Smoked Mackerel Chowder
10th September, 2008, WednesdaySeafood
Budget: £
Cookery level: 
Preparation Time: 10 min
Cooking Time: 20 min
Serves: 2
Ingredients:
knob of butter
3 rashers of bacon , copped
1 onion , finely chopped
750ml milk
350g potatoes (about 2 medium), cut into small cubes
1 Courgette, cut into pieces
300g frozen smoked mackerel fillets (about 2)
140g sweetcorn
125 ml single cream
Methods:
1. Heat the butter in a large saucepan.
2. Put in the bacon, cook until starting to brown.
3. Add the onion, cook until soft, then pour over the milk and cream, and stir through the potatoes. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 5 mins.
4. Add the mackerel, then leave to gently cook for another 10 mins.
5. Stir through the sweetcorn, then cook for another few mins.
6. Serve with plenty of crusty bread.
Chocolate brownie cake
5th June, 2008, ThursdayDesserts, Bake
Chocolate brownie cake
Budget: £
Cookery level: 
Preparation Time: 15 min
Cooking Time: 30 min
Serves: 4 or more
Ingredients:
100g butter
175g white sugar
75g brown or muscovado sugar
125g chocolate (plain or milk)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract or essence
100g plain flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
Methods:
1. Preheat oven to 180 C.
2. Put the butter, caster sugar, brown sugar and chocolate in the pan and melt gently on low heat until it is smooth and lump-free.
3. Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool a little.
4. Whisk the eggs with a fork until light and frothy.
5. Add the eggs, vanilla, flour and baking powder to the chocolate mixture and mix.
6. Put the mixture into a cake tin and bake in the oven for 25-30 mins.
7. Remove and allow to cool for 20-30 mins before cutting into wedges and serve.
Janssons frestelse
6th January, 2008, SundayBake, Seafood
Janssons frestelse
The last and also my favourite dish to introduce in a Swedish Christmas dinner: Janssons frestelse (meaning Jansson’s temptation) which is made of potatoes, onions, anchovies (or sprats) and cream. I had a search on Wikipedia, and it says there is a mistranslation into English where the original recipe uses sprats instead of anchovies, because sprats in Swedish are known as "ansjovis". Anyway, what I used was sprats and I don’t think it matters.
Budget: £
Cookery level:
Preparation Time: 15 min
Cooking Time: 50 min
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
4 medium boiling potatoes, peeled and cut into strips
2 tbp butter
2 onions, thinly sliced
1 can of anchovy or sprats, drained
2 tbp breadcrumbs
1 cup of heavy cream
½ cup of milk
White pepper
Methods:
1. Preheat oven to 220
oC.
2. Heat the butter in a saucepan then add onions and cook until they are soft but not brown.
3. Spread some butter on the container or baking tray, arrange a layer of potato strips on it, then alternate layers of onions and anchovies ending with another potatoes layer. Sprinkle each layer with a little white pepper.
4. Scatter bread crumbs over the top layer of potatoes
5. In a small saucepan, heat the milk and cream until it barely simmers, then pour 2/3 of it over the potatoes.
6. Bake in the oven for 30 min and pour over the read of the cream and bake for another 15 min.
Kåldolmar (meat stuffed cabbage rolls)
4th January, 2008, FridayPork
Kåldolmar (meat stuffed cabbage rolls)
Budget: £
Another hot dish in the Christmas dinner is called kåldolmar, which is a cabbage rolls filled with meat. I bought them ready-made in supermarket freezer, not expensive but they need to be cooked before serving. Cook them in a saucepan with a little oil, turning it regularly and use medium heat to cook, they will be ready in about 15 min. They actually taste much better than it looks!
Meatballs (köttnullar) and small sausages (prinskorv)
3rd January, 2008, ThursdayBeef, Pork
Meatballs (köttnullar) and small sausages (prinskorv)
Budget: £
I’ve skipped the second course of the Swedish Christmas dinner because it’s only a selection of cold sliced meats like turkey, roast beef, and Christmas ham (julskinka), nothing much special about it.
Now we go onto the third course of hot dishes, which consists of the famous Swedish meatballs and sausages. They can easily be found in supermarket at cheap price and big pack that can last for a long time in your freezer. They are easy to cook, just put them into a saucepan until hot, or add three or four into your pasta or instant noodle. Good cheap, easy to cook processed meat!
Vörtbröd and Pepparkakor (gingerbread)
1st January, 2008, TuesdaySnack
Vörtbröd and Pepparkakor (gingerbread)
Budget: £
This bread and gingerbread play an important role in the Swedish Christmas period. The bread is called Vörtbröd and it has a great smell just like the Glogg, it usually served with Christmas ham and some mustard on top, or just some butter on top will do just fine. The gingerbread, Pepparkakor, is everywhere during Christmas, you can find them in shops or people handing it out in some Christmas market or on the street.
Smoked salmon and caviar
1st January, 2008, TuesdaySeafood
Smoked salmon and caviar
Budget: £
Smoked salmon and caviar on a hard boiled egg are the first course of a traditional Swedish Christmas buffet as well, served together with the pickled herrings.
Pickled herrings (sill)
31st December, 2007, MondaySeafood
Pickled herrings (sill)
Budget: £
These are pickled herring served in a variety of sauces that can easily buy in cans. They are the first course of a traditional Swedish Christmas buffet, usually eaten with boiled potatoes.
The three sauces that shown on the picture is: plain pickled herring, mustard herring and some other sauce that I don't know about :p
Glögg (mulled wine)
30th December, 2007, SundayDrinks
Glögg
Budget: £
This is a famous warm mulled wine in the Nordic countries during this Christmas season, called Glögg. It is made of red wine combined with fruit extract and spices such as cinnamon, cardamom and cloves, sugar or molasses. It is heated to 60-70 degrees avoid boiling off the alcohol, and add almonds and rasins to it when serving.
When warming the Glögg, put it into a bowl then into a saucepan with water. Avoid heating it too much if you want alcohol in it!
It certainly will give you a warm and festive feeling!
三杯雞 ('Three-cups' chicken)
21st June, 2007, ThursdayChicken
三杯雞 ('Three-cups' chicken)
Budget: 1
Cookery level:
Preparation Time: 5 min
Cooking Time: 25 min
Serves: 2
Ingredients:
1 medium chicken
1 portion of vegetable oil
1 portion of cooking (or white) wine
1 portion of soy sauce
Methods:
1. Heat the portion of oil in a saucepan, add in the chicken and cook for 5 min
2. Pour in the wine and soy sauce and cook on low heat for another 20 min
