Umbricelli with simple tomato sauce

Bad blogging week this week, but I’m blaming life. It has this annoying tendency of getting in the way of things. Anyhow, to compensate, the recipe I have for you is a real treat! Umbricelli with simple tomato sauce! Not bad, huh? You might be asking yourself what umbricelli is, so let me tell you. It is the easiest way to make homemade pasta that I’ve ever tried! It’s so easy I even had time to make it on a work night, after getting home late. The reason it’s so simple is both because the dough is so easy to make and only has to rest for ten minutes but also because you don’t have to roll it into thin sheets. You simply take a walnut-sized piece of dough and roll it into a thick spaghetti shape. Easy!

I learned how to make this revolutionary pasta both from the food show “I’ll have what Phil’s having”, which is kind of silly, but also from the most wonderful website I’ve found! Pastagrannies.com! Isn’t it great? They have videos of Italian grandmamas making all kinds of pasta. To good to be true!

Enough for two lucky souls

The pasta dough

70 g whole-wheat flour

80 g all-purpose flour

80 g water

½ tsp. salt

The simple tomato sauce

½ onion

1 clove of garlic

1-2 tbsp. olive oil

1 spring of rosemary

400 g whole canned tomatoes

2 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

1 tbsp. fresh parsley

Black pepper

Start by making the dough for the umbricelli. Simply mix all the ingredients in a bowl, then roll up your sleeves and knead the dough for 5 minutes until smooth. This is a bit of work, but it’s worth it. Once the dough is nice and smooth, leave it to rest for 10 minutes, covered.

Meanwhile, start the tomato sauce. Finely chop the onion and mince the garlic. Heat a pan to medium heat and add a lug of olive oil. Add the onion, garlic and the leaves from the rosemary. Sauté until soft, for about 5 minutes, and then add the remaining ingredients. Cover with a lid and let simmer until the pasta is done.

The pasta dough should be done resting by now. Start heating a big pot of salted water on the stove. Pinch of a walnut-sized piece of dough, keeping the rest covered. Roll it out to a thick spaghetti-like noodle, moving your hands from the middle of the strand and out when rolling. Make the surface you’re rolling on is free from flour to get the necessary friction. Repeat until you’ve used all the dough.

Cook the noodles in the water for about 2-3 minutes. You want them tender but not soggy when they’re done.

Serve either mixed with the sauce or with the sauce on top. Enjoy!

Put on 'em cowboy boots, it's chili time!

There is this one thing I am confused about. Is chili Mexican or Southern cooking? I guess the two are intertwined and inspired by each other so that there is no need to give one or the other the credit for this wonderful dish. Wherever it's from, chili is a wonderfully comforting dish! I have a handful of chefs and cookbook authors that shine a little extra bright in my food sky, and one of them is Jamie Oliver. A few years back he published his book Jamie's America, recalling his trips through this diverse and colorful country. In one chapter he had a recipe for a "Cowboy chili", full with the deep and heavy flavors of smoked paprika and coffee. Of course he'd cooked it in a cast-iron pot over a wood fire and served it to some hungry ranchers. I bet he wore a flannel shirt and cowboy boots while making it too, in order to make a bit of a show (it became a TV-series too). I do own a flannel shirt, but unfortunately I don't think a wood fire in my apartment would go well with the tenant and the only hungry person I had to feed was myself, but yesterday I cooked up a chili worthy of having Cowboy in it's name anyway. Wonderfully deep flavors and easy to make, this dish will hopefully speak to the cowboy I know you have living deep down inside you!

You may be skeptical about having coffee in food, but trust me that in the case of chili it lends a great roasted, robust and earthy flavor. I used a fairly weakly brewed coffee (I live in the US after all...) so if your coffee is very strong you might want to substitute some of it for water. Simply add a bit a time and taste as you go. When you're satisfied, add water if needed. When it comes to the smoked paprika, this can vary greatly in smokiness. I've realized that the bran I use has quite a mild smoke flavor and I therefore used the larger amount. So depending on your paprika and how smoky you like things, add a bit at a time of this too.

2 big servings (I may not be a rancher, but I eat as one)

1 small onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 tsp. cumin
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. coriander
1 cinnamon stick
1-2 tsp. smoked paprika
2 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. chili flakes (more or less to taste)
400 g crushed tomatoes
2 dl coffee (quite weak)
1 tbsp. dark syrup or molasses
1 dl sweet corn
2 dl cooked beans of your choice
1 bell pepper
Salt & pepper

Chop the onion and mince the garlic. Heat a skilled to medium heat and add a lug of oil. Add all the spices and fry for a minute or two until fragrant. Add the onion and garlic, lower the heat and sauté until the onion is soft, for about 5-10 minutes. Meanwhile cut the bell pepper in pieces, whichever shape and size you prefer. Add the remaining ingredients to the pan and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and let simmer for at least 20 minutes under a lid, so that the flavors can mingle. Taste for salt and pepper.

Serve the chili with some cornbread (recipe is on its way!) or rice or grains. Eat with your cowboy hat on.

A fragrant trip abroad – Coconut milk noodle soup

Back home in Sweden I have a close friend lives quite close to me. He participated in this last vegan challenge and shares my passion for cooking. Back when I still lived at home we used to meet about once a month in his little apartment and have dinner together. Every time we chose a different cuisine, and in his little kitchen that is barely big enough to turn around in we traveled from Asia, to Mexico and Morocco. This is a recipe inspired by one of those dinners. A wonderfully fragrant coconut milk soup that tickles your nose buds with smells of ginger, lime and garlic. Just as a happy bonus the soup is also simple stupid to make!

This is one of those dishes that you really can make your own, depending on the season and what you prefer. Firstly, choose the kind of noodles you prefer. I used soba this time, my good friend made it for me using thick, fresh Udon, which was delicious! Secondly, you can use any of your favorite veggies. I used carrots and cabbage simply because that was what was in season. Also, the cabbage is fun because you can slice it in thin long strips making it resemble noodles. You could go for sugar snaps, broccoli or even a frozen wok mix to make it even simpler (fresh veggies are tastier though). 

There is one critical aspect of serving this soup that I won't allow you to compromise. You have to serve it with fresh lime wedges. This is how you do it: squeeze the juice into your bowl and then pop the wedge in the bowl. This will infuse certain parts of the soup with more lime than others, making it oh so much more interesting to eat!

A fragrant meal for two

2 scallions

1 clove o garlic

½ jalapeno

10 g ginger

5 g fresh turmeric or 1 tsp. dried turmeric

2 tsp. finely minced lemongrass

1 carrot

150 g savoy or white cabbage

1 tbsp. light soy sauce

1 Poblano pepper or small green pepper

3 dl coconut milk

5 dl water

100 g dry noodles (or an equivalent amount of fresh noodles)

300 g extra-firm tofu

This is a really simple soup to make, and once you get cooking it goes fast. So start by getting all the ingredients prepared. Heat a pot of water for cooking the noodles. Slice the scallions, finely chop the garlic and jalapeno. Grate the ginger and turmeric if you're using fresh. Remove the zest from the lime. Finely mince the lemongrass. 

Cut the carrot into matchsticks and slice the cabbage into thin strips. Slice the pepper. Slice the tofu or cut it in cubes. 

When the water is boiling, add the noodles and cook until al dente. Drain in a colander and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking and remove the starch to keep the noodles from sticking to each other. 

Heat a wok pan (or regular frying pan) to high heat. Add a splash of oil and the tofu. Season with salt and drizzle som chili sauce over it. Toss the pan often or flip the tofu over so that it doesn't stick to the pan. Fry until the tofu has a nice browned surface. Remove from the pan.

Scrape out any leftover tofu scraps from the pan and return it to the heat. Add another splash of oil. Add the ginger, garlic, scallions, jalapeno, turmeric and lime zest. Fry stirring often until very fragrant. Add the carrot and cabbage and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the pepper, soy sauce, coconut milk and water. Bring to a boil and let simmer for about 2 minutes. Add the noodles and heat only until the noodles are warm again. 

Serve in pretty bowls with the tofu. Top the soup with cilantro leaves. Squeeze a few lime wedges into the soup and then leave the wedges in the bowl. 

Exotic adventures and sweet potato & ginger dumplings

The last week my dearest boyfriend has been visiting me here in the Big Apple. We've had a great time so far, mostly just taking it easy and walking around some of the different neighborhoods. I've started to see a pattern in the stops I plan for our explorations though. They are almost always related to food. I find strange small food shops, cafés and restaurants, and of course, multiple exotic grocery stores that are hidden away on shady streets. To me, entering any kind of ethnic grocery store is like entering a new enchanted world. There is so much to see, foods I've never even heard of and have no idea how to use. Our last tour led us to an Asian grocery store where we got the following three things: a box of sweet and strong tamarind candy, a glass bottle of fruit soda sealed by a glass marble that you broke loose before drinking and a big package of dumpling wrappers. Can you guess which one of them is starring in this week's last recipe? May I present: Sweet potato and ginger dumplings with a miso-sesame dipping sauce!

I was surprised by how easy dumpling making was. The filling goes fast to make, as does the dipping sauce. It takes some time to put together the dumplings, but this is a fun project to do together with someone you like. You get the hang of it pretty fast and then you're like a dumpling factory. We pan-fried our dumplings, but if you want to you can steam or boil them as well. A little bit of googling will tell you how it's done. Also, why not check out fun ways to wrap your dumplings on Youtube! If you want to you can be quite the dumpling artist!

Makes about 40 dumplings

The dumplings
2 tbsp. sesame seeds
1 leek, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
260 g sweet potato
200 g firm tofu
1 tbsp. grated ginger
2 tbsp. Chinese soy sauce
2 tbsp. vinegar
½ tbsp. chili sauce, such as Sriracha
2 tsp. mirin or sugar
1-2 tsp. sesame oil
About 40 dumpling wrappers (round, approximately 10 cm in diameter)

The dipping sauce
3 tbsp. Chinese soy sauce
3 tbsp. mirin (you can use sugar too)
1 tbsp. tahini
1 tbsp. miso (I use red)
2 scallions, minced
1 tbsp. vinegar

Mix all the ingredients for the dipping sauce and let it sit so that the flavors can mingle until your dumplings are done.

Roast the sesame seeds in a dry pan over medium heat. Remove the seeds and add a lug of oil. Fry the scallions and garlic until soft. Peel and grate the sweet potato coarsely and crumble the tofu. Add this to the pan. Mix the rest of the ingredients, except for the dumpling wrappers, in a bowl and pour over the filling. Fry for another minute or two, then remove from the heat.

To make the dumplings, place about 1 tablespoon of filling on a wrapper. Wet the edges of the wrapper with your finger and either just fold it over the middle and pinch it together or make nice pleats along the edge. I leave it up to you to use your googling skills to learn more about different wrapping techniques. Place the finished dumpling on a cutting board. Continue until you've used up all filling.

Heat a large pan to medium-high heat. Add a lug of oil and then place the dumplings in the pan as close as possible without them touching too much. Fry for about 3 minutes until golden on the underside. Add about 5 tbsp. of water to the pan and cover with a lid. Lower the heat to medium and steam for 3-5 minutes.

Enjoy your dumplings with the dipping sauce. Eat with your fingers or be proper and use chopsticks.

Green, greener, greenest - Avocado Pesto

You rarely meet someone that doesn’t like pesto. I don’t think I ever have. The Italians invented something amazing when they decided to simply mix basil and garlic. So simple, and yet so heavenly. Another thing that is deceivingly simple, delicious and also contains garlic (Coincidence? I don’t think so) is guacamole. From the other side of the globe comes this wondrous mash of creamy avocado and garlic that almost everyone enjoys. There are exceptions, but let’s consider them oddities, random errors in the statistics. So what would happen if you mix the two? As you well know, 1 + 1 can equal 3, which definitely goes for this dish.

This avocado-basil pesto is creamy, flavorful and super easy to make. Close to all the ingredients are green, avocado, basil and kale. You can use spinach is the place of kale if you have that at hand. Put it all in a mixer with a lot of garlic and lemon and tadaa! An exceptional pasta sauce! You can add any other green vegetables (or other color) to the pasta and sauce, such as broccoli, asparagus, peas or maybe more kale. It’s up to you! The recipe includes green soybeans (edamame) just because I love them and they look great and boost the protein content. Feel free to mix it up!

Enough for about 3

For the pesto

1 avocado

30 g basil, stalks and all

30 g kale, coarse stalks removed

2 tbsp. lemon juice

Zest from 1 lemon

Salt and pepper

4 tbsp. reserved pasta water

For the rest of the dish

300 g pasta

3 dl frozen green soybeans, frozen

3 tbsp. sunflower seeds

3 tbsp. pumpkin seeds

Heat a dry pan to medium heat and roast the seeds until they start getting golden.

Start heating the water for the pasta. Once it’s boiling, add the pasta. At the end of the cooking time, when about 3 minutes remain, add the beans.

Mix all the ingredients for the pesto except for the water, using a blender. Mix until smooth.

Once the pasta and beans are done, drain and reserve the water. Add water to the pesto, about 1 tbsp. at a time until desired thickness. It took me 4 tbsp.

Mix the pasta and beans with the pesto and half of the roasted seeds. Sprinkle the rest over the pasta before serving! Yum!

Scary? Smelly? Delicious... Kimchi!

I love fermented cabbage. A couple of year back I’d never have though I’d come with such a claim, but somewhere along the way I was enlightened. It is true, fermented vegetables can seem scary at first. The smell can be pungent, to say the least. My little brother still leaves the room when I open a jar. But if you just give it one honest try (or a few), you might see beyond the initial funky whiff and like me find a new love in your life. Apart from being delicious, fermented foods in general are also really good for you. If you want to learn more about that and why it is so, check out this post.

Fermenting vegetables, cabbage in particular, is popular in many cuisines. Historically this is a result of fermenting being such a great way to preserve food. The Germans have their sauerkraut, and the Koreans their own spicy version, namely kimchi. Until recently kimchi hasn’t been a part of my life. Why? Mainly because the only kimchi you can buy at a regular grocery store is packed in super tiny jars and usually insanely expensive. Also I thought the process of making it was way to0 complex. Turns out that this is not true at all! It’s actually as easy as giving your cabbage some love by massaging, then adding some spices, stuffing it in a jar and waiting. Give it a try; it’s worth it!

Note: If you use the full amount of chili you will have a spicy kimchi. Reduce the amount for a milder version.

Makes enough kimchi to fill a 1 l/1 quart jar

400 g Savoy or Napa cabbage 

2 tbsp. salt (iodide free!)

15 g fresh ginger, peeled

2-3 cloves of garlic

¼ small red onion

1 tsp. sesame oil

1 tbsp. mirin (Japanese sweet wine) or sugar

1 tbsp. Japanese soy sauce

1 tbsp. water

1 tbsp. chili flakes

1 small apple, no need to peel it.

Chop the cabbage into medium-sized pieces, about 3x3 cm/1”x1”. Place in a large bowl and add the salt. Start massaging the cabbage until it starts wilting and softening. Leave for about 2 hours, massaging again after about 1 has passed.

Mix the rest of the ingredients in a blender to a smooth paste. When the cabbage is done wilting, add the paste and continue massaging until every piece is covered. Leave for 1 hour and massage again. Press the cabbage into your glass jar, making sure to pack it well. Leave about 3 cm/1 inch of room at the top. Screw the lid on, but not to tight since you want the gas that builds up to be able to escape. Another alternative is to open the jar once a day and release the gas. Leave to ferment in a dark place anything from 2 days to 2 weeks. The cabbage is going to be good immediately, but the longer you leave it the more it will ferment. Once you’re happy with the fermenting, put the jar in the fridge. Your kimchi will keep for a good while!

Snowy days... Soup days

Winter finally came. More than a half a meter in one day, and now there is a sea of slush out there. But in times like these, there are actually easy ways to make life better. One of them is making a hearty soup to scare away the winter chill. I've been craving a red lentil soup the last week, and finally I got around to making one! A red lentil soup with caramelized onion to be precis.

This soup does take some time, but it is still very easy. Most of the time required the soup spends minding its own business, which leaves you free to just take it easy and enjoy the wonderful smells escaping the pot.

Serves 2 hungry people with a side of good bread:

½ large yellow onion
1 tbsp oil
2 tsp salt
1 clove of garlic
1 tbsp finely chopped ginger
1 small carrot
1 ½ dl red lentils
10 dl water
2 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp vinegar
Pepper
Chili

Start by slicing the onion in thin slices lengthwise. Cut the slices in half. Heat the oil in a deep pot. Add the onions and sauté on low heat for ten minutes. The onions should get soft and see-through. Meanwhile, mine the garlic, finely dice the carrot and chop the ginger. After ten minutes, add the salt and continues sautéing for ten more minutes. The onions should start to get golden brown by now. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for five minutes. Add the carrot and lentils and leave for five more minutes.

Now it's time to add the rest of the ingredients. You can add pepper and/or chili to taste. Bring it all to a boil and let simmer with the lid on for 30-40 minutes until the lentils are nice and soft. Give it a good stir to break down the lentils and make it creamier. Serve with a good bread.

Apple, Gingerbread & Rye Porridge with roasted almonds

When I woke up this morning it was way too dark outside and I heard the rain patter on my window. In a moment like that, staying in your cozy bed under a double duvet seems like the only reasonable thing to do. Unfortunately that's not always an option. So I gathered all the mental strength I could muster early in the morning and got up. Luckily, I found the perfect way to turn getting up into something positive! Making som apple, gingerbread and rye porridge! You may say, get a grip, porridge can't make your day. Well, my love for porridge is real and true, so it made mine! Perhaps you also think, it's October, way to early for gingerbread spices. To that I answer a simple no. The warm and spicy flavors of cinnamon, cardamom and cloves... They can heat up any cold morning! So here it is friends, a wonderful way to start a cold fall morning, Apple and Gingerbread Porridge topped of with roasted almonds and sunflower seeds!

The porridge is made from very coarsely ground rye flour. I happen to have a small flour mill at home, so I can make the flour as coarse as I want. If you can't get ahold of this, you can use rye flakes instead, only they won't have to cook as long! Also you'll have to increase the amount to 1 dl.

For one lucky breakfast-eater
¾ dl very coarsely ground rye flour (or 1 dl rye flakes)
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cardamom
A couple of dashes of ground cloves
1 tbsp raisins
2 dates, chopped
2 ½ dl water
1 apple
¼ tsp salt
About 10 almonds
1 tbsp sunflower seeds

Chop up the apple into small pieces. Bring the water to a boil. Add the rye flour, spices, raisins and half of the apple pieces. Stir vigorously to eliminate all lumps and the lower the heat. Let the porridge simmer for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, chop the almonds and roast them together with the sunflower seeds in a dry pan.
When the porridge is done cooking, serve it up in a nice bowl, top with the rest of the apple, the roasted almonds and seeds and a nice dash of cinnamon. Serve with your favorite vegan milk.