The New Nordic Diet & IKEA

I am so excited to be teaming up with IKEA to promote the Nordic diet in Australia. Ever since I started this blog back in 2009, I have been doing my bit to help spread the word about the Scandinavian way of eating. Time and time again, I have mentioned the health benefits of a traditional Nordic diet, which includes plenty of seafood, game meat, wild berries and mushrooms and other fresh, seasonal ingredients. There is so much goodness packed into the cornerstones of the Nordic diet that it is about time we start taking real action towards making it familiar to the larger public. 

We all know how ingenious IKEA is in its approach to furniture, and I've always been impressed by their selection of Nordic food as well. I love finding familiar ingredients and I always stock up on a few key products for our home: different types of herring to have with knackebrod, lingonberry jam to have with pretty much everything and those handy bread mixes for long weekend breakfasts. 

In this three part series "The New Nordic Diet & IKEA", I'll share recipes using some of those ingredients found at IKEA. I'm starting off with a traditional salmon soup. This is a great dish for the cooler autumn nights we're heading towards. It's simple food and quick to prepare. If you're keen to make it that extra bit healthier, just leave out the cream and make a clear soup instead. Add seasonal vegetables like carrots and swede, and use fresh herbs for flavour. Knackebrod with cheese is a perfect companion for the soup. I can't even imagine having it without some on the side.

Creamy Salmon Soup

(serves 4)

1 litre of water or fish stock

10-15 whole peppercorns

1/2 teaspoon (or to taste) salt

1 onion, finely chopped

6-7 potatoes, peeled and cut to chunks

500g salmon fillet, cut into bite sized pieces

300ml cream

a whole bunch of dill, finely chopped

knackebrod, to serve

cheese, to serve

1. Add water or stock, peppercorns, salt and onion to a large casserole. Bring to boil and simmer for 5 minutes. 

2. Add potatoes and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the potatoes are half-cooked.

3. Add salmon and simmer on low heat for a further 10-15 minutes or until the fish has cooked through. Finally add cream and let the soup come to a boil. Turn off the heat, add chopped dill and serve with knackebrod and cheese.

Prawn and Wattleseed Fettuccine

Hello Monday and new week!

We spent the weekend catching up on housework, exercising and enjoying a couple of days off. It was nice to recharge and spend time doing things we enjoy the most. The new week is bringing challenges to cooking (not least because of the rising temperatures here in Sydney), but I don't like to bargain when it comes to eating well.

This prawn and wattleseed fettuccine is a perfect weekday-gourmet dish to brighten up Monday. I picked up the wattleseed fettuccine at the local markets some time ago and been eager to try it out. It's an interesting ingredient to use and looks lovely with tiny dark spots of wattleseed. The taste is not too strong and suits well for this dish. The juicy prawns and the sweet cherry tomatoes are a must, it's like summer on a plate!

Prawn and Wattleseed Fettuccine

(Serves 2)

250g wattleseed fettuccine

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 punnet cherry tomatoes

4 cup-mushrooms, sliced

1 tbsp sherry vinegar

15 extra large King prawns, cleaned

1 tbsp lemon olive oil

1/2 bunch chives, finely chopped

pinch of salt

freshly ground black pepper

small bunch flat-leaf parsley

In a large saucepan, bring water to boil. Add a pinch of salt and the fettuccine and cook for about 8 minutes or until al dente. Drain and set aside.

Heat the oil in a frying pan, and add the cherry tomatoes and the mushrooms. Sauté for a couple of minutes, then add the sherry vinegar and the prawns. Cook for a further couple of minutes and add lemon olive oil, chives, salt and pepper. Sauté until the prawns are just cooked through, then take off the heat. Place the fettuccine on a large platter and top with the prawns. Sprinkle with parsley.

Seafood, fennel & lime salad

I'm loving all the fresh fennel at the moment and in my opinion they are best had at salads when you can still feel the crunch and the freshness and the beautiful aniseed flavour. With the addition of prawns and squid this salad is very wholesome and makes a perfect light meal on its own. It has so many flavours going for it: the aniseed, the fresh lime, the dill and the slight kick with the chilli.

Seafood, fennel and lime salad
(Recipe adapted from Ottolenghi The Cookbook)

1 big fennel bulb, finely sliced
1/2 Spanish onion, finely sliced
juice and grated zest of 1 lime
2 tbsp chopped dill
piece of mild chilli, seeded and finely sliced
4 tbsp olive oil
5 King prawns, peeled and de-veined
1 small tube of squid, cleaned and cut into rings
1 tbsp sumac
sea salt

In a large bowl, mix together the fennel, onion, lime juice and zest, dill, chilli and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Season with salt and set aside. Place a grill pan over a high heat and leave until hot. Mix the prawns and the squid with the rest of the olive oil and season with salt. Grill them for a few minutes or until just cooked through. Add the seafood into the salad bowl, season with sumac and toss together.

Sitruunarisottotäytteinen mustekala

Nyt on minunkin pakko osallistua ruokahaasteeseen kun on niin mieluinen aihe! Sydneyssä on saatavilla tuoretta kalaa, äyriäisiä, nilviäisiä ja kaikenlaisia mereneläviä merituoreena ympäri vuoden ja tämä luo tietenkin houkuttelevat puitteet kyseisten raaka-aineiden hyödyntämiseen.
Sitruunarisottolla täytetyn mustekalan ohjeen muistan lukeneeni Marie Clairen Easy kirjasesta.

Sitruunarisottotäytteinen mustekala

noin 750 ml kala- tai kasvislientä
nokare voita
1 hienonnettu keltasipuli
1 murskattu valkosipulinkynsi
1 tl kuivattua timjamia
220 g risottoriisiä
3 sitruunan hienonnettu kuori
2 rkl sitruunamehua
puoli nippua tuoretta lehtipersiljaa
3 keskikokoista puhdistettua mustekalaa

Kuumenna kasvisliemi ja pidä lämpimänä. Kuullota sipuli, valkosipuli ja timjami voissa läpikuultavaksi. Lisää riisi ja sitruunankuori ja hieman lientä. Lisää lientä vähän kerrallaan koko ajan sekoitellen kunnes kaikki liemi on imeytynyt ja riisi on pehmennyt. Siirrä pannu liedeltä ja sekoita joukkoon sitruunamehu ja persilja ja mausta risotto merisuolalla ja rouhitulla mustapippurilla. Täytä puhdistetut mustekalat risottolla ja asettele uunivuokaan. Lisää vuokaan hieman vettä ja kypsennä 180 asteisessa uunissa puolisen tuntia. Anna jäähtyä ja leikkaa siivuiksi.