Can't take them no more

In between photo job, some work with a few ongoing projects, sunbathing, swimming and reading books - this weekend consisted of some serious baking projects. It's like an old on-n-off relationship I have with the oven. For weeks I can be really annoyed by the fact that I've recently been baking, and eating, three large cakes in the short period of just a few days. I then refuse to look at sugar or even think the thought of baking for some weeks when then slowly one day I feel it coming, the subtle yet exciting feeling that bubbles inside and encourages me to get back to the mood and concoct something delicious, some terribly calorie rich, sticky, fudgy, sweet things and BAM I bake like I never seen cakes before. That's basically what happened this weekend, I baked and baked and I ate and ate. Cookies, buns and homemade bread. I ate ten or eleven cinnamon rolls if I am not completely misremembering or got high of all the yeast I've been consuming - and it was incredibly tasteful while it lasted but now I'm definitely back to square one again. No more calorie bombs for me please. Not a single more cinnamon bun thank you very much. Some folks might've been born normal, others we are the all or nothing kind of people. 

If you would like to enjoy a couple of delicious Swedish cinnamon buns though, here's the recipe: 

Time to prepare: Around 2 hours. Cooking: 7-9 min. Makes a total of 30-40 buns.

Ingredients for the dough:

14 g (two teaspoons) dry active yeast. You could also replace this with 50 g (1,7 ounce) fresh yeast if you prefer.

5 dl (2,5 cup) milk 

150 g (1 cup) butter

1 teaspoon salt

1 dl (1/2 cup) sugar

1 1/2 tablespoon cardamom

14 - 15 dl (6 cups) all purpose flour (normalt vetemjöl eller vetemjöl extra)

For the filling:

room tempered butter

sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

And the topping:

1 egg

pearl sugar

Put the yeast in a bowl. Melt the butter and add the milk, heat to lukewarm. Now pour the mixture over the yeast. Add the other ingredients and work the dough. Leave the dough to rest under a kitchen towel for approximately 30min. Preheat the oven to 225°C/437°F.

When the dough has rested, divide the dough into two equal parts. Knead them lightly on floured counter until smooth and shiny. Roll each half of dough into rectangles. Flat and nice. Now brush the rectangles with butter and sprinkle it all with cinnamon and sugar. If you feel like adding a nutty twist to it all, add some ground almonds. Now you roll it all up into two cylinders. Nice and tight. Then take a sharp knife and slice the cylinders into rolls. Put them on a baking tray covered with baking paper or put each of them into paper cupcake wrappers. Then leave it all to rest again, another 30 minutes would do them good, maybe an hour if you got the time.

When they've rested and chilled out under the kitchen towel, you should go ahead and brush the risen buns with egg wash and then sprinkle some pearl sugar on top.

Put to oven, bake for 7-9 minutes. Make sure they don't get too much baked, dry buns are never ever a good thing. If you followed my advice you should have some absolutely divine little buns ready in just a short while. They're delicious. Wonderful. Especially are they scrumptious when enjoyed with a glass of ice cold milk. Enjoy! And please give me your version of cinnamon rolls if you use other interesting fillings or topping. Sometimes I made them the pizza version, I would cut out the sugar from the dough and fill the buns with tomato sauce, ground beef, onion and so on... but that's another story for another time.. /T

Drink of the day

Oh and I forgot one thing on that list... I will most probably be drinking a couple of my delicious homemade Piña Coladas. I'm pretty sure they contain something like 500 calories each or so but I can't be bothered, they are too delightful to resist. Especially when served ice cold, they're simply to die for in this tropical heat. The sweetness of the pineapple, the coconut flavor, the sweet crema.... aaaaaah.

This is how I mix them:

2 oz Malibu coconut rum
1 oz cream of coconut
4 oz pineapple juice
ice

Mix and shake well. Pour in a glass. Garnish the glass with a slice of fresh pineapple. Sweet! /T

Juicy carrot bread / Saftigt morotsbröd

Been baking a lot of different breads lately. This one experiment proved to be one of the best I've ever tasted. Juicy and moist is the keyword right here, so incredibly juicy is what this bread is. You should give it a try if you got the time, it is very easy and quick to prepare and you'll thank me for it afterwards. Carrot and syrup are the magical ingredients which gives that delightful moisture you're looking for. And don't have preconceptions about the carrots involved like Alex had in the beginning, these are the glorious ones which makes the bread almost drip of moisture.

Time to prepare: Around 1 hour. Cooking: 15-20 min. Makes a total of around 24 pieces.

5 dl (2 cups) of milk

50 g (1,7 oz) active fresh yeast or 14 g (4,5 teaspoons or 0,5 oz) active dry yeast

50 g melted butter (1,7 oz)

2 large carrots

1,5 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons syrup

4 dl (1,7 cups) all-purpose flour (vanligt vetemjöl eller vetemjöl special)

9-10 dl (4 - 4,2 cups) whole wheat flour or spelt (dinkelmjöl fullkorn eller vanligt fullkorsmjöl) - whatever you got at home. If you prefer a lighter colored bread, just adjust so you put equal amount of them two flours. In total there should be approximately 14 dl (6 cups) flour. 

Preheat oven to 225°C or 437°F. Prepare a baking pan with oil and flour or waxed/baking paper.

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in lukewarm milk. Add the melted butter, the grated carrot, salt, syrup, most of the flour and stir to combine. Add more flour to the extent it is necessary, the dough shouldn't be too sticky but also not too hard. You should find the balance, it should be easy and smooth to work with. Leave to rise for approximately 30 minutes. Should grow to double size. 

Pour dough into pan and cut the bread into squares. Leave to rise under kitchen towel for another 30 minutes. Then bake on middle rack for around 15-20 minutes. When it's done, bring it out and cool in the pan for ten minutes and then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.

Now try to hold yourself for thirty minutes at least but you know what I've been talking about when you spread some butter on the first piece of warm bread and tasted this little miracle. Mmmmm .... it is almost too good to handle.

Enjoy! /Taru

Coco Magic - Kokoskladdkaka (SE)

While waiting for the hair to get bleached last night and while anxiously observing it transforming from chocolate to orange and dark yellow and finally to something in between white and dark rum, I made one of my favorite cakes. I know you all love the good old chocolate brownie, but have you ever tried out to make that sweet and fudgy cake without cocoa? I have, several times and with several different other ingredients and this is my favorite version of them all. The coconut gives the perfect amount of sweetness and the delicious drops of dark rum (preferably Mount Gay) adds a wonderful twist to it. The cake should become crispy on the top and fudgy in the middle, just like any perfect brownie. 

2 eggs

2,5 dl sugar (1 cup)

100 g melted butter

1,5 teaspoon vanillin extract

1,5 teaspoon baking powder 

1,5 dl wheat (3/4 cup)

1 dl coconut flakes (1/2 cup)

1 teaspoon of dark rum

Mix eggs, sugar and vanillin extract well. In a separate bowl: mix together wheat, baking powder, coco flakes. Bring to the eggs and mix it all well. Add butter and lastly a teaspoon of rum. Bake in oven on medium heat (175°C) for around 20 min.

You have to try it yourself and let me know what you think. For me this is simply a coconut miracle. /T

Today's chicken

This is one dish we eat quite often in our home. My quick version of the southern French chicken dish Poulet à la Provencale. Normally you should cook the chicken in the oven for around 40-60 minutes but if you're in a hurry or don't want to spend the whole day cooking and cleaning, this way works too.

Fry garlic and one medium sized blonde onion in butter. Add salt, pepper, herbs de Provence and two tablespoons of white wine, mix well, boil for a minute or two and set aside while frying the chicken. Pan fry the chicken thighs in butter and make sure to give them a golden, crispy hue. Add salt and pepper. When chicken's golden all around, toss in the onion, wine and spice mix, add chopped tomatoes and red pepper, probably some more salt and a teaspoon of maizena wheat or whatever sauce thickener you prefer. Make sure to not throw the wine mix on top of the chicken to save the crispy part from getting moist. Crispy is the way we want it. Leave it all to boil on medium heat under lid for around 20 minutes. Serve with white rice. 

Bon appétit!

One refreshing starter

I'm really into the Martiniquian way of cooking at the moment. The mix of traditional French cuisine and the refreshing tropical creole (a mélange of French, Spanish and African) style of preparing food makes for a perfect mix and the fresh ingredients makes the food light to savour in during hot days. Coco, rum, bananas of all different types, lime and other fruits are often a part of the cuisine here and this is a little something I threw together with inspiration from the local kitchen.

Lime and coco chicken with ecological quinoa

Boil quinoa according to package instructions. I use the ecological version found at Carrefour. 

Pan fry very finely chopped spring onion in tiny bit of butter and when crispy - throw in some chicken and fry until golden, pour in a tiny bit of dark rum (rum goes with most things I've recently discovered, especially fish and most definitely in desserts.) add salt, pepper, a squeeze of lime-juice. When quinoa's done, mix it all into the pan. Serve with or without coco flakes and enjoy as a starter or main course. 

Enjoy!

Dish of the week

It has been quite a busy year for me, therefore the lack of writings from my part. They are quite a high maintenance both my woman and the boat and most of these last fifteen months has meant to make these two women of my life happy and ready for this journey we have now embarked on. Finally I can see a little bit of relief on both the maintenance and stress and we all look forward to get some well deserved vacation once we get to the Caribbean.

I want to share with you my toerail to toerail rolling dish even though I am sure most of you sailors already are familiar with it. Some days at sea are just not meant for gourmet cookings as the 15 foot following seas and strong winds doesn't allow you to much more than boiling pasta opening a can ... you got the picture. This is how you do it.

Boil pasta, panfry one can of corned beef, add fried and dry onions, mix all together and enjoy. This is very good. If you ask Taru she maybe will say that the smell and consistence of corned beef reminds her of the smell and consistence of cat food coming from cans with obscure names like "pussy" or "mjau" but who said life on sea always should be easy? Bon Appétit. 

Alex

Yesterday's lunch and some stats of day no. 12

It was a Mahi Mahi of course. I had it grilled with salt, pepper and lemon juice. Served it with basmati rice cooked in garlic and coriander. Delicious!

Some stats of today:

1899 nm to go to Martinique. 

Position: N 14°02. W 28°42.

Water temp: 30°. I'm soon in. 

Amount of fish caught so far: 1 only! Catastrophe.

Knots of wind in this very moment: 5-7. Engine on. We can see some stronger tradewinds on the grib a bit further West and we have around 200 nm to go to be able to pick them up. Hoping this will be the end of motoring for this journey. 

Amount of flying fish landed on deck: 1

Squalls encountered so far on this crossing: 5? 6? Luckily we got stuck in a big one last night which gave us some good speed forward for a couple of hours. And it also gave a good wash of the teak, thank you weather gods for that one.

And that would be all for now. Don't forget to check out our position and route on the Spotwalla website. /T

Preparing for the Atlantic passage

Pan fried chicken legs with chinese mushrooms and scallions in a hot pepper-sauce.

And that was today's lunch.

As we're about to leave for the Atlantic crossing very soon (tomorrow or Thursday that is), we are now busy with the final planning of the food provisioning for the 18-22 days we will spend on the ocean.

It is a pity that fresh meat isn't lasting for more than the first five days or so and that many vegetables will go bad after 14 days, but we'll manage well with other reserves. What we've been focusing on mostly is to make sure there is enough fresh water (around 100 liters ((26 US gallons)) of reserves in bottles and folding water jugs in case the watermaker would fail), enough pasta/rice/potatoes/beans/noodles/cous cous/cereals/dried fruit/dried vegetables/dried mushrooms/juice/UHT milk and cream for the double of the time we'll be spending on the sea, plenty of baking supplies in case I get baking cravings and obviously everything needed to make some nice fish dishes like lemon juice, coco flakes, garlic, spices, dried basilica and other herbs, soya, wasabi, rice vinegar etc.. With these things we'll be perfectly settled. Will show some pics of how we're storing all of this in the boat, later on. /Taru

One simple apple dessert

One of the easiest desserts there is to be made (I did mention I love everything in terms of cooking involving the word easy, no?) is a simple fried apple dessert. If you, just like me, think that you've been eating too much over the holidays but still need something sweet after dinner, this is a good choice. Delicious and healthy, if you can resist the temptation of putting together a vanilla sauce to it, that is. 

All you really need is: 1 apple for two people, little bit of butter, brown sugar, ground cinnamon and that would be it. Panfry the apple in a tiny bit of butter, sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on top and leave it on the stove till it's golden brown. The firmer the apple, the better in my opinion. Granny Smith's has always made it for me with it's acidic taste, but also a traditional sweet Gala or Honeycrisp would be good for this type of frying. It's quick, healthy and delicious. Just how we like it. /Taru

Hot fish soup with saffron

This definitely reminds us of UK when looking out on the constant rain pissing down outside, for the third day in a row. Or wait a minute, we are actually in the United Kingdom, suddenly it all makes sense. It's raining cats and dogs, like the Brits would have said. Non stop downpour - and the teak which were supposed to have gotten it's final tlc this weekend, must now face a terribly destructive shower instead. We will most probably have to stay here for 2-4 days more as of the bad weather that is preventing us from finalizing what has to get finished.

It is quite funny in a way. We have left the normality for many reasons but one of the foremost is that we do not want to be controlled and manipulated by any authority or the laws of the society. Basically we have chosen not to live a life that someone else have chosen for us, but instead living our own life as we strive for being as self sufficient and free as possible - and here we are, always controlled by the weather and winds. A paradox that on the other hand isn't too hard to live with - but interesting to reflect upon. There's always someone/something that has the last word in your everyday life and decisions. If it is not the structures of the society or governmental laws, it is the nature that stops you from certain things.

Here's a soup I made to get us warm in this terrible cold we're facing over here in Gibraltar. Make one for yourself if you wanna keep yourself hot.

Soup of cod filet, saffron and chinese mushrooms

Pan fry slices of onion and add some garlic cloves.
Cut in pieces and pan fry cod filet, 250 g would be enough for 2 people.
Bring some sliced shiitake mushrooms and red pepper cubes to the pan.
Sprinkle over salt, pepper and cayenne.
Add a dash of soya and some saffron.
Add whatever else you have in your fridge that could make sense. I had some crab sticks which made a good combo.
Add 2 tablespoons of natural yoghurt and the same amount of water.
Pour some white wine into the soup. One tablespoon is enough.
Leave it all to simmer for a while.

And there you go. Hot fish soup for cold winter nights.

Cous cous salad with chicken and buttered chanterelles

I'm all into living a comfortable and stress-free life. Some (Alex) may claim it is partly laziness that is living within me, I prefer to call my philosophy "the right pace of living and enjoying life while avoiding as much obstacles as possible". I have simply made a calculation and understood that I rather spend the precious minutes of my life on things that I enjoy, than on things that gives me headache, stress, too much work or just stupidities in general. When it comes to food I, too, make my life as simple as possible. Don't get me wrong here. I love superb, qualitative food and also to prepare it - so some work there has to be put in it, but I do like to make it easy and comfortable, cutting out all extra work that is not needed, according to preferred standard. For example, I have became an expert in using leftovers and also to cook more than I need, in order to be able to use the leftovers for suitable meals for a couple of days after the main dish. On a boat - this, along with great plastic storage containers, is invaluable as you wish to make things easy and painless to avoid messing up that tight little galley space (and to clean it after) way too often.

This salad is a great example of "the day after meals" - that actually is made one day after the famous chicken burger I made the other day, which also means, two days after the original chicken meal I made to start with. From the leftovers that was generated, I have here turned it all into a delicious cous cous salad with chanterelles. And this is how you make it yourself:

Boil some water and follow the instructions on your specific cous cous package. Basically, you just boil some water with salt and olive oil. When it's boiling, add equally amount of cous cous as of boiling water - into the hot water, take it off from the stove, whisk it all gently, put a lid on and leave it to soak in for some five-ten minutes. While this is soaking, pan fry the leftover chicken you found in your refrigerator. Cut some red pepper, red onion, cherry tomatoes in petite cubes. Throw it all into a bowl, add the cous cous, some rucola, the hot fried chicken and don't you forget to also pan fry some chanterelles in butter and salt and throw them in the salad as well. Add salt, pepper. Done!

Now when I think about it, I should have added a dash of truffle oil into it as well, I'm sure it would have been the cherry on the pie.

Cous cous is, by the way, one of those things we will stock up a lot of for our Atlantic passage. A great substitute to pasta and rice and it is so very quick to prepare. Definitely gives some good change to all that pasta we'd probably eat on that long journey. And it goes terrifically well with fish and seafood, as well. /Taru

Chicken burger for lunch, yes please!

A very simple dish, perfectly suitable for moderate conditions on the sea is - the burger. Burger of any sort really (can't wait for Alex to catch some fish so I can make it a fish burger), but this is one of our favorites.

Let me present to you the super easy* chicken burger. (*because life aboard is all about making things easy, no?)

Take a couple of hamburger buns. Throw them into oven to grill for some minutes. You want them to get warm and crispy, but never too burnt so watch out.

Take a few pieces of grilled chicken fillet. You can either heat up some left overs from last nights chicken meal or simply use some hot and ready parts from a grilled chicken from your local chicken butcher, or make it hard for yourself and pan fry/grill a couple of fresh fillets yourself. The latter is as great as time consuming so I recommend one of the first two options because sometimes it is OK to be lazy.  Whatever piece of chicken you decide to go for, make sure it gets soaked up in some nice flavors. I would suggest salt, pepper, ground chili powder, soya and perhaps some garlic powder, in case there wasn't enough spices already.

When the chicken's ready, sprinkle some mayonnaise on the bread. Or why not try the delightful Cesar dressing that you can find almost anywhere nowadays. This is to be followed by some leaves of fresh rucola, some slices of a tasteful cheese, (I used the amazing Swiss cheese Appenzeller.. oh lord how glorious it is), finalize the deal with some red garlic and some red pepper. Sprinkle some fresh ground pepper of preferred kind and over with the top. Voilà! This is too good to be true - and so incredibly easy to execute. Perfect for a quiet day on the sea when you feel like enjoying the sun and the beautiful surroundings, rather than spending too long time below in the galley.

/Taru

Lunch time

Luscious macaronis with mustard chicken

This is probably the easiest thing to put together and suits us fine when life is upside down like it is on this boat right now. A little bit of pasta, a little bit of marinated chicken and some rucola to that and you're all set. This is how I do it:

Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the pasta according to package directions. I've used large macaronis for this dish, as I love the texture of them and the fact that the creamy sauce gets stuck inside of em'. Very wonderful and juicy, from the inside and out. While the pasta is cooking, swirl together a little chicken marinade into a bowl. You'll need more or less:

1 tablespoon soya sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 teaspoon of mayonnaise
salt
pepper
ground chili powder
also you could toss in some garlic if you'd like..

As soon as this is done and mixed up, bring some sliced pieces of chicken into it. Leave it to absorb for ten minutes or so. The longer the better but if you have not much time, five-ten min should be OK.

In olive oil: panfry some chopped onion, why not shallots. When they're golden brown, bring in the marinated chicken. With all of the marinade, obviously. Let it all simmer around and leave it to get a brownish, golden tone. You'll see when it's ready. When pasta's done, remove the water and dump in the pasta into the pan with the chicken. Mix it all together softly and add some fresh rucola to it.

This. Is. So. Damn. Delicious. You have to try. Now!

/Taru

The perfect mix between sweet and salt

Fried chicken with a sweet bean salad

Pan fry your marinated chicken and prepare the salad in the meanwhile.

I've used these ingredients:

A handful of rucola

A handful of baby spinach

A bunch of mung bean sprouts

1 Comice pear (whatever pear goes, it's the sweet taste and the firm, grainy texture you're after)

Some red pepper

Blue cheese

I've chosen to made the dressing very sweet and refreshing as there's a lot of taste in the chicken. My sweet dressing is simply made of some raspberry vinaigrette, which can be found in well-assorted grocery stores, and virgin olive oil.

Chicken's marinated in soy, salt, black pepper, sesame oil, chili pepper and a bit of fresh garlic.

Serve as a starter or a lunch salad. It is very, very delicious. /T

Mashed potatoes from heaven

When I grew up, mashed potatoes was equal to: potatoes-butter-milk-salt-pepper and nothing else. Nowadays I'm trying to experiment as much as possible with it, as it goes with close to anything and the homemade version is a serious classic none can live without, right?

Sometimes I'll add herbs, sometimes bacon or parmesan - sometimes I'll make it simple with only some salt and oil, but this one I have to consider to be the favorite:

I boil my potatoes in small cubes. In the meanwhile I'll fry some very thin cut red onion and 2 small cloves of crushed garlic. When the potatoes have boiled (around 15 minutes), I'll mash them (but not too much, leave some chunks!), adding the onion mix, liquid cream, loads of butter, salt, pepper and a pinch of chili powder. This might not be either a low carb or low fat alternative, but oh so damn good. It goes especially well with grilled chicken or fried fish but really anything goes, I'm sure.

Try it!

Picture: My mashed potatoes served with fried Barracuda meat.

Baking day

While Alex is up on deck refitting our teak, I'm working on some online projects and simultaneously baking bread in the Remoska. This is my favorite Focaccia, but instead of the all-purpose flour, I used whole grain to get a more rich and rustic texture and plenty of more fibers (rosemary excluded as well).

I'm in a serious baking mood today. Just finished the bread, thinking of mixing together some ultra-thin pancakes now and dying to have a fudgy chocolate cake or a sweet cake with fig marmalade for later on.. Just too bad we don't have enough space for a freezer in this boat so my bakings could be saved for more then a few days... hoping to get it solved for the next boat. /Taru

The ultimate brownie

Of course there was a cake on Alex birthday. Even though I can find an excuse to swirl together a cake whenever, it's always more pleasant to do it for someone you love. He likes it simple, my man. Everything that comes with a rich taste of chocolate and anything with peaches involved - so I made this simple, but oh so delicious, brownie - and as there were no white peaches to get hold on, I marinated the nectarines in fresh peach juice..

2 eggs

2,5 dl sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 dl unsweetened cocoa powder

2 dl flour

100 g melted butter

(add some chopped and toasted walnuts, pecans or hazelnuts if you'd like)

Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F), grease and flour a pan. Break the eggs into a large bowl and mix it with the sugar, whisk until fluffy. Add all other ingredients, butter lastly. Pour the batter into the pan and place in the oven for around 20 minutes. The cake should be fudgy and soft on the inside and crispy on top. Cut the cake while it's hot. Garnish with whipped cream, icecream or fruits. Voilà!

METRICS

American measurements:

2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup flour
3,75 ounces melted butter

Sweet chicken

A very simple chicken stew: Pan fry chicken filet with some drops of olive oil, add some soya, curry, a pinch of salt, some pepper, some honey, a bit of cabbage, snow peas and freshly squeezed orange juice. Preparation time: Around 13 minutes. Perfect for those days when you need to make it fast and easy. /T

Corsican delicacies

Ok it's not entirely Corsican what we have indulged in, lately. It's more that the French produce are easier to get hold on here than in Spain and we can't get enough of the cheese (Camembert, Brie, Roquefort etc..), the pate's, the french butter, freshly baked baguettes, blettes, yoghurts, the wine and so on...

What is Corsican though, is the delightful little Canistrellis (more or less like Italian Biscotti) and the smoked wild boar meat (even though the meat they call sanglier, in fact is 30% boar, 70% pork)

If you ever wondered how we can be so fit, after all we're eating. Well... I can tell you that those well shaped days are now officially over! /T