Monday November 2, 2009
The ladies of our local Daughters of Norway chapter, Nellie Gerdrum Lodge #41, are all facing a busy week as they prepare for their tenth annual Scandinavian Fair, a highly attended holiday event that includes a Scandinavian Bakery, a café that serves traditional favorites like homemade pea soup and lefse, and Nordic crafts offered for sale by talented artisans.
My contribution last year was a batch of Norwegian Goro - delicately imprinted cookies that are prepared on a special cookie iron, flavored with cardamom, and have a texture that's a unique cross between a cookie, a cracker, and a waffle. Like most Scandinavian cookies, Goro can be baked ahead in quantity and frozen, making it easy to include them as part of the seven-item cookie plate that is traditional in Norwegian and Norwegian-American households during the holiday season.
I haven't decided yet what I'll be baking this year ... this week I'll feature a few of the delicious possibilities here.
If you're in the Pacific Northwest this Saturday, November 7th, drive on up to the Hampton Inn's Fox Hall in Bellingham, WA and check out the festivities!
Goro image ©2009 Kari Diehl, licensed to About.com.
Sunday October 25, 2009
Almost without exception, my favorite recipes aren't the ones that I find within high-gloss, "coffee table" cookbooks (much as I love paging through these!). The best recipes come from the self-published cookbooks that community groups compile to support their organizations - often, in the case of Scandinavian-American groups, cookbooks that are rich in recipes handed down through generations.
I was lucky enough to get permission from Sylvia Hampson, current president of the Nellie Gerdrum chapter of the Daughters of Norway, to share her recipe for Upside-Down Lingonberry muffins with you. Crowned with a layer of fresh or frozen lingonberries, these muffins are as beautiful as they are tasty (you can substitute cranberries or even blueberries if you can't find lingonberries).
Sylvia's recipe has also been featured in A Lingonberry Cookbook, self-published by the Bellingham Damekor (Norwegian Women's Chorus) - the only cookbook I've ever found dedicated solely to lingonberry recipes. I'm hoping that the Damekor will still have a few copies on sale at Nellie Gerdrum's 10th Annual Scandinavian Fair, to be held on Saturday, November 7th at the Hampton Inn in Bellingham, WA. Attached to a jar of homemade lingonberry preserves, they'll make great gifts for the fine cooks in my family!
Upside-Down Lingonberry Muffins photo & text ©Kari Diehl, licensed to About.com.
Do you have a self-published cookbook or upcoming Scandinavian community event that you'd like to see celebrated at Scandinavian Food at About.com? If so, send me the details, along with a great representative recipe and / or photos, and I may well be able to highlight it here.
Friday October 16, 2009
Happy National Bread Day! Today is a good excuse (not that I need one) to charge up my KitchenAid mixer, proof some yeast, and enjoy both the process and the results of making home-made bread. The only challenge? Which kind to make!
A few favorites that are in contention:
National Bread Day image ©2008 Kari Diehl, licensed to About.com.
Tuesday October 13, 2009
It's funny where inspiration for new recipe ideas can come from.
Last week, as we mourned the loss of Gourmet magazine, I told my pal Kevin that the only thing worse than losing this classic would be losing National Geographic.
"Yep," he said, "If Gourmet had featured articles like NG's long-ago spread with the naked Scandinavian girls in a sauna surrounded by snow, they'd still be in circulation."
That's when I knew it was time to tweak a traditional Scandinavian dessert called "Veiled Country Lass." Instead of using applesauce, these Snowy Spice Girls are made even more delectable when one uses homemade apple butter.
This one's for you, Kevin. Thanks for the inspiration!
Snowy Spice Girls photo and copy ©Kari Diehl, licensed to About.com.
