Dear readers,
Thank you for following my blog and checking in despite the sometimes low frequency.
Wishing you all a Happy and yummy Christmas!
Love, Hanna
Category: Christmas
Fried Brussel sprouts with shallots
I never liked steamed Brussel sprouts as a child because of the strong cabbage smell that comes with them, and I’m not too fond of the smell as a grow up either. But fried in plenty of butter (it really is the answer to anything) and served with sweet shallots (or fried bacon) the sprouts taste wonderful and you escape that awful smell. I actually think my younger self would have liked this!
Fried Brussel sprouts with shallots, serves 3-4
500 g trimmed Brussel sprouts
1 echalion shallots, finely chopped
3 tbsp salted butter
Salt, pepper
Wash and trim the sprouts and cook until soft in salted water. Drain. Melt half the butter in a frying pan and add the shallots. Fry slowly on low/medium heat until golden brown. Add the rest of the butter and fry the shallots for a few minutes. Season.
Roasted beetroots with butter and grated horseradish
Roasted beetroots may not sound too exciting, but trust me, these ones which were roasted with plenty of butter and served with grated fresh horseradish are delicious! Another veggie dish for Christmas, perhaps?!
Roasted beetroots with butter and grated horseradish, serves 4
750 g fresh beetroots
1 small splash mild oil
3 tbsp salted butter
grated fresh horseradish
salt, pepper
Use plastic gloves to avoid red hands. Peel the beetroots with a potato peeler and cut in half. Add some oil to an roasting dish and add the beetroots. Add a tbsp butter and season. Roast in 180C oven until soft, for approx 40 minutes.Turn them once in a while and add another tbsp butter halfway through cooking. Once soft, remove from the oven and toss them in some more butter. Add grated horseradish and serve.
Creamed kale
I was hosting the last book club gathering of the year and as it was Christmas themed I made meatballs and Jansson’s temptation but also a few vegetarian dishes, like this creamed kale. It’s very popular in Sweden for Christmas but not a traditional item on my family’s julbord, so it was fun to make it. It’s really nice too, full of flavour and not too creamy.
Creamed kale, serves 4-6
400 g chopped kale
5 dl vegetable stock (or beef stock)
1 tbsp butter
100 ml double cream
a small pinch of sugar
salt, white pepper
Rinse the kale, cook until soft in the stock, approx 25 minutes. Melt the butter in a sauteuse pan. Remove the kale from the stock with a slotted spoon and transfer to the pan. After a minute or so, add the cream and cook for approx 10 minutes. Season with sugar, salt and white pepper.
Glögg party
December was as usual crazy busy but I am glad I managed to squeeze in a little glögg party for a few friends one Sunday afternoon. It was windy and rainy outside so I had both mulled cider and homemade Swedish glögg (sweet mulled wine) to offer the guests when they arrived.
I also made some lussekatter that we eat in Sweden on and around the 13th December when we celebrate St Lucia. They’re sweet buns with saffron rolled into certain shapes. As I was running out of time I also made some plain rolls with sugar pearls on.
As a nod to the Christmas ham we have in Sweden for Christmas I applied the same mustard topping to a pork fillet which I then sliced and serve with a dollop of slaw with apple.
These pixie potato bakes with anchovies are surprisingly popular among by British friends and one of my Christmas favourites too.
Homemade ginger thins with Stilton is a must with glögg.
These crispy little almond shells are divine and best served with lightly whipped cream and strawberry jam. I brought the leftovers along to work and my colleagues (who also loved these) dubbed them a Scandinavian cream tea, which actually hadn’t crossed my mind before as for me they are a pure Christmas treat.
The pork fillet with apple slaw was a real hit so I am happy I added a few substantial savoury nibbles to the sweet spread.
You find the links for the recipes in the text above and the new ones below.
Pork fillet with mustard spread, makes about 35 canapès
1 pork fillet/pork tenderloin, approx 400 g
butter and neutral oil for frying
salt, black pepper
50 ml English mustard
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp caster sugar
1 tbsp crisp bread crumbs
Remove and tendons and fat and brown on all sides in oil aand butter on high heat. Add salt and pepper. Place in the oven at 180C for 15-20 minutes.
Mix mustard, egg yolk, sugar and bread crumbs in a bowl. Remove the pork from the oven and put the temperature on 200C. Spread the mustard paste onto the top of the pork and put it back in the oven for a further 5 minutes, until the mustard paste looks cooked and a little blistered. Remove from oven and leave to rest. Slice thinly and serve a dollop of slaw on each slice as a canapé.
Slaw with apple, for 35 canapès
1/2 celeriac
2 large carrots
2 apples
3-4 tbsp Hellman’s or homemade mayonnaise
1/2 lemon, the juice
salt, white pepper
Peel and grate the root veg and apples. Mix the mayonnaise with lemon juice in a bowl. Add the grated mixture bit by bit and work the mayonnaise into it. It should just about hold everything together. Add salt and pepper. Place a dollop on each pork fillet slice and serve as a canapés.
Sliced ginger thins with almonds
I love traditions and leading up to Christmas I really enjoy all the [food] preparations. They help me prepare mentally for the fact that Christmas is waiting around the corner and being surrounded by the typical smells and scents from the food relaxes me and makes me look forward to the festivities.
Just like my mother does every year, I made sure to make some ginger thins before the first Sunday of Advent (we celebrate all the Advent Sundays in Sweden) and then a few days before St Lucia (13th December) it is time to make the proper ginger thins with cookie cutters.
These biscuits are super easy to make and despite the name, they don’t actually contain any ginger, just cloves and cinnamon. But they’re still absolutely delicious! And I dare you; try to stop at one when eating them…
Sliced ginger thins, makes approx 80
250 g butter
250 ml caster sugar
100 ml golden syrup
75 g toasted almond slivers
1/2 tbsp ground cloves
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tbsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tbsp water
500 g plain flour
Heta up butter, sugar and syrup in a sauce pan. Add almonds and spices. Mix the bicarb with water and add to the batter. Lastly, add the flour and mix well with a wooden fork. Divide the dough in two and shape into rolls. Cover with clingfilm and let them rest in the fridge over night.
Slice the rolls into 1 mm thick slices, place on a covered baking tray and bake for 10 minutes in 150C oven. Leave to cool then store in an airtight container.
My mother’s mazarin cake
My mother associates this cake with Christmas because her grandmother used to bake it for the holidays. And the red colour helps with that association too, I’m sure. In general, though, this type of cake has nothing to do with Christmas. It is a cake we eat all year round and it got its name from Cardinal Mazarin.
Consisting of a shortcrust with an almond filling this cake is chewy and not too sweet. It also has the unusual addition of desiccated coconut, and although I’m not a fan in general, it really works here.
Mazarin cake, serves 8-10
Short crust:
75 g butter
35 g caster sugar
1 egg white
100 g plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
Filling:
100 g almonds
50 g desiccated coconut
100 g butter
150 g caster sugar
3 eggs
red food colouring
Cream butter and sugar for the shortcrust. Add the egg white, flour and baking powder. Incorporate and cover a baking tin with the dough.
Blanch the almonds and grind them finely. Add coconut, butter and sugar. Add the eggs and colouring. Pour into the tin and bake in 175C about 20-30 minutes. Leave to cool and dust with icing sugar.
Chewy vanilla toffee
Sweets play a big role in Sweden. We are addicted to our pick ‘n mix (which is actually far better and represented in every single supermarket), love our cars and other chewy sweets.
When I run out of Swedish sweets I resort only to chocolate, as British sweets usually disappoint in comparison. Also, the only chewy British sweet that I really like; Bassett’s wine gums, you hardly ever see here apart from at the airport..
But even though I don’t know how to make perfect wine gums at least I can vary the chocolate with this amazing chewy toffee.
The recipe is straight forward and pretty standard, but it still tastes amazing! The easiest way to make toffee is to use a sugar thermometer; the toffee is ready once the sugar is boiling, at 120C. Or you can pour a spoonful of toffee mixture in a glass of cold water. If it easily shapes into a ball it is ready.
Chewy vanilla toffee, makes about 50 sweets
Translated from Johanna Westman’s recipe from the book Julgodis (Christmas sweets).
200 ml double cream
100 ml golden syrup
300 ml caster sugar
100 g butter
1/2 vanilla pod
Line a rectangular dish with parchment paper. Mix cream, syrup, sugar and butter in a saucepan. Scrape the seeds out of the vanilla pod, and add both seeds and pod to the pan. Bring to the boil and cook until 120C. Pour the mixture into the lined dish. Leave to cool. Cut into shapes and wrap in parchment paper or cellophane.
Gingerbread cheesecake
Gingerbread. Is there anything more Christmassy than the mixture of ground ginger, cloves and cinnamon?! I think not.
As much as I love traditional gingerbread, last year I also made this gingerbread cheesecake. The base is of course ginger biscuits, and the cheesecake filling has the same ratio of the three spices as gingerbread. More of cinnamon and ginger, less of the pungent cloves.
Do try this at a gathering or just for your family – it is delivious, and a fun way of serving traditional flavours.
Gingerbread cheesecake, serves 10-12
200 g ginger biscuits (I used Ginger Nuts)
75 g softened butter
600 g Philadelphia cheese
2 eggs
100 ml golden syrup
50 ml caster sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cloves
1 tbsp milk
1 tskp gelatin powder
Topping:
150 ml sourcream
50 ml golden syrup
Mix the biscuits into crumbs in a food processor. Add the butter and mix until the crumbs has the consistency of wet sand. Press the crumbs onto the base of a buttered and lined springform tin. Bake for 10 minutes in 175C.
Beat Philadelphia, eggs, sugar and syrup with an electric whisk. Add the spices and stir to combine. Add milk and gelatin and stir to combine. Pour the cheesecake mixture onto the slightly cooled baked base. Bake for 20 minutes in a low oven or until the cake is almost set.
Mix sourcream and syrup in a bowl and spread onto the cheesecake with a spatula. Bake for another 5 minutes. Leave to cool, then refridgerate for at least 2 hours before serving.
Christmas meatballs with thyme and lemon dip
Scandinavia is hotter than ever in the UK, and my friends are readier than ever to try Swedish treats.
When I had some friends over for glögg (our version of mulled wine) I served meatballs as a nibble with a thyme and lemon dip and they were a huge hit. This version of meatballs we refer to in my family as the Christmas version because of the addition of allspice.
Meatballs can vary in size and if I have them for supper I usually make them around 3 cm in diameter, but for Christmas or as nibbles (or in this case both) I tend to make them smaller, around 1.5 cm in diameter.
Christmas meatballs, makes about 35
750 g pork mince
1 egg
3 tbsp water
75-100 ml breadcrumbs
1.5 tsp sea salt
black pepper
3/4 tsp allspice
Mix egg and water in a large mixing bowl. Add the breadcrumbs and spices and let it sweel for a few minutes. Incorporate the mince using a wooden fork or your hands. Mix throughly and shape into small hands, dipping your hands in water in between rolling to make it easier to shape the meat. Place the meatballs on a greased roasting tray and place in a 180C oven for 15 minutes. Then fry in butter in a frying pan for a golden crust.
Lemon and thyme dip
200 ml creme fraiche
3 tsp dried thyme
grated zest from 1/2 lemon
1/2 tbsp nice oil
salt, pepper
Mix all the ingredients, leave for 15 minutes for the flavours to develop. Keep chilled until serving.
Scandelights 