I have lots of yummy things to blog about when life returns to normal but as of moment the gin bottle and crazy games of Cluedo (Clue to you North American folk) are calling me! 

 

SWEDISH TEA RING

This variation on the traditional Swedish recipe contains orange.

• 225g white bread flour
• 25g un salted butter
• 25g sugar
• 0.5 tsp salt
• 1 tsp fast action dried yeast
• grated zest of 1 orange
• 75ml warm semi- skimmed milk (2%)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 50g soft brown sugar
• 1.5 tsp ground cinnamon
• 15g un salted butter, melted

FOR THE ICING

• 80g icing sugar
• 1 tablespoon orange juice

METHOD

1. Lightly grease a baking sheet.
2. Place the flour in a bowl and rub in the butter.  Stir in the sugar, salt, yeast and orange zest.  Make a well in the centre, add the milk and egg and mix to a soft dough.
3. Turn out onto an unfloured work surface and knead for about 10 minutes until smooth.  Placed in an oiled bowl and cover with cling film and place in a warm place until doubled in size. (About an hour)
4. Combine the sugar and the cinnamon in a bowl.
5. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 38 x 23 cm.  Brush the melted butter over the surface, making sure that you go right to the edges.  Spread the cinnamon sugar over the top to within 1 cm of the edges.
6. Roll the dough up tightly from the long edge, sealing the edge well.  Place on the baking sheet, making sure that the join in underneath.  Shape the dough into a ring and tuck the ends into each other.
7. Using sharp sissors, cut almost though to the middle of the dough at 4 cm intervals.  Take each section and twist firmly on to its side so that the cinnamon and sugar swirls are visable.  Cover and proove again. (I did this for about 30 minutes)
8. Preheat the oven to 200 C/400 F.  Bake the ring for 15-20 minutes until golden then cool slightly on a wire rack.
9. Sieve the icing sugar (I didn't do this as I feel life is too short to sieve anything!).  Make a well on the centre and gradually stir in the orange juice.  Drizzle the icing all over the ring.

Lately my food and drink has been pretty un-balanced.  Too many burgers (all very tasty ones), too much red wine and a few too many bread filled days have left me feeling tired and a little bit, well,  blurh!  I never noticed this when I was younger- I just ate what I wanted, when I wanted and all was well.  Nowadays I can tell if I have been pushing the excess for too many days straight and a few days of getting back to simple, healthy food is just what is needed.



When I think healthy and light food I always go back to my days working in the Thai restaurant.  The whole ethos of Thai food is balance, lightness, strong flavours and aromatics.  One of the dishes chef always made for me to take home was a Thai Salad.  It was a combination of finely shredded vegetables with a punchy dressing that left your mouth tingling after each bite. 

I never did get them to tell me that recipe but have tried many variations in my quest to recreate it.  This is as close as I have ever been to perfecting what they made me;

 

SHREDDED THAI SALAD

Ingredients

2 tsp siracha sauce

1 clove garlic (peeled and minced)

1 tablespoon sugar

1.5 tablespoon Rice vinegar

1.5 tablespoon Lime juice

1.5 tablespoon Thai fish sauce (nuoc nam or nam pla)

1.5 tablespoon Vegetable oil

2 Spring onions

40g Coriander (chopped)

½ medium onion (finely sliced)

1 pinch of black pepper

200 gram(s) white cabbage (shredded- I use a mandolin on it's thinest setting)

1 medium carrot(s) (shredded or grated)

Method