More gnocchi and salmon

Here is a dish I threw together really quickly, but didn't turn out bad anyway. I was going to eat gnocchi, with filet of chicken marinated in a sweet Allesverloren (redwine), lemon, black pepper, salt, and thyme. But the chicken was off, so I had to throw it all away. Instead I had only the gnocchi, lemon and cream that I was going to use from the original dish. So this is what I did...

For one person:

Boil the pasta (I'd already done that). Take one of those portion-sized slices of salmon from the freezer, and microwave it for a minute (if you have unfrozen or fresh salmon that is of course better, but this is my 5 minute dinner rescue). Then poach salmon in vegetable stock for about 4-5 minutes. If the salmon falls apart if you try to divide it with a spoon; it's done (don't let it go overly dry).

Whilst poaching the salmon: Take a pinch of saffron, a tablespoon of sugar and grate some lemon cest, bash together in with pestle and mortar. Add some cream, and put in a pan to heat slightly (it doesn't have to boil). Remove both sauce and salmon (and pasta if you're making it at the same time), from the heat.

Drain pasta, separate the salmon into smaller pieces (should be easy-peasy), mix everything together - you can even add a splash of vegetable stock to the dish if you like (I used about 3 table spoons). Grate parmesan over it, and sprinkle over salt and pepper. Eat it. Now!

Swedish salad

Here comes a tip for lazy days: a Swedish pasta sallad.

For 2 adults and 1 2-year old with big appetite (the constellation of our household),

very approximately:

1 Clove of garlic

1 Carrot

1 small bunch of Dill

1 small cucumber

250 g cherry tomatoes

250 g Gnocchi (the pasta variety called gnocchi, not the potato-based version)

200 g Gravlax

50 g mixed sallad leafs, green lettuce or baby leaf spinach

1 dl Creme Fraiche or Gräddfil

1 table spoon Olive oil

Fresh ground black pepper

50 g Parmiggiano Reggiano

Boil the pasta. Meanwhile, peel the garlic and boil it for to soften the bitterness in taste. You can dry roast garlic in a hot pan instead, if you prefer the nuttiness this gives. If you feel like you don't have time for this, then you can use a garlic crusher - a very manly tool in the kitchen (I love bringing out the hammers and whatnots for cooking, but this tool is oh so sweetly designed for the specific end of bashing the shit out of garlic cloves). This makes it easier to remove the green stem which is a source of extra bitterness and strength. Whatever you do - don't use a garlic press: it saves time by compromising the taste, enhancing the bitterness. Remove from pan. Chop finely. Enough about garlic already.

THE GARLIC CRUSHER

Chop cucumber, half tomatoes, grate carrots coarsely, chop dill finely. Grate parmesan. Cut the gravlax into good bite-sized chunks. Rinse the lettuce/leafs. Mix some of the dill and all of the garlic into the gräddfil/creme fraiche (that's sour cream for you americans). Once the pasta is finished, drain it and add gräddfil as it cools. Then, using a bowl, fold the rest of the dill together with cucumber, tomatoe, lettuce/leafs, carrot, gravlax together. Once the pasta is somewhat cooler, fold this in as well. Add a little olive oil. Serve on individual plates, sprinkle over parmesan and grind some black pepper.

If you have some favorite vege that you love, you can add this to your salad - or replace some of the ingredients - as long as you keep the garlic, dill, gräddfil, gravlax (and I'd suggest pasta). I just try to think about having different textures in an salad, so its not a matter of eating squishy things, merely in different colors.

Rave-oli

We spent the better part of our whole (snowed-in) saturday making home made pasta for the whole family. Two kinds of ravioli, one crayfish and charlottes and the other with portabella and blue cheese. But I guess as a former raver, it should really be called rave-oli...