White asparagus with matjes herring foam, kavring crisp, elderberry pickled apples and spicy cheese cream

This asparagus dish is a luxurious taste of Swedish summer, with a twist. Crispy white asparagus is paired with a fluffy foam of matjessill. A crunchy kavring crispbread with a spicy cheese cream and little popping elderberry-pickled apple balls and a beautiful presentation with a midsummer feel make this a really fun dish to serve!

Kavring crispbread

• 250 g Wheat flour
• 50 g Rye flour
• 10 g yeast
• 200 g Milk
• 10 g Treacle
• 10 g Salt
• 40 g Kavring spices
• (Anise, caraway, bitter orange)

Mix all ingredients except the salt thoroughly and knead in dough mixer about 5 minutes. Add the salt and knead some more. Leave to proof for 30 minutes. Roll out thinly – (we used a pasta machine to get really thin bread) and punch out into round rings.
Bake for about 8 minutes in an oven at 160°C.

Spicy cheese cream

• 100 g grated Gammel knas (Arla Unika) – can be replaced with Gruyere
• 50 g Egg yolk
• 50 g Milk
• 50 g Double cream
• 2 g Caraway seeds
• 1 g Fennel seeds

Toast the caraway and fennel seeds in a frying pan, being careful not to burn the seeds.
Combine all ingredients in a thermomixer and mix at 85°C for 15 minutes. If you don’t have a Thermomix, you can mix the ingredients in a bowl and place over a Bain Marie, whisking with an electric whisk for about 15 minutes. Cool in an ice bath.
Place in a piping bag.

White asparagus

• 5 White asparagus
• 60 g Butter
• 40 g Water
• 10 g Salt
• 20 g Sugar
• 20 g Lemon juice

Carefully peel the asparagus (place the asparagus on the cutting board and peel them lying down).
Place the asparagus in a vacuum bag with the water, salt, sugar, butter and lemon juice.
Vacuum pack and cook in a water bath or steam oven at 100°C for about 17 minutes.

If you don’t have access to a vacuum machine and sous-vide/steam oven, you can simmer the liquid in a sauté pan (frying pan with a lid) and add the asparagus. Be careful not to boil it! Try to keep the temperature around 90°C. Run for about 15 minutes.

Cut the asparagus into smaller pieces, about 1 cm thick.

Matjes herring foam

• 2 Eggs
• 100g Strained sour cream
• 120 g Matjes herring
• 30 g Liquid from matjes herring
• 13 g Lemon juice
• 300 g Butter

Brown the butter in a pan. Strain the butter and let it cool slightly to 85°C. Mix the eggs with the matjes herring, lemon juice and the herring stock. While mixing, add the butter in a thin stream to make an emulsion.
Place in the siphon and bake the siphon at 63°C in a water bath. If you don’t have a siphon, put the bowl with the emulsion over a hot water bath and whisk with an electric whisk until it foams! Save this step for when it’s time to serve, as the foam will settle over time.

Pickled apples

• 3 Granny Smith apples
• 100 g Elderflower pickling liquid

Peel the apples and place in a bowl with water and lemon juice. Save the apple cores. Ball the apples with a melon baller and place the apple balls in a vacuum bag together with the pickling liquid. Seal the bag and leave to rest at room temperature. Alternatively, place in a bowl, cover and leave to marinate.

Fennel baked potatoes

• 17 potatoes
• 100 g Butter
• 20 g Fennel seeds

Brown the butter and mix in the fennel seeds, leave to cool. Add salt and the potatoes. Place in a vacuum bag and bake sous-vide at 100°C for 40 minutes. Slice the potatoes into bite-sized pieces. If you don’t have a vacuum machine and sous vide, you can simply steam the potatoes, and turn them over in the browned butter with fennel seeds and salt.

Lemon jelly

• 150 g Lemon juice
• Apple cores from the previous section
• 20 g Maple syrup
• 80 g Caster sugar
• 4 g Agar agar
• 4 g of Gellan

Remove the seeds from the apple cores and mix the apple with the lemon juice. Strain the liquid into a saucepan with the maple syrup, sugar, Agar agar and Gellan. Boil the liquid for one minute. When the liquid has finished boiling, pour it into a bowl and refrigerate.
Then blend the jelly with a hand blender and put it in a piping bag. If you can’t get hold of Gellan, you can omit this step.

Garnish

• 300 g Split peas in pods
• 10 g Dill
• 10 g Wood sorrel
• Dried lemon- and yogurt powder

Pick the peas out of the pod and blanch for approx. 1 minute in boiling water, then toss the peas in olive oil and salt.
Pick the dill and wood sorrel and place under a damp piece of paper in the refrigerator. Sprinkle lemon- and yogurt powder over the dish before serving (this is a step you can skip).

When serving:

Arrange the asparagus, peas and potato pieces in a ring on the plate (preferably in an alternating pattern), place the crispbread on top of the ring. Place apple balls and pipe dabs of cream cheese at regular intervals on the ring (see picture above). Fill the ring with matjes foam and finally decorate with dill and wood sorrel.