The Munchies Blog

Ingredients:

• 350 ish grams of Beef Mince
• 1 small Red Onion
• 2 cloves of Garlic
• ca 4 Peeled fresh tomatoes
• 50 ish grams of Feta
• 1/2 cup Cream
• 1 tablespoonish Tomato paste
• 2 Bay leaves
• 1 teaspoonish Strawberry jam
• 1 splosh White wine (Chardonnay?)
• Pasta

Approach:

Cook pasta.
Fry the mince together with onion and garlic. Add salt, tomatoes, tomato puree, a teaspoon strawberry jam and two bay leaves. Let simmer until it thickens a bit. Add wine and cream and let it cook longer.

Mix pasta and sauce in an ovenproof form and sprinkle feta on top. Chuck into oven and bake for around 20 minutes at around 225 degrees Celsius. The feta should look brownish.

This is my mum’s meatball recipe.

400g of minced meat (I only use beef).
0.75 dl rolled oats.
1-2 tablespoons potato flour.
1.5 dl water (I tend to use 50/50 milk and cream instead :) ).
1 egg.
1 teaspoon salt.
1 small onion.
Black pepper, all spice and a bit of stock powder.

Chop the onion into small pieces and fry them slightly while allowing the liquid and the rolled oats to stand in a bowl.
Mix it all together until it’s a good mixture, and fairly sticky. It’s important to make sure that there’s no lumps of rolled oats, but it tends to get bad if you overwork the mixture as well.
Once the mixture is finished, put cold water on a cutting board and roll small balls. The water keeps the mixture from sticking to the cutting board (and your hands).
Once you think you’ve got enough meatballs, start frying the first pan on medium heat while rolling more balls.

Today, I decided to try a variation of my normal chili recipe. This chili is supposed to be soup-like in consistency. It turned out quite nice, just a wee bit too hot. I added hot paprika powder in addition to the spices mentioned, and I think that was a mistake.

Several pages on the Internet mention the use of bittersweet chocolate or unsweetened cocoa powder in chili con carne, so I decided to try that as well. I don’t think the taste is really noticeable in this quantity (might use more next time), but at least I didn’t have any problems getting the chili to taste really nice this time.

About 4-6 servings

• 250g minced beef (soy protein probably works as well)
• 1 capsicum (a.k.a. bell pepper or paprika) — I used a yellow one, but that shouldn’t make a difference
• 1-2 chili peppers — I used a green one
• 1 large red onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1-2 tsp vegetable stock powder
• 500 ml puréed tomatos
• ca. 750 ml (hot) water
• 1 can of kidney beans
• 1 small can of corn (optional — drain and add together with the spices)
• spices to taste (I used salt, pepper, cumin, sweet paprika, cayenne pepper, 2 small dried chopped chilis, allspice, cinnamon, thyme and 1/2 tsp of unsweetened cocoa powder)
• 1 tsp semolina

Wash, cut and seed the capsicum and the chili pepper(s). Peel the onion and cut in half rings. Peel the garlic.

Heat a tablespoon of butter in a medium-sized saucepan on medium heat. Throw in the minced meat. Stir the meat so that it doesn’t clump together. When the meat is done, add the onion and the pressed garlic. Stir and fry this for a few more minutes until the onions start to become transparent. Throw in the capsicum and chili pepper(s), and again stir and fry for a few more minutes.

Add the water, stock powder and puréed tomatos and stir well. When the chili is boiling, turn down the heat a bit and add the spices, then let the chili simmer for some 5-10 minutes. In the meantime, drain and wash the beans. Don’t hurt yourself with the can opener. When the chili has simmered for some 5-10 minutes, add the beans.

Wait some 5 more minutes and add the semolina. This is not strictly necessary, but it does give the chili a nicer consistency. This is also a good time to sample the chili and add any missing spices. Let simmer for some 5 more minutes.

Serve with sour cream, crème fraîche or yoghurt for those who don’t like their chili too hot and with slices of white bread (for example ciabatta, baguette or pide).

I am shamelessly copying this from my own blog where it is posted already. I think it is tasting good enough to have several mentions ;)

Supposedly serves 6 people. If they aren’t starving.

500 gr. minced meat.
2 cloves of garlic.
2 Onions.
500 gr. potatoes.
500 gr. carrots.
500 gr. leeks.
~200-250 ml cream. More works as well ;)
~200 gr. “Schmelzkäse” (Soft meltable cheese, “mjukost” in Swedish).
~ 750ml Vegetable Stock.

Fry (a big pot is a good place) the minced meat, garlic and onions together while cutting the vegetables in smallish pieces.
Once the meat is done, put it all into a big pot and add the vegetable stock. The stock should not cover the vegetables entirely all the way up.
Put to a simmer for 20 minutes, add the cream and the cheese. Simmer for 5 more minutes, and add spices.
Salt, pepper and various herb spices are recommended.

Serve with a bit of sourdough bread if you feel adventurous.