Cod Roe, Gravlax, Piroshki

I have been trying to get some cod roe spread for at least two weeks. There is a store in Ballard (of course) where they sell many scandinavian specialties. Among these specialties are lutefisk, blood sausage, and cod roe spread. The last is a paste made from the ovaries of the noble cod. Sounds delicious, right? Well, to me it did. I went one morning I had off from work thanks to power outage, got there before they opened. Went there on way home from work, got there after they closed. Yesterday morning, however, I got there when they were open (I have my schedule flexed to take some classes next week on our CAD package).

I've been intending to do a Swedish taste test, and try these out with Marissa. She even agreed to taste all three! I relented on the lutefisk, though, since she's not a big fan of cod (what a bad portagee, right?) not comfortable with lye. Well, we at least got to the cod roe today. As you can see in the following spread of delicious meats and crackers. The swedes apparently favor thin crisps made from rye, which compliments the fishy-salty goodness of the roe "Kaviar" perfectly.


I may have been on a nordic kick today in general, as I also decided to make some gravlax. This of course is raw salmon that has been cured in sugar, salt, and dill under pressure. In this case, I got a pound of King salmon and put it into a pyrex dish with salt, sugar, and toasted caraway and fennel seeds. I then piled it to the moon with dill, put an glass milk container full of water on top of it, and put it in the fridge. In a day or so I'll flip it and redistribute the seasonings. In 2 days, it can be rinsed, and then sliced paper thin on rye crisps.
Finally, we made more piroshki. We had some leftover salmon from the "does this look like an owl to you" meal, so I poached it in veal broth. We got some black trumpet mushrooms, which I simmered in butter and red wine, and I also boiled up some potatoes. I had made a huge batch of piroshki dough with dill, and Marissa rolled it out and made them up. Yield: three 1 gallon bags full of delicious piroshki.
I'm sorry I haven't been updating as much, the long commute and work day have been wiping me out.

Marissa's been dancing a lot, which is nice. We've been eating well and been very happy.