Scandinavian treats herald arrival of spring

Menu of traditional comfort foods heralds the arrival of spring, Laura Brehaut writes.

“Easter has to be yellow,” Copenhagen-based chef and food writer Trine Hahnemann says with a laugh.

The crowning touch on her typical Easter lunch is a lemon mousse, based on a Danish classic that her husband grew up with. Light, creamy and fresh, it’s the perfect match with the early spring holiday in both colour and flavour.

In Denmark, Easter is a five-daylong observance. Hahnemann says that although it’s still a significant holiday today, it’s less about religious traditions and more about having family over to share a meal.

Aquavit (a flavoured Scandinavian spirit) is a must, and along with the beer and herring, her family tradition is roast lamb accompanied by various salads and followed by the citrus mousse.

As in Canada, spring produce is eagerly awaited. After a long, dark winter, the appearance of vegetables such as asparagus and new potatoes signifies the season of renewal.

Embracing freshness in your cooking is a natural way to celebrate the season.

“We very much live with the light here in Scandinavia. So when spring comes and you see the light changes and you have longer days, you feel like eating differently,” she says.

“And that’s when the radishes, the asparagus, the peas, different (leaf vegetables), all these things come … For me, (eating with the seasons) is a real celebration of life.”

In her 10th cookbook, Scandinavian Comfort Food, Hahnemann makes abundant use of herbs (tarragon, chervil, dill) and seasonal vegetables (rhubarb, peas, summer cabbage).

Hahnemann shares the way that she eats and cooks in the book’s more than 130 recipes, with an emphasis on the importance of food culture — both new customs and old.

There’s a reassuring repetition in rituals such as Easter lunch, she says.

Sharing holiday meals, baking a loaf of bread on the weekend, these are simple pleasures that make life worthwhile, she adds.

“Making time to cook meals for yourself and the people you love — family or friends — is quality of life. For me, it’s a very universal thing because I believe everybody has a right to a good life,” Hahnemann says.

“And I actually think you can achieve it through food because that’s something we all have in common. We all have to eat.”

Recipes excerpted from Scandinavian Comfort Food by Trine Hahnemann (Quadrille Publishing/ Chronicle Books, 2016).