Ratatouille

 This is definitely one of my favorite dishes. So healthy and with the most amazing taste.

1 large chopped onion
1 garlic clove chopped
1 tablespoon virgin olive oil
3-5 thyme branches
1/3 cup of white vine (not too sour)
2 cans whole skinned tomatoes
2 red sweet chopped peppers
2 chopped squash
1 bouillon or a teaspoon of stock
1 bay leaf
1 large chopped chorizo

mushrooms, leeks or any other vegetable is also delicious in this dish.

let the onions, garlic, thyme and oil simmer at a low key. when the onions turn soft and transparent (not brown) pour in the white vine. and let the ethanol boil of.

then add the skinned tomatoes, the bouillon/stock and bay leaf and let simmer for at least half an hour, 1.5 hours is even better, as long as the tomatoes are whole and not chopped.

chop the tomatoes with a spoon or spatula. add the red peppers. and after about 10 min, add the squash.

in the meantime also fry the chorizo.

add the chorizo, let it simmer for a couple of minutes and enjoy :-)

bean dip..

I started making humus for a couple of years ago, but has become a great fan of bean dip. It is easy, delicious and healthy.

about 250 g beans (8.8 oz)(the easy method: from a can with a mixture of pinto-, white- and red kidney- beans )
ad a little bit of the "bean water" about 1 tbsp.

1 tbsp lemon juice.
1 tbsp oion.
1 tsp garlic.
1 tbsp tahin.
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil.
1 tbsp soya.
1 tsp sesame oil.
and the add about half a tsp of all the spices: salt, pepper, paprika, all spices, coriander, cumin and cayenne pepper.

I always use a hand hold food processor to mix it.. because it is just so easy :-)
Add for example a bit of tomatoes on top and a nice rustic homemade bread on the side... and dip in!!

flødeboller (recipe for cream tops.. or chocolate covered marshmallow)

I felt like experimenting with sweets at christmas time.. so i decided to make flødeboller.. and they turned out great. however i would love to se if i can get ideas to expand the recipe...

this is for about 32.
500 grams of marzipan (17.63 ounce or.. an entire roll)
about 400 grams granulated sugar (14 ounce)
150 grams pasteurized egg whites (5.29 ounce)
1.5 dl water (5.29 ounce)
about 250 grams of chocolate (9 ounces)

next time i make them i'll add vanilla to some of them.. that would be a nice touch.. this time i added som strawberry flavor to some of them, it where a success..

the way i made them:
 first i cut the marzipan in slices, about as thick as half a centimeter (0.2 inches) and baked them at 180 degrees celsius (356 degrees fahrenheit) until the start to brown a little bit (after about 8 min), a bit more than i did (the picture).

then i added the water and sugar, and heated until it boils, when it boils watch the pan. let it simmer a little bit so that some of the water vaporizes. don't stir to rough and remove from heat when it starts to crystalize on the sites and doesn't bubble anymore.

when sugar is of the heat, start beating the egg whites. when they are stiff, slowly poor in the syrup. keep mixing about 10-15 min after all the syrup is in, because it needs to cool down while mixing in the bowl. then add flavors.
when the marshmallow stuff has rested for a little while, put it in a bag and cut a little hole. ad the "cream" to the marzipan slices made earlier.

let the flødeboller rest for a while so the dry a little on the out site. then either dip them i melted chocolate or paint it on the flødeboller.

so now that you have 32 delicious cream tops you need to get a calorie approximation... if fragile.. look away...

1 flødebolle = 168.12 calories

in total 32 flødeboller/ cream tops:
total proteins            94.02 g = 376.2 calories
total carbohydrates 692.28 g = 2769.12 calories
total fat                   248.27 g = 2234.43 calories

Paté (Leverpostej)

Today i really should be writing a report on antibiotic resistance in bacteria, so instead i made paté.
I tried to find a nice recipe but ended up improvising and became really satisfied.

so here goes...

500 grams chopped pig liver (17.6 ounces)
3 big chicken breasts that I chopped myself
100 grams bacon (3.5 ounces)
2 large eggs
200 grams butter
250 ml heavy cream (8.5 us fluid ounces)
2 teaspoons chicken stock
2 medium size red onions and a little bit of garlic.
a couple of teaspoons of potato starch/flour
salt
pepper
a little bit of dried thyme, allspice, grounded coriander and grounded cumin
add spices according to taste.

Everything should be finely chopped and mixed.

Bake the paté at 200 degrees celsius (392 degrees fahrenheit) until brown on top..

Flour.. gluten?!

The choice of flour is one of the most important thing, when baking. Elasticity and chewiness (of ciabatta bread) is caused by protein connections. The protein content of flour should therefore be considered. When making bread, a high content of proteins are often to prefer, but for cakes a low protein content should be chosen. 

Sooo what is gluten.

Gluten is the linkage/bonds between gluten proteins in wheat flour through a complex process. The proteins are called gliadin and glutenin. They form a network called gluten, connected most importantly by disulfide bonds but also by tyrosine bonds, hydrogen bonds and hydrophobe interactions.

The gluten network are made when water is added to the dough and when the dough is being kneaded (so the proteins come close to eachother) and baked.

Reduction will cleave the disulfide bonds.

The disulfide bonds can be broken if the dough is made acidic, by for example vinegar and lemon or lime juice. So by adding this to a cake batter, the cake will become less elastic and more cake-ish. 

apple pie

Baking is one of my big passions.. Todays attempt is apple pie.. It might be partly french apple pie and partly mine.

crust bottom:
366 grams flour
56 boiling hot water
1-2 eggs
1 teaspoon white vinegar
50 grams white sugar
200 grams salted butter room temperature
mix all ingredients, but don't knead it too much. spread the dough in the tin

apple filling:
about 8 semi sour apple
2 limes
a bit of acacia honey
cinnamon
vanilla
25-50 gram salted butter
sugar
warm all ingredients in the pan (except the apples), and taste it.. add more of the wanted ingredients if it doesn't taste exactly right (sweet and sour).. add the apples and "boil" for about 5 min, then put in tin on top of the dough. make sure not to add to much liquid in the tin.. that makes the bottom crust greasy.

crust top:
salted butter
flour
sugar
add flour and sugar until it's nice and thick and then crumble it on top of the apples in the tin.