What to do when there is a snow storm outside, Part 1.

I love to bake!

Hi This is Hers, and I just wanted to share this with the world - I love to Bake! I am not saying I'm good at it, no not at all, but there is something about baking that makes me feel good. Not to speak about the end result - most of the time it makes me happy to enjoy the end result too ;0)

When I grew up my baby brother was the baker and I was the dinner maker. He would shake his hand - make some magic - and Voila a Cake, or some lovely Rolls or a Kringle (sweet yeast

goody). He is still the magician in the family, but I am not letting that scare me off to much...

Here, out on the country side, where our Kitchen is located we just had a BIG winter storm. For most people living on the northern part of our planet this storm is a joke, but for us - here in the South - this is serious business. When you can't go out because the door is blocked by snow there is in my humble opinion nothing better to do than bake some bread ~ Mormor's bread (Grandma's bread). This bread is a dark and heavy (full of fiber), moist and rich bread with nuts and dried fruit. It works as lunch bread, bread for a cheese plate, bread alongside a stew or a soup, basically it goes well with everything.

This is what you need:

1 liter White flour

2 dl Whole Wheat flour

4 dl Rye flour

1 dl grounded flaxseed

2 dl Quick Oat

1 1/2 bag of dry yeast

1 dl oil (I like olive oil myself)

1 ts. salt

2 dl dried apricots

2 dl dried pruns

2 dl nuts ( I used pecans today, but walnuts, almonds and hazelnuts are yummi too!)

1 liter "a little warmer than body temp. water".

(The doug will appear really really moist and that is the point. The grains will soak up a lot of the water and after the dough has rested it'll be perfect.)

Mix all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and work the doug for at least 10 minutes. I am using my KitchenAid making this doug and I usually let it work for between 10 and 12 minutes. You will know when to stop when the doug looks a little like chewing gum - the way you can pull on it.

Let the doug rest and rise in the mixing bowl for at least 40 min. to an hour on a draught free area of the counter.

Use your hand to divide the doug in three parts and lift each part of the doug over in a pre-greased bread pan. Yes - this is correct - you do not have to work this doug at all on the counter. Just mix - let rais - bake. Did someone say easy?! ;0) Let the bread rest and rise in the pans for around 30 minutes before baking them. This way you avoid getting cracks in the bread while baking them.

Bake the loafs in the midle of the oven on 400F / 200C for 40 minutes, and Voila:

Mormor's bread!

Curry a la His & Hers Kitchen

To make life easier for her self, Hers plans out the week by making a week menu. Today was home created Curry day ~ a family favorite.

First a few facts about Curry.

The word curry is an anglicised version of the Tamil word khari(கறி ), which is usually understood to mean "gravy" or "sauce" rather than "spices". Curry (IPA: /ˈkʌri/) is a generic description used throughout European and American culture to describe a general variety of spiced dishes, best known in South Asian cuisines, especially Indian cuisine.

Curry is a generic term and although there is no one specific attribute that marks a dish as "curry", some distinctive spices used in many curry dishes included turmeric, cumin, coriander, fenugreek, and red pepper.

In Norway Curry, Karri in Norwegian, is the name on a very specific spice mix made out of cumin, coriander, fenegreek, chili, and turmeric, and it has a very distinct yellow color.

4 persons

1.2 - 1.5 lb lb thin pork chops

Box of pineapple

Two apples (don't mind the picture)

Two small or 1 1/2 half medium size onion

8.oz pineapple juice (from the box)

8 oz. half and half

Curry - either powder or paste

Salt and Pepper

Jasmine rice

Use paper towel to dry of the pork chops. Cut each pork chop in three and brown in hot frying pan.

Dice onions and apples ~ put them in a medium casserole dish. Add the diced pineapple. Mix pineapple juice and half and half in a big measuring cup.

Add the curry (either paste or powder depending of what you have) and stir. I used Pataks hot curry paste and used 3 tsp. That was a little to HOT for this kitchen. Next time we will most def. limit it to 2 tsp :) Taste the liquid before you use it to make sure it has the spiciness you want - if you don't know the spice mix, add smaller amount to the liquid at a time and taste to make sure it doesn't end up to HOT. Add a little salt and pepper if wanted. Put the pork in together with the fruit and onion and pore the liquid over the mix.

Bake the dish for 30 min. on 400F.

Serve with rice.

BON APPETIT!

For the secret Love of RR. Family style pasta with friends!

So tonight we wanted to try a recipe from Rachael Ray. His really likes her show, and when His is home he watches it "almost" every day ~ sometimes he gets so inspired by her recipes that he serves the dish for dinner. Tonight His has promised to make Rachael Ray's Hot Sausage, Pepper and Onion Ragu with Rigatoni and Provolone Besciamella. We have posted the link at the bottom of the post. The instruction were pretty clear and simple, but as His was going through the list we realiced that a few changes were needed. His used regular green and orange pepper instead of the listed cubanelle peppers. To help with the seasoning His also used pre maid sausage. Instead of using all pork His used 1.2 pounds of ground turkey and 1 tube sausage. His does not have the luxury of having gourmet butcher available, and could therefor not find pancetta or speck so we just used BACON! His also forgot to purchase Provolone, but we had a block of cheddar in the fridge ~ it worked out perfectly.

From prep to table one should plan about 1.5 hours. If you start the sauce first, both the noodles and besciamella will be ready at the same time. One should make sure that the onions and peppers are tender like the instructions state. When it comes to the seasonings it depends on how much "kick" you want. We His makes this again he will not add as much cayenne (add half of what the recipe says). :)

The Besciamella sauce was simple enough. It worked out great.

Once all the parts were done and ready, it was time to combine and serve. At this point the anxiety starts to set in. We have guest over and His has never made this dish before.

His and Her had just been given a "family" sized casserole dish. Rigitoni went in, then the sauce and finally the besciamella. The ingredients just barely fit. His popped it into the oven to broil for not very long. ** keep and eye on it or it will char before you can catch it.**

Once it was broiled His is telling the house that once it comes out of the broiler it will be ready. It looked fantastic coming out of the oven and once set on the table you can really smell everything. Very nice.

Now for the taste test. Everybody loved it. This dish gives His' custom lasagne dish a run for its money as the favorite pasta dish. Depending on you personal taste, His and Her decided it was just a bit to spicy.

His' review of the dish: Very direct and simple to follow, flavorful and plenty of food for an army.

Here is the link to the recipe

Rachael Ray's Official Website :: Hot Sausage, Pepper and Onion Ragu with Rigatoni and Provolone Besciamella

The very ever first posting; an intro.

Her has been cooking since she was less than a decade old. Her first dinner party was on her 10th birthday, when she invited the girls from her class on a meat cake wrapped in bacon dinner, a dinner she composed and made her self. She tried two years at a culinary school, but found the crazy hours of the business so intimidating that she chose a different profession. Though - the spatula is still close by and you will find her in the kitchen most days - wiping up something yummy.

When Her met His she moved over one step and made room for him in the Kitchen. Slowly slowly we have not only created a marriage, had a Little O (Lille Skatt) and parented two dogs, but we have also created His & Hers Kitchen.

Welcome!