My Favorite Food
My favorite food will forever and always be my mom's kalops. That's a Swedish meat stew for those of you who don't speak culinary Swedish. My mom always makes it when I come over for dinner, but in order to satisfy my hunger for it, I’ve had to take matters into my own hands and make it myself every now and then. And now, I will share the recipe for my favorite food with you, dear friends. Enjoy!
First, let’s start off with a couple of onions and a few carrots. Chop them, and toss them into a frying pan with a generous amount of butter. We want the onions translucent, not brown. Brown onions can't be trusted.
While the onions and carrots are cooking, let’s move on to the beef. Choose a cut that will work well in stews, something that only gets better the longer it cooks.
Cut your beef into big-ish pieces, and make sure to season with salt and pepper. At this point your onions and carrots should be done, so you better transfer them into a deep ovenproof dish. Now brown the beef over high heat. Toss it in with the onions and carrots and add a couple of bay leaves and some whole allspice berries. I recommend you also add a tablespoon or two of black currant jelly.
Next, we’re making a roux. I sure hope you haven’t washed the frying pan, because this is when we’re making sure to get all the flavor out of the pan. Into the pan goes equal parts of butter and flour. The roux is done when it gets a lovely nutty fragrance.
At this point, add water or stock to the pan and let it come up to a boil. Pour it over the beef and vegetables, and place it in the oven. Now forget about it for a few hours. This should be easy enough, especially for you, Michael.
The kalops is done when you can’t resist the smell coming from the kitchen anymore. Serve with boiled potatoes, a green salad, and some of that black currant jelly that went into the stew.
Smaklig måltid!
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Can I borrow your crop?
ReplyDeleteIt looks pretty tasty. Complicated and time consuming, though, so unless I come visit or or fall into unexpected wealth, I doubt I'll be trying it anytime soon. :(
ReplyDeletedelicious photos and recipe too - thanks, Ziva!
ReplyDeleteYou had me at booze. I can't remember do I turn left or right after the Atlantic Ocean?
ReplyDeleteThat looks yummy. I'm drooling and the cat is licking the screen.
ReplyDeleteOkay...I confess. I dipped into my archives for this one. My mom was supposed to bring over her homemade apple pie yesterday but she didn't...her and my daughter went shopping instead...so it is their fault that I am playing outside the lines today. Your favorite food looks delicious...I love anything that can slowly cook for a few hours.
ReplyDeleteLook yummy and I'm sure it's yummy! Gave me a hint for tonight's supper. Nice photo and I'm looking forward to checking others photo too! :) Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI think I'd really smaklig that.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. Why?
ReplyDeleteTime-consuming, perhaps, but certainly not complicated. ;) But still. you are very welcome to visit, I'll make it for you.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Pat, glad you liked it!
ReplyDeleteMake a left after Denmark, and head north-east. If you end up in Russia, you went too far and you're screwed.
ReplyDeleteFeed the kitty, Reffie, can't you tell Oreo cat is starving? ;)
ReplyDeleteDon't worry, Danielle, I think we've all cheated once or twice already. ;)
ReplyDeleteI love it when you speak foreign languages.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Coco!
ReplyDeleteMMMM...now I'm hungry. Which is not good because I'm getting ready to go to the grocery store...
ReplyDeleteThat looks uber delish! I'm printing this out so I can make it. Lovely!
ReplyDeleteLook, this kalops looks delicious (I'm going to try making it, in fact), and your photographs are both amazing and instructive. But while I'm not math expert, I'm fairly certain that the number of photos represents a violation of our implicit one-photograph rule by a factor of seven. And that means you're going to have to be punished. Now, I could use my belt, but I'm afraid my pants might fall down, and we can't have that happening. So I think the crop would be best.
ReplyDeleteI can smell the aroma from the photos. Please don't kill me. I don't think you have anything to worry about. I have limited cooking skills. I don't even speak culinary Swedish.
ReplyDeleteI haven't.
ReplyDeleteYour basement or mine?
ReplyDeleteWell, Lauren, since your culinary Swedish is so bad, I've decided to spare your life. This time. ;)
ReplyDeleteNo, Linda! Have Alex make it for you. ;)
ReplyDeleteOhh, I can never be let loose in a grocery store when I'm hungry, I end up buying everything!
ReplyDeleteShow off.
ReplyDeleteGoddamn, that looks goooood!
ReplyDeletemmm, i can eat the onions and carrots by themselves, not a big meat fan, but i'm sure it's good. pictures look great too.
ReplyDeleteOh. My. Gah. That looks INCREDIBLY DELICIOUS!!!
ReplyDeleteHow 'bout mine instead? I'll wear the boots.
ReplyDeleteI have everything except the black current jelly, but I will pick that up tomorrow and make this. If I'm going to convince you to leave M for me, I'd better make sure I can make your favourite dish. While wearing boots.
ReplyDeleteI don't like to cook and don't enjoy eating so I just looked at the pictures. One thing's for sure, you've got a handle on how to photograph food. Most folks think it's a matter of pointing & shooting but it's so much more difficult than that. Really love this set, Ziva. Your perspective is spot on.
ReplyDeleteHOLY COW THAT LOOKS AMAZING. I could practically smell it as you described it... coming in to a house with the smell of that cooking. YUM!
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful set of pictures!
ReplyDeleteNow I am off to raid my refrigerator!
hey! Two's company, three's a crowd.
ReplyDeleteI like crowds.
Thanks! Hope you found something good in there. ;)
ReplyDeleteLet me know next time you're in Finland and I'll make you some!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Cheryl! I always find taking photos of food to be very tricky. This time, I was in a hurry, too, because I was actually going to eat the food so I didn't want it too badly burnt. ;)
ReplyDeleteAnd maybe an apron that says "kiss the cook"?
ReplyDeleteThanks, V! How about you eat the onions and the carrots, and I eat the meat? ;)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Indigo. I'll make it for you sometime. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm on my way. *pats pockets* Passport, passport...
ReplyDelete