In Sweden, we like to throw everything we can get our hands on on a piece of pizza dough (a slight exaggeration). While you certainly can get a Margherita and other traditional pizzas, some of the other common toppings make people from other countries do a double take. Here are some examples from the menu at my brother’s favorite pizza place (note: kebab in Sweden is the equivalent of Schwarma meat here):

“Love You” - tomato sauce, cheese, filet of pork, ham, mushrooms, bacon, shrimp, béarnaise sauce

“Kebabpizza” - Tomato sauce, cheese, schwarma meat, iceberg lettuce, onion, tomatoes, cucumber, pepperoncini, kebab sauce (a yogurt-based spicy sauce)

“Castello” – Pineapple, mushrooms, onion, peppers, pepperoncini, salami, gorgonzola, camembert, feta cheese

“Mexico Special” - Tomato sauce, cheese, ground beef, bacon, garlic, egg, onion, jalapeno, taco spices

I’ve had the Kebabpizza and it is awesome – the sauce is to die for!

And now, on to the banana curry pizza. You might recoil in horror when you first see this recipe, but if you like curry and the mix of sweet and salt, give it a shot. It’s wildly popular in Sweden (you’ll find it under “Ordinary or Classic Pizzas” on the menus), and even my American husband liked it once he mustered up the courage to try it.

This pizza is traditionally made with smoked ham, and if you want to try it with that, buy it thinly sliced at the deli (the Black Forest ham they sell at Whole Foods is one that is very close in flavor to what they use in Sweden) and then cut it into small squares.

Since we prefer to not eat meat, we make it without, but you really do need that smoky flavor to make it taste just like it does in Sweden, and I have found that smoked cheese is a great substitute. Any smoked cheese will do, I get whatever I happen to find at the store that day.

You’ll need

• 2 individual-sized pizza doughs (make it yourself or buy it readymade – we like Iggy’s readymade)
• Pizza sauce (we use Enrico’s organic pizza sauce available at Whole Foods)
• 2 ripe bananas
• Curry powder
• Smoked cheese, grated
• Other cheese, grated (anything you want, we usually use a mozarella/cheddar mix)

Put your pizza dough on a baking sheet. Spread a thin layer of pizza sauce all over the dough.

Cut the bananas in thin slices and distribute evenly over the pizza. Sprinkle them with curry powder, as much as you like (I use a lot).

Cover with grated cheese, keep the proportions around 20% smoked cheese and 80% other. If you use too much smoked cheese, the flavor gets too overpowering.

Place the pizzas in the oven and bake according to the directions for the dough you are using.

Traditional Swedish version: Include the ham and omit the smoked cheese
Vegetarian version: Omit the ham.
Vegan version: Omit the ham and use a vegan cheese (I have to admit I have never tried making pizza with anything but “real” cheese, so I don’t’ know how that will come out).

Enjoy!

PS. How do you make tomato sauce look appetizing in photos?

Related posts:

1. Broccoli Pita Pizza – A Simple Toaster Oven Recipe
2. Tortilla Rollups – The Perfect Weeknight Dinner
3. Pasta With Carrot Sauce – An Inexpensive And Easy Recipe

Traditional Valborg menus often include salmon, roe, potatoes in some form, and a hot beverage (it’s usually freezing still this time of year in Sweden and after spending hours outside looking at that fire, you need something warm). Now, I don’t like any of those dishes (except for the hot beverage), so I am going to make my take on falafel – chickpea burgers – instead.

I have loved falafel ever since I bought my first one at a little hole-in-the-wall place in Aix-en-Provence about 20 years ago. The crunchiness, the creaminess, the garlic… yum! What I don’t love, however, is the intense heartburn I get from the deep fried ones, so I decided to try to invent a more digestion-friendly version.

After a few trial and errors, I came up with this super-easy recipe. I think they are delicious, and if you don’t like tzatziki, or prefer a vegan diet, you can eat them with any condiment of your choice. My husband can’t stand yogurt, so he puts Dijon mustard and ketchup on his.

Just a note up front: you will need a food processor for this (there may be a way to make them without one, but I don’t know what that would be). I bought my first one a few years ago, and I love it! How did I manage for so many years without one?

This recipe makes around 10 burgers, and we usually eat 3-4 each, so I guess it’s enough for 3 people, or 2 with leftovers for lunch. For a larger crowd, I would make this same amount in batches and transfer to a bigger bowl before shaping the burgers. One batch is pretty much all my (14-cup) food processor has room for.

For 10 burgers, you will need:
½ cup of uncooked bulgur
1 cup of water
1 tsp salt

1 can of chickpeas (we use Eden Organics – no BPA)
1 medium-sized yellow onion (if it’s too big, the burgers get too loose and watery)
4 cloves of garlic
¼ – ½ cup of panko bread crumbs
1 tbs olive oil (+ more for the cookie sheet and brushing)
1 ½ tbs white wine vinegar
½ tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1 tbs dried cilantro (use fresh if you don’t’ like dried)
salt (lots!)

For the Tzatziki:
1 (7 oz) container of Fage 2% Greek yogurt (you can use full fat if you want)
½ seedless (a.k.a. European or English) cucumber
1 garlic clove
salt

Other stuff for assembling the burgers:
Pita bread (we use whole wheat)
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Hot sauce (we love Cholula)

1. Start with the tzatziki. Grate the cucumber on the largest side of your grater, put it in a bowl, salt liberally and cover it. Let sit in room temperature for about 30 minutes. This is to draw some of the water out of the cucumber so that the Tzatziki doesn’t get too wet.

2. Next up is the bulgur. Bring the water to a boil, stir in the salt and bulgur, cover and remove from heat. Let sit for at least 25 minutes.

3. Once the cucumber has sat for 30 min, drain off as much of the water as you can (I sometimes squeeze it in a paper towel). Stir in the entire container of yogurt (or less if you want it more on the “cucumbery” side), press in the garlic clove and salt to taste. Stir again, cover and put in the fridge for now.

4. Time to throw everything in the food processor! Cut up the onion in smaller pieces (I like to put the onion on the bottom to make sure no large pieces end up in the burgers), rinse and add the chickpeas, grate or press in the garlic cloves, add the bulgur, all the spices, oil and vinegar, salt (I probably put in a tablespoon of salt in these, they need lots of it) and last but not least, the breadcrumbs. Start with ¼ of a cup and add more if needed. Run the food processor until everything is nicely blended. If it looks very runny, add some more breadcrumbs. It should be moist and somewhat loose, but not runny.

5. Let sit for 15 minutes.

6. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Oil a cookie sheet lightly. Scoop up a heaping tablespoon (regular, not one for measuring) of the mixture and form it into a burger. Mine are roughly ½” thick and 3″ in diameter (I like lots of crunchy surface). Place on the cookie sheet. Continue until you’re out of mixture. Brush each with some olive oil.

7. Bake in the middle of oven for a total of 40 minutes, turning them once after 20 minutes. I shuffle them around on the cookie sheet too when I’m turning them, since my oven bakes a bit unevenly.

8. While they’re baking after you turned them, prepare the other stuff. Separate the lettuce leaves and rinse them. I leave them whole, but if you want them shredded, prepare them that way. Slice the tomato into thin slices. Take the tzatziki out of the fridge and open the hot sauce.

9. Once the burgers are ready, take them out of the oven and assemble the sandwiches. Tear a pita bread in half, put in a leaf of lettuce, a few slices of tomato, then one (or two) burgers. Top that with a generous serving of the tzatziki and as much as you want of the hot sauce. Make sure you have lots of napkins or paper towels close by and start eating!

I hope you enjoy these as much as we do, and if you try this recipe, I would love to hear what you thought.

For more chickpea recipes, also see my Chickpea salad and Chickpea dip posts.

Related posts:

1. Pasta With Carrot Sauce – An Inexpensive And Easy Recipe
2. Broccoli Pita Pizza – A Simple Toaster Oven Recipe
3. Mexican-Inspired Brunch Quiche

Broccoli
I love broccoli. I eat it in some form almost every day, even if it’s just raw with a nice sharp piece of cheese as a snack after work to hold me over until dinner. Lucky for me it’s one of the healthiest foods around: one stalk of broccoli gives you 220% of your daily recommended intake of Vitamin C; it is full of vitamins and minerals; it’s high in fiber, low in fat and calories; and high in calcium and potassium which help with cardiac and skeletal muscle function. AND, some researchers believe that a cup of broccoli a day is enough to help ward off certain breast tumors.

Sambal Oelek
Sambal Oelek is an Indonesian chili paste, very spicy and absolutely delicious (I wrote about it in more detail in my Pasta with Carrot Sauce post). If you don’t like hot food, certainly omit that from the recipe. If you want to try it and live in the Boston area, you can find it at Christina’s Spice Shop in Inman Square (1255 Cambridge Street, Cambridge).

You’ll need (for 1 person)
1 pita bread (any size you want)
Pasta or pizza sauce
Broccoli
Black pepper
Cheese (whichever kind you like, I use low fat cheddar)
Sambal Oelek (optional)
Non-stick aluminum foil for baking sheet

1. Start by cutting up broccoli in smaller pieces. The size is not very important; I like pretty big pieces, but you can just sprinkle on a little bit of the florets if you like.

2. Place your pita bread on a baking sheet lined with foil (I always use non-stick). Spread pasta or pizza sauce on the bread, as much or as little as you like. Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper. Add the broccoli in an even layer and place the pizza in the toaster oven (middle rack). Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes (times might vary slightly from oven to oven).

3. When the 10 minutes are up, take the baking sheet out of the oven, add the cheese (grated or sliced, as much or as little as you want) and put it back in the oven.

4. Broil until cheese is melted and is starting to change color.

5. Take it out, put on a plate and enjoy! I like to eat it with a tiny bit of Sambal Oelek with each bite, but if you don’t like your food hot, skip that.

Vegan version: Replace the cheese with vegan cheese.

Related posts:

1. Pasta With Carrot Sauce – An Inexpensive And Easy Recipe
2. Tortilla Rollups – The Perfect Weeknight Dinner

Beans provide low-fat protein, fiber, vitamin B, potassium, magnesium, folate, iron and phytonutrients. As I mentioned in my Carrot sauce recipe, we use canned beans from Eden Organics, because they claim that their cans do not contain BPA. It would probably be even healthier to cook dried beans, but we don’t.

The tomato (and salsa) bring lycopene (a powerful antioxidant), fiber, potassium, vitamin B and C, lutein, and other good stuff.

Avocados contain cholesterol-lowering oleic acid, vitamin B6, C and K, potassium, folate, and fiber.

As for the Tortillas, we love the Ezekiel 4:9 by Food for Life (we get ours at Whole Foods). They are flourless, organic, and contain only sprouted whole grains (and some water and sea salt) which create a complete protein (they also contain 18 amino acids). They are super delicious with a nutty flavor and when they crisp up, they’re even yummier.

You will need (for 2 people)
2 Tortillas
1 can of black beans (or any other bean you like)
1 tomato
Salsa (I like to use Amy’s Spicy Chipotle)
1-2 Avocados
½ Lime
Salt to taste
Cheese (any kind you want, we like Monterey Jack)

1. Rinse the beans and put them in a pot on low heat, just to warm them a little bit. Turn the heat off once they seems warm enough, if you leave them on for too long they’ll burn and get mushy.

2. Cut the tomato in smaller pieces and the avocado in slices. Squeeze a little bit of lime over the cut avocado and sprinkle with salt. Open the salsa and put all these ingredients in a little assembly line.

3. Heat a cast iron skillet until it’s scorching hot and place your first tortilla in it (we use them straight from the freezer, not thawed). Add the cheese immediately. Leave over high heat until cheese is starting to melt. You don’t want to leave it in for too long though, because the tortilla will get too crispy to fold.

4. Put the tortilla on a plate, add some warm beans and take it over to the assembly line where you put in whatever and as much as you want of the prepared ingredients. Roll up and enjoy.

This dish tends to be quite messy, and we usually put a piece of aluminum foil around the base of the folded tortilla to avoid the worst accidents.

Vegan version: Omit the cheese, or replace with a vegan kind. Or make an avocado spread: since I stopped eating dairy, I have been putting this on instead of cheese: mash together 1 avocado, the juice of 1/2 lemon, one pressed garlic clove, a splash of olive oil, salt and pepper and spread on the tortilla as soon as it comes out of the pan.

Related posts:

1. Pasta With Carrot Sauce – An Inexpensive And Easy Recipe

Pasta with Carrot sauce

Who doesn’t love carrots? They’re crunchy, sweet, delicious and so very good for you! Even my dog and her best doggie friend love them. Studies have shown that eating just one serving of cartenoid-rich foods per day (such as sweet potatoes, carrots, kale, spinach, turnip greens, winter squash, collard greens and broccoli) per day can reduce your risk for heart attack by 60%! High cartenoid intake has also been linked to a reduced risk of many cancers, including postmenopausal breast cancer and lung cancer.

This recipe might not at first sound very appealing to you, but trust me; this inexpensive and simple recipe is a winner. The first time I made this for my husband, we were staying with my family in Sweden. He loves this dish, but admitted that had it not been for the presence of my parents, he would have refused to even try it that first time. So give it a shot, you’ll be surprised!

You need (for 4 people)
4-5 carrots
2 cans of diced or stewed tomatoes*
1 yellow onion
1-2 cloves of garlic
1 container of Crème Fraiche*
Dried basil
Fresh basil
Salt & pepper
Pasta (I like to use Farfalle)
Sambal Oelek (optional)*

1. Grate the carrots on the smallest side of your grater. A bit time consuming, I know, but I’ve tried the largest side of the grater as well as the food processor to try to cut down on prep time, and neither come out as good.

2. Chop the onion and the garlic.

Do not add more garlic than the recipe calls for (unless you double the entire recipe). This is the one dish I have ever made where you actually can add too much garlic and it tastes horrible. I don’t know if it has something to do with the combination of carrots and garlic – whatever the reason, you don’t want to experience it.

3. Heat olive oil in a large cast iron pot (I use a big, heavy Le Creuset for this) and add the onions. Sautee on low heat until they are completely soft and translucent, stirring every now & then (tip: if you don’t want your onions to burn, add some salt as soon as you put them in the pot).

4. Add the garlic, tomatoes, carrots, dried basil, salt & pepper and bring to a simmer. Simmer covered anywhere from 20 – 40 minutes (this is a great recipe to entertain with, since if you’re guests are not on time, just leave it simmering until they show up).

5. Cook the pasta while the sauce is simmering (or wait until your guests arrive).

6. When the sauce is done, add the entire container of Crème Fraiche (8 oz.) and simmer for 5 more minutes. If you can’t find Crème Fraiche*, or prefer a vegan dish, you can omit it, the sauce is different, but still delicious.

7. Turn the heat off, stir in some fresh julienned basil and serve with the pasta.

If you like to add a little heat to the sauce, stir in ½ teaspoon of Sambal Oelek. Or offer it on the side so everyone can spice up their own food as much or as little as they like.

*Notes:
If you can’t find Crème Fraiche in your store, you can easily make it yourself: Combine 2 cups heavy cream (pasteurized, not ultra pasteurized or sterilized, and with no additives) and 2 tablespoons buttermilk in a pie plate, cover, and let sit in room temperature for 24 to 48 hours. Once you’re satisfied with the thickness, stir it well, put in a glass jar and refrigerate up to 10 days.

Canned Tomatoes: Most cans contain a chemical called bisphenol A, BPA for short. It’s a hormone disruptor that can be found in almost everybody, and animal studies have linked it to breast and prostate cancer, and infertility. Canned tomatoes are especially bad because the acidity in the tomatoes makes the BPA leach out from the can. Eden Organics state that they do not use cans with BPA for their beans; however, they do not guarantee that their canned tomatoes are BPA free. To be on the safe side, buy tomatoes in glass containers, or paper cartons (tetrapak), or if you’re very ambitious, make your own stewed tomatoes when they’re in season and save for the winter months.

Sambal Oelek is an Indonesian chili paste, often found in Swedish recipes. I am quite addicted to it and add it to almost everything savory. When I first moved to the US, I couldn’t find it anywhere and had to stock up whenever I went home to visit, but you can find it in some stores here, and the internet has of course made things easier too. The kind I get in Sweden is by a company called Lucullus, and I still can’t find that one here in the US, but here I use the Huy Fong brand. I still buy Lucullus brand whenever I’m in Sweden – it’s not quite as spicy as the Huy Fong so you can eat more of it without your mouth burning up.

Vegan version: Omit the Crème Fraiche.
Non-vegetarian version: N/A

Do you have a favorite carrot recipe you’d like to share? Send it in!

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