Frozen Grapes - with Dark Chocolate

I saw this idea in a book by Jamie Oliver once , and I was really interrested on how it would work, becouse if you buy beautiful fresh grapes then why would you freeze them, but it really works!! The inside of the grapes change to a sorbet like consistensy and are a great complement to a warm summer day.

The best way to eat frozen grapes is with some good quality hazelnut chockolate or dark Varlhrona chockolate and limonchello snaps.

Chickpea Pasta

1 onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

250g mushrooms, sliced into quarters

2 carrots, sliced into 1cm chunks

fresh rosemary

olive oil

1 glass white wine

2 cans chickpeas

5dl chicken stock

100g pasta tortiglioni

fresh basil

fresh parsley

salt & pepper

Sweat the vegetables in some olive oil and fresh rosemary.

Add the white wine and reduce the liquid.Add the chick peas and chicken stock and let simmer on low heat for 20 minutes.

While it simmers, cook the pasta in salted water.Remove half the chickpeas from the pan and set aside. Blitz the rest in a blender or with a staf-mixer until creamy and smooth.

Then add the chickpeas and cooked pasta back to the pan. If the sauce is too thick add some of the pasta water to the pan.

Add some fresh basil and parsley and salt and pepper to taste. Serve with some bread and white wine.

Grilled Peaches – with Vanilla Mascarpone

4 peaches, halved and stone removed
2 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp caster sugar
1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped out
250g mascarpone cheese
3 dl razberries
2 tbsp honey


4 servings


1. Put the peaches in a bowl, drizlle the olive oil and 2 tbsp of suger over and coat the peaches well. Grill on the meat side down on a hot grill for 5 minutes. Lower the heat on the grill, turn the peaches and cook for another 5 minutes.

2. Put the mascarpone cheese in a bowl and add the vanilla seeds, rest of the sugar and mix together.

3. Serve with some razberries and drizzle the honey on top.

My favorite Beef Stew

olive oil

a knob of butter

1 onion, peeled and chopped

a handful of fresh sage leaves

800g stewing steak, cut into 5cm pieces

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

flour, to dust

2 parsnips, peeled and quartered

200g button mushrooms, quartered

4 carrots, peeled and halved

½ a butternut squash, halved, deseeded and roughly diced

500g small potatoes

2 tablespoons tomato purée

½ a bottle of red wine

285ml beef or vegetable stock

zest of 1 lemon, finely grated

a handful of rosemary, leaves picked

1 clove of garlic, peeled and finely chopped

Preheat the oven to 160ºC. Put a little oil and your knob of butter into an appropriately sized pot or casserole pan. Add your onion and all the sage leaves and fry for 3 or 4 minutes.

Toss the meat in a little seasoned flour, then add it to the pan with all the vegetables, the tomato purée, wine and stock, and gently stir together. Season generously with freshly ground black pepper and just a little salt. Bring to the boil, place a lid on top, then cook in the preheated oven until the meat is tender. Sometimes this takes 3 hours, sometimes 4 – it depends on what cut of meat you’re using and how fresh it is. The only way to test is to mash up a piece of meat and if it falls apart easily it’s ready.

Once it’s cooked, you can turn the oven down to about 110°C and just hold it there until you’re ready to eat. The best way to serve this is by ladling big spoonfuls into bowls, accompanied by a glass of red wine and some really fresh, warmed bread. Mix the lemon zest, chopped rosemary and garlic together and sprinkle over the stew before eating. Just the smallest amount will make a world of difference – as soon as it hits the hot stew it will release an amazing fragrance.

Greek Yogurt - with Mango and Banana Purré

This is a fresh healthy dessert, which can also be a sunday morning treat. My friend Marius Johannessen took this picture for our book "Desserts by seasons".

2 mangos

2 bananas

4 tsp honey

3 dl orange juce
300g greek yogurt

3 tbsp vanilla sugar, (sugar and seeds from 1 vanilla pod)
1 tbsp honey
25 g pistachios, chopped

6 servings

1. Peel and dice the mangos and the bananas and freeze for 1 hour. Then put the frozen fruit, honey and orange juce into a food processer. Mix until smooth.

2. Mix the yogurt, vanilla sugar and honey in a bowl. .

3. First put the friut smoothie in the bottom of the glas and then the greek yogurt, and so on. Sprinkle the chopped pistachio nuts on the top.

Scallops with Squash Sauce

1 butternut squash, peeled and diced
1 banana schalotte, chopped
1 red onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 glas white wine
100ml chicken stock
100ml cream, (full fat)
butter and oil
salt and pepper to season
300g mixed mushrooms
butter and oil
salt and pepper
8-12 scallops
butter and oil
lemon juce

For the sauce, heat a pan on high heat and sweat the onions and garlic in some butter and oil. Add the butternut squash, white wine and chicken stock to the pan and stir together. Season well with salt and pepper and let simmer on medium heat for 10-12 minutes or till the squash is ready. Add the cream and purré in a mixer.

For the mushrooms, add some butter and oil to another pan and cook the mushrooms for 2 -3 minutes and season with salt and pepper.
For the scallops, season well and cook for 1 min on each side on a hot grill with some butter and oil. When done, squeeze some lemon juce to give them a extra kick. Decorate with parmesan shavings and whatercress.

Poached Pear and Marzipan Mille-feuille

150g ready-made white marzipan
A little icing sugar, for rolling and sweetening
200g granulated sugar
1 small lemon (juice, optional)
Bunch fresh basil, about 50g
4 large fairly firm pears, halved and stoned
Crème fraiche
1 lime, zest only
1 lemon, zest and juice
1-2 tbsp Grand Marnier

flaked almonds to sprinkle

1. Dust the worktop lightly with sifted icing sugar and roll the marzipan out to the thickness of a 10kr coin. Cut out eight circles using a 10 or 11cm cutter , re-rolling the marzipan trimmings if necessary.

2. Using a blowtorch, brown each marzipan disc evenly until it turns a caramel colour. Set aside.

3. Heat the sugar and 500ml water slowly in a saucepan until the sugar starts to dissolve, stirring once or twice. Meanwhile, peel 3 or 4 strips of zest from the lemon using a swivel peeler, and drop into the sugar and water. When the sugar has dissolved, bring the mixture to the boil, then boil for about 5 minutes so you have a medium-strength syrup. Pick out a good handful of small basil leaves and reserve for the crème fraiche. Put the rest of the basil leaves and stalks into the hot syrup.

4. Slip the halved pears into the syrup. Poach on a low heat for 5 - 6 minutes. Remove from stock. When cool enough to handle, peel the skin off each pear and the stone should fall out. Place in an ovenproof frying pan over a medium heat and drizzle the Grand Marnier over, then sprinkle with icing sugar. Transfer to the oven and bake for 6-7 mins.

5. Mix the crème fraiche with the lemon and lime zest. Roll the remaining basil leaves together, slice finely and mix into the crème fraiche.

6. To serve, spoon a little crème fraiche onto the plates and use it to 'fix' the marzipan discs to the plates so they don't slide around. Spoon more crème fraiche on top of the discs. Arrange a pear half, cut side up, on top of the crème fraiche and sit another half, cut side down on top - so you now have a whole pear. Repeat for the remaining plates. Finally sprinkle over the flaked toasted almonds.