The magnificent seven

Four friends of delicious food gathered in our kitchen at 1 pm last Saturday ready to prepare a seven course dinner. The fridge was full with cold beer and sparkling wine so it became an enjoyable afternoon in the kitchen. We had our first dish at 6 p.m and finished with liquorice Grappa, Lagavulin and Cognac at 1 a.m. It was a great evening and this was one of the three best dinners I’ve prepared.

Our menu

• Bleak roe, Jerusalem artichoke terrin, dill, red onion, lemon zest and sour creme
• Smoked oysters and mussels, pilgrim scallops, artichoke creme, mussel foam
• Morel ragout, black salsify cooked in port wine, roasted schwarzwald ham
• Grilled lobster, beluga lentils, lemon foam
• Deer with lardo, celeriac creme, cooked celery, PX sherry reduction, passion fruit
• Pecorino sardo, warm truffles honey, lemon thyme
• Pumpkin ice cream, liquorice jelly, vanilla custard, pumpkin oil and seeds.

The most crazy dish was the pumpkin ice cream and I must say it was a direct hit. The combination of pumpkin and liquorice turned out better than I could ever have hoped for.

For the first time I had smoked oysters. As an oyster fan I was afraid the fresh, salty taste would be put a side by the smokey taste. It didn’t, it gave the oysters another dimension. Try it.

Another highlight was the deer with passion fruit juice and 30 years old PX sherry reduction. Thanks for the sherry Axel.

Bleak roe, Jerusalem artichoke terrin, dill, red onion, lemon zest and sour creme

Smoked oysters and mussels, pilgrim scallops, artichoke creme, mussel foam

Morel ragout, black salsify cooked in port wine, roasted schwarzwald ham

 

Grilled lobster, beluga lentils, lemon foam

Deer with lardo, celeriac creme, cooked celery, PX sherry reduction, passion fruit

Pecorino sardo, warm truffles honey, lemon thyme

Pumpkin ice cream, liquorice jelly, vanilla custard, pumpkin oil and seeds.

Want any recipe, send a mail.

Cooked while listening to Bundesliga Radio.

Quick stop in Sweden enjoying the hunting season

On the way back from Sicily we made a stopover in Sweden. We took the chance to enjoy Swedish elk meat. The hunting season for 2010 started in the middle of August. A full-grown elk can give up to 500 kilo meat and the Swedish hunting season in total gives approximately 11 000 ton meat. Sweden has 300 000 registered hunters, of whom 5,5 % are women.

Elk meat is probably the most climate smart meat you can eat. Here follows a classic Swedish three course dinner:

Shrimp Toast à la Schmidt

• 500 g Shrimps with shell
• 1/2 Red onion
• 1 tbsp Mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp Crème fraiche
• 1 tbsp Chili sauce
• 1 teaspoon Cognac
• 10 drops Worcester sauce
• 1 teaspoon Lemon juice
• Chives
• 4 slices of Bread, fried in butter in a pan

Peel the shrimps, blend the other ingredients together and pour the mix on top of the shrimps. Cut of the bread crusts, place the toast on a plate and place the shrimps on top. Decorate with chives and a slice of lemon.

Elk burger with beetroots

• 400 g minced Elk
• 200 g minced Pork
• 2 Eggs
• Salt and Pepper

Blend the ingredients together and leave the mix to settle for 30 minutes. Then form 4 burgers and fry them in butter.

Yoghurt sauce with horseradish

• 3 dl Yoghurt
• 2 tbsp Mustard
• 2 dl grated Cheddar cheese
• 3 tbsp grated Horseradish
• Salt and Pepper

We served our burgers with boiled beetroots served with salt flakes and fresh oregano, horns of plenty (svart trumpetsvamp/ Totentrompete) fried in butter and mixed with a tbsp crème fraiche. We also had red onion chutney and pickled gherkins to decorate the burgers.

Warm cloudberries with vanilla ice cream

• 200 g frozen Cloudberries
• 1 tbsp Sugar
• 1 Vanilla pod

Carefully heat up the cloudberries together with sugar and a vanilla pod. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Enjoy!

Music: Listening to Our Broken Garden – Golden sea

Weekend special

Starter – Artichoke and mozzarella salad

• Mozzarella
• Artichoke hearts
• Lamb’s lettuce
• Olive oil
• Vinegar
• Chilli, finely chopped
• Lemon zest
• Garlic, grated

Buy a really nice mozzarella and tear it to pieces, half the artichoke hearts and place it on a plate together with lamb’s lettuce. Splash olive oil and vinegar over the plate and finally add chopped chilli, lemon zest and grated garlic.

Main course – Veal with beluga lentils and sun-dried tomatoes

• 400-500 g fillet of Veal
• Butter
• 1 Lemon, zest
• 1/2 Lemon, juice
• Salt
• Pepper
• 4 dl Beluga lentils
• 1 Garlic clove
• twig of fresh Thyme
• 100 g salted Pork belly/Bacon
• Chicken broth
• 300 g Cherry tomatoes, dried

Start with the tomatoes, half them and put them on baking paper with salt, pepper, fresh thyme, slices of garlic and a bit of sugar in the oven for 1 hour on 150 degrees Celsius.

Fry the veal with butter in a pan until it gets a bit of a colour. Place aluminium foil with baking paper on top, place the meat and squeeze the lemon juice over it and the lemon zest. Wrap the meat and bake it in the oven (150 degrees Celsius) until the meat has a temperature of 55 degrees Celsius.

Add salt and pepper and cut the meat in four pieces, for serving.

Boil the lentils in chicken broth with a crushed garlic clove, a twig of fresh Thyme and salt. Cut the salted pork belly into small pieces and fry them in a pan. Remove the garlic clove and the Thyme twig from the lentils and add the fried salted pork.

Jerusalem artichoke sauce

• 200 g Jerusalem artichokes
• 2 dl Milk
• 1 dl Cream
• 0,5 dl Water
• Chicken broth
• Salt
• White pepper
• 1 Lemon, the juice

Peel and cut the artichokes in small pieces. Boil them with milk, cream, water and chicken broth until the artichokes are done. Mix and strain. Shortly before serving bring the sauce to boil and add the lemon juice. Is the sauce to thick, add more milk. When warm mix to get a nice foam.

Put the lentils on to a plate, lean the veal on to the lentils, place the dried tomatoes on top and add your Jerusalem artichoke foam.

Dessert – Mint mud cake and cherry sorbet

Mint mud cake

• 2 Eggs
• 3 dl Sugar
• 150 g Butter
• 1,5 dl Wheat flour
• 3 tbsp Cacao
• 1 Mint chocolate bar ( 100 g)

Set the oven on 175 degrees Celsius. Melt the butter and the chocolate. Blend everything together, butter a baking tin with a detachable brim and sprinkle it with coconut.

Bake it for approximately 30 minutes, it should still be “muddy” in the middle.

Cheery sorbet

• 400 g Cherries
• 1 dl dry White wine
• 2 dl Water
• 1 dl Sugar
• 1/2 Lemon, the juice

Remove the pips from the cherries and mix them. Blend the mixture with the rest of the ingredients in a casserole. Bring it to boil and simmer shortly to make the sugar melt. Let it cool off and use an ice-cream maker for 20-40 minutes.

Enjoy!

An apple a day keeps the doctor away

We both had a cold this last week and needed something to cheer us up so we started planning a menu with the very healthy apple as the connecting ingredient.

Oysters with apple

• 8 Oysters
• 2 tbsp Vinegar (apple cider)
• 2 tbsp dry apple Cider
• 2 teaspoon Sugar
• 2 teaspoon Olive oil
• zest from half a Lemon
• White pepper
• 1/2 frozen Apple

Open the oysters and marinate them in the vinegar, cider, sugar, olive oil, lemon zest and white pepper. Clean the oyster shells and put them in the freezer.

Grate the frozen apple. Take out the frozen shells, put some grated apple in the bottom, add an oyster and little of the marinade and garnish with some more frozen apple.

Smoked lamb, cucumber salad and chervil foam

• 150 g Lamb fillet or other tender pieces
• 1 Cucumber, peeled and cored
• 1 dl Yoghurt
• 1 tbsp Cumin
• 3 Shallots
• 4 dl Chicken broth
• 2 dl Apple juice
• 2 dl Milk
• 2 dl Cream
• zest and juice from 1-2 Lemons
• 50 g Chervil (or mint, Thai basil)
• Salt and black pepper

Start with the lamb. Mix a litre cold water with 1 dl salt to a transparent fluid. Add the lamb and salt for 5 min. Dry the lamb and smoke it for 5 min. You could also buy smoked lamb or duck.

Make long “noodles” of the cucumber. Salt and squeeze out the water. Chop 1 shallot in fine pieces and mix with cucumber, yoghurt and cumin.

Chop 2 shallots in fine pieces. Braise in butter, add chicken stock and apple juice. Boil untill half of the fluid remains. Add cream and milk and cook until it got a creamy consistency. At the end add chervil and lemon juice and mix with a hand blender to a foam.

Serve the foam with the lamb topped with the cucumber salad.

Thick fillet of cod with leek cream

• 600 g thick fillet of Cod
• 1 tbsp Bread crumbs
• 1 tbsp Apple, finely cut
• 1 tbsp Shallot, finely cut
• 1 tbsp Tomato, finely cut
• 1 tbsp Parsley, finely cut
• 1 tbsp Horse radish, grated

Put the cod raw in a bol with 1 l water and 1 dl Salt for about 20 minutes. Then rinse the fish in cold water, cut it in 4 pieces and put them on oven paper or on a buttered tin. The oven temperature is 80⁰ Celsius and the fish is done when it reaches 45-50⁰ Celsius.

Decorate the cod with the vegetable mix and the bread crumbs

Leek cream

• 300 g Cream, 40 %
• 200 g Leek, sliced
• 150 g Potatoes, peeled and sliced
• Salt
• White pepper

Boil cream, leek and potatoes together until the potatoes are soft. Mix, strain and spice.

Blend rape oil with lemon juice and decorate the leek cream with it.

Roasted quail, black salsify x 2, cider juice

• 4 Quails (boaned)
• fresh Thyme
• 2 Garlic cloves
• 300 g Black salsify
• 2 tbsp Sugar
• 1/2 dl Cream
• 1,5 dl Chicken stock
• 1 dl Apple cider (dry)
• 1 teaspoon White wine vinegar
• 4 twigs Tarragon
• 1 dl stock from Veal

Cook vinegar, tarragon and cider until 3 tbsp remains. Add chicken- and veal stock and simmer to wanted consistency. If you want it to be like a glaze add some thickening. Before serving add a tbsp butter, salt and pepper if needed.

Peal the black salsify. Make four sticks (10 cm long). Fry the sticks in sugar and butter. Cook the left over pieces in 1/2 dl chicken stock and cream. Boil until the salsify is soft. Mix with salt and pepper to a purée.

Fry the quails in thyme, garlic and butter on the skin side. When colored bind together and roast in 100⁰ C in the oven until it reaches 57⁰ C.

Goat cheese with lemon and rosemary cooked apples

• 1 Ciabatta or baguette
• Olive oil
• Salt
• 2 dl Sugar
• 1 twig Rosemary
• 1 Lemon slice
• 1,5 Apple
• 150 g creamy Goat cheese

Slice the bread in wafer-thin slices. If you put the bread in the freezer for 30 min it is easily done. Heat a pan with oil and salt. Bake the slices until they have a nice color.

Slice the apple into 1 cm apple rings. Cook 2 dl water, 2 dl sugar, lemon slice and the rosemary for 2 min. Add the apple rings and simmer for 3 min. Take out the apples and let them rest until served. Cook the syrup until it has the consistency of a glaze.

Put apples, cheese and the thin bread in layers. Garnish with the glaze and some rosemary.

Apple compote with cardamom cream and Calvados jelly

Apple compote

• 2 Apples
• 0,5 dl Applejuice
• 1 tbsp Sugar
• half a Cinnamon stick

Peel and core the apples, cut them into pieces. Boil them with the applejuice, the sugar and the cinnamon stick until they are soft. Take out the cinnamon stick and mix the rest to a smooth pureé.

Cardamom cream

• 200 g Cream
• 100 g Milk
• 4 Egg yolks
• 50 g Sugar
• 20 g whole green Cardamom
• 1 Gelatine leaf, soaked

Boil milk and cream together with the cardamom, whisk the egg yolks and the sugar. Pour the milk cream over the egg yolks and the sugar. Heat to 85 degrees Celsius, add the gelatine leaf and strain.

Calvados jelly

• 0,5 dl Calvados
• 0,5 dl Water
• 1-2 Gelatine leaves, soaked

Heat up the Calvados and the water carefully, add the gelatine leaves and let them melt.

Use a dessert bowl or a soup plate. The applecompote at the bottom, add the cardamom cream and then the calvados jelly. Leave it in a cold place (the fridge) until serving. We served it with a home made yoghurt sorbet, apple crisps and candied hazelnuts.

Last but not least we made an espresso and enjoyed a glass of really nice Calvados.

Music: The White Stripes wonderful  Apple blossom, together with the classic Glenn Miller song – Don’t sit under the apple tree

Three courses for 5€

Short of time and money? This dinner is prepared before your guests have finished the first drink. And, it costs less per person than a Gin&Tonic in your local bar. Enjoy.

Starter: Salad with sardines and egg.

• 3 eggs
• 2 small cans of sardines in oil
• Lettuce
• Parsley
• Oil, lemon juice, mustard, pepper and salt

Boil the eggs. Separate yolk from egg white, chop. Slice your favourite salad

Sauce: 4 tbsp oil, 1 teaspoon mustard, 2 tbsp lemon juice, parsley, salt and pepper.

Arrange salad in bowls, add yolk and white, sardines and top with seasoning. Voila!

Main: Porc medallions, lemon and fennel salad

• 700 g porc medallions
• 2 fennels
• 2 spring onions
• 3 lemons
• 2 tsp olive oil, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp sugar

Start with the delicious lemon sauce. Peel 2 lemons, blanch the skin twice. Mix the skins, fillets of lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper. This sauce is a must and is also perfect for fish or chicken dishes.

Slice the fennel as thin as possible.  Chop the spring onions. Marinate in lemon juice from one lemon and 2 tbsp olive oil, salt and pepper.

Grill the medallions in a hot pan. Serve with salad and lemon sauce. If you find blackberries, they are perfect as deco.

Dessert: Chocolate creme, sea salt, roasted bread and olive oil.

• 150 g chocolate (at least 65% cocoa)
• 200 g double cream
• 1 vanilla pod
• baguette
• extra-vergine olive oil
• sea salt

Chop the chocolate into fine pieces. Cook cream and vanilla pod. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and stir. Cool to room temperature and serve with roasted bread, olive oil and salt.

Music: Fast cooking needs fast music – Rage against the machine

Asian Tasting Menu

The menu was seven courses in the following order: (recipes and pictures below)

1. Edame beans with homemade garlic oil and salt (Fleur de Sel)
2. Tuna tartar with  wasabi cream and soy sauce
3. Steamed sugar peas with walnut dressing and scallops fried in walnut butter
4. Dumpling filled with shiitake mushroom, spring onions, garlic and lemon grass on a bed of marinated red onions and shiitake mushrooms
5. Filet of beef tataki style
6. Asian ribs with Kimchi
7. Ginger granite with ginger cream and fruits

Edame beans with homemade garlic oil and salt

• Peal the beans and steam them for about 5-10 minutes
• Pour 0,5 decilitre olive oil together with 2 cloves of garlic in a saucepan – warm up the oil until you feel the garlic scent – let it cool of a bit
• Dish up the beans on a plate, add as much garlic oil as you want and sprinkle salt over the beans

Tuna tartar with wasabi cream and soy sauce

Tuna tartar with wasabi cream

• 200 g Fresh tuna (sashimi quality), chopped fine
• 1 decilitre Crème fraîche
• 1 tablespoon Wasabi
• 1 tablespoon Icing sugar

Whisk crème fraîche together with wasabi and icing sugar. Put the finely minced tuna in four (4 portions) steel cooking rings and flatten the tuna with a spoon. Add the wasabi cream on top. Place the steel cooking rings on plates and carefully remove the cooking rings.

Soy sauce

• 2 decilitre Japanese soy sauce
• 1 piece of Ginger, peeled
• 1 Lemon grass
• 1 Tomato
• 1 Celery stem
• 3 tbsp Lemon juice or Ponzu
• 1 Orange, the juice
• 3 tbsp Mirin (sweet vinegar)
• 1/4 Cucumber, peeled

Mix all ingredients together with a mixer or in a blender. Strain the mix and you have your soy sauce.

Steamed sugar peas with walnut dressing and scallops fried in walnut butter

Walnut dressing

• 50 g Walnuts
• 1 tbsp Sugar
• 1 tbsp Japanese soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Saké
• 2 tbsp Water
• Salt
• Ground black pepper

Steam the sugar peas for a few minutes or boil them for half a minute. Rinse them in cold water so that the cooking process ends.

Mix all the other ingredients to a dressing, use a mixer or a blender.

Use a mortar and a pestle to pulp 3-4 walnuts and add them together with butter in a frying pan. Fry the scallops briefly in the walnut butter. Use frozen or fresh scallops, one for each guest, depending on their size.

Dumpling filled with shiitake mushroom, spring onions, garlic and lemon grass on a bed of marinated red onions and shiitake mushrooms

Dumplings

• 4 Wonton wrappers
• 6 Shiitake mushrooms
• 1 Spring onion
• 1 clove of Garlic
• 1/2 Lemon grass

Chop mushrooms, spring onions, garlic and lemon grass. Put it in a frying pan together with butter and fry shortly. Add approximately 1 – 1 1/2 teaspoon to each wonton wrapper. Use an egg yolk as glue on the wonton wrapper, gather the corners together and make a little swirl.

Put the wontons in a bamboo steamer and steam for 10-12 minutes.

Marinated red onions with shiitake mushrooms

• 1 Red onion, in thin slices
• 1-2 tbsp Water
• 1/2 Lemon, juice
• 1-2 tbsp Hoisin sauce

Put the red onion slices in the marinade for about 30 minutes. Fry the shiitake mushrooms in a pan with butter. Add the fried mushrooms to the red onions and let them soak for a couple of minutes.

Filet of beef tataki style

Rub

• 1 tbsp Lemon grass, dried
• 1 teaspoon Chili, dried
• 3 Kaffir lime leaves, dried
• 1 teaspoon Coriander seeds
• 2 teaspoons Coconut flakes
• 1 teaspoon Brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon Rose hip powder
• 1 tbsp Fruit tea

Mix all the ingredients to a powder.

Sesame sauce

• 2 tbsp Soy sauce
• 2 tbsp Sugar
• 2 tbsp Red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Mustard powder
• 1 teaspoon Sesame oil
• 1 clove of Garlic
• 2 tbsp roasted Cashews or peanuts
• 1/2 teaspoon minced Ginger
• Tabasco
• 1 teaspoon Sesame seeds

Mix everything together except the sesame seeds to a smooth sauce. Stir the sesame seeds in to the sauce.

Soy sauce

• 1 decilitre Soy sauce
• 2 tbsp Ponzu or lime juice

Stir together.

Rub the filet of beef ( 200 gram) with the rub and fry it quickly in oil in a frying pan. Put the fried beef int the freezer for 30 minutes, then cut thin slices of the beef.

Add sesame sauce and soy sauce to the beef and decorate with Galia melon and spring onions.

Asian ribs with Kimchi

• 300 g Pork belly
• 2 Cinnamon sticks
• 5 Star anise
• 2 tbsp Sichuan pepper
• 3-4 Chili fruits, dried
• 30 g minced Ginger
• 1/2 decilitre light Soy sauce
• 1/2 decilitre Hoisin sauce
• 1/2 decilitre Soy sauce
• 1/2 decilitre dry Sherry
• 1-2 decilitre Water
• 1 decilitre brown Sugar
• 2 tbsp Red wine vinegar

Cut the pork belly into 3 centimeter dices, put everything in a pot and boil for 30 minutes under a lid, remove the lid and let it simmer for another 30 minutes. The meat shall be beautifully glaced from the sauce.

Serve together with Kimchi.

Ginger granite with ginger cream and autumn fruits

Fruit

1. 6 Plums
2. 2 Pears
3. 2 Blood oranges
4. 2 Nectarines

Cut the fruit in nice looking variable sizes.

Granite

• 2 cans of Root beer
• 1 Lime fruit, juice
• 1 decilitre Syrup (50/50 sugar – water)
• Fruit pulp, (“left overs” from the fruit cutting)

Mix the lime, the syrup and the fruit pulp in a blender, strain it and add the root beer. Freeze it, in a baking tin or a dish.

Ginger cream

• 5 Egg yolks
• 20 g Maizena flour
• 2 1/2 decilitre Milk
• 50 g Sugar
• 15 g Butter
• 1 centilitre juice from fresh Ginger
• 2 decilitre Whipped cream

Whisk the egg yolks, the sugar and the maizena flour until it’s white. Boil the milk and the butter and add it to the egg-mixture while stirring. Pour the mixture into a new casserole and boil it until it thickens (approximately 5 minutes), it’s very important to whisk the entire time so that the mixture don’t burn. Strain it and let it cool down.

Add the ginger juice and whip the egg cream together with the whipped cream so that it has a light, fluffy consistency.

When serving add a little fresh ground black pepper on top.

Planning Asian tasting menu

For this Saturday we’re planning an Asian tasting menu with seven courses. We found an incredible recipe of  coconut chocolate with mango sorbet. I believe that is one of the desserts.

We also found some good asian recipes from the Swedish chef Marcus Samuelsson that we’re considering.

Pics and recipes on the blog on Sunday.