smörgåsbroad

Long time no post

2009-02-07T20:46:00.000-08:00

I have still yet to get back into the blogging swing of things since coming home to the states. Something about the combination of guests, Thanksgiving, more guests, trip to Sweden, final exams, three-week holiday vacation in six European cities, coming home, moving into a new apartment, and then a weekend to relax before the start of the new semester has left me reeling.

Anyway, I hope to start blogging again, especially because Tulsa actually offers a decent amount of natural light for photography. Until then, I found a picture that sums up a lot of my life living in Oslo.

This is a breakfast I made for myself one morning while my boyfriend was asleep in bed. I ate it by myself in my little messy apartment kitchen. Mackerel, onion and sour cream omelet with orange slices, a carrot, tea and milk. Oh, Tine, my favorite dairy monopoly! What would I have done without Norwegian milk products? And of course grainy bread, which is conspicuously missing in this breakfast photo.

We also ate a hell of a lot of omelets in Norway, too. And gallons of hot tea.

Nostalgia!

On the cabbage family and comfort

2008-11-11T10:20:00.000-08:00

This week my boyf, Dan, was on another four-day field trip. Last time I coped with really rich brownies. This time, for whatever reason, I used...brussels sprouts?? Who thought that a crucifer could give as much comfort and satisfaction as chocolate?

But whatever, they are so delicious roasted. Monday night I had them in a roasted veg medley (with potatoes, garlic and carrot, nosy!) with a honey mustard sauce. And it was good.

But Tuesday's cole crop special, which featured a balsamic reduction enriched with heavy cream and a crumble of Spanish bleu cheese, was even better. Nigh perfect, even. I hope I can recreate it now that Dan's back...he was really disappointed that we didn't get to cook the brussels before he left.

This would be a really great fall side dish, says I. Brussels sprouts are a brassica family vegetable, so they're never gonna get the spotlight at your dinner party--plus it kinda looks like camouflage (cute, baby cabbage-looking camouflage, but still). Even so, the taste is fantastic...sweet and a little tangy with an unusual sort of peppery flavor from the cheese.

(BTW does anyone know if this is a common feature of blue cheese? We got a wedge of Valdeon the other day and the spiciness is so prominent--I'd never noticed that before. Doing my research I've found that Cabrales is known for its spiciness, and Valdeon is supposed to be Cabrales' tamer cousin.)

Anyway so here's how it went down. First I did the roasting: spruced up and halved 8 sprouts or so (cooking for one, poor me). Threw them in a small roasting pan with a few cloves of garlic. Tossed with a spot of olive oil and a light grind of sea salt. Put 'em in a 200C oven until they started getting some really nice color on 'em. (Ah, just thinking about the gorgeous caramelization brussels are wont to do in the oven just makes me smile. ) I stirred once during the roasting so they'd get browner and more evenly so.

Once they were about done, I turned off the oven but left them in there while I reduced a little bit of balsamic (just enough to cover the bottom of a small pot--one person here!) with a dash of sugar until syrupy. I retrieved the roasted garlic cloves from the pan, peeled and smashed them, and added to the reduction. Then I stirred in a few dabs of heavy cream and maybe a tablespoon of the Valdeon (you don't need a lot, trust me!).

I ended up thinning the stuff with a couple teaspoons of water (didn't want to add more cream because I wanted to keep the nice dark brown sauce pretty clear). Then I dumped the sprouts into the sauce and stirred it all up. Dumped it into a bowl and cozied up with it, impressed with myself.

TASTY.

P.S. I was able to recreate this for my dear friend Ewelina (who brought me some lovely Polish and Hungarian chocolates!) and she liked it! Reproduceability--such a good thing! (But maybe not a word.)

They were right

2008-11-11T03:26:00.000-08:00

Sometimes simple really is better, not least of all when it comes to cooking. (I hear someone named Einstein said something similar about physics.)

Another idiom that holds a lot of truth in the food world is that good things come in small packages. I think a lot of cooks would agree with me that miniaturizing food is somehow tremendously fulfilling.

It's not that big things aren't occasionally terrific: I'd never downsize a greasy, sloppy slice of NY-style pizza (though maybe I should). But some things are just better smaller, especially when it comes to dessert. Recently I've taken to baking many miniature tarts and tiny pies, including my takeoff of a very simple apple tart from Molly at Orangette.

For a two-person household there are lots of reasons that petite wins out over gargantuan: you finish the cake before it goes stale and you keep your exercise-resistant body from overconsumption. But best of all you get your own minuscule-yet-entire dessert. It really appeals to human selfishness and Western notions of property, don't you think? Why else do you think cupcakes have taken off in recent years?

Just kidding.

But there's something special, fun and attractive (or grotesque and cutesy, depending on who you ask) about desserts in miniature. And they don't all have to be baby bumblebee frosted cupcakes--this tart (whether individualized or full size) is elegant and understated, and perfect with a cup of coffee. I like that this tart is about apples, pure and simple--not the evocative, cinnamon-spiked taste of American apple pie.

I've gotten into the habit of keeping a batch of basic butter tart dough, divided into small portions, hanging out in the fridge/freezer for whenever I want to roll some out and have my way with it. If I've made a dough recipe that calls for a bit of baking soda, I sometimes just straight up deep fry slivers of dough and toss them with spiced sugar. (Is that bad? They are so light and crisp and perfect, though!)

I also simplified Molly's recipe by using apple jam in place of the glaze (which is simple in its own right, just apple peels and cores boiled down in syrup until it begins to gel a little). If you don't have anything appropriate to substitute in your pantry, just follow her directions.

Simple Apple Tart(lets?)
adapted from Molly Wizenberg's adaptation of A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes, by David Tanis
recipe yields 6-8 servings, but you can bake just a few at a time, like I do

You will need:
One batch basic pie crust, divided into 6 or 8 hunks (I like all-butter recipes but some swear by Crisco!)
About an apple for each serving you want to make
Sugar for sprinkling
Apple jam (or the original glaze)
Hot water

To make:
Preheat the oven to 375F or 190C.

For each tartlet, roll out the hunk of dough into a rough rectangle on parchment paper. Peel and slice the apple thinly (don't pitch the scraps if you need to make glaze), then arrange the slices in overlapping rows over the pastry. Sprinkle with sugar (according to your taste).

Bake until the edges reach a deep golden brown and the pastry underneath the apples has crisped up. Don't worry if the apples start looking dry--the glaze solves this.

Mix a good teaspoon or two of jam for each tartlet with just enough hot water to make a thick, syrupy, spreadable liquid. Brush or spread over the apples as soon as the tarts come out of the oven. Slice into quarters or strips for easy serving.

This is a story about jam and good humor.

2008-11-09T22:38:00.000-08:00

It can be a battle to stay dry, warm and happy in Oslo. Most days lately are suited for nothing more than warm socks, a mug of Earl Grey tea, and the following snack (which, now that you mention it, is how I've spent this entire weekend).

first you take apple-rosehip jam

then you add butter (arguably the most important part in terms of happiness)

then you smear it on fresh-baked homemade bread

The fact is, November is here and it's not going away. Every day we get a little less daylight and a little more rain. It's been raining/sleeting for the past three days with no signs of stopping. It's been gray and dreary for many more days than that. And it even snowed at the end of October! Quite shocking when you're used to Oklahoma winters.

proof that it snowed

Good weather is a rarity now, but when the sun comes out in Norway, it's like all the Scandinavian angels in heaven start sweetly singing the praises of the welfare state, fjords and brown cheese. It's even better when the beautiful weather keeps on giving, especially when combined with other Good Things. In this instance, cheap stuff and cooking.

In late September we had a stretch of gorgeous days. Sunny, blue skies, 60 degrees (F!). My lovely boyfriend and I even went island hopping in the Oslofjord.

Dan conquering Gressholmen

That day, the weather was so pleasant and cheery that I declared that I'd gather apples and make jam. I collected the apples from my apartment complex and rosehips from the bushes lining the streets on the way home.

free apples look like this

Yes, I'm a scavenger. But you would be too if you lived in Oslo, home of the $4 cup of boiled coffee. Everything here is expensive. Cheap things do pop up here and again, like the constant weekend flea markets and the cheap ethnic grocers downtown. And the abandoned jeans I found in the dumpster. I'm a hunter-gatherer, ok?

free rosehips look like this

Because apples naturally contain plenty, I didn't even have to buy pectin. Discounting the time spent working (and the slight burns endured at the range), I spent next to nothing making it--the cost of one lemon and the sugar.

free apples ready for their close-up, sporting characteristic free apple beauty marks

one very ripe rosehip

The sunny days are sadly past. On the bright side, almost two months later I still have the biggest out of the four jars of apple jam that I made stashed in my fridge. I dip into it at my leisure and each time its rosy apricot hue reminds me where it came from.

a spoonful of homemade jam help bad weather go down

these apples were destined for jam. note the authentic apple scab marks. (perfectly safe to consume, btw.)

So basically I took a bunch of apples and chopped them up. I left the skin and cores intact.

a pretty big dice

Then I boiled them with about a handful of ripe rosehips, chopped up, and some cloves, adding just enough water to keep the bottom from scorching.

let her go until everything's soft and mashy

The mixture took maybe about 20-30 minutes to reach that stage, with a bit of stirring now and then. In the meantime I had a bit of a snack with some of the leftover apples.

you see where this is going?

ahhh, childhood!

After my snack, I pushed the apple mush through a screen, which took care of the apple cores and skins, the cloves and the rosehip seeds. It was pretty painstaking though, which is why I didn't strain it any further through cheesecloth. This is why I ended up with jam instead of jelly (which is made from clear liquid rather than pulp).

Then, as per the basic method of jelly/jam making, I added sugar to equal three-quarters the amount of pulp. I also added the zest and juice of one lemon. And of course I cooked it til it gelled, popped it in the jars and called it a night.

this is what I ended up with

A rough recipe for anyone who wants to try:

Apple Jam flavored with Rosehips, Cloves and Lemon Zest
1200 grams of apples, chopped roughly
About a half cup of ripe rosehips, appendages removed and chopped
3 cups water
15 cloves
Zest and juice of one lemon
3.75 cups of sugar (75% of yield of apple puree)

Boil apples, rosehips and cloves in nonreactive pot with about a cup of water until mashy. Push through seive or food mill. Measure puree and add three-fourths that amount of sugar and the zest and juice of a lemon. Return to pot and simmer until gelled (use spoon test or cold plate test). Watch for hot jam magma splatters. When it reaches the proper consistency, pour into sterilized jars. Store in fridge (what I did) or process in a water bath for shelf storage. Eat whenever you goddamned feel like it.

serving suggestion: taste test of jelly bread with and without butter

Please enjoy the sun if you have it--Oklahomans I mean you! Some of us get about 8 hours of dreary light per day. (I am officially sick of 4 p.m. dusk.)

and use your free apples wisely!

Hvordan vi spiser norsk pølser

2008-10-27T04:08:00.000-07:00

Would a hot dog by any other name taste so sweet? Well in Norway, they're conveniently disguised as "pølser," the general word for sausage. Since they're European you might be fooled into thinking they taste better than the American sausages we know and love (even if they are made of pig butts). BUT you would be wrong. They are exactly the same!

And they're omnipresent in Scandinavia. Don't ask me why, they just are.

In a way, it's quite homey. Walk into any 7-11 (yes, they have 7-11 here!) and you'll find an assortment of hot dogs rolling on the grill, just like in the states.

But here, hot dogs are even more versatile. Bargain-hunting at a loppemarked (literally, flea market)? You'll find pølser for sale there, too, along with delicious Norwegian waffels. Say you'd like to see the sights at Vigelandsparken. In the grassy areas surrounding the sculptures and rose gardens, you're liable to find groups of people huddled around an engangsgrill (literally, one time's grill, a charcoal-filled foil contraption designed to use once and throw away). And what are those pink logs lined up neatly over the flame? You guessed it! Pølser!

And of course, when you go camping, you bring pølser to grill over a campfire. The hot dog in the glamour shots is one such pølse, hot off the stick. I followed it up with toasted marshmallows, to round out the nutrition profile of my meal.

MARSHMALLOW TIME.

One different thing about hot dog consumption in Scandinavia is that the wieners are often enrobed not in a fluffy wheat bun, but rather a tortilla-like flatbread called lompe. It's made of potato flour, it's bland, and honestly I like buns better. But when in Rome.... (For the record, you can get buns here, it's just that lomper are more common.)

So here's how it's done: after grilling your pølse, lay it smack in the middle of your lompe, and slather in ketchup and mustard. (Or whatever else you like--in Scandinavia, hot dog toppings run the gamut from ordinary to...just weird. Shrimp salad atop a hot dog? No thanks.)

Next, just roll her up. Very portable, and poses less mess risk than a messy hot dog wedged inside a bun.

And of course, consume!

Yeah that's me. Yeah, that's not flattering. All in the name of cultural understanding!

Sunday Breakfast

2008-10-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

Sundays are the best days to eat breakfast at 11. You know, when the sun pouring in through the window convinces you to get out of bed and grace the kitchen with your presence (or maybe it was the grumbling stomach). Then you don't eat lunch until 2. I love that; it's like the whole day is delayed just because I'm lazy.

An omelet-to-be.

I also have the luxury of no class or work on Mondays this semester, so I can do that. It's nice, but let me tell you, I don't really accomplish anything. Besides cooking lots, that is. I spent all of Saturday baking two kinds of bread (whole wheat and ciabatta). When I say that I mean I spent the day lounging around waiting on the dough to rise. Maybe I should have fit some homework in there...I've always been more of a grasshopper than an ant, though, what can I say?

Whole wheat (plus a bit of rye) bread baked into little loaves.

When you bake bread you can do decadent breakfasty things like THIS (well, you can also buy the bread, but it's just not as satisfying).

I don't have a toaster so I have to toast my bread in a cast iron skillet. Resourceful!

Mmmm. But I really wanted to tell you about my omelet, a dairy-stuffed number with sour cream and cheese, plus fresh tomatoes and sauteed onions and garlic. This is my favorite omelet filling to date. I think it would only be made better by a generous chiffonade of homegrown basil.

I have nothing better to do that snap photos mid-bite.

Ingredients (to make one omelet):
2 eggs
Splash of water or milk
Some onion and garlic sauteed in butter (boyfriend conveniently made enough for the both of us before I even made it to the kitchen this morning)
Mild white meltable cheese (I used Jarlsberg, a Norwegian Emmental-style)
Generous spoonful of sour cream
A few cherry tomatoes cut into wedges
Salt & pepper to taste

I guess you can't really see the tomatoes in this one.

Method:

Whisk eggs together with the water or milk. Salt now, or not, depending on your preference (salt makes the eggs set firmer, so if you like your eggs more tender, wait until the egg is cooked). Pour egg mixture into skillet still hot and greasy from sauteing onions (have heat reduced to medium low). Cook the omelet however you like. (For me, flipping the damn thing is usually too risky, so I just cook it slowly on one side until all of the egg has set.)

Give it a good grind of pepper at this point (and salt if you haven't already). Position the cheese down the midline of the omelet (know what I mean?) to melt along with the onion/garlic mixture. Take off the heat and smear the spoonful of sour cream along the rest of the filling and scatter the tomatoes over all. Fold (I do my omelets in thirds, and then flop it in half hamburger-style).

Maybe that explains the way I fold it a bit better?

Eat! Preferably with toast smeared with butter and honey. And breakfast beverage of your choice.

This one's gratuitous.

Best Cocoa Brownies (for Beating Blues)

2008-10-07T13:23:00.000-07:00

That's right. I'm a sad sack. A whiner and a complainer. Even an ingrate. And this is a post about depression-induced brownie baking. While I should be having the gosh darn time of my life expanding my horizons in a foreign country, I'm not, to put it simply. Instead I bitch and moan silently to myself and tear up to Fleetwood Mac songs. And eat brownies. Ridiculous. But what can I say, I'm really really homesick.

(And I happened to spend all of last winter with my pals listening exclusively to Rumours and Tusk while hanging out in a fort. Well...a ping pong table covered in blankets and carpeted with pillows. Naturally! There was a lot of drinking involved and not a lot of class attendance. Ah, youth!! And thus, I weep when I hear Lindsey Buckingham sing "Second Hand News.")

To top it off, my darling boyfriend Dan (and de facto sous-chef) is gone this week for some wack-ass trip to a biology field station somewhere north of the city. Pout.

But us cookin' types always know how to make ourselves feel better, right? At least gastronomically? That's where yesterday's grocery trip came in. I had been moping all day, so when four PM rolled around I felt like I should at least make an effort to act more human and less lump. So I strolled down to the supermarket for a baking supplies spree!!

Me and my Norwegian cast of characters gearing up for the big show.

Well, wouldn't you know, the results of said baking did not quite cure my homesickness...but the brownies did make it a lot more palatable. I like to think of them as a form of culinary palliative care. I nibbled them as I wasted away in my bed, humming "Take Me Back to Tulsa" while daydreaming of all things American. Aimless summer car rides and sloppy Braum's cheeseburgers come to mind, and are probably making me more pitifully misty-eyed than I should admit. Maybe only chewy chocolate confections can keep me from going over the edge into soppy oblivion.

Just checking, does anyone actually feel worse after consuming delicious chocolate desserts? I didn't think so. OK, I confess, I did feel a little digestively disgruntled after stuffing one too many of these babies in my face. But psychologically? I was uplifted.

But I digress. These brownies are the epitome of rich chocolatey-ness (read: you will need some milk). They are dense, dark and chewy with a crunchy crust. They have the ever so slightly sophisicated (for brownies, anyway) tang of dark chocolate tempered with just the right amount of sugar. Not much else comes to mind as far as description goes. Oh, wait, except mmmmm.

Please tell me you picked up a carton of milk on the way home.

I admit, I have always had my doubts about cocoa brownies. For some reason, it's always been hard to believe you can get scrumptious, rich, chocolatey results out of a powder. You know? Maybe I'm nuts to think that, but I'm a believer now. Even without chocolate, this recipe probably has enough butter and sugar to make powdered cement reasonably tasty. Just close your eyes when you put it in the mixing bowl and I swear it will not end up on your ass.

That was a lie.

Well, I guess I'd better tell you how to do it already. The sooner you make, these the sooner you can begin working through the caloric guilt.

Best Cocoa Brownies (found on Epicurious)

The goods

10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (natural or Dutch-process)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cold large eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup walnut or pecan pieces (optional)

Special equipment: An 8-inch square baking pan

Notes: I didn't follow the online recipe's advice to use "the best cocoa you know." I used the only cocoa available in the Norwegian supermarket. I also subbed the vanilla extract for 2 teaspoons the inexplicably powdery "vanilje sukker," reducing the flour accordingly. I have no nuts (ha). Lastly, my ill-equipped kitchen (so characteristic of temporary apartments) doesn't contain a square baking pan, so I used a sort of strange round pot...whatever works, man!

Strange, isn't it?

My cocoa powder. Dear elitist recipe: it seemed to work fine.

The method (as translated and slightly tweaked by me)

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F. Butter baking vessel. Then flour it. (Or if you're fancy/OCD, use more cocoa instead of flour.)

2. Combine butter, sugar, cocoa, and salt in saucepan and double boil (I just ended up mixing the batter in the saucepan, worked fine). Stir occasionally and try to get it to be nice, shiny and smooth. It should not get very hot. I couldn't really get my mixture that smooth, as the biggish sugar crystals were not about to dissolve, but it didn't seem to matter. Let cool on the counter for a bit.

3. Stir in the vanilla now (or if you use vanilla sugar, add with the flour).

4. Add the eggs one by one, stirring really well after each addition. The batter will get very thick!

Really thick! Don't you want to put your tongue on it?

5. When it looks super smooth and shiny (like you just want to get a spoon and dig in), add the flour and stir gently until combined. Then give it 40 hard licks with the spoon/spatula. Don't forget the nuts if you have 'em.

6. Spread into the pan. (If you did things like I did, you will literally be spackling it in there. Your batter will be SO THICK AND STIFF. This may be because I never measure things super accurately.)

Just scrape it on in there as best you can. Or leave some behind to taste while it bakes.

"The other black gold," as it's known in oil rich parts of the world such as Tulsa and Norway.

(7. Lick and scrape as much of the batter off of the spoon and bowl as you possibly can.)

8. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick to the middle comes out only a bit moist. This way the brownies will be somewhat gooey in the middle. If that squicks you, bake until the toothpick comes out clean.

9. Begin therapy as soon as the brownies cool a bit.

Most things are better with a little goo in the middle. Don't you think?

Sweet Tooth Gets Creative: a Scientific Investigation of Gooey Cake Possibilities

2008-10-03T04:22:00.001-07:00

an exercise in rainy afternoon sustenance

THE RESEARCH PROPOSAL

I could really go for something sweet. I was thinking maybe some kind of butternut squash blondie (as weird as that sounds) but then I realized that I had actually roasted the whole butternut squash last night and did not have half left, as I had thought. Sad, as I had already pored over various recipes and had adapted a few to my own ends.

So what do I do? I will have to come up with a new bizarre concoction. How about moist banana cake with chocolate chunks? And maybe a caramel swirl topping? I just made some caramel sauce the other day and it was unbelievable. But now I don't have any cream so I will have to see if I can wing it with just milk. Could be a bad idea...we'll find out.

Later on, in the lab, Danielle brews herself a cup of jasmine tea and sets to work.

...

THE PROCEDURE
Dense Chocolate Chip Banana Cake

5 tbsp (65 grams) butter, melted
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 smashed banana
2 tbsp yogurt
2 tbsp sour cream
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
50 grams semisweet chocolate, chunked up
Salted caramel (see below)

1. Whisk together first three ingredients.
2. Mix in the next three.
3. Gently mix in the next four.
4. Fold in the penultimate one.
5. Swirl the last ingredient on top (Don't use all of it like I did, save some for ice cream and save your cake from having pools of gooey caramel on top...unless you're into that. On second thought, I am into that.)
6. Bake at 350F/180C for about 25 minutes until the cake stops looking molten. It will still be moist looking, but when you let it set out for a little bit after taking it out, it'll be just perfect.

perfect in this sense clearly means utterly gooey and melty

Salted Caramel

(This is a roughshod, approximate recipe because I have a phobia of following directions or making set plans, so I just threw things in the pot to see what would happen. Good strategy!)

1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp water
a generous dash of salt
chunky tablespoonish nob of butter
splash or two of milk

1. Heat sugar, water and salt in a saucepan on medium high heat (but don't stir!) until caramelized to a medium amber color.
2. Take off heat briefly and whisk butter into the sugar mixture (it will foam up).
3. Return to heat and let it bubble away a bit more until the color starts deepening a bit (whisking in the butter will give it a slightly paler color).
4. Take off the heat again and whisk in a hefty splash of milk. The coolness of the milk will make it hard to dissolve, so turn down the heat and return the pan to burner. You may want to repeat this step because it'll thicken when it cools and you don't want it too viscous.

Voila! Tastes really, really good, and I didn't even need heavy cream! So there! I knew my reckless tinkering would never do me wrong!

...

DISCUSSION

the pieces disappear pretty quickly around here...in the name of science!

Hey what do you know? It came out pretty good! I wanted something very dense and moist, and this definitely delivered on that front. I think the amount of baking powder I added gave it just enough lift not to come out as a hot, melty sludge.

The salty caramel swirled on top was TASTAY. This is definitely one of those recipes where each bite is different--some with a little more ooey-gooey caramel than others, some with an unexpected banana chunk or a concentration of melted chocolate.

And at the edge of the cake, where the caramel dripped off and smeared itself onto the edge of the pan, it got nice and dark brown and chewy. At least chewy when it was still warm. I have a feeling it's in my kitchen as we speak cementing itself on the pan permanently. But is that not the price we have to pay for warm chewy goodness in the here and now?

you see that topographical variation?

that's the gooey stuff right there

So! I declare this recipe a success! I think this cake would potentially be even better with something other than banana, though it definitely tasted good. Maybe with raspberries? I don't know, any ideas?

Sure, I could've walked one and a half minutes to the little grocery store in my apartment complex to buy the ingredients for any damn fool recipe...but three things were stopping me. (A) pyjamas, (B) it's cold and rainy, and (C) I just didn't feel up to faking like I know Norwegian in the check-out line. Ah, social anxiety!

But isn't this the fun way to do things?? My mom always scolded me for my childhood experiments. Experiments in her makeup drawer, experiments in the medicine cabinet (toothpaste-perfume beauty creme, anyone?), experiments in the kitchen--and her all-time favorite, experiments in knot-tying. Yes, I, as a child, could not resist tying anything remotely resembling a shoelace into hundreds of indelibly tangled knots. Precious.

I guess my pioneering scientific attitude has never left me. At least Ma can't scold me now that I get better results. Like this one.

Knock yourself out experimenting, people. It can pay off. Now, after three (moderately-sized!) slices of cake, my sweet tooth is satisfied.

Crackers by Crackers

2008-09-22T05:48:00.000-07:00

Yep. My lily white ass whipped up a batch of homemade crackers. (Garlic Paprika Peppercorn, to be precise.) Seems awfully bourgeois, right? It is. But it was worth it. See? A whole bowlful of crispy deliciousness.

And taking glamour shots of crackers also strikes me as odd, but that didn't stop me. Check out this sexy cracker, lounging [dirty] spoonside:

Anyway, the crackers were dead easy to make. A beauty of a dough recipe compared to my recent endeavors--pizza dough, pasta dough, sweet rolls. Thankfully, Carbfest 2008 is coming to a close, but it's bittersweet. This wild ride of refined grains has been fun, but it has to end. And what better way to say goodbye to dietary diabetic risk factors than with snappy crackers??

I think the combo of coarse-cracked pepper, minced garlic and smoky paprika was pretty spot-on. And it also gave the crackers a nice rosy color. That said, you can use any seasoning combination that gets you going. I am thinking rosemary crackers would be nice, but I don't have any rosemary and I use the stuff far too infrequently to buy a jar. Parmesan and thyme also sounds pretty tasty. I conceived of a curry powder infused cracker, but thought that might be a little too crazy.

The recipe I used comes from Jennie at Straight From the Farm, who in turn adapted it from A New Old-Fashioned Gal. Here it is, with my notes in bold.

2 ½ c. flour
3 t. dried herbs/seasonings (I used a scant tablespoon of cracked pepper, a tablespoon of paprika, and two cloves of garlic very finely minced)
1 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons olive oil (Make sure you add enough oil, I'd maybe recommend even a bit more, because it will help the crackers crisp up. I ended up smearing a coat of oil over some of the dough to help things along.)
¾ cups cold water (I needed a bit more water than that)
coarse salt for sprinkling on top

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Mix dry ingredients. Add the oil and half of the water (and if using something wet like fresh garlic, add here) and mix. Add water as necessary to form a rough dry dough. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead just until it comes together into a cohesive ball.

Divide dough into even quarters. On a silicone mat or piece of parchment paper, roll dough as thin as possible until it’s nearly the size of a baking sheet. (My dough was so elastic that it was damn near impossible to do this on top of parchment, so I rolled it on the countertop, then transferred. I also couldn't get the dough to roll out anymore after a certain point, which might explain why I got fewer crackers.)

Cut the dough into squares or other desired shape and use a fork to prick each square two or three times. (Forgot to prick.) Sprinkle with course sea salt. (After sprinkling, did a once over with the rolling pin to anchor the salt grains--a stroke of brilliance, I thought.)

Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden brown, turning the sheet once half way through. (Here I got really impatient and took two batches out too early. Had to return them to the oven later.) While the first batch is baking, roll out another quarter of dough. Let baked crackers cool before breaking apart. Store in a ziplock bag.

(makes about 5 cups of crackers) (I only got 3, maybe? What did I do wrong??? Oh well.)

They came out well despite a few minor difficulties that I can almost certainly blame myself for. And I got the idea to spread them with something tasty! An improvised feta and sun-dried tomato number.

I guess the spread looks kind of ugly. In fact, it is quite the opposite! It all started while the second cracker batch was baking, when I plopped a tablespoon of sour cream in a cup. Then I crumbled a...finger-sized chunk of feta in there, and sprinkled dried oregano on top. Chopped up two sun-dried tomatoes real fine and mixed it in.

My dastardly boyfriend came home from campus and finished off the rest of it (along with a good number of crackers, possibly skewing my estimates of the recipe yield), so I had to find another solution. Straight up cheese. Look at that tall drink of cracker there, would you?

The cheese above is Norvegia, an omnipresent endemic Gouda variety produced by the national dairy monopoly. We bought a huge block of this stuff weeks ago, and I'm so sick of it. It was okay with the crackers, but I think something else would suit them better. Any suggestions?

I have garbanzos soaking to make some "rustic" hummus tomorrow. Meaning I will mash the beans with a fork due to my lack of kitchen gadgets. Chunky hummus is not my favorite, but I think it will be a good cracker smear.

Tangerine Rolls?

2008-09-21T00:45:00.001-07:00

I have a picnic to go to at Vigelandsparken at two today. Having neglected to plan ahead, not taking into account that supermarkets are closed on Sundays in Norway (except immigrant markets downtown), I had to get creative with my pantry contents. Somehow I ended up at "tangerine rolls." Here's how.

1. I had the remnants of the cake of fresh yeast in the fridge that needed used ASAP.
2. My pepperoni rolls using sweet roll dough were really popular at the international potluck I threw.
3. A straight-up sweet application of sweet roll dough was in order. What better way to represent American eating habits on a Sunday afternoon than something like cinnamon rolls?
4. I don't have that much cinnamon, plus I don't like it that much. I do have tangerines! Thus I decided to wing it at tangerine rolls.

So then I attempted a take-off of the gloriously soft sweet dough recipe I used last week. It's from All Recipes, which of course is great for this type of down-home no frills type of food. I nixed the water, upped the milk content, and included the last of a small carton of light cream to get rid of it, hoping to simultaneously giving the rolls a nice fat/moisture boost.

Dough recipe:

2/3 cup warm milk
1/3 cup warm cream
1/3 a cake of fresh yeast
1 egg
1/3 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3-ish cups all-purpose flour, plus more for practical purposes
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1. Dissolve about a tablespoon of the sugar and the yeast in milk & cream mixture and let proof for several minutes.
2. Add the butter, the rest of the sugar, the egg, the spices and the salt. Then add flour by the half cup.
3. When it is unstirrable, use the rest of the flour to generously cover your work surface, turn the dough out onto it, and work the rest of the flour in by kneading gently. (Not too vigorous because you don't want to really develop the gluten in sweet rolls.)
4. When you get a nice, sticky but manageable dough ball, oil a bowl and let rise in a warm place for 45 minutes or so. When it's done, it will be ready to roll out, fill, roll up, and then enjoy a second rise.

Filling recipe:

Minced zest of one tangerine (I augmented with lemon zest so I could reserve some tangerine zest for the glaze)
1/3 cup white sugar (brown would probably be nicer, but I don't have any)
A rough 1/4 cup of butter, cubed (I am working with butter in 100 gram increments, don't know the equivalents, so I guessed at it)
A sprinkle more of cinnamon

1. Scatter these ingredients over the rolled out rectangle of dough. Roll up.
2. Use dental floss to slice the dough into roughly one inch thick rolls.
3. Place on greased, sil-patted, or parchmented baking surface, and let rise again until double. (Stuck 'em back in the warm oven with a bowl of water to keep 'em moist.)
4. Bake at 400 F (205 C) until golden and luscious.

Glaze:

1/2 tablespoon of butter, softened
1 and 1/3 cup powdered sugar
Juice of one tangerine (as needed for desired consistency)
About 2 teaspoons minced tangerine and lemon zest
Little bit of lemon juice to taste (so it's a bit tangy and not just sweet)

Whisk these ingredients together, proportions by trial and error, to create a smooth, viscous glaze for the rolls. Apply, (drizzle if you're classy; smear if you're hungry) and eat.

Verdict:

A golden brown success story! These are so nice and soft, with a slightly crackly, shiny top going on. The rolls themselves are not too sweet, and the citrus taste is not very prominent. That I would change. But the glaze is so tasty, and definitely citrusy. Also a very pleasant shade of apricot. The lemon juice was really necessary for the taste of the glaze--without, it would have been just...sweet. Flat and sweet. But the addition of the lemon juice really brightened it. Warm, soft comforting rolls topped with sunny, cheery glaze. Almost perfect.

Now hopefully they will be popular at the picnic.

You may be wondering why I've declared them a success before bringing them to their final destination. It's simple, really. The ugly one had to be sacrificed in the name of science. :)

Here's a photo of the finished product being consumed on the grass. They were much enjoyed.

first post: pizza dough two ways (soon to be four)

2008-09-20T13:13:00.000-07:00

When I say pizza dough two ways I don't really mean anything groundbreaking. Sadly. Just two pizzas with different toppings, though I would like to try this recipe for cinnamon roll-style pizza (if that makes sense).

Trying lots of pizza permutations is really easy if you make a big batch of dough at once and live off it for several days in a row (just like me!). This also works for pasta dough, which will be the subject of an upcoming post. (But god, so much pizza and pasta in the past few days...I need to watch it.)I was very pleased with the recipe I used for the dough. Will be making it again, as it's super easy, but maybe blended with some whole wheat flour and/or soyflour to up the nutrition. I really like the semolina in the dough--gives a great, just...pizza-y chew to the crust. I upped the proportion of semolina to regular flour in the original recipe, mainly because I bought a pretty big bag of it. (To save space, I won't post my version of the recipe. I just used a full cup of semolina and a bit less white flour...enough to form a workable, not-to-sticky dough. I also didn't feel like prebaking the crust before topping was necessary.)

PIZZA ONE: Spinach and tomato.

Very basic. Even, dare I say, healthy? (And even a bit boring? But only in light of the next pizza, and still quite satisfying).

1. Roll out dough, slather on some store bought sauce, some squished cloves of roasted garlic, and several generous handfuls of washed and drained spinach (yes the spinach will look like it's overwhelming the pizza but we all know how prone greens are to shrinkage--don't worry).
2. Top with maybe 1/4 c. sliced or shredded mozzarella. (If this were a perfect world and imported cheese was not as outrageously expensive in isolated Norway as it is, I'd use fresh mozzarella. But instead I used the domestic brand Tine mozzarella. It's compact, firm, and sort of tasteless, like Kraft mozzarella. But it gets chewy and melty so it serves it's purpose.)
3. Top that with some sliced cherry or plum tomatoes and sliced onions. Bake in 400 degree F (or ~205 C) oven until...it looks ready. You'll know!
4. When you whisk the pizza out, all nice and bubbly and golden, top with chopped parsley, ground black pepper, and grated hard cheese (I've been on a Grana Padano kick, again because of the cost factor. It's cheaper here than Parmigiano-Reggiano. And it tastes good, too!)
5. Eat. If, like me, you're feeling Norwegian...or maybe you are just easily tempted to buy stupid things when you wander grocery store aisles on an empty stomach...try it with Pizza Dressing! For what it's worth, it's pretty indistinguishable from ranch dressing. Normally I would be a little hesitant to embrace something so...trashy. But it's Norway and I need comfort. And it's good on the crust.

But now onto the serious stuff. Pizza two: Roasted beet and feta pizza.

This pizza came out so great. The combination of sweet beets, pungent roasted garlic, and the briny tang of feta was really terrific. It's also a sauce-less pizza, so you don't have too many flavors competing. Just olive oil and a bit of thyme on the crust.

I adapted the recipe (for roasted beet, goat cheese & arugula pizza) from fellow bloggers A Good Appetite. It's pretty likely I wouldn't have modified much if I were in my kitchen at home, but here I made changes based on Norwegian price and availability. Namely, I used the spinach I already had in the fridge instead of arugula, and I opted for feta in place of goat cheese. (You don't want to know how expensive the chevre here is...) I also followed the suggestions A Good Appetite made for if they were to make the recipe again.

My recipe goes as follows:

Dough for one pizza (that said, size varies...my dough generally adopts an oblong 12-by-16 inch shape when rolled out thin...and that worked for these ingredients)
Olive oil
Salt
Thyme
One medium beet (2.5 inches in diameter?), cut in half then in 0.125 inch slices)
One medium onion, again cut in half and then in slices
5-ish cloves of garlic, unpeeled
0.25 cup of slice/shredded mozzarella
A stick of feta about 0.75 inch thick and 3 inches long (or equivalent...that's an awfully weird measurement)
Two plentiful handfuls of spinach, washed and drained

Preheat oven to 400 F. Place beet, onion and garlic on a baking pan or parchment paper and lightly drizzle with oil. Salt to taste. Roast for maybe 25 minutes or until they're done roasted. Remove from oven and let cool a bit. Squeeze the garlic out of its peels and chop roughly.
Meanwhile, roll out dough. Lightly drizzle with olive oil and a generous pinch of thyme.
Arrange spinach on dough and layer mozzarella over it.
Top pizza with beautiful beet slices and onions and garlic. Crumble and sprinkle feta over all.
Bake until edges of pizza beginning to brown, 20 minutes or so.

The results are pretty fabulous, but I'd make a few changes. First off I wished the cheese taste was more prominent, but I feel like the strong taste of feta would be overpowering, so next time I make it I'll use chevre since it's less...assertive I guess. And I think the taste of arugula would be a nice addition, as the spinach doesn't really add much flavor to the dish. Though the relatively tastelessness of spinach allowed me to add more, boosting the "health" of this pizza, right? I negated the spinach with the use of more pizza dressing for crust dipping. Sure, I can eat ranch dressing with my gourmet pizza. I do what I want!

For my last blob of dough I'll be making a pretty basic pizza with the rest of the sauce and mozzarella, as well as feta, sun-dried tomatoes, and yellow bell pepper. Wish I had basil, though.

Though I think I will pinch off a small bit of the dough to make a dessert pizza. Here's my vision: knead a bit of sugar and cinnamon into the dough and roll out. Smear with a bit of black currant jam, top with brunost (Norwegian sweet brown cheese, known at gjetost stateside), and crown with thin slices of apple. Bake. Will let you know if it turns out.