Lamb casserole

Tags

Casserole, Drumnadrochit, Food, Lamb Casserole, Lamb Stew, Recipe, Scotland, Stew, The Fiddler's

At a pub in Drumnadrochit in early October 2011 I sat with two wonderful ladies discussing a menu. We went back and forth trying to decide what to have. We decided to order three different dishes, place them in the centre of the table and rotate around them. That way we all had a bit of everything. (and we shared a plate of haggis as starter)

We had oven-baked salmon, chicken, and a lamb casserole. The starter was haggis in a creamy, whiskey sauce. It was all delicious! (menu can be found here). Having quite a bit of leftover lamb after making fårikål (I wrote about that here) I decided to have a go at making something similar to the lamb casserole from Scotland. And you know what? It was like I was back in Drumnadrochit! Son too ate a lot (Husband was at work, which is when I can serve lamb – he dinnae like the smell). This is how I did it:

I started of with a bit of lamb from yesterday’s dinner and the stock from the same meal. I made brown sauce (give me a shout if you do not know how) using the stock, added the mutton, a small handful of whole spelt (I didn’t have barley, so I went with what I had –  would recommend barley though) and a few diced carrots. Turn the heat down and put a lid on the pot. Leave until the carrots are almost perfect (poke them to check), then add a broccoli broken into small ‘bouquets’. A few more minutes with the lid on the broccoli will be done and the carrots will be perfect. I served with mashed root vegetables (potato, celery root, and parsnip) and a dash of lingonberry jam.

The feast continues

Tags

Christmas, christmas brunch, Christmas morning, Føste juledag, Food, The first day of Christmas, Yule

After a proper materialistic feast yesterday, we continue with a culinary feast today! Son  had the time of his life yesterday receiving more gifts than any two-year-old should have. I see a future of consumerism! European economy failing and falling? Apparently not in this house. I’m not telling you this to brag, I’m embarrassed, but still I’ve played a big a part as everyone else. The evening was a great success though, it seems everyone had a good time. The two-year-old smiled as much as the 82-year-old.

Today is the first day of christmas. We start with a humongous brunch which has been the same for as long as I can remember. My mother is a wizard in the kitchen and refuses to accept any helping hands while cleaning up after christmas eve dinner and making ready for the first day of christmas brunch. I’ll have a few recipes for you at a later stage.

Usually the brunch is the only big meal on the first day of christmas, but in order to gather all us kids (my three brothers and me) my parents have invited all of us, with our families, for a big turkey dinner this evening.

The day will be spent with the family. Husband and Son are sitting on the floor, busy putting together a large pirate-ship, while I’m enjoying the calm before the storm. Enjoy the holidays and have a great time! We sure do!

The Day Before the Big Day and Risboller

Tags

Christmas, Food, Norwegian Cuisine, Norwegian Food, Norwegian Traditions, Recipe, Traditions, Yule

It’s the day before the big day for everyone except my wee brother: today is his birthday. He’s turns 23 today and is not very happy having his birthday the day before Christmas eve. He complained when he was younger that the reason it wasn’t cool having his birthday the day before Christmas was that his hands hurt so much after spending two entire days unwrapping presents. Anyway, a wonderful brother to you wee brother! May you crush all your opponents playing Fifa.

The day has been spent hurrying to get everything ready in order to spend the evening with the family. Today is called ‘little Christmas eve’ in Norway. In our family the tradition is to decorate the tree, with the tv on in the background. On tv is the annual christmas show on the state-owned national channel (à la BBC) playing christmas tunes  and discussing ways to cook the perfect ‘ribbe’. The pinnacle of the evening is the wee film ‘Dinner for one’ which is always shown at around nine in the evening.

A few cookies were served during the day, making sure the kids were high on sugar as well as high on life in general. Son did not go to bed voluntarily tonight!

One of the cookies served today were ‘risboller’ (ris=rice, boller=sweet rolls). These are in no way related to sweet rolls though. Think chocolate covered, puffed rice. Again a type of traditional and seasonal cookie, as good as it is simple.

• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon of sugar

Whisk this until it’s fluffy. Melt the other ingredients:

• 100 grams chocolate
• 85 grams of coconut fat
• 3 tablespoons of coffee

And add with the sugar and egg. Then add as much puffed rice as you please, but make sure you are able to cover everything with the chocolaty goo. Place about a tablespoon full of mix in muffin cups and store somewhere cold. Enjoy 🙂

Kokoskuler – chocolate balls

Tags

Candy, Chocolate balls, Christmas candy, Christmas traditions, Coconut balls, Food, Kokoskuler, Recipe, Sjokoladekuler

Growing up I had a friend from whom I was inseparable. We spent (almost) every day of many years together until we eventually grew apart. During our first years as teens, and also as tweens, we had a regular shop we used to go to whenever we had a few kroners. The shop didn’t really have a good selection of candy, but they had these coco and chocolate balls (how I prefer the Norwegian word ‘kuler’ instead of balls for these as ‘kuler’ does not invoke associations to male genitalia).

I found the recipe in a christmas magazine at my mother-in-law’s a few years ago, and have made it my mission to make these every christmas thereafter. This year though, I have a confession to make: Son made these almost all by himself (yes, they’re that easy!) I helped measure and to crack the egg, but the mixing was all his work! Here is the recipe:

• 1 dl of sugar
• 2 dl of rolled oats
• 1,5 dl of grated coconut
• 2 tablespoons of cacao powder
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla sugar
• 2 tablespoons of melted butter
• 1 egg (my mixture was a little dry, so I added a second egg)

Mix everything together until you’re left with a dough-like texture. Leave it in the fridge for a while (mine was only left for a few hours). Then roll out small ‘kuler’ and cover them in grated coconut. Delicious!

Kakemenn – Christmas cookies

Tags

Christmas cookies, Food, Kakemenn, Norwegian tradition, Recipe, Yule

Kakemenn is always a favourite among the kids. It’s sweet, very mild in taste and, like the pepperkaker, they are shaped in various recognisable figures. They are very easy to make and the ingredients are items you most likely already have in your cupboards. Kakemenn is to me important come christmas, and I never go a year without making them.

The recipe is very straightforward and easy. Just mix all ingredients together (but do feel free to reduce the recipe – we used about half this year):

• 1 kg of white wheat flour
• 0,5 kg of sugar
• 4 teaspoons of horn salt (“Horn salt (also hartshorn) is used in traditional Norwegian baked goods as a leavening agent. Modern horn salt is ammonium bicarbonate.In the USA it can be purchased at the pharmacy” says this site)
• 85 grams of butter
• 4 dl of milk

As with the pepperkake-dough, the kakemenn-dough must also be cold before it’s easy to work with. The dough doesn’t need to be as thin as the pepperkake dough, I would set the thickness of it to double that of the pepperkaker, see this post. The kakemenn are baked at 200 degrees until they get a wee bit of a tan. They should still be white-ish, so about the colour of a Scandinavian in April would do.

Pictures for the blog are according to Son better if they also show a playmobil pirate, the standard of my photos has thus been raised. You're welcome!

Never stand too close to the oven when opening the oven-door, and never get the horn salt too close to your nose. You have been warned! (sneezing and swearing could occur!)

Pepperkaker – Ginger Bread

Tags

Christmas cookies, Cookies, Food, Ginger bread, Norwegian Traditions, Pepperkaker, Recipe, Yule

This blog is no longer active. Recipe for ‘pepperkaker’ to be found here 

Lussekatter

Tags

Baking, Christmas traditions, Dough, Food, Lussekatter, Norway, Recipe, Yeast

I am rarely able to bake and display in one day, but today will be an exception to that rule; today is the night before Lussi (the day of Saint Lucia). Living in a country that is predominantly protestant, there has never been much focus on saints. There is also very little focus (if any) on religion in the celebration of Lussi.  For me, Lussi has meant school or kindergarten celebrations (I’ll elaborate in a bit) and the baking of Lussekatter.

In kindergartens or school (the lower grades) Lussi is celebrated by kids dressing in white and parading through the school or kindergarten or through a care home to entertain the elderly. Every kid is dressed in white and holding a white candle. One girl, often with long blond hair, is crowned Lucia and leads the parade. She wears a crown holding candles.

It is a celebration of light in the darkest time of the year. The Christian traditions have mixed with old heathen traditions resulting in a tradition now that I believe most Norwegians would not be able to connect to any religion or faith. What is obvious though is the symbolic white and bright in a time of darknes, where there is a bit christianity mixed in with the mentioning of St. Lucia, and the devil through the lussekatter (lussi cats – referring to Lucifer the cat), and the lighting of candle and dressing in white to bring light in order to scare off the heathen creatures of the underworld lurking in the night.

Anyway, the reason why we bake these lussekatter might not be interesting at all (especially not with such an inadequate introduction), but the main reason is the tradition itself (at least it is to me). And the fact that the lussekatter are bright, ocher-y yellow also adds to the fun.

Today Son and I have spent some good, quality time together, dancing along to christmas songs while kneading a bright, yellow dough. I think I had more fun than him! I’ll give you the recipe in case you want to try it yourself:

• 2,5 dl of milk (the more fat the better)
• 25 grams of fresh yeast
• 75 grams of butter
• 0,5 grams of saffron or 1 teaspoon of turmeric
• 1 teaspoon of cardamom
• 1 egg
• about 6 dl of flour

Cook for 5-8 mins at 250 degrees celsius.

This year I made one batch with saffron and one with turmeric. I have never tried saffron before, for reasons unknown to me. The saffron was a nice change, it gave a better colour, better smell, but is still a little new to me. The turmeric smell and taste is what I’m used to. But I think saffron might win in the long run…

Saturday night pizza

Tags

Dough, Food, Pizza, Pizza crust, Pizza dough, Recipe

It was a dark and stormy evening. We were visiting some friends on a Saturday and it was getting late. We thanked our hosts for having us over and explained we had to get going in order to get the Saturday pizza on the table, eat it, and have Son in bed at a reasonable time. My friend looked at me, the suspicion gleaming from her eyes. Make and eat a pizza and have Son in bed in the course of 90 minutes? (which would also include a 20-minute drive from their house to hours). I nodded, she looked at me in disbelief. And that’s when I pulled the ace from my sleeve:

I make a big batch of pizza dough which results in about 8 individual pizzas. After leaving the crusts in the oven for thee minutes I freeze them, and on Saturdays I thus only have to visit the freezer and half the pizza is already made. I do the same with tomato sauce. Leftovers from the past week that go well on a pizza, are also kept and used the following saturday. Saturday night pizza is a piece of cake!

I promised my friend the recipe and instructions for these crusts. That was ages ago! Sorry AM that it has taken so long! Here it is:

The recipe is from this book, which is a very good book for everyone who goes through a period of experimenting with baking. This book has taught me loads!

• 1 kg of all purpose flour (regular white wheat) (about two pounds)
• 6,5 dl of water (about there cups)
• 10 g of fresh yeast (a lump the size of your smallest join on your little finger)
• 15 g of salt (I never measure, so about a teaspoon?)

Now, you want to do this on a day where you have other things to do. As what takes the longest is sitting watching the dough rise (do NOT sit and watch the dough rise, you’ll be bored and clearly you must have better things to do on a Saturday!) Let the machine knead the dough properly for 15 minutes or so. Keep it on low speed and turn up the music! Then let the dough rise for 1-2 hours. Divide the dough into equal parts of about 250 grams (about half a pound) and cover them with plastic and let them rise for another 45 minutes. It is important to let the dough rise in order to get an easy dough to work with afterwards.

Roll each part out into pizza crusts, prick them with a fork, and cook them at 225 degrees (celcius) for 3 mins.

I was making these on a Saturday while Husband was away at work. I had just put Son to bed, came back downstairs, put the last of the crusts into the oven, and sat down to breathe. I of course forgot all about the crust, which resulted in this:

Moral of the story? Don’t prick the crust with a fork and cook them for about 10 mins, and you’ll have some lovely pita breads instead 😉 Hope you enjoy!

Norwegian Cuisine – Lapper

Tags

Food, Lapper, Norwegian Food, Pancakes, Recipe

“Lapper” are small pieces of paper or cloth. Write someone a “lapp” means to write someone a note, and passing “lapper” is frowned upon at school (passing notes between students without the teacher knowing). “Lapper” is also a Norwegian pancake-like food which has become Son’s favourite these past weeks.

The recipe is actually my great-grandmother’s, it’s been in the family for at least a few generations, and it’s as good as it is simple.

First a note on the dairy product: kefir. Kefir is apparently called kefir in English as well. I’ve never come across it outside the Norwegian borders myself, but how common it is is beyond me. It can be substituted with any type of sour dairy product, but buttermilk is probably the best substitute.

• 5 dl kefir
• 5 dl flour
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• vanilla or vanilla sugar
• 1-2 tablespoons of sugar

Any pan is good for making these, though I must recommend something with a slip-let surface. If you don’t have one you should consider adding a bit of fat to the pan while cooking.

Make sure the pan is warm, on medium heat, before you pour a small ladle worth of batter in the pan. When the surface of the “lapp” bubbles and dries out, the “lapp” is ready to be turned. Looking for bubbles has become one of Son’s favourite past-times.

Anything can go into a lappe-batter. Leftover rice from dinner? throw it in! Earlier this week I made “lapps” with grated apples and cinnamon – delicious! And, if I make these as a meal, instead of as a desert/snack, I use mostly whole-grain flour, works perfectly fine, but I would recommend the finely ground type. 

Mashed swede

Tags

Autumn, Food, Kålrotstape, Mashed rutabaga, Mashed Swede, Norway, Norwegian Cuisine, Recipe, Rutabaga, Swede

Please join me further down the path of Norwegian delicacies. Today we have a very simple dinner planned: sausages and mashed swede (or rutabaga if you like).

The big, round root is first sliced, then peeled (using a small knife, don’t bother with no potato peeler) and diced. Put in a pot, add water to just about cover the root, put a lid on and leave on medium heat to simmer for a while. To check if it’s done pierce a piece with a sharp knife, if the knife won’t hold the piece of swede then consider it done. Drain, add a pinch or two of sugar, add a wee bit of milk or cream and a spoonful of cream cheese (if you like). Mash it all up using either a masher or a hand blender. A swede can without problems be mashed using a hand blender (potatoes should not). I often add a carrot or two to the mash. The carrots are then sliced and boiled with the swede.

I served this with lamb sausages (which you really should try if you’re in the area!)

Swedes are people too and should not be confused with the root-vegetable which is the subject of this post. No Swedes were hurt making this dish.