Category: Crayfish party

Crayfish!

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My favourite time of year in Sweden is definitely the crayfish season! When I was a child you were not allowed to fish crayfish in the lakes until the first Wednesday in August when it was the crayfish premiere. This has since been changed so you are allowed to fish crayfish all year round but because we had this rule for such a long time, I don’t think it feels right to eat crayfish any earlier than August each year.

And that’s why I made sure to have some crayfish when I was at home in August. My last evening there I stayed in with my parents enjoying a nice meal.

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We started off with bubbly and some Parmesan biscuits. Then moved onto some leftovers from the party; tandoori chicken drumsticks with garlic sauce, salad and potato wedges.

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And then we had crayfish! Mummy thoroughly spoiled us with buying Swedish ones and they were delicious. It is pretty messy eating these babies, sucking and cracking their shells but oh so satisfying. I can still recall the taste… So yummy!

Little puff pastry quiches with mushrooms and cheddar

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These little quiches are far tastier than they look. They’re also super easy to make yet still tastes wonderful. And they’re so versatile. I had some for supper the other day with only some dressed rocket on the side. They would also work well at a brunch or picnic and can be served either warm or cold. Perfect when the weather is this unpredictable.

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Puff pastry quiches with mushrooms and cheddar, makes 6

1 roll butter puff pastry 

250 g chestnut mushrooms 

butter for frying

1 garlic clove

150 mlcreme fraiche

100 ml grated mature cheddar + more for topping

salt, black pepper

Roll out the puff and cut it into six squares. Butter six holes in a muffin tin and cover with the puff squares. Prick the bottoms with a fork and pre-bake in a 180C oven for 10 minutes or until golden brown. 

In the meantime, slice the mushrooms. Melt a large knob of butter in a frying pan and add the pressed garlic. Add the mushrooms and fry until golden on medium-high heat, for about 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper. 

Mix the grated cheese with creme fraiche, salt and pepper. 

Divide the fried mushrooms between the pastry cases. Top with the cream fraiche mixture and scatter some more grated cheese on top. Bake for a further 10-15 minutes. Serve warm or cold. 

NYE 2012 – starter I

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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

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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.

A little crayfish party

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One of my favourite foodie happenings in Sweden is definitely crayfish season. When I grew up you were only allowed to catch crayfish during August, and the crayfish premiere was a big event. I remember some awesome crayfish parties my parents took me to as a child. I love the food, the casual way of eating and the atmosphere.

My London friend usually gets as excited to try crayfish as I get to eat the little red darlings. Last month I had some of my girl friends over for a small crayfish party/ It was mid-Olympics so Usuain Bolt kept us company on the telly, but it was great fun.

You can not just have crayfish and snaps, you need something more substantial to soak up the alcohol, and the Västerbotten cheese quiche is always a winner. Usually it is topped with creme fraiche, caviar and chopped red onions, but this year I topped it with girolles fried in butter with garlic and parsley. Yu-um!

I also made a warm potato salad with new potatoes and a vinaigrette, served cooked asparagus with olive oil and parmesan, salad, mayonnaise, bread and cheese.

Simple salad with little gem lettuce, peppers, cherry tomatoes, avocado, olive oil and balsamic.

Amazing pear cake

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I think the girls yesterday will agree when I call this cake amazing! It just is and always has been… 😉

I got the recipe from a chef called Måns one summer when I was working in his café, where it also was a success. Hope you enjoy it too!

Pear cake

1 can tinned pears

2 eggs

300 ml granulated sugar

200 ml plain flour

150 g melted butter

Beat the eggs and sugar fluffy, fold in the flour and then the butter. Pour into a springform which is greased and coated with flour. Slice the pears and put them into the batter in a circle, and put some in the middle of the cake. Push the pear slices down as far as possible. Bake for about 30 minutes in 175 degrees. The cake should be a little runny in the middle. Serve with whipped cream flavoured by some vanilla sugar or St Germain. Enjoy!

Another crayfish party!

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Yesterday I had my girls (Jenny, Jenny and Laura) around for some Swedish crayfish. It was so much fun and they really seemed to enjoyed it! They were also excellent students in how to peel the little animals, to drink snaps and how to place the shell on the plate afterwards.

This is what we had:

  • Rocket with cherry tomatoes, spring onions and vinegrette
  • Västerbotten cheese quiche, with my dough recipe
  • Omelette rolls with goat’s cheese and bacon
  • Crayfish of course
  • Baguettes and cheese
  • Pear cake for dessert

I also made omelette rolls with goat’s cheese and bacon, served bread and two cheeses and of course crayfish! It is soooo good, I could eat it every week!

Västerbotten quiche – the GOOD one

Dough:

120 g softened butter

300 ml plain flour

1/2 whipped up egg

Filling:

250 g grated Västerbotten cheese

200 ml cream

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

Combine the ingredients for the dough and knead it a little, press out with your thumbs onto a quiche dish, pick wholes with a fork and pre-bake for 10 minutes in 180-200 C oven. Mix the ingredients for the filling together in a bowl, throw in some salt and pepper. When the shell is pre-baked, just fill it up with the cheese mixture and bake for another 20 minutes or so, until the filling has set and the quiche looks nice and golden. Serve hot, lukewarm or cold. If cold it’s great to decorate it with some creme fraiche and caviar, lemon slices, dill, chopped red onions etc.

Omelette rolls

2 eggs

4 tbsp soy cream or cream

salt and white pepper

soft goat’s cheese with herbs (or a normal cream cheese with herbs)

6 slices bacon

Fry the bacon in small pieces, drain from excess fat on kitchen towel and leave to cool. Mix one egg and half the cream together in a bowl, season and fry in some butter in an omelette pan (small frying pan), on low heat until it is done, flip it over for a minute so both sides are cooked. Leave on a plate with the darker side down. Repeat the procedure with another omelette and place on a seperate plate. Once they have cooled, spread some cheese on both omelettes, sprinkle with bacon and roll them up. Cut into 2 cm wide pieces and serve on a buffet or as a light snack.

Dumle chocolate mousse with nut brittle

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This is a lovely chocolate mousse made on the Finnish sweet called Dumle, so next time you see it at an airport make sure you grab a bag. Or if you live in London, pay a visit to Scandinavian Kitchen. They might have some at Ikea as well.

This was the grande finale for the crayfish dinner. Yum!

Dumle chocolate mousse with nut brittle, 4-6 portions

1 bag dumle sweets

300 ml whipping cream

4 tbsp granulated sugar

2 tbsp butter

a large handful of mixed nuts (I had almonds and hazelnuts)

The day before: Cut the sweets into smaller pieces and put in a bowl. Heat up the cream in a pan, when it starts to boil pour it over the sweets and stir until they’ve melted completely. Let the mixture cool and then place in the fridge overnight.

Put the sugar and butter in a frying pan, and let it melt on medium heat. When it’s melted put the nuts in the pan and stir until the mixture is starting to brown. Remove from heat and pour it onto a sheet of parchment paper. Let it cool and solidify, chop roughly with a knife and place it in a bowl or tupperware over night.

Same day: Whip the cream mixture with an electric whisk until wanted thickness, but be aware that it can split if whisking too long. Place in portion bowls and prinkle the nut brittle on top. Enjoy!

Matjes cheesecake

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This is a savoury cheesecake with Matjes herring, perfect for Midsummer or crayfish parties. It is easy to make and needs to be made the day before, or at least a few hours before serving, so it sets properly.

Matjes cheesecake

Base:

6-8 slices dark rye bread

75 g butter

Filling:

1 tin matjes herring

400 ml creme fraiche

100 ml mayonnaise

1 tub Philadelphia

a bit of horseradish

50 ml chopped dill

2 tbsp red caviar

1/2 red onion, finely chopped

2 tsp gelatine powder

2 tbsp water

There are two ways to make the base. Either mix softened butter with the bread in a food processor, or mix the bread with a stick blender, melt the butter, add it to the crumbs and mix it together. Then press it out into a springform.

Chop the herring and mix together with creme fraiche, cream cheese, mayo, horseradish, onion dill and caviar. Season with salt and white pepper. Next mix the gelatine with the water in a bowl and let it swell for a few minutes, then place the bowl in boiling water and stir the gelatine around until it has all melted and completely dissolved into the water. Remove from the boiling water and let it cool down. Then add it to the mixture and make sure it is mixed in completely, then pour the mixture into the springform, make sure to level it with a spatula. Put clingfilm on it and place in the fridge until the next day.

Just before serving it decorate it with lemon slices and dill or something more elaborate. Perfect for a buffet.

Västerbotten cheese quiche

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A cheese quiche made with the Swedish Västerbotten cheese is a given with crayfish. This recipe is from a Swedish blog called Kryddburken and it was nice, but next time I think I will stick to my own quiche dough recipe so will add it to the recipe.

 

Västerbotten cheese quiche, 6 portions

My quiche dough recipe:

120 g softened butter

300 ml plain flour

1 eggyolk

Filling:

250 g grated Västerbotten cheese (or a sharp cheddar will do)

2 egg yolks

2 eggs

200 ml cream

salt

Mix the ingredients together for the dough and press it out in a quiche dish. Use a fork to pierce the dough all over. Pre-bake the dough for 10 mins at 175 C.

Mix the grated cheese with the cream, eggs and yolks, pour into the quiche shell and bake for another 20 mins.

If you serve it lukewarm or cold decorate it with caviar, lemon, chopped red onions and creme fraiche. Enjoy!