SPICY PICKLED PUMPKIN

Welcome winter and snow.Yeahhh. 

Spicy pickled pumpkin is a typical delicious winter dish.

That sweet-spicy scent of cinnamon stick, sugar, cloves and ginger makes your tastebuds to explode.

1,5 l water

ca 1 kg peeled, seeded and diced pumpkin

ca 3 cm fresh ginger, finely peeled and chopped

1 vanilla bean, halved

some small chillies

1 cinnamon stick

5-6 cloves

5-6 black peppercornes

150 g sugar 

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

Heat water in a large pot and add ginger, vanilla bean, chillies, cinnamon stick, peppercorns and cloves. 

Bring to a boil and add sugar

Cook another 5 minutes.

Add pumpkin and simmer on medium heat, stirring occasionally until pumpkin is soft. Then add vinegar and cook another minute. 

Place the pumpkin in sterile jar(s). Leave it in fridge one week before eating.

GLÖGG WITH ORANGE PEEL

Have had a minor PHS (Post Holiday Syndrom) together with BB (Baby Blues).
New Years Resolution 2013
Run a Marathon (preferably New York :)
So now I am out and running almost every day.
Sometimes also alcohol helps so you will find my updated mulled wine recipe below.
But only sometimes ;)

1 bottle of red wine

1,5 dl vodka

2 cinnamon sticks

10 whole cloves

12 cardamom seeds

peel of 1 orange
10 tsp sugar

almonds&raisins

Heat the wine in the pot together with sugar, spices, orange peel and vodka. Serve with almonds and raisins.

GINGERBREAD / PEPPARKAKOR

I am finally back :)
It is December again and what would be xmas time without the smell of gingerbread in the house.

This xmas will be special with my newborn baby boy and my husband. I know my child is still too young to really understand what is going on around him but I am happy to introduce him to many of the xmas traditions I know.

The thin crunchy gingerbread (called pepparkakor in swedish and piparkoogid in estonian) cookies are very popular in Nordic countries during the xmas time. They are different from the more soft cookies in Germany and Switzerland.

INGREDIENTS

2dl syrup
2dl muscovado sugar
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp ground cardamom
 2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground ginger
2 eggs
250g butter
ca 700g flour
2 tsp baking powder

Mix the sugar, syrup with spices and bring to boil. Add butter and remove from heat and cool. Add eggs, one at the time. Mix flour with baking powder and add to the syrup mix.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one day and max up to 2 weeks.

Preheat the owen 200 degrees C.

Roll out part of the dough very thin on the lightly floured surface. Cut into desired shapes and bake in the middle of owen 4-5 minutes.

WINTERFOOD PARTY WITH GLÖGG

Last weekend I organized with my friend from http://unasemplicepassione.blogspot.com/
a lovely pre xmas winterfood party. People came with their typical winter/xmas food from all over the world. We had well known classics like

• italian "Lasagne"
• swedish "Janssons Frestelse"
• spanish/galician "Empanadas"

and less known for me :)

• south-african sweet "Koeksisters"
• filipino "Sticky Rice Cake"
• swiss/toggenburg "Schlorzifladen"

The Koeksisters I already have in my future food to do list :P. Really yummy dessert that I had never heard anything from.

For the party I prepared some Nordic classics like swedish Glögg, Lussebullar and estonian Pikkpoiss with beetroots.

GLÖGG

The word glögg comes from "glödga" to heat up something. My dear friend from Switzerland thought it means "Glück", luck in german :). I guess we are lucky ones to try all those different winter treats.

If you want some winter luck, follow the recipe below :P.

Ingredients

1 bottle of red wine

1,5-2 dl vodka

2 cinnamon sticks

10 whole cloves

12 cardamom seeds

10 tsp sugar

almonds&raisins

Heat the wine in the pot together with sugar, spices and vodka. Serve with almonds and raisins. Glugg Glugg Glugg.