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✨
Wow looks amazing and sounds delish😋. Well done you.. Master chef next my love Xx
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✨thanks lovely 😁 takes so long to get the right shots! if I’m honest I enjoyed this one a tiny bit more than the french one and french is usually my favourite~ you have to try making the biscuits with the girls they are the tastiest treats ever!✨
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I love the thought of doing as themed dinner like you do. It’s one way for you to visit the country in preparation for the day that you do get to travel there. The Scandinavian countries are all so very beautiful, we were there last year as part of a Baltic cruise and would love to go back to Finland, Sweden and Norway again one day. We love experiencing the cuisine no matter where we go.
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✨definitely indeed~ I did watch a few clips of the cruises and wow its on the ‘when the kids grow up and can fend for themselves’ list👌🏼 thankyou for always taking the time to ready I really appreciate it☺️✨
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Hi Amy,
Just read the blog about the Swedish themed meal. It looked so tasty!!!
It was a lovely read and a brill idea.
Love the blogs, and love you loads.
Keep up the good work, from your very proud Daddy. x
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✨Thankyou I’m super happy you liked the idea and enjoy reading my blogs means a lot to me ~ love you loads Daddy🥰✨
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