Spring Rolls

I love experimenting with new food. It's something really satisfying about trying out something you've never done before and the result is nice enough for wanting to make more of it. The other day, I got a craving for spring rolls. The local supermarket had some to satisfy my craving, and as I ate them, I decided that I could probably do this myself! And if I did it myself, I could try making them so much healthier by NOT deep frying them. That's the only downside to it. The grease more or less running from them when you eat them. I googled around a bit, and found a few recipes for filling for inspiration, and the wrappers were available to buy ready made from the shops. When everything was bought, I was ready to start experimenting and learning. I already have one tip for you: Be careful with any sauce you put on. Barely coating your veg is more than enough!

Ingredients:
1 white cabbage
1 bag (500g) bean sprouts
~10 spring onions
4 chili peppers
Wok sauce of choice
~16 spring roll wrappers
Splash of oil for brushing

1. Shred the vegetables as thinly as possible
2. As long as you're making vegetarian spring rolls, you can throw all the vegetables in the wok at once. If you have any kind of meat or fish that needs to be cooked, wok this first.
3. Add sauce little by little. You don't want any excess sauce in the wok, so be very careful.
4. Preheat the oven to 200 °C
5. Take a spring roll wrapper and lay on a clean surface. Lay one to two big spoonfuls diagonally a bit towards one corner. Fold the "short" corner over and roll once. Fold then the side corners in and roll the rest of the pastry, like shown on this picture (which is not made by me)
6. Spread the ready spring rolls on a lined baking tray. Brush them with a thin coat of neutral oil, such as sunflower oil, to give them that extra little crisp (unless you have put on too much sauce in the filling like me).
7. Bake for 20-30 minutes until golden brown.

Serve with dipping sauces of your choice. We had sweet chili, hoisin sauce and oyster sauce. It's also nice to have some rice or noodles with it in case you made it a bit too hot (like me) ;)

I forgot to take a picture, so you won't get to see my spring rolls falling apart ;)

Kabaret (aspic)

This Easter my other half and I decided that we wanted to take some Norwegian traditions and start our own tradition with the family here in England. I brought a suitcase full of card board eggs and Norwegian candy back with me after a visit to Norway, and back here we filled them up with loads of candy and a little toy of some sort in each egg. It is rather evident that that was a success. But we didn't stop there. We wanted to make an Easter dinner out of it. A proper 3 course dinner. The main was easy to decide on, as lamb is THE Easter dinner all over the place. For pudding, I decided on a chocolate orange angel food cake, just to get the orange in there, which is very "Eastery" in Norway (my apologies for not sharing the recipe for that. I will do next time I make one). But starter was more difficult. Googling gave me page up and page down with lamb, but nothing interesting for starter. Until I found one page saying that kabaret apparently was an Easter dish. "Brilliant!" I thought. I wanted to share this with my extended family as well, as it's such a popular dish for my family in Norway. Most of all this is my grandmother's favourite. She could live off it. Whenever she comes visiting from Sweden we make sure to have at least one (usually 2) ready in the fridge, and loads of mayonnaise and remoulade sauce to go with it.

Ingredients (makes 12 individual muffin shapes and one bigger cake tin):
2 sachets of ready made aspic (or after a recipe like this)
400-500 g peeled shrimps
2 packs seafood sticks (25-30 sticks)
1 tin baby carrots
1 "big" tin sweet corn
1 tin mini peas, or equivalent in frozen peas (prettier colours)
12 eggs (preferably free range for the extra yellow yolk)

1. Prepare aspic after chosen method and let cool to room temperature.
2. Hard boil the eggs and cool them down.
3. Slice the eggs as neatly as possible. You want (mainly) the bits with visible yolk. This is a lot for decoration. (Egg slicers are available from your local IKEA)
4. When the aspic is cooled down, pour a thin layer in the bottom of your chosen mould and put in the fridge to set. It has to be level! Thin metal moulds (like most cake/bread tins) are to be preferred, as the kabaret will release easier from these than from a glass one. Just make sure that the tin won't leak! It will not be a pleasant job to clean the fridge afterwards..
5. Cut the sea food sticks into small chunks, drain off your vegetables (let the peas stay frozen/cold, it will help the aspic setting), and mix everything together in a bowl, including shrimps.
5. When the thin layer of aspic has set, take the tin out and place the egg slices in. This will be the top of your kabaret, so make sure it looks pretty. If you're using a cake or bread tin, you may also want to "decorate" the edges with eggs or something else, but it won't be necessary for muffin trays.
6. Pour your vegetable/sea food mixture into your tin over the eggs and fill it to the rim. Don't push it too much together, as it will make it fall apart more easily when you slice it.
7. Pour aspic over the mixture until it reaches the rim. Then (with making as little mess to your kitchen floor, and fridge, as possible) put the tin in the fridge and leave to set, preferably over night.

A great thing about this is that you can alter it to fit your own likings. I love sea food, and I have grown up with a sea food version, but you can change the shrimps and sea food sticks with anything you like. I'm sure small cubes of ham would be really nice, but I have never tried this myself.

Serve with mayonnaise, or preferably remoulade sauce,

and a piece of bread for a lovely breakfast, lunch or starter.

Frozen yogurt

It's been a long time since my last post, but I've had a spring break from Uni, and I've been thinking about loads of other things. I have thought about my nice little blog, though, so I do have a recipe or two up my sleeve.

During my spring break from uni we've had some really nice weather. It's been so hot, you could easily mistake it for being July certain days. Last summer, a friend and me were experimenting with some home made ice cream, and it was so nice I just had to make some this year as well. But, as summer is coming up, I want to be good, and ice cream made with loads of cream and sugar isn't the best for you, so I decided I wanted to try the healthier option - frozen yogurt. I have to admit that I loved it. The only thing I'd want is an ice cream maker, so that it doesn't go as rock solid! But even then it was worth the wait it took to leave it out on the counter to soften up a bit (or put it in the microwave for a bit for the impatient moments).

Ingredients:
500 ml fat free/low fat natural yogurt
350 g berries or fruit of choice. I used a frozen summer berry mix.
Sugar

1. Crush the fruit or berries. A food processor is recommended over a hand mixer for frozen berries if you want to avoid frozen berry-goo all over your kitchen walls. Trust me.
2. Add the yogurt and mix until you have a smooth mixture.
3. Start adding sugar little by little and mix between each adding and taste. The amount of sugar you want depends on what kind of fruit you have chosen and how sweet you want it.
4. Put in a bowl or a box and put in your freezer. Take it out every 30-60 minutes and give it a stir. This is to prevent ice crystals to form. If you forget it or go away like I did, it still tastes nice, it's just very very hard to serve. Ice cream maker is now on my wish list!

Other sweeteners, like honey, may be used if you want it even healthier, but I'm not a huge fan of the flavour honey gives, and opted for sugar.

Serve as you would serve ice cream.

So nice and refreshing on a warm summer day!

Peanut Butter Muffins

Sometimes, when that craving for baking hits you, it's not enough to make just one recipe. Because there are so many recipes which seem so nice! Luckily, muffins is quite easy to do, so you can without too much trouble make two recipes (or more!) at a time.

This recipe seemed a bit different, but it seemed oh so tempting. And I can assure you; I did NOT regret making these!

Ingredients:
125 g crunchy peanut butter
125 g light muscovado sugar (brown sugar)
50 g soft margarine
2 eggs
85 ml milk
150 g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
A small handful of roughly chopped salted peanuts

1. Preheat the oven to 200 °C, and prepare a 12-hole muffin tray (or 2 6-hole trays).
2. Beat the peanut butter, sugar and margarine together in a bowl until fluffy.
3. In another bowl, whisk eggs and milk and set aside.
4. Sift flour and baking powder into the peanut butter mixture, and pour in the egg and milk mixture and beat together until you have a smooth batter.
5. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin trays and sprinkle the chopped peanuts over the top.
6. Bake for about 20 minutes until risen and firm to the touch.

Delicious served lukewarm on its own, or with a toffee sauce.
Or just as it is ;)

Smoked Ham and Leek Muffins

When you love baking like I do, you sometimes get a craving to bake. You don't know what, but you know you want to bake, and you don't feel completely satisfied before you do. You start looking through your recipe books to find the recipe that screams out to you "MAKE ME!". When you find that one recipe, everything just looks great. The picture in the book looks really tempting and delicious, the recipe seems easy enough, and when you make whatever your heart set on, a feeling of fulfillment fills you. That is how much of an experience a baking session can be. It almost feels religious.

This time, for me, that recipe was found in my Cupcakes & Muffins book that I got for the anniversary with my other half. It was so many tempting recipes in it, and when I got to the savoury section, I knew that was what I wanted to make: Savoury muffins. These looked delicious on the picture, so it was straight to the shop to get the missing bits!

Ingredients:
50 g butter
1tbsp oil
1 leek, thinly sliced
150 g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 egg
150 ml natural yogurt
75 g smoked ham, chopped
A few drops Tabasco sauce

1. Preheat the oven to 200 °C, and prepare a deep 6-hole muffin tray.
2. Melt the butter and leave to cool.
3. In a pan, heat the oil and add the sliced leek. Fry till the leek is softened, and then put aside to cool.
4. Sift flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl.
5. In another bowl, whisk the egg and the yogurt and pour into the dry ingredients along with the melted butter.
6. Whisk the batter together until it's combined. Then stir in leek, ham and a dash of Tabasco.
7. Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin tray. The mixture makes 6 big muffins.
8. Bake for 15-20 minutes until the muffins are risen and golden.

Serve cold or warm, with a soup or salad or on its own.
Makes a delicious breakfast or small lunch.

Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies

For Christmas I got several cookbooks, and two of them were cookies only. Having a look through them makes me want to make 90% of the cookies in them, but I never get around to try them out. Especially not after I tried one recipe in one of them. Triple chocolate chip cookies. It just can't be wrong. After I tried these out the first time, I hardly wanted to share them with anyone. But I was good and sent them back to my extended family after having my other half visiting. These are simply delicious!

Ingredients:
225 g soft butter
140 g sugar
1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
225 g all purpose flour
55 g cocoa powder
Pinch of salt
100 g milk chocolate drops
100 g white chocolate drops
100 g dark chocolate drops
Small handful of roughly chopped hazel nuts (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 190 °C
2. Mix sugar and butter in a bowl. Add egg yolk and vanilla extract.
3. Sift in flour, cocoa powder and salt and mix.
4. Add all the chocolate drops and nuts and mix them in evenly.
5. Form the dough into flattened balls in the size you want them and put them on baking trays clad in baking paper (non-stick version). Makes 12 very big, or up to 20 quite big cookies.
6. Bake in the middle of the oven for 12-15 minutes. Leave them to rest for 5-10 minutes on the baking tray before moving them.

Irresistible and simply delicious!

Oatmeal Pancakes

Pancake Day is supposed to be a day to use up the rest of "the good stuff" before lent. In general, I just like pancakes, as they're easy and rather quick to make. To honour Pancake Day, I opted for a slight healthier option than my previous ones, so that they could qualify as dinner instead of desert, and so that I could try something new. I came across this recipe in a magazine on the train back to where I study yesterday, along with several other exciting pancake recipes, but this one stood out as the "healthiest" one, with no white flour at all!

Ingredients:
150 g rolled oats
470 ml milk
150 g wholewheat flour
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
100 g melted butter
Oil or butter for cooking

1. Mix oats and milk in one bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
3. Add the wets to the oats and milk.
4. Add whisked eggs and butter and mix till you have a smooth batter (as smooth as you can get it with a lot of oats in it).
5. Cook the pancakes in a heated pan.
6. Serve with topping of your choice (or just plain).

Eat without feeling bad!

Chicken Pie

Recipes that I get from family and friends will always mean a little more to me. This recipe is one I have with me from my childhood, where my mum would cook it once in a while. She herself had gotten it from a friend. Now it's a family favourite. My dad and my other half both love it, and when served to my in-laws this weekend, it was a great success. It does take some time to do, but it's as easy as anything to do. And it is definitely worth it! And this is quite big and could probably feed 6-8 people. But it is just as good the day after heated up, so I never cut down on it!

Ingredients:
Pastry lid:
200 ml white all purpose flour
100 ml wholemeal flour
100 g melted butter
50 ml cold water
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg for brushing

Filling:
250 ml unboiled rice
2 red bell peppers, chopped into chunks (easy to pick out for the ones who don't like them)
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 whole grilled chickens
1 onion, roughly chopped
200 g closed cap mushroom, roughly sliced
1 tbsp butter for cooking
2 tbsp flour
300 ml chicken stock
200 ml single cream

1. Mix the ingredients for the pastry lid together to form a firm dough. Leave the dough to rest coolly while preparing the rest.
2. Boil the rice as instructed. When the rice is finished, add the soy sauce and the bell peppers. Add this mix to the bottom of a big oven proof dish. Make sure it is big enough to fit everything.
3. Rinse the chicken off the bones. This is a messy job and takes a while, so it can easily be prepared before. Make sure there are no bones left in the meat! Lay the chicken in a thick layer over the rice.
4. Sautée mushroom and onion in the butter. When they have gotten a light golden colour, add the cream, chicken stock and flour to make a sauce. Let it simmer for a bit to make it thicker. Taste with salt and pepper, and pour over the chicken.
5. Roll out the pastry till it's just big enough to cover the dish. Lay it across your pie, and tuck any excess pastry down the inside of the dish to let it soak up some extra saucy goodness.
6. Cook at 220 °C for 15-20 minutes, until the crust is a lovely golden brown.

Serve just as it is or with a green salad.

It might not look too pretty, but it tastes delicious!

Irish Oaten Rolls

Baking has been a lifelong passion of mine. Anyone I know can vouch for that. I love trying out new things, and it's always encouraging when a new recipe turns out good. I've wanted to make bread for a bit, but I don't eat a lot of bread on my own, and living in university halls, I don't have a lot of freezer space. Therefore, I decided to make rolls. But I also wanted to try something new. I found this recipe on one of the food blogs I read, and it caught my eye.

This recipe makes 12 rolls
Ingredients:
400 g wholemeal flour
100 g oats, plus a little bit to sprinkle over the rolls before they go in the oven
1 tsp salt
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
300 ml Guinness
150 ml natural yogurt
4 tbsp vegetable/sunflower oil
4 tbsp honey

1. Preheat the oven to 220 °C.
2. Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl.
3. Measure and mix the wets. A good tip is to alternate between the oil and the honey, starting with the oil, which makes the honey run off the spoon more easily.
4. Add the wets to the dry and mix well. The dough is supposed to be a little bit sticky, but if it seems too sticky, add some extra flour.
5. Form the dough into 12 rolls. Keep the tap running with cold water, so that you can rinse off your hands every now and then, which also makes it easier to form the rolls.
6. Just before you put the rolls in the oven, sprinkle a bit of oats over them, and press them a bit down into the rolls. The rolls are supposed to be a bit flattened, about 3-4 cm thick.
7. Put the rolls in the oven for about 12-15 minutes, until they are dark brown.

Serve with some butter and a topping of your choice, like a slice of mild cheese or marmalade.

Taco Pie

After a long weekend of not a lot to do, I decided to make a proper meal for when my other half came visiting, and I wanted to try something new and exciting. I looked through several websites, some of my recipe books, and most of the food blogs I read regularly. A lot was tempting, but this recipe caught my eye. I had been craving Mexican food for a while, and this one was a bit different from what you usually think of when you think of taco. It was a great success, and the "hubby" ordered it again after only a few days. And I loved it!

Ingredients:
1 roll of ready made pastry (You can make your own, but I decided to do it the easy way)
500 g mince meat
1 sachet of Taco meat spice mix (2 if you want it extra spicy)
1 chopped onion
100 ml water
1 tin chopped tomato
300 ml crème fraîche
A pinch of pepper
Some garlic (powder, fresh or purée)
Grated cheese

The meat can be changed after what you prefer. I want to try making it with chicken some time, but for now I've only made it with lean minced beef.

1. Preheat the oven to 200 °C
2. Cook the mince and onion in a pan.
3. When it's cooked through, add the taco spices and water, give it a quick stir, and add the tomato.
4. Mix the crème fraîche, pepper and garlic after taste
5. Pour the meat mix in the prepared pastry
6. Pour the crème fraîche over the meat, and add cheese on top. Be careful with the crème fraîche, as it might be a bit much. I left out about 50 ml, which I used kept and used as a topping.
7. Put in the oven for 20-30 minutes.

Serve hot with a green salad and soured cream topping

Introduction

Lately I've been looking a lot on different blogs with recipes as a theme, and I've decided that I want to try it as well. I love cooking and baking, and I'll try to get better at making it look nice and take a picture of it, and then share the picture with the recipe and a few thoughts.

I'll start off with something simple: American pancakes. Last night I decided to make myself a nice pudding/evening snack, and the urge to bake something hit me. But as it was already getting late, it had to be something quick and simple. I found this recipe on BBC Food, but as any amateur chef, I had to add a tiny touch of my own.

Ingredients:
130g all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp caster sugar
130ml milk
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp melted butter
1 tbsp sunflower oil

1. Start by mixing flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a bowl.
2. Measure milk in a jug, and add egg, vanilla extract, butter and oil, and whisk together.
3. Add the wet to the dry, and whisk into a smooth batter.
4. Heat the frying pan, and cook the pancakes in oil or butter. The recipe gives about 12 pancakes. I used a 100ml measuring cup to add the batter to the pan (in the lack of any other tools in my very limited university accommodation kitchen), so I'd say that one pancake uses about 70-80 ml batter.
5. Serve immediately. Traditionally the pancakes are served with maple syrup, but I didn't have that. What I did have, on the other hand, was some single serving pots of jam that I stole from a breakfast buffet in a hotel a while back, and that went just as well with them. I tried honey as well, but I preferred the jams.

This works well as a treat for breakfast, or pudding, as was my case. For pudding, I'd serve 3-4 pancakes per person, as they're not too big. And it is hard to stop once you've started.