Scandi Supper
A Smorgasbord of Stunning...
This meal completely delighted me, a newcomer to the delights of Scandinavian food, and I implore you to give this wonderful cuisine a go. For this dish, I created four recipes from Trine Hahnemann’s “Simply Scandinavian”, hurled them together, and they were divine.
If you’re doing all four, you need to cook the potatoes for the pancakes a few hours before (ideally the day before). You can make the meatball mix and the pesto in advance, and you need to souse your cucumber about 30 mins before serving. Then just finish by making and cooking the pancakes and cooking the meatballs.
Frikadeller (Danish Meatballs)
These are in the top ten most cooked dishes in Denmark and it’s easy to see why, as they are (as we say in Somerset) gert lush. I amended the quantities in the recipe slightly as I prefer my balls meatier.
So in a large mixing bowl you’ll need 250g of good quality pork mince and the same quantity of beef mince. Add a grated onion (tears!), and a quarter of a grated courgette. Next it’s two grated garlic cloves and a tablespoon of finely chopped fresh thyme. Mix together well so the flavours combine. Then mix in two lightly beaten eggs. Add 50g of breadcrumbs and a couple of tablespoons of plain flour. Splodge in some sparkling water (no idea why) and season with salt and black pepper.
To cook, shape into small patties and shallow fry in a combination of butter and oil until golden brown. Transfer to the oven for ten minutes to finish cooking.
Sour Cucumber Salad
This is a game-changer of a recipe that I now make all the time, I am completely addicted. Whisk together 250ml of white or cider vinegar with 50ml of water and 125g of caster sugar. Add some sea salt flakes, 1 tsp of mustard seeds and 1 tsp of black peppercorns. Halve your cucumber lengthways, scrape out the seeds, then cut into half moons. Pop it into the brine, stirring occasionally, and leave for about 30 mins before you eat it. Don’t let it marinate too long or it goes over. To serve, just fish the cucumber out of the brine. You can re-use the brine, so pop it in a jar rather than throwing it away.
Parsley Pesto
No photo will ever do justice to the colour of this pesto, it is simply stunning. All you need is 50g of curly parsley, 30g of hazelnuts, a chopped garlic clove, a teaspoon of capers, 100ml of olive oil and the juice of a lemon. Blitz it all together and you’re done.
Potato Pancakes
The day before you want the pancakes, peel and boil 500g of potatoes. Drain, pop them through a ricer into a bowl and add 50g of salted butter, 50g of full fate crème fraiche and some salt and pepper. To create more flavour, you can also add chopped herbs, chopped roasted onions, or perhaps some finely chopped fried mushrooms. With or without such accoutrements, mix well and refrigerate overnight.
When you’re ready to make the pancakes, add 175g of plain flour to the potato mix. Divide into 10 portions, and roll each one out on a floured surface. Cook in a dry fraying pan, turning once - until light brown on both sides, which takes a few minutes. Place sheets of baking paper between each pancake and pop them in a low oven to keep warm while you make the rest.
To serve, pop a pancake or two onto a plate, top with some meatballs and garnish with the pesto and the cucumber. Absolutely delicious.
Have a FABULOUS weekend 🌞