orange (color) chicken

choosing the right pan/pot to make this dish is probably the hardest part...you want a pan with at least 2 inch side and a lid.







the chicken didn't make it in this picture as raw chicken really isn't that photogenic... but along with 500 gr chicken (any kind without the bones) here is what went in:

2 dl cooking cream (as light or heavy as you want)
2 nectarines (a bit on the raw side is fine)
1 sweet potato (a small one or half of a bif one)
4 medium carrots
200 gr sweet corn (in a can or frozen)
curry paste to taste (i used one heaping tbsp)







practiced my zen by chopping everything to bite size pieces.







then browned the chicken, quite lightly as can be seen before adding the carrots for a few minutes...







...before adding the cream and curry paste and let cook for 5 mins before...







...adding the sweet potato and nectarines and letting simmer for 15 mins.







when the veggies were done, i added the corn and turned off the heat, you really don't need to cook the corn, just get it warmed.







this batch serves four. i didn't bother with rice or pasta as there was plenty of veggies, but you could cook some and i bet this would serve up to 6. while eating this i thought that coconut milk might work as a replacement for the cream...

cottage food II: grilled lemon herby chicken, raspberry tart, and others

i've been back and forth at the cottage, as i had leave last week. cottage is always, well mostly anyways, about simple food. here, grilling flat chicken (martha calls it spatchcocked, how to here) while enjoying the scenery.







before you go thinking i've used semi-rotten meat...that bluish color comes from sage and thyme that i put under the skin with very thin slices of lemon.







about half an hour into grilling the birds (on medium-low) i noticed all the fat on the gridle...and remembered that there was some left-over boiled potatoes in the fridge. the chicken fat did wonders on the potatoes, just don't tell your cardiologist! total time for the chicken was about 45 mins.







made a poor man's greek salad (no olives) to go with the chicken, basil on the side. if it had been me, mom and certain someone the basil would have been in the salad (basil works surprisingly well with feta cheese), but for some reason dad will not eat "greens" in a salad...go figure.







naturally, i did make a stock from the backbones. the sage and thyme gave a strong flavor, the stock'll make a great soup later on (it frozen now).







mom then...not sure her medication is alright, the amount of energy she has, wears me out. she's been in the woods for weeks now, picking this and that, and these raspberries. the wild kind is far superior to the garden variety, so sweet and bursting with flavor. as there was so much berries, i needed to figure out what to do with them...







...and a recipe for blueberry tartlets in maku magazine gave me this idea...(it seems that the recipe isn't on the website yet.)
i made the crust with all-purpose flour and some oats, butter and one yolk. there really isn't a recipe but any shortbread type crust will do.






for the custard layer i used half of a vanilla pod, scraped the seeds and blended them into sugar with the blade of a knife, the seeds will distribute more evenly into liquid or flour. i learned this trick from tv (the great educator!), a danish cooking show called "the sweet life". like the name says it's all about the sweet goodness...now, if danish wasn't so hard on my ears...







this trick (the cling film right on the surface of the custard) i learned from anna, i think...







the crust could have been a tad thinner, other than that, perfect summer tart. the glaze was made with jelly sugar that doesn't have any animal products in it.







from sweet to savory, as mentioned earlier, the chaterelles are plentyful. here, sauteed with onions and butter (let your conscience tell how much you can use), the longer in lower heat, the better.







a slaw with carrots, white cabbage, root celeriac, flat-leaf parsley, chives and mayo.







mom's potatoes...from the ground into a pot in 5 mins, they taste amazing, but new potatoes usually do. or maybe it's the fact that mom buried fish parings into the ground with the seed potatoes...







my new favourite, giant white onions grilled on low heat, for a long time. you could use butter, but it's really not necessary, tiny amount of oil will do. i've contemplated on adding some balsamic reduction to this but so far it's just perfect as is.







i have a handy electric grill at the cottage, perfect for the onions, and keeping other (gas)grilled goods warm.

at the lake & in the woods

i love the shades of pink in late summer evenings' light at the cottage. this evening here, the lake was surprisingly calm.














on my last visit at the cottage, this mallard brought her ducklings to visit us.







she stood on the rock whilst the young ones fooled around in the long grass.







after a while mama mallard called the ducklings who dutyfully followed her.







but yesterday evening, as i was going to take some more pics of the pink moments, the mallards had come back for the night.







didn't have my tripod along...sadly mama mallard seems to have lost a duckling.







they didn't seem to mind me getting quite close (3 meters)







not sure if it's only due to the fact that i've started looking at clouds...but sometimes there are strange formations.







from the water to the woods, or, actually, a small swampy pond up on a hill not too far from the cottage.







swampy areas have cloudberries, tiny one here. i guess i'm supposed to say they are delicious, but have yet to learn to like them. it's not that the taste is somehow off or outright bad, there is a sort of tartness to it that i just don't enjoy. but don't let me stop you from trying if you ever get a chance.







i do like this place, but...in the winter there usually is just way too much snow, in the summer you won't believe the amount of bugs, and autumn just might be even worse for bugs because the moose flies. little over a week ago when i went there (semi-hiking with mom) it had just rained (fresh, cool air), there was a slight wind (no mosquitoes) and most importantly, no moose flies yet!







eew! i just don't like moose flies! but these lingonberries are looking good, few more weeks and they'll be ripe to be picked







wild raspberries are abundant! hmm, little did i know, these are not just wild raspberries, but arctic raspberries...







mom's been picking them like crazy, there are still places you can pick a handful after handful, and have a handy snack along a hike.







and blueberries, there's plenty of them, too. whether you choose to call these wild blueberries or bilberries, to me, they are the true blueberries.







another tasty snack...







this, however, is not a blueberry, but a northern bilberry. who knew berries could be so confusing!?







though, there is nothing confusing about these, wild strawberries

chanterelle pasta

a long overdue post...the wireless internet connection at the shack got whacked by a thunder storm and until the repair guy came, no one knew how bad it actually was. a lightning had done serious damage in a socket, serious like in burned...luckily the house wasn't burned down. certain someone wasn't a happy camper when the net was down...

anyways. right now, i'm at the cottage. it's getting close to autumn, yeah, yeah, someplaces it's summer until sept 23, but in our neck of the woods summer is on the loosing side. i like autumn so i'm good. at the cottage i usually take a walk with mom, at this time of year mom spends hours on end foraging in the woods...you know, blueberries (the wild kind), raspberries (again, the wild kind) and chanterelles, and whatelse.

if you don't pay attention you'll miss the fungus, 'cause you'll think it's just some fallen birch leaves, 'cause they hide pretty well.






i don't mind telling that i walked pass this one, mom didn't.







pretty nice...







got all this and we weren't even looking that hard. little cleaning is needed before these make it into the pan.







this batch is from last week, rinsed well before putting on the pan with one minced onion and some butter (it's ok to use oil, too)







cooked some whole wheat linguine, any long thin pasta will do.







cooked the chanterelles and onion on medium heat until the juices started to evaporate...







...then added the cooked pasta, crushed black pepper and salt, and some cream that i had laying around (cream is totally optional, but so good...) delish lunch in the time it takes to boil your pasta...