Tag Archives: drawing

Pierogi

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kokblog_pierogi

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.

Maria’s Shrimp Stew

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waterpipe in the garden

My friend Maria and I used to spend long evenings out in her garden, playing backgammon and smoking water pipe. At that time, we often start the evening by cooking something together, while listening to Middle East pop music and drinking some exotic tea. Well Maria spent over a year in the Middle East working at a rehabilitation center. In her free time she learnt scuba diving or went for long overnight walks in the desert all by her self. She must be one of the bravest persons I know.

This shrimp stew has nothing to do with Maria’s adventure in the Middle East. This stew is inspired by one of her original recipes. However I have changed it a bit. She made it as a creamy soup and it was perfectly suitable for our long early summer backgammon session in the garden.

half kg raw shrimps
two or three cloves of garlic
chili flakes
mustard seeds
½ teaspoon cumin powder
½ teaspoon coriander powder
½ teaspoon turmeric powder
three fresh tomatoes
one yellow onion
150-200 ml (0.6-0.85 cups) cream or heavy milk
paprika powder
thyme
fresh dill
one red pepper
salt and pepper
fresh cilantro

Heat up some olive oil and sauté one clove of chopped garlic together with some chili seeds. When the garlic starts to get a little yellow add the shrimps. Sauté on high temperature until they are done. Put the shrimps on the side and pour 150ml (0.6 cups) water in the sauté pan and let it boil for a minute. The liquid is going to be used later. Peel the shrimps when they become cooler.

Heat up new olive oil and add a teaspoon of mustard seeds. When the seeds starts to pop add cumin, coriander, turmeric and chili flakes. Sauté for ½ a minute before adding the chopped onion and one or two cloves of chopped garlic. Slice the fresh tomatoes and add them to the onions as they are getting soft. Sauté for a short moment before adding the shrimp water. Cover and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add the cream and bring it to the boil. Lower the heat and season with paprika powder, thyme, salt and pepper. The stew should have a nice balance of sweet and spiciness. Just before serving add the shrimps, chopped cilantro, dill and the red pepper. The red pepper should be crispy.

Serve with rice and a simple salad (I often do arugula with apples and walnuts).

See also recipe for Grilled Spicy Shrimps

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.

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.

Gravlax with Gravlax Sauce

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gravlax_worm
In English Gravlax should be called Buried Salmon, which would be the ‘correct’ translation. But I agree that Gravlax sounds better and today you don’t have to bury the fish to make it.

1 kilo (2 lb) salmon fillet
2 teaspoons crushed pepper
4 tablespoons salt
2-4 tablespoons sucanat or sugar
lots of dill

If I buy fresh salmon I always freeze it for 24hrs, to make sure that there are no parasites in it. Clean the salmon fillets of any bones but keep the skin. The skin makes it easier later on when you are going to slice it. Mix together salt, pepper and sucanut. (more sugar makes a softer gravlax). Rub the fillet with some of the mixture. Divide the rest of the mixture and the dill on top of the fillet. If you have two fillets, place them together, meat against meat and short side against wide side. Place the fillet in a plastic bag and close it carefully. You can also use plastic wrap but it can be a little messy. Let the fillets rest in the fridge for 1-2 days. Thinner fillets can be done in 24 hours and thicker pieces need 48 hours to be ready to eat.

Unwrap and clean the fillets. Start to slice the gravlax at the small end. Make thin slices with a fillet or boning knife at an angle. Gravlax can be stored in the fridge for a week or longer in the freezer.I often serve my Gravlax as dinner with either potatoes and gravlax sauce or with dill creamed potatoes. In the summer I like to have a fresh potatoe salad with mustard vinaigrette. But gravlax is also great as an appetizer on toast.

See also Gravlax Juniper and Elderflower Gravlax

Gravlax Sauce
(serves 4)

3 tablespoons unsweet mustard
100 ml (0.4 cups) oil
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 tablespoon sucanat
salt and fresh ground pepper
100 ml (0.4 cups) chopped dill

Mix mustard, sucanut, vinegar, salt and pepper. Slowly start dripping in the oil while stirring the mixture. Continue dripping in the oil and stirring. If you add the oil too quickly the mixture can separate. The result should be a thick sauce. Lastly add the chopped dill.