Art matching our Nordic food

During the Pop Up NordenBerlin we served Nordic delicacies on the plates. To get a Nordic atmosphere in the location we teamed up with the lovely people at Swedish Photography. They provided us with some great pieces of art from the north. All but on are made by the highly honored couple, Inka Lindergard and Niklas Holmström. They have won the Swedish Photo book price in 2012 and were nominated for the German price in 2013.

Inka and Niklas are very interested in the psychological impact nature has on mankind. How spectacular nature can be, especially in the right light, is visualized in the art shown at NordenBerlin.

Becoming Wilderness VII

Saga XI

The belt of Venus and the Shadow of the Earth III

The belt of Venus and the Shadow of the Earth V

Watching humans watching III

The king was also present at our dinners. The picture is taken by Hans Gedda when Carl-Gustaf XVI is warming up for a portrait. He is stretching his muscles which Hans capture wonderful on this pictures.

A big thanks to Dorothée and the others at Swedish Photography.

Into the wild

This dish was created for the pop up NordenBerlin. It turned out to be my favorite one. The combination of spruce, mushrooms, cured beef and lingonberries is amazing.

Photo: Behance.net/Bastarte

Cured beef, spruce mayonnaise, pickled mushrooms, roasted onions and lingonberries

Cured beef

• 200 g roast beef
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp salt
• 10 crushed juniper berries
• 2 tbsp spruce needle finely chopped

Mix all ingredients and put in the fridge for 48 h.

Spruce mayonnaise

• 0.2 L spruce needles
• 0.5 L milk
• 2 g agar agar
• 3 peppercorns
• 0.1 L mayonnaise

Heat the milk, pepper and the spruce needles. Let it simmer for 15 minutes. Put cold for 12 h. Remove the needles, heat and add agar agar. Cool down and mix with mayonnaise. Season with salt.

Pickled mushrooms

• 100 g horns of plenty
• 100 g shiitake
• 2 tbsp vinegar
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 4 tbsp water
• salt and pepper

Make a marinade out of everything but the mushrooms. Stir until salt and sugar until it dissolves. Add mushrooms and let them marinate for 2 hours.

Serving: Cut the beef in thin slices and arrange with mushrooms and spruce mayonnaise. Add lingonberries tossed in sugar and roasted onions.

Music: prepared while listened to tallest man on earth

Mr Salmon and his best friends

I am not a big fan of cooked or fried salmon. Cured, raw, salted or smoked however makes me drool. I love the combination of the fat fish with some salt and sour ingredients. In this dish, which was served during our pop up NordenBerlin, the cured salmon is matched by yolk, pickled onions, Swedish anchovies, horse radish, dill and chives. To add another texture we served it with bread crumbles. It is a very typical Swedish dish with the saltiness from the anchovies, sourness from the onions and the fat dill-marinated salmon.

Photo: Behance.net/Bastarte

Cured salmon, anchovies, yolk, pickled shallots, crumbles, horseradish, dill, chives

Cured salmon

• 1 kg salmon filet
• 4 tbsp sugar
• 4 tbsp salt
• pepper
• dill

Mix all ingredients but salmon. Rub the salmon side with the mixture. Put in a bag and keep in the refrigerator for at least 48 hours. Rinse the salmon before you cut it into pieces and serve it.

Pickled shallots

• 5 shallots
• 2 tbsp vinegar
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 0.1 L water

Mix everything but the shallots. Heat the shallots and let them simmer until they are al dente. Remove and cool down. Cut into quarters and add the mixture. Let is soak for at least 2 hours before you serve it.

Plate: Arrange the egg yolk, salmon, onions and the Swedish anchovies on the plate. Garnish with finely chopped chives, bread crumble (grinded pumpernickel fried in butter), dill and horse radish.

Music: Listened to Whitest boy alive

Cheesus, Västerbotten!

Ok, I admit I am biased but this must be one of the top 5 cheeses in the world. The cheese has been produced since 1872 up in the far north of Sweden in a small village called Burträsk in the district of Västerbotten. There of the name Västerbotten cheese. In this part of the world the winter is extremely dark and therefore I am glad they have this cheese to enjoy on the darkest days.

Photo: Behance.net/Bastarte

Västerbotten is a must have on the table when you throw a crayfish party but it is also used in lots of other dishes in Sweden. Best of all though, is to enjoy the cheese with just some berries. During the Pop Up NordenBerlin we served it with blueberries.

Music: Listened to Wannadies

Lobster and Jerusalem artichoke

This is a luxurious starter which is perfect for a big celebration. It is easy to make but rather expensive. If Sweden makes it to the world cup in Brazil this would be just the right starter to kick off the weekend. I am a huge fan of Jerusalem artichoke and here the nutty taste works really well with the lobster and some fresh lemon oil.

                                                                            Photo: Behance.net/Bastarte

Lobster, purée of Jerusalem artichoke (JA), fried JA and dill oil

Start with the lobster. For four persons a small one will do. Boil it or buy it cooked. Use the tail and the claws for the dish.

Purée of Jerusalem artichoke

• 2 potatoes
• 2 Jerusalem artichoke
• 0.2 L cream

Peel and cook the potatoes and artichoke. Mix them with hot cream until you have a nice purée (dependent of the size and the type of potatoes you might not need all cream). Season with salt and pepper.

Fried Jerusalem artichoke

• one Jerusalem artichoke cut into sticks.

Fry the JA in butter until it is crisp.

Lemon oil

• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 3 tbsp rape oil

Mix and season with salt and pepper.

Plating. Start with the purée. Add lobster, fried JA and lemon oil. Garnish with cress.

Music: Prepared while listening to Soundtrack of our lives

The beauty and the beets

It is game time. It is moist, cold and dark outside and if you are not a hunter, it is hard to appreciate this time of the year. I am glad there are lots of hunters in the forests of Brandenburg. The largest venison I have ever seen was delivered to us last Friday. We used the saddle and added lots of beets and some coffee and served as the main dish at NordenBerlin. I am very pleased with the result.

Photo: Behance.net/Bastarte

Saddle of venison, pickled & smoked & braised beets and coffee

• 600 g venison

Fry the saddle in a pan on all sides. Put in the oven and let it roast on low temperature (100 degrees) until the inner temperature is 54. Let is rest for 10 minutes before you serve it.

Pickled golden beets

• 2 golden beets
• 0.2 L water
• 2 tsp sugar
• 4 tsp vinegar

Cook the beets. When they are done (don’t overcook) cool down, peel and cut in sticks. Add to the mixture of water, sugar and vinegar.

Cook to red beets. Cut one in quarters and one in slices.

Smoked beet root pure

• 3 beet roots
• 1 g agar agar

Cook the beets and peel them. Smoke for 10 minutes and the use a juice separator to get the juice out of the beets. Heat and add agar agar while whisking. Cool down and mix to a creamy consistency. If you don’t have a juice separator or a smoker, cook beet root juice with smoked bacon and/or smoked salt.

Gravy

• 0.5 L Venison stock
• 0.1 L red wine
• 1 teaspoon coffee powder
• 2 tsp butter

Reduce the stock and wine to the half. Add coffee, salt and pepper. Let in simmer until the right consistency. Whisk the butter into the sauce shortly before serving.

Cook the beets. Peel and smoke for 15 minutes. Put in a juice separator. Heat the juice and add agar agar. Let is cool down and mix to a creamy consistency. If you don’t have a smoker or a juice separator. Buy juice from beet root and cook with smoked bacon and/or smoked salt.

Plating: Spread the pure on the bottom of the plate. Add beet root – slices and quarters – and the golden beet. Put some creme fraiche on the the slices and add espresso powder. Sprinkle the jus around the meat.

Music: prepared while listening to Fibes, Oh Fibes!

A bitter sweet symphony

My first memory of sea buckthorn is a great one. I had it for the first time at the best restaurant I have visited, Oaxen, on the island with the same name in the southern archipelago of Stockholm. This is 10 years ago but the dinner on the sunny terrace is still the best one I’ve had. Magnus and Agneta Ek have moved to Stockholm with their restaurant and I have opened a pop up restaurant in Berlin. This dish was the dessert in the first menu we served at NordenBerlin.

                                                                                                  Photo: Behance.net/Bastarte

Sea buckthorn sorbet & jelly & mousse, chocolate cake and creme

Sorbet

• 0.5 L water
• 0.25 L sugar
• 0.35 L sea buckthorn juice

Make a sirup out of water and sugar. Let is cool and add buckthorn juice. Refridge and finalise in the ice machine.

Jelly

Half the recipe of the sorbet. Before you cool the sirup add 4 g agar agar and stir. Mix the jelly to a smooth consistency and put in a drop bottle.

Mousse

• 0.2 L cream
• 0.1 L milk
• 2 tsp sugar
• 0.05 L sea buckthorn juice
• 1.5 gelatine leaf

Heat the milk, cream and sugar. When it boils, remove and add buckthorn and gelatin. Put in the freezer.

Chocolate cake

• 2 eggs
• 100 g chocolate
• 0.3 L sugar
• 0.1 L wheat flour
• 100 g butter

Melt the butter and chocolate. Whisk all ingredients and put in a buttered spring form. Bake for 25 minutes on 200 degrees celsius.

Chocolate creme

• 50 g chocolate
• 0.2 L cream
• 1 teaspoon butter

Get the cream to boil and remove from the heat. Add the chocolate and stir. When the cream is smooth, add the butter.

15 minutes before you serve the dish, remove the mousse from the freezer and plate. They need some time to thaw.

Music: Listened to Hakan Hellström

NordenBerlin goes Pop-Up

All weekends in November, NordenBerlin invites you to try a 5-course dinner with exciting wine/beer pairings. The event will take place in Kreuzberg, Berlin. Read more about it and buy a ticket here. 

Welcome

 

Back to the roots – rehearsal

Our next RollinRestaurant is coming up and the theme is “Back to the roots”. Therefore I have been experimenting with different dishes including roots. We are striving to use different roots in each course. We already have an exciting beet dish so this one didn’t make it. However it was a great starter.

Mackerel, golden beet, horse radish, salicornes and lemon foam

Ingredients for 4 pers

• 1 mackerel
• 0,1 l vinegar
• 0,2 l sugar
• 0,3 l water
• 1 tbsp mustard seeds
• 1 onion
• 5 pepper corns
• 1 golden beet
• 50 g salicornes
• one lemon
• 0,2 l fish broth
• 25 g butter
• horse radish
• 2 tbsp creme fraiche

Start with the mackerel. Fillet the fish. Cook vinegar, sugar, water, onions and pepper corns for a couple of minutes. Let it cool. Add the fillets. Let it marinate 24 h.

Boil the golden beet in water until tender. Remove the skin, cut into small squares and marinate the beet in some lemon juice and olive oil.

Mix creme fraiche and grated horse radish. Cook the fish stock, and juice from 1/2 a lemon. Remove from heat and add butter. Whisk and just before serving, mix with a blender to a foam.

Cut the fish into pieces and arrange with the horse radish cream, golden beet, salicornes and foam.

Music: Listened to Mumford and Sons Liar

Colourful soup with smoked fish

We gave our selves a camera for christmas. The instructions contain 500 pages so we decided to just try it out. There are plenty of room for improvement but coming from me, this is a great picture.

It is a very simple but delicious starter, inspired by the Russian Borscht.

Beet root soup with smoked trout, apple, capers and horseradish

Ingredients

• 4 beet roots
• 1 tbsp Vinegar
• 1 tsp sugar
• starch
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1 smoked trout
• 1 apple
• 2 tbsp creme fraiche
• 2 tbsp grated horse-radish
• watercress
• 1 tbsp capers

Start with the soup. Extract the juice from the beets in a juice separator. Heat with vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper. Add the starch for the right consistency. Let it cool and serve luke warm.

Mix creme fraiche with half of the horse-radish. Cut the apple in baton and the fish in smaller pieces. Arrange fish, horse-radish, capers, creme fraiche, apple and cress on a plate. Add the soup.

Enjoy!

Music: Listened to Blur Under the westway