Tuesday 23 July 2013

Go Swedish with Pickled Herrings, Köttbullar and Äggkaka

I'm having my Swedish days right now. I started by buying some Daim chocolate. Right now I am well stocked on it. I only need to be careful not too start eating from it in a non-self-controlled manner. So far things are working well.
In fact, I didn't just go and buy chocolate. Right while I was writing down the Bloggers Around the World post for Sweden, I knew what I was going to cook and, of course, bought things for that, too.
Somehow I had a travel brochure from 2011 about Sweden in my possession. Today I have no idea, how I came to have it. Blank, no idea at all. Anyway, there was a picture of Äggkaka in it and I thought ... I am going to have it ... whatever it is. What is it then? 
We will find out in a few moments, because I had a look into Jamie Does as well. I had to try two recipes from that also. The first one I tried was: Pickled Herrings.

That was quick and lovely with some sour cream and chopped chives, freshly from the garden along with some slices of still warm and buttered rye bread. Maybe I can have some more later on ... another day.
Next were the Köttbullar - Swedish meatballs. There was slightly more work involved as some preparation was necessary.


I made some mashed potatoes, to which I added some crushed fennel seeds. Well, the idea of the meatballs was ... maybe just a little bit different. I guess, they were supposed to be slightly smaller or maybe half the size for Jamie was suggesting that 8 would be sufficient to satisfy your hunger.
Whatever the case, the köttbullar were lovely with the herbs - chives, parsley, dill - in it and alongside the mashed potatoes and ... for me the most important part ... served with some cranberries. That was lovely!
But now to the main part, the Äggkaka. Well, you could call it some kind of pancake. however, I did it slightly differently.

Ingredients for Äggkaka:
2 eggs
50 g melted butter
Pinch of salt
50 g sugar
100 g flour
200 ml milk
Berries, berries, berries, berries ... (oops, sorry, I got carried away)

Preparation:
What shall I say? Hm, maybe it would be good to explain how to do it. Right!
I took an oven-proof dish (I bought it as far West in the UK as possible) and greased it with butter.
As to the ingredients apart from the berries, berries, berries ... (ahem) ... I put into a bowl. You know, crack in the eggs, add a pinch of salt, the sugar - combine - add the flour, melted butter and milk and mix thoroughly.
Time to heat up your oven to 200 °C. When you are ready ... no ... when the oven is ready, pour your Äggkaka batter into the dish and put the very same one into the oven for 20-25 minutes. When you remove it then, it might look a bit like this ...


What then? Do I really need to tell you? Right!
We need the berries, berries, berries, berries ... (argh) ... fine, in this case I used redcurrants. I enjoyed it very much. Some might want to mix the currants with a bit of sugar, but ... I didn't. After all, one bad year made me far too fat.


Maybe a nice Scandinavian diet with lots of berries, berries, berries, berries ... (eh, eh, eh) ... might do the trick ... in combination with Nordic walking (he he he).
Whatsoever, those hundreds of pounds are my problem. You go and enjoy some nice food and remember to add it to the Bloggers Around the World, if ... it's Swedish, of course.


I can recommend one things, though. That is: berries, berries, berries, berries, berries, berries, berries, berries, berries, berries, berries, berries, berries, berries, berries, berries, berries, berries, berries, berries, berries, berries, berries, berries, berries, berries, berries, berries, berries, berries, berries, berries, berries, berries, berries, berries, berries, berries ... GOOD NIGHT!

11 comments:

  1. I love pickled herrings, those meatballs look great too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! Now I generated a bit of leftovers here. So I can enjoy it some more.

      Delete
  2. Love pickled herring so much. I could eat it by the bucket full!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Chris, these recipes are so yummy!!
    Thanks for sharing

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hee -Hee - sounds like you have been consuming to many berries, berries, berries Chris! How funny! Love the last photo with all the cranberries in it! What sort of meat is usually used with Swedish meatballs - is it beef/pork/lamb?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I enjoyed the berries very much. I couldn't help it. I say usually beef and pork is used with Swedish meantballs.

      Delete
    2. My Swedish husband's grandmother uses an equal mix of beef/pork/veal, but I'm sure every family has their own secret. :)

      Delete
  5. I love cloudberries but it's so hard to find them (even in jam form) outside of Scandinavia!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I've never tried pickled herring, but I must say, your pictures are certainly enticing. I'm definitely a fish lover, and that warm bread looks outstanding. Maybe I'll have to branch out a bit and give the herring a try!

    ReplyDelete

Why not leave a comment!? I love to receive messages.