A lunch I just loved cooking!

Yesterday my boss was being interviewed for one of Norway’s leading papers by one of Norway’s leading writers and journalists. So naturally I put quite a bit of effort into the lunch menu. As you know, I like to keep things simple and honest and yesterday's menu just unfolded from me with such ease and enjoyment. I just loved cooking it. 


I made a fresh pressed juice of fennel, cucumber, lime, apple, mint and melon as a welcome drink and crudites with home-made hummus to snack on while they got themselves set up for the interview. 

The photographer bonding with Sophia, the sweetest black Labrador I've ever met. 

Lisbet aka Mrs. Herb doing her thing.

 Asian style salmon salad
Serves 6 – 8 starter portions

600g of best quality sashimi grade salmon (we used salma salmon which is fantastic) 
12 green asparagus spears, ends trimmed 
Juice from one and half limes 
4 Tbsp of soya sauce (or to taste) 
1 Tbsp of the juice from the pickled ginger
2 tsp of fish sacue
1 - 2 tsp of wasabi or horse radish
30g of coriander, roughly chopped
30g of mint, roughly chopped
30g of wild rocket, roughly chopped
6 Tbsp of pickled sushi ginger, roughly chopped
60ml of sesame oil
30ml of olive oil
Black and white sesame seeds for garnish (Renée Voltaire Japanese mix)

In order to make this dish you need to plan ahead and do all the preparations accordingly. Then it will be easy to serve and enjoy with your guests.

Freeze your salmon in order to make it easier to cut. You may need to let it to thaw a bit if it is frozen too hard. Cut it into very thin slices and lay these slightly overlapping on a platter and allow this to defrost completely.

Cover the asparagus spears with boiling water from the kettle for 5 minutes, then drain and rinse with cold water, setting them aside for later. Drizzle them with a little olive oil and some salt to taste. 

Mix up the dressing ingredients – the lime juice, soya, wasabi, fish sacue and ginger juice (check the flavours and adjust where necessary) and set aside for later. 

Wash, drain and roughly chop up the herbs. Add the chopped ginger and set aside for later. 

When you are ready to serve, heat the sesame and olive oil until smoking hot. Drizzle the hot oil over the salmon, pour over the dressing. Arrange the asparagus spears and pile the herbs over the top. Garnish with sesame seeds and serve immediately. 

The main course consisted of - rare pan seared beef fillet with caramelized onion and red wine sauce; new potatoes with herb butter; cooked beetroot in a garlic yogurt dressing; lentil salad with chopped peppers, red onion, fennel and apple with a white balsamic, honey and olive oil dressing. 

For dessert I opted for a simple fruit salad of carefully chosen fruit. The flavors, colors and textures must compliment each other. I chose mango, kiwi, segmented orange, raspberries and blueberries. I served this with my favorite cheese cake sauce.

Cheese cake sauce

Makes about two cups

400g of Philadelphia cream cheese (at room temperature)

1/2 a cup of castor sugar (or to taste)

1 tsp of vanilla essence

2 tsp of grated lemon zest (just the yellow part, non of the white)

6 Tbsp of freshly squeezed lemon juice

Mix all ingredients together in a mixing bowl with an electric cake mixer until smooth. Add a little water if it's too thick. Set aside until ready for use.  

The meal ended with a cheese board. The cheeses were mature Parmesan, Comte and Gorgonzola. Served with spelt seed crackers, fig jam and mango chutney. The fruits I chose to serve with this were grapes, raspberries and blueberries.

I pretty good meal I think.