Calamari salad with sesame seeds, fennel, cucumber & chili #182

Hello, it´s time for some calamari, this time I am serving it in a salad with Asian flavors. It is fairly simple to make, the base is chopped cucumber, fennel and seared calamari and then I added toasted sesame seeds, cilantro, sesame oil, chili and some seaweed. 

The salad keeps for a few hours in the fridge so it is a good dish to have prepared beforehand, also if you´re serving guests who are not big fans of calamari it is a great way to learn to like it since it´s not the dominant flavor of the dish. Some people don´t like the texture of calamari either and since it´s chopped and seared it is not so noticeable.

Calamari salad with sesame seeds, fennel, cucumber & chili

calamari, fresh or frozen

sesame seeds

fresh red chili

cucumber

fennel

sesame oil

dried wakame seaweed (can be found in most Asian food stores)

olive oil

salt, pepper

fresh cilantro

fresh lime

Chop the calamari into cubes and sear in a frying pan with some vegetable oil, season with salt and pepper. Once cooked add the calamari to a bowl and dice the cucumber and slice the fennel and add to the bowl. Dice the chili and cilantro and add together with some olive oil, sesame oil and lime juice.

Bring water to the boil in a pot and add some dried wakame seaweed, let it simmer for one minute, discard the water and rinse the wakame in cold water, then chop the seaweed and add to the salad.

In a dry pan roast the sesame seeds until they are golden, once done add to the bowl and combine all ingredients, adjust flavors using oil, salt, pepper and lime if necessary. Be a bit careful with the chili since it takes a while for the flavors to come forward.

Cevichè with tomatoes, cod and holy basil #177

Cevichè is always a good idea but an even better idea once it´s hot outside, I have made a few variations of Cevichè here before but this time I added some tomatoes, this gives the dish a bit more sweet taste and almost resembles an Gazpacho (that I also made a few, link is below) that I think worked really good.

As always choose the freshest fish you can find and spend a little extra, as usual you´re only serving tapas so the cost won´t be too big anyway, good luck. For some other Cevichè recipes check out my previous Shrimp cevichè with mango or Cod cevichè with blood orange and chives.

For the gazpacho i recommend my Gazpacho salad or my Green gazpacho with cream cheese, happy cooking!

Cevichè with tomatoes, cod and holy basil

fresh cod

tomatoes

holy basil

olive oil

lime juice

salt, black pepper

spring onions

red chili

Dice the cod and tomatoes and combine, add lime juice, salt, pepper and sliced spring onions and chili and let marinate for half an hour. Roughly chop the holy basil and add to the fish, season with salt and pepper and let sit for another half hour. Before serving check the taste and adjust flavors if necessary.

10 Easter appetizers!

Easter is up and what better way to spend it but eating loads of delicious food. I´ve put together some of my spring and easter favorites into this great collection, after each photo there is a link where you will find the recipe, now go cook and have a great easter!



Salmon with cucumber, dill and wasabi



Crayfish salad with dill on toast



Grilled asparagus with Parmesan cheese



Smashed peas with mint on toast



Soused herring with egg, chives and potatoes



Fennel, shrimp, carrot and orange salad with dill



Soft boiled egg with broad beans and shrimp



Gazpacho salad



Lamb with goat cheese and herbs



Caesar salad

Crayfish lasagna with asparagus & garlic #163

This is barely a lasagna but since I used lasagna pasta and it is served in layers I still chose to call it a lasagna. You can of course serve it with regular pasta and you can of course make it bigger and serve it as a main course. I prepared all ingredients before cooking the pasta since the pasta is a central ingredient in the dish it would be ruined if it were to get overcooked. 

Crayfish lasagna with asparagus & garlic

cooked crayfish tails

asparagus

garlic

cream

milk

salt, pepper

olive oil

spinach and or other leaf vegetables

Parmesan cheese

lasagna pasta

Peel and slice garlic and saute in olive oil for a few minutes, add milk and cream and season with salt and pepper. Blend into a creamy garlic sauce, set aside. Rinse the spinach and drain the crayfish tails (if they were sold in liquid). Slice the asparagus and parboil in salted water. Boil the pasta until almost done (it will get done once everything is plated). 

Add one layer of pasta and then add the asparagus, crayfish and then repeat for as many layers as you like. Whisk the sauce and pour on top and add a little bit of salt, pepper and grated Parmesan, serve.

Pan fried mussels with chives & croutons #158

Mussels in all forms are one of the most affordable and tastiest seafood you can make. It´s also very simple so if you´ve never cooked it before now´s the time. There´s not that much you need to worry about when cooking mussels besides over-cooking them, this will turn them chewy so keep the cooking to a minimum.

For this recipe I pan fried the mussels which give them a bit different flavor, what I do is that i steam them in water until they open up then quickly remove them and pick them from the shell. Then I simply pan fry them in butter and olive oil on high heat for a few seconds with a little bit of garlic and chives and serve straight away.

Pan fried mussels with chives & croutons

mussels
garlic
chives
white bread
butter
olive oil
salt, pepper

Rinse the mussels i cold water and remove any dirt that might be attached to the shell, add a bit of water to a big pot and bring to a boil. Add the mussels and steam until they open up, as soon as they have opened remove them from the water and leave to cool. Discard any mussels that have not opened.

Add a little bit of butter in a pan and cut the bread in croutons, roast the croutons in the butter until golden. Peel and slice the garlic, slice the chives. Add butter and olive oil to a pan and then fry the mussels with the garlic for about a minute, season with salt and pepper and then add the chives. Serve immediately with the croutons. Good luck!

Super Bowl recipes! 10 great classics!

Almost time for Super Bowl and it´s time to make some great tasting stuff that goes great with football, this time I will focus on some in my opinion classics like burgers, chicken wings and ribs!

I´ve put together a list of my favourites and below each photo below there is a link to the recipe in case you´ll need it. Most dishes are simple classics so if you´re just looking for some inspiration then you´ll found the right place.

If you´re only looking for some great tasting snacks to enjoy during the game then check out my previous post: 10 great Super Bowl snacks!

OK here we go....

Sliders, who doesn´t love sliders? Serving sliders is a great idea since your guests won´t be too full not to be able to enjoy all the other great stuff you will be serving. I prefer the with classic toppings like lettuce, cheese and tomato.

Sliders!

Crab claws are great to serve since you won´t need to worry about serving them hot, this recipe with a classic aioli and some salt is all that you´ll need.

Crab claws with aioli and salt.

Grilled corn on the cob (how else would you grill them?) with a generous amount of butter, herbs and chili is a barbecue classic and fits great for the Super Bowl.

Grilled corn on the cob with chili and parsley.

A meatball sandwich with loads of Parmesan cheese can be wrong, either serve them like this or just serve bread on the side with the meatballs still in the sauce, this will keep the meatballs warm for longer and your guests can make their own sandwiches.

Meatball sandwich with Parmesan and herbs.

Well it´s salad time, don´t worry since these iceberg wedges are getting a good splash of dressing and some blue cheese on the side you will still like it.

Iceberg lettuce with blue cheese.

You didn´t think I would leave out the chicken wings did you?

Fried chicken wings with Sriracha sauce.

Or the ribs?

Ribs with lettuce and tomatillo and chipotle sauce.

Tortilla bread packed with ham and cheese are a great snack that is easy to prepare.

Tortilla bread with cheese and serrano ham.

I love fries, especially home made and if you try this recipe I´m sure you will to, besides what else are you serving up with those sliders?

French fries with truffle mayonnaise.

Last one, home made onion rings deep fried with Japanese Panko. Crunchy and great tasting.

Onion rings.

Braised calamari with tomatoes, chili and garlic #154

Calamari is not something I eat very often, I do love the flavor but it somehow seems like I forget how great it can be. Serving it like this just slow cooked with tomatoes, chili, garlic and some herbs is a great way to enjoy calamari. 

If you have guests that don´t like it I highly recommend to try to serve this recipe with some pasta, do like in the recipe but instead of leaving the calamari whole then chop them up in small pieces. This will give you a rich great tasting pasta sauce that most people who claim they don´t like calamari will love. Usually people don´t like it due to the texture and once chopped up you have eliminated the problem.

However if you are serving the way I have in this recipe then leave them whole or in bigger pieces if you can´t find small calamari. The ideal size is one bite for each calamari.

Braised calamari with tomatoes, chili and garlic

calamari, as small as you can find or bigger cut in bite size pieces

high quality canned tomatoes, crushed

olive oil

garlic

fresh red chili

parsley

thyme

salt, pepper

Slice garlic cloves, part and remove the seeds from the chili and the slice it. Add olive oil, garlic, chili and the calamari to a frying pan and let it cook for about ten minutes on low to medium heat. Add a few leafs of parsley, thyme some salt and pepper. 

Then add the canned tomatoes and turn down the heat to low and slowly simmer the calamari for about one hour. Remove from the heat and let cool of for a little while, add some julienne of parsley and serve warm.

New Years recipe ideas with Asian flavors

New Years Eve is coming up and if you haven´t decided on what to serve I have picked some of my own favorite recipes from Delicious Tapas and have some great suggestions for you!

This is the sixth and final post in this series and it will be focused on Asian flavors and inspiration

All recipes can be found in their original post that I have linked for each dish. I haven´t suggested any dessert but since I´m not that much into desserts. But if I have to recommend something I would go for any great ice cream, because who doesn´t love ice-cream?

New Years menu with Asian flavors

Appetizers - these appetizers is quite light in flavor and is a great start to any meal.

Vietnamese spring rolls with sesame seeds and soy dipping sauce
Calamari with cilantro, lime and spring onion
Mussels with Thai flavors

Starter

Scallop in dashi with wakame and chili oil

I love this dish, the sweet scallop in combination with the wakame and dashi makes it one of my own favorites and I think it´s perfect as an Asian inspired starter.

Main course

For the main course it´s time for some meat, soy braised ribs with some Momofuku quick pickles and rice balls on the side.

Soy braised ribs with chili and cilantro
Momofuku quick salt pickles
Rice balls with cilantro and chili soy dip

New years recipe ideas for seafood lovers

New Years Eve is coming up and if you haven´t decided on what to serve I have picked some of my own favorite recipes from Delicious Tapas and have some great suggestions for you!

This is part two in this series and for this post I will focus on seafood.

All recipes can be found in their original post that I have linked for each dish. I haven´t suggested any dessert but since I´m not that much into desserts. But if I have to recommend something I would go for any great ice cream, because who doesn´t love ice-cream?

Seafood New Years Menu

Appetizers - to start off a great night of loads of seafood I´m serving raw oysters with grapefruit, cooked crab claws with mayonnaise and crostinis with bleak roe. These are all served cold and will go great with some Champagne.

Oysters with grapefruit, onion, chili & chives
Crab claws with aioli & salt
Roe on toast with cress and lemon crème fraiché

Starter

After some great appetizers I´m serving a cod carpaccio with capers and red onion.

Cod carpaccio with capers and red onion

Main course

Cod with fennel, champagne sauce & fresh herbs

For the main course I´m serving another cod dish, this is a cod fillet with champagne sauce, since my original recipe is served small like a tapas you can make the main course bigger and add more vegetables if you feel your guests need some extra stuff to keep them full.