May 31 2008
Archive for May, 2008
May 31 2008
Frappé!
Yeah, summer is here. And coffee drinker that I am I’ve been feeling jealous of all the people I see enjoying iced coffees: here in Oslo at least it’s very difficult to find iced coffee that doesn’t contain milk. Usually the varieties to choose from are: latte, mocca and cappuccino. Yeah. So I started experimenting at home, with espresso, ice, water, sugar and soy milk with none too good results. Desperation started closing in on me, but then — I remembered a favourite drink of mine when I visited Greece with mum and The Sister in 2004: Frappé! It’s Greek iced coffee and it’s beautiful! And the best part is, it’s milk free! (Okay, milk is optional, but there is really no need for it.) Also it’s lovely tasting and has the best froth of any drink I can think of. It’s made from instant coffee which is mixed with a little water and some sugar, then shaken or blended (I use a hand mixer) until it forms a thick froth. Poured over ice into a tall glass and then just enough water is added to fill the glass, served with bendy straws. Amazing!
May 31 2008
Who knew..?
I have news! I have decided to start with recipes! At the moment I am trying to figure out a good way of posting them outside the chronology of the blog itself - right now I’m thinking I’ll use ‘pages’ but that will require some help from The Boyfriend as I’m currently using pages just as photo albums. So I’ve started writing down how I make things… It felt really complicated at first but I suppose it will get easier as I do it more. Have also started taking pictures of the cooking process, to accompany the recipes. I’m well excited.
As I’m writing this, there’s an exhausted bunny asleep next to me. We took him out today for the first time after letting him get used to the harness for a few days. I suspected he’d like being outside but I also thought he’d be a bit sceptical and maybe even a little scared at first; not so! He absolutely loved it outside and he wasn’t afraid at all. He ran, jumped, inspected the different plants and the cigarette butts on the gravel (oh how I love my neighbours who smoke…) and basically seemed just in his element! It was definitely a great success and something we will have to keep up. When I go to stay at my parents’ for the summer they’ve agreed to help me build a cage for him out of chicken wire so he can be outside all day. It will be more restricted than running around almost freely on a leash (with me trying to keep up), but I’m sure he’ll like it. And the company of The Cat, of course! Here’s my ickle bunnykins enjoying his first taste of Mother Nature:
Since Wednesday, I’ve completed two of my four exams. I’m utterly exhausted but it feels amazing. We’ve been eating a lot of meat lately because it’s what’s been on sale and also The Boyfriend is much more of a meat eater than a fish eater. So when I met mum for dinner on Wednesday night after my first exam, she gave me some money to buy some fresh fish. I haven’t really had a chance to until today because of my second exam which didn’t finish until half six last night, so I finally made the trip to Laksen Fisk og Vilt and bought two Hardanger trout. It’s basically alpine trout caught on the Hardangervidda, and it tastes divine! I filleted it myself which was quite the adventure: I got to use the filleting knife from the set of chef’s knives dad gave me for christmas, and I got to figure out how to get all the bones out without mutilating the fillets! I had loads of fun and I’d even gotten pretty good at it by the third fillet. I pan fried the fillets in butter (for that lovely crisp skin!) and served with twice baked potatoes filled with bacon, onion and chives. I’ll be posting the recipe as soon as I figure out how I want to do it.
Earlier in the week we had pork cutlets (again). I wanted to use my home made bouillon and some of all the pork I’ve piled up in the freezer, and this is what I ended up with:
May 26 2008
I Am Novice
The Boyfriend has given me the most wonderful gift I have ever received: The New Concise Larousse Gastronomique! Oh my lord! How can I study for exams with that absolute gem in my possession?! I tell you, it’s possible but extremely difficult.
Since my trip to the post office to pick up the mysterious package I have perused my treasure and am now in the process of making my first ‘real’ stock! It’s been simmering for about three hours and has another three hours to go according to the Larousse. Well, I have nothing but time. I can’t wait for tomorrow’s dinner, just make a guess if there will be sauce…
Ok, so I was too impatient to wait until it was finished before trying it. I used some for tonight’s dinner, which was sear-roasted chicken breasts with a garlic and herb rub, and mashed potatoes. I deglazed the chicken pan with some balsamic vinegar and then added about 2 dl of my unfinished stock. Reduced to about 1 dl and drained through a piece of muslin. And let me just say: wow! I really had no idea what I was missing, mucking about with that store-bought boullion all this time. No more! Here’s a picture of my chicken dinner:
As usual I’m too lazy to write out the recipe, but I will share the secret of my amazing mashed potatoes! Being lactose-intolerant I often have to think twice (and resign myself to some uncomfortable hours to come if I decide to indulge myself) before tucking into food cooked by other people, and there are certain foods I miss immensely such as pizza (oh my love, why must you hurt me so?). And I used to miss mashed potatoes. But then I thought of a way to make them just as delicious but 100% dairy-free.
What you’ll need is:
your desired amount of new potatoes (I keep the skin on for its lovely taste and its nutrients),
some non-dairy margarine,
water
and salt.
(and some pepper if you like)
Here’s what to do:
Chop up the potatoes before cooking to drastically shorten the cooking time.
Then boil them in some lightly salted water until they are very tender and almost fall apart on touch.
Pour some of the water into a jug before draining the potatoes in a colander, and then throw them back into the pot (off the heat!)
Now add a big slab of margarine, and mash away.
Pour in some of the water whilst mashing until you reach your favourite consistency.
Season with additional salt and pepper to taste, and—
Enjoy!
May 25 2008
Hundreds and Thousands Cookies!
I am starting to see that today is a day of firsts. I have just successfully made my very first batch of cookies! I got the idea and the ‘how-to’ from a blog I just discovered earlier tonight: Cook & Eat. The idea of making leftover-cookies appealed to me immensely! Like the author of Cook & Eat, I have heaps and heaps of left over stuff taking up precious cupboard space and seeing the photos of the light golden brown cookies literally made my mouth water. And let me just say, for the record, that I am not a sweet-tooth!
I made my cookies following the recipe from Cook & Eat up to the point of the oats, with only slight adjustments to fit my stomach and my pantry. I used non-dairy margarine as always, and I used 1 tsp of lemon juice instead of 2 tsp orange juice as I didn’t have any. Also, I didn’t have any brown sugar so just used 1 cup of the normal stuff. Now, when the time came for flavouring I had dug out all the yummy secrets hidden away in my cupboard and my candy shelf. Here’s what I decided to put into the cookies: Hundreds-and-Thousands, shredded coconut, chips of 70% cocoa dark chocolate and some Lindt chili 86% cocoa chocolate my mum gave me once.
I have to say, they didn’t look too appetising halfway through the cooking process (I decided against posting the photo of it). But My oh My, did they look lovely when they came out! (Oh yeah, I tried cooking them for 12 minutes the first time and they came out dark brown and not so yummy. The next two batches were cooked for under ten minutes, just until lightly golden at the edges.) Also, my cookies didn’t stay fluffy. They rose in the oven, but then suddenly they all collapsed into flatness. They still taste divine, though. Incredibly sweet, but divine nonetheless.