Lemon and Parsley Fusilli with Shrimp

Ingredients

2 table-spoons of oil

1 shallot

1 clove of garlic

1 lemon, zest and juice

2-3 table-spoons of chopped parsley

390 grams of Shrimp

300 grams of Fusilli pasta (or other pasta)

2-3 table-spoons of warm water

This is what you do:

Chop the shallot and the garlic clove and fry in a pan with oil until golden in colour. Add the finely grated lemon zest, lemon juice, chopped parsley, warm water (e.g. pasta water or boiled water) and stir once or twice. Add the shrimp (I used shrimps in Brine, remember to drain it) and take the pan of the heat. Grate  pepper and salt over it if needed (I didn’t .  Mix the lemony shrimp sauce with the freshly boiled and drained pasta.

I imagine this would taste really good with a side of garlic bread. I also think it makes for a nice cold lunch, I’m bringing the rest of mine to school tomorrow.

Enjoy!

By: Monica

Fusilli with Pesto and Mango Salsa

Ingredients

300 grams of fusilli pasta

300 grams of minced beef

6-8 cherry tomatoes

1 teaspoon of chili pepper flakes

1 table-spoon of oil

(3-4 drops of chili pepper oil if possible)

Pepper and salt

2 table-spoons of homemade pesto

This is what you do:

Boil water for the pasta, remember to add salt when it comes to the boil, and add the pasta.  Heat oil in a frying pan and fry the minced beef together with the tomatoes, chili flakes, salt and pepper. Pull to the side when done.

Mango salsa

1 ripe mango

1 small red onion

1/2 lime

1 table-spoon of chopped mint

Peel your mango and cut from the stone, before finely slicing it. Into a bowl it goes with thin slices of red onion. Squeeze the lime and get all the juice out before adding the chopped mint. Give it a nice stir.

When the pasta is cooked, stir in the pesto and the mince mix. Serve on a plate with mango salsa.

By: Monica

Homemade Müslibars

Ingredients

50 grams of dried apricots

50 grams of dried cranberries

100 grams of dark chocolate

150 grams of melted butter

2 table-spoons of light syrup

1/2 deciliter brown sugar

5 deciliter of müsli

1/2 deciliter of oats

1 deciliter of linseed

1 egg

50 grams of walnuts

This is what you do:

Melt the butter and mix in syrup, sugar, müsli and one whisked egg. Stir well before adding chopped chocolate, nuts and fruit. Cover an ovendish (ca. 22X22) with baking paper. Add the mix and press so that it all sticks together. Bake your müslibars for 20-25 minutes in a preheated oven at 200 degrees celsius.

Take them out of the oven and let cool, before you put the form in the freezer. Leave it there for an hour minimum, before cutting the bars in to, well bars. Add them to a plastic box and put back in the freezer, this is where they will be kept.

Tip: Put baking paper in between the müslibars if you have enough for two layers, this way they don’t stick together.

Enjoy with coffee  

By: Monica

Monica’s buttermilk bread

Ingredients

50 grams of yeast

3 dl of buttermilk

4 dl of warm water

300 grams of whole grain flour (Grahamsmel)

100 grams of oats

700-800 grams of White flour

3 table-spoons of sugar

2 teaspoons of salt

50 grams of walnuts

25 grams of hazelnuts

This is what you do:

Crumble the yeast into a baking bowl. Add warm water to the buttermilk so that the fluid is lukewarm, and poor into the baking bowl. Mix the water and the yeast. Add whole-grain flour, oats, half of the white flour and salt and sugar. Chop the nuts and add them to the mix. Stir and add flour until it starts releasing the bowl.

Scoop out the dough from the bowl onto a floury surface and knead with more and more flour until you are able to shape it in to a ball. The dough should not be a hard ball. If you are afraid it is too sticky, cover it in flour and shape with your hands until it is round, put it back into the bowl. Cover the bowl with a dishcloth and let rise in a sink filled with warm water for 1 hour.

After it has risen, and believe me it will (remember to use a big enough bowl, seeing as it will at least double in size!!), you add it back to your floury baking surface, shape into two breads, I made one round and one rectangular.  Let the breads rise for another 30 minutes on a baking tray covered in baking paper. Remeber to cover the breads with a dishcloth.

Bake in an oven preheated to 220 degrees celcius for 30 min.

Take out and let cool before making yourself a slice of bread.

By: Monica

Moussaka with a twist

Ingredients

1 box of chopped tomatoes

1/2 chili pepper

1/2 pepper (paprika)

3 small carrots

3 small shallots

2 cloves of garlic

1 table-spoon of chopped basil

7 sausages (grillpølser)

1 table-spoon of chopped thyme

8 small potatoes

First let me say that this is not really Moussaka at all, it only reminds me of the dish because I´m adding potatoes to an oven bake. In any case, it is an awesome way to use ordinary grill sausages, it gives them an extra edge, one that they don’ usually get from being slid into a hot dog bread

This is what you do:

Start with the tomato sauce. this goes exactly like the recipe I posted for  Pasta gone nuts, so I won’t rewrite it here. The only difference is that you add finely chopped carrots and pepper in the end. By the way if you have a good tip for how to put this sauce in a food processor without ending up with a kitchen resembling slaughterhouse 5 please let me know

When the sauce is simmering away, start peeling the potatoes and chop them into thin slices. I chose to cook mine slightly before adding them to the oven dish. This way they don’t take as long. When they are so finely sliced you only need a few minutes, until they are tender. Put the potatoes away, and start on the sausages. Chop them into fine slices as well and fry in butter with chopped thyme. They should get a golden colour. Pull to the side and start on your cheese sauce.

Cheese Sauce

1 tablespoon of butter

2 tablespoons of white flour

4 deciliters of milk

3 tablespoons of grated parmesan

1 teaspoon of salt

1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon of pepper

grated cheese

Add the butter to a casserole and let melt, before stirring in the flour. Get out a whisk and start whisking the butter-flour mass while you add the milk a little at the time. This way it does not get clumpy. Stir until it comes to a boil and turn down the heat. Now keep stirring often enough that it does not burn, until it has cooked for 10 minutes. Add the spices and the parmesan. Pull to the side and mix in the potatoes.

Take out an oven dish and add the tomato sauce. Lay the fried sausage on top and cover with the potato cheese sauce.

Tip: Lay it in layers in the oven dish and it will give it more consistency and also look nicer on the plate

Grate some cheese on top and voilà, it’s ready to go in the oven.

200 degrees celsius for 25 min should do the trick.

Enjoy with side salad and a glass of red wine!

By: Monica

Pasta gone Nuts

Ingredients

160 grams of spaghetti

40 grams of chopped almonds

1 box of chopped tomatoes

2-3 tablespoons of tomato paste

olive oil

2-3 cloves of garlic

3 small shallots

1/2 red chili

1 pinch of sugar

1 tablespoon of chopped basil

Parmesan

This is what you do:

Skin the onions and remove the seeds from the chili pepper. One tip is to roll the chili pepper between your hands and shake the seeds out into the sink. This way you don’t have the annoying job of wiping up the seeds from the floor

Now warm a casserole, add  olive oil, I’d say about 2-3 tablespoons. Add the chopped shallots, basil, garlic and chili pepper and sweat in the pan until golden. Add the can of chopped tomatoes and tomato paste. Let it cook on low heat while you go do something else, put on the tv or an episode of your favourite tv-series. Check occasionally so that it doesn’t burn. Let it have at least 45 min-1 hour before you start on the pasta. If you have a blender of some sort I recommend  using that on the sauce, it helps release the flavours and also smooths out your sauce. Now put the saucepan back on the heat and while you boil the pasta let the sauce simmer on low heat with an extra pinch of sugar and some pepper and salt. Taste it and you´ll know the amount needed.

When cooking the pasta, please boil up at least 2 litres of water and add salt. When I say add salt probably more than you think. On the telly they say 1 tsp per 100 grams. That probably also works Boil the pasta according to the pack and warm a frying pan for your almonds on the side. There are two choices here, to buy already scalded almonds and chop them length wise, or to buy them with skin and then scald them. I bought almonds with skin so I had to scald mine before. Just boil up a pan of water put them in, stir round for 30 seconds or so, take out and remove the skin. Let cool and then chop. Warm a frying pan, add grated sea salt and almonds, shake them or turn them occasionally until they are golden in colour. Drain the pasta when done, add the tomato sauce, stir and put on two plates, this dish serves to so have a friend over or make it for someone you’re fond of

Add some grated parmesan and roasted almonds, and enjoy!

By: Monica

Basil and tomato Pesto

Ingredients

60 grams of pine nuts

15 grams of sunflower seeds

150 millilitres of extra virgin olive oil

3 sun dried tomatoes

6-9 tablespoons of fresh basil leaves

6 cloves of garlic

100 grams of grated parmesan

salt and pepper

This is what you do:

You are going to need a food processor in which you first send the pine nuts and sun flower seeds for a spin, until they are finely chopped. Add the basil and the garlic cloves and give it another spin. If you want to add sun-dried tomatoes, this would be the time to do it. In the end you add oil and parmesan a little of each at a time and spin about four times. You should have a taste and add pepper and salt if you feel it’s needed. When you serve it with your pasta there is no need to preheat it, just add some of your pesto to your freshly cooked pasta before you serve it.

Tip: It is also possible to just use pine nuts, or just sunflower seeds, and forget about the sun-dried tomatoes all together, it’s up to you really.

You should store it in a clean jar or air tight plastic box in the fridge, and it should last you about 1-2 months. An empty jam jar should be fine, I´d recommend you to clean it in the dishwasher, if you don´t have one boil it in a pan of water, so that it is properly sterilised.

I made this pesto before and I felt like it lasted forever. Be critical though if you go away for 3 months and want to give it another go

 

By: Monica

Potato au Gratin

Ingredients

8-10 small potatoes

250 mililiters of cream

1 dl of milk

70 grams of grated cheese

pepper and salt

thyme

This is what you do:  

Peel the potatoes and cut into thin slices. Add them to your oven proof dish and sprinkle with salt and pepper. This dish can take a lot of both, but it is really up to your taste buds how much you add. I like mine to taste of pepper so I spice it quite generously. Mix well so that it covers all of the slices. Poor over cream and milk.

Bake in the oven for 40 min at 225 degrees.

After the 40 minutes sprinkle grated cheese on top.

I added some fresh thyme, but it´s not a necessity.

Bake for 15 more minutes, until the cheese is golden in colour.

By: Monica

Bacon Wrapped Eggs

Ingredients

8 slices thick cut bacon

6 Eggs

Cheese

Spices

This is very easy and straightforward, but looks incredible and tastes great! You will need a muffin tray for it.

Fry the bacon in a pan until it is brown but not crisp. Then put it aside and leave to cool.

Preheat the oven to about 200°C. Now line six muffin tin cups with the bacon slices and cover the bottoms with smaller pieces of bacon. Crack an egg into each of the cups. Season well with salt, pepper and other herbs, like chives, thyme or any others you want. Now add some cheese on top and kick into the oven.

Bake until the eggs are set. I baked mine for about 10 minutes and the eggs set nicely but didn’t become too hard.

Enjoy!

By: Tim

Sweet & Sour Pork

Ingredients

350 g diced pork

pepper and salt

1 big carrot in thin long slices

1 green pepper in slices

1 onion in slices

1 small box of pineapple in pieces

2 tablespoons of oil for frying

Sweet & Sour Sauce

3 tablespoons of sugar

4 table spoons of soy sauce

(In the soy sauce mix in a teaspoon of flour, it will thicken the sauce)

1 ½ tablespoon of white wine vinegar

1 tablespoon of ketchup

1 decilitre of chicken stock

Pineapple syrup from the box

This is how its done:

Pepper and salt the meat before frying it in multiple turns and laying it aside. I would say a teaspoon of salt and some rounds on the pepper mill would suffice.  Vegetables get a fast turn in the hot wok pan and are put with the meat. Put all the ingredients for the sweet and sour sauce in the wok/frying pan and let it boil up. Add the pork and the vegetable and let it warm through.

Serve with rice

By: Monica