Seafood and bubbles, indulgence on a budget - It's possible!

I work as a Key Account Manager in my "real" life and some days are great; the clients are happy, the boss is happy and I'm happy, cause everyone else is happy and maybe I've closed a big deal. Happy happy happy! Those are the days I remember why I love working in sales. Other days are not so great and I remember why I love alcohol and food! One particularly awful day when  had just started at the new job, I got yelled at for things that happened  all the way back in 2009 when I was no where near the company or the job or even the city. Back then I still dreamed of taking over Kofi Annans job with the UN, I was still at University and still stubbornly defying my natural talent within sales and  never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I'd end up selling, specially not within the heavy industry and construction business. Needless to say, I felt the urge to indulge. I called my ever pleasing boyfriend and gave strict instructions to buy seafood; I envisioned king crab legs, prawns, crab and langoustine (or Norway Lobster or just plain old havskräfta in Swedish). So the boy went over to Söderhallarna by Medborgarplatsen and headed over to Melanders Fiskbutik, who had everything I wanted: 

Unfortunately this time, the wallet wasn't as thick as my appetite, end of the month and all. I couldn't afford one king crab leg for 170 SEK a pop or 690 SEK/kg, so we went all out on the prawns and a few langoustines instead, added some gorgeous sour dough bread from Borgs Brödbod and great cheese from Söder Cheesen, both at Söderhallarna.

We served this lovely meal with roe sauce and hovmästarsås, a mustard and dill sauce that goes great with prawns as well as smoked salmon, (a swedish favourite!) and easily finished a bottle of Dopff Brut Cuvée Julien (nr 7410 at Systembolaget, only 68 SEK for you Swedes). All in all it was a relatively cheap meal with all the luxury of indulgence on a budget.

And we had the pleasure of meeting and eating Poseidon, God of the Sea! Sorry dude. 

Soldaten Svejk and How to Make Raggmunk

We were on our way to see a show at Södra Teater  in Södermalm, Stockholm, and we couldn't decide where to eat. It was cold, raining and a Wednesday that was just begging for beer. Then it hit me that there is no cozier place for a spontaneous fatty dinner and a beer than Soldaten Svejk. You can't book a table here and since it is widely popular, make sure that you're here on time and are willing to wait. No worries with the waiting though, with their many excellent Czeck beers to chose from, you won't be too sad to wait for 15 or 20 minutes. And it is actually worth the wait. The food is traditional Czech, easily confused with both Swedish "husmanskost" and traditional Polish food, which means its hearty, good food; although maybe not to be consumed daily if one likes to keep their heart going for a few more decades. I had the "Raggmunk", which is a thick potato pancake, served with thick bacon, shredded raw cabbage and lingonberry. Easy to make yourself too if you don't have ready access to Soldaten Svejk, here's how, according to famous Swedish chef and TV-personality, Per Morberg:

The What

8-10 potatos

2 dl regular flour

1 tsp salt

4 dl whole milk

1 egg

600 g thick bacon

butter for frying

The How

Peel the potatoes.

Pour some of the milk in a bowl, whisk together with salt and flour to a smooth batter. Add the rest of the milk and the egg.

Fry the bacon in a pan and keep warm. Save the grease for the frying of the Raggmunkar. 

Grate the potatoes into the egg batter. 

Fry up some butter in the pan along with the bacon grease and add some of the batter (ca half a dl per Raggmunk).

 Smooth the batter in the pan using a spatula and fry the raggmunk a couple of minutes on each side so that they turn a nice golden brown. 

Serve the Raggmunkar with the bacon and lingonberries.

To convert dl to cups, clock on this awesome and easy CONVERTER!

For the recipe in Swedish, click here!