A very Normal Dessert

I usally complicate everything, especially in cooking, BUT there are times when a good easy to make chocolate mousse does the job fine. This is a recipe for a fluffy mousse that tastes the way chocolate should - like chocolate.  
 
Chocolate Mousse
 
135 gram dark chocolate (70%)
33 gram sugar syrup
75 gram whipping cream
100 gram whipping cream
100 gram egg whites
42 gram sugar

1. Boil the sugar syrup and the cream (75g).
2. Melt the chocolate.
3. Poor the cream mix into the chocolate and mix it until it becomes thick.
4. In another bowl, whip the egg whites and a third of the sugar until fluffy like meringue. Then add the rest of the sugar and keep whipping until combined.
5. Whip the rest of the cream in a separate bowl.
6. Combine the chocolate with the whipped cream and then fold in the meringue carefully.
7. Put in nice portion cups and keep in fridge for at least 5 hours.

Tip: Serve it with whipped cream and chocolate shaves. Enjoy!

Cookbook Tip

  

Interested in Turkish cooking? Check out the bok Turkey by Leanne Kitchen. A lovely cookbook and insight to Tukish food and traditions. In the book you can find everything from simple dips to more advanced seafood and lamb recipes. It's a good book if you are looking to get more familiar with middle eastern cooking in general. 

Leeks with Lemon, Currants and Goat Cheese

Oriental food is often simple to make but with interesting flavors and colors. Here is a Turkish recipe with baby leek and currant. The currant is giving this dish a beautiful color and a sour, yet sweet taste. Leek is a very straight forward ingedient that is often forgotten. For this recipe we used current from the garden and self-grown leek. Life in Sweden can be fun (when it's not raining). 

Leeks with Lemon, Currants and Goat cheese

750 g baby leek or 4 large leeks (if large, sliced them)

125 ml olive oil

2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

2 1/2 tsp caster sugar

finely grated zest from 1 lemon

35 g currants

50 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice

375 ml chicken stock

2 thyme sprigs

125 g tulum cheese (goat cheese)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C degrees. 

2. Trim the leek 3-4 cm from the tops and clean them proper. Make sure that the root ends keep together or they will fall apart during cooking.

3. Place a single laying in a large rosting tin. 

4. Heat the olive oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for about two minutes or until fragrant. Pour the oil mixture over the leeks in the tin. 

5. Scatter over the sugar, lemon and currants then pur over the lemon juice and stock; season with freshly ground black pepper. 

6. Cover the tin tighly with foil and bake in the oven for about 25 minutes (50 minutes if big leeks). 

7. Remove from the oven, drain the leek and set a side, reserve the cooking liquid. 

8. Transfer the cooking liquid to a saucepan and bring to boil. Cook for about 10 minutes or untilt he liquid has reduced and thinkened, the pour it over the leeks. 

9. Season with salt and cool completely. 

10. Before serving, scatter the crumbled tulum cheese and serve. 

Enjoy!

Pesto chicken with Feta Cheese Potatoes

When the weather in Sweden is good (two weeks a year) there is a lot to do. One of my favorit late summer activities is picking mushrooms in the woods around our house. The chanterelles in the picture is in fact handpicked by ME. Any edible mushroom is good to use for the recipe. Of course, there is nothing like the gold of our Scandinavian woods. Here is an easy to make summer BBQ recipe. I'll wish for nice weather. 

Recipe (6 people)

800 g of chicken, thight filés

Marinade

1 red chili, chopped

A handful of chives

A handful of basil

A handful of thyme

2 cloves of garlic

1/4 cup of parmesan

1/4 cup of walnuts

1 dl of olive oil

Juice from 1 lemon

Juice from 1 lime

Salt

1. Mix all the ingredients for the marinade in a blender. Put the chicken in a plastic bag together with the marinade for approx. 1 hour before bbq:ing.

Baked Potato with Feta Cheese
approx. 1 kg potatoes (new potatoes are recommended)
200 grams of feta cheese
Rosemary
Olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper

1. Slice the potatoes thinly. 
2. Grease a tin with olive oil and then make layers with potatoes and cheese. On the top put extra cheese and finish off with rosemary.
3. Sprinkle over olive oil, salt and pepper.
4. Bake in the oven at 175 C degrees until it gets a nice golden color, approx. 30 min. 

Mushrooms
500 grams of chanterelles (or other mushrooms, what ever you get your hands on)
30 grams of butter
Salt 
A pinch of white pepper

1. Fry the mushrooms and add the butter as soon as the liquid is completely reduced. Season with salt and white pepper and fry until golden brown. 

Enjoy!

Tip: You can basically use any kind of green herbs, I used what I had at home. You should

do the same.

Wheat Ring with Vanilla Cream and Blueberries

 
In Sweden we eat rolled buns with a huge variation of fillings. I usally prefer the regualar cinnamon roll with cinnamon, sugar and butter. This is a more luxurious version of the cake with homemade vanilla cream and handpicked blueberries.  

Wheat Ring

150 grams of butter

1 tbs of cardamom

2 cups of milk

1/2 tsp of salt

1 dl of sugar

1 egg

12 grams of dried yeast
1 tbs baking powder

850-900 grams of flour

Filling:

2 1/2 cup of milk

1 vanilla bean

6 tbs of sugar

3 tbs of cornstarch 

8 egg yolks

50 grams of almond paste
200g of blueberries

Topping:
Sugar pearls (if you can't find sugar pearls, thinly sliced almonds also works well)
Egg (for brushing)

1. Melt the butter in a pot and add the milk, salt, sugar, cardamom and the egg. Let it become 42 C degrees (or 37 if using fresh yeast).

2. Add all the flour to a bowl and mix in the yeast. I prefer doing this stage in a mixer. Add the milk mixture while mixing on slow speed. 

3. Let the machine do the kneading for you on slow spead for approx. 8-10 min. Let the dough rise to dubble size in a warm place. It takes approx. 1 hour. 

4. In the meantime make the filling. Spit the vanilla bean and scrape out all it's seeds and add to the milk togther with the seperated bean. Bring the milk to boil. 

5. Let cool and take out the vanilla bean (you can strain it, just make sure to bring the seeds back). 

6. Mix in the sugar, cornstarch and the yolks and bring back to the heat and let simmer under constant stiring until it becomes really thick. Take it of the heat and let it cool. 

7. Take out the dough when ready and divide it to two parts (makes two).

8. With a rolling pin make a thin rectangle and add the almond paste and vanilla cream on top, then sprinkle over blueberries and if you like it sweet some extra sugar. Roll it and place in a baking tin.

9. Cut the dough with a scissor almost all the way through, with two centimeters in between to make a nice pattern.

10. If there is leftover vanilla cream squeeze it out in the gap between were you made the cut with the scissor to give that little extra touch. Mix an egg and brush it on the cake and sprinkle over the sugar pearls.

11. Heat up the oven to 200 C, in the meantime let the cakes rise a bit.

12. Place in the oven for 25 minutes, then cover it with something so it won't burn and let it be in the oven for another five minutes. Take it out and let cool completely.

Enjoy! 

Oriental Love (Manehe Yehuda)

 

 

Azura (Jerusalem)

I'm not a big fan of Jerusalem. I tend to keep to Tel Aviv BUT there is a place worth visiting in the city, the shuk Manehe Yehuda. In the shuk there is an Iraqui restaurant named Azura that serves well cooked food for a good price. 

While wating for a table walk around the shuk and get inspired. 

Location: Eshkol Street 4 (the Iraqui market) 

Beetroot á la Dagmara

My beautiful friend Dagmara also knows what to do in the kitchen. Just the other day she invited me for lunch and made this tasty starter. Since then I have been eating this dish at home  - for lunch and dinner. Yummy! I've added lemon zest and pumpkin oil to the recipe (forgive me). A perfect starter to kick start a dinner party.

Beetroot  (four ppl)

4 pre-cooked beetroots

300 grams goat yogurt

2-3 tbs raw tahini

A handful of parsley

zest from 1 lemon

Juice from half a lemon

salt

To serve:

60 grams rosted pine nuts

Pumpkin oil

1. Chop the parsley finely. Add goat yogurt, tahini, zest and the lemon juice. Mix well and season with salt.

2. Slice the beetroot. Put on a serving dish in a circle and add the mix on top. Sprinkle over rosted pine nuts and carefully drop pumpkin oil around.

Enjoy! 

Sardinia

If you like italian food, go and check out Chef Roy Soffer's new restaurant in old Jaffa. Simple, good Italian food in a nice atmosphere and for a very resonable price. Worth a visit. Book a table in advance, the place is full almost every night.

Location: Kedumim square, old Jaffa.

Tel:  03-683-2211

Workshop with Meir Adoni

Bishulim (Culinary Institute of Israel) offers a lot of workshops and courses with famous chefs in israel. I just saw pictures from this workshop with Chef Meir Adoni (owner and chef at Catit). I'm signing up asap, the pictures say it all. Check out Bishulim's website for more info (Bishulim).

Chocolate Meringue

This is my very secret recipe for super delicious chocolate meringues. Please don't share (lol). I have since young age always loved meringue. When it was my turn to bring something for Friday snack in school I always made super big jumbo meringues (still do). 

This is a recipe that makes the meringue hard and crunchy on the outside but soft and chewy on the inside, just like in the coffee shops. Chocolate meringue makes a great side to vanilla ice cream but they are also just as good to hover in like that (I prefer the hovering). 

Chocolate Meringue 
  
Ingredients (make approx. 4 big)

180 g sugar

3 egg whites

1/2 tsp salt 

50 g dark chocolate

1. Heat up water in a pot and put a bowl (heatproof of course) over.

2. Add the eggwhites, sugar and the salt and start mixing over the simmering water. Mix for approx. 5 minutes untilt the sugar crystals completely dissolve. 

3. Take it off the heat and keep mixing until it gets cold.

4. Melt the chocolate and fold it in to the eggmix. Fold only a few times, we don't want it to mix completely, only get strips of chocolate. 

5. Put in the oven at 125C degrees and bake for approx. 1 hour.

Enjoy!

For all you Cookbook Lovers

Tip: Check out the cookbook Fresh Flavors from Israel by Ruth Oliver and Orly Pely-Bronshtein and Shaily Lipa-Angel . In the book you can find many good recipes for new Israeli food and flavors. It's also a great book if you are looking for inspiration for the holidays (leg of lamb stuffed with haroset, just saying).

You can buy the book here: Fresh Flavors from Israel

Tahini Ice Cream

 

For the tahini lover I introduce tahini ice cream. Sounds weird? Wait until you taste it. This is a creamy and spicy ice cream that is very easy to make. It does not require an ice cream machine wich can be considered a big plus for us normal people. The condensed milk helps the ice cream to set and get a nice creamy texture. 

Tahini Ice Cream

1 can of sweetened condensed milk

500 ml heavy cream

3-4 tbs of raw tahini

zest from 2 lemons

juice from 1/2 lemon

A dash of cinnemon

1. Beat the cream until soft peaks form. Fold in the condensed milk and the tahini.
2. Add the lemon zest and the juice and keep folding it in, be gentle. 

2. Put the batter in a box or in individual serving cups. Dust the cinnamon on top and put in the freezer. I recommend to leave it over night. 

Serve it with berries or fresh fruit!

Enjoy!

 © 2012 Jill Schweber and Channa Waje, all rights reserved

Blueberry Dreams

the yearly batch of my father's blueberry jam

Picking blueberries requires patience, to actually fill a bucket takes time. It's not for everyone, but if you learn to like it, you will never stop. Being in the woods, listening to the sounds, smelling nature and picking blueberries is therapy and meditation (probably better).

Blueberry Jam

1.5 liters of blueberries
0.6 liter of sugar
1 ml of sodium benzoate (E211 food preservative)

1. Clean the freshly picked wild berries and mix with sugar in a pot. Leave
for a couple of hours so the mix gets juicy.
2. Heat slowly and simmer for 20 minutes. Shake (do not stir) the pot now
and then.
3. Turn off the heat, shake the pot carefully and skim off the foam.
4. Dissolve the natrium benzoate in a few spoonfuls of the hot jam and mix
with the rest of the jam.
5. Pour into warm and very well cleaned jars (rinse with some natrium
benzoate dissolved in water and dry in low heat in the oven), seal and keep
cool.

Tip: Make Swedish pancakes (= thin pancakes) and on top put whipped cream and homemade blueberry jam. Do I need to say more?   

you might meet one of these while picking blueberries

A Guide to Mexican Food and Adventures

Do you want to win a book about easy to prepare Mexican food with beautiful Baja California pictures? We are giving away this great cookbook to one of our readers. All you have to do is comment with an email address and link our blog on FB before the 15/8! (And yes, we are sorry that the book is in Swedish – but the photos are lovely).

By: Lennart Waje and Michel Wide with chef Richard Waje

Blueberry Muffins with Crumbs

mamma Birgitta's blueberry muffins

Every summer in Sweden my mom makes these super tasty blueberry muffins with crumbs. We eat them together with our mandatory afternoon coffee in the garden (overlooking the green woods around our house). They have a strong blueberry flavor and a taste of Swedish summer.

They make you think about the true treasures of our woods in the north. Living abroad, especially in the Middle East where there are no woods and no water, makes you think about the things we take for granted back home. Like milk and freshly picked blueberries straight from the woods for breakfast – every day all through July and August.

(And all Israeli friends, 20 trees is not a forest.)

Blueberry muffins

Crumbs

12 tsp of butter, divided in to pieces

2 cups of flour

1 cup granulated suger

1 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon 

1/2 tsp salt

1. Mix all the ingredients in a mixer until crumbs starts to form. 

Muffins (makes approx. 24)

1 cup of corn oil

5 1/2 cup of flour

1 1/2 cup of sugar

3 + 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 big eggs

2 1/2 cup of milk

3 cups blueberries 

1. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set a side. 

2. In another bowl mix egg, milk and oil. Add the dry ingredients and mix until completely combined. 

3. Add the blueberries, gently add them by folding them in with a spatula or a spoon. We don't want them to break!

4. Fill the muffin cups with 2/3 of the batter (it's recomended to use a cupcake baking tin to hold the muffin cups in). On top add the crumbs. 

5. Bake in the oven on 175C degrees for approx. 20-25 minutes. 

Don't forget the coffee!

This is where it all happens!

Seafood Heaven

Seafood cocktail in Mexico 

I am a huge fan of Mexican food and so is a big part of my family. Most of it is easy to make and the ingredients are very straightforward. And of course, if you like coriander and chili you will just love Mexican food.

Here is a very not kosher seafood cocktail from the Swedish cookbook Waje Wide och en kock – Baja California (Waje Wide and a chef). The book is about food and traveling and the authors eat and cook their way through Baja California. My father Lennart Waje and my uncle Richard Waje are the people behind the book together with the photographer and graphic designer Michael Wide.

I will of course make sure to post a good recipe later on for simple tacos and maybe also my moms amazing flan.

If you are interested in knowing more about the book check out their web page: twow

Cóctel de mariscos

4 dl cold shrimp fond

1 dl tomato juice

2 tomatoes, diced

1 silver onion, finely chopped

100 grams of celery, finely chopped 

2 red chili pepper, finely chopped

juice from 1 lime

100 grams of precooked octopus, diced

100 g of raw scallops, diced

50 grams of precooked cockle

100 grams of precooked mussels

A handful of chopped coriander  

salt and pepper

1. Mix the fond with the tomato juice and onion, celery and chili. Season with salt, pepper and lime. 

2. Add the seafood and the coriander. 

3. Serve in a beautiful glass. 

Shrimp fond 

shells from 1/2 kg shrimps

1 tbs of tomato puree

1 onion, sliced

2 carrots, sliced

1/4 celery, sliced

2 garlic cloves, sliced

1 red chili, sliced

1 tbs of canola oil

 

1. Fry the vegetables lightly in oil in a big pot until they are soft but still without color. 

2. Add the shrimp shells and the tomato puree and keep frying for a few minutes. 

3. Add water just to cover and let simmer for 10-15 minutes. Remove all the foam.

4. Strain the fond and let cool.   

Don't forget to bring out a good Mexican beer to serve it with, or why not make a frozen strawberry margarita?

Enjoy!

Picture by: Lennart Waje

© 2012 Jill Schweber and Channa Waje, all rights reserved

Sharing Secrets

Picture by: Lennart Waje

Macarons can, if you ask me, be considered Gods gift to mankind. They have amazing color and flavor, there are a million different heavenly tastes to choose from, they are crunchy on the outside but yet chewy on the inside, and they have an amazingly soft filling in the middle (the gift).

Macarons They are a favorite in my book as you might be able to tell by now. I actually try to cut down on all other sweets just in order to have more space for my weekly dose of macarons (don't tell). There is only one problem yet to be solved: how do you make a perfect one? I have never before in my life spent so much time trying to succeed at something – and yet failed so miserably. 

As my lovely boyfriend likes to put it: "Is our trash eating macarons again this week?".

This is it, the moment of joy!

Baking class at Bishulim

I was of course the only one who baked a banana instead!

Bread

Last week in school we changed things up a bit and went in to the world of baking. We had a lovely class and made tons of different bread. We baked french classic baguettes, fruit breads and buns and brioche. Even though I completely lack patiens when it comes to baking (long waiting hours in-between), I found the class very interesting and delicious. In the end of the class when it was time to taste, we just took out a big jar of butter and dipped the bread. You should have been there, it was a full blown butter-war.

If you want to find out more about my school Bishulim check out their wedpage: Bishulim

Shushas Cupcakes

Picture by: Oren Cohen

Picture by: Oren Cohen

"Cupcakes are adorable and fancy. They make me happy and also more importantly the reciver happy. They are fun to bake because they are full of color and you can make them different every time. Cupcakes always give a little something back to the eye. They are also perfect for almost any occation. Who don't love a mini-cake?"

By: Shusha Biton

Cupcakes  

Ingredients (12 pieces)

125 grams of self-rising flour

125 grams of butter, softened

125 grams of casted sugar

2 eggs

2-3 tbs milk
      

Cupcake butter cream  

1 kilo of powdered sugar 

400 grams of soft butter

1 tbs milk

1 tsp of vanilla extract

Optional: You can add any flavor or color to the butter cream, choice of your own. It's also good without any extra flavor.

1. Heat the oven to 180C degrees.

2. Mix flour and butter with a mixer until you get crumbs. Add the sugar and beat in the eggs. Finally add the milk and mix until the batter is combined and creamy. 

3. Take out a cupcake tin and add the paper muffin cups. With a spoon put in the batter, approx. 3/4 in every tin. 

4. Bake for about 15 minutes until they turn golden brown. Let cool on a cooling grid. 

5. Start preparing the butter cream. Put half of the sugar in a mixer and add the soft butter, the milk and the vanilla. Beat until combined and add the rest of the sugar. Mix until fluffy. If you want to add color and flavor, do it in this fase. 

6. Put the butter cream in to a pastry bag with a nozzle of your choice. Depending on how you want your batter to look on the cupcake. Press out the butter cream on the cupcakes in a nice pattern. Decorate with something cute and eatable if you want, or serve them just like that.

Enjoy! (YUMMY)

Tip: 

•  The butter cream can keep in the fridge for three days if stored proper. Just make sure to mix it again before you use it to make it fluffy and easier to work with. 

•  If you want to find cool muffin cups or other cool baking stuff you can't find in a normal super market, check out the store Motek - Sugar Boutique on Sderot Yehudit 15 in Tel Aviv. If you are lucky you might meet Shusha, because she works there part-time.  

© 2012 Jill Schweber and Channa Waje, all rights reserved

Pecan Pie a la Shusha

"This pie I always for some reason bake with my younger brother, who loves it. When I bake I always like to have people around. I think baking is something you should do together."

By: Shusha Biton

Pecan Pie

Crust
100 g of butter, melted and warm
3/4 cup powder of powdered sugar
1 egg
2 cups of flour

Filling
1 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup of dark brown sugar
100 g of butter
1/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 ½ cups chopped pecans
1 ½ cups whole pecans
1 tablespoon heavy cream

1. Prepare the crust. Mix melted butter and powdered sugar. Beat in the eggs. Add flour and mix just until the dough is smooth and combined. 
2. With your hands, work the dough in to a template (with loose bottom). Flatten out the edges of the crust with a knife. Pick with a fork and freeze until assembly.
3. Prepare filling. Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
4. Heat maple syrup, brown sugar and butter and stir until the sugar and butter is completely melted. Cool slightly. Important!!! Divide the mixture evenly in to 2 bowls - one bowl, add sugar and eggs and whisk immediately (hot mixture so it is important to work quickly). Stir in chopped pecans. Pour in to the pastry crust and bake immediately for 30 minutes, until filling stabilizes the margins but still soft in the center.
5. Arrange whole pecans with your hands on the baked pie (Be careful, it's hot). Mix all the contents of the second bowl with heavy cream and pour over gently (heat slightly if the sauce is not liquid).
6. Return to the oven to finish baking for  another 10 minutes.
7. Remove from oven, let cool (preferably extract the pie from the pan while still warm) and refrigerate for two hours to make it stable.

Serve:
Slice and serve cold or slightly warm, with ice cream or whipped cream.

Enjoy!