Julekake

julekake means "christmas cake" in Norwegian - but really this is a yeast bread with dried fruit bits in it. it's so good.







Julekake - Norwegian Christmas bread: makes two loaves

Mix dry ingredients together in a very large bowl:
1.5 liters of flour
250 grams of sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons of cardamom

Prepare your yeast:
mix two packets of dry yeast with 1 deciliter of lukewarm water and 2 teaspoons of sugar
let sit for two minutes

Mix wet ingredients together in a bowl:
400 grams of melted butter (about 3 and a half sticks)
5 deciliters of milk
yeast mixture

Pour the wet mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients.
knead with your hands for about ten minutes or using the dough hook on your standmixer
keep extra flour and milk nearby if you need to adjust the texture of your dough
it's ready when it comes together in a ball without leaving bits of itself behind in the bowl.

cover the ball of dough in the ball and let it rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes

put 2 deciliters of raisins and 1 deciliter of candied citrus peel (lemon and/or orange) chopped to about the same size as raisins aside.

When the dough ball has risen by at least 50%, knead the raisins and candied citrus peel into the dough until it is thoroughly incorporated. Then cut the dough in half and shape it into two round balls. Set the balls on a buttered baking sheet in a warm place (on top of your preheating oven, perhaps?) and cover with a kitchen towel. Let rise for 45 more minutes.

Brush each loaf with egg white or milk.

Leave the loaves on the cookie sheet and put into preheated 350 degree oven. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, until quite brown. if they are big they can be raw inside - and it's hard to overcook this guy, it's ok if it gets a little dry, you're going to eat it with butter on it anyways.

Remove from oven and immediately set loaves on to cooling racks. Don't cut into them until they are completely cooled!

The bread will last for quite awhile. It is best eaten toasted with butter. so good.

A story here - this recipe is adapted from the scanned in copies of a norwegian cookbook that's missing a critical page that I got from my mom. So let's just say it has taken some trial and error to get these right! still working on it.




Also, fair warning, this takes about 5 hours to make. And that's if you're on your game.

stone soup breakfast - eggs!

So our farmshare from Stone Soup Farm is gifting us with delicious eggs this year that are from the chickens they have been raising on the farm!

gina marie and roommate emily and I went and saw the chickens earlier this spring.




Here is a gratuitous picture of gina marie and baby cows.

After our first farmshare delivery, I decided to whip up a little sandwich for myself in the morning. fresh spinach, cheddar cheese. A perfect egg. a little pepper and salt.




We are getting delicious bread from El Jardin bakery with the farmshare as well, so I sliced that up. this one is 8 grain.

I spread the spinach and cheese from the pan onto the bread

plus egg, and voila! delicious.



A few days later, I had some of that odd pesto I had made, and so I made another breakfast sandwich. this one was sans spinach, plus tomato and pesto. and on different a country loaf type deal.





I love eggs.

strawberry jam

The other day, I went strawberry picking with gina marie and chloe elizabeth (of Greetings from the Chaise Lounge) and we got some delicious, although slightly waterlogged, strawberries.

It has been raining a lot here. The raining means that the strawberries are not as sweet as they could be, and go bad fast. The solution?

Make jam. and spread it on toast. (farmshare bread toast.)

to make the jam: take the tops off the strawberries. but them in a saucepan. add a tiny bit of water from your emptied wineglass and a healthy helping of sugar. turn the heat on low. stir. when they're a little soft, use the handblender to puree - defending yourself from strawberry stains with a pot lid. continue to heat and occasionally add a little sugar until it's a little darker and has a nice consistency. pour into tupperware and refrigerate



Let gina marie lick the pot.


Put on toast for breakfast.

and now, a word from my mother

"You are of course a genius inventive cook. Do you know where I always keep/kept the ginger? Right, in the freezer. But I cooked so seldom you probably thought it was a relic from Pennsylvania."

so it looks like my happy accident may have been genetically engineered. whatevs.

(I'm currently pre-heating the oven and waiting for my rosemary-whole wheat bread to rise. it's a nice afternoon activity.)

chloe's "french" bread

Recently, I made a trip over to our friend Chloe's house in Jamaica Plain because she said we could bake bread. She bakes things at an inn, and as such is Very Good At It. Not only did she help me bake bread, she also made amazing lasagna and tiramisu. Sooooo yummy.

I only participated in the bread adventure, however, and Chloe was so kind as to mail me the recipe afterwards! The further cooking adventures of Sarah Elisabeth and Chloe will be the subject of a future post, but for now, here is the recipe:
What?! you can't read it? Don't be silly. My office PDF maker is the perfect way to show you the recipe!


OK. Fine. Here is my faithful rewriting:

To: Sarah E Morton

Smart Women squeeze lettuce {"French" Bread} from: Chloe

(1) 2T (=2 packets) dry yeast
1/2 c warm water
1 T sugar

soften yeast and set aside
~~~~~~~~~~~~
(2) 1 T sugar
1 T salt
2 T oil
3 c flour
2 c very warm water

Combine ingredient
"stir good"
2-3 min
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(3) 3 (more) c of flour - add yeast mixture to
flour mixture - add in these last 3 c. flour

(4) Stir until all ingredients are mixed
(5) Let rest for 10 min then punch or poke down
(6) REPEAT 5 TIMES
(7) Divide Dough in half
(8) Roll each part out + roll up like a jelly roll
*Preheat oven to 400 degrees
(9) let loaves rise for 30 min
(10) cut slashes on top (+ brush w/ melted butter --optional)
(11) BAKE 25 min
(12) Rub butter over tops of loaves
{ Enjoy for all
{ Hygge occasions!

Scandinavian languages are great. So is Chloe's "french" bread. She even let me take home a loaf.

bumpin' garlic bread

garlic bread is super easy to make. also, it involves garlic, which means it is awesome. at sarah elisabeth's prompting, I'm going to share a little garlic bread recipe. I think this recipe may have just come straight out of my head and I'm pretty certain I make it slightly differently each time, so please feel free to tweak where it seems necessary. the version I'm writing down right now may not have reached its optimal garlic-ness.

1) begin with a loaf or half loaf of bread. the exact kind of bread doesn't really matter, but it should stem from the same philosophy as the baguette - crusty on the outside and soft in the middle. I'm a sucker for sourdough, but sarah elisabeth is not (among others). pop the bread into the oven as you preheat to 325.

2) while the oven (and bread) are preheating, mince yourself some garlic. if you're hardcore about hand mincing, be my guest. however, I like the garlic press in this instance, because you get more of a garlic paste that works better for spreading. I use a lot of garlic. like, five cloves minimum, but that's because I think garlic will save us all.

3) take the bread out of the oven. it should be warm and a bit toasty, but not burnt. slice it into inch-wide pieces, leaving the loaf connected at the bottom. like gills. you want to make bread gills.

4) with a knife, spread some buttery thing (I use earth balance, but real butter has been known to work as well) in between the slices. it doesn't have to be perfectly spread or fully covered. this is going to work as a...palette setter for the garlic. plus, buttery-tasting things are generally a hit.


5) with your fingers, insert the garlic or garlic paste in between the bread gills. rub the insides of the slices with the garlic so that there's a complete coating. consider the bread a house for garlic-y goodness.

6) wrap the loaf up in tin foil. I have a theory that this keeps the garlic from escaping into the ether, but maybe I made that up. either way, it will keep the bread from burning when you pop it back in the oven.

7) take the bread out of the oven after 15-20 minutes. check it. maybe put it in for longer. or don't. really, this is your call.

7.5) now, I do have to say that I have been occasionally criticized for having actual pieces of garlic in my garlic bread. apparently some people just want the garlic flavor without the garlic. if you must, take a fork and scrape out the pieces of garlic before you serve your garlic bread. just don't do it when you have me over because I will be offended on behalf of the garlic.

8) place loaf on a pretty plate. serve. allow people to rip off pieces and enjoy.

Breakfast in Skurdalen, from the one who makes it.

Sarah emily posted a bit about breakfast in Norway. The breakfast that she and others have eaten that I make in the cabin in Skurdalen (pronounced, roughly, "skrewdallin,") is influenced by the smorgasbord-y breakfasts common in scandinavia, the bread, cheese and eggs that they consume constantly, and my dad's awesome cooking skills, straight outta southern california.

Basically, the key is, use everything in the little cabin refrigerator, including whatever is left of last night's fish dinner. It's important to have at least one hot "centerpiece" - this is to satisfy the American in me.

Usually, it's potatoes. To make the potatoes:

scrub a buncha little potatoes (you can peel if you want, but I never do) - either red or white
cube the potatoes
cube one small-medium sized onion
finely chop or crush 4 cloves of garlic
put a 1/4 stick of butter or (for vegans, lactards, and the rest of the butter-averse) a bunch of oil (vegetable or olive) in a frying pan
add onions on medium heat
add garlic
saute about 2 minutes
add in potatoes
stir pan with spatula every 1-2 minutes
dice 1 red, yellow or orange pepper (optional)
dice 1 zucchini (optional)
(you can add pretty much any vegetables you have, they will change it up a little, I have found peppers and zucchini particularly satisfying, but carrots, broccoli, etc can also be good - or you can skip the extra veggies altogether and just revel in starchy goodness)
after potatoes have been in pan for about 10-15 minutes, add zucchini and pepper
add salt & lots of pepper
add garlic powder if you feel like it
cook - stirring often to avoid burning, and adding more butter/oil (especially necessary when using butter) whenever it seems prudent.
you can now be done, if you wish. Vegans must finish here.

optionally, you can scramble/fry an egg into the potatoes.
to do this, whisk an a few eggs, and optionally, some milk in a bowl.
pour the mixture over the potatoes and stir it around.
it's done when the eggs are cooked to your liking.

AND/OR

add cheese!
you can grate it or just break off hunks. In Norway I almost always use gulost (yellow cheese - which is sort of like a mild cheddar) or jarlsberg (a mild swiss-like cheese) for this.
add chunks of cheese liberally with the heat on medium low and stir until it melts.

when the potatoes are done, put them in a brightly colored bowl with some kind of ikea utensil for serving.



Moving on from the potatoes,
another key element is the boiled egg.
you need an egg cup for everyone
boil the eggs to their liking (softer is better for this purpose).
put each egg in an egg cup.
when it's time to eat the egg, tap your knife on the side of the egg near the very top to crack it a little, and then slice off the top.
if you like, add a little salt and or pepper to exposed egg.
now using your little bitty spoon, scoop the egg out of it's shell to eat it. you can eat it off the spoon, or you can put it on bread as part of your smorbrod assembly.

which brings us to smorbrod, the real heart of the breakfast. "Smor" in Norwegian, means butter. "bord" means table, thus, smorgasbord, buttertable. smorbrod is what norwegians eat for breakfast and lunch - butterbread. basically, you take some bread - usually a pretty heavy one with lots of seeds and stuff in it, and you spread some butter on it, and then you spread more stuff on it. the "smor" (butter) has come to mean more than just bread, so the smor is the spread, whatever you spread on it, and that's what we but on the smorgasbord (spread table!)

Here are some typical things for the smorgasbord:

bread, sliced in a basket sitting next to the toastmaster (person sitting next to the toaster is the toastmaster. they toast bread on request for the rest of the table) you might have a graabrod, very rough bread, "loff" (pronounced "loof") which is yummy white bread, solskinnbrod, which is sunshine bread and has sunflower seeds, and whatever other bread you baked or picked up at the bakery. Also in the breadbasket there may be Wasa crackers or other breadlike objects that you can spread things on.

cheeses. set them out on a wooden board with a knife and a cheeseslicer (norwegian invention!). I usually but out all the kinds of cheese in the fridge, usually at least one yellow cheese, one brown cheese (usually geitost, a brown sort of sweet caramelly goat cheese - geit means goat), something kind of creamy and/or stinky, and then whatever else you picked up.

veggies. usually a tomato (tomat), a pepper (paprika), a cucumber (agurk), put on a board with a paring knife so people can slice their own. these are key.

meats/fishies. salami or other sliced meat, any leftovers. often I poach the fish (fisk) that we catch in the lake, and if you make it nice the night before it's very yummy the next day. sometimes I reheat it by sauteeing it in a little parsley butter (persillesmor) just before breakfast. (there is no microwave at the cabin, which is why the food always tastes better). also, jars of little fishes, brined and pickled - herring mostly. These are not my favorite, but sometimes I put them out so folks can try. Norwegians also like to eat little shrimps (reker) and breakfast. I can't usually afford it, but smoked salmon is also a biggy. and yummy. sometimes also there is bacon, but the norwegians have nothing to do with that :).

Boiled eggs. I know we already had them in our eggcups, but it's important to also have them hardboiled for peeling and putting in the eggslicer (another norwegian invention!), which then makes perfect smorbrod slices.

also key are butter, jams (syltetoy) (the norwegians are big on blueberry), nutella or other chocolate (sjokolade) spread.


then everyone sits down with their hot beverage, their cold beverage, and gets started on their eggcup, the bread gets toasted, people have some potatoes, and then the spreading begins. At this point it is also key to *make your lunch* - which you do by spreading your bread (all open face sandwiches in norway) and then putting a piece of wax paper between each piece of spread bread. then you wrap it in more wax paper - or if you're modern like me, a plastic bag.

then you go swimming in the lake and fall asleep with your book on your face.

toast, hash browns, and big plans

So last night at just before 11pm gina marie and I rolled up to Super Stop & Shop to buy cans of things. I managed to buy only *1* item requiring refrigeration because I am classy. And that item was crescent rolls that come in that little metal & cardboard cylinder, again, because I'm classy.

The reason I bought crescent rolls, and a whole bunch of cans of tomato products, is because I am gearing up to make meat sauce for spaghetti and to make beef stew. I've decided that if I go to Whole Foods and buy organic, grass-fed, insanely expensive beef, that I will not get mad cow disease, and I will be able to make yummy food that lasts awhile. I love making food that tastes *better* the next day.

It's really not so in line with the macrobiotic plans, although it is all dairy free... but I don't know how to make any really good vegan soups, and I miss this stuff now that it is getting cold. Any recipes for vegetable soups (including stock and stock recommendations) especially soups with beans and lentil soup, are much appreciated.

In the meantime stay tuned for the beef stew experience and results (the secret ingredient is tomato paste) and for the meat sauce (the secret ingredient is...my dad's recipe?).

The other exciting thing about Super Stop & Shop was that they had my whole grain raisin bread! I had been looking for it for ages since they stopped carrying it at Whole Foods, and I had despaired and all but given up. But now, glory be, I had yummy whole grain raisin toast with earth balance this morning.

And then I got to work and had hash browns from burger king. gross, but satisfying in that oily potato way, but still gross.