Category: Swedish food

Premiere: British strawberries

Published on by HannaLeave a comment

I was extremely happy when I noticed British strawberries in the supermarket yesterday. Is it that time already?! Grown in Kent they tasted like early strawberries do; some nice and sweet, some a bit sour and some a bit bland. But together with pouring cream and sugar they still taste fantastic! My favourite dessert, and something I will eat most evenings from now on.

We went out for a three course lunch yesterday (plus amuse bouche and truffles – report to follow) so we had a simple, but very nice nevertheless, supper consisting of Swedish style prawn sandwiches and strawberries and cream for dessert. Life is good. 🙂

Perfect supper for a cleaning day

Published on by HannaLeave a comment

Even though I love cooking, I don’t particular like other domestic chores. Laundry is ok, but ironing is a bit boring. And I hate doing the washing up, and am forever grateful that we have a dishwasher. Worst of all is the cleaning though. It is so tedious, and although I like the satisfaction when it is done, it doesn’t way up the fact that it is such a boring task. Apparently my grandmother disliked cleaning as well, but my mother seems to enjoy it more than I do. Maybe the cleaning gene skipped one generation, I don’t know.

But when I do have to clean (far too often for my liking) I want a reward at the end. A quick supper that takes care of itself but still is fulfilling. And the jacket potato is my perfect friend here. But I want a classier topping than cheese and baked beans (which I don’t even like) but still something quick. And this is it. After you have taken the spuds out of the oven to let them cool for a few minutes, you quickly make this topping.

 

Crayfish mess for jacket potatoes, serves 2

180 g crayfish tails in brine

200 ml creme fraiche

4 tbsp mayonnaise

a plash of lemon juice

1/2 finely chopped red onion

1 tbsp lumpfish caviar (Waitrose stock it)

chopped fresh dill

Mix all the ingredients. Press both sides of the potato so it ‘opens’, pour filling onto the spud. Tuck in.

Fish burgers, sort of

Published on by HannaLeave a comment

I try sometimes, not to spend a fortune on food every week, but it is so diffucult not to when I find lots of interesting recipes everywhere. I bought fresh Alaskan Pollock the other day, because it is quite a cheap fish but still tasty, but I didn’t really know what to do with it. At first I thought of fish soup, but I wasn’t in the mood, so in the end I settled for burgers, sort of.

I didn’t mince the fish and made burgers that way. Instead I just cut each fillet in three, turned them in flour and fried them in butter. I served it with burger buns, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, lemon, storebought hollandaise, a homemade cold dill sauce and potato wedges. It was actually very tasty, surprisingly good, especially with the dill sauce, so we will make this more often.

Cold dill sauce, serves 2

100 ml creme fraiche

100 ml mayonnaise

1 tsp dijon

2 tbsp chopped fresh dill

salt & white pepper

Kärleksmums or Love yummies

Published on by Hanna1 Comment

These cakes are a classic in Sweden and you find the recipe in the great cookbook Swedish cakes and cookies. The name means love yummies, but I have no idea why they have aquired this name. But they are yummy and a lighter subsitute to a brownie. The sponge is moist and the frosting nice and sweet, but it is not dense at all. Just light, fluffy and wonderful!

And if you like me, don’t like coconut in cakes, I promise you that these are still nice. This is the one thing I eat with desiccated coconut on top!

Kärleksmums / Love yummies, 1 oven tray

150 g butter

2 eggs

300 ml caster sugar

2 tsp vanilla sugar

1 tbsp sieved cocoa

450 ml plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

150 ml milk

Frosting:

75 g butter

1 tbsp sieved cocoa

(1-2 tbsp cold coffee) – I omitted this

350 ml icing sugar

desiccated coconut

Melt the butter and leave to cool. Beat eggs and sugar until white and fluffy. Add the dry ingredients, milk and butter in batches to the egg mixture. Incorporate it and pour the batter into a large oven tray, greased and breaded (with breadcrumbs). Bake in a low oven for 15 minutes on 175C.  Meanwhile, melt the butter for the frosting, and add the other ingredients while stirring. Spread the frosting onto the cake and sprinkle coconut on top. Cut into squares and serve.

Salmon tartar with cream cheese top

Published on by Hanna3 Comments

I hope you all had a nice Valentine’s day! We did. My cupcakes and chocolate biscuits disappreared quickly at work, which is a good sign and when I got home Christopher and I exchanged cards. The same card! Out of all the thousands of different Valentine’s day cards we had managed to pick out the exact same one. In different shops. So we had a good laugh about it. It is rather funny, and hopefully a sign that we are supposed to be together. We clearly know each other well… 🙂

A bit later Jess and Chris arrived, and brought lots of goodies; champagne, red wine and Jess had got us all a heartshaped chocolate box each. So sweet!

I served a salmon tartar as the starter. I found the recipe in one of my mother’s many cookbooks but do not remember which one. Great recipe though! And I was quite pleased I managed to plate it nicely as well. 🙂

For the main course we had pork fillet en croĂ»te with parsnip purĂ©e and asparagus, and for dessert creme brĂ»lĂ©e and blueberries with lime sugar. I will post those two recipes later, but you will get the salmon tartar recipe now. Do try this, it was delicious and so fresh and perfect for spring. You start off by curing the salmon, so this is proper gravad lax – very Swedish. But then you mix in some tarragon, lemon juice and dijon. Lovely!

Before curing
Homemade gravad lax

Laxtartar med cream cheese-täcke, 4 portioner

Step 1:

300 g salmon fillet

1 tbsp sea salt

1/2 tbsp caster sugar

1 tbsp chopped fresh dill

Step 2:

1/2 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon

1/2 tsp dijon

juicefrom 1/2 lemon

salt, white pepper

Step 3:

200 g Philadelphia

1 tbsp cut/chopped chives

1 tsp paprika

Start with step 1 48 hours before servning. Cut the skin off the salmon. Mix salt, sugar and dill and pat into the fish. Put in a shallow dish and cover with clingfilm. Refrigerate for 48 hours.

Step 2: Dice the salmon. Mix tarragon, dijon and lemon juice in a bowl and add the salmon. Season with salt and pepper.

Step 3: Mix all the ingredients in a bowl.

Place a round metal ring (6 cm in diameter and 4 cm high) on a plate and put 1/4 of the salmon in it. Press down to flatten with a spoon. Put a layer of creme cheese on top and smoothe it out. Carefully remove the ring. Repeat with the remaining three plates. I placed rocket around the tartar and decorated each with a lemon slice and some dill. Serve with nice bread.

Smörgåstårta (sandwich cake)

Published on by Hanna1 Comment

I guess for non-Swedish people, this dish seems a bit bizarre. It is a cake made with bread and savoury fillings, and in my opinion really yummy.

It is quite old school but seems to have a revival at the moment. But this is something my grandparents when they were old, would buy from the bakery and serve at a daytime birthday party so they wouldn’t have to cook themselves. Followed by a creamy cake you certainly feel full afterwards, but it is nice at the same time. It is also popular for graduations and funerals or other gatherings.

I like mine moist but not too gooey, and with only small bits in the filling. Some put peas or corn to fill it out but I don’t like that.

This cake is a meat version containing ham and brussels paté, but a fish-seafood version is equally popular with prawns, tinned tuna and smoked salmon.

Since this was my first SmörgĂĄstĂĄrta ever that I made myself, it is of course not perfect. If I made it again, I would place filling 1 on top and filling 3 at the bottom, and try to decorate it nicer. But for a first attempt I am more than pleased, and most important of all – it was really tasty!



Smörgåstårta (sandwich cake), serves 4

12 slices white bread, edges removed (4 slices in 3 layers)

Filling #1:

100 ml creme fraiche

50 ml mayonnaise

5 cm thinly sliced cucumber

2 sliced baby leeks

3 slices chopped smoked ham

Filling #2:

200 g mascarpone

4-5 sunblush tomatoes, finely chopped

finely chopped basil

1/2 chopped red onion

Filling #3:

150 g cream cheese

lbrussels paté after taste

5 finely chopped cornichons

Filling #4 (around the cake): same as filling #1 but without the ham

Decorations on top:

2 slices nice smoked ham

tomato wedges

cucumber slices

small pickled onions

cornichons

Cloudberry parfait with cognac

Published on by Hanna1 Comment

I am nearly done talking about that dinner a week and a bit ago. This is the 4th course out of 5, so nearly there…

This was the pre-dessert, and unlike a sorbet this isn’t much of a palate cleanser, because it is quite heavy and rich, but it is not too sweet so I think it works quite well as a little pre-dessert.

Cloudberry is a Nordic berry and I have brought the jam back with me from Sweden. The berries look like large orange raspberries and have a distinct taste. I have previously paired the jam with deep-fried camembert.

Cloudberry parfait with cognac, about 2 litres

5 egg yolks

60 g caster sugar

600 ml double cream

2-3 cl cognac

75 g cloudberry jam

I completely forgot to have lemons at hand but a squirt of lemon takes away the ‘fatty’ taste, so do use it.

Beat the yolks with the sugar in a bain-marie until the sugar has melted and the mixture is fluffy and glossy. Remove from heat and keep whisking until the mixture has cooled down.

Beat the cream and fold into the egg mixture. Add cloudberry jam, cognac and perhaps some lemon juice. Pour the mixture into a container and freeze for a couple of hours.

Thick bacon pancake

Published on by Hanna3 Comments

This is cheap and filling peasant food. I used to eat this all the time as a student in Lund together with my flatmates Malin and Tobbe. It is easy to make and belongs to the same family as toad in the hole. 

In Sweden most people have lingonberry jam with this, but I don’t particular like that, sp I go for strawberry instead. Not healthy at all, but lovely! 🙂

Thick bacon pancake (Fläskpannkaka), serves 4

1 packet smoked streaky bacon, in pieces

2 eggs

400 ml plain flour

800 ml milk

Fry the bacon cirspy and distribute on a greased large baking dish with walls. Mix eggs, flour and half the milk in a mixing bowl. Add the remaining milk and stir to remove lumps. Add a pinch of salt and some white pepper. Pour it into the baking dish.  Bake in 200C until golden brown, about 40 mins. Serve with lingonberry jam or strawberry jam.

Deep-fried camembert with cloudberry jam

Published on by Hanna1 Comment

I like to hoard (and eat, not just hoard) Swedish groceries when I go back to visit. It must be several kilos of food that I have carried in my suitcase the last 2,5 years. Last time I carried over paté, wild ducks and cloudberry jam. 

I love cloudberry jam! Especially with deep-fried camembert. I remember when my mum and I used to eat it from a cheese shop in Malmö when they had the festival on. The best thing about that festival was/is the food.

I was thrilled when I saw breaded camemberts in my online supermarket and tried them asap. Instead of pan-frying them or baking them in the oven as the instructions said I deep-fried them in vegetable oil and they were all gooey and melted inside. Lovely together with the cloudberry jam! Try this.

Venison steak with juniper berries and red wine

Published on by HannaLeave a comment

I’m staying with my parents in the Swedish countryside. It is lovely with the picturesque snow covered view and my mother makes the house so Christmassy the days leading up to Christmas.

My parents have a freezer full of game most of the time as well, and I love this. On Saturday mum made venison steak with juniper berries and red wine and I showed her how to make English roast potatoes, which my dad loved. Great teamwork and lovely food, but you might have guessed that already? 🙂

Venison steak with juniper berries and red wine, serves 3

500 g thick slices of venison steak (we had fallow deer)

butter and olive oil

a few juniper berries

a lage splash of red wine

Sear the meat in a frying pan with the oil and butter. Season with salt and pepper and the juniper berries. Pour in the wine and put the lid on. 5 minutes later remove the meat and let it rest. Slice it before serving and it will be nice and pink.

Sauce

butter

sauce flour

the meat juices

salt & pepper

concentrated game stock

cream

Make a roux with butter and flour. Add cream and the meat juices. Bring to a boil and add stock, salt and pepper.