Winter salad with mustard and vinegar #189

It's time for a winter salad, it's simple tasty and let's you use some of the delicious vegetables that you might not use for salads that often. It's very simple, peel and wash root vegetables. Slice them thin and make a vinaigrette with mustard and red wine vinegar, combine with the vegetables and serve. 

Here it is served as a tapas but this is almost better as a side for that fatty Christmas food or Sunday roast with the relatives, since it's quite acidic the salad could also replace pickled vegetables, maybe put on a burger?

Winter salad with mustard and vinegar

root vegetables, use your favorites, I used yellow beets, purple carrots, carrots and celeriac

mustard

brown and yellow mustard seeds

parsley

olive oil

red wine vinegar

salt, pepper

Peel and wash the vegetables and then slice thin using a potato peeler, combine in a bowl. Combine olive oil, mustard, vinegar and mustard seeds, chop the parsley and add to the vinaigrette. Season and adjust the flavors to your own liking, I make it a bit more acidic than a normal vinaigrette and quite a bit of mustard so the salad gets a little sting, add salt and pepper and combine the vinaigrette with the vegetables, serve.

Pulled beef teriyaki taco with feta cheese #188

Everybody likes tacos so here´s one with a bit of a twist, it´s made with pulled beef that is flavored with a teriyaki sauce and topped with a roasted avocado, crumbled feta cheese, onion and fresh cilantro. 

The combination with feta cheese and teriyaki sauce might some a bit unusual but it really works great, I´ve picked it up from a friend who used to make noodles with beef, teriyaki sauce and feta cheese and been doing it every since.

Pulled beef teriyaki taco with feta cheese

wheat tortillas

beef meat for pulled beef or bought pulled beef

avocado

red onion

feta cheese

cilantro

teriyaki sauce

salt, pepper

The meat

First the meat, (if you haven´t bought it pre-made), season a piece of beef with salt and pepper and roast in the oven on low to medium heat until it´s tender enough to be pulled, you can add a bit of water in the bottom of the pan while cooking to keep the meat moist. This is usually a step that is good to make a day ahead.

Once the meat is done pull it into strips and heat in a pot, add teriyaki sauce the way you normally would add BBQ-sauce. You want the pulled beef to be slightly creamy and moist with a clear taste of the teriyaki. Seat aside and keep warm.

The vegetables

Slice the onion, chop the cilantro, crumble the feta cheese. Split the avocado and remove the pit, then cut it into four wedges, brush the avocado with olive oil and roast in a hot pan for a few seconds. 

Plating

Heat the tortilla and put on a plate, put a bit of pulled beef in the middle, top with avocado, onion and sprinkle the feta cheese and cilantro on top. Eat.

Asian coleslaw with cabbage, carrots, lime and sesame seeds #187

Asian coleslaw is a great fresh, crunchy and sometimes spicy variety of coleslaw that also can be served like a small appetizer or tapas even if you usually serve it as a side dish. In comparison to regular coleslaw this is very different, much fresher in both texture and flavor.

I use white cabbage as my base for the salad and then add what I might have at home, this time this was carrots, spring onion and a bunch of herbs but you can use celery, apples, beets, pears, papaya and a bunch of other vegetables.

Same goes for the dressing, in this recipe I used sesame oil, olive oil, lime juice and chili but you can use soy sauce, lemon, vinegar, sriracha, oyster sauce and make the salad equally good but different for every time you serve it. Only downside from regular coleslaw is that this one won´t keep for very long, I usually serve it the same day, you can save it one or maybe two days but it won´t be as good as on the first day. If you still want to prepare you can make the dressing and cut the vegetables a day ahead and dress the coleslaw a few hours before dinner time.

Asian coleslaw with cabbage, carrots, lime and sesame seeds

white cabbage
carrots
spring onion
lime
sesame seeds, roasted
sesame oil
olive oil
dried chili, strips or flakes
cilantro
chives
salt, pepper

The veggies

Wash the cabbage and slice thin, remove any big stems before, add to a big bowl and sprinkle with salt, leave for one hour. This make the cabbage softer and it will loose some of it´s water. Discard the water from the cabbage. Peel carrots and cut to thin strips, slice the spring onion and roughly chop the cilantro and chives. Combine all the vegetables in the bowl.

The dressing

With dressing you´ll need some measurements, for this dressing use 3 parts olive oil, 2 parts lime juice and one part sesame oil.

Combine olive oil and sesame oil,  wash limes and grate the skin into the oil, then squeeze and add the lime juice. Add the chili, sesame seeds and season with salt and pepper.

Final steps and plating

Combine the dressing with the vegetables and check the taste, adjust if necessary. Serve on small plates with a lime on the side or as a side. Good luck!

Roasted carrots with goat cheese, chives and lime #186

Here in Sweden it is a great season for carrots, they are cheap, tasty and beautiful and come in all shapes and colors, at least if you visit a good vegetable shop. I really like to serve vegetables almost on their own and let they play the main part of a dish. That approach might not work so well if you are serving a main dish but for a starter or in this case tapas it´s absolutely perfect.

I also felt while making this dish that I´ve probably been making something similar before, so I checked and for a trip down memory lane you can check out my previous recipe with roasted carrots, then served with Greek feta cheese instead.

Roasted carrots with goat cheese, chives and lime

carrots, any size, color or shape you like

butter

lime

soft goat cheese

chives

olive oil

salt, pepper

What to do

Trim and rinse the carrots, if the skin is thick then peel them as well, fry in a pan in a combination of butter and olive oil on medium heat until they are golden and almost cooked through. Check using a small knife while they are cooking so they don´t get to soft, adjust the heat if necessary. When done season with salt and pepper. 

Cut a lime into wedges and add to the pan, roast the lime with the flesh side down until it´s browned, almost burnt. Remove from the pan. Slice the chives.

Plating

Spread a spoonful of goat cheese on the bottom of each plate, add the carrots on top and squeeze a wedge of lime on the carrots, leave each wedge on the plate. Sprinkle the chives on top with a bit of salt, pepper and a few drops of olive oil, serve.

Egg with truffle caramelized onion and beef broth #185

Eggs and truffles always go good together, to make that into a complete dish I added some caramelized onions, fresh herbs and a flavorful but still mild beef broth. Only tricky thing about this dish is getting a good beef broth, sometimes you can find good broths or stocks at good supermarkets, if you don´t want to cook your own then look for one or ask around if there are any to be bought near where you live.

Egg with truffle caramelized onion and beef broth

eggs

beef bones with a bit of meat left on

onion

mixed fresh herbs, for example chives, parsley, chervil

truffles, fresh or oil (I used summer truffles in truffle oil in this recipe)

carrot

garlic

bay leaf

salt, pepper

butter

The beef broth

In a frying pan roast the bones and meat until golden, season with a bit of salt and pepper, add a chopped carrot, a clove of garlic, a bay leaf and cook for a few minutes. Add water until it´s covered and let simmer on low heat for at least 6 hours, this is usually best to prepare a day or two ahead and then keep refrigerated until serving, then just heat and check the taste before serving.

Keep adding water as it will evaporate during cooking, once time is up strain the stock and discard the bones and vegetables, check the flavor and reduce if necessary.

The onion

Peel and slice the onion, add to a frying pan with a little bit of butter and some salt and pepper, cook on low heat until it starts to brown and the onion is completely cooked through, check the taste and add a bit of sugar if it´s not sweet enough.

The egg

In a small frying pan cook the egg with a little bit of butter on low heat until the egg white are done, season with salt.

Final steps and plating

Chop the herbs, heat the beef stock, add the fried egg in the middle of a bowl or soup plate, put the onions on top and add the truffle and herbs. Pour the warm beef broth on top, serve.

Tomato bruschetta with Parmesan cheese and dried kalamata olives #184

A good tasting bruschetta is a great go-to dish when you run out of ideas, usually you´ll even find some stuff left over in the fridge that will work which is exactly how this one was made. I had a few tomatoes, a piece of cheese, some salad, dried olives and luckily some fresh bread.

There are only two things that are a bit complicated about this dish, first if you haven´t boiled and peeled tomatoes before that could be a bit tricky if it is your first time and then the olives that I have dried in my oven, it will take a day or two so if you don´t want to spend that much time simply use some good chopped olives instead.

This is how the olives are made, it is also described in my recipe for Burnt cod with grated kalamata olives (link, new window).

The drying of olives is not difficult but it will take a few days, I use fresh Kalamata olives, that is only fermented olives which is way higher in taste and quality so see if you can get your hands on some of those in a good grocery store. Then I simply put them on a plate and let them dry in the oven on low heat (about 50°C / 120F). If you have a dehydrator I´m sure this will work fine to but since I don´t have one myself I really don´t know. This took me four days to dry but I only turned on the oven whenever I was at home and awake. 

Also the olives should not get dried all the way through but only enough to be able to be grated. What I did was to simply grate an olive now and then until they were dry enough. Also if I forgot to mention it, the taste is simply amazing.

Now on with this recipe, and remember get great tomatoes, tasteless ones will give a tasteless dish.

Tomato bruschetta with Parmesan cheese and dried kalamata olives

tomatoes, small

fresh basil

olive oil

dried kalamata olives

a few leafs of salad, arugula or similar

balsamic vinegar

salt, pepper

Parmesan cheese

bread, white

Bring water to a boil and keep it boiling at the highest temperature, bring out a big bowl of ice cold water and add some ice to the water if you have it at hand. Cut a small cross at the tip of every tomato, add the tomatoes a few at a time to the boiling water. Let them cook for only a few seconds, once the skin of the tomato loosens immediately remove the tomato and cool them in the ice water. 

Repeat until all tomatoes are done. Then gently peel the tomatoes and put the in a oven proof tray, season them with a few leafs of chopped basil, olive oil, salt and pepper and let them dry out in the oven on low heat (about 100°C / 212 F), this will give the tomato a more intense flavor and infuse the oil and tomato with the basil.

Slice the bread and roast in a pan with olive oil, remove and place the salad on the toast, then the tomatoes and add some of the oil as well. Grate the Parmesan cheese and the olives on top, serve.

Coffee granita with Kahlua liqueur #183

This is not a tapas at all and it probably would feel weird to serve it like one, but it is great to serve right after some delicious tapas! It is very easy to make, all you will need is some good strong coffee, a bit of sugar and your freezer. In my recipe I added a little bit of Kahlua liqueur to make your party be just a tiny bit more entertaining, if you´re not a fan of alcohol then simply just exclude it, it will still taste great. Also, if you taste the granita before it is frozen don´t be afraid if it seems to strong or sweet, you won´t feel the flavors that way once it is frozen. Good luck.

Coffee granita with Kahlua liqueur 

4 parts strong brewed coffee or espresso, warm

1 part sugar

1/3 part Kahlua liqueur

This recipe is made in parts, so simply change to however much you´ll need, like cups, tablespoons, liters.

Combine the coffee with the sugar and whisk until the sugar has dissolved, add the liqueur. Pour the liquid into a wide container that will fit in your freezer, use something plastic and check if it fits before filling it with the liquid. Let it sit in the freezer for about one hour, then remove and scrape the ice that has formed using a metal spoon. Return to the freezer and repeat the same process a few more times. Once completely frozen, serve in glasses.

If you want to prepare this for another night you can freeze the whole thing right away and once it´s time to serve scrape and then serve, it requires some extra muscles but it will work fine.

Calamari salad with sesame seeds, fennel, cucumber & chili #182

Hello, it´s time for some calamari, this time I am serving it in a salad with Asian flavors. It is fairly simple to make, the base is chopped cucumber, fennel and seared calamari and then I added toasted sesame seeds, cilantro, sesame oil, chili and some seaweed. 

The salad keeps for a few hours in the fridge so it is a good dish to have prepared beforehand, also if you´re serving guests who are not big fans of calamari it is a great way to learn to like it since it´s not the dominant flavor of the dish. Some people don´t like the texture of calamari either and since it´s chopped and seared it is not so noticeable.

Calamari salad with sesame seeds, fennel, cucumber & chili

calamari, fresh or frozen

sesame seeds

fresh red chili

cucumber

fennel

sesame oil

dried wakame seaweed (can be found in most Asian food stores)

olive oil

salt, pepper

fresh cilantro

fresh lime

Chop the calamari into cubes and sear in a frying pan with some vegetable oil, season with salt and pepper. Once cooked add the calamari to a bowl and dice the cucumber and slice the fennel and add to the bowl. Dice the chili and cilantro and add together with some olive oil, sesame oil and lime juice.

Bring water to the boil in a pot and add some dried wakame seaweed, let it simmer for one minute, discard the water and rinse the wakame in cold water, then chop the seaweed and add to the salad.

In a dry pan roast the sesame seeds until they are golden, once done add to the bowl and combine all ingredients, adjust flavors using oil, salt, pepper and lime if necessary. Be a bit careful with the chili since it takes a while for the flavors to come forward.

Porcini mushroom risotto with Parmesan & thyme #181

Porcini or cepe mushrooms are one of my absolute favorites and when the season is right you can find loads of them here in Sweden. Whenever I get my hands on fresh forest mushrooms I go with a classic recipe like pasta, risotto, a mushroom toast or serve them as a side for meat dishes but I almost always keep the additional flavors classic. This time that meant Parmesan cheese and thyme with mushrooms in a creamy risotto. 

Porcini mushroom risotto with Parmesan & thyme

arborio rice

fresh porcini mushrooms (the recipe of course works fine with other mushrooms as well)

garlic

shallot onion

dry white wine

olive oil

Parmesan cheese

fresh thyme

butter

chicken or vegetable stock

salt, pepper

Select the best looking mushrooms and set aside, these will be used for decoration later. Chop remaining mushrooms into cubes. Finely dice the garlic and shallot onion. Add onion, mushrooms and garlic to a pot or sautese with some olive oil. Cook the mix in the oil until it is soft on low heat, season with salt and pepper. Add the rice and let it cook for a few minutes then add a bit of white wine and let it reduce until almost dry.

Add the stock a little bit at the time and keep stirring while the rice cooks, when the rice is almost cooked through add grated Parmesan cheese, a few leafs of thyme and a bit of butter and set aside. Roast the sliced mushrooms in a pan and season with salt and pepper. Stir the risotto and season if necessary, if it get´s to dry add a bit of water. Add the risotto to a plate and the add the sliced fried mushrooms, shave some Parmesan on top and a more leafs of thyme. Serve!

Mexican corn with cilantro, chipotle & Parmesan cheese #180

Mexican corn is quite a new discovery for me but I fell in love at first bite. I have never had it in Mexico but got to try some in California this summer and have been trying to reproduce the same experience here in Sweden since then. 

I can´t say I´ve come close enough to what I had in California but it still is a great tasting corn. Luckily we are in the middle of the season for fresh corn here so there are plenty to get in the stores for everyone to enjoy.

I parboil the corn and then brush it with a little bit of oil, grill it and then smear it with a combination of mayonnaise, sour cream and cilantro and then grate Parmesan cheese and sprinkle a little bit of salt and ground chipotle on top. Serve some lime wedges on the side. This is my version of Mexican so far, hope you´ll like it!

Mexican corn with cilantro, chipotle & Parmesan cheese

fresh corn

vegetable oil

mayonnaise

sour cream

fresh cilantro

lime

ground chipotle

salt

Parmesan cheese

Remove the outer leafs of the corn and then parboil for half a minute, brush with vegetable oil and a little bit of salt and then grill on high heat. Combine equal parts sour cream and mayonnaise and add chopped cilantro and a pinch of salt. 

Once the corn is grilled smear it with the cream and put on a plate and then grate Parmesan cheese on top. Chop some more cilantro and add with some ground chipotle on top. Serve warm with lime wedges on the side, good luck!

Eggs and soused herring on crisp bread #179

Eggs and soused herring on crisp bread? Well this is a very Swedish appetizer that is commonly served on Smörgåsbord, Christmas and Easter but can and are served year round. The main ingredients are soused herring that is a mainly Scandinavian type of pickled herring (read more on it here), boiled eggs, chives and red onion. The Swedish name for this type of herring is "Matjsesill" but you can also use Swedish anchovies that is called "Ansjovis" this is however very different from the Mediterranean anchovies.

Now for the name, it´s called "Gubbröra" in Swedish which pretty much translates to "Old man´s mess", not that mouth watering for your weekend appetizer is it? Well that is why I called it eggs and soused herring on toast. 

Now for the ingredients, there are loads of variations on this dish, some use soft boiled eggs, mayonnaise, creme fraiche, sour cream, different types of onions and even other herbs like dill. The recipe below is my version of it so feel free to experiment with the flavors.

I like to serve it on a crisp bread that is common in Sweden called "Knäckebröd", it´s a non sweet crispy bread mostly served for breakfast or instead of fresh bread for soups or smaller dishes. If you can´t find any then a dark rye bread is good as well.

Eggs and soused herring on crisp bread

I usually don´t write measurements for my recipes but since you most likely haven´t got a clue I will this time, I written the ingredients in parts form so use as much as you plan on serving.

8 parts boiled chopped eggs

4 parts chopped soused herring (discarded from the pickling liquid)

1 part chopped red onion

1 part chopped chives

1 part mayonnaise

1 part creme fraiche

Crisp bread or rye bread for serving

Combine all ingredients, season with pepper, if you think it´s lacking salt then use the picking liquid from the herring instead of regular salt.

Smoked salmon with horseradish cream, chive oil, dill, radish #178

Smoked salmon can be used in so many ways so if you get stuck in your cooking and need to come up with something new then getting some smoked salmon might be a good idea, it is very versatile and can be used for pastas, garnish soups, appetizers, pizza and sandwiches. This time I was in the mood for a fresh spring or summer appetizer so I made a horseradish cream, added a simple chive oil, a bit of dill and to add some crunch some raw radishes, that´s all it need!

Smoked salmon with horseradish cream, leek oil, dill, radish

smoked salmon

creme fraiche

horseradish

fresh chives

dill

olive oil

salt, pepper

radishes

Peel and grate the horseradish and combine with some creme fraiche, I use about 1 part horseradish to 6 parts creme fraiche, season with salt and pepper. Leave to rest for about one hour to two hours. Do not add any extra horseradish if you think it is to bland because the flavor will get stronger after marinating.

In a blender mix the chives with a little bit of olive oil, salt and pepper, wash and cut the radishes into thin strips. Add the smoked salmon to a plate, add the horseradish cream, chive oil, some dill and the radishes, serve!

Cevichè with tomatoes, cod and holy basil #177

Cevichè is always a good idea but an even better idea once it´s hot outside, I have made a few variations of Cevichè here before but this time I added some tomatoes, this gives the dish a bit more sweet taste and almost resembles an Gazpacho (that I also made a few, link is below) that I think worked really good.

As always choose the freshest fish you can find and spend a little extra, as usual you´re only serving tapas so the cost won´t be too big anyway, good luck. For some other Cevichè recipes check out my previous Shrimp cevichè with mango or Cod cevichè with blood orange and chives.

For the gazpacho i recommend my Gazpacho salad or my Green gazpacho with cream cheese, happy cooking!

Cevichè with tomatoes, cod and holy basil

fresh cod

tomatoes

holy basil

olive oil

lime juice

salt, black pepper

spring onions

red chili

Dice the cod and tomatoes and combine, add lime juice, salt, pepper and sliced spring onions and chili and let marinate for half an hour. Roughly chop the holy basil and add to the fish, season with salt and pepper and let sit for another half hour. Before serving check the taste and adjust flavors if necessary.