Smoked salmon, saffron, and orange pirogues

Look who's back :) I've had such a crazy busy autumn with quite an intense mix of work, studying, moving, and although I have been cooking, there just haven't been enough time and energy to also blog about it.

Anyhow, I made these little pirogues or pasties recently. Saffron and oranges are two common flavourings for a lot of typically Swedish Christmas treats. Here I incorporated saffron and oranges with smoked salmon in puff pastry pirogues. The results is a salty tasty treat with a hint of sweet citrusy zest, perfect as a starter or served with drinks. The pirogues can be made the day before, and served cold or hot.

I was lazy and bought puff pastry. If you too feel like not making your own, buy a high-quality all butter puff pastry.

Smoked salmon, saffron and orange piroges (30 mini pirogues)
1-2 packages of puff pastry
300 g smoked salmon
200 g cream cheese
0.5 g saffron
1 dl chives, finely chopped
1 dl dill, finely chopped
1 orange
black pepper
pinch of chili flakes
1 egg, beaten

Heat the oven to 200C

Prepare the saffron; I find it easiest to grind the saffron threads with a pinch of salt using a pestle and mortar to a powder. I then add a little water, this makes it easier to transfer the saffron and infuse it into the other ingredients

Mix salmon, cream cheese, saffron, chives, dill, chili flakes, zest from one orange, and juice from half an orange in food processor to a coarse mix. Season with black pepper.

Roll out the puff pastry, and cut it into squares roughly 4 x 4 cm

Add 1-2 tsp of the filling to each square, fold over the pastry to a triangular shape and join the edges. Crimp the edges using a fork to form a seal

Transfer the pirgoues to a lightly oiled baking tray and brush the top with egg wash

Bake for 10-20 min until golden brown

Transfer to a cooking grid to cool, or serve directly

Smaklig måltid!

Mussels with garlic, chili and bacon

I know it's a bit late to now, in beginning of April, to write about new years resolutions, but better late then never. One of my resolutions this year is to cook more things I rarely or never cook, and to be honest, this may be the only resolution I have any chance of fulfilling...

I feel like a need a bit of a challenge, and hope this will give me a chance to improve as a cook. Among the things I wanted to try is spare ribs, that I did for the first time earlier this year (Korean spare ribs), and other dishes include mussels, squid, duck, quail, pate, crab, and souffle.

First out after the spareribs was mussels. I love mussels, but I hardly ever cook them. Stupid really, because they cook really quickly, are cheap and delicious. I decided to do a version of the classic moules mariniere with an addition of smokey bacon and a little heat from red chili. The result was so tasty that I vowed to cook a lot more mussels during this year!

Mussels with garlic, chili and bacon (serves 2)
1 kg of mussels, cleaned
3 rashers of smoked bacon, chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 red chili, finely chopped
1 dl white wine
0.5 dl single cream
1 handful of flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil

First clean the mussels under running cold water and remove the beards/barnacles. Discard all open mussels unless they close directly when you tap on the shell.

In a large pot, heat up the olive oil and saute garlic, chili and bacon for a couple of minutes on high heat.

Add the mussels, wine and cream, and cover the pot with a lid.

Steam the mussels for 3-4 min. Stir the mussels after 2 min of steaming.

Stir in the parsley. Discard any mussels that are not fully open.

Serve in large bowls with the broth and fresh bread.

Smaklig måltid!

Linguine with asparagus and scallops

Today the rain is pouring down, and my umbrella broke when I went out for Sunday roast :( I have no idea how many umbrellas I buy every year, but quite a few as they either break or I leave them on the tube. It's not the only thing I leave on the tube or bus, I have a habit of loosing everything I own, from phones to umbrellas to wallets to once a box of rat brains (that I luckily got back!). The last one was not a box of ingredients to cook with, I'm not that brave with my food, but from an experiment for work. In addition to being an amateur cook by night, I'm also a scientist by day.

Anyhow, the weather today has been awful, but yesterday it was a lovely spring day. I love spring, the lighter mornings and evenings, all the spring flowers (the daffodils are in bloom outside my house), and of course all the vegetables that comes with spring.

Inspired by spring I decided to make pasta with asparagus and scallops. This is a lovely light dish, with the green asparagus and sweet scallops, with a little tangy lemon and salty pecorino,

Linguine with asparagus and scallops (serves 2)
160 g dry linguine
1 large bunch of green asparagus
6 scallops, divided in halves
100 g pecorino cheese, grated
1 medium lemon, zest
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 pinch of chili flakes
2 tbsp olive oil
1 egg yolk, beaten
salt and pepper

Snap of the dry woody ends of the asparagus. Cut of the top 3-4 cm of each stalk, and cut the rest of the asparagus in 1-2 cm pieces.

Heat up the olive oil in a frying pan and add the chopped asparagus. Fry for 1-2 min and then add the garlic, fry for another few min, take care to not burn the garlic. Stir in a pinch of chili flakes and the 3/4 of the lemon zest, put the pan to the side.

Cook the linguine in plenty of boiling salted water according to pack instructions. Add the asparagus tips for the last 2 min of cooking time.

Drain the pasta, reserving 1-2 dl of the cooking water.

Return the pasta to the pot, stir in the egg yolk, fried asparagus, and cheese. If the pasta feels dry, add in some of the reserved cooking water, I usually add in around 1 dl.

Divide the scallops in halves, and fry in olive oil in a hot frying pan for 1-2 min on each side until golden.

Add the scallops on top of the pasta, sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper and the rest of the lemon zest.

Smaklig måltid (bon appetite in Swedish)!

Poached salmon with horseradish aioli and broad bean salad

It has really not been a great summer in the UK this year. As a result I've been mostly cooking quite heavy comfort food in the last couple of weeks, food I would normally cook during the autumn or winter, like lasagna. Well, not sure actually that you can say that what I cooked was a lasagna as I forgot to buy lasagna pasta sheets and therefore made it with layered zucchini instead. Still nice, but not exactly a lasagna...

This Sunday has been quite warm and sunny, so I decided to make something light and with a summer feeling. I don't often poach salmon, and every time I do I wonder why I don't do it more often. It is so easy! Talk about no effort cooking, and still resulting in delicious food. I poached it using rose pepper and lemon, for a light and fresh taste. Fennel seeds instead of rose pepper is also great for poaching salmon, or chili, lime, and lemongrass for a more Asian flavour.

Another thing I almost never do is aioli or mayonnaise. Everyone who knows me know that I hate mayonnaise. This is a real problem living in a country where it's almost impossible to buy a ready-made sandwich without mayo... However, I do love homemade aioli, especially with some crispy bread to mop it up from the plate. Aioli can be flavoured in so many ways, just with garlic and a bit of mustard, or with chili and lime, or smoked paprika and tomato for example. Here I used fresh grated horseradish, a classic combination with salmon. I bought the horseradish on Borough market, as I have so far never seen it fresh at any of the grocery stores.

Poached salmon with horseradish aioli and broad bean salad (4 portions)
4 salmon fillets a'150 g each, skin and bone free (or leave the skin, without scales, on, it's much easier to remove once the salmon is cooked)
Poaching liquid:
2 dl water
1 lemon, juice and zest
2 tbsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp pink peppercorns, lightly broken using a pestle and mortar
1 pinch chili flakes

Horseradish aioli:
2 egg yolks
2 dl neutral oil, like sunflower oil, or mild olive oil
0.5 tbsp lemon juice or white wine vinegaer
1 garlic clove, pressed
1-2 tbsp grated fresh horse radish
0.5 tsp Dijon or hot English mustard
1 pinch salt
1 pinch black pepper

Salad:
300 g broad beans, fresh or frozen (I usually use frozen as I think it's difficult to find nice fresh ones)
300 g haricot vertes
1 bag of pea shoots (50 g)
olive oil
1/2 lemon, juice and zest
salt and black pepper

Heat the oven to 100C.

Add the ingredients of the poaching liquid to a pot and bring to the boil.

Place the salmon fillets in a small oven tray, pour over the poaching liquid and place in the oven. Cook for 20-25 min, until the inner temperature is 50C. Leave to cool in the poaching liquid. This can be done the night before serving.

For the aioli, use all ingredients at room temperature to decrease the chance of the aioli splitting.

Add the egg yolks and the lemon juice/vinegaer to a tall narrow beaker.

Using a stick mixer (or whip by hand in a bowl, but it's so much quicker using a stick mixer or blender), start by mixing the egg yolks and then slowly add the oil while running the mixer. When all the oil has been added and the mayonnaise is light and creamy (add a 1 tbsp water if it is very thick), add the garlic, mustard and horseradish. Add salt and pepper to taste. The aioli will last in a clean jar in the fridge for up to a week.

Lightly boil the broad beans for 1-2 min, then rinse with plenty of cold water and remove the pods.

Also lightly boil the haricot vertes for a couple of minutes and then rinse with cold water to keep the crunchy texture.

Drain of the water from the broad beans and haricot vertes, and transfer the vegetables to a bowl.

Add the pea shoots, juice and zest from the lemon, a drizzle of olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste.

Serve the poached salmon with the salad, aioli and crusty bread.

I'm eagerly waiting for the new album by Norwegian singer Ane Brun (and seeing her play at Scala in November!). This is the first single.

Fried herring (strömmingsflundror) with potato mash and fennel salad

Fried herring (strömmingsflundror) with potato mash is one of my favourite traditional Swedish dishes. Herring is called strömming or sill in Swedish. The difference is that strömming is fished in the Baltic sea on the east coast of Sweden and sill on the west coast. In my mind strömming is also usually smaller than sill, don't know if that's actually true. If you have small herrings, when you fillet the fish you keep the two fillets connected and don't divide them along the backbone, this is what makes it a strömmingsflundra.

Herring is eaten in many different forms in Sweden, fried, pickled, cured and fermented. I like some pickled herring at Christmas, Easter or midsummer, but otherwise my favourite is having it fried or fermented. The fermented one is not for everyone, when you open a can you can smell it a mile away. But eaten outdoors in August, with almond potatoes, crispbread, onions, and washed down with an ice-cold schnapps, it is a real treat.

Although herring is fished around the UK, I've never seen it in any of the usual supermarkets (except as roll mops or smoked), so on Saturday I went to Borough market. I love food markets, and although Borough market can get really crowded, at 10 in the morning it was fairly empty. One of the fish stands had herrings, albeit quite a bit larger than I would have liked. Once the main ingredient was sorted and I picked up some veg, bread, cheese, and beautiful pink forced rhubarb for dessert, it was time to indulge by downing a couple of oysters and having a couple of fried scallops. Heavenly.

I served the herrings with potato mash (recipe not included, I'm sure you already know how to make a potato mash) and a fennel salad with ruby grapefruit. As the herrings are quite a rich fish (and even more so with buttery mash and a little clarified butter at serving), I like something with a bit of acidity and bite to complement it.

Fried herring with potato mash and fennel salad (4 portions)
24 small herrings or 0.8 kg herring fillets
bread crumbs or oat meal
1 bunch of fresh dill, finely chopped
1 bunch of fresh parsley, finely chopped
120 g butter
salt and pepper
butter or oil

Get your fishmonger to fillet the fish unless you got a good sharp knife (I regrettably don't have a very good one anymore). If you have small herrings, it's not a problem that a lot of the small bones is still there when you eat it, but as I found out this time, if you have larger herrings you might want to try to remove more of the bones prior to cooking them or you'll spend the entire meal picking out the bones.

Dip the skin side of the herrings in breadcrumbs or oatmeal, and place on a tray. Sprinkle the meat side with salt and pepper.

Mix the finely chopped herbs with butter, and cover the meat side of half of the herrings. Add another herring fillet with the meat side down on top (like you're making a fish sandwich with the herb butter in the middle)

Fry the herrings on medium heat in butter or oil in a frying pan until golden on both sides and the fish is cooked.

Serve with potato mash, a little additional melted and clarified butter to pour over, lemon wedges and fennel salad

Fennel and grapefruit salad (4 portions)
2 ruby grapefruit, peeled and segmented
1 head of fennel, very thinly sliced
0.5 red onion, finely chopped
200 g salad leaves like spinach
1 lemon, juiced
1 tsp coarse mustard
1 tsp honey
1 tsp olive oil
pinch of salt
pinch of black pepper

First make the salad dressing by mixing lemon juice, mustard, honey, olive oil, salt and pepper

Add grapefruit, fennel, red onion and salad leaves to a bowl. Dress the salad.

Salmon fish cakes with beetroot salad

I had a food production day the other day. I try to bring in lunch every day at work, and I don't really have the time and energy to cook something new every night for my lunch, so I do mass production instead. To not get bored with eating the same thing for weeks, I try to make a couple of different dishes, preferably food that can be easily varied. I do a lot of different fish cakes, and chicken or lamb burgers, because then I can freeze them in portions and eat with different types of salads, roasted vegetables, in bread, with pasta...

As almost everyone I know, I have vowed to try to be healthier this year (no more pizza for me...). One thing that is very healthy, easy to make, tasty, and dirt cheap, is salads with grated root vegetables. This type of salad is one of my staple foods during the winter, and is easy to vary by additions of nuts, chili, herbs, and fruits. A larger batch will survive for 2-3 days in the fridge. The addition of fruit juices keeps it nice and moist, and makes it unnecessary to add any sauce to the fish cakes. The only negative thing is doing all the grating, I recommend investing in a food processor. It saves time and your knuckles.

Salmon fish cakes (4-5 portions)
400 g salmon, skin and boneless
0.5 dl salt
0.5 dl sugar
2 potatoes, boiled and mashed
0.5 red onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp grainy mustard
1-2 tbsp capers
l lemon, juice and zest
salt and pepper

I like to first cure the salmon for 20-30 min, I think it improves the texture and taste. Rub in the mixture of salt and sugar on both sides of the fish and let it rest for 20-30 min in room temperature or in the fridge.

Fry the fish in a hot pan and let it cool.

Mash up the fish and mix together with potatoes, onion, capers, mustard and lemon. Taste, and add pepper and salt.

Form small fish cakes and fry on both sides in a hot pan until golden.

Grated beetroot salad (2 large portions)
4 medium-sized carrots, grated
2 large beetroots, grated
2 apples, grated
3 spring onions, finely chopped,
1 orange, juice
1 lime, zest and juice
1 chili, finely chopped
1 tsp honey
salt and pepper, a pinch of each

Mix everything together and let stand for 10-15 min before serving to let the flavours blend.

Salmon fillets with peanut crust, spicy vegetables and noodles

Is it sad that one of today's highlights was seeing the new Met line train at the station leaving work? Probably, but if you would like me spend 2 h a day in those old smelly Met trains that shake so bad that it is sometimes impossible to read something, not to mention trying to drink coffee without spilling it all over you (actually some days the train is shaking so bad I'm contemplating the need of wearing a sport bra when traveling...), you would be excited too. For awhile I thought the new trains were like Santa Claus, just a fairy tale, but now we do occasionally see them. Though they always appear to be not in service. Quite like the rest of Met line really...

Anyhow, to further cheer me up on this foggy day I cooked this very easy dish. It is based on a recipe from the latest number of Delicious. Lots of nice vegetables with hot chili, ginger, and tangy lime. The peanut crust add extra crunch and a bit of saltiness. All in all, a lovely dinner with a minimum of effort.

Salmon fillets with peanut crust, spicy vegetables and noodles (4 portions)
4 skinless salmon fillets
50 g peanuts, finely chopped
small bunch of coriander, chopped
grated zest and juice of 1 lime
a handful of fresh breadcrumbs
1.5 tbsp toasted sesame oil
3 pak choi, leaves separated
6 spring onions, halved lengthways and then sliced in 4 cm pieces
1 red pepper, sliced
1 yellow pepper, sliced
1 orange pepper, sliced
100 g mangetout
2 red chillies, finely chopped
2 cm fresh ginger, finely chopped
3-4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
light soy sauce
lime wedges
200 g dry egg noodles

Preheat the oven to 200C

Mix the peanuts, coriander, lime zest and juice, breadcrumbs and 0.5 tbsp sesame oil, then press together onto the top of the salmon fillets

Scatter the pak choi, spring onions, peppers and mangetout in a large oven dish or roasting tray. Top with the chillies, ginger and garlic, and drizzle over 1 tbsp sesame oil

Place the salmon fillets on top. Roast in the oven for 8-12 min until the salmon is just cooked through.

Prepare the egg noodles according to instructions

Top the noodles with vegetables and salmon, and drizzle over soy sauce. Serve with additional lime wedges, more coriander, and chopped peanuts for extra crunch.

Here is one of my favourite songs so far this year, 'Looking glass' by Little Dragon. Quite a weird limbo video though...

Salmon pudding (laxpudding)

Salmon pudding (laxpudding) is a classic Swedish dish, but maybe not as well known as I thought. I made this for my Swedish flatmate and a couple of our Swedish expat friends yesterday, and turned out that three of them actually didn't know what it was (although that didn't stop them from accepting the dinner invitation, or from stuffing themselves once the food was on the table). After a lot of discussion on from where in Sweden salmon pudding origins (the province of Halland apparently), we moved onto children's TV shows (Solstollarna and Vilse i pannkakan, no wonder our generation is a bit... confused...), politics (Swedish general election today), and how incredibly expensive the flight tickets to go home to Sweden for Christmas already are. Important stuff for expats.

Anyhow, I can't guarantee that this dish will result in meaningful (?) conversations for everyone, but it is an easy all in one pot dish, and as evidenced by yesterdays limited leftovers, quite tasty and popular.

Salmon pudding (6-8 portions)
500 g salted, cured or smoked salmon, skin- and boneless
2 tbs sugar
2 tbs salt
1.5 kg potatoes in thin slices
2 large leeks, finely chopped
1 large onion, finely chopped
1-2 dl dill, finely chopped
6 eggs
2 dl single cream
4 dl milk
salt
pepper
butter

I prefer using salted salmon, and it is very easy to make yourself. This is a fast way of curing it. However if you want to cure salmon properly to eat it without any additional cooking, you need to cure for 24-48 h in the fridge, and should then freeze it for an additional 24 h before eating it.

Mix sugar and salt and rub it in on both sides of the salmon. Place in a dish and cover with clingfilm. Either let the salmon cure for a couple of hours in the fridge, or 30 min in room temperature. The result is a firmer fish, as the salt and sugar draws out a lot of the moisture. Salted salmon fillets are also gorgeous just fried and served with boiled new potatoes and maybe a hollandaise sauce.

Butter a large ovenproof dish and layer potatoes, leeks, onions, dill and salmon. Do several layers, starting and ending with a layer of potatoes.

Beat the eggs with the milk and cream and pour into the dish. If you use smoked salmon, you might want to add some salt to the egg mixture. Grind over some black or white pepper.

Cook for around 1 h at 200C until golden brown and the potatoes are soft.

Serve with lemon wedges, clarified butter and a fresh salad. I made the salad below yesterday, it is nice and crisp.

Crisp lemony salad
1 bag of watercress, spinach and rocket
2 small little gem salad heads
1 yellow pepper, chopped
10-12 radishes, finely sliced
3 cm of a leek, finely sliced

Dressing
Peel and juice from one lemon
1 tbs olive oil
1 pressed garlic clove
salt and pepper

To add some Swedish atmosphere to your dinner, or just because it is a great song, listen to Swedish band Johnossi's 'Man must dance'.

Scallops with broad beans and pancetta

It's been ages since I last up-dated my blog with new recipes. It's not that I haven't been cooking, actually I have been cooking a lot, but holidays abroad, work and other commitments have gotten in the way of blogging. The good news I got plenty of new recipes to share with you now.

I've also done some changes, it should now be possible to leave comments. Please do, and let me know what you think of the recipes.

I love scallops and don't eat them nearly enough considering how easy they're to cook. There's this view that scallops are fancy and expensive, but actually they're not that costly (at least not here in the UK) and you can quite often buy nice hand-dived ones also at larger grocery stores. For at starter, like this recipe, you really don't need that many. I made this a month ago for a couple of my friends, and everybody loved it. It is quick, zingy, and very fresh. I've used broad beans, but you can also use runner beans, and instead of pancetta use chorizo.

Scallops with broad beans and pancetta (4 portions)
2-3 scallops/person - this really depends on if you buy king scallops or the smaller size. If using the larger ones I would halve them
150 g pancetta cubes
150-200 g broad beans (podded weight)
1 red chilli, finely chopped
1 garlic clove finely chopped
zest and juice from 1 lemon
2-3 tbsp creme fraiche
olive oil
black pepper
1 lemon in wedges for serving

Start with boiling the broad beans for 3-5 min, then rinse in cold water and split the pods along the seam to push out the beans. Then double-pod by slitting the outer skin with your nail and push out the bright green inner beans. Leave the broad beans in cold water until use to preserve the colour.

Fry the pancetta in a pan until crisp. Remove and let drain on kitchen paper. Set aside the frying pan, leaving the bacon fat in it.

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat and gently fry the chilli, garlic and lemon zest for a couple of minutes. Add the broad beans and toss with lemon juice and creme fraiche.

Return the bacon pan to high heat and fry the scallops for 30 sec on each side until lightly caramelised and ground over some black pepper. Serve immediately on top of the broad beans together with lemon wedges and some nice fresh bread to soak up the juices.

Salmon with pak choi and noodles

This is another Asian-influenced recipe. I love Asian food and if I had to choose to only eat food from one continent, that would be my choice I think. Korean bulgogi and kimchi, sushi, Thai green papaya salads, Vietnamese pho, Philippine kinilaw, malay laksa soup and roti canai, Singaporean chili crab, dim sum, mmmmm...... To be honest I love most food. I'm Swedish so I do enjoy a lot of Swedish specialities and I cook some of these dishes on a regular basis, so they will for sure also make an appearance here on the blog.

One of the things I love about Asian food is that a lot of it is very quick to do and rely on fresh vegetables. One of my favourite Asian vegetables is pak choi. For a master class in how to cook it to perfection, I recommend one of my favourite food blogs in English, Steamy Kitchen, http://steamykitchen.com/2112-bok-choy-stir-fry-recipe.html

Salmon with pak choi and noodles (2 portions)
2 salmon steaks a' 150 g
1 packet of egg noodles (I use one of the standard instant ramen noodles ones)
4 heads of pak choi
Marinade:
1/2 dl light soy sauce
1/2 tsp honey
1 pressed garlic clove
1 tsp sambal oelek or chili paste, or a finely chopped fresh chili
1 lime, the grated peel
1 tbs miso paste
For the vegetables and noodles:
1 tbs neutral oil
1 tsp hot water
3 finely chopped/grated garlic cloves
1 finally chopped red chili
1 cm fresh ginger, grated
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 tbs miso paste
1 tbs roasted sesame seeds
light soy sauce
lime wedges

Mix the marinade, and marinate the salmon steaks for 30 min in room temperature. While the salmon is marinating, roast the sesame seeds in a dry pan, trim the edges of the pak choi, and chop/grate chili, garlic and ginger.

Fry the salmon steaks in a hot frying or griddle plan for a couple of minutes on each side. Cover and put to the side.

Cook the noodles according to the instructions on the package, drain and cover.

Add a tbs of neutral cooking oil to a cold wok or frying pan. Add the chili, garlic and ginger to the wok and fry on medium heat. You want to infuse the oil without burning the garlic, which can easily taste bitter if it's fried to long. Add the pak choi to the wok/pan and toss with the oil, add 1 tbs with boiling water (the steam will help cook the pak choi without burning the garlic). Take the wok of the stove and add the noodles to the pan, add the miso paste, toss with the pak choi, drizzle over a little sesame oil (don't use a lot, it's got quite a strong taste) and soy sauce to taste.

Plate up the noodles, add the salmon, and sprinkle over the roasted sesame seeds. Serve with lime wedges.