Bangers & Mash

A couple of weeks ago, I got 4 sausages from my colleague Staffan. I might have mentioned him earlier, he is my supplier of boar meat and other good stuff! On of the first things I ate in London last year was a sausage with wild boar and apple. So for Sunday's dinner I tried to recreate that dinner.


I roasted the sausages in the oven because I wanted to do a gravy from the juices (but that didn't really work out). I made a fluffy mashed potatoes with lots of butter, milk and nutmeg. The green stuff on the plate is mushy green peas with mint! David gives the sausage an 8 (and the other stuff too), I'll give it a 7, not because of the sausage (that was an 8, believe me) but because of my failure to make gravy!

Oh, and if you ever have money you don't need you can always get me a KitchenAid. Don't forget the accessories package!

Apricots & Hazelnuts

There's one thing (ok, maybe two things) I'm not that confident about in the kitchen and that's baking. I don't know if it's wait for the bread to rise or the kneading or the messy fingers... And how do you get around that problem? Well, by baking bread without yeast! I got this great recipe from my brother; Apricot and hazelnut loaf.


It's great with just butter on it. Other combinations? Maybe figs and walnuts, white raisins and almonds... I'm sure making this bread again.

Risotto

Do you even try to top yesterdays dinner at Bastard (read more here)? No, probably not.



One of my signature dishes (if I may) is a Risotto. The basic recipe for a Risotto is simply arborio rice, onion, a splash of white wine, a nice stock (vegetable or chicken) and parmesan cheese. I usually add some asparagus but today I mixed things up with green peas. My kind of comfort food!

Home cooking

Oh! I forgot to tell you! I got this amazing book from Mum yesterday.



In English it's called "The Art of Home Cooking" and it's written by the Swedish masterchef Leif Mannerström. You can actually get it in English (and on sale) right here.

Favourite Pasta

Sunday lunch time at Mum's place... We made one of my favourite pasta dish. I guess this is more of a family classic.



Tagliatelle with bacon, basil, tomatoes, parmesan, an egg yolk and freshly ground black pepper. Simple, fresh and delicious. If you want to make the dish a bit more fanciful, I recommend asparagus. This I have to give an 8. I guess Mum's food is the best thing in the world...

Biff á la Lindström

Yesterday I made an attempt on a Swedish classic; Biff á la Lindström. This dish actually has it's roots in Russia. A manufacturer named Lindström, born and raised in St. Petersburg visited a hotel in Kalmar (Hotell Witt) with some colleagues and wanted them to get a taste of Russia and ordered in ground beef, capers, beets, potatoes, union and eggs. He then gave the chef instructions on how to cook it and the restaurant has kept it on their menu ever since. This was back in 1862.

My version comes from the Swedish chef Leif Mannerström, famous for his husmanskost, and also contains mustard and HP sauce.

I give it a solid 6, good homey food. David forgot to give his review but I'm sure he liked it.

A piece of Pie

I know I said I would do something fishy but when the day came, I just didn't have the energy. Or maybe it was the daunting thoughts of trying to get nice fillets out of a fish... I don't even have a proper knife (writing that down on my wish list).



So I ended up making a savoury pie with Västerbotten cheese with serrano ham and a fresh green salad with avocado. Review: David gives it a 7 and I give it a 6. I think I whisked the eggs a bit to hard cause it felt a bit to soufflé-ish.