Leftovers turned into a feast!

On Monday we had pork loin with crackling for dinner and I had some leftovers from that delicious meal I couldn't bear to chuck - it's still good food and a huge waist of money if it just goes to the bin. I then decided to make hash with the leftover pork loin and potatoes and made a fried egg to go along side it. 

It's been so long since I've made this dish and it brought back fond childhood memories of "fastfood" for the busy days at our house and it made me think about how much food we chuck on average in each household, just because we don't want leftovers or haven't got the imagination to turn it into a whole different meal. Sometimes all it takes is actually just a bit of spice or a splash of taco sauce and we're good to go... 

The foremost expert on "turn over meals" as she calls them is Rachael Ray - an American cook, making everyday, easy and delicious food. She has published a whole lot of cookbooks and has her own talk/food show in America - I used to watch her shows whenever I could and it was broadcasted on a network I could see here in Denmark and I really love and admire her passion for food. She's probably the American equivalent to Britain's Nigella Lawson, whom I also really like because she has a whole different way of portraying cooking and food. Anyway both Rachael Ray and Nigella Lawson will be revisited at some point on this blog, it's just a matter of time...

Back to my turnover meal then...

Hash with pork loin, potatoes and fried egg

For 1 serving you'll need:

Leftover pork loin 

Leftover cooked potatoes

1 organic egg

A nub of butter

Ketchup (I prefer Beauvais tomato ketchup)

Melt the butter in a frying pan and cut the pork loin into cubes. Add the cubes into the pan and add in the cubed potatoes as well. Cook the whole lot for about 5 minutes. Either heat up another smaller frying pan and add in some butter or push the potatoes and pork loin a side to make room for frying the egg. Break an egg into the pan. Let it get all crisp around the edges and then you'll know it's done.

I served the egg up on a piece of  buttered danish rye bread and had the hash on the side with loads of ketchup..

Bon appetit...

Pork loin with crackling and sugar glazed potatoes

This dish is not a Christmas dish as such but some Danes have pork loin with crackling on Christmas Eve along side goose or duck roast - my father says it's not really Christmas unless he gets his pork loin with crackling as well. I think it's a survival from olden times when money were tight and large families only could afford one goose or duck and then had pork loin with crackling along side with lots of potatoes and gravy.

I usually make this dish in the fall because it's a quit heavy meal and I don't think it that great to eat in the spring or summertime but it tastes delicious! 

 

Pork loin with crackling and sugar glazed potatoes with gravy

For 2 servings you'll need:

1 kilo pork loin (with scored crackling)

Salt and pepper

Heat up the oven to 220C (450F) and leave a dish of water in the bottom of the oven while heating it up. Take the pork loin out of the fridge 20 minutes before cooking, rub it in salt and pepper and leave it in an oven prof dish until the oven is hot enough. Put the pork loin into the oven and let it roast for 15 minutes. 

When the time's up remove the dish of water and pour about 200 ml water over the pork loin. Turn down the heat to 200C (400F) and roast the pork loin for about 45 minutes. Moisten the pork loin once in a while so you get that really crisp crackling. When the roasting time is done, take the pork loin out of the oven and leave it to rest for about 10 minutes on a cutting board before carving it.

Sugar glazed potatoes:

1 jar of potatoes (ready cooked and peeled)

250 grams sugar

50 grams butter

Pour the sugar into a frying pan and heat it up. When the sugar starts to caramelize add in the butter and let it mix together. Drain the potatoes and pour them into the pan. Be careful, the caramel is really hot and when adding in the potatoes the caramel can spatter. Fold the potatoes into the caramel so they get all covered and glazed. Turn down the heat after 5 minutes and let the potatoes cook for another 5 minutes before turning off the stove. 

Pork loin gravy:

15 grams butter

1 tablespoons all purpose flour

left over fluid from the pork loin

salt and pepper

milk, double cream or beef broth

gravy browning

Heat up the butter in a sauce pan but don't let it brown. Add in the flour and whisk it together. Add in the the leftover fluid from the pork loin and give it a good whisk before adding in milk until the sauce has the consistency that suits your taste. Bring it to a boil, season with salt and pepper and finish it off with a bit of gravy browning just to give it a good colour.

Serve this delicious gravy along side the pork loin with crackling, crisps, sugar glazed potatoes and pickled cucumbers.

Bon appetit...

Funky prawn cocktail with mango and tiger prawns

This our 17th dish in the food project is probably the dish where I've deviated the most from the recipe. My husband and I are not very big fans of basil, romaine lettuce and well asparagus is just so darn expensive. I replaced those ingredients with ones we liked and so I got a really good result. I also made another dressing as we don't get along with chili at all in our household. We really liked this dish with my small adjustments and I will defiantly make this again. It was so easy to make and healthy as well. I served bread along side my cocktail just to get a bit carbohydrates in there as well.  

I'll post both my dressing and the one in the original recipe. Once again Carina beat me to the punch and has been so kind as to translate the recipe, so I'll just repost what she has already posted a few days ago - see her experience with this recipe on her blog HERE

Funky prawn cocktail with mango and tiger prawns
16 tiger prawns without shell, but with tail (I used Royal Greenland shrimp)
1 mango
2 romaine lettuces (I used iceberg lettuce)
8 green asparagus (I replaced this with freshly podded peas and cucumber)
50 grams of sunflower sprouts or bean sprouts (I used small bean sprouts)
20 leaves of basil (I left this out)
2 tablespoons of extra virgin oil (I left this out)
2 limes cut in halves (I left this out)
salt

Phi Phi Island-dressing:
1 dl of mayonnaise
1 dl of crème fraiche (9%)
1-2 teaspoons of Sriracha chili-sauce
Zest of one lime

My dressing:

1½ dl sour cream

1 teaspoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon tomato paste

 

Boil the shrimps in lightly salted water for 2 minutes  (This is only if you use uncooked tiger prawns or shrimp)

Peel and cut the mango into 3×1 cm slices (I cubed the thing when I was done cutting around that darn stone in the middle)
Chop the salad finely. Break the “wooden” lower part of the asparagus and boil them in lightly salted water for 2-3 minutes. Let them cool down and cut them into mouthpieces. (If you use peas and cucumber instead then pod the peas and rinse them under running cold water and let them dry off. Meanwhile cut the cucumber into smaller cubes. You can remove the seeds if you don't like them.)

Dressing: Whisk the mayonnaise together with crème fraiche and chilisauce. Season it with lime zest and salt.
Turn the shrimps, bean sprouts, asparagus and basil leaves together olive oil and season it with salt. 

My dressing: stir together sour cream and tomato paste. Then add in the Worcestershire sauce and the soy sauce to your liking. I don't use exact measurements for this dressing as it comes out best if you just feel your way. 

Arrange the shrimp cocktails: Pour the dressing in the bottom of the glasses and then salad. Add the shrimp/mango salad on top and serve it with a half lime.(I didn't bother with the whole arrangement as you can see in the picture below - I didn't have glasses that would fit a whole dinner size cocktail so I just used our regular dinner plates)

Bon appetit...

Fish burger with fish steak chopped by hand and soft onions

It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of fish of almost any sort so when I got the pick between a fish burger and some veggie dishes it was an easy pick... It was kind of weird eating fish like a burger but it really tasted good! I made a dressing for our burgers that just made it all come together and because we don't like chewing on onion pieces I just minced it in with the fish. Well I have a small confession to make as well... This recipe says that the fish steak is to be chopped by hand but I took out my food processor and minced the fish with all the other ingredients in that... It came out good but I cheated a little... I could do it so you can do it too...

For four people you'll need:

500 grams white boneless skinless fish fillet (e.g. codfish, haddock or pollack)

3 tablespoons chopped dill

1 tablespoon coarse mustard (I used recept mustard from Søstrene Grene)

1 egg

2 tablespoons bread crumbs

Butter

Salt and pepper

Soft onions:

3 large onions

1 tablespoon oil or butter

Salt and pepper

Fresh salad leaves

1 handful rocket

1 bundle watercress

4 large whole wheat buns

4 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 tablespoon coarse mustard

Chop the fish thoroughly with a sharp knife on a cutting board until it has the desired texture. Fold together the fish, dill, mustard, egg and bread crumbs in a bowl (add the onions here too if you don't like onions on the side) and then shape the mixture into 4 fish steaks. Fry the steaks in a skillet with a little butter and season with salt and pepper.

Peel the onions into thin slices and fry them in butter in a skillet over low to medium heat. Fry them for about 10 minutes so they go soft and become somewhat caramelized. Season with salt and pepper.

Rinse and fling the salad and the watercress free of water. Split the buns into halves and heat them up on the toaster. Stir together the mayo and mustard and spread it on the buns. Put the salad and fish steak on the bottom of the bun and top it of with watercress and onion and put the lid on.

Bon appetit...

Take a look at Carina's experiences with this dish - HERE 

Pirogue pastry with Moroccan filling

I have to say it is a must that you like Moroccan food to really enjoy this dish. Our 15th dish is made from leftovers of the Basic Bolognese we made on Monday spiced up with traditional Moroccan spices and ingredients (cumin, cinnamon and chickpeas) wrapped in puff pastry. I like those spices separately but mixed together it just doesn't make my taste buds dance. My husband and I have decided to stay away from that kind of food in the future as we have not yet tried anything from the Moroccan cuisine we actually enjoyed. However I will not rob you of reading Carina's experiences with this dish on her blog - HERE and share the recipe with those of you who are fans of Moroccan food. 

For four people you'll need:

1 can of chickpeas

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon cumin

2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 batch of basic bolognese

2 tablespoons harissa (you can leave out the harissa or substitute with chilli powder)

100 grams fresh baby spinach leaves

4 sheets of ready-to-use puff pastry

2 egg yolks

2 teaspoons whole cumin seeds

Salt flakes

Accompaniment:  salad, natural yoghurt and lemon wedges

Pre-heat the oven to 200C (about 400F). Let the water drain from the chickpeas and heat up the oil in a large sauté pan. Toast the chickpeas in the pan with cinnamon and cumin for about 2 minutes.

Add the basic bolognese and bring it to a boil. Add the harissa and spinach and let it cook for about 2 minutes. Let the mixture cool down again.Season with salt and more harissa.

Divide the puff pastry sheets in two and roll them out. It gives more room for the filling. Put about 2 tablespoons of the filling in the middle of each pastry sheet fold it together around the filling and press the edges with a fork to make sure the filling stays inside. Put the pastry pirogues onto a baking sheet brush them with the egg yolks and sprinkle with whole cumin seeds and salt flakes.

Bake the pirogues in the oven for about 20 minutes until they are golden and crisp. Leave them on a grid to cool off for about 5 minutes and serve with salad, yoghurt and lemon wedges.

Bon appetit...

Mango Fool

I finally got around to making this dessert, which Carina made what seems ages ago. I don't really have the time to make desserts on weekdays and on weekends I forget. But this weekend I (surprisingly) had the energy and just went ballistic and made a dessert AND a drink! I'll post he drink recipe later and now I'll share my experience with this dessert which is the first dessert in the food project.

It tasted soooo good! My husband was practically licking the bowl in hopes of getting more sweetness out of it. I made some small alterations to the recipe as I saw fit and this dessert was a mixture of crunch, sweetness, creaminess but it also had an acidic taste to it. I found that you have to be careful to use ripe mangos because the sourness of a mango that's not ripe will punch through in the end. This is a really good summer dessert and would be a fantastic conclusion to a summer garden party or a light coffee accompaniment on a sunny afternoon...

For four people you'll need:

2 ripe mangos

Juice of 2 lime

1 teaspoon finely grated lime zest (I didn't add this)

6 dl double cream

2 tablespoons confectioners sugar (I used 2 handfuls of crushed meringue to give the cream some texture)

Peel the mangos and scoop the pulp off the mango stones. Blend the mango with lime juice and 1 teaspoon of finely grated lime zest.

Whip the cream in a bowl with confectioners sugar until it's lusciously thick but not stiff. This is where you fold in the crushed meringue if you want to use that.

Put the cream into 4 tall glasses. Add the mango purée in a plastic bag and spray it into the whipped cream. Or carefully fold the whipped cream into the mango purée and put it in the glass. 

Bon appetit...

Take a look at Carina's experiences with this recipe on her blog - HERE

Basic Bolognese

I love a good bolognese made from scratch and this bolognese was one of the fastest (if you don't count pouring Dolmio bolognese over ground beef and serving that) and easiest to make. This is a basic recipe intended for further use so it only had to contain the most basic vegetables and spices so they won't overwhelm whatever it is supposed to be a part of later on. I thought it tasted quit well but as Carina said, there is absolutely nothing funky about it. Take a look at Carina's experiences with this dish - HERE

Anyway here's the recipe for a large portion, which you can split up into smaller portions and freeze for an easy dinner on a busy day.

2 onions
4 carrots
4 sticks of celery
2 cloves of garlic
500 grams of ground beef
2 tablespoons of extra virgin oil
1 tablespoon of tomato purée
4 bay leaves
10 sprigs of thyme
2 cans of skinned tomatoes (I used organic ones)
1 teaspoon of sugar
salt and freshly ground pepper

Cut the onions, carrots and celery into fine squares. Peel the garlic cloves and chop it finely, then fry it in the pot with olive oil. Add the meat and brown it. Add the chopped vegetables along with tomato purée, bay leaves, and thyme and let it simmer for about 5 minutes. Add the skinned tomatoes and the sugar and let it simmer for another 20 minutes. Season it with salt and pepper.

Bon appetit...

 

Tortilla on toast with garlic mayo and rocket

And so I've gotten far behind on posting the recipes once again... sorry... I'll try to make it up to you at one point or another but for now this is the 13th dish in our food project and a pretty good one at that. So if you have some leftover tortilla from the Spanish Tortilla dish, this is a great way to create a new dish.

Carina tried out the real recipe with the grilled toast, I just tried it with Danish rye bread instead and brought it in my lunch box on monday. It tasted really good! Because I was in a hurry during my lunch break I totally forgot to take pictures so you'll have to do with Carina's picture and to read her experiences with this dish go to her blog - HERE

For four people you'll need:

4 pieces of toast
1 dl mayonnaise (or drained yoghurt) I used miracle whip light
½ clove garlic (I used garlic powder instead)
4 pieces of tortilla leftover
50 grams rocket (I forgot the salad but it tasted fine without it)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil 

Salt
Freshly ground pepper

Grill the bread in the oven or toast it on the toaster. Stir the mayo together with garlic and season with salt. Spread out the garlic mayo on the bread and put a piece of cold or hot tortilla on top of it. Arrange with rocket dressed in olive oil, salt and pepper.

Bon appetit...

Spanish Tortilla with sweet potatoes and tiger prawns

I chose to make this our 12th dish today because I put the tiger prawns in the tortilla and because we decided to try out a follow up recipe with the leftovers for lunch. I then had to make this where I had two consecutive days avaliable to make such food so the prawns wouldn't go bad...

This dish was perfect for this evening - it has been a HOT day in Aalborg and we really weren't that hungry so this easy dish was just what we needed. It took me no time to make and it tasted really good! My husband liked it as well but we agreed on it needing a bit more seasoning as it was a bit bland. You could also easily substitute the prawns with chicken or Italian ham. That would also go very well with the sweetness of the potatoes. I just LOVE sweet potatoes... if they weren't so expensive I would buy them more often. They go really well with grilled food and are quit quick to get tender compared with other types of potatoes.

So if you need a quick and easy dinner for tomorrow evening or for lunch, this is what you could whip up and serve for your family or friends. They'll love it too...

For four people you'll need:

2 kg onion

600 grams sweet potatoes

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

6 organic eggs

Salt

Freshly ground pepper

16 tiger prawns without shell


Accompaniment: 300 grams cherry tomatoes, 4 spring onions, 1 dl. teriyaki dressing*


Peel the potatoes and onions and cut them into coarse cubes of 2 by 2 cm. Fry the onion and potato cubes in a skillet with olive oil for about 7-8 minutes without it taking too much colour.


Whisk the eggs and season with salt and pepper. Add the prawns to the eggs and pour the mixture into the skillet with the potatoes and onion.


Stir a bit with a spatula until the eggs start to stiffen. Let the tortilla cook slowly on the stove until it's done or let it cook the last 10 minutes in the oven at 200 C (about 400F)


Cut the cherry tomatoes in halves and finely slice the spring onions. Mix it with the teriyaki dressing. Serve the tortilla in the skillet sprinkled with roughly chopped parsley and the tomato salad. I made the salad a bit different - I didn't make the dressing, so i just quartered the tomatoes, finely chopped the spring onions and mixed it together in a bowl. When the tortilla was dine I sprinkled the salad on top and decorated with parsley before serving.

Bon appetit...

*Teriyaki dressing:

5 dl soy sauce

3 dl mirin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirin)

2 dl Sake

3 tablespoons sugar

2 organic limes


Stir the soy sauce, mirin, sake and sugar together in a bowl. Grate the lime zest and squeeze out the juice. Stir both the zest and juice in with the rest of the ingredients and you have a teriyaki dressing.

Mustard chops with onion and squash in cream

This recipe is categorized as a "eat and bug off" recipe for a large number of people. It's easy to do and doesn't take loads of time, so if you get unexpected company for dinner you can just whip up this dish and I promise it'll be a huge hit. I advise caution with the choice of mustard if you don't eat it very often or if you don't have a craving for spicy food with twang, then choose a sweeter mustard.

I loved this dish - it's easy, quick and it tastes really good! My husband liked it too apart from the squash that he left on his plate - too mushy for him... Carina made this dish last week (when I had pizza in stead) so she has already translated and posted the recipe, so I'll just repost what she wrote and you can see how her dish came out HERE 

For 12 people you'll need:

2 kg pork neck chops without bone, or pork chops (I used neck pork chops)
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 kg onion
2 kg squash
4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
salt
freshly ground pepper
2 dl Dijon mustard (I used a sweeter mustard - recept mustard from Søstrene Grene in Aalborg)
1-2 bundles of dill
1 litre of double cream
4 dl chicken stock

Accompaniment : salad, bread or rice

Preheat the oven to 180C. Season the pork chops with salt and pepper and fry them in olive oil on both sides in a frying pan. Take them off the frying pan and cover them with tin foil.

Finely chop the onion and cut the squash into slices. Fry the onion and squash together in olive oil in same frying pan for approximate 3 minutes. Stir in 2 tablespoons of mustard, double cream, stock and bring to the boil. Season it with salt and pepper.

Pour it into a big oven-proof dish or two, so there is enough room for all pork chops. Butter each pork chop with 1 teaspoon of mustard and put the pork chops above the vegetables. Chop the dill roughly and spread it out on the meat. Warm the pork chops in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes.

Serve the pork chops in the oven-proof dish with salad, bread or rice.

Bon appetit...

Potato dish with crispy crumble and mushrooms

Well I'm doing things a bit backwards at the moment as this actually is the 11th dish we have done in our little project. I still have to make the 10th dish because my husband insisted on having pizza for dinner the evening we had planned to make a project dish - so I caved and let him have his way and I brought leftover pizza in my lunch box the following day. This means I have to do four project dishes this week instead of three and this is the first of the week.

The translation credit goes to Carina, she was yet again the faster one to get the recipe translated and you can see her experiences with this dish on her blog - HERE

Both my husband and I liked this dish but thought it was a bit too dry with no sauce or liquid cream between the layers of potatoes. However it tasted quite good and I'm sure it would taste even better witch bits of bacon or ham chucked in with the potatoes. It's also a good dish for evenings without meat - just put in a bit more cream and you'll be flying!

For four people you'll need:

Filling:
2 onion
700 grams potatoes
2½dl double cream (9%)
3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
salt and pepper

Crumble:

2½ dl wholemeal flour
50 grams butter
1 tablespoon rosemary or thyme, if you have it in the garden -(I used lemon thyme and it went very well with the other ingredients)
1 teaspoon of salt
 300 grams mixed mushrooms (I used brown mushrooms as they have the most flavour and the mixed mushrooms were a bit more expensive)
1 tablespoon of oil
salt and pepper

Fresh rosemary

Cut the onions into rings and the potatoes in thinly slices (2mm) (If you don't like onion rings you can just finely chop the onion and mix it with the potatoes. That's what I did and it came out good). Spread out onion and potatoes in an oven-proof dish. Whisk cream, parsley, salt and pepper together and pour it over the onions and potatoes. Turn on the oven and set it to 200C, put in the dish in the cold oven.

Crumble the flour, butter (cut in small pieces), rosemary and salt together at the tip of your fingertips. Take out the oven-proof dish after 30 minutes, sprinkle the “crumble-dough” over and put back in the oven. Leave it to bake for another 15 minutes or till the surface is crispy.

Roast the mushrooms in oil on a frying pan and season it with salt and pepper. Put the (finely chopped or sliced) mushrooms over the dish at the end possibly with some not too roughly chopped rosemary leaves right before serving.

Bon appetit...

Oatmeal chicken with onionsalad and a cold springsauce

Now today's recipe was one I had looked forward to for some time. The 9th dish of our experiment did contain a lot of onion for my taste and I left most of it out as I saw fit. Like Carina I made my own take on the salad and the sauce too, not because I had trouble finding the ingredients but because I'm not a huge fan of smoked fresh cheese either. This was a simple dish. Super easy to make when you haven't got a lot of time and it tastes really good! I loved the crunchiness of the oatmeal and the spring tast of the sauce. Definitely a recommendable recipe... Now for the sharing - Carina beat me to the punch today and all the credit for translating the original recipe goes to her - watch her experience with this recipe HERE 

For four people you'll need:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1½dl oatmeal
1 teaspoon of curry
3 tablespoons of olive oil or coldpressed rapeseed oil
salt and pepper for seasoning

Mild onion salad (Original recipe)

1 regular onion
1 red onion
1 tablespoon of salt
1 teaspoon of sugar
400 grams of brussels sprouts
½ cucumber
A little lovage leaves or parsley
A little olive oil or coldpressed rapeseed oil

My salad

Iceberg lettuce
1/4 Cucumber
½ yellow bell pepper
2 spring onions


(chop up the salad and scrape out the seeds of the cucumber. Dice the bell pepper and finely chop the spring onions. Mix it all together in a small bowl and serve it with the chicken and spring sauce)

Cold spring sauce (original recipe)

1dl drained yoghurt (you can use Greek yoghurt)

1dl smoked fresh cheese
2 tablespoons of finely chopped parsley
1 tablespoon of finely chopped lovage
salt and pepper

My springsauce
1dl light yoghurt *
1dl of light Philadelphia cream cheese
2 tablespoons of finely chopped parsley

1 tablespoon of finely chopped lovage

salt and pepper

Accompaniment: potatoes (I didn’t serve that)

Cut the chicken breasts lengthways and turn them in a mix of oatmeal and curry and fry them on a frying pan with oil till they are golden on all sides and cook thoroughly, Sprinkle some salt and pepper over.

Cut the onions as thin as possible and leave them on a plate. Sprinkle over salt and sugar and leave them to drain for at least one hour. Rinse the onions thorough under cold water till the salt is gone. Leave them on a clean tea towel. Cut the brussels sprouts into “boats” and blanch them in boiling water for 1-2 minutes and then rinse them under cold water. Cut the cucumber in slices and then into halves. Mix the cucumber with onion, brussels sprouts and Lovage leaves. Drissle a little oil over. 

Whisk together the sauce and eat it with the chicken breast, onion salad and potatoes.

Bon appetit...

Thai Soup with curry and chicken

For the 8th dish in the cooking experiment Carina and I agreed on a Thai soup. Normally I'm not that big of a soup-person unless it has meat balls and asparagus in it but both my husband and I were pleasantly surprised by this recipe. I left out some of the ingredients or did something different from what it said in the recipe this time just to leave out some of the fat and because we are not big fans of fresh coriander or raw onion but it came out just great anyway. I loved it and it's defiantly one of the recipes I will do again.

Carina made it a while before me so I got a small preview from her, but it sounded like it was a bigger hit here than it was with her. Now I'll just share the recipe and let you be the judge of it...

For four people you'll need:

3 cans coconut milk (approx. 1 litre)

2 tablespoons yellow curry paste

4 whole chicken legs

2 dl good chicken stock or water (I made my own stock from the leftover I had after cutting up a whole chicken)

3 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons sweet thai soy sauce (I couldn't get that, so I went with Indonesian sweet soy sauce in stead)

2-3 tablespoons fishsauce

250 grams dried egg noodles (I put in some noodles when there was about 7 minutes left of the cooking time)

1 l. soy oil for deep frying (I didn't deep fry the noodles, I used peanuts as a topping in stead)

Decoration: Coriander, spring onions

Accompaniment: 6 quartered thai shallots and 2 limes cut into wedges

Pour the coconut milk into a pot and heat it up. Add the curry paste and let it boil for about 2-3 minutes before you add the chicken legs. Pour in the stock and bring it to a boil. Add the sugar, sweet thai soy sauce and fish sauce and let it simmer at low heat for about 30-40 minutes until the chicken is tender (it's really tender when the meat falls from the bones) If the soup reduces too much you can just add in more stock or coconut milk.

Boil the noodles as referred on the packaging. Pour out the water when they are done and keep them warm. Heat up the oil in a large pot. Deep fry 100 grams of the noodles for about 40 seconds in the hot oil until they are crisp. Pick them up with a skimmer and place them on kitchen towel to dry off. 

Pour the soup onto the remainder of the noodles in soup bowls with the shredded chicken and the crispy noodles on top. Decorate with fresh coriander and chopped spring onions. Serve the soup with thai shallots and lime wedges.

Bon appetit...

 
See Carina's experiences with this dish on her blog - HERE

Pasta with crisp bacon, glazed sunflower seeds, asparagues and thyme breadcrumb sprinkle

That's one long title for a dish - well it just describes the contents really and it's a simple recipe and tastes good as well in my opinion. My husband liked it as well but then again he loves everything that has the word bacon written all over it...

The recipe says to use basil but we are not that fond of basil so I just left it out, but if you like it, you should try it as well. I spoke to Carina after they had eaten and they were not too thrilled about this dish, but then again, she has some difficulties acquiring some of the ingredients for the recipes and that makes it a whole different experience for her.

However I would love to share this lovely recipe with you and for four people you'll need:

100 grams sliced bacon

Toasted glaced sunflower seeds

4 tablespoons sunflower seeds

1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 bundle of fresh asparagus

Dressing

4 tablespoons cold pressed rapeseed oil

1 clove grated garlic

1 tablespoon lemon juice

salt and pepper

Thyme breadcrumb sprinkle

½ dl breadcrumbs

2 tablespoons finely chopped thyme

salt flakes

500 grams fresh spinach pasta

1 pot of fresh basil

Fry the bacon in a skillet until it is crisp and golden. Leave the slices on a piece of kitchen towel to get rid of the excess fat.

Toast the sunflower seeds on a dry skillet over medium heat. Whisk together sugar and lemon juice and pour it into the pan with the sunflower seeds. Let the liquid reduce and pour the glazed sunflower seeds onto a baking sheet and spread the out before they cool down otherwise they will stick together.

Break of the lower part of the asparaguses and blanch them for one minute in boiling water. Rinse the asparaguses under cold water to stop the boiling and save the boiling water for cooking the pasta. Cut the asparaguses into smaller pieces.

Whisk together the ingredients for the dressing.

Toast the breadcrumbs in a skillet until i gets golden. Take off the breadcrumbs and mix it with thyme and salt. Cook the pasta as advised on the packaging until it is cooked 'al dente'.

Drizzle the dressing over the pasta and then add the bacon, sunflower seeds, asparagus and basil leaves. Serve the thyme-breadcrumb sprinkle on the side and sprinkle it on top of the dish right before eating.

Bon appetit....

Read about my friends experience with this dish on her blog - Carina's blog

BBQ Chicken with salt baked sweet potatoes and grilled corncobs

Week two of the food project has begun and we kicked it into gear with a classic BBQ recipe. This kind of recipe makes me sorry that we live in a flat with no balcony or back yard to sit in and enjoy an evening of grilled delights. We'll have to do with a grill pan and imagine the smell of smokey charcoal. 

This dish was really good and what more is my husband LOVED it - he was very thrilled about it and he can't wait to have leftovers another day. It was a bit different from the grill recipes I've tried before, where the chicken had to me marinaded in the BBQ sauce for a while and then cooked on the grill because this had the BBQ sauce on the side. It was good and I think this is a recipe I will return to and make a few changes here and there just to tweak it and make it more me.

Now for the sharing part - for four people you'll need:

600g of sweet potatoes

1 kilo of coarse sea salt

4 corn cobs

4 chicken breasts

1 tablespoon corn oil

50 grams of rocket

1 tablespoon sesame sprinkle (Look here)

50 grams of cold butter

salt

freshly ground pepper

BBQ sauce:

5 dl of ketchup (preferably Heinz) - I used Beauvais as I don't care for Heinz and it came out really good!

300 grams of brown sugar 

1 clove of garlic, crushed

1 dl finely chopped onion

Preheat the oven to 185C (about 365F). Give the sweet potatoes a good wash and put them in an oven proof dish. Roll them around in the salt until they are covered in salt and bake them in the oven for about 45-60 minutes depending on the size of the potatoes until they are well done.

Boil the corn for a few minutes in a pot with salted water. Take them out of the pot and dry them off and put them on the grill for about 5-10 minutes till they are done.

Cover the chicken breast in the oil, salt and pepper and put them on the grill - cooking them on each side for about 8 minutes till they are done.

Stir together the BBQ sauce and give it a quick parboil for about 5 minutes and serve it along side the chicken. Serve it on a plate on a spred of rocket and with the cold butter for the potatoes and the corn.

Bon appetit....

Potato dish with ham and rosemary

And so our cookbook challenge begins with this fine dish:

Potato dish with ham and rosemary

Well I just picked it, cause it looked easy to make after a long day at work and it was. It took about an hour all together and I don't think that's very long considering that the cooking time is 30 minutes. Personally I loved the way the rosemary, garlic and spinach tasted all mixed together and I think you have to like this combo to like this dish. My husband wasn't very fond of it and I admit it has a very unusual taste, but my taste buds were having a party with every bite. It was mushy underneath all the cheese but that's the only low point.

Now to the recipe, for four people you'll need:

800 grams of potatoes
1 large onion
30 grams of melted butter
salt and pepper
200g fresh spinach (that's what I used and it worked out fine)
1½ teaspoon of finely chopped fresh rosemary
2 cloves of garlic
125-150 grams of your preferred cheese
8 slices of Italian or Spanish salted air-dried ham

Grate the potatoes or cut them into super thin slices and put them in a bowl of cold water right away. Drain them and lay the potatoes out on a piece of cloth and pat them dry. Butter a small baking dish. Finely chop the onion and spread it out evenly with the potatoes in the bottom of the baking dish. Drizzle over the remaining of the butter and hit it with some salt and pepper.

Lay the spinach on top of the potatoes and onions . Sprinkle it with finely chopped rosemary and garlic. If you have leftover celery it would tast good finely chopped in this dish too.

Sprinkle over the cheese and put the baking dish in a cold oven. Turn it on at 200C (400F) and leave it to bake for 30 minutes. Turn off the oven 15 minutes before it is done and let it cook until it's golden on top. Lay out the pieces of ham on top of the dish before serving. Bon appetit...

Take a look at my friends results with this dish HERE

The first steps

Now that my friend Carina has arrived safe and sound in Eskilstuna and has made herself familiar with the new surroundings and kitchen and possibly the lack of kitchen utensils (as she is cooking in a kitchen equipped by a guy) we have now decided on which recipes we are starting off with from the two cookbooks. I had the time to browse through them  for real today and we have many exciting recipes to get to and I just got more thrilled the more I read on. I'm soooo looking forward to this little cooking project.

However as Carina supplements her blog about her trip to Sweden I thought I would supplement mine with some of my everyday cooking as well. This way I will challenge myself (and my husband's tastebuds) to keep cooking from all of the different cookbooks I have in my bookcase and try out new blog recipes as well - just look at this collection - I'm only one cookbook away from having the entire Danish collection of Jamie Oliver's cookbooks!

I admit it could be even bigger and I'm working on it! The next collection I will be starting will probably be a Rachael Ray cookbook collection - well actually I have already started it, but as all the recipes are in English, I just have to convert measurements before I can start cooking from it... That box on the second shelf is my Porkert meat mincer - I love it and it saves me a lot of money and hidden fat which we all know is in the pre-minced meat we buy in supermarkets. Thumbs up for Porkert.

Carina and I begin our little project on Wednesday the 26th of May and we hope to have lots of curious readers of our experiences with the first dish...    

The very beginning

Well I have been cooking for as long as I can remember helping my mother out in the kitchen making all sorts of delicious home cooked meals, preserves, desserts, cakes and what not, so it's not that strange that I do a blog about food.

This is really the beginning of an experiment - my friend Carina is about take a 3 months trip to Sweden to look for a job and inspired by the movie Julie & Julia I came up with the idea that we could cook the same thing from the same recipe and blog about our results, post pictures and recipes. We have purchased the same two cook books: Funky Hverdagsmad ( Funky everyday food ) written by Charlotte Guéniau and Carsten Kyster and Klimakogebogen (The climate cookbook) written by Susanne Engelstoft and our little project is ready to be launched as soon as Carina is settled in Sweden.