Tips for Hotels in Stockholm

I get asked a lot about hotels in Stockholm.  I have actually stayed myself in very few hotels.  But I can help you with location and atmosphere.  Here are my tips.

AREAS OF TOWN:

The most desirable and expensive area of town is Östermalm.  From Östermalm, you will be able to walk to almost everything you will want to see and there are loads of cute cafes and restaurants.  Many of the main museums and sights are in this area of town. These days, almost the entire main island (which Östermalm is on), including Norrmalm and Vasastan is pretty expensive and chic.  The only area to avoid is near the Central Station.  The area surrounding there was built up in the 60s and 70s and although very central, is not that charming.  Most of my hotel recommendations will be in Östermalm/Norrmalm, mainly because everything you will want to see is here and because I know this area of town the best.

Gamla Stan is the historic old city.  This is probably the most touristy area of Stockholm, but is nonetheless still a lived in area and is extremely charming.  If you go off the main touristy street, you will find charming cafes, antique stores, and little boutiques.

Södermalm is the "Soho" of Stockholm.  It is hipster central and all the coolest hipster restaurants are in this area.  Historically, it was where the lower class workers lived but now is almost as expensive as Östermalm. Parts of it are very charming but other parts are a bit blah.  I am not in this area of town that much, so I don't know much about the hotels here.

Kungsholmen is another area that you might think of.  It is a bit off the main path and doesn't have any museums that I know about,other than of course the very famous city hall, which is well worth a visit.  It has many great bathing areas and it is lovely to walk around the entire perimeter of the island, providing you have good weather! It also has tons of cute cafes and restaurants.  Make sure you are in the side near to Vasastan/Normalm.

Public transportation between all these areas is extensive and easy.  Stockholm is a great walking city and is not that large.  I live in the NW part of Vasastan (near St Eriksplan subway) and I can probably walk to most of the museums and areas that I have discussed within 20 to 40 minutes.

HOTELS:

The Grand Hotel is arguably the best and most luxurious large hotel in town and it is not a chain.  It is one of the most expensive in town so it may be beyond your budget, but you can use it to benchmark prices.  The Cadier Bar off the lobby is an amazing place for people watching, as many famous people stay there.  The view is gorgeous overlooking the water.  Their afternoon tea is the most luxurious in Stockholm.  They also have a number of good restaurants, including Mattias Dahlgren's Matbaren, a delicious modern Nordic tapas style restaurant. https://www.grandhotel.se/en

Lydmar is a very chic boutique hotel, next door to the Grand, and possibly even more expensive.  A nice place for lunch in the summer is their terrace bar, hidden upstairs and their main restaurant is very chic and popular with well-heeled locals. http://lydmar.com/

Raddisson Blu Strand is in an equally desirable location on the water but about half the price.  Normally, I wouldn't recommend a chain hotel like this but the location is so so good.  https://www.radissonblu.com/en/strandhotel-stockholm

Story Hotel also has a great central location but is a smaller boutique hotel with a fun bar/restaurant.   http://storyhotels.com/riddargatan/

Nobis is also well located on a square off the most expensive shopping area.  A bit cheaper than the Grand and Lydmar.  The lobby is a nice place for drinks. http://nobishotel.se/en/

Hotel Diplomat is another waterfront hotel with some great bars.  I especially like the little wood paneled upstairs bar on the first floor.  It is small and intimate and a great place for a conversation. About the same price as Nobis.  http://www.diplomathotel.com/en/hotel-diplomat-stockholm/

Hotel Kung Karl is a Best Western I think, although I wouldn't guess that from the lobby which is very chic, with a pretty bar area.  It has a great location in the middle of everything and has a really nice weekend brunch with a cute homey atmosphere. Relatively inexpensive for Stockholm.  http://www.kungcarl.se/en/

Mornington is another little hotel in Ostermalm.  Modern.  Across the street is a great restaurant/bar (Nybrogatan 38).

Miss Clara by Nobis is on a busy not so charming street.  But it is still very central.  Rooms are modern.

Urban Deli Hotel is just down the street from Miss Clara.  Urban Deli itself is a hip cafe/restaurant/bar/shop, trying to be Dean and Deluca in NYC, if you have been there.  I think the rooms are probably pretty basic.

Haymarket is a new hotel.  I have no idea what the rooms are like but the bar/restaurant area is very chic and crowded in the evenings. It is on a market square, so it is quite nice to come out in the morning to the vegetable and flower stands. Nip downstairs on the other side of the square into the food hall to have a bite to eat or just to admire all the lovely food on display.

Freys Hotel is a smaller located in the area near the Central Station that I told you to avoid.  But it is on a little side street and I recommend it because I have been there for a seminar and they had amazing service with all sorts of nice details.  Assuming that it is the same management, then I am willing to bet that the hotel is very well run.  They have a Belgian themed restaurant that is nice.

http://www.freyshotels.com/en

Lord Nelson/Lady Hamilton are little old fashioned hotels on Gamla Stan.  Filled with creaky staircases and doilies.  If you like history, then it is full of dusty charm.  http://www.thecollectorshotels.se/en/lord-nelson

https://www.thecollectorshotels.se/en/lady-hamilton

Rival is in Södermalm.  I have been there for their nice breakfast buffet.  To be honest, I just looked at the prices and I was a bit shocked at how much it was--I don't think it is worth that much!  But if you are longing to stay in Södermalm, then you could consider this.  http://www.rival.se/en

Finally, you might try airbnb.  It is very popular here.

Do you have a favorite hotel in Stockholm?

Swedish Cinnamon Buns and Safrron Buns (Kanelbullar och Saffransbullar)

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending a baking class arranged by the SIS Out and About Club.  We had a lovely teacher, NikAnnika Märak, who taught us a few tricks.  Among other things, I learned that I have been making my dough way too dry. Our teacher kept hers very wet.  Basically you just have to have to learn to live with goopy hands.  But as you knead the dough, it becomes less sticky. 

I also learnt a new filling.  The classic filling for cinnamon buns is just butter, sugar and cinnamon.  Ms. Märak added almond meal which added a lovely subtle flavor and thickened the filling so it didn't just all drizzle out of the bun when you cooked it.

Cinnamon Buns (Kanelbullar)

About 16 buns

Dough

75 grams butter (smör)

2.5 deciliters milk (mjölk)

25 grams fresh yeast (jäst), sold in 50 grams cubes in the refrigerated section, normally near the butter

½ deciliters sugar (strösocker)

1 egg (ägg)

1 spice spoon salt (a pinch)

1 teaspoon cardamom (kardemumma)

420 grams all-purpose flour (vetemjöl)

Filling

100 grams butter at room temperature (smör)

1 deciliter almond four (mandelmjöl)

150 grams sugar (strösocker)

3 tablespoons cinnamon (kanel)

Handful of pearl sugar (pärlsocker) for garnish

Melt the butter in a small pan on the stove, or in the microwave.  Crumble the yeast into a large bowl.  Add the milk into the butter and stir.  Stick your finger into the butter/milk mixture.  It should be about body temperature.  If it feel hot to the touch, let it cool because a too high heat will kill the yeast.  Pour the butter/milk mixture in the bowl with the yeast and stir until the yeast is dissolved.  Add the rest of the ingredients for the dough (egg, cardamom, salt, sugar, and flour).  Stir the ingredients until it forms a dough.  The dough should be quite wet and sticky.  Knead the dough on the counter or on a board, using a bit of flour but not too much.  The dough will become easier to work and less sticky as you knead it.  Knead until it is smooth and elastic.  If you are kneading by hand, you cannot overknead.  Put the dough back in the bowl and dust with flour.  Put plastic wrap over the bowl and let it rise for at least 30 minutes until it roughly doubles.  If the room is cold, it will take longer to rise.

Meanwhile, mix together all the ingredients for the filling in a small bowl.

Some of the different shapes you can make.

Put the dough out onto a lightly floured board or counter.  Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to a rectangle about ½ centimetre thick.  Spread the filling over the dough.  Roll up the dough and shape into buns.  Put the buns onto a baking sheet covered with parchment/baking paper (bakplåtspapper).  Turn on the oven to 225 degrees Celsius.

Let the buns rise for 30 minutes (a bit more if the room is cold).  Brush the buns with beaten egg mixed with a bit of water.  Sprinkle over pearl sugar (pärlsocker).  Bake in the oven 8 to 10 minutes until golden brown.

Saffron Buns (Saffransbullar)

About 16 buns

Dough

75 grams butter (smör)

2.5 deciliters milk (mjölk)

25 grams fresh yeast (jäst), sold in 50 grams cubes in the refrigerated section, normally near the butter

1 deciliter sugar (strösocker)

1 egg (ägg)

1 spice spoon salt (a pinch)

1 packet ground saffron (saffron), ie. 0.5 grams

420 grams all purpose flour (vetemjöl)

Filling, if desired

100 grams butter at room temperature (smör)

1 deciliter almond four (mandelmjöl)

150 grams sugar (strösocker)

3 tablespoons vanilla sugar

Handful of pearl sugar (pärlsocker), raisins, or flaked almonds for garnish

Melt the butter in a small pan on the stove, or in the microwave.  Crumble the yeast into a large bowl.  Add the milk into the butter and stir.  Stick your finger into the butter/milk mixture.  It should be about body temperature.  If it feel hot to the touch, let it cool because a too high heat will kill the yeast.  Pour the butter/milk mixture in the bowl with the yeast and stir until the yeast is dissolved.  Add the rest of the ingredients for the dough (egg, saffron, salt, sugar, and flour).  Stir the ingredients until it forms a dough.  

The dough should be quite wet and sticky.  Knead the dough on the counter or on a board, using a bit of flour but not too much.  The dough will become easier to work and less sticky as you knead it.  Knead until it is smooth and elastic.  If you are kneading by hand, you cannot overknead.  Put the dough back in the bowl and dust with flour.  Put plastic wrap over the bowl and let it rise for at least 30 minutes until it roughly doubles.  If the room is cold, it will take longer to rise.

Meanwhile, mix together all the ingredients for the filling, if you are using it.

Put the dough out onto a lightly floured board or counter.  If you don’t want the filling, divide the dough into 16 pieces and shape as desired, using the raisins for garnish.

For filled buns, using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to a rectangle about ½ centimetre thick.  Spread the filling over the dough.  Roll up the dough and shape into buns.  Put the buns onto a baking sheet covered with parchment/baking paper (bakplåtspapper).  Turn on the oven to 225 degrees celcius.

Let the buns rise for 30 minutes (a bit more if the room is cold).  Brush the buns with beaten egg mixed with a bit of water.*  Sprinkle over pearl sugar (pärlsocker), or flaked almonds.  Bake in the oven 8 to 10 minutes until golden brown.

You can also brush them with sugar syrup instead of egg if desired.  To make the sugar syrup, boil 1 dl sugar with 1 dl water until the sugar is fully melted.  Cool.

Christmas Cookies: Pepparkakor

I love the holidays.  I love the crisp cold air, the festive lights and displays in store windows, the happy smiles of children, and sipping hot chocolate with marshmallows in front of a fire.  Put some mint schnapps in the hot chocolate, and life is even better! I also love holiday traditions, which is probably because I grew up in a house without any holiday traditions.  When I was old enough to care, this seemed to me a great freedom.  One year for Christmas dinner we might have a ham, another year a goose.  Or we might just go out to a Chinese restaurant instead.  We experimented and we had a lot of fun.  I pitied my friends who had to have the same boring ham every year.

On the other hand, my parents didn’t really care about Christmas or the holidays.  While my brother and I were children, they went through the motions.  They decorated a tree, perpetuated the Santa Claus myth, and we woke up to wrapped presents under the tree.  But as I got older, it was always me who decorated the tree and me who planned the Christmas dinner menu.  On the last year before I moved away to University, it seemed I was the only one who cared at all.  No one had made any Christmas preparations, bought a tree, or decorated the house.   The day before Christmas, I went out to get a tree, which was kind of ragged and sad looking being one of the only three left in the tree lot.  I decorated it all by myself.  Everyone laughed when they saw the tree; it was so scraggly and forlorn.

Perhaps this is why, when I had my own children, I was determined to have things for them to look forward to, to create that magical Christmas spirit that they would enjoy, not just as children but as adults also.  So my husband and I have made our own traditions.   Fun traditions.  One of our favorite traditions is making cookies to decorate our tree.  When our first son, Gustaf, was just two years old, inspired by a magazine cover, I decided to make some cookies and hang them on a tree.  I made stars, snowflakes, and gingerbread boys.  Since I was the only one decorating, they were decorated with only white frosting in delicate curlicues with an occasional silver dragee.  They were elegant and looked fabulous on the tree. 

Peter was inspired by my efforts and made a batch of the Christmas cookies of his childhood, a ginger cookie and insisted that I buy a pig cookie cutter, which is a traditional Swedish shape. My white decorations looked fabulous on those, also. 

When the children were very small, they loved these cookies, so much so, that we had to keep a vigilant eye on the tree to make sure that the cookies stayed on through Christmas.  We let them eat one cookie each on the days leading up to Christmas, and then we let them go at it when Christmas was through.

 

When the children got a bit older, they were not content to let me decorate the cookies by myself, they wanted to help.  I can confess that the first year that they decorated; I let them eat their creations and only hung up my own.  But the next year, they were old enough to notice that I wasn’t hanging up their cookies and insisted that theirs be up there too.  So, I hung up their cookies, with their blobs of frosting and off-kilter smears.  When the cookies were all hung, I realized that even the worst decorated cookie, artistically speaking, still looked great.  All the colors just blurred into a happy, comforting, delicious looking tree.  When the boys were 4 and 7, I asked them what was their favorite thing about Christmas, expecting the answer to be the presents, but both boys said without hesitation, “Decorating the Christmas cookies!”  They still love it and so do I. Here is the recipe for Swedish pepparkakor, a spiced ginger cookie.

2 dl sugar

1 dl water

1 dl light syrup

125 grams butter

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

½ tablespoon ground cardamom

½ tablespoon ground cloves

½ tablespoon ground dried bitter orange peel (pomeransskal)*

1 teaspoon ground ginger

Grated zest of one orange

7 dl (about 375 grams) of all purpose flour

½ tablespoon baking soda

Cut the butter in pieces and put in a large bowl.  Measure out all the spices and put them in the bowl with the butter.

Combine sugar, water, and syrup in a saucepan and heat on the stove until it reaches a rolling boil.  

Pour the hot sugar mixture over the butter and stir until the butter is melted.  Let the mixture cool until room temperature.  Mix in the flour and baking soda to form a loose dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough sit in the refrigerator overnight (or longer).  The dough will firm up as it sits.

When ready to bake, take a small portion of the dough and knead a bit.  Roll out the dough on a floured board and use cookie cutters to cut into whatever shape is desired.  You can use a thin spatula to help you lift up the cut cookies.  Lay the cookies on a buttered baking sheet or a sheet with parchment paper.  Bake in an oven 180 C (350 F) for about 8 to 10 minutes, depending on the thickness of the cookie.  Keep an eye on the first batch to see when it is done because these cookies are easy to burn.

You can garnish the cookies with almond halves, if you like.  Press the halves firmly into the dough before baking.

*Pomeransskal, dried bitter orange peel, is readily sold in Swedish stores.  If you cannot find this, you can increase the amount of fresh orange zest or omit it all together.

Christmas Stollen

The holiday season brings upon a flurry of baking in my house.  This year, I was inspired by a recipe in the Wall Street Journal to make a Christmas Stollen, which a German sweet bread studded with rum soaked fruit.  Perusing different recipes for stollen, I came across one on the BBC which incorporated a swirl of marzipan.  In order to get the correct proportions of yeast and flour, I had to find a Swedish recipe which was adapted to the live yeast that you can buy here.  Collating and cross referencing these different recipes took a bit of time, with the result that it took me almost all day, even with the dilligent help of Gustaf, to bake these loaves.  Then, distracted by making dinner, I messed up on the final baking of the loaves, baking them at too high a heat, an error I did not notice until I checked on the loaves about half way through the cooking time and saw that they were already quite brown on top.  I had to take my loaves out in order for them not to burn, with the sad result that the center of the loaf is a tiny bit gooey and underdone.  Peter assures me that it tastes better that way but he is a guy that steals raw dough as I am making it.  While the final result is a bit dissapointing to me, the flavor is excellent and I can see that it would have been perfect if not for that too high temperature.  But now you are forewarned, so yours will perfect.  I promise.

Enough for 2 stollen

100 grams candied orange peel

200 grams raisins

200 grams other dried fruit (for example, currents, cranberries, apricots, pineapple, figs, citron peel etc), chopped into appropriate sized pieces

1 dl rum

2 dl almonds, slivered

35 grams yeast

2 dl Milk

2 eggs

200 grams butter, at room temperature

5 dl (270 grams) strong bread flour

5 to 8  dl (about 300 to 450 grams) all-purpose flour

50 grams sugar 

1 pinch salt

1 whole Lemon or orange zest

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

400 grams Marzipan, optional

The night before you want to make the bread, mix the raisins, orange peel, and dried fruit together and add the rum, mixing it all together.  Let the mixture stand overnight to absorb the rum, stirring occasionally if you can be bothered.  When you are ready to begin the bread, strain the fruit, reserving the residual rum to brush onto the bread after baking.

Make the starter by crumbling the yeast into a large bowl.  Warm your milk in a small pan on the stove to about 100 degrees F, slightly warm to your finger.  Be careful not to warm to much because you will kill your yeast.  Stir the warm milk into the bowl with yeast until the yeast is fully dissolved.  Add 2 dl flour, mix well and allow the starter to stand for half an hour, after which the yeast will have puffed up the mixture.

Into the bowl with the starter, add 5 dl of bread flour, sugar, salt, nutmeg, cloves and zest of either one lemon or orange.  Stir the ingredients together, to form a stiff dough.  Add about one quarter of the softened butter, alternating with a decilitre of all purpose flour.  Knead with your hands, in the bowl, until the butter and flour are incorporated, and then add more butter.  Continue until all the butter is incorporated and you have a nice dough that is still soft but not too sticky.  You should have used about three to four deciliters of the all purpose flour.  Turn the dough out onto a generously floured board and knead for at least 15 minutes until the dough is elastic and smooth.  During this kneading process, incorporate a further decilitre or two of flour.  Once the dough is fully kneaded, spread it out a bit on your board, sprinkle with some all-purpose flour, and pour over about half of your dried fruit.  Draw the dough over the fruit and knead together, addingmore flour when the dough gets sticky.  When the fruit is incorporated, repeat the procedure with the remaining fruit.  Finally, add in the slivered almonds. 

Shape the dough into a neat ball and put into a bowl and cover with a towel to rise for about an hour until the dough doubles in size.  At this point, you can also put the dough in the refrigerator and let it rise more slowly overnight, if you prefer, in order for you to bake it the morning. A slower yeasting brings out more complex flavors in the bread, and is commonly used among artisan breadmakers to get a finer more flavorful bread.  However, in this case, the bread is so highly flavoured with spices and other ingredients, that it seems to me the subtle flavour differences brought upon by a slow yeasting are irrelevant.  However, you still may want to use the slower yeasting to adjust the timing of baking your bread to fit your schedule.

Once the bread has finished its first rise, knead it for a minute or two and divide the dough in half. (You can also bake one large loaf, if you prefer.) 

For the marzipan swirl, take each half of the dough and roll out, using a rolling pin, to a rectangle.  Take half of the marzipan (200 grams) and roll out to a rectangle, slightly smaller than the dough.  Use powdered sugar to keep the marzipan from sticking to your board.  Put the marzipan on the dough and roll up the dough on the long side of the rectangle.  Pinch the ends shut and pinch the dough to seal it on the edge, making sure there is no marzipan sticking out.  Place the roll on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper.  Repeat for the second piece of dough.  If you prefer not to have the marzipan in the dough, then simply shape each ball of dough into a long loaf shape.

Cover with a towel and let the bread rise for the second time, for about an hour or until the loaves double in size.  Bake in a 180 degree Celsius (350 degree F) oven for 35 to 45 minutes until the loaves are brown.  Do not be tempted to raise the temperature to get a faster bake because the sugar in the dough will make the loaves brown too quickly, while the inside will remain uncooked.

When the loaves have cooled but are still warm, brush the loaves with the leftover rum from soaking the fruit.  Then brush with melted butter and sprinkle liberally with powdered sugar.  When the cake is cooled, you can sprinkle some more powdered sugar over, if you like, to make a more even “white” surface.  Cut into slices to serve.

Lucia Rolls

• 
  Santa Lucia is a holiday in Sweden celebrated on December 13th.  Leading up to the day, the prettiest girl in town is chosen to represent the saint in a candlelit procession.  Lucia is an Italian saint who lived in Sicily about 1,800 years ago and who died for her Christian faith.  She became very celebrated throughout Italy and her day has been marked on the calendar and celebrated in Sweden since medieval times.  However, today's Swedish tradition dates very much from the lat 19th century and has more to with a celebration of light than Christianity.  What is important about the holiday, is of course, the food.  Traditionally, saffron flavored sweet rolls are served along with copious quantities of mulled wine.

Lussekatter, as these rolls are called in Sweden, are a slightly sweetened saffron bread.  They are actually a bit bland to eat, but the flavor grows on you;  the first mouthful is a bit dull but by the end of the roll, you are ready for another.  I wanted to liven the traditional recipe with some candied orange peel and perhaps a topping of rock sugar, but my family protested terribly against any alteration from the traditional!

•  200 grams butter
• 1 gram powdered saffron
• 5 dl milk
  ½ dl whipping cream
  50 grams live yeast
  2 eggs
  1 pinch salt
  2 ½ dl sugar
  16 to 17 dl bread flour
  For garnish, a handful of raisins and an egg for the wash

• Melt the butter in a large pot on the stove with the saffron.   Take off the stove.  Measure out the milk.  Pour the milk into the butter until the mixture feels  just warm to your finger.  Set any remaining milk aside.  Crumble the yeast cake into the butter/milk mixture and stir until the yeast is fully dissolved.  Add the rest of the milk and the cream to this mixture. 

In large bowl, measure out 14 dl of the bread flour, the salt and the sugar.  Make a hole in the middle of the flour and break in the two eggs.  Beat lightly with a fork and then pour in the milk/butter mixture.  Stir the flour and liquids together with a large wooden spoon until it is combined.  If you feel that the mixture is firm enough to knead, you can turn it out onto a floured board.  If it is still too sticky, add more flour until you feel it is firm enough. 

Generously flour your hands and the board and knead the dough, adding more flour when the dough gets sticky.  Knead for about 10 minutes until the dough becomes smooth and elastic.  Put in a bowl and cover with a towel and leave to rise for an hour.

Punch the dough down and knead for about a minute to get the air bubbles out.  Cut the dough into four pieces and then cut each quarter into 6 to 8 pieces.  Roll each piece into a long snake.  Curl the snake in opposite directions on each side until you meet at the middle.  Stick a raisin into the center of each curl.  Place onto a baking sheet covered with parchment paper, leaving plenty of room for the buns to rise.  Cover with a towel and leave to rise for about an hour.

• Beat an egg and brush the tops of each bun. Heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius and bake for 8 to 10 minutes until golden on the top.
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  

Thanksgiving Sides

Thanksgiving is getting closer and I am starting to think about the menu. As we have not been living in the U.S. for the last ten years, Thanksgiving has been an excuse for us to give a big party, rather than the family event it is here. We have had a couple of really memorable ones. One year, when we lived in Stockholm, we borrowed a greenhouse which was part of a cafe in the summer, only a few minutes walk from our house. Peter spent hours filling the greenhouse with candles, and lit the snowy path from our house to the greenhouse with torches. It was really beautiful. The guests had drinks at our house and then walked in the dark, following the torches up the road to see a glowing greenhouse in the white snow. Meanwhile, my friend Marybeth and I furiously cooked in the cafe's kitchen...we got to use their industrial ovens and potato peeler; which was a good thing because we had about 50 guests. The next morning, we staggered back to the cafe, after having had about 4 hours of sleep to clean up the whole thing. We had a plane to catch to Brussels in the afternoon, so there was no sleeping in. After that experience, I always try to remember to hire someone to clean up after a big party...a luxury, yes, but it makes it so much nicer! Another excellent Thanksgiving was in London a few years back. My friend Nancy came and we cooked up a really fantastic spread, with about a million side dishes, two kinds of cranberry sauce, a gorgeous cheese plate, and 3 desserts, including a lemon rose cake. That feast was probably the pinnacle of food excellence for any of our Thanksgivings.

Judging by all the articles in magazines about turkey, people seem to focus on the bird. But for me, Thanksgiving is all about sides. Who cares if the bird is dry? Smother that baby in Madeira mushroom gravy and eat it with potato squash gratin and brussel sprouts with chestnuts, and who is going to notice a little dryness? I like to cook up new sides every year, while still keeping the same categories of potato, squash, and something green. Here are some side dishes that I really like, mostly from that gourmet Thanksgiving in London.

Spicy Sweet Potato (serves 4 to 6)
I do this quite often. I like to serve it with roasted pork belly. The sweet spiciness tastes great with pork. This is really easy to do, but the spices make it a bit dramatic. You could also do the same thing with squash, like pumpkin or acorn squash. It won't be as rich or sweet, but still it will be nice.

2 large sweet potatoes
1 floury potato (you can just use another sweet potato here, as I have often done, and nothing bad happens, but the spiciness is a bit less pronounced)
1/2 stick butter
some fresh rosemary
1 fresh red chili (heat of chili according to taste)
3 to 4 cloves of garlic

Peel and boil the potatoes until tender. Mash. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a saucepan. Lightly chop the rosemary. Peel the garlic and slice. Finely slice the red chili. Add spices to melted butter. Cook until butter is golden brown. Add hot butter and spices to mash. Stir it in and serve hot. The mash can be made in advance and kept in the refrigerator. To serve, heat up the mash in the microwave, remember to stir to make sure it is evenly hot, make the butter spice mixture, and mix.

Antonio Carluccio's Savoy Cabbage with Pancetta (serves 4 to 6)
Bacon and cabbage always taste great together. Actually, bacon tastes good with most things, I find. Anyway, this is really easy and really nice.

1 large Savoy cabbage (this is the medium colored green one with really crinkly leaves)
4 tablespoons olive oil
100 grams unsmoked bacon or pancetta, cut into matchsticks
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 dried red chili, crumbled
300 milliliters water
salt and pepper to taste
Quarter the cabbage, core and slice thinly. Heat oil, add bacon, garlic and chili. Fry for two minutes. Do not brown the garlic. Add the cabbage and water, season to taste. Stir and cook covered for 10 to 15 minutes until the liquid is largely evaporated and cabbage is cooked tender. I like to leave a little bit of bite in the cabbage, but others like cabbage very soft. Do it as you like.

Lemon Green Beans
This is from Nigella Lawson's cookbook called Feast. Simple and tasty. I love the freshness of the lemon in contrast to all the other heavier, creamier, side dishes.

1 kg fine green beans, topped and tailed
75 grams butter
few drops olive oil
1 lemon
Sat and pepper to taste

Bring a pot of water to the boil, throw in some salt, and blanch the beans for about 6 minutes after the water comes back to the boil. The beans should have lost their raw taste but retain crunch. Strain them and put them back in the pot on stove on low heat with. Throw in the butter and olive oil. While the butter melts, prepare the lemon. Peel the lemon, making sure to take off all the white pith (the easiest way is put the lemon on the cutting board, and slice off both ends. Then set the lemon on one end, and slice off the skin downwards, turning it as you go). Slice the peeled lemon, letting it fall apart into bits. Push the sliced lemon bits and any juice into the pot of beans. Stir the pan and add salt and pepper to taste.

Truffle Potato Gratin
I made up this recipe because I had a bottle of gorgeous truffle oil, and I needed something to do with it. What could be yummier than cream, potatoes and truffles? The recipe below isn't actually how I did it. I just sliced the potatoes, layered them with salt, pepper, cream and truffle oil, then I baked the whole thing until the potatoes are tender. However, I have always felt that my potato gratins don't have the right lucious texture and it is often a hit or miss thing. I have recently read a couple of recipes that do this pre-cooking and I bet that is the trick to a really good dish. So, I am giving you the recipe that I am going to make NEXT time I do this dish, based again on one of Nigella Lawson's recipes.

500 ml mil
500 ml heavy cream
1 onion
2 to 3 bay leaves
4 peeled cloves garlic
1 1/2 tablespoon salt
2 kilo floury potatoes
truffle oil to taste
butter for greasing the dish

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees C (about 450 F). Put milk and cream into a large pot that will be able to fit in all the potatoes. Cut onion in half, put in pot along with bay leaves, garlic cloves and salt. Bring the cream mixture nearly to the boiling point. Turn off the heat, cover, and let the onion and bay leaves infuse.

Meanwhile, peel potatoes and cut into slices (about 1 cm thick, or a bit more than 1/4 inch). Put the potatoes in with the cream in the pot and brink back to boil with lid on. Lower the heat to simmer, taking off the lid if necessary to avoid milk overflowing the pan. Cook the potatoes until they are tender, but not dissolving into mush. Fish out onions and bay leaves. Season with truffle oil, pepper and salt, to taste. Grease a large roasting pan with butter and pour in the potato mixture. Cook in the oven for 15 minutes or until the potato is bubbling and brown on top. Sprinkle some more truffle oil on the top. Let stand for a bit before serving.