Among the benefits of avoiding carbs (yes, the dreaded Atkins) are such discoveries as this eggplant recipe from the New York Times last week. Victoria loves eggplant in all forms discovered to date, so I know it would be a winner. Eggplant, La Tavernetta Style August 29, 2007Time: About 30 minutes 2 pounds eggplant of […]
Seems like it must be time to post a recipe, so let’s start with the it-drink of the day, the tall drink of water from Habana, the much-loved, often poorly-made Mojito. I don’t know if the claim is valid, but this one claims to be the ur-recipe, “the one Hemingway himself enjoyed at the Mojito’s […]
Magdalena brought an Apfelstrudel that was out of this world–gorgeous, with an amazing aroma, and unbelievably delicate. I do believe it might have been the most popular item served (after the lutefisk, of course). Magdalena graciously agreed to share her family recipe with us. So here it is, in her words. I don’t know how […]
Getting back to the Smørgåsbord blogging, at long last! We’re no longer working in chronological order, here, but I want to get these guest recipes (this post and the next, lucky step 13) up soon. This recipe, graciously provided by the aforementioned Katja, is a beautiful, beige salad. You wouldn’t think it would be attractive, […]
We’ll be serving that roasted goose on a bed of Rotkohl, which is the red, sweet, spicy version of Sauerkraut that many people have never had the pleasure of tasting–yet. Rotkohl is fabulous stuff. We’re making a double version of Frl. Nadia’s recipe: 1 red cabbage. cored and shredded fine 1 T honey 1 C […]
Gløgg is a Norwegian mulled wine. We make a gigantic 5 gallon cauldron of it, and we invite people to bring cheap red wine to dump into the cauldron. No, really–cheap. Two Buck Chuck is too good. You want the box of Franzia or Almaden. This is your opportunity to get rid of the weird […]
On Wednesday we baked pretzels. I’ve made homemade pretzels before, so you wouldn’t think this would be particularly challenging, but I managed to make it really complicated somehow. First, a disclaimer. In the real world, you should make pretzels approximately 20 seconds before you plan to serve them. Within a few days, they’re excellent, but […]
The baking began at Jane’s place in Sausalito. On Monday night Jane preparedthe pepparkakor dough, recipe courtesy of our friend Nilos: GAMMALDAGS PEPPARKAKOR sifted flour 3 1/2 c.ginger 1 1/2 t.cinnamon 1 1/2 t.cloves 1 t.cardamom* 1/4 t.butter 1/2 c.sugar 3/4 c.egg 1molasses 3/4 c.orange zest 2 t. Sift together flour and spices and set […]
Graved laks (aka gravlaks) is ridiculously easy, but few people seem to realize this, so it always gets big oohs and ahhs at the smørgåsbord. The keys are to buy really good salmon (wild, of course) and start at least 5 days in advance. We make a two-fillet batch for the smørgåsbord. Fresh salmon (like […]
Next we drove back to Oakland and visited Nordic House, where we picked up a frozen lutefisk, several kinds of gjetost, our house cheese and cat’s namesake, some rullepolse, several varieties of syld (herring), and whatnot. Gjetost is a sweet brown cheese made from cow and/or goat milk and whey that is simmered for hours […]