sandwich cake - smörgåstårta

So, mostly it is a ghost town on this site - I can explain! 

It's not that I don't want to be posting, it's just that I've been flat out with work and the impending birth of our daughter. Somehow that doesn't seem like a good enough excuse, but it's all I got.

Last weekend I was fortunate enough to have a baby shower with friends and family. It was a fantastic day and I was so overwhelmed by the generosity of those wonderful people. I worry that I'll never be able to show how much I appreciate every ones gifts, love and support.

Anyways, for the shower I finally tackled something that I've been wanting to make for such a long time - Smörgåstårta! Basically it is a Scandinavian savoury cake that often pops up at celebrations.

Honestly I couldn't believe how easy it was to put together and the best bit by far was the alternate decorating. Usually with cakes you use sweets or icing to decorate but for this, you have to keep it savoury which means you get to be creative.

You can fill it with whatever you want, like deli meats, tuna, egg, smoked salmon, etc - but I've kept it vegetarian.

iced teas

the spread

Smörgåstårta

Ingredients

1loaf of wholemeal spelt bread (homemade or otherwise)

1 lemon, juiced mixed with 2 tbsp water

500g natural organic yogurt, drained for 2 hours or so

1 cucumber, finely sliced

1/2 c sun dried tomatoes

400g cream cheese (reduced fat is okay)

green leaves, herbs, edible flowers, other veggies - for decorating

Method

Cut the crusts off the loaf, then slice length ways into 3.

Arrange one of the slices on your presentation dish.

Using a pastry brush, brush the top of the slice with 1/4 of the lemon juice mixture.

Arrange 1/2 the cucumber slices on top, then spread over 1/2 the yogurt. Top the yogurt with the remaining slices of cucumber.

Next, stack other slice of bread, brushing the under layer and top with another 1/4 (each side) of the lemon juice.

Place the sun dried tomatoes and remaining yogurt in a food processor and blend for about 20-30 seconds.

Spread over the slice of bread and top with the remaining slice of bread (brushing the underside with the remaining lemon juice).

Cover and place in refrigerator overnight (with a weight on top, a plate works fine) to allow flavours to infuse.

About an hour or so before serving, decorate the cake. 

Spread the cream cheese over the loaf and decorate it to your hearts content.

I've used marigolds, parsley, chervil, mint leaves and lettuce leaves. Also, the day before I peeled a fresh beetroot and carrot, rolled them to look like a rose, securing the bottom with a toothpick.

cherry and caviar lentil salad with sherry dressing

Joel did the groceries at the markets this past weekend.

It’s the first time since we’ve been married that he has done groceries on his own (over 4 years).

The reason being, that he wanted for us to have a whole day out together without having to worry about getting to the markets in time for groceries.

To be able to spend the day out, just us, as a bit of a belated birthday day for me.

He set the alarm for Sunday morning and got up super early. I know how he does not like getting up early, especially on a weekend! It means so much that he would do that for me - aw!

We went out for brunch and spent the day in each other’s company enjoying the sun. It was so lovely – but of course, time went too quickly.

Anyways, he went off to do the shop while I got to sleep in and praise be to him, he did well.

When he came back, I unpacked the groceries spying a bunch of fresh cherries. Trying not to think about food miles, I knew they were going to be part of a dinner this week.

Digging to the back of my pantry (a bookshelf cupboard), I pulled out a bag of caviar lentils - they are a favourite of ours.

Delightful little pops, they don’t require a massive amount of cooking time but can add a bit of class to the old brown lentil.

Mixed with a few other ingredients and topped with a sherry dressing, oh boy did this salad go down well.

Ingredients

(serves 4)

1 c caviar beluga lentils, soaked for 12 hours

¼ c pine nuts

1 c roughly chopped parsley

15 (or more) fresh cherries, deseeded and roughly chopped

5 shallots, finely sliced

1 lebanese cucumber, diced
2 celery stems, diced

Dressing

2 tblsp dry sherry

2 tblsp quality olive oil

pinch or two of Murray River salt flakes

Place lentils in a heavy based saucepan, cover with water and bring the boil.

Simmer for 15 minutes, drain and rinse with cold water to cool it down – set aside

Next, heat a heavy based saucepan and add pinenuts.

Toss constantly to ensure even toasting – once toasted remove from heat to cool and set aside.

Combine parsley, cherries, shallots and cucumber in a large bowl.

Toss through pinenuts and lentils.

For the dressing, whisk sherry, oil and salt together and pour over lentil salad.
Serve x.