Korv Stroganoff

Ingredients

• 0.5 kg Swedish falukorv
• 1 yellow onion
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 4 tbsp tomato purée
• 2.5 dl cream
• 1 dl milk
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• black pepper

Method

Slice the falukorv into 1cm sticks — thin enough to heat through quickly, thick enough to hold their shape and develop a caramelised exterior. Dice the onion into 5mm pieces. This is a sauteing dish that works on speed and browning: the sausage needs colour before the cream hits the pan, or you'll end up with pale, woolly meat suspended in sauce rather than something with bite and depth.

Heat the olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pan over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Add the sausage and cook without moving it for two minutes — you want the contact side to brown. Stir, then cook for another three to four minutes until most pieces show dark caramelisation. Add the diced onion and cook for three more minutes until the onion softens and picks up colour at the edges. This stage matters: raw onion dilutes the flavour profile you've built. Add the tomato purée and stir constantly for 60 seconds — the heat will deepen its colour from bright red to rust. This sauce-making move concentrates the umami and removes the metallic edge raw tomato purée carries.

Pour in the cream and milk together, then add the soy sauce and Dijon mustard. The soy amplifies the sausage's salt and savouriness without tasting obviously salty; the mustard adds a sharp edge that prevents the sauce cloying. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for five to six minutes. The sauce should bubble gently across the whole surface — too fast and it breaks and separates; too slow and it doesn't reduce enough to coat the meat properly. You'll know it's ready when a spoon dragged through the sauce leaves a brief trail before the liquid flows back. At this point, grind black pepper directly over the pan — at least a teaspoon — and taste. Salt is rarely needed because the soy and sausage carry it already.

Serve over boiled white rice. The sauce should pool around the meat, not sit separately. A scattering of fresh parsley is optional but earns its place: it cuts through the richness and adds chlorophyll bite that makes the dish feel less heavy than its cream-and-sausage base suggests.