Cardamom meringues

Everyone seems to love these cookies, and they are incredibly easy to make. This recipe produces cookies that I would call "medium-rare" in the meringue world: they are brittle on the outside and very chewy on the inside. For a slightly firmer cookie, leave the baking sheets in the oven until cool so that the residual heat continues to cook the meringues. For a crisp meringue, bump the temperature up another 15-20 degrees and leave in the oven until cool.*

From Swedish Cakes and Cookies (2008)

Ingredients:

• 3 egg whites
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 210 degrees F (100 degrees C)
• Beat the egg whites with half the regular sugar until stiff, preferably with an electric mixer.
• Add the remaining sugar, beating until thick and glossy, with no granules left.
• Combine the powdered sugar, cornstarch, and cardamom and fold into the egg white mixture.
• Spoon into a piping bag with a star tip and pipe small kisses or other shapes onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. (MG - You can just as easily drop heaping teaspoonfuls of batter onto the baking sheet. Not as pretty, but also not as messy.)
• Bake on the center oven rack for 45-60 minutes, or until they are very dry and light.

Store in a dry place. Makes approximately 35 cookies.

* Of course, it could also be that my oven runs cool. If you give this recipe a try, let me know how they turned out for you.

Finnish Spoon Cookies (Lusikkaleivat)

These cookies are a little fussy but worth the effort. The browned butter imparts a nutty flavor to the dough. Use cloudberry jam to make them extra special.

Some of the recipes I found specifically called for letting the cookies sit for a couple of days before serving to allow the flavors to blend. I did this for my Scandinavian dinner, and I agree that the flavor was better after a couple of days. Of course, they are delicious when they are freshly made, too.

Recipe courtesy of foodnetwork.com

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• Pinch fine salt
• 1 large egg yolk
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup jam, such as a berry, plum or cloudberry
• Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

• Melt the butter in a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Continue to cook, swirling the pan occasionally, until the butter browns lightly and smells slightly nutty, about 15 minutes. Transfer the butter to a medium bowl -- be sure to get all the tasty brown bits -- and cool slightly.

• Meanwhile, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in another medium bowl.

• Whisk the egg yolk, sugar and vanilla into the cooled browned butter.

• Stir the dry ingredients into the butter mixture to make a uniform but crumbly dough that looks like wet sand.

• Scoop out dough with a small teaspoon (the kind you set the table with, not the ones you measure with). Rock spoon gently back and forth against the side of the bowl, packing the dough into the spoon, then scrape/slide the spoon against the inside of the bowl to make spoon-shaped cookies. Trim excess dough with your fingers and slide out onto the prepared pans, preserving their shape. (Try to make sure you form an even number of cookies, since these sandwich together.)

• Bake cookies until just browned, about 12 to 15 minutes. Cool almost completely on the baking sheets, and then transfer cookies to a rack to cool.

• When cool, spread 1/2 teaspoon jam on the flat side of a cookie, and then sandwich together with a second cookie. Repeat until all cookies have met their match. Lightly dust the cookies with the confectioners' sugar. Serve.

The dough looks like wet sand.

Pressing the dough into spoon-shaped halves is a painstaking process.

The cookies are cooling before assembly.

Finished cookies dusted with powdered sugar.

The dough can be prepared several hours ahead and stored at room temperature. Freeze baked cookie halves wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, followed by aluminum foil for up to 2 weeks. When ready to serve, defrost at room temperature and assemble as desired. Store sandwiches in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Do not store with crisp cookies, as moisture from the jam will soften the texture of other crisp cookies.

Food WTF: Gjetost

Clockwise from left: Saga blue (Denmark), dill havarti (Denmark), and Ski Queen gjetost (Norway)

Oddly appealing and totally addictive, this cheese is both sweet and salty. My husband said it reminded him of peanut butter, both in color in flavor. (I thought it was sweeter than peanut butter.) The texture is somewhere between cheese and fudge.

From http://www.norwegiancheeses.co.uk/ski_queen.htm

Gjetost (pronounced ‘yet-oast’) is a unique brown cheese from Norway with a fudge-like texture and a sweet caramel flavour.

It is made from a combination of milk, cream and whey which is slowly cooked until the naturally occurring sugars are caramelised, giving its distinctive colour and taste. The cheese is then cooled and set into blocks.

Gjetost was first made in the Gudbrandsdalen valley in Norway more than 130 years ago. Anne Hov, a farmer’s wife, was the first person to think of pouring cream into the kettle of whey. Her brown cheese got a higher price than her ordinary cheese and butter, and is reputed to have saved the valley from financial ruin in the 1880s.

Gjetost is best served in wafer thin slices and eaten on toast or Norwegian flatbread (very thin crackers). It is also makes a great addition to a cheese board or melted into a variety of food dishes.

Knäckebröd (Swedish crisp bread)

Knäckebröd is a staple at the table for every meal. We encountered it everywhere in Sweden, along with another kind of flatbread called tunnbröd. There are many different recipes for knäckebröd, though it is essentially a rye hardtack. Ever seen Wasa crackers at the supermarket? That's the mass produced stuff. Homemade knäckebröd has a slight but not unpleasant chewiness that makes it more bread-like than cracker-like.

The knäckebröd we had was almost always served with butter and some kind of jam, usually lingonberry, though it is also eaten with sandwich toppings like sliced cheese and pickles.

From The Swedish Table by Helene Henderson

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 cups warm water, divided
• 2 packages dry yeast (1/4 oz. each or 4-1/2 teaspoons total)
• 1-1/2 teaspoons salt
• 3-1/2 cups rye flour
• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• olive oil spray

Directions:

• In the bowl of an electric mixer add sugar, 1/4 cup warm water, and yeast. Let sit for 10 minutes or until yeast begins to bubble and foam.
• Stir in remaining water, salt, rye flour, and all-purpose flour. Beat with dough hook until well combined, about 5 minutes.
  
• Transfer dough to a lightly oiled (or buttered) bowl, sprinkle with flour, and cover with plastic food wrap. Let rise in refrigerator overnight.

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Divide dough into 16 pieces.
• On a floured surface, roll each piece into a thin, 8-inch round. Poke out a small, 1/4-inch center hold and poke the round all over with a fork.
• Brush off excess flour, spray with olive oil on both sides, and transfer to a baking sheet covered with a Silpat liner or parchment paper.
• Bake 10-15 minutes. Let cool before serving.

Makes 16 knäckebröd.

Lemongrass and lime cucumber salad

A simple cucumber salad dressed in vinegar is a common side dish in Sweden. This recipe gives the dish a southeast Asian twist with the addition of lemongrass, lime, and cilantro.

It's a great workout for your mandoline, as the salad is best when the cucumbers are sliced paper thin. If you don't own a mandoline, I strongly suggest investing in one. It doesn't have to be a fancy one that also does crinkle-cuts and juliennes, but it should have an adjustable blade so you can control the thickness of your cuts. It will make your prep work so much easier and give your dishes a professional look. Definitely money well spent!

From The Swedish Table by Helene Henderson

Ingredients:

• 1 cucumber, preferably European seedless, sliced very thin
• 1/4 cup red onion, peeled and sliced thin
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1/2 lime, sliced very thin
• 1 stalk lemongrass, light green center only, sliced thin
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon red hot peppers

Directions:

• Place cucumber, onion, cilantro, and lime in a medium-size bowl.
  
• Combine lemongrass in a medium-heavy saucepan with vinegar, sugar, and salt. Cook over low heat for 3 minutes. Let cool, stir in red hot peppers, and pour over cucumbers.
• Marinate for a minimum of 1 hour before serving

Serves 4-6

Note: I didn't have white-wine vinegar, so I used white balsamic vinegar and cut back a little on the sugar. That seemed to work just fine.

Dandelion greens with Bosc pears and shallots

Dandelion greens aren't the easiest thing to come by year round, so arugula (which is what I used) works in a pinch. The bite of the greens and the sweetness of the pears and shallots make for a great combination in this easy, anytime side dish. Wilting the greens mellows their bitterness.

From The Swedish Table, by Helene Henderson.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 large Bosc pears, peeled, cored and chopped
• 1 small shallot, peeled and minced
• 4 cups dandelion greens (or other tangy greens), chopped
• salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Directions:

• In a medium skillet, melt butter with olive oil. Add pears and cook until soft, about 2-3 minutes.
• Add shallots and cook 1 minute more.
  
• Stir in dandelion greens and cook 2 minutes more.
• Season lightly with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with vinegar

Serves 4-6

Layered three-cheese russet and sweet potato gratin

This recipe probably has the most going on it, of all the things I made for our Scandinavian dinner. The list of ingredients may make you skeptical, but trust me, they combine to make a lovely flavor that is more than the sum of its parts.

From The Swedish Table, by Helene Henderson

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons butter, divided
• 2 pounds baking potatoes (about 2 large), such as russet, peeled and sliced 1/8" thin
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and grated
• fresh ground nutmeg to taste
• 3 teaspoons thyme, minced fine, divided
• 1 pound sweet potato (1 large), peeled and sliced 1/8" thin
• 3 tablespoons orange juice concentrate, thawed and divided
• 3 teaspoons adobo sauce from canned chipotle peppers, divided
• 1 cup cheese, such as Gruyere, mozzarella, or Parmesan, or any combination, freshly grated
• 1-1/2 cups heavy cream, divided
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Rub botton of a 9 x 13-inch glass baking dish with 1 tablespoon butter.
• Add a third of the russet potatoes and season with salt and pepper to taste. Top with a third of the garlic, a third of the thyme, and a small sprinkling of nutmeg.
• Add a third of the sweet potatoes, season with salt and pepper, and brush with 1 tablespoon of orange juice concentrate and a third of the adobo sauce. Spread a third of the cheese on top and add a third of the cream.
• Repeat twice, creating three layers of potatoes, each ending with the cheese and cream. Dot top layer with remaining butter.
• Bake until potatoes are fork-tender, crisp, and golden on top, about 45-60 minutes. Cover dish with aluminum foil if the top begins to burn.

Serves 6-8.

Danish Apple Soup (Æblesuppe)

This soup is an intriguing mix of sweet and savory. The curry powder hints at Indian cuisine, but the apples and white wine keep it squarely in the European camp. One of the things I appreciate about Scandinavian cuisine is how familiar flavors are combined in a way I never thought of before, and this soup is a perfect example of that.

From Scandinavian Cooking by Beatrice Ojakangas (1983)

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 pounds cooking apples (6 to 8), such as Granny Smith or Golden Delicious
• 5 whole cloves
• water
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 cups white wine, white grape juice, or water
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 to 2 teaspoons curry powder
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 3 tablespoons sugar
  
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions:

• Wash and peel apples, reserving peel. Immediately combine peelings, cloves, and water to cover in a large saucepan. Over medium-low heat, simmer 30 minutes.
  
• While peelings simmer, core and slice apples. Sprinkle with lemon juice to prevent darkening.
• Place a strainer over a medium bowl. Pour peeling mixture into strainer. Discard peelings and cloves; return broth to saucepan.
• Add apple slices and 2 cups wine, juice, or water. Simmer over low heat 30 minutes or until apples are tender.
• Puree apple mixture in a blender, adding cornstarch and curry powder during processing.
• Pour pureed mixture back into saucepan. Stir in cream, sugar, butter, and salt. bring to a gentle boil over medium heat. Cook and stir until thickened. Serve hot.

Makes 6 (very generous) servings.