Jan 26, 2018

Risotto easy and fast: Cooking in Skane, Sweden

With cold weather comes coughs, sneezes and many times when kids get cold they are not in food mood. So, as a mother you have to think of easy food they can appreciate.
This I have found out this week. Risotto, velvety, easy and tasty to appeal.

Spinach Risotto
for 3 people 200g of arborio Italian rice which you can find easily in imported food department. 1/2 a litter of broth will do, onion,cubed frozen spinach have worked for me, parmesan and black pepper.

Steps :
cook onion with olive oil in a pan, add rice toast it, add 1/3 of broth mix, cook until it is absorbed, add more broth, during the second add of broth I put in the spinach, let that absorb as well and then add the last part of broth and cook slowly till its absorbed but not all. You can taste the rice if its not cooked you can add boiling water and this helps you to know the broth dose for next time you cook your risotto. At the end add the parmesan and a little butter. Butter adds to smoothness.
I had a little left over of cooking cream in the fridge which I substituted the butter with and it was nice, very nice. Fold in with parmesan and serve. Great for kids who are un well and lost appetite. Try it .

Jan 23, 2018

From African sunshine to -2°c ,African girl survives it all

 To me and my son, our beautiful sunny days throughout the year seems a little far away. East Africa is blessed with beautiful sunshine. I winter Nairobi becomes cold, and we could cover ourselves with layers of coats and scarves.
Not knowing that is just autumn kind of weather some countries experience.
I have been lucky to have lived in different parts of the world. From heat in Bangkok to 40° I experienced in Oman and UAE region, I always went back to my beauful mild conditions of weather in E.Africa.

Now, fast foward to January 2018 in Sweden, and ooh, me dear! I'm in a freezer zone. It is unexplainable, all I can do is send my family pictures of the white blanket that covers roofs, countryside and let the imagination take them to what I am going through.
But, all in all, this African girl will survive this -2°c.

Jan 15, 2018

Home cooking in Sweden

Home Cooking in Sweden


My cooking skills testing new tastes - Swedish food the Italian way.
With a lot of snow forecast today, there is no better way to keep my family warm than coming home to find this homemade 'Torta Salata'.
I did not want the hustle of making the base from scratch so I went to the supermarket to see what I can use.
I found ICA (local supermarket ) has this PAJDEG - Mat och bak

This makes my work extremely simple and leaves me with a lot of time to do my Swedish lessons without worrying about late dinner. One habit I am not going to pick is dinner time, Swedes eat dinner early - from 6 pm, I love my dinner between 7.30-8.30.


Putting together:
Ingredients
Parmesan, cottage cheese and spinach

First: I fried the spinach on pan with just olive oil
mixed together with grated parmesan and cottage cheese and all as in the picture.
Cooking for around 200° in oven for around 15 minutes.
Ready to serve.

Jan 4, 2018

Simple food Ideas - Skane - Sweden

Cooking in Lund Sweden

A few months ago I moved to Skåne area of Sweden. As I get settled and learn the new language, let's get busy in the kitchen. I love to cook especially Italian food. Please join me and explore the love for simple way of cooking, eating healthy and great on a recession budget here in Sweden.

I love potatos, when I was growing up in Kenya, area around Mt. Kenya , we had potato every day, its not a joke. Whether marshed, boiled, fried with beans, there was always space for potatoes. And potatoes there are  yummy. So, I still have the habit, potatoes and more potatoes - I just cannot bring myself to say no to potatoes.

So whats cooking today? As you can see from the plate it is as simple and yummy as it looks.
Marshed potatoes served with rucola and fresh tomatoes. On the side you have chicken breast roasted on the pan with only garlic, rosemary and sage.
If you have some basil, you know how lovely that goes with a tomato and a crushed garlic a bit of olive oil for rucola and tomato - you are on your way to impressing your guests.

Ps. Here in Sweden you can just pick instant potato puree it's great.

Swedish 101

Potatos - Potatis
Tomato - Tomat
Garlic - Vitlök

Happy New Year - Gott nytt år


Enjoy! 2018 the year of great cooking on a budget.