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Rye Bread with Linseed

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baking 3

I have been so good this summer making my own bread and jams. Unfortunately this great habit only lasted for 3 months!

100 ml (½ cup) linseed
some water
3 tablespoons olive oil
500 ml (just over 2 cups) kefir or yogurt
50 gram (1 ¾ oz) fresh yeast (or other)
2-3 tablespoons roasted and crushed caraway seeds
200 ml (7/8 cup) roasted sunflower seeds
1-2 teaspoons salt
1-2 tablespoons dark syrup
400 ml (1 ¾ cups) rye flour
300 ml (1 1/4 cup) wholegrain rye flour
about 700 ml (3 cup) wheat flour

Soak the linseeds in some water. Heat up kefir and the olive oil to 37° C (almost 100° F). Dissolve the fresh yeast (or follow the description on the package) with some of the warm kefir mixture. Add the rest together with salt, syrup, caraway seeds, sunflower seeds  and the soaked linseeds.

Start to work in the rye flour and the wholegrain flour. Finally you add as much of the wheat flour as you can until the dough is smooth and doesn’t stick to the edge of the bowl. Cover the dough with a towel and let rise for one hour in a warm and draft-free place.
After about an hour or two, when the dough has doubled in size, place it on your counter top and knead in more regular flour until flexible and firm. Form two loaves and place them on a baking tin. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes.

Bake in the oven for 45-60 minutes at 175-200° C (350-400° F) depending on what kind of oven you are using. When the bread is done place the baked breads on a rack and cover. I know it can be hard to resist new baked bread, but they should rest for at least a half day so the taste can develop to its best.

Lamb Stew

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In the middle of cooking I realized that white wine wouldn’t be the best for this meal. I turned off the heat and ran down to the wine shop asking for an earthy and hearty red for my lamb stew with anchovies. We started to discuss different options when the wine guy suddenly asked me if I had already started cooking. Until then I hadn’t realized that my clothes had a very strong smell of cooking!

for the stew
1 lb lamb (shoulder or any other piece with bone)
2-4 gloves of garlic
red chilies, fresh or dried
3-5 anchovies
1 big onion
rosemary (dried or fresh)
some warm stock (I used my own stock made from lamb bones )
butter

for the stock
bones and the parts you don’t want to be in the stew
2-3 garlic, chopped
chili, fresh or dried, chopped
bay leaves
herbs (rosemary,thyme or sage)
half an onion
whole pepper corns
salt

Trim any excess fat and bones from the meat. Cut the rest of the meat into mouth size cubes. You will only use the bones and the fat for the stock. Keep the rest of the meat cool for later.

It’s a little hard for me to describe how I make a stock as it always end up different. Its really depends on what I have at home. Sometimes I add carrots, parsnips, dried and soaked shiitake mushrooms, dill or wine, etc etc. So what I will describe here is my basic recipe…
To make the stock, start by heating up a pan with olive oil. On high heat sauté the bones with chili, chopped garlic and onion. Sprinkle herbs before covering with water. Add salt, pepper and bay leaves. Bring to boil on high heat, then reduce heat and cover partially. Let it simmer for about an hour until the stock is reduced and flavorful. Strain stock into a bowl. Keep warm for use in the stew, otherwise cool and store in a refrigerator.

Now its time to make the stew. Heat up a sauté pan with some butter and sauté the lamb cubes on high heat on all sides for about 3-5 minutes. Lower the heat and start feeding the meat with chopped garlic, chili, anchovies and rosemary. The anchovies will melt completely in the pan and give the meat and sauce an excellent taste. Spoon over some warm stock now and again. The meat should not be bathing in stock, just make sure it never gets too dry.
Chop the onion into rings. In a separate pan, sauté the onions in butter (I use a lot) on very low heat until soft. Put aside.
When the lamb is ready (between1-2 hours) feed with more garlic and rosemary and add the onions and the rest of the stock. If necessary season with salt and pepper. (This is also a good time to let the stew rest while you go get the wine.) Before serving, let it cook for about 5 minutes. I normally serve the stew together with sautéed collard greens, baked potatoes and parsnips (and of course with a matching red wine).

Sabine’s Caviar with Lingonberry

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caviar under an old oak

Last summer we went to visit some new friends in Sweden. We were invited to dine under their old oak tree. The lady of the house, Sabine spoiled us with a number of unbelievable and unforgettable treats. One of them became my extra extra favorite: lingonberry cream with North Swedish caviar. Believe me when I say, lingonberries and caviar are a surprisingly good combination!

the cream
200 ml (almost a cup) Creme Fraiche
About two tea spoons of lingonberry or cranberry jam (not too sweet)
Red caviar (mild or slightly salty)

Mix the cream fraiche and the lingonberry jam together. The mixture should have just a slight taste of lingonberry and have a light pink color. Serve the caviar and lingonberries together with thin Swedish crisp bread (knäckebröd) or Finn Crisp.

For Thanksgiving I used my Raw stirred Cranberry Jam and served the caviar with gentle and soft Muscat wine.

Sabine’s version is slightly different from mine. She mixed the lingonberries with whipped cream and served it on a soft flatbread from the north of Sweden. The north Swedish caviar she served was very delicate and not so salty. I normally prefer this myself but I discovered that a slightly salty caviar blends well with the sweetness in the lingonberry cream.

Thanks Sabine and congratulations to your new cooking book, “Restresan”.

Blini with Caviar

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blini with caviar

Some months ago we were celebrating our 90th birthday. We had champagne, caviar and blini – which ended up being a great combination for a great party!

M:s Blini

1/4 cup (60 ml) water
1 1/4 teaspoons fresh yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup (237 ml) sifted whole wheat flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (237 ml) milk
3 tablespoons butter
2 large eggs

Heat the up water to 110°F (about 43°C) using an oven thermostat. Stir together the warm water with yeast and sugar. Let the mixture stand for about five minutes until the mixture gets foamy (small wholes on the surface). This is important! If the mixture doesn’t foam you have to start all over with new yeast. Sorry!
Melt the butter and let it cool before using. Heat up the milk to 110°F (about 43°C) . Add first the flour and salt to the foamy mixture before you stir in the warm milk, the melted cooled butter and the slightly beaten eggs. Put the bowl in a larger pan that is filled with warm water (about 1 inch). Cover the bowl and let the mixture rise in a warm place for about 1 ½ – 2 hours. The mixture should then increase in volume and have bubbles on the surface. Stir the mixture before the next step.
Heat up a sauté pan with either butter or olive oil. Lower the heat. Make small blinis by using one tablespoon batter. Sauté for about two minutes on each side until the blinis gets a beautiful golden color. Keep them warm in the oven.

Serve the blinis with black caviar and creamy sour cream. (They also work well with gravlax)

bubbles

M was very determined to make the blinis as delicate as possible. He did careful research and several tests before he was really happy. The result was created from this recipe…

We also tested several different kinds of caviar and our favorite for this occasion was a quite simple black caviar from Russ & Daughters in the East Village.

Zubrówka

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kokblog_bisongrass

Our friend Russel is growing Sweet Grass (or bison grass) in his garden. Sweet grass is the main flavoring in M:s and my favorite vodka, Zubrowka. Zubrowka is based on rye distilled vodka and the grass gives it a smooth herby taste with a touch of bitterness. The smell is grassy and has a barely noticeable vanilla accent.

Sweet grass has been used for ages by the Native Indians for ceremonies and healing rituals. In many places it’s still grown for basketry. In the 70-ies the US discovered that Sweet grass contains a small amount of coumarin and decided to ban the import of Zubrowka. Coumarin has the ability to thin your blood, the same effect Aspirin has. Well whenever I will need to prevent my blood from clotting, I will prefer a Zubrowka to an aspirin. I also think a cold Zubrowka goes better with herring. Today you can find artificially flavored “Zubrowka” in the US but it’s very distant from the real thing.

In some parts of the world, Sweet grass is growing wild but you can also find Sweet grass clogs on the Internet. Russel planted his clogs last spring and was able to harvest his first straws in September the same year. Russel grew up on a farm so we were quite certain the result would be lovely. As the Sweet grass is a perennial, Russel will soon be able to harvest it again. This time we think the result will be even better as the straws will be fresh and delicate!

for the essence you will need
1/3 liter rye vodka (however we used the wheat grain vodka, Svedka)
8 fresh blades of sweet grass cut into one inch lengths

Let the blades soak in a the vodka in a sealed glass jar for seven days. Any longer and this ‘essence’ tastes too bitter. Take the blades out, filter the essence through a coffee filter and mix approximately two parts vodka with one part essence.

If you mix Zubrowka with apple juice topped with a slice of lime you will have the cocktail that we call a boy scout. In Poland they call the cocktail tatanka or szarlotka (apple pastry).

There is off course other ways to make your own Zubrowka.