Scandinavian Food

The Scandinavian countries of Sweden, Denmark and Norway have a long tradition of living on and from the land: traditional cured fish, lingo berries and elk still feature heavily on the Scandinavian menu of today. The other Nordic countries; Finland and Iceland, are sometimes included because of their close historic and cultural connections to Denmark, Norway and Sweden

As in many other European cities the cafe latte culture is huge in Scandinavia. For traditionalists, there still are old classic coffee places (konditorier or kaffestugor in Sweden) that continue to serve only fine-grind coffee. Instead of focaccia and brownies customers can choose from a range of different traditional fancy biscuits. Liquorice is also very popular in Scandinavian countries, particularly in Denmark, where there is a preference for the strong, black, salty varieties. Games dishes are most common in the north of Sweden where there is a strong tradition of hunting. Besides roast elk and reindeer meat, a traditional dish from the north is pitepalt - a boiled potato cake, flavoured with bacon or minced pork. These are served with melted butter and lingonberries. Kroppkakor, a specialty from the southern Swedish island of Öland is similar and consists of boiled potatoes filled with pork and onion. Scandinavia is famed for its seafood, including herring, shrimps, cray fish, cod, eel and salmon. Gravlaxsås, Swedish cured salmon, is marinated in a piquant sauce containing mustard and dill. Mackerel is also commonplace in Sweden, often marinated in lemon, garlic or pepper. Open-faced sandwiches are common in all countries and in Denmark, the slightly alarming looking, but deliciously meaty lever pastej (liver spread) is a favorite on top of Rye bread.
Swedish people celebrate midsummer on the the Friday closest to the 24th of June. It's the brightest day with the shortest night, and in the north of Sweden the sun never sets. For Swedish people, midsummer usually means imbibing fully all weekend, but with traditional food to go with the liquids. At a traditional Swedish Christmas table you'll enjoy Christmas pork, where the pork is oven-grilled with a tasty egg, mustard and honey coating. Other goodies include Jansson’s temptation, meat balls, home-made bread, cheese and different stewed red, brown and green cabbage. For dessert the traditional choice is ris á la Malta, a rice pudding with cream and one almond. Tradition dictates that whoever finds the almond will get married the following year. The cake table on Christmas day may show a great variety, but always includes ginger bread and lussekatter - buns with saffron and raisins. Lussekatter are also traditionally eaten on Santa Lucia Day, the 13th of December each year. In all three countries, shot glasses filled to the brim with akavit (akevitt in Norwegian) and drunk in one go are a further alcoholic feature of Christmas.
Here comes the much waited recipes for you..............

Fruktsoppa (fruit soup):-

Country--Sweden
Mis en place time—30 minutes
Cooking time---15 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients
6 tablespoon prunes
6 tablespoon apricots
250g caster sugar75g pudding rice, or tapioca1 cinnamon stick 4” long2 lemon slices250 gm cooking apple, peeled and cut into chunks2 tbsp raisins
2 tbsp red currant2 nos red cherry

Preparation


Soak the prunes and dried apricots in water for 30 minutes. Pour the prune and dried apricot mixture, with the soaking water, into a large saucepan. Add in the sugar, pudding rice and cinnamon stick. Bring to the boil, then add in the lemon slices. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add in the cooking apple, raisins and currants. Cover and simmer for 5 more minutes, until the apple chunks are just about to break up. Cool and serve at room temperature.
Garnish with red cherry and scoop of green apples with skin

Fresh Mushroom Salad (Sienisalaatti):-


Country--Finland
Mis en place time—20 minutes
Serves 4

600 gm button mushrooms, sliced
100 gm shiitake mushroom, sliced2 tablespoons minced chives1/4 cup whipping cream or half-and-half2 teaspoons granulated sugar1/2 teaspoon saltDash of pepper

Heat salted water, using 1/2 teaspoon salt to 1 cup water, to boiling. Add mushrooms. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer 1 minute. Drain and chill.
Add chives. Mix remaining ingredients. Pour over mushrooms and chives; toss. Serve in lettuce cups.
Garnish with rocket leaves and kalamata olives

Swedish meatballs Frikadeller:-

Country--Sweden
Mis en place time—20 minutes
Cooking time---15 minutes
Serves 4

Swedish meatballs is perhaps the most classic of Swedish dishes, made from mixed minced meat and usually served with boiled potatoes, cream sauce and bright red slightly acidic lingonberries - known as the 'red gold of the polar forest'.

Ingredients
5 Tbsp fresh breadcrumbs150 ml single cream4 Tbsp Butter200 gm onion, finely chopped600 g minced mutton1 egg1 tsp Salt1 tsp freshly ground pepper1/2 tsp Nutmeg, freshly ground

Preparation

Set the breadcrumbs to soak in the cream in a bowl. Heat 15g of butter in a frying pan, add in the onion and fry it, stirring now and then, until golden. Place the minced mutton in a mixing bowl. Break in the egg and add the salt, pepper and freshly ground nutmeg followed by the soaked breadcrumbs. Mix together, first with a spoon and then with your hands. Add in the fried onion, mixing thoroughly. Shape the mince mixture into ping-pong sized meatballs. Heat the remaining butter in a large, heavy-based frying pan and fry the meatballs, turning now and then, until browned all over, around 15 minutes. They are ready when they're cooked through but still juicy.

Serve with chive mash potatoes and berries

Skagenröra:-

Country--Sweden
Mis en place time—20 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients
1kg whole cooked prawns250ml sour cream250ml mayonnaise2 tbsp chopped fresh dill, plus garnish2 tbsp chopped fresh chives30 ml lemon juice1 tsp salt
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper3 Tbsp Butter8 slices bread, halved1 tsp red flying fish roe
Method

Carefully remove the shells and heads from the prawns.
Put the sour cream, mayonnaise, chopped dill, chives and lemon juice in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper, then stir in the prawns. Melt the butter in a large frying pan. Working in batches, add the bread and fry until golden brown on both sides. Serve the prawn mixture piled on top of the fried bread and garnish each portion with a dab of lumpfish roe and a frond of dill.


Dill pickled salmon with mustard mayonnaise:-

Country--Norway
Mis en place time—overnight
Serves 4

Pickled salmon
900g salmon fillet, skinned and boned1 tsp Salt1 tsp Sugar½ no lemon juicelemon wedges, to serverye bread, to serve
Marinade
30 gm fresh dill, finely chopped2-3 strips of lemon peel1 tsp flat-leaf parsley, leaves only300 gm thinly sliced300 gm thinly sliced baby carrots2 Bay leaves2 Tbsp mixed peppercorns1 tsp Sugar1 tsp Salt1 tsp freshly ground black pepper400ml clear malt vinegar400ml dry white wine

Mustard mayonnaise:-

2 egg, yolks1 tbsp Dijon mustard1 tsp Sugar5 tbsp vegetable oil1 tsp white wine vinegar8 tbsp dill leaves, finely chopped

Method

Slice the salmon fillet into 4 cm thick slices. Sprinkle with the salt, sugar and lemon juice. Mix all the marinade ingredients, apart from the malt vinegar and white wine together in a mixing bowl and stand for 10 minutes. Add the vinegar and wine, mixing well. Pour the marinade into a large sealable container. Add the sliced salmon, seal and refrigerate overnight. To make the mayonnaise, whisk together the yolks, mustard and sugar in a bowl. Add the oil in a steady trickle, whisking until blended thoroughly. Once the oil has been added, mix in the vinegar and the dill. Serve the pickled salmon with lemon wedges, mustard mayonnaise and sliced rye bread on sautéed red cabbage with apples.


Norwegian almond cream (mandel pudding):-


Country--Norway
Mis en place time— 30 minutes
Cooking time----20
Serves 4

Ingredients

For the pudding
Vegetable oil, for greasing85g ground Almonds115g golden granulated Sugar1 tsp almond essence284ml extra thick double cream300ml Milk1 tsp gelatine powder

For the blueberry sauce
300g Blueberries115g golden granulated Sugar125ml water1 tbsp corn flour
To serve
1 tbsp Amaretto284ml extra thick double cream1 tbsp flaked Almonds, toasted

Method

For the pudding: lightly grease a 500ml ring mould. Put the almonds, sugar and almond essence in a large saucepan over a low heat. Stir in the cream and milk and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Increase the heat, bring it to the boil then remove from the heat. Put the gelatine in hot water and stir till dissolved. Strain the milk mixture over the gelatine and stir until it has melted. Pour the mixture into the ring mould and leave it in the fridge overnight to set.
For the blueberry sauce: put the blueberries, sugar and water in a pan over a gentle heat and stir to dissolve the sugar. Increase the heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 5 minutes until the blueberries are soft -- mash them with a wooden spoon to help them on their way. Mix the corn flour with a tablespoon of cold water, and then stir this into the blueberries. Cook until the compote thickens and remove it from the heat. Sieve it into a bowl, leave it to cool and then chill overnight. To serve: stir the amaretto into the thick cream and scatter it with the almonds. Take the pudding and compote out of the fridge and dip the ring mould in hot water for a few seconds. Tip the pudding out of it on to a serving plate, and accompany it with the blueberry sauce and amaretto cream.
Garnish with basil sprig.


Danish pastry:-

Country--Denmark
Mis en place time— 1 hour
Cooking time----30
Serves 4

2 nos egg
2 pkt yeast
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
½ cup butter
2 tsp ground cardamom seed
300 gm butter


APPLE DANISH FILLING2 tbsp. Cinnamon4-6 tbsp. Bread crumbs2 tbsp. Lemon rind, grated6 tbsp. Melted butter2 c. Brown sugar1 1/2 c. Raisins1 c. Shredded blanched almonds, toasted8 c. Finely sliced apples
Combine ingredients.

Beat well 2 eggs at room temperature. Add 3/4 cup 85 degree water; dissolve 2 packages yeast. Put in refrigerator for about 15 minutes.
Blend with pastry blender: 1 tsp. Salt 2 tbsp. Sugar 1/2 c. Butter 1 1/2 tsp. Ground cardamom seed
Make a ring of the blended flour; pour chilled yeast mixture into center and work gradually into dry ingredients. Knead about 2 minutes.
Form into a ball and let rest, covered, 20 minutes in refrigerator. Roll dough into oblong shape about 3/8-inch thick.
Beat 1 1/2 cups butter until creamy. Dot the dough over 2/3 of its surface with 1/4 of butter, then fold the double portion over the remaining third of the butter-dotted portion. Swing the layered dough a 1/4 turn; repeat this process 3 times. Cover and chill 2 hours.
Roll out, fill, and let rise again. Bake at 350 degrees 25 to 30 minutes.