februar 2010

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Walkies with Cæsar

14. februar 2010 in Ukategorisert by Christiane | No comments

I’ve found myself a walking buddy ! His name is Caesar, he’s nine years old and has a wonderful red coat…
- He’s the collie of a friend of a friend of mine, who was looking for someone to take him out on walks once in a while when she’s working. I’ve longed for a dog in my life for such a long time, so I volunteered immediately when I was asked. He’s a dream to walk, very obedient, mild mannered and sweet. I’ll definitely take him out on a walk again soon! Oslo showed herself from her best side today too; the supersunny weather had driven all her winter weary citizens outside. People were sunbathing on every bench, kids were sledding with their parents in the parks (you can see some of them in the background of the picture) and everybody seemed really happy! I just love days like this.
Beautiful Lassie, eh, I mean Caesar!

Homemade Cinnamonbuns

10. februar 2010 in Ukategorisert by Christiane | No comments



Cinnamonbuns, originally uploaded by christianemb85.

These guys were so soft, so airy, so delicious..slathered in a powdered sugar – coffee glaze they were quite sweet but the glass of kefir complimented the sweetness perfectly.

Fish au gratin

10. februar 2010 in Ukategorisert by Christiane | No comments

Fish au gratin, macaroni and fish casserole or fiskegrateng as we call it in Norway, is not a beautiful dish. But it’s tasty, and comforting. Norway has a long coast line and fishing has always been an important part of our culture. Fish au gratin is a convenient dish for utilizing left over fish and feeding lots of people. I guess it’s some kind of national dish. I’ve never tried my hands at making this dish before but there are lots of recipes out there. I borrowed some measurements from Grass Onion since I liked her “secret” ingredient – ketchup! (I guess it’s not so secret anymore). Most kids slather their fiskegrateng with ketchup and I did too – and still do, because it just compliments and balances the rich flavour of the dish really well !
I’ll give you the recipe and how I did it in english:

The grandmother of Grass Onions’  fiskegrateng

4 servings

Ingredients (metric)

  • 5 dl milk
  • 100 g flour
  • 400 grams cooked, cleansed fish, I started with 600 grams of raw cod that I simmered in salted water for 10 minutes.
  • 1 big onion
  • 1 ts salt
  • 1 ts curry powder
  • 1 ts ground black pepper
  • 1/4 ts nutmeg
  • 4 eggs
  • 100 grams macaroni (I used whole grain macaroni)
  • 3 tb ketchup, tomato purée or tomato sauce
  • grated cheese
  • breadcrumbs

I started with cooking the cod in salted water until it just started to flake. I also started heating up water for the macaroni. While the fish cooked I made a white, thick sauce from mixing the flour and milk in a casserole, stirring continuously. I got a thick, almoust doughy paste, which is what you want, since the eggs and fish bring moisture when you add them later. I seasoned the sauce,added the onion and fish when it was ready. Then I separated the yolks from the whites, and started beating the whites into a stiff foam. When the sauce had cooled down a bit I added the yolks, then I cut the whites carefully into the sauce carefully. When the macaronis had cooked almost  al dente (in salted water) I mixed them with some tomato purée and ketchup. Then I buttered an ovenproof pan, and layered the fiskegrateng like this: First half the fish sauce, then the macaroni, then the other half of the fish mix. Then I sprinkled the top with grated cheese and breadcrumbs. The cooking time says 1 hour, but mine turned out great with only 1/2 – 3/4 hours cooking time. It depends on how much it will rise in your oven. The top got a bit too dark for my taste, so I covered it with a sheet of aluminmum foil about halfway into the cooking time. I served it with råkostsalat – simply grated carrots and a green apple plus some lemon juice.

Tonight’s dinner: Pigs In A Blanket

9. februar 2010 in Ukategorisert by Christiane | No comments

I’ve just finished an article about the origin of virus for the student newspaper I write for. Explaining the different scientific  theories  in words that my “grandma can comprehend” is difficult! When I finally sent my editor the very last version of the article earlier this evening, I hadn’t eaten since breakfast and had a serious hankering for a delicious dinner in the junk food category. I don’t remember how I got the idea, but Pigs In A Blanket it was. I made a pizza dough from scratch and let it rise twice, which resulted in wonderfully soft and airy “blankets”.
I also made baby pigs in a blanket!
They all got nestled into their blankets with some cheese and tomato sauce.
They kind of look like babies :
..delicious babies.

The tomato sauce was just a mix of tomato purée, some dried herbs (oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary), dry Hellmans mustard, basil pesto and ketchup.  I think just ketchup and mustard would have been equally delicious.

Pigs-in-a-blanket recipe (metric)

Makes 24 “pigs in a blanket”

  • 11-12 dl flour
  • 1 package yeast (I used dry)
  • 1 – 2 ts salt
  • 1/2 ts sugar
  • 5 dl water, lukewarm
  • 4 tb olive oil
  • 1 egg for brushing
  • 3 tb poppy (or sesame-) seeds for garnish
  • 24 hot dogs/bratwürst
  • Extra fillings: Grated cheese, ketchup, mustard, etc.

Mix all the dry stuff, add the oil, then add water gradually until you have a flexible but firm dough. I always knead it for at least a couple of minutes. Put the mixing bowl with the dough inside a (clean) plastic bag and let it rise for an hour or until double in size. I cranked up the bathroom floor heat and placed the bowl there, with the result that the dough was more than tripled in size when I got it out of there.

Divide the dough into three pieces, roll each piece out into a large round pizza shape. Cut each circle into 8 slices  (or more). Spread the tomato sauce or ketchup on the slice, place the hot dog and the cheese at the wide end of the slice and start folding the dough around the dog like a croissant (check out the pictures, they explain it so much better than words!). Let the babies rest for another 10 minutes under a kitchen towel before you brush them with a beaten egg and sprinkle with poppy seeds or sesame seeds. Put them on a baking paper lined tray and bake for 10-15 minutes at 225 degrees Celcius. For the love of all thats good and holy; let them cool off a bit before you bite into one! Their inside is so much hotter than their outside, with molten cheese that’ll burn your tongue like lava if you try to eat them too soon. Trust me, and Mr. T’s blistered tongue, on this. But do make them! Bring them to work for lunch! Have them as an delicious little evening meal! Take them on a hike as a delicious snack around the bonfire! Give them to kids, your boyfriend and his buddies and they’ll love you forever! I think. Let’s just say that if food can buy you (platonic) love, then Pigs In A Blanket is one of those foods.

Me so holy

7. februar 2010 in Ukategorisert by Christiane | No comments

This  cracked me up for a good 3 minutes. I haven’t decided if it’s too offensive to wear it as a t-shirt, what do you think?

Alfie

7. februar 2010 in Ukategorisert by Christiane | No comments

- The one that makes my heart beat just a bit faster on a daily basis. He’s so cute!

My pearl bracelet was lying around on my currently super unorganized desk when Alfie had a little roam-around. On a whim I made him wear it like a belt, assuming he’d wriggle out of it in no-time, but instead he accepted it as his new fashion statement and wore it happily the rest of the evening.
Don’t let that adorable face fool you though, Alfie is a rascal, always pestering the other rats, especially Fredrik the alfa. He’ll creep up on him and bite Fred in the face! Then, when Fredriks patience has run out and he starts chasing Alf, the little scoundrel will come running to me and seek refuge on my shoulder. Which I grant him every time, of course.

Dinner in a package!

6. februar 2010 in Ukategorisert by Christiane | No comments

Weak of hunger I stumbled home from the bus stop this afternoon. I had 8 hours work at the old people home and two hours of commute behind me. I wanted something quick, cheap and healthy for dinner..I craved fish! And fish I got. Boldly, I took some frozen cod fillets, laid them down on a bed of a chopped red bell pepper and half an onion, drizzled some basil pesto on top and wrapped them up smugly in an aluminum foil sleeping bag. Can you cook frozen fish like that? Why, yes, you can! YES YOU CAN! It even works out just fine. And pesto works woondeerrfully with cod.
It did take half an hour of cooking time in the oven, so I threw in some potato wedges to cook along with the fish. And then I stirred some teaspoons of pesto into a tub of sour cream, and dinner was ready!

Benny..

5. februar 2010 in Ukategorisert by Christiane | No comments


..on my desk, looking cute! It’s about the only trick he knows, but at least he’s good at it. Benny’s  the kind of rat that’ll come over to you, gaze into your eyes and try to give you a big wet kiss on the lips. He’s a lover, not a figther.

“Kladdkaka”

1. februar 2010 in Ukategorisert by Christiane | 4 comments

We had my baby brother and his girlfriend over last week and I made him this cake since he just turned 22 (he’s still my little baby brother). This gooey, sticky, moist and super chocolaty cake comes in as many different varieties as there are Swedish (and I bet some Norwegian) housewives. It’s very easy to make, and tastes divine. The clue is to take it out of the oven while it’s still soft in the middle. You want to serve it up with vanilla ice cream, and maybe some raspberry coulís; I’ve added a recipe for it at the bottom of the post.

Recipe :

Swedish “Kladd kaka”

or Super Gooey Chocolate Cake

Ingredients
  • 2 whole Eggs
  • 1-½ cup Sugar
  • 2 teaspoons Vanilla Essence
  • 1 teaspoon Salt
  • 4 Tablespoons Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
  • ¾ cups Flour
  • 100 grams Unsalted Butter

Start with turning on the oven, and melting the butter in a saucepot on the stove top. Let the melted butter cool to room temperature (I impatient so I always put it in the sink filled with cold water), and mix in the eggs and the vanilla essence (make sure the butter isn’t too hot, you don’t want the eggs to scramble!).
Mix all the dry ingredients, and pour the buttery egg mixture into the dry stuff. Mix thoroughly. You’re supposed to get a pretty thick but wet and gloopy batter. Butter a small cake dish, about 20 cm diameter, pour in the cake batter, and smooth out the surface with a spatula. Bake at 200 degrees Celcius for 35 minutes, the cake is supposed to be wet in the middle when you take it out of the oven. Allow it to cool down a bit before serving.
Serving suggestion: Softened vanilla ice cream and a raspberry sauce made like this : thaw frozen raspberries, blend them to a smooth sauce in a mix master, pour through a cheese cloth or a fine sieve to remove the seeds, add powdered sugar to taste. I prefer it not overly sweet; the acidic and fruity raspberry flavour compliments the sweet and heavy chocolate flavour wonderfully.
Extra note: I used salted dairy butter in this cake once, and I quite liked the salty-sweet contrast. I don’t know how salty American salted butter is, so I recommend you taste and try it out for yourself when you’ve got time to experiment. The batter is delicious! But don’t blame me if you get salmonella from the raw eggs if you end up eating the whole batter before baking it! We don’t have salmonella in Norway where I live so I taste raw cookie dough all the time, but I don’t want to be held accountable for eventual salmonella poisonings. The 35 minute baking time should eliminate any bacteria, even in the soft center part of the cake.

This is a crappy shot, but look how dark and glistening moist the center of the cake is!

Breakfast

1. februar 2010 in Ukategorisert by Christiane | No comments

My favourite breakfast at the moment is this : a bowl of müsli with oat milk (or any other lactose free alternative), a glass of juice (not shown here) and a cup or two of Lady Grey tea – preferably served in one of my eva solo thermo cups. They’re double layered porcelain cups; the thin layer of air inside the walls of the cup keeps the tea warm longer, but prevents your hand from burning when you’re cradling the cup like a baby rat. I love the design of eva solo, and when I grow up and get myself a grown up job, I’ll get myself the smiley bowl.

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