China Crumpet

So Christmas is over and your fridge and freezer, if they are anything like ours, are stuffed with leftovers. Here is my favorite things to do with the mess that’s left:

Munch Munch...

What do you do with your holiday leftovers?

I have been up to my ears in cooking over the past few days, getting ready for a Swedish Christmas spread is no easy feat when you have to do everything the old school way. Little did I know though that making mustard from scratch was the easiest thing I have ever done! And it tastes amazing.

So there are 2 ways to do it. The first uses whole mustard seeds and the second uses mustard powder. They are both delicious and you can serve them together so that your guests get a little texture diversity!

This baby is just waiting to be spread on a ham sandwich!

For a whole seed grainy version (from Skane!) you will need:

• 1 1/2 dl yellow mustard seeds
• 1/2 dl black mustard seeds
• 2 dl boiling water
• 1 1/2 tbs honey
• Vinegar to taste (2-3 tbs)
• 3-4 tbs oil

Put the seeds in boiling water and leave them for a while (up to a day for best results) to soften them up and plump them a bit. Put the seeds and the water in a food processor with the blade attachment and run it full speed for a minute or so until the yellow seeds have become creamy and the mixture looks mustard-like in consistency. You will have whole black seeds in the mixture which makes the texture amazingly grainy and delicious. Add vinegar honey and oil gradually, tasting as you go. I like my mustard not so sweet and pretty firm but if you like it runnier and sweeter just add water and honey to taste. When you are done, put your mustard in a lovely old fashioned jar with a lid and let it stand in the fridge for a day or two to mature.

By the way, in the olden days when they didn’t have food processors, they used a bowl and a cannon ball and rolled the ball over the seeds to crush them, adding the rest of the ingredients drip by drip. If anyone gives this method a go, please let me know how it worked out!

When making mustard from powder you will need:

• 3/4 dl mustard powder (like Coleman’s, see note)
• 2-3 tbs oil
• 3 tbs white wine vinegar
• 2-3 tbs honey
• 3 tbs brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• some tepid water
• 2-3 tbs brandy or 1-2 tbs black currant jelly

Mix all the ingredients except the water and the jelly. Add the water gradually until you have a texture you are happy with. Let the mustard stand for a few minutes and check the texture again. If it is too dry add a drop or two more of water. Add the brandy or jelly to get a fuller taste. Jar the mustard and let it stand for a day or two to mature.

Note: there are 2 kinds, a fine, very yellow kind which is made entirely from yellow seeds and a coarser darker kind which is made from both kinds of seeds, they will both do. You will get a yellow, very smooth mustard with the first kind and a coarser mustard with the second kind.

Happy mustard making! Let me know how you get on.

Tomorrow I leave for Paris-Copenhagen-Lomma and not a moment too soon! China has been eating on my nervs and I know there is nothing better than a cold and wet Swedish Christmas to make me see that my life actually is pretty good. Either that or I will fall head over heels in love with my new little nephew, eat too much yummy christmas food again and see long lost friends which will make it difficult for me to return to my smog ridden current residence. I guess the high prices will snap me back to reality, and I hope my relatives will give me a harder time than usual to ensure no a good and healthy dose of China home sickness. I’ll keep you posted…

So in Sweden, you celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve, the 24^th of December. The day starts with getting pimped out; this normally involves curling irons and pretty clothes. Then, there is Christmas lunch at 13.00. Lunch is eggs and pickled herring, with something called Janson’s Temptation. It is a kind of gratin made with potatoes, onions, anchovies and cream. Delish. Then there is a break for Walt Disney’s Christmas which all of Sweden’s population of 9 million watches religiously at 15.00. When it gets dark, around four or five pm, it is present time, after which we have our MEAT. The meat course consists of ham with mustard, sausages, meatballs, ribs and more of the left over fishy stuff. Then there is a rice pudding desert, chocolate pralines and fish again in the middle of the night. At Christmas, all Swedes are stuffed like sausages by Christmas morning and we eat left-over’s for the rest of the week. I feel faint even typing about it.

I love Christmas food. And as a kid, I loved it so much that I did not realize that you were only supposed to take a little of each thing so for each helping, I helped myself to a hell of a lot too much. Anyway, for a couple of years in a row (when I was around ten years old I think) I stuffed myself so full of food that I was in absolute blistering agony. My parents thought it was appendicitis and took me to the hospital pronto only to find out that it was simple indigestion. After the second or third time of this, my parents got savvy and put restrictions on my plating.

The moral of the story: check your kids plate when they come back from the buffet table.