Recipe swap (and other food related stuff)

[Gwenno]

Viisikielinenkantele - I tried out the Hildegard-von-Bingen-nerve-cookies this week and I'll be darned if they don't leave you feeling warm and fuzzy just like the description stated It's a strange flavour, and much less sweet than what I'm used to, but the spice mix is lovely and the house smelled heavenly while they were cooking and for a while afterwards!

There are quite a few of the recent posts I want to try, but will need more mouths to eat them first methinks ^_^

Out of curiosity, does anyone have any special Easter recipes they'd like to share? This is such a diverse community there must be some really great and interesting stuff in your heads and kitchens

[OrigamiOwl]

Not really and Easter dish, but I made it today!

Honey and Apple Self-Saucing Pudding Sorry for confusing instructions :/

Basically the same recipe as the chocolate self-saucing I posted a million years ago, but, different. Also slightly gooier.

Time: Max= 20mins prep time + 45 mins cooking time. Serves up to 8 people! (if you're stingy! ) Can live in the fridge for about a week I guess. (usually it's all eaten by then)

Ingredients:

• <5 medium apples- I recommend less, but anywho. 5 is the maximum that can actually fit (and even then, I had to split the batter into two bowls haha be prepared for Archimedes' Principle to jump out suddenly and bite you on the butt like a troll >_>)
• 60 grams of butter
• 1/2 cup of milk (any milk)
• roughly 2/3 cup of honey
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence (or equivalent) (optional)
• 1 cup of self-raising flour (or equivalent)
• 2/3 cup of brown sugar
• cinnamon to taste
• ~2 cups of boiling water

Batter:
1.) Melt butter in pudding bowl in microwave. Then start on Apples* they can cook while you do this.
2.) Add milk, honey and vanilla essence. Then the flour. Stir until there are (mostly >_>) no lumps. Then add apple.
3.) Smooth out the batter in the bowl so it's roughly level, with little to no batter up the sides of the bowl. Sift brown sugar over the top evenly, then sprinkle as much cinnamon as you like over the top as well.
4.) Gently pour boiling water over the top. Carefully place in oven and cook for... well... 45 minutes or until it looks done (done being: a slightly wobbly, sticky bubbling, no excess water sloshing about)
______________________________________
*Apples:
1.) Peel, core and cut up apples into scrabble-tile-sized chunks. (I used one of these: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31XG60BTMSL.jpg) Place apple into microwave bowl and add water until they are nearly covered. Cover and microwave for about.... 15-20 minutes.
2.) Drain well. Really well. Sit them on some paper towel to soak up the extra liquid if you need to. (because watery cake is blargh)
______________________________________

Serve with ice-cream


^ what was left of the pudding + a 'serving suggestion' ;P

[Viisikielinenkantele]

Viisikielinenkantele - I tried out the Hildegard-von-Bingen-nerve-cookies this week and I'll be darned if they don't leave you feeling warm and fuzzy just like the description stated It's a strange flavour, and much less sweet than what I'm used to, but the spice mix is lovely and the house smelled heavenly while they were cooking and for a while afterwards!

Glad you liked them! Yes, I was very surprised how powerful some regular kitchen-substances can be...
If you are interested, I can try to translate some other recipes of Hildegard von Bingen, there are a few others.

[Sunflower]

If you are interested, I can try to translate some other recipes of Hildegard von Bingen, there are a few others.

Yes!  I'm really intrigued by Hildegard.  I studied some of her poetry and drawings in college (medieval Latin), and later heard recordings of her music.  I even saw a movie about her recently (which gives a vivid sense of the texture of medieval life). 

So I'd love to see more of her recipes!  Thanks for offering.

[Gwenno]

Not really and Easter dish, but I made it today!

Honey and Apple Self-Saucing Pudding Sorry for confusing instructions :/

Oooh that DOES look nice ^_^ Apple and Cinnamon things happen quite a bit in my kitchen so I expect this will be tried out pretty soon, (basically once there's the slightest excuse to bring people over and share cake).

Glad you liked them! Yes, I was very surprised how powerful some regular kitchen-substances can be...
If you are interested, I can try to translate some other recipes of Hildegard von Bingen, there are a few others.

If you wouldn't mind that would be great. I had a lot of fun with these, and any equally interesting recipes are sure to be tried out

[Viisikielinenkantele]

Okay, I will ask my friend if she has a recipe-book for Hildegard von Bingen-recipes. In the meantime, this I have found in the internet:

Schwäbisches Habermus (should be the first meal of the day):

2 cups of water
1 scarce cup spelt grout
1 apple, sliced
1 pinch galangal
1 pinch sneezeweed (these two ingredients are really old spices...)
2 teaspoons honey
cinnamon
 
Stir the grout in the cold water and boil it cautiosly up. Put the other ingredients (without cinnamon) in it and let it soak for 10 minutes while simmering. Sprinkle cinnamon over it and eat it still warm.

I don´t know if you can try it, the ingredients are very obscure... but it sounds interesting, don´t you think?

[Gwenno]

Okay, I will ask my friend if she has a recipe-book for Hildegard von Bingen-recipes. In the meantime, this I have found in the internet:

Schwäbisches Habermus (should be the first meal of the day):

I don´t know if you can try it, the ingredients are very obscure... but it sounds interesting, don´t you think?

Haha, I had to google about half of those things Definitely interesting however!
Galangal may be able to be substituted with ginger, but sneezeweed may be a tad more difficult. Echinacea possibly? Could make echinacea tea and substitute the water for that? Spelt grout may be okay with a mixture of spelt flour and oats (I'm getting the impression that this is a porridge-ish dish so that could work maybe, right?). At least apples, cinnamon, honey and water are easy to come by!!!

[Viisikielinenkantele]

Oh, yes, these ingredients are hard to come by... I think, you could left the sneezeweed out. You are right, this is a kind of porridge. If you try it please let me know how it tasted

[Aprillen]

Galangal can be found in Asian food stores, fresh even. Sneezeweed, on the other hand... I've never even heard of it before. 

The preparation of the recipe (Schwäbisches Habermus) sounds almost like how you make couscous but with more unusual herbs and spices (and apple). Grout (or groats) is basically what couscous is, except that this recipe calls for spelt and not common wheat. I think you'd be able to find cracked spelt in a health food shop, though I'm not sure the grains will be fine enough to work like couscous.

[Gwenno]

I believe that this will be my 100th post, and what better way to celebrate than with cake! Danish poppy seed cake to be exact and while I can't share cake with everyone online, at least now you can get a recipe to try at home, and I promise, this one is phenomenal. I made it at home and for a friend's birthday, and although it was a big cake it disappeared VERY quickly, and even the fussy eaters went for second and third helpings

Anyway, without further ado:
Valmuefrø kage

Ingredients
Cake
3/4 cups/160g soft butter
1 1/2 cups/300g caster sugar
2 cups/260g all purpose flour (sifted)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup/75g poppy seeds
1 cup/240ml milk
1tsp vanilla extract
4 egg whites

1. Soak the poppy seeds in the milk and vanilla overnight
2. Next day Heat the oven up to 355*F/180*C/Gas Mark 4 and grease and lightly flour 2 x 8 inch/20cm cake pans
3. Beat butter until light and creamy
Add the sugar gradually and continue to beat well. Set aside
4. Add a third of the flour mixture and a third of the milk/poppy mixture to the creamed butter mix, alternating until all the mixtures are used and blending well after each addition
5. Whip the egg whites until stiff and fold into the mixture
Divide the mixture equally between the cake pans and bake for 25 minutes or until the top is golden brown and a skewer comes out clean
6. Allow the cakes to cool for about 10 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack

The icing and filling are a bit time consuming and complicated. I've tried using fresh whipped cream instead one of the times and it worked out very well if you'd like a lower effort alternative. For that just whipping cream, icing sugar and a lot of air and beating!

Filling
4 egg yolks
3/4 cup/150g caster sugar
2 tsp con starch/cornflour
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup/360ml milk
1/2 cup / 55g Hazenuts, finely ground
1 tsp vanilla paste (vanilla extract also works fine, but you may need a tiny bit more cornflour for a thicker consistency)

1. In a heat-proof bowl, beat the egg yolks until frothy
2. Add the sugar, corn starch/cornflour and salt and gradually add the milk, stirring unil all ingredients are combined
3. Place the bowl on top of a pan of boiling water, taking care not to get any water in the mixture and to keep sufficient water int eh base of the pan
4. Stir constantly to keep the mixture from scorching and until the mixture has thickened and absorbed all the milk. Remove it from the heat.
5. Add the ground hazelnuts and vanilla paste. Mix the filling well, and spread it between the cake layers when they have completely cooled

Topping
1 cup / 135g confectioner's/icing sugar
3 tbsp rum
1/2 cup hazelnuts, ground

1. Gradually add the rum to the confectioner's/icing sugar, stirring until the icing is smooth
2. Cover the top and sides of the cake
3. Sprinkle the ground hazelnuts over the top

As I said, the cake is glorious, and once you reach this point you find a bunch of friends and share it with them

[Divra]

I thought I'd contribute something as well so... here goes!

Fläskpannkaka

(Pork pancake)

Serves: I dunno... recipe says 8, I'd say maybe 4, but I'm a big eater...

Ingredients

2 packets (280g) bacon.
6 eggs
1,2 l milk
0,6 l all-purpose flour
50g melted butter
2 tbsp sugar (or a dollop of honey, if you want to go Known World-authentic)
1 tsp salt

Whisk together the eggs, sugar and salt. Add half the milk and sift in the flour (if you don't sift the flour you risk getting lumps of flour in the batter), and whisk until smooth. Add the rest of the milk and the butter and whisk again. Leave the batter in the refrigerator for at least one hour. I find that making the batter the night before is best.

Turn the oven to 175C (350F). Cut the bacon into bite-sized bits and place them in the bottom of a deep sheet pan. Pre-cook the bacon for 5 minutes, or until it has browned a little and the fat has rendered out. Pour the batter over the bacon, and cook for another 30-35 min, or until the top is golden-brown and puffy and a skewer comes out clean.

The traditional side is cowberry (lingon) jam, but apple sauce, grated or sliced apples and/or maple syrup all work wonders.

edit: I forgot the butter. It's fixed now.

[Sunflower]

I thought I'd contribute something as well so... here goes!

Fläskpannkaka

(Pork pancake)

Thanks, Divra -- this looks like a great brunch dish!

Would you care to formally introduce yourself in the Introduction Thread?  We'd love to know how you became knowledgeable about Scandinavian food (and food-supply issues in general -- you had an interesting post about that in the Gender Roles thread).

[Viisikielinenkantele]

I believe that this will be my 100th post, and what better way to celebrate than with cake! Danish poppy seed cake to be exact and while I can't share cake with everyone online, at least now you can get a recipe to try at home, and I promise, this one is phenomenal. I made it at home and for a friend's birthday, and although it was a big cake it disappeared VERY quickly, and even the fussy eaters went for second and third helpings

Gwenno, your cake sounds very interesting! I´m definitely trying it out!

[Divra]

Inspired by the discussion about how cake batter is always tastier than cake, I give you Sweden's favorite no-bake treat

Chokladbollar

100g butter, room temperature. (NOT margarine. Get the real stuff. It pays off.)
150 ml sugar.
300 ml rolled oats.
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla sugar or a few drops of vanilla extract
2 tbsp liquid (if you're making this with/for kids, use water or milk, for adults you might use strong coffee or the liquor of your choice)
Nib sugar, shredded coconut or chocolate sprinkles for rolling.

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add in the butter and liquids. Knead into a dough. Roll the dough into little balls, roll them in nib sugar/coconut/sprinkles, and place them on a plate in the refrigerator for half an hour before serving OR just get out a spoon and scoff the lot.

Kids tend to love to make these because you don't have to use anything mum and dad don't want you using (sharp knives, the stove, et.c.), tastes great and makes a mess like nobody's business.

[Solovei]

Inspired by the discussion about how cake batter is always tastier than cake, I give you Sweden's favorite no-bake treat

Chokladbollar

These sound delicious!