Cannelloni

We have gone past the magic date 17th of May and Exam period is officially done - hurrah! It also means that all the chocolate and basically all the other foods we once had in the cupboard are also done. After all the comfort eating it is rather lovely to get back to some sort of proper food. This next experiment came out of a serious trip into the deepest part of our cupboards: it turns out you can make quite a nice dish out of 4 lasagna plates, half a bag of spinach, an onion, chopped tomatoes, and some cheese.

• 4 lasagne plates.
• ca 200 gram of frozen spinach
• 1 onion
• Garlic
• Salt, pepper, chili.

Sauce:

• 1 can of chopped up tomatoes
• Chicken stock
• Chili

Chop up the spinach and onion, and fry lightly with oil and spicec.

Boil the pasta, be careful so they don't stick together. Cut them in half so you will get 8 cannellonis.
Place the spinach on the pasta and roll together, place in oven dish and sprinkle some grated cheese on top.
Grill in oven until golden.

Mix and heat up the tomato sauce and serve with the cannelloni.

N/x

May Day Preparations - part1

Our mayday project started with the idea to make Sima (simple enough, one would think) - a Finnish drink of sugar (loads), lemons, water and fresh yeast. The first problem was locating the dark sugar we needed; Farinsocker or Dark Brown Soft Sugar in English - took us awhile to find a translation for that!

2nd problem...which we did not foresee, was the Quest for fresh yeast.  The shop were we are usually able to find this has unexpectedly shut down, which presented a slight problem and a very long walk. The walk involved pitstops at Waitrose to start, where Nina was directed to Peckhams, (which does not sell fresh yeast). From there the quest took her to different cafes until finally meeting a lovely informative baker, at the always lovely Cafèzique, that pointed out THE PLACE that would for sure sell fresh yeast, across from the street. Arriving at a lovely Polish deli that HAD YEAST. Dried yeast works fine for baking, but with this drink the fresh version was rather essential, because there is no need to be as exact with temperatures. After that there was a very long walk back again, but at least it was sunny (a miracle in itself).

 In the end we got the brewing started for our May Day drink. Stay tuned for part two of May Day preparations - any guesses what it is -leave a comment!

Wine and Saturday Night Rain

March has so far presented us with many things to celebrate; end of teaching period; International Women's month; lessons on Steampunk; an abundance of cheese and the discovery of new music (for me at least!).

Presenting The Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon-Shiraz, a cheap find from Tesco, quite handy as funds are running low at this end of the semester.   

      

The calm before the storm

Got up early today and went to play tennis with a friend I haven't seen in ages. As difficult as it is to wake up early the reward is worth it: empty streets, little traffic, shops opening. Slow and nice as a Sunday should be.

Some major admin ahead as I am planning revision tactics (leaving over spring break and will sadly - or happily? - be cut of from the Library) and sorting all my papers into new and colourful folders. But first I'm re-charging my batteries with some classic tea and scones.
     With my last scraps of Wilhelmina Green tea - lucky thing I am going home soon so I can re-stock my supply - and some home-made scones and clotted cream, this Sunday is off to a good start.

Scones

This recipe is adapted from the lovely chef Leila Lindholm.

7.5 dl flour
0.5 tsp salt
1.5 tsp baking powder
0.5 dl brown sugar 
125 grams cold butter 
1 egg 
2 dl (200 ml) milk 

Blend the flour, salt, baking powder and sugar, rub in the butter with your fingers.
Add egg and milk, work together, adding a bit more flour as needed.
Put on a flour covered surface and knead until you can form small buns - I like to put my scones in a muffin tray. That way you get nice and high scones, easy to cut in half.
   Put into the oven, (alternatively glaze the scones with a whipped egg and sprinkle some more brown sugar on top) 250 degrees, for ca. 10 minutes or until golden.

Happy Sunday!

X/N

Fat Tuesday!

Drum roll please!  My very first attempt of making 'Semlor' (in Finish they are called Laskiaispulla) a traditional cardamom filled bun eaten on Shrove Tuesday/Mardi Gras.

 

Traditionally the last day before lent, and when it is allowed to eat as much fatty stuff as you can get your hands on. These buns are filled with different things and how you make them vary from country to country - one standard variation is to fill the bun with an 'almond-paste', or marzipan, and topped with whipped cream. 
    Another way of eating these are to put them in a bowl with warm milk, called 'Hetvägg'. 

Read more about the history of the Semla  (Swedish in this case) - and learn the name of the King, who died after eating 14 in one sitting - here .

Semlor (Fat Tuesday Buns or Sledding Day Buns - for all the Finns out there)

100g of butter margarin eller smör
3 dl (300 ml) of milk
14 g od Dried Fast action yest (2 sachets)
1/2 tsp salt
1 dl sugar
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder
2-3 tsp of ground Cardamom
600-1000g wheat flour

Glazing : 1 egg
Filling: 
Whipped cream
Icing sugar

• Mix the dry ingredients, start with 600 grams of flour, and add more later until the dough has almost stopped sticking to the sides of the bowl. 

• Melt the butter and stir in the milk, make sure the butter-milk mix is not too hot when pouring into the dry ingredients, it could upset the yeast.

• Cover, and  let stand (in a warm place) for ca 30 minutes, or until the dough has doubled in size. 

• Next step is to knead the dough with flour, as you do when making bread etc. 

• Form into small, round buns about the size of the palm of your hand.

• Let stand for a while.

• Break the egg with a fork, and glaze the buns before putting in the oven, on ca.250 degrees for 8-12 minutes.

• Let cool, and then cut the top part of (like a little hat) make a dip in the bun and fill with almond-paste or jam, top with cream and then re-place the lid. Dust the whole bun with icing sugar.

 

X/N

Pancakes!

Mardi Gras and lent are nearly upon us, and being just a tinytiny bit excited about this we got an early start on pancakes. As a person who have grown up considering pancakes to be food, I still have trouble accepting the British (and lots of other places as well apparently) notion that they are dessert. Even though I like jam and butter on top of my pancakes, I would argue it is the more sweet toppings such as chocolate and syrup that makes them bit 'desserty'. In any case, they can be made more savoury by adding, e.g,  cheese, ham, bacon, or spinach in the batter. A completely acceptable, and yummy, lunch in my opinion (and since there are people who consider crisps and a drink to be lunch - I feel  pancakes are a way better choice, and more filling anyway)  

Plain pancakes:

• 2½ dl wheat flour (half can be replaced with rye for an even healthier option)
• ½ tsp of salt
• 6 dl (600 ml) of milk
• 3 eggs
• Butter

Mix the flour and salt, then adding half of the milk and stir until smooth. Add the rest of the milk and the eggs - as well as any additional ingredients such as blueberries, cheese, spinach etc. If you have the time leave it standing for a while. The butter could be melted and added to the batter, though I prefer just to use a bit of it while frying the pancakes.

      Serve warm!

Enjoy!

X/N 

Brain food

We are in the middle of an essay-writing marathon, and all the help that we get is seriously needed (sugar and caffeine have stopped working). Some foodstuffs are said to enhance your brainpower - oily fish, blueberries, nuts and seeds etc. and we are hardcore-believers (or 'hopers' in any case).

Here is our study snack for today!

Pumpkin seeds

Dry roasted, in a pan, with a pinch of salt.

  

X A&N

So a Finn and a Swede moved to Glasgow...

Well, wait a minute Nina, that happened almost 2 years ago...
 - Yeah, but still, it's a catchy title.
But know you kinda have to take it from the beginning?
 - Okiecookie...Sooo, a Finn and a Swede moved to Glasgow. And almost 2 years later decided to make a     food and crafts blog.
Well done...

Hello all you potential readers in the bloggosphere, we're sitting here writing our first post with some wine and cheese (and Mumford and Sons, cheering us on in the background) Our mission with this blog is to document our trials and errors in the kitchen (and life) while on a student budget. (Well...on a Scandinavian student budget in fairly cheap Glasgow - really, just compare it to Oslo!)
       Oh, and if you didn't get it from the bipolar nature of this text so far, there is two of us:
Anna - holding a Finnish passport and a love of ice hockey, food and wine. And photography. And arts - well the list goes on.
Nina - small and blond -i.e Swedish - and can do nothing more but concur with the previous speaker (though not so much in love with ice hockey and photography, as acknowledging their existence).

Together we share an interest in all sorts of foods, and the idea for the blog emerged out of long, endless study sessions where making a Coq au Vin seemed like an acceptable excuse to procrastinate. We decided to put our ideas together and gather them here, and as a very wise person pointed out: a blog is better than Facebook.
We will attempt to fill these coming pages with recipes, ideas, and anecdotes from a student kitchen - on a budget.

Hope you'll have a nice time!

XoXo Gossip Girl
 - no, the loonies
XoXo The Foodies
 - close enough

Wine of the week: