Pickled Beets (Inlagda Rödbetor)

Hallå

I was cleaning out my fridge today and noticed that my weekly organic veggie delivery had given me lots and lots beets. I'm not a huge beet-eater. I mainly roast them with other veggies or grate them with potatoes and fry them. I sat there, staring at these big red bulbs thinking about new recipe ideas. Then it came to me. Pickled beets!

I had seen recipes for pickled beets on Swedish recipe websites before but only skimmed over them due to my lack of a love for beets. I've been getting the urge to pickle something lately so it all just made sense. I looked at a few recipes and came up with this one based on what I saw. It's very simple and requires very minor prep work.

Inlagda rödbetor
2 cups chopped (or sliced) and cooked beets
1/2 cup vinegar (I used a mix of white and apple cider)
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon dried dill (optional)
1/2 tablespoon dried mustard seed (optional)
4 allspice kernels (optional)
A clean container to hold them in (glass jars are preferred)

1) Put the cooked beets in your jar. If you bought canned beets, rinse them off first.
2) Boil the rest of the ingredients together until the sugar disintegrates and the liquid thickens. Let it cool slightly.
3) Pour the liquid over the beets. If the liquid doesn't cover all of the beets, you can either make more or just add some water if it's only a tiny amount not covered. Use your own discretion.
4) Cover and store someplace dark and cool for at least 12 hours. They'll last for up to 4 months. The longer they sit the stronger the flavor will be.


I'll be eating them with some potatoes and a new köttbullar recipe tonight. If the köttbullar are successful, I'll post the recipe in the next couple of days.

As always, skål!

Skagen

God dag! I've been really busy all summer. Or rather, I've been busy trying to get busy. Job hunting is a major pain. Anyways, now that I have a more regular schedule I hope I can update this blog more regularly. We shall see...

I love IKEA. What's not to love? It's Swedish and sells pretty, cheap furniture and decorations. But the best part was always the food at the end. I always got their shrimp salad sandwiches. I craved them. I used to drive an hour to IKEA just to get the sandwich.

As I grew into my love for all things Norse, I learned the traditional name: Skagen. Created in Sweden but named after a northern Danish town (correct me if I'm wrong). I found recipes and tried each one and was eventually able to out-do IKEA's.

I was devastated when I stopped eating fish. What would I do? How could I replace this hole that was now in my heart and soul. I took to the web and grew more and more irritated with all the recipes asking for vegan shrimp or prawns. I can't find them here. I've looked everywhere! But after some testing and creating, I found a recipe that I and my boyfriend love.

Skagen

You will need
1 cup firm tofu
1/3 cup red onion (green onion and chives can be used)
A little less than half a cup of veggie mayonnaise (vegan sour cream also works great)
1/8 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk
2 TBSP lemon juice
2 TBSP dried dill (4 TBSP for fresh)
1 TBSP dried kelp flakes (crumbled nori sheets work fine)
OPTIONAL: hot sauce as needed

1) Chop or crumble the tofu however you want. I like to crumble it into dime sized chunks, but it's up to you how fine you want it.
2) Finely dice your onion and mix it with the tofu.
3) Add the dill and kelp and mix through.
4) Add the mayo, milk,lemon juice, and hot sauce if used. Combine until everything is thoroughly mixed.

Serve on a bread, in the hollowed avocado, or whatever. I'm eating mine on crackers right now.

Enjoy!

Hiatus - Pause - Tauolle - Rof

Hej few readers,

Sorry for the long hiatus. I've been quite busy and haven't felt very inspired to write anything about anything. But I'm getting the itch back (it's Spring, I tell you!) and will soon have a fresh new post. Probably something about Spring celebrations coming up or about this great Viking-inspired beer that I had (it was made with pine! *Squeeeee*).

Ha det bra!

Kladdkaka

Hej!

So this is a request for a member of my Swedish language group on livejournal (probably where all of my readers are from). I'll be honest and say that I've never heard of kladdkaka until that time. I looked it up and lo! and behold! The kladdkaka is actually popular in America, known as the dense brownie.

This recipe was fun to do because I couldn't find any English recipes and had to move on to translating Swedish. Of course, doing the conversions from decileters to cups was a bit annoying, but in the end it was all worth it.

This recipe was a great success with my room mates, my boyfriend, and I. I poured the batter into a 9x9 pan which resulted in a thinner brownie. Being the cook that I am, I figured that I can just cut it in half and stack them to make a double layer, yum-yum kladdkaka. I also added a layer of blackberry jam in the middle. Not traditional, but really completed the flavor.

Kladdkaka

Ingredients:
1.5 cups flour
1 cup sugar (or vanilla sugar if you have it)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa (I used kakao because it's a little healthier.)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla (omit if you're using vanilla sugar.)
9 tbsp vegan butter, melted
3 tbsp syrup (I used maple)
1/2 cup of vegan milk (I used soy)
Jelly (optional)
almonds or hazelnuts (optional)

P. Preheat oven to 400ºF
1. Sift and mix together the flour, sugar, and cocoa.
2. Mix the butter and syrup together until very well blended. Add the milk and mix thoroughly.
3. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry the ingredients and mix mix mix! (this is the fun part)
4. Grease a baking dish and pour the batter into, making sure the top is as smooth as possible.
5. Add the almonds or hazelnuts to the top if you have them.
6. Put the kladkaka in the oven for NO MORE than 20 minutes (mine was in for about 16 minutes before I turned the oven off and let it sit inside for the next 4 minutes)
7. Take out and let it cool. If the outside doesn't harden a little, put it back in the oven for a few more minutes. Let it cool again. (mine was soft when I took it out of the oven the first time and got a nice stiffness as it cooled off.)
8. If you want to double layer it, cut the kladdkaka in half and put a layer of jelly of your choice on top of one half. Place the other half on top.
Enjoy with sweetened soy milk, coffee, or chai!
Be warned that this recipe really sits in your stomach like the dense brownie that it is. Not good to eat before doing anything other than relaxing.

Skål!

Skandinavisk Inredning

This post was deleted because it was poorly written . I'll replace it by writing a new blog. Until then, look at this wonderful wallpaper. I NEED IT!

Lefser

A lefse is a Norwegian potato pancake. They differ from other potato pancakes from around the world due to their flatbread-like state (They're flat). They're usual large in diameter and very thin. I've read that some more traditional Norwegian families have an electric lefse cooker. The electric ones look like a pizza pan on 3 legs with a little gauge to change the temperature. Of course, I only had a large skillet and they came out just fine!



I had mine with hjortronsylt (Swedish, I know. But I wanted to use the rest of it up before I came back to Boston.) A lot of time strawberries are eaten with them. I've also heard the cinnamon and butter are really good on them. You can also eat them with savory toppings, such as thick cream (like sour cream) and dill, chives, cheeses, meats, and veggies. I went a little American with the leftovers and added peanut butter and banana. It was delicious.

Without further adieu, here is the recipe that I used.

2 cups plain mashed potatoes, cold
2 tbsp soy milk or another non-dairy milk (I used vanilla soy milk)
1 tbsp margarine
0.5-1 tsp salt
3/4-1 1/4 cup flour
oil for frying (try to use an oil-free pan. You want to fry them, not deep dry them)

Mix all the ingredients together, adding flour as needed to make a dough and knead it briefly to mix well. Divide dough into 12 balls of equal size. Roll out into very thin pancakes (you will need to keep the surface and the rolling pin well floured to avoid sticking. Don't use so much that a bunch of flour goes with the lefse into the pan. That happened to a few of mine and it added a powdery texture to the outside of the lefse. Nasty).

Fry in oil in a frying pan or skillet on medium to medium high heat, 1-2 minutes per side. Stack on a plate with a paper towel between each pancake. Can be served hot or cold. Also stores well in the fridge or the freezer. Serve 2-3 pancakes per person (making 4-6 portions out of this recipe).


Skål!

Pannkakor!!

Sorry for not posting much lately. It's been a crazy week. Friends came up, my office is moving locations, and I'm going to Pennsylvania later today (I hate flying...). So I've been running around, getting things in order before the flying coffin takes off. But! Things are packed, I'm hungry, and found a wonderful recipe for pannkakor.

This is originally a crepe recipe which I made a little thinner and cooked a little longer. It still doesn't imitate the first batch of (non-vegan) pannkakor that I had, but it's the best that I've had. This recipe is for savory pannkakor, but you can make it sweet by adding a little bit of sugar. Top it with some smör and lingonsylt and you have a wonderful fika! (Or for whatever meal you eat them for).

1/2 Cup Soymilk
2/3 Cup Water
1/4 Cup Earth Balance, melted
1 Cup Flour
1/4 tsp Salt
4 Tbs Water, to thin if needed (add 1 tbs at a time)

Place all the ingredients in a bowl. Whisk until smooth. Transfer to a 2 Cup measuring cup (for pouring) and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

When you're ready, melt a TINY pat of butter on a frying pan and pour the batter in a spiral pattern until they're as big as you want (I like 'em bigger). Wait until the edges are golden and slightly crispy and flip. Fry them on this side for a few minutes (they should be easy to lift and check for golden-ness after a minute). Stack them on a baking sheet and store in an oven at about 200ºF until the last one is ready, OR you can serve them immediately if you have impatient pannkakor guests.

Skål
Erik