Nordic Style Baked Salmon

Last night (29th June) we had some very special guest round our house. Sister Gasser and her parents. This sister has been a big help to our family over the last several months she has been in Oulu, so as a thank you, we decided to cook for her and her family a really nice Nordic style dinner. This oven baked salmon is a perfect example of Nordic food, simple and tasty.

This will serve 6 people:-

1,4kg Salmon side (You want around 150-200g per person)
2 tbsp Coarse sea salt
2 tbsp fresh cracked pepper
2 tbsp Dill
Juice of one lemon
4 tbsp of olive oil

Take your Salmon and go along the middle bit and check for bones. If there is any take them out with some tweezers. Once cleaned put your salmon inside some baking paper and add the sea salt, pepper, dill, lemon and olive oil, rub into the salmon and put in the fridge for an hour.

Preheat your oven to 200oC.

Take your fish out of the fridge and wrap the baking paper around it, then cover it in tin foil. Place on an oven tray/dish and put into the oven.

After 30 minutes open up your parcel and return back to oven for 15 minutes.

Take out of oven and serve. It is that simple.

Billionaires' Shortbread

In the UK, Caramel Shortbread is a favoured confectionery. However not many people know that it actually originated in Australian in around the 70's. I love the stuff, have fond memories of getting a small square from the local bakery in my town of upbringing. Over the years I have experimented with the recipe and tweaked it.

About 12 months ago I told my wife about Millionaires' shortbread and she asked could I do it with white chocolate so she could take it to her workplace. I thought i'd give it a go. It went down a treat, the creamy white chocolate made this rich biscuit even richer. I decided to name these adaptations Billionaries' shortbread on account that White Gold is worth more than yellow gold.

So Tuesday just gone we had a Professor of the Philosophy of Religion come over to our house, accompanied by the missionary Sisters. I had met this learned guy before, he wasn't interested in joining the Church but wanted to know more about our Church and what made us different from other faiths. So for the snack I was originally going to make just some normal, boring biscuits until my wife asked could I do the white chocolate caramel shortbread. They went down a storm, so much so that I didn't have many left.

So to make a 33cm * 25cm tray you will need:-

2 cups of flour (225g)
175g butter (not marg)
75g/5 tbsp caster sugar

150g butter (not marg)
1 tin (379g) condensed milk
100ml golden syrup

260g white chocolate

First preheat your oven to 150oc and greaseproof your tray.

Put the flour, 175g butter and the sugar into a food processor and blitz until it looks like fine breadcrumbs. If no food processor then rub with your fingers. Put the mixture into your tray and even out and press flat using a spoon (you can use your hands too), then put in oven for 30 minutes (or until a light golden brown).

Pour your milk, butter and syrup into a pan and slowly heat until all the butter is melted. Then bring to boil. Make sure you stir frequently otherwise you will burn the caramel, I use a silicon spatula for this. Keep stirring until it gets thicker and turns a nice golden colour (about 15/25mins). Put aside and leave to cool for 10/15 mins. Do the same with your shortbread.

Once both have cooled a little pour the caramel on top and spread evenly. Leave to cool completely.

Then melt your white chocolate using a Ban Marie (a pan with boiling water over heat and another pan/bowl on top of it). Then pour over the caramel and smooth out. Then leave to cool and harden, then cut them to your desired shape.