Every country has its favourite cheese. Swedes are mad about Västerbotten to the point where they came up with a dish to showcase it. Västerbotten paj – Västerbotten flan* – looks and tastes great but is surprisingly easy to make. I wanted something nice and buffet-appropriate to serve my writer’s group over…
Over the last four months, I’ve experimented with the SousVide Supreme Demi, a compact sous vide for home use. We’ve used it to cook fish, vegetables, and fruit, to prepare potatoes to make very tasty gnocchi, to infuse vodka and make pumpkin custards. With Christmas just around the corner, my experiments…
We’re trying to eat more healthily which means that we’ve stopped buying biscuits. One night when I really fancied something sweet with the after dinner coffee I grabbed my favourite old cookbook and looked for a biscuit recipe. I found kolakakor (toffee biscuits) and set out to make it. Of…
To me, the scent of Christmas is fir needles, saffron and spiced wine. The Swedish version of mulled wine is a little sweeter and more highly spiced than the British version, but equally yummy. It is served in small cups or glasses as an aperitif, or après ski, with chopped almonds…
The Hairy Bikers went to Norway on their ‘bakeation’ this year, and Jamie Oliver went to Sweden last year. Scandinavian cuisine is having a moment (as Steffi Dellner pointed out in Prospect Magazine). I had noticed too and I was thinking about what makes Scandinavia hip at the moment. My…
Reports that the Scots are deficient in Vitamin D have surfaced again. This time, there seems to be compelling evidence that lack of Vitamin D may explain the high instance of Multiple Sclerosis in Scotland, There are also reports that children have been diagnosed with rickets (in the 21st Century?). The Scots Government…
Signe Johansen’s Scandilicious is an instant classic, offering an authoritative insight in to the wonderful world of Scandinavian cuisine.
Some dishes find a special place in a country’s conscience. Béarnaise sauce has stuck in the Swedish one. A rich emulsion of butter and lemon flavoured with tarragon and sharpened with vinegar, béarnaise sauce is a great companion to red meat. In Sweden, my home country, it is ubiquitous. You find it on most restaurant menus,…
Something a little different for breakfast? Try making our recipe for Swedish saffron buns, known as Lussekatter
The ultimate Christmas decoration to me isn’t a Christmas tree but a gingerbread house. I remember listening outside the kitchen as a child while my mother swore and burned herself on the caramel used to put the house together.
