background thougths: just makes me very happy to have conversations
with friends who share the same values. but every individual comes with personal preferences,
these little routines, favourite ingredients and flavours,
most cooked recipes, opinions, little obsessions. sharing these.
conversations with jesper.
when you have a wonderful meal, but you can not only taste the flavours and ingredients but also the passion and personal touch of the person who cooked that meal? this is what I felt with every single lunch I tasted from jesper at lille bakery. that plate of warm beans or chicken and that fresh piece of sourdough bread on the side are as comforting as a lunch gets. you can fully trust that lille bakery uses the fresh seasonal or preserved ingredients have been grown and used with love and care.
Since I met jesper we were always sharing and talking about recipes, seasonal produce and meals when I came for lunch at lille bakery, I wanted to know more details about his passion not only for cooking but also for the seasonal ingredients that are the heart of his meals.
two personal inspirations from jesper:
fruit choice: pears from the farm´s shop. poached the pears.
picked some rosemary from the garden.
*Meet jesper and be lucky to find some of his recipes, inspirations, rituals, values, tips on produce sourcing and thoughts on cooking and food produce*:
Dear jesper,could you tell me a few words about yourself?:)
My name is Jesper Sjödahl and I was born in 1992. I have been working with food since a young age, and cooking led me to develop a further interest in sustainable agriculture and local food systems. Currently, I cook at Lille Bakery in Copenhagen.
on film by: Luna Antonia Arboleda
how did your love for fresh, organic produce develop ? (what age, influence,...?)
Visiting markets and the beauty of produce is something I remember always enjoying, but the biggest shift took place when I worked at a restaurant called Bastard in my early twenties.
The food and the craft was what drew me to it, but having local farmers and foragers delivering the most vibrant and tastiest fruit, vegetables, meat and mushrooms I’d ever seen or tasted made me curious to learn more about the people and reason behind those things - to understand how and why what they would deliver could taste so differently from generic produce.
sadly, I never got the chance to visit speceributik. can you describe its soul, atmosphere, concept a little bit for me? what inspired you to create that beautiful space? what do you miss most?what used to be your favourite producer / source / farm to source the produce you used for cooking selling ?
For three years, my partner Kathe and I ran Amiralsgatans Speceributik - a small grocer and general store offering fruit, vegetables, meat, dry goods, cheese and other dairy sourced from both local and more faraway producers. We opened the shop because we ourselves were missing a place focusing on real quality - and promoting the values we found to be central to cooking, eating and farming.
The common thread was that we sourced as much as we could directly from producers in order to pay them the full cost for the goods instead of middle-men - wether that was vegetables grown a short bike ride away from the shop, or olive oil from Abruzzo. The producers we chose to work with were also people who prioritise soil-health in the way they work, as well as people championing local varieties and traditions.
All these things combined lead to nutritiously dense and - most importantly - very tasty products! At the shop, we also served lunch made from leftover produce, as well as baked bread from flour we milled in house, made ice cream and had a small plot where we grew flowers that we also sold in the shop; thinking back I can barely fathom how we had time for everything!
what are the most beautiful things about working at Lille? favourite lille memories?
When we decided to close the shop in early 2024 after coming to the conclusion that the amount of hours we were putting in to our small business were beginning to affect our health negatively, there was only one place in the region I was interested in working at, and that was Lille Bakery.
I’ve been going regularly since they opened, and felt that the values I hold personally and that I poured in to my business aligned with what Mia, Zara and the people working there were trying to do with the bakery - sourcing directly from wonderful farmers, growers and millers within the region and creating something that isn’t fancy or exclusive, but on the opposite very simple and inclusive.
What I enjoy the most with working there is the company of other people from around the world who feel strongly about these things and all bring their specific skills and experiences to the table, as well as the seasonality of the cooking where we update the menu on a weekly or even daily basis depending on what we can source.
Writing this, we’re in the depth of winter which means that the access to fresh local produce is extremely limited here in Denmark. Luckily, there are still a few incredible farmers who deliver what they can harvest or have stored on a weekly basis, but at this time we are very dependent on the larder we built during the summer of different fruit and vegetable preserves, as well as dry herbs and ferments. Some of my best memories working at Lille so far is getting deliveries of 100+ kilos of tomatoes, endless boxes of strawberries, cherries, gooseberries and plums and all available hands washing, trimming, peeling and sorting produce for us to then jar.
what is the dish you prepare at home most often?
Having worked in kitchens for a long time has meant I’ve worked most evenings in my adult life, so I’m thoroughly enjoying having a daytime job now, and the simple pleasure of cooking dinner for me and my partner on a daily basis. We don’t go out to eat very often, but rather spend a little extra on what we cook with at home.
On weeknights we tend to eat something simple based on what we have at home, like pulses, braised greens, toast and perhaps a piece of cheese.
On the weekend we like to spend a bit more time cooking; last weekend it was a beautiful chicken from Gothenborg that we ate over a few days; the breasts first as schnitzel with potato salad, and then the legs in a braise with tomatoes, saffron and little olives. The trimmings and offal I used to make meatballs that we poached in broth made from the carcass, and leftover braising liquid made a beautiful pasta sauce, and on it goes…
where do you buy your vegetables in Copenhagen?
We live in Malmö across the bridge in Sweden and are members of a wonderful CSA run by our friend Hampus at Olliåke Farms (who also supplied most of the produce for our shop), but also love stopping by our friends at Aurens Deli, Grønne Bønner as well as Grønt Marked on Sundays whenever we get a chance.
you also make ice cream. I tasted the rye ice cream you made for lille bakery. I was so in love. the flavour was so pure and natural. what major ingredients do you use when making ice cream? what are some of your favourite flavours you created?
As previously mentioned, we made ice cream at the shop. This came from us being approached by the wonderful Johanna at Kolmagården in Höör, Sweden to sell her dairy products. Johanna has a small flock of Fjällkor - an old Swedish landrace variety of cow which produces A2 milk and that she tends to beautifully, growing native and landrace seeds and grasses for their silage. We were lucky and proud to offer her milk, cream and yoghurt as well as raw butter.
As a measure to not only use up whatever leftovers we might have had but also to be able to buy even more from her and support her work, we invested in an ice cream maker. Except for a pure milk ice cream that we always offered, the selection varied constantly. Favourite flavours included: blood nectarine; Meyer lemon; mint chocolate chip made from mint from our garden; as well as a black currant ice cream flavoured both with berries as well as the fragrant leaves of the bush.
your favourite sweet pastry / cake / dessert ..... to make? + your favourite fruit to incorporate into it?
Some sort of whole-grainy, nutty loaf cake with stone-fruit in the afternoon. Ice cream as dessert!
what´s your favourite spring, summer, autumn, winter vegetable?
My favourite vegetable is what’s looking the most beautiful and vibrant at any time, but if I have to choose:
Spring: All of the young, tender greens
Summer: Beans
Fall: Tomatoes
Winter: Chicories
lets say you are cooking a stew. what would be the steps and which vegetables, grains, herbs would you pick to put inside?
A formula for a stew that gets made in a similar way in our household all year round goes as follows:
Soak beans overnight in plenty of salted water. The day after, bring them to a boil, strain and rinse. Return to the pot with fresh water, olive oil and aromatics (onion, celery, fennel, carrot, bay leaf, garlic etc) and a good pinch of salt (the salt level should be so that the broth is absolutely delicious to eat on its own). Bring to a boil, then simmer very gently until the beans are completely tender and on the verge of collapsing, yet keep their shape. A good trick is to try five beans, and if all are perfectly creamy and without any grittiness, the pot is done.
Summer: In a pot, heat up a little olive oil. Once warm, add some small tomatoes and cook covered, shaking the pot frequently until the tomatoes have burst. Transfer to a bowl. In the same pot, gently cook garlic and chili in more olive oil until aromatic, followed by a few thinly sliced courgettes and a big pinch of salt. Cook the courgettes until soft before returning the tomatoes to the pot, followed by beans and some of their liquid. Bring to a boil, wilt in some spinach and finish off with a generous handful of basil and a drizzle of olive oil.
Fall: Gently cook garlic and finely diced fresh chili in olive oil until aromatic. Add corn kernels, diced squash and a pinch of salt and sweat covered until soft. Stir in your beans top finish with fresh coriander.
Winter: Cook garlic and a pinch of dried chili in olive oil until aromatic. Add a few ladles of bean liquid and simmer for a bit. Stir in the beans, big chunks of roast pumpkin, and kale that has been boiled in salted water until tender. Finish with olive oil and grated Parmigiano.
Serve with toast!
Jesper: “a strange but lovely soup
made from leftover braised lamb,
rice, grated courgettes and broad beans.
flavoured with cumin, saffron, mint, lemon.”
made from leftover braised lamb,
rice, grated courgettes and broad beans.
flavoured with cumin, saffron, mint, lemon.”
your personal connection to fresh seasonal natural produce - what is important to you when it comes to food produce?
Good produce farmed in a conscious way is one of the things I value the most in life, as consuming it not only brings joy, but also supports good health, culture and a cleaner world. I can’t imagine anything better to spend money and time on.
what´s your favourite herb and what´s your favourite way of incorporating it into a dish?
I use a lot of herbs in my cooking, but I am also quite particular about what goes where. Fresh flat leaf parsley and good dry oregano is very versatile, but a simple green salad boosted by the addition of a handful of picked tender herbs is such a joy.
what is your “definition” of a healthy meal?
Michael Pollan summed up all his knowledge on the food system(s) and on healthy eating in seven words that I find sticking to makes me feel good: ”Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”
what´s your favourite combination of foods? feel free to name several if you can´t decide ;)
There are too many good combinations out there! Parmigiano Reggiano and a ripe pear; asparagus and good butter; beetroots and horseradish; peaches and raspberries; lamb and anchovies etc etc…
favourite food flavour?
Good bread
favourite food scent?
That same bread
what´s your favourite dough dish (eg pie, pasta, pizza, flatbreads,....?)
Any sort of pie - no matter if it’s filled with chicken & leeks, feta & greens, plums or wild blueberries.
pick one: butter or olive oil
Olive oil
pick one: cold dishes (salads, foccacias,...) or warm dishes (stews,..)?
Warm dishes
pick one: cooking or baking?
Cooking
is there something you don´t eat / you don´t tolerate / you avoid?
I try to avoid foods with artificial additives, preservatives and colouring, farmed fish and most oils.
what´s your favourite kitchen tool?
A thick and heavy wooden chopping board.
favourite beverages? what do you drink when having a meal ?
With my meals I mostly drink filtered water or herbal tea, and occasionally a glass of wine, beer or cider. The latter is something I have a growing interest in, and I’m happy to see so many wonderful cider makers beginning to make delicious things in our region.
what have you always wanted to try out cooking but haven´t yet?
I’m nurturing a dream of learning how to make filo dough.
what do you usually have for breakfast?
Coffee, a small glass of apple cider vinegar + water and a bite of kraut/kimchi/yoghurt is a constant. Other than that, it tends to vary but I always prefer something savoury and substantial; this morning I had eggs, beans and a slice of buttered toast with some hot sauce.
have you tried out any new flavour / ingredient for the first time recently that really surprised you?
Buckwheat tea - Sobacha - is something I recently discovered and have fallen for.
what´s your favourite dough dish (eg pie, pasta, pizza, flatbreads,....?)
Any sort of pie - no matter if it’s filled with chicken & leeks, feta & greens, plums or wild blueberries.
is there a particular childhood dish / something your grandma used to cook / traditional food that takes you back in time / that will stay in your heart forever / childhood comfort food?
Finish rye bread with butter and cheese, oatmeal with homemade apple sauce and a mug of warm milk with honey for breakfast on my grandmothers veranda.
what is the part that makes you happiest when preparing meals for yourself and others?
I think a well prepared meal, however simple, is the most beautiful and thoughtful gift you can give yourself or anybody else.
Thank you Jesper <3.