Stockholm photos, live chat, and my new "Family Meal" recipes

We start with a Nordic riff on risotto and pesto

I’m writing this on a boat on my way from Sweden back to Finland.

As I look out the window of our little cabin, I see the icy white waters of the Stockholm Archipelago are now replaced by the calmer, darker seas dotted with the rocky islands of Finnish Åland. It’s beautiful to watch. Much as I treasure visiting my old home of Stockholm, I think I love this journey across the water very nearly as much.

There’s something about being on the water, watching the tiny, Archipelago islands pass us by, that I find so comforting and so peaceful. Every time I make this journey I think how joyful it would be to live on a small island cottage out here (at least in the summer).

I live in hope that remote working and drone food deliveries might make this a reality one day.

This weekend’s Stockholm trip was particularly lovely though. We spent some relaxed time walking along streets we once called home and browsing shops that even years on we still call our favourites. We visited a very special museum we haven’t been to for a decade, and, as always, we went back to the place that makes our very favourite pizza.

I have a little something planned to write about this trip for you soon. For now, here are a few of my favourite pictures.

Family Meal #1

My favourite place in Stockholm, and possibly the world for that matter, is an island called Djurgården. Not only is it beautiful and great for foraging mushrooms in autumn, but it’s also the island where I spent many of my happiest years as a professional chef at a restaurant called Oaxen.

I learnt a lot about simple, delicious, genuinely Nordic food during my time at Oaxen, which I have always tried to feed into the recipes I share on my newsletter.

It’s also been a big focus of what I teach in my online cooking lessons. And for this first entry in my “family meal” series (which I intend to make monthly for you), I’m going to share a recipe I put together for a cooking class client last week.

I feel this dish of simply-cooked but carefully prepared fish, vibrant herbs, and hearty grains is just the kind of thing we would serve as a lunch special at Oaxen. I loved going through it in our class last week and I’m very happy to be sharing it with more of you here today. This is…

Lightly cured and steamed cod with herb stem pesto and pearl barley stew.

Ingredients to serve 4

Herb stem “Nordic” pesto
100g herbs (mix of dill/parsley/chervil/basil is great)
400ml neutral oil
1 small lemon juice and zest
2 cloves garlic
1 small onion (red or white)
50g roasted and roughly ground sunflower seeds
5g salt
5g black pepper

Pearl barley stew
2 onions
2 cloves of garlic
250g pearl barley
100ml white wine
1 litre veg stock
50g frozen peas (Optional but I love the fresh sweetness they bring)
50g parmesan
Knob of butter

4 x 200g pieces of cod loin
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons fine table salt

For the pesto
Mince the garlic with a fine grater and finely dice the onion. Zest and juice the lemon. Put this aside for now. Add the herbs (stems and all) to a blender and blitz on your highest setting for a minute with half of the oil until you can see that the pureed stems have fully broken down. Then add the rest of the oil and continue blending until you start to see the sauce has begun to “split” and the oil is separating from the herb mass. This can take a few minutes so be patient.

Pass this mixture through a fine sieve until the oil is drained and you are left with a thick herb paste. Don’t force the oil through the sieve, just let it sit in the sieve above a bowl and let it slowly drain. This retains moisture in the pesto while letting the herby, green oil drain away (this is why we blitz it until it splits by the way). Mix this paste with all the other ingredients. Loosen it to a spoonable consistency with some of the drained herb oil if needed. Save any remaining oil to dress salads or drizzle over dishes as a lovely final touch, it’s delicious stuff.

For the fish cure
Mix the salt and sugar really well and sprinkle heavily over the fish. Let it sit in the fridge for 30 mins on a plate then wash the cure off under a cold tap and leave out to come to room temp for 30 minutes or so before steaming.

For the barley stew
Put a pot on a medium heat and add a glug of oil along with the onions. Cook them slowly until they start to soften and turn translucent, you don’t need any colour here. Then add the garlic and cook for another minute or so until it has softened. Tip in the pearl barley and stir it around so the grains get nicely coated in the onion, oil and garlic. Pour in the wine and let it bubble away until it has reduced completely, stir as it does so.

Get your stock warm and start adding it a ladle at a time to your grains, stirring as you go. When the barley has absorbed most of the liquid, add another ladle and keep stirring. Repeat this process until the barley is tender and most of the stock has been absorbed. That’s right, we’re treating this much like a risotto. Pearl barley isn’t as starchy/creamy as risotto rice, but with this stirring, you will get lots of creaminess by the end of the cooking.

Now it’s cooked the final step is to take the pot off the heat and stir through the parmesan, peas, and butter. Add plenty of black pepper and leave it a few minutes with the lid on before giving it all a good mix. Add a splash of any remaining stock (or fresh boiled water if you used it all up) if you want it a little looser in consistency having added the butter/parmesan.

Cod cooking
I like to steam my cod in an old-fashioned double boiler thing that my mother used to incinerate vegetables in. I line it with a little baking paper and brush over a touch of oil or softened butter, then place the cured fish on top (which has been sat out of the fridge a good 30 minutes remember). I bring the water to a gentle boil, then place the steam basket on top with the lid. I cook a 200g chunk of cod about 7-8 minutes to cook fully, though this will depend on how thick it is. Alternatively, this bakes very nicely as well at about 180°C/350°F for about 15 minutes. Either way, because of the light cure no more salt is needed.

To serve, I place some of the pearl barley on the plate, top it with the fish, over which I spoon a generous amount of the pesto.

Simple, but lovely. The quick cure of the fish really helps give it a deep seasoning and firms up the flesh beautifully. It’s particularly good when used with previously frozen fish to help improve its texture. The barley also has a sweeter taste and firmer texture than risotto rice that I really love. I hope you do too.

Note
The pesto will keep for several days in the fridge, as will the drained oil.

My first live chat…

I mentioned this was a dish I cooked with one of my online cooking class clients. That person was @Elle. Elle is also an active newsletter writer and I have so enjoyed getting to know her over the past few months of cooking classes I’ve designed for her. This is why I didn’t need to think for a second when she asked me to join her for a live Q and A to talk about how important cooking is to me and why I think it can be positive for anyone.

Elle and I are going to go live on Substack together on Wednesday 11 March at 11am GMT (1pm Eastern European Time) to chat about the calm that can *sometimes* come from the kitchen, how surprising yourself with what’s in your store cupboard can fire up your creativity and how chatting while your hands are busy can be such a therapeutic thing to do.

Come along if you can or watch the recording afterwards, if there are any questions you’d like to share in advance then leave a comment below, or feel free to DM me.

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An update for those dedicated enough to read to the bottom…

What a start to the year…

My full-time Finnish language course is now finally over. What a marathon that was. Actually, balls to that, I did a marathon for the first time last year and that was infinitely easier than learning Finnish. But, it’s over now and I’m looking forward to spending more time doing a little part time cooking this spring and summer and, most importantly, dedicating more time to my newsletter once again.

I’m also going to be reworking my cooking class options so get in touch if you’re keen to find out more or if you’ve been considering them. I have more slots open now my Finnish classroom days are behind me.

Meanwhile, for those supporting my work here either as paid subscribers or cooking class clients, thank you so much.