xo amys

‘It was an epic party that lasted till 4am’

“Helan går Sjung hopp faderallan lallan lej”… as we toasted to the end of summer with our snaps!

A few Saturday’s ago we had such a fun crayfish party with some lovely ladies at our place! We decided that I would whip up the menu, so with the cray fish I served; beetroot canape with a limoncello ginger cocktail, an earthy black trumpet soup and a berry caramel pavlova with lemon cream. We had an epic night, one of our friends came all the way from London so it was lovely to just talk and dance the entire evening. We sang Helan går (swedish snaps song) with snaps and ended the night with dancing on the chairs! We had so much fun that we only left to town at 01.00 where the night continued till the early hours of dawn! What an amazing group of ladies! ♡ You know it’s a successful party when everyone accidentally coordinates on clothing hues that also match the colour of the wine. I thought I would share some of these easy recipes with you if you are planning on throwing a dinner or a crayfish party any time soon! Have an amazing weekend darlings!

limoncello spritzers cocktails

Lemon Ginger Concentration

• chunk of Ginger
• 2 juice of lemons
• drizzle of cold water

Blend together into a liquid in a blender

To make the cocktail, add plenty of ice in a glass, some limoncello, a bit of the ginger lemon concentration & sparkling water. Garnish with thyme twigs.

‘Amuse-bouche, beetroot blinis topped with spicy beetroot humus’

Beetroot Paste:

• 2 beetroot (pre cooked)
• 1 garlic
• 1 onion
• drizzle of cream
• butter/salt/pepper/chicken stock cube

Garnish: beetroot humus, lemon zest, sesame seeds

Add some butter into a saucepan. Add the roughly chopped beetroot, garlic and onion and let it gently cook for about 7 minutes. Add a bit of cream and part of a chicken stock cube and let it cook so the cream reduces a bit. With a hand-held blender, blitz the mixture into a soft paste. This part is optional, but I still strained the paste through a sieve to make it totally smooth. Let it cool.

Make the blini batter:

In a large bowl, add 4 egg yolks (I only used yolks, since I used the whites already for a pavlova base), 2 cups flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking power, a pinch of salt and mix it all together with the beetroot paste. The batter should be quite dense and leave it to rest for an hour or so.

Ready to fry: Add little dollops of butter onto a non-stick pan and cook a few minutes on both sides. The texture should be airy and fluffy. Let it cool. Once the blini is ready to be served, add a dollop of beet humus on top, add chili, sesame seeds and lemon zest.

Find the recipe for the beetroot humus here

Cooked cray fish delivery arrived home in this dill salt water bucket: Beautiful +13cm sized crayfish with lovely large claws! yum!

‘Earthy Black Trumpet mushroom soup’ (serves 6)

• 1 litre of black trumpet mushrooms
• 2 shallots
• 1 parsnip
• 1 carrot
• 4 garlic cloves
• 6dl cream
• 1 chicken stock cube
• 1 cup parmesan
• salt/pepper/ oregano

garnish: toasted cashew nuts, parsley, black pepper

Begin by finely chopping the vegetables (carrot, parsnip, shallots, garlic). In a heavy saucepan, add a generous amount of butter. Let it heat and add in the roughly chopped black trumpet mushrooms. Cook for about 8 minutes so they release some juices before adding the vegetables. Cook gently with the lid partly on for about 10 minutes. Add the cream, chick stock, salt, pepper and a few twigs of oregano. Let it gently simmer for about 20-30 minutes. Remove from heat and blend the soup with a handheld blender into smooth brown texture. Place back on low heat and add the parmesan. Check for flavour and reheat once ready to be served.

For toppings, I toasted some roughly chopped cashew nuts and sunflower seeds in a bit of salt, added more black pepper and sprinkles of parsley/lemon zest.

‘Summer Berry Pavlova with lemon cream & salty caramel’

Pavlova base

• 4 egg whites (room temperature)
• 1 cup sugar
• pinch of salt
• 2 teaspoons corn starch
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• about 6 drops of red food colouring

Pre heat oven 125c (circulation air mode)

Whisk the egg whites and salt together with an electric whisk until small peaks form. Gradually add in the sugar until the mixture turns a white glossy colour and becomes stiff. Mix together the cornstarch, food colouring vinegar and vanilla extract and gently fold it into the merengue. Scoop the merengue into a circular shape onto a baking tray with baking paper on it. (I made a circle of 20cm and made the merengue quite thick) Place into the oven for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Once ready, turn the oven off and leave it to rest in the oven for a remaining 30 minutes. Leave to cool.

Caramel Filling

• roughly 180 ml cream
• 100g butter
• 330g regular sugar
• 125ml water

Ready to make the Pavlova: On top of the base, drizzle some caramel, crunch in some of your favourite cookies or chocolate, I used airy waffle chocolate cookies (suffeli) and add the lemon whipped cream on top. Garnish with lots of blueberries, gooseberries and lemon zest.