Blackened chicken drumstick with sweet potato fries, kale salad & yogurt sauce

Kale; the super food that has recently turned up on almost every foodies and health freak blog in every shape and form. Chips, in a smoothie, various pie constellations and just the way it is, raw. I'm surprised no ones made a kale cupcake yet. Oh wait! I take that back, according to Brooklyn Magazine, "Kale Cupcakes Are a Thing", read their post about them here. I'm not surprised, why not do a mash-up of two foodie trends? I'm just pissed I didn't think of it first. More and more people are getting hooked on the kale trend; what kind of foodie would I be if I didn't join the craze?

I went with a kale salad to match this blackened chicken and sweet potato fries, because to be honest, you really don't have to do much with kale. It tastes great just the way it is (you can always dress it up a bit like Cupcakes and Kale has done, with apples and walnuts. See her recipe here!). Add a bit of olive oil and some freshly squeezed lemon juice if you like and you're all set for a salad packed with fiber, protein, iron, magnesium, vitamin A, C, B6 and calcium, to name just a few. You can read more about it here.

The What

4 portions

4 chicken drumsticks

2 large sweet potatoes

4 handfuls of kale

Greek yogurt

feta cheese

fresh thyme

Marinade

1 dl olive oil

½ dl soy sauce

2 tbsp honey

1-2 garlic cloves

salt & pepper

The How

Mix the marinade in a large plastic bag or in two smaller bags. Add the chicken. The marinade should completely cover the chicken. Close the bags and leave in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, turning the bags once. 

Set the oven to 200 degrees. 

Cut the sweet potatoes into sticks, I cut mine a bit bigger than regular fries, but you can do as you like. Keep in mind that thinner fries have a tendency to get dry faster so keep an eye on them in the oven. Spread the fries on an oven tray, season with salt & pepper as well as chili flakes, if you like. Drizzle over olive oil and put in the oven for about 20 minutes, depending on the size. 

Put the chicken in an oven safe dish and set in the oven. The chicken is done when the juice is clear, the meat is white and comes easily off the bone. If you're unsure, cut one open and check. Better safe than sorry! 

Crumble the feta cheese, add the yogurt and some pepper. Mix together and top with fresh thyme. 

Serve with the kale salad, just as it is or with some freshly squeezed lemon, olive oil and salt & pepper. 

Rainbow trout filled with fresh herbs

A lot of people are intimidated by the thought of cooking a meal form a whole fish, with the head and everything still on. I know I was! But my mum taught me that if you have a good fish, it really doesn't have to be very complicated. So we went to the fish market this Easter holiday and got some beautiful fresh rainbow trout. It's a pretty cheap fish with white meat, and very tasty in itself which means you don't really have to do a whole lot to it to make it taste like heaven. 

All you need to make my herb filled rainbow trout is:

4 rainbow trouts

1 lemon

1 hand full of fresh thyme

1 handful of fresh rosemary

1 handful of fresh basil

butter

salt and pepper

The how is just as simple:

Put the oven to 200 degrees.

Put the fish in tin foil in an oven safe dish.

Season with salt and pepper and fill the fish with butter, herbs and a wedge of lemon.

Close the tin foil around the fish to make it a little package, and put in to the oven for about 20  minutes. 

Serve directly with a nice salad and (Swedish) new potatoes!

5 Ingredients; Vegetarian Salad

I really felt like something light and easy a few Fridays ago, so I started of thinking about some of my absolute favorite things to eat;

oven roasted aubergine

chevre goats cheese

soy beans

sourdough bread

spinach and arugula salad mix

I had some left over sourdough bread that was getting a bit stale so I cut it into crouton sized bits and quickly roasted it in the oven with some olive oil and garlic. 

I sliced the aubergine, salted it and let it sit for about 15 minutes to draw out the bitter tasting water, after which I washed it and oven roasted it in 200 degrees for about 15 - 20 minutes. 

In the meantime, I blanched the soy beans in salted water, quickly cooled them down and removed the outer layer of skin on the bean. 

Add all the ingredients in a big bowl, cut down the aubergine when its nice and soft and add the cheese. 

I made a lovely dressing, inspired by an old friend, using olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, honey, salt and pepper. It goes SO well with the chevre. 

There´s your light and tasty Friday night meal :)

Hot Salad

Do you ever feel like someone else should do all the work for you in the kitchen? Can't get your best mate to come over and make you dinner? 

Step away from the pizza menu!!

This Hot Salad is super easy and super healthy, and best part of all, it basically cooks itself! Use your favorite veggies; 

I used

Aubergine

Zucchini

Red and yellow onion

Beetroots

Whole garlic cloves (with the skin still on!)

Chop them up (no need to make it all fancy, unless you really want to make them Julienne or Brunoise!), put them in an oven safe dish, pour over some olive oil, salt, pepper, whatever other herbs you want to use and stick them in the oven at about 180.200 degrees for about 20 minutes or until they are done (cooking time depends on what veggies you've used). 

Top with arugula or baby spinach (maybe even both if you're feeling adventurous) and crumble over some feta cheese (yes, I do use it for everything. But that's because it goes with ANYTHING! Amost anyway). Give the black pepper grinder a twirl over the veggies and serve when it's still warm.

Easy, healthy and basically carb free!

Prawns and champagne - simple luxury

My absolute favorite thing to do on a Friday night; drink champagne and eat seafood <3 

It's so simple, the pictures say more than enough - no fancy recipe needed!

What can be better than this?

Fresh asparagus with chili oil and Parmesan cheese

Fresh prawns and langoustines

Simple luxury

What's your favorite Friday night meal?

Chicken burger on sour dough bread with mango dressing, spicy fries and baby spinach salad.

You know when you really feel like having a burger? But then you're like "No, I really shouldn't, I have to think about beach 2014...". Living in Sweden I will only get about 2 months (if I'm lucky) of sun and it won't even be strong enough to make me tanned. To be honest with you, I would love to have that will power to say NO to pasta, NO to cheese, NO to wine, NO to the occasional pizza or burger and really go for that tight sexy beach bod this year.. But I just can't, food is just too damn good!! ... and also, I am a bit too lazy.

Chicken burger on sour dough bread with mango dressing,
spicy fries and baby spinach salad.

Take some advice from one of the greats: 

“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” 

― Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own

Or as I like to say:

"The belly rules the mind".

- Spanish Proverb

The burger below is actually quite easy to make your own; you can eat it without the bread and you can use whatever dressing you like, add or take away anything really to make it more, or less, healthy. This is what I used (and it tasted amazing!):

Prepping; sliced tomatoes, mozzarella, baby spinach
 and the mango dressing.

The What:

500 g minced chicken breast

1 red onion, finely chopped

1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

1 egg

Buffalo Mozzarella Cheese

200 g baby spinach

Tomato(es)

2 dl creme fraiche

Mango Chutney to taste

10-12 potatoes

chili flakes

salt and fresh ground pepper

Sour dough bread

Making the chicken patties; It's a lot easier using a spoon
and make the patties right in the pan!

The How:

Put the oven to 200 degrees.

Slice the potatoes into halves and slice the halves into sticks. Put the potato sticks in an oven safe dish, add olive oil, salt and fresh ground pepper and chili flakes to taste. Put in oven for about 20 minutes. 

Put the finely diced red onion, the grated garlic and the egg in a bowl. Using a spoon, mix together with the minced chicken breast and finish with some salt and pepper.

Mix the mango chutney with the creme fraiche to taste, add more if you want it extra mangoey!! Add salt and pepper here too if you want, although it's not necessary.

Slice the tomatoes, the mozzarella and wash the baby spinach.

Heat a pan with olive oil and use a spoon and make the chicken patties straight  in the pan. Fry until they are a golden brown and cooked all the way through. They burn quite easily though so be careful!

Cut the bread into slices and put them in the oven on top of the fries when they've been in the oven for about 15 minutes. 

Home made fries in the oven; letting the bread soak
up the oil and spices.

Put the bread on a plate, add the chicken patty, mozzarella, tomato, baby spinach and finish with the mango dressing. Serve with the chili fires and a nice spinach salad.

Seafood and bubbles, indulgence on a budget - It's possible!

I work as a Key Account Manager in my "real" life and some days are great; the clients are happy, the boss is happy and I'm happy, cause everyone else is happy and maybe I've closed a big deal. Happy happy happy! Those are the days I remember why I love working in sales. Other days are not so great and I remember why I love alcohol and food! One particularly awful day when  had just started at the new job, I got yelled at for things that happened  all the way back in 2009 when I was no where near the company or the job or even the city. Back then I still dreamed of taking over Kofi Annans job with the UN, I was still at University and still stubbornly defying my natural talent within sales and  never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I'd end up selling, specially not within the heavy industry and construction business. Needless to say, I felt the urge to indulge. I called my ever pleasing boyfriend and gave strict instructions to buy seafood; I envisioned king crab legs, prawns, crab and langoustine (or Norway Lobster or just plain old havskräfta in Swedish). So the boy went over to Söderhallarna by Medborgarplatsen and headed over to Melanders Fiskbutik, who had everything I wanted: 

Unfortunately this time, the wallet wasn't as thick as my appetite, end of the month and all. I couldn't afford one king crab leg for 170 SEK a pop or 690 SEK/kg, so we went all out on the prawns and a few langoustines instead, added some gorgeous sour dough bread from Borgs Brödbod and great cheese from Söder Cheesen, both at Söderhallarna.

We served this lovely meal with roe sauce and hovmästarsås, a mustard and dill sauce that goes great with prawns as well as smoked salmon, (a swedish favourite!) and easily finished a bottle of Dopff Brut Cuvée Julien (nr 7410 at Systembolaget, only 68 SEK for you Swedes). All in all it was a relatively cheap meal with all the luxury of indulgence on a budget.

And we had the pleasure of meeting and eating Poseidon, God of the Sea! Sorry dude. 

Oven Baked Salmon with Spinach and Parmesan Mash

I was in the mood for something that felt a bit fancy but that was still kind of cheap and didn't take too long to make - it was Thursday after all and I'd had a long day at work. We had some salmon in the freezer, and since we are (sort of anyway) Swedes, we of course also had potatoes, butter, cream,  lemon and stock. So all I needed was some spinach, Parmesan cheese and sugar snaps and I was all set for my fancy, easy and cheap Oven Baked Salmon with Spinach and Parmesan Mash.

The What

4 salmon fillets, frozen or fresh

200 g fresh baby spinach

12 medium sized potatoes

Parmesan cheese (to taste)

2 dl cream

1 dl water

1 cube of fish stock

½ freshly squeezed lemon juice

butter

salt, white pepper

The How

Put the oven on 200 degrees.

Boil the potatoes.

Grate the Parmesan cheese. 

Pour the cream, water, lemon and the fish stock cube into a pan. Bring to the boil and add salt and white pepper to taste. Save some cream if you want to make your mash extra tasty!

Butter an oven safe dish and cover the bottom with baby spinach. Add the salmon fillets and pour over the sauce. Top with some grated Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Put in the oven for about 15 - 20 minutes or until the salmon is cooked. 

Mash the potatoes (I like mine with the skin still on), add butter and cream to taste along with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add the grated Parmesan, no shame in putting it all in there!

Boil the sugar snaps in lightly salted water for about 30 seconds, you still want them to be nice and crispy.

Serve all together with a nice chilled white wine, or just have water like I did. Water from the tap in Sweden is the best it really gets!