A couple of artsy-lookings snapshot of David at work, putting together one of the many dance numbers in our show….
Last Days of Rehearsals…and then Christmas
21 DecSadly, I haven’t been able to post in the last week as we entered our final week in the rehearsal studios. Tomorrow is our last day in rehearsals; we will break for Christmas and the New Year, then we begin 2012 tech-ing the show in the China Teatern. My blogging hasn’t been able to keep up these last few days…but cooking at home continues as usual, and I have even developed some interesting new recipes to share. Hopefully during the holidays, I will post a variety of new recipes!
David and I will spend Christmas in Stockholm. We will host a Christmas Eve dinner party in our apartment, so I am currently planning the menu — I am thinking of making a rack of lamb, among other items. After Christmas, we travel to Ireland to attend our friends’ wedding. We’ll stay in Ireland for New Year’s Eve and come back to Stockholm to start work again after the New Year. Since our trip to Ireland is the main event for us this holiday season, we are looking forward to spending a cozy Christmas in Stockholm.
Anyway, do stay tuned… many new recipes coming up!
Happy holidays, everyone! x
We put up lights and a paper star, as many Swedes do this time of the year.
What’s in my fridge (Stockholm): a paleo grocery list
15 DecThere are everyday staples I always try to keep in my kitchen these days — my paleo grocery list. Although I miss our kitchen at home, our little kitchen in Stockholm has served us well so far; and with these basic items in our house, I find that I can usually cook something very simply.
With basic staples, all we need to worry about is picking up proteins and replenishing the vegetables as needed. We try to buy organic whenever possible.
TOMOKO’S PALEO SHOPPING LIST (or stock-list) – Stockholm:
IN OUR PANTRY (ie. no refrigerated)
- Organic yellow onions
- Organic red onions
- Organic garlic
- Fresh garlic
- Organic coconut oil
- Organic coconut milk
- Organic olive oil — I tend to like the flavor of Spanish olive oil better than others
- SPICES: garlic powder, cumin, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom, paprika
- Organic black pepper, good quality sea salt (I have flaked sea salt and Himalayan salt in a grinder)
- Organic potatoes (small type)
- Organic heirloom cherry tomatoes
- Organic tomato sauce (no added sugar, in a glass container – recently I’ve ditched buying tomato sauce in cans)
- Organic green curry powder
- Tea, various
- Fairtrade or organic dark chocolate, ranging from 81% to 100% cocoa
- Organic cashews (raw)
- Organic pine nuts
IN OUR FRIDGE
- Organic free-range/pasture-raised eggs (usually have up to 2 dozen on hand)
- Organic Dijon mustard
- Organic whole grain mustard
- Organic cucumbers
- Organic cauliflower
- Organic broccoli
- Organic bacon
- Jalapeño peppers
- Habeñero peppers
- Ginger
- Scallions
- Asparagus
- Mushrooms
- Organic capers
- Organic avocados
- Organic lemons
- Organic oranges
- Organic carrots
- Organic zucchinis
- Organic arugula
- Organic beets
- Organic cabbage
- Natural, nitrate-free sliced chorizo (makes good snacks with sliced cucumbers)
- PROTEIN: depends — we usually have at most 3 of the following, so I could have proteins ready to cook, but thye don’t sit in the fridge so long that they go bad or not fresh anymore: chicken (skinless thighs for curry, half chickens for roast); pork chops; veal chops; steaks; ground beef; ground lamb; salmon.
- Organic butter
- (Wine)
I like having potted herbs on hand — they help give a furnished-rental a more cozy, homey vibe — I currently have organic Thai basil, chives, rosemary and thyme.
Our Tomte in Stockholm
15 Dec
David and I bought our very own tomte to give our Stockholm home a little Christmas flair. These tomtar (pl. of tomte) are handmade, and so each tomte is unique. It took us a while for to select one, but we are quite happy with the one we chose! Isn’t he adorable?
Entrecôte with Caramelized Red Onions
13 Dec
As much as we like a good steak, sometimes we need a variation. I am not big on making sauces (feels too involved after work), but I recently caramelized red onions to go with an entrecôte steak for dinner, which turned out nicely. I added some lemon juice to the red onions, which gave them a kind of bright, chutney-like quality. If you like onions, the caramelized red onions make a good alternative to a sauce for steak.
Thinly slice 3 red onions and finely mince 3 garlic cloves. In a saute pan, heat about a tablespoon of olive oil. When hot, add the onions. Salt, stir, and turn down the heat to medium-low. Sprinkle fresh thyme leaves (take the leaves off the sprig). Put a lid on the pan and let the onions cook down.
When the onions have cooked down, add the juice of half lemon. Stir, and serve on top of steak — such as an entrecôte.
David was very excited with the entrecôte with red onions, with a side of roasted cauliflower.
Christmas time in Stockholm
12 Dec
What the Swedes lack in winter sunlight, they make up for with spectacular Christmas lights all around the city and in windows. Stockholm is lit up for the holidays!
Simple Veg: Spicy Cumin Cauliflower
11 Dec
Here’s an easy variation on the roasted cauliflower (I’d previously posted a recipe for roasted cauliflower with capers) using ground cumin and some cayenne pepper. I love the aroma of cumin, and the cayenne pepper gives the roasted cauliflower a nice kick — I think this cauliflower dish goes well with simple meat dishes, such as steak or pork chops.
Preheat the oven to 375F. Break down the cauliflower into about 1 in. florets and put them in a bowl. Add sliced garlic (about 3 cloves), add a tablespoon of ground cumin, and a teaspoon of cayenne pepper (or about 1/2 tsp if the cauliflower is small — you can vary depending on your spiciness tolerance); season with salt and pepper. Drizzle with some olive oil and mix well. Lay out the cauliflower in a baking dish and roast for about 25 minutes, or until tender. Move the cauliflower around occasionally so that they brown evenly.
I ♥: Flavored Sparkling Water
9 Dec
Swedish tap water is of excellent quality, and many people have carbonator machines at home to make their own sparkling water. Our Swedish producer explained to me that, in order to stay in business, sparkling water companies (Ramlösa and Loka are the big ones) have developed clever flavor options to keep their products appealing and interesting. Although there are flavored sparkling waters in the US (sugar-free, all natural, sparkling), the flavor options in Sweden are far more extensive and go beyond the typical lemon/lime variety. Recently, I found rabarber — rhubarb. It’s faintly sweet (there’s no sugar in it — it’s more an essence and aroma of rhubarb). It’s nice, and I like it, although I wonder if the idea of rhubarb sparkling water is what really piques my interest, rather than an actual “taste.” There’s just something… magical? Scandinavian? Cozy? about a rhubarb-flavored sparkling water.
The other interesting ones I’ve tried are Kaktus (cactus — more like aloe?) and Fläder (elderflower).
Of a more “common” flavor profile, I quite like Vitamin Well Sparkling Water in the Persika flavor — peach. (Full disclosure: when I bought the Persika Vitamin Well Sparkling Water, I thought it might be PEAR flavor… but upon drinking it, learned that Persika is Swedish for peach.)
I am not sure how much flavored sparkling water Swedes really buy (although there seems to be a big market for it), but I for one love them! They are fun and refreshing at the same time, and I look forward to trying a variety of unusual flavors.
Julskinka (Christmas ham)
9 Dec
With the Christmas season upon us, the meat section in our local Daglivs is stocked full of Julskinka (Christmas ham). I have never made a Christmas ham from scratch; actually, David and I have never made roast ham for any of our Christmases together. But as the Julskinka seems like such the typical Swedish meat for the season, we were both curious to try it… now. And so we bough a lovely organic, fresh, salt-cured harm looked lovely to cook for a Sunday “roast.”
The Julskinka packaging explains the traditional method of roasting the ham. Sadly, I could only decipher bits and pieces, not enough fill me with confidence to know what I was doing. So we took a photo of the instructions on the package and sent it to our Swedish colleague, who kindly translated them for us. The actual cooking of the ham is quite easy, although it takes a couple of hours. A cooking thermometer is definitely needed, and I picked up an electronic one at a local hardware store.
Preheat the oven to 175C (or 350F).
Rinse the pork under water — the pork is salted-cured, so it’s important to rinse thoroughly.
Pat dry, and cover in foil.
Place in the lower part of the oven with a cooking thermometer in the meat. Roast until the internal temperature reads 73-75C (or about 165/167 F).
Take the ham out of the oven. (*Do not turn off the oven, as the ham will go back into it.) Cut away the netting, and remove the fat.
Make the mustard coating: mix one egg yolk and 3 tablespoons of wholegrain mustard.
Cover the ham with the mustard mixture. Typically, breadcrumbs are added all over the mustard coating — I sprinkled fresh thyme instead.
Raise the oven temperature to 200C (or about 390F). Put the ham back in the oven and roast until it browns, about 15 minutes.
Rest for 5-10 minutes. Slice thinly and serve!
For dinner, we had slices of ham alongside some broccoli and mushrooms. The ham has a salty quality, so it’s good to pair with non-salty vegetables. Although we bought a “small-ish” Julskinska, it’s still A LOT of ham for 2 people. But the ham is great cold — in fact our Swedish colleague explains that it is best the day after on some bread with some mustard. The bread we don’t do, of course, but the ham has served us well, providing us all week as a quick, ready source of protein at home. Whether for snacks (on its own or with slices of cucumber or avocado) or with scrambled eggs for breakfast, the Julskinka is a nice, holiday meat to try at home.
P.S. The next time I make this, I think I may add some sweetness to the mustard coating by adding honey…
Simple Dishes: Roast Pork Tenderloin w/Garlic-Ginger Rub
3 Dec
Grocery shopping can lead to impulse purchases. If something looks fresh and beautiful, I find it hard not to want to take it home to cook it, even if I don’t exactly know what to do with it at the time of purchase. Pork tenderloin was one such purchase. I’d never cooked pork tenderloin before, but the butcher in Saluhall had fantastic-looking pork tenderloin and I couldn’t resist. After work, at home, I Googled various pork tenderloin cooking methods. Many recipes call for 3 hours or overnight marination — I didn’t have the time, since the pork was meant for dinner that night. So I decided to just rub some spices I had at home and roast it. Although I’m sure marinating the tenderloin overnight will infuse it with flavor and tenderize the meat, I think this simple spice rub worked quite nicely.
SPICY ROAST PORK TENDERLOIN WITH GARLIC-GINGER RUB
- 3 tsp garlic powder
- 3 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- Salt
- 1 1/4 pounds pork tenderloin
- Olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
Preheat the oven to 450F.
In a small bowl, mixed garlic powder, ground ginger, cayenne pepper, and salt. Stir well with a fork to combine — this will be the rub. With dry hands, sprinkle the tenderloin with the rub, making sure to cover the entire tenderloin. Gently pat the rub to ensure that that the seasoning adheres to the tenderloin.
In a large skillet or pan over medium-high heat, add olive oil (about 1 tablespoon). Add the minced garlic and saute, stirring, for about 1 minute. Put tenderloin in the pan and cook for about 10 minutes, searing each side and turning the meat.
Transfer meat to a roasting pan and bake for 20 minutes.
Rest for 5 minutes. Slice and serve!
eat. live. paleo. 