Klimp

It's getting to be a bit more chilly in my part of the world. That means that it is stew weather. Stew is such a boring thing to eat though, you might say. Want to add a new piece of flair to your stew to make it unique and better than most other stews that the neighbors are eating, unless your neighbors are Swedes that is. Today's recipe is for Klimp. What is Klimp? That sounds gross, you might say. Well, Klimp is nothing more than dumplings made to be put into stew. It's a Swedish recipe and quite tasty. So, here you go.

Ingredients

• 1 egg beaten
• 1 1/2 cups of milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of sugar
• 1 3/4 cup of whole wheat flour

Directions

• In a bowl whisk the egg, milk, and sugar.
• Gradually add in the flour.
• Mix until smooth.
• Drop the mixutre by spoonfulls into the boiling stew.
• They are finished when they float to the surface

That was easy. It's not really a hard recipe and it does not take that long to make. Hope you enjoy this! Until next time!

Kesäkeitto

Wow, it seems that this blog is full of Finnish recipes. You can really tell what country's food I really love. Well, I love Finland in general, but their food is some of my favorite ever. :D So, today I am going to give you this early summer, late spring recipe. Kesäkeitto is a vegetable soup that you can add shrimp to for special occasions or if you just like shrimp in your soup. It is pretty tasty. So, here you go.


Ingredients

• 6 small potatoes
• 1 teaspoon of sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
• 6 small onions cut in thin rounds
• 3 carrots cut into thin rounds
• 3/4 cup of peas
• 4 small radishes chunked
• 3/4 cup of green beans
• 1 small head of cauliflower 
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 cup of milk
• 1/4 cup of heavy cream
• Optional 1/2 pound of medium sized cooked shrimp

Directions

• Place all the vegetables into a large pot and fill with water and the salt. Boil uncovered until the vegetables tender
• Remove from the pan from heat and strain water into a bowl and set aside  with vegetables in a separate bowl 
• In the pan, melt the butter
• Remove from heat and stir in the flour, slowly pouring in the vegetable stock beating vigorously with a whisk
• Beat in the milk
• In a small bowl, combine the egg yolk and cream
• Whisk in 1 cup of the hot soup, a couple tablespoons at a time
• Slowly whisk the warm egg yolk mixture into the soup
• Add the vegetables back and bring to a simmer
• Add shrimp if you want to and simmer uncovered until shrimp and vegetables are heated through
• Add pepper

There you have it. It is pretty tasty even though it takes a bit of effort to make. It is definitely not something you can just whip up in a few minutes. Personally, I think it tastes better if it has been simmering on supper low heat all day when it is really cold outside. Of course then it sort of defeats the purpose of it being made with fresh vegetables. Hope you all enjoy this recipe! I will try to add more non-Finnish food recipes in.  

Aebleskiver

Ahh, the Danes. They make great food, or at least pastries. Aebleskiver is a pastry or sorts, but is more of a pancake. They are sort of spicy, not in a hot spicy way, rather a they have a variety of spices in them way. They are pretty tasty and you can add a filling or dip them in a jam or syrup or whatever you want to dip them in. So, on with the recipe! Also, it should be noted that an Aebleskiver pan is needed to make them round. They are not too expensive and some stores sell them as "pancake puff pans". Here are a few places you can buy them: Amazon, Target, Food Network, andKitchen Kapers.

Ingredients

• 1 cup of flour
• 2 tablespoons of sugar, vanilla sugar is prefered, but not required
• 2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• A dash of ground nutmeg
• A dash of ground cloves
• 1 egg, beaten until well mixed
• 3/4 of a cup of milk, soy milk works well too
• 2 tablespoons of melted unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Directions

• Stir the flour, sugar, baking powder, and dry spices in a large bowl
• Mix in the egg, milk, butter, and vanilla until well mixed
• Heat an aebleskier pan over medium heat
• Prepare with cooking spray 
• Pour batter into each cup until about 2/3 full, make sure you remember which one you poured first (that is very important)
• Cook for 3-4 minutes, or until golden.
• Use a skewer to lift one edge and turn it about 1/4 of the way so that the uncooked batter runs out to cook
• Repeat until all sides are golden

How to Fill Aebleskiver

You do not have to fill the Aebleskiver, but it does taste better if you do. There are several ways to do this, I will tell you the two easiest ways that I know. 

The first the one that many are most comfortable with; filling it after they are done. For this you will need a pastry bag or a pastry filler. Put your filling into the bag or filler and stick it into the pancake and fill. Tada! Filled pancake. 

The second is the slightly harder and works best with dense fillings that clump together and does not melt quickly such as Nutella or fruit preserves. For this you will only need to fill the mold 1/3 of the way full of batter. After that you place your filling in the middle so that you cook the pancake around it. 

There you have it. A good Danish recipe, one of my friends said they wanted me post one. Also, these taste good rolled in powdered sugar and if you use a pastry bag to fill the Aebleskiver the sugar clumps around the hole and seals it for you. Isn't that fun? I hope you enjoy making these and like the way they taste!

Swedish Pancakes

Well, one of my friends was asking me what my favorite food was the other day. Now for some this would be an easy question to answer, for me, not so much. However, I finally settled on Swedish Pancakes after much debate over various Scandinavian dishes. Since she has never had actual Swedish Pancakes, no those things they serve at IHOP don't count, I gave her my recipe that I acquired, from my part Swedish boyfriend who is from that part of the world, and she found them to be the best things in the world. So, I'm sharing it with you all. Here you go.


Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 1 cup of flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• 1 cup of milk (If you use soy milk, use the unsweetened kind or only use 1 tablespoon of sugar)
• 1 cup of milk
• 3 tablespoons of sour cream
• Olive oil

 Directions

• In a large bowl, beat the eggs until thick and smooth
• In a separate bowl mix sifted flour, salt and sugar
• Add the flour mixture and milk to the eggs incrementally
• Whisk in sour cream
• Heat small skillet and place a small amount of olive oil in the bottom
• Pour enough batter into the skillet to just cover the bottom
• Brown on one side
• Flip the pancake over when bubbles appear on the surface and the edges start to dry
• Brown on other side
• Repeat with the rest of the batter

Traditionally, these pancakes are eaten rolled up with lingonsvlt, lingonberry jam. Lingonsylt is kind of hard to find in America unless you live in really big cities or want to spend a pretty penny getting it off of here. Personally, I get my lingonsvlt from IKEA in their Swedish Food Market. It's only $2.99 a jar plus tax which really isn't that bad for imported food. However, some, like myself, don't have and IKEA nearby and the closest one is five hours away so if you go stock up! If you must eat them like Americans, they taste pretty okay with maple syrup imported from Canada. 

Enjoy!

Lihapyorykoita

For those of you who have no idea what Lihapyorykoita is or are not Finnish then let me explain what this is. Lihapyorykoita are Finnish meatballs. They sort of taste like Swedish meatballs, for something to compare them to that most Americans have had. Personally, I prefer Lihapyorykoita because they have a richer taste to them. If you love Swedish meatballs or just want to try some good Finnish food then this is the recipe for you! 

Ingredients for the Meatballs

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 cup plain bread crumbs
• 1 leek, minced
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/4 cup butter
•  
• Ingredients for the Sauce
• 
  
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup whipping cream

Directions

• Mix the beef, bread crumbs, leek, egg, cream, salt, and allspice in a bowl until evenly mixed
• Roll the mixture into spheres about the size of a golf ball
• Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook about half the meatballs in the butter until evenly browned on all sides which should be about 5 to 7 minutes
• Remove to a plate and repeat with the remaining meatballs, keeping the liquid in the skillet when finished to make the sauce with
• Sift the flour into the skillet with the drippings and cook until brown or about 2 to 3 minutes
• Slowly stream the milk into the skillet while whisking vigorously or it will clump
• Pour the cream into the mixture and stir until smooth
• Return all the meatballs to the skillet
• Stir to coat the meatballs with the sauce
• Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook until the meatballs are cooked through which should take 15 to 20 minutes

There you go! It should take between an hour to an hour and a half to make depending on how fast you can make the meatballs. It is a 4 person serving so if you need to cut it in half or quarter it, it shouldn't be too hard.

Enjoy!