A few weeks ago Transun asked me to recreate a Scandinavian dish. I’m always up for learning to cook new meals and as my Farikal attempt went down so well I decided this would be fun. So, the dish was Langoustine with Smoked Potato puree and Soured Cream. The dish was created by Swedish chef David Berggren, his recipes are inspired by his home country’s traditions.
I won’t lie, this was not easy.
To me, this is something that I can imagine served up in a fancy restaurant. So, to make it a little easier in my own kitchen I made a few changes. For example, I used parsnips as an alternative to parsley roots. Never be afraid of altering a recipe to make it work for you.
You can find the full recipe and method over on the Transun blog.
If you’re thinking of giving this dish a try then you need to be prepared to do lots of things at once and ensure that everything is chopped and ready to go beforehand.
First up you need to peel the carrot, onion and garlic into small pieces.
Fry it all in a pan with a dash of olive oil, bay leaves, thyme and fennel seeds for 3 minutes. Then add the halved lemon, water, white wine vinegar and white wine. Finally, season with salt and pepper.
Chop the parsnips and fennel and add then to the pan.
I decided to add the leeks here as I don’t have a steamer. Simmer for 20-30 minutes, until soft then leave it to cool – you can heat it up when everything else is ready. Unless you have excellent time management skills.
Meanwhile you need to make the smoked potato puree. Peel and boil the potatoes in salted water. Once they’re soft remove the water and pass the potatoes through a sieve – I mashed mine with a fork. Finally, add the crème fraiche (and butter, if you wish) and mix ’til you have a smooth and creamy texture.
Now it’s time for the champagne cream. Mix your vinegar and double cream salt and pepper. Leave the mix to sit for 5 minutes and then whisk lightly.
Now it’s time to get your langoustines (a type of scampi). Shell the langoustines according to instruction, place in fridge. Bread the backs of langoustines with panko and fry gently.
Here we have my attempt at Langoustine with Smoked Potato puree and Soured Cream. As I said, this was not easy and I’m sure I’ve mad some mistakes throughout the process. However, I had a lot of fun doing it and I’m keen to try more Scandinavian dishes in the future.