Chef Ebba’s Recipe Box

Ebba Gurney has been cooking up a storm. Here are two of her favorites to spice up your quarantine.

BY LOEY JONES-PERPICH AND EBBA GURNEY Photography by Ebba Gurney

Cashew mac n' cheese (It’s vegan!)

½ cup cashews 3 ½ teaspoons minced garlic 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 ½ cups cold water ½ cup panko breadcrumbs ¼ teaspoon paprika 1 ½ teaspoons salt 1 tablespoon vegan butter 1 ½ tablespoons flour 1 ½ tablespoons nutritional yeast 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar ⅛ teaspoon turmeric 8oz elbow pasta

Add 1/2 cup of cashews, a couple teaspoons of minced garlic and 1.5 cups of water to a blender and mix really well, about 30-60 seconds. Put this aside. Pro tip: Soak the cashews in water for a couple hours if your blender isn’t very powerful, but if you have a Vitamix or food processor you’re fine.

Put a pot of water on to boil. Next, grab a pan; I used a medium cast iron. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and let that heat up for a bit. Add panko bread crumbs, paprika and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Stir that for about 5 minutes until it’s golden, and then just put it in bowl and set aside. When your pasta water is done boiling, cook about 8 oz of macaroni. I just poured in about 1/4 of my huge box.

Now it’s time to make the roux! Grab a medium saucepan and melt 1 tablespoon of olive oil with your vegan butter. Add about 1 1/2 teaspoons of minced garlic and sauté that for a few minutes. Add your flour and whisk so that there are no clumps! Wait until it’s sort of golden and then add your cashew milk concoction. Whisk that really well, it should be sort of yellow. Add nutritional yeast, apple cider vinegar, turmeric and the remaining teaspoon of salt. Let this simmer for a few minutes until it thickens. I also added pepper for some extra seasoning.

When your pasta is finished cooking, add it to the sauce and mix it all up! Serve in a bowl and sprinkle with some chopped parsely and extra bread crumbs. Enjoy!

Kanelbullar (Swedish cinnamon buns)

Flour paste mixture:

5 tablespoons water 5 tablespoons milk 3 tablespoons flour

Dough:

5 tablespoons melted butter, cooled ½ cup milk, warmed 2 teaspoons instant yeast ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom 1 teaspoon salt ¼ cup granulated sugar 3 cups + 2 tablespoons flour 1 large egg

Filling:

5 tablespoons softened butter 1 teaspoon flour 3 tablespoons light brown sugar, packed 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Topping:

1 egg 1 tablespoon water Pearl sugar

First, we make the flour mixture, which I like to call play-dough, because that’s what it smells like. Add the water, milk and flour to a medium saucepan and whisk until there are no clumps. Put this on medium heat and whisk constantly until it thickens. Set this aside to cool.

Dough time! Melt the butter and heat the milk to give them a chance to cool, then prepare the rest of your dough ingredients. Whisk together the cardamom, yeast, salt, sugar and flour in either the bowl of your stand mixer or a medium bowl if you have a hand mixer, like I do.

Attach your dough hook and add the melted butter (cooled), warm milk (should be warm to the touch but not scalding), egg and play-dough concoction to the dry ingredients. Mix until this is fully combined, scraping the sides of the bowl when you need to.

Remove the dough ball from the bowl and knead for about 8 minutes. It should be soft but not incredibly sticky.

Put it back in the bowl and cover with a towel or plastic wrap for an hour, or until it’s close to double in size. I usually place it on the stove above my heated oven so that it rises better, but it all depends on the temperature of your kitchen.

Filling! Add all of the filling ingredients to a clean bowl and mix with a fork until it becomes a spreadable paste.

Once the dough ball has risen, preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Begin rolling the dough ball out on your counter; you might need a bit of flour so that your rolling pin doesn’t stick, but for the most part the dough should be smooth enough that it won’t stick. Try to create a rectangle that’s about 16 x 20 (you don’t need to measure, just make it as big as you can).

Using an offset spatula (or whatever you want, but this works the best) spread the filling all over your dough rectangle. Fold the entire rectangle into thirds, like a letter. Using a dough scraper or a sharp knife, cut the dough into 12 pieces.

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, or rubber baking sheets if you have them.

This is the fun part! Take one piece of cut dough, with one end in one hand, and the other end in the other hand, and begin twisting the entire length of the dough piece. Once it looks pretty, twist an end around one finger so that it creates a bun! It sounds confusing but as long as you like the look of it, it doesn’t matter at all whether or not you followed my instructions. Just do your best and make sure the bun is very much locked in place! Do this to all of your dough pieces and place them evenly on the baking sheets.

Place a towel over the baking sheets and let the buns rise for an additional 30 minutes. While you wait, mix the egg and water in a small bowl and grab your pearl sugar.

Once the buns have risen, brush the surface with a bit of egg wash, and sprinkle a good amount of pear sugar on each one. Bake for about 12 minutes, and enjoy!