loveforfood

Here is an easy dinner idea for your busy week ahead. My Spinach Hummus Pitas paired with a large baked and maple-mashed sweet potato. Served with a side of smoky baked tofu squares and pepper truffle shiitake mushrooms. Picnic-inspired. This recipe would make a wonderful eat-outside feast for spring/summer. Get my recipes (and a vegan dessert idea too!)..Read more » This is a summary, images and full post available on HHL website!

I believe I owe you some soup. When the soup was promised, it was rainy, bleary, and insufficiently May-like to please me, though I doubt Deb Not Being Pleased ranks anywhere on near the top of the concerns list of whatever powers control the weather (or, for that matter, Deb’s toddler when he’s set his mind to emptying mama’s purse on the floor again), seeing as we have another week of it on order. Fortunately, this is a soup for exactly these trying spring times.

My love of hearty crocks of hearty French onion soup is well-documented (it’s the rare recipe I’ve covered twice in the archives, and you just know I had to riff on it here) because I have to insist that nothing is so loud with flavor as onions, cooked for an hour with a meaty broth and cognac, then broiled with a charred cap of strong cheese. Oof, how long must we wait until it gets cold again?

... Read the rest of vidalia onion soup with wild rice on smittenkitchen.com

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© smitten kitchen 2006-2012. | permalink to vidalia onion soup with wild rice | no comment to date | see more: Photo, Soup, Spring

When I was a child we ran free around endless wheat fields. Once spring rolled in, the grass grew tall, soft and vibrant - this pure green color that is hard to describe. I miss how soft it was (grass in Florida itches!). Red poppies grew wild alongside this wheat grass. Weightless... long and thin stems that the wind would blow violently from side to side. Every May I think of the red poppies. I call my dad and ask him, "have they bloomed yet?" During our trip to Dordogne last year, we dined at Cabanoix - a small restaurant with a modern-French twist. I actually cannot wait to go back there this year. Next to the restaurant, there is a small épicerie where they carry the most fragrant tea blends (I still love my strawberry hibiscus tea), salts, spices, riz au lait mixes, and floral sugars. I remember seeing the bag of sucre coquelicot (poppy flower sugar) and I nearly fell on the floor. I grabbed my bag and ran to the cashier afraid everyone else would raid the counters. Days before, I had tasted the most delicious coquelicot ice cream at the Jardin de Marqueyssac. The memory of the subtle, floral sweetness was fresh on my mind. I had big plans for this sucre coquelicot. Somehow, I waited until this spring to really start baking with the poppy flower sugar. Perhaps the conversations with my dad about the poppy fields ignited the curiosity once again. I have been adding it to many recipes including arroz con leche that I served with poached rhubarb puree and berries. Also a berry crumble with pistachios and crunchy millet. Just the perfect subtle scent of poppies in my kitchen. There is an abundance of rhubarb in my kitchen these days. I made this dairy-free roasted rhubarb sherbet that I also flavored with poppy flower sugar and vanilla bean. It's a slight variation of a roasted strawberry sherbet recipe that you can find in my book. It is actually one of my favorite recipes from the book and what can I say, my family loves it too. I hope you try it even without the poppy flower sugar. So now I continue to dream of the poppies in my Basque Country. Tell me, do you have poppy fields around you? If so, please go out and admire them for me - even if the wind makes them hard to photograph. Roasted Rhubarb Sherbet with Poppy Flower Sugar 1 pound (450 g) rhubarb stalk, cut into 2-inch pieces 1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons (85 g) poppy flower sugar or natural cane sugar 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped 1 cup (250 ml) unsweetened coconut milk 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt Preheat oven to 350F. In a roasting pan, toss together the rhubarb, 3 tablespoons (35 g) poppy flower sugar, and vanilla bean and its seeds. Bake for 30 minutes until the rhubarb is tender and the sugar makes a syrup. Remove the vanilla bean. Puree the rhubarb in the food processor and let it cool. In the meantime, combine the rest of the sugar and 1/4 cup of water in a small saucepan. Cook over medium high heat until the sugar dissolves. Let the syrup cool completely. Whisk together the rhubarb puree, simple syrup, coconut milk, and sea salt. Refrigerate the mixture for at least 2 hours and churn in your ice cream machine according to your manufacturer's instructions. Transfer the sherbet to a freezer-safe container and freeze until hard. Before serving, remove the sherbet from the freezer and let it come to temperature for 15 minutes.

 

Hur många av er har grillat i helgen som var? En hel del kan jag tänka mig! Men det är ju så underbart att kunna stå ute och grilla utan att förfrysa. Till en av de tre (!!) gånger vi tände grillen i förra veckan serverade jag ugnsrostad mandelpotatis. Enkelt så det nästan var skrattretande och fantastiskt gott. Under sommaren hinner vi grilla så många gånger att det är nödvändigt att variera tillbehören för att inte tröttna och det känns som om detta är något vi kommer äta fler gånger i sommar! Den här gången grillade vi kött, men jag tror nästan dessa små potatisar passar snäppet bättre till fisk. De ugnsrostade potatisarna fick smak av smör, salt, vitlök och finhackade örter.

Ugnsrostad mandelpotatis, ca 4 port:

900 g mandelpotatis 25 g smör flingsalt svartpeppar 1 hel vitlök 2 msk finhackade örter t ex basilika, oregano och timjan

Lägg potatisarna i en ugnsfast form. Skär smöret i tunna skivor och fördela över potatisarna. Krydda med salt och peppar. Skala vitlöksklyftorna och blanda i dem med potatisen. Värm ugnen till 225 grader och rosta potatisarna i cirka 30-40 minuter. Rör om då och då. När potatisarna är helt mjuka inuti, strö över de finhackade örterna, blanda väl och ställ in potatisen 5 minuter till i ugnen.

Vad äter du helst till en grillad köttbit?

bild: Sebastian Niemi-Carlsson

Its BBQ season and what do you gotta have with a good BBQ meal? Potato salad off course. This is really good, its a mix of potatoes, beets, peppers and onion. You pour the dressing over them while they are warm, so that all the flavors soak into the vegetables. Its so good.

Baked potato salad with balsamic serves 4

2 LB small potatoes, washed and cut in half 1 red onion, sliced 4 golden beets, peeled and cut in wedges 1 red pepper, sliced 2 tablespoons capers 4 tablespoons olive oil salt and pepper 3 tablespoons balsamic

Preheat oven to 380F. Place potatoes, onion, beets, peppers and capers in a sheet pan. Drizzle with olive oil , salt and pepper. Bake until golden and tender, about 25 minutes. Ta it out and drizzle with balsamic. Serve warm in a bowl. Photo by Colin Cooke

I remarked to my boyfriend last week that we'd been going out for 2 1/2 years now. We met at a friend's birthday party. I was coming to the end of a couple of months of working abroad. Time at home was so precious that I nearly didn't go. He was in the middle of big project and working all day every day and so he nearly didn't go. I had sat at home earlier in the evening, collapsed on the sofa with a glass of wine in hand, talking myself out of going. I still don't really know where I found the enthusiasm for the party. He was dragged along by his flatmate, the birthday girl's boyfriend with the promise of free beer. At the end of the evening, he gave me his business card. I sent a message to my best friend lamenting the fact that I had now reached the point in life where men gave me their business cards rather than just their phone number. A week later, we had a mojito-fuelled dinner which neither of us can really remember much about. I'd already been warned by the birthday girl that the boys operated a strict schedule when it came to courting and that I wouldn't hear anything more for at least three days. Sure enough, the day after our date, my phone was suspiciously silent. The doubts started creeping in. Thankfully, he put me out of my agony fairly swiftly and the next day, we went to see a film. We came out of the cinema at that awkward point on a Sunday evening when it doesn't really seem appropriate to suggest going for a drink but when you don't quite feel like going home yet. The solution was found in a giant ice cream sundae. This was different to our previous meetings. We were, most notably, both sober. Neither of us had dressed up. I think I had brushed my hair but that was about all the effort that I had gone to. He sent me a message later that night saying that so much sugar before bed was a bad idea and that he didn't think he would ever get to sleep.  The next week, however, he was happy to do exactly the same. In the early days of our relationship, we would finish almost every meal together with a bowl of ice cream. We have, thankfully for our waistlines, dropped this habit but we still like to have a proper dessert on a Friday or Saturday night. Lack of space in my kitchen prohibits an ice cream machine although I do love making ice cream at home. I'd been wanting to try this no-churn vanilla ice cream recipe for a while but never quite managed to find the time. When I saw that Sarah had made a rhubarb version, I knew that it was the perfect use for the last of my rhubarb. I followed the recipe almost as written (and so haven't replicated it here). The only change that I made was to throw in a cup of white chocolate chips and, as a result, leave out the vanilla pods that the recipe calls for. I love the combination of white chocolate and rhubarb; the sweet creaminess works so well with the tart fruit.  This ice cream really could not be any easier. Or any more delicious. Kavey, the superstar blogger behind Kavey Eats, launched a monthly ice cream-related blog challenge. This month's theme is chocolate and those white chocolate chips are just begging for inclusion. At the end of the month, Kavey posts a delicious round up of each month's entries. Hopefully this month, she'll also be able to provide us with some warmer weather...

Let’s just be real… Mondays are hard.

Sometimes Mondays are hard because Sundays are hard.

Sometimes Sundays are hard because you pay $5.00 for a little container of organic blueberries, bake them into a beautiful Bundt cake, and flip the baked Bundt only to have half of the cake actually leave the pan.

Sometimes you flip a warm Bundt too soon because you’re hungry.

Sometimes… (ok, all times) PreNatal vitamins (for all their awesome hair growing and folic acid goodness) are not breakfast.

Sometimes you just need to regroup, put on neon pink lipstick, take another trip to Whole Foods, and hope you don’t run into anyone you know because your bangs are greasy.

Sometimes you just need an easy lunch before any further misfortunes take place.

Sometimes you just need to bust out your dearheart Mother Mary plate and settle in with some good eats.

This is that.

I am forever in love with beans.  There’re cheap, filling, and totally healthy!  I love making my own beans, but in a pinch… a can will certainly do.  I dress them up with some good olive oil and fresh herbs.  Anything and everything can be dressed up with good olive oil and fresh herbs.

Ooh this stack of fried tortillas.  All I really want to do is butter, salt, stack and eat them.  How amazing would that be!?

Herby beans.  Kale and Coconut (you know I’m obsessed with this suff).  Fresh cabbage.  Sliced radishes.

The natural thing to do is stack these things.

Lime and hot sauce belong on any taco-esque situation.

Warm some beans.  Roast some kale and coconut.  Stack them all up on some crunchy tortillas.

It’s an easy lunch.  It’s an easy lunch that could also totally be an easy dinner.  No white beans?  Try black beans!  No kale?  Try sauteed spinach.  Add spicy salsa or pickled carrots.  Make it your own… just definitely eat it before you go flipping any Bundts.

Does this really qualify as pizza?

Not sure…

I mean, we are so far from that first image that comes to most people’s minds when you say the word pizza: a thick, cripsy (if you’re lucky) white crust, garnished with loads of tomato sauce, highly processed meats and or coldcuts, a few vegetables (again, if you’re lucky!) and mounds of cheese.

Not much “healthy” stuff going on there.

Granted, there are healthier alternatives even at your local pizzeria, but I don’t think that they would offer anything that’s even remotely close to this one.

What a shame, I say…  “Cuz pizza or not, this dish was DIVINE!

I guess by now, you guys know just how much I love my pizza, right? And since I’ve decided to avoid grains for a while, well, my all time ultimate favorite pizza crust is pretty much off limits.

I turned to my very good friend Internet to try and find a good grain free pizza crust recipe, but found none that really called my name.

Sure, there is this cauliflower based pizza dough that’s all over the place, but it didn’t really appeal to me.

At least not at this point.

Not saying I’m never gonna try it, but I thought it wouldn’t go too well with what I had in mind for this particular pizza. I mean, pear, figs, blackberries and… cauliflower? Ewwww… I know I can be out there sometimes, but that just didn’t work for me.

I don’t think it would’ve worked for any of you, either!

So I decided to go with a cross between the crust that I’d done for my Grain Free Asparagus Quiche and that of my Rustic Sweet Potato Tarlets.

That worked amazingly well. Even beyond my expectations.

The taste of the buckwheat went PERFECTLY well with the sweetness of the fruits and honey, the tanginess of the cheese and the fresh sharpness of the rosemary. As for the walnuts, they added that extra little crunch and were just plain sublime on there.

This was probably one of the best pizzas I ever had. I just died with every single bite.

Now, I’m not saying that I’m ready to give up on standard pizza crust for good, but I can guarantee that I will be having that exact same pizza again many, many times. In fact, I had it 2 nights in a row. And I never did that with ANY other pizza before.

Well, except for that take-out stuff, way back when, that is… when I’d have the leftovers the next day!

Now, you might be wondering whether this is a main course or dessert pizza… I mean, with all the fruits and honey, it’s gotta be way sweet, no?

Well, in fact, no, it isn’t. I don’t think it would make a very good dessert. Yes, it is somewhat sweet, but it’s also surprisingly savory. So I wouldn’t recommend it.

Appetizers, on the other hand…

Oh, yeah! Now THAT would be splendid!

 

I went to the New Taste of the Upper West Side’s “Best of the West” event this weekend, to eat and (sort of) help the Fishtag booth. Considering the number of restaurants in the city, a good number of renowned New York City restaurants happen to be located on the Upper West Side. The “Best of the West” is basically an event where these renowned chefs get to showcase their food. I’m really glad I did this instead of going to The Great GoogaMooga (free, always has a catch). It was fun here and I ate a lot.

The Fishtag booth was right next to Shake Shack so everyone at Fishtag smelled like Shake Shack burgers (they were serving burgers stuffed with bacon — delicious). To be honest, I smelled so much burger that I don’t think I want a burger for a few weeks now. It was too much of a good thing but I still love their burgers. There were so many people at the event. Here’s the calm before the storm:

Beer bucket for the restaurants:

The Shake Shack neighbors:

Fishtag plating:

Fishtag’s Corvino crudo:

What did I eat? A lot of stuff (and sampled a lot of the cocktails too, to be honest). Here are some of the things I ate:

Meatballs from Kefi

Chilled spaghetti with cauliflower sauce, clams and caviar from Cafe Storico.

The Magnolia bakery stall.

Ice cream parfait from Jacque Torres.

Porchetta sandwich from Landmarc.

Spicy tuna slider from Ed’s Chowder House.

Corvo Bianco’s Abalone and artichoke crudites with salmon roe.

Lobster roll from Cafe Luxembourg.

Cured carrot, chicken feed and quail egg from Dovetail.

Braised Pork Spare Ribs from Lincoln.

A selection of delicious cured meats from Salumeria Rosi.

I also saw Cesare Casella of Salumeria Rosi at his booth. The other super chefs that I spotted?:

• Jonathan Benno
• Jacque Torres
• Marc Murphy - who I embarrassed myself in front of because I was all like, “Hi Chef! You’re on the Saveur Tastemakers panel with my husband! *mumble mumble* I’m a big fan of yours! *something awkward* “, and probably ended up looking like a creepy stalker.

As usual, thanks for the feedback on Friday. I mentioned that I’d be spending the next two weeks resting and spending a little time in the kitchen (OK, a lot of time), and these scrumptious raw dark chocolate and cherry cookies are one of the fruits of my labor!

These cookies are inspired by one of my favorite One Lucky Duck cookies: the dark chocolate cherry macadamia cookies. These cookies, like all of Sarma’s cookies, are delicious, and shockingly authentic. The texture is quite a bit like the “real thing,” but I think the taste has even more depth.

The secret to Sarma’s cookies, I suspect, is a mixture of almond flour and oat flour. My version features these same ingredients: I used almond meal from Bob’s Red Mill (a favorite baking ingredient for me) and I ground raw oat groats in my coffee grinder (which I use only for grains and seeds) for the flour. You could, of course, grind regular rolled oats, or you could use store bought oat flour. Because I didn’t have maple powder (which is in Sarma’s ingredient list), I used dates, but in order to make the cookies work, I needed to use more almond meal than oat flour. I like the slightly drier (less chewy) texture that the oats created, but you could use all almond flour if oats don’t agree with you (Bitt!)

If you like dark chocolate, and you like dried cherries—and how on earth can you not?—you’ll love the taste of these treats. I was super decadent and used 1/4 cup chopped raw dark chocolate (Fine & Raw), but vegan dark chocolate chips will be just fine, too.

Raw, Vegan Dark Chocolate Cherry Cookies (raw, vegan, gluten free if you use GF oats, soy free)

Makes about 8 large cookies; recipe can be easily doubled

1 cup almond meal (you can use store bought, like the Bob’s Red Mill brand, or you can grind almonds finely in a food processor) 1/3 cup oat flour (I ground raw oat groats in my coffee grinder, but you can use store bought, too) 3 tbsp raw cacao powder 12 large, pitted medjool dates 1/3 cup dried cherries 1/4 cup chopped raw dark chocolate, or vegan dark chocolate chips

1. In a food processor, process almond meal, oat flour, and cacao to combine.

2. Add dates, and process until the mixture is thick and sticks together easily when you clasp a little in your hand (look for similar texture to when you make homemade raw energy balls or Larabars). If the mixture is too dry, add an extra date, a drizzle of agave, or a tablespoon of almond butter!

3. Add cherries and chocolate. Pulse to break down the cherries and chocolate into small pieces and mix them evenly throughout.

4. Place "dough" onto a sheet of saran wrap that has been laid onto a flat surface. Cover with another saran sheet, and use a rolling pin to flatten the mixture to just over 1/4 inch thick. Refrigerate for a few hours, or overnight.

5. Cut dough into desired shapes with a cookie cutter, and enjoy!

These make for good snacking, as well as good dessert.

I thought hearts would be appropriate here, because nutritious raw and vegan desserts are heartwarming indeed.

Hope you get a chance to test these cookies for yourself. Of course, you can use any dried fruit you like (raisins, gojis, cranberries), and you can use walnuts or hazelnuts as the base, too.

I’m in the middle of getting ready to go to the filming of the finale of The Celebrity Apprentice, and the afterparty. Not a typical Gena Sunday—it’s usually a big deal when I get to watch Mad Men—but a friend of mine had a plus one. So off I uncharacteristically go, and I’ll see you back here tomorrow!

xo

Everyone once in a while, it hits me: I need steak-frites. It’s an infrequent indulgence, but when I do have it, I like my steak with a crisp exterior, pan-seared until saignant (medium-rare), with a large pile of real frites. Most my French friends like their beef bleu, which is close to uncooked, and if you order it that way, when you cut into your steak, it’s raw in the center. (My other half will ask for bleu froid, or “cold” in the middle.) I don’t mind raw beef in carpaccio or tartare, but it’s not really my thing to attack a large block of nearly uncooked meat.

Another difference is that American beef tends to be aged and easier to cut, and I’ve learned to only buy beef from a very good butcher in Paris because the difference if phenomenal. In restaurants, sometimes you’ll be served a piece of French beef that slices nicely, and other times you’re faced with something that even the best steak knife – and sharpest incisors – might have trouble ripping into.

So I tend to be fairly choosy about where I eat beef. Many of the classic Parisian bistros have been scooped up by restaurant chains, so there’s a dwindling number of places where you can find steak-frites done right in this town. But at Aux Tonneaux des Halles, honest bistro fare is still offered, with the daily menu scribbled on the chalkboards. And if you’re looking for a traditional steak-frites, done right, this is the place to get it.

Continue Reading Aux Tonneaux des Halles...

Pizza for breakfast!

Sometimes I get so caught up writing new recipe posts that I forget to write about other things I’ve been eating. Today’s breakfast was worthy of a magazine cover; too pretty to not share:

The actual recipe can be found here: Single-Serving Breakfast Pizza

(Be warned: It’s an embarrassingly old post!)

A few years ago, this breakfast pizza was one of the most-popular recipes on my website. However, it wasn’t originally called “breakfast pizza.” No, originally I thought it’d be a great idea to name this lovely creation… a pizzert. I went on calling it “pizzert” for over a year, until finally someone told me she couldn’t get on board with the recipe because she was pronouncing it to sound like it rhymed with lizard. Yikes!

So yeah, the recipe needs a new name.

Question of the Day:

What would you call this recipe?

If I use your suggestion, I’ll send you three packs of my favorite Artisana nut butters (your choice of flavors) as a thank you.

Just a heads up: Don’t try and combine the words pizza and breakfast either. You’ll end up with something even worse than pizzert!

Happy weekend all. I thought today would be a good day for a favorites list. I also thought it might be time to share the earliest glimpse of what I've been working on for the past couple of months - QUITOKEETO. I'll do my best to pull a few more details together for you (and wrangle a recipe into shape) for later in the week. Until then -xo:

- Le Shack

- The Secret Life of Alan Z. Feuer

- Grains Well Spent.

- 204 Sunrise Lane.

- Rhubarb Beer Jam

- Happenstance. Running into Jesse in NY.

- Act Three. Mimis in the Middle.

- Whoops

- When Michelle Obama Came to Lunch

- Reading: this / Next up: this

- For the floors. And the ceilings.

- Jeffrey's Broken Bike

- Dream get-away.

- Subway tile & Sherwin Williams

- The Alphabet Book a few of you were curious about in this post.

- For the next road trip.

- Pakoras & Chutney

- Enjoying this monthly newsletter / sign-up at page bottom (via Kristina G)

- Elissa + Tamar

- Daniel Patterson's Poached Scrambled Eggs

- Perfect cocktail ice.

Lead photo: Detail of a stunning green tile wall I came across in Marrakesh.

Continue reading Favorites List (5.19.12)...

My sugar-free journey so far Those of you who have followed this blog for a while may remember that back in October 2011, I was inspired by this book to quit sugar. The challenge for me was not as dramatic as it may sound - it basically meant no fruit (for about 4 months), no more dark chocolate and baking with rice syrup instead of raw sugar or honey which I had done in the past. It's been

Den här gången är det dags för en recension av den übersomriga boken signerad programledaren och författaren Ebba von Sydow och hennes vardagshjälte (=läkare) till syster Amy von Sydow Green. Självklart gör jag raka motsatsen till alla mattidningar och faktiskt lagar något ur böckerna och tar bilder, allt för att kunna vara så rättvis som möjligt.

Recensionen görs för kittlande bra Taffel.se och den provocerande professionella matgurun Lisa Förare Winbladh.

När bokbranschen darrade som värst kändes det som att vartenda förlag förlitade sig på smilande kändisar som kunde fronta halvtaskiga kokböcker med tveksamma recept. Och jag såg rött. Speciellt eftersom jag inte tror att Dominika Pescynski vet upp och ner på en kastrull eller att Pernilla Wahlgren någonsin har använt sig av sitt eget porslin till annat än rekvisita. Så nej, jag var inte allt för optimistisk när jag såg två rosiga systrar på omslaget, klädda i pastell och ståendes i ett avundsvärt grönskande Marstrand. Upp till bevis!

Sommar med systrarna von Sydow är först och främst en väldigt vacker bok, även om det är svårt att misslyckas med krispiga bilder på en västkust i blom. Den blandar privata vardags- och festbilder med gnistrande miljöbilder. En trevlig avvägning som inte står en upp i halsen (vilket annars kan vara risken med läskiga ”kändisböcker”). Recepten blandas med små tips och förslag som har ramats in i små rutor och kan vara allt från vad man kan göra med resterna, hur man dukar skoj eller hur man brygger te på rätt sätt. Inte mycket nytt, men hjälpsamt när man är trött efter en dag i solen med trevligt sällskap och ännu trevligare rosévin.

Det jag gillar allra mest är dock den personliga touchen. Jag kan ibland tröttnat på lite för perfekta kokböcker med kockar i höga hattar som pratar om råvaror och tillagning som mer avskräcker än omfamnar. Jag bakade tex. ”Helens hyllade grötbröd” endast av den anledningen, att det kändes sådär löjligt familjärt. Alla familjer har ju sina favoriter som man har dragits med sen start, och det finns absolut en charm i det. Superenkelt svennebananbröd som varken kräver surdeg eller jäskorg. Mitt barn (=sambo) slukade det med mängder av smör och smakfattig ost, vilket jag tar som ett gott betyg.

Hela boken är indelad efter kapitel så som ”Helig helgfrukost”, ”Mingla på Marstrand”, ”Kom på kalas”, ”Afternoon tea” mm. På så sätt får de med tillfällen både för en ensam bög i förorten som vill lyxa till sitt gråa liv (=jag), festsugna brudar i söta klänningar, barnfamiljen som vill ha något snabbt och enkelt utan tjat och middag med gamla vänner som mest vill ha något gott att dricka och skit att prata om. Och det upplägget passar faktiskt väldigt bra. Många av recepten har man dock sett förut…lite för många gånger. Men Amy och Ebba har gett dem en liten twist, så du behöver inte gäspa dig igenom uppslag efter uppslag.

På tal om lyxiga frukostar så testade jag den här grekiska yoghurten med äpple och kardemumma. Kombon med pistagenötter och granatäpple på toppen gjorde hela kalaset riktigt fräscht. Nej, det är definitivt inte att uppfinna hjulet, inte ens att uppdatera det…men jäkligt gott.

Och här är en av favoriterna – ugnsrostad blomkål med garam masala. Oväntat gott och svåra att sluta gnaga på. Perfekt som drinktilltugg eller för att tysta gästerna innan middagen.

Genomgående så är recepten väldigt fräscha och somriga, som de ska vara. De kräver inte märkliga ingredienser eller skojiga teknikprylar och är hälsosamma utan att man riskerar att känna som om man går på en diet.

Här är ett typexempel på nyttigt och grönt, men utan att man hör en fettdoktor surra i bakhuvudet. En ”supersallad” med bland annat edamamebönor, rostade ärtor och parmachips. Tog fem minuter att slänga ihop och två minuter att trycka i sig. Görgott!

Hamburgaren ovan med rivet äpple var ett av bakslagen. Jag är i och för sig av åsikten att en perfekt hamburgare innehåller nötfärs, salt och peppar…inget mer. (Möjligtvis lätt stekt schalottenlök). Så att trycka ner två ägg i smeten gör att det smakade mer omelett än saftig burgare. De höll även ihop lite taskigt. Tur att man serverade de tillsammans med salsan bestående av avokado, svarta bönor, mango mm. Den kan säkert rädda många tråkiga grillkvällar i sommar.

Det kan tyckas märkligt att Ebba valt att dra in sin syster, bosatt i USA, i projektet. Men det är en av de sakerna som jag tror har bidragit till en lite intressantare bok. Ett av recepten som Amy har bidragit med är till exempel chocolate chip cookisen ovan…med kikärtor. Ett sätt att få ungarna att tugga baljväxter. Javisst! Malmöit som jag är hade jag ju satsat på en väl rullad falafel, men vi är väl av olika skolor. De var riktigt goda även om man inte smakade någonting av kikärtorna (vilket var avsikten). Det där med barn är smått förvirrande…

Och nu någon form av avslut. Nej, jag är ingen galen Janne Josefsson som kommer att dissa den här boken rakt av bara för att de minglar i flotta Marstrand och inte på min taskiga balkong i Vällingby. Och även om jag ser till det faktum att Ebba är känd, och det här är en kändiskokbok, så känns den ändå mer genuin än mycket av det som tidigare har släppts ut i den låtsasgenren. Den är inte slentrian, den är inte beige, den är inte copy/paste. Den är inte heller nyskapande, banbrytande eller experimentell.

Däremot är den nog så inspirerande för alla som inte har hyllmeter med kokböcker hemma och som behöver en ny älskling inför sommarsäsongen. Så ja, överraskande bra, vilket jag aldrig trodde att jag skulle säga. Varför? Därför att jag är fördomsfull…och hemsk…som Janne Josefsson. Skillnaden är att jag ser förbi allt efter en löjligt god kolatårta med bananer, vispad grädde med grekisk yoghurt, toppad med dajm.

Ebba och Amys bok ”Sommar med systrarna von Sydow” går bland annat att köpa här.

[Raspberry madeleines]

This morning, the sky turned black, of the bruised kind. And then, clouds started to grumble, roar really. For minutes. And before we knew it – {insert French accent here} surprise, surprise {end of French accent} – rain was pouring down in the kitchen window.

I had chocolate lava cakes in the oven. Madeleine batter in the fridge. And a fraisier – just assembled – on the counter.

Writing a book is one of the most exciting things I’ve ever done. Every morning, I wake up to the biggest cup of latte you could dream of. Straight from a French press.

I then write a mise-en-place list, not unlike the ones I used to write at the restaurant. And then, things gets crossed off as I take out tray after tray from the oven.

The deadline is sooner than later. And recipes get tested many times before I write them down. First on paper, then on my laptop. A chapter was sent already. And I’m almost there on two others. It promises all kind of good things.

Walks through a forest where rain comes from trees, chasing crabs on a desert beach, biking on pebbly roads, days made of glitters and more… Oh yes, so much more.

And somehow I just got sidetracked here. Let’s go back to the moment when raindrops started hitting the kitchen window.

I rushed to the garden, barefeet. The grass felt so fresh I could have stayed there forever. But the very first raspberries had to be picked before the rainstorm. And so they got picked. One, two, three… seven.

It might not be much, but it’s still terribly early for raspberries.

I ate two. The other five got baked inside the madeleines I made for the-book-with-no-name. Let’s call it le petit cookbookfor now. And even though the recipe is going to be included (in a somewhat different form, surprise surprise) – it’s that good! – I could not resist writing about it here too. Trust me, it’s been hard baking so much (around eight to ten things a day!!!) and not talk about everything I make here.

Hope to see you sooooon. Miss you for ever and more.

Madeleines aux framboises

If there was only one thing to be said about madeleines, it would be along the lines of: heat shock.

Yes, really, when making madeleines, the heat shock is pretty much all that matters. For this, I chill my batter for at least three hours (two are ok-ish too, so go ahead, I’ll close my eyes and pretend nothing ever happened). And I preheat my oven to 220°C for a good half-an-hour before reducing to 180°C.

If you know this, then madeleines will be yours in a few hours. To eat still warm, it goes without saying!

Meet me at Anthropologie. If you are in NYC tomorrow you should stop by Anthropologie at 71st street 11am-2pm. I will be hosting a dog collar workshop, you can bring your pooch for a photo session and there will be treats for two and four legged. Hope to see you......

Låt säga att jag skulle ta ogräsburken och ge mig ut på ogräsjakt, vad skulle ni tipsa mig om att fynda i naturen och vilka recept/idéer får jag inte missa? Vi kan väl göra en deal, jag påminner er om några av pickipickis bästa naturens-skafferi-tips och ni tipsar mig om era? Säg ja!

Ogräs på backen Nässelpesto och nässelrisotto Nässelsoppa Ogräsblinier Myggmedelssnapsen

Älskade träd Tappa björksav Granskottssirap Köttbullar med granskott och enbär Himmel och fläderpannkaka Fläderbubbel En sallad med almfrön