Kari's Scandinavian Food Blog

In Scandinavia, it's a common rite of Spring to go outside as the ground begins to thaw and to harvest the first fresh nettle leaves. Stinging nettles are so prized, in fact, that they've been actively cultivated in Sweden; at this time of year, they're readily available in Scandinavian grocery stores. Nutrient-rich in vitamin C, flavonoids, calcium, potassium, histamines, and serotonin, nettles provide winter-weary bodies with a burst of healthy chemicals.

Once harvested and prepared, they can be substituted, in the same proportions, in any cooked dish where you'd use fresh spinach: soups, stews, pasta dishes, frittatas (but don't add them to a fresh salad!). Try them in your own favorite spinach recipes or celebrate Spring by preparing Swedish Nettle Soup (Nässelsoppa).

Hint: If your family are cynics or slow to warm to new foods, let them think they're eating spinach. Otherwise they'll look at you like you're offering them pufferfish ...

Nettle image ©2012 Kari Diehl, licensed to About.com.

Like almost everyone else I know I was blown away (in a good way) by Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games series. Just when I thought that no young adult series would EVER replace Harry Potter in my affections, my kids handed me these stories (they'd already read them in school), and I literally read the entire series in a weekend. I think my favorite part was how Collins used the dandelion as Katniss' own private symbol of hope and rebirth. It made me start looking at my own very abundant harvest of dandelions with a new eye (a harvest so abundant that it's clear to all of the neighbors that pesticides and herbicides have NEVER been used at Chez Diehl). Here's a list of 6 of my favorite ways to use my new favorite backyard foragable - with recipes for Spring Dandelion-Potato Salad, Dandelion Honey, Dandelion Jelly, Smoked Salmon Quiche with Dandelion Buds, Dandelion Vinegar, and Pickled Dandelion Bud "Capers".

Potato starch, also known as "potato starch flour," is an almost magical ingredient when used to replace flour in recipes such as this gluten-free Norwegian Blotekake, or "Wet Cake." Because the potato starch readily absorbs and retains moisture, it produces a light cake so moist that you can literally hear a sponge-like "swoosh" as you cut through the cake prior to filling it with thick layers of strawberry cream.

That's better entertainment value than Rice Krispies!

Norwegian wet cake image & copy;2012 Kari Diehl, licensed to About.com.

Since April showers are often accompanied by bridal showers as brides prepare for June weddings, it's a great time to learn how to make Norway's hallmark cake, kransekake. Constructed in a tower of consecutively smaller rings of baked almond paste, kransekake is a festive (and gluten-free) centerpiece, particularly beautiful when decorated with ribbons and fresh Spring flowers.

Norwegian ring cake photo and text ©2012 Kari Diehl, licensed to About.com

One of the best things about living in the Pacific Northwest is that I almost always have access to fresh wild salmon - one of those foods that continually rank on "top ten superfood" lists. There's rarely a week that fishermen don't post signs around our marina announcing that they've got fresh-caught salmon for sale. Since nutritionists now encourage people to enjoy salmon at least twice a week as part of a healthy diet, my only challenge is in finding different ways to prepare it. Here's a list of a few of my favorite tried-and-true salmon recipes, including Smoked Salmon Quiche with Dandelion Buds and Smoked Salmon Cakes Benedict.

Salmon copy; 4/30/2012 Kari Diehl, licensed to About.com.

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Monday is Walpurgis Night! This is a very special event and a great way to experience local traditions like big bonfires and old folk songs, especially in Sweden. Walpurgis (in Swedish: Valborg) on April 30 is widely celebrated in Scandinavia and is a public holiday in Sweden.

On the same date, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden also celebrates his birthday, making this day an even bigger annual event. And the best thing about those late-night bonfires during Walpurgis Night? The event is followed by Labour Day (May Day) in Scandinavia, a public holiday, so no one has to get up early the following day.

Yet if you can't make it to Scandinavia this year, celebrate your own holiday at home by indulging in a few traditional Walpurgis Night / May Day treats. When bonfires light up the night skies across the Scandinavian peninsula, families and friends gather for the season's first picnics, enjoying dishes like gravlax, herring salad, and fresh strawberries. Finns welcome Spring on May 1st by frying up delicate, bird's-nest-shaped Fritters (Tippaleivät) and drinking lemony Spring Mead (Sima).

Co-written by Kari Diehl, Guide to Scandinavian Food & Terri Mapes, Guide to Scandinavia Travel.

With May Day soon approaching, it's time to make Sima, Finnish Spring Mead. Concocted from lemons, sugar, and yeast, this bubbly lemonade is fine to share with the kids if served as soon as the raisins float (within 5 to 8 days). Left to ferment longer, though, and it will become a light, lovely, but definitely "adults only" beverage. Skal (or in Finnish, Kippis)!

Sima image & copy; 2012 Kari Diehl, licensed to About.com.

This is a blog from a few years ago that I'm repeating here, in honor of my colleague, Kevin Weeks (Guide to Cooking for Two). Kevin passed away last week ... he was an inspiration on so many levels (for his outstanding work ethic, his beautiful food photography, his unparalleled dry wit, and his willingness to always share his cooking expertise and his love of food with others). Just as an example of the effect he had on people, here's how he inspired me to start some rather creative recipe experimentation:

"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!"

I wish with all my heart that Kevin would pop online tomorrow, a la Mark Twain, reporting that his death has been greatly exaggerated. But I know that's not going to happen. You will be missed, my friend.

Snowy Spice Girls photo and copy ©Kari Diehl, licensed to About.com.

Cloudberries truly are one of the treasures of the far North. These delicate, amber-colored berries are so highly prized among Scandinavian gatherers that families keep the location of patches secret to ensure that they have a steady supply of the tangy, jewel-like fruit. Although fresh cloudberries are as rare as hens' teeth to sample in the U.S. (you'll only find them in northern Minnesota, Maine, or select locations in Washington State), you can experience their very special flavor in the cloudberry jam imported by Scandinavian suppliers like Ingebretsen's.

Cloudberry copy; 3/30/2012 Kari Diehl, licensed to About.com.

When combined with leftover ham, lightly sauted onions, and -most importantly - Swedish hushållsost(farmer's cheese) in this kållåda casserole, humble cabbage achieves gourmet status - it's become the potluck / company dish of choice among our crowd ever since I developed this recipe. Whoever knew that we'd be tempted to take cabbage to community gatherings in lieu of a bucket of KFC?

Cabbage casserole image ©2012 Kari Diehl, licensed to About.com.