January 2013 – Page 2

NYE 2012: starter II

Published on January 7, 2013 by HannaLeave a comment

The second starter on New Year’s Eve, was also a seafood dish. Nice big scallops fried on high heat with a truffled celeriac puré, apple caramel and crispy apple. Sooo good!

The recipe is courtesy of Daniel Clifford, and I found it in an Electrolux folder I picked up at the Taste of Christmas fair.

Pan-fried scallops with truffled celeriac puré and apple caramel, serves 9

Adapted from Daniel Clifford’s recipe.

The scallops are best cooked really quickly on high heat. Treat it them as a steak. You want the maillard effect or the surface to caramelize, but they shouldn’t be cooked all the way through, nicer with a slight wobble in the middle. If overcooked they are often rubbery.

The celeriac puré can be made in advanced and reheated when serving., just like the apple caramel. The apple sticks can be cut ahead of time too; just make sure you cover them with lemon juice and place them in an airtight container to prevent discolouring.

18 large scallops, side muscles removed

butter for frying

salt, pepper

1 lemon, the juice

Celeriac ipuré:

700 g peeled celeriac cut into pieces

milk and water

300 ml double cream

truffle oil

Apple caramel:

1 litre freshly pressed apple juice

Garnish:

1 green apple, cut into matchsticks

truffle oil

Place the celeriac in a sauceoan and cover with half milk half water. Add salt. Bring to the boil and cook on medium heat until tender. Drain. Bring the cream to the boil in a seperate saucepan. Mix celeriac and cream to a puré. Add lemon juice and truffle oil to your liking. Season.

Pour the apple juice in a saucepan and let it reduce on high heat until 1/3 of the liquid is left. Or reduce further until you have a thicker liquid.

Heat up a frying pan on high heat. Add butter. Dry the scallops on a towel to remove liquid so they can brown easier. Season well and fry for 1-2 minutes on each side, only turning them over once. Place on a plate to rest. Squeeze with lemon juice.

Plate; first the puré, then the scallops on top (2 per person). Spoon over the caramel and drizzle with truffle oil. Top with the apple matchsticks.

NYE 2012 – starter I

Published on January 6, 2013 by HannaLeave a comment

I cooked us four courses on New Year’s Eve so we could enjoy a long and nice dinner. It was all traditional Swedish with snaps and snaps songs, and we also had a few interludes to cheer Happy New Year in places further east than us, so more or less the whole of Russia were celebrating midnight at one point during our supper.

This first starter, a lovely prawn mousse, was great to start off with, as it can all be prepared ahead, kept cold and decorated a bit ahead of time as well.

The texture is not as mousse-y as a chocolate mousse, the cream is there more to combine the other ingredients and bring them together. I served this with some homemade Toast Melba, just to add some crunch, and it worked really well. But bread or perhaps a side salad with avocado would work well too.

The recipe is courtesy of fellow Swedish blogger Annika. I followed it promptly but changed the method slightly as I used vege gel instead of gelatin and that requires a different approach. I also doubled it, and that was enough for nine, and even ten, people.

Prawn mousse, serves 4

Adapted from Annika’s recipe.

200 ml créme fraiche

150 ml double cream

2 tbsp chopped dill

2 tbsp chopped chives

2 tbsp finely grated fresh horseradish

1 jar lumpfish caviar (60-80 g)

salt and pepper

1 tbsp lemon juice

700 gram frozen shelled Icelandic prawns, defrosted and peeled

1 bag vege gel

dill, chives and horseradish to garnish

Peel the prawns. Set aside 5-6 per portion or the prettiest prawns. Chop the rest and add to a bowl. In a saucepan, mix creme fraiche, cream and the vege gel powder. Turn on the heat and bring to the boil while stirring. Cook for about 5 minutes as it thickens. Leave to cool for a few minutes.

Chop the herbs and add to the chopped prawns. Also add the horseradish, caviar and lemon juice. Mix it together. Add in the cream mixture and mix well. Season. Pour the mixture into 4 glasses or serving bowls. Place in fridge for at least two hours to set and cool. Decorate with the prawns, dill, chives and horseradish. (I added a lemon slice as well).

NYE 2012 – the canapé

Published on January 4, 2013January 4, 2013 by HannaLeave a comment

Happy New Year!

And sorry for the silence over the holidays, I was busy cooking and hanging out with friends and family and having a well-earned break.

I have a lot to share with you, and I thought we’d start with some glamour and New Year’s Eve celebrations.

My friends Emma and Claes hosted a lovely dinner, I cooked and they took care of everything else. It was nice to share the responsibility and to be able to focus on only one thing. A great team effort!

When the guests arrived we started off with champagen (Palmer & Co Brut) and this lovely canapé – chives pannacotta with vodka on a bread base, decorated with salmon caviar and dill. Incredibly Scandi and absolutely delicious!

As we had a few non-meat eaters among us I used vege gel as a setting agent, but it is even easier to use gelatin leaves. (2 leaf gelatine to 1 bag vege gel).

Chives pannacotta with vodka on a bread base, decorated with salmon caviar and dill, makes 24-30

Translated and adapted from Pytte’s Swedish recipe.

200 g dark rye bread (Swedish or German style)
80 g butter
100 ml single cream
200 ml soured cream
2 bags vege gel
1 tbsp decent vodka
1 bunch chives
salt and pepper

80 g salmon roe
dill

Mix the bread into crumbs in a food processor. Melt the butter and mix with the crumbs. Line a 20 cm by 25 cm dish with cling film and add the crumbs. Press them onto the bottom of the dish. Let it set in the fridge. Mix the cold cream with the vege gel and heat up in a saucepan while stirring. The mix will thicken so stir continuously for a few minutes. Let it cool a little and mix in the soured cream. If the mixture curdles, push it through a sieve. Chop the chives and add to the mixture. Add the vodka and seasoning. Pour the cream mixture onto the bread base and leave in the fridge to set for a few hours. Before serving either cut into small squares or cut out rounds with a small cutter. Decorate each canapé with a dollop of caviar and some dill.