Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Pancake in the oven

What is easier to make than oven pancake? And indeed, what tastes better? My dictionary translates oven pancake to batter pudding, and Yorkshire pudding is the one thing I have had that is not far from it, except it´s made in a pre-heated pan with beef-drippings and it gets another kind of texture, crispier. I understand the English also makes one with sausages that they call toad-in-the hole, which sounds fun, but I haven´t tried it. I make this often when the husband is away (he is not too keen, but will eat it if I serve it) as it is easy and takes care of left-overs in such a grand manner.

My recipe, for one person: 1 egg, 50 ml of dry milk, a pinch of salt, 125  ml of wheat flour, 250 ml water. Whisk it with half the water first, this prevents lumpiness. You can use regular milk as well, but in a small household like ours that requires some planning, or we run out of tea-milk really quickly (the horror!).

I line an ovenproof dish with oven paper, put some ham, or sausage, or fried veg or maybe mushrooms in there and pour the batter on top. Then I put it in the oven, at 225 degrees (437 F) for 25 minutes. It comes out golden brown and I let it sit for ten minutes before I cut it in half with a pair of scissors. Serve with lingonberry or rowanberry jam. Cranberry would work, as long as it is a bit on the tart side. If you like, a dollop of butter can´t hurt, since I didn´t put any in while making it.

I will absolutely eat the whole thing, though it may look much. Perhaps because I only make this when I am very, very hungry.


Sunday, July 13, 2014

Chocolate Cuts

I try not to bake cookies too often - I end up eating them all myself, pretty much immediately. I am a cookie monster, I confess. I have tried keeping them in the freezer, only to find that frozen shortcrust cookies are a real delicacy. Nowadays, we only buy what we are going to eat on that day; I simply can´t store sweets at all. The husband, who likes a cold chocolate digestive with his tea, has managed to hide them in the fridge from me, but since I hate cold chocolate (a waste of taste!) they are relatively safe from me (unless it is an emergency).

These chocolate cookies, Chokladsnitt (= chocolate cuts), are a Swedish classic, very popular. You find them in most cafés and traditional patisseries, but they are so much better when you make your own from real butter and good cocoa, which I personally prefer to over-dose heavily. The recipe I use:
200 g butter, softened in room temperature
200 ml sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon baking powder
500 ml wheat flour
slightly beaten egg white & crushed loaf sugar (we call it pearl sugar)
Mix the butter and sugar - I use the food processor - add cocoa, vanilla, yolk and water. Mix the baking powder with the flour before adding that to the mix. Make four long buns on a piece of oven paper, paint them with eggwhite and sprinkle pearly sugar over them. Bake for 12 minutes in 200 degrees Celsius (392 F) and cut them immediately while hot. Then leave them to cool on the baking plate.

You don´t really need to worry about how to store them. Just put them on a plate and share. Or eat them straight from the baking plate, which is probably what I did since I have not photographic evidence that says I didn´t...


Thursday, July 10, 2014

Iced tea - On the Quick


Here is something I picked up in a Korean restaurant in London: iced water and a tea bag. I had to try it, and today is the perfect day since we are having a proper heat wave here, with 19 degrees outside! I am wearing a dress! Bare legs! I bought a black tea with orange flavour (something I would never drink warm), and you know, it´s really good! I am pretty sure the girl I saw drink it used green tea, but for some reason that gives me nausea.


I did drink a lot of iced tea when I was in Iowa as an exchange student, but that was made from hot tea mixed with sugar and lemon, and then iced. Nowadays I find that too sweet but this is just perfect, and so easy!



Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Summer Sweets

For a dessert, what more do you really need?



Not that it hurts, right? That´s whipped cream and a crushed cookie...


Friday, July 4, 2014

Shrimp Sandwiches

While I am the main cook in the family, there are some things that the husband is really very good at, and luckily (or naturally, perhaps) they are dishes that he loves and I am not as keen on. They would, honestly, never be made if he did not make them. I can almost always count on him when I am not feeling up to cooking for some reason, to make a shrimp sandwich. He will make his own sauce, using mayonnaise and chili sauce and whatnot, but since his sister introduced us to lemon mayonnaise (we are really bad at trying out new things at the supermarket, we just always buy the same-old) his sandwiches have reached another level.

There are usually hard-boiled eggs involved, cucumber or lettuce or both, cooking apples (Granny Smith is often in the house) tomatoes, even cold potatoes if there are any (sandwiches of any kind is a great way to use left-overs), dill (indispensable really, but once or twice we have been out of it and he has come up with novel ideas like using paprika), and whatever bread we happen to have. The bread is toasted and buttered, or even fried sometimes. Perhaps he skips the bread and makes a cocktail of it, as an appetizer. Or serve bread on the side, which I suppose makes it a salad? Oh, almost forgot the most important thing: the shrimp. We buy them already peeled, and they must be large and fine-looking. Never frozen.



Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Käsespätzle

What we made from the left-over spätzle: mixed them with cheese and baked them in the oven. The paprika on top was the husband´s inspiration. We served it with left-over steak fried with onion. Quick and easy!