thanks + dinners

Thank you so much for all your sweet and kind wishes on my pregnancy yesterday. I really appreciate it. Naturally there will be a few baby related posts here on hei Astrid in the future, but it won't turn into a baby/mommy blog. I will still post about all the other things I care about too - like food.

I enjoyed doing The Dinner Project a lot. After I stopped doing it I kind of lost focus on dinners, especially after I got pregnant. I feel like I have hardly cooked at all, and if I've made anything I've made hot dogs - with ice cream for dessert. A huge hit for this pregnant lady. At one point I'll be inspired to get into the kitchen again. I hope.

Here are some recent (and not so recent) dinner highlights

- couscous salad with diced pan fried chicken filet with Santa Maria chili explosion spices, tomatoes, squash, leek, pomegranate and fresh coriander (inspired by this)

- roasted chicken with a spicy mango stuffing

- homemade pytt-i-panne with vossakorv

- red chicken curry (photo above) made with chicken filets, carrots, red and green bell pepper, onion, spring onion, cremini mushrooms, curry paste, coconut milk and fresh coriander

- my go to salmon pasta made with salmon filets, a store bought pasta sauce with cheese and herbs (this one), cream, green bell pepper, leek, store bought fresh spaghetti and freshly ground pepper (I should have added garlic, but forgot about it) (photo here)

By the way, The Dinner Project book is still available in my Blurb book store.

PS: I have made a new blogroll for pregnancy, baby, kids, motherhood and family related blogs and websites. You find it in the sidebar to the left.

question

Sometimes I plan a dinner in the morning, and when it comes to the evening I no longer want this dinner and I make something else. Sounds familiar? This was the case last week when I planned to make a tomato based vegetables stew with butter beans. Now these beans have been soaking on the kitchen counter for a week. I have changed the water ca every other day. I'm new to using beans so I wonder; can I still cook them and eat them??

båttå

This is my kind of snack. My dad's family in Trøndelag call it "båttå". I have no idea where word comes from, but this is what it is: flat bread, sour cream, boiled potato and a kind of cured meat/sausage called morrpølse. When I get that special morrpølse from Trøndelag, I'm in heaven.

The knife is German craftsmanship and was a gift from my friend Mathias in Berlin. The big mug is from Norwegian Acanthus and the cutting board is from IKEA.

dinner

As I mentioned last Sunday, I will from time to time share dinner highlights. You will find these posts under the label "food".

Sunday January 9: roasted filet of veal with vegetables roasted in white wine and stock, pan fried mushrooms, rocket and red wine sauce (photo above)

Monday January 10: a stew made with Sunday dinner leftovers

Saturday January 15: Sølve's amazing beef stroganoff

PS: the book is finished | food = happiness

breakfast bliss

Minolta SRT 101, Fuji Superia X-tra 800

It's way passed breakfast time in my part of the world, but right now I wouldn't mind a bowl of plain yoghurt with müsli, fresh blueberries and acacia honey - and a double cortado. Instead I'm having a cinnamon Yogi tea with milk and honey to soothe my soar throat. What is your soar throat remedy? By the way, it's snowing again.

breakfast

everyday stories, week 52 + 1

Saturday January 1
at our friends' place, Sandnes

Sunday January 2
home, Bergen

Monday January 3
home, Bergen

Tuesday January 4
home, Bergen

Wednesday January 5
new office, Indre Arna

Thursday January 6
on my way to the office, Bergen | office, Verftet

Friday January 7
on my way to the office, Bergen

Saturday January 8
home, Bergen

Sunday January 9
home, Bergen

- - -

My friend Lori, aka The 10 Cent Designer, told me she use to read my weekly Dinner Project post aloud for her husband every Sunday. She has begged me to share this week's menu. Unfortunately I will disappoint her, but I will from time to time share highlights.

This week's highlights were the Icelandic Christmas dinner at our friends' place Friday night + the Saturday dinner (seen above) made by Sølve; pan fried halibut served with boiled potatoes that were also pan fried in butter together with onion, leek, green beans and snap peas + an amazing sauce made from homemade reduced fish stock, crème fraiche, chili, fresh coriander and fresh shrimps.

Talking about food; after that delicious halibut dinner, we saw Julie & Julia and we loved it. I think we need a copy of that "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" now.

the food festival

A Sunday in September was spent strolling between the stalls at the food festival at Bryggen. In the evening we had a lovely Sunday dinner with goodies bought there (described here).

Canon EOS 500N, Kodak Portra 160vc + Rollei Retro 100, Olympus mju

sodd

Sodd is a soup-like meal with meatballs, mutton and/or beef, potatoes and carrots. It's a traditional meal from the Trondheim area where my dad is from (and where I was born). It's typically served for big occasions like weddings, funerals and birthdays. I absolutely love it! Especially when my grandmother or aunt make it - like she did when we were all gathered at her house in July.

Article about sodd on Klikk.no (in Norwegian).

Film: Fuji pro 160S

By the way, if all goes as planned, I'm meeting a certain someone who lives in Trondheim later today. I wonder if she loves sodd as much as me.

al fresco dining, part III

While it's still snowing like crazy outside I'd like to remember these days of early summer. These shots were taken on Sunday June 13 when we had grilled filet mignon of beef with Greek salad and garlic butter baguettes for dinner in the garden. Dessert was leftover roasted rhubarb from the day before. This very early snow of October looks pretty, but we haven't plated the tulip bulbs yet, so I hope it's not here to stay for the rest of the autumn and winter. Time to bundle up and head to the office!

Film: Fuji Pro 160S

apple muffins

A couple of weeks ago my mother-in-law brought us three big bags of apples from Åsly. Since then our kitchen has been like an apple muffins bakery. I have served these muffins to lots of people and everyone loves them. Here is the recipe.

Start with marinating the apples. I'm not sure how many I used; 5-6 maybe. Cover them in sugar, cinnamon, the juice from half a lime and a splash of cognac (I used Braastads new organic cognac). Brown sugar, cinnamon and lime is also a good mix.

Mix 250 grams of butter (room temperature) and 250 grams of sugar until...

...it looks like this. Put the bowl in the sink with warm water to make the mixing a little easier.

Add three eggs. Stir until it's all well combined.

Sift in 250 grams of flour, 1 tsp. of baking powder and 1 tsp. of vanilla powder, and stir well until it's all combined.

Fill the muffin cups about half full,

and add as many apple cubes as possible. Use your fingers and push them into the dough.

Bake for about 25 minutes at 200°C.

Yield: ca 24 muffins, depending on the size of the muffin cups. You can also make a cake of it. I think a 24 cm springform pan is a good size, and it should bake for a little longer than the muffins; 45 minutes maybe. Both the muffins and the cake freeze very well.

Sweet regards from your muffin princess, Astrid

;-)

chocolate mousse

This is my go-to chocolate mousse recipe. It's quick, simple and really delicious. I got the recipe from my mom, who got it from... I don't know. I have adapted it a bit from my mom's original handwritten copy; I use very strong coffee instead of orange juice or some kind of other liquid, which could for example be cognac or whiskey or any other kind of liquor that goes well with chocolate.

100 grams chocolate (70 % cocoa)
2 tbs strong coffee
3 eggs
3 tbs sugar
2 dl cream

Melt the chocolate with the coffee and let it cool down. Whip egg yolks with sugar. Add the chocolate. Whip egg whites until stiff. Whip the cream. Carefully mix it all together. Put it in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Yield: 5 cocktail glasses

I love breakfast

Especially weekend breakfasts with house guests. This was taken a month ago; I wouldn't mind a reprise!

breakfast

PS: Here are my typical weekday breakfasts.

the red deer dinner

This Sunday dinner was special.

Sølve’s colleague Asbjørn up in Stjørdal is an eager big game hunter. In the hunting season he more or less lives in his hunting lodge. He gets up at dawn and hunts for a few hours before he heads to the office. Everyone knows that he caught something nice when he grins like an idiot in the morning.

At least this is how the story goes according to Sølve.



For a hunter the sirloin of his prey is not just any sirloin. To prepare and serve a meal with this sirloin is the culinary equivalent of hanging the prey’s antlers on the wall. Therefore Sølve and I feel especially honored and privileged that Asbjørn gifted him this red deer sirloin that we had for Sunday dinner.

Before starting the preparation of the meat, it was slowly defrosted in the fridge over night, and then it lay in room temperature for half a day. Sølve cut of the tendons off the meat and sprinkled it with black pepper. Then it rested on the kitchen bench while he started the sauce.


Since autumn has arrived, it felt natural to include mushrooms – chanterelles, creminis and oyster mushrooms – as a side dish. For the sauce Sølve took half of all the mushrooms, chopped them and slowly fried them in butter on low heat. For the last couple of minutes he added finely chopped shallots and about 1 dl of Madeira. Mushrooms were the main ingredient in the sauce, but Sølve also used finely chopped Jerusalem artichoke. He added it with the Madeira + one finely chopped carrot and a fistful of finely chopped leek. Then he added 3 dl of cream and 2 dl of game stock and let it all simmer and reduced it to ca half. The main herbs in the sauce were fresh parsley and tarragon. Finally the sauce was topped off with a splash of Braastad’s organic cognac and fresh ground pepper, and then Sølve used a hand blender to make the sauce smooth.

While the sauce reduced, Sølve seared the meat before it was roasted at 60 ºC for about 2 hours. He had some butter on top of it so it wouldn’t go dry. When the meat reached 40 ºC Sølve took it out and let it rest. He then let the meat roast at 120 ºC until it reached 53 ºC. While it rested on the kitchen bench it rose to 55 ºC, and it fell to 54 ºC before it was cut and served.

While the meat roasted, Sølve slowly fried the mushrooms and boiled potatoes.



Rowan berry jelly would have been perfect with this meal. We totally forgot to buy it (or make it…), but the cherry tomatoes gave a bit of the same effect.

And voila! a most excellent dinner was served.

Thank you so much again, Asbjørn, for giving us the fantastic red deer sirloin for this meal! Hopefully next time we can enjoy a dinner like this with you.