This time of year brings fresh things food wise with wild garlic to be foraged, elderflower to be collected later in May and herbs starting to appear in the garden. We can also start to plan our food around the season’s run of delicious fruit and vegetables from rhubarb and fresh asparagus to Jersey royal potatoes. For those of us who love to cook it’s the start of an abundance of fresh ingredients and a shift from hearty winter dishes to lighter fare.

Spring also brings the traditions of Lent and Easter. Whilst many here enjoy pancakes at the start of Lent, in Sweden we enjoy wonderful semlor; light, yeasty cardamom-scented buns filled with delicious marzipan and a vanilla cream. We make them here at Peter’s Yard Coffee Shop and Bakery following the traditional Swedish recipe of Jan Hedh, our uncompromising and passionate master baker. They are available through to Easter – perfect for “fikapaus” (a break with coffee, buns and company) in the sunshine outside Peter’s Yard.

Of course eggs are traditional at Easter which stems from the fact that hens start laying again as the days get longer providing an abundance of eggs for decorating and eating. In Sweden decorated eggs and feathers are hung from freshly cut birch branches in bud to create a bright, fresh in-door display. Egg decorating competitions, the giving and receiving of chocolate eggs and egg hunts are popular for children across much of Northern Europe but in Sweden there is another tradition which children follow. Dressed as witches (Easter hags) with headscaves, long skirts and red painted cheeks, young girls take paintings or drawings and knock on doors in the hope of receiving sweet treats in return. According to Swedish folklore during Easter the witches fly to Blue Mountain (Blåkulla) to meet the devil.

For many, Easter is an opportunity to break from work, gather with friends and family and take time to enjoy being in each other’s company, sharing a meal together around the table. The warmer weather and longer days means time to enjoy a walk or egg hunt before a generous lunch. It’s one of life’s simple pleasures at this time of year. If you are thinking of doing something similar, here’s a lovely lamb recipe that is perfect to slow roast in the oven. Serve it with new potatoes, fresh asparagus and free flowing conversation.

Herby rolled lamb

This uses two cuts of lamb rolled together but you could also use a boned leg or shoulder. We’ve used a mix of chives, parsley and mint all of which are coming into season now but you can adapt it with your favourite herbs.

For four people:

1 breast of lamb
1 piece of lamb neck
a handful of each of fresh chives, mint and flat leaf parsley
salt and pepper
butchers string

note a whole boned leg will serve upto 8

Method:

Lay out the piece of breast meat skin side down (or the boned leg/shoulder if thats what you are using).
Season with salt and pepper.
Chop the herbs roughly and spread over the meat.
Lay the piece of neck on the herbs (you may need to lay it at a slight angle to be able to roll the breast meat round it).
Roll and tie with butchers string.
Slow roast in the oven at gas mark 3 (150-160C) for four hours or longer (up to 6 hours) if it’s a large piece of leg. You may want to cover the meat part way through and add a splash of red wine for extra flavour.
Allow the meat to rest for 10-15 minutes (in the roasting tin or on a warmed plate and covered with foil) then carve into thick slices.

Serve with new potatoes and seasonal vegetables; or why not add a touch of Sweden to your lunch this year and make Janssons Tempation. Usually served as a side dish in Sweden, it’s a great alternative to potatoes dauphinoise.

Spring’s pleasures

Here at Peter’s Yard, we’ve been chatting about what we like most about spring and found so many things we loved we thought we’d share a few of them with you:

Wendy: daffodils, the birds singing as they go about nest making, the sound and smell of cutting the grass for the first time since winter

Kerry: children playing outside, the weather being warm enough to cook outdoors, the first shoots of spring flowers

Linda: the cherry plum blossom, fresh green buds on the trees full of promise, the weather warm enough to have lunch outside, English asaparagus

Georgie:watching the beautiful sunrises through the bakery windows, seeing groups of people sitting at the tables having a coffee outside “The Yard”, the daffodils in Middle Meadow, the tree outside the bakery coming into leaf

We wondered what you love best about spring? If you’ve got a moment to pause and share your favourite things then we’d love to hear from you. Let us know via Facebook or Twitter before April 30th for a chance to win a copy of our friend, Signe Johansen’s book Scandilicious: Secrets of Scandinavian cooking (which has a great semlor recipe in it by the way!) and some of our award winning sourdough crispbreads, perfect partners for cheese, smoked salmon or anything you fancy.

Competition Rules:

The prize is a Peters Yard jute bag containing Scandilicious: the Secrets of Scandinavian Cooking, 1 x 105g pack of mini crispbread, 1 x 350g pack of large crispbread, 1 x 300g tim of medium crispbread. Approximate value £30, no cash alternative.
The prize can only be shipped to UK mainland adresses so although overseas entries are welcome you will need to have a UK address to receive the prize (it would make a lovely gift).
Entries must be submitted by one of the following means (words or photographs):
- by email to linda@petersyard.com
- by posting a comment or picture on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/PetersYard under the item posted by us called ‘Spring Competition’
- by posting a comment or picture on Twitter mentioning @PetersYard and using the hash tag #PYSpring
- by posting a comment on this blog post
The entry that delights the judges the most will be selected by 5 May 2012. The judges decision is final. We reserve the right to publish the competition results and entries on all of the above media.

We look forward to hearing your thoughts on what makes Spring wonderful for you.

Best wishes and Happy Easter

Credits and copyright:
Herby rolled lamb recipe: Linda Williams
Egg decorations photo: Wendy Wilson Bett
Parsley photo: Peter’s Yard
All other pictures: Linda Williams

ThePrizeFinder – UK Competitions

We brought together our bakery team in Sweden and they spent two days baking, taking the time to create a pizza without any short cuts. When Jan finally decided “this is it” we had our ‘no-compromise pizza’.

The rumour spread around and in the first 8 weeks we sold 5,000 pizza (that’s really not bad given we are situated in the heart of the Swedish country-side, in the middle of no where . . . )

Okay, let´s be honest – we didn´t invent the concept of a ‘no-compromise pizza’.

We´ve been  very much inspired by The Cheeseboard in Berkeley, Ca. A great place!

Ever since summer faded we´ve been thinking about bringing our no-compromise pizza to Quartermile, Edinburgh. Being busy already, we just couldn´t make up our minds, if it was a good idea to add more work-load.

But we just can´t resist.

From Friday January 20 , we will be making our pizza everyday from 4 pm and extend our opening hours to 10 pm . We will take the same care and patience as we do in Sweden, using sourdough, Shipton Mill flour and our own special tomato  sauce recipe.

Just as in Sweden you will only have a choice of 3 types of Pizza:

-       Vegetarian

-       Salami Ventricina  or Parma ham.

-       Anchovies

They will be £10 each .

We will also serve 3 red wines and a white at a fair price. No more.

There will be one or two desserts .

That´s all.

No table service and no reservations.

We want to keep things simple so that we can do it well.

We’ve new recipes for Anchovy and Butter Bean dip, really easy to make from store cupboard ingredients. A Cheese Terrine that’s very simple and a great way to use up some of your cheese board leftovers or as a special treat for cheese lovers. A wonderfully festive coloured Red Roe topping and a twist on the traditional open sandwich topping Skagen.

Our crispbreads remain crisp for sometime but if you want to make them well in advance, you can place a piece of lettuce under the toppings to keep them crisp and crunchy for even longer.

We also like to serve the crispbreads with a platter of smoked salmon or a good cheese board, simple but delicious. You can find some of our other favourite recipes here.

If you are placing orders through our website then the last order date for Christmas and New Year is Wednesday 21 December.

If you are visiting our Edinburgh coffee house or To Go shop please note that we will be closed from 24 December to 2 January so our staff can enjoy time with family and friends. We will re-open on 3 January at 9am.

We hope you have a wonderful Christmas.

About 35 regular customers and loyal friends came along to hear Sig talk about how her love of food started while growing up in Norway, particularly spending time at her grandparents’ fruit farm by the fjords. She learnt many recipes from her grandmother (farmor) and a love of learning about food that has stayed with her as she has travelled to different parts of the world. Currently based in London, Sig is keen to highlight how simple and delicious Scandinavian food can be and how it is often similar to some traditional British dishes. With an even shorter growing season than in the UK, Scandinavians make use of super fresh ingredients while they are plentiful and preserving methods to create delicious stores for winter.

Sig explained how to make two of the dishes we served that evening, Gravlaks with dill sauce and Goats cheese with radish and raspberry vinegar. Both are very simple to make and if you’ve never tried home cured gravlaks it is a revelation of flavour, so much better than you can find in the shops. You can find the recipes for both here along with a recipe shared by one of our guests that evening, Caroline von Schmalensee.

We served our guests the following to go with our crispbreads:

Gravlaks with dill sauce

Goats cheese with radish and raspberry vinegar

Chicken liver pate with pickled beetroot

Lightly smoked cods roe (we used Mills Kaviar, available in the UK at Scandinavian Kitchen)

A selection of cheeses

with traditional Swedish Kladdkaka (gooey chocolate cake) to follow.

…..and everyone had a gift of crispbreads and cardamom buns to take home.

You can read a review by one of or guests, Edinburgh Eats  here, and review of Sig’s book by another guest, Edinbugh Fooby, here.

for an evening of Scandinavian food, drink and conversation with author Signe Johansen

When: 20th October 2011, 7-9pm

Where: Peter’s Yard Edinburgh

Spaces are limited please see the end of this post for details.

Signe Johansen grew up in Norway spending time learning to cook with her farmor (grandmother). She enjoyed learning about everything from cured fish dishes to the many traditional cakes and biscuits. In her first book Scandilicious: Secrets of Scandinavian Cooking she shares her passion for Scandinavian food showing us how simple and delicious it is.

Booking:

Tickets are only available online from We Got Tickets. They are priced at £20 which includes a goodie bag. In addition there is a 10% (£2) booking fee charged by the ticket agent wegottickets.com

We hope you will be able to come along and join us.

(Images from Scandilicious: by Signe Johansen. Hodder & Stoughton. Copyright Debi Trelor)

The guides have been created by the founders of Rough Guides and Cool Camping with a team of independent travel writers deciding on which places to recommend.

Traditionally the day commences with a breakfast of golden coloured saffron buns (Lussekatter), often made in the shape of a cat with raisins for eyes. Later in the day, there is a candle lit procession of girls depicting Lucia, dressed in white robes, carrying candles, singing the haunting hymn of Sainta Lucia. The procession is lead by a girl wearing a red sash over her white robe, along with a crown of burning candles. This is a special day and an important part of the winter celebrations leading up to Christmas.

At this time of year, Swedes enjoy the chance to get together, share food and warm ourselves with a glass of hot glögg. Many people have their own family recipes for glögg and there are always plenty of invitations to join friends to try their spiced, warm wine. Here’s a favourite recipe that Peter recommends. It’s sure to warm you up and put you in the festive spirit.

Glögg

• 5 green cardamom pods, slightly crushed
• 2 cloves
• 3cm piece of cinnamon stick
• 1 teaspoon dried orange peel
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 75ml Madeira or port
• 1 bottle good-quality red wine such as burgundy

Put all the ingredients in a pan (not aluminum) and slowly heat. Do not allow to boil. Strain and drink while still warm. For a more intense flavour leave the spices to infuse for several hours or overnight then strain and gently reheat when ready to drink. Serve in a heatproof bowl, with mugs or glasses and a large ladle.

The main Christmas celebration happens in Sweden on Christmas Eve. Many Swedes visit church in the afternoon and then families and friends come together in the early evening to feast on a traditional Christmas Smörgåsbord. This is similar in some ways to the food served in Britain on Boxing Day with a buffet of gravadlax, smoked salmon, baked hams and salads. Other traditional foods which are less familiar here in Britain over Christmas include a wide range of pickled and cured herring, smoked eel, meatballs, smoked sausages or roasted pork ribs. Hot and cold potato dishes are an important part of the feast as are a wide variety of breads from dense rye to lighter crispbreads. After dinner we exchange presents and children are allowed to stay up late to enjoy the celebrations. Christmas Day is a much quieter day with simpler food and a chance to spend time outdoors enjoying the few hours of daylight, perhaps with a walk followed by another glass of warming glögg.

At Peter’s Yard, we look forward to welcoming you in the run up to Christmas. We will be serving our own hand-baked Lussekatter to celebrate Saint Lucia at our Edinburgh coffee house and if you’d like to try your hand at making Lussekatter yourself then email wendy@petersyard.com for Jan Hedh’s recipe from his forthcoming book Swedish Breads and Pastries.

We are delighted to have been awarded 2 Gold stars for our sourdough crispbreads in the Savoury Bread Category. Having won in 2008/9 it’s great that we have achieved an even higher award this time, with the judges commenting on their attractive appearance, crispness and delicious taste.

There were a record number of entrants with over 6000 submitting products and tougher selection criteria this year, making the award feel even more special. Over 350 experts including key buyers, retailers, chefs and food writers blind tasted entries to ensure they were fairly and independently assessed. Before two or three stars were awarded, up to 20 judges had to unanimously agree that the entry had achieved absolute perfection!

It just goes to show that making a product properly, really does make a difference. Well done and thank you to our lovely bakery team and to the suppliers of our ingredients, especially Shipton Mill for their wonderful organic flour!

Find out more about our crispbreads, buy them on line or be inspired by our recipe suggestions.

For those who like our coffee you can now buy our espresso beans in our Savour To Go shop and you grind them on site to your own specification. Choose between our in-house blend Janszoon and the wonderful new Suomi blend, named because Finland consumes more coffee per capita than anyone else in the world, mind you Sweden comes second!

Because we like to make sure that good ingredients are kept as fresh as possible we spent lots of time thinking about the best way to store coffee at home. We searched books and the web trying to understand the pros and cons of all the possibilities. Fridge or not? Finally we found a new product from Planetary Design, who make the best thermo mugs in the world.

Airscape.

A clever canister that creates a vacuum like seal and keeps the coffee really fresh for much longer.

Our only problem was there were no distributors in Europe. But a few emails later and Brooke Billadeau at Planetary Design back in Missoula, USA solved our problem by sending us a few boxes. Now available in our Savour To Go shop in 5 great colours.

If, for any reason, the weather turns into one long balmy blue sky filled August then we’ve eight different flavours of artisan ice-cream for you to try, all equally delicious and made with real fruit, real cream and real care.

From 30 July to 29 August Savour To Go will have extended opening hours from midday to 8pm daily.

Our new website, is about sharing with you our passion for fresh food made with pure ingredients, like our ice cream and our sandwiches. We’ll tell you about the origins of our food and their connections to Sweden, we’ll share recipe suggestions and our food stories. We hope to create an online fika.

For those who don’t know our story well, so far it runs like this…

Back in 2001, a late night dinner conversation with friends about making good bread combined with a healthy appetite for challenges, led Peter, our founder, to join with his friend Christer, to open Olof Viktors, their first bakery café in the countryside in Southern Sweden. With its traditional wood-fired oven and handmade breads, Olof Viktors has become a much-loved part of Osterlen, but Peter was ready for a new challenge: bringing great bread and Swedish food ideas to the UK. Intrigued by the Edinburgh portrayed in Ian Rankin’s Rebus novels Peter chose it as his base. Working closely with Swedish Master Baker Jan Hedh to create a wonderful range of artisan breads, Swedish cakes and crispbreads and with his friend, architect and furniture designer Nirvan Richter to design the modern Swedish décor, Peter opened our first Peter’s Yard coffee house and bakery in late 2007 in Edinburgh’s Quartermile. There, fika has found a natural home, and the coffee house has quickly built up a loyal clientele of fascinating people.

In 2008, Peter joined forces with Wendy and Ian to bring some of our favourite bakery products to a wider audience across the country, starting with crispbreads, a somewhat misunderstood traditional Scandinavian speciality. Our crispbreads are handmade to a traditional Swedish recipe using Shipton Mill organic flour and our own sourdough starter, making them crisp, light and the perfect base for cheese, smoked salmon, butter, in fact anything you would usually serve with good bread. The response from everyone who tries them has been wonderful and now we are starting to develop new sizes and alternative recipes. Your ideas are always welcome.

We’ve plans afoot for our coffee house and for our other bakery favourites. We’ll share them with you here as they progress. We hope that way, we can keep in touch with friends old and new.