Asparagus season is upon us, and we have let ourselves inspire by our visit to Rôtisserie this time. We haven't really copied the dish, there are several differences, but the truffle vinaigrette and the asparagus shavings are some of the similarities. Our best advice when it comes to asparagus is to buy good quality. Go to your local specialty store and pay that premium price. It's worth it. We went to Gutta på Haugen to get ours.
Ingredients
(Serves about 4 people as a starter) 4 green asparagus 4 white asparagus a handful of ramson 1 chicory or endive salad 4 fresh figs high quality almonds, try to get hold of Marcona or at least Valencia extra virgin olive oil truffle oil balsamic vinegar salt & pepper
Shock the vegetables!
The first thing you have to do is break off the hard lower tip on each asparagus. Then you peel them, and for this dish you want to save a few of the slices you peel off for decoration. Make a vinaigrette by mixing 4 parts extra virgin olive oil with 2 parts balsamic vinegar, a small teaspoon of truffle oil and salt & pepper. We blanched almost all of the vegetables for this salad. The white asparagus was cooked for 4 minutes, the green asparagus 2 minutes, the chicory salad 1 minute and the ramson and asparagus peel 30 seconds. After cooking we transferred the vegetables directly into ice water, to shock them, and stop the boiling process. This preserves flavor and color.
The figs were cut in half and fried in a pan. As for the asparagus, they were fried in a pan too just before serving, about 1 minute per side. Cooking time depends on the size, and you want an asparagus that just barely bends if you hold it by one end.
Plate with the asparagus first, then the other vegetables. Top with asparagus peel and sprinkle roughly chopped almonds over. Spray it with vinaigrette! Yum
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You have probably used giblets from a duck or chicken to make a broth, but do you ever cook with the gizzard, liver or heart as main ingredients? We find these parts incredibly tasty, and we think more people would if they tried it. Our favorite restaurant in Oslo, Pjoltergeist, often serves amazing dishes with duck hearts prepared in various ways. Go try it! I ordered some duck gizzards from Anni's Pølsemakeri and decided to cook them in duck fat. I have never made gizzards myself, but I really wanted Anders to try this dish that I know from my grandmother. Cooking something new and awesome gets me excited about cooking in general. Ingredients 4 duck gizzards 1 jar of duck fat (you can get it at Gutta på Haugen) 2 garlic cloves 2 small aubergines 2 large shallots little gem lettuce spinach extra virgin olive oil white balsamic vinegar Dijon mustard fresh thyme salt and pepper Here's how you quack it down Rinse and dry the gizzards, then rub them with oilve oil, salt, thyme and garlic and let them soak on that for some hours or overnight. Gizzards can be a bit chewy if you don't prepare them the right way, but with this method they will become tender as any other confit. Slice the aubergine in thin discs and let them rest in salty water. That way you stop the oxidation, and also prevent them from absorbing too much oil when you fry them later. Heat your oven to 100 degrees C. Pour the duck fat in an oven safe form. Leave it 2 minutes in the oven until the fat melts and then take it out again. Rinse the gizzards of excess marinade and place them in the duck fat. If the fat doesn't completely cover the meat, add some more olive oil. Cook in the oven for 1,5-2 hours depending on how "bloody" you like them. I made them medium and not medium-rare this round, so next time I will only leave them 1,5 hour. Let them rest 15-20 minutes before you slice them. You eat the meat only, so cut away the chewy, non-meaty parts. Heat a pan with extra virgin olive oil, and sear the aubergines on both sides until they are golden. Cut the onions in half and let the fry on the flat side until they get slightly burned. You want that burnt flavor!
Anders made a great vinaigrette to complement the gizzards. It consisted of 3 parts extra virgin olive oil to 1 part white balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp of Dijon mustard and some salt and pepper. Serve with little gem salad, spinach, the aubergines and onions and drizzle vinaigrette all over. Pair it with a Barolo and enjoy. The 14th of March, or 3-14-15, was the only pi day of our lives. Unless you plan to live to 2115 that is. We could not let the opportunity pass to make a pie this day. Since we had some canned apricots from Gutta på Haugen it was an easy choice to make an apricot pie. Ingredients A big jar of apricots (or 8-12 fresh ones) 6 big fresh plums 50 g sugar 4 tbsp flour 1 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp salt Juice of half a lemon For the pie crust: 300 g flour 170 g unsalted butter 170 g cream cheese 2 tbsp sugar 1/2 tsp salt 3 tbsp heavy cream 1 egg Ready in-3-1-4-1-5...! Start with the pie crust. Mix the dry ingredients in a kitchen machine. Dice the butter and cream cheese and leave them in room temperature. Incorporate them one by one into the flour mix on low speed in the kitchen machine. Stop the machine after the last cube is added. It should look like a crumbly dough. Pour in the heavy cream and let the machine run on slow speed for a few seconds until it is all soaked up. Scrape it out of the bowl with a spatula. Make two equal sized, flat discs from the batter. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. While the dough is in the fridge you can prepare the apricot & plum filling. Cut the apricots and plums in half and remove the stones. Add the lemon. Mix all dry ingredients together and sprinkle them over the fruit, folding them to make sure all sides are covered. Set your oven to 225 degrees C. After at least one hour in the fridge the dough should be ready for use. Dust your kitchen surface with a little flour, and roll the first disc to make it fit a 22 cm (9 inch) pie form. Roll the next disc slightly bigger, about 24-26 cm. If you wanna make a lattice top like us you slice the entire thing with a pizza slicer into about 14 equally sized strips - roughly 1,5 cm each. Fill the pie crust with the fruit filling. Line up half the strips over the pie. Fold half of them back and start making the lattice pattern by folding every other strip back, add a new strip, fold them back, fold the other half back, add a new strip, and so on... Use a fork to pinch the edges down, as shown in the picture. Brush the entire top with 1 whisked egg. Pop in the oven for 20 minutes on 225 degrees C, then reduce to 180 degrees C and bake for another 30-35 minutes. Pay attention; if the crust gets burnt too fast cover it with some aluminum foil.
Happy pi day and enjoy the pie! Every time we visit Gutta på Haugen we hear Joachim talking about the amazing artichokes from La Baita, like they were made of pure gold. So we decided to try these Italian delicacies from the region of Albenga. We figured we'd keep it Italian style and make a risotto.
Ingredients 6 dl chicken broth 200 g Arborio risotto rice 1 jar of artichokes from La Baita 1/2 jar of tomato confit from La Baita 4 tbsp olive oil from La Baita 1/2 white onion 1 tbsp butter 50 gr Parmesan cheese, grated 1 clove garlic, minced 1 glass of red wine Tarragon for decoration Salt & pepper On your pots, get set, go! Bring the stock to a boil in one pot. Add oil to a second pot and fry the garlic and onion until transparent. Add the rice, and keep stirring for a few minutes before you add wine. Once the wine has evaporated add 1/3 of the broth and a bit of salt. Turn the heat down and keep stirring constantly. When all the broth is absorbed repeat the step until you are out of stock. Now add all the artichokes and half of the tomato confit while stirring. We diced them, but you can cut them in half as well for a more rustic presentation. Taste the rice to see if it's cooked al dente. If not, add some more water and repeat the same procedure as with the broth. Usually it takes 18-20 minutes. When the rice is done remove the pot from the heat and mix in butter and parmesan. Cover with a lid and let it rest two minutes. Taste if the risotto needs more salt (ours didn't) and pepper. Decorate with a few more tomatoes and tarragon. Buon appetito! Ingredients Pasta from Martelli Water Olive oil Salt Meatballs: 400g ground beef 1 egg 2 slices of white bread soaked in whole milk 1 shallot finely chopped 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped 100 g grated parmesan cheese 1 tbsp roasted pine nuts 1 handful fresh flat-leaf parsley finely chopped Olive oil for frying Butter for frying Tomato sauce: 1 jar good quality tomatoes (we recommend Italian Marzano tomatoes) 1 tbsp tomatoe purée 1 shallot finely chopped 2 cloves garlic finely chopped 1 tbsp brown sugar Some of the pasta water Salt & pepper Weekend means we have been shopping at Gutta på Haugen again! This time we got some sweet Pomodoros Marzano in a jar from San Nicola dei Miri and Spaghetti from Martelli. Much cheaper than a flight to Italy. Andrea wanted just a simple Pasta Napoletana, but I managed to get my will and add some meatballs luckily. This is a quick meal if you focus! Soak the bread in the milk for a few minutes. Meanwhile, chop everything else for the meatballs. Squeeze the milk out of the bread. Mix all the ingredients for the meatballs. Now, get your hands in there. Really mix it well together. When you are happy with your meatball dough place it in the fridge for 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile you can chop and prepare everything for the sauce, and put some water to boil for the pasta. Heat the pan to medium-high and add a mix of olive oil and butter. Make meatballs in the size and shape you want using the palm of your hand (with some olive oil) and a tablespoon that you rinse in hot water in-between each meatball. Don't fry too many meatballs at the same time, give them some space in the pan. Keep flipping them around until all sides are browned and you feel certain they are warm to the core. I estimate 8-10 minutes for the size in the pictures. Add salt and oil to the boiling water and cook the pasta. Set the fried meatballs aside, and cover them with some aluminum foil. Don't throw away the oil and butter you fried the meatballs in! This will be the base for your sauce. Add some more oil if you need to and fry the shallot and garlic on medium temperature. When the onion gets a blank color, add the remaining ingredients for the sauce. After 5 minutes use a stab mixer to puree it, and then return the sauce to the pan. Once the pasta is cooked, drain it, but use some of the pasta water in the sauce to get the desired consistency. Mix olive oil into the spaghetti so it doesn't get sticky.
If needed you can reheat the meatballs in the sauce for a few minutes. Pasta, sauce, meatballs on top. Presto! During our Copenhagen trip this summer we visited the restaurant Relæ in Jægersborggade. Christian Puglisis flagship was one of our best food experiences of the entire foodcation. One of the dishes we got served was a sunflower seed risotto. This inspired us to make our own version. It is an extremely simple dish with few ingredients - thus it is even more important to use the best products out there. In our last visit to Gutta på Haugen we got recommended amazing products from the producer La Baita. Ingredients
1/2 jar of tomato confit from La Baita 4 tbsp olive oil from La Baita 300 g of sunflower seeds 1 small shallot 1 liter of warm broth (we used beef broth) 1 tsp of Røros butter Bacon Fresh thyme for decoration Ready steady stir! Fry the diced shallot in the olive oil. Add the sunflower seeds and fry for 2 minutes. Keep the broth boiling in another pot. Now put the tomato confit in, and start adding broth one splash at a time. Keep stirring until the broth has evaporated. Repeat this until all of the broth is used. Taste the sunflower seeds. If they are al dente then it is done. If not, keep adding boiling water, until it is done. Remove pot from heat, add the butter and close the pot with a lid. Let it rest for 2 minutes. This will add creaminess to the "risotto". In the meantime, fry the bacon until it is crispy but not too hard. Serve the sunflower risotto with bacon unless you want to use this as a vegetarian dish. We're not, so we also poured some of the bacon fat into the risotto for extra flavor! Decorate with thyme. Enjoy. Last weekend Anders' parents were in town and we took them to Gutta på Haugen to secure the Saturday night dinner. Anders wanted to cook with his dad. Ever since Anders was a kid his favorite meal if he can choose is a juicy piece of meat with Béarnaise sauce. Gutta's Entrecôte is a perfect choice, and we also got some French unsalted butter and goose fat for the potatoes. Ingredients 200 g per person of high quality entrecôte from Gutta på Haugen 1 tbsp whole black pepper Sunflower or rapeseed oil and clarified butter 6 small potatoes per person 1/2 jar of goose fat Maldon salt Béarnaise sauce: 500g butter, unsalted 2 egg yolks 1 shallot 1 dl white wine 1/2 dl white wine vinegar fresh tarragon, 1 medium plant fresh flat-leaf parsley, 1 handful salt & pepper Mise en place Mise en place is usually a good idea, especially for food like this. Place your meat on a cutting board in room temperature. Cut all of the potatoes in two, vertically, to expose as much as possible of the "meat" inside without peeling. Leave potatoes under running water to remove some of the starch. Meanwhile, separate the egg yolks from whites. Keep the whites for something else. Chop the flat-leaf parsley and put aside. Take 3/4 of the tarragon plant and remove the leaves, chop them finely and put aside. Take the remaining 1/4 and chop the leaves along with the sprigs. Put this aside in a separate bowl where you also put the finely chopped shallot. Measure up the white wine and white wine vinegar in a measurement cup. Roast the tablespoon of whole black pepper in a frying pan on high temperature. Watch as the pepper corns look like they are popping and jumping around in the pan. Remove from heat and mortar into medium fine pieces. Sift the pepper to remove the finest pieces. Use the medium fine pieces and rub it all into the entrecôte. Time to cook Béarnaise sauce: We start by making the Béarnaise sauce. Melt the 500g of unsalted butter on low heat in a pot. Once melted, skim off the top layer of milk foam with a spoon. To remove the lower level of milk solids you slowly pour the butter into a new container, leaving behind the milk in the pot. You now have clarified butter. Set aside, but try to keep somewhat warm. Remove 2 tbsp of the clarified butter that you will use for frying the meat later. In another pot on medium heat; add shallots, 1/4 of the tarragon and the sprigs, white wine, white wine vinegar and 4-5 twists of a pepper mill. Cook until 1 tbsp of liquid remains, then sift through a strainer to remove the herbs and onions. Allow the liquid to cool while you ready a water bath. Bring the water to a boil, then turn off heat completely. In a glass or stainless steel bowl that can be lowered slightly into the water, add the egg yolks and the concentrated liquid. Start whisking. A big heavy whisk is preferable. You want a good foamy consistency before you start pouring the melted butter very slowly into the mixture. Whisk heavily. Start with a few drops of butter, then add more when you are comfortable. It may take a bit of butter and some time for the temperature of the egg yolks to rise in order for the emulsion process to start properly. As long as you do it slowly it should work out fine. Once all butter is added and you've whisked it together to a thick sauce, add the 3/4 of the chopped tarragon and all the chopped parsley. Add salt to taste. Leave the sauce in the bowl immersed in water to keep it warm, but pay attention to the temperature to make sure the emulsion don't start to break. If it does; quickly add some drops of cold water and whisk heavily. Entrecôte: This can be done simultaneously as you start cooking the potatoes, but the procedures are separated here for a better overview. In a mixture of sunflower/rapeseed oil and clarified butter, on high temperature, fry the meat about 2 minutes on each side to give it a caramelized crust. Wrap in aluminum foil and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Set your oven to 180 degrees C. Cooking time for medium/rare is about 6-8 minutes with the weight and thickness of the meat we used, which was roughly 350g per piece and a thickness of 4 cm. You can also use a cooking thermometer. In such a case you're looking for 52 degrees C at the core before you remove the meat from the oven. It will rise to at least 55 degrees C while cooling. Wrap in aluminum foil and allow to cool for 10-15 minutes or until potatoes are ready. Goose fat fried potatoes:
Boil the potatoes for 5 minutes in a pot. Remove water, put the pot back on the heat and shake it quite heavily back and forth to dry the potatoes for water and give them a rougher surface. This is important to allow the potatoes to soak the oil. Set your oven to 245 degrees C. In a deep baking tray; pour half the jar of goose fat and distribute it evenly. Place in oven to increase temperature, but pay attention as it starts to give off smoke if you leave it too long. Once warm put the potatoes into the goose fat. Cooking time is roughly 15-20 minutes, but you have to pay attention as all ovens are different. Flip the potatoes around a bit every 5 minute. The last 5 minutes you want to activate the hot air program to really finish off that crispy outside. If done perfectly the potatoes should still be soft inside, while out-of-this-world crispy on the outside. Sprinkle with Maldon salt. I am a sucker for advent calendars. In Germany it is a really big thing, but ever since I moved to Norway I haven't found the awesome calendars I remember. Anders knew that I missed this so much, and that I am addicted to Summerbird sweets. So he surprised me with this amazing box of excitement, surprise and waiting: Summerbird's Advent Calendar.
It is a white box with 24 drawers and each one contains a numbered silver bag. I don't know what is in inside yet, but I can imagine it is similar to what dreams are made of! I will be adding a new picture each day on my Instagram of what is inside. I can't wait until December starts...! *getting the chocolate shakes* Anders bought the calendar at Gutta på Haugen, but apparently they are already sold out of every single one of the 200 calendars they ordered. However, they still have a different variety of the calendar. Summerbird is also a great addition to any homemade calendar. This creamy butternut squash soup with shredded chicken is perfect for cold winter evenings and rainy Sundays. As always, good ingredients are key. We bought Røros milk, butternut squash and the other vegetables at Gutta på Haugen. Our favorite gourmet shop in Oslo. Ingredients 3 chicken breast fillets 1 butternut squash 1 yellow onion 4 small potatoes whole milk parsley salt & pepper turmeric powder chili powder Let's soup it together You start by boiling the chicken in water for about 12 minutes, until it's done. This depends on the size of the fillets you bought, and how long since you defrosted them. It is advisable to completely defrost meat before you cook or fry it. Peel and cut the butternut squash in smaller pieces. In a pot, fry the onion until it becomes transparent. Add the pumpkin and let it fry along with the onions for a bit. Remove the chicken from the water, and put aside to cool. Keep the broth water! Once the chicken meat is cooled, shred it to pieces as fine as shown below. Pour the broth over the butternut squash and onion and add parsley. Cook until the butternut squash is soft. Strain the broth and put aside. Stab mix the vegetables. Carefully add the broth along with whole milk until you get the desired consistency. This is supposed to be more of a cream than a soup. Toss the shredded chicken in there. A pinch of turmeric powder if you want the color to be more yellow, and some chili powder to add a little sting to it. Taste to perfection with salt and pepper. Decorate with parsley before serving. Did you try our recipe? Got any questions? Feel free to leave a comment below, or share our site.
We went to Gutta på Haugen with my dad to check for some Blue Congo potaoes for the decoration of our dish at Smalhans the next day. While browsing the store, we found an exciting looking new tea brand: Paromi Tea. They have loads of different flavors, at least over ten available at Gutta... I don't drink much tea during the year, but when the winter hits I need my warm tea, woolen socks and a blanket to crawl under while sipping it. We decided to go for the Yerba Mate: Paradise Mate because yerba mate is known to be "the drink of the gods" in South America. A very floral yerba mate with pineapple and papaya amongst other ingredients. Very smooth and not as fruity as most fruit teas taste. Paromi teas come in ready to brew bags, so all you need is to boil water and pour over it. We will definitely try some other flavors as well. We have our eyes on the hibiscus, "sleep with me" and "detox with me".
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June 2021
AuthorsI am Andrea, or as my friends call me, Jinx. I am a foodie living in Berlin, eating my way through life. Here are my recipes, cooking events, dining experiences and more... |