What can be  more foodie underground than making potato pancakes while house squatting in London? The fact is that next door to the Rolling Stones in Chelsea my husband M learned how to make Potato Pancakes. It was during the punk era and M had just been thrown out from home. House squatting was just one way to survive while struggling with his studies at AA.

The recipe is simple: (for two people) Peel two potatoes. Cut them in smaller pieces and mash them in a blender. If the potatoes are to watery you need to squeeze out some of the liquid before adding two small eggs. When the mixture are well blended add some flour and season with salt. Pour about five – six small amounts of batter into a standard frying pan on medium heat. Fry them with some olive oil or butter until they are golden brown, turning once only.

The pancakes can be served with many different things. Back in Chelsea M ate them with just butter and sugar. Today we serve them with a variety of small sides, for example lingonberry jam, freshly grated carrots, sautéed bacon pieces, goat cheese mixed with sour cream and caviar.

I feel more and more secure about using our pressure cooker even if I sometimes still think its going to explode. In this dish it may look like it actually happened, as it’s not a particularity attractive meal! However this hearty stew is perfect for lazy evenings when its freezing cold outside. It’s warm and delicious and shamelessly easy to make…

(for two people)

6-7 slices of bacon
1 medium onion
fresh or dried thyme
one small parsnip
one medium potatoe
a small piece of celery
1 cup (240 ml) dried split peas
2 ¾ cups (650 ml) of stock (preferable your own home made: veg., meat or chicken)
1-2 bay leaves
1 clove garlic
(salt and pepper)

Cut the bacon into thin slices and fry in a pan on medium heat until it starts to get a little crisp. Chop the onions and sauté in butter or with remaining bacon fat on very low heat until soft and almost transparent. At the end add some thyme (if using dried). Place onion, bacon, split peas (rinsed), chopped potato and parsnip in the pressure cooker. Add stock, bay leaves and press in some garlic. (If necessary season w/ salt and pepper). Stir everything and bring the mixture to a boil. Close the lid and bring pressure to high until the steamer begins to steam. Lower the heat and continue cooking for 15 minutes. Remove the cooker from heat and let cool. When the pressure has completely gone open the lid.

Serve the stew with a nice ale.

We use both yellow or green spit peas for this dish. However I have noticed that the yellow split peas gets mushier and at the same time drier. Therefore I cook them for only 13 minutes and use just a little bit more stock. You can also use other vegetables such as: turnip, carrot and celery. This recipe came originally from a soup recipe at cd kitchen.

So we had duck this thanksgiving and I am really happy with how this recipe turned out.

(serves about 4 people)

one duck (about 5lb/ 2.5 kg)
½ lime
2-3 teaspoons salt
pepper

2 lb small potatoes (for example fingerling), cut in small pieces
2 parsnips, cut in small pieces

prune and fig stuffing

6-10 prunes
6-10 dry figs
1 cup dry vermouth
½-one pear
thyme

for the stock (will be used to baste the duck and for the sauce)

duck neck and giblets
one small onion, sliced
one small carrot, sliced
small piece of celery (or what ever you have at hand)
½ cup dry vermouth or white wine
sage
6 black pepper corns
salt
water

The day before: Cut the figs and prunes into small pieces and soak them with dry vermouth overnight or at least for 6 hours.

About an hour before you roast the duck you need to prepare the stock. Take out the giblets and the neck from the duck. Sauté the giblets in a saucepan. When brown add the sliced onion, carrots and pour in the vermouth. Let it bubble and reduce for a couple minutes. Add thyme, sage and some salt. Cover with water and let simmer for about an hour. Taste and season with salt if necessary.

Just before you are ready to stuff the duck, chop the pear in small pieces. Add the pear and thyme to soaked fruit and blend together carefully. Wash the bird under running water. Rub the duck inside and out with lime. Rub on some salt and pepper. Fill the duck with the stuffing.

Put the duck on its side on a rack in a roasting pan. After 30 minutes in the oven @345°F(175°C), turn the bird on the other side and pour 1/2 – one cup of warm stock over the bird. Let it cook for another 30 minutes. Turn the bird facing up and place the potatoes and parsnips at the bottom of the pan. If you think there is too much fat at the bottom of the pan, you may take some out. However I really recommend keeping the fat for another occasion as it’s  fabulous to fry potatoes in.  Put the bird back into the oven and cook for about 45-60 minutes. The breast should be gorgeously brown and the legs loose. Take out the bird and let it rest for a about 15-20 minutes before carving.
Serve the duck and baked potatoes/ parsnips with the prune and fig stuffing, gravy, gherkins and cranberry sauce.

In Manhattan it’s hard to find great pierogi. I often find them too thick and heavy. Well M:s mother happens to be a great pierogi maker. She makes them so thin and light and fills them with sauerkraut and mushrooms, meat, or cheese and potatoes. I easily end up licking the plate. After all she is from Poland and as lovely as she is, she makes tons of them when we are around.
This summer I asked her for her dough secret. I was hoping to get the whole recipe written down, but her answer and recommendation was very short, “make them with warm water”!

dough (approximate 75 pierogi which serves about 6 people)
700 ml (3 cups) regular flour
1 whole egg
1 egg yolk (I used the egg white in the potatoes and cheese filling later)
1 tea spoon salt
175 ml (¾ cup) warm water (heated up, not directly from the tap)

Mix the flour and the salt together with the eggs. Heat up some water and mix small parts at a time into the flour mixture. I did it by hand but I think it works perfectly well to use a food processor. On a flat surface knead the dough until it’s firm and soft. Cover with a damp tablecloth and let it rest on the counter top while you are making the fillings.

mushroom filling
Here I made M:s Spicy Portobello Mushrooms. I used less water, as I didn’t want the filling to be too loose. Instead I used some cream to make it thicker.

cheese and potatoe filling
4 – 5 boiled potatoes
4 table spoons butter or olive oil
50 ml (0.2 cup) milk
1 egg white
about 120 ml (½ cup) farmers’ cheese
salt and pepper
cilantro

topping
melted butter
fine chopped and fried bacon
fine chopped and fried onions

Mash the potatoes with the egg white, some melted butter and milk. Add the farmers cheese as noted or to your own taste. Mix well and season with salt and pepper. Lastly add chopped cilantro. Note that cilantro is not really a traditional ingredient for a pierogi filling but I don’t think there are any strong rules on how to make fillings. You take what you have at home. I used a very mild type of cilantro. However many recipes seem to use fine chopped onions or chives. I will try garlic next time.

filling the pierogi
Uncover the dough and if necessary knead it some more. Divide into 4 pieces. Use lots and lots of flour while rolling one piece at the time to a 1/16” (1 mm) thickness. Make 3” circles and divide the fillings on top. Cover the filling and pinch the edges firmly to seal. Pat some more flower on every pirogi so they don’t stick together. If necessary add some more warm water to the dough as the flour makes it dryer in the process. Repeat until you have about 75 lovely pierogi.

Heat up salted water. When the water is boiling drop some of the pierogi in the water. When they are floating up to the surface let them boil approximate 1 minute more. Fish them out with a strainer. Top with melted butter and fried bacon and onions (chopped finely). Serve with a salad and some sour cream.

Well it is a long process… but luckily it was worth every minute. The pierogi ended up super thin and didn’t last very long.

There are many different versions on how to make pierogi. Some use sour cream and some use the egg yolk in their dough. My dough was inspired by several recipes but are quite similar to Kate Hopkins version.

I have never participated in a Body Cake competition; I don’t think I have the body for it. It’s not about how well or pretty you make them, the winner is the one who eats the most! They are heavy but still one of my favorites of the Swedish traditional comfort foods. There are many different variations of it; some areas do it with raw potatoes and some like them as I do below.

6-7 big potatoes
one egg
300 ml (1.2 cups) flour
one tea spoon salt
200 g (0.45 lb) bacon or salted pork
onion
one teaspoon salt and some pepper

Peel the potatoes and boil them until they are done. Mash the potatoes and mix with the egg and flour. Season with salt. Cut the bacon and the onion in small pieces. Start to sauté the onions. Add the bacon and sauté them together until the bacon is crispy. Season with some pepper.

Form the potatoes mixture into a big roll. Slice the roll in pieces. Press your thumb in the middle and fill it with some of the bacon mixture. Cover the filling and make a ball of it. The size can be a little bit smaller than a tennis ball. Repeat the procedure until you are done.

Heat up water with salt and when it’s boiling, drop some of the body cakes into the water. When the body cakes floats up, boil them for about five minutes.

Serve with lingonberry jam or cranberry jam, melted butter, grated carrots and a glass of beer. I also always have extra bacon pieces on the side. Leftover Body Cakes are great to slice and sauté the day after.

By the way I am now back in East Village from my lovely stay in Sweden, with some great stops in Copenhagen and London.

(This kind of Body Cake you can call Småländska Kroppkakor. This recipe is rewritten from a recipe in the Swedish cookbook Vår Kok Bok, 1975)

In the beginning of the eighties M was house squatting in the fancy neighborhood of Chelsea in London. Next door to the Rolling Stones he learned how to make Potatoe Pancakes. He was studying Architecture and this was a great way to live cheaply as he had a hard time with his parents. At that time he had the pancakes with butter and sugar. Today we have them with goat cheese and caviar!

for one person you need

one large potatoe
one tablespoon flour
one small egg
pinch of salt

Peel the potatoes. Cut them in smaller pieces and mash them in a blender. Squeeze out some of the water and mix together with the flour, salt and egg in a bowl. Pour small amounts of batter to make about five pancakes in a standard frying pan on medium heat. Fry them with some olive oil or butter until they are golden brown, turning once only. The pancakes can be served with many different things: lingonberries or cranberries, freshly grated carrots, sautéed bacon pieces, goat cheese mixed with sour cream and lastly caviar.

By the way, I just came from London and I am now posting from a lovely cottage in Sweden. Where I am planning to stay until the end of October.

Yesterday we had Sophia over for dinner. Sophia used to live in our building long before I met M and moved over here. M remembers her as the girl with the blue hair. Some time ago M was teaching architecture, he had told the students to draw where they came from. Suddenly he recognizes his building and the girl with the blue hair, she is one of his students! She had drawn their house and she had also added some Manhattan likely crowns on top of the ugly buildings across the street. She thought they needed it. I think it would be more fun too.

salmon filet
shallots
dill
olive oil
vinegar
lime
pepper
tiny amount of chili

cold sauce
mayonnaise
sourcream
dill

feta
potatoes
arugola

Marinate the salmon for half an hour with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, chili, pepper, lime and the shallots. Bake it in the oven in a covered dish or foil for about 15 minutes at 350 F. Prepare the sauce by mixing one part mayonnaise and one part sour cream together. Add some chopped dill. Serve the salmon together with the mild sauce, boiled potatoes, feta and a simple arugola salad.

A couple a weeks ago I was discussing sausages with our friend Russel. He had just bought a meat grinder and we where eating homemade venison burgers. Russel got very interested in my mother’s liver sausages that I talked warmly about. Liver has never been my favorite food and I don’t think I have eaten it since I was a child. Now I am looking forward to get a bite of Russel’s version of my mother’s recipe.

1.2 kg (2.6 lbs) liver
1.2 kg (2.6 lbs) fat (non smoked bacon or minced pork meat)
6 boiled potatoes
3 grated yellow onions
4 or more tablespoons salt
2 teaspoons allspice (kryddpeppar)
1 teaspoons white pepper
thin hog castings

Separately mince the liver and the fat twice. Continue by mincing the boiled potatoes and the grated onions. Mix all the minced parts together with salt, pepper and the allspice into a smooth mixture. It’s important that the ingredients are well mixed.
Fill the hog casting, but don’t fill the sausages too hard. Make the sausages the length and thickness you prefer and make a knot on both ends.

Grease a baking tin with butter. Place the sausages in the tin and prick them with a thin needle. Bake them until they are well done and are golden brown (about an hour) at 175° (347 F). Half way through you can turn the sausages. Serve with a glass of beer, home made mashed potatoes and beetroots.

This is a popular traditional dish in Sweden. Often people serve it as ‘night food’ at big parties, as no one should go home hungry. This dish is also common on a Swedish traditional Smörgårdsbord (smorgasbord).

8 big potatoes
1-2 yellow onions
one (or maybe two) small can of anchovy fillets
300 ml (1.2 cup) cream or half and half
a little salt (be careful as the anchovies can be very salty)
bread crumbs
butter

Peel the potatoes and cut them in thin strips. Slice the onion thinly. Saute the onion in a little butter until they soften. Layer the potatoes and the onions in a baking dish. Open the tins of anchovies and poor the juice over the potatoes. If you want the anchovies in smaller pieces cut them into halves and divide them over the potatoes. Pour half of the cream over. Sprinkle some bread crumbs and divide small lumps of butter over the dish. Bake in the oven at 225°C (440F) for about 45 min. Just before its finished baking poor over the rest of the cream.

In Sweden they serve it with beer and vodka. Children drink milk!

fresh new potatoes
arugola
dill

vinaigrette
3-4 parts olive oil
1 part apple cider vinegar
1-2 table spoons mustard
1-2 cloves of garlic
fresh herbs such as thyme, oregano
salt and pepper

Boil the potatoes with fresh dill. In the meantime you can wash the arugula carefully and let it dry.

Mix the oil and the vinegar with some mustard and add the spices to your own taste. Cut the potatoes in smaller pieces and mix them carefully with the arugola. Pour over the vinaigrette and let it rest before serving.