Basis Løgpostej

Basis Løgpostej.

Baking the day

A good day went by filled up with tastes and smells of nice things.

First – sweaty morning yoga. Admitted – not smelling too nice going in – but once in you forget and loose yourself in Jivamukti – coming out smelling like a peach…(or something)…never mind – not the point here at all. Starting out my day with yoga – what could be better. Perfect way to wake up body and tune in the mind for a brand new day.

Which turned out to be very much needed today. Going on a trip this weekend I needed an air mattress. Which might seem like a simple and very easily accomplishable task. Which it really should have been – and would have been had it been and other time of year than this particular time…the day before the opening of Denmarks biggest festival – Roskilde Festival. And Abracadabra..alakazaam…no more air mattresses…

Took a while – but I finally got one…so much work for such a little thing…so I decided to work actively on the second smell of the day…I had some recipies I wanted to test…

Second – fresh baked homemade cookies with white chocolate and cranberries. A short hunt for cranberries – which for some reason are not alway easy to find …without strawberry-taske. What is with this world – why on earth would you add strawberry-taste to a perfectly able-tasting berrry…do not get it. If you want strawberry-taste – eat strawberries…

But I settled for the strawberry-tasting ones not being in the mood for more shops…Not that bad – just a little too sweet for my taste and for my purpose. They were supposed to add some tartness to the sweetness of the white chokolate.

Cookies in a box

But what-e… the cookies turned out great. I so love the combination og the super sweet white chokolate and the more tart cranberries.

Hunting for cranberries lead me to the next smell of the day…or planned smell for later.

Third – warm dough – sublte but nice. I like to knead dough – to really work it, to smooth it – make it nice an flyffy…clear. And working pizza dough – working good olive oil and air into it have er very homy smell. And you just know the more you work it – the better it gets…

Then cover in more oil…back in the bowl…cover and let rest until it has doubled it’s size…making time for the next smell of the day…

Fourth – lemon and poppyseed muffins with lemonsyrop. Lemons are great – and I’ve had some perfect eco ones lying there from last weekends elder flower syrup project just screaming to be used for something lovely.

Almost never too much

And what could be better – a simple muffin recipe – with added lemon zest and poppyseeds. Some call for the poppyseeds to soak in boiled water for an hour – but I’ve seen the need to do that – I usually add a little bit more milk or yoghurt to the mix for the seeds to soak up.

Also having looked at other peoples recipies for the same muff – I add more zest – nothing like the taste of lemon, and I mix the sugar half and half dark brown and non-refined sugar – I like how it caramelises with the heat from the oven. And with the smell of fresh baked muffins on to the next smell to fill up the apartment.

Finish product straight up – no nonsense

To just give them the extra lemon infusion I made a lemon syrup – and poured one tablespoon over each muffin fresh out from the oven. The syrup and zest plays well together – gives a deeper lemon taste. Very good.

Fifth – homemade pizza. Just a simple veggie kind. Tomato sauce…went for the lazy kind – a fresh tomato base with just salt, pepper and oregano sprinkled over it and not cooked together. Then some cheese, fresh onion, cherry tomatoes chopped in half and to finish it of – fresh mozzarella.  BUT…

…what do I find – I am OUT OF garlic – how is that possible. How could that happen. I am NEVER out of garlic. It is just one of those things you usually can always find i my kitchen.

Before

It is not that the pizza is no good without it. It is  – really good. Guess I’m just in a weird state of chok – something like this has never happend to me before. Fair if you are else where using other peoples kitchens – you can’t account for their sanity – but you should be able to manage your own…

But here it goes – a simple italian pizza…

Being served

Omelette Meets Lasagna

My days alone combined with warm weather – not a good combo when it comes to food. I love to cook – just not for me alone. That seems just pointless – thought I know it isn’t. And now with a marathon hanging over my head I really need to learn how to feed myself well even the days I eat alone.

Also – wow – so much to learn about how to put together the best diet to further my training and my overall well being so I can do my best at all times. For now though I taking it slow – one thing at the time – beginning with getting a running rutine in, building my strength, distance and stamina. This year I need at least 2 offical half marathons – hoping on 3. And at least 1 before the actual marathon i april – just to see how I run with a track and timeframe on long distance. I’ve run 2 half marathons already – though not as an offical competition.

Being a semi -vegetarian – meaning I still eat bird, fish, eggs and dairy. It’s not because I’m against eating meat – it’s just that pork makes me really sick and beef never really tasted that great in the first place – so why not leave it to the carnivors to enjoy…well…back to the point…being semi-veg means there is sometimes weeks between I actually have meat at all. And in this current heat – I just don’t feel like eating meat at all. Just too heavy – no matter what form it comes in. And cooking…well when it is just for me I can be a bit lazy at times – which on the other hand has ended up in several easy to fix kind of recipies.

Tonights dinner is a sort of veggie lasagna meets omelette. My initial idea was to make an omelette but in the oven instead of in a pan on the stove. And I love to mix it up with al kinds of things (just like I love mixing in a lasagna)…so I applyed this here as well – and building it it just started to remind me of a lasagna with all the layers minus all the cheasy parts – I wanted it to be lighter because of the warmth.

The basics of the dish

Tomato, tomatopuree, caroots, green peppers ( the non too spicy kind), garlic, eggs, salt, pepper, dill, lemonpepper, chiliflakes, muskat, sellerisalt and just a spalsh of taragon vinegar, milk and a mild smoked crem cheese- just for a hint of smokey taste – how much/little is up to taste and how many people you are cooking for.

Tomatoes, tomatopuree, carrots, green chilies, smoked cream cheese and dill – before adding the egg-mix

Layer it up finishing with the eggmix – and in the oven i goes. I gave it about 30-40 minutes in the oven – to allow the veggies to cook a little bit also so they’d still have some bite.

Fresh from the oven

Because of all the vegetables and the tomatopuree it is a bit watery (or rather tomatory…as the ‘water’ tastes and looks like tomatopuree) – but seems like most lasagas are at first – give it time to rest – or even make it one day in advance and it’ll come out perfect when reheated.

Tastes a LOT better than it looks at first glance

And as for all lasagnas all there need to be at its side is an easy summer salad – just a simple lettuce head – not iceberg but like looseleaf lettuce and a dressing my mom2 taught me.

1 dl milk

1 teaspon of sugar

Vinegar – enough – regular or with a mild taste of herbs

The mix of milk and vinegar gives a sweet, light taste – the sugar binds the dressing to the lettuce. Pour the milk into a bowl and add sugar – wisk hard to make the milk more puffy. Then you wisk in the vinegar until the milk goes off.  Stop pouring and wisk away till the mix is puffy again. Tear up the salad lightly and toss and mix it in the dressing. A perfect very light salad to give something green on the side.

Enjoy

Uh…Mama is in love…

My kitchen-world just got so much bigger…I bought Christine Ingrams’ book ‘World Encyclopedia of Cooking Ingredients.

I saw it at a friends place a little while ago – and thought it would be a nice addition to my cookbook collection. So I went on a search for it. Amazon didn’t have it themselves and the sellers they refered to where rather expensive…so google google google and voila – there it was just £5.11 – and my resistance was dissolved.

And then yesterday it came. Picked it up on my way to the laudromat – and spent a hour just browsing my new heavenly book. Oddly to get so worked up over an encyclopedia – but this one is above…and I not just talking about the lovely smell of a new book…

No, really. Christine Ingram works her way through all kinds of vegetables, fruits, spices, meat, poultry, herbs and and and giving a short description and sugestions for use, storage and buying – not to mention opening up to finding alternatives – by describing taste, so good when venturing into new territory.

And for many of the things and informations – well, yes I already know – but then there are the more special products. And since I love to cook – and very seldom cook Danish – this is a goldmine. It get a bit redundant when the persons at the supermarket and like places stare at me like I’m weird because I ask for asafoetida or even just fenugreek.

Is is mainly spices and vegetables which is the problem. Slowly I’m working my way through my city combing to find who has my spices. Not too fond of buying them over the internet – can’t check the date on them that way. Special vegetables are a bit harder to come by here. But slowly Denmark is opening up to the more exotic variaties – which is great. But for now it is a substitute-adventure to cook e.g. Indian, Vietnamese or Thai

Really make me want…wish for more of her books…

What came of Ginger

I’d found this easy little recipe for ginger syrup on Joythebaker. A little gem in the web labyrinth.

Ginger syup – sweet l0vely thing to use for so many things – mainly ginger ale – which I love. And I had just happened on some fresh and cheap ginger. So it was more or less decided for me.

And voila – 1-1½ hours later sweet syrup to go with my strawberries, my coffee…and of course to turn my soda into ginger ale. But looking at that leftover ginger all moist and candied up by sugar – I just couldn’t throw it out.

So what to do? – cupcakes! You can bake most anything into those little things. I chose a banana cupcake recipe as the gingermass sort of looked like mashed banana only brown – did as I would normally do – and then I also added the rest of my strawberries. And once more voila – half an hour later – Candied ginger-strawberry cupcakes.

 

Tastes really great – sweet and strong ginger and a different kind of sweet – straberries.

Next time I think I’ll make the syrup mixed with either mint or lime – or both…