Iberico ham with Jerusalem artichoke and olive oil mayonnaise #175

Iberico ham is the luxurious type of Spanish Serrano ham. It is made from a special breed of pigs called Iberico that is also known as the black Iberico. The ham or Jamon as it is called in Spain is therefore called Jamon Iberico but is also known as Pata Negra. 

I have used the standard version of the ham, if you want the best one you need to get an Jamon Iberico de Bellota, then the pigs are free-range and fed loads of acorn that flavors the meat. Usually the ham is cured for a longer time as well. If you want to know more about the different variations of Spanish ham then Wikipedia has a short but good post on Iberico ham. 

Now for some cooking, as long as the ham go you should use a Iberico one since it has more fat that is one of the key elements in this dish. I serve the ham at room temperature with deep fried Jerusalem artichokes and a olive oil mayonnaise. The Jerusalem artichokes gives a little bit of texture as well as paring really good with the intense ham flavor. 

The olive oil mayonnaise make the dish a bit more moist and the taste of olive oil mayonnaise i great in a small dish like this. Use a mild olive oil, if it is to intense it will be to powerful, if the oil you have is to intense you can replace half of the amount of oil with a neutral vegetable oil. As the dish is quite fatty you won´t need to serve very much, that will be a relief when it´s time to pay for the ham, on slice or two for each serving is enough.

Iberico ham with Jerusalem artichoke and olive oil mayonnaise

Iberico ham

egg yolk

Dijon mustard

red wine vinegar

salt, pepper

olive oil

Jerusalem artichokes

vegetable oil for deep frying

Whisk the egg yolk with the vinegar and egg yolk, start adding the oil during whisking until it starts to thicken. Add salt and pepper and then the rest of the oil until you are satisfied with the thickness. I use about half a teaspoon of mustard and about 1dl / 0,4 cups of oil for one egg yolk.

Wash and slice the Jerusalem artichoke as thin as you can, a potato peeler works good unless the artichokes are too big. Rinse the slices in cold water and the pad dry with kitchen paper. Deep fry on medium heat until crisp, season with salt.

Add the Iberico ham to a plate and add the mayonnaise and fried artichokes, add a little bit of salt if necessary, serve. Good luck.

Quick kimchi #174

Kimchi is one of the trendiest things you could stuff your mouth with at the moment but good kimchi can be hard to find especially if you´re not blessed with an Korean restaurant nearby. And maybe you don´t feel like waiting for weeks to be able to eat some great cabbage. That´s when you should try my quick kimchi recipe.

I make this using savoy cabbage but you can change it to any kind you like, the sauce is mixed using fish sauce, ginger, sambal oelek and garlic. I then quickly fry the savoy cabbage in a little bit of oil to soften it and give it a little extra flavor. Then marinate it while still slightly warm and serve within an hour.

This is nowhere near a authentic kimchi but the flavor is amazing and it will give you a small taste of the real thing. Also I added a few leafs of Thai basil to my paste because I really like the liquorice notes. If you´re in luck and have an Asian grocery store around you can also look for kimchi paste. I have tried a few of those and they are also OK to use for this quick variation.

Quick kimchi

savoy cabbage
Asian fish sauce
garlic
ginger
sambal oelek
vegetable oil
Thai basil (optional)

Rinse and remove the big stem from the cabbage. In a blender add equal parts of garlic, fish sauce, ginger and sambal oelek and mix into a paste. Add vegetable oil to a frying pan and add the cabbage and roast for a few seconds. Combine the cabbage with the paste. Check flavors and adjust if necessary. Also feel free to reduce or increase any ingredient if you like it any other way, good luck!

New potatoes with butter #173

In Sweden the premiere of the new potatoes is a big deal and it is a must to have to the herring for any mid summer party in Sweden. Usually you start to find them in stores around may or early June and once they are here there is no turning back. We use them for all types of food, roasted as a side for meat or fish, boiled with dill to any meal where you would serve potatoes. The only thing you can´t make is mashed potatoes, we´ll leave that to the winter varieties.

When growing up my father always used to eat his new potatoes with a little bit of butter on the side, cut a piece of potato and then smear on some butter and letting the butter melt on the hot potato in the mouth. That simple way of eating potatoes is simply amazing and deserves a dish on it´s own. So here it is, simply boiled potatoes served with butter, thought I whipped the butter with a little bit of oil and some extra salt and serve on the side as a potato dip, the Swedish version of chips and dip perhaps.

New potatoes with butter

new potatoes

butter

salt

dill 

vegetable oil, I used rapeseed

Wash and scrub the potatoes, boil in salted water with fresh dill until done. In a mixer combine butter, oil and salt and mix until fluffy. I used about three parts butter to one part oil and salt according to taste.

Asparagus soup with shaved asparagus #172

Asparagus is in full season and at this time of year I always try to have some at home since it such a versatile vegetable and can be used for so many things. This time I made some soup using some left over white asparagus and some fresh green ones. You don´t need to use any white asparagus for this recipe since I only used them since they got left over and was getting dry and boring. This is also why my soup is not very green in my photos, it will of course be more green if you´re only using the green ones.

If you´re in the mood for some green asparagus and don´t feel like serving soup why not try some of my other asparagus recipes like Crayfish lasagna with asparagus or Grilled asparagus with Parmesan cheese. But since it´s been cold for a few days here in Sweden (yes colder than our usual cold) I felt like soup.

Asparagus soup with shaved asparagus

green asparagus

shallot onion

chicken or vegetable stock

cream

water

salt, pepper

olive oil

Slice the asparagus, save some of the tips for serving. Chop the onion and add asparagus and onion to a pot and sauteé with the olive oil on medium heat, add the chicken stock and leave to simmer for about ten minutes. Blend into a smoot soup, add the cream, season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Adjust flavor to taste. 

Using a potato peeler slice the saved tips into thin slices, add the soup to a bowl and decorater with the sliced asparagus and a little bit of olive oil.

Smoked salmon with dill, cucumber & horseradish #171

Smoked salmon is always great but I think it´s the best served during spring and summer. For this recipe I made some simple vegetables that I topped the salmon with, cucumber marinated with fresh dill since dill and salmon go together like.. well dill and salmon. Also I put some julienne of radishes on top, this adds some more texture and I like a little bit of extra color. Then some extra dill and fresh grated horseradish on top.

The way I present this dish is a really small snack size but you can of course make it bigger and serve it like a big appetizer carpaccio style. Other ways to variate this dish is to instead of serving it with fresh horseradish you can make a horseradish cream simply by combining the horseradish with some creme fraiche and season with salt and pepper.

Oh, one more thing, smoked salmon works great with potato salad, so you could make this recipe into an main course by adding potatoes to the vegetables and serving the salmon on the side. With an extra sauce or two, some bread and a glass of white wine this could turn into and perfect weekend lunch. Oh well, here´s how to do it.

Smoked salmon with dill, cucumber & horseradish

smoked salmon, sliced. Buy from somewhere great, mine is Norwegian from a Swedish supplier.
cucumber
radishes
horseradish
dill
salt, pepper
olive oil

Peel and split the cucumber in half, dice the flesh into small cubes, add a little bit of olive oil some chopped dill, salt and pepper. Cut the radishes into julienne, add the cucumber and radishes to the salmon, grate horseradish on top, add a few drops of olive oil and a little bit of pepper. No salt should be necessary since the smoked salmon is usually salty enough. Serve straight away, good luck.