COMFORT EATING WITH APPLE CRUMBLE AND DUCK AND ROE AND BLINIS FOR NEW YEAR AT GÅSÖ

We have been snowed in due to the great chill in the UK. Fortunately both me and my husband works from home and our son Hugo has walking distance to school!
To comfort ourselves we did some nice cooking! Slow roast duck and lamb shank etc and a glorious apple crumble that was created due to what we had at home. Here is the recipe for that

Luxury Apple Crumble (serves 6, at least)

You will need

3/4 dl sugar
100 g butter or margarine
1 pinch of salt
1 1/2 dl plain flour
1 1/2 dl oats
10 walnuts, ground
4 apples
1 tablespoon sugar
cinnamon
1 dl raisins mixed with dried cranberries
1 dl Marsala wine

Let the raisins and cranberries soak in the wine.
Peel, core and slice the apples. Heat them in a bit of butter and a tbsp of sugar, add the soaked fruit and the cinnamon.
Mix the other ingredients in a bowl, cut the butter/margarine in cubes and mix it with your hands. I should be a bit lumpy. Put the apple mix in a ovenproof dish, put the lumpy dough on top and cook for approx 30 min on 220 degrees Celsius.
Serve with custard, double cream or ice cream. Fantastic!



We went to our wonderful new house on Gåsö in the Stockholm archipelago for New Year.
It was cold outside, -6C, but warm an snug inside. We took some lovely walks, cooked nice and hearty meals that we shared with our neighbours - my sister and husband. On New Years Eve we had luxury roe with homemade blinis for a starter (at our house) and dear saddle with a fantastic wild mushroom sauce and "Hasselbackenpotatis" at my sister house. Clabbe, my brother in law hunts so he had shot the dear! At 12 we had some more bubbly wine and fired some lovely fireworks before we all snuggled up in front of the fire in my sisters house!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

To all of you who are following and reading my blog I wish you

A very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Be inspired and decorate with black and white and make big ginger cookies and write a nice Christmas greeting with icing.

To find the recipes go to my "old blog" www.ankan.blogmaestro.com where you will find a lot of Swedish and English Christmas recipes.

SAFFRON GRAVAD LAX - YOUR START TO CHRISTMAS LUNCH

Surprise your guests and present them with homemade Gravad Lax. Saffron is a very "Chrismassy" spice in Sweden, so here we are giving the Gravad Lax some Christmas treatment. To be sure that there is no parasites in the raw fish it needs to be in the freezer below -18 degrees for approx 10 days before or after the cure! For 6-8 people you need:

1 kilo salmon fillets with skin on
2 tsp mixed peppercorns
4 tbsp sea salt flakes (Maldon)
4 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp honey
big bunch of dill

Crush the peppercorns in a pestle and mortar together with the salt and sugar. Rub 1/3 of the mix into the salmon. Cover the fillets with plenty of chopped dill and put on the rest of the salt/pepper mix. Put the fillets together fleshy side against flesh and thick side against thin, and place them in a plastic bag. Seal the bag thoroughly and put on a plate which you put in the fridge. Leave for 2 days and 2 nights, turning them a couple of times. After the 2 days pour away the liquid. Can be kept in the fridge for about one week, or in the freezer for up to 2 months.

When serving - take away most of the dill and pepper and cut into fine slices. Serve with Gravlaxsås or some crème fraiche that you spice with some mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, runny honey, salt & pepper.
This is how you make the Gravlax Sauce

3 tbsp mustard (mix English and Dijon)
1 tbsp sugar
1 pinch of salt
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
100 ml chopped dill
100 ml sunflower oil

Mix everything but the oil and the dill. Slowly add the oil and whisk it in slowy, it should get quite thick! Mix in the dill and serve!

CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS À LA ÅHLÉNS

Welcome to the Christmas at Åhléns 2009! Choose between red, black, white or grey.
A cosy and Nordic and folkloristic feel that will make any home warm and snug for the holidays. Of course, Åhléns is a department store chain in Sweden. But take some inspiration from it and find similar items at Ikea, Skandium (in London) etc.

WINTER WARMER WITH PHEASANT BREAST FOR SUPPER!

This Saturday we went on a little shopping trip to some organic farm shops in our area.
We found some lovely fresh pheasant breast and locally grown organic potatoes, Brussels sprouts and red cabbage. What a wonderful base for a cold Sunday winter supper! This is what I did!

For 4 you need

4 pheasant breasts
12 potatoes (butter and bread crumbs)
20 Brussels sprouts

1/2 medium sized red cabbage
1 large red onion
2 tbsp treacle
2 tbsp raisins
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
100 ml red wine
salt

For the red wine sauce

300 ml red wine
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 chicken stock cube
1 tbsp potato flour
2 tbsp water
salt and pepper

Start with the potatoes. This potato dish is called Hasselbackspotatis and is said to be created at a very famous restaurant/hotel in the Djurgården part of Stockhom with the same name Hasselbacken (Hazel Hill).
Put the oven on at 225 C. Cut the potatoes finely but not all the way through. Put them in a oven dish and drizzle some melted butter over them and sprinkle with a little bit of bread crumbs. Cook in the oven for 45 minutes.

Meanwhile cook the red cabbage. Slice the onion and the cabbage finely. Fry gently with some butter in a saucepan. Add the raisins, brown sugar, treacle, vinegar and wine. Cook for approx 15 minutes and season with salt and pepper and a pinch of 5 spice (optional).

Season the pheasant breast with salt and freshly milled black pepper. Brown them in butter. Put them in an oven dish and add 100 ml of red wine. Cook in the oven at 200 C for approx 10 min. Take out to rest and keep warm.

When the breast is in the oven, make the red wine sauce.

Melt the sugar and add the red wine and stock cube. Let simmer for 10 minutes. Mix 1 tbsp of potato flour with 2 tbsp of water and add to the sauce. Simmer for another 5 minutes. Add the wine from the pheasant breast and serve up.

Put the breast on top of the red cabbage. Cook the Brussels sprouts (preferably in the microwave for 6 minutes) and serve up together with the potatoes. Finally, pour a little bit of the red wine sauce on top! Serve immediately with some sauce on the side.

CHRISTMAS WINDOWS IN LONDON

Christmas has arrived early this year. Went to London last weekend for a party and stopped at Next and Paperchase on Tottenham Court Road on the way back. I was surprised to see that they had already started their Christmas windows! Get inspired by Next and perhaps you will have a pink Christmas this year?

Winter gardening with Cyclamen in white

We did some gardening this weekend. High time to change the summer flowers in the pots to frost resistant winter flowers. Cyclamens are fantastic for this purpose. I have Ivy in my pots all year round and just change the flowering bit in the middle. Next weekend it is time to put some bulbs in, white Crocuses or perhaps some mini Irises!