Category Archives: potatoes

Body Cakes (Kroppkakor)

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I have never participated in a Body Cake competition; I don’t think I have the body for it. It’s not about how well or pretty you make them, the winner is the one who eats the most! They are heavy but still one of my favorites of the Swedish traditional comfort foods. There are many different variations of it; some areas do it with raw potatoes and some like them as I do below.

6-7 big potatoes
one egg
300 ml (1.2 cups) flour
one tea spoon salt
200 g (0.45 lb) bacon or salted pork
onion
one teaspoon salt and some pepper

Peel the potatoes and boil them until they are done. Mash the potatoes and mix with the egg and flour. Season with salt. Cut the bacon and the onion in small pieces. Start to sauté the onions. Add the bacon and sauté them together until the bacon is crispy. Season with some pepper.

Form the potatoes mixture into a big roll. Slice the roll in pieces. Press your thumb in the middle and fill it with some of the bacon mixture. Cover the filling and make a ball of it. The size can be a little bit smaller than a tennis ball. Repeat the procedure until you are done.

Heat up water with salt and when it’s boiling, drop some of the body cakes into the water. When the body cakes floats up, boil them for about five minutes.

Serve with lingonberry jam or cranberry jam, melted butter, grated carrots and a glass of beer. I also always have extra bacon pieces on the side. Leftover Body Cakes are great to slice and sauté the day after.

By the way I am now back in East Village from my lovely stay in Sweden, with some great stops in Copenhagen and London.

(This kind of Body Cake you can call Småländska Kroppkakor. This recipe is rewritten from a recipe in the Swedish cookbook Vår Kok Bok, 1975)

M:s Potatoe Pancakes

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In the beginning of the eighties M was house squatting in the fancy neighborhood of Chelsea in London. Next door to the Rolling Stones he learned how to make Potatoe Pancakes. He was studying Architecture and this was a great way to live cheaply as he had a hard time with his parents. At that time he had the pancakes with butter and sugar. Today we have them with goat cheese and caviar!

for one person you need

one large potatoe
one tablespoon flour
one small egg
pinch of salt

Peel the potatoes. Cut them in smaller pieces and mash them in a blender. Squeeze out some of the water and mix together with the flour, salt and egg in a bowl. Pour small amounts of batter to make about five pancakes in a standard frying pan on medium heat. Fry them with some olive oil or butter until they are golden brown, turning once only. The pancakes can be served with many different things: lingonberries or cranberries, freshly grated carrots, sautéed bacon pieces, goat cheese mixed with sour cream and lastly caviar.

By the way, I just came from London and I am now posting from a lovely cottage in Sweden. Where I am planning to stay until the end of October.

Marinated Salmon

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girl_with_blue_hair

Yesterday we had Sophia over for dinner. Sophia used to live in our building long before I met M and moved over here. M remembers her as the girl with the blue hair. Some time ago M was teaching architecture, he had told the students to draw where they came from. Suddenly he recognizes his building and the girl with the blue hair, she is one of his students! She had drawn their house and she had also added some Manhattan likely crowns on top of the ugly buildings across the street. She thought they needed it. I think it would be more fun too.

salmon filet
shallots
dill
olive oil
vinegar
lime
pepper
tiny amount of chili

cold sauce
mayonnaise
sourcream
dill

feta
potatoes
arugola

Marinate the salmon for half an hour with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, chili, pepper, lime and the shallots. Bake it in the oven in a covered dish or foil for about 15 minutes at 350 F. Prepare the sauce by mixing one part mayonnaise and one part sour cream together. Add some chopped dill. Serve the salmon together with the mild sauce, boiled potatoes, feta and a simple arugola salad.

My Mothers Liver Sausage

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liver

A couple a weeks ago I was discussing sausages with our friend Russel. He had just bought a meat grinder and we where eating homemade venison burgers. Russel got very interested in my mother’s liver sausages that I talked warmly about. Liver has never been my favorite food and I don’t think I have eaten it since I was a child. Now I am looking forward to get a bite of Russel’s version of my mother’s recipe.

1.2 kg (2.6 lbs) liver
1.2 kg (2.6 lbs) fat (non smoked bacon or minced pork meat)
6 boiled potatoes
3 grated yellow onions
4 or more tablespoons salt
2 teaspoons allspice (kryddpeppar)
1 teaspoons white pepper
thin hog castings

Separately mince the liver and the fat twice. Continue by mincing the boiled potatoes and the grated onions. Mix all the minced parts together with salt, pepper and the allspice into a smooth mixture. It’s important that the ingredients are well mixed.
Fill the hog casting, but don’t fill the sausages too hard. Make the sausages the length and thickness you prefer and make a knot on both ends.

Grease a baking tin with butter. Place the sausages in the tin and prick them with a thin needle. Bake them until they are well done and are golden brown (about an hour) at 175° (347 F). Half way through you can turn the sausages. Serve with a glass of beer, home made mashed potatoes and beetroots.

Jansson’s Temptation

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This is a popular traditional dish in Sweden. Often people serve it as ‘night food’ at big parties, as no one should go home hungry. This dish is also common on a Swedish traditional Smörgårdsbord (smorgasbord).

8 big potatoes
1-2 yellow onions
one (or maybe two) small can of anchovy fillets
300 ml (1.2 cup) cream or half and half
a little salt (be careful as the anchovies can be very salty)
bread crumbs
butter

Peel the potatoes and cut them in thin strips. Slice the onion thinly. Saute the onion in a little butter until they soften. Layer the potatoes and the onions in a baking dish. Open the tins of anchovies and poor the juice over the potatoes. If you want the anchovies in smaller pieces cut them into halves and divide them over the potatoes. Pour half of the cream over. Sprinkle some bread crumbs and divide small lumps of butter over the dish. Bake in the oven at 225°C (440F) for about 45 min. Just before its finished baking poor over the rest of the cream.

In Sweden they serve it with beer and vodka. Children drink milk!