Mia's Makings

In our house there is a constant battle in regards to what can and can't be added to mince meals. Some people, read 'my other half' prefers stuff like burgers and meatballs plain and simple, but where's the fun in that? I have a tendency to hide all sorts of things in mince based food. Mince is such a good vessel for vegetables, chopped or grated. Why not grate carrots or celeriac into a meatball or burger mixture? Finely chopped capers or mushrooms make a lovely addition and there are so many other things that I could play with, given free hands. No, he said. Let's keep it plain and simple, at least this time. Alright then. As it turned out, we enjoyed these burgers in the company of guests, who probably preferred the plain variety anyway, so perhaps I should be grateful that I was persuaded to play safe this time. There is nothing worse than having guests over for dinner and they don't like what you serve. As an added bonus, there were actually really...

Once upon a time there was a school in Skanör-Falsterbo, Sweden. It was the late 80s and I was 14 years old, sitting in a classroom with four small kitchens in it. The subject was 'hemkunskap', which translates to home knowledge. The English equivalent is probably home economics. The course literature was a book containing all sorts of things you need to know in order to successfully run a household, such as doing the laundry and ironing, cooking and washing up. I'm sure there was much more, but the only thing I remember from the lessons were cooking and washing up. We were divided into groups of four and every one in my little group were interested in cooking, which made us stand out from the other groups, at least in regards to going rogue. If the recipe said one thing, the four of us were likely to have other ideas. Not every time, but every so often. Budding cooking enthusiasts and one of the guys actually became a professional chef. Not me, I remained an e...

Portugal is calling regarding a fish and prawn combo and I'm listening. In fact, I'm getting the kitchen ready, because the sound of this dish is incredibly tempting. A friend of mine is Portuguese and she gave me this recipe for a cataplana de marisco. I had no idea what cataplana was, but whatever it was, I didn't have it. I needed to know what to substitute it with. It turned out to be a cooking vessel, the same way a paella is the name of the pan the meal is cooked in. No problem, easily sorted. It needed to be something that I could fry in and that had a lid. I used a large saucepan and that worked fine. The recipe I was given featured prawns and clams, but as I didn't have any clams and wanted a substantial meal, I swapped them for haddock fillets. Not that I know what the original dish would taste like, but I can recommend this version. My guess is that proper chorizo in chunks was meant to be used, but I happened to have spicy slices and they worked...

Meatballs, glorious meatballs! Although I'm raised on Swedish meatballs, I'm an adventurous kind of person and don't mind trying meaty balls from other cultures. The Italian ones in a herby tomato sauce were the first non-native ones that I cooked. These were followed by spicy Cajun meatballs and boiled, then grilled Japanese ones. I even made so called Swedish meatballs advertised on Facebook, cooked in a creamy sauce and mixed with spaghetti. Let me tell you, that is not how Swedish meatballs are made and the person posting that recipe needs to get their facts right. Don't get me wrong, they weren't bad, but that's not how they are made. No no no and no again. Over the years, I have used minced pork, beef and a mixture of the two, venison and finally chicken mince. Venison and beef meatballs are my favourites. If I use pork, it needs to be lean mince. I have become fussy as I got older and no longer tolerate too much fat. Anyway, today I wanted to...