Christmas buffet dinner at Louisiana

Some time ago I visited Denmark's world famous art museum, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, for the opening of the exhibition of Paula Modersohn-Becker's art.

Louisiana Museum of Modern Art is organizing the first major exhibition in Scandinavia of the German painter Paula Modersohn-Becker (1876-1907). The exhibition comprises about 100 paintings and 40 drawings. See more: http://en.louisiana.dk/exhibition/paula-modersohn-becker

But Louisiana is not only art. The Louisiana Café offers very good food and boasts one of the most beautiful panoramic views of the Øresund. Therefore we combined the art exhibition with a delightful Christmas buffet dinner.

This is what was served:

Smoked salmon with Dijon cream sauce and crispy herbs / Celery soup with ginger and crispy bacon / Rib roast from Grambogård with smoked juniper berries / Glazed duck breast with pepper and honey / Orange sauce / Red cabbage salad with. salted walnuts and white wine syrup / Spinach salad with baked apples / Wheat kernels with pickled red onions and chives / Carrots with cinnamon and orange / Bread w. clove salt / Seeded rye bread / Potatoes roasted w. bay leaves and goose fat / Rice pudding with cherry sauce and caramelised almonds.

Rice pudding with cherry sauce and caramelised almonds.

Well, Louisiana is located in Denmark and I live in Sweden. But between Denmark and Sweden is a bridge across the Øresund. Therefore, it is very easy for me to take my car and drive away from Lund in Sweden (where I live), across the sound, via Copenhagen to Louisiana. Motorway almost the entire route.

Two big plaice - fresh from the sea

I have said before that if a plaice is too big you can instead buy a flounder. The other day, however, was the hunger for real plaice too great. Therefore, we bought two big plaice.

Of course, we bought them in the market square of our city - Lund. There are two fish trucks. One that comes all the way from Gothenburg (300 km from Lund). And one from the more closely related harbor village, Lomma (10 km from Lund).

Here are the fish trucks:

The one from Gothenburg

And the one from Lomma from which we bought the plaice 

 

We used two pans to fry the plaice.

We did own remoulade sauce. It is a sauce that is very well suited to plaice.

The sauce is mixed by:

• crème fraiche
• mayonnaise
• chopped pickled cucumbers
• chopped olives
• curry powder
• white pepper
• tarragon
• salt

Soup-day

My brother in law, Per, yesterday published a post in Facebook about one of the Swedish national dishes, the pea soup, as primarily consumed on Thursdays. 

Read this and feel the historical breeze:

During the cold season it’s very common that restaurants in Sweden every Thursday offer yellow-pea soup on the menu. It is served together with boiled lightly salted pork and some mustard. As a dessert we get pancakes, some nice jam and whipped cream. 

Many of us like it – and so do I. 

Today it IS a special Thursday, because it’s the 6th of November; the same date as the battle of Lützen in 1632 (the Thirty Years’ War in Europe ending 1648 – the Peace of Westphalia), where the Swedish king – Gustav II Adolf – was killed. 

It is said that he loved yellow-pea soup, and it’s also told that his death in fact wasn’t that glamorous; because when he wanted to taste the soup (in advance at the cook house), he happened to fall off his horse and was drowned in the boiling very big soup cauldron. (Another story is telling that it was a very foggy day, and that the king got lost from his own soldiers – then captured and killed by the enemy soldiers.)

Time to pick autumn fungi in the forest

This time of year, the Swedes have two strong reasons to go out in the forests

•  to hunt moose
•  to pick autumn fungi.

Since I do not hunt, it's fungi picking that apply to me. But you must be careful that you does not suddenly end up in front of a hunter's rifle muzzle.

The forest is very beautiful this time of year. Just look:

On our forest tours we often find much funguses. There are many varieties, but there are only a few varieties that we are familiar with and therefore dare to pick. These are our favorites:

• Chanterelles (unfortunately all Swedes are familiar to these fungi, so they are picked first and therefore not so easy to find)
• Boletus (Cep, Boletus luteus, Boletus badius, Boletus luridiformis , Suillus grevillei , Suillus granulatus 
• Hedgehogs
• Wood blewits
• Horn of plenty (we find, however, very rarely)
• Cauliflower Fungus / Sparassis
• Bovista plumbea
• Common Puffball
• Funnelled chantarelles (we find, however, very rarely)
• Shaggy Ink Cap, Coprinus comatus.
• Parasol, Macrolepiota procera.
• Saffron milk cap
• Russula (that does not taste strong)

Here is a picture of the last harvest:

When we get back home the fungus must be cleared before it can be cooked.

The Boletus harvest.

And here are the chanterelles.

Here are the Saffron
milk caps

There were also a few Russula fungi

When cleared, the mushrooms must be cut into chunks ...

then ... you can fry it

(chanterelles - during and after frying)

or ... make soup on it:

The soup is good to eat with a slice of bread and water from the tap.

(Click on an image then you can see all the photos in large format.)