A cocktail for Spring

I've seen the Pimm's cup lauded in the food blog world. I've never actually had one though. So, when the newest Bon Appetit came in the mail it looked so refreshing I had to try one. I believe the original Pimm's cup is pretty simple: Pimm's over ice with ginger ale or club soda. Pimm's No. 1 is a gin-based infusion of aromatics. Over the years there were other Pimm's Nos. 2-6, based on other alcohols (rye, whiskey, vodka), but these have since largely been discontinued.

The following is a souped up Pimm's cup (for 2). I really like how the cucumber flavor comes through. It truly is refreshing and not too strong.

Pimm's Cup

Ingredients

1 3-inch piece of English cucumber, cut into 1/2 inch slices

3/4 c. Pimm's No. 1

3 T. lemon juice

1 tsp. sugar

2 sliced strawberries

2 thyme sprigs

2 mint sprigs

2 rosemary sprigs (I left these out)

2 lemon slices (I also left these out)

ginger ale

ice

In a cocktail shaker muddle the cucumber until it looks well pulverized.

Add Pimm's No. 1, lemon juice, and sugar, and ice cubes.

Give the mixture a really good shake.

Strain the mixture into ice-filled pilsner or pint glasses.

Poke the strawberries, (lemon slices), mint, (rosemary) and thyme sprigs into the glasses.

Top with ginger ale.

Enjoy!

Move over Egg McMuffin

I'm not sure if it's because it's nearing Easter, but it seems like every food site, food magazine, food show is showing something topped with a runny egg. I love runny eggs, so when I got up to prepare our lazy Saturday morning breakfast, a runny egg was priority.

I decided to give another shot at poaching eggs. I'm no expert at this, but I seem to be getting better at it the more I practice. If poached eggs aren't your thing, then this would also be great with a sunny side up, or an over easy egg.

For the cheese sauce I used gruyere, but a sharp cheddar would also be fantastic. Full confession: the picture that's here has no egg, this was round 2 just a toasted muffin with the excess cheese sauce--the first round got immediately gobbled up before I realized that I probably should have taken a picture.

This dish looks a little fancy, but it only took about 10 minutes to pull together.

Emily's Egg Mc Muffin (for 2)

Ingredients

2 English muffins, split

2 eggs

1 T white vinegar, or juice of one lemon

1 T butter

1T flour

1 c milk

1 c. grated cheese (I used gruyere because that's what was in the fridge)

salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Fill a deep skillet with about an inch and half of water and bring to a simmer.

2. In a separate skillet, melt butter over medium heat.

3. Meanwhile, start toasting the muffins.

4. Once the water has come to a simmer (not a boil) pour in vinegar and a pinch of salt. Stir. Carefully crack eggs into the water.

5. Once the butter has melted, add the flour and whisk. Cook for about 1-2 minutes until the flour looks a light-tan color.

6. Whisk the milk into the flour-butter mixture and bring to a slow bubble.

7. Turn off the heat for the milk mixture and slowly add the cheese, whisking as you go. You've got cheese sauce.

8. Once the eggs have been cooking about 5 minutes--this is going to depend on how runny you like your eggs--lift them out of the water carefully with a slotted spoon.

9. Assemble by placing eggs on the toasted English muffins and top with cheese sauce.

Food WTF: Gjetost

Clockwise from left: Saga blue (Denmark), dill havarti (Denmark), and Ski Queen gjetost (Norway)

Oddly appealing and totally addictive, this cheese is both sweet and salty. My husband said it reminded him of peanut butter, both in color in flavor. (I thought it was sweeter than peanut butter.) The texture is somewhere between cheese and fudge.

From http://www.norwegiancheeses.co.uk/ski_queen.htm

Gjetost (pronounced ‘yet-oast’) is a unique brown cheese from Norway with a fudge-like texture and a sweet caramel flavour.

It is made from a combination of milk, cream and whey which is slowly cooked until the naturally occurring sugars are caramelised, giving its distinctive colour and taste. The cheese is then cooled and set into blocks.

Gjetost was first made in the Gudbrandsdalen valley in Norway more than 130 years ago. Anne Hov, a farmer’s wife, was the first person to think of pouring cream into the kettle of whey. Her brown cheese got a higher price than her ordinary cheese and butter, and is reputed to have saved the valley from financial ruin in the 1880s.

Gjetost is best served in wafer thin slices and eaten on toast or Norwegian flatbread (very thin crackers). It is also makes a great addition to a cheese board or melted into a variety of food dishes.

Knäckebröd (Swedish crisp bread)

Knäckebröd is a staple at the table for every meal. We encountered it everywhere in Sweden, along with another kind of flatbread called tunnbröd. There are many different recipes for knäckebröd, though it is essentially a rye hardtack. Ever seen Wasa crackers at the supermarket? That's the mass produced stuff. Homemade knäckebröd has a slight but not unpleasant chewiness that makes it more bread-like than cracker-like.

The knäckebröd we had was almost always served with butter and some kind of jam, usually lingonberry, though it is also eaten with sandwich toppings like sliced cheese and pickles.

From The Swedish Table by Helene Henderson

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 cups warm water, divided
• 2 packages dry yeast (1/4 oz. each or 4-1/2 teaspoons total)
• 1-1/2 teaspoons salt
• 3-1/2 cups rye flour
• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• olive oil spray

Directions:

• In the bowl of an electric mixer add sugar, 1/4 cup warm water, and yeast. Let sit for 10 minutes or until yeast begins to bubble and foam.
• Stir in remaining water, salt, rye flour, and all-purpose flour. Beat with dough hook until well combined, about 5 minutes.
  
• Transfer dough to a lightly oiled (or buttered) bowl, sprinkle with flour, and cover with plastic food wrap. Let rise in refrigerator overnight.

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Divide dough into 16 pieces.
• On a floured surface, roll each piece into a thin, 8-inch round. Poke out a small, 1/4-inch center hold and poke the round all over with a fork.
• Brush off excess flour, spray with olive oil on both sides, and transfer to a baking sheet covered with a Silpat liner or parchment paper.
• Bake 10-15 minutes. Let cool before serving.

Makes 16 knäckebröd.

I have a new toy

My little mini food processor has served me so well for the past 4 years. I've rejoiced when it's turned out the perfect salsa, or the savory dip; I've also cursed its size when I've wanted to make pate or duxelles and have had to do 6 batches of the same thing. Of late my little guy had started to show its wear and the blade started to separate from the housing. I knew it was time to start shopping for a replacement.

Enter the replacement. It's a wee bit bigger than the previous model (okay, so it doesn't exactly "fit under the cabinet"), and has many more features. I'll always have a special place in my heart for the mini chopper, but now that I have the big guy, it'll be hard to go back.

Below is the premiere recipe for the new food processor. I used the slicing attachment to work through 8 cups of thinly sliced onions in about 3 minutes. I also pulsed the tart dough in this baby. The recipes not in this post that I also created the same day were: homemade bread and an artichoke & bean puree.

The following recipe comes from Moosewood Restaurant New Classics. The recipe is intended for a 10-inch pie plate. Believe it or not, I don't actually own a pie plate, so I used a 10-inch tart pan. I used a little less of the egg mixture, since the pan is a little more shallow than a pie plate.

I served this up with a green salad and roasted asparagus.

Caramelized Onion Tart

Crust Ingredients

1 1/2 c. unbleached AP flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 c chilled butter

3-4 Tbsp. ice water

Filling Ingredients

1 Tbsp. olive oil or canola oil... whatever's your fancy

8 c. thinly sliced onions

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp dried thyme (I used herbes de Provence, due to lack of dried thyme)

6 large eggs

1/4 c. unbleached AP flour

1 T. Dijon mustard

1/2 tsp. salt

2 c. milk

1 c. grated Gruyere cheese ( let's be honest, I probably used way more than this)

Method:

*OK, you don't HAVE to use a food processor (FP), but it really makes life easier. I'm putting instructions for both.

Crust FP method:

Dump the flour, salt, and butter into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse about 10 times, or until the mixture looks like peas, or a coarse meal. Turn the FP on and slowly pour in the ice water. You want the mixture to form a ball. If it is still dry, add more water 1 T at a time. If it looks wet, then add 1 T. of flour.

Crust by hand method:

Combine flour, salt and butter into a large bowl. Either with a pastry cutter, a couple of knives, or your fingers (the easiest) cut the butter into the flour until your mixture looks like peas, or a coarse meal. While stirring, add in the ice water. You want the mixture to form a ball. If it is still dry, add more water 1 T at a time. If it looks wet, then add 1 T. of flour.

Once the crust has been made you can either (1) chill it down and roll it out and place it over your pie/tart pan or (2) directly press it into the pan and chill the whole pan down for 30 minutes.

Filling method:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. (Make sure you do this when your dough is in the fridge, otherwise the butter solids will start to melt before you want them to.)

2. Warm the oil in a deep, heavy skillet over medium heat and add the onions and salt.

3. Cook, uncovered, for about 15 minutes, stirring often.

4. Add in the thyme and continue to cook for another 5-10 minutes. You're looking for a deep, golden brown color.

5. Remove from heat and set aside.

6. Whisk together the eggs, milk, flour, salt, and mustard, until smooth.

7. Spread the onions into the bottom of the pie shell.

8. Cover with the grated cheese.

9. Pour the custard mixture over the top.

10. Top with more grated cheese.

11. Bake until the filling is set and the crust is golden brown (50-60 minutes)*

*NOTE: I put my tart pan on a parchment-lined cookie sheet just in case of overflows.

Serve immediately or at room temp.

Lemongrass and lime cucumber salad

A simple cucumber salad dressed in vinegar is a common side dish in Sweden. This recipe gives the dish a southeast Asian twist with the addition of lemongrass, lime, and cilantro.

It's a great workout for your mandoline, as the salad is best when the cucumbers are sliced paper thin. If you don't own a mandoline, I strongly suggest investing in one. It doesn't have to be a fancy one that also does crinkle-cuts and juliennes, but it should have an adjustable blade so you can control the thickness of your cuts. It will make your prep work so much easier and give your dishes a professional look. Definitely money well spent!

From The Swedish Table by Helene Henderson

Ingredients:

• 1 cucumber, preferably European seedless, sliced very thin
• 1/4 cup red onion, peeled and sliced thin
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1/2 lime, sliced very thin
• 1 stalk lemongrass, light green center only, sliced thin
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon red hot peppers

Directions:

• Place cucumber, onion, cilantro, and lime in a medium-size bowl.
  
• Combine lemongrass in a medium-heavy saucepan with vinegar, sugar, and salt. Cook over low heat for 3 minutes. Let cool, stir in red hot peppers, and pour over cucumbers.
• Marinate for a minimum of 1 hour before serving

Serves 4-6

Note: I didn't have white-wine vinegar, so I used white balsamic vinegar and cut back a little on the sugar. That seemed to work just fine.

Dandelion greens with Bosc pears and shallots

Dandelion greens aren't the easiest thing to come by year round, so arugula (which is what I used) works in a pinch. The bite of the greens and the sweetness of the pears and shallots make for a great combination in this easy, anytime side dish. Wilting the greens mellows their bitterness.

From The Swedish Table, by Helene Henderson.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 large Bosc pears, peeled, cored and chopped
• 1 small shallot, peeled and minced
• 4 cups dandelion greens (or other tangy greens), chopped
• salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Directions:

• In a medium skillet, melt butter with olive oil. Add pears and cook until soft, about 2-3 minutes.
• Add shallots and cook 1 minute more.
  
• Stir in dandelion greens and cook 2 minutes more.
• Season lightly with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with vinegar

Serves 4-6

Layered three-cheese russet and sweet potato gratin

This recipe probably has the most going on it, of all the things I made for our Scandinavian dinner. The list of ingredients may make you skeptical, but trust me, they combine to make a lovely flavor that is more than the sum of its parts.

From The Swedish Table, by Helene Henderson

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons butter, divided
• 2 pounds baking potatoes (about 2 large), such as russet, peeled and sliced 1/8" thin
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and grated
• fresh ground nutmeg to taste
• 3 teaspoons thyme, minced fine, divided
• 1 pound sweet potato (1 large), peeled and sliced 1/8" thin
• 3 tablespoons orange juice concentrate, thawed and divided
• 3 teaspoons adobo sauce from canned chipotle peppers, divided
• 1 cup cheese, such as Gruyere, mozzarella, or Parmesan, or any combination, freshly grated
• 1-1/2 cups heavy cream, divided
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Rub botton of a 9 x 13-inch glass baking dish with 1 tablespoon butter.
• Add a third of the russet potatoes and season with salt and pepper to taste. Top with a third of the garlic, a third of the thyme, and a small sprinkling of nutmeg.
• Add a third of the sweet potatoes, season with salt and pepper, and brush with 1 tablespoon of orange juice concentrate and a third of the adobo sauce. Spread a third of the cheese on top and add a third of the cream.
• Repeat twice, creating three layers of potatoes, each ending with the cheese and cream. Dot top layer with remaining butter.
• Bake until potatoes are fork-tender, crisp, and golden on top, about 45-60 minutes. Cover dish with aluminum foil if the top begins to burn.

Serves 6-8.

My Swedish table

Most people don't think of Swedish food as sexy. It doesn't have the rich elegance of French cuisine, the sensuousness of Italian, or the romantic exoticism of cuisine like Indian, Thai, or Moroccan. Instead, it is deceptively simple: Swedish food has relatively few ingredients, but they are combined in ways you may not be accustomed to.

Helene Henderson updates traditional Swedish dishes with some fusion twists in her cookbook The Swedish Table. The resulting combinations of flavors, colors, and textures are delicious and, I would argue, absolutely sexy. Recipes to follow, as I am able to post them.

On the plate, clockwise from the left: layered three-cheese russet and sweet potato gratin, arugula with Bosc pears and shallots, lemongrass and lime cucumber salad, and knackebrod (Swedish crisp bread) with lingonberry preserves.

A quick and easy dinner

The following recipes came from The Healthy Kitchen by Andrew Weil and Rosie Daley. This meal came together in about 30 minutes. The salmon recipe posted below is for 6, but since there's just two of us I scaled it back, but now that it's a few weeks later, I can't exactly remember the proportions I used.

This meal was really light and refreshing. It also felt like spring with the citrus glaze and the crisp snow peas. The snow pea side dish literally came together in minutes once the snow peas were all trimmed up.

Seared Salmon with Orange Glaze

serves 6

Ingredients:

Six 6-oz salmon fillets

1 T. sesame oil

3 tsp. soy sauce

1/4 c. white wine

1 c. freshly squeezed orange juice

1 tsp. orange zest

3 tsp.l sherry

1/2 tsp. grated fresh ginger

Slices of orange for plating

Method

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2. In a large, very hot skillet, add the sesame oil, and sear the fish fillets for 1 minute on each side. The fish should sizzle when it hits the pan. If you don't hear the sizzle, your pan is not hot enough.

3. After searing, move fillets to a ceramic or glass baking dish.

4. Drizzle soy sauce and wine over the fillets and bake them for 10 minutes.

5. While the fish is in the oven combine the orange juice, zest, sherry and ginger in a small saucepan and warm on medium-high heat until the liquid is reduced by half.

6. To serve, plate the fish and top with an orange slice. Drizzle orange glaze over the top of the fish.

Shiitake mushrooms and pea pods

Ingredients

1 pound of snow peas

1/2 pound of fresh shiitake mushrooms

2 tsp canola oil

1 tsp. toasted sesame oil

2 tsp light brown or raw sugar

1/4 cup of sherry

2 T soy sauce

Method

1. Trim the ends and any strings from the pea pods.

2. Slice the mushrooms into 1/2 inch wide slices.

3. Heat the oils in a skillet and add the mushrooms.

4. Saute over medium-high heat, until the mushrooms start to brown

5. Sprinkle the sugar over the mushrooms and add the sherry.

6. Cook and stir for 1 minute and then add the pea pods.

7. Cover, and reduce the heat to medium, and steam until the pea pods turn bright green, and tender crunchy (about 2 minutes)

8. Remove cover and continue to cook until the liquid has evaporated.

Serve quickly!

Eating with your eyes

No recipes here. It just looked like a pretty plate of food that I did for a weekend night dinner. In case you're wondering, it's seared scallops, garlicky sauteed mustard greens, a very large seared maitake mushroom, all sitting atop a sunchoke puree.

Danish Apple Soup (Æblesuppe)

This soup is an intriguing mix of sweet and savory. The curry powder hints at Indian cuisine, but the apples and white wine keep it squarely in the European camp. One of the things I appreciate about Scandinavian cuisine is how familiar flavors are combined in a way I never thought of before, and this soup is a perfect example of that.

From Scandinavian Cooking by Beatrice Ojakangas (1983)

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 pounds cooking apples (6 to 8), such as Granny Smith or Golden Delicious
• 5 whole cloves
• water
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 cups white wine, white grape juice, or water
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 to 2 teaspoons curry powder
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 3 tablespoons sugar
  
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions:

• Wash and peel apples, reserving peel. Immediately combine peelings, cloves, and water to cover in a large saucepan. Over medium-low heat, simmer 30 minutes.
  
• While peelings simmer, core and slice apples. Sprinkle with lemon juice to prevent darkening.
• Place a strainer over a medium bowl. Pour peeling mixture into strainer. Discard peelings and cloves; return broth to saucepan.
• Add apple slices and 2 cups wine, juice, or water. Simmer over low heat 30 minutes or until apples are tender.
• Puree apple mixture in a blender, adding cornstarch and curry powder during processing.
• Pour pureed mixture back into saucepan. Stir in cream, sugar, butter, and salt. bring to a gentle boil over medium heat. Cook and stir until thickened. Serve hot.

Makes 6 (very generous) servings.

Hey Blondie!

We had a lovely dinner of soup and rice casserole. The dishes are washed and put away. It's nearly time to put on the pajamas and settle in for a little tube time before bed. But there's something missing. I'm craving something a little sweet, but nothing that requires a whole lot of effort (did I mention the dishes were already washed?).

Enter the blondie. It's just like a brownie, hold the cocoa. I actually slightly prefer blondies over brownies. The cocoa sometimes hides the buttery caramely goodness that a blondie offers.

Just like with brownies there are 2 schools of perfection. There are those who like the edge pieces, so you get a little crispiness--hence the As Seen on TV: All edge brownie pans.

I am in the other school, those who like the goopy middle pieces. If not for the whole raw egg thing, I'd actually prefer just to eat the dough straight from the mixing bowl. Since that's not (a good) option, I prefer my blondies rare... for those who are in the crispy edges group, just add some more time to the recipe.

Just as an aside, the flavor of the brown sugar really comes through pretty strong here. This time I used Trader Joe's organic brown sugar and I have to say, it had a much deeper flavor than, say the Giant brand of brown sugar. I don't always buy organic sugars; I just happened to be at TJ's when I remembered that I was out. It was a happy accident.

Blondies (Emily-style)

Time: 1 hour (most of it baking)

Ingredients

1/2 c. butter, melted

1 c. brown sugar, packed

1 egg, beaten

3/4 c. all purpose flour

1/4 c. wheat flour (if you don't have it on hand, just use all AP flour)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. almond extract (optional)

large pinch salt

handful of dried cherries (optional)

handful of chocolate chips (optional)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Mix together butter & brown sugar.

3. Add the egg and mix.

4. Add the remaining ingredients and stir until combined.

5. Pour batter into a greased square baking pan.

6. Bake for 35 minutes, or until the middle is just set*.

Note: This is largely going to depend on how big your pan is. I used an 8X8 pan and 35 minutes was just right for my rare blondie tastebuds. If you're using a bigger pan, start with 20-25 minutes and check as you go.

Bon Appetit!

Get ur fika on: Bullar

My husband and I recently traveled to Sweden for vacation, and I have since become enamored with all things Scandinavian. A custom I fell in love with in Sweden is that of fika. In her cookbook The Swedish Table, Helene Henderson explains, "Fika means taking coffee and sweets, but it is more than that. It is a social event, it is a way of life, it establishes who your true friends are and where you stand with them.... The day begins and ends with fika, and it also happens many times in between." Fika can be as simple as going out for a coffee and a pastry with a friend or as elaborate as inviting friends over for a selection of many pastries, cookies, and other sweets.

The mainstay of fika are bullar, which are moist, chewy, slightly sweet yeast-dough buns flavored with cinnamon, cardamom, and sugar. From what I have picked up on in internet research, everyone's family has a bullar recipe and they all believe theirs is the best. While proportions of butter and flour are sometimes different, and people argue the merits of using fresh ground cardamom over dried, the basic idea is always the same.

Bullar are usually brushed with an egg wash and sprinkled with pearl sugar before baking. You can find pearl sugar at Scandinavian specialty shops or online fairly easily, or you can chop sugarcubes to produce a reasonable subsititute. Sugarcubes aren't all that easy to find these days either, though, so I recommend buying the pearl sugar online. (Scandiafood.com carries it.) Alternatively, you can top bullar with a powdered sugar glaze right after you remove them from the oven, but that is less authentic.

Bullar (from The Swedish Table by Helene Henderson, University of Minnesota Press, 2005)
Makes 16-18 rolls

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 c. warm water
• 1 package dry yeast (1/4 oz. or 2-1/4 tsp.)
• 3/4 c. milk
• 3/4 c. salted butter
• 1 egg
• 3-3/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 3 T. sugar

filling:

• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/2 T. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. cardamom, ground fresh -or- 1/2 tsp. dry
• 4 T. unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
• 1 egg, beaten (to brush the rolls)
• pearl sugar or 1/2 c. powdered sugar, dissolved with 1 T. water (for the topping)

Directions:

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine 1 teaspoon sugar, warm water, and yeast. Let sit for 10 minutes or until yeast begins to bubble and foam. (MG -- I used a regular mixing bowl and a hand mixer for this recipe, and that worked just fine.)

In a small saucepan combine milk, and butter. Heat until warm and butter is melted, but do not boil. Let it sit for 8 minutes or until temperature falls below 110 degrees. (MG -- If you don't have a thermometer, you can do the "baby bottle test" and put a drop on your wrist. If it feels uncomfortably hot on your wrist, it's too hot for the bullar.) Pour into the yeast mixture. Add egg, flour, and 3 tablespoons sugar and beat with a dough hook until combined. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 1 minute. Transfer dough to a lightly oiled (or buttered) bowl, cover loosely with plastic food wrap, and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour.

While the dough is rising, in a small bowl combine sugar, cinnamon and cardamom. Preheat over to 400 degrees F.

Toll dough into a 20 x 15-inch rectangle on a lightly floured surface. Brush top with the soft butter and evenly sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar. Fold dough in half and cut into 1-inch-wide strips. Hold one end of each strip and twist in opposite directions. Coil the twisted strip around your finger to create a tightly rolled bun. Place inside muffin cups or on a baking sheet covered with a Silpat liner (or parchment paper). (Alternatively, bullar can be made jellyroll style and cut into 1/2-inch sections.) Let rise for 30 minutes more.
















Brush rolls with the beaten egg and sprinkle with pearl sugar if desired, and back for 10-12 minutes. Alternatively, you can drizzle rolls with powdered-sugar glaze after they are baked.