My kitchen is … older than I am. I’m in north Sweden, so it has and perhaps, that’s what I love the most about it. The woodburning stove and the two large windows that overlook the forest around us. There are many layers of paint on our white kitchen table and a set of chipped cornflower blue chairs. It’s a kitchen made of mismatched memories and many kanelbullar (Swedish cinnamon buns). In the morning, we sit at the table over breakfast and watch the deer. In the afternoon, before dinner is made, I will most likely bake a cake or some biscuits. Of course, the counter space is never enough (is it ever, really?), so more often than not, I end up retreating to the table.
My favourite kitchen tool is … my collection of scrapers, both metal and plastic. I use them for almost everything I make; from folding whipped cream into a mousse to collecting sliced fruits on my chopping board, from scraping dough out of a bowl to trimming rolled out pastry. It is truly an essential, and a tool I couldn’t do without.
My storecupboard staple is … a happy troupe of flours, sugars, eggs and butter. I always have a few different kinds of flour: plain, both fine and stoneground, strong white flour (my favourite to use for bullar), rye, spelt, and wholewheat for bread. And, when it comes to sugars, this is where the magic happens: caster, demerara, muscovado – light and dark – coconut, pearl sugar, icing sugar, and many more.
When I’m starving I … make tartines, a sort of open sandwich that we French are very fond of. The bread might be homemade sourdough or a loaf of danskt rågbröd (Danish rye bread); perhaps even, tunnbröd (soft flatbread) – a favourite in our house. As for the toppings, it all depends on what we have in the fridge and on the counter that day. A boiled egg, some finely sliced leftover potatoes, and a few bits of cured herring. A mashed avocado with sliced fresh chilli, and a heavy-handed squeeze of lemon juice. And, if we’re lucky and Kalle caught a fish, then I always go for a few slices of gravlax or hot-smoked trout on a thick bed of creme fraiche.
My culinary inspiration is … my grand-mère Odette; she’s the one who taught me to respect produce and turn it into beautiful desserts. Every summer, we’d wake up early and bike to the market to get the freshest fish, and a basketful of vegetables and fruits. The rest of the day would be spent in the kitchen; making plans for dinner while madeleines are starting to show their characteristic bump in the oven. On Wednesdays, we’d make waffles, with beer and fresh yeast. So yes, it might not get any more clichéd than this, but she’s the best person in world and my biggest inspiration.
My best-kept kitchen secret is … to pipe a fine line of softened butter in the centre of a loaf cake before it goes in the oven. This will produce a neat crack that looks absolutely wonderful. And while we’re on the subject of loaf cakes, I always bake them for 5 minutes at 180C, 10 minutes at 170C, 15 minutes at 160C and finish for another 10-15 minutes at 150C. This technique, developed by my mentor Andrew Gravett, creates a perfect cake every single time. Also, make sure to unmould your loaf cake while it’s still warm, and wrap it in clingfilm to keep it moist.
My current obsession is … anything Swedish. We moved here from London a year or so ago, but I’m still in the freshly fallen-in-love phase. Everything is exciting; from the way the Swedes cut their biscuits to their unconditional love for bullar.
Everything tastes better with … salt. Be it Maldon, Guérande salt – my absolute favourite – or the Swedish flingsalt. I love to add whole flakes to cakes, biscuits and cookies; but if I’m not after little nuggets of saltiness in my patisseries, I simply blitz the salt into a thinner powder as I find flaky salts much less acidic than regular table salt.
When I go shopping I … always bring along a little list. Perhaps conditioned by my job as a pastry chef, I keep an almost military inventory of what we have in our kitchen. It makes shopping so much easier. However, once we’re at the shops, other than the list I’ve brought along, we usually decide about dinners on the spot. And we always leave with a trolley fuller than it should be, and possibly more bags of flour than I’d ever need.
For dinner tonight …we have sidfläsk (pork belly). With potatoes boiled with a bouquet of dill and served with a fat piece of butter, and with beer, onions, rosemary, thyme and a generous amount of white pepper. For dessert, we’ll most likely have a slice of the brown-butter and rye flour kladdkaka (chocolate cake) I made last night.
- Fanny Zanotti is a pastry chef, food writer and illustrator. @fannycacahuete
