Category Archives: Kitchen

What’s in season, February

February 13, 2012 by Scandinavian mum

Why eat seasonal food? Seasonal food is fresher and so tends to be tastier and more nutritious and it’s a lot more affordable. By eating whats in season in the UK you help reduce the energy needed to grow and transport the food we eat and you help support the local economy. What’s in season, for February;

Fruit and vegetables
Cabbage, Cavolo nero and curly kale, Endive, Forced rhubarb, Jerusalem artichokes, Leeks, Parsnips, Purple sprouting broccoli and Swede.

Fish and game
Haddock, Mussels, Guinea fowl, Rabbit and Venison.

Swede is a root vegetable which is a cross between a cabbage and a turnip, thought to have originated from Scandinavia and introduced to England around the end of the 18th century. Swede is a good source of fibre, vitamins A, C and folic acid.
How to cook: Peel and chop as required. Steam or boil diced swede and serve mashed on its own or with potato and carrots for extra colour; roasting swede concentrates its delicious sweet flavour – toss in a little oil, season and roast for around 30 mins. Add swede to potatoes and mash with butter for a tasty topping for Shepherds, Cottage or fish pie, or like we do in Scandinavia together with “Finnbiff” (Reindeer Stew).
Swede loves: Butter, black pepper, parmesan, other roots such as carrots and parsnips
Source: loveyourgreens.co.uk

Posted in Kitchen | Tagged seasonal food | Leave a comment

Grand Cru bamboo cheese board and trivets by Rosendahl

January 10, 2012 by Scandinavian mum

Rosendahl has given new life to serving trays, chopping boards and trivets with the new Bamboo Grand Cru series.

Bamboo is regarded as a sustainable resource as it’s one of the fastest growing plants in the world. and in its lifetime, bamboo absorbs 3-4 times as much CO2 as wood. Rosendahl launched the elegant bamboo series in 2011. rosendahl.com

We are particularly fond of the cheese board and the two piece set of trivets. We use the trivets merely as individual plates for a late night snack or tapas. The girls also use it for a lazy breakfast with Norwegian style waffles. Takes me back to my childhood when we always had breakfast on wooden individual trays. It’s the feel of the bamboo and the pleasing warm colour of it that makes this set so special. The bamboo series by Rosendahl are well made with a beautiful finish and it stands safely on 4 small rubber knobs, creating an amazing centerpiece for any table. Wash in warm, soapy water and rinse. Do not soak.

Grand Cru trivet measures 17 cm and retails at 21,95 EUR for two (RRP)
Grand Cru Cheese board measures 30 cm in diameter and retails at 59,00 EUR (RRP)

Posted in Kitchen | Tagged Bamboo, Rosendahl, Scandinavian Kitchenware | Leave a comment

Smoked Salmon Pâté, easy to make luxurious snack

January 4, 2012 by Scandinavian dad

© Little Scandinavian
With some smoked salmon from the Hansen & Lydersen smokehouse left in the fridge I was tempted to experiment with recipe ideas for a perfect starter. With the rich and tasty smoked salmon as the main ingredient it was all done in a few minutes. Guess what’s on the menu when we have dinner guests tonight!?
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Posted in Kitchen | Tagged Hansen & Lydersen, smoked salmon | Leave a comment

Norwegian Layered Gateau

December 31, 2011 by Scandinavian dad

We wish all readers of little Scandinavian a Happy New Year and best wishes for 2012! Thank you for supporting us and we hope you’ll follow our little blog’s journey in the new year too. With love, The Little Scandinavian family.

Norwegian Layered Gateau presented by Ginette Mathiot from the wonderful collection of recipes in ‘The Art of French Baking’.

Layered cake is a festive tradition in Norway, no proper party without a layered cake! See the full recipe here…
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Posted in Kitchen | 5 Comments

Today’s batch of Sourdough Bread

November 22, 2011 by Scandinavian mum

Baking your own bread is a bit more work than picking one up from your local bakery. But baking and eating homemade bread is not only rewarding in terms of taste but the baking process in itself is also very recreational. Below is today’s sourdough bread batch baked by theScandinavianDad. Well what’s left of it after the girls had made their packed lunch that is.
Recipe on our all natural Sourdough Bread can be found here. Do you bake your own bread?

© Little Scandinavian

Posted in Kitchen | Tagged bread, Sourdough | 2 Comments

Little A’s best pancake recipe

November 18, 2011 by Scandinavian mum

Little A was home from school last week, with a cold. When she wasn’t busy cuddling up in the sofa with a book she was making her favourite dish, yummy vanilla pancakes. It’s lovely to see how much fun she had in the kitchen! And the self confidence they gain with it -When serving the yummy lunch she proudly proclaimed she wanted to write a cook book! TBC…

© Little Scandinavian. Little A’s wearing a bamboo and cotton set from Lilleba.no and home knitted wool slippers. Lilleba is available in the UK at Nordic Kids

Little A’s best pancake recipe
Pancakes is probably my best recipe and I can more or less make them on my own.

Ingredients
3 eggs
3/4 pint of milk
1 cup of plain flour
1 pinch of salt
2 teaspoons Vanilla Sugar
50 g melted butter

Method
Firstly -wash your hands and put on a apron. I also need a small chair to stand on the kitchen.
1. You’ll need someone grown up to help you melting the butter and frying the pancakes.
2. Mix the eggs, poor in the milk and stir.
3. Add flour, salt and vanilla sugar, stir well.
4. Add melted butter.
5. Fry in butter, until golden on each side.

Enjoy warm with sugar, home made strawberry jam or why not my favourite, vanilla ice cream and blueberry jam!

Posted in Children's fashion, Kitchen | Tagged cooking with children, Lilleba, Little A, Recipe | Leave a comment

Shirley Bredal very best cookie recipe and knits for AW11

November 16, 2011 by Scandinavian mum

First things first -the Danish designer based in Kathmandu have delivered yet another gorgeous unique little collection of knits for AW11. vailable at one of our favourite shops, lillefigaro.eu You can also follow Shirley’s life and living in Kathmandu via her blog.

And now, to Shirley’s very best cookie recipe -something we haven’t yet but will be trying out within the next few days!

Ingredients
450g plain flour
1.5 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
225g unsalted butter, melted
330g dark brown soft sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
2 eggs
180 g dark chocolate (melted with the butter)
60 g walnuts, chopped
oat, only a little for structure

Method
1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
2. Mix all the ingredients together until just blended, it’s as easy as it sounds.
3. Drop cookie dough onto the prepared baking trays, with each cookie around 4 tablespoons of dough, making approx 12 cookies altogether. Do not flatten the dough. Cookies should be about 8cm apart.
4. Bake in the oven for 12-13 minutes.

The result should be giant chewy yummy cookies -best of luck! I’ll post pics as soon as mine is finished!

And when Shirley will be visiting London in January I’ll invite her over for Norwegian style “krumkaker”. Recipe to follow soon!

Posted in Children's fashion, Kitchen | Tagged AW11, Cookies, Knits, Recipe, Shirley Bredal | Leave a comment

Warm walnut bread for breakfast

October 30, 2011 by Scandinavian dad

Having warm freshly baked bread for breakfast is great, and a bread filled with rich tasty walnuts makes it even better. Ever since I grew up, has bread been an important part of the daily meals. In most parts of Scandinavia are the breakfast still considered the most important meal of the day, and families tend to sit down together around the kitchen table to start the day with a few slices of bread.

Walnut sourdough bread

We still make breakfast the same way as we did when we lived in Norway, but it hasn’t always been easy to find good handmade bread, so what better excuse do you need for making your own bread. Not only do you know exactly what ingredients have been used, but you can also experiment to get just the type of bread you love.

One of these breads for us is a walnut sourdough bread, the basis for the bread could be almost any kind of white sourdough bread or a bread made with a rye starter. Just remember that the amount of white flour should be a lot higher than for example rye, as the rye taste would overwhelm the walnut taste.

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Posted in Kitchen | Tagged bread, Recipe, Sourdough, walnut | Leave a comment

Androuet London -the perfect restaurant for a special occasion.

October 26, 2011 by Scandinavian mum

Occasion
Little B’s 10th Birthday family dinner. She had requested “no pub food and no Italian please”. By the tender age of 10 she’s already an advanced food lover and wanted nothing but a memorable family dinner out in the city of London.

Venue
Master cheese monger and maturing experts, the House of Androuet was established in Paris in 1909. Androuet London opened a year ago in the heart of the City, in Spitafields Markets. Centrally located between Liverpool Street Station and Shoredith Highstreet this is not only a cheese monger worth a visit for all food lovers but there’s also a true French Kitchen and a lovely restaurant hiding behind the shop, open for lunch and dinner. They serve sublimely authentic food made of the finest ingredients prepared with passion and care, served in glamourus French surroundings. The staff are welcoming and knowledgeable, the service from booking a table to leaving the restaurant -superb.
Old Spitalfields Market, 107b Commercial Street, London E1 6, UK + 44 (0) 20 7375 3168

Menu
Starter: Parmesan & cardamom crisps, made from fresh parmesan shaving, £3.00, mixed olives & feta, £3.50 to share.
Main: The androuet fondue (served with selection of charcuterie, bread and crudité, vegetarian option is available, a sumptuous blend of rich melted cheeses, served in a heated iron pot which you dip skewered piece of bread), £12.00 per person (we ordered for 2), two green mixed leaf salads on the side and a ham & cheese toast they made especially for Little A in case the fondue was too heavy for her (theScandinaviandad ended up having the toast!)
Dessert: Crème brulee with almond biscotti, £5.00 and the cheesecake with rhubarb compote & ginger, £6.00. A guanaja chocolate & hazelnuts brownie came complementary with strawberries and a Birthday candle and it was served on a plate with Happy Birthday written on it in chocolate.
To drink: Fresh apple juice for the girls and we had a biodynamic French wine, in addition to still water. One single and one double espresso. The bill for a family of 4 came to £100 incl service charge.
We were told upon arrival that all food is made to order, and that they would be more than happy to make smaller portions or something else especially for your child. See the sample menu at toptable.com or visit androuet.com to find out more.

Posted in Kitchen, London with Kids | Tagged Little B, Restaurants in London | Leave a comment

Basic sourdough bread

October 23, 2011 by Scandinavian dad

Baking is something which has always fascinated me, ever since we had cooking lessons in school and when baking christmas cakes at home. Making pizza has always been a favorite and a hit with the girls, while bread making has been more of an occasional habit, until earlier this year when we started making sourdough based bread.

It is something more real about bread made without any artificial ingredients, no special yeast or other additives, just flour, water and salt, after all the sourdough is just flour and water. By allowing the bread to slowly develop we also create a far better tasting end result.