Autumn in Sweden

       Last week I was out with my boys picking wild elderberries to make jelly and sauces for my desserts and I must say....I love autumn in Sweden. Growing up in California, we never really had the four seasons. The brilliant colors of red , orange & yellow never cease to amaze me. I often dream of menus to correspond the colors of my courses with the colors of the season. Or sometimes I have my courses run through the seasons. Start with spring, something fresh & crunchy, perhaps with flowers, perhaps baby zucchini with a large yellow blossom. Then go to summer, do something with berries. I do a three color veggie mousse, say carrots, peas & celery root in layers in a bread mold. Then when you slice it in a triangle it has nice colors of orange, green & white centered on a plate with some baby greens, a raspberry vinaigrette and some fresh raspberries...now that would fit my concept for a theme of summer colors. Autumn could be pink slices of roe deer filet, eggplant tart or roasted pumpkin and of course dessert would have to be white like winter with no fruit. Finding good fresh fruit in the winter in Sweden reminds me of my French girlfriends in Paris...unreliable and usually only available on weekends.

       I've been quite busy lately. Not long ago I did a very nice menu for Peter Uhlemann and a group of executives from Handelsbanken at Three Lily Buds. We started with a Millefeuille of Smoked Trout served with a sweet red onion crème fraîche and a black sesame sauce. That was very popular! After we cleansed the palette with a mango sorbet we went to the main course with medallions of veal, gratin potatoes, a celery-pea mousse (white & green stand out on the plate), cranberry chutney, baby greens with truffle oil & grand venuer sauce. Dessert was a medley of  of rich dark chocolate. Most people have never tasted food of the caliber I do. It's often a eye-opening experience.

        The next week I did sweet petit-fours for 30 for the American Womens Club annual meeting in Malmö. I did a nice assortment............Crème Brulée Tart, Auteuil, Napoleons with Candied Fennel, Gateau Basque, Caribe au Chocolat.

Here's my  crème brûlée tart, except for with petit fours I cut it in small squares, about two bites. I usually set it on a spiced shortbread and if it's plated, serve it with a fruit coulis.

Then two days later I did the exact same menu for a parents meeting at my boys elementary school for 30 again. I found one of the best marketing techniques is whenever the is a large gathering, volunteer to bring desserts and then pass out my cards. Once they have tasted what I do, I have them. Sure enough, the next day one of the parents called to order desserts for a party at The Malmö Concert House. I did two large Auteuil & a large Carribe au Chocolat (see right) The party was for the director of Musik i Syd in Kristianstad and by coincidence I had done their Christmas Party last year. We had a very nice menu with Duck Breast & Caramelized Figs and then for dessert, I dressed up the director in one of my chef coats and taught him to flame cherries in front of everyone. It was alot of fun! I was quite sure he would remember me.

         Over the summer I did many large parties but three of my favorites were 1) a  celebration of their marriage and long relationship for Nanna Grønbech Pedersen ( a fabulous artist, I'll put a link on the sidebar) & Søren Larsen on the island of Thurø. 2) a wedding for Helena Hansen at the Malmö Canoe Club. 3) A 40 year birthday party for Jens & Isabelle Olsson. The menus I did for all three were similar a lttle similar. When I do these menus, I truly love the food I am doing. It's like I'm giving them a gift of love, a deliberate act of love, a servants heart in a sense. Even though I'm being paid for it, I still feel a sense of  fulfillment & satisfaction. Thats why I love what I'm doing!

       I regularly need to fine tune my culinary skills, and what better way than to practice on my friends. Last weekend I did a very nice menu...we started off with a black truffle custard served in a eggshell, seared tuna with mango salsa& sweet polenta, cream of pea soup with grilled tiger prawns, guinea hen breast with fettuccine alfredo, roasted eggplant caviar, figs caramelized in port wine & perigueux sauce. Dessert was moelleux au chocolat, that warm nutty chocolate soufflé that when you cut it warm melted ganache runs out. Everything went very well that night... for wines we started off with Poully Fumé, then went with a rosé, Reserve de Bonnet Rosé Merlot Cabernet Franc and then went to a nice Bourgogne, the Hautes Côtes de Nuits Les Dames de Vergy and after finished with 15 yr aged armagnac.

    The last night I did my gourmet version of Mexican food. Growing up in California, I always loved Mexican food. But living in Sweden, good Mexican food is impossible to get...so I have to make my own. I roasted some long thin Hungarian chiles and stuffed them with gouda cheese¨. Then I separate egg white & yolks, beat the whites and fold in the yolks and fry the chilies in this....a perfect Chilé Relleno!...For Chimichangas, I slow cook veak till it falls apart and blend it with my homemade chipotle sauce & cheese and use that to fill a flour tortilla and fry that. Those I serve with crème fraîche and salsa fresca. Main course was Chile Colorado, pork slow cooked with red chilies & tomatoes until it's tender and the sauce is thick & rich. Combine that with Spanish Rice and Cuban style black beans with cumin, garlic and ice cold Coronas and I'm thinking I'm back in Ensenada with salt on the back of my thumb and I keep dropping my lime!