Eggs and soused herring on crisp bread #179

Eggs and soused herring on crisp bread? Well this is a very Swedish appetizer that is commonly served on Smörgåsbord, Christmas and Easter but can and are served year round. The main ingredients are soused herring that is a mainly Scandinavian type of pickled herring (read more on it here), boiled eggs, chives and red onion. The Swedish name for this type of herring is "Matjsesill" but you can also use Swedish anchovies that is called "Ansjovis" this is however very different from the Mediterranean anchovies.

Now for the name, it´s called "Gubbröra" in Swedish which pretty much translates to "Old man´s mess", not that mouth watering for your weekend appetizer is it? Well that is why I called it eggs and soused herring on toast. 

Now for the ingredients, there are loads of variations on this dish, some use soft boiled eggs, mayonnaise, creme fraiche, sour cream, different types of onions and even other herbs like dill. The recipe below is my version of it so feel free to experiment with the flavors.

I like to serve it on a crisp bread that is common in Sweden called "Knäckebröd", it´s a non sweet crispy bread mostly served for breakfast or instead of fresh bread for soups or smaller dishes. If you can´t find any then a dark rye bread is good as well.

Eggs and soused herring on crisp bread

I usually don´t write measurements for my recipes but since you most likely haven´t got a clue I will this time, I written the ingredients in parts form so use as much as you plan on serving.

8 parts boiled chopped eggs

4 parts chopped soused herring (discarded from the pickling liquid)

1 part chopped red onion

1 part chopped chives

1 part mayonnaise

1 part creme fraiche

Crisp bread or rye bread for serving

Combine all ingredients, season with pepper, if you think it´s lacking salt then use the picking liquid from the herring instead of regular salt.

Baked potatoes with sour cream, chives & bacon #164

Baked potatoes is a classic side for all grilled meats but why always serve one big potato for each guest, using small tasty potatoes is more fun, looks better and each guest can eat as much or little as they like. This recipe can of course also be served on it´s own like a tapas. 

Baked potatoes with sour cream, chives & bacon

small potatoes

sour cream 

vegetable oil

chives

red onion

bacon

salt, pepper

Dice the red onion, slice the chives and dice and fry the bacon until crispy, leave to cool. Clean the potatoes if necessary, toss them in vegetable oil, salt and pepper and then roast them on high heat in the oven until golden. Remove and leave to cool for a few seconds and then cut them half way through and carefully break them open. Fill each potato with sour cream, chives, bacon and red onion, serve.

New Years recipe ideas for meat 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 five in this series and for this post I will focus on all you meatlovers out there.

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 for meat lovers

Appetizers - for the appetizer we have some seared beef, duck breast, bacon with potatoes and Italian breasola, all to get your hands on a lot of different great tasting meats.

Duck breast with apples and mustard

Potatoes with bacon and sour cream
Breasola with Parmesan cheese, arugula and pumpkin seeds
Beef with dijon mustard and red onion

Starter

Whipped ricotta cheese with proscuitto, figs and truffle honey

After indulging in a few different meats as appetizers it´s time to move on to some Italian ham with figs, honey and truffles. The ricotta is actually the star of this dish but it would be nothing without the ham.

Main course

Slow cooked leg of lamb with potato cream
Onion rings

The main course is a bit heavier, but slow cooked meats are great tasting and always appreciated plus you´ll get a great chance to open up that old heavy red wine that´s been sitting in the cellar for a while. Some onion rings on the side completes it.

Potato chips with herb salt & Sriracha dip #147

You´ve gotta love chips, and you´ll probably like them even more if you put in some effort and make some yourself. Use a firm potato, slice them thin and deep fry. To make it a bit more fun I made a herb salt for seasoning instead of regular salt and are serving them with a Sriracha dip. This is perfect to serve with the first drinks of the evening, who doesn´t like salt and fat?

Potato chips with herb salt & Sriracha dip

potatoes
oil for deep frying
salt
fresh parsley
fresh chives
dried thyme
dried rosemary
mayonnaise
sour cream
Sriracha
smoked paprika powder

Blend all the herbs with salt, I use about four parts herbs to one part salt. Make sure you use both fresh and dried herbs because otherwise the salt will get to moist and you won´t be able to salt the chips in a good way. You can use only fresh herbs but you have to make it a day or two in advance and then dry the salt for it to work.

Wash the potatoes but keep the skin off, slice them as thin as you can, use a mandolin or a potato peeler to get this done easier. Rinse the potatoes in cold water to get rid of any extra starch. Remove the potatoes from the water and dry them on kitchen paper. Deep fry the slices on medium heat until golden, remove from the oil and immediately season with the herb salt.

Combine sour cream, mayonnaise with the Sriracha and smoked paprika, adjust the amount of Sriracha depending on how hot you want it. Serve.

Roasted carrots with cheddar dip # 37

Roasted carrots is a great way to transform a simple vegetable into something really tasty, here I roasted the carrots in a pan until they are almost cooked through, that way they get some of their sweet roasted flavor but still maintain a little bit of a crunch.

As you can see in my photos I used carrots in some different colors, if you have a good grocery store nearby they should have or be able to get some other varieties of carrots. Each color is a bit different in both taste and texture but I you don´t find any you can of course use regular ones.

Roasted carrots with cheddar dip

Carrots
Sour cream
English cheddar
Garlic
Salt, pepper

Peel and cut the carrots in quarters, toss with olive oil, salt, pepper and roast in a pan until almost cooked through.

Grate the cheddar and mix with the sour cream, season with crushed garlic, salt and pepper.