Scandelights

Lunch at Marchal, Copenhagen

Published on January 19, 2015 by Hanna1 Comment

I have a long list of Copenhagen restaurants I want to try, but they were all closed for lunch on New Year’s Eve. But that was lucky in a way because that made us discover Marchal, the one Michelin-starred restaurant in Hotel d’Angleterre.

The lunch menu was really nice, but a little tricky to figure out which dishes were starters and which were main courses, but I think we did alright. Claes and I had poached oysters with potato and root vegetable balls, crispy potato, horseradish sauce and dill oil. Such a great dish – subtle flavours in absolute harmony.

Emma had a chicken salad with crispy chicken skin and loved every bite.

And Linus had confit pork breast with onions, apples and jus. Also really, really nice!

The portions were not very big, but still felt quite substantial so it was perfect to follow it up with two plates of cheese (with fried rye bread, figs and strawberry conserve) to share. It was a fine balance to eat enough to feel full and content but not too full as we had a quite large dinner planned for the evening.

We had a nice Sancerre with our dinner, recommended by the sommelier, and I must say the service was really good over all.

Marchal offered exactly what we wanted for our New Year’s Eve luncheon; some flair and big city buzz but still a relaxed ambiance. And of course wonderful food! We’ll be back.

Marchal, Hotel d’Angleterre, 34, Kongens Nytorv, 1050 København K, Denmark

New Year’s Eve 2014

Published on January 16, 2015 by HannaLeave a comment

New Year’s Eve was just as great as we’d hoped. Our little gang (Emma, Claes, Linus and me) started with lunch at Marchal in Copenhagen (review to come), walked around the city and stopped for cava at a bar before taking the train back to Sweden. After a change of clothes we were ready for the evening festivities.

We started with my favourite champagne (Pol Roger Brut Réserve), gougères (recipe to follow later) as well as butter-fried bread, Kalix caviar (Swedish bleak roe), creme fraiche and chopped red onions. A real Scandi classic that we never get tired of!

We then continued on the ‘simple yet delicious’ theme with fresh lobsters with garlic and parsley butter and baguette and Les Sétilles, Bourgogne 2012 to drink.

The main course was a bit more complex, but I had prepped most of it in advance. Fillet of beef with potato parcels, Jerusalem artichoke purée, oyster mushrooms, steamed carrots and red wine jus. Brolio Chianti Classico 2012 to drink.

And here somewhere we lost track of time and realised 30 minutes before midnight that we would not have time for pudding beforehand, so instead we went outside to watch the fire work display organised by Malmö town, which was really nice! To toast in the new year we had Charles de Fère Brut Mérite; a nice French sprarkling.

Back in the flat again I made my way into the kitchen and made a baked Alaska with crispy oats, passionfruit and raspberries that went down really well around 1am! (Recipe to follow).

Nigella’s snowflecked brownies

Published on January 15, 2015 by HannaLeave a comment

I used to bake these snowflecked brownies courtesy of Nigella a lot before, pre-blog, and somehow I thought of them again and made it for my brunch between Christmas and New Year. That made me realise what a great recipe this is! A lot of recipes I used to love before the blog are now disappointing, but this is definitely not one of them. These brownies have begun a revival in my kitchen; I’m planning on making them for the office this month and probably some dinner parties too.

The texture is absolutely wonderful; moist and dense, but in a good way, speckled with white chocolate. What’s not to like?!

Nigella’s snowflecked brownies, makes 20 pieces

Adapted from the recipe in Feast by Nigella Lawson

375 g salted butter

375 g dark high quality chocolate

6 eggs

350 g caster sugar

1 tbsp vanilla

225 g plain flour

1 tsp salt

250 g roughly chopped white chocolate

Icing sugar for serving

Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Line a baking tin measuring 33 x 23 cm with baking parchment. Melt butter and dark chocolate in a large heavy pan on low heat. Leave to cool. Beat eggs and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the vanilla and the chocolate mixture. Fold in the flour and salt. Add the white chocolate and pour the batter into the tin. Bake for 25 minutes. The top layer should be pale with a dark still moist layer underneath. Leave to cool and cut into squares. Dust with icing sugar and serve. They freeze well.

‘Lertallrikasill’ (eggs, anchovies and dill on toast)

Published on January 14, 2015January 10, 2017 by HannaLeave a comment

This mixture of boiled eggs, anchovies, red onion, dill and butter is a classic Swedish dish called lertallrikasill (herring on clay plates). It’s quite similar to gubbröra but instead of sourcream or creme fraiche binding everything together this dish is held together with butter (eve better, right?!). Delicious!

Lertallrikasill, serves 3 as a starter

3 small slices of white bread, toasted (granary or German rye bread works well too)

3 semi-hardboiled eggs

1 tin anchovies fillets

1 red onion

dill

50 g salted butter

Chope eggs, anchovies, red onion and dill and place in a bowl. Melt the butter and let it cool a little. Mix into the eggs. Season to taste with white pepper (salt is not needed). Divide between the bread slices and serve.

Dinner at B.A.R., Malmö, Sweden – one year later

Published on January 13, 2015 by HannaLeave a comment

My first evening in Sweden before Christmas I spent with dear friends. First lunch with my bestie and then we gathered a bunch of friends in her and her husbands’ flat for some bubbly and snacks before going out for dinner at B.A.R.

Almost the same group of people went to this restaurant the year before as well, so it was fun to go back and compare. We were even seated in the same area and had another lovely evening with fantastic food, great wines and lots of laughter. Thanks guys for lovely get together!

The food so, was just as nice as the previous year. For some it was a bit strange to eat lamb’s heart but I think everyone enjoyed it in the end and I thought the dish was splendid.

But we started with their nice sourdough and beautifully whipped butter.

The first course was cured pollock with celeriac. It was nice and a fun take on different textures.

Next up was the lamb’s heart which was incredibly tender and thinly sliced. Mine was served with beetroots, capers, Jerusalem artichoke crisps and fresh horseradish.

The others had their hearts with red cabbage and crispy kale and that was a lovely dish too.

The pork with baked heritage carrot, red onions and lingonberries was very tasty and quite filling.

The wines we got recommended with our meal were as nice as the food, and this peppery red (La Stoppa Trebbolio Rosso 2012) we were served with the pork was especially good.

The pudding was similar to last year’s but I liked this one better; the salted caramel sauce with thyme was amazing! When photographing the dish my friend Tobias suggested I should be in the picture too, so I made him take a selfie of us! My friends thought I should continue to be in the pictures, but I prefer to showcase the food on its own, but occasionally I can post a picture of myself too.

B.A.R. Malmö, Erik Dahlbergsgatan 3, 211 48 Malmö, Sweden

Brunch style baked eggs with spinach and mushrooms

Published on January 12, 2015 by Hanna1 Comment

One of the best – and certainly the easiest – ways to cook eggs for a large number of people is undeniably baking them in a large ovenproof dish.

These eggs with wilted spinach and fried mushrooms are really delicious and so very easy to make. I served them at a brunch with crispy bacon (and a smorgasbord of other brunchy things).

Baked eggs with spinach and mushrooms, serves 8

12 eggs

300 g fresh spinach

150 g mushrooms (I used chestnut mushrooms)

butter for frying

oil for the dish

Rinse and slice the mushrooms. Fry in butter, add salt and pepper. Remove from the saucepan and wilt the spinach in a little butter in the same saucepan. Remove any excess liquid. Grease an ovenproof dish and add the spinach and mushrooms and mix the two. Divide evenly across the dish and make twelve hollows for the eggs. Crack the eggs into the hollows and place the tray in a 200C oven for 10-15 minutes, until the eggs are just set. Add salt and pepper before serving.

Brunch at home

Published on January 10, 2015January 9, 2015 by Hanna2 Comments

Between Christmas and New Year I gathered some of my friends at my parents’ house for some brunch and considering there were quite a few adults and four kids it worked out really well. Everyone could eat when they wanted and it was much more relaxed than a sit down lunch – exactly what I was going for.

The fortunate non-drivers got a Buck’s Fizz or Mimosa (orange juice and bubbly) on arrival while the others had the choice of plain orange juice, tea and coffee.

The brunch buffet also had homemade raspberry smoothies, bread, cheeses, cream cheese with sundried tomatoes, meats, fruit, freshly cut vegetables, jam, baked eggs (recipe to follow), crispy bacon, Mexican corn bread and delicious brownies (recipe to follow later).

It was lovely to hang out with my friends in such a relaxed atmosphere. Thanks mummy for pouring coffee and thanks to all my friends for coming!

Dinner (and boule) at Boulebar Malmö, Sweden

Published on January 8, 2015 by HannaLeave a comment

On Boxing Day two of my best friends had organised a boule tournament at Boulebar Malmö and since I often miss larger gatherings like this because I live abroad I was very happy I could attend this time. Although I’m not very good at boule, I had a lovely time.

We played for 90 minutes and had our own little tournament going on four lanes. Before and after we mingled at the bar and we also had dinner here after the game.

The winning team!

I really like the concept at Boulebar; that you have boule lanes, a bar and tables to eat at all under one (big) roof.

The food had a French theme (no surprise there) and the menu we all had included crunchy baguette with dips (aioli, tapenade, oil and Dijon mustard) to start, chèvre chaud with beets, moules marinière and steak with frites and bearnaise butter.

The bread and dips were a great way to start the meal, the chèvre chaud was really nice, the mussels well cooked but could have had more flavour and the beef was very tender and nice. My only issue is that it wasn’t enough for us hungry people. If there would have been more baguette to start and more frites with the beef (one little basket is not enough for six people to share) we would have been very happy. More meat would not have gine amiss, but considering what the menu cost I wouldn’t expect anything more than some more carbs that frankly don’t cost much. We should have asked for more though and were too shy to, and that is entirely our own fault.

Boulebar, Drottningtorget 8, 211 25 Malmö

Saffron cheesecake

Published on January 7, 2015 by HannaLeave a comment

This saffron cheesecake would be considered christmassy in Sweden, where we use saffron mainly for the holiday season (apart from in fish soup), however in the rest of the world it would probably just be a nice cheesecake with saffron, which is why I’m posting it post-Christmas (well that, and the fact that I didn’t have time around Christmas).

Saffron cheesecake, serves 10

Base:

200 g digestive biscuits

100 g melted butter

Filling:

400 g cream cheese

100 ml milk

115 ml caster sugar

1 tsp gelatin powder

1 1/2 tbsp saffron strands

1 egg

Mix the digestives into crumbs in a food processor, add the butter and press onto the base of a Ø 20-25 cm springform and pre-bake for 10 minutes at 150 C.

Meanwhile mix the cream cheese with caster sugar in a bowl. Heat up the milk with the saffron and add the gelatine. Leave to cool a little and mix in with the cream cheese. Lastly, mix in an egg and pour the filling into the tin. Bake for 20 minutes in 150C oven. It should still be quivering in the middle but set otherwise.

Christmas 2014

Published on January 6, 2015 by HannaLeave a comment

I had two weeks off work during Christmas and it was wonderful spending that much time back home in Sweden. There was a lot of food involved as we entertained and saw friends often for a meal.

At the moment I’m more in the mood for soups and vegetables than three course meals (who knew I would ever utter those words), but I fondly look back on all the nice meals we had during the Christmas break.

We only had traditional Christmas food on Christmas Eve, and we decided that was the perfect amount for our family. The traditional dishes are all rich and stodgy so one day is enough! In the evening we started with a smörgåsbord of cured and smoked salmon, meatballs and sausages, Jansson’s temptation, Christmas ham, brown and red cabbage, bread and cheeses. Thereafter we had salted ling with a warm mustard sauce and boiled potatoes (although I had cod instead) and a seriously rich rice pudding (Ris a’la Malta) with plenty of whipped cream and berry sauce to finish.

The other days we enjoyed whatever we were in the mood for. Mummy made this gubbröra on toast as a starter one day. It’s chopped eggs, anchovies, dill and onions in butter. Very yummy! (Recipe to follow).

We actually had a lot of fish, like this gratin with plaice fillets and prawns.

But also a lot of meat, sauce and potatoes. Above seriously tender wild duck cooked by mummy with Hasselback potatoes and Brussel sprouts but we also had rib-eye and bearnaise sauce as well as roasted chicken.

While entertaining we of course had puddings too, like this favourite tarte tatin with ‘raw’ custard. The oven cooks a bit unevenly and we forgot to move it around, hence the colour difference, but it was still very delicious!

One of the last days we had some more fish as not much can beat fried Arctic char fillets with boiled potatoes and the best sauce for fish ever!

A few days before Christmas and New Year we even had snow, and although I’m not a fan of icy roads and cold temperatures, the garden looked rather pretty clad in white.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas break. Happy New Year!