Reading Food

I'm still on my caserole trip. So today - or better, this morning; 2 a.m. to be exact - I tried out one filled with some stuff I saw (and ate) at my beloved one's site.

Originally I wanted to title this caserole 'Terror from the East' because it contains above mentioned filling (basically hard-cooked eggs, fish filet and mayonese mixed together), but then I decided against. Not only because I used artichokes instead of eggs, but especially thanks to the fact I've been using 'Bio-Knäckebrot' (as mentioned over here). As some of you might know, Wasa Knäckebrot (= crispbread) is from Sweden / Skandinavia, so the name quite fits. ;)

On to the ingredients:

• a glass or tin of artichokes (in oil), weight about 350g (mine was 370g)

• 125g of canned fish (in oil)

• 250 ml of cream

• about 4 big tea spoons of mayonese

• about 2 tea spoons of lemon grass

• crispbread, about 1/2 of the package (mine was 250g)

• vegetables, which in this case were 500g of sugar pea husks

• some grated parmesan, bio-cream cheese (both about 100g)

• for the topping: mashed potatoes (powder; done with coconut milk + water)

• spicing it up: too much of garlic (about 3 tea spoons), dried parsley (about 4 tea spoons), some pepper, salt and nutmeg (about 1 pinch of each of the last three ones)

• about 2 table spoons of pot("der gute Pott 40")

• some butter to grease the caserole form

• a caserole form of course! ;)

Note: European weights and measurements are being used; this list is by no means exact, I just used what was available in our kitchen.

Next on to the main part:
First, we mix together the fish, the artichokes and the mayonese. Then we add the cream, the lemon grass and the spices. Mix it good, then it gets some nice taste, too. ;)
Now we've got a nice filling, that'll go in between the vegetables and the crispbread later.

#2 is to prepare the caserole form by greasing its insides with butter. After that, we fill in the vegetables - in my case this was deep-frozen sugar pea husks plus some few normal peas I found in the freezer, too.

Step #3 goes like this: take some of the crispbread, about 4-5 slices, and break it into different sized pieces. Now we put them on the veggies, till they're kinda sprinkled with crispbread. Then, we add the above mixed filling over this newly created layer. Try to fill out the whole plain, maybe even push the filling a bit downwards on the sides with a spoon or your fingers, so it fills up the underlaying layers.

By now, you should have started to preheat your stove - I set it to a temperature of 250° celsius, but you may probably stick with 200 - 220° C.

Number 4: Add the rest of the veggies, some of the artichokes if there are any left and some more crispbread pieces, till the whole surface is once again filled with it.

#5: We mix together the mashed potatoes using milk and water, afterwards we fill the above created crispbread-veggie-layer with it.

Last step: Now we spread the grated parmesan cheese all over the place and additionally add some pieces of cream cheese there and there. To finish our efforts, we apply some table sppons of pot all over the caserole. Finally, we open up the stove and put this tasty caserole in to get cooked for about 20 - 30 minutes.

Bon Appetite! Guten Appetit! ;)

Possible Alternatives:
Alternatively to using artichokes you could also use dried tomatoes (in oil) or the original formula using hard-cooked eggs instead. If you do so, you may also put it in your fridge and on your bread, too.

Next on, you alternatively could use slices of potatoes instead the mashed ones to create some more tasty surface. Add some more cheese and it really gains some fun (and taste)! ;)

You also may leave the pot aside - it's just there for adding some exotic taste ;)

NP: Nattefrost - Blood & Vomit - The Act of Spiritual Purification track includes some nice puking sounds at its beginning :D

Multiple exclamation marks are a sure sign for a diseased mind!

This post was edited by ginsterbusch on Aug 27, 2005.