Full Day Ending in Full Tummies

Another busy day.  Susan and Suzanna headed back to their rosemaling workshop today (remember?), and I dropped Abigail and Hillary off at church to help bake goodies for a bake sale tomorrow and then went to work myself.  After dinner, I took Abigail and Hillary to the senior instrumental recital of one of my students, who happens also to be Abigail's instructor for private lessons on the saxophone.  Susan and Suzanna were home by the time we got home, but then Hillary needed to be shuttled off to a friend's house for a birthday party sleepover.  It was supposed to be Hillary's turn to be my helper for Scandinavian Saturday supper, but Susan offered to serve as her replacement, and we made another tasty meal.

And (of course) I have photos to share!

Suzanna was the only young person at the rosemaling workshop, but she enjoyed herself and did well.  The instructor came from Minot; she's the same woman who teaches the rosemaling sessions at Camp Trollfjorden each summer.  Here is Suzanna working diligently.

 And here is Suzanna's final product!

And here is Susan's version!

This is Sara (my student; Abigail's saxophone instructor) and her sax instructor posing after Sara's recital this afternoon.

Here's the meal that Susan and I made tonight.

squash suppe ["squash soup"]

We chopped an onion and sautéed it in butter with kosher salt and fresh thyme leaves.  We peeled and cubed a butternut squash and added it and some sugar to the onion.  We added chicken stock and honey mead, brought it to a boil, and then let it simmer.  We used an immersion blender to purée the soup, added heavy cream, and seasoned it with seasoned salt, a garlic seasoning mix, and cracked black pepper.

For soup toppings, we cubed some sour dough rolls, tossed them in olive oil and salt and pepper, and roasted them in the oven to make croutons.  We fried some prosciutto until crisp and then crumbled it.  We chopped fresh parsley and fried it in the prosciutto drippings.  Each bowl of soup got a little of each of those toppings plus some pepitas, some fried onions, and a sprinkling of paprika and chili powder.

indrefilet av svin med kål ["pork tenderloin with cabbage"]

We rolled a pork tenderloin in allspice, kosher salt, and cracked black pepper and browned it on all sides in a frying pan with olive oil.  Then we roasted it in the oven, using a digital meat thermometer to know when it was done.  We used the drippings from the skillet to make a sauce by adding flour, butter, and horseradish.

We melted butter in a pot and added sliced red cabbage, golden raisins, red wine vinegar, apple cider, allspice, kosher salt, and cracked black pepper.  We brought it to a boil and then let it simmer, allowing most of the liquid to disappear.

We served buttered and sugared lefse, as well, to round out the meal.  Everything was delicious.  The soup was hearty and offered an interesting mix of sweet (from the squash and the honey mead) and savory (from all those toppings).  The thick texture and the mead in the background reminded me of beer cheese soup.  The cabbage was crunchy and, again, an appealing mix of sweet (the cider and raisins) and savory (the vinegar and seasonings).  The pork was perfectly moist and tender with a salty crust of seasonings and a tangy sauce (in which the girls noticed the horseradish immediately . . . I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have known what horseradish was at their age, let alone be able to recognize it as an ingredient when tasting a sauce!).

snickerdoodle

The only thing Scandinavian about dessert was that little Norskes made it.  Abigail and Hillary helped to make a batch of snickerdoodles (sugar cookies dusted with cinnamon and sugar) at the church today and were sent home with a few to share, so we ate them for dessert.