3. Add all vegetables and stock (I used about a litre and a half of water, enough to cover the ingredients)
4. Boil for about 15 minutes
5. Bring out the mixer and mix to a smooth soup

Tip: For less parsnip taste, change the proportion of parsnip, carrots and potatoes to match your taste.

And I need tips from you! I still have beetroot, broccoli and zucchini from last week's delivery. Any ideas?

Wednesday Recipe: Tomato Soup

We made this delicious soup on roasted tomatoes yesterday. It's very easy to make and the flavours oozing from the kitchen while the tomatoes were roasting was just lovely!

Roasted Tomato Soup - 2 servings
500 g cocktail/cherry tomatoes
4 cloves of garlic
1½ tbsp oil
a handful of fresh basil
salt & pepper


1. Turn the oven to 200'C.

2. Halve the tomatoes and chop up the garlic.

3. Mix tomatoes, oil, garlic, basil, salt and pepper on a baking sheet.

4. Roast for about 25 minutes or until the tomatoes are starting to get some colour.

5. Put in a bowl or mixer and mix.

6. Serve with slices or pieces of a spicy sausage, for example chorizo.


It's a pretty thick soup. If you want a thinner soup you can add stock. You can also replace the basil with ruccola (rocket) or use both.

Smaklig måltid!

Wednesday Recipe...on a Thursday*

Sometimes Swedish "pytt i panna" (hash) can be so delicious, especially after having been to the gym. You can make it from scratch of course, using whatever leftovers in the form of meat, potatoes, etc., you have at hand, but the ready one that comes from the supermarket's freezer is pretty good too! Or even better! Just add eggs (as you can see in the picture I can't make a pretty fried egg) and beetroot.

PS. How can it already be Thursday?!!

Yummy!

I can report that the tabouleh (served with chicken, yoghurt and pepper hummus) was really good, though some lessons were learnt in the process (will point them out in the actual recipe post).

Swedish Breakfast

Found this on Tjuvtittat. Not sure if I should be offended or just laugh...

P.S. If I don't have time to blog on Wednesday this will double as this week's Recipe!

US Road Trip Part 5: New Hampshire and Maine

Time for the fifth and last but one post about our US road trip last July-August!

Plimouth Plantation, the site of the first Thanksgiving between the Wampanoag People and the Colonial English community in the 1600s. This first picture shows how the native Americans used to live.

And this shows what the English looked like at that time

Our B&B in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the Inn at Christian Shore. Not as wonderful as Acworth Inn in Cape Cod, but still very much recommended if you're heading that way.

Famous Red's Eats in Wiscasset, Maine. We didn't stop though as there was such a long queue.


Peter in the cute town of Camden


Camden waterfront


This little puppy was so cute trying to get to the ducks!


Posing in Camden Marina


Belted Galloways at Aldermere Farm in Rockport, Maine - they look pretty cool!


Bar Harbor in the north of Maine


Beautiful bridge in Penobscot Bay (still Maine)


And today's Wednesday Recipe!


Morning fog in Belfast, Maine. We stayed at Penobscot Bay Inn - nothing fancy but good value accommodation.


Peter at Pemaquid Point


Same place


Bird at Pemaquid Point


And lastly, Kennebunks Beach, the town in the south of Maine where the Bush family has their vacation home

Boston coming up next!

Wednesday Recipe: Salmon & Crayfish Quiche

Image from Tasteline

Salmon & Crayfish Quiche
4-6 servings

Crust
2½ dl flour
75 g butter or margarin
3/4 dl Kesella (kvarg, curd) (or another 50 g butter if you can't find curd)

Filling
100-150 g smoked salmon
200 gr crayfish tails
2 dl Västerbotten cheese (or other mature and tasty hard cheese)
3 eggs
2 dl milk
salt and pepper

What to do
1. Turn the oven to 225'C. Make the dough for the crust and "dress" a 28 cm quiche pan.
2. Pre-bake the crust for 10-12 minutes until it gets some colour. Lower the heat to 200'C.
3. Slice up the salmon and rinse the crayfish. Grate the cheese.
4. Whip eggs and milk and add some salt and pepper.
5. Fill the crust with salmon, crayfish and cheese. Save some for decoration if you want. Finish with the egg and milk mix.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes
7. Serve with a fresh salad.

Smaklig måltid! I had the leftovers for lunch today and it tasted even better, which is often the case with quiche!

Show & Tell: Inspiration from US Road Trip Part 4 - Cape Cod

Last Friday was Musikanta's last Show & Tell theme. As usual I'm fashionably late with my interpretation of the topic inspiration, but better late than never, right! I thought I'd use this opportunity to give YOU some inspiration. Travel inspiration in particular. I remembered that I never finished my suite of travel diaries about last summer's US road trip. So here comes some photos from New England!

We continued our journey from Washington D.C. at 6.30 in the morning, aiming to arrive in New England and Cape Cod in the early afternoon. In New York City we crossed over the river on the very appropriately named Washington Bridge.

Our first stop was Newport, Rhode Island, where they have a Tennis Hall of Fame but we didn't go inside so we don't know if it's good or not.

The sea around Newport was a bit rough on this particular day, and the rocks make it look even more rough, and cold.


Posing in Newport


One of many Newport mansions



Our B&B Acworth Inn in Cummaquid, Mass. on the Old King's Highway - Highly recommended! Beautiful house, super friendly innkeeper and delicious breakfasts!


Our romance style room at the B&B. It was actually cuter and less flowery than it looks like in the picture. Not all four walls had the floral wallpaper.


Cute fire station in Yarmouth along the Old King's Highway


Boats in Nauset Beach


We saw all kinds of creatures as it was low tide


One of my favourite shots from New England!


Peter posing in the beachgoers' part of the beach (the parts shown above are more for fishing) but it was quite early still so people hadn't started arriving (the weather wasn't the best either).


Another favourite


Mussel picker


More Nauset Beach views


When in New England you have to eat a lobster roll with chips* (or fries as they are called in the States)! This is at Moby Dick's in Wellfleet.


Provincetown at the very top of the Cape. Provincetown is sometimes called P-town and is known for its beaches, harbour, artists, tourist industry, and its reputation as a gay village.


This is the very spot the pilgrims arrived to. The first English settlers founded the town in 1727 but they first arrived already in 1620 (you know, on the Mayflower) when they settled down across the bay in Plymouth (we visited there later on our journey).



Provincetown main street


Cape Cod style house but with some colour added. Its characteristics are wooden shutters and clapboard or shingle exterior.


Provincetown beach


Peter posing in P-town


I liked this little overgrown boat


Time for a pre-dinner walk in Chatham Beach. In Chatham we had dinner at the Impudent Oyster where we had some of the best fish we have ever had - I had tuna and Peter swordfish I think. Delicious!


Sandwich beach - our last stop in Cape Cod



Peter on Sandwich Beach

* This will have to do as today's Wednesday recipe. Learn about lobster rolls here and here.