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| Swedish sensations for your holiday buffet
Editor's note: Beth Nissen is in Sweden visiting her sister and Swedish brother-in-law for the holidays. This is, by Nissen's count, her tenth journey during the jul (pronounced "yule") season -- which is celebrated nationwide with a month-long national festival that begins each December 13. STOCKHOLM, Sweden (CNN.com) -- In Sweden, December 24th is the day the presents are opened and the Christmas feast is savored. That feast is day-long, or at least it seems so. In many Swedish homes, the 24th starts with a bowl of creamy rice porridge, which is like a warm rice pudding, served with hot milk and cinnamon. My sister usually serves thick slices of toasted black bread, slathered with sweet butter and cloudberry or lingonberry jam. My brother-in-law, Peder Lewin, adds warmed milk to mugs of dark Swedish coffee that has a chocolate-rich aroma, and actually tastes as good as it smells. Breakfast cleared, we all set to preparing the dishes for the julbord -- the Christmas table. By mid-morning, the Christmas ham is in the oven, and all available hands are put to work cutting great heaps of potatoes into little matchstick-sized pieces for the Jansson's Temptation -- a potato-and-anchovy casserole that tastes a lot better than it sounds.
You can see the history of Sweden by looking at the traditional dishes on the table -- so many made with the foods that sustained 17th and 18th century Swedes through long, iced-over winters: Pickled fish; smoked meats; cellar potatoes; hard breads; hardy vegetables like cabbage, brussels sprouts and kale.
Cold foods are served first, usually led by a stream of herring dishes, which is followed by more cold seafood. For contrast, there is often a bowl of cucumber salad, a board of sharp cheeses, and liver pate spread on crispbread. Then come the hot foods -- crowned by platters of pork in several forms: Thick slices of sugar-glazed ham. Tender roast spare ribs. Little herbed links of sausage. To one side is the baking dish of Jansson's Temptation; on the other, a chafing dish of nutmeg-laced Swedish meatballs. Other bowls hold boiled potatoes, boiled red cabbage, stuffed cabbage rolls, steamed or creamed kale (a bitter cousin of spinach). Dinner is concluded with dessert: another array of cheese; bowls of fruit; and plates of Christmas cookies -- always including Pepparkakor, or Swedish ginger snaps, usually cut into little heart shapes. Swedes willing to take the risk of exploding will sometimes have their rice porridge at this point in the feast. By tradition, a single blanched almond is put into the porridge pot. Any single person who gets the almond in his or her bowl, it is said, will be married in the coming year. Jansson's Frestelse (Jansson's Temptation)I don't know who Jansson was, but I do know why he was tempted by this delicious baked dish. Jansson's Frestelse is made with two traditional staples from the Swedish winter pantry: potatoes, and preserved anchovies. If you have a gourmet specialty store near you, try to find cans of anchovies, or sprats (canned in brine, not oil) that are imported from Scandinavia. The canned anchovies found in regular grocery stores can be used, but tend to be quite salty. If you use them, use less salt to season the potatoes. Most Swedish cooks cut the thin potato slices into matchsticks -- 2-inch-by-1/4-inch strips. As the potatoes are cut, they are placed in a bowl of cold water to keep them from discoloring. They are then drained and patted dry with a towel before being put in the baking dish. And not everyone uses cheese. Omit it for a lighter but no less tempting dish. Ingredients: Saute onions in butter until limp. Arrange one-third of the potatoes over the bottom of a greased baking dish (about a 1 1/2 quart size dish). Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Spread half the sauteed onions over potatoes, top with 4 anchovy fillets. Repeat layers of potatoes, seasoning, onions and anchovies. Do this until you've used all but one-third of your potatoes. Top your dish with the remaining potatoes, then season. Pour enough milk over the potatoes to come within about 3/4-inch from the top of them. Sprinkle the dish with cheese. Bake in a moderate oven (350 degrees Fahrenheit) for 1 hour or until potatoes are tender. Slip under broiler to brown cheese, if you wish. Makes 4-6 servings. (From "Best of Scandinavian Cooking," by Shirley Sarvis and Barbara Scott O'Neil/ Hippocrene Books, 1997.)
Koettbullar (Swedish Meatballs)Most Swedish Christmas smorgasbords include a chafing dish filled with koettbullar (pronounced "shut-bool-er") -- although Swedes often buy the meatballs ready-made in the grocery store instead of making them at home. The small size of the meatballs makes them somewhat labor-intensive -- but they're worth the work. I think it's the nutmeg that makes them so delectable. And yes, you can use canned ground nutmeg instead of fresh. Ingredients: 1. Soak the bread crumbs in the half-and-half for 5 minutes in a large mixing bowl. 2. Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a small skillet over low to moderate heat. When the foam starts to subside, add the onions and saute them for about 2 minutes. Let cool slightly. 3. Add the beef, veal, pork, egg, nutmeg, salt, pepper, and onions to the bread-crumb mixture. Gently combine the ingredients with your hands. 4. Cover the bowl and refrigerate the mixture for a couple of hours. 5. Shape the meat mixture with your hands into uniform 2/3-inch balls. Arrange them on a plate in one layer so they do not touch each other. Let the meatballs stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. 6. Melt the remaining butter in a saute pan or skillet over moderate heat. When the foam starts to subside, add the meatballs. (Do not crowd the pan; unless your pan is oversized, you will have to cook the meaballs in batches and keep the cooked ones warm in a preheated 200 degree Fahrenheit oven). Saute the meatballs for about 5 minutes until they become brown on all sides. Turn them as necessary, but do so gently. 7. Transfer the meatballs to a warm platter and serve immediately. Serves 8. (From "Great Peasant Dishes of the World," by Howard Hillman/ Houghton Mifflin, 1983.)Pepparkakor (Christmas Ginger Snaps)Pepparkakor, or Swedish ginger snaps, are more spicy than sweet -- but they are delicious, especially warm from the oven. The dough should be rolled thin to make the eventual cookies crisp. Thinly-rolled dough can be a bit hard to work with in larger shapes; choose smaller cookie cutters for easier handling. In Sweden, the cookies are traditionally cut in heart shapes. These cookies are often hung on the Christmas tree with short lengths of red ribbon. To make Pepparkakor ornaments, cut a small hole into the cookie before baking. Cool completely before hanging. Ingredients: Put butter into a large mixing bowl. Combine water, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in a saucepan. Heat to boiling; boil 1 minute, stirring. Pour hot spice mixture over butter; stir to melt butter.
Sift flour, measure 2 cups, and sift again with baking soda. Add to spice mixture; stir to blend thoroughly. Cover dough tightly or wrap in waxed paper or aluminum foil. Chill in refrigerator 12 hours or overnight. Cut off small, workable portions of dough. Roll each out very thin -- about 1/8-inch thick -- on a lightly floured board. Cut into shapes with fancy cookie cutters. With a flexible spatula, lift cookies onto greased baking sheet. Bake in a moderately hot over (375 degrees Fahrenheit) about 8 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on wire racks. Makes about 5 dozen cookies. (From "Best of Scandinavian Cooking," by Shirley Sarvis and Barbara Scott O'Neil/ Hippocrene Books, 1997.)Risgrynsgrot (Rice Porridge)Rice Porridge is the traditional dessert on Christmas Eve. A single almond is put into the porridge; according to tradition, the unmarried porridge-partaker who finds the almond in his or her bowl will get married within the coming year. Ingredients: Bring the water to a boil, with salt and butter. Add the rice; cover, and simmer on low heat until the water has been absorbed (about 10 minutes). Thin with the milk and bring back to the boiling point. Cover the saucepan. If you have an electric stove, turn off the heat and leave the pan on the coil; the rice will swell and absorb the milk, and as the retained heat is low, the porridge will not burn. If you have a gas stove, let the porridge and milk simmer, covered, for about 10 minutes; then place the saucepan on a wooden carving board. The porridge will be cooked after 30-40 minutes. Season with sugar. If you wish, you may add a pat of butter and one single almond (blanched and skinned) just before serving. Serve with milk, ground cinnamon, and sugar (optional). Makes 4 servings. (From "The Best of Swedish Cooking," a publication of The Test Kitchen of The Swedish Agricultural Organisations, LTs forlag, Stockholm, 1983.)
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