Fried Herring

Here comes another Swedish classic"stekt strömming"(fried herring).  Herring is  one of the fishes that you still can buy without spending a fortune.  In Sweden we eat herring on our holidays like midsummer, easter and christmas although on these occasions it is usually pickled.  This recipe is a good everyday dinner.  In the western part of Sweden they eat lingonberries (of course ) to this dish so try that if you like,  I don't do this.  I get my fair share of lingonberries with other dishes.  Herring is very rich in omega 3 so that's a good reason to try this.  In this recipe I use a cider vinegar mustard which I think is very good but use what ever mustard you prefer.

700g of herring 

1 bunch of dill

3 tbs  mustard (cider vinegar flavored)

2 egg yolks

2dl bread crumbs

2dl whole grain flour

salt  & pepper

Start by putting the egg yolks, mustard and dill in a bowl, mix it togehter. Then mix the flour and the bread crumbs and put them out on craftpaper (baking paper), place the herring with the skin side down in the flour mix then put on the mustard mix and then put another herring on top of the first herring filet then put the flour mix on top as well.   Sear it on medium heat in a pan until golden brown.  I serve this with mashed potatos and browned butter.

The mashed potatoes I do like this: boil potatoss, warm up some milk and butter, when the potatos are done drain the water and then smash them then beat them together with the warm milk and butter.  Season with salt and pepper.

The browened butter: put butter in a pan and melt until golden brown be careful you don't want it to get burned it should look like the picture below.  When it starts to smell nutty it is ready.  Take it off the stove and strain it.

Fishsticks!

This is a good weekday food.  It's fast, pretty healthy and most kids love fishsticks.  I always buy fresh fish when doing my weekly shopping and I always use it the same day as I buy it.  Today I used cod but any white fish will work.  If you don't like a heavy sauce you can always do a dill and creme fraich or yogurt sauce.  Today I went for a kind of remoulade which is mayonaise based with pickled veggies (in my case carrots, cuccumbers and capers) and dill.

Start by breading the fish.  One plate with flour, one with whipped eggs and one with bread crumbs.  Turn the fish over in each plate, in the order I listed.  A trick is to use one hand for the eggs and one hand for the flour and bread crumbs so that it won't get so messy.  Fry the fish for about 2 minutes on each side, until golden brown.

For the remoulade: mix 2 egg yolks with 2 tblsp white wine vinager and 2 tsp dijon mustard then pour slowly in 3 dl corn oil.  Squeeze in the juice from 1/4 a lemon, add 1 dl chopped pickled veggies and a bunch of dill, season it with salt and pepper.  Done!

Pasta a la Vongole

It doesn't get much easier or better then this!  This is a great weekend meal... it is festive and great tasting and it is very quick to make which frees up your time for other weekend activities.  If you are eating a spaghetti and meat sauce dinner fair enough but if if you are eating something a little nicer then I think that it is worth the money to get a better pasta.  Most people think pasta is pasta but I disagree.  The taste and the consistency of a good pasta as well the capacity to pick of flavors is not comparable to the average pasta (in my opinion).  

Shellfish is very easy to work with, much easier then many think.  Basically you just rinse and cook, you will know when it is ready because it will open.  Today I used vongole clams which are my favorite shellfish for pasta.  We drank a wine that was perfect for the meal.  A Soave Classico 2007 which was recommended by my co-workers.  The wine was full of flavor and it made the food taste even better which is what a good wine should do.  

PASTA A LA VONGOLE

1 kilo vongole clams

4 dl white wine

2 gloves garlic

1 diced shallot

1 bunch parsley

3 tblsp butter

dash olive oil

pinch of diced red chili

Rinse the clams, in a bowl with running water for about 5 minutes.  Lift the clams up so all the water and sand falls off.  Put them in a hot pan with olive oil and 1 tablsp butter, the onion chili and garlic.  Let it  simmer two minutes then pour in wine and let cook for three minutes.  Add the rest of the butter and pasta.  Toss with parsley, salt and pepper.  Done.

Obviously, cook the pasta in a side pot during the time you are preparing the clams.  The time it will take to do this depends on the pasta.

Rainbow Trout

Raibow Trout with a Warm Mussel and Spinach Salad

Friday!  Today we decided to have fish for dinner as we did our weekly shopping this afternoon.  We try to always buy fresh fish at the market (that way we eat fish at least once a week).  Fish is kind of expensive right nowso we usually buy one of the cheaper fishes (herring, salmon or rainbow trout).  As long as it is fresh.  It is also important to me that it is not an endangered fish, for example halibut monkfish etc.

2 Rainbow Trouts

1 kilo Blue Mussels

1 Shallot Onion (finely diced)

3-4 Gloves Garlic (finely diced)

1 Carrot (finely diced)

1 Fennel (finely diced)

1/2 btl White Wine

1/2 Red Chili, finely diced

1 bunch Fresh Thyeme

200g Fresh Baby Spinach
1/2 dl capers

15-20 cockail tomatos

100 g Butter (for frying and mixing sauce)

3 dl water

Start by rinsing and cleaning the mussels, if they are open and won't close do not use them.  In a pot add  the onions and  half of the garlic and chili.  Place approx. 50g butter in the pot, add mussels and thyme.  Stir for 2 minutes.  Add wine and water and a dash of salt and pepper, put a lid on the pot.  Let it come to a boil.  Boil for 3 minutes.  Let rest for 5 minutes, then strain the mussels, place broth back on medium heat and let  it boil down to half the amount.  

Take the mussels out of their shells.  Slice tomatos in half.  Dice the fennel and carrot.  Then, fry the fish in a pan (approx. 4 minutes on each side).   In a seperate pan add butter, fennel, carrots, capers, chili and garlic.  Let fry for a few minutes.  Add tomatos and spinach.  For the broth: mix broth from the mussels with 20g of butter, to make it frothy , use a hand mixer if you have one.  Done!