Continuing on with the themed three course meals, this month the country I have gone for is Sweden. I don’t know very much about Sweden or many countries really, but as I go through this little challenge every month I am finding myself researching a little bit about the countries themselves, not just the meal ideas. Looking at some pictures and watching a couple of videos I appreciate how outstandingly stunning Scandinavia is on the whole. The inland lakes and glaciated mountains are beyond beautiful and I now want to do a Scandinavian cruise to experience them all first hand. Moving on to the main event here by that I mean the cuisine, I’ll be honest I wasn’t sure what to expect and wow I was impressed. Traditional Swedish food looks so yummy I must say. When selecting my dishes I have to be conscious of what my children will also eat so I will definitely be coming back to some more recipes for my husband and I another time. Here it all is…

(Starter)

SKAGENRORA (Skagen Toast)~Prawn Toast

What a lovely little simple starter and one that we all enjoyed. This is a great choice as it’s not too heavy and super tasty too.

Ingredients

200g Prawns

Seeded mini sliced bread (1 slice per person)

4 Tbsp Creme fresh

4 Tbsp Mayonnaise

good squeeze of Fresh lemon juice

25g Butter

Parsley

Salt & cracked black pepper

What I did

• In a good deep bowl mix together the mayonnaise, creme fresh, lemon juice and chopped up parsley. Add the cooked prawns, some salt and cracked black pepper and give another big stir.

• Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large frying pan over a medium heat and add your mini bread slices. Toast them until they are golden brown then set onto your plate.

• Pop the mixture on top of the toast, add a parsley sprig for decoration and serve.

(Main)

SVENSKA KOTTBULLAR~Swedish Meatballs & Linguine/Tagliatelle

Ok so I know Swedish food consists of more than just ‘Swedish Meatballs’ but my children just loved these and in all honestly I couldn’t resist having them. The only way I have ever really eaten meatballs is in a more Italian style so I really wanted to give this way a go too. I really won’t be going back to tomato based meatballs again in a hurry as these were out of this world! The creamy contrast against the roux style gravy was the most delicious sauce ever, highly recommended. The meatballs had so much flavour too and worked well with the tagliatelle. The only thing I wasn’t a fan of was the cranberry style sauce. Many Swedish dishes seemed to either contained or use this as a side condiment so I thought I’d roll with it but it wasn’t for me.

Ingredients

For the meatballs

500g pork mince

1 garlic clove

1 medium onion

100g breadcrumbs

1 egg

Salt & pepper

For the gravy

25g butter

25g flour

600ml beef stock

2tbsp creme fresh

Chopped parsley

What I did

• Pre heat the oven to 200•c/gas mark 6

• In a large frying pan sauté the onion and garlic in a little oil. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

• Throw all of the meatball ingredients into a large mixing bowl, along with the sautéed onion and garlic and thoroughly mix using your hands. Shape little balls to a large walnut size, I got around 20 out of this amount of mixture. Pop them on a baking tray and bake in the oven for approx 20 minutes.

• Now to make the gravy use a large pan (big enough to fit the meatballs and sauce in together) melt the butter then add the flour. Keep stirring over a medium heat for a minute or two. Now pour in your stock and whisk vigorously to get rid of any lumps. Leave to simmer for approx 5 mins.

• Add 2 heaped tablespoons of creme fresh and continue to whisk. Now pop your meatballs into the creamy gravy and simmer for a further 15 mins. Meanwhile boil the tagliatelle for approx 10 mins.

• Now everything is ready to serve. Place the meatballs and gravy onto a bed of tagliatelle and serve with a small salad garnish and a teaspoon of cranberry sauce.

(Desert)

HAVREFLARN~ Tradition Swedish style biscuit

Again there were many deserts which looked quite appetising, but we went with what the children were most excited about and of course it was going to be these. I love an oatmeal cookie and these didn’t disappoint. The egg white really gave a lightness to the biscuit as I made mine a tad thicker than they usually would be served. Super tasty and especially satisfying these were a huge hit.

Ingredients

200g salted butter

150g caster sugar

250g porridge oats

40g plain flour

1 egg white

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

200g dark or milk chocolate

What I did

Note: these spread like you wouldn’t believe I only managed to get 3 mixture balls on each tray so made these in 2 batches on 3 trays~they are worth all the baking faff, so don’t put more than 3/4 on each tray they will just turn into one huge cookie

• Pre heat oven to 180•c/gas mark 5

• grease or line as many baking sheet you have min 2 or bake in batches

• In a large bowl throw all the ingredients all in one and mix well by hand until all combined. Roll into walnut sized balls and pop on baking sheet leaving a good space between each. Bake for 15 mins

• When golden brown, pop onto a cooling rack to cool. When completely cool, melt the chocolate, spread a hearty amount to the bottom of one then sandwich another one to it, then pop in the fridge to set

We served ours in a bowl with some ice cream 🙂

What do you think of this months themed courses?

Have you considered doing a themed night?

✨Comment below & as much as always all the thanks for reading✨