The Big Language Debate

I've decided upon switching my blog language to Danish. Our web editor at ALT for damerne magazine has asked if I'm interesed in publishing Taste Central on www.altfordamerne.dk - and I actually like the idea. It would be wonderful to spread my word about positive eating and the joy of cookbooks to all our lovely readers. I'm not yet sure of the exact location of my blog, but I'll keep you posted. Who knew? Me, a bonafide food blogger with an audience...

More agony for my cookbook shelf

Damn you, Amazon. You always know when I feel the need for new additions to my already bursting collection of cookbooks. I know it's all auto generated from a no-reply email, but it works. And so I did as ordered... and ordered.

First up a book which has been in my shopping bag for quite a while. I fell for it because of the customer reviews which seemed proof that people actually cook from this book. If you think about it, how many of the recipes from a cookbook do you actually cook? Probably not a whole lot. Which is weird, because this is what your cookbooks are here for. But with the Ottolenghi cookbook things seem to be different. And flipping through the glossy 288 pages I can see why. This is real food. This is food with flavour, ideas and simple ingredients. Admitted, it's not four-ingredient-food, but it's not go-to-fifteen-specality-stores-and-f***-up-your-visa-card either.

There a three chapters; Vegetables, pulses and grains, Meat and fish and Baking and patisserie. Especially the first part is filled with delicious looking dishes. I've already decided on a few things I have to try:
# French bean and mangetout with hazelnut and orange
# Cauliflower and cumin fritters with lime yoghurt
# Peaches and speck with orange blossom

When you hit the sweet department of the book - get ready to drool. These have already tickled my teastebuds:
# Pistachio shortbreads
# Caramel and macadamia cheesecake
# Cinnamon and hazelnut meringue
+ there's even recipes for you to master the classic Ladurée macaroons. Hmm... maybe I should invite some of the ladies for afternoon tea soon?

Chicken soup for a sore throat - or heart

So, it seems like I can't get out of bed this time. From my being ill, that is. An ordinary flu has developed into a throat virus, which has robbed me of my voice completely. It's a weird experience for someone who talks as much as I do. My brother - who I'm living with at the moment, due to bathroom renovation at my house - seems to, as Depeche Mode says, enjoy the silence. And my mother describes my laugh as sounding like a small dog. And my dad isn't too keen on speaking with me on the phone, since he thinks I sound like my grandmother did in the days before she died. So as you can imagine, I feel a bit lonely in all my muteness.

Somewhere between reading my new shipment of cook books from Amazon - I'll tell you about them later - and watching Rachael Ray and Oprah I decided to make a chicken soup for dinner. Not a classic Danish one with meatballs and flour dumplings like my maternal grandmother used to serve up when I was little, but a Kristine chicken soup. Something for my throat as well as my heart. Something to fill my body with warmth much needed in these crappy November days where the sun doesn't seem to come out at all and where the heavens open up and release rain and nearly snow upon us.

On my favourite food website, www.waitrose.com, I found a recipe for gingered chicken soup, but since it seems a bit too much like a broth, I decided to beef it up a bit. Here's my result:

Kind to your throat chicken soup
For the chicken:
4 chicken upper thighs
Whole peppercorns
1 small onion
1 small carrot
5 cm peeled ginger
Salt

For the soup:
250 grams of brow button mushrooms
8 spring onions
100 grams of bean sprouts
8 cm peeled ginger
1 lime
Freshly ground black pepper
Salt
Chicken or vegetable stock

Cut the onion in halve, the carrot into three pieces and the ginger into 4-5 big chunks and place them in a pot with the chicken, peppercorns and salt. Fill up with water until it comes about 2 cm's above the chicken. Bring to the boil and simmer for 45 minutes.

Meanwhile rinse the vegetables, finely slice the mushrooms and spring onions and put aside. Finely grate the ginger and pound together with a little rock salt in a pestle and mortar.

When the chicken is cooked drain the pieces and leave to cool a bit. Drain the liquid and skim as much of the surface fat as possible. Pick the meat from the chicken bones and rip or cut it into to bitesize pieces.

Heat a little oil in your favourite soup pot and shortly fry the mushrooms. Add the cooking liquid, but be sure to stop pouring before you reach the grubby stuff on the bottom. Pour another half or whole litre water and some chicken or vegetable stock. Bring to a simmer and add the chicken pieces and the ginger.

Now roll the lime fruit so you release the juices inside - if you don't do this, buying limes a pretty much a waste of money and effort. Press the juices into the soup and taste with pepper and salt. When you're satisfied wih flavour, add the spring onion and the bean sprouts and serve up. If you're feeling particularly hungry, or is serving the soup for a man with a healthy appetite, you could add some noodles or serve with crusty bread. And if you're serving it for a Mexican, throw in a little chilli.

A nod to Hamptons Chutney Co. in NYC

Found a bunch of big lovely portobella mushrooms today. And my thoughts wandered off to New York, where I had the best sandwich ever. It was at Hamptons Chutney Co. at Prince & Greene. Multigrain bread with goats cheese, mushroom, picked red onion and rocket salad.

Tonight I made my own version - with pickled chilies instead of onion. It worked beautifully. And for a moment I was back in Soho.

No picture - I ate it all to fast :-)

The best way to enjoy a mellow summer evening? In the garden, with a good friend and a bowl of fresh strawberries. Combined with lemony buttermilk and bisquits. Happy, happy, happy.

Library additions

Ooops, forgot: I was really sick around my birthday in March - and in my feverish state I bought cook books on Amazon.










Spectacular cakes has awaken my inner Martha Stewart - I now want to be an amazing cake decorator. My exam will be this saturday, where I'm creating wedding cupcakes for the royal wedding between prince Joachim and Marie Cavallier.












Then there's Medina Kitchen. I love North African food and this book is so inspiring - and I especially enjoy the portraits of the women who makes all the food. The men in North Africa apparently mainly cook for feasts and in public.













Last, but not least - UK hit chef, Skye Gyngell is out with her first cook book. She has an amazing story, she used be a drug addict, but she cleaned up and discovered a love for food. She now runs a very popular restaurant in London. Her approach to food is interesting - she works with two basic flavourings; earth and sky, which are included in every recipe.

Summer's here!

It's been too long since I've posted - but tonight I was inspired by my own dinner: new Danish potatos. There's only one way to eat them - boiled, served with cold butter and crunchy Maldon sea salt. So simple and still pure heaven. Oh yeah, and don't forget a glass of chilled Pinot Grigio!