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Candied Catnip Leaves

White of one egg
Juice of 1 Lemon
1⁄2 cup sugar

Combine egg and lemon and stir. Pour sugar onto a plate. Dip fresh Catnip leaves in the egg/lemon mixture, then brush in the sugar on the plate on both sides. On a clean plate, let the leaves dry for about one hour. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Nettle Soup

200g (~0.44 lbs) of fresh shoots
1l (~2.1 pints) of water
30g (~1.06 oz) of butter
1 small finely chopped onion
1 small finely chopped clove of garlic
2 tbsp of wheat flour
2 tbsp of whipping cream
1 tbsp of herb spices
salt, pepper, nutmeg

Rinse the leaves and let them lie in boiling water a short time, strain and keep the water. Chop the nettle finely, fry garlic and onion, and stir it out with the boiled water. Add the nettles, spices and add cream to taste.

Dandelion Soup

(2 servings)
150 g (~5.29 oz) of potatoes
1⁄4 onion
1 tbsp of butter
2 dl (~6.76 fl oz) of beef bouillon
15g (~0.53 oz) of crisp dandelion leaves
2 tbsp of crème fraiche

Peel the potatoes, boil them and cut them into cubes. Chop the dandelion leaves and the onion. Fry the onion in the butter until it gets some color, mix in the potatoes, dandelion leaves and bullion. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix to an even, beautifully green soup. Serve with a splash of crème fraiche and garnish with small dandelion leaves.

Salad with Dandelion leaves and bacon

Crisp dandelion leaves
Young potatoes with peel
Sun-dried tomatoes
Fresh asparagus
Bacon cubes
Spring onion

Boil the potatoes, rinse the asparagus, cut the ends off and boil it. Fry the bacon cubes and let them run off on kitchen paper. Mix dandelion leaves, potatoes cut in pieces, and sun-dried tomatoes. Finally you add asparagus, bacon cubes and spring onion.

Simple Chocolate Ice Cream

100 g (~3.53 oz) of dark chocolate
4 tbsp of water
1 dl (~3.38 fl oz) of sugar
1⁄2 tsp of vanilla or 1 1⁄2 tsp of vanilla-flavored sugar
5 dl (~1.06 pints) of whipping cream

Break the chocolate into pieces directly into a bowl. Add water, sugar and vanilla. Cover the bowl with foil and place it over a pot of hot water. Let the chocolate melt. Whip the cream into foam. Stir the chocolate and mix the cream into it. Pour the mix into a tin, cover with a lit and put it in the freezer for 3 - 4 hours.

Egg Salad

2 bags of mayonnaise
6 hard boiled eggs
Lemon pepper
Gastromat
(chopped, raw onion)

Mix mayonnaise, spices and possibly very finely chopped onion in a bowl. Use an egg cutter to cut the eggs into little pieces (first you slice them lengthwise and then the other way). Mix the eggs with mayo.

Swedish mashed turnips (rotmos)

(6 servings)
1 big swede
1⁄2 l (~1.06 pint) of potatoes
1⁄2 teacup of milk
1⁄2 teacup of cream
2 tbsp of butter/margarine
2 tsp of salt
2 tsp of sugar
1⁄2 tsp white pepper

Peel the swede thickly, then rinse it and cut it into cubes. Boil the cubes in salted water for about 20 minutes. Add peeled potatoes and boil them until they get soft. Strain off the water and mash with a fork. Bring the milk and cream to boil. Add butter, milk and cream. Stir the mash until it’s smooth. Add spices to taste.

Curry Casserole

1 kg (~2.2 lbs) of brisket of beef or rump steak
3 tsp of butter
3 onions
8 dl (~1.7 pints) of broth
1 1⁄2 tsp of salt
1 tsp of pepper
4 tsp of curry
2 tbsp of wheat flour
2 dl (~6.76 fl oz) of cream

Brown the meat in butter, add spices onto the meat and put it in the broth. Boil for 1 hour. Cut the onions into slices and brown lightly, put it in the pot. Add a thickening of wheat flour and cream and let it boil until it thickens a bit (add more thickening if the sauce is too thin). Serve with rice, bread and salad.

Chocolate Ice Cream with marinated oranges

(4 servings)
1 batch of simple chocolate ice cream
2 oranges

Marinade
30 - 40 g (~1.06 - ~1.41 oz) of almonds
1⁄2 dl (~0.69 fl oz) of sugar
About 15 g (~0.53 oz) of butter
1 dl (~3.38 fl oz) of orange juice
1 tbsp of strawberry jam
Possibly 2 tbsp of orange liqueur

Make the chocolate ice cream and freeze it. Peel the oranges. Cut away the white membranes and cut the oranges into thick slices. Blanch, peel and make chips out of the almonds. Melt the sugar on low heat in a frying pan. Mix in the almonds and stir. Add butter and stir in the orange juice. Mix in the jam and possibly liqueur. Put the orange slices in and take it off the heat. Turn the slices and let them marinate for about 15 minutes. Turn them a couple of times during that period. Use a spoon to distribute the ice cream into serving bowls and divide the orange slices with the marinade over to all the bowls. Serve immediately.

Apple Pie

1 1⁄2 batch of pie dough
4 - 6 sour apples
2 - 3 tbsp of sugar
1 tsp of cinnamon
(1 tsp of potato flour)

Make the pie dough. Peel the apples and cut them into boats. Remove the pits and cut them into thin slices. Mix them with sugar and cinnamon in a bowl (for porous summer apples you also add potato flour).

Roll out 2⁄3 of the dough into a round plate, big enough to cover the bottom and edges of the tin and then some. Bake the bottom in the middle of the oven for about 5 - 8 minutes (you can drop doing this). Roll out the rest of the dough to a lid that should cover the tin. Put the apple filling in the tin. Cover it with the lid, remove any excess dough and push down on the edges with a fork to make them stick. Make some cuts in the lid with the tips of some scissors, so that moisture can escape. Roll out any left-over dough and make leaves or other shapes for decoration, place them on the lid. Brush with a beaten egg. Bake pies with pre-baked bottom in the middle of the oven for 20 - 25 minutes. Bake pies with unbaked bottom in the lower part of the oven for 25 - 30 minutes. Serve lukewarm with vanilla ice cream, vanilla custard or whipped cream.

Blackberry Pie

1 batch of pie dough
About 1⁄2 l (~1.06 pint) of fresh or frozen berries
About 1⁄2 dl (~0.69 fl oz) of sugar
1 tsp of potato flour

Make the pie dough. Rinse the berries if they’re fresh. Remove the leaves and anything else you won’t want to eat. Scatter the berries on the bottom of a low, wide and fireproof form. Sprinkle sugar (if they weren’t sweetened before they were frozen) and potato flour over them. Shake the form so that everything mixes.

Roll out about 1⁄3 of the dough to a finger thick length and push it around the edge of the form. Roll out the rest to a square and cut it into strips. Put these in a grid over the filling with a strip on top of the edge to finish. Possibly brush the dough with a beaten egg. Bake in 225^oC (437 F) in the middle of the oven for about 20 - 25 minutes. Let the pie cool a bit before serving. It can also be allowed to cool completely, to be heated a bit before it’s served. Serve with vanilla ice cream, vanilla custard or whipped cream.

Pumpkin Pie

Pie dough
200 g (~7.05 oz) of margarine or butter
6 dl (~1.27 pints) of wheat flour
1⁄2 dl (~0.69 fl oz) of water

Filling
1 kg (~2.2 lbs) of pumpkin
1 yellow onion
1 tbsp of curry
1 tbsp of olive oil
1 tsp of salt
2 dl (~6.76 fl oz) of water
3 dl (~10.14 fl oz) grated cheddar

Mix the ingredients - in a food processor if you wish. Let the dough rest in the fridge for 30 min. Press or roll out the dough in a roasting pan. Pre-bake the pie shell in the middle of the oven on 225 ^oC (437 F) for about 10 min. Scoop the meat out of the pumpkin and remove the seeds. Peel and chop the onion. Let the curry fry in the oil and add the onions to soften them. Add the water and salt before you add the pumpkin meat. Let all of it boil until it’s tender (about 15 min) before it’s allowed to cool. Then mash the mix in a food processor Distribute the pumpkin mix in the pie shell and the cheese is sprinkled over. Bake at 225 ^oC (437 F) for about 15 min.

Egg Cream

2 cups of milk
1 cup unsprayed marigold petals
1⁄4 tsp of salt
3 tbsp of sugar
A 2.5-5 cm (~1” - ~2”) long piece of vanilla pod
3 egg yolks, lightly beaten
About 1⁄10 of a tsp of allspice
About 1⁄10 of a tsp of nutmeg
1⁄2 tsp of rosewater
Whipped cream

Crush the petals in a clean mortar or with the back side of a spoon. Mix the spices together. Scald the milk with the petals and vanilla pod. Take out the vanilla pod and add the egg yolks and the other ingredients. Let it simmer on low heat. When the mixture makes a membrane on a clean spoon, add the rosewater and let it cool. Serve with whipped cream on top and fresh petals.

Anita's Salad

Different colors of pasta (farfalle or penne)
Bacon cubes
Iceberg lettuce or Chinese cabbage
Bell pepper
Leek
Celery
Cherry tomatoes (whole)
Etc.

Dressing:
1 clove of garlic (sometimes more, depends on the size)
3 tbsp of red wine vinegar (has to be red wine vinegar, gives taste)
1tbsp of lemon juice
4 tbsp of sugar
1 tsp of Scanian mustard (or whatever you’ve got in the house)
Herbal salt (or regular salt) to taste
White pepper
Mix 1 part dressing with 2 parts oil.

Meadowsweet Sherbet

3 dl (~10.14 fl oz) of Meadowsweet syrup, diluted
2 dl (~6.8 fl oz) of water
1-2 egg whites
Mix, whip, freeze.

Flower Waffles

Make your regular waffle mix and add a good handful of different flowers (meadowsweet, lavender, roses, violets, marigolds etc.)

Candied Angelica Stems

The best stems for candying are the new growth in the second year. Cut them into manageable pieces, and then blanch 1-2 minutes. Peel the blanched stems, them cut them into pieces 2 inches long by 1⁄2 inch wide (5x2,5 cm). Simmer 20 minutes in a syrup made of the sugar and water. Drain, reserving the syrup, and refrigerate stems and syrup, covered, for four days. Reheat the angelica in the syrup and cook for 20 minutes, or until candied. The temperature of the syrup should reach 238 F (114,5^oC). Drain the angelica and dry on racks set over waxed paper. Store in airtight containers.

Borage & Cucumbers

3 large cucumbers
1⁄2 pint sour cream
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1⁄2 teaspoon celery seed
1⁄4 cup chopped green onion
1 teaspoon sugar
1⁄4 cup fresh, young Borage leaves (chopped finely)
salt and pepper to taste

Slice the cucumbers thinly. Salt lightly and set aside in a colander for 30 minutes, then rinse and pat dry with paper towels. Mix the remaining ingredients, add the cucumbers to the mixture, and toss lightly. Garnish with Borage blossoms. Chill for one hour before serving.

Rowan Jelly

Take about 3 pounds (1.4 kg) of Rowan berries and two pounds (900 g) of juicy apples. Peel and core the apples, slice them and place them to simmer in 2 pints (0.95 l) of water for 10 minutes, while you are washing and sorting the berries. Add the berries and simmer to a pulp. Use a potato masher to help this process if you like. Let the mixture cool a bit and then strain it through a jelly bag, leaving it to drip overnight.

Warm about 2 pounds (900 g) of sugar and stir in the liquid mixture and heat to a simmer. You can add some pectin at this point if you have a problem with runny jams. You can do this and leave the apples out for a clear jelly. Add a knob of butter and stir to a rolling boil for a few minutes and put it into sterilised jars and seal. It is a most unusual taste but it has a fantastic colour.

Rowan Sherbet

250 ml (0.53 pints) mineral water
250 ml Rowan puree
150 g (1⁄3 lbs) caster sugar
100 ml (3.4 fl oz) Rowan jelly
10 g (0.35 oz) Lemon Thyme
Juice of 1⁄2 lemon

Dissolve the sugar and the rowan jelly in hot mineral water, making sure that no sugar crystals are left. Infuse the lemon thyme. Add the fruit puree and lemon juice then mix through the stock syrup thoroughly. Place in ice-cream machine and freeze for 30-40 minutes.

Note: If you don't have access to an ice-cream machine, you can place it into the freezer then whisk every half hour until it reaches sherbet consistency.

Yellow Rice

8 oz (225g) rice, washed
1 3⁄4 cups (425 ml) water
2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp salt
1 1⁄4 (285 ml) cups coconut milk, hot

Put the rice and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil, cover and simmer for about 7 minutes, until the water is absorbed. Add turmeric and salt to the coconut milk and stir into the rice. Simmer gently until the milk is absorbed. Fluff with fork.

Picalilli

A traditional mixed vegetable pickle, formerly known as Indian pickle.
1 lb (455g) pickling (tiny) onions
1 cucumber
1 cauliflower
8 oz (225g) green tomatoes
8 oz (225g) beans
4 oz (115g) salt
2 oz (55g) flour, plain
4 oz (115g) granulated sugar
2 oz (55g) mustard powder
1 oz (30g) ground turmeric
5 cups (1140 ml) malt vinegar

Cut vegetables into small pieces (leave onions whole) and place in a glass or earthenware bowl. Sprinkle with salt, leave for 24 hours and drain. Mix together the flour, sugar, mustard and turmeric and place in a saucepan. Blend to a paste with a little vinegar and gradually add the rest of the vinegar. Bring slowly to a boil, stirring until thick. Add the vegetables and simmer for 3 minutes. Pack into hot jars, seal and store.

Jasmine Caramel Sauce

Makes 4 cups
3 cups sugar
3⁄4 cup Jasmine tea, freshly brewed
1⁄2 vanilla bean, scraped into tea
1 1⁄2 sticks sweet butter, cubed

For the Jasmine Tea, brew 4 tea bags in 8 ounces of water, strain and add scraped vanilla bean. If you can, use whole leaf tea-it produces a stronger, more fragrant tea needed to flavor this caramel sauce.

Place sugar in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and add enough water to make a wet sand mixture. Cover with top and heat sugar mixture over medium-high heat until it starts to color. Remove top and allow to continue cooking until it turns a deep amber but pay attention once sugar starts to turn, as the process happens quite fast! Once sugar has caramelized as desired, turn off the heat and slowly add the tea, pouring it gently down the side of the pot. Whisk in the butter, returning to heat and allowing mixture to dissolve and become smooth again.

Liquorice Ice Cream

(Yields about two litres of ice cream)
6 liquorice sticks (fewer, if you wish)
625 ml (~1.4 pints) of whole milk
120 g (~4.23 oz) unrefined caster sugar
10 coffee beans
50 g (~1.76 oz) skimmed milk powder
6 medium egg yolks (freeze the whites and use them in another recipe)
Seeds from 1 vanilla pod

If you do not have an electric mixer, a good-sized mixing bowl with a rounded base will do. Cut the liquorice sticks into little bits. Pour the milk into a casserole of at least 1.5-litre (~3.17 pints) capacity add a dessertspoon of the sugar, the coffee beans, skimmed milk powder and the liquorice. Place on a medium heat and bring to the boil. As soon as it reaches a boil, turn down the heat and allow the mixture to simmer for five minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside to infuse for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, put the egg yolks into the bowl of your mixer, along with the rest of the sugar and the vanilla seeds. Turn the machine to full speed and beat until the mixture whitens. (This will take at least 10 minutes with a machine, so your arms will really feel it if you have to do it manually.) When the mixture has turned white and significantly increased in volume, place the casserole back on a medium heat, return the liquid to a simmer, then turn down the heat to low. Immediately pour the liquid very gently on to the egg mix, beating all the while. (Either pour in all of it or, if your mixing bowl is not large enough, until it is full.)

Return the mix to the casserole and place on the low heat. Stir continuously, preferably with a flat-bottomed wooden spoon. It is essential that the mixture does not boil, otherwise it will become grainy. The custard is ready when it passes the spoon test - dip a wooden spoon into the mix and lift it out; holding the spoon horizontally, draw a line along its back with your finger: if it retains its shape, the custard is done.

Meanwhile, have ready a bowl large enough to hold all the mix and sit it in a larger bowl containing ice and a little cold water. Pour in the custard and stir for a few minutes until the mixture is cold. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a sealable container and store in the fridge until ready to churn (though for no longer than two days; if you are not going to churn it immediately, before doing so give the custard a good stir so that the vanilla seeds that have fallen to the bottom are evenly distributed).

Churn the custard in an ice-cream machine, then store in the freezer - press some clingfilm on to the surface of the ice cream. Leave in the freezer until two hours before serving.

Artichoke Herb Dip

4 artichoke hearts
Juice of 1 lemon
2 Tbsp (30 ml) flax oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
1 1⁄2 tsp (7 ml) Dijon mustard
1⁄2 cup (125 ml) kefir or plain yogurt
1 Tbsp (15 ml) sunflower oil
Fresh herbs (dill, basil, thyme), chopped
Tamari soy sauce, to taste
Sea salt, to taste

Blend all ingredients until smooth and serve with fresh vegetables or bread for dipping.

Artichoke-Cream Cheese Spread

1 jar marinated artichoke hearts
4 scallions
1⁄4 cup fresh parsley
6 sprigs of thyme
8 ounces cream cheese (soft-spreading, low fat if possible)
1⁄2 cup sour cream
2 cloves garlic, pressed
salt and pepper to taste
squeeze of lemon juice
1⁄2 cup walnuts, sunflower seeds, or almonds, chopped

Drain the marinade from artichoke hearts. Chop the artichoke hearts finely with scallions, parsley, thyme, and leaves stripped from stems. Set aside. Mix cream cheese with sour cream, garlic, salt and pepper to taste, and squeeze of lemon juice. Add the chopped artichoke/onion/herb mixture to cream cheese, and add chopped nuts. Blend well. Adjust seasonings to taste.

Nigella's Pea Soup

Bring 3/4l water to the boil (add a good pinch of salt to the water), throw in 375g frozen peas (still frozen), 1/2 tsp lime juice and 2 whole spring onions. This cooks in minutes... you just need to wait until the peas are tender. Remove the spring onions, blend and add 4-5 big tbsp fresh pesto (avoid the jarred variety if you can). Stir and eat.

Butter Bean Mash

400g can of butter beans (drained and rinsed)
100 ml of vegetable stock
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste.

Tip the butter beans into a saucepan with the garlic and add 5 tbsp of water. Bring to the boil and cook for 2-3 minutes until then beans are hot, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat, add the olive oil and blend with a stick blender until smooth. Season to taste.

Chickweed Pesto

Add the following to a blender, and blend well!

2 cloves of garlic
3 tbsp of pine nuts or sunflower seeds
0.25 tsp of salt
2 packed cups of chopped fresh chickweed
0.5 cup of olive oil
0.5 cup of Parmesan cheese

Serve over pasta or use it as a dip. You can even freeze some in case you decide to make a large batch.