Nordic Morning

According to our weekly menu rotation, yesterday should have been Scandinavian Saturday in our kitchen.  However, we still had plenty of homemade pizza from the night before, so Suzanna (my helper this week) and I decided that we should finish the pizza for supper last night and have Scandinavian Sunday morning instead.  After getting home from our day-long family volunteer project, Suzanna and I went grocery shopping and then returned to prepare the main dish and pop it in the refrigerator overnight to be baked this morning.  Here's what we made:

Swedish: äggkaka ["egg cake," what is known locally as an "egg bake"; this one is called "Swedish bacon bake" in the cookbook by Beatrice Ojakangas]

Last night, we fried a pound of bacon and saved some of the drippings, in which we sautéed sliced mushrooms, red peppers, and scallions (the recipe called only for mushrooms, but Suzanna and I thought it needed something more).  Then we sprinkled in corn starch and slowly added cream and heated it until the mixture was thickened.  Then we added beaten eggs and dried tarragon and cooked the eggs until they had just started to set.  Then we poured the mixture into a buttered pan, sprinkled grated Jarlsberg cheese over the top, decorated it with the bacon, and popped it in the fridge.

Norwegian: vanilje yoghurt med jordbær, blåbær, og eple/blåbær granola ["vanilla yogurt with strawberries, blueberries, and apple/blueberry granola"]

This morning I got up early to get the äggkaka into the oven, wash the fruit, slice the strawberries, and set the table.  Then I woke Suzanna to help with the finishing touches.  She dished up the yogurt and topped it with the fruit and granola while I toasted multi-grain bread and spread each slice with svart bringebær syltetøy ["black raspberry jam"].  We poured frukt saft ["fruit juice"] in wine goblets to be extra-fancy.

before

after

It was really a very tasty breakfast.  The tarragon and Jarlsberg made the egg bake distinctive; and the fruit- and granola-topped yogurt was refreshing and healthy (to balance the bacon!).  What a great start to the day.