From west Sweden to northwest Italy: Swedish Mussel soup with a touch of Italian Vermentino from Liguria

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Creamy west Swedish blue mussel soup laced with Vermentino an Italian white wine – a toast and celebration of the friendly relations between Sweden and Italy – whether at a Swedish Royal gala dinner for trade or in more politically shared interests regarding developments in the Middle East organized at the Second Aspen Bosphorus Dialogue Conference by the Aspen Institute Italia, 2-3 March 2012.
Text and Photo © JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro 2012

It was after work and I had my mind on the topics covered at a recent seminar held at the Aspen Institute Italia on Leadership, Globalization and the Quest for Common Values held earlier in March 2012 in beautiful and panoramic Cernobbio nonetheless, where ideas were exchanged on leadership for the twenty-first century. Just 40 km north of Milan, Cernobbio is the city that is home to the luxury hotel Villa d’Este that sits along the shores of Lake Como. The city was also host to a seminar that allowed for various interpretations to be heard on the complexities of leadership in the modern, globalized world and how tensions in leadership could be addressed.

Half absent in mind at the wet market, I scanned flittingly over the different types of raw seafood that west Sweden is so well known for when my eyes came to settle on some very lovely blue mussels.
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A personal luxury – Raspberry Cardamom ice-cream

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The first ice-cream of the household for 2012 in Spring – Raspberry Cardamom.
Text and Photo © JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro 2012

If there ever were a reflected change in values from one generation to the next, in my life, I can find no better example than that of the attitude towards cooking.

In the hierarchic familial structure of the Asian society, the activity of cooking was invariably bound to the social pecking order in the family. Either the eldest, the youngest or the ‘least favoured’ of children was often given the task of cooking for, the usually, large family. Cooking could also be parceled out as a kind of punishment to children, to be ‘kitchen bound’, instead of being allowed to go outdoors to play with your friends after school or worse, on weekends.
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From ground up – the basics of cream and olivine

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Long, smooth and in the intense colour of the gem olivine – extra virgin olive oil from Marina Colonna of Italy, over fresh basil, Langherino and cherry tomatoes.
Text and Photo © JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro 2012

The idea of a ‘fantastic meal’ often conjures images of a decadently large dish of warm, juicy cuts of meat with an appropriate full bodied red wine.

But take this plate of sun ripened cherry tomatoes laid with a generous slice of Langherino from Piedmont Italy, a cow and goat milk cheese that matures into a creamy softness. On top of the cheese in golden olivine, an award winning olive oil from Marina Colonna. Continue reading “From ground up – the basics of cream and olivine” →

El Pedregal Porcelana Venezuela, chocolate ganache muffins

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To oblige your senses – a batch of El Pedregal Porcelana Venezuela chocolate ganache muffins.
Text and Photo © CM Cordeiro 2012

It was meant to be a rudimentary mid-week chocolate fix, where this batch of chocolate ganache filled chocolate muffins were made from what I had in my kitchen pantry for chocolate.

But as the kitchen filled with the aroma of the fruit tones of the melting Porcelana chocolate and the swirled spices of cinnamon and cardamom, I soon realized not all chocolate muffins are created equal.

As a crowning sensation of the senses, this batch of muffins were filled with Valrhona El Pedregal Porcelana for chocolate ganache.
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Kokaihop Lounge, Passion för Mat 2012

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Cheryl Marie Cordeiro with Anders Jacobsson of Mat.se and Kokaihop.se, the lounge at Passion för Mat 2012.

In as much fun and excitement any trade fair entails, there comes a time in the hours spent when you’d rather find yourself away from the masses, gathered to your own, if even for just a moment.

This year at Passion för Mat 2012, that place would be the Kokaihop Lounge at Hotel 11 that is just across the street from Erikbergshallen where the main fair is ongoing.

Set in a different premise altogether, this private lounge area is a relief of quiet and serenity from the humid and crowded indoors of Erikbergshallen, especially at mid-day.
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Passion för Mat 2012 – Highlights

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L-R: Ronny Spetz, Team Leader of the Gothenburg Culinary Team that took home the Silver Medal for Sweden in the Culinary World Cup 2010 (ref i and ii); Dan Berntsson (ref i and ii), Sweden’s leading expert on Potatoes; Leo Sieradzki, Publicity Consultant for Passion för Mat and Cheryl Marie Cordeiro.
Text and Photo © JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro 2012

It’s hard to tell what I like the most with Passion för Mat 2012 (Passion for Food) at Eriksbergshallen in Gothenburg, but is has certainly made its way into my calendar as one of those must do events of the year.

Perhaps ultimately it is the socializing and meeting with all these people who love what they do, that cumulates in the air to a warmth and electric feeling of warmth and happiness that you rarely experience otherwise.
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All out Italian passion at Passion för Mat 2012, Gothenburg, Sweden

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The Burrata experience from Aldardo in Gothenburg, at Passion för Mat 2012.
Text and Photo © JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro 2012

There are no words to describe the sensuous experience of cutting into the buttery softness of a genuine Italian burrata cheese – seemingly made in heaven on earth, that is Andria in Murgia in southern Italy.

Made from cow’s milk, rennet and cream, the burrata was first made in the early 1900s. After a hundred years of finding its way around the globe outside of southern Italy, it is still considered an artisan cheese because of its contradictory status of being a popular rarity that it is best consumed within 24 hours after its production. Something that adds to its air of an exclusive invitations only experience.

After having tried it in Singapore for the first time, just about two years ago with the Iannone family (ref. La Braceria i and ii), I have personally in vain searched for the burrata in Sweden. In Singapore, the popularity of the burrata has increased considerably. The fine dining restaurant No Menu for example sells 40 kgs of it a week.

And while Singapore has Giorgio Ferrari to thank for bringing in the first import of burrata (together of course with other Italian fineries of food and wine) into a country with an utmost challenging climate nonetheless, Gothenburg now finally has Aldardo.
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La dieta Mediterranea / The Mediterranean Diet by Gianluca Tognon, PhD

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Dr. Gianluca Tognon is a postdoc researcher in epidemiology and nutrition at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. He also lectures at the University of Pavia (Università di Pavia) and the University of Bergamo (Università degli studi di Bergamo), Italy.

Quando dicevo che mi sarei trasferito in Svezia per studiare i benefici della dieta Mediterranea, ho strappato più di un sorriso ironico. Eppure i risultati sulla longevità degli anziani che ho pubblicato insieme con i colleghi dell’Università di Gothenburg hanno riscosso un discreto interesse e sono stati riportati da diversi blogger e giornali in diversi paesi.

Ma come è possibile che gli svedesi abbiano un’alimentazione di tipo mediterraneo? Beh, in generale, possiamo dire che una dieta ricca di cereali integrali, frutta, verdura, legumi e pesce, ma povera di carne e latticini è uno schema alimentare di tipo “mediterraneo”. Non è da dimenticare anche il fatto che questo tipo di alimentazione si associa generalmente con un consumo (moderato) di vino rosso. Chi, in una certa popolazione (che siano italiani, svedesi o americani) si avvicina più degli altri a questo schema, è sicuramente più sano e vive più a lungo degli altri.

Ed ecco quindi la buona notizia: la possibilità di esportare i benefici della dieta mediterranea anche fuori dall’area dove si è sviluppata. D’altra parte, l’area del Mediterraneo comprende una ventina di paesi diversi, ognuno con le proprie tradizioni culinarie, ciascuna basata sulle stesse regole di base che ho citato prima. I cereali ad esempio, saranno quindi rappresentati da un cous cous a Tunisi, da una pasta al pomodoro a Roma, o da una paella a Barcellona.
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Gothenburg Food Capital of Sweden 2012

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Spices such as these that are a staple in Swedish homecooking today, were once brought back to Sweden from the Far East on the Swedish East Indiaman Gotheborg III during the 1700s that sailed from Gothenburg to Canton, China.
Text and Photo © Ted Olsson, JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro 2012

In the past five years, the height of the food scene in Gothenburg Sweden, apart from the more glamour filled annual prize giving ceremony and gala dinners held by the Western Swedish Academy of Gastronomy (2010, 2008) is the Passion for Food (Passion för Mat) tradefair held in the city at Erikbergshallen, that is right next to the docks of the Swedish East Indiaman Gotheborg III.
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Wine Bar at Soup ‘n Bagles

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Cheryl Marie Cordeiro, Svante Boberg who is owner of Sou''n Bagel and Sandra Lam Carlsson.

An evening of open wine testing at Soup’n Bagel. In the middle, owner Svante Boberg and to the right friend and colleague Sandra Lam Carlsson.
Text and Photo © JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro 2012

In from the biting cold of winter that is still in the air in Sweden, I thought the cozy, dimlit interior of Soup’n Bagel by night in the city of Gothenburg set the perfect calm and mellow atmosphere for an evening of wine tasting and long conversation amongst good friends.
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