Roast pork with onion sauce

At great risk of sounding cliché, but this really is Swedish home cooking at its best. It is a relatively cheap dish, filling, easy to prepare and, above all, extremely tasty. What happens purely in terms of taste in the mouth is when the salty crispy pork meets the sweet and tangy onion sauce. That experience is so enjoyable that I almost dream about this fantastic home cooking at night. Serve with a cold Pripps blue.

Then being able to cook outside on a cold winter's day is unbeatable. Just think how nice it is to get rid of all the steak in the kitchen. There is one more dish that I prefer to avoid cooking inside and that is fried flounder with mashed potatoes.

I start by crisp-frying the rimmed side pork. So far it's super simple, but then we get to the sauce, which is a bit trickier, but follow my simple tips and you'll do just fine.

Start by frying the onion in oil. Here I want to expel the liquid and get rid of the raw onion taste. After approx. After 5-7 minutes, the onion has caramelized and is as sweet and tasty as we want it in the sauce. It is important not to brown the onion, but just saute it. Then you sprinkle wheat flour over it and work it into the onion. Then you add the milk while constantly whisking until the sauce thickens. Leave the sauce to simmer on the stove for a few minutes and then add salt and a few turns with the pepper mill. Also add some Chinese soya for a nice depth.

Since the griddle is like one big frying pan, a lot of liquid evaporates during cooking so you have to add more milk to the sauce until you find a good consistency. At the end, you can also gloss over the sauce with a dab of butter to lift and round off the flavor to another level.

Then it's done. Just to serve together with freshly boiled potatoes and a cold beer.

Recipe for fried pork with onion sauce on a griddle

  • 800 grams of rimmed flank pork
  • 4 onions
  • 2 tbsp wheat flour
  • 5-8 dl milk
  • A few drops of Chinese soy
  • Salt and pepper. White or black pepper doesn't matter, it's up to taste.
  • Freshly grated nutmeg
  • Butter. To finish off with at the end

Nasi goreng on a griddle

After last week's Hungarian national dish Goulash, I top it here with the national dish of national dishes, namely an Indonesian Nasi goreng. At first glance, it may seem a bit simple with fried rice mixed with eggs, tofu and vegetables, but you should never underestimate a well-cooked Nasi goreng and especially not cooked outdoors on a grill on a cold January day.

The basis is always a good sambal consisting of shallots, garlic and chilies, which you grind together into a smooth and fine mixture. However, I realized that my mortar was far too small and flimsy. It's great for grinding spices, but in this case it didn't, which meant that my sambal didn't come together the way I wanted it to. It still turned out well in the end, but if you're a perfectionist, you are.

Lovely Asian long beans instead of peas made the dish even more "Asian" and exciting.

I shopped for the ingredients at my local "Chinese" store and found everything I needed. I was extra happy that I found a really nice Asian tofu that I diced into the nasi goreng. I must also recommend you invest a few tens in a pack of Ketjap manis which is an Asian sweet soy sauce. It together with a classic Chinese soya gives an incredible depth with its sweetness and saltiness. Of course, it can be used in other cooking as well so it will be used up. I promise

Ketjap manis

I added tofu because it is both tasty and healthy, but also to add another source of protein to my otherwise completely vegetarian Nasi goreng. Then I both stirred in three eggs and topped the dish with a fried egg.

Proteins in my vegetarian Nasi goreng are tofu and eggs

Nasi goreng means fried rice and it must be stir-fried, which means that you have to constantly work with a large frying pan so that it does not get a burnt frying surface. The hob becomes like a single large wok and that is what makes this dish so practical to cook on the hob outdoors. If you want to get rid of fridge leftovers, this is an excellent opportunity to clean out. So go ahead with the stove from the garage and cook outside even though we are in the middle of winter.

Have a good day, all stovetop-lovers!

Indonesian Nasi goreng for 4 people

  • Jasmine rice - preferably from the fridge left over from earlier
  • 10 shallots - both as a fried topping and in sambal
  • 1 whole Garlic
  • Fresh chili (to taste and strength)
  • A bunch of long beans
  • A package of Tofu
  • 8 Eggs (both stirred into the rice and fried on top when serving
  • Ketjap manis (both when cooking and on the dining table)
  • Chinese soy (both in cooking and on the dining table)
  • Salt

The instructional video on YouTube. Remember to subscribe so you don't miss future episodes.

Unexpected guests showed up

Hungarian goulash soup topped with sour cream and gremolata

What's better than a warming goulash when winter tightens its grip on us lucky northerners. In this week's episode, I show you step-by-step how to cook a Hungarian goulash soup on a griddle. It might sound a little strange, but if you have a reasonably bowl-shaped frying pan, it's actually not that difficult. Sure, it's a bit fiddly with several steps, but if you only have time and warm long underwear, you'll fix it in no time.

Hungarian goulash soup topped with sour cream and gremolata

If you really have plenty of time, you can buy a whole piece of prime rib and cut it into smaller cubes, but otherwise it works just as well with prime rib, I think. Here comes the recipe.

Hungarian goulash soup

  • 1 kg. high rib sphere
  • 2 yellow onions
  • 6 cloves of garlic
  • 0.5 dl of oil to fry in
  • 1.5 tbsp paprika powder
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 2 tablespoons marjoram
  • 0.5 dl meat stock
  • 1 lit. water (dilute with more water at the end to a good soup consistency)
  • 1 bottle of Porter
  • 1 can of whole tomatoes
  • 6 potatoes
  • 2 red peppers
  • 2 fresh hot chilies
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Gremolata

  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 1 pot of parsley
  • Grated peel from a lemon. (not the white, just the zest)
Captain Mat on YouTube
The Little Mermaid

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Pasta Arrabbiata

Keep up the good work, all grill-lovers and outdoor cooks. A wonderful new year is ahead of us and we will cook many good dishes. I hope that you (just like me) get out the grill at least once a week and cook something good, even though we are in the coldest month of the year, but long underpants and a headlamp will go a long way when the cold bites your cheeks. Then the stove actually heats up a bit too.

Beautiful January

The first dish of the year will be a really, really good pasta that has everything you could want after all the expensive weekends. It is good, simple, useful and wallet-friendly. Also works perfectly for the lunch box, so take the opportunity to cook a large batch.

Pasta Arrabbiata is for me the crown jewel of Italian pasta cuisine. With its clean and mild flavors at the base and the heat that the chili brings to the tops, it couldn't get more Italian. With its few ingredients, it is relatively easy to prepare, but you still have to give it both time and love to blossom into the taste experience it deserves.

Here I suggest an absolutely perfect wine for the pasta. A bargain if you ask me.

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Pasta Arrabbiata

500 g

Any long pasta. Preferably bronze rolled so that it absorbs the sauce better.

6

cloves of coarsely chopped garlic

3

chilies (strength as desired)

6-8

twig tomatoes

2

anchovies

1.5 dl

Parmigiano-Reggiano

1

Fresh mozzarella of better quality

1 krm

freshly ground black pepper

Sea salt and olive oil

So that you don't miss any of the upcoming episodes or if you just want to enjoy the previous ones, go to YouTube right away. Subscribe for free and press the bell and I'll remind you when a new episode is coming. See you on the tube!

In his home port at Villa Capri, Captain Mat has docked with his ship. With a great love for food and drink, he cooks the best classic dishes on his grill and drinks good wines to go with it. Bon appetit!

:)