In their new book, “Fika”, EcoSalon’s own Foodie Underground Anna Brones and Johanna Kindvall explore a slightly less known but no less intriguing food culture from Sweden: the eponymous fika.

If the obsession with lifestyle books about why French women don’t get fat has proven anything, it’s that a food culture is about so much more than its recipes — and if the popularity of these books proves anything, it’s that people care about it.

Fika, the authors, who are both of Swedish extraction, explain, roughly translates to “coffee” or “coffee break.” But they quickly dispel any similarities with an American coffee break, highlighting the importance of taking the time to enjoy fika according to the Swedish tradition. “The essential thing is that you do it, that you make time to take a break.”

Fika is as much about comfort, togetherness and tradition as it is about the cake and cookie recipes that so traditionally accompany it. Coffee isn’t fika without a little something to go with it, and the cookbook makes this clear through lengthy introductions to each chapter, detailing, amongst other things, the history of coffee in Sweden (and why it was once a boys’ club!) and more modern approaches to fika. Each chapter is accompanied by a series of appropriate recipes, from contemporary go-tos made easy for busy bakers after the modern fika chapter, or more celebratory cakes like advent pepparkakor following an in-depth description of the tradition of name days and other Swedish holidays. Reading this book is a pleasure whether you’re looking for a recipe or not.

That being said, the book is also keen to explore the Swedish baking tradition, starting with an ingredient guide outlining basics, which the authors recommend you buy organic, and specialized Swedish ingredients as well as possible substitutions. That being said, the authors also highlight that because many of these recipes are intended to be everyday affairs, individual bakers can adapt as they see fit. When I made the chocolate slice cookies, I didn’t have the pearl sugar called for, but I did have some chocolate sprinkles languishing in the cupboard. They weren’t organic, but they did make a tasty chocolate topping for the already rich, fudgy cookies, which paired perfectly with an afternoon cup of coffee.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the lovely illustrations; in the days of food porn obsession, it’s difficult to find a cookbook that doesn’t rely on photos of the recipes within to sell it, but “Fika“ goes down another charming path, with drawn illustrations by Johanna Kindvall: from a cute and comical drawing of flipping Swedish pancakes to detailed illustrations of the various rolling and shaping techniques for traditional Swedish saffron buns, these drawings add to the fanciful nature of the book.

Throughout “Fika”, the authors highlight the ways in which fika can be assimilated into daily life — at the end of the day, it’s as much a book of recipes as a book of culture, and in encouraging its readers to take advantage of a moment to share coffee and cake with friends, it also provides ways to do so: packing coffee and cookies for a post-hike pick-me-up, inviting a friend over for a pot of tea or coffee and a slice of cake, or even making a homemade fruit cordial and enjoying it at the beach for midsummer. “Fika” positions itself as a how-to guide for in-the-moment living, and it makes good on its promise.

Related on EcoSalon

Baking and Celebrating Swedish Cinnamon Rolls

Sunday Recipe: Swedish Apple Cake

Mustard Herring for Swedish Midsummer

The post Book Review: ‘Fika’ by Anna Brones and Johanna Kindvall appeared first on EcoSalon.

The Scandinavian spirit aquavit isn’t just for pickled herring and potatoes anymore.

Simple and clean are words often used to describe Scandinavian design, but it also goes for Scandinavian drink, particularly aquavit. Say the word “schnapps” and you might immediately conjure up visions of a sugary, peppermint-infused hot chocolate drink, but in Scandinavia, snaps is something completely different, and it’s hitting the United States.

Snaps is the name for a shot of strong alcohol consumed in conjunction with a large meal, traditionally at holidays like Christmas and Midsummer – think big dinner parties fueled by frequent shots of a slightly herbal drink – and the alcohol in question is aquavit. Until recently, aquavit was relatively unknown in the US; the kind of thing you were only familiar with if you threw down during a midsummer celebration with a few Swedes. 

Aquavit is a neutral spirit that’s flavored with herbs indicative of Scandinavian cuisine; profiles like caraway, dill and anise. And you thought fennel was just for hip farm-to-table restaurants.

In the United States you can buy imported versions like Norwegian Linie and Danish Aalborg, but stateside artisanal distillers North Shore, House Spirits and 45th Parallel all have versions based off of the classic methods of distilling and aging. The first one to enter the US aquavit market, it’s no surprise that Portland cocktail menus are taking advantage of House Spirit’s Krogstad Festlig Aquavit, my personal favorite.

For those of us that need a drink to pair with our rye bread and potatoes – don’t we all? – we can thank the rise of Scandinavian cuisine, as well as a general culinary obsession with craft distilleries, for moving aquavit beyond the Swedish party table and onto cocktail menus. A traditionalist would tell you that aquavit should only be consumed at the customary celebratory dinners and with subsequent dishes. But tradition is meant to be broken, and aquavit’s clean taste makes it a spirit that fits both in winter and summer, and makes it a prime mixing element for drinks.

Jacob Grier, lead bartender at Metrovino in Portland, Oregon, and maybe best known for his creation of bone luging, is such an aquavit advocate that last fall he put together an entire cocktail week devoted to the spirit. If it’s your first foray into the world of aquavit, his Aquavit Hot Toddy is a good place to start. Skål!

Aquavit Hot Toddy

• 1 1/2 oz aged aquavit (Krogstad Gamle)
• 3/4 oz Swedish Punsch
• 1/2 oz lemon juice
• 6-8 oz hot water
• star anise, for garnish

Combine all ingredients in a pre-heated mug and garnish with the star anise.

Image: Skånska Matupplevelser

The post The Rise of the Scandinavian Cocktail: Getting to Know Aquavit appeared first on EcoSalon.

Quintessential Sweden: Abba, pickled herring, meatballs… cinnamon rolls.

Sweden is equated with many things, but there is nothing as iconic as the cinnamon roll. In Swedish culinary culture, every cup of coffee deserves to be served with a baked good. This tradition is called fika and at its core is the cinnamon roll.

I don’t mean the cream cheese frosting topped, so-sweet-it-makes-you-cringe version that is served in the U.S., I mean the classic Swedish pastry, with a hint of cardamom and just sugary enough. In a country where cinnamon rolls are a staple in every cafe and bakery, and every respectable Swede has made their own batch at least once in their lives, it should come as no surprise that Sweden is in fact the cinnamon roll’s presumed country of origin.

The beauty of the Swedish cinnamon roll is in its versatility. Depending on your mood, you can switch out a few key ingredients for a completely different taste. Cardamom infused filling instead of the standard cinnamon and sugar mix for example.

October 4 marks Kanelbullens Dag (Cinnamon Roll Day) – an entire day devoted the the baked good. Since you probably don’t have the chance to sit in a warm Stockholm cafe on a crisp autumn day and order a kanelbulle from the counter, here are a few versions you can make yourself. Just be sure to serve with coffee.

Kanelbullar – Swedish Cinnamon Rolls

Makes about 30-40 buns

Dough ingredients:

• 2 1/8 cup (500 ml) milk
• 25g fresh yeast (or 2 envelopes dry active yeast)
• 2/3 cup (150 ml) brown sugar
• 5 7/8 cups (1400 ml) flour
• 2 teaspoons whole cardamom seeds
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 5 ¼ oz (150 g ) butter (at room temperature)

Alternative 1: cinnamon filling

• 4 ½ oz (about 125 g) butter (at room temperature)
• 1/3 cup (75 ml) regular sugar
• 2 ½ teaspoon cinnamon

Alternative 2: cardamom filling

• 4 ½ oz (about 125 g) butter (at room temperature)
• 1/3 cup (75 ml) brown sugar
• 4 teaspoons whole cardamoms
• (optional: 1 teaspoon cinnamon)

Topping

• One small egg (whipped together)
• Pearl sugar or sliced almonds

Prepare the dough: Crumble the yeast (if using dry yeast prepare it as required) in a big bowl. Heat milk until it is warm to the touch, about 100ºF (about 110ºF for dry yeast). Add the milk to the yeast and stir until yeast has dissolved.

Crush the cardamoms in a mortar and pestle.

Mix together flour, sugar, cardamom and salt before adding it to the milk and yeast mixture. Add in the butter in small cubes. Blend well, either by hand or by using a food processor. Knead it well for about 5-10 minutes.

Cover the dough and place in a draft free place and let it rise for at least 40 minutes.

Filling: Mix all ingredients for the filling to an even batter. It is important for the butter to be at room temperature so it’s easier to spread. 

Divide the dough into two pieces and using a rolling pin (or a wine bottle), roll each of them out separately to the shape of a rectangle (see diagram above).

Spread half of the filling onto each piece of rolled out dough so that it covers the entire area. Roll the dough up beginning with the long side. Slice the roll into about 20 equal sized (about 1 inch wide) slices and place them with their cut side up on baking sheet. Repeat above procedure with the last piece of dough.

Let them rise for about 30 minutes.

Note: You can also fold the dough as shown below which is more common when making the bun with cardamom filling.

In a small bowl, whisk the egg and brush all buns and sprinkle pearl sugar or sliced almonds on top.

Bake them in the oven at 225ºC (about 440F) for 8-10 minutes.

This dough recipe was adapted from Mia Örn’s recipe on Kardemummabullar.

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Putting apple harvest to good use.

When the first Gravenstein apples start to fall from our tree in late August, I pull out this recipe, Brita Nelsons Äppelkaka.

I got it in 1970 from a friend (the cake’s namesake) when I still lived in Sweden. It is written with a ballpoint pen in a 2-ring blue recipe binder that was a must to take along when I moved away from Sweden in 1974. Even if I know how to make it from memory, I still look it up to have that bittersweet jolt of thinking of her and wondering what she does now.

The recipe is great all year round, but it’s best with the seasonal harvest of autumn apples. It can be made with equal success using halved plums or sliced pears but the apples are still my favorite.

Brita Nelson’s Apple Cake

Ingredients:

• 7 tablespoons butter
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup almonds or hazelnuts, chopped
• 1 egg
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup flour, can be almond meal or rice flour for a gluten free version
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• a few drops of almond flavoring (optional)
• Peeled and sliced apples

Directions:

Cream butter and sugar (in food processor or by hand). Mix in the rest of the ingredients.

Grease a round baking pan, and coat with either almond meal or unsweetened coconut.

Spread batter into pan. Note: the batter is a little sticky, use a spatula and it’s okay if it doesn’t come all the way out to the edges.

Starting in the middle, place the apple slices side by side in a circular formation, then press them into the dough. This will also make the dough spread. Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top if you so desire.

Bake 40 minutes at 360F.

Whipped cream on top is always a common way of serving cakes in Sweden… But it is good plain too! And if you’re going to be truly traditional, eat it with a small fork, NOT a spoon!

Want more food inspiration? Check out the rest of our Sunday Recipe series. 

The post Sunday Recipe: Swedish Apple Cake appeared first on EcoSalon.

Celebrate the sweetness of of a Swedish Midsummer.

This year I will be celebrating midsummer here in NY. Midsummer is the day when Swedes like me celebrate the longest and brightest day of the year. We eat plenty of herring, new potatoes (that you buy freshly picked and dirty), aged cheese on “knäckebröd“, drink aquavit and sing songs. The dessert is always strawberries which are often eaten plain with just a little sugar and cream (either whipped or mixed with milk.) Some make creamy strawberry cakes while I serve mine with dark chocolate cake and whipped cream.

For practical reasons the midsummer holiday is always on the Friday closest to the actual summer solstice day which this year will be on Friday the 22nd of June.

The traditional herring you eat for midsummer is Matjes. It’s an excellent herring typically spiced with sugar, allspice, cinnamon and cloves. Traditionally you eat this type of herring with sour cream topped with chopped chives and new potatoes & fresh dill. I love this meal so much that I keep eating it throughout the whole summer.

Other common flavors are mustard, onion, lemon or dill herring. More rare or rather unexpected flavors are tomato, garlic or curry herring (not my cup of tea though). You can find these different types at any supermarket in Sweden or more homemade styles in most Swedish fishmongers.

If you can get hold of fresh herring, the best experience is to cure and flavor herring yourself. This can be a tough task if you are outside Scandinavia. In New York City I have only seen fresh herring a couples of times. In the city it’s possible to find simple cured herring in vinegar. You don’t really need to do anything if you find this kind of herring but with just a few simple additions like mustard and dill you will raise this fish to another level (see below).

The cure
(if you can get hold of fresh fish otherwise skip this part)

• About 1 lb filets of fresh herring*
• ½ cup white vinegar (6%)**
• 2/3 cup water
• 2 tablespoon sugar
• 2 tablespoon salt

Rinse the herring in cold water. If you like you can skin the herring but I normally do that after the cure as it gets off easier then. Mix the white vinegar together with the salt and the sugar. When the sugar and salt are totally dissolved in the liquid add the water. Place the herring in a bowl and pour the vinegar mixture over. Set aside in the fridge for about 24 hours. Stir in between to make sure that all fillets gets properly cured. Its done when all fillets have become white in color.

Let the fillets drain properly in a strainer while you prepare the sauce. Remove the skin with your fingers or use a knife to peel it off. Cut the fillets with a scissor into bite size pieces.

Mustard Herring

• About one lb cured herring (as above or get simple herring in vinegar. Only use the herring pieces, removing all liquid, onion, etc.)
• 3 tablespoons sweet mustard
• One tablespoon dijon mustard
• One tablespoon brown sugar
• One teaspoon sherry vinegar (apple cider vinegar works as well)
• 50 ml olive oil
• ½ cup dill
• One shallot

For Decoration

• Chopped chives

Mix together mustard, sherry vinegar and sugar. Add carefully the olive oil drop by drop while stirring. Chop the shallot and dill finely and add it to the sauce. Season with salt and freshly milled black pepper. Place the herring pieces into the sauce and stir carefully around so the sauce gets around the fish evenly. Let the fish rest for a couple of hours, preferably 24 hours but I can never wait that long. Before serving chop the chives into 1/4” pieces and sprinkle on top. Serve the herring with new potatoes or just on dark rye bread with sliced boiled eggs. Enjoy!

* It’s not impossible to fillet the fish yourself but you need some practice.

This is one way: Cut off the head and tail. Open up the stomach with a small knife (or even your fingers) to take out the innards. Make it as clean as possible. Now comes the tricky part where you use your thumbs to loosen the backbones by pressing your thumb under it. When it starts to loosen grab the top of the backbone and pull it off. You now have both fillets connected together. Remove the fins with a scissor and rinse the fillet in cold water. You will get a hang of it after some practice. If you think this is too messy, just ask your fishmonger to do it for you.

** If you only find 5% white vinegar you should use a little less water.

Before buying any fish check with Seafood Watch for the most sustainable options.

Illustration by Johanna Kindvall

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ColumnA down and dirty guide to a night of pickled herring and aquavit.

It’s summer solstice this week, which means it’s high time for Swedish midsommar, the best of holidays. Why? Because it’s a classic Swedish tradition that celebrates the longest day of the year, with food and drink at the center. In other words, an event to celebrate the sun. Put good food, a few glasses of aquavit and a table of friends together and you have yourself a party.

I’ve got Evert Taube on the stereo this week and pickled herring marinating in preparation, because if you have an ounce of Swedish in you, you simply can’t miss this holiday. And any self-respecting foodie wouldn’t turn down the chance for an aesthetically pleasing, minimalist Scandinavian event now would they?

Fortunately, you don’t have to be in Sweden to celebrate midsommar; throwing your own midsommar party is easier than putting together an IKEA cabinet will ever be. All you need are some key components, which is why we’ve put the Swedish Midusmmer 101 Guide.

Let’s kick things off with this video by the Sweden.se:

What

A celebration of the summer solstice. In Swedish this is called midsommar. The real celebration take’s place on midsommarafton, Midsummer’s Eve.

When

Midsommar was originally celebrated on June 24, but in 1953 was moved to the nearest Saturday – after all, good parties are always thrown on Fridays.

Drinks

You will need some nubbe or snaps, otherwise known as the alcoholic drink that goes with pickled herring and other traditional celebratory foods. If you’re going the full Scandinavian route, be sure to pick up a bottle of Aquavit. You can get the imported stuff, or you can check out two artisanal brands stateside, North Shore Distillery in Chicago, Illinois and House Spirits Distillery in Portland, Oregon. Pair your nubbe with a light beer, and be sure to put a few bottles of sparkling water on the table as well.

Food

Swedish midsommar essentials are potatoes, salmon, pickled herring and any dessert that involves ample amounts of strawberries and whipped cream. There’s always a basket of hardtack on the table along with some cheeses, and you might as well throw in some cardamom for good measure.

Sample menu:

• Toast Skagen
• Boiled fingerling potatoes with dill
• Several varieties of pickled herring
• Gravlax (dill cured salmon)
• Marinated cucumbers
• Swedish strawberry meringue layer cake

Songs

No midsommar celebration is complete without a few snapsvisor, songs that are specifically meant to be sung in conjunction with the consumption of nubbe. If you can only commit to one (Swedish isn’t the easiest language to master in just a few days) opt for Helan Går, which goes a little something like this:

Helan gor sjung hop for a la la la la ley
Helan gor sjung hop for a la la la la ley

Och den som inte helan tar han inte helle halven for

Helan gor sjung hop for a la la la la ley

Confused? Here’s a video to help.

Phrases

Now that you have mastered the singing, you will need some key Swedish phrases that relate to midsummer.

• Glad midsommar! Happy midsummer.
• Mer sill tack. More pickled herring please.
• Finns det mer gravlax? Is there more cured salmon.
• Jag tar gärna mer jordgubbar. I would love to have some more strawberries.
• Är det svensk snaps som vi dricker? Are we drinking Swedish snaps?
• Jag älskar Sverige! I love Sweden.
• Ska vi lyssna på ABBA ikväll? Are we going to listen to ABBA tonight?
• Skål! Cheers.

Now find a farm table, a group of friends, a Swede or two, flowers to turn into head crowns, a good supplier of pickled herring and you’re good to go. Skål och glad midsommar!

The post Foodie Underground: Swedish Midsummer 101 appeared first on EcoSalon.

Celebrate Fat Tuesday Swedish style with this classic recipe.

By nature, I am not a follower of recipes. This is most likely my mother’s influence. Just as creative in the kitchen as she is with her artwork, the most common response to “What’s in this? It’s delicious! Can you write down the recipe for me?” is “Oh, I don’t really know exactly what I put in it.”

She does of course have some standard recipes that she can recite off the top of her head, but for the most part, she is a student of serendipity and chaos theory.

As it turns out, like mother like daughter.

When friends ask for recipes I actually have to go home and remake whatever food they’re looking to add to their cooking repertoire, simply so that I can figure out the exact measurements. Apparently “just enough of [insert ingredient]” doesn’t work for most people.

But there are those dishes for which I throw habit out the window, and commit to taking time to being a diligent cook that sticks to a recipe. Sometimes, there is no room for error.

If there’s one baked good that has to be made perfectly, it’s the Swedish semla. Also known as fastlagsbulle or fettisbulle, it is a flour bun filled with almond paste and topped with whipped cream and powdered sugar. Historically it was made for fettisdagen, Fat Tuesday. But we live in the modern day Western world, where eating decadent food doesn’t usually come with too many restrictions, so in Sweden, you can find semlor decorating the bakery shop windows just after the New Year all the way through Easter.

Having learned last year the danger of trying to tweak a recipe to my own standards – even my mother still cringes that I thought using whole wheat flour instead of pastry flour would be a good choice – I pulled out my copy of Swedish Cakes and Cookies, the modern and translated version of a classic that you can find in any Swede’s cookbook collection.

I was committed to making a good semla. Which meant of course measuring perfectly. But you can only veer from regular habits so much. I soon realized that the recipe didn’t call for cardamom.

Fail.

I added in two teaspoons.

Oh, there’s no recipe for almond paste? I certainly wasn’t going to trek to the gourmet food store and buy some (I do have my limits after all). So I made my own, purely guessing on what almond to sugar ratio I should use.

Plenty of mixing, rising, kneading and oven to cooling rack transfers later, I had a kitchen table full of semla buns and a full French press. If there’s one baking production that pays off, it’s a semla. Especially one made with ample cardamom and homemade almond paste.

Note that this recipe makes 10-12 buns. Unless you have a crazy coffee get together for an army planned, don’t make the semlor all at the same time. The buns store well in the freezer, and can be defrosted for when you want to fill them with almond paste and whipped cream. Which means you can make one now for yourself, and serve your friends later. Smaklig måltid!

Classic Swedish Semlor
Ingredients

• 100 grams butter (7 tablespoons)
• 1 ¼ cups milk
• 2 tablespoons active dry yeast
• 4 cups flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup sugar (if you want a sweeter version, you can use up to a ½ cup)
• 1 egg
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons powdered cardamom

Filling

• 2 cups blanched almonds + ¼ cup sugar blended in food processor
• Inside of buns
• ½ – 1 cup milk

Topping

• Whipped cream
• Powdered sugar

Directions
1. Melt butter in a saucepan and add the milk. Heat until the liquid is warm to the touch.

2. In a bowl beat the egg and add in yeast, salt, sugar and milk mixture. Combine baking powder and flour and mix thoroughly. Cover the bowl and let rise for 30 minutes.

3. Place dough on lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Form into round balls and place on greased pan. Cover with tea towel and let rise until double the size.

4. Brush the balls with a beaten egg. Bake for 8-10 minutes at 450F. Let the buns cool.

5. Cut off a circular “lid” off of each bun and set aside. Scoop out inside of bun with a spoon or fork. Mix in a bowl with almond paste and add enough milk to make a smooth mixture. Fill buns with mixture and top with whipping cream. Place lid on top of whipping cream and garnish with powdered sugar.

Illustrations by Johanna Kindvall

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ColumnTaking a Swedish approach to appreciating our everyday food routines.

I’ve been traveling for a few weeks, and in doing so have failed to keep up with the latest and greatest in food news that seems to inundate the blogosphere on a daily basis. But a girl needs a break every now and then, and so the computer has been off, and the brain partially so as well. Fortunately, we all need sustenance, and although I haven’t been keeping up to date on what’s new in food, I have been eating a lot of it.

This is relaxing eating. Summer enjoyment. Sitting down with friends and family and enjoying everything from basic open faced sandwiches to fancier fried chantrelles. Not fretting over what to throw in the stir fry for dinner because I’m exhausted after work. No, this is food for the sake of food.

Sometimes I will ask for a recipe and jot it down in my red Moleskine, sometimes I just sit and enjoy, not thinking about what went into making what I am eating, and sometimes I get riled up and launch into a diatribe on the failings of the American and global food system – trust me, it’s part of the dinner table charm.

I’ve also been scouring every daily newspaper that sits next to my cup of tea and skim through the food section where there’s always a new recipe. Really they just make me want to throw dinner parties. And then in the evening I feel a pang of jealousy as I watch trailers for the new television series by one of my favorite Swedish food personalities, Tina, thinking to myself, “I want a cooking show too.”

What I’ve come to realize is that even taking a break, I still can’t get away from food. None of us can. No matter where we are or who we’re with, we have to eat. You may be a freak about it as I am – every meal I eat I make a mental list of how easy it would be to make at home and how I could even tweak it – but when it comes down to it, food culture permeates all of our everyday lives.

Unfortunately, we often don’t take the time to enjoy it.

I read an article during one of my famed tea and morning newspaper sessions about the author of the new cookbook Mat Under Bar Himel (Food Under an Open Sky). Beyond the poetic name that seems to sing summer and vacation ( it’s on the shopping list for before I head home), the author Michael Krantz points out that eating outside is a way to better appreciate our food and our friends. “When you eat outside you’re forced to talk to each other in a different way. When you’re inside, there are a lot of other distractions,” he said to Dagens Nyheter.

Combine that idea with the fact that we know that eating is better for us when we’re in positive social settings, and it’s no wonder that summer fare tastes and feels so wonderful.

I won’t even attempt to make any arguments about how Swedes are more conscious about what they eat than Americans – they are also facing a staggering obesity epidemic, fast food burger chains are on the rise, and a trip to the grocery store tells you there are plenty of refrigerators stocked with prepared foods ready to be thrown into the microwave.

And yet, there’s a consciousness about food that hangs in the air, not what it is or where it comes from, but that it’s important to eat, three times a day, every day, and that sometimes, it’s worth investing a little time in making something good. Even those who don’t like to cook peruse cookbooks to put together respectable dinner parties. Food has a certain level of importance and deserves our attention. Which is why the Swedish refrigerator and pantry tends to be stocked with the essentials: hardtack, dense bread, yogurt, meat, cheese, butter, vegetables and most likely a bowl of fruit on the kitchen counter or table. Basic but essential.

And when it comes to eating that essential food, time is valued. Breakfast, even as small as coffee and a macka (open faced sandwich), is a must, lunch breaks are lunch breaks, to be had in the break room instead of in front of the computer, and on weekends, dinners often get a little glorified, if nothing else, to celebrate the days off.

There is nothing extraordinary or trendy about this approach to food, on the contrary, it’s very simple. This is what makes it so that food and the enjoyment of food plays an integral role in everyday life, instead of being a mere after thought. Which means there’s thought put into which sandwiches you make to take on your afternoon outing, and an insistence on finding a good spot to sit down with your coffee thermos and enjoy the sun. The time to eat, even when you’re not eating anything fancy, is not to be taken lightly.

So forget complex recipes, forget the latest gluten-free baked goods, just take some time to eat good, simple food with friends, maybe even throw in a bottle of wine for good measure, and give honor to the sustenance that your body needs.

Because if we all have to eat, every single day, why not make it an enjoyable routine?

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s weekly column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground, discovering what’s new and different in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to the culinary avant garde.

Images: Anna Brones

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ColumnYour guide to throwing your own Swedish Midsummer celebration.

This week marks the summer solstice, and if there’s any place that knows how to celebrate this time of year, it’s Sweden. Its northern latitude makes the winters dark and long and the summers light and short, which means there’s plenty of reason to celebrate the official start to the summer season which kicks off at midsommar.

Midsommar was originally celebrated on June 24, but in 1953 was moved to the nearest Saturday – you can’t have a big celebration in the middle of the week after all. The real celebration is the Friday night before, on Midsommarafton – Midsummer’s Eve –  the time when you gather your friends and families, cover long tables in an array of traditional food, put up a midsummer pole and sing songs as you drink Aquavit, or snaps as the Swedes call it.

I get nostalgic around this time, pining after the land where the sun barely sets and the party thrown in celebration of the season continues into the wee hours of the morning. It’s a day of food, friends and tradition.

Sweden might be small when it comes to population, but in terms of food and culture, the country carries some weight, and with the Scandinavian takeover in the culinary world, midsummer and its traditions has made its way across the Atlantic, which for the rest of us, means the chance to drink artisanal Aquavit without the plane ride.

Here’s the quick guide to the essentials for throwing your own midsummer celebration.

Drinks

A standard in Scandinavian liquor cabinets, Aquavit is less of a tradition here on the other side of the Atlantic, but two artisanal distilleries are making a name for themselves with classic renditions: North Shore Distillery in Chicago, Illinois and House Spirits Distillery in Portland, Oregon.

Want to truly go underground? Make your own. You can turn practically anything into a good snaps, you just need flavorful herbs and spices, or even berries – anything from dill to ginger to raspberries – and a bottle of vodka. Let store in a cool, dark place for at least a few days, and taste to gauge flavor. To increase the taste, you can also add in a couple pinches of sugar.

Chive and Lemon Snaps (adapted from GP.se)

• 10 minutes + 1 week
• 750 ml bottle of vodka
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• 4 stalks of chives
• lemon zest of 1 lemon

Combine all ingredients in bottles and let stand in cool, dark place for at least 1 week. Shake bottle every few days. When ready, strain vodka as chives lose their color if left in too long.

To complete the drinking process, you’ll also need a good snapsvisa or two, songs sung specifically in conjunction with the drinking of aquavit. Start with the classic Helan Går.

Main course

Midsommar food is easy and it all starts with a good base of pickled herring, salmon and potatoes with dill. In New York, the go-to spot for pickled herring is Russ & Daughters, but if you’re located on one of the coasts, you can often find it at local seafood markets, or even make your own.

To top off the fish, serve up a classic dill mustard sauce, taken from my kitchen staple, Vår Kokbok:

• 3 tablespoons mustard
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• pinch salt
• pinch pepper
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 1/2 cup cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup chopped dill

Mix mustard, sugar, salt, pepper and vinegar in a bowl. Add oil in a slow and steady stream, whisking quickly the entire time. If oil is added too quickly in the beginning, it will separate from the rest of the sauce. Once oil has been added and sauce has been mixed, whisk in dill just before serving. Serve over fish and potatoes.

Dessert

If you’re lucky enough to live in New York, you might take inspiration from Sockerbit, a store devoted to serving up the best of lösgodis, Sweden’s popular bulk candy; no midsummer is complete without a few bowls of colorful candy carefully placed around the room. Other dessert necessities are strawberries, whipped cream and maybe even a good chocolate cake. I like to make a big batch of chokladbollar (pictured at the top) – easy to make, delicious and totally unhealthy.

• 1 stick of butter
• 3/4 cup of sugar
• 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2-3 tablespoons water
• 2.5 cups oats
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• Optional: 1 tablespoon ground coffee

Cream together butter and sugar. Mix in cocoa, vanilla, water and oats (if you’re adding in coffee, mix in as well). Form mixture into small balls, and roll in coconut to cover them. Refrigerate until serving.

Find yourself a rustic picnic table, cover it in wildflowers and let the party begin. Glad midsommar!

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s weekly column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground, discovering what’s new and different in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to the culinary avant garde.

Images: Anna Brones

The post Foodie Underground: Celebrating Midsommar appeared first on EcoSalon.

Notice how any recent mention of fare from Sweden, Norway and Denmark also denotes how a Scandinavian food trend is quickly making its way into all kinds of food markets?

Why it’s taken so long for Scandinavian fare to hit the global market is beyond me, but with simple, down to earth ingredients, in the time of slow food movements and a return to more classic, traditional recipes, the timing for Viking-inspired recipes makes sense. Point being, Scandinavian inspired recipes are going to be hot this year, and you’d better prepare yourself.

Growing up with a Swedish mother and annual trips to visit my family have certainly impacted the way that I cook, and for a while now, I’ve been drooling over Kalle Bergman’s Huffington Post column, every time thinking to myself, “I need to be writing that.” Well, now’s the time.

Here’s your quick and dirty guide to everything you need to know to staying on top of the Scandinavian food trend.

The Basics

A Scandinavian diet isn’t complicated or diverse. In fact, you’d be hard pressed to really call it chic. But it’s good for you. And it’s all about tradition.

Made up of wholesome ingredients, the Scandinavian essentials keep the region’s inhabitants healthy and happy. Just like their design aesthetic, Scandinavian food is simple{ a mixture of whole grains, berries (preferably picked fresh in the summer), vegetables, Omega-3 rich fish like salmon and herring, hard cheeses, fresh dairy, and a bit of poultry and lean meats thrown in for good measure.

A classic Scandinavian meal? A combination of potatoes, fish, a simple but tasty sauce, teamed with plenty of greens, a side of hearty, whole grain bread and a glass of sparkling water.

Pickled herring

Despite what you may have heard, pickled herring is in fact delicious. Make it a 2011 resolution to try some.

Fika

Scandinavians love their coffee, and in Sweden there’s even a specific word that refers to the time of day when you grab a cup of coffee and a little something to snack on with it. There’s normally a morning and an afternoon fika, and you don’t always have to team your coffee with a baked good, but anyone that has traveled to Scandinavia knows that options abound. If nothing else, fika is a reminder to take a quick break from your daily duties. You can do it by yourself or with friends, but it’s a time to check out from your everyday reality and enjoy life.

Cardamom

This ingredient is a Swedish staple, making its way into baked goods, drinks and plenty of other concoctions. In fact, you’d be hard pressed to find a Scandinavian cinnamon roll that doesn’t have a taste of cardamom in it. For fun, throw a dash of cardamom in your morning coffee. And then pair it with this easy cake.

Cardamom Cake

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons cardamom
• 7 tablespoons butter
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Add in butter with your fingers and mix until crumbly consistency.

Add in egg and milk and mix until a batter consistency.

Pour into a greased baking pan. If you want, sprinkle with sliced almonds or orange zest.

Bake at 400 for about 30 minutes.

Knäckebröd

Otherwise known as hardtack or crispbread, knäckebröd is a Scandinavian staple. In the U.S, an easy to find option is the Wasa brand. For a classic Scandinavian breakfast, serve up a basket of crispbread and cover the rest of the table in pålägg, everything that you can possibly think of that you could put on your crispbread: tomatoes, cucumber, hard boiled egg, sliced cheese, meat – the list goes on. Serve with a big cup of tea or coffee and you’ve started your day with a Scandinavian twist.

Dill

Use it, love it. Boil up a pot of potatoes, douse in olive oil and salt, and throw on a few tablespoons of chopped dill. You’ll never go back.

Sauces

Maybe it’s because the Scandinavian diet is high in fish, but there seems to be a multitude of sauces. These aren’t your cream-heavy sauces of the French conviction. Swedish sauces are light, often citrusy, and go well with fish and potatoes. My favorite? A traditional Gravlaxsås, served with its namesake, gravlax, a form of cured salmon.

Gravlaxsås

• 3 tablespoons mustard
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• pinch of salt
• pinch of pepper
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup chopped dill

Mix mustard, sugar, salt, pepper, and vinegar in a bowl.

Add in oil very slowly, constantly whisking. Note: I always do this by hand, but because you need to maintain a constant rhythm of whisking to keep the oil from separating from the rest of the ingredients, an electric mixer can be useful.

Mix until sauce is thick and creamy, then add in dill.

Lingonberries

In Sweden, we often eat them with meatballs, and summers are spent handpicking the small, red berries and turning them into jams to be used later in the heart of winter. Lingonberries have the tart/sweet blend that make them the ideal ingredient for jams, pies and even using in salads and combining with savory dishes.

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground. Each week, Anna will be taking a look at something new and different that’s taking place in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to culinary avant garde.

Images: Anna Brones

The post Foodie Underground: Scandinavian Takeover appeared first on EcoSalon.