Pasta Pomodoro with Pecorino

As simple as it is This is actually

my first time making a simple pasta pomodoro. It is really as simple as it looks, My special touch was a saute of onions before and pecorino cheese shavings rather then grated Parmesan Reggiano. I don't have a grater or Parmesan cheese and I love Pecorino cheese and think it can be used as a perfect substitute. The fresh basil always adds a nice touch. Great lunch.

Cheese experimentation

So when I was in Copenhagen I had the perfect opportunity to pick up quite a lot of different cheeses in small amounts. I was very excited and even more excited to get to this point. Starting from the long skinny piece of cheese that is nearest to my camera lens and going clockwise: Pecorino Cheese from Italy, Blue Cheese whereabouts unknown, Camembert from Normandy, France, Coeur d'helene fromage au lait de vache pasteurise, translation ( heart of helene from pasteurized cow's milk), another camembert style obviously coming from France, Petit Tourtain, a camembert style which also comes from France, Fromage le Coq de bruyere, which is also a camembert style coming from France, Gouda cheese from Holland, and lastly a French Brie called "le rustique Jean Verrier. I obviously paired each of the cheeses by themsleves as well with the items I have in the middle of the plate, which are the olive, sun dried tomato and feta cheese mixture I picked up and some peppered salami. First the Pecorino, this one was already my favorite as I love Pecorino cheeses. Here are my notes, like a typical Pecorino it has a nice mealy fulfilling taste, great by itself, paired with wine or with really anything else you try. The salami and pecorino offered a great taste together and made a nice mixture with both the green olives and feta cheese. Next is the Blue Cheese, this one I was a little worried about because I could smell it the rest of the day after I purchased it, even though it was wrapped up. On the train it stunk up the whole cart we were in. However when I took my first bite I was extremely surprised. Creamy, not to powerfully overwhelming, definitely one of the best blue's I have ever had. However when it comes to pairing things didn't turn out to well, it did not pair well with the salami. The green olive and sun dried tomato it was ok. The Normandy Camembert is next, which right off the bat was a little thick to the touch, creamy in the mouth. A light mold taste that was good however it smelled heavily of mold and the after taste almost hit you with a bit of a mold taste as well. When it was paired with the salami it was pretty good, a nice creaminess and paired really well with the sun dried tomato. Next is Helene's cow milk cheese, it had a thick, sturdy body to the touch, no mold smell but there was a bit of a foot smell. Taste is great, very light, there was a bit of mold in the taste as well, but also light. When paired with the salami it was good, I really could taste the pepper in the meat. Did not pair well with the either of the olives and when paired with the tomato I got mostly a mold taste. The Petit Tourtain is next, to the eye it had a light orange outside and very light mold smell. Creamy though with a small sourness, light mold and the feeling was a bit squishy to the touch. When paired with the olives it wasn't all that great and the salami seemed to be ok. Next is the Chicken camembert, I call it this because there is a picture of a chicken on the box. It had as well a small mold smell and moldy taste a little intense in the after taste though. The salami proved to be interesting, I got an odd mixture of mold and meat taste and didn't pair well with the olives. The Dutch gouda was really good, creamy, definitely a nice gouda cheese. It paired really well with everything, the meat was a great combination. The sun dried tomato made for a great sweet creamy combination and the black olive taste great with the cheese. The Brie had a very intense taste like broccoli, but good, a little bit of a mold taste to it. When paired with the meat it actually went well, the mold and pepper blended nicely however not so good with the black olive or with sun dried tomato.

I definitely enjoyed this one and as I was going through it some other things that I knew would have been good to pair with them as well was honey, apples and bell pepper and obviously basil. Those are some other things that I will try with them later.

Baklava and Ice Cream

I picked up this Baklava in Copenhagen at the specialty market that was there. I love Baklava, but normally have it with tea. So this time I thought to try it with some ice cream. It's actually not to bad, I think just plain vanilla ice cream is not the right choice of flavor to pair with it, but as far as ice cream goes I think it cold work well if the right flavor was found.

Greek scramble

I went to Copenhagen the other day and there was a specialty farmers market. So I picked up a lot of different things there, mainly cheese, they had such great cheeses for sooo cheap!

But one of the booths were selling a variety of greek products. One of them was this mixture of feta cheese, Kalamata olives, green olives and sun dried tomatoes with olive oil and an herb mixture.

So I bought a small amount of the mixture to take home later. The following morning I mixed it in with some eggs, and it was just amazing. The flavors were great and the taste was sooo good. I have never had olives in an omelette before and must say it is soo good. The feta cheese and sundried tomatoes I already knew would be good. But yeah the next picture is the breakfast and it was really good, I only wish I could have eaten more. But I'm not worried there will be plenty other mornings. With the eggs I also fried up some potatoes & onions with paprika, salt & pepper. Obviously from the picture I am still eating apples left from when I went to go pick them.

Dark Apple Tower

Ok same thing pretty much as the last apple ice cream dessert however with chopped up dark chocolate shavings. I wanted chocolate syrup, didn't have it, so I just chopped up a bit of a chocolate bar. It was soooo good. This definitely was a good idea, and worked very well with each other. The fact that I used dark chocolate made me a bit worried however once I tried it together I was very surprised. The chocolate with the honey on the apple mixed very well. Obviously the ice cream just made for a nice finishing touch, I love ice cream, hahahaha. My only thought is maybe to heat up the apple some how, possibly in the oven first.

Apple Ice Cream Dessert

Don't really know what to call this one, but it turned out really good! Earlier I had done just apples and honey and it was good, but as a dessert was rather boring. I think that this completes the dish, especially if I could also drizzle a little amount of dark chocolate syrup. This is a peeled apple that is cut into rings. Then layered from the bottom up sandwich style with ice cream and finally drizzled with honey.

Basil Mozzarella Crostini

Here is a picture of those crostini's I was talking about earlier in my blog. They turned out really well, especially after i melted the cheese in the same pan I cooked a dinner in, which had the leftover flavoring from the paprika, tomato and onion. really good!

Dinner Service!

So pretty much the same thing I have been eating lately, but there are always ways of making little changes that can turn things around in a big way. This was again, rice with carrots, onion, potato and basil simmered in tomato sauce; then with a little paprika and salt & pepper. The fried egg on top was practically a last minute thing that turned out really well. I thought that I should get some protein on this dish and the only thing I had was eggs. It actually turned out well, making the food a little creamier once I broke the yoke.

Baked Apple

So i have never had or even seen a baked apple. I have heard about them and for some reason today when I was picking apples off a tree with a friend, June and it hit me that I should try making one, even though I don't really know much about them past the fact that you bake it, hahahaha. So this one I basically scooped out the insides and chopped them up very small. Then tried glazing them with some powdered vanilla sugar from my neighbor, Sara. I didn't have any sugar and originally thought that brown sugar would be good but I couldn't find any at the store, so luckily I could borrow some. After I tried glazing the apple insides I also added honey to the mixture and kind of melted that all together, which was a good touch. Afterward I stuck the mixture back inside the apple, put the top on and stuck it in the oven. It was in there for about 8 to 10 minutes , which I think next time I will bring it out a little earlier so as not to get so soft. However I added the vanilla ice cream which also was a good touch and drizzled the plate with honey.

All together it was pretty good, I think next time I will definitely try to use brown sugar and possibly maybe something that can mash the apple insides a little bit better. I thought about melting down some chocolate with cream and adding to the apple, however I thought it would be to overwhelming as I wanted to keep it simple and stay focused and the apple flavor. However I do think that drizzled chocolate would definitely work well next time, maybe not having it on the inside but on the outside might be a good option.

Poor Man's Pizza

So it basically is like a pizza with the idea of Bruschetta. I make a sauce, which is just basically a the same thing as my pasta sauce. Then cut two thick pieces of bread add the sauce the some mozzarella and you can put your toppings. In this case I only had onions so I just grilled some onions and put those on the cheese then just put them in the oven. At the end I put more sauce on top, the idea is to get the sauce to seep through the bread to moisten it up or at least that is what I like. But it's not bad for a simple dinner. The only thing I guess is to have a good sauce.

Lunch pasta

I don't really know what to call this,

I would like to find some simple way

of saying "simple lunch pasta" without actually saying it, hahaha.

But as simple as the name is, it is sauteed onion and garlic in olive oil and butter mixed in with the noodles. On the side, sliced ciabatta bread with olive oil and balsamic and some slices of that cheese that I picked up at the market that I still haven't figured out the name to. However, it was very good. I consider it a lunch pasta because it can be served with many other items in my opinion. Whereas if you make a red sauce pasta it kind of in my opinion takes the spot light. Where in most cultures lunch tends to be the bigger meal I think that a no sauce pasta can be a really nice choice being light and simple along side or served after a salad and before some kind of mushroom risotto. All being paired actually quite nicely with a bottle of Basa 2008 Rueda wine from Spain. Yes, that would be the perfect lunch! Then possibly finishing with a piece of Tiramisu. hahahahaha, I'm getting hungry again.

Mozzarella Caprese

So good

and what really made the dish was of course, the cheese! I purchased it from a cheese shop in Malmo but it could probably be found anywhere really. It is Mozzarella di bufala campana, from Tre Stelle, is the company. The cheese was so rich in flavor and taste. Very good. However as much as the cheese is important it is still on a part of the dish, and the key ingredients to this plate was definitely the basil leaves off of my plant and the olive oil. I will admit that I don't have very good balsamic right now so it's really not worth mentioning but still gave the addition to the plate that can give you an idea of the capabilities that can be uncovered. The tomatoes are also extremely important as well. I like to use vine ripened tomatoes, they have a really good earthy taste to them and are not bland. You can cut right into them and smell the flavor. Much different from roma, or other typical store bought tomatoes, (organic or not). All in all, this was definitely as good as it looks. If only I can find Mozzarella cheese like this in the states.

Chanterelle Mushroom breakfast sandwich

So for breakfast today I had another egg sandwich however this time I added basil to the egg as I was frying it, however it should be fresh basil. Another cool thing that I found out about this area is that Chanterelle Mushrooms are grown here, all over. So they are pretty cheap. In the states Chanterelle Mushrooms are very expensive.

So on the sandwich I have a regular mayo, mustard and tomato. But I also sauteed some Chanterelle mushrooms and I found a new cheese from a cheese shop I stopped at in Malmo. The cheese is a standard apparently to Sweden. It is really good, it's a hard cow's milk cheese and is called Vaslerbotten. I totally did not understand the guy when he was telling me the name so he wrote it down for me. The word does have some accents on top of the letters but I cannot do that on this blog. But yeah the cheese is actually really good and with the sandwich was really good.

Malmo

This past saturday I went the city of Malmo within Sweden. It's about a 2 hour train ride south from the city that I am staying in. On the map it is a bigger city then Vaxjo and alot of the students on campus say that it is a fun place to go and visit. I completely agree, Malmo was definitely a good place to go see, I would even recommend staying then night and spending 2 days. Here are some of the pictures that I took, I saw about 3/4 of the city and that was even moving a little fast so I definitely think it is a 2 day trip. I also happened to go on a pretty good day because the sun was out for most of the day time.

Breakfast

Fried egg sandwich with tomato and this cheese that I picked up from the market, I didn't get the name of it, but it is really good. I will have to figure out the name and put it up later. Yogurt and Chmpagne!! Hahahaha, I thought I would put this in for fun, although I didn't really have the champagne with breakfast, I just thought it would make a funny picture.

Best Apple Juice

So last saturday I went into the town open market. It is not very big but it has pretty much everything that could be found at a regular grocery store. I found this apple juice that a lady was selling at a really good price. She old me that it is made of three different apples and has nothing else in it. I was shocked at the taste of the juice. Really good, it puts all other apple juices to shame. Nothing has compared to this one, it had the perfect combination of tart, sweet apple flavor. Really surprising.

Hot chocolate

I have had a lot of different hot chocolates and am not saying that this is my favorite however it is up there on my list. Chopping up some 77% dark chocolate to mix with steamed milk is actually really good. I thought it might be a little bitter, but actually was surprised to find out that there was actually no bitterness to it at all, and still had a really good amount of sweetness to it. I think in the future I would still add some cinnamon to it or possibly mix it with some peppermint then just a little whipped cream on top and it is set. Although, and i have to point it out since I am on the subject, but the hot chocolate that I have had in from Spain and Italy is still 2 out of my 5 top hot chocolates. Another one of my top 5 hot chocolates would have to be Mexican hot chocolate, I forget the name of the specific one that I had but it definitely blew me away and was simply amazing.

Kale

So I went to the outdoor market the other day and picked up a head of Kale that this lady was selling at a really good price. I have never really cooked with Kale before and was under the impression that it would be similar to spinach, but was surprisingly wrong. I tried sauteing it a bit with some salt and pepper. It did not wilt at all, but once I ate it I was blown away. It might not be one of those things that everyone will love but I really liked it. It had a chewy texture to it, that was not to much but enough to make me feel like I was eating something with some substance rather then spinach. When you saute spinach it wilts and becomes almost like nothing when you eat, although spinach is on my list of things to eat I just wish it had more to it. I surprised to find out that Kale does. The flavor as well was very good. Overall it is one of those dark green leafy vegetables that holds it's own. I did a little bit of research and found out that when you steam it you actually increase it's digestive working properties for your body, as well as helps improve digestive properties on a genetic level, which I thought was very interesting.

White Chocolate Mocha

I had some time to kill, waiting for the train so stopped in a cafe for a another drink. Really good the way he did it, no powdered flavorings at all.

Rosenlundska

I was walking by and saw this little sign hanging off a wall with the picture of a Musketeer on it, so decided to take a look. It turns out that it was just a door then you take the stairs down about two flights, and suddenly your in this underground restaurant, it was the coolest thing. The place had just closed for a couple hours but the 3 people that worked there let me come in to have a beer. Such a cool place, I was shocked as you can see by the photos it was definitely a unique restaurant.

Desert

I got some really great peaches, and have been eating ice cream every night so I figured I would change it up a bit. Looks pretty good though.

I forgot to post the photo

oooopppsss, I guess I got to caught up in writing that I forgot to post the picture. Well here it is, overall it was good, but not something I would eat on a regular basis. hahaha

Swedish Meatballs with "Brown Sauce" Potatoes and Lingon Berry sauce

Ok I have finally made my first attempt at making the national dish of Sweden. It's not to bad, actually it's pretty good. There really isn't much to it. However I do have to explain that the meatballs were pre-made and the sauce was made from a packet that I added cream and water to. Even that though I added to much cream and the sauce was not thick enough, but whatever. My real opinion about the dish though is that there just isn't enough. I had this other swedish dish a couple days ago that tasted really good but brought me to the conclusion about swedish food and people. They really like there sauce here. The other dish I had was salmon with capers and I think potatoes. It was good as well, but the the server put so much sauce over everything that I was a little shocked. The "brown sauce" in the title is put that way because when I ask other Swedes about it they all have given me the same response, it is simply "brown sauce"! hahaha, it's kind of odd to me that they do not have a better name for it other then brown sauce, it is not to appetizing.

I myself like sauce but not to the point where everything else is swimming in it. I think that if something needs to be covered up with a sauce or ketchup or salt that it simply does not have a good taste, lack of taste or the person cooking just does not work very well with flavoring. Rereading that last thing sentence that I just put down sounded kind of funny. I do not mean to sound full of myself but I do think that flavoring is very important when cooking. Whether it is anything from simmering to seasoning. I really think about flavoring a lot when I do most of my cooking. I like to experiment with different olive oils, and other marinades as well. They can make such a difference on the dish and individual items that are in the entree. Then after one can figure out how to flavor things properly the next step is combining the right flavored items on one plate to make a meal that coincides with each other and makes you think, Wow this is great and everything goes with everything else on the plate.

Cheese pairing experimentation

I was sooo excited for this, I used a french Camembert cheese that i picked up at the store. The pairings all turned out really good. There was Basil leaves, Orange Bell Pepper, Peach slices, Lingon Berry Sauce and Toasted Ciabatta bread with Olive oil and Balsamic Vinegar. Such an amazing plate, the only issue... NO WINE!!!!!! However, the following is my tasting notes, which are obviously each being tasted with the cheese and bread:

The Orange Bell Pepper- Really nice crunchy taste. Very food and filling. When the bell pepper has some cheese and Lingon Berry sauce on it the taste has a good substance meaning that it still has that filling feeling we all want but with a nice sweet taste to it. The Lingon Berry sauce is alot like cranberry sauce but in my opinion a little nicer to the tongue. It is sweeter. The Lingon Berry sauce with the cheese and bread is very good, tangy, similar to a cranberry sauce, sweet and molds in your mouth. The two creamy items break down the crunchy bread so that it fills the taste. The Sauce, cheese and bread with a basil leaf on it is really good. The basil leaf holds it's own all by itself. Just one leaf is all you need. So when mixed with the sauce it is very good, has a bit of a sweet earthy taste to it. Now with just the basil leaf, cheese and bread it is amazing! it is in my opinion a perfect pairing! The basil leaf mixed with the peach and cheese on the bread is ok, nothing special really happened. The peach and the cheese on the bread was sweet, a bit tangy, but very soft and almost pillowy in your mouth. The last combination that I did was the Pepper and the basil leaf, this was also another amazing pairing, so incredible.

However I think the best pairing out of these would have to be the basil leaf with the cheese on a piece of bread.

Breakfast!

So this was something that I threw together really quick

and it turned out really good. It's easy to make something good out of just a few items. This was simply onion, mushroom, orange bell pepper, tomato, basil scramble eggs. It was either really good or I was just really hungry. The orange and banana are always nice additions for breakfast. The Yoggi container is obviously Yogurt.

Dinner in Sweden

I knew it this is definitely going to be a staple meal of mine while I am here in Sweden. Rice with sauteed vegetables and swedish meatballs. The plus is that I can throw in cheese and bread every once in a while, unfortunately it is hard to get wine here and that is what would make this meal. But it is still turns out really good and has everything I need; hahaha grains, vegetables, meat and dairy.

Swedish Breakfast sandwich

Yeah that's right, I put a little twist on the typical morning BLT and previous sandwich that I made in the past if you have been following my blog from the beginning. This one is Toasted chiabatta bread drizzled with extra virgin olive oil, melted Cheddar cheese, sauteed swedish meatballs, Yellow Bell Peppers, tomato, fried egg, Mayo and Mustard. The Cheddar Cheese is not an american cheddar cheese, it is some kind of simple cheap european brand but still alot better I think then the typical basic American cheddar cheese. It is alot sharper and is actually similar to English Cheddars. The meatballs are simply sauteed with onion, garlic and some paprika. Now what makes this sandwich Swedish are two aspects. The Swedish Meatballs of course, but also the Yellow Bell Peppers which stand out so much in the picture of the sandwich like yellow in the Swedish Flag, standing out so clearly against the Blue color. It might be a little corny but, I don't care because the bell pepper actually makes a nice addition to the sandwich. The yellow bell pepper adds a nice sweet crunchy flavor to the sandwich. Almost like it takes the place of the lettuce. Anyway really good breakfast.

Pot Luck!!!

What better medium to meet people over then food. So my neighbor, Paolo and I decided to have a potluck. Such a good idea, more people ended up coming then what we had planned for. It was a little hard to get the idea across to everybody, it wasn't 100% understood but people still showed up and brought something to share. The funny thing is though a lot of people had eaten before they came over? We were a bit confused at first but then came to the conclusion that it was ok, more food for us! hahaha, The mix of people was good in my opinion but a little extreme at the beginning, not everybody was ok at first but shortly after we started eating the conversing began. I can't remember every single one but there were students from all over. Germany, Holland, Sweden, Portugal, France... and I think that was about it, oh the U.S. of course.

Here is a picture of four of the French students that are in our program.

I made two things to bring to the event, clearly potato salad and a type of babaganoush. The potato salad was completely finished and everyone liked it. However I wasn't fully satisfied with it, hahaha. When I went to the store to get pickles, mustard and mayo I didn't quite realize how different they would be till I got home. The pickles that i was told would be sour ended up being sweet, the mustard which was this cross between spicy and sweet that wasn't the best but wasn't the worst. The mayo was also different from what I am used to as well, but.... it's ok, hahahaha people liked it sooo everything went well. The babaganoush went fast as well, people really liked that. Later that night we all went out as well.