Thursday, April 10, 2014

Swedish meets Parisienne Bistro Sallad


Hello Thursday!

It's been a long time since we talked about food around here. I've been busy in the kitchen as always just haven't really been in the sharing mood. But today I am.

Salads aren't really my favorite meal unless they look something like this. (None of that boring iceberg lettuce, tomato and cucumber. blah) I like a mix of warm and cold veggies, some sort of protein and a flavorful homemade dressing. In Paris, bistro salads are topped with roasted potato slices, or other roasted veggies. Since our Paris trip a few years ago we've loved making these filling salads at home.

This salad is made up of: 
a mix of salad leaves
fresh tomatoes dressed in red wine vinegar
blanched green beans
roasted spring onions, red peppers, and potato slices
a warm vinaigrette (olive oil, red wine vinegar, thinly sliced spring onions, capers, and fresh tarragon warmed in a frying pan on low heat.)
and... Tjälknöll

To give our sallad a little Swedish twist we tried making a Swedish classic called Tjälknöll. Not only does this beef dish have the ugliest name it also is rather strange to prepare. 

You are not going to believe me when I say that you put a 1 kilo frozen (yes deep frozen) roast of beef in the oven at the low temperature of 75°C for about 8 to 10 hours. No salt no pepper no nothing. After about 2 hours the meat is soft enough to put a thermometer in. We roasted ours until the inner temp reached 60°C, we like our meat rare. Ummm strange. It also doesn't look too cute when it comes out of the oven.

Now if that weren't weird enough, you then throw this plain slow roasted beef straight into a salt brine for about 4 or 5 hours. (1 liter water, 1dl salt, 3 Tbsp sugar, bay leaves, crushed black pepper, and a few sprigs of rosemary.) Serve the meat cold in thin slices.

My verdict, a little salty and weird, but incredibly tender. The salad was of course yummy!



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