Pannbiff med Lök (patties with onion) and Lingonberry Sauce

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kokblog_doors

In Sweden I once lived next to a lovely girl. We weren’t only neighbors, we also shared the toilet that was out on the staircase. After a while we became really good friends and started to share other things. I only had a black and white TV, so we spent many evenings on her sofa watching color TV. I had a freezer and she had a toaster. One day when I was frying bacon for my Sunday breakfast, she banged on my door. I thought I had upset her with the bacon odor, as she is a vegetarian (who eats fish!). But she just wanted to stop by and say how wonderful the smell was coming from my apartment. So without any regrets I continued flavoring the staircase with my cooking. Another day she came again and told me she couldn’t take it any more. My dear neighbor wanted meat. I suggested pannbiff med lök (flat meatball or rather patties with onions).

the patties

0.7 kg (1.5 lb) ground beef (or half pork and half beef)
one onion
three cloves of garlic
3 tablespoons bread crumbs
150 ml (2/3 cups) half and half or milk
1 eggs
salt and pepper
some fresh or dried herbs, such as oregano, thyme, sage, rosemary and/or parsley

Chop the onion and the clove of garlic very thinly. Sauté them in some olive oil until soft. In the meantime mix together the breadcrumbs, half and half and the egg with the ground meat. When the onions are ready mix them with the meat mixture and season with herbs, salt and pepper. Let the mixture rest for awihle. I always start by sauté-ing only one piece of the mixture, to make sure I have the right amount of spices. When the meat mixture has the taste you want, start rolling and flattening the patties. Take one tablespoon full, roll it in your hands and flatten it a little. Sauté them on quite high temperature. You can lower the temperature when they start to get some color. Take out the finished patties and keep them on the side. When you have done all of the patties, pour some water into the pan. Let it cook a bit and take the pan off the heat. This gravy will be used in the sauce.

lingonberry sauce

3 tablespoon butter
3 tablespoon flour
100-200 ml (1/2 to 1 cup) gravy from the meatballs
400 ml (1 2/3 cups) milk
100-200 ml (1/2 to 1 cup) cream
3-4 tablespoons lingonberry or cranberry jam
salt and pepper
oregano or thyme
a little soy sauce

Melt some butter in a saucepan and mix in the flour. Add the gravy and let it boil. Pour in the milk followed by the cream and let the sauce boil for 2-3 minutes. Add the lingonberry jam and season with salt, pepper, herbs and a little soy sauce. Sometimes I even drop some red wine into the sauce.

caramelized onions

2 yellow onions
2 tablespoons brown sugar

Chop the onions in rings. Heat up some butter and sauté the onions. Add the sugar and cook until onions are soft and golden brown.

finally…

Heat up the frying pan again together with some oil or butter. Place the patties in the pan and pour over the sauce. When the sauce starts to boil it’s done. Serve the dish with boiled potatoes, lingonberry jam and some pickled gherkins.

When I moved, my friend went back to being a fish-eating vegetarian…

Note: There are many ways to make your patties or meatballs. For example some say eggs are not needed and some say it makes the mixture more porous and easier to sauté. Most recipes tell you to soak the breadcrumbs in the milk for 5-10 minutes to avoid a bread taste in your meatballs. That may be a good idea, but I have never done that and my meatballs have never ever tasted of bread.

Small Appetizers

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kokblog_dalek

So we went to Madrid and stayed at the quite stylish hotel, Hotel Room Mate Mario. I would not say it’s fancy like this one but it is a fun place. M:s comment was that the hotel is a perfect place for the Daleks in Dr Who, especially the dining room. I don’t know what the Daleks eat or if they eat at all. But the hotel is located in the heart of Madrid with hundreds of great tapas bars and restaurants around the corner.
Anyway at home we often have meetings and workshops. Depending on the time of the day we make either brunch or just appetizers. This is not really tapas, but something I make up from what happens to be in my fridge.

Warm Goat Cheese Tomatoes
tomatoe

3-4 sliced fresh tomatoes
some chevre or other stronger goatcheese
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper

Grease an oven-proof plate with olive oil. Arrange the tomatoe slices on the plate (they can overlap each other). Drizzle some olive oil and balsamic vinegar over. Season with salt and pepper. Cut the chevre in smaller pieces and divide them over the tomatoes. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes at 175º (350F). Serve with fresh bread, dry ham and olives.

M:s Spicy Portobello Mushrooms
portabello

2-3 portobello mushrooms or 10 smaller field mushrooms
dried chili
one clove of garlic
40 ml (1/6 cup) tamari sauce
40 ml (1/6 cup) of water
fresh rosemary leaves

Heat up some olive oil in a pan and fry the garlic and the chili. When the garlic starts to get a little soft, add the chopped mushrooms. Sauté until the mushrooms get softer. Add the water and the tamari and season with salt and pepper. Spread some leaves of rosemary over and cook it for three minutes.

Serve with fresh bread, dry ham, feta and olives.

Spinach Packages
filo

any filo dough
one bunch of fresh spinach
dried chili
one clove of garlic
salt and pepper
feta (or parmesan)

Clean the spinach carefully and chop or break it into smaller pieces. Heat up olive oil in a pan and fry the chopped garlic together with some dried chili until it’s golden brown. Add the Spinach and sauté until it gets softer. Season with salt and pepper. Lastly mix in the feta and take the pan from the heat.

Make squares out of the filo dough and brush every layer with some olive oil. Place a spoon of spinach on the square and package them well. Arrange them on an oven-safe plate and bake them in the oven at 175º (350F) until they are golden brown.

Sometimes I also make olives with parmesan in filo dough.

Curry

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kokblog_on_the_train

One friend of mine was on a train and overheard a conversation between to guys. The conversation was about how to make the best curry. One of the guys was bragging about his curry and he even stated that it was the best. My friend thought the conversation was inspiring and decided to listen carefully and memorized the whole recipe. Excited about his new discovery my friend went home to give the curry a try. He managed to get all the ingredients and everything seemed to be great. But the bragging guy on the train had talked a little too much. The curry dish didn’t stand out at all. In fact the curry was a big disappointment for my friend.

M:s curry is probably not the best curry either, but it is tasty, quick and simple to make.

serves 3-4 people

1 teaspoon mustard seeds
2-3 cloves of garlic
½ yellow onion
more or less chili
2 teaspoons coriander powder
2 teaspoons cumin powder
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
4-5 whole cardamoms
235 ml (1 cup) chickpeas
handfull raisins
handfull cashew nuts
½ cauliflower
one zucchini
two carrots

Heat up some olive oil and add the mustard seeds. When the seeds are popping in the pan, add chopped garlic, onion and the chili together with the coriander, cumin and turmeric. When the onions starts to get soft, about 3 minutes, add the vegetables. Mix and sauté for another 2 minutes before adding some water, cardamom, raisins and chickpeas. Cover and cook until vegetables are done. Add the cashew nuts at the end of the cooking. Serve with couscous or rice, simple dill cucumber salad and some nice yogurt on the side.

Note If you are using dried chickpeas I suggest the following: soak the chickpeas over night. Boil them in salted water together with one bay leaf and one clove of garlic for 30 minutes. Prepare some extra and you can make humus as well.

Spinach Lasagna

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dinnerparty

Well Alice on her lovely Swedish food blog Brax on Food asked me for a kitchen confession and here is one of them…
The other day we had some friends over for spinach lasagna. Just a half an hour before everybody arrived there was a small crisis in the kitchen. I had forgotten about the cheese sauce on the stove, it cooked for at least 45 minutes too long. Even though it was on very low heat the sauce had separated and the cheese had transformed into some kind of porridge that was floating in the saucepan. It did not taste burned or bad it just looked a little uneatable. One solution could be to try to get some new cheese in the supermarket. But they would probably not have a great replacement for the Gorgonzola that was floating in my saucepan. I had nothing to lose, so I poured everything in the blender and out came the smoothest cheese sauce I have ever done…

(Serves 4-5 people)

You will need lasagna noodles enough for three layers. Precook the noodles in a big pan or use already precooked noodles.

spinach sauce

2 bunches of spinach
olive oil
3 cloves of garlic
chili
40 ml (1/6 cup) tamari sauce
40 ml (1/6 cup) of water

Clean the spinach carefully and let it dry while you peel and chop the garlic into small pieces. Heat up some olive oil in a pan and fry the garlic and the chili. When the garlic starts to get a little golden brown, add the spinach and sauté until it gets softer. Add the water and the tamari, cover the pan and let it cook for five minutes. If necessary season with salt and pepper.

blue cheese sauce

50 gram (about ½ stick) butter
50-60 ml (¼ cup) flour
700 ml (3 cups) milk
about 250 ml (1 cup) of any blue cheese (depending how strong taste you want)
salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter and stir in flour. Cook under very low heat for 2-3 minutes. Constantly stir the flour mix. Add the milk gradually and stir to a smooth blend. Add the cheese and stir until cheese is melted. Season with salt and pepper.

Grease a baking tin. Start the layering with some cheese sauce and some spinach in the bottom. Keep layering with pasta in between layers of both cheese sauce and spinach. At last cover the last layer of pasta with only the sauce. Bake the lasagna in the oven at 375º for about 20-30 minutes. When the lasagna is nearly done sprinkle some fresh grated Parmesan over. Put in the oven for further cooking until the cheese is melted and got a nice color. Serve with a nice mixed salad, for example arugola, apple, grated carrots and walnuts.

… and the guests loved the lasagna.

Steamed Artichokes

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atrichokes

There are two machines in the kitchen that I never use, the espresso machine and the pressure cooker. I guess I am just too lazy to learn how to use them and so M makes me coffee every morning.

The pressure cooker isn’t really a machine but it’s noisy and I find it a little bit scary. M uses the cooker for rice and artichokes. When M makes rice he use brown basmati rice mixed with wild black rice. He cooks the rice together with salt, bay leaves and garlic. The cooker really keeps the flavor of the rice.

for two artichokes you need

one lime
one clove of garlic
3 bay leaves

Wash the artichokes and pull of the bottom brownest leaves. With a very sharp knife cut the tip off the artichokes (about 1/2 “) and trim the stem. Squeeze limejuice over the top of the artichokes. Fill the pressure cooker with a little water in which you put mashed garlic, bay leaves and the rest of the limejuice. Insert a steaming tray above the water and put the artichokes on the tray. Close the cooker and heat it up on medium high until the steamer begins to steam. Lower the heat and continue cooking for 10 to 15 minutes depending on the size of the artichokes. Turn off heat and remove cooker from the heat. Serve the artichokes at room temperature with the vinaigrette on the side to dip the artichoke “leaves” in.

vinaigrette

3-4 parts olive oil
1 part apple cider vinegar or white balsamic vinegar
1-2 gloves of garlic
fresh oregano or thyme
1-2 mustard
just a drop of honey
salt and pepper

Mix the oil and the vinegar with some mustard, garlic and a drop of honey. Lastly add the spices to your own taste.

Now off to Madrid for some days of great culture, wines and food.