Old Fashioned Ground Meat Recipe

Ground meat roulades are an old-fashioned Swedish dish. Roulades can be filled with any content - cheese, ham, vegetables, herbs, mushrooms or whatever you have on hand.

Here is a recipe filled with Felix Bostongurka® - a type of sweet cucumber relish with onion, mustard seeds and paprika. It is possible to make at home, but if you can't grow your own cucumbers, it's not worth the trouble. Contact me if you want a recipe.

The Swedish name of this relish has nothing to do with Boston, USA. It is, however, meant to accompany fast food such as hamburgers and hot dogs, which we believe had its origins in the United States. Well, foods commonly accepted as "American" have, in fact, their origins elsewhere. (Many Americans have European roots if you go back a couple of generations).














INGREDIENTS:
serves 4

* 400-500 grams ground meat (90% beef+10% pork)
* 200 ml cream
* 2-3 slices of day old white bread, crusts removed
* 1 egg
* 1½ teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon pepper

FILLING:
* approx. 100 ml Bostongurka

METHOD:
1. Crumble the bread and soak in cream.
2. Leave this to soak for at least 10 minutes.
3. Mix all ingredients just long enough to combine.
4. Shape into a flat rectangle on a sheet of wet baking paper.
5. Divide into 8 or 10 equal rectangles.
6. Place about 1 heaping teaspoonful of "Bostongurka" on every rectangle.
7. Roll up each rectangle tightly and press ends to seal.
8. Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat and cook each roulade until they are browned and cooked through.

SAUCE:
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 2½ tablespoons plain flour
* 300 ml milk
* 150 ml cream
* 1 tablespoon Chinese soy
* ½ teaspoon salt
* pinch of pepper

METHOD:
1. Place the butter into a saucepan and melt over medium heat.
2. Whisk in the flour and stir until the mixture becomes paste like.
3. Gradually whisk the milk and cream into the flour mixture,
4. Simmer on low heat for about 5 minutes.
5. Add Chinese soy, salt and pepper to taste.
6. Pour sauce over the roulades or serve the sauce in a sauce can on the side.














Boiled or pressed potatoes, lingonberry jam and broccoli go great with ground meat roulades.

Tartare Sandwich Recipe

The most expensive sandwich in the world can be found on the Cliveden House hotel menu (located in Taplow, Berkshire, UK) . Priced at £100. It's more than $150. What do you get? Iberico ham, Poulet de Bresse, white truffles, Italian quail eggs, semi-dried Italian tomatoes, organic mayonnaise and 24 hour fermented sour dough bread.

But is it worth what it costs? Well, only the sandwich buyers can decide that. And they are probably people with more money than they know what to do with, or food fanatics.

However, there are other ways to make interesting and delicious sandwiches without using all sorts of fancy ingredients.














The Swedish National Team of Chefs inspired me to make this amazing and healthy sandwich that can serve as an appetizer or a meal. I have included my modified recipe below, but the original Swedish recipe can be found here: Kockens

While the original recipe calls for 500 grams of "gravad" salmon, I opted for a smaller amount of gravad rainbow trout.

INGREDIENTS:
serves 4-6

Tartare
* 250 grams "gravad" salmon trout, chopped
* 2 hard boiled eggs, chopped
* 2 tablespoons pickled beetroots, chopped
* 2 tablespoons pickled cucumber, chopped
* 2 tablespoons red onion, finely chopped
* 2 tablespoons dill, finely chopped
* 2 tablespoons sweet grainy mustard
* salt and pepper

rocket salad
slices of rye bread


METHOD:
1. Place the chopped ingredients and mustard in a bowl.
2. Mix together carefully but well.
2. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste.
3. Cut off the edges of the rye bread.
4. Top each slice of bread with about 3-4 tablespoons of "tartare"
5. Garnish with rocket salad.

Enjoy!

"Jitter-buggers" with Chocolate Meringue

I made Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Pudding the other day and had 2 egg whites left over, so I baked these cookies. I remember my mother baking them in the 1950s.














They are called "jitterbuggare" in Swedish, which literally means "jitter-buggers" in English; named after the swing dance (jitterbug) that was popular in the 1930s and 1940s.

Irregular swirls of meringue can be found in these cookies. I find them a bit messy to make as the meringue batter has a tendency to stick to the knife while slicing. I am very impatient when it comes to cookie baking so I ended up with several misshaped cookies.

If you don't like chocolate, you can leave it out. Or add 25 grams of finely chopped walnuts to the meringue batter.

INGREDIENTS:
Yield: Makes about 40-50

Dough:
200 grams butter
100 ml caster sugar
500 ml plain flour

Filling:
2 egg whites
150 ml caster sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa powder

METHOD:
* Mix the butter and sugar in a large bowl with a wooden spoon.
* Work in the flour to get a smooth dough.
* Divide dough into 2 parts and chill for 60 minutes or so.
* Combine egg whites and sugar in a clean metal bowl.
* Set the bowl over a pan of simmering water.
* Whisk constantly with an electric hand held whisk until stiff peaks form.
* Gently fold in cocoa powder.
* Roll out each part of the dough to make a rectangle - ½ cm or 0.2 inch thick.
* Spread a rather thin layer of meringue batter over the dough rectangles.
* Roll up into a long tight roll.
* Let the two rolls rest in the fridge for 15 minutes.
* Set your oven to preheat at 175°C or 350°F.
* Cut each roll into slices - 1½ cm or 0.6 inch thick.
* Place each cookie slice on baking sheets lined with baking paper.
* Bake for 15-20 minutes and remove from oven.
* Let cookies cool on baking sheet.
* Remove cookies from baking sheets and finish cooling on wire rack.

There will be meringue batter left over for small chocolate meringues:
* Lower the oven temperature to 125°C (=257°F).
* Spoon dollops of the leftover batter on to a baking paper lined tray.
* Bake for about 30-45 minutes.

Use them up for a couple of portions of Eton Mess:
* Break meringues into bite size pieces.
* Fold strawberries and meringue pieces into whipped cream.
* Place in dessert bowls and serve immediately.