Large Fierce Mammal

The finished product in a photo that captures how it looked mere seconds before I bit it.

The first time I read Lord of the Rings, I’m sure I was personally responsible for skyrocketing values of stocks for companies involved in the production of bacon, mushrooms, and dark, full bodied beers. I absolutely enjoy any literature that confronts me with a description of food consumed by the characters that leaves me wanting to devour whatever they’re having. Something like that happened recently while Mrs. LFM was reading The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, an espionage novel written by the late Stieg Larsson that is one of a trilogy set in Sweden. I haven’t yet read the book, but I have enjoyed watching the Swedish movie adaptation while snuggled with Mrs. LFM, and can tell you that it contains, what is for me, one of my top two attitude adjustment scenes. Go see it and let me know if you’re not sure which scene I mean.

But I digress. In the book Larsson takes tantalizing pains to describe meals prepared and eaten by the characters. Here are a few examples. The “she” referred to in these excerpts is the title character, Lisbeth Salander while “he” is the other primary character, Mikael Blomkvist.

Example 1: “She made three big open rye-bread sandwiches with cheese, caviar, and a hard boiled egg. She ate her nighttime snacks on the sofa in the living room while she worked on the information she had gathered.”

Example 2: “She helped him off with his clothes and propelled him to the bathroom. Then she put on water for coffee and made half a dozen thick sandwiches on rye bread with cheese and liver sausage and dill pickles.”

Example 3: “At 6:00 he took a shower. He boiled some potatoes and had open sandwiches of pickled herring in mustard sauce with chives and egg on a rickety table outside the cottage, facing the bridge. He poured himself a shot of aquavit and drank a toast to himself.”

It’s the third one that really grabbed our attention. When Mrs. LFM read it to me, we salivated together, inventoried the kitchen, and the result was the recipe you’re about to read. Mrs. LFM is an incredibly gifted cook and the sauce used here is her original creation based on our personal tastes. If you enjoy rustic European flavours, you’ll be making this often.

Photo courtesy of Mersey Point Fish Products

The choice of herring was a no-brainer. We used the exquisite Solomon Gundy featured in two of my earlier articles, The Best Marinated Herring I’ve Ever Tasted and Size Matters. Made here in Nova Scotia by Mersey Point Fish Products in the tart European style that we love, that herring is a staple in our house.

Prepare sufficient hard boiled eggs and chives to do the job. Preparing the sandwiches as shown at the top of this post, the eggs smooth the tanginess of all the other ingedients and bring all the flavours into harmony.

This amount of eggs and chives handily serves the two of us.

The sauce ready to use.

Now to the sauce. Here’s Mrs. LFM’s recipe:

¼ cup butter
¼ cup flour
¾ – 1 cup milk, depending on preference in consistency.
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
1 ½ teaspoons hot horseradish mustard
salt & pepper to taste.

Make a roux with the butter and flour – melt butter in saucepan over medium heat, then add flour, mixing until incorporated and smooth. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly but not vigorously for one minute, then add milk. Start with ½ cup, mixing until smooth, consistent texture, then add more until sauce is slightly thinner than desired. Sauce will thicken later. Add all mustards and stir thoroughly. Keep cooking over low heat until sauce is warmed and has desired consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Dish out as much herring as you’ll want to eat in one sitting being sure to gently press out any excess marinade. You don’t want a lot of extra liquid drenching your bread and thinning your sauce. Put the herring in a bowl, add the sauce, and turn until each piece is thoroughly coated.

Drain and coat your herring.

Type and style of bread will be a matter of personal taste. Building on a baguette style loaf that has been sliced diagonally creates oval slices that permit the easily handled presentation shown in the lead photo. Lay out your bread, add your coated herring, top with egg, add chives to taste and have at it!

Now that you have your snack in hand, go and read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, or at least watch the movie.