Week 2025-45: Pommes Anna

The Recipe
800g potatoes
4tbsp meltet butter
1 cup shredded cheese
salt, pepper

Peel the potatoes and slice them thinly. Add to a bowl, pour meltet butter over, making sure all slices are thoroughly coated.
Layer the potatoes and cheese in an ovenproof dish, finishing with a layer of potatoes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Cook at 180C for about an hour. Serve hot.

The Verdict
Loved the taste! Unfortunately it was really difficult to get the springform pan I'd made it in - I think I'll try in a pie form next time. It's a bit of a hassle to make, but tasted really good, so worth it.

(2024) Week 42: Pico de Gallo

The Recipe
1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp lime juice
1/2 teaspoon sea salt, more to taste
2 large ripe red tomatoes chopped
A dash of chili flakes

Mix and leave to marinade for at least 15 minutes

The Verdict
Really good! Using lime juice instead of lemon juice made a huge difference. It did need some fresh herbs of some sort - the original recipe had cilantro, which I don't like, but perhaps some fresh oregano, thyme or basil? Will have to try it out.

(2024) Week 26 - Waldorf Salad

The Recipe
2 apples
1tbsp lemon juice
1tsp sugar
1-2 celery stalks, chopped
40g chopped walnuts
40g raisins (or the equivalent in grapes)
50g mayonnaise
Salt, pepper

Chop the apples into 1cm cubes. Transfer to a bowl and toss with lemon juice and sugar.
Chop celery and walnuts and add to the bowl. Mix with raisins and mayonnaise.
Add salt and pepper according to taste.

Leave cold until serving.

The Verdict
I made it with raisins, but really want to use grapes next time. Waldorf salad (or celery, basically) is one of those things that I hated as a kid but love now, so I'd never actually made this myself before, but it's SO easy, so I'll definite add this to my regular rotation.

Week 30: Carrot Fries

The Recipe
4 carrots
1tbsp olive oil
1 tsp each of paprika, garlic powder and corn flour (or other spices)
Salt to taste

Peel the carrots and cut them into fries.
In a bowl, mix together oil, paprika, garlic powder and corn flour. Add carrotsand stir to coat.

Preheat the air-fryer to 200C. Add carrot fries and cook for 15-20 minutes, shaking after 10 minutes and taste checking after 15 minutes. If you have more fries than will fit into a mostly single layer, split them up into several batches for the best results.

Add salt and serve immediately.

The Verdict
This looked like a lot of carrot, but they shrunk significantly in the airfryer, so I would say this amount is only JUST enough for 2 people. They were really good though, so I could definitely see myself making them again. They're only slightly more timeconsuming to make than just plain carrot sticks and taste great :-D

Week 25: Watermelon Salad

The Recipe
~1/2 watermelon
100g feta cheese
30g pine nuts
50g rocket salad
1/2 red onion
Some sort of flavoured vinegar according to taste (balsamico, white wine... whatever strikes your fancy)
Flake salt
Fresh basil (optional)

Slice the onion thinly and cut the watermelon into small cubes. Mix together with the rocket salad in a large bowl. Crumble feta cheese on top and mix again.
Roast the pine nuts on a dry pan for a few minutes and mix into the salad together with the vinegar and salt.

Sprinkle a bit of fresh basil on top.

The Verdict
IMHO the best summer salad out there :-D I'd bought a watermelon that unfortunately turned out to taste very watery, so it wasn't that enticing to eat just as-is, but mixed together with rocket salad and feta cheese, it turned into the perfect side dish for a hot summer evening! Definitely something I'll be making again!

Week 1: Steamed Cauliflower mash

The Recipe
1 cauliflower
Butter
Cream cheese
salt, pepper

Break up the cauliflower into small bouquets and place in a microwave-friendly steamer. Add about 1cm of water to the bottom and cook for 10-15 minutes - stopping after 10 to check the doneness.
Mash up the cauliflower as much as possible, and add butter and cream cheese until you get the desired consistence. Add salt and pepper according to taste.

The Verdict
Really good! I hadn't steamed it for quite long enough, so it didn't get the proper mash consistency, but I liked the way it tasted, and could definitely see myself making this again.

Week 22: Roasted Mushrooms

The Recipe
(Serves 1)
100-150g Mushrooms
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp butter
Pepper

The trick here is to get the mushrooms completely dry before roasting them, so do NOT rinse them - if they're dirty, pat them with a moist paper towel, to get the dirt off, but do not wash them.

Cut them into bite sized pieces (I quartered mine) and place them on a paper towel to dry. I think I left mine for half an hour or so.

Get out a large pan and add olive oil and butter - enough to coat the entire pan. Turn the heat up high and wait until the butter stops foaming and it's REALLY hot.

Add the mushrooms, taking care not to crowd them. If you have too many mushrooms, cook them in batches rather than risking crowding the pan.

Let them sit for awhile and soak up the oils - the pan will get dry which is fine - don't add more oil, but turn the heat down a bit if they start to smoke. When they start to get brown, shake the pan to get them to brown evenly.

They're done when they're brown all over and seem crispy. Season with pepper and serve.


The Verdict
REALLY good! I never knew not to wash mushrooms before, but it really makes a difference. I think I possibly added a tad too much oil/butter, so they weren't all that crispy, but they still tasted a LOT better than the mushrooms I usually make :-D

Week 30: Grilled Corn on the Cob

The Recipe
2 corn on the cob, peeled (... or whatever you'd call it...)
1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
Olive oil
Salt

Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium-high heat and quickly saute the garlic until fragrant - about a minute. Lower the heat slightly and add the corn, grilling 2 minutes on each side. Sprinkle with salt and serve immediately.

The Verdict
SUPER easy to make, and really, really tasty. No modifications necessary.

Week 13: Marinated Bell Pepper

The Recipe
4 bell peppers
1.25dl olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp freshly chopped basil
2 tbsp freshly chopped oregano

I had neither fresh basil nor fresh oregano, so used about 1tsp of each dried.

Cut the bell peppers into quarters, removing stem and seeds. Put on a baking sheet and grill until the skin bubbles up and starts to go black. Take them out of the oven and leave to rest under a moist towel for 5-10 minutes or until they're cool enough to handle. Peel off the skin (don't obsess with this - just get as much off as you can). Cut into thin stripes.

Mix together olive oil, lemon juice basil and oregano. Add the bell pepper and make sure it all gets coated in the marinade. Leave for at LEAST 2 hours - preferably overnight.

Serve as a side by itself or use in wraps or on sandwiches.

The Verdict
This is SO good! I didn't grill the bell peppers for long enough, so only got about half the skin off, but that didn't matter much - the marinade still penetrated nicely. I misread the recipe so I only had time to marinade it for about 1 hour before dinner. The leftovers I refrigerated and saved for sandwiches the next day - it definitely improved after such a long time marinading. It was good the first evening too, but especially the slices where I hadn't gotten all the skin off had gotten much softer the second day.

It's a lot of work for every day meals, but tastes really good, so worth while to do once in a blue moon.

Week 7: Sweet Potato Fries

The Recipe
~500g sweet potatos
50g corn starch
3/4dl COLD water
~1/2 l oil for frying
Salt, pepper and spices (e.g. paprica, chili, cayenne pepper, cumin etc.) to taste.

Peel the potatoes and cut them into thin fries. Mix the corn starch and water in a bowl and whisk until the corn starch has completely dissolved. Dump the fries in a few at a time and put them on a rack to drip.

Meanwhile heat the oil over high heat in a thick-bottomed pot. You want it REALLY hot or the fries will boil rather than fry. Once it's hot enough, put in a handful or so of fries - you don't want to overcrowd them. I found I could do about 15 at a time. Don't be tempted to turn down the heat - I did, and it meant an entire batch was boiled rather than fried. Still tasty, but not really what I wanted.

Cook each batch of fries for about 5-7 minutes until golden brown. Move to paper towels to let excess oil drain. Move to a plate and season with salt, pepper and whatever spices you fancy.

You could put them in the oven at low heat (about 100C) to keep warm while you cook the rest, or just do what we did, and eat them while you cook the next batch!

The Verdict
A LOT of work, but so, so good!!! Don't know when or if I'll ever make this again, but it was good!!! YUM!

Oh, as for boiling some? In the photo below you can clearly see the difference between those that were boiled (top) and the ones that were properly fried (bottom).

Week 36: Spicy Penne with Bell Pepper

The Recipe
Three large bell peppers in different colours if possible (just for looks)
250g cherry tomatoes, halved
400g penne
0.75dl olive oil (~5 tbsp)
2 tbsp sweet chilisauce
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
fresh basil
parmesan cheese

Cut the bell peppers into quarters, removing stem and seeds. Grill skin-side up for 10-20 minutes or until the skin starts to blacken and bubble up. Remove from grill/oven and leave until cool enough to handle. Remove as much of the skin as possible (there'll always be some left - that's alright) and cut into thin slices.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to the instructions on the package.

Mix together oil, chili sauce and vinegar and add salt/pepper according to taste.

Add everything to the pasta. Add fresh basil and shredded parmesan cheese for serving.

Can be served either as a main or as a side dish.

The Verdict
'Spicy' is a bit of a misnomer. Though the red wine vinegar smelled really overpowering as I was tossing the salad, but at the end of the day you could hardly taste it - same went for the chili sauce, so I might add more of the latter next time. Otherwise I really liked it - it was a nice touch to grill the bell pepper first, rather than just leave them raw. A bit more work to be sure, but worth it. Definitely something I'll make again. I'll probably use a bit less pasta though. Even here I used less penne than the recipe called for (originally 500g) and the ratios still seemed weird - far too much pasta for the veggies. Easily remedied though.

Week 15: Roasted Mushrooms

The Recipe
250g mushrooms, cleaned. Cut the largest ones in halves if there's a huge difference in size.
Oil
Salt, pepper
30g butter
2 cloves garlic
½ tsp thyme
lemon juice to taste.

Put mushrooms in a bowl and toss them with oil, salt and pepper. Place them on a baking sheet in a single layer and roast for 20-30 minutes at 200C. Keep and eye on them - you don't want them to get too dark.

Melt the butter in a pan and cook until it's just starting to brown. Add chopped garlic, thyme and lemon juice and cook until the garlic has gone soft and the butter is a darker brown. Transfer the mushrooms to the pan and coat with the butter-garlic mix.

The Verdict
Not sure how it happened, but I completely spaced out on tossing the mushrooms with oil, salt and pepper! I just put them in the oven "as is".
It was still really good though, and definitely something I'd make again... I'll just have to remember the oil next time, and see how much of a difference that makes.

Week 11: Broccoli Fries

The Recipe
1 bundle of broccoli
Olive Oil
Salt

Remove the dry part of the stem, but leave the rest. Cut the broccoli into "fries" and lay out on a baking sheet. Sprinkle liberally with olive oil and salt.

Bake at 200C for 20-30 minutes. The tops should be fairly brown.

The Verdict
Super easy to make, and I really liked it! Definitely one of my favourite ways of making broccoli now :)

Week 30: Beef Meatballs with tomato-salad and mushrooms

The Recipe
400g minced beef
a handful of fresh basil leaves
65gr almonds
32g pine nuts

Salad
200g plum or cherry tomatoes
1/4 onion (or one small)
100g feta cheese
1 avocado
12 olives
1-2tsp olive oil

Mushrooms
250g white mushrooms
2 cloves of garlic
a bit of butter

Meatballs: Chop the basil leaves, the almonds and the pine nuts coarsely. Mix thoroughly with the beef. Form to small meatballs (makes about 20) and cook in butter for about 3-5 minutes on each side.

Salad: Cut the tomatoes and olives into halves, chop the onion, cut the avocado into bite-sized pieces. Mix everything together and drizzle with a bit of olive oil.

Mushrooms: Rinse the mushrooms and cut them into quarters. chop the garlic. Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat and cook the garlic for a few minutes - just until it turns fragrant. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring frequently, until they're brown in colour and have given off most of their moisture.

The Verdict
I served this with garlic bread. The meat-balls were a tad dry, but I loved the taste the nuts gave them. Will have to try to experiment with making them more moist... perhaps it's as simple as just not cooking them for as long. Both the mushrooms and the salad were awesome and we could easily have eaten more! We had left-overs of the meatballs (6 of them), but nothing else.

Week 23: Garlic-Parmesan Stuffed Mushrooms

The Recipe
200-250g mushrooms
oil
3-4 cloves chopped garlic
salt
pepper
100g cream cheese
1/4dl breadcrumbs
1/2dl parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Cut the stems off of each of the mushrooms (I found it easier to break them off) and chop them finely. Set aside the caps for later.

Heat the oil in a pan over high heat. Cook the chopped stems and garlic for about 3-4 minutes, stirring constantly to avoid the garlic burning. Season with salt and pepper and transfer to a bowl. Combine with cream cheese, breadcrumbs and parmesan, mixing until evenly combined.

Put the mushroom caps on a baking sheet. Spoon a generous amount of the cream cheese mixture into the hole left by the stem. Bake for 20 minutes.

The Verdict
Unfortunately not nearly as good as I'd expected. I think perhaps the mushrooms I got were too big so the filling/mushroom ratio was off? Whatever the case, they couldn't live up to my expectations and were too much work for me to bother with again.

Week 40: Rucola Salad with Pastachios and Chocolate

The Recipe
1/2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1.5 tbsp vinegar
1/4 tsp salt
2.5 tbsp olive oil

100g rucola
1 tbsp chopped pistachios (for serving)
1 tbsp chopped dark chocolate (for serving)

Make a vinaigrette by combining mustard, vinegar and salt in a small bowl. Add olive oil and whisk vigorously. Taste and adjust as needed.

Put the rucola in a large bowl and add a modest spoonful or two of dressing. Using your hands carefully toss the rucola, taking care to handle it lightly. Taste and add dressing as needed.
Divide the dressed rucola among 4 plates. Serve with small bowls of pistachios and chocolate on the side, allowing each eater to sprinkle salad as desired.


The Verdict
Basically I had to try this because the idea of putting chocolate on salad just seemed so weird that it had to be tried. And it totally works! I really liked the mix of the tart rucola, the different tartness of the vinaigrette, the saltiness of the pistachio and the sweetness of the chocolate fit perfectly together.

You do have to like rucola to appreciate this though, so it wouldn't be suitable for my DH.

Week 35: Spanish Carrot Dish

The Recipe
1 tbsp olive oil
3 carrots cut into thin staves
2 spring onions, sliced
5 slices of salami, cut into thin stripes
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/3 dl pine nuts

Heat the oil in a pot and cook the salami until crisp - about 3-4 minutes. Remove from pot and leave to drip on a plate covered with paper towels.
Add the carrots, spring onions and cinnamon to the pot and cook for 4 minutes. Add the salami and cook for another 4 minutes. Finally add the pine nuts and give a quick stir (1-2) minutes to give the pine nuts a bit of flavour.

The Verdict
I really liked it, but DH wasn't too fond of the salami. He thought it would be better with bacon... but then, everything is better with bacon ;) Quite a bit of work for a side dish though, so I don't know how often I'll be making this. It did taste nice though :) The original recipe also had you add raisins and caraway. I don't care for either, so I just left both out. Next time I might actually also leave out the cinnamon.

Week 20: Mashed Potato Patty Cakes

The Recipe
(makes 4 patties)

1 egg
1/2 tsp onion powder
A dash of salt
A dash of pepper
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

PLUS EITHER
2 cups leftover burning love

OR
2 slices bacon
2 cups leftover mashed potatoes

IF USING BURNING LOVE:
Mix the burning love, egg, onion powder, salt and pepper together in a bowl. Add cheddar cheese.
Form the mixture into 4 patties. Melt some butter in a pan over medium heat and pan-fry the patties until crisp on each side - about 4-5 minutes per side.

OTHERWISE:
Cook the bacon in a large skillet until crisp. Remove from pan, leaving the bacon drippings in the skillet.
Mix the mashed potatoes, eggs, onion powder, salt, and black pepper together in a bowl; stir in the crumbled bacon and Cheddar cheese.
Form the mixture into 4 patties. Reheat the bacon drippings over medium heat, and pan-fry the patties in the drippings until crisp on each side, about 4-5 minutes per side.

The Verdict
Sooooo good! I love mashed potatoes, and this is a terrific way to use up leftovers. Definitely something I'll be making again. I made these for brunch which worked out extremely well, but they could easily be used as lunch or a side for dinner as well.

Week 13: Tomato-Pepper Casserole

The Recipe
2 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, sliced
2 red bell peppers, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
4 large tomatoes
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp thyme

Heat the oil in a pot, add onion and let it cook at low heat until tender. Add bell peppers and let them simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add tomatoes, brown sugar and thyme. Bring to a simmer and cook for 6-8 minutes.

The Verdict
A nice side dish for pretty much any meat. Nothing special, but it's easy to make and tastes good.

Week 8: Creamed Corn

The Recipe
1/2 tbsp butter
1/2 cup corn
30g (~1oz) cream cheese
1/4 cup milk
1 roasted red pepper, diced
2 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 green onion, sliced
salt, pepper and cayenne to taste

Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat, add the corn and cream cheese, stir until the cream cheese has melted.
Mix in the milk, roasted red pepper, bacon and green onions and cook until hot, about 5 minutes.

The Verdict
Tasted alright, but didn't seem like anything special. I may or may not make this again if I get tired of my usual sides.