Cyberkocken

*english below

Nu har alla bidrag till Cyberkocken blivit framlagda och det är dags att rösta! Så om ni tyckte om min sallad rösta på mig!!!

The round up for the cyberchef is complete and in swedish it can be found here.
If you liked my lentil salad, I'd be so happy if you voted for me (scroll down the post to vote). Also, atleast clivia will hopefully post her post in english if you're curious, but there's no promises....

Linssallad (Lentil salad)

First part of this post will be in Swedish as this is for a Swedish food blog event! It will be in english further down...



Wow. När jag bestämde mig för att gå med i Cyberkocken visste jag att just den här gången skulle bli problemfylld då jag är pank, lönen är 2 dagar iväg, och för att jag skulle få göra den rätt jag bestämde mig för till mig själv, då min pojkvän vägrar äta både rucola och röda linser. Trist med en så inskränkt syn på mat.
Tack och lov hade jag det mesta hemma och bestämde mig för att göra en lätt och snabb söndags brunch.
Jag använde mina underbart goda physalis som någonting gult och gjorde en linssallad med pistagemascarpone kräm på toppen. Jag tror inte jag behöver skriva receptet för det är ganska lätt, jag kokade linserna väldigt lätt och försiktigt så det inte blev en mos, spred dem på en bädd av rucola, med physalis spritt runtomkring. Sedan vispade jag mascarpone och krossade pistagenötterna och hade i. Väldigt lyxigt, vilket visar att god mat inte behöver vara dyr.

English version

I joined a swedish food blogging event called Cyberchef. It's a Swedish version of Paper Chef. (Which in turn is a food blog take on the tv-show Iron Chef.)
Our ingredients of choice this time were Arugula, Red lentils, Pistachio nuts and as a twist something Yellow which could be anything that is yellow, egg yolk, lemon etc. I chose physalis (also known as Cape gooseberry) beautiful and so tasty!
I decided (due to money problems, and a boyfriend that wont eat half of the ingredients) to make a simple salad. I cooked the lentils without mashing them up, which will happen if they cook too heavy or too long. I then spread them on a bed of arugula, added some physalis around them. I then mashed up the pistachioes in my mortel and mixed them with whisked mascarpone to top the salad of. It was very luxurious.

Pickled Pears in Rum

So I bought that huge bottle of rum for my birthday. Havana Club to be exact. I took that one as it's the one to make the best mojito with, I was told. Problem is, I'm not an avid drinker, well except beer, which I should give up... in due time. So what to do with my expenisve bottle of rum (except let my boyfriend drink it, which I'd rather not). Well my darling love's grandmother turns 86 tomorrow, and last year they all apparently forgot her (poor thing) so I've been hearing her say It's my borthday in a month... It's my birthday in a week all the time and I felt so bad for her that she had to point it out. I remember last year when we went for her birthday brunch (that she had to fix herself), Daniel bought her a jar of pickled pears. Just a simple, cheap jar of pickled pears. She likes them he said. Yeah well she can buy her own. Where was the thought in it? There was none.
So this year I decided to make her her own pickled pears. Homemade. With a splash of nice rum in them.

Pickled Pears in Rum
pears, halved and ínsides removed (or what you prefer to pickle)
1 part white vinegar
1 part water
2 parts sugar
vanilla cane
½ part of rum (or to taste)

The reason I write in parts instead of exact measurements is because it all depends on how many pears you've got and how big your jar is. Just play by ear or should I say eye. You'll know how much will fit, and now you know the ratio.
Cook the vinegar, water, sugar and vanilla can (that you've cut open and scraped the vanilla seeds from, and put all into the mix) for about 10 minutes. It'll get a sour vinegar smell but that's ok. Add the pears and let them simmer a short while. You don't want them easily prickled through, just a little soft.

Put the pears in the jar, mix the rum into the lightly cooler fluid, taste it to make sure you like the ratio. Pour the fluids over the pear, put a lid on and let it rest for a couple of weeks.

I made sure I had a nice jar to put the pears in, everything in presentation right?

Sugarcookies for Easter

15 dl flour
3 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp salt
5 dl sugar
440 g butter (4 sticks)
2 eggs
2 tbsp vanilla

This recipe wont swell so if you use cookiecutters the size and shape you cut in, will be the size and shape of the cookies.
Heat oven to 175 degrees celsius.
This yields about 50 cookies, but I recommend doing the entire recipe and then freezing half of the dough.
Cream sugar and butter fluffy, for about 30 minutes. Add eggs and flavouring. Mix dry ingredients and then add to the butter mix. Mix well!
Put a handful of the dough between two bakingpapers (parchment paper) and roll to desired thickness, I liked it 1½ cm thick. Repeat with all the dough. Put the dough (including sheets) in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes. After that time the dough will be ready to be cut into shapes. repeat with the spares.
Bake in oven for 8-10 minutes.
I didn't have any cookiecutters (just purchased some) so I cut egg shaped cookies with a knife, some became more round, like the one in the image.

For the frosting.
Mix 4 dl powdered sugar, 2 drops of vinegar, and an eggwhite. Seperate into atleast three piles and add colouring.
It should be rather thick.
Add it to a plastic bag, cut one of the tips (really small) and start spritsing.

The Spice is Right #1 - Ancient Spices

For the first time EVER, I've joined a food blogging event. Barbara announced The Spice is Right in March, giving us a nice time limit to join in for April. This months theme being Ancient Spices, and our interpertation of it.
I must admit, I don't have aspice I reflect on as ancient as in my ancient memories. And I haven't been keeping spices for an eternity as I've only lived out of my mums for a few years, and on my own for even less time. (First shacking up with my sister, who took her half of the spices with her). So my oldest spice in the cupboard might just be a month or atleast a few, old.
I was racking my brain trying to figure out which spice to use as my ancient spice. So I surfed the net trying to find inspiration of what to interpret as an ancient spice.
For me ancient spices are pure. It's the simplest flavour, that can change everything in the recipe if you leave it out. And at once I thought of something, mint.
Mint can dominate a dish without any effort, and the first time I really noticed how much was when I first tasted a Mojito. I was with my mumat a tapas place and she ordered me a mojito as a dessert drink. I was blown away by the taste! The lime incorporated with the sugar and especially the mint makes this drink feel more like a sensation than an alcoholic bevarage and done right you wont even know the alcohol (except it's subtle sting) until you're getting tipsy.

Mojito
4 cl light rom
4 cl sugarstock*
½ lime
mint
soda water
crushed ice

Start with making the "sugarstock". take equal parts sugar and water, and heat the mixture up in a pan, stiring constantly until all the sugar is dissolved. Let it cool.
In the 4 cl of sugarwater mixture, add half a lime in slices, and about a hand full of mint leaves (fresh!). Crush the lime and mint in the sugar, and taste it to make sure it's the right amount of mint. The mint varies so it's hard to say the exact amount but it should be a perfect blend of lime and mint in the flavour.
Fill the glass with crushed ice and then pour the 4 cl of rom on top. End with
poring sodawater in the glass. I'd say to fill it up but that depends on the glass, so be sure to taste it before adding to much.
Sip it while sitting in the basking sun. Ever so enjoyable!!


history about Mint
a bread of mint (there are loads of different ones) was found in ancient egyptian graves (anno 1200-600 b.c), unfortunetly it doesn't grow wild in egypt, so it's assumed that it was cultivated.
Later it's been used alot in medical researches in Europe and around 1700 it was added to the London farmacy corporation.

**EDIT I noticed a bit late that Barbara don't enclose fresh leaveds as spices and more as herbs, I don't really know what the difference is (blame the blonde hair or the fact that I'm a Swede, most people already seem to think we're daft...).
If Barbara won't accept this as an entry I'll *try* to think of a new one before the time is up, but no promises can be made.
And I must add, a Mojito was the perfect birthday gift to myself!!!

My favorite cheesecake

This cheesecake never fails. It's delicious and easy to make and you'd have to do some major mistakes to ruin it.
I always make it whenever my brother comes over or has a birthday because he goes nuts about it (and usually begs me to make one on other occasions) and today the family was over to see my new appartment and because I guess they wont see me again until after my birthday (which is in 2 days).
I made my usual cheesecake but I also tried something new. I made some Martha Stewart French Almond Macaroons. Yes I'm obsessed with her recipes. Can you blame me when you see those pictures?? Mine didn't look as good but tasted real good.

Cheesecake
200 g chocolate chip cookies
75 g butter (room temperature)

750 g philadelphia cheese (natural cream cheese)
2 1/4 dl sugar
4 eggs
2 egg yolkes
4 limes

Oven on 175 degrees celsius. Mash the cookies together. Cut the butter into pieces and add it to the cookies. Mix it all together to make a nice dough. Fill the bottom of a buttered mould (with a detachable bottom) or a one time mould in aluminium. I've done both and prefer the throwable one here, because I can cut it apart and remove the cheesecake whole and solid.
Whisk the cheese until it's somewhat lucid. Add the sugar part by part mixing it in carefully and then add all the eggs and the juice of the limes. Pour the cheese mix over the cookie crumb bottom.
Take a deep oven pan and fill it halfway up with water. If you use the mould with a detachable bottom, put some aluminium over the bottom and edges (covering all parts with a crack) and then put the filled mould in the waterbath and put the pan in the oven. Bake for about 50 minutes.
This is the base recipe for the cheesecake, but adding new flavours to it is just fun! Like raspberries in the cheesemix. Yummie!!