Grilled squash, grilled onions, raw fennel and beurre noisette vinegrette

Grill without meat: here, the beurre noisette vinegrette gives the dish a more fatty-, complex protein-, caramalized-, maillard- and savoury flavour. Raw fennel is an excellent complement to the bitter smokiness.

How to…

• Use your mandolin to cut the squash really thin.
• Chop the onions in half, or in quarters, so they stick together with help from the root.
• Grate the fennel and stir the mash to bring back all the juices.
• Brown the butter in a hot pan and let it cool in another, beat it with olive oil, sherry- & white wine vinegar (any oil and vinegar of interest will do) and add some salt.

Grill the squash on one side (you will see it right through) and grill the onions until a somewhat dark brown color appears – this will add the important bitter smokiness flavor to the dish. Place the squash at the bottom of the plate so it can hold up all the dripping juices, then add the rest: you’re done.

The Rolling Stones – Sympathy For The Devil

Scattered broccoli, salted peanuts and czechoslovakian black

Finally: the vegetables are getting ready for some digestive breakdown. You could use broccoli with anchovy; bacon; beef; blue cheese; cauliflower; chili; garlic; hard cheese; lemon; peanut; pork; or even walnut. I thank you – flavour thesaurus: my most valued book, made by Niki Segnit.

The resulting underlaying idea of the complete dish.

• To make the broccoli more interesting: salted peanuts.
• To make the dish flavourful: lime zest.
• To make it dynamic, but not painful: czechoslavakian black – a mild chili with an outward black color and with a templating green color beneath.
• From table to mouth: peeled and scooped cucumber.

Pull away the florets from the scattered broccoli and boil the rest with salted and buttered water. Strain, cool and mix. Turn in creamy cool philadelphia; alot of lime zest; as little as possible of lime juice (just to make it fresh); a too-small-to-taste pinch of salt; and mixed cocumber peel. Crush the salted peanuts. Cut the delicate chili. Find the broccoli florets. Google dodo.

Jimi Hendrix – All Along The Watchtower

Troll “biskvi”

My grandmother often had apricots at home and her cooking was never complicated nor troubled. The following delicacy, that I’m going to share with you, is made with inspiration from my grandmother Gunborg; and those kind of trolls who got painted by John Bauer.

It all started with troll mousse (a classic swedish dish made out of whipped egg whites and jam). To spoil the whole story: the apricots did not make it. They were more of a time demanding bottleneck because of the repeating, mouth itching, sickly sweetness. Don’t get me wrong – I love apricots! It was just that the dish didn’t feel complete. Apricots and goat cheese? Since the troll mousse was so fluffy and light – a texture contrast had to be developed. To make a troll friendly component that would reduce (and complexify) the troll mousse; I followed a swedish “biskvi” recipe and changed half of the almond paste with goat cheese. And, there it was: 50 grams of almond paste, 50 grams of goat cheese, 40 grams of sugar and one egg white. Squeezed together; rolled, as a true troll would have; and baked at 190 degrees celsius until golden brown. The troll mousse was not needed anymore.

The Verve – Bitter Sweet Symphony – 2004 Digital Remaster

Raw rhubarb and roasted oats.

There is something about rawness. A stringy acid that draws your cheek inside out with a following production of saliva that will soon take care of the available carbohydrate and provide you with energy. But after a few bits of this raw rhubarb, the fresh sensation converts into an intolerable torture.

When I compose a dish I always try to analyze the main component.

• For this dish: I thought of raw rhubarb as a green apple because of the tasting similarities. Green apples and almonds are a nice flavour combination.
• To make it taste well: the sourness in the raw rhubarb had to be balanced with some sweet honey. Still, the acid seemed more fighting than caring.
• As a true accident: when I was going to eat sour milk and oatmeal in the late evening, tired of not finding out a taste sample to serve outside in the herb garden the following day, I ate a piece of raw rhubarb along with the sour milk. And, once again, I felt that fresh sensation – but now for an extended amount of time and without any intolerable torture.

I mixed raw rhubarb with almonds, honey, sour milk and a bit of salt until it became a smooth paste with a dynamic flavour profile. All ingredients should appear, or atleast contribute. I added some roasted nuttiness into the dish. There is a production of roasted whole oats, that has been soaked and milled, in Värmland – really delicious – called skrädmjöl. I took skrädmjölsdrömmar (Swedish dream cookies with both skrädmjöl and wheat flour) and sprinkled it on top of the mixed rhubarb paste and served it on the best tasting lettuce I could find in the kitchen garden: rouge d’hiver.

Regina Spektor – Eet