Tag Archives: illustration

Coconut Macaroons

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Summer is ending, at least here in Sweden and at the moment I’m dreaming of a balcony in the East Village where the summer will last a little bit longer. My favorite baking treat this summer has been my simple Coconut Macaroons.

(makes about 25-30 macaroons)

50 gram (1/8  lb) butter
3 egg whites, room temperature (use the yolks for a Pasta alla Carbonara or a Mayonnaise)
50 ml (¼ cup) regular sugar
100 ml (½ cup) sucanat
200 gram flaked coconut

Melt the butter and set aside to cool down.  Whip the egg whites with regular sugar until stiff (its important that the bowl is absolutely clean before you start and that the eggs really are at room temperature).  Carefully blend in the sucanat followed by the coconut flakes and lastly the cooled melted butter. Let the mixture rest a little. Take a teaspoon and scoop up some of the mixture onto a greased baking sheet.  Repeat until the mixture is divided. Bake for about 12 minutes at 175°C. Let the cookies cool totally before storing them in a sealed container. Enjoy!

(Another cookie recipe: Hazelnut & Cinnamon Cookies)

Akvavit and Black Currant Snaps

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Well I’m preparing for this year Midsummer celebration here in Sweden by spicing vodka (snaps). I have made Akvavit and Black Currant which I know goes very well with the “matjes” (traditional midsummer herring). For my guests I want to offer a broad variety of “snaps”, so these recipes just give you a small amount of each. If you need more just double or triple the recipe.

My sister Anna’s Akvavit
(essence)

one tablespoon caraway seeds
one tablespoon coriander seeds
one tablespoon fennel seeds
100 ml (½ cup) unflavored vodka*

Smash the seeds roughly in a mortar and pestle. Soak the seeds in a jar with vodka for 6-8 hours (if you keep it longer you will get a stronger essence). Drain and dilute with at least twice the amount of vodka.
This flavor works all year around, for instance its fantastic with Swedish Crayfish.

Black Currant Snaps
(essence)

about 16 young leaves from a blackcurrant bush
200 ml (almost a cup) unflavored vodka

Rinse the leaves if necessary and soak them in a jar with vodka for 6-8 hours (don’t keep the leaves much longer as the vodka will taste too grassy). Drain and dilute to your taste).
This “snaps” is really refreshing and works perfectly for an early summer feast.

*You can use almost any unflavored vodka but I use Absolut,  Svedka or triple-distilled Smirnoff.

Wildboar Paté

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wildboar road

 

about 1 lb (450 gram) spinach or chard
2-3 cloves of garlic
some chili flakes
1 lb  (450 gram) minced wild boar (fresh)
salt
milled black pepper
2-4 tablespoons of port
1-2 teaspoons fresh ground black mustard seeds
rosemary (chopped or crumbled if dried)

I sautee the spinach with chili and garlic. Let cool on the side. Squeeze out any juice and mix with the minced meat. Add the port, ground mustard seeds and rosemary. Season with salt and black pepper. I make a seasoning test by frying a small amount of the meat mixture. Add more seasoning if necessary.
Grease a loaf tin with butter and turn the meat mixture into the rectangular baking dish (ceramic or glass). Cover the dish with a buttered sheet of  paper or aluminum foil. Bake the pate in the oven in a water-bath at 330º F for about 45-60 minutes.  Be careful not to over-bake as you don’t want to make the pate dry.
I serve my pate as a starter, cold on dark bread, topped with red currant jam.

The recipe is based on Elizabeth David’s recipe of Pork and Spinach Terrine recipe in the book “South Wind Through the Kitchen”.

*

I suggest you serve this paté with:

Sourdough Knäckebröd (recipe at the end of the post)
Plain Sourdough Bread
Mushroom Confit by Andrew Janjigian

 

Nathalie’s Pear Clafoutis with Aniseed

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shed

Nathalie is possibly one of the best home chefs I know. Luckily for us she spoils us with her treats every time we are in London. One of the best moments were when her husband allowed us to dine in his new built writing-shed in their beautiful garden. Well we could barely fit and to get in and out we had to crawl under the table…

one vanilla pod
3 large eggs
150 gram (1/3 lb) sugar
55 gram (1/8 lb) flour
18cl (3/4 cup) creme fraiche
18cl (3/4 cup) milk
pinch of salt
3 cloves of star anise- ground to a powder
3 to 4 William Pears

Preheat the oven at 200°C  (390°F). Scrape the inside of the vanilla pod. Beat 3 eggs until they are “mousy”, add the vanilla, sugar, flour, milk, creme fraiche, star aniseed, salt. Mix thoroughly until homogeneous. Put mixture over prepared pears (clean and pealed, cut into halves) arranged in a dish. Cook in oven for 40 minutes.

Gravlax Juniper

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dalek dancing

I just became a Resident Alien. This I celebrated by making gravlax…

1 kilo (2 lb) salmon fillet
1 teaspoon crushed pepper
4 tablespoons salt
4 tablespoons sucanat or regular sugar
40 crushed juniper berries
lots of fresh dill

If you use fresh salmon you should  freeze it for at least 24 hours, to make sure that there are no parasites in the fish. 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 up. Crush the junipers in a mortar. Mix together with salt, pepper and sucanat. Rub the fillet with some of the mixture. Divide the rest of the mixture on top and add the dill. If you have two fillets, place them together, meat against meat with dill in between. Place the fillet in a plastic freezer bag and close it carefully. Let the fillets rest in the fridge for 1-2 days and turn them now and again. Thinner fillets can be done in 24 hours but thicker pieces need 48 hours to be ready to serve. Unwrap and clean the fillets. Start to slice the gravlax into thin diagonal slivers by using a fillet knife starting at the small end of the fish. Gravlax can be stored in the fridge for nearly a week or longer in the freezer.
This type of Gravlax I prefer to serve on a small piece of home made “knäckebröd” topped with Sabine’s lingonberry cream and decorated with new fresh dill.

See also my previous recipe on Gravlax…