Monday Suppers

As part of the beautiful High Tea party my husband threw for my birthday last week, he made his own gravadlax. This is a recipe he has done a few times and it was one of my most anticipated itemso n the High Tea menu. Everyone paid him high compliments. At the morning tea we ate gravadlax rolled up with creme fraiche and chives. Delicious. But my absolute favourite way to eat Nathan's gravadlax is with pickled cucumbers and potato pancakes. This we enjoyed the night after my birthday. It is a simple dish, but takes some forethought as the salmon must cure for four days. Nathan's Gravadlax recipe comes from "Falling Cloudberries" by Tessa Kiros and is a recipe from her Finnish Grandfather.

Potato Pancakes with Gravadlax and Dill Cucumbers
The ingredients:
Gravadlax:
300g Caster Sugar
200g Coarse Salt
150g Dill, chopped
2 Whole Fillets of Salmon, skin on, cleaned and boned

Dill Cucumbers:
1 Cucumber
1 Tbs Chopped Dill
100ml White Wine Ve=inegar
2 Heaped Tbs Caster Sugar
1 Tsp Salt

Chopped Dill, to serve
Finnish Mustard or Creme Fraiche, to serve

Potato Pancakes:
500g Potatoes, peeled and halved
125ml Pouring Cream
50g Plain Flour, sifted
A Little Grated Nutmeg
3 Eggs, separated
Butter, for shallow-frying
Olive Oil, for shallow-frying

The recipe:
Gravadlax:
Combine the sugar, salt, dill and a few good grindings of black pepper in a bowl. Put a large piece of foil on the work surface and place a third of the mixture. Put one salmon fillet, skin side down, on top of the sugar-salt mix, then top with another third of the mixture. Top with the other salmon fillet, skin side up, and cover with the remaining mixture. Pat down so it is all covered and wrap in foil to seal the salmon. Keep it in a container in the fridge for four days, turning it every day.

To serve the gravadlax, remove the foil and scrape off as much of the sugar and salt mixture as possible. Slice the salmon very thinly, horizontally, and scatter with more fresh dill.

Cucumbers:
Cut the cucumber into very thin slices. Layer them into a bowl, sprinkling the dill between layers. Combine the vinegar, sugar, salt and 2 tablespoons of water, stirring to dissolve. Pour this over the cucumbers to cover it. Keep in the fridge for at least a few hours, and up to a week, before serving.

Potato Pancakes:
Boil the potatoes for about 15 minutes in salted water until they are soft. Pass them through a food mill and then stir in cream. Add the flour, nutmeg and some pepper and mix through well. Leave to cool a little.

Lightly whisk the egg yolks and whisk into cooled potatoes. Whip the egg whites to soft peaks and fold those into the potato batter. Add a little more salt if necessary.

Melt a little butter and olive oil to cover the bottom of a frying pan over medium heat. When hot, drop in spoonfuls fo the batter. Cooker for 1-2 minutes until golden on the underside, then flip them swiftly over. Cook until golden, then lift out and keep warm in the oven. Add more butter and olive oil to the pan when necessary and cook the rest of the pancakes.

Serve warm with gravadlax, dill cucumbers and a dollop of creme fraiche.

The result:
Soft, fluffy pancakes; fresh, moist salmon and crunchy cucumbers. Its a colourful and vibrant plate, and so satisfying! A little slice of Finland right here in suburban Sydney.

Do you have a favourite recipe from a far off culture?

Monday Suppers

Well it wasn't Monday. But the cooking did begin on a Monday. The eating happened on a Tuesday. To tell the truth since the arrival of Baby No. 3, and especially since the beginning of school holidays, the days all blur into one. It's hard to keep track of where we are in the week.

We have not had to cook almost at all since we brought Kyah home. We have been blessed with an army of dinner angels who have brought dinner to our door almost every other day for 3 weeks! What a blessing in the early days of having a newborn in the house.

Nonetheless, last night we had a delicious 2 course meal cooked by my hubby. First course was an Asian style pumpkin and coconut soup.

The ingredients:
1.5 litres chicken or vegetable stock (we used homemade vegetable stock)
1tbsp fish sauce
4 kaffir lime leaves
1.5kg pumpkin, seeded and coarsely chopped
1 1/4 cups (310ml) coconut milk
1/2 cup coriander leaves
lime wedges and chopped chives, to serve
finely sliced long red chill, to serve

The recipe:
Place a large pot over medium heat with stock, fish sauce, lime leaves and pumpkin, bring to the boil and cook until pumpkin is tender (8-10 minutes). Remove from heat and discard the lime leaves. lLace pumpkin mixture in the blender and process until smooth. Return mixture to saucepan over medium heat, add coconut milk and heat, without boiling, for 3 minutes or until soup is heated through. Divide soup between bowls, top with coriander and serve with lime wedges, chives and chilli.
Can freeze soup in an airtight container for up to 3 months.

The result:
Delicious! Surprising flavours, light and fresh. Yet so comforting as the colder lights start to roll in with autumn. We both thought the soup would be better if it was thicker, and discussed cooking the pumpkin mixture for longer at a simmer before adding the coconut milk to thicken the soup. We will try this next time.

The second course was steak and salad. We don't often have steak and so this seemed like a real treat. We used a new marinade recipe from allrecipes.com and the result was great.

The Best Steak Marinade:
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar*
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp minced garlic**
salt and pepper to taste

* After reading the reviews of this marinade we cut down the balsamic vinegar by about quarter.
** Approximately 2 cloves garlic
Marinate steaks for at least 2 hours.

The result:
A delicious steak that even the kids loved! Win!!

So, what did you eat for dinner?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Monday Suppers

Sometimes dinner just works. And looks and tastes pretty awesome. Sometimes it doesn't (and who blogs about those nights...?). Tonight, dinner was a win.

With a fridge full of zucchini, due to unintentional over-purchasing at the growers market on Sunday, we needed to try a couple of new recipes to use them up whilst they were still lovely and fresh and crisp.

Monday nights are the only night I routinely find myself making the same dish every week. Smoked salmon pasta. It's simple; involves 4 ingredients; and is a guaranteed favourite with my kids. I can also add in whatever veggies I have on hand - baby spinach, frozen peas, green beans.

Whilst the kids are always the recipient of this Monday might staple, it doesn't always extend as far as our meal. Tonight we definitely needed something to compliment it. And zucchini was the ingredient for inspiration.

I made a Zucchini and Ricotta Tart - it only involved 5 ingredients, it took 10 minutes to prepare and 10 minutes to cook. Win! I had seen this tart on Pinterest a few weeks ago and wanted to try it.

The ingredients:
Puff pastry
1/2 cup Ricotta
1/2 Lemon - zest and juice
1/2 Onion or Asian style shallot
1 Zucchini

The recipe:
Score the pastry sheet around the edges to creat a 2 cm border. Prick the pastry inside this border.

Mix ricotta, lemon, onion and salt and pepper to taste

Spread over pastry inside of border.

Use a peeler to slice thin strips of zucchini and lay these on top of the ricotta in a lattice pattern. If you want, brush pastry edges with an egg wash.

Bake for 10-12 minutes at 200C.

The result:
Delicious!

I should have overlapped the zucchini slices a little as they shrank a little in the oven, but still scrumptious.

Nathan made a Zucchini salad with chill, lemon and EVOO inspired by a Jamie Oliver recipe. He omitted the mint (because we didn't have any), and added rocket and fetta. Again the result was delicious!

With an additional side of soy marinated char-grilled mushrooms, our dinner was a four-course tasting banquet of delicious seasonal veggies and scrumptious pasta. Perfect for a lazy Monday night.

What did you eat for dinner tonight?