Salmon, Liquorice & Lingonberries

per portion; 200g salmon fillet · 30g lingonberry · 50ml påmåckan · 1/2 teaspoon of activated charcoal · 1/4 teaspoon of liquorice powder · chilli flakes (to taste) · salt

Add 3% salt water to the lingonberries and leave them in a sealed box at room temperature for a few nights to lightly ferment. If you don’t have time, you can cook them with a touch of honey for 7-10 minutes on a low heat.

Heat the påmackån (which is a vegan cream cheese substitute) with the activated charcoal and liquorice.

Season with salt, cook it on a low heat for 20 minutes, check for seasoning and if needed, darken the colour more by adding more charcoal. It does not affect the flavor much. A lil’ background: activated charcoal is thought to be good for the digestive system, but can leave you with a black tongue.

Season the salmon with sea salt and cover with a bit of olive oil. Cook it at 200 degrees for 7 minutes and then let it rest for a few minutes after.

Serve the sauce with the salmon, lingonberries on top and a sprinkle of chili flakes to taste.

A dinner with strangers

This dish was the first dish I’ve served at an event without tasting it beforehand, at an evening called “a dinner with strangers”. The dish was just supposed to spark conversation… but turned out to be the fav’ dish of the evening.

Fennel, Apple & Cashew

—

1 bulb of fennel

200g cashew nuts half a pink lady apple (or some other that’s crispy-fresh-funky)

70g butter sea salt

1 teaspoon of nutritional yeast

1 garlic clove

Soak the cashew nuts overnight in water, then add the nuts to a high power stand blender, covering the nuts with 1 cm of the soaking liquid.

Blend until super smooth, add salt to taste and add the nutritional yeast & the garlic.

Cut the fennel in half from the top to bottom and pick the fennel tops to keep fresh for garnish later, add the fennel to a smallish container (the container needs to be small to keep it semicovered in butter!).

Add the butter to the dish and season with salt.

Cook it at 150 degrees for around 100 minutes, (this helps in breaking down the fiber of the vegetable).

Serve the cashew puree at the bottom of the plate with the fennel on top and dress with the butter from roasting pan.

Finely chop the apple, add it to the top of the dish and garnish with the fennel tops (the little herby bits).

Pear & Blackcurrant

— a ripe pear · 4 blackcurrant leaves (can use pine needles or juniper to replace also) · 1l water

600g sugar · sea salt · 50g blackcurrants · 25g redcurrants · whatever other currants you want :-) 100ml mascarpone · half a vanilla pod · 10g icing sugar

Make a syrup with sugar, blackcurrant leaves and a pinch of salt, peel the pear and half it from top to bottom.

Heat the water to a rolling boil, add the pear to the syrup, and cook it for 35 minutes.

Mix the mascarpone with the icing sugar, the seeds from the vanilla pod (substitute for vanilla sugar or essence if needed), puree half the blackcurrants into the mix, add a pinch of salt to season.

Cool down the pear mixture for a few hours, serve the mascarpone on the base of the plate, half a pear on top, finely slice the blackcurrant leaves, garnish with fresh berries and fairy dust if you have any. ■