À la Dankertier

This is a nice little recipe my mom used to make when I was young (and still today, of course). I preferred it to hash browns, which both go with some apple sauce pretty well as a complete lunch in Germany. Maybe it was just the texture or simply the extra sugar, but I kind of missed them after I've been for the first few month in Sweden, so it became the first German recipe I made here. Traditionally it's made from left over potatoes, but you can also cook them fresh and let them cool down. You simply start by grating 500g cooked, cold and peeled potatoes (when you start with hot ones, you'll know why they should be cold ;) ). Mix this with 250g quark (kvarg or fromage blanc) 75g flour 50g sugar 1ts vanilla sugar some raisins and lemons zest Make a smooth dough and add flour if necessary, so it's not sticky. Then you can start to form palm-sized paddies. Fry them on both sides in hot oil or butter until golden brown. Put on a plate, add sugar and cinnamon and...

About half a year ago I stumbled upon the brilliant idea of having simple, quick cupcakes in a mug. They use almost no ingredients, and take about five minutes! The idea is genial and good for any occasion, or just if your hungry for some quick cake. Last week I did my first one, but it was rather dry. So today, after coming back from heavy shopping, I retried it - with big success. Some recipes you find online are for many cups, but I looked around for single cup recipes. They are supposed to be difficult, because the mixing has to be perfect, to be not to sweet, or to dry, or whatever. I found a bunch of them here , and tried the best looking first. The whole thing sounded rather sweet and chocolaty, so I reduced that a little, and it was perfect (guess it wouldn't have been to much, but so we had a nice relaxing chocolate goodness :) ). Just mix 4 tablespoons of flour 1/3 tablespoon of backing powder 4 tablespoons sugar 1 egg 3 tablespoons cocoa powder 3 tablespoons N...

I bought the "Comfy food" package of the Jamie Oliver's application on my iPad a couple of months ago, thinking that this will help me to go through the grey winter months of Sweden. Well! In the last couple of weeks, we have been trying some of those recipe, and so far, so good! Most of those recipes look good, and every one that we've tried is good! Of course, we have made some small adjustments because Jamie is a little bit like our Quebec Ricardo: they both expect that we have a nice bio garden or a bio farm in our backyard... Well, WE DON'T!!! Sometimes, we can't have our little nice bio eggs, or the best quality of happy lamb meet... Bottom line, we cut some corners but the results are still sooooooo good! Here is our version, of Jamie Oliver's Spicy Shepherd's Pie, an English classic (revisited), for 4 peoples. Peel a piece (2cmx2cm) of fresh root ginger, 3 cloves of garlic . Add in a food processor half a red bell pepper and half a red oni...

A little while ago I stumbled upon a few  nice tips reusing old jars . The best one, and so far most used, is the salad in a jar. Nicely stacked, starting with the dressing, it stays fresh and doesn't get soaky, perfect to take it to work or just to eat later - with the beautiful side effect, due to the transparent glass :) Try it! Nice Caesar style salad in a jar. Quickly made in the morning using  ready fried frozen chicken bites and dressing - fantastic.

Most of you know that we love to impress each other at breakfast on weekends. This last weekend was not any different than any other. ;) Here is a nice recipe that we use to make at my Mom's place. The topping makes it very nice and crunchy. Preheat the oven at 190C and butter a 12 muffins tray. In a bowl, mix 250 ml of yogurt and a teaspoon of baking soda . Put aside. The volume will at least double, so consider this when you choose your bowl ;). In another bowl, beat 125 ml of butter and add 250 ml of sugar , beating continuously. Add 2 eggs , one at a time and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract . Mix well. In a big bowl, mix 500 ml of flour , half a teaspoon of baking powder and 200 ml of chocolate chips . Add the two wet mix to the dry ingredients and mix just enough so it's more or less homogeneous (do not beat it!). Pour the mix in the muffin tins. Mix 60 ml of chocolate chips, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 2 tablespoon of chopped nuts and a teaspoon of cinnamon . Sprea...

Over one year ago I stumbled upon this recipe. It got my attention immediately, and it was the first one I relinked on Facebook, before we created this blog. It looked amazing, and was even not too uninteresting for Italians - and this means something. We tried it the first time month later, it goes super fast, because you don't use regular Lasagne plates - it was a total success. Instead of the plates you use gyoza wrappers , which you can find in any good Asia shop. The advantage is they are already round and almost the size of a muffin form. Put one wrapper in each buttered tray, add some filling, add a second wrapper and layer and finish it with some Mozzarella (or other cheese). Bake it until the cheese is browned at 200°C. For the filling we tried two different styles: For the traditional meaty one we used fried up minced meat , a jar of a ready made pasta sauce and Ricotta for the Lasagne texture. For vegetarian style we mixed spinach, ricotta, onions and garlic ...

It's one of my Swedish favorites. I discovered it a couple of years ago when I was here for the first time, and I fell in love with it. Being a non-cardamom fan myself, it took quite a particular twist to bring me to that state! Here, you can use your favorite recipe for a sweet bun's dough, or the following (it needs to be a sweet enough dough. I found the recipe here . In a bowl, mix together 300 ml of lukewarm milk , 175 ml of melted butter (or oil) and 175 ml of white sugar .  In another small bowl, mix a liter of flour with 1.5 tablespoon of instant yeast and 1 teaspoon of cardamom (I put 1.5 to 2!) . Gradually incorporate the dry mix to the wet one, mixing vigorously at the same time. At some point, you will have to use your hands to continue the job. Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes, or until soft and elastic. Divide the dough in 3 equal parts and let them rise in a warm place for 30 to 45 minutes. Once the balls have double in size, roll them into ropes and br...