Stockholms Kök 2009/2/26

Second cooking class!! We finally started actual cooking from tonight. The day before we gave them a shopping list for tonight including some of Chinese ingredients which must be never recognized in their entire life. But 3 guys grabbing the shopping list went to a supermarket together and did their best to buy ingredients on lunch break!!

The menu was “Sour and Sweet Stir Fried Pork Neck with Rice”

Kosti is actually really good cook, he seems to know basic of cooking and how to chop.

Chop..chop..chop.. Roger is right hand side and Kosti is left, so it’s bit tricky.













Stir..stir..stir with a little bit smile.
It was a very quick meal, spent more time for chopping than actual cooking process with heat. But taste was very very nice, pork was juicy. Thank you very much for your nice cooking, Kosti!

If you go to Asian market or meat shop, there is pork neck available in very reasonable price. It’s worth to try it for BBQ!!

Chiky

Stockholms Kök 2009/2/19

The first lesson wasn’t really first lesson. Roger and two guys starting today hadn’t met before, so today was more greeting and introduction by watching and tasting Roger’s cook. And discussed what they are looking at, what they can cook and can’t.

Anyway first meeting is always bit nervous for everyone, but sitting together, having same meal and drinking often work really well to break ice. Especially tonight we had absolutely common topic, “Food!”
We cooked Chicken Penne with Mascarpone Cheese sauce for tonight. they were standing next to Roger and tasting flake salt, Mascarpone cheese, basic soup before adding salt or anything in,,, It’s so good to see people more getting into food and finding new taste.

They seem to be looking at more quick simple meal (we have one more class with 2 Japanese guys focusing on Pastas). So we may try bit Asian cuisine plus fish meal.

Their goal is cooking for our company Christmas Party end of this year! ( isn’t is? Kosit, Damien!)



Anyway OZ guys finally took first huge steps into the KITCHEN!! Good luck from next week.
Chiky

Stockholms Kök

Well, we started to open a cooking class from last week, which was totally unexpected.

The our new challenge was suddenly begun from a day when one of my colleagues grabbing newspaper with cooking page on came to me and said “Chika, what does this ’Brunch beans’” mean? I think I need to start cooking, but even don’t understand the first sentence of this recipe!”

I looked around myself and realized actually there are many males willing to lean food, but cooking class is far too expensive. So I talked with my husband about this, then he just said

“Alright, if they can bring in food, I can teach them”

Actually we are living in standard town house with very ordinary kitchen, but we’ve got plenty knives, aprons and all equipments, Yes We Can! Yes We Can Have Cooking Class!!

So,, cooking class named “Stockholms Kök” Stockholm’s Kitchen was opened.

The class concept is to feel like cooking at friend’s place and eat, drink happily, in the end you will get a little bit cooking skill and food knowledge as well,

I lesson up to 2 participants, no time limit - take you time until you enjoy and feel full.
Basically there is no menu, cook whatever you want, whatever you want to learn.
Start from where you are, what you can.
Cost is $60pp excluding ingredients.

Anyway, so far all the participants are males who cook little before but keen on cooking!
It would be very interesting,, Cook with Guys !

I will update the class onto this blog as much as I can.
Step by step, do what we can do from small things..
Chiky

Blog in Japanese
http://stockholmkafeteria.blogspot.com/

Chicken & Duck Soup Stock (ENG)

日本語版　JPN Ed. <http://iamafoodlover.blogspot.com/2008/07/chicken-duck-soup-stock-jpn.html>

It’s been more than 1 month since posted last time. As mentioned in the begging, yes I am　lazy, can’t stick to anything ! After a couple of busy week for both of us this weekend was really relaxing nice and slow weekend. Specially when it comes with raining, it’s perfect to be home. So we decided to go up the market and cook something slowly then spend quiet night at home.

As beginning Roger started from preparing a soup stock. We bought whole fresh chicken and duck (with head on!!) from the market, probably it’s not easy to find whole chicken, specially duck in Japan, but if you try a local meat shop they should sell pork bones for stock or ask them to chop a whole lot. Of course I don’t know how to open a whole chicken or duck, but thank god! Yes! I have a professional chef at home who easily chops down them. So he took fillets, drum sticks and thighs off, then chopped rest of them for stock. Prepared duck same as chicken

Firstly fill up water in a big pot and add chunky chopped onion, leek, celery, carrot, skin-on ginger, skin-on garlic, bay leave, whole black paper, nutmeg and above chopped meat. Then put on the fire about for 3 or 4 hours. The most important points are 1) remove scum frequently and take all the fat away 2) Keep adding water when reduced.

After slow cooked, rest it for a while then strain it(Of course you can eat the vegetable and meant ! we ate with salt & pepper and olive oil, also used for demiglace sauce).

You will get a clean golden soup stock!

This will be continued to a duck dish cooked with this soup stock !

Chika

Easiest Snack Ever ! (ENG)

日本語版　JPN Ed. <http://iamafoodlover.blogspot.com/2008/05/easiest-snack-ever-jpn.html>

Same as previous week, this one week was also crazily busy and it will be from tomorrow too. And Roger has been tired too. Thus we didn't cook a kind of special food for this week, however I prepared some dishes for following week, chicken cakes and frozen it, slow cooked Daikon (white radish) and chicken balls in Chinese flavor soup, and sweet-soy sauce flavor chicken mince. All of them are packed in container and waiting for being finished up easily in following busy week (The photos will be up here next weekend.).

The only food Roger taught me for this week was.......Easiest night snack

"Cauliflower and Budweiser"

,,, That's it !!! (Apology for this slipshod advise...)

According to a long long food study of great Swedish chef, this is easiest and best combination snack, the beer has to be "Budweiser", specially "Bottled Budweiser" !!
At the beginning you may feel like a rabbit to eat fresh cauliflower, but wait until drink up Budweiser! Well, actually it brings a very clear and crisp cauliflower's sweetness.
Try it instead of eating chips in midnight,, definitely healthier for your beer belly !

Hope you will have an another great week.
Chiky

Pork Neck BBQ & Charred Cabbage w Mashed Sweet Potato (ENG)

日本語版　JPN Ed.
<http://iamafoodlover.blogspot.com/2008/05/pork-neck-bbq-charred-cabbage-w-mashed_12.html>

I
didn't have time to cook or even didn't have enough time to eat for
this week. My skin started to be really awful since last Wednesday due
to unbalanced food and probably stress as well. So to eat something
proper food I went to my favorite exciting Asian market this morning
after dropping Roger at his work which was busy for Mother's day lunch
today. 

So a main dish for today is from the morning shopping, "Pork Neck BBQ & Charred Cabbage w Mashed Sweet potato".(Photo is not that good,, taken after we'd eatten)
I was planning to cook something else, but change to put BBQ on by Roger's request, as result it came a typical Swedish food which is also good with Japanese style steamed rice as usual.

Salt and pepper on 2 cm sliced pork neck stake and put olive oil all over pork, cabbage, half- cut whole garlic (leave skin on). Put everything on BBQ and cook cabbage until surface turn to black and garlic until become clear color. Dress cabbage with white vinegar and olive oil in the end.

For mashed potato, boil Asian(?) sweet potato(skin is purple, inside is white) and pumpkin in water until cooked (you can steam or cook in microwave). mash all together (I prefer chunky) and add butter and sugar. If you like creamy one, you can add milk.

Then Bon appetit!
Try to eat pork, cabbage, garlic, mash all together. If you like "sweet & salty" taste, you are already on the way to Swedish. "sweet & sour" "sweet & salty" may sound funny for some people, but these are significant Swedish flavors, once you start to enjoy it, I bet you that you will be addicted soon.

Also don't worry to overcook cabbage. The charcoal bring another beautiful flavor from sweetness & bitterness, which will notice you how sweet cabbage is and how simple cook is! Garlic also reduce its strong smell and dramatically increase sweetness, texture is like a potato when cooked well.

I'm often amazed by this Roger's simple cook bringing soooo much better taste and the Swedish "sweet & salty" combination.
Hope you will find out too.

Chiky

Herring w boiled potato & lumpfish roe (ENG)

日本語版　JPN ed.
<http://iamafoodlover.blogspot.com/2008/05/herring-w-boiled-potato-lamp-fish-roe_04.html>

IKEA,,IKEA,, ahh! my favorite place!!
To fill up our food storage with lovely pepparkaka (ginger biscuit) which is best bikie I've ever tasted, we went IKEA this afternoon. I guess I can spend whole one day with playing every single room demos and still remember I was sooooo excited the first time visiting there while IKEA launching in Japan was still under plan at the time. In this spring 2nd IKEA Japan was opened in Kobe where I'm from, then I heard a rumor about more than 320,000 people visit IKEA in a couple of weeks !! You can see how much Japanese people love IKEA including me and how we love SWEEEEEDEN !!

Anyway the today's one dish is Herring served w boiled potato & lumpfish roe.
Probably this is nothing special for Swedish people, however, grantee the great combination.
Finely chopped red onion, boiled potato w little bit olive oil and pine nuts, lamp fish roe and herring (classic flavor). Dill on top, salt & paper if you want.
It comes really well with beer also Roger mentioned it will be good with a shot of vodka.

Surprisingly Swedish food and Japanese food are really similar from ingredient to cooking process, even storing. As only difference we eat more rice and they eat more potato. So there are so many dishes actually I would love to have rice with. This was also one of it.

You can buy lumpfish roe and herring from IKEA food in very reasonable price. Herring is available in many flavors, should be nice too. To be honest I wantted it with steamed rice.

Chiky