Smörgåstårta

Smörgåstårta means "sandwich cake" in Swedish, and it is exactly what its name suggests: a big sandwich that looks like a cake. But delicious and fancy looking sandwich that is.

White sandwich bread is used to create cake layers and it is filled with creamy mayonnaise-based mixture to which shrimps, or smoked salmon, roast-beef, eggs...have been added. And decoration is as important, it just has to look fancy.

It is usually made for big dinner/lunch parties because of its many advantages: it is very easy to make, you can change the size of it in the last minute , it looks fabulous and it is super delicious.
No big parties around here so I decided to make a mini version for a weekend lunch for two. So cute, so delicious.

Smörgåstårta
makes 2 mini individual cakes
6 slices sandwich bread (I used wholewheat bread)
salomon filling
1 tbsp mayonnaise mixed with 1 tbsp crème fraiche
1 big slice smoked salmon, chopped
1 tbsp chopped fresh dill, chopped
shrimp and egg filling
1 tbsp mayonnaise mixed with 1 tbsp crème fraiche
16 small cooked shrimps, chopped
1 boiled egg, chopped
decoration
3 tbsp mayonnaise mixed with 2 tbsp crème fraiche
4 small cooked shrimps
1/2 slice smoked salmon cut in two
2 cherry tomatoes, halved
some dill
16 this slices fresh cucumber

Cut off the bread crust. In two small bowls combine all ingredients for each filling. Season wit salt and pepper.

Put one bread slice on a plate, spread half of the smoked salmon and cover with the second bread slice.

Spread evenly half of the shrimp filling.

Put the third bread slice on the top. Make the second mini cake. Cover with a plastic wrap and refrigerate for about an hour or two. Frost the cake with the mayonnaise-crème fraiche mixture, decorate and serve.

Bean and couscous burgers

I love refried pinto beans but these burgers are very close behind. I replaced bulgur with couscous but I can see these made with quinoa, as well.

Bean and couscous burgers

adapted from Epicurious
serves 4
1/2 C chopped onion, divided
1/2 C couscous
about 1,5 C water (or less, depending on type of couscous)
1 C pinto beans, cooked
3/4 C walnuts
2 garlic cloves
1/2 C packed fresh cilantro
1,5 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne

salt and pepper

Put the couscous in a heatproof bowl. Cook 1/4 C onion is some olive oil until golden, add the water and when it is boiling pour over couscous, cover and let sit until all water has been absorbed. Fluff with a fork.

I do not have a food processor so instead I mashed the beans and finely chopped the walnuts, cilantro and garlic. Blend together, add couscous, rest of the onion and all the spices. Form six burgers and put in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

Heat some oil in a pan, cook the burgers until golden brown, turn around and cook until golden brown on the other side. Serve with your favourite burger sauce!

Kaiserschmarrn

Kaiserschmarrn is a traditional Austrian dessert...and a perfect Sunday breakfast if you ask me. It is made of a fluffy pancake that is split with fork into small pieces and it is served with apple or plum sauce.

Every Bavarian restaurant has Kaiserschmarrn on their menu and they can be very different in taste and texture. Some are light, some are dense, some are egg-y, some are not, some are caramelized, some have strong rum taste, many have raisins or sliced almonds, other not...plenty of variety out there.

I started with a recipe from Austrian/German chef Sarah Wiener and couple of Kaiserschmarrns later I found ingredient combination that makes my perfect Sunday breakfast.

Kaiserschmarrn
adapted from Sarah Wiener
serves 2
2 tbsp raisins

1 tbsp rum

3 small eggs
2 tbsp sugar

half a vanilla bean
6 tbsp milk

1 dl + 3 tbsp flour ( I use white spelt flour)

2 tbsp sliced almond

20 gr clarified butter ( I sometimes use coconut oil)

plum or apple sauce (room temperature, not cold from the fridge)

1 tbsp powder sugar + 1/4 tsp cinnamon

In a small bowl put the raisins add rum and let sit for about 30 minutes. Or if you do not have time, heat the rum until warm add the raisin, take off the heat and by the time you make the dough raisins will be nice and soft.

Separate the eggs, beat egg yolks with sugar and the vanilla seeds until the eggs are thick and light yellow in colour. Add the flour, whisk, add slowly the milk, whisking all the time to avoid the lumps.

Heat a cast iron pan (22 cm) on low heat and let the butter melt. In a separate bowl beat the egg whites until stiff. Add first a third to the egg yolk mixture, carefully fold in. Add the rest of the egg whites. Pour the mixture into the heated pan. Let it cook on low heat for about 10 minutes. Then sprinkle the raisins and almonds (or fresh fruits) over the pancake.

Now you need to turn around the pancake. The easiest way to do this is to put it in the oven until the top is set and gets colour, 10-15 minutes on 180C.

Or if you are brave enough (and do not mind the mess), take a biggest spatula you have, run it under the pancake and turn around. This method can be very messy but it does work. And to do not worry if the pancake breaks, it will be split in small pieces anyway. After you have turned around the pancake let it cook for another 5 minutes, or until it is nice and golden.

When done split it into small pieces with a a help of two forks. Serve on two plates, dust with the powder sugar and cinnamon, and eat with the apple sauce. Mahlzeit!

Vietnamese style spring rolls

When we lived in Shanghai there was a restaurant that served the most amazing Vietnamese spring rolls, ever. So when I came across the recipe that reminded me of those I just had to make it. And the rolls were super delicious, fresh and very summery.

I filled the spring rolls with fresh vegetables and veal cutlet. But feel free to use what ever vegetable or meat you like the most.

Vietnamese style spring rolls
recipe from Eating Out Loud 
serves 2 hungry
1/3 C smooth peanut sauce
1/3 C water
2 tbsp soy sauce (I used only 1 tbsp)
1 tsp honey
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp chili oil (I used chili powder)
2 tbsp fresh chopped cilantro
1 clove minced garlic

200 gr veal cutlet
2 tbsp peanut sauce
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp minced ginger

1 carrot
1 kohlrabi
1 cucumber
fresh cilantro
couple of salad leaves

10 rice wrappers ( I used square 16x16 cm)

First make the peanut sauce. I did not use blender, instead I chopped cilantro and whisked all ingredients in a small bowl.
Blend 2 tbsp peanut sauce, garlic and ginger in a bowl and marinate the meat. In the meantime cut the vegetables.

When done with vegetables, heat a pan a cook the meet to your liking. Let the meat sit for about 10 minutes and then slice.
Pour some warm water in a deep plate big enough to fit rice wrappers. Dip one wrapper in the warm water until completely soft (10-15 seconds). Take out of the water and put on a dry plate.
Place some vegetables and a strip or two of meet and wrap tightly. Repeat until you have used all vegetables. Serve with the peanut sauce.

Mayonnaise

I really had no idea it was this easy to make mayonnaise. I usually never use mayonnaise but now I needed it for a recipe and decided to make it myself. It went excellent, it is very simple. But lots of whisking is necessary so take your time.

Mayonnaise 
recipe from Gourmet 
makes about 1 C (2,5 dl)

1 large egg yolk (room temperature)

1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 C oil ( I used organic sunflower oil)
1 tsp white wine vinegar
1,5 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp white pepper

Whisk yolk, mustard and salt. Add 1/4C oil, veeeery slowly. I took a teaspoon and was dripping the oil slowly, whisking all the time. Add vinegar and lemon juice, whisk until combined. Add the rest of the oil, now you can add teaspoon by teaspoon, whisking constantly. Add some more salt and white pepper. Mayonnaise keeps in the fridge for 2 days.

Pumpkin seed spätzle

Recently I wrote about the pumpkin seed oil and since then I have been looking for more recipes where I could use this amazing oil. And I found the pumpkin seed recipe: spätzle. Both the seeds and oil are used, and I also sprinkled the roasted pumpkin seeds over the dish. Fabulous.

I also bought new spätzle maker. It is so much better than my old one as the dough does not have anywhere to escape and make a mess.

Pumpkin seed spätzle
recipe slightly adapted from Epicurious
serves 4 as side dish 
1/2 C pumpkin seeds (mine were a bit roasted)
2 C flour (I used white spelt flour)
1 tsp salt
1 C water
3 eggs
1 tbsp pumpkin seed oil
50 gr butter
nutmeg, salt and pepper
2 tbsp roasted pumpkin seeds

Blend the seeds and 1/2 C flour until the seeds are ground. Add the rest of the flour and salt. In a bowl whisk eggs, add water and pumpkin seed oil. Slowly add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, whisk until smooth. Set aside.

In a large saucepan boil water, add salt and with a help of spätzle maker make spätzle. Cook for 2-3 minutes. If you have smaller saucepan make the spätzle in two rounds. Drain spätzle and set aside.

In a big pan melt the butter, add spätzle, freshly grounded nutmeg, salt and pepper. Serve with some drizzled pumpkin seed oil and roasted pumpkin seeds.

Polenta with gorgonzola

The only way I can eat gorgonzola is when cooked with creamy polenta or in a pasta sauce. I really love how how it tastes then. When I make gorgonzola with polenta I add it at the end and let it melt completely. 50 gr gorgonzola per person is how I like it the best.

Polenta with gorgonzola
serves 2
1,5 dl polenta

about 7 dl milk
100 gr gorgonzola
salt and pepper

1/2 dl chopped walnuts

Put the milk in a saucepan, let it boil, take off and add all polenta all at once and stir with a wooden spoon. Return back and cook on low heat, stirring as much as you can. I use polenta that only needs 10 minutes to be done so not much stirring is required.
Cut gorgonzola i small cubes and when polenta is cooked add it. Stir until the cheese is melted. Season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately with walnuts on the top.

Pink pepper vinaigrette

recipe adapted from Eve 
enough for a salad for 2 people

1,5 tbsp vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
4 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove

2 tsp red peppercorns

Put the vinegar in a small bowl, add mustard and blend well with a whisk. Add slowly oil, whisking constantly until you have used all the oil. The vinaigrette will become thicker in consistency.

Crush the peppercorns, press the garlic clove, add to the vinaigrette and blend well.

Bosnian spinach pie

This is the pie I needed milk ricotta for, Bosnian spinach pie. Actually all over the Balkans you can find a variety of this pie, shaped differently but filled with spinach, cheese or some kind of creamy diary. This pie is actually type of a strudel but much thinner and differently shaped.

The best is to use fresh spinach, it gives the best consistency and it does not make the pie too much wet. Fresh spinach also absorbs eggs better then frozen spinach.

I prefer to cut the dough in three parts and then to stretch each part individually to have three dough sheets. But if you want you can stretch all the dough at the same time so that you have one big dough sheet.

Bosnian spinach pie

serves 4

600 gr fresh spinach (not cleaned)
or 350 gr cleaned & wilted spinach
200 gr milk ricotta
2 eggs

salt and pepper

2,5 dl strong bread flour

2,5 tbsp oil

1/4 tsp salt

about 7 tbsp warm water

80 gr melted butter for brushing the dough sheets
round baking dish, 28 cm

Start with making the strudel dough and let it rest. Wash and clean the spinach, cut it in thicker stripes and steam in a sieve until wilted. You can also wilt it by putting a tiny bit of water in a saucepan and cook for couple of minutes until wilted. Let cool and then squeeze out as much water as you can. Set aside.

Stretch the dough, I made 3 dough sheets, each approximately 60x35cm. Let dry until you finish preparing the filling. Add eggs to the spinach, salt and pepper and blend everything with your hand until the eggs have been absorbed by the spinach. Drizzle the melted butter over the stretched dough.

Put a third of the spinach filling on the long side of the dough sheet, and third of the milk ricotta over the spinach, leaving 5 cm edge all around. Roll until you have used all dough. Grease the baking dish and put the pie roll inside, shaping it as spiral. Repeat with two other dough sheets.

Brush the top with some melted butter and bake on 180 C for about 45 minutes. Serve warm.

Milk ricotta

Italian ricotta is made of whey that is left after making other types of cheese. Milk ricotta, on the other hand, is made straight from the milk. I do not know if technically milk ricotta can be called ricotta, but it was the right type of cheese I needed for a pie I was making.
Milk ricotta is grainy, does not melt when cooked and I wanted exactly that kind of cheese for my spinach pie. I was looking to buy it but could not find the equivalent, so I decided to make it.

It was super easy to make it and milk ricotta turned out beautifully. I will for sure make it more often, and use for more than the spinach pie. I have also made it with goats' milk and it was as delicious.

Milk ricotta
recipe adapted from Epicurious 
makes about 200 gr ricotta
1 liter milk (I used 3,8%)
1/2 tsp salt
2,5 tbsp lemon juice
sieve and large tea/coffee filters

Line the sieve with filters and put over a bowl. Bring the milk with salt to boil, stir from time to time and keep an eye on it. Add the lemon juice and simmer until the milk curdles, minute or so.

Pour the ricotta into the sieve and let drain for about an hour.