06.10.2014 – Siciliansk squash - kikärtsgryta

We worked two hours in the garden and then he came to the house and in that piercing tone said: “I´m hungry!”

He uses it for saying things like: “Daví? What shall we eat?” or “Daví is going to cook me something…” and when he´s too desperate he just says: “Auuch…” which means he is so hungry that it is almost aching. His stomach is aching, so to speak. 

Today I had plenty of time to cook so I did this wonderful stew from vegetables and some cinnamon, it tastes like Afrika and it´s from Sicily and from my Jamie´s book. And he was asking me all the time while we were eating:

“Daví, tell me something about this food. How did you do it?”

And I´m little bit sceptic about it, cause I remember how he asked me once to tell him what I was going to cook and I told him the whole recipe, maybe ten minutes of talking, every minor detail and then, when I finished, satisfied with myself that I remember the recipe so well, he turned to me and said: “What was it you should do after you chopped the onions? I stopped to listen after that…”

Well, do I really have to tell you that the onions’ part was actually the very start of the recipe??!

Since that I don’t like telling him my cooking procedures.

But at the same time you can´t ignore him. So I told him and then I told him what I changed from the original recipe and after he finished his meal he took my cookbook and said: “Now I will test you…” he list the book. “Daví? What is that?” “White yoghurt… I didn´t  used that as well…” “But you didn’t tell me!”

And John comments it that I changed almost everything but told him only about one or two changes I considered important.

Then David looked at all my recipes I did for him from Jamie’s book and noticed my notes and that I actually wrote down what he told about the meal.

“So now I have to tell something about this one as well!” he laughs. 

And in the evening, he suddenly comments my food. “Made my day.” And he smiles mischievously. As if he knew I´m writing about him. 

Sicilian stew with squash (vegetarian)

1/2 squash 

olive oil

2 onions

fresh coriander (if you wish)

40 g raisin

1 tsb cinnamon

1/2 chilli

1 can crushed tomatos

1 can chickpeas

1 stock cube

1 cup of couscous

Chopp the squash into small bites and fry it on the pan with little bit of olive oil until it gets little bit more tender about 5 minutes. 

Chopp the onions and put it into the pot with some olive oil, add the raisin and most of the cinnamon, coriander and chopped chili. Cover with the lid and reduce the heat, let it be for 20 minutes and check it sometimes, if needed add some water (you don´t want to have ii burned). 

After 20 minutes you should have the squash ready, add it to the onions and add also tomates, chickpeak, stock cube, 5 dl of boiling water and let it cook for almost 40 minutes. 

Ten minutes before the stew is ready, prepare the couscous. Just folow the instructions on the package or put the couscous into the pot and cover with boiling water, let stay for ten minutes until it´s tender. 

Serve the stew over the couscous. 

I added some fresh basil over it:-)

Enjoy! Hope it will make your day!

05.10.2014 – Kinesisk snabbwrap

“So tell me, what have you changed?”

“Well, a lot of things. I didn’t use carrot cause I know you don’t like it. Then I added some champignons, corn and I didn’t use lettuce. But otherwise it stayed the same.”

“And you knew that you would do it?”

“Yes.”

“Yesterday in the shop?”

“Yes, I planned it.”

“You are so talented! So you made it up yourself?”

“Yes, David.”

“That is the highlight of my day!”

Later that day he was so sad that we didn’t have any sweets that he googled a recipe for apples in the pancake batter. But I have to make one thing clear. One day ago he decided to eat a healthy diet so before we headed to the city for the cinnamon rolls he forced us to eat something “nutritious, warm and regular”. And because I didn’t have the strength to cook something (which is unusual) he took a look into the fridge and decided that he could make pasta with carrot sauce. He had done it once before.

So here we are, David cooking this carrot sauce constantly asking what to do. It reminds me of one morning he decided to cook a breakfast for me and Markus. I was half asleep in bed when he left to the kitchen. It was silent for a minute and then I heard his sweet voice: “Daví? Can I use the goat cheese?”

When I confirmed it he was silent for another minute.

“Daví? Where are the coffee filters? And how many spoonfuls do you put in?... Markus? We have to buy everything. We have run out of everything!” I heard after another while, this time he turned to Markus instead of me. Then suddenly his blond head appeared in the door: “Daví? When you fry zucchini on butter what do you put on it?” I answered him, already completely awake. He disappeared in the kitchen again; at least his head disappeared just to appear again in thirty seconds. “Daví? How do you know that the coffee is ready?”

“It stops bubbling” I say.

“And Daví? How do you know it stops bubbling?”

So in this way he was preparing also the carrot sauce one day ago. And it was tasty, it was really good. But then we had to hurry to the ferry and the bus and we had to run to catch the latter and after a while David began to feel sick. He has these stomach problems once in a while. It ruined his whole day (it was supposed to be a happy day full of cinnamon rolls) and he hates carrots now.

So after my wrap he decided to cook some sweet thing but he was sure that if HE was going to cook it, it would end up with HIM feeling sick to his stomach. (David’s logic)

Anyway I helped him and we had wonderful “apples in the bathrobe” as it is sometimes called J

But still even though the apples were delicious and sweet he keeps saying that my wrap was the highlight of his day.

Recipe for Chinese snabbwrap (changed a lot by me but adapted from Jamie again)

20 g chinese rice noodles

Tortillas (as much as you plan to eat, but then you have to do more filling obviously)

chicken breasts (I used about 400 g)

½ chili 

20 g frozen corn

20g spinach

4 -5 champignons

kari

First of all I simply slice the chicken breast into very small pieces, season a little and fry it on the olive oil until brown and properly done. At the meantime I chop the champignons into small bites as well. Chop half of the chili properly. 

Then I add the frozen corn, frozen spinach and chopped champignons, chili into the pan with chicken and fry just until all was done and nice. Spice with some kari. One teaspoon is enough.

(If you like it hot you won´t put the chili into the mixture but you sprinkle it over the mixture while filling the tortillas. By heat the chili will lose some of its hotness. )

Take the noodles and put them into a bowl. Pour hot boiling water over them, just enough to cover them and let them stand 5 minutes or until they seem to be soft enough. I suggest to mix them a little during those 5 minutes so they don´t stick together.

Strain them and pour over them some cold water, then repeat the procedure again. 

Heat the tortilla on the dry pan for a few minutes just to have it hot enough. (We don´t want to eat cold tortillas, don´t we?)

Then simply put some of the chicken/corn mixture on the tortilla and roll over. You can freely sprinkle it with some parmesan cheese. As well as sprinkle the mixture with some lemon juice.

Bon appetite!