Chef Freja
Butterdejs-Tarteletskaller
Danish puff pastry tartelet shells folded and chilled in patient layers, baked tall and golden until they shatter at the first bite. The architecture that holds a hundred different fillings.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Tarteletter med Fisk i Sennepssauce
Created by Chef Freja
Crisp Danish tartelet shells filled with gently poached cod in a sharp, creamy mustard sauce. The honest weeknight cousin of the famous chicken-and-asparagus version, brought into the small-bite kitchen.
Appetizers & Snacks
Danish
Weeknight
Comfort Food
Budget Friendly
15 min
Active Time
25 min cook•40 min total
Yield12 tarteletter, serving 4 as a starter
There is a particular kind of Danish dish that lives in the brown-and-cream end of the kitchen: stuvninger, the family of creamed sauces that carry whatever the season has given you. Sennepssauce is one of the oldest. Sharp, smooth, the bite of mustard cutting through butter and milk, built to make modest fish feel like a proper meal. In winter, when the cod is firm and cold-water sweet and the herb garden has gone quiet, this is the sauce the Danish home cook reaches for.
Tarteletter are what we do when we want the same dish to feel like an occasion. The crisp puff pastry shells, hollow and golden, turn a humble braise or stew into something you serve to people who matter. The most famous version is hons i asparges, chicken and white asparagus in a pale cream sauce, the dish you eat at confirmations and silver weddings. The fish version is quieter. It's what you make on a Tuesday in February, when you want something warm and a little bit special without leaving the house.
What matters most is the temperature of the poaching liquid and the moment you add the mustard. The cod wants water that barely trembles, never bubbles. The mustard wants to go in off the heat, so its sharpness survives. Get those two things right and the rest follows. I'll walk you through every step so you're never guessing.
Tarteletter shells arrived in the Danish kitchen in the late 1800s, borrowed from the French vol-au-vent tradition by Copenhagen's bourgeois cooks who were eager to bring continental polish to their dinner tables. The shells became thoroughly Danish within a generation, sold ready-made in every grocery shop and pressed into service for whatever cream sauce the household favored. Sennepssauce itself is older, a cornerstone of the 19th century Danish home kitchen, where mustard, butter, and flour transformed cheap winter fish into something that felt cared for. The pairing of the two, fish in mustard sauce inside a tartelet shell, is honest weeknight cooking dressed in its Sunday clothes.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
ready-made tartelet shells
Quantity
12
fresh cod fillet
Quantity
500g
skinless and pin-boned
water
Quantity
400ml
dry white wine
Quantity
100ml
bay leaf
Quantity
1
white peppercorns
Quantity
6
fine sea salt
Quantity
1 teaspoon, plus more to taste
unsalted butter
Quantity
40g
plain flour
Quantity
30g
whole milk
Quantity
150ml
Dijon mustard
Quantity
1 tablespoon
whole grain mustard (grov sennep)
Quantity
2 teaspoons
white wine vinegar
Quantity
1 teaspoon
caster sugar
Quantity
1 small pinch
white pepper
Quantity
to taste
fresh dill
Quantity
small bunch
fronds picked
chives
Quantity
small bunch
finely snipped
lemon wedges (optional)
Quantity
to serve
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| ready-made tartelet shells | 12 |
| fresh cod filletskinless and pin-boned | 500g |
| water | 400ml |
| dry white wine | 100ml |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| white peppercorns | 6 |
| fine sea salt | 1 teaspoon, plus more to taste |
| unsalted butter | 40g |
| plain flour | 30g |
| whole milk | 150ml |
| Dijon mustard | 1 tablespoon |
| whole grain mustard (grov sennep) | 2 teaspoons |
| white wine vinegar | 1 teaspoon |
| caster sugar | 1 small pinch |
| white pepper | to taste |
| fresh dillfronds picked | small bunch |
| chivesfinely snipped | small bunch |
| lemon wedges (optional) | to serve |
Equipment Needed
- •Wide shallow pan for poaching, 24cm
- •Heavy saucepan, 2 litre
- •Fine sieve
- •Whisk
- •Slotted spoon
Instructions
- 1
Warm the tartelet shells
Heat the oven to 160C. Place the tartelet shells on a baking sheet and warm them through for six or seven minutes. You're not baking them again, just driving off any softness from the box. Cold shells go limp the moment hot sauce touches them. Warm shells stay crisp long enough to reach the table.
Don't fill the shells until the very last moment. Even the best tartelet starts to soften within minutes of meeting the sauce. Assemble at the counter and walk straight to the table. - 2
Build the poaching liquid
Pour the water and white wine into a wide shallow pan. Add the bay leaf, peppercorns, and the teaspoon of salt. Bring it to a bare simmer, then drop the heat until the surface is barely trembling. This is the temperature you want for poaching cod. Anything more aggressive and the fish goes from tender to dry in less than a minute.
- 3
Poach the cod
Cut the cod into pieces roughly the size of your thumb. Slide them into the trembling liquid in a single layer. Poach for four to five minutes, depending on thickness. The fish is done when it has just turned opaque and the flakes separate when you nudge them with a spoon. Lift the cod out with a slotted spoon onto a plate and keep the poaching liquid. That liquid is half your sauce.
If you see the water bubbling, lift the pan off the heat for ten seconds. A hard simmer toughens cod and makes it weep white protein into the broth. Quiet heat, every time. - 4
Make the roux
Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan over a gentle heat. When it foams, add the flour all at once and whisk it through. Cook the roux for two full minutes, stirring constantly. You want it pale gold and smelling faintly biscuity, not raw. Raw flour leaves a chalky taste in the back of your throat that no amount of mustard can hide.
- 5
Build the sauce
Strain the poaching liquid through a fine sieve to catch the peppercorns and bay. Measure out 300ml. Pour it into the roux a ladleful at a time, whisking after each addition until smooth. Add the milk in the same way. Bring the sauce to a gentle simmer and let it cook for five minutes, whisking now and then. It should coat the back of a spoon and hold a clean line when you draw a finger through it.
- 6
Finish with the mustards
Take the sauce off the heat. Stir in the Dijon and the whole grain mustard, the splash of vinegar, and the small pinch of sugar. The mustards go in off the heat because high heat kills their bite, and the bite is the entire point of sennepssauce. Season with salt and white pepper. Taste it. The sauce should be sharp, rounded, and a little sweet underneath. Adjust until it sings.
The two mustards do different jobs. Dijon gives the sauce its smooth heat throughout. The whole grain mustard gives you the little pops of seed that you find on your tongue afterwards. Use both. - 7
Fold in the cod
Slide the poached cod gently into the warm sauce. Fold it through with a spatula in slow, careful turns. You want the flakes to hold their shape and stay visible, not break down into a paste. The sauce should cling to each piece in a soft pale yellow coat.
- 8
Fill and serve
Set the warm tartelet shells on plates. Spoon the fish and sauce generously into each one, letting a little spill over the rim. That overflow is part of the dish, not a mistake. Scatter dill fronds and snipped chives across the top. Serve at once with lemon wedges alongside. You'll know when it's right because the shell still cracks under the spoon. Tak for mad.
Chef Tips
- •Cod is at its best in Danish waters from late autumn through early spring, when the cold firms the flesh and concentrates the flavor. If your cod isn't beautiful, use haddock or pollock instead. The sauce will carry whatever white fish you bring it.
- •Buy the tartelet shells. Every Danish kitchen does. Making puff pastry from scratch for this dish is a kind of misplaced effort, and the boxed shells are honestly good. Look for Danish brands if you can find them.
- •A glass of crisp white wine alongside is the right thing here. Something dry and bright, Riesling or a light Chardonnay, anything that cuts through the cream and meets the mustard halfway.
Advance Preparation
- •The mustard sauce can be made a few hours ahead. Cool it, cover the surface directly with cling film to stop a skin forming, and rewarm gently before folding in the fish.
- •Poach the cod just before serving. It does not hold well once cooked. Cold poached fish in a reheated sauce is not the dish you want.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 195g)
Calories
430 calories
Total Fat
23 g
Saturated Fat
9 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
13 g
Cholesterol
80 mg
Sodium
380 mg
Total Carbohydrates
24 g
Dietary Fiber
1 g
Sugars
2 g
Protein
27 g
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