Herring à la Russe - Sill à la Russe

HERRING À LA RUSSE
Sill à la Russe

This is a nice-looking and very good herring dish. Especially decorative for the Christmas smörgåsbord. Serve with boiled potatoes or just some coarse bread and butter.

Serves 4

2 watered down salt herrings
or 4 salt herring fillets
or 4 Matjes herring fillets
2 hard-boiled eggs
2 pickled beets
2 pickled gherkins
1 large or 2 small onions or red onions
2 tablespoons capers

Sauce:
0.8 cup heavy cream or crème fraîche
some white pepper
some salt
liquid from the beets


If you use whole salt herring, water it down first according to package instructions. Then you prepare them for cooking. Cut the herring fillets in about 1/2 inch pieces. Peel the eggs and separate them, then chop them. Finely dice beets and gherkins. Peel and chop the onions. 

Put the herring pieces on a serving plate and arrange the other ingredients in groups on the plate like in the picture.

Beat the cream and flavor with salt and pepper. Color it with the liquid from the beets. If you use crème fraîche you just flavor it, it can't be beaten. Serve the sauce separately.

Enjoy!

Bella

Nubbe Salad - Nubbesallad

NUBBE SALAD
Nubbesallad

"Nubbe" is one of the Swedish words for a quick shot of schnapps. And with a "nubbe" you normally want something salty. This mix is very, very good on crispbread.

Serves 4

10½ oz new potatoes
1 can Matjes herring, approx 7 oz
1 cup cold sauce with garlic and chives
(we have ready-made sauce to buy in Sweden)
1 tablespoon lightly smoked caviar (if you can get
hold of Swedish tube caviar, that's the best to use)
0.2 cup chopped red onions
0.4 cup chopped dill
some white pepper


Brush and boil the potatoes. Let cool and cut in fine dice. Drain the herring and cut in small pieces. Stir together the cold sauce, caviar, onion, dill and pepper. Mix potatoes, herring and sauce and serve with bread, vegetables and e.g. boiled eggs.

If you double the amount of potatoes and omit the herring, you get a fantastic potato salad to serve with e.g. grilled or smoked fish.

Enjoy!

Bella

Matjes Herring Cocktail - Matjessillcocktail (Swedish classic)

MATJES HERRING COCKTAIL
Matjessillcocktail

A piece of herring can be served in so many different ways. And Swedes love their herring. Here's a little appetizing version of something we call "Sunny Eye" with chopped beets, chopped onions and chopped chives. An egg yolk to mix it all with is always served, and you can flavor with some black or white pepper.

Serves 4

2 cups finely chopped beets
4 tablespoons finely chopped onions
2 tablespoons finely chopped chives
2 matjes herring fillets
some onion rings
4 egg yolks
beet and herring liquid
white or black pepper


Drain beets and herring well but save the liquid. Prepare all ingredients and chop rather finely. If you use already chopped beets from a can you can chop them some more. Mix beets and onions.

Serve this dish in serving bowls. Put the beet mixture in a ring around the bowl or the plate. Put the herring, cut in even-sized pieces, on top. Sprinkle with some chives and put one or two onion rings in the middle.

Separate the eggs and put an egg yolk in its shell on each onion ring so it stands up straight. When you're eating, you simply pour the egg yolk over herring and beets. Blend with the fork and sprinkle with some pepper. You can also mix some liquid from beets and herring in when you stir it at the table. Serve with a good bread.

Enjoy!

Bella

Matjes herring pickled with dill and red onion - Matjessill i dill och rödlökslag

MATJES HERRING PICKLED WITH DILL
AND RED ONION
Matjessill i dill- och rödlökslag

With Matjes herring, lots of red onion and dill it's easy to pickle!

8 buffet servings

2 cans whole matjes herring fillets, each can 7 oz
2 red onions
3/4 cup coarsely chopped dill

Pickling liquid (do you have some other good name for that?):
1/3 cup pickling vinegar, 12%
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups water


Bring the ingredients for the liquid to a boil, then allow to cool.

Rinse the herring fillets, then drain well. Cut in pieces. Peel and thinly slice the onions. Alternate layers of herring, onions and dill in a completely clean glass jar. Pour the liquid onto it and leave in a cold place a few hours before serving.

Enjoy!

Bella

Creamy herring with bleak roe - Krämig löjromssill

CREAMY HERRING WITH BLEAK ROE
Krämig löjromssill

Served in this yogurt sauce with bleak roe, the midsummer herring will be extra luxurious! In Sweden we can buy herring that's called "5-minute herring" in packages, which can be used for different herring recipes without soaking first (it's already been done).

8 buffet servings

2 packages "5-minute herring", each 14 oz
3/4 cup Turkish yogurt
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup chopped chives
1 garlic clove
3½ oz bleak roe
freshly ground white pepper

For decoration:
bleak roe
chopped chives


Drain the herring and cut it in approx 3/4 inch pieces.

Mix yogurt, mayonnaise, chives, crushed garlic and bleak roe and flavour to taste with pepper. Turn in the herring and leave until the next day. Decorate with roe and chives.

Enjoy!

Bella

"Old man's mix" from Matjes herring - Gubbröra på matjessill

OLD MAN'S MIX FROM MATJES HERRING
Gubbröra på matjessill

"Old man's mix" is often made from anchovies, but here's a variety made with Matjes herring, topped with salmon roe and served in bread wraps.

6 to 8 servings

4 hard-boiled eggs
2 cans of Matjes herring
1 red onion
1 bunch chives
2/3 cup creme fraiche
2/3 cup mayonnaise

For serving:
tortilla bread or other "wrappable" bread
6 tablespoons salmon roe
2 tablespoons finely chopped chives


Peel and chop the eggs. Cut the herring in pieces. Finely chop the red onion and chives. Mix creme fraiche and mayonnaise and gently stir in all the ingredients. Leave to "ripen" for a while.

Serve in wraps and top with the salmon roe and some chives.

Enjoy!

Bella