Autumn is my favorite Swedish season for many reasons - a spell-binding landscape of riotous red, orange and brown colours; the softness of chilly wind that touches the face; the exciting autumn and winter fashion clothes and most of all, the smell of wonderful stews from the kitchen.
We come across thousands of food recipes from every part of the world and cultures - for different seasons and moods, for casual and formal entertaining. We also have favorite favorite culinary experts whose magic in the kitchen we simply marvel at. Take the case of Jamie Oliver, very young, very rich and very herb-oriented. I borrowed a few of his recipes- like baked salmon with herb, lemon and spinach stuffings, added some other ingredients (lemon grass) and now I call mine. Yes, one can borrow other people's recipes and make them your own by discovering new ingredients that suit best your taste.
Here's a borrowed one that I served recently at a dinner for six people. I started with mango cubes and shrimps marinated in lemon, chili, salt and pepper. The next course was spring rolls with Thai sweet sour sauce. Then came this great Mexican stew- a chili con carne, done with bigger chunks of beef ( instead of ground meat); garlic, red onions, red and gold paprica, little rapsoil and fresh chili fruit; one can of cut tomatoes; meat cube for seasoning, one can of big white beans plus another can of kidney beans. You can use different kind of beans, actually. Serve this hot with french garlic bread and marinated cucumber and tomator salad. For sweets, a piece of blueberry cake with vanilla ice cream. The evening was well-remembered.
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