Potato salad

This is the perfect condiment to a BBQ! I love a potato salad, well mainly because you can prepare it in advance, but also because it's just delicious! You can make your potato salad healthier and less fatty by using a lower fat mayonnaise instead, but the better the mayo the better the salad! It makes a big difference to the taste. You can also use more greek yogurt and less mayo if you wish. Some makes of yogurt are more set than others so the salad doesn't get too runny. 

8 potatoes

4 spring onions 

1 cup real mayonnaise (250 ml)

1 cup greek yogurt (250 ml)

½ tbsp apple cyder vinegar

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp white pepper

Boil potatoes soft but not mushy. Let cool. Cut potatoes into chunks and chop the spring onion. Put together in a bowl. Mix mayo, greek yogurt, vinegar, salt and pepper in a separate bowl and pour over the potatoes. Give it a good mix and voilá! I think the onion flavour comes through more if it stands for a little while, so if you have time, make it a little before. 

If you use less mayo and more yogurt, I would maybe up the vinegar a tiny bit for taste. 

Mexican lasagna

An interesting twist on lasagna. The result is divine! The recipe is Old el Paso's own from their website. 

1 packet Old el Paso spice mix for chilli

1 pack soft tortilla wraps (5-6)

1 jar Old el Paso mild salsa

500g lean minced beef

150g grated mozzarella (I used a bag of 250g-perfect)

1 can chopped tomatoes

1 can kidney beans (drained and rinsed)

1 onion (chopped)

1 green pepper (I used yellow)

Turn the oven onto 180 degrees. Brown the mince in a pan together with chopped onion and pepper. Stir in the chilli spice mix (if you don't have this at home you can spice your own with salt, pepper, allspice, chilli, garlic and most importantly- cumin) and the chopped tomatoes and let boil on low heat for about 15 mins until reduced and thickened. Stir in the kidney beans and take the pan off the heat. Place two tortilla wraps in an ovenproof dish so that it covers the bottom and the sides.

Spread ⅓ of the mince on the tortillas and sprinkle ⅓ of the mozzarella cheese on top. Place another two tortillas on top and again, spread another ⅓ of the mince and ⅓ of the mozzarella.

Place another one or two tortillas on top (I put one in the middle as it covers the mince but not the sides). Spread the rest of the mince and spread the jar of salsa on top. Sprinkle the rest of the mozzarella on top and place in the oven until cheese had turned golden. 

 Serve with a side salad of your choice.

Vanilla whip

Mmm...vanilla whip! Beats whipped cream or custard every time! My all time favourite condiment for crumble. 

2 egg yolks

1 tbsp vanilla sugar

2 tbsp icing sugar

300ml whipped cream

Beat egg yolks, icing sugar and vanilla sugar. Whip the cream separately and carefully fold down into the egg and sugar mix. The texture should be runny but thick. Serve with crumble and ENJOY!

Apple crumble with coconut

This apple crumble recipe is taken from recepten.se. The coconut in the crumble is a delicious addition to the more common recipe.

3 bramley cooking apples (large)
1½ tsp ground cinnamon
3 tbsp sugar 
2 tbsp potato flour (potato starch)


Crumble
150g butter (room temperature)
200g plain flour (3½ dl)
100g sugar (1 dl)
3 tsp vanilla sugar (if you prefer to use vanilla essence, just add a little more sugar to make up for the extra liquid)
1 cup dessicated coconut


Start with the crumble. Let butter reach room temperature in a bowl. Add flour, sugar, vanilla sugar, and coconut and mix with an electric mixer until the crumble is - well, crumbly!
Peel and cut the apple into pieces and place in a large pie form. Sprinkle the sugar, cinnamon and potato flour over the apple. Spread the crumble over the apple and bake in the oven at 200 degrees for about 25 minutes. Serve warm with cold vanilla whip.

Potato wedges

There are no better potato wedges than home made ones!


8 good sized potatoes 
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp allspice


Peel potatoes and cut into wedges. Spread in an oven-proof dish. Drizzle olive oil and sprinkle the allspice over the wedges. Give it a good mix so that all wedges are covered. 
I find I get the best result when I cut the wedges and let stand for 30mins to an hour in oil and spice before cooking. Some of the water in the potatoes starts to come out and they seem to cook more evenly in the oven. 

Bake on 180 degrees for about 40 minutes, stirring about every 10minutes. If the wedges start to stick in the corners or edges pour a little water (about 1 tbsp in each side of the tray)


My the spice I use is my favourite Swedish spice for any occassion: GRILLKRYDDA.

Most allspices will work so find one that works for you! 
Allspice and bbq spice are good. Caribbean spice is good but quite spicy.  

Creamy cucumber salad

This is a great side dish to lots of dishes. As a side dish for fish, BBQ or any meat. It's fresh and crunchy and the dill adds a little extra taste. 

1 cucumber
½ red onion
1 cup sour cream (250ml)
½ tsp salt
white pepper
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp apple cyder vinegar
1 tsp olive oil
2 tsp dried dill


Peel the cucumber with a potato peeler, and slice thinly. A tip is to use a cheese cutter for thin slices. Cut the red onion in thin slices.

Mix the rest of the ingredients in a separate bowl, then pour over the cucumber and onion and mix. Let the salad sit in the fridge for a good hour for all the flavours to mingle properly. 

Cottage pie

Potato mash
7-8 medium sized white potatoes
½ - ¾ cup milk
50g butter
1 tsp salt
½ tsp white pepper

Mince

1 medium brown onion

1 tbsp olive oil

500g beef mince

1 cup boiling water

1 beef stock cube

2 carrots

½ cup frozen peas 

Gravy

1 cup water

1,5 tbsp beef gravy granules

Turn oven onto 180 degrees. Peel and boil potatoes, if you boil them in smaller pieces they will boil quicker. Peel carrots and cut into quarters lengthwise, then slice/chop into pieces. Set aside. Heat the oil in a frying pan. Sauté the onion without burning and brown the mince. Dissolve the stock cube in boiling water and add to the mince along with carrot pieces. Put a lid on the pan and boil on low heat for 10 mins. Add the frozen peas and boil for another 5 mins. When the potatoes are boiled mash with the salt, pepper and butter and add the milk a little bit at a time. I mashed with a manual potato masher and finished off with my hand blender to get a smoother finish. Make sure the mash is not too loose as it needs to be quite set on top of the gravy. Butter is optional but makes such a difference for the taste. To make the grave bring the water to the boil, and add gravy granules while whisking until dissolved. Spread the mince mix at the bottom of the oven-proof dish. 

Pour the gravy on top of the mince.

Spread the mash on top making sure all areas are covered.

Bake in the oven at 180 degrees for about 30 mins or until the mash has turned golden brown.

Serve with a side salad.

Tomato and kidney bean salsa

Serves 2 people as a side dish.


1 tomato
1 shallot
½ tin of red kidney beans 
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp apple cyder vinegar
½ tsp salt
freshly ground pepper to taste

Chop tomatoes into pieces and halve the shallot before slicing into half rings. Add kidney beans. Mix the oil, vinegar, salt and pepper in a separate bowl and stir until salt is dissolved. Pour over the salsa and toss. Leave in the fridge for the flavours to mingle for an hour.  

Salmon with sweet chilli sauce

Sunday dinner in the Minty house. And devine too if I have to say so myself! Oven baked salmon fillet with boiled potatoes, broccoli, sweet chilli sauce and tomato and kidney bean salsa.


Salmon
Count roughly 150g salmon per adult (or more if you like)
1 small brown onion
1 lemon
2 tbsp lemon juice
bay leaves (1 per portion parcel or 2 for a bigger parcel)
1 tsp dried dill 

Prepare by turning the oven onto 200 degrees C. Drizzle lemon juice over the salmon. Place sliced onion, sliced lemon, bay leaves and sprinkle dried or fresh dill over the salmon. Wrap in kitchen foil and cook in the oven for about 1hr from frozen if you have a large fillet. Roughly 30mins for smaller portion parcels. Check that the salmon is cooked through and flakes easily before serving.

Sweet chilli sauce
300ml creme fraiche
100ml sweet chilli sauce

Mix together and keep in fridge until serving. 

Tomato and mascarpone pasta sauce

This is what we had for lunch today, much to the delight of the children. It tasted delicious and was so easy to make. And being liquidised-left no bits for the children to leave behind. The mushrooms give a certain texture when liquidised (which I love), so if you're no fan, try substituting yellow pepper, courgette or cauliflower. Mascarpone is something not everyone uses in cooking. It may seem a waste to buy a whole tub just for one recipe, but try planning in two recipes in your weeks shopping not to waste it. The mascarpone I used today was the leftovers from my meatloaf, and although the packaging says use within 3 days of opening, the cheese was perfectly fresh and delicious 10 days later!


1 tbsp olive oil
1 small brown onion
2 medium sized carrots
1 garlic clove
100 ml boiled water
1 vegetable stock cube
1 tin chopped tomatoes
3 good sized fresh mushrooms
5 sundried tomatoes
10 black olives
5 fresh basil leaves
1 tsp dried oregano
dash of white pepper
5 tbsp mascarpone


Dissolve the stock cube in 100ml boiled water. Chop onion, peel carrots and cut in half lengthways, then slice thinly. Sauté onions for 2 minutes, then add carrot, stock and a garlic clove crushed with a garlic press. Put a lid on the pan and turn to low-medium heat. Let boil for 8-10 minutes. Chop mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, olives and basil leaves. Add chopped tomatoes and the rest of the ingredients except for the mascarpone, give it a stir and bring back to the boil for 5-10 minutes for the flavours to mingle. Liquidise with a hand blender (sometimes it's easier to transfer to a deeper pot or jug). When the sauce is of a smooth texture, add mascarpone and stir until melted. Serve with pasta.

Chicken nuggets with Egg fried rice & Sweet and Sour sauce

Chicken nuggets with Egg fried rice (see below) and Sweet and sour sauce


470g chicken breast fillet
3 cups cornflakes

⅓ cup plain flour

2 eggs

Turn the oven grill to medium heat. Cut the chicken breast fillets into cubes or nugget size pieces. Measure up flour in a bowl. Beat 1 egg to start with so as not to waste, and use the other one if you run out, in a bowl. Crush cornflakes, I place them in a resealable bag and crush them with my meat hammer but a fist will work too, and place in a bowl.

Cover the chicken pieces in flour, then soak in the beaten egg and roll in cornflakes. Place in a bowl while you're busy making the rest. Do one or a few pieces at a time. You may need to wash your fingers quite a few times during the process not to transfer the eggy cornflakes to the flour bowl, so leave the tap running or keep a bowl of water next to you if you want to do it the "green" way. When your nuggets are prepared put about 2 tbsp olive oil in an oven tray and leave to heat up under the grill for about 5 mins. When the oil easily floats out and spreads all over the tray, place your nuggets on the tray and grill for 20 mins, stirring and turning once or twice so they don't burn. 

Egg fried rice

Boiled cooled rice (left over rice from previous day is perfect)

1 large spring onion (green onion)

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

2 eggs

Beat the eggs and 1 tsp sesame oil in a bowl. Leave aside. Heat up the olive oil in a frying pan. Add the cooled boiled rice (I used about 3-4 cups) and stirfry for a couple of minutes making sure the rice isn't forming lumps. Add the sliced or chopped spring onion and stirfry for another 1-2 mins. Trickle soy sauce over the rice and give a good stir to properly mix it. Add the beaten eggs in the side of the pan and leave for about 10 seconds to set a bit. You may have to angle your pan a bit to allow the egg to flow out and set. Use a chopstick or similar to scrape through the egg and break it and toss the rice to mix with the egg. Serve immediately. 

Sweet and sour sauce

Can be served hot or cold

Here served with chicken nuggets and egg fried rice

½ cup white wine vinegar   (1¼ dl) or even better- rice vinegar if you have it!

1 tsp soy sauce

½ cup ketchup   (1¼ dl)

1 tsp sesame oil 

1 cup sugar   (2.5 dl)

½ chicken stock cube dissolved in ½ cup of boiling water   (1¼ dl)

3 tbsp cornflour dissolved in about 3 tsp cold water

Put all ingredients except for the cornflour in a pan and bring to the boil. Stir until all the sugar is dissolved. Pour in the cornflour little by little all the while stirring until you reach desired thickness. It should be pretty thick, like a dip.

Midsommarafton 2011

Midsummer's Eve 2011
I was a bit late posting this, as I just realised I'd left the post as a draft. This was actually on the 24th of June!

A tad homesick today I have to admit. Knowing it's Midsummer's Eve in Sweden and everyone is celebrating! Here in the UK it's business as usual and nobody cares about the parties going on over there. Well nobody except us Swedes, that is. So true to form, today involved flower wreaths, baby new potatoes boiled with dill, herring (matjes), sour cream and chives, meatballs and cream for the kids, snaps (shots), strawberries with sugar and cream, kopparbergs cider, RAIN (it always rains on midsummer's eve) and the kids got to stay up. We did miss out on the dancing around the midsummer pole, mostly because we didn't have one..but at least the Swedish flag got to decorate the table. 

Baby new potatoes boiled with dill, matjes herring and sour cream with chives

Strawberries and cream is an absolute MUST on Midsummer Eve. Served with sugar and cream.

The kids with their flower wreaths

Strawberries and cream proved popular

Chicken Satay with Peanut butter sauce

I must say, I just added a little bit of this and a little bit of that, and it turned out delicious! It is very peanut buttery, so if you don't like peanut butter maybe go for another recipe. Sadly the hubby is away at the moment so the only judges for the outcome was myself and the kiddies. All I could hear was: "Mmm!" and "I love the chicken you made!" so that for me was a success. The sauce was more my treat than theirs, but I loved it! 

Chicken Satay
400-600g chicken breast fillet (on picture shown is about 450g)
3 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp smooth peanut butter
3 spring onions (green onions)
3 tbsp lemon juice
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp curry powder
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cumin
2 tbsp soft dark brown sugar


Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Cut chicken into cubes or bite-size pieces and add to the bowl. give it a good stir so that all of the chicken is covered by the marinade. Cover with lid or clingfilm and leave in the fridge to marinate for at least an hour - but preferably longer. 

Put the chicken pieces onto skewers and grill in the oven (or BBQ) on medium heat for 20 minutes, turning them over half way through. Make sure chicken is cooked through. A tip is to place skewers on a bit of baking paper so they don't stick to the grill. 

Peanut butter sauce

½ cup smooth peanut butter (1¼ dl)

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

2 tbsp rice vinegar (you can probably use white wine vinegar too, but maybe a bit less)

½ tsp salt

2 tbsp sugar

1 spring onion (green onion)

½ clove garlic

½ cup milk

Chop the green onion as finely as you can and put the ½ garlic clove through a garlic press. Mix together with the rest of the ingredients until you have a smooth sauce. Refrigerate if you want it as a cold dip sauce. 

Serve with basmati rice and a green salad.

Lemon and dill sauce

This sauce will work well with most types of fish. Make it a little bit before serving, as the flavours will come out more when the sauce stands for a little while (30mins to an hour)
Here served with fish cakes (bought), boiled potatoes, carrots and broccoli.

1 small brown onion, chopped
Juice of 1 large lemon, or 1 ½ medium ones

½ cup fresh dill, finely chopped 

½ fish stock cube

300 ml creme fraiche (I use a half fat one)

Pinch of pepper
1/3 tsp salt (or more if you wish but be careful not to overdo it as the stock cube adds salt too).

The quickest way to make this is by crumbling down half a fish stock cube into the creme fraiche. Whisk well or use a potato masher to make sure no lumps are left from the stock cube. Add onion, dill, lemon juice, salt and pepper and mix well. 

If you prefer you can squeeze the lemon juice into a pot and heat it carefully. When it's hot (not boiling) take the pot off the heat and add the half stock cube. Stir until dissolved. Add to the creme fraiche along with the other ingredients and mix well. Let stand a little while before serving. 

Filled meatloaf

For the meatloaf follow recipe for meatballs. 
Filling: 
1 small brown onion
3 mushrooms
4 tbsp mascarpone cheese
pinch of salt and pepper

Chop onion and mushrooms into fairly small pieces. Fry in a little bit of oil and sprinkle with some salt and pepper. When the onion has got a more transparent colour, and the mushrooms are nicely browned, take them off the heat and transfer to a small mixing bowl. Let cool. 
Grease an oven proof dish. Make your mince mix according to meatball recipe. When you've worked it smooth enough, transfer the mince mix to your oven proof dish and work it to the shape of a loaf. With your fingers carefully create a hole in the middle of the loaf. The hole will need to be rather large to accommodate the filling. Be careful not to make the sides to thin as the filling will then run out. 

Add the mascarpone to the onion and mushroom mix and give it a good stir. It is best if the onion and mushroom mix has cooled down a bit, as if it's too hot the cheese will melt a bit and become more runny. Spoon the mascarpone mix into the hole you have created in your loaf. Spread it evenly. 

Now carefully close the loaf by pushing the sides together at the top, carefully so the filling is not squeezed out. Make sure your meatloaf is closed everywhere, and smooth over with wet fingers. The water helps smooth the surface and ensure no small holes are left. 

Bake in the oven at 180 degrees for 1 hour. My oven is a bit temperamental so I have to cover my form with foil after 30 minutes in order to let it cook without burning on top. You may need to do the same or not. When the meatloaf is cooked I usually have to pour some excessive fat out, or just transfer the meatloaf to a serving dish. 

Serve with boiled potatoes, fried mushrooms, creamy gravy, broccoli or any vegetable you fancy, and to make it Swedish and colourful, add a dollop of lingon berry jam.