Potato pancakes with smoked salmon

Potato pancakes, or “rårakor” as they are called in Sweden, has become a delicacy almost always served with whitefish roe, red onion and sour cream. Although you can imagine that it from the beginning “poor man’s food” was, together with “raggmunk” (a similar recipe with potatoes and pancake mix served with fried pork and onion). Råraka and raggmunk is known in Sweden since 1904.

Råraka with smoked salmon

• 6 Potatoes
• 1 Zucchini
• 2 Carrots
• 1 yellow Onion
• Butter
• Salt and pepper

Grate the potatoes, carrots and the zucchini thick. Chop the onion and blend everything together. Heat up a frying pan and add the butter, let it melt. Form a ball of the vegetables, put the ball int the pan and flatten it out with your spatula. Fry until your råraka has a golden colour.

Serve together with smoked salmon, whitefish roe or trout roe and sour cream. We added lemon zest to enhance the different tastes.

Movie: Eaten while watching the immensly thrilling Danish serie “Forbrydelsen II”

Salmon with trout roe as a starter – beer week #7

In Sweden we have an excellent chef, Mathias Dahlgren. He has two fantastic restaurants in Stockholm, Matbaren and Matsalen, both at the Grand Hotel.

Mathias Dahlgrens motto is “Natural produce and natural taste are essential for the natural cuisine”. This recipe is from his last book “The Natural Cuisine”.

Salmon back in beer with trout roe

• 200 g Salmon back
• 100 g Porter
• 100 g Soy sauce
• 30 g Gari (pickled ginger)
• 25 g Sugar
• 20 g Trout roe
• 1 Spring onion

Smoked mayonnaise

• 2 Egg yolks
• 2-3 dl Rape oil
• 1 tbsp Mustard
• 1 tbsp Vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Liquid smoke
• Salt
• Black pepper

Make sure to buy a really fresh and high quality salmon. Cut the salmon in cubes and blend porter, soy sauce, gari and sugar together. Put the salmon cubes in the marinade and let marinate for 50 minutes.

Lift the cubes up and let them drain on paper. Decorate the salmon cubes with trout roe, flakes of salt and freshly grounded black pepper.

Make sure that all your ingredients for the mayonnaise have room temperature. Blend the egg yolks with mustard and vinegar. Use an electric mixer and pour the rape oil carefully in a fine squirt. Keep pouring oil until you have a good consistency. Squeeze a tbsp lemon juice in the mayonnaise, a teaspoon liquid smoke and add salt and pepper.

Make nice circles of the mayonnaise in between the salmon cubes and decorate with spring onions.

Music: Listening to Maia Hirasawa’s song “You are all I wanted”