Orange-raspberry juice

I normally don't drink juice very often, but we sometimes buy (or make our own, now that we have a juicer!) on weekend mornings. I got to try three new juices from Godmorgon, which is one of the most popular brands in Sweden. They pride themselves on having freshly squeezed juices, never from concentrate - but well, I assume they're still pasteurized. Anyway - the three new ones were orange, apple and orange-raspberry. The first two are special in that they use specific oranges and apples, from specific regions, and that will vary throughout the year. I liked the orange a lot, but the apple wasn't really my thing. The orange-raspberry though - yum!! It's very tart, but really lovely, and quite different. I'd definitely buy this again.

Let's say you could think up any combination of juice. What would you make? I'm thinking apple-lemon, pear-grapefruit, pineapple-ginger-lime...

Lemony Lamb with Cous-Cous

Hungry? I still have a whole lot of lamb in the freezer (after buying half of one earlier this fall) so I have to think of creative things to do with it. This is what happened with some of the mystery pieces lately. The basic idea comes from a cookbook compiled by the Swedish grocery chain ICA, with modern "husmanskost" which is.. oh, traditional Swedish food I suppose. This is not so traditional, but definitely a modern take on lamb cooked in stock and then served with a creamy sauce. The cous-cous is all mine. And oh yes, it's delicious.

Lemony Lamb with Cous-Cous
Serves 4

1 kg lamb - any piece really, but with bone. (It might have been about 6-700 g pure meat)
water
2 tsp sambal oelek (or other hot chili paste)
2 chicken stock cubes or concentrated stock
1 bay leaf
black pepper

For the sauce:
1/2 tbsp butter
1 garlic clove
3-400 ml of stock from the lamb
1-2 tbsp flour (I use a kind that won't clump in sauces, very convenient)
250 ml cream (I use cooking cream, a 15% fat variety)
1/2 lemon - the zest and the juice
salt, finely ground white pepper

Cous-cous:
3-400 ml cous-cous
boiling water
some of the stock from the lamb
cayenne pepper
cumin
salt

Place the lamb into a pot, not too large, it should be quite snug. Cover with cold water, and bring to the boil. Remove any scum that rises to the surface, and bring to boil again. Add sambal oelek, chicken stock cubes, bay leaf and a little black pepper, cover with a lid and lower the heat. Boil for 1,5-2 hours, until the meat is very tender.

Let the meat cool a little, and then pick it off the bones. Shred it into bite-sized pieces. Sieve the stock.

Start the sauce: chop the garlic finely and fry in butter until slightly golden. Add the flour and 3-400 ml of the lamb stock. Add cream, lemon zest, lemon juice and leave to reduce for a few minutes. Season with salt and white pepper, and when it tastes nice, add the lamb. Let it heat through.

For the cous-cous, don't worry about these instructions - just wing it. It will work! Place the cous-cous with the spices in a bowl with plenty of space. Pour on some of the lamb stock (maybe.. 250 ml/a cup or so?) and then boiling water to cover the cous-cous with 4-5 cm. Wrap the bowl with plastic wrap and leave to steam for five minutes. Fluff with a fork, and serve.

Recipe in Swedish:
Lamm i vitlöks- och citronsås

Weekend Cat Blogging - meet the Car Kittens!

So, we decided on names for the L-kittens! Linda in Gothenburg suggested cars as a theme (not so surprising since both she and her husband works in the car industry!) and we thought it was pretty funny so why not? Meet the little ones...

S*Hufflepuffs Black Lamborghini:


S*Hufflepuffs Silver Lexus:


S*Hufflepuffs Brown Land Rover:


S*Hufflepuffs Brown Lancia:


S*Hufflepuffs Black Lincoln:


S*Hufflepuffs Black Lotus:


You'll find more photos here.

(and I *promise* to blog more about food next week. Really!)

Very little energy

I have zero energy, but I wanted to let you know that Dagmar has posted more about the competition, and she's posted plenty of photos, too. Go here!

I'm incredibly honoured that the jury actually liked our food! I thought all the competitors did a good job, and we were *so* sure we hadn't won. Kurt Weid who was the head judge is a real legend in cooking competitions - he judges all over the world, and he calmly informed us that he would use the same points system as he did when he judged, for example, the cooking olympics. Oh, no pressure at ALL! :)

One might think that cooking competitions is a bit like music competitions - it's all so subjective. And of course, it is. Food is, after all, very much a matter of personal preference. I don't know that I'll ever do something like this again, but it sure was a great experience!

Me and Dagmar last night

We won!!

I can hardly believe it, but we won!!

Stockholm Chili

Ok, wish us luck tonight! It's time for the finals of "Årets hemmakock 2008" or "Home Chef of the year", and me and Dagmar (Lena has fled the country! Involuntary, though.) will be cooking this in front of a lot of people tonight...

Our mission was to create a nice Sunday dinner, using any cut of beef from the front of the animal. That means the cuts that are suitable for slow cooking, and we decided pretty fast to make a chili. This particular one evolved, and it's a great recipe, really. The coca-cola makes it quite sweet, so you have to add a lot of spice to make it balanced. In the end, it will be very aromatic, and matches perfectly with the slightly acidic tomatoes, the salty cheese, the crunchy chips and cool crème fraîche. It's also something you can prepare far in advance, no need to be in the kitchen as your guests arrive. And most of all, it's SO easy. I'm convinced absolutely anyone can make this!

The chips are made from the lavash crackers both Dagmar and I made for the Daring Bakers challenge a while ago, and they're spiced with salt and ancho chili, or cayenne pepper. We use spelt wheat, but it won't make a big difference if you use regular all-purpose flour. If you don't feel like baking - just substitute bought nacho chips. It works nicely too.

The chili itself uses three types of chili - fresh red, ancho and smokey chipotle. (If you're in Sweden, you should find chipotle paste from Santa Maria on the taco shelf in the grocery store, and ancho chili in powdered form from Santa Maria as well, among the other spices.) The oven dried tomatoes is something I've made before, and they're really yummy with this chili. They're really great with a smoked salt, but don't worry if you can't find it. Same with the white balsamic vinegar - it adds a lot of flavor, but regular white vinegar will still give you good results.

Stockholm Chili
Serves 6

1 kg stewing meat, in large cubes
500 g minced pork
2 yellow onions, cut into thin half moons
cooking oil
salt, pepper
4 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
2 red chili peppers, finely chopped
500 ml coca-cola
2-3 tbsp ancho chilipowder
2-3 tbsp chipotle chilipowder (or chili paste)
2-3 tbsp cumin
corn starch - optional

to serve:
Spelt Chips
oven-dried tomatoes
grated cheese (use your favorite)
fresh coriander
red onion, finely chopped
crème fraîche

Brown the meat, pork and onions in cooking oil in a large pot, in batches. Salt and pepper as you go along. Put everything back in the pot, along with the fresh chili, garlic, coca-cola, ancho chili, chipotle chili and cumin. Bring to boil, lower the heat and let the chili simmer under a lid for at least two but preferrably three hours. Check it every once in a while to make sure it doesn't dry out. If it looks like it might, add some water.

Towards the end, taste it and season with more salt and spices as you need it. Add more water if it seems to thick, but if it's too liquid, stir in a little bit of corn starch.

Spelt Chips
350 ml spelt flour, or all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp olive oil
100 ml water, warm
cayenne pepper or ancho chili
flaky sea salt

Mix salt, yeast, sugar, olive oil and water in a bowl. Add the flour and work into a supple dough. Knead very well - the more you work it, the easier it will be to roll out. Cover the dough and leave it to rise for about 90 minutes.

Roll out the dough on a piece of parchment paper, as thinly as you can. You might need some extra flour. Score the dough into squares or diamonds, sprinkle with water and then with cayenne or ancho chili, and salt.

Bake at 175°C for 15-20 minutes. Let the cool before you break them into separate chips, and be aware that they'll crisp up in a few minutes if you let them stand for a bit. They can be soft when they're still warm.

Oven-Dried Tomatoes
6 ripe plum tomatoes
1 tsp sugar (brown or white - doesn't make a big difference)
1 tsp smoked salt
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
2-3 tbsp white balsamic vinegar (or regular white vinegar)

Cut the tomatoes into wedges - six per tomato is about right. Place in an oven-proof dish, skin-side down, and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with sugar, smoked salt and cayenne pepper. Bake at 150°C (preferrably in a convection oven) for about an hour. The tomatoes should look fairly dry, leave them in for a bit longer if you need to. When you do take them out of the oven, drizzle with the vinegar and leave to cool.

Serve at room temperature.

Recipe in Swedish:
Stockholmschili med dinkelchips och ungstorkade tomater