December Wines: Get ready for Christmas! - Er du klar til Jul? Desember vin tips!

A good meal could become fabulous if you  pair it with the right wines. At Hibiscus Dinners, we care about the food we serve you , but also about the wine. From now on, we will give you some wine tips every month!

This time, it is, of course, all about Christmas, it is Julebord season! So, if you wonder: 

-How do I pair fresh Norwegian scallops? A Saffron Risotto? 

-What fits best with reindeer or elg for our Christmas dinner? A nice grilled entrecôte?

-What could we serve before the meal, as an apéritif?

Hibiscus Dinners has answers for you! We have a French background but are interested by wines all around the world; our goal is to make you discover new types of wine that you won't necessarily get to buy otherwise.

Champagne Francis Boulard Les Muriers Brut Nature

This champagne from a small producer (around 30.000 bottles a year) in Champagne region is exceptional! The maker is working with organic grapes and follows the biodynamic process in order to make a range of champagne which are mostle Extra Brut or Brut nature.

Don't think that because it is an organic "natural" champagne, that it is not good; you would be wrong! This champagne is dry, has notes of nuts and citrus as well as a smell of cutting grass.

It fits perfect with all sea food such as pan fried scallops, oysters but also white fish such as halibut, cod or jack dory.

The value is great, you find a bottle for 390,- in Vinmonopolet. Support a small producer and discover something new for Christmas! It is a favoraite of Hibiscus Dinners, we visited his vines twice already and we always have a bottle in the cellar! http://www.francis-boulard.com

Alheit Cartology 2014 - South Africa

South African wines are not well known enough, and this should change! South Africa produces a wide range of fabulous white, red and even sparkling wines. At Hibiscus Dinners, we wish to make you discover wines you won't necessarly choose at Vinmonopolet.

This white wine is based on mostly Chenin Blanc grapes and also Semillon. The Chenin Blanc is giving this wine all its richness and roasted buttery bread flavors. The flavors of honey, apricots and a hint of citrus makes it perfect with rich fishes such as salmon, but also with a saffron risotto or a morel creamy sauce chicken.

You could also pair it with dessert such as a Crème Brûlée or a vanilla Mille Feuilles. This wine will please all Burgundy lovers that usually drink Meursault vintage, though it will be cheaper! You find this bottle for 315,- at Vinmonopolet.

Vincent Paris Cornas Granit 30, 2014 - France

This is the kind of red wine we like at Hibiscus Dinners! Even though you should definitely buy some bottle to keep them and drink them in few years, this vintage 2014 is drinkable just now.

With 100% syrah grapes, this Cornas is a medium-bodied wine with flavors of red fruits, cocoa and spices. The tanins have soften enough to be really enjoyable now but this vintage will be even better in few years.

You can pair this wine with a nice beef steak or lamb. If you choose to eat some reindeer or elg for Christmas, this vintage of Côtes du Rhônes will fit as well. To open up the flavors, carafe it 2 hours prior to your meal.

For 297,- at Vinmonopolet, this is a great value!

Aubunite La Sorga - France

Presenting this wine is a bit tricky because you can't find it at Vinmonopolet. But in the whole trend about natural wines, this one is a gem. 

This is a sparkling red wine made in the South of France by a small producer named Antony Tortul that works only with organic grapes and tries to develop wines in the most natural ways. He has a wide range of wines as he owns many different small vines around the region.

If you want to try this wine, go and have a drink (and food also!) at the newly open natural wine bar in Tøyen: Brutus (Eiriks Gate 2, 0650 Oslo)

Grow your own organic vegetables - Dyrkselv din egen økologiske grønnsaker!

What is more satisfying than growing your own food? Take care a plant from the seeding to the final harvest. On the top of that, doing it in the way you are actually respecting the natural cycles and all the environment around you.

For the first year, Hibiscus Dinners is growing its own vegetables! Well at least, we are trying to! We got a small lot in May this year around Bøler in Oslo, so we didn't have the opportunity for a full season yet. 

After years thinking about it, I decided to grow many different vegetables and herbs following a square planting system which means that in a box of 120*80cm you grow 6 differents type of vegetables. This system helps you fighting naturally the diseases and the parasites as well as helping the soil not getting too tired as you rotate often the vegetables.

This year I grew: salads, cucumber for pickling, beets, carrots, radish, parsley, chives, corn, squash, sunflower, mangold, borage, mint, dill, sage, cabbage, peas, tomatoes. Well, they didn't all grow to be honest, but we are pretty happy with a very good harvest of radish, salad, carrots, cucumber and tomatoes as well as all the herbs. 

Growing vegetables is important in my process to offer the best food and ingredients to my customers. As a private chef, I put a lot of care in the products I am using for my dinners. Getting organic products is not that easy in Norway, but at Hibiscus Dinners, we are very proud to try getting as much as possible!

Next year, we will get more vegetables which will hopefully end up on your dining table, right in your house! Just check out our Instagram feed to see the latest pictures of our garden and recipes!

Norwegian marinated salmon - Gravlaks Oppskrift

The Gravlax is originally from Sweden but is widely prepared all around Scandinavia. If it is normally made with salmon, it could be prepared with any kind of fish: halibut, trout, Artic char, hamachi… etc. 

Everybody thinks making gravlax is a complicated process; it is not! It is actually very simple and quick to make. At Hibiscus Dinners we love to prepare that for our customers for private dinners and finger food. One of our best seller! 

If you are skilled you can filet the salmon yourself!

For 4:

-1 filet of salmon with skin on and bones out (around 750g)

-75g salt

-100g muscovado sugar

-1 bunt of dill

-2 Tsp of crushed pepper (black pepper, long pepper, white pepper…)

Mix together the salt, the sugar, the crushed pepper and the chopped dill. Cover evenly the salmon only on the flesh side. 

Wrap in plastic film and store in the fridge for 3 days; every day flip the salmon to make the marinade cover all the salmon.

After 3 days, unwrap the salmon, take out the rest of pepper and dill left; eventually, you can run cold water on it to help. Then finely slice it and enjoy!

Cured salmon is usually enjoyed with a mustard sauce but you could also eat it simply with crème fraîche and a wedge of lemon! 

At Hibiscus Dinners, for our finger food menu, we serve it on homemade blinis with a lime cream… Yum! To serve as a starter, slice the salmon gravlax thicker (about 0,5cm) and serve with a lemon cream and asparagus (when it is in season of course!).

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Norsk Gravlaks med hjemmelaget blinis og lime krem :)