friederike's Reviews
6 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 6Sort by: Title 
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The Scandinavian Cookbook
By Trina Hahnemann
Andrews McMeel Publishing - 2009
Cowberry (or Cranberry) Compote : page 84
If you like your cranberry compote sweet, read no further - this recipe is probably made for you. I felt it was far too sweet. I added the juice of a whole lemon, and it ended up being less sweet, but also pretty lemony. Next time I would probably use only 2 cups of sugar, and then see if I need to add more.
Makes five or six jars. Served with Meatballs with Vodka Dill Cream Sauce.
Edited 14 October 2017:
I made a small batch (250 g, one fourth of the recipe), and to my surprise I thought it needed the whole amount of sugar! I guess it depends on the flavour/intensity of your cranberries. It was way too dry, though; I added an extra espresso cup full of water, and it still ended up being too solid. Made one Bonne Maman jar plus about 2 tbsp extra.
Served with Finnish Meatballs with Allspice, Sour Cream and Lingonberries.
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Very nice! Much more interesting that the usual fish cake, mainly because of the amounts of herbs and condiments used.
The fish cakes seemed to be too liquid to begin with, and so we were worried that they would fall apart or wouldn't fry properly without getting burnt, but in the end, that wasn't a problem. Just remember to fry them on a low or medium temperature.
The remoulade was very delicious too, and complemented the fish cakes very well. Indeed, you could easily use it for other fish dishes as well. We didn't have enough mayonnaise, so I replaced part of the mayonnaise with creme fraiche - not a problem tastewise (and probably much healthier!), but this might have been the reason why the remoulade turned out too liquid.
Also, when we tasted the fish cakes with the remoulade while the fish cakes were hot, they worked really well - but if you serve the fish cakes cold, e.g. as part of a lunch box, the remoulade will be overpowering. Since we made the dish a day in advance, it's also possible that the remoulade gains flavour over time.
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Fried Mackerel with Fresh Summer Salad : page 112
A very nice, very simple and very summery dish! I didn't bake the potatoes in the oven but cooked them until they were half-done and then finished them frying. The salad was nice and fresh.
The mackerel was really delicious. Frying gave a wonderful crispy skin, absolutely recommended. Be sure you clean it properly, even if you've been assured that it's been cleaned already, and make sure you have a pan that is large enough to hold the whole fish(es) (or get smaller specimen)!
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Gravlax with Sweet Mustard Sauce : page 150
Delicious, healthy, easy to prepare, and very impressive!
Both the fish and the sauce are very delicious. The the salmon is not as manifest as I had expected (I had expected something along the lines of smoked salmon - the Gravlax was less pronounced in comparison). The mustard sauce is pretty strong; so strong, in fact, that I would suggest using only a few drops per slice. The salmon went particularly well with slices of dark sourdough bread.
We asked our fish monger about freezing the salmon to kill of bacteria - according to him, that's not going to work (at least not at home) as that will only happen at -75°C (-103°F) - not a temperature the salmon would ever attain in our freezer.
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Jerusalem Artichoke Soup : page 48
A nice, simple soup of Jerusalem artichokes, though not really anything special.
I'm not really sure about the beetroot. For one, it's decoration only - don't go out of your way to do this if you don't mind not having any. Second, I'm not sure whether it's supossed to be raw or cooked beetroot. As it doesn't say anything, I would expect raw beetroot. On the other hand, when frying it burns very quickly, and according to DB even before the beetroot is cooked properly. The ones in the picture were red just a few moments before, and now look at them...
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Salmon Burgers : page 76
First of all: portions were huge! Nearly 200g fish per person plus bread is a lot. Reckon this portion size for at least 6 servings, or even 8 servings if people aren't too hungry and you're serving something on the side/starter.
The recipe looked awfully complicated in the beginning, but once I considered it it wasn't that bad after all. The bread was super easy (considering it was bread) and very delicious!
The salmon burger was delicious too, but there were several important points: it was nearly impossible to chop it up - the kitchen machine did a much better job! Then, you really need salad, lemon juice, chives and the like - they will add extra punch, which is something this dish needs. And last: the salmon never really became as crisp as we would have liked to be. Cooking it for longer on a lower temperature might have been an option, but you have to take care that it then doesn't dry out. As I found portions far too huge, I would tend to split portions and make smaller burgers, which might exacerbate the drying-out aspect.. I considered cheating (a bit) and pat some of the bread crumbs on the outside of the burger as if it were a Schnitzel...
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