The Susanne

These deli­cious little snacks can be the per­fect way of sat­is­fy­ing that intense chocol­ate crav­ing without the intense guilt which usu­ally fol­lows. Made from ‘puffed rice’ as we call it in Norway (I have not been able to come up with a suit­able word for it in Eng­lish, although I believe you’d be able to make it your­self by put­ting rice in an air popper for pop­corn) and melted chocol­ate, mixed together and cooled in little tops on a cookie sheet or in cup­cake tins, it is a staple of children’s parties and a loved snack by kids coun­try wide. My mum never used to make them so I only had the luxury of tast­ing them when vis­it­ing friends’ houses on spe­cial occa­sions such as birthdays.

I’ve put together an adult ver­sion with dark instead of milk chocol­ate, mixed with a little vanilla sugar to sweeten it a bit.

Yields 15-20:

• 1,5 L puffed rice
• 250 g dark cook­ing chocol­ate, in small pieces
• 1 tbsp vanilla sugar
• 1 tbsp margarine
• 0,5 dl water

In a small sauce­pan, melt the mar­gar­ine and add the cook­ing chocol­ate. While the chocol­ate is melt­ing, add the water a little at a time to get a smooth, not too thick yet not too runny con­sist­ence. Add the vanilla sugar.

In a bowl, mix the rice with the melted chocol­ate until well covered. Place in cup­cake tins or spoon onto a lined baking sheet. Leave to cool com­pletely before serving.

These meat­balls are so good, they just might make you over-​eat and leave you with a stomach-​ache! They’re per­fect with spa­ghetti, or even on their own (I’d ima­gine). I make mine with the accom­pani­ment of my Per­fect Roas­ted Tomato Sauce, let­ting them cook in the sauce in the oven on a low heat for 30 minutes. This leaves them soft, moist and lovely. I got the inspir­a­tion for this recipe from one of my Sicilian Cook­ery books, but I’ve changed it quite a bit.

Here’s my recipe for this amaz­ingly deli­cious Sicilian treat:

• 500g minced beef
• 2 small cloves of garlic, grated
• a big bunch of fresh pars­ley, chopped
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 dl bread­crumbs, soaked in
• -soy milk (about 1 dl when mixed)
• 1 dl parmesan, grated
• salt and pepper to taste
• Per­fect Roas­ted Tomato Sauce

Set your oven to 170 degrees celsius.

Begin the meat­balls by mixing all the dry ingredi­ents with the minced beef: the garlic, the cheese, the pars­ley, salt and pepper:

Then add the bread­crumbs soaked in soy milk:

Then add the egg:

-And mix well. Shape the meat­balls using a spoon (I use my reg­u­lar table spoon as I think it gives a great size and shape to my meatballs):

Coat them lightly in flour and brown them quickly in olive oil:

-Before adding them to the sauce in a roast­ing tin, taking care to cover the meat­balls with sauce. Place in the oven and cook for about 30 minutes. During which time you’ve got the per­fect oppor­tun­ity to make the spa­ghetti or whatever you’re serving to go along with them. You could even eat them on their own, they’re so good.

Take the whole thing out after 30 minutes and it should look some­thing like this:

If you love your friends, invite them over. If you need a break from them, don’t let them taste this. You’ll never be rid of them, I swear ;)

This tomato sauce is so deli­cious you’ll be cheat­ing your­self if you don’t try it! It’s inspired by both Gordon Ramsay’s roas­ted tomato soup and my mum’s deli­cious roas­ted tomato sauce. Basic­ally all you do is roast toma­toes, onion, garlic and fresh herbs at 220 degrees celsius for about 45 minutes, stir­ring occa­sion­ally and mash­ing up the toma­toes a bit. Abso­lutely scrump­tious! I’ve taken it a step fur­ther here and used a blender to get that lovely smooth tex­ture that is per­fect for pasta dishes, and also used some red wine for that extra little some­thing. Here’s my recipe for the per­fect roas­ted tomato sauce:

• a splash of olive oil
• 1 kg fresh, ripe toma­toes (halve the large ones, leave small ones like cherry or plum toma­toes whole)
• 5 sun-​dried toma­toes, chopped
• 2 large cloves of garlic, halved
• 1 onion, sliced
• a medium-​sized bunch of fresh thyme sprigs (or any herbs you like, I guess)
• a splash of red wine (I use about 1-2 dl)
• a little tomato paste, to taste
• 1 tbsp sugar
  

Heat your oven to 220 degrees celsius.

Start the sauce by pour­ing some olive oil in a roast­ing tin, and pla­cing it in the oven until almost smoking. Take the tin out and add the toma­toes, onion, garlic and thyme. Sprinkle a little olive oil on top, and season well with salt and pepper.

Roast for about 45 minutes, stir­ring occasionally.

After 30 minutes, turn the heat down to 180 degrees, and mash up the toma­toes to get a sauce-​like con­sist­ency. Add some red wine, to taste. I use about 1-2 dl as I really enjoy the taste. Add some tomato paste if you want, and the sugar. Return it to the oven for the last 15 minutes.

At this point you have a deli­cious tomato sauce which is great as it is — unless you want it smooth.

If you want a smooth tex­ture, pour the sauce into your blender and blend on high for about one minute or until you get the tex­ture you want. Serve — or put back in the roast­ing tin if you want to add meatballs!

The first time I tasted this was on our second night in Sicily. Imme­di­ately after my first taste I just knew I’d have to make this at home. The recipe is incred­ibly simple, and the taste of the fin­ished dish is even more incred­ibly deli­cious. This is my gift to all of you, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do - every time!

Feeds two:

• 1 kg fresh mussels
• 2 dl wine (red or white, both work!)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 shal­lots, chopped
• 2 toma­toes, chopped
• 1 dl pars­ley, chopped
• olive oil
• salt & pepper

Start by clean­ing the mus­sels. Scrub off all grit, ‘volcano shells’, stringy bits, all of it. Any dirt left on the mus­sels will go in the broth and you’ll have to eat it. Yeah. Throw out any that don’t close when you touch them as they’re dead and poten­tially harmful!

In a medium sized pot on a medium heat, start by heat­ing some olive oil and then sauté the shal­lots and the garlic until barely golden. Add the toma­toes and the wine and stir care­fully to mix it all up nicely.

Add the mus­sels on top, cover, and let sit for a few minutes. After about 7 to 10 minutes the mus­sels should all have opened. Dis­card any that have not opened.

Use a slot­ted spoon to move the mus­sels into a serving dish. Stir the pars­ley into the broth, add some salt and pepper to taste, and pour it over the mus­sels — then serve and eat!

Yum!

The import­ant thing about mus­sels is, firstly - check­ing that the mus­sels in your area are safe to eat (if you’re pick­ing them your­self) and secondly - only using the ones that are closed or close upon touch. If they stay open, they’re dead and pos­sibly deadly. Like­wise, once they’re cooked, only eat the ones that have opened.

So that’s it: (raw = closed + cooked = open) = good.

To serve two (maybe three) you need:

• 2 kg fresh mussels
• 4 car­rots, julienned
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tin chopped tomato
• 1/2 bottle good red wine
• 1 tbsp thyme
• salt and pepper
• a good splash greek olive oil

In a large pot, sauté the onion in the olive until soft, then add the garlic and sauté until it starts turn­ing golden and gets that nutty aroma.

Add the tin of tomato and a little salt and pepper to taste, then pour in about half of the red wine. Let it all boil for a few minutes until it comes together and starts to thicken.

Add the thyme and the rest of the wine.

Place the car­rots in the broth and then place the mus­sels on top, and cover. Steam for about eight to ten minutes or until all the mus­sels have opened.