Wednesday, July 02, 2008

A very typical Swedish plate in the summer

svensk-silltallrik

Here's a super-typical Swedish lunch or light dinner in the summertime. We have some boiled new potatoes, pickled spiced herring, sour cream, chopped red onion (or chives), crisp bread with butter (and preferrably a sharp cheese), and cured salmon (gravlax) with dill-mustard sauce.

Not something I enjoy all that much to tell you the truth, but it's nice once in a while. Once a year, at least!

10 comments:

glamah16 said...

I noticed potatoes were a big part of summer meals there. I agreee with you. Nice, but all the time can be boring( but maybe good for the weight then because of that).

Jessica said...

Potatoes are a big part of most meals, or used to be anyway before pasta took over.
I'll take everything on that plate but hold the herring.

Unknown said...

Sometimes simplicity is the best!
Those new potatoes are also good with a charcoal-grilled steak and a salad of fresh greens and tomatoes.

BC said...

My grandparents (Swedish) would go wild over that plate.

Nikki said...

Before I moved to Sweden from my home country of the U.S., if you had told me I would enjoy that meal, I would've said - You're NUTS! No WAY! Give me my burgers!

But after 18+ years here, I can honestly say that I LOVE that meal! (Well, as long as there's a bit of butter on the side for those taters.) :)

Greg said...

I would like this dish. I love all the flavors. I find it interesting, though, that you use preserved foods (pickled fish, gravlax) in the summer when fresh foods are available. Traditionally I think foods were preserved like this for the winter, no? Anyway, your plate looks very appetizing and fresh.

Anonymous said...

Very Very visually appealing…great presentation

Anne said...

Greg, nice thinking, but.. for some reason, no, cured fish like this is definitely summer food. It's not a very slow preparation though. (takes just a few days.) Fresh fish is generally not so big here - at least not on the east coast. Smoked fish is, but again, that's not the same.

Jessica said...

Anne and Greg: in defence of the cured fish. It _is_ a big part of the christmas table though as well. I simply adore gravlax. I can have tons of it if prepared right from a nice salmon and cut perfectly right.

Anonymous said...

Skojar du med mig? Gravad lax med hovmästarsås är det godaste i det svenska köket! Fina bilder och det såg riktigt gott ut