Salmon and root vegetable gratin with infused thyme

slow cooked in low oven for 2 hours equals one happy Goat

okay, who is with me? Gratin, love it or just about LOVEEEE it! Oh, can you ever go wrong with a dish of creamy goodness.Layer after layer of starch heaven slathered in caramelized onions poached in  infused heavy cream, garlic and thyme of course  butter and cheese. Slow baked until just perfect?

The other day Lilla A's Godmother L. and sir P. Came to celebrate his 6 th birthday with a traditional Swedish meal. Ham Hock and root vegetable mash. ( will post at a later date) and of course the Goat is a goat and only eats some creatures from the sea. Namely salmon and their  little friends...He's actually a pesco-vegetarian eats fish etc... So.. I needed to cook him a meal as well. This is what I came up with using all the same ingredients for the meat eaters, just substituting  the ham hock for fresh  salmon. 

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

2 small salmon file sliced in strips

6-8 medium gratin potatoes ones good for mashing work well here as well thinly sliced

1/4 head of turnip thinly sliced

1-2 large carrots thinly sliced

1 yellow onion thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves, grated

1 cup of strong flavored cheese

3 tablespoons butter (½ tablespoon to grease the oven dish)

1½ cups of heavy cream

1 cup of half and half or 27% fat cream

½ cup of full fat milk-or 2%

1 teaspoon of dried thyme or 2 sprigs of fresh

salt and pepper

Method for infused cream:

In a frying pan melt butter over medium low heat. Add in your sliced onions and continue to cook until they are golden and somewhat caramelized.Pour in your liquids and reduce heat to the lowest setting. Add your thyme and salt and pepper, and grate in your garlic.Turn off heat but let  it sit to cool on the burner.

let rest with all the goodness for at least 20 minutes

Norwegian Salmon 

almost ready for the oven. Just add cheese and cover

Slice your salmon into slices and season with salt and pepper set aside. Grease your oven dish. I used an dutch oven, and begin to layer your root vegetables remembering to sprinkle a little salt and pepper and dried thyme over each layer as you proceed(using a light hand).Layer a few slices of  fish and continue to layer until your top layer is just of root vegetables. Pour over the infused mixture(if using fresh thyme remove the sprigs) and if you have not enough infused cream just top it up with more cream or full fat milk.


 Cover with the grated cheese and add a doamed lid(so cheese does not stick to it) If using tin foil. Wait with the cheese and cover and let cook for 2 hours at 180 degrees C and then when you can slide a wooden skewer or fork through to the bottom of the dish easily then you can remove the tin foil and add the cheese and let bake until nice and browned in an 100 degree c oven. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

The Goat and Miss L loved this to bits. (Sir P is allergic to fish,) so we all had a fantastic dinner and a lot of good laughs. Evenings like this is exactly why I started this blog. To be able to share my cooking with people as if they were guests in my kitchen. Warm hearts to you all.Enjoy

Spiced Fish Cakes

from sea to table

Okay, I know it has been weeks since I have posted anything on m blog. I think it has to do with all this beautiful sun we are currently having. I have a slew of great recipes to post in the coming days.

catch of the day Cod

Living so close to the sea has so many advantages and I know that I am so grateful that at anytime I can go out and get myself a lovely catch of the day and whip something up like  fish cakes. Oh, they sound like a lot of work and expense but, really these are fun to make and they taste fantastic. Match them up with a great salad for a light lunch, or serve with a spicy chutney and serve as an starter at your next get together. These would be perfect for good Friday and those celebrating Easter and having a lot of mouths to feed these will be a huge hit.

Spiced Fish Cakes adapted from Anjum's New Indian

These cakes are full of flavor, light and not too spicy. These cakes work well with many types of fish and Anjum suggests trying salmon or even trout. I so on that train. Any white thick flesh fish would work here. try serving with a great spicy chutney or a nice coriander cucumber taziki.

Makes 12-16 small cocktail cakes

5 cloves
2 cm piece of cinnamon
1½ teaspoon cumin seeds

browning onions

5 tbsp vegetable oil
1 small/medium onion, peeled and chopped-diced'
5 large cloves of garlic,peeled and chopped
1 tbsp chopped ginger
salt, to taste
½-1/3 tsp red chili powder
1 tsp garam masala
1½-2 tsp dried mango powder (available at www.kryddlandet.se) or Asian food markets
450g of fish fillets, such as cod, haddock, salmon,trout
15 g fresh coriander leaves and stalks, chopped

1 large egg,beaten
60-70g fresh breadcrumbs(about 2 large slices, to bind

Grind together the cloves, cinnamon and cumin seeds to a fine powder (I use my coffee grinder)
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a small non-stick frying pan and fry the onions. I always fry my onions on a medium heat to get them nice and browned.You want them to cook slowly to get that deep color and flavor, but not to burn them.Add the garlic and the ginger and cook, stirring, over a low heat, for a minute.Add the salt and all the spices; cook for another half minute or so.

flake with a fork

Meanwhile cook the fish in a pan in just enough water to cover and cook until they are just opaque- this takes 2-4 minutes depending on the thickness of your fish. Drain in a strainer and then add to a large mixing bowl and flake into pieces.

Mix together the spiced onion mixture, fish and coriander. Taste and adjust the chilli, salt and dried mango powder (for tartness). Stir in the egg and then the breadcrumbs to bind. Use as much as you need for soft cakes that will hold their shape. Form into small, flat cakes.

Heat half of the remaining oil in a large non-stick pan. Add half the cakes and fry over a lowish heat until both sides have browned, around 2 minutes per side. Repeat and drain on paper towel. Serve hot, with salad or as a starter. They will fill you with happiness.

Creamy North Indian Fish Curry via Anjjum's New Indian

I used fresh Scandinavian Cod 

The other day. I got a fix. It really is like any other form of addiction. My new cookbook arrived.
  Anjum's New Indian by Anjum Anand.   Is just what I needed. A real challenge in the kitchen. A chance to track down hard to find spices, and to really make something authentically Indian. We love Indian food. We try to get out a couple of times a year to our favorite restaurant in Göteborg, but now that I have my new cookbook. I can cook all year round. I ordered most of my spices from the internet and for my Swedish readers you can go to www.kryddlandet.se or your local Indian supermarket to find many of the essential spices you will need to cook Indian food.

I enjoyed this cookbook very much. For the beginner  Indian food cook this is a great cookbook to introduce into your library. Anjjum makes her recipes easy to read, with well thought out cooking directions. I find her books to be really tailored to the "at home cook". It is a lovely book filled with great stories of her personal cooking journey through friends, and family. I have to admit, you need to have time to cook Indian food. It is that time that makes all the difference.Go out and pick yourself up a copy. You will not be disappointed.

CREAMY NORTH INDIAN FISH CURRY
Serves 4-6

5 tbsp vegetable oil
4 cloves
 2 black cardamom pods
5cm piece of cinnamon stick
1 small-medium onion,peeled and chopped
5 large cloves of garlic, peeled
10 g fresh ginger, peeled'1-2 green chillies, left whole but pricked with the tip of a knife
½ tsp turmeric

everything pre-measured-prepared

frying the whole spices

1 rounded tsp ground cumin plus ½ tsp red chili powder, or to taste
1 rounded tsp ground coriander
1½ tsp garam masala
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
salt to taste
4 medium tomatoes, pureed
50 g cashew  nuts, made into a paste with some water
500g fresh steaks or fillets cut into chunks
handful fresh coriander,leaves and stalks, chopped

NOTE: I pureed the tomatoes first and set aside, as well I pureed the garlic and the ginger paste and the cashew paste, before starting the cooking process. It makes it much easier to pre-measure everything as Indian cooking is a lot of steps.

Heat oil in a large non stick saucepan. Add the whole spices and fry for 20 seconds.Add the onion and cook until golden. Meanwhile, using your handheld blender, make a paste of the garlic and ginger with about 50ml of water. Add this to the pan with the green chilies and cook until the oil comes out, around 4-5 minutes, stirring as it gets thicker.

reducing the water and mixture

Add the powdered spices and salt and stir to incorporate. Add the tomatoes and 100ml water and cook over a medium-high heat until all the water has dried off. Then lower the heat and cook gently, covered, until the masala releases oil, around 6-8 minutes.Stir often as it get's thicker. Your house will smell delicious.

cod steaks, leave the bones in for more flavor

Add the cashew paste and stir fry for 2-3 minutes.Add 300ml water, and bring to the boil and simmer, covered for 15 minutes. Taste, the curry it should be well rounded in flavor. Add more hot water for a creamy consistency. Taste again and adjust the seasoning if you want. Add the fish and coriander and cook until just done, around 3-4 minutes.( I used quite large cod steaks so it took much longer to cook, about 20-25 minutes) Shake the pan instead of stirring as to not break up the fish. Serve with a great pilaf or steamed basmatti rice. We had spiced mixed pickle and lime pickle on the side. A chutney would be lovely as well. It was a huge hit in our home. I hope you do not get overwhelmed with the amount of ingredients and time-methods it takes. I assure you, this is better than any take out.

very good indeed. Two thumbs up