Sauce for pickled salmon

Oh you guys, this sauce is SO delicious! It has the perfect balance between salty and sweet, tangy and briny.. you have to try it! It's perfect to go with pickled salmon, which in itself sounds strange but I promise you that it's not. I used my old recipe for that, but omitted the pink peppercorns this time. Great results!


1 tbsp capers, finely chopped

1 tbsp fresh dill, finely chopped

1 tbsp chives, finely chopped

2 tbsp mayonnaise

3 tbsp sour cream

1 tsp white wine vinegar

1/2 tsp sugar

Stir everything together, and let it sit for at least an hour in the fridge. Serve! 

Cranberry Cornmeal Cookies

This awesome cookie is from an equally awesome book - The Perfect Egg - from a likewise awesome pair of bloggers: Spoon Fork Bacon. I made them with Dante on a cold and rainy afternoon, and I'm happy to report success. But beware of a few things:

1. Don't overbake. It's easy to do, but will result in crisp rather than chewy cookies, and worse, slightly bitter ones. So watch them.

2. Space. These cookies need their space. A lot of it. So don't overcrowd them. I say six per baking sheet would be perfect. I tried nine, and ended up with big blobby cookies that ran into one another.

3. I've made some adaptions. I changed quantities a little and I'm using metric measurements. I can't find corn meal in Sweden, and as I was baking with a two-year old, I skipped any refrigeration and resting time. (which probably explains the massive spreading.) Need the original recipe? I heartily recommend buying the book.

Got all that? Well, let's go bake.

Cranberry Cornmeal Cookies
about 20-25 cookies, depending on size
adapted from The Perfect Egg by Teri Lyn Fischer and Jenny Clark

180 ml flour (bread flour is recommended, all-purpose is fine)
175 ml polenta (we don't have corn meal in Sweden.)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
110 g butter, at room temperature
120 ml sugar
120 ml honey
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla  extract
150 ml dried cranberries

In a bowl, combine flour, polenta, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In another bowl, cream butter, sugar and honey until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla, and mix well. Add the dry ingredients, and finally the cranberries.

At this stage, you could (and probably should) chill the batter. Or go ahead and bake, which is what I did. Drop about 1 tbsp of batter per cookie (a little more), very well spaced, on lined baking sheets. Bake at 175�C for about ten minutes - start checking at eight! They should get a little brown around the edges but you don't want them to brown too much.

Let them cool before removing from the sheets, or they're very prone to breaking.

These freeze well!

Amazing lunch salad

So simple but so good. This is what's in the bowl:

2 leftover chicken drumsticks

1 avocado

Cucumber

Tomato

Small handful edamame beans

Little bit of red onion

1 white nectarine

Balsamic vinegar

Salt



Y U M!

Orange-soy-ginger chicken legs

Oh, these chicken legs were yummy! At least I thought so. The kids.. Well. Not today. But no worries, I don't blame the chicken. I'll totally make it again.



It's simple. Make a marinade from the zest and juice from one orange. Add grated ginger - about a tablespoon. Add two garlic cloves, minced. Add a tablespoon or so of Japanese soy sauce, and about the same amount of neutral oil. And a small splash of sesame oil.



Marinate about one kilo of chicken legs in this, for about an hour. Then bake at 200 degrees for about 30 minutes, turning about half way through.



You're done!

Chocolate orange cake

Sticky chocolate cake is a staple in most households (at least in Sweden), but this one is particularly tasty. I dare say it's the combination between orange zest and vanilla extract that makes this taste so good. Make it at least a few hours in advance, and serve completely cooled - it's better that way. And serve a dollop of cream with it.

As you can see, this was also one of Dante's birthday cakes. Perfect for his little guests and everyone enjoyed it!

As you can see, the photos are far above my usual iphone-level. That's because they're by the super-talented Lisa-Marie Chandler, a superb photographer and a dear friend.

Chocolate orange cake

150 g butter

300 ml sugar

100 ml cocoa powder

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

Zest of one orange

150 ml flour 

Melt the butter. Stir in sugar and cocoa, and the eggs. Add vanilla, salt and orange zest and finally fold in the flour.

Pour into a greased springform tin, and bake at 175�C for about 18-20 minutes. Let cool completely before eating.