Raw Red Cabbage Salad

It's Halloween weekend. Friday night we were invited to a dinner party by my Dutch friend. Being a foreigner myself, I've gotten to know a lot of other foreigners. I was put in charge of a starter. I knew I was going to do a pumpkin and goat cheese dish but I wanted to do something else as well. So I made a red cabbage salad with fennel, dried cranberries, a red pepper, and mustard vinaigrette. Originally there was going to be edamame in the salad, for color, you know? But finding "exotic" foods like edamame in Sweden is usually pretty hit and miss. This time it was a miss.

This is a picture of me with my husband acting as antlers. He's creative sometimes. Our friends, the Dutch girl and her sambo (the Swedish word for two people who live together but are not married) fed us extremely well and never allowed for an empty glass. Also at the party was my South African friend, his Swedish sambo, and their friend also from South Africa- who (get this!) lives in England now and is Jamie Olivier's nanny. Yes, that is right. Jamie Olivier's nanny was at dinner and ate my red cabbage salad.
We had a great time at the dinner party. We had so much fun that we didn't once look at our clocks and suddenly it was 2:30 in the morning. We got home around 3:30 and I made early morning spaghetti while we watched The Office. We fell asleep after 4:00.

I started chopping cabbage late Friday afternoon while listening to "The Rocky Horror Picture" show and dancing to the Time Warp. I'm totally fascinated with red cabbage and a bit angry with myself for never using it before. I mean, it's purple! And looks like a brain. It's awesome.

Red Cabbage Salad
1/2 of a large red cabbage, sliced into thin bite sized pieces
1-2 fennel bulb, diced
1 red pepper, seeded and diced
1 package of dried cranberries (about 1/2 cup)

Dressing
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1/4 cup of red wine vinegar
2-3 tablespoons of dijon mustard
1 teaspoon of honey
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of chili flakes
1-2 teaspoons of salt
1 teaspoon of lemon juice

I started with a whole cabbage and peeled off the outer layers. Instead of chopping it in half, I sliced off sections which made it easier to deal with. I then cut each section in small, thin ribbons and cut those into "easy" bite sized pieces. Once you have pieces that are easy to eat put them in large bowl.
Next, chop up your fennel. I had only one bulb but I think two would work even better. You'll want to discard any bad spots on the fennel. You can save the fronds if you have fennel with fronds and put those in the salad as well. Place your diced fennel in the bowl. Since we were eating raw fennel, I didn't use the very middle of the bulb which I always find a bit tough the eat. Same with the cabbage.
Next, dice your red pepper. Toss it in. And then add in your cranberries. Mix everything together well.

For the dressing. I never measure dressings, I go by taste and by what I think would be good. I started by pouring a bit olive oil over the cabbage. You don't need a ton. I then added about the equivalent of 1/4 cup of red wine vinegar. I like really vinegar-ey dressings so I added more in towards the end. I used three huge spoonfuls of dijon mustard. And about about 1 teaspoon of honey. I then mixed it all together in the salad bowl. After that I sprinkled a bit of sugar on top, about 1 teaspoon. (You already get a lot of sweetness from the dried cranberries). And then I added the salt, the lemon juice, and finally the chili flakes. After that, I adjusted the dressing to my taste accordingly. The recipe above is a good base and I know there are better and more professional ways to make a dressing- but remember I was dancing the Time Warp at the time.

After you've dressed your salad keep it covered and in the fridge until ready to serve. It was great several hours later and still great the next day.

Notes
This is one of those salad that so easy to make and you can be really creative with. I mentioned before I wanted to add edamame and I also think raw apples would be good, as well as walnuts or oranges. I love this salad because it's raw, fresh, sweet, sour, and very seasonal. Please make it and dance while you do.

corn cakes with chili and feta. oh, and easy black beans

Tuesday night I was laying in bed thinking and I realized I've only posted one recipe that features jalapeño or any type of chili pepper. And the truth is that I eat something spicy almost everyday. And much to my husband's dismay, I cover most of my food in cayenne pepper or Cholula sauce. I figure it's because most of the food here lacks spice and my body is used to spice so I have to keep up. Imagine being in Texan in Texas and not eating something because it's "too hot." That just not Texan. I'd have my statesmanship revoked (is there such a thing?). So I have to keep up. And I do.
Another thing I miss here is corn tortillas. I haven't been able to find masa harina in the stores so I can't even attempt to make my own. I make due with flour tortillas most of the time. But sometimes I crave that corn flavor.
Back in Fort Worth there was a famous diner called Ole' South. It was opened 24 hours and was famous for their dutch babies which are really good at 2:00 am. They also served belgian waffles in the shape of Texas and hoecakes which are pancakes made with corn meal.
So Tuesday night I was laying there thinking about chili peppers and Ole' South and hoecakes. I decided I wanted to make a savory hoecake. And I did.

Corn Cakes adapted from Epicurious
1 cup of stone ground yellow corn meal (Swedes, you can find this at ICA easily)
1/2 cup of flour
1 teaspoon of salt
3/4 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
2 teaspoons of sugar
2 tablespoons of butter, melted, and cooled- plus more butter for the griddle
1 large egg
1 cup of buttermilk (or filmjölk)
1 cup of canned corn
1 fresh chili pepper, seeded and minced
1/2 a yellow onion, diced
1/2 cup of shredded cheese
1/2 cup of cubed feta cheese


In one bowl mix together the cornmeal, the flour, the salt, baking soda, pepper, and sugar.
In another bowl mix together the butter, the egg, and the buttermilk. Mix in the corn, onion, chili pepper, cheese, and feta cheese. Add the flour mixture and then mix all until just combined.
Heat your griddle on medium high heat with a small dab of butter. Drop about 1/4 cup of batter to the griddle and cook each side for about 2-3 minutes or until golden
I am terrible at the cooking part and had G took over. He's great at making pancakes and can even do the flipthing.
Read further for another (quick) recipe.

I also made black beans to go with the pancakes. It's hard to photograph black beans.
I make these easy ones when I'm in a hurry but you can make them fancier if you want.


Easy Tex Mex Black Beans
1 can of black beans
1 seeded and minced chili pepper*
1/2 a yellow onion, diced
A few dashes of lime juice
Salt to taste
Cayenne pepper to taste


Throw the beans with their juices into a sauce pot. Let simmer on low heat while you dice your onion and mince your chili pepper. Throw those in the pot too. Bring to a boil for just a few minutes, keep an eye on it. Bring back down to a simmer and then get out your potato masher. Or a wooden spoon. And start mashing the beans. Let it simmer and mash every few minutes. Just until the beans fall apart a bit. 
I keep my pot on a low simmer while I'm cooking other things but if you can always speed up the process. 
Reduce the heat even more and add in your lime, salt, and cayenne until you're happy with the taste.


Notes
*If I have salsa on hand I usually just use about 1/4 a cup (or a bit more) of that in lieu of the chili peppers, unless I'm feeling extra spicy.

Oreos, clementines, chiles, and peppermint ice cream

I haven't had any time to cook lately. We've been super busy. We had friends from Stockholm stay with us this weekend. It was the type of weekend where you stay up till 2:00 (or 4:00) in the morning and sleep in until noon. We went to Copenhagen one day and had tapas there and then had Vietnamese food the next night. It was a good weekend.

This evening G and I walked all around the city. We were kind of aimless in our walking and ambivalent in our plans. At one point we bought two little Gin and Tonic cans (!!!) with the hopes of having an adventurous Tuesday only for the both of us to almost fall asleep during dinner.  We saved the cans for later. So much for adventure.
Anyways, we walked to our bus stop and since we had 17 minutes before the bus came we went into ICA (a grocery store) to browse.
This is what we bought:
A package of Oreos and I was totally jonesing for Oreos last Friday. It was fate.
A bag of dried ancho and chipotle chilies! I have so many ideas for these guys.
We filled a big bag with clementines for Vitamin C.
And then I saw my favorite ice cream by my favorite ice cream maker: Lilla Glassfabriken. I love, love, love Peppermint ice cream (Polka in Swedish is Peppermint). I get it every time we go out for ice cream. Lilla Glassfabriken's pints are pretty expensive but it's totally worth it.
(Other flavors I like: gingerbread, saffron (!!!), cherry dream, chili chocolate, 50/50 (raspberry and licorice), cinnamon, and chocolate brownie).

I guess in our own food crazed way it really was an adventurous Tuesday.

Red Onion Marmelade

Autumn is here. It's a season we never really had in Texas, at least not like the autumn here in Sweden. Here there are colors everywhere. The temperature drops to a cold chill. When the sun is out it's beautiful, when its not it's cozy. It's the perfect time of year.
Last year around this time my husband was working crazy hours at his job and he wasn't home until around 8:00 each night. Which was late to eat dinner. But I grew used to the few hours I had alone. I'd work on elaborate dinners, have a glass of wine, listen to music. When we moved to our bigger apartment with a bigger kitchen, I'd just sit in our kitchen while sauce simmered or potatoes roasted. Making dinner became comforting. It still is.

When we were invited to a dinner party last weekend G and I wondered what we'd bring. We decided on a roasted pumpkin and feta cheese salad with red onion marmalade as a side. 

The red onion marmalade was a hit. It went with everything and it made a lot (as 2 kgs of onions will) so we've been adding the leftovers to our food all week.

It's the perfect fall condiment. Sour, sweet, onion-ey, caramel-ey, with hints of wine. 

It takes a long time to make- a lot longer than we expected it would. It's a lot of onion slicing. But it's good. It's so good. Even good on toast as a savory snack.

If you know me, then you'll know that I have an extreme aversion the winter. The darkness is hard and the cold seems like it will never go away, even come April. We light more candles this time of year. We huddle in scarves and hats. We hold hands. It's ways to get through the "darker months" that Sweden's winter brings. And we make hearty, good food.

Sleep Stupor Vanilla Chocolate Brownies

I didn't go to school on Monday. Instead I stayed home, read my Swedish book, and then took a nap. I woke up from the nap hungry. Not just hungry but HUNGRY. I always wake up from naps super hungry and super grouchy.

My first thought after waking up was "brownies." After reading THIS recipe the night before I guess brownies were placed into my subconscious.

Have you ever tried cooking or baking while still in a sleep-stupor? It's hard.

First of all, I didn't have enough ingredients to make the full recipe so I halved it. Have you ever halved anything while still in a sleep-stupor? It's hard.

The kitchen was a mess, I was very much asleep and very much grouchy. I really wanted brownies.

The brownies themselves are easy to make but in my stupor I made a few mistakes. Awesome mistakes.

As I mentioned before I followed a recipe. And you should follow this recipe too. And make my mistakes.

Sleep Stupor Mistakes

- I did not have enough chocolate so I used about 1 1/2 teaspoons extra of cocoa powder which I placed in with the melted butter and melted chocolate.

- I barely used more sugar than the (halved) recipe called for- about 1 1/4 cup because I didn't want them to be too bitter from the added cocoa powder.

- I used 2 teaspoons of vanilla (so the full amount). This originally made the brownies too vanilla-ey.

- To combat the vanilla-eyness of the brownies I made a chocolate sauce using the recipe found here (under the section about substituting cocoa for chocolate) AND pierced holes in the brownies so the sauce would saturate them. 

The brownies were amazingly fudgey and moist on the inside and crisp on the edges.  The taste of vanilla was super intense but after adding the chocolate sauce it didn't overpower. It was like a vanilla ice cream with brownie bites and fudge sauce.

The verdict: sleep stupor mistakes are awesome mistakes.

A Fancy Sill Sandwich

I know this is a vegetarian food blog but I had to share the sandwiches my in-laws made the other night.
We went to their house for part of the weekend and as always we ate amazing food, drank copious amounts of wine, celebrated with champagne, and drank snaps.
My in-laws are very Swedish traditional in that at almost every dinner I've ever had with them we've had: potatoes, sill (pickled herring), hard bread, cheese, snaps, and songs. It's become so familiar that whenever G and I have been with friends drinking snaps I feel a bit out of sorts if we don't sing every time.

I'm very much a vegetarian* when it comes to pickled herring and even the squeezable caviar Swedes put on their eggs and toast. But I loved the construction of this sandwich so much- my father in law and husband worked hard to style it.

Fancy Sill Sandwich
1 slice of bread
1 slice of hard, strong cheese
A few pieces of sill of your choice
A dollop of creme fraiche or turkish yogurt
Part of a cucumber, peeled and sliced into medium sized slices
1/2 a hard boiled egg
Squeezable caviar (like Kalles)

Take your bread, place the cheese on the bread, place the sill on the cheese. Dollop the creme fraiche or yogurt on top of the sill. Artfully place the cucumber on the sandwich. Place the half of the egg next to the bread, top with a dab of caviar.
And there. There is one fancy sandwich you can have as a starter with your snaps.

Notes
*I made a vegetarian version to the sill which was: one can of large white beans (drained), a bit of red wine vinegar, a bit of turkish yogurt, half a chili (seeded and sliced), and some salt and pepper. It was very good too.

Truffle Macaroni and Cheese

When we were in New York we ate at Cafeteria. I ordered something with salsa and guacamole. I'm a sucker every time. My step-sister, Becky, ordered the Mac Attack. Three different types of macaroni and cheese. The one that stood out the most, the one that I kept sneaking tastes of was the Truffle Macaroni and Cheese.
I don't even like mushrooms.
When we got back to Sweden I wanted to make comfort food. Food from home, from America. It is very much autumn in Sweden right now. Chilly days, chillier nights. I wanted food from home that would compliment the amazing autumn we are having. And what would be better than truffle mac and cheese?
The answer: nothing.

























Truffle Macaroni and Cheese
200 grams of macaroni

30 grams of butter
2 tablespoons of truffle oil
4 tablespoons of flour

A few drops of Worcestershire sauce
About 1/4 a teaspoon of dijon mustard

2 cups of milk

2 cups of cheese shredded*

More truffle oil to taste.
Salt and pepper to taste**

Preheat your oven to 200 C.

Prepare the macaroni using the directions on the box. Set aside when done.

Heat the butter and truffle oil in a pan on medium heat. When melted, mix in the four tablespoons of flour to make a roux. Mix well. Add a few drops of Worcestershire sauce and the dijon mustard. Pour in the milk slowly, keep stirring. Let the mixture come to a boil and then reduce to heat to low and let simmer for about 10 minutes. Keep stirring.
With the heat on low, slowly add the cheese, let each addition melt into the sauce before adding more. The sauce should be thick and creamy. If too thick add a bit more milk.
Season your sauce with salt and pepper. And then add in your macaroni. Mix well. Make sure each little macaroni is coated.

Oil a baking dish (I used a bit of truffle oil mixed with olive oil) and pour the macaroni and cheese mixture into the dish. Top with extra cheese.

Bake for about 20-30 minutes until the top of golden brown.
Let cool and then lightly sprinkle a bit of truffle oil over the cooled macaroni and cheese.

Notes
*I used really low grade cheese. Most of the high grade cheese here come in blocks and I didn't want to spend time grating the cheese so I went ahead and bought pre-grated cheese. It was fine.

** I had some porcini mushroom salt in the pantry from a trip to Central Market in Texas a long time ago. I used a bit of this for extra flavor.

Also, we had leftovers and it was even better the next day. Like, so good.

Roasted Fennel Mashed Potatoes with Balsamic Vinegar

Do you ever have an idea in your head? Like a really good one. But it doesn't turn out exactly how you thought it would. It turns out good enough. But not like the really good idea you had in your head.
That was what happened with these mashed potatoes with roasted fennel. Ideally, I would've made a fennel puree to mix into the mashed potatoes. Ideally, I would've had more fennel than the two small bulbs we had. But it was still good and after almost a week of eating nothing but soup it was warm and comforting and the perfect food for a Sunday night.

I probably shouldn't be telling you about food that didn't turn out how I wanted it to. But I really like the idea of mixing fennel and potatoes. I really like the idea of roasted fennel mashed potatoes. And I think you would too.
I'm providing a basic roasted fennel recipe and a basic mashed potato recipe. I'm assuming that you know how to make mashed potatoes so you can use whatever mashed potato recipe you are most comfortable with.
So you can try roasted fennel and mashed potatoes the way I did or the way I would do it if I did it again.

Roasted Fennel Mashed Potatoes

How I Did It:
2 fennel bulbs with fronds
Olive oil
As many potatoes as you want to eat
70 grams of Butter (give or take)
Enough Cream or Milk for creamy potatoes
Salt and Pepper to taste

Garnish: Balsamic Vinegar

Preheat the oven to 200 C. Prepare the fennel by washing it and discarding any wilted parts. Remove the fronds and stalks, set aside the fronds. Slice the fennel bulb lengthwise into thirds or fourths. Lightly coat the fennel in olive oil. Place in the oven for about 15-20 minutes or until it's golden brown. When done set aside to cool. When cool dice the roasted fennel. Wash off the fronds and chop them finely.
Meanwhile boil water for the potatoes. Make sure the potatoes are cleaned and if you want a fast boil halve or quarter them (depending on the size). When the potatoes are done, drain the water, and start to mash! Mix in the butter and the cream. You want a creamy, slightly lumpy potato.
Mix the diced fennel and finely chopped fennel fronds into the mashed potatoes. Season with salt and pepper.
Dish up and serve with a bit of balsamic vinegar.

How I Would've Done It:
Made a fennel puree. Made mashed potatoes. Mixed the two together. And enjoyed.

Regardless of how I did it or would've of done it, I like the flavor combinations and I like the idea. And sometimes, ideas are all that matters.

Roasted Pumpkin Soup with Caramelized Onions and Fresh Jalapeños

We got back from New York City on Wednesday morning. Tired, exhausted, jet lagged. I used up all of my energy being nervous on the plane. G became super sick within one day. He's had a sore throat, cough, runny nose- typical plane virus symptoms. We've been on a soup diet ever since. We've had garlic soup, Vietnamese soup, and then last night I made huge pot of pumpkin soup.
After being under house arrest for three days we were both ready to get out of the apartment. So we went to our favorite autumn farmer's market. We picked up fennel, beets, potatoes, onions, spaghetti squash, a small sugar pumpkin, bread, and blue cheese.
I knew I wanted to make something with the pumpkin and debated about a pie or maybe quesadillas. But ultimately decided on soup. I imagined a thick, creamy soup with caramelized onions and fresh jalapeños. 

Roasted Pumpkin Soup with Caramelized Onions and Fresh Jalapeños
Preparing the Pumpkin
Pre-heat oven to 175c.
Cut one sugar pumpkin in half, scoop out the seeds and string insides. Set those aside for later so you can make roasted pumpkin seeds.
Then butter the inside of the pumpkin and place it face down on a foiled baking sheet. Bake for about 45 minutes or until you can pierce a fork through the outside.
Once throughly baked, let the pumpkin cool for about 30 minutes*
Then remove the inside flesh from the skin. Keep the flesh, discard the skin.

Soup

I used a basic pumpkin soup recipe for my base. But I tweaked it a bit to what I had in my pantry and for the kind of heat I was going for.

Large pad of butter

2 small to medium onions diced

2 garlic cloves crushed

A pinch to several pinches of cayenne pepper (depends on your heat tolerance)

A pince to several pinches of chili powder (same as above)

A pinch of oregano

5 cups of water with vegetable bouillon 

One sugar pumpkin

75 grams of melted butter

3/4 cup of milk

1/4 to 1/2 cup of brown sugar

More seasoning to taste (salt, pepper, more cayenne)

Garnishes for the Soup

4 onions sliced to be caramelized (recipe further below)

1 fresh jalapeño, seeded and thinly sliced.

Creme fraiche (optional)

_____________________

Heat a large soup pot with your pad of butter on medium-high heat and fry the onions and garlic until soft. Then add in your spices, mix. Let simmer for a few minutes stirring every so often.**

If using bouillon add in your bouillon with the onion and garlic mix. Stir and simmer for a few seconds. Pour in your 5 cup of water (or your vegetable broth).

Add in your roasted pumpkin and let the mixture come to a boil and then reduce the heat. Let simmer for about 15 minutes. If you have an immersion blender then remove the mixture from the heat and blend until smooth. If not, use whatever type of blender you have to blend the mixture. Just be careful, it's hot.

Put the soup back on the stove on low heat. Add in the melted butter*** and then the milk. Add the brown sugar. 

Add salt, pepper, or more spice until the soup is to your liking. 

Put the soup in a bowl. Top with a dollop of creme fraiche, a few fresh sliced jalapeños, and a bunch of caramelized onions. Enjoy!

Caramelized Onions

Heat a large saucepan on medium high heat with about a tablespoon of olive oil. When the pan is hot throw in the onion slices. Let simmer and fry for a few minutes, stirring every few. You don't want them to burn to black crisp. Turn the heat down a bit once the onions start to brown and continue to let simmer. You want them to be brown and soft. Sometimes I add a bit of water halfway through to help them retain their moisture. Once they are dark brown, remove from heat and set aside until your soup is done.

Notes

*While the pumpkin is cooling I suggest to start your prep work- slicing and dicing the onions and then caramelizing the onions.

** If I were to make the soup again I would probably make a roux in the beginning. I had to add a bit of flour halfway through making the soup to help thicken it. I think the pumpkin I used was a bit too small and therefore the soup was too watery at first.

*** If you soup is too watery add a bit of flour to the melted butter mixture. Mix well with a fork and then add to your soup to help thicken it.