La Recette du Jour

I came across this recipe on a Swedish blog while googling Jansson’s Temptation. It immediately caught my attention because one of my favourite breakfast fry-ups used to be diced bacon, apple and onions, with a fried or poached egg on the side. I haven’t made that for ages, and here was the same tasty combination as a quick and filling supper dish. I had to try it and the results were excellent. A new default dinner!

I have tweaked the proportions a bit from the original because I found it a bit floury (though cooking it for a bit longer might have solved that problem). Though Swedish, it’s recognisable as a savoury clafouti.

This makes four very generous servings; we had it with smoked chilli jelly on the side, which was delicious. A salad or simply steamed green vegetable would be good too.

Recipe for Swedish oven pancake »

Seattle-based blogger Janelle has a category on her Talk of Tomatoes blog called Default Dinners, for those old standbys that you make over and over again when you are short of ideas, ingredients, time, or money (or all of them of course!). Immediately I read this, I thought, “Why have I never posted the recipe for Jansson’s Temptation?” Probably because I’ve cooked it for 25 years and don’t need a recipe. And surely everyone knows how to cook it, don’t they?

Well, OK, a quick Google shows that there are loads of recipes for it on the web, and even a whole Wikipedia page. But this is how I do it. I don’t like anchovies much, but they are essential (even if Wikipedia says they should be sprats), and the flavour is subtle, so don’t leave them out. I have been known to distribute them carefully so that most of them are in Steve’s half.

In short, I love potatoes, and this is one of my favourite ways of cooking them.

Recipe for Jansson’s Temptation »

I can claim no credit for this; I picked it up on delicious:days, one of the best foodie weblogs I know. I followed the recipe exactly, so there is no need to reproduce it here. I made the jelly firmer than I normally would, so it would cube nicely and hold together for the photos. It makes a cute after-dinner “drink”; I’d serve it with either a blob of sweetened whipped cream or a small scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Recipe for Cubed coffee »

As part of an effort to cut down on dairy products, I have been experimenting with almond milk (I tried soya milk and it was disgusting). Almond milk is nice on cereal, and thanks to the recipe on the side of the carton, I find it makes very good clafoutis too; since most soft fruit goes well with almonds,, it’s actually an enhancement. Make it with any soft fruit you like: apricots, cherries, apples, pears, plums, blueberries …

Recipe for Clafoutis aux amandes »