Mushroom Cod

A quick dish that is made all the quicker by cooking  the fish in the microwave.


400g frozen cod fillets (usually comes in blocks)
2 pinches of salt
1 small yellow onion
100g fresh mushrooms
1/2dl cream
1/2 pinch of pepper
chopped parsley

Thaw the fish halfway through on defrost mode on the microwave ca. 5min.

Cut it into slices about 2cm thick and put them on a dish with raised edges.

Salt with half the salt.

Peel the onion and clean the mushrooms then chop them into small pieces.

Fry them lightly. (you don't want the onion to get too dark)

Spread the mushroom and onion mixture evenly over the fish.

Mix the cream with the pepper and rest of the salt and pour it over the fish. (carefully so you don't knock of too much of the mushroom and onion mix)

Cover and cook the dish on full effect in the microwave for 6-8min.

Sprinkle the parsley over the top and serve with boiled or mashed potatoes and a salad.


Enjoy!

Egg Salad

Yeah I know "Salad two days in a row?", but one of my friends wanted a easy high protein dish he could make when he realized he hadn't met his quota for the day (he's on some training regime). Egg salad isn't that common outside of the USA but it is perfect for an easy side dish and you can very easily add tuna fish or shrimp to it to make it more special.

8 hard boiled eggs
3tbl mayonnaise
1tbl mustard (usually Dijon but whatever you like)
any spices you like (I usually go for paprika)

Dice the eggs. (using a egg slicer is easiest)

Mix together everything in a bowl.

Check the flavor and add more mayonnaise or mustard if need be.

Serve on lettuce leaves or use in sandwiches.


Enjoy!

Legume Salad

This classical Swedish side dish works very well with cold cut meat, any type of ham or grilled chicken or turkey. It tends to be mostly used as part of buffets nowadays. The most important thing to remember about this recipe is that everything should be diced to about the size of the peas.

1 apple, peeled and cored
10cm of cucumber, peeled
1 large carrot, peeled
5 pickle slices
1dl green peas
2dl mayonnaise
salt
white pepper


Boil the carrot until it's soft, then let it get cold and dice it.

Dice the apple, cucumber and pickle slices.

Put all the diced things in a bowl together with the peas.

Flavor the mayonnaise with the salt and pepper then fold it into the vegetable mix.


Enjoy!

Pepper Burgers In Tomato Sauce

A colorful burger dish that i came up with because I had one half green pepper and half a red one and I wanted to try something different then my usual random stir fry.

400g ground meat
1/2 red pepper
1/2 green pepper
1 egg
1/2 - 1tsp salt
1/2tsp thyme
1 can of crushed tomatoes (400g)
1/2 pinch powdered cayenne pepper
1-2tbl lemon juice


Chop the peppers into small cubes.

Mix together the meat with the peppers, egg, salt and thyme.

Shape it into burgers about 8cm across and 1cm thick.

Fry them lightly in a large pan, about 2-3 min on each side.

Mix the crushed tomatoes with the cayenne pepper and lemon juice then pour it over the burgers.

Cook for about 8-10 minutes, turning the burgers once.

Serve with rice or pasta.


Enjoy!

Radio Cake

This cake gets it's name because it looks like the speaker of an antique radio when you slice it.
It's not even really a cake it's closer to being a huge sliceable candy bar.

250g coconut fat (also called coconut butter)
2 eggs
2 1/2dl icing sugar
1dl cocoa powder
ca. 100g of round or oblong biscuits (Marie biscuits are ideal but anything with a similar vanilla flavor works)

Clad  a oblong bread tin with baking paper.

Melt the coconut fat on low heat, it must not boil.

Let it cool off thoroughly or the batter might spoil.

Beat the eggs and sugar until it's really fluffy.

Add the cocoa powder and pour in the coconut fat in a steady fine stream.

Mix thoroughly.

Spread a layer of the chocolate batter at the bottom of the bread tin and then a layer of biscuits.

Continue alternating between the batter and biscuits and finish with a layer of the batter.

Keep it in the fridge so that the batter sets, preferably over night.

Take it out just before serving and cut it into slices.


Enjoy!

Italian Sausage Stew

A good way of using old potatoes and you don't have add any spices because of all the flavor in the sausages.

1 yellow onion
2 garlic cloves
600g cooked potatoes (usually around 4-6 potatoes depending on size)
400g strong sausages (pepperoni or strong chorizo work best here)
ca. 4dl water
1 cube of chicken stock
5 sun dried tomatoes (preferably marinated)
fresh basil (optional)


Peel and slice the onion and garlic.

Fry the onion and garlic in a little olive oil in a pot or deep pan.

Slice the potatoes and sausages and add them to the onion and garlic.

Pour in the water and crumble the stock cube in.

Let everything boil for a few minutes so that the flavor from the sausages has time to infuse everything.

Slice the tomatoes into thin strips and sprinkle them over the top  of the stew along with the basil if you use it.


Enjoy!

Chocolate Balls

A Swedish classic that is extremely favored amongst children because no cooking or baking is involved and they get to get their hands dirty. This recipe will get you about 40 of them depending of course on the size you make them.

2dl icing sugar
4tbl cocoa
100g butter, room temperature
1tbl vanilla sugar
5dl oatmeal
6tbl strong coffee (cold of course)
1 1/2dl coconut flakes

Sift the sugar and cocoa together to avoid lumps.

Mix the sugar and cocoa with the butter and then all the other ingredients except the coconut flakes.

Put the batter in the fridge for 30min.

Roll the batter into small balls using your hands. (keep your hands wet so it doesn't stick)

Roll the balls in the coconut flakes.

Keep in the fridge.


Enjoy!

Chicken À La King

This classical recipe seems to have been quite forgotten in the last few decades, the only mention that I can even remember is from Aladdin and that's from 1992. So I thought it was time to reintroduce it.

1 grilled chicken (ca. 1kg, can be replaced by chicken breast or thigh)
200g mushrooms
1 red or green pepper
1 yellow onion
2tbl flour
3dl chicken stock
1/2tsb salt
3-4 drops of Tabasco
1dl cream
parsley


Remove the skin and debone the chicken then cut the meat into small pieces.

Clean and cut the mushrooms, pepper and peeled onion into slices, removing the seeds from the pepper.

Fry the mushrooms first, then add the pepper and onion.

Mix in the flour and then add the stock.

Season with the salt and Tabasco then stir in the cream and let cook for a few minutes.

Add the meat and warm carefully.

Sprinkle chopped parsley over the top.

Serve with rice and a salad or use as the filling for a pie.


Enjoy!

Chili And Garlic Shrimp

I had a bag of frozen shrimp in the freezer and I wanted to do something with them, so I checked what else i had and this is what I came up with.

400g peeled shrimp
1-2 red chili
6-8 garlic cloves
1/2dl oil (olive oil or vegetable oil)
1tsb mushroom soy
parsley to taste

Deseed the chili and cut it into thin slices.

Peel and slice the garlic.

Fry the chili and garlic in the oil for about 5 min.

Add the shrimp and fry them briefly.

Stir in the soy and parsley.

Serve with rice or noodles.


Enjoy!

Gino

This is about the simplest dessert you can make and goes very fast. The original recipe uses bananas, kiwis and strawberries but you can substitute with any fruit you want or just keep to one type of fruit.
The amount of fruit is also dependent on the size of your dish.

2 bananas
3 kiwifruits
10 strawberries
200g white chocolate

Set the oven to 250ºC.

Peel or clean all the fruit and cut them into slices.

Put all the fruit on a greased oven safe dish.

Roughly grate the white chocolate over the fruit.

Bake it high up in the oven until the chocolate has gained some color, ca. 5 minutes.

Serve as is after it's cooled off a bit or with vanilla ice-cream.


Enjoy!

Spaghetti Poverello

This is a variation on the more well know spaghetti carbonara. It differs from carbonara in that you mix in the eggs and cheese with the pasta and you use the whole egg.

280g spaghetti (4 portions worth)
1 package of bacon
3 eggs
2dl grated cheese
2tbl melted butter
black pepper (roughly ground)

Cook the spaghetti.

Cut the bacon into small cubes or strips and fry them crispy.

Pour the bacon and fat in the pan over the spaghetti.

Beat the eggs lightly and mix in the melted butter, cheese and pepper.

Stir in the egg mixture with the spaghetti and serve at once.


Enjoy!

Coconut Cookies

These cookies are extremely easy to do and you only have four ingredients to worry about.

50g butter
2 eggs
1 1/2dl sugar
5-6dl coconut flakes (200g)

Melt the butter and let it cool.

Mix the eggs and sugar and beat them until they go white and puffy, then add the coconut and butter.

Let it swell for about 10 minutes.

Use  two spoons to dollop the batter on baking paper clad oven pans.

Bake them in the middle of the oven at 175ºC for about 10 minutes.

Can be decorated by drizzling melted chocolate over them or dip one side of them in it.


Enjoy!

Fresh Pickled Cucumber

These pickles are very easy to do and work very well with cooked salmon, veal or any wild meat.
 Use the dill if it's intended for fish and the parsley if for meat.

1 cucumber
2tbl vinegar (12% spirit vinegar)
2tbl sugar
1dl water
1/2 pinch white pepper
1/2tsb salt
2tbl chopped dill or parsley

Rinse and peel the cucumber and then slice it thinly (a cheese slicer works perfectly for this).

Mix the vinegar, sugar, water, pepper and salt in a bowl.

Add the cucumber slices.

Sprinkle over the dill or parsley.

Let stand for at least 2 hours before serving.


Enjoy!

Liver Stew With Bacon And Olives

Liver is a very unappreciated food, mostly i think because parents don't introduce it to their children anymore. Liver goes very well with vegetables that have strong flavors such as onion, paprika or cabbage. Mushrooms also work very well with it.

300-400g beef liver
1 package of bacon (ca. 140g)
2dl beef stock
2 yellow onions
1tsb salt
1 pinch of pepper
2-3tbl chopped parsley
10-12 olives (usually green with pimento but black works just as well)

Rinse and dry the liver.

Cut the liver into thick slices and cut the bacon into thin strips.

First brown the bacon in a pan and then the liver a little at a time.

Put the meat in a pot and whisk the pan with the stock to get all the flavor left there and pour it over the meat.

Peel and cut the onions into wedges and fry them for a few minutes, then add them to the pot.

Flavor with the salt and pepper and cook it for about 10 minutes.

Sprinkle the chopped parsley and sliced olives over the stew.

Serve with boiled rice or potatoes, steamed vegetables and a dollop of sour cream.


Enjoy!

Sweet And Sour Lamb

This was a quite tricky recipe to put down, mostly because some the ingredients where very vaguely written.

500-700g lamb cut into 2cm cubes
1 1/2dl white wine vinegar
1 1/2dl stock or pineapple juice
1/2tsb salt
3tbl brown sugar
1 medium sized yellow onion cut into slices
1 can of pineapple chunks in their own juice (ca. 500g)
2tbl arrowroot

Set the oven to 180ºC.

Brown the meat lightly for about 3-4 minutes.

Put the lamb in a casserole dish or similar that has a lid.

Mix all the other ingredients together with the exception of the arrowroot and pour it over the meat.

Put the lid on dish and put it in the oven for 2 hours or until the meat feels tender.

Remove the dish from the oven and skim of any fat that is floating on top.

Thicken the sauce with the arrowroot.

Serve with any variant of rice.


Enjoy!

Meringues

I thought something sweet and beautiful would be fitting for today. The vinegar/lemon juice is there to help stiffen the batter and make the bubbles of air much smaller and finer. It's important to use as clear and tasteless a vinegar as possible so as not to discolor or ruin the flavor the meringues.

3 large egg whites
5 drops of vinegar or fresh lemon juice
1 1/2dl sugar

Set the oven to 100ºC.

Whip the egg whites into a white foam.

Add the vinegar and whip it some more until the bubbles in it have become much finer.

Whip in the sugar a little at a time and keep whisking until the batter is stiff and keeps it's shape.

Click or spritz out meringues the size of golf balls on to baking paper on a baking sheet.

Bake them for 1-1 1/2 hours, until they feel light and are easily loosened from the baking paper.

Let them cool off on a oven grate.

Eat them as is or have them with ice-cream, strawberries and chocolate sauce.


Enjoy!

Milk Stewed Macaroni

This is a traditional Swedish recipe that for some reason has become more and more uncommon during the last 10 years. Kids tend to love it because it goes very well with ketchup.

7-8dl milk
1tsb salt
1 1/2tbl butter
3dl macaroni (traditionally small elbow shaped macaroni but what ever you have)
1 pinch of pepper
1 pinch of ground nutmeg (optional)


Bring the milk, salt and butter to the boil.

Mix in the macaroni and let them swell at very low heat without a lid for 10-25min (depending on the type of pasta) or until they have gone soft.

Stir from time to time and dilute with more milk if needed.

Add the pepper and the nutmeg if you want to use it.

At this stage you can sprinkle over or stir in parsley or dill to add some color and extra flavor.

Serve with sausages, bacon or Swedish meatballs.



Enjoy!

White Chocolate Cake

This recipe was quite difficult to translate because of one ingredient, quark. This is quite a common dairy product in Europe but is very difficult to find in the USA. I've decided that mascarpone or cream cheese would work quite adequately but will result in a richer cake.

100g white chocolate
100g butter
2dl sugar
150g mascarpone or cream cheese (quark if you can find it)
2 1/2dl flour
juice and zest from half a lemon
2tsb vanilla sugar
1tsb baking powder
1/2tsb salt

Grease and breadcrumb a cake tin with removable edges.

Melt the chocolate and the butter separately.

Mix the sugar and mascarpone until it is an even batter.

Add the melted chocolate and the butter and stir thoroughly.

Stir in the lemon zest and juice.

Mix together all the dry ingredients and add them to the batter a little at a time.

Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake for 25 minutes at 200ºC.

Serve with whipped cream and/or fresh strawberries.


Enjoy!

Filled Bacon Wrapped Sausages

This is a recipe with a wide variety of options that you can choose depending on what you have. They can be grilled, fried,done in the oven or even in the microwave. The filling can be changed with mushrooms, chili sauce, relish, mango chutney, chopped apple or onion.

4 sausages (usually of the hot dog variety but whatever you prefer)
1-2tbl mustard
ca. 100g cheese
1/2 green bell pepper
1/2 red bell pepper
8 pieces of bacon

Set the oven to 225ºC.

Make a cut lengthwise in each sausage but not all the way through.

Smear the insides of each sausage with the mustard.

Cut the peppers and cheese into thick sticks and push them into the cuts in the sausages.

Wrap two pieces bacon around each sausage tightly.

Now put the sausages on an oven grate and put a baking sheet covered in tin foil just underneath to catch anything that drips of the sausages so as to keep the oven nice and clean.

Keep them in the oven until the sausages are done and the bacon is starting to go crispy on the edges, this usually takes somewhere between 15-25min depending on the type of sausage.

Serve with hot dog buns and a light salad.


Enjoy!

Gratinated Pineapple Slices

This recipe is quite easy to do and quick because you can do it all in the microwave as I will show here.

1 can of pineapple slices (ca. 500g)
2tbl margarine or butter
1/2dl honey
1tbl flour
1tbl milk
ca. 40g of roughly chopped walnuts

Let the pineapple slices run of and put them on a serving plate that fits in your microwave.

Melt the margarine.

Stir in the honey, flour and milk into the margarine.

Heat it all for 2 minutes.

Mix in the chopped walnuts and spread the mixture over the pineapple slices.

Put the plate in the microwave and heat the dish at full effect for 1-2 minutes.

Serve with ice-cream.


Enjoy!

Sausage And Mushroom Pasta

This simple recipe is perfect for when you don't have time for a long cooking session.


300g spicy sausages (bratwurst, chorizo or something similar)
150g mushrooms
2dl crème fraiche or cream
1-2tsp soy (mushroom soy works best I find)
chopped parsley

Slice the sausages and mushrooms and fry them together with a little butter.

Stir in the crème fraiche and let it cook for a few minutes.

Flavor with the soy.

Sprinkle the parsley over the top.

Serve with freshly cooked pasta.


Enjoy!

Oatmeal Cookies

These quick and easy cookies can be modified quite easy to taste. You can mix in raisins, chocolate chips or even things like pieces of almonds.

1 1/2dl sugar
3dl oatmeal
1 1/2dl flour
1tbl baking soda
150g butter that's at room temperature
1dl raisins, chocolate chips or chopped nuts (optional)


Set the oven to 175ºC.

Mix all the ingredients together until you have a dough.

Shape the dough into small balls.

Place them on a baking tray covered with baking paper and flatten them a little.

Bake them in the middle of the oven for around 15 min.

Let them get cool and keep them in containers with tight lids.


Enjoy!

Potatoes With Bacon And Green Beans

I found this recipe together with a recipe for cocoa and chili covered pork. The pork wasn't the best but this has become a staple of my family.

8-10 potatoes
1-2 onions (yellow or red)
1 package of bacon (ca. 140g)
1 can of green beans (ca. 400g)
ca. 2tbl vegetable oil
salt
pepper


Set the oven to 175ºC.

Clean or peel the potatoes and cut them in half.

Put them flat side down on a greased baking tray or similar.

Peel the onions and cut them into big chunks and spread them among the potatoes.

Drizzle the potatoes and onions with the oil and salt and pepper.

Place in the middle of the oven for 45min.

While the potatoes are in the oven cut the bacon into small pieces or strips.

When the bacon is crispy drain the green beans and add them to the pan with the bacon.

Turn of the heat to the pan and mix them together a bit and let the beans soak up the bacon fat.

When the potatoes and onions are done put them in a large bowl or container (something like Corningware or similar works well).

Mix the bacon and beans with potatoes and onions until it's evenly distributed and looks like a potato salad.

Serve with any kind of meat or fowl.


Enjoy!

French Toast

French toast (known as Poor Knights in Sweden) makes a special breakfast or a filling dessert depending on your mood.

1 egg
3dl milk
1dl flour
8 pieces of bread (usually unsweetened white but whatever you prefer)
sugar
cinnamon


Whip the egg together with a little of the milk.

Mix in the flour and whip until the batter is smooth.

Add the rest of the milk and stir together.

Lay the bread slices in the batter until they have gone soft and soaked in batter from both sides.

Fry them until they are wonderfully golden brown on both sides.

Turn them over in sugar mixed with cinnamon or sprinkle it over them.

Serve freshly fried with jam, marmalade or fresh berries.


Enjoy!

Brian's Fillet Of Pork Special

This is a recipe that I've modified to have a little more zing to it by adding white wine and replacing the dill with parsley, these flavors work better together i feel.

500g fillet of pork
1tbl butter
1 1/2 - 2 glasses of white wine
2dl crème fraiche
2tbl french mustard (Dijon or similar)
1dl chopped parsley (half this amount if it's dried parsley)
salt and pepper to taste

Cut the fillet into slices about 1 1/2 - 2 cm thick.

Melt the butter in a frying pan and brown the meat on both sides so it gets some color.

Add the wine and let it reduce for a while until there is about half of the liquid left.

Mix in the rest of the ingredients and let it simmer for a few minutes.

Serve with boiled potatoes, pasta or rice and maybe a mixed salad.


Enjoy!

Caramel Cake

This cake is very tasty and not very heavy, so it works quite well even after a big dinner. It traditionally has arrak punsch in the almond base but that is difficult to get outside of Sweden but you can replace it with rum or skip the alcohol altogether.

Base
300 g almond paste
1-2tbl arrak punsch (optional)
3 eggs

Caramel
1 1/2dl cream
1/2dl sugar
1/2dl light syrup (golden syrup)

Take a baking tin with removable edges and clad the bottom with baking paper and butter the sides.

Grate the almond paste finely in a bowl and add the arrak punsch or rum.

Add one egg at a time and mix carefully between each one.

Pour the mixture into the tin and bake it for 30 min at 175ºC.

Let the cake cool off.

Whilst the cake is baking make the caramel.

Mix the cream, sugar and syrup in a wide, thick bottomed sauce pan.

Boil until the caramel thickens, stirring often.

Don't boil it for to long but just enough so that you can create "streets" in the caramel when you drag a spoon along the bottom of the pan, which allows you to temporarily see the bottom of the pan.

Let it cool off a little bit then spread it over the cake.

Is favorably served cold.


Enjoy!

Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf

I have made one major modification to this meatloaf  and that is what it is baked in, which happens to be a regular rectangular bread tin. This helps keep the shape and makes it easier to get the bacon around it. I only bind the meat together with one egg and don't add any milk or water to the mixture because I want it to be quite compact and therefore easier to slice without breaking apart. You can also fill it with any number of things like olives and sun dried tomatoes to pickles and capers.

400-500g minced meat (usually 50/50 pork and beef but whatever you like)
1 egg
1 1/2tsb salt
1 pinch white pepper
1 package of bacon (around 140g)
ca. 100g cheese cut into sticks


Set your oven to 175ºC.

Line the bread tin with the bacon so that the ends of the bacon hang over the long side of the tin.

Mix the minced meat with the egg, salt and pepper (add any other spices you feel like).

Take half the meat and press it into the bottom of the tin.

Push the cheese sticks in vertically in the  meat at regular intervals.


Add the rest of the meat on top and push down so that it becomes one loaf.

Fold over the ends of the bacon so that they cover the top of the meatloaf.

Put it in the middle of the oven for 45-60 min.

Lift out of the bread tin with a sturdy pair of forks or similar and put it on a cutting board to drain and be ready to slice.

Serve with any type of brown sauce or gravy, fried or boiled potatoes and lingonberry jam or red/blackcurrant jelly.

It is also extremely delicious to have cold on a sandwich.

Enjoy!

Farmers Omelette

This omelette is perfect if you have leftovers in the fridge. Use what you have at home but here is a basic recipe that you can modify depending on what you have available and best of all you don't have to flip it.

1 chopped yellow onion
2tbl butter or margarine
150g smoked ham in cubes
3-4 boiled potatoes in cubes
6 eggs
5tbl water
2 pinches of salt
1/2 pinch ground pepper


Fry the onion in the butter until it starts to get transparent but not gained any color.

Put in the potatoes and ham and fry until it's all warmed up.

Whip together eggs, water and spices and pour it over the potatoes, ham and onions in the pan.

Drag a plastic fork underneath it so that fresh batter can reach the heat and harden.

Serve when the batter has just hardened on the top with some freshly chopped parsley on top if you like.

Enjoy!

Sweet And Creamy Fish Soup

This recipe is something my dad got from a friend of his, I have no idea why but I am grateful for it because it is very delicious.

1 leek
3 bell peppers (different colors)
1 jar of taco sauce (230g pineapple salsa if you can get it)
1 jar of water (use the salsa jar)
1 cube of fish stock
2 1/2dl cream
2dl crème fraiche (paprika and chili flavored if available)
1 small can of sweetcorn
400g cod or other similar white fish
salt and paprika powder to taste

Slice the leek and chop the peppers in to medium sized pieces and fry them until they have softened somewhat.

Add the taco sauce, water and fish stock and let it boil together a little bit.

Mix in the cream and crème fraiche.

Chop the cod into pieces (not to small).

Add the cod to the soup, carefully so it doesn't break.

Cook at low heat until the cod is done.

Drain the corn and add it.

Let it all heat up and add the spices to taste.

Serve with tasty bread.


Enjoy!