Ystad: S�derberg & Sara

We're vacationing in Skåne, in southern Sweden, for a week. We've rented a house, and are exploring the surrounding towns and sights. Today, we're in Ystad. Very quaint town! We had lunch at Söderberg & Sara, a café & bakery that made into White Guide. We bought some bread to take home, and tried the pulled pork burgers for lunch. They came with a really delicious cole slaw and on brioche buns. Very yummy! Per also tried the coffee - strong and excellent - and Titus had a lovely fluffy cinnamon bun. Do visit if you can!



http://www.soderbergsara.se

Three quick dipping sauces

We made fried chicken a few weeks ago. So, so delicious. And I happen to love my own recipe for it, so go ahead and try that!

This time, we made some simple but fun dipping sauces to go along. 

Per wanted honey-mustard, I wanted ranch and I knew our guests would like a bbq sauce so.. well, let's get to it!

Honey Mustard: 

100 ml mayonnaise

1 tbsp honey

2 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tsp American yellow mustard

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

pinch of salt

pinch of dried tarragon

pinch of black pepper

Smoky BBQ: 

100 ml ketchup

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
� tsp American yellow mustard
� tsp Dijon mustard
� teaspoon garlic powder

pinch of black pepper

pinch of salt

pinch of cayenne pepper
tiny splash of liquid smoke 

Ranch: 

100 ml turkish or greek yogurt

1 garlic clove, minced

1 tbsp buttermilk (I use Swedish filmj�lk) 

2 tsp mayonnaise

1/2 tsp lemon juice

pinch of salt

pinch of black pepper

pinch of sugar

pinch of Italian seasoning (I used basil, tarragon, rosemary & oregano)

For all of these sauces, the method could not be simpler. Add, stir. Completely fool-proof!

Quick vanilla ice cream

I was desperate to try my new Chef'n Sweet Spot Ice cream maker - I love it by the way - so I whipped up a quick vanilla ice cream base. None of that tempering-egg-yolks-leave-overnight-business! A custard base ice cream keeps a lot better, but since the Sweet Spot only makes a single serving, it doesn't really matter. I also like the slightly cooler mouthfeel an egg-free ice cream gives.

I used two vanilla beans since I have a bunch to use up - but one will do. And yes, I know, the photo doesn't look very vanilla because apparently I didn't manage to get a photo of a plain bowl. This had stirred in cherry compote and is covered by sone homemade magic shell. Yum!

Quick vanilla ice cream
6-8 servings

500 ml cream (full-fat)
250 ml milk
150 g sugar
tiny pinch of salt
2 vanilla beans, scored and scraped
1 tsp vanilla extract (can be omitted, but is nice)

Heat half the cream with the sugar, salt and vanilla beans. Stir over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. Pour onto the rest of the cream and milk, and the vanilla extract. Chill completely before freezing in whatever ice cream machine you have.

Coco-cardamom balls

I'm not into raw food per se but I'm always on the lookout for yummy stuff... If it happens to be good for you, or at least not totally bad, that's a bonus. I'm at my hungriest in late afternoon, and I need to keep some sort of healthy snack at hand. I recently made these little balls from coconuts, almonds and dates, and they turned out to be delicious! Sort of like marzipan, sort of like cookie dough! And they come together in a few minutes, and keep for several days. They freeze well, too.

Coco-cardamom balls
100 ml almonds

150 ml coconut flakes (unsweetened) 

15 dates

Pinch vanilla powder

Pinch cardamom 

2 tbsp coconut oil

You do need a food processor. Start with the almonds - process until finely chopped. Add coconut flakes, dates, vanilla, cardamom and the oil. Process until you have a uniform mass.

Roll into little balls - this will be a little bit difficult as the "dough" is quite crumbly, but pinch and roll and you'll get there. Refrigerate, and they will firm up as the coconut oil goes solid again.



If you like other goodies like these, here's a good book to check out! Smarta S�tsaker ("Smart Sweets") by Ulrika Hoffer. It's a tad bit preachy, and the recipes are not super exact, but there are some great ideas in here. And lovely photography, too. 

News from Microplane

Microplane has sent me some goodies - really awesome, sharp goodies. I've been using their graters for years, and while I love them and use them often, I was dismayed when two of mine decided to break at virtually the same time! Both had plastic framing and that's what broke - not too surprisingly after hard use, but still, disappointing. These ones, however, are part of the Gourmet series and there's no plastic, meaning there's really nothing that can break.

I use the fine one for garlic, ginger, chocolate, and citrus zest, mostly. The large one is great for cheese, although I also have an older ribbon grater that's pretty nice. The large one can also do things like carrots, cucumber (perfect for tzatziki) and many other things.

The third thing in the photo is Microplane's new mandolin slicer! It's nice and sturdy but it's main feature is that it has a removable julienne blade. Basically it's a small extra attachment, that makes perfect long ribbons of food. While not in use, there's a storage place for it in the back of the slicer - very handy.

I don't think I need to tell you that all of these are super sharp and should be handled with care. Nothing for the kids! :-)

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

How about some cookies? These are just right - perfectly crisp on the outside, but chewy and soft inside. And delicious. Just delicious.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

225 g butter, softened
220 g brown sugar
130 g white sugar
2 eggs
245 g flour
175 g rolled oats
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cardamon
200 g raisins

Start by beating the butter with both sugars until very fluffy and well combined. Add the eggs, and keep beating until smooth.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, oats, salt, baking soda, raisins, cinnamon and cardamon. Add this to the cookie batter and mix until combined.

Chill for at least one hour. Use a cookie scoop or your hands to shape balls - I make mine pretty small, about the size of a small walnut. Place on a cookie sheet (I could fit 12) and bake at 175�C for about 8 minutes.

I also freeze the un-cooked cookie-scoops, and bake directly from frozen. In that case, you might want to add a minute or two to the cooking time.

Lamb Meatballs & Creamy Risoni

Yummy dinner idea, from Swedish dairy giant Arla's new summer cookbook. The original idea was to make oblong meatballs, fry them, and then thread on skewers and heat on the grill, but I'm certainly not heating up the grill just to re-heat a little meat. Seems wasteful to me. So, we did small meatballs instead and then placed them on skewers.

Completely optional, of course. I thought it would entice our kids but.. well. Not so sure that worked. Dante ate five before we served the pasta, but after that, he wouldn't touch them. Titus had a tiny bite and declared that he didn't like them. Oh well. I loved them!

Lamb Meatballs
500 g lamb mince
1 red chili
zest from 1 lemon
 2 garlic cloves, minced
100 ml milk
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp fresh mint, finely chopped
2 tbsp fresh coriander, finely chopped
butter to fry

Mix everything together, and shape small meatballs. Fry in butter until cooked through. Serve on skewers if you want to, or not - it's totally up to you.

 Creamy Risoni
1 onion, finely minced
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 tbsp butter
200 ml risoni (rice-shaped pasta)
1000 ml water
salt
1 tsp olive oil

Melt the butter, and gently fry the onion and garlic for a few minutes until softened and fragrant. Add the risoni, water and salt, and cook for ten minutes. Drain, and stir in the oil. Serve with the suggested toppings. (If you don't have picky kids, serve on a large platter. If you do though, I suggest having the toppings in separate bowls...)

Toppings:
crumbled feta cheese
finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
pomegranate seeds
cucumber
toasted pine nuts