Another Kind of Chili

This chili or whatever you like to call it is a take whatever veggies you have and use them meal. Boil what you have for a long time.  For example you can use chopped up bellpeppers, any root vegetable or onion... whatever you have.  It doesn't have to be harder than that sometimes.  This time I took a piece of chuck beef (högrev) seasoned it with some smoked paprika powder seared it in a hot pan on both sides (2 minutes maybe on each side) then put it in a pot.  Then I seared some carrots, onions, garlic, jalapenos and celery.  I put everything in the pot, poured over one jar of whole tomatoes and some chicken stock and let it simmer on medium heat for approximately one and a half hour or until the meat is tender. After the first hour add lentils.  Pick up the meat and just shred it with a fork then put it back in the pot, pour in some pre-cooked beans and a bunch of cilantro and cook it for a bit more. Done. 

 To this I served a salad of chopped up cocktail tomatoes and avocados, tossed it around with some baby spinach and a squeeze of lemon and some olive oil.  To give it a little Mexican touch I served it with some tortillas.

Look here for my other chili (with detailed instructions)

ELK

During Easter break we traveled down south, to my fathers house on Öland.  I enjoy spending time down south because the food we eat comes straight from the source.  I will write more on this another time but bascially all the meat and fish we eat is either hunted or caught by my father and during the warmer months the fruits and vegetables are from his land.  Eggs can be bought from a neighbor and until recently all milk came from my aunts dairy farm.  

During this visit my father had elk.  I was luckly to also get some freshly picked asparagus and spring onions.  This meal is pretty simple but when you have really good quality food to work with then you do not need to over complicate things.  I braised the loin in red wine and some onions and carrots.  The filet I quickly seared and then placed it in the oven for a few minutes, seasoning with just salt and pepper.  I served it with a ruttabaga (kålrot) puré and grilled asparagus and spring onions.          

The sauce was made from straining the red wine that I braised the loin in and then I added some black currant jelly and then cooked/reduced it some more.  The rutabaga puré, I boiled 60% rutabaga to 40% potatos and some yellow onions in heavy cream and then mixed it with a hand mixer.  I added chopped spring onions to the puré to add a nice flavor and some salt and pepper.

I have been busy lately but I have some dishes that I will be posting in the coming days... sorry that I haven't been so good about posting lately.

Swedish Meatballs

I dont know if I could call the way I served meatballs tonight a Swedish classic but I'm sure that it's one of the most common ways to serve meatballs out there in the little red cabins of Sweden (so maybe it is a classic after all)...?  Anyway, making meatballls is just about as easy as buying them ready.  Really!  There are many side dishes to the classic meatball, tonight I did a version I like to call "Dagis" which means daycare in Sweden.  This is stewed maccaroni and peas and carrots.  Can't really go wrong with the kids, if you have kids.  You can also serve them with mashed potatos, gravy, ligonberries and pickled cuccumbers if you want to go for the classic "Swedish Meatballs" dish.

Meatballs

500g ground beef

1  onion finely diced 

1 egg

2 dl heavy cream 

2 tablespoon breadcrums

1 dl milk

salt & pepper

Blend trhe breadcrumbs with the milk then add everything else  and mix it all together.  Wet your hands and make meatballs by searing them in a pan with butter until they are ready, appx 10 minutes. 

Stewed Maccaroni

1 liter of milk 

6dl macaronies 

pinch of nutmeg (muskotnöt) 

salt & pepper

Bring the milk to a boil put in the salt and pepper and the maccaroni, let it simmer for appx 15 minutes, stirring frequently so it doesn't stick grind in some nutmeg.  I served this with ketchup that I made some carrots and peas.

Pork and Apple Sausasge

This is not a step by step recipe... you can pretty much figure it out by looking at the pictures. Today I went by a local sausage store and bought some pork and apple sausages.  Buying sausages at a specialty store is not in my mind the same thing as buying hot dogs or other mass produced sausages.  These sausage are made on site, they are fresh and made with pure product.  I would love to make my own but don't have the equipment to do so yet (anyone want to sponsor me?). Anyhow I bought some good sausages, boiled some potatos, seared the sausages in a pan and then put them in the oven.  Then in the pan which I seared the sausage in, I seared some red onions, beans,  cocktail tomatos and the cooked potatos  with some olive oil and when it was almost done I added some baby spinach as well I sprinkled some manchego cheese over it but you can use parmesean or whatever you have.  I served a little dijon creme fraiche with this meal.  It was fast and very tastey!

Vegetarian of the Week: Red Vegetable Rice with Paneer

As a lot of Indian food is vegetarian and as we try to eat vegetarian at least once a week, I decided to do an Indian inspired meal.  This might seem a little complicated but its not that hard once you get started it's just a lot of ingridients.  Paneer is an Indian cheese it turned out to be like a mix between feta and haloumi sort of... I made my own paneer but I suppose you could try buy it or even a halloumi would work (if, how should I say this... you are lazy). Papadums is a thin crisp Indian bread.  I used red rice because i like the taste and the texture of it and its also healtier than white rice.

paneer

2 liter milk

1dl yougurt

1/2 lemon

salt & pepper

1 bunch of dill

3 papadums

2 eggs 

Bring the milk to a boil, let it boil for two minutes while stirring costantly.  Add the yogurt and squeeze in the lemon juice, add salt and pepper.  At this point the milk will now break and that is suppose to happen.  Take it off the heat and add the dill strain it threw a kitchen towel, letting all the liquid run off then put it in a baking form put another form over and then put some weigth on it (I used a packet of milk). The weight is to give a nice dense cheese as well to shape it.  Place it in the refridgerator for one hour. START HERE IF YOU BUY CHEESE: Fry the papadums in oil quick so they get crunchy, then crush them into small crumbs.  Cut up the paneer, first dip it in the eggs then the papadums, then sear them in oil on both sides.  Put aside.

the rice

3dl red rice

1/2 cauliflower

4 potatos

1 spring onion

1 bunch of cilantro

1yellow onion 

4 slices of red chili

1tblsp of fresh ginger

2tblsp of minced garlic

2tblsp of grounded coriander seeds

2tblsp of black mustard seeds

2tblsp of cumin

2tblsp of grinded chili

2tblsp of curry leafes

2tblsp of turmeric

3dl of chicken stock(veggie stock if your vegetarian)

Start by boiling the rice. Then slice up the potatos, yellow onion and the caluiflower. Warm up some oil in a pan add all the spices and the chili, ginger and garlic and let it all sweat in the pan for a minute then add the vegetables and let it sear for a while before adding the stock.  After the stock is added put on a lid and let it cook for 10 minutes then add the cooked rice and let it cook together for another couple of minutes.  At the last minute add the spring onion and the cilantro.  

Warm up the paneer in the oven and we're done.  I served this with a cucumber yogurt (just chop up some cucumbers and mix it with yogurt and squeeze in some lemon).  

Fried Herring

Here comes another Swedish classic"stekt strömming"(fried herring).  Herring is  one of the fishes that you still can buy without spending a fortune.  In Sweden we eat herring on our holidays like midsummer, easter and christmas although on these occasions it is usually pickled.  This recipe is a good everyday dinner.  In the western part of Sweden they eat lingonberries (of course ) to this dish so try that if you like,  I don't do this.  I get my fair share of lingonberries with other dishes.  Herring is very rich in omega 3 so that's a good reason to try this.  In this recipe I use a cider vinegar mustard which I think is very good but use what ever mustard you prefer.

700g of herring 

1 bunch of dill

3 tbs  mustard (cider vinegar flavored)

2 egg yolks

2dl bread crumbs

2dl whole grain flour

salt  & pepper

Start by putting the egg yolks, mustard and dill in a bowl, mix it togehter. Then mix the flour and the bread crumbs and put them out on craftpaper (baking paper), place the herring with the skin side down in the flour mix then put on the mustard mix and then put another herring on top of the first herring filet then put the flour mix on top as well.   Sear it on medium heat in a pan until golden brown.  I serve this with mashed potatos and browned butter.

The mashed potatoes I do like this: boil potatoss, warm up some milk and butter, when the potatos are done drain the water and then smash them then beat them together with the warm milk and butter.  Season with salt and pepper.

The browened butter: put butter in a pan and melt until golden brown be careful you don't want it to get burned it should look like the picture below.  When it starts to smell nutty it is ready.  Take it off the stove and strain it.