Like early every morning I just had my breakfast on our building’s roof deck. I have my coffee while watering the plants on the deck and planning the coming work day. So, may I ask, why are you sitting at your kitchen table having your breakfast? Go to your terrace, or sit under the tree in your garden, or sit for a moment in the park across the street with your coffee.
In France many years ago my sister and I had only one day a week off. And often we just jumped in the car in the morning and headed to the open-air markets in St. Remy de Chevreuse, filled our picnic basket with cheeses and charcuterie, fresh vegetables and fruit, and the baguette, of course, and headed to Rambouillet forests If we had more time, we headed off to large parkland areas around Fontainebleu.
To tell you the truth, it is not so much about what you have in your picnic basket, as what your head, body and soul gets out of these outings. If you do not have time to prepare the food yourself, your supermarket or nearest deli has some ready-made sandwiches and salads. Grab a bottle of something to drink and head out, out - did I say that already? Soon enough we will be complaining about how cold and grey it is again. Enjoy the moment.
I have the good fortune of spending part of every summer on the west coast of Sweden on an island outside Fjallbacka. Picnics on my friends’ island or on the boat are an almost daily occurrence if the weather permits. The most common offering is a mini-smorgåsbord with pickled herrings, gravlax or smoked salmon, hard-boiled eggs with Kalles kaviar (the very Swedish caviar spread in tubes), shrimp salad, cucumber salad, possibly small meat balls and tiny prinskorv (Swedish cocktail sausages), and then coffee always with a lot of cinnamon buns or kanelbullar. I mean I-cannot-fit-into-my-jeans-anymore amounts of cinnamon buns. The addictive sugary-buttery buns burst with the flavor of cinnamon, and are in my opinion directly illegal and dangerous!
This shrimp salad is perfect for your picnic basket. Here is the recipe. Easy and fast to prepare.
Fjällbacka shrimp salad
Serves 4
¾ pounds or 340 grams of Swedish peeled shrimp or frozen small Greenland shrimp
2 hard-boiled egg, chopped
2 tablespoons of finely chopped red onion
2 tablespoons of chopped dill
½ cup or 1 dl of mayonnaise
¼ cup ½ dl of sour cream
golden caviar (lojrom) to decorate
If you use frozen shrimp, take the shrimp out of the freezer the night before to thaw slowly in the refrigerator overnight. Usually some liquid will form, so pour the shrimp into a colander and squeeze the liquid out. Mix shrimp, chopped eggs, chopped onion, mayonnaise and sour cream, and half of the dill, place in a serving bowl. Sprinkle with the rest of the dill and decorate with the lojrom caviar (optional).
Here is another of my picnic experiences for you to learn from (or not!). An actress friend of mine came to New York some time ago during the summer. Just to show her a bit of Manhattand nature I invited her for an afternoon picnic in the park along the Hudson river.
I prepared a very nice basket. There was cold lobster with simple herb sauce (see earlier bytes), beef tenderloin with fresh horseradish cream, a simple fennel salad with Danish blue cheese, and some berries for dessert. Let me first give you the recipes before I go into what followed; crime before the punishment, so to speak.
Beef tenderloin with fresh horseradish cream
serves 4
2 pounds or 900 grams of cleaned and trimmed beef tenderloin
1 tablespoon of salt
1 tablespoon of coarsely ground black pepper
1 tablespoon of olive oil
for horseradish cream
4 tablespoons of grated fresh horseradish
¾ cup or 1 ¾ dl of sour cream
¼ cup or ½ dl of mayonnaise
1 teaspoon of mustard
salt and pepper to taste
Rub the tenderloin with the oil, and then with the salt and ground pepper. There are two ways of cooking the tenderloin. First: heat the oven to 200F or 93 C, sear the tenderloin quickly on the stove in a skillet, then place it in the oven. Insert a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the tenderloin, and when the temperature reaches 120F or 50C the meat is medium to medium rare, and very evenly cooked. Second: place the tenderloin in a 400F or 204C oven without searing first. When the inside temperature reaches 120F or 50C the meat is medium to medium rare. The first method takes a bit more time, but the result is more even. Take the meat out of the oven, and in both cases cover lightly with foil and set aside for 20 to 30 minutes before carving.
To prepare the horseradish cream, mix all the ingredients and serve.
Fennel salad
Serves 4
1 large or 2 smaller fennel bulbs
3 ounces or 85 grams of Danish blue cheese
3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons of olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Clean and rinse the fennel knobs, slice thinly with a Japanese mandolin or other very sharp knife. Add balsamic vinegar and olive oil, check salt and pepper, place in a serving dish. Crumble the blue cheese on top and serve. You certainly can add some chopped herbs of your preference. Parsley, dill or tarragon would work well with this salad.
So to my story: It was a beautiful afternoon, the food was good, and the conversation brilliant - the champagne pink and cold. Well, my picnic basket was totally misinterpreted. Ok, concentrate on the food, and don't be nosy! What happened in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas, or should I say what happened on the river stays in the river!
The terraces and roof decks, the forests, the parks, and the bushes are waiting for you. Did I already tell you to get out, now? But do be careful. There are ants, mosquitoes and hormones out there.
Paavo Turtiainen manages a catering and event planning company, which is based in Manhattan, and serves some of the world’s most famous people, royalty, institutions and companies. Paavo is still today known for his close personal association with film legend Ingrid Bergman and producer Lars Schmidt. Throughout his journeys, Paavo has taken with him food values and flavors that he first learned about growing up in rural Finland. From the mouthwatering open air markets of France, where Paavo worked in Bergman’s home, the joyful nature inspired food of the Finnish and Swedish summers, to the cosmopolitan food markets of New York, Paavo brings many special and inspiring flavors and ideas to the table with the simplicity and accessibility of his Finnish beginnings always in mind.
