Påskeaften Kveldsmat

(Before we get to the food, wouldn't you like to know something about Norwegian Easter traditions? Or about Easter eggs in Norway? Of course you would; click those links!)

Today it was Abigail's turn to be my helper in the kitchen for Scandinavian Saturday supper. I consulted my ethnic cookbooks for Easter recipes and found quite a lot . . . most of them featuring lamb, however, which isn't Susan's favorite and which we couldn't find in Dickinson anyway (not even at the butcher's shop). So we mixed-and-matched several Easter recipes from Beatrice Ojakangas (and one from Trina Hahnemann) and served this Påskeaften kveldsmat ["Easter eve supper"]:

Norway: fylte egg ["stuffed eggs"]

Some of the eggs were urt-fylte ["herb-filled"]: tarragon and chives with green olives for a garnish.

Some of the eggs were sitron-fylte ["lemon-filled"] with shrimp and red onions as a garnish.

Some of the eggs were sennep-fylte ["mustard-filled"] with smoked salmon and dill as a garnish.

Denmark: krydret svinekam ["pork piquant" or "spicy pork"]. We coated these pork spare ribs with whiskey mustard, fresh horseradish, anchovy paste, brown sugar, and seasoned breadcrumbs and then roasted them in the oven.

Norway: spinat med muskatnøtt ["spinach with nutmeg"], made by wilting fresh spinach in hot butter and seasoning with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

Sweden: tomatisallad ["tomato salad"]: sliced tomatoes sprinkled with scallions, drizzled with a white pepper/allspice vinaigrette, topped with cucumbers, and sprinkled with dill and chives.

Sweden: Smålandsk ostkaka med hjortron ["Småland cheesecake with cloudberries"]. The cheesecake was made with ricotta and finely chopped almonds, giving it a grittier texture than the smoothly creamy cheesecake that we're used to. We added more sugar than it called for as well as vanilla extract, which it didn't call for, but its flavor was still pretty mild. The cloudberries have a unique taste that is difficult to describe. They also have hard, fat-teardrop-shaped seeds that are not fun to deal with in the mouth.

Susan and I tried this German ice wine with our dessert, and it was very good. I included the bottle in the photo so that you can go buy yourself a bottle to try!