Cooking with Aftelier essences, part 1 - Grand Fir

Mandy Aftel does not only make top notch natural perfumes, she also has a range of cooking essences and I've been lucky enough to get to try a few of them. The ones I've been experimenting so far are Yellow Mandarin, Blood Cedar Wood, and Grand Fir. The wooden ones I choose because those flavours are unusual in cooking and I love a challenge. Sweet mandarin I chose because I LOVE the taste of mandarins. Clementins and tangerines we can get all year round here, but real mandarins with their very special happy taste are very hard to come by. They only show up for a few weeks every year in speciality food stores, so having a small bottle of essence is a real treat!

So, what have I been using these essences for? Since I haven't had any finished recipes I've started easy. Doing simple, near fool proof, dishes just to get to get the feel for each essence. Initially I thought that the Grand Fir one would be the hardest one to use, it smells very assertively and resiny. A scent that I associate with masculinity, winter, deep forests and green Wunderbaums, hanging in cars belonging to guys with shady intentions. Fortunately, I've been delighted to find several great uses for it. I've tried adding a drop to a basic balsamic vinaigrette dressing, that works great with veggie salads or Greek salads, especially with sweet ripe tomatoes and feta cheese.

Veggies with Balsamic Fir Vinaigrette

Balsamic Fir Vinaigrette

1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegraitte
1 small drop Grand Fir Essence
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything in a small bowl. Taste!


Salad to go with the dressing

Use the any ones you like of the following:
Lettuce
Tomatoes, the sweeter and riper the better
Cucumber
Red onions
Grated carrots
Feta cheese

Cut up the veggies and feta. Put everything in a salad bowl. Either pour the dressing all over the salad or serve on the side.

A well known chefs proverb is "Grows together, goes together". Here in Sweden I think the fir is the most common tree, especially up north there are vast forests of them. All over the forest floor wild lingonberries grow. Their taste reminds me a bit about cranberries, but they are smaller, harder and tarter. The most common use for them is making jam. I was very curious about how lingonberries would take to the Grand Fir Essence so I made a quick, not so sweet, version of lingonberry jam to try. It turned out great, an interesting, and somehow deeper tasting, version of a Swedish classic.

Lingonberry Forest Relish

This is somewhere between a jam and a relish. For making jam, just boil the berries a bit longer and add more sugar.

1 cup of lingonberries
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon water
1 drop Grand Fir Essence

Put lingonberries, sugar and water in a pot.
Boil for 10 minutes until the berries start breaking up.
Add the drop of Grand Fir Essence.
Stir and serve.

Great served with Swedish meatballs.

So, this is enough cooking for today. I have several more posts coming up using the other two essences, so stay tuned :)



The essences were sent to me for trial.

Blogging Break

As I haven't been updating the blog for a while I've decided to take on official Blogging Break from this blog. The reason is that my baby girl is now eating the same food that the rest of the family, only that the food must be semi-mashable and not to salty/hot/sweet. That makes the food I make not very interesting and not visually appealing. But I will be back cooking cool stuff some day, don't forget about me!

Meanwhile, I do update my other blog, fragrantfanatic.  It's about perfume, everything olfactory and just general musings on stuff. Take a look if you like!

Restaurant review: Frantzén/Lindeberg

In order to celebrate that me and my husband have been together for 15 years we decided to have dinner at Franzén/Lindeberg, one of the top restaurants in Stockholm with two recent stars in the Guide Rouge. They are well known for their experimental approach to cooking and use of fresh local ingredients. There is no set menu, you get served a multicourse one that includes whatever is fresh that very day.

First thing that happens is that the waitress puts a box on out table, containing a loaf of rising dough. A little something to rest our eyes on, to help us get in touch with the meal we are about to experience. A little odd, but I've had worse company while eating out.

The starters are served in a series of 5 where the theme is "raw".
First, an amuse bouche. Two carrot meringues, sandwiched and served macaron style with a foie gras pâté between. The meringues were amazing, perfectly soft and brittle, sweet carrot flavour, no hint of chewiness.
Second, looks like a piece of sushi with raw halibut on top but instead of rice there is this paste containing crab, whitefish roe and chives. A vinaigrette is spooned over the fish, containing canola oil and butter(!).
Third a tartar of langoustine and ruby grapefruit served with a slice of lardo and rosemary and crushed almonds on top. A dollop of apple butter with vanilla on the side.
Fourth, a duck breast is "cooked" in front of us by pointing a blowtorch towards a piece of coal. The flame bounces off the coal onto the duck. I don't think this was a standard dish, there were sparks going in all directions, including into the carpet, making the staff look worried. The duck breast was then thinly sliced and served with duck heart, beetroots, rhubarb and raspberry sauce. Raw, frozen duck liver was grated on top.
Last starter was a chilled, foamy cucumber and horseradish soup. The soup was topped with caviar pearls and ostronört (oysterherb in direct translation). The ostronört gets its name as it tastes of oysters and I can guarantee you, it really does. I've never had anything like it (except for oysters then). I'm dying to get some and start cultivation it on my balcony.

We went for their "wine menu" to go with the food. The starters were served with a rosé from Tavel. Lots of herbs, more like a light red wine than the strawberry and rose flavoured rosé Swedish people gulp down by the bottle, hanging out in parks.

At some point around starter 4 the waitress takes our bread box back to the kitchen, and now the bread comes back out after beeing baked over burning charcoals. I have to say, this might be the best bread I've ever had. Silky soft on the inside with a thin but crackling crust, charry spots all around. With the bread comes a little pouch of home churned butter. A little saltier, a little sweeter and a little more acid that we're used to, this might be the best butter I've ever had.

Next, there is scallop in two servings. First it's served grilled in its own shell, gratineed with a paste of butter and duck egg. Grated brown truffle on top. Second time around our waitress pours a dashi inspired broth, made from mushrooms and algae, into the, by then, empty shell and hands us a small scallop tartar on the side.

A white Rhone (Chapoutier) with the scallop. 

Next in line is the "Satio Tempestas". This one is always on the menu and is a kind of house salad. There is a piece of white fish (I unfortunately don't remember which one) and about 30 different leafs, herbs and vegetables, chosen according to the season. All of these are prepared individually in whatever manner seems most suitable. There is parsley made into a pesto, leaves of "plister" au naturelle, a lightly boiled or steamed piece of carrot, leek powder etc etc. On top there is a light sprinkling of deep fried fish scales. This dish made me happy, so fresh and I just love when vegetables are treated with the respect they deserve, letting each one shine!

A powerful white Bourgogne with the chicken.

Then, a palate cleanser. Sorbet of lemon verbena and chamomile. A good combo. The verbena contributing freshness and the chamomile contributing calm herbness. Herbs in sorbets are underrated.

Next, two variations on chicken. First a velouté made with chicken stock and onions, served with a big dollop of cream whipped with liquorice. This was the only dish that I found to be a little bit to much for me. The soup was great in itself but the cream was a too sweet and the liquorice drowned out the great natural chicken flavour. Next serving was lardo wrapped chicken breast, served with charred onions, frothy almond milk, grated lemon zest and a dollop of pâté made with raw chicken livers. This one was great.

Red Bourgogne with the chicken.

Then, the epilogue: a small piece of newly curdled fresh cheese made of cows milk, served with canola oil, sea salt and grated almonds. This one was so small and simple but perfect. On top of fresh pasta it would be heaven.

Then, a threesome of desserts; one sweet, one salty and one sour. The sweet one; a small log on vanilla and rose ice cream, served with baked tomatoes and raspberry jam. The sour one; lemon variations (lemon meringues, plain lemon segments, lemon curd) served under a blanket of buttermilk with vanilla. A play on lemon meringue pie. The salty one; hazelnut praliné sprinkled with sea salt, served with mead and sorbet made from oxidized pears. The mead and pear sorbet were not very pleasant in themselves, but when they came together... a masterpiece!

Some very sweet German wine with the dessert. It managed to taste good, but very different, with all 3, no small feat!

And at last, with the coffee, 3 macarons. A sweet one stuffed with mashed potatoes and parsnips. A salty one stuffed with salted caramel. And a sour one stuffed with rhubarb and violet jam. By now we were so stuffed it wasn't fun any more...

Dining at Franzén/Lindeberg was a lovely experience. People and restaurants that take food seriously make me happy. The only thing that I'm a little bit hmmmm about are the wines. They were all good and everything but the food was the star and the wines felt mostly like support, not getting to shine. French wines are optimized to go with French food, and this was Swedish food. For me, I'd served it with birch sap (seriously) and a big carafe of iced vodka on the side, in order to keep up whatever level of alcohol people are used to when eating in restaurants.

And, if there is something to be learnt, this is it:

• All butters are not created equal.
• Everything gets better when wrapped in lardo.
• Don't be afraid to play around with your dairy products

Ekovinlådan - part 3, Le Temps des Gitans

Full name: 2009 Mas de Janiny Le Temps des Gitans Vin de Pays de l'Hérault. A clear bottle with a pretty cheap looking label it doesn't look like much, but this one has been the biggest surprise of the Ekovinlådan wines this far.

The wine is dark red, verging on blue. It smells like lots of dark berries and minerals but there are also traces of maceration carbonique, contributing with candy like notes of raspberry gumdrops and the like. A wine mote complex than you'd guessed by the label, heading in several directions at once. It also manages to be very smooth without being wimpy. My mother-in-law said: "There is just no resistance whatsoever when gulping this down", and I agree about that.

With food it got even better. We served it along risotto with chicken, grilled red peppers and fried aubergines, recipe taken from the current issue of Swedish Gourmet magazine. This was an excellent food pairing. The wine was good on its own, but the food brought it to live.

The wine costs 85 SEK on its own. A very good buy. I'm going to order myself 3 bottles right away. This could be my new black dress wine, a wine that goes with everything, for every occasion!

Unfortunately I had this a wile ago and didn't think of taking tasting notes so this review might not be what is could be, but fortunately there are other bloggers that have reviewed as well. For more details, check out last review in this blog posting in "Finare Vinare"  (in Swedish) or Organic Wine Journal

Ekovinlådan, part 2 - Domaine La Réméjeanne Côté Levant Rosé 2010

Rosé wines have become incredibly "in" in Sweden during the last few years. Nothing like laying down, roman style, on a blanket in a park during summertime, sipping somehitng pink.

The wine is light pink with a unusually high acidity for a rosé. To be honest this wine, tastewise, reminds me more of a chablis than the softer rosés you usually get. Ok, both strawberry and rose is in there and also a herbiness, typical of Southern France but the main feature is the acidity. The level of alcohol is also high, a whopping, but not very noticalble, 14%!

Our bottle of Domaine La Réméjeanne Côté Levant Rosé 2010 me and my husband finished off while watching the sunset on our balcony during the first magic warm night of 2011. I imagine it would be even better served with a platter of finger food such as salami, parma ham, olives etc. But it was excellent on it's own.

If you get a bottle at Systembolaget it's 125 SEK. I think that's well spent money. This is one of the best quality rosés I've had. Unfortunately, as it's not the typical cordial type of rosé wine, not everyone might appericiate it.

Wines from "Ekovinlådan" - part 1

I do, weirdly enough, have a sommelier degree. However, with 2 little kids there is no way I have the time to taste my way through as many wines as I'd need,in order to be anywhere near confident in my wine knowledge. I know what I like, and tend to stick to buying the same type of wines over and over again. This is safe, but it does get boring. Therefore I sometimes like to take advice blindly. If someone recommends something I go for it, even though I might have this little voice somewhere saying "Is this really a good idea?". Well, the worst that can happen is that I buy a crappy wine, in most cases I get to try something new and delicious that I wouldn't have known about if I hadn't tried.

In Sweden, there is this company called Ekolådan. They most commonly deliver ecological vegetables to your door. When I found out they had this crate of ecological wines you can order I decided to give it a try. Check it out here (links to a page in Swedish).

There is a new crate for every season, I went for the "spring" one. There are 6 wines in a crate, in the one I got there were one rosé, 2 white ones (one fresh and one full flavoured) and 3 reds (one fruity, one spicy one full bodied). Also, a note came with the wines with some background info and serving suggestions.

The first wine we tried was the spicy red one: "Le 20 Rouge", 2008, from Appellation Côtes du Roussillon Contrôlée. It's made from syrah, grenache och carignan and described as tasting a lots of herbs like thyme, bay leaf, rosemary and pepper. It's supposed to be great served with lighter meat dishes and roasted root veggies.

This is, what I call, a very French wine. All elements are well integrated and nothing really sticks out, which makes it hard to describe. It's the "archetype of red wine" type of wine. There is fruitiness, most notably blackberries and dark cherries. Also some salami, smoke and pepper from the Syrah. There is a green and herby element as well, but I don't get all those herbs described by the vendor. It's medium bodied, 12.8% alcohol. The acidity is pretty high. The tannin bite is at medium. It's not a wine to enjoy by itself, it needs some food to go with it in order to really shine.

Is it a good buy? Hm, I not sure. You can buy a bottle at Systembolaget for 125 SEK. I think that's quite much. This is the sort of wine that French farmers drink by the cup to quench their thirst after a log days work at the arbour. It is a proper, but after all, pretty rustic wine. I'd be happy to give something like 80 SEK for it, but then, I don't how much is fair to add to the price as the wine is biodynamically made.

I improvised a dish to serve with the wine, round steak stuffed with garlic and herbs. In Swedish, round steak is called "rumpstek", and the Swedish name of my dish (örtfylld rumpstek) in direct translation in to English is "Herb stuffed ass roast". My son thought this was the funniest thing he'd heard in a long time and went on laughing about it for half a day. Sometimes I envy him his sense of humour!

Herb and garlic stuffed round steak, served with roasted root vegetables and feta sauce.

1 round steak
half a garlic
1 dl olive oil
big pinches each of dried rosemary, thyme, basil or whatever dried herbs you've got on hand. Fresh ones probably work great as well!
salt
pepper

carrots
potatoes
beetroots

feta
thick yoghurt
olive oil

Some hours in advance:

Make the marinade and stuffing: Run garlic, olive oil, herbs, salt and pepper in a blender.

Cut a big slash right into the meat, like you're cutting a cake into 2 layers, but don't slice all the way.

Rub the garlic and herb marinade onto the meat. Make sure that a lot of the garlic and herbs go into the slash.

Tie up the meat with a piece of string.

Let meat rest and marinate in a cool place.

About one hour before eating: Heat the oven to 200 degrees C.

Cut the root veggies into bite sized pieces. Spread them on a baking pan. Drizzle with olive oil, leftover herbs, salt and pepper.

Put veggies into the oven.

After 30 minutes: Lower oven temperature to 150 degrees C.

Put a thermometer into the meat, put meat in oven.

Roast the meat until termometer shows 58 degrees C. This took me half an hour.

Meanwhile, watch the root veggies, if they start getting to black for your liking, remove them from oven.

While meat is roasting, make the sauce.

Mash feta and stir in some yoghurt. Taste with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Avocado and Shrimp Soup

When finding good avocados, this is the perfect way to use them up.

Avocado and Shrimp Soup

Serves 1
1 avocado
15 unpeeled shrimps
1 tsp buillon powder
3 dl water
1 dl half and half
1 lime
chilli

Peel the shrimps, do not throw away the shells.

Put the shrimp shells in a pot, add the water and boullion powder.

Boil the shrimp shells for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, mash the avocado, along with juice from half a lime in an blender.

Discard the shells, but collect the stock.

Add stock and cream to avocado.

Blend some more.

Add salt, chilli and more lime juice to taste.

Carefully warm the avocado soup.

Add the shrimps and maybe a some slices of lime as decoration

Serve.

Best Beef Tortillas Ever

Before rolling up.

If I'd name one dish that is my families summer signature dish it would be my husbands beef tortillas. 

Best Beef Tortillas Ever

serves 3

2-3 beef steaks depending on how hungry you are
Yoghurt
Feta cheese
Avocado
Lime
Fresh Salsa (recipe below)
6-9 tortillas (again, depending on how hungry you are and the size of the tortillas)

First, grill the steaks. They are supposed to be red in the center and done on the outside. Cut them into strips.

Make the Fresh Salsa.

Ladle the yoghurt and feta cheese into bowls.

Cut the avocado in pieces, squeeze some lime juice over them.

Warm the tortillas in the oven, or over the barbecue.

Put everything on the table and assemble tortillas anyway you like.

Fresh Salsa

Fresh Salsa

20 cherry tomatoes
1 shallot
Bunch of cilantro
Chilli, as much as you can stand
Half a lime
Salt

Chop tomatoes, chilli, cilantro and shallot.
Squeeze in the lime.
Sprinkle over some salt.
Taste and adjust until it's just the way you like it.

Noodle Soup

A staple all over Asia, it's very strange that it's so hard to order decent noodle soup at restaurants here in Sweden. I only know of one restaurant in Stockholm that does them ok and that's just not very many!

The key to a good noodle soup is to have good stock. For the best Pho you have to boil marrowbones for hours, lots of work. But for an everyday-using-up-all-leftovers I find it enough to boil some spices (star anise, a cinnamon stick, some cloves, peppercorns and schizuan pepper) in bouillon cube based stock.

This soup was done in that way. Boiling some spices. Chucking in cubes of tofu, leftover meat and half an egg. Top with coriander or whatever leafs you've got on hand. Done.

Khao Klug Gapi

A while ago my husband came home from the supermarket with a bag full of green mangoes. "They were on sale", he said. Great I thought, you don't come across green mangoes everyday in Sweden.

I sat down and thought for a while, when I stayed in Thailand, what did we use green mangoes for? Then I remembered, "Kao Klug Gapi". A dish consisting of rice fried in shrimp paste, flanked with whatever tidbits you've got on hand that complement each other in flavour. In Thailand that typically is glacéed pork, shredded omelet, shredded green mango, lime wedges, minced shallots and a big pile of chillies. The ingredients are normally served separate so each eater takes whatever he or she like on her rice and mixes it all up just before eating.

Yep, said and done, this is my version og Khao Klug gapi:

Clockwise from upper left corner, lime wedges and shallots. Then shredded omelet, fried with a bit of fish sauce. Then the rice, fried with shrimp paste and garlic. Last, glacéed pork (glacéed with brown sugar and fish sauce) and mango.

Notice the color of the mango. When I cut up those great green mangoes they were all yellow on the inside. Clearly not the same type of mango as we get in Thailand that tend to be the same color inside and out, but a good sweet mango nevertheless. And it worked out great in this dish that way as well.