I love cheese and the funny thing is that I didn’t eat any blue cheese until a few years ago and now I can’t imagine myself without it. The Gorgonzola cheese is Italian and has a rather sharp yet creamy flavour. It’s perfect in food and yesterday I put it in my risotto which resulted in a great and delicious dinner. Risotto may sound difficult to make but it’s really easy as long as you take care of it and stir frequently. This risotto goes perfect with rocket/aragula/ruccola, cherry tomatoes and red onion.

Risotto al Gorgonzola
(serves 2-3)

1 small onion, finely chopped
50 ml Olive oil Extra Vergine
300 ml Arborio rice
1 litre warm broth (I used an instant one called “Italy” with pine kernels and tomato)
100 gram gorgonzola cheese, cut in cubes
20 gram Parmesan cheese, grated
pepper
(salt if needed)

Bring broth to simmer in large saucepan over medium heat.

In another pan heat olive oil, add onion and sauté until tender and colourless. Add rice and stir for a minute or two. Add 200 ml of hot broth; simmer until absorbed, stirring frequently. Add remaining broth 100 ml at a time, allowing broth to be absorbed before adding more and stirring frequently until rice is creamy and tender, about 20 minutes. When done the rice corns should be creamy with an al dente kernel. Stir in the gorgonzola and parmesan cheese. Season the risotto with pepper (and salt if needed). Transfer to bowl and serve, eat immediately. Don’t reheat in the microwave, it won’t come out good. Serve with red onion, rocket (ruccula) and cherry tomatoes.

Summer and thus picnic season is here. A few days ago me and my husband took a bike ride to the beautiful Haga park where we had a cosy picnic next to the temple of the echo that is quite popular for civil weddings. Coincidentally a couple got married in the temple while we were eating, so we curiously watched the ceremony from our picnic blanket.

The Temple of the Echo in the Haga Park.

Ever since I found the recipe for Jägerwecken, stuffed Austrian baguette, on Johanna’s blog it has been mandatory on all my picnics. Everybody seem to love it and it’s the perfect finger food. Just don’t forget to bring a knife to the picnic so you can slice the baguettes. I’ve changed the recipe but the basic concept is still there: a stuffed baguette with a lot of goodies. I prefer using two smaller baguettes instead of a long one as they are easier to stuff but it doesn’t really matter.

Stuffed picnic baguettes

2 baguettes (about 20 cm long)
2 hard boiled eggs
70 gram gherkins
100 gram smoked Turkey breast, thinly sliced
60 gram Västerbotten cheese
130 gram cream cheese
80 gram smoked processed cheese “Bonno” (looks like a brown sausage)
1 tsp dijon mustard
one handful parsley

Cut off one end of the baguette/s. Hollow out the baguette/s by using kitchen tweezers. Make sure the crust is intact. Chop all ingredients coursly and then combine. Stuff the baguette/s tightly, I use the end of my ice cream scoop for this. Keep the stuffed baguettes in the fridge, wrapped in cling film. When serving just slice the baguettes.

It’s been incredible hot here in Stockholm the last week, up to 31 degrees C, and on such days you don’t actually feel like cooking and need to take short cuts. One of my favourite quick dinners is when I have some left over minced meat sauce from the day before or from the freezer. I just put a couple of table spoons of the sauce on top of white bread, top with slices of cheese and then bake the sandwiches it in the oven (200 degrees C) for 10-15 minutes. Serve the sandwiches with a salad. Quick, easy and so incredibly yummy (even though a bit unhealthy…). In the photo above I’ve used sauce containing minced meat, bacon, cinnamon and tomatoes but you can basically use any minced meat sauce.

Marzipan frog and 4 kinds of chocolate.

Lehmakomm and Miisu.

Magus Korsik (sweet bread sticks) and a very cute cat fingerdoll (as Pille wrote: “I know how much you like your cats”).

Overcrowded with an annoying amount of people Smaka på Stockholm, or “Taste Stockholm”, is on again. It’s an annual food event in Kungsträdgården in Stockholm. 27 of of Stockholm’s restaurants offer different dishes starting from 25 SEK and of course a lot of beer, cider and wine. There are competitions, entertainment and wine tastings. The event started on June 1st and will end on June 6th, so you still have time to visit. We passed by yesterday and even if we were curious on some of the dishes being sold we decided to go to a restaurant instead as we didn’t want to stand in queue for ever and then have to eat standing due to all people occupying all tables. For more info on Smaka på Stockholm in English, look here .