Some years ago Isabella Rossellini asked me to assist her in Stockholm with the launch of her “Manifesto” perfume. I created a lunch with the ingredients of the perfume: rose, mandarins, white pepper, basil, black currant leaves and chestnuts. These were the ingredients that could be used in food. The rest, like peonies and sandalwood, I found difficult to incorporate into a Scandinavian buffet menu or into any recipe.
The recipes below from this lunch are perfect for your early spring meals. They are very different, but light and easy to prepare. Yes, I am early, and I hope that spring will be early too! All recipes serve four persons.
Basil and white pepper crusted baked salmon
with cold basil mayonnaise
700-900 grams or 1 ½ to 2 lbs of salmon fillet with skin on
1 ½ dl or 2/3 cup of chopped basil
1 dl or ½ cup crushed white pepper
1 tablespoon of salt
touch of sugar
Preheat the oven to 200C or 390F. Place the salmon fillet in a pyrex form with skin side down. Mix chopped basil, crushed white pepper, salt and sugar. Sprinkle the mix over the salmon fillet evenly. Bake in the oven for 17 to 20 minutes.
Cold basil mayonnaise
¾ cups or 1 ¾ dl mayonnaise
¾ cups or 1 ¾ dl sour cream
1 tbsp of chopped capers
½ cup or 1 dl chopped basil
Mix all ingredients and check salt. If you do not have capers, use Dijon mustard. If you use them, remember that capers are very salty, so go light on the salt.
Cucumber salad with baby black currant leaves
1 hothouse cucumber, sliced very thin
2 tablespoons of shopped baby black currant leaves
1 dl or ½ cup of white wine vinegar
¾ dl or 1/3 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon salt
touch of white pepper
In a bowl mix sliced cucumbers and chopped black currant leaves. Mix vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper and pour over cucumbers and currant leaves. Place into refrigerator for a couple of hours to marinate. Drain most of the liquids before serving. Yes I know, the baby blackcurrant leaf season is very short, but you can substitute with chopped fresh dill or parsley year-round.
Beef tenderloin poached in black currant leaves and beef broth
1 ½ pounds or 700 grams of beef tenderloin, trimmed and cleaned
1 quart or 1 liter beef broth
6 – 7 larger blackcurrant leaves
1 medium onion, sliced
Pour beef broth with blackcurrant leaves and sliced onion in a medium sized pot and bring to boil. Place tenderloin in the broth, turn down the heat, and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove the tenderloin from broth. If you would like to serve the tenderloin cold, chill both the meat and broth, and when cold refrigerate the meat in the broth. Serve thinly sliced with the chestnut and mandarin salad.
Chestnut and mandarin salad with soy and honey dressing
250 grams or ½ lb of canned chestnuts, drained and coarsely chopped
5 mandarins, peeled and sliced
½ dl or ¼ cup of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of honey
1 tablespoon of hot water
2 tablespoons of lime juice
Place the sliced mandarins and chopped chestnuts in layers in a serving bowl.
Mix soy sauce, honey, hot water and lime juice. Pour this dressing over the mandarins and chestnuts. Instead of mandarins you can use oranges, or for a tangier salad use grapefruit sections instead of mandarins.
The buffet was served in the beautiful greenhouses of Rosendals Garden in Stockholm. The placemats were large rhubarb leaves, and the dessert a rhubarb tart. Iced tea with rose petals was the preferred beverage. Stay tuned for these recipes! I'll let you digest the above for now.
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.
1 hothouse cucumber, sliced very thin
