Books in lockdown

On Friday I walked to the post office to pick up a tome, about seven hundred pages of Iris Murdoch's letters, Living on Paper: Letters from Iris Murdoch 1934-1995. Initially, I bought it to put under the Christmas tree, a gift from me to myself, but instead, it will be my lockdown book. A book with a role.

Tomorrow Austria goes into lockdown due to a surge in COVID cases. It's safe to say that the mood is peculiar these days; I believe I’m not the only one dealing with lockdown weariness. I had been looking forward to finishing this term in early December, strolling the decorated streets of Linz, and spending time in bookshops and snug cafés. We can expect everything to reopen sometime before Christmas, meaning the city centre will be crowded, which I do not care for despite being vaccinated. One advantage of a lockdown is the ample time for pleasure reading and cosiness at home. A decent stack of books awaits me so I cannot complain.

With lots of unread books on my shelves, there will be no shortage of books in this lockdown. Recently I was in a bookshop and bought two German ones, including Medea. Stimmen by Christa Wolf (1929-2011). I have never read her work. I was in the mood for Greek mythology because during coffee breaks this autumn I have kept Mythos by Stephen Fry within reach. What a fun read, he's so witty. I have also been reading a new collection of Icelandic literary essays, Póetík í Reykavík: Erindi 14 höfunda. This publication celebrates the 10th anniversary of Reykjavik being a UNESCO City of Literature. One of the authors was so kind to send me a copy unexpectedly. These books will be on my next reading list, which I have been postponing to share on the blog.

A classic study break with veggie pasta

The entrance of Alex - Eine Buchhandlung

One bookshop I like is called Alex Buchhandlung, located at Der Linzer Hauptplatz, a large square close to the main bridge over the Danube River. It's a small bookshop with a vast selection of German books. I almost bought there a Fischer edition of Franz Kafka's diaries but thought to myself that my German might not be good enough to truly enjoy it. I decided to wait until I had read his stories The Judgement and Metamorphosis, which have been sitting on my shelves. I read an Icelandic translation of the latter ages ago but I have yet to read Kafka in German.

images mine, the 1st, 2nd and 5th appeared on Instagram 19/11/21; 15/11/21; 02/10/21

Sicilia: A love letter to the food of Sicily · Ben Tish

Last June, Sicilia: A love letter to the food of Sicily by Ben Tish was published by Bloomsbury Publishing. The book is full of recipes and photographs linked to the cuisine and culture of Sicily. Its cover speaks for itself, reflecting the light and colours of summer in all its glory. It is worth mentioning that two years ago, Tish published the book Moorish: Vibrant recipes from the Mediterranean, about the cultural influence of North Africa and the Arab world on Mediterranean cuisine.

Sicilia: A love letter to the food of Sicily
By Ben Tish
Hardcover, illustrated, 304 pages
ISBN: 9781472982759
Bloomsbury Publishing

Zanzibar-inspired Carrot and Coconut Soup

This Zanzibar-inspired carrot and coconut soup is delicious, creamy and tasty. My body literally screams for it in autumn when the new crop of carrots appears in supermarkets. The recipe is from a friend's cookbook, Sigrun of CafeSigrun (remember the fun I had when helping her with the manuscript?). Sigrun has travelled frequently to East-Africa and this soup was inspired by days spent on the island of Zanzibar: She was sitting with a bowl of carrot soup admiring the view of the Indian Ocean, the air filled with the aroma from the Forodhani Food Market, in the historical city of Stone Town. The soup is vegan, easy to make (you need a hand-held blender or a food processor), and it will provide you with essential vitamins and dietary fibre.

ZANZIBAR CARROT AND COCONUT SOUP

2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 large onion
4 cloves garlic
a small piece fresh ginger
300 g organic carrots (2 cups)
150 g sweet potatoes (¾ cup)
1 teaspoon curry powder
2 organic vegetable stock cubes
750 ml water (3 cups)
150 ml coconut milk (5 oz)
½-1 teaspoon sea/Himalayan salt
optional: pepper to taste
optional: 7-10 saffron strands

Rinse the carrots (brush if needed) and peel the other vegetables. Chop everything coarsely. (Peel or scrape the carrots if they are not organic.)

In a saucepan, heat the coconut oil over medium heat. Add onion and fry until tender. Add garlic and ginger and fry for a few more minutes before stirring in the curry powder (I prefer hot but mild is fine).

Stir in the carrots and sweet potatoes. Add the water and vegetable stock cubes, increase the heat and stir. Bring to the boil and stir in ½ teaspoon of salt. Reduce the heat, cover and let it simmer on low heat for 25-30 minutes.

Remove the saucepan from the heat. Add the coconut milk and saffron strands. Use a hand-held blender to purée the soup until you have a smooth texture. Be careful, the soup is very hot: Hold the blender straight up and down and press the button when the bottom part of the blender is in the soup (if using a food processor/liquidizer, allow the soup to cool slightly before puréeing it in batches).

Finally, reheat gently to simmering point and season with salt and pepper, if needed. Serve the soup with freshly baked bread or bread buns.

Uppskrift á íslensku

Black bean burgers (vegan)

My love for black beans, a staple in my kitchen, knows no boundaries and these black bean burgers are the ones that made me switch entirely to veggie burgers. I wouldn't say no to a good burger made with quality meat but when I crave a burger, I crave these. It's not only because of the taste; it also has something to do with the ingredients, the nutritious fresh produce on my table when preparing the meal.

I like having fresh coriander in my kitchen. I love its pungent flavour and as of late, I find myself increasing the amount I use in recipes. If I don't have it there is something seriously wrong in the world. Or in my kitchen only. Cilantro is another word for fresh coriander, used in the US from the Spanish word. Then there are some who call the leaves Arab parsley while others call them Chinese parsley. Confused much? Well, now you know.

We have developed a black-bean-burger ritual. Each time I make them, which is quite often, one of the toppings I prepare is fried mushrooms in light olive oil with garlic and a pinch of salt, which I also serve on the side.

Speaking of mushrooms, many years ago a friend of mine attended a lecture with a Buddhist monk who said no one should eat mushrooms because they didn't grow in sunny places, or something like that. Everyone is entitled to opinions and believes but let me just tell you this: No monk or philosophy was coming between me and my mushrooms and from then on the rebel inside made a solemn vow to eat even more of them. That's just how I roll.

I have actress Gwyneth Paltrow to thank for the recipe, which I adapted from her cookbook, Notes From My Kitchen Table. It is easy to prepare but what you will need is cooked brown rice, so make sure you have time to boil the rice (takes about 25 minutes) or do it beforehand. You will need 30 g uncooked brown rice to make 75 g cooked (for the Americans out there not used to grams, cook three tablespoons of rice).

I like my veggie burger fried but I have added an oven-baked choice for those who aren't fond of fried food. I doubled the ground cumin in the recipe and I use 2 tablespoons of fresh coriander. I also added the red chilli flakes and nutritional yeast flakes, which I mark as optional. I serve these with the mushrooms and garlic mentioned above, tomatoes, avocados, lettuce, and quality mayonnaise or home-made. The recipe contains onion so I don't feel the need to add raw onion or red onion to my burger, but when I'm craving something spicy I like adding jalapeno from a jar. Sometimes I enjoy these with a small glass of ice cold beer with freshly squeezed lime.

BLACK BEAN BURGERS

1½-2 tablespoons light olive oil
1 small onion
2 cloves garlic
½ teaspoon ground cumin
optional: a pinch of red chilli flakes
½ teaspoon fine sea/Himalayan salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 can (400g) organic black beans (14 oz)
75 g cooked brown rice
1-2 tablespoons fresh coriander (cilantro)
optional: 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast flakes
1-2 tablespoons organic flour (if frying)
2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil (if frying)
4 wholemeal burger buns

Cook 30 g brown rice beforehand. Drain and rinse the black beans. Set aside.

Peel the onion and garlic and chop finely. Heat the olive oil in a medium frying pan, then sauté the onion, garlic, cumin and chilli flakes (if using) for about 5-7 minutes on low-medium heat.

Add the salt, pepper, black beans and rice and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes.

Finely chop the fresh coriander and add it to the mixture with the nutritional yeast flakes (if using). Remove from the heat.

Mash the mixture with a potato masher just to combine and get some cohesion - you want the burgers to have some texture. Let the mixture cool until it's easy to handle. Form the mixture into 4 burgers (at this point you can set the burgers in the fridge for a few hours).

• Fried burgers: Dust both sides with flour. Heat the vegetable oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat and brown the burgers on both sides, about a minute on each side. Serve them on grilled wholemeal buns with all of your favourite fixings.

• Oven-baked burgers: Place the burgers on a baking tray lined with baking parchment. Bake at 190°C/375°F (175°C fan oven) for 8-10 minutes on each side.

Uppskrift á íslensku.

Recipe adapted from the book Notes From My Kitchen Table by Gwyneth Paltrow

Pesto with basil and Genoa memories

My Larousse Culinary Encyclopedia states that pesto comes from Genoa and I'm certainly not going to argue with it. I have actually been there, many years ago. The classic Italian pesto with basil, Parmesan and pine nuts is one of my favourite foods. Now that I have finally bought a new food processor, pesto for lunch is common in casa mia. The cookbook of my friend (Cafe)Sigrun is also to blame because she was killing me with pesto images while we were working on the manuscript. Her book has a classic recipe (different ratios than mine; there are endless versions out there) and a pumpkin seed pesto that made me go yum ... yum! Remember the scene in Julie and Julia when the editor was testing Child's recipe for boeuf bourguignon and rolled back her eyes in bliss? That's what I mean when I say yum ... yum! I promise to share her recipe in the autumn when the book has been published.

Back to Genoa. I arrived there via train from Zürich/Milan and grabbed a taxi to go to some tourist agency to buy a ferry ticket to Sardinia, as described in my travel guide (no Internet back then). The clerk looked at me with pity and said the guide got it all wrong; I should buy the ticket at the ferry port. (Stupid travel guide!) So I grabbed another taxi to go to the port and just missed a ferry - classic. Luckily it was a beautiful day and I remember sitting on steps at the port in the afternoon, reading and eating juicy peaches that I had bought at a market. Next to me were students from Milan (I was younger, only 18) and somehow I became part of their group without being part of it. I didn't speak Italian but it was as if they were looking after this lone Icelander sitting next to them. After all those years I still remember two friendly faces from that group; the two who spoke English. I wouldn't say I was insecure travelling alone but it was a long wait for a ferry and their company was comforting.

With a good food processor you don't ever have to use pesto out of a jar. I think many don't realise how easy it is to make and the beauty of pesto making is that you can change the ratio of ingredients: Want more olive oil? Use more oil! Want more Parmesan? Go for it! The reason why I use 60 grams basil is that I buy the leaves in a 30-gram bag and I get the texture I like. If we don't finish the pesto in one go I put the rest in a jar and add some olive oil before refrigerating. If you don't have a food processor you can use a mortar and pestle.

BASIL PESTO

50 g pine nuts
60 g fresh green basil
35 g Parmesan
½-1 clove garlic
½ teaspoon fine sea/Himalayan salt
a pinch of freshly ground black pepper
50 ml organic extra virgin olive oil

Lightly brown the pine nuts in a dry frying pan to bring out their flavour.

Before whizzing all the ingredients in a food processor, thinly slice the Parmesan cheese, and peel and coarsely chop the clove of garlic. While mixing/pulsing the ingredients, pour the olive oil slowly into the bowl, until the pesto thickens. (Depending on your food processor, you may have to scrape the sides of the bowl once or twice.)

Serve with e.g freshly baked baguette/bread and/or pasta, salmon or any other fish, meat or vegetables.

My idea for an easy-to-make lunch: I boil tagliatelle or linguine while preparing the pesto (I set the timer on al dente for the pasta). I let the cooked pasta drain while browning sliced mushrooms in light olive oil in a frying pan and add some sea salt. I top the pasta with the mushrooms and serve with pesto on the side.

Uppskrift á íslensku.

Maps | Marinated chicken drumsticks

By now I thought I would be able to share photos of gorgeous spring blossoms but this year spring is arriving with slight hiccups. There are daffodils and crocuses in bloom, but I have my eyes on this one particular magnolia tree in the village that is preparing to show off. When the day comes that I turn the corner and see it in bloom, that's when spring has sprung for me. And what has that got to do with maps and drumsticks? Absolutely nothing.

Maps from the books The Food of France, illustrated by Russell Bryant,
and The Food of India, by Rosanna Vecchio

Recently my 9-year old was working on a project for school about food and food miles, which made us talk a lot about food, or let's say more than usual. Since pizza is his favourite it was sort of given that Italy would find its way into his project. That's where my map of Italy came in handy. Since then it has been spread out on my table and has led to some serious map-mania (I love illustrated maps) and travel discussions: One wants to go to Japan, another to Fiji or Hawaii. I even got the question, Mom, what's it like in North Korea?, which made me wonder if they served latte over there. I cannot say that drinking latte in North Korea is on my bucket list but who knows what the future holds?

I'm not sure what I would do without Google maps but I have to say that nothing replaces the feeling of spreading out a map on a table and making travel plans, or just daydreaming.

With Easter coming up I was thinking about what to prepare in the kitchen. When I think about my childhood and Easter I remember chocolate eggs and fancy meals. I don't know about you but at Easter I like to keep things simple. I see no need to spend hours in the kitchen preparing something, which made me think of chicken drumsticks.

The simplicity of preparing and cooking marinated drumsticks appeals to me. I like marinated chicken but I don't want the taste of the marinade to overpower the taste of the meat. Perhaps that philosophy applies to all my cooking; I'm not particularly fond of one dominant taste. I recommend letting the drumsticks marinate in the fridge overnight. When serving them with rice I usually roast sesame seeds on a pan and sprinkle them over the rice before serving.

MARINATED CHICKEN DRUMSTICKS

9-10 chicken drumsticks, preferably free-range
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon tamari sauce
1 tablespoon orange juice, freshly squeezed
1 red chilli
small piece of fresh ginger
optional: a few drops Tabasco sauce

Remove the seeds and finely chop the chilli. Peel and finely chop the ginger.

Put the chicken drumsticks with all the ingredients in a large freezer bag. Seal the bag and rotate it to make sure that all the drumsticks are coated with the marinade. Place the bag in a bowl in the fridge and let the chicken marinate for at least 2-4 hours, preferably overnight, turning occasionally.

Once the chicken has marinated, place the drumsticks on a baking tray with a rack. Cook in the oven at 200°C/400°F (180° fan oven) for 35 minutes (until the juices are no longer pink).

Serve with, for example, white or brown basmati rice and tamari sauce, and perhaps with sliced avocado and red peppers on the side.

Uppskrift á íslensku

Espresso macchiato & lunch at Konrad

On Saturday I spent a lovely day in the city with a friend of mine. On the agenda was to try the coffee and have lunch at Konrad in Rue du Nord (follow the link to see the photos I took a few weeks back). We got a table outside where we sat in the shadow and started with the coffee. I know that I'm a self-proclaimed latte person but lately I have been stepping out of my latte comfort zone; ordering espresso macchiato when I sit down at cafés and grabbing a latte if I'm on the run. Brave steps.

I am no coffee expert and have no idea how to explain the perfect coffee cup but all I know is that my espresso on Saturday was perfect. (In case you are interested, a friend of mine who happens to be a coffee and an IT geek/expert has created this awesome app called Barista's Log. Makes me wish I knew more about coffee tasting.)

After the coffee we went inside to enjoy lunch. Konrad is well known for its curry dishes but on Saturdays things are kept simpler in the kitchen so I ordered a quiche (vegetarian) with salad on the side. The food was delicious. Seriously, I'm still thinking about it and just waiting to go back to have some more. With my meal I enjoyed a glass of organic rosé, which added to the perfection.

As you can see in the photos, this place is one of those unpretentious ones that I happen to like very much. Konrad is a non-smoking place in an old building in the heart of the city with a mix of industrial, wooden and leather chairs. There are exposed beams in the ceiling, the walls are white and one wall is covered with flowery wallpaper. There are no menus, everything is written on blackboards. It's also a bar and a comedy club.

I don't do uptight places. I like it when café/restaurant owners put more effort into creating a relaxing atmosphere than spending money on fancy decor. Konrad is exactly that kind of place, unpretentious and relaxing with a friendly staff.

Konrad, Café & Bar
7 rue du Nord
Luxembourg

My Sunday moment

Enjoying home-made pizza with pimentos, olives, red onion and organic salami, and a glass of cold beer, while reading old food magazines.