Sunday morning breakfast

Our sourdough is dead. Two weeks in Sicily and the poor thing died… Well rest in peace. We’ll make a new one! Until it’s done we need to bake bread with yeast. Found these lovely breakfast buns on a Swedish recipe site.

Bandy rolls

• 2 grated Carrots
• 4 dl Water
• 1 dl Yoghurt
• 2 tbsp Honey
• 1 tbsp Sea salt
• 1 tbsp Olive oil
• 2 package of dry Yeast
• 6 dl Wheat flour
• 6dl Wholemeal flour

Blend the ingredients together and let it ferment for approximately 30 minutes. The dough should have doubled in size. Make 10 rolls and place them on oven paper and put the baking plate in a cold oven.

Set the temperature to 225 degrees Celsius. When the oven reaches 225 degrees your rolls are done. Takes less than an hour!

We ate ours with a good cheese, elk sausage and horseradish spread with smoked salmon.

Quick stop in Sweden enjoying the hunting season

On the way back from Sicily we made a stopover in Sweden. We took the chance to enjoy Swedish elk meat. The hunting season for 2010 started in the middle of August. A full-grown elk can give up to 500 kilo meat and the Swedish hunting season in total gives approximately 11 000 ton meat. Sweden has 300 000 registered hunters, of whom 5,5 % are women.

Elk meat is probably the most climate smart meat you can eat. Here follows a classic Swedish three course dinner:

Shrimp Toast à la Schmidt

• 500 g Shrimps with shell
• 1/2 Red onion
• 1 tbsp Mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp Crème fraiche
• 1 tbsp Chili sauce
• 1 teaspoon Cognac
• 10 drops Worcester sauce
• 1 teaspoon Lemon juice
• Chives
• 4 slices of Bread, fried in butter in a pan

Peel the shrimps, blend the other ingredients together and pour the mix on top of the shrimps. Cut of the bread crusts, place the toast on a plate and place the shrimps on top. Decorate with chives and a slice of lemon.

Elk burger with beetroots

• 400 g minced Elk
• 200 g minced Pork
• 2 Eggs
• Salt and Pepper

Blend the ingredients together and leave the mix to settle for 30 minutes. Then form 4 burgers and fry them in butter.

Yoghurt sauce with horseradish

• 3 dl Yoghurt
• 2 tbsp Mustard
• 2 dl grated Cheddar cheese
• 3 tbsp grated Horseradish
• Salt and Pepper

We served our burgers with boiled beetroots served with salt flakes and fresh oregano, horns of plenty (svart trumpetsvamp/ Totentrompete) fried in butter and mixed with a tbsp crème fraiche. We also had red onion chutney and pickled gherkins to decorate the burgers.

Warm cloudberries with vanilla ice cream

• 200 g frozen Cloudberries
• 1 tbsp Sugar
• 1 Vanilla pod

Carefully heat up the cloudberries together with sugar and a vanilla pod. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Enjoy!

Music: Listening to Our Broken Garden – Golden sea

The sunny side of Sicily

The blog has had a two weeks vacation. We headed for Sicily (north and east coast) to enjoy Indian summer, good food and sightseeing. As a fanatic fan of ”The Godfather” a dream came true. We visited Corleone and I saw members of the mafia in each corner and found hideouts for padrones on each mountain.

Corleone

To summarize the trip it was very positive and we strongly recommend Sicily. The climate is great  (25⁰C in the air and 22⁰C in the water) and the island is more beautiful than we expected. It is really hilly which gives you very beautiful views when travelling through the country. The mountains are perfect if you are into sport – for trekking and cycling enthusiasts it is very challenging.

What about the most important subject – the food. The Sicilians eat a lot of fish and their closeness to Africa has influenced the cuisine. You find a lot of couscous dishes and raisins are a common ingredients in many dishes. The fish and vegetables are of highest quality in Sicily.  Every village has a at least one fish store with a huge supply that is sold out at 11 am. Along the roads you find trucks selling fresh veggies and in the supermarket you’ll find more than 10 different kinds of tomatoes.

We had very high expectations on the restaurants and must admit we are a bit disappointed. The last trip to Italy went to Tuscany and the food there is more elegant. They use more herbs, mushrooms and different kind of meat in their dishes. Sicily serves what they produce (which is very sympathetic) and therefore at this time of the year you do not get a lot of herbs or delicacies such as truffles or wild boar.  We tried the local dishes such spaghetti with sword fish roes, spaghetti with sardines, spaghetti with eggplant and swordfish, calamari and veal roulades filled with raisins, pine nuts and ricotta. As Sopranofans we also ate the sweet cannolis. Don’t try it. The filling, made of ricotta and icing sugar was not my cup of tea.

We rented an apartment and could not keep out of the kitchen. These are the top 5 of the week.

• Swordfish with bread salad
• Veal with grilled artichokes, onion butter and capers
• Spaghetti Vongole
• Grilled chicken with braised fennel
• Tuna, olives and potatoes braised in wine, lemon and oregano

Capo d’Orlando – view from our balcony

Our holiday was not all about food. Here are our tops to dos.

• Etna
• Isola Bella – close to Taormina
• Scopello including Zingaro National Park
• Palermo

Music: The theme of the roadtrip was Gente di Mare

Bread salad with grilled swordfish

Two cutlets (2 cm) of swordfish. Grill 2 min on each side. Do not overcook. Can be eaten pink inside.

• 5 Tomatoes,
• 2 grilled Peppers
• 4 Sardelles
• 2 tbsp Capers
• 2 Garlic cloves
• 2  thick slices of White bread

Chop 3 tomatoes into smaller pieces. Squeeze the remaining two tomatoes with your hand. Chop garlic and sardelles in small pieces. Chop the bread in 2×2 cm big squares and grill. Mix all ingredients without bread with 2 tbsp olive oil. Before serving add the bread and stir.

Veal with red onion butter and grilled artichokes

• 4 Veal schnitzel
• 150 g Capers
• 4 small Artichokes.

Red onion butter – 1 dl butter, one fine chopped onion, 1 dl red wine, pepper, basil. Braise the onion in wine until the wine has evaporated.

Grill the veal schnitzels 1 min on each side. Salt and pepper. Take off the  outermost leaves from the artichokes and cut the top off, cook them in salted water for 10 minutes. Let them cool off, cut them in halves and grill short before serving. Serve with butter and capers.

Spaghetti Vongole

Cook 600 g spaghetti al dente.

Chop 3 garlic cloves, 1 onion,  chilli pepper and fry all of it in oil. Add the cockles (1 kg) and fry for a minute. Pour 2 dl wine over the clams and cook until the clams opens. Add the cooked spaghetti, 3 tbsp spaghetti water and some butter to the cockles. Garnish with chopped parsley.

Chicken with braised fennel

Grill four chicken breasts. Fry 2 fennels cut into quarters in a pan with oil for 3 min. Add 3 chopped garlic gloves and 2 sardelles. Fry another 2 min before adding 2 dl white wine. Braise under lid for 10 min until the fennel is soft. Add the chicken breast and squeeze half a lemon over the stew.

Tuna with potatoes

Peel and chop 12 potatoes into wedges.

Cook in oven, with 3 garlic cloves, oregano, 2 dl wine and 1 squeezed lemon in 150⁰C for 40 min. If necessary add some water and wine so that it does not cook dry.

After 30 min, grill 4 tuna cutlets 2 min on each side and let them cook the last 5 min with the potatoes. Add peeled black olives (2 dl) with the tuna. Don’t forget salt and pepper. We used a small tuna fish but this dish is delicious with any cutlet fish or white fish.

Shopping lunch or Hangover food?

Had to do some shopping yesterday since we’re leaving for Sweden in a couple of days to attend a party and had no time for blogging. An excellent shopping lunch though is the classic Club sandwich.  Apparently the first Club sandwich was served 1894 at the Saratoga Club House, a famous gentlemen club in Saratoga Springs, New York.

Another classic is of course the Ceasar salad but I often find that restaurants make their own versions, and rarely with success. So, Club sandwich à la Schmidt it is.

Club Sandwich

• 12 toasted slices of Tin bread
• 2 Avocados, sliced
• 4 Chicken breasts, grilled or fried in a grill pan
• 2 Red onions, sliced and fried
• 2 Tomatoes, sliced
• 6-8 Lettuce leaves
• 10-12 slices of Bacon

Sauce

• 3 Egg yolks
• 1 tbsp Mustard
• a dash of Vinegar
• 2-3 dl Rape oil
• a splash of Lemon juice
• 1 red Chili, chopped, or Sambal Olek
• 2 Garlic cloves, grated
• 1 dl Sour cream

Start with the chili mayonnaise. Make sure that all the ingredients are room temperatured. Blend egg yolks, mustard and vinegar. Use an electric mixer and carefully pour the oil little by little. When you have a good consistency add chili and a splash of lemon juice.

Add grated garlic and sour cream.

Start with a slice of bread, lettuce, avocado slices, the grilled chicken breast, sauce, bread slice no 2, fried onion, slices of bacon, tomatoes and more sauce and at the end bread slice no 3.

Not healthy but very, very tasty!

Music: Listening to the Belgian duo, Aeroplane

Creamy mushroom soup

It is sad to say but the cold autumn evenings are here. On the other hand it is quite nice to cuddle up in the sofa with candles, a blanket and a bowl of warm soup.

Mushroom soup

• 600 g Champignons, cut in pieces (you can of course use other mushrooms as well)
• 2-3 Garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 Onion, chopped
• Butter
• 2 dl White wine
• 5-6 dl Mushroom stock (or more depending on wich consistency you prefer)
• 2 dl Cream
• a dash of Brandy
• Salt
• Pepper
• 5-6 Champignons, cut in half
• 1 Onion, sliced

Fry garlic, onion and champignons in butter until they have colour and you can notice the mushroom scent. Add white wine and mushroom stock and let come to a boil. If you don’t have access to mushroom stock, use chicken stock. Let boil for 15-20 minutes.

Mix the soup with an electric mixer or a blender. Add the cream and a dash of brandy. If the soup is to thick add extra stock or just plain water.  Season with salt and pepper.

Fry a sliced onion together with the 5-6 champignons until they have a really nice brown colour, and use as decoration.

Serve together with a glass of white wine and newly baked bread spread with a tasty butter and flakes of salt.

Movie: Eaten while watching the outstanding German movie, The Lives of Others