It's not right but its ok...I'm gonna make it anyway!

Earlier this week our lovely friend Anja celebrated her birthday. Anja is part of Lund's Sustainable City Walk a great initiative which provides information on sustainable shopping in Lund. I decided I was going to attempt some seasonal baking for a birthday treat and came across this very tasty looking recipe for pear and ginger muffins.

Then disaster struck (well minor blip anyway) I discovered you cannot get Swedish pears in January. I was quite surprised at this as I always thought of pears as a winter fruit; but no, the pears in this recipe are from The Netherlands :(

That said, it was still rather tasty and I think would work equally well with apples: especially those apples that are a bit grainy and reaching the end of their winter lives.

I changed the recipe slightly (because my sugar coated baked goods have a tendency to burn) but the original can be found here.

Pear and Ginger Muffins

Makes: 18! (although the original recipe said 12, but then it is a Nigella effort and her portions are always a bit suspect).

Ingredients:

2 large pears (1 peeled and finely chopped, the other thinly sliced)

1 3/4 cups flour

1/2 cup of brown sugar

3/4 cup of caster sugar

1 tsp of ginger

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup of flavourless oil

2/3 cup of sour cream

1 tblsp of honey

2 eggs

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius
• Line muffin tins with paper cases
• Mix the brown and caster sugar with the oil, until light and incorporated.
• Whisk in the eggs, honey and then stir in the sour cream.
• In a separate bowl sieve the flour, baking powder and ginger.
• Fold the 'wet' mix into the dry (careful not to over stir)
• Fold in the chopped pears.
• Fill each muffin case about 2/3 full of muffin mix and top with 3 small slice of pear.
• Bake for 20 minutes
• Cool for 5 minutes in the tin.

Enjoy eating with coffee, friends and only a smidgen of guilt that the pears came from The Netherlands.

Red cabbage with pearl barley and apple

Red cabbage is in season right now. It is cheap and healthy - but sometimes I almost find it overwhelmingly big, thinking that I will not be able to eat a whole cabbage head before it goes bad.
That is why I have decided to try and find good recipes for inspiration.

Here is one recipe that I got from Sæson for god smag a website that has a lot of beautiful and interesting recipes, the only downside being that they are in Danish.



For 4 persons you need:

1 dl pearl barley
2 apples, for example Ingrid Marie or Cox Orange
1/2 l finely chopped red cabbage
1 finely chopped red onion
1 dl dried fruit (e.g. raisins, abricots, cranberries)

Dressing
2 tbsp oil
4 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp honey
1 tsp cumin
salt and pepper

Boil the barley according to package, drain and cool.
Remove the seeds from the apples and cut into boats.
Mix barley, apples, onion and the dried fruit.
Mix the dressing and taste it with salt and pepper before pouring over the salad.

This is a very nice and filling salad.
The recipe is quite large so you can consider halving it if you are not expecting company.

Impress your friends with a Local, Seasonal Climate Friendly 3 course Meal!

Climate Friendly Recipes:

Entree: (Red Beet Soup)

Ingredients:

5 yellow onions

10 garlic cloves

about 300g parsnip

oil

1/2 dL sugar

2.5kg beetroots

Fresh ginger

5 teaspoon thyme

3 L water

5 carrots

5 potatoes

1 dL fresh parsley

1dL basil

salt

2 dL oat cream

Method:

Chop onions and beetroots. Fry onion, garlic, ginger and sugar in oil. Add root vegetables, water and thyme (the water should just cover the root vegetables) Cook until the vegetables are soft – approximately one hour

Mix soup and ad the spices. Add the oat cream depending on the colour of the soup you want. If you add it now the colour will be more pink. If you want a redder colour, add it in a swirl on top of the soup upon serving.

Main Course: Bean Patties, Skåne Potatoes with Coleslaw

Bean Patties

Ingredients:

1.5 L cooked beans

3 carrots

3 parsnips

6 yellow onions

About 5 tablespoon oil

3 tablespoons parsley

3 teaspoons paprika powder

1 ½ teaspoons pepper

5 tablespoons mustard

salt

2.5 dL plain flour

oil for frying

Method:

Blend beans with a stick blender or in a food processor. Chop onions and fry with paprika and pepper. Mix together all ingredients and bean mixture with wet hands. Fry on both sides

Skåne Potatoes:

Ingredients:

5 – 6 kg potatoes

5 -6 yellow onions

oil

1.5 L oat cream

rosemary, salt and white pepper

Method:

Peel and chop potatoes into cubes, Cut onions & fry potatoes in oil and then add cream. Cook for about 15 minutes until soft. Add spices

Coleslaw:

Ingredients:

White Cabbage

Carrots

Dill

Salt

Method:

Cut/grate coleslaw and add salt. Leave in refrigerator for about 1 hr until it gets juicy. Add carrot and finely chopped dill. Add mayonnaise (see recipe below) and blend thoroughly

Linmajonnäs:

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon crushed linseed

½ teaspoon sugar

2 teaspoon warm water

2 dL extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon mustard

2 – 3 teaspoons apple vinegar

Approximately 50 mL water

Method:

Grind the linseed as much as you can using a pestle and mortar. Mix it together with warm water, salt, mustard and vinegar. Let it sit for 10 minutes at room temperature. Add oil a little at a time whilst you mix with a spoon. Add vinegar and a little water. Serve with coleslaw (recipe above)

Dessert: Spiced Apple Hot Cake (well something cake like anyway!)

Ingredients:

1.5 dL oil

1.5 dL semolina

Approximately 10 apples

About 4 dL of sugar

4.5 dL oat milk

1.5 L water

6 teaspoons cardamom powder

3 grams saffron (remove if you want to be super climate friendly!)

1 ½ teaspoon nutmeg

Method:

Fry semolina in oil. Move it around the fry pan until it becomes a cooked colour and starts to smell good. Chop apples in small pieces and stew with sugar and spices. Cook up with water and oat milk and then lower heat. Cook until semolina is soft. Should be served cold with cardamom powder on top. Vanilla cream would go well with this!

Recipes from Hållbart Universitet/Lund Students for Sustainability - http://www.hallbartuni.tk/