Breakfast pizza with spinach, smoked salmon, eggs and foolproof Hollandaise sauce (gluten-free, kosher)

Pizza for breakfast? Pizza brunch? Hell yes! This breakfast pizza with spinach, cold smoked salmon, eggs and fool-proof Hollandaise is perfect for lazy weekend mornings!

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In my blog post about foodie traveller's Gothenburg I probably should have also included Brewers Beer Bar, another Tredje Långgatan gem which is pretty much as close to heaven as it gets for those (oh, so individual) lumberjack shirt-wearing, bushy beard-sporting hipsters.

It's not just their selection of craft beers (anybody else getting soooooo tired of that word?) that keeps the hipsters flocking here, it's also their sourdough pizzas. Let's all take a moment to let that really sink in. 

Sourdough. 

Pizza. 

Mmmmm..... (anybody else salivating like a senile rottweiler right about now?)

During weekends they serve a brunch, which consists of exactly one dish: that sourdough pizza. As a breakfast version. Yes. Pizza. For breakfast. I'm going to start growing my beard right now. 

There are two choices. Either English Breakfast (yes, with all those accoutrements guaranteed to repair any damage you might have done to yourself the night before) and Florentine; pizza with spinach, ricotta, artichoke and stuff - all topped off with a dollop of Hollandaise. 

Pizza brunch! Genius!

Sure, I've had pizza for breakfast several times in my life. And sure, mostly on Sunday mornings and those endless days following New Year and First of May celebrations. 

But there's something about crawling to the door to receive the delivery guy with the make-up from night before running down your cheeks that somehow makes the whole operation decidedly less... glamorous.

But enough of that visual!

I can't think of a better way to kick off a lazy weekend day than this. Have frinds over, put on some music, pour everybody a round of Mimosas and whack these babies onto the table. Oh, yes. I can tell you as soon as I put a photo of this on my Instagram, next Sunday was booked in seconds. 

They are so rich that 2 pizzas easily feed up to 8 people. Another great thing? You'll make the pizza dough in just minutes the night before. More great things? That Hollandaise really is fool-proof and is ready in matter of minutes. But, in case you don't have an immersion blender and one of those accompanying tall beakers, cheat away and use a ready-made one. 

Oh, and if you prefer it that way, you can add the cold smoked salmon slices into the pizza after it comes out of the oven, too.  

You'll find my trusty pizza dough recipe on the blog over here.

2 pizzas (serves 4-8 people)

Breakfast pizza Florentine with spinach, smoked salmon and eggs:

1 portion of pizza dough (mine's over here)

toppings:

200 g spinach

1 tbsp crème fraîche/ sour cream/ cream cheese/ Turkish yogurt

1 tsp finely grated lemon zest

pinch of salt

pinch of black pepper

a little bit of butter / oil for frying

100 g cold smoked salmon

4 eggs

Pre-heat oven to 275°. In case you own a pizza stone, put it in the oven now. If you don't, use a tray. Or a cast iron pan. Once the oven has reached the temperature, leave the pizza stone/ equivalent in the oven for another 45 minutes. 

Heat a little butter or oil in a pan and wilt the spinach. Add lemon zest, crème fraîche and season. Go easy on the salt, as salmon has quite a bit of it. Stir well.

Roll the risen pizza dough into 2 similar-sized bases and tansfer them onto the pizza stones. Spoon the spinach mixture on the pizza base, top with slivers of cold smoked salmon and break 2 eggs on top of each pizza.

Bake for 6-10 minutes (depending on the oven) until the eggs have set and the crust has a bit of colour on them. 

In the meanwhile prepare the Hollandaise.

Fool-proof lemony Hollandaise:

2 egg yolks

1 tbsp cold water

1 tbsp lemon juice

(3/4 tsp finely grated lemon zest) 

pinch of salt

pinch of white pepper

pinch of cayenne pepper

110 g butter, melted

(1/2 tbsp finely chopped chives)

Measure the ingredients (apart fro butter and chives) into the blender's beaker. Melt the butter in a small pan. Blizz the yolks with rest of the ingredients and then, with the blender continuously running, add the hot butter in a thin stream. Voilà - you've got yourself a billowy Hollandaise! In no time!

Fold in chives (if using), check the taste and season as needed. 

Drizzle on top of the pizzas and serve.

Pizza for breakfast - yay or nay? What would be your favourite toppings - smoked salmon, spinach and eggs or something else entirely?

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Wallenbergare - Swedish husmanskost at its best (gluten-free)

Wallenbergare, a rich and satisfying mince patty is Swedish husmanskost at its best!

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It's hard to think of more classic Swedish husmanskost than Wallenbergare, rich mince patties covered in bread crumbs and fried in butter. Ok, there are the meatballs. But this rich and comforting dish has more than deserved its place in the running. 

There are several stories behid the origins of the dish, but sadly none of them feature Raoul Wallenberg. It would have been so wonderfully wholesomely Swedish if the man who saved tens of thousands of Jews from Holocaus would have also had time to entertain his friends at a chequered cloth covered table set under the garden's apple trees, serving them his signature dish, all washed down with beer and merry laughter twinkling in the summer's evening, slowly turning into night.

(And, seeing how this is my fantasy, followed by fika with princess tårta).

But no. In reality the man behind the dish is someone called Marcus Wallenberg who, having feasted on a calf mince patties on his trip to Europe, wanted to have something similar at this regular hangout Cecil's in Stockholm. 

Or Marcus Wallenberg, whose wife's father Charles Emil Hagdhal, a famous cookbook author, was actually the brains behind the dish. 

(I still think that my version featuring the Princess cake is a lot more hygge. But thanks to Donald Trump, the world really doesn't need any more alternative truths. )

So, let's get to the point. 

A perfect Wallenbergare requires two things: cold ingrediens straight out of the fridge, all mixed together quickly and that the patties are formed and fried directly afterwards. Originally Wallenbergare was made using finely miced, lean calf, but feel free to use any lean mince you come across. In Gothenburg  I've even had Wallenbergare made of elk. 

Depending on the size makes 4-6 burgers

Classic Wallenbergare:

400 g (lean) mince

3 egg yolks

2 dl double cream

1/2 tsp ground allspice

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp salt

1 tsp white pepper

Also: 1 dl bread crumbs (gluten-free if needed)

For frying: butter and/or oil 

To serve:

mashed potatos, lingonberries, peas, browned butter

Mushy peas with dill:

200 g peas
4-5 tbsp chicken (or vegetable stock)
3/4 tsp dried dill (or mint)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Sauté the peasin a little butter. Puré half of them with the stock and seasoning. Fold in the remaining peas and serve.

For the wallenbergare combine mince, seasoning and yolks in a food processor and mix. Then add cream in a thin stream until you have a mixture that's loose, but still sticks together.

Form into x patties, cover them in bred crumbs and fry in butter over medium heat for about 5 minutes per side until golden brown and done on the inside. 

Serve.

Traditionally Wallenbergare is served with mash, lingonberries and peas. I like to drizzle some browned butter on mine as... well, because browned butter just makes everything better.

And a classic this good deserves accompaniments every bit as good, so for my so-good-it'll-make-you-cry mash, just see here.

How about you guys? Familiar with Wallenbergare yet? Or is there another husmanskost classic that's captured your heart?

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Meatballs á la Lindström - beef and beetroot meatballs with rosemary are comfort food at its best (gluten-free)

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Meatballs á la Lindström are cooked in beetroot sauce. Juicy, vibrant and packed with herbs they're comfort food at best!

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So... winter has arrived at my side of the hemisphere. Not cool. Or well, too cook for me. I'm not cut out for cold and snow yet every single year I find myself equally amazed by this regularily occcurring phenomenon. This year, however,  I'm setting an alarm for next year. 

Brace yourself.
Winter is coming. 
Leave the country and never return. 

In the meanwhile I'll just try to make the most of it. I'll light the candles, hide under my duvet with Netflix (Gilmore girls - you can't hit that screen soon enough!) and keep myself warm with this comforting dish.

Which, in all honesty, is sort of exactly what I have been doing this past week already...

See you guys in 6 months!

Meatballs á la Lindström:

depending on the size 22-24 pcs

1 small onion,finely chopped

400 g ground meat

2 large beetroots (á 150 g), boiled and peeled

2 tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary (or thyme)

2 tbsp finely chopped cornichons (or capers)
1 egg

1 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp salt

Butter/ oil for frying

Sauce:

1 small onion

1 beetroot (á 150 g), boiled, peeled and pureed

2 tbsp tomato concentrate

1 tsp sugar

1/2 l stock (stock cube disslved in beets' cooking water)

2 sprigs of rosemary (or a couple of sprigs of thyme)

1/4 tsp ground allspice

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp salt

In case you're using raw beets,start by boiling them first for about an hour until done. Don't discard the water - dissolve the stock cube into it, adding water as needed. Let the beets cool down a bit and pull off the skin. Grate two of them and pure the third. The easiest option is, of course, to use pre-cooked ones if you can get your hands on them. 

Sauté onion in butter or oil in a pan or coated pot until soft and translucent. Let cook and combine with the rest of the meatball ingredients. Knead into a smooth dough and leave to set in the fridge, covered, for half an hour. In the meanwhile prep the sauce.

Sauté the remaining onion in butter or oil in a pan or coated pot until soft and translucent. Add pureed beey and tomato concentrate; herbs and sugar. Stir until smooth and add stock. Bring to boil and season. 

Roll the mixture into evenly sized meatballs and drop into the sauce to cook. Simmer, covered, for hald an hour. Serve.

And what better to serve this with than  the perfect potato mash that will make you cry which you'll find on the previous blog post.

For a wine pairing you'd do well with this New Zealand Pinot Noir I paired with my previous beef á la Lindström recipe!

And don't forget to share: what are your secret culinary weapons in warding off the cold? 

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Fish and roe terrine - easy and festive treat for Christmas table (gluten-free)

Fish and roe terrine is a make-ahead, easy and festive treat for Christmas or Hanukkah table!

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We kicked off our festive season bright and early last weekend. Though the amount of guests kept dropping owing to the flu season ("nope, can't make it - still dying") and the Wine Expo ("yeah... we're just about to finish our 54th drinks over here so we should be there... soon...ish"), the amount of food did not reflect it. Oh, no. Instead we were left with Obelixian Gallian feast.

As the theme was stress-free holiday season, we decided on terrines which, despite of their impressive appearance, are easy to make and can be made in advance. 

The star of the evening was this rustic country style pork terrine, but in addition to that we also feasted on a fish and roe version.

Serves 8-10

Fish and roe terrine:

600 g boneless, skinned white fish fillets
2 egg whites
2 dl cream
100 g roe (something with bigger texture, such as trout)
handful of finely chopped parsley
handful of finely chopped fresh dill
zest of 1/2 lemon, finely grated
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt

Measure fish, egg whites and cream into a food processor and blizz until smooth. 

Fold in rest of the ingredients and mix well.

Line a terrine (or bundt) tin with cling film and spoon the mixture into a prepared tin. Fold the edges over the terrine mixture and cover the dish wth a tightly wrapped tin foil.

Place the tin into an oven proof dish and pour enough boiling water to reach the halfway of the tin. 

Bake at 175 (less in a fan assisted oven) for an hour. 

Remove from the oven and leave to cool and then chill in the fridge until cold.

Remove the foil and open the cling film. Carefuly turn into the serving dish and remove rest of the cling film. Serve.

PS. Don't forget there are more stress-free, make-ahead treats on the blog all week this week!

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Ålandspannkaka - Aland pancake

Aland pancake gets its distinctive  flavour from cardamom and lemon zest and is the best pancake on land or sea. 

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When I was a kid I couldn't think of a better place than my Grandma's house. When there, I got to wear her pearls and play fancy lady. She would invariably nod off early, which meant getting to stay up late and watching all the things on TV my parents would have never allowed me to watch like Twilight Zone (and quite rightfully so: after one episode of Twilight Zone I was too terrified to sleep for a week). 

She would also always get me Kalle's Kaviar (a Swedish smörgåskaviar made of roe) at the shop and never say anything when I would wolf the entire tube down in one sitting. And to top it all off Grandma made the best pancake in the world for which she, in a manner that seemed so exotic to me, would use porridge.

At the time I had never even heard the name Aland pancake let alone of the island that gave it its name (I grew up North. We didn't know much...)

You can make the pancake using either semolina porridge or rice pudding, in which case it's also gluten free, seeing how my recipe uses no flour at all. There are also different takes on the ideal thickness, but obviously mine, the "less is never more", is the only right one. So, pie dishes or lasagne dishes reign supreme over sheet pans. 

The recipe below is enough for a 20 cm diameter dish. 

Serves 4-6

Ålands pannkaka - Aland pancake:

5 dl full fat milk (yes, really. Step away from that fat-free variety and place your hands where I can see them...)
0,75 dl finely ground semolina 

2 eggs
3/4 tsp vanilla extract (or vanilla sugar)
4 tbsp caster sugar
1/2 tl suolaa
1,5 tsp cardamom
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest 

Start by making the semolina porridge. Bring milk to boil in a heavy-bottomed pan, whisk in the semolina and, over low heat, stirring every now and then, cook for 5 minuts until done. Leave to cool. 

Beat eggs with rest of the ingredients. Then whisk in the cooled porridge until smooth. 

Pour into a pie dish lined with baking parchment (or use the Scandinavian strick of smearig a coating of butter on the bottom and the sides and then sprinkling the dish with layer of bread crumbs). Bake in the lower part of the oven at 175 for 45 minutes until the pancake has set andis gloriously golden. 

Serve with jam and whipped cream.

Traditionally Aland pancake is served with loosely whipped cream and plum jam. My Grandma served hers with strawberry jam she made herself and even the memory of its sugary sweetness still makes my teeth cry.

So, try this rhubarb and orange compote or this heavenly toffee-like oven roasted apple jam. 

If baked in a square tin, you could cut them into bite size squares for a party treat.

I bet after this recipe you will never guess where our journey continued from Turku? And which destination I'll be intriducing you on the blog next...?

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Chocolate meat balls? Albondigas de choco - cuttlefish balls

Though I've spent years researching (yes, thats one way of putting it...) the selection in Andalusian tapas bars, occasionally even I'm in for a surprise. In Cadiz I kept bumping into albondigas de choco, which I was immediately intrigued by. Albondigas we all know - the blog has recipes for traditional Spanish tapas meat balls and for a version pimped with chorizo. But choco? Chocolate? Chocolate meat balls? Seriously?

No. 

Turned out choco means cuttlefish, which is something that's being fished and consumed in Cadiz a lot. Just look at the selection at the fish market... And if there's something I love even me than chocolate, it is any member of the octopus family. Dios mios - these dreamily light and flully balls are probably the best thing I brought back from my trip. Just try them - they'll melt in your mouth!

Makes 30 balls

Albondigas de choco - cuttlefish balls:

500 g cuttlefish 

1 smallish onion

2 garlic cloves

handful of chopped parsley

1,5 tsp finely grated lemon zest

2 eggs

9 tbsp bread crumbs

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

(Plus flour for dredging, optional)

For frying: 1 dl oil

The sauce:

1 onion, finely chopped

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2,5 dl whte wine

5 dl good fish stock

1 bay leaf
pinch of saffron

Clean the cuttlefish if needed. Rinse and drain thoroughl. Cut into smaller pieces and measure into  a food processor along with the rest of the ingredients. Blizz until you have a smooth mixture (it's ok to leave some rougher bits). Avoid the temptation to add more bread crumbs to get a more solid texture as that easily results in dry and hard balls. And that's something we don't want...

Let the mixture rest in cold for half an hour. 

Roll into 30 balls (the mixture is a little loose, but don't worry - that's just what we want!) and dredge them in flour, shaking off the excess. This part is optional, but it does help thicken the sauce, too. Fry them in oil until golden brown and transfer aside. 

Add remaining onion and garlic into the oil left from frying the balls. Sauté util their soft and translucent but don't let them brown. Pour in white wine and bring to boil. Let boil for 5 minutes and then add fish stock, saffron and bay leaf. Check the taste and season as needed. 

Let boiluntil it thickens. Then add the balls, lower the heat and let simmer, covered, for 10 minutes.

Serve. With some chilled Verdejo and dreams of Andalusian sun...

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