Rachel Khoo fell in love with Sweden when she fell in love with her future husband. Now she creates delicious dishes inspired by her adopted home in her Swedish kitchen.
My love affair with Sweden was sparked, quite literally, by love. It was when I met my future husband eight years ago that I began to discover what would soon become my adopted home country.
Since then I have come to know the country and its culture over many coffees and cinnamon buns – first of all sitting in a bakery dotted along one of the many cobbled streets of Stockholm, and more lately in my own little Swedish kitchen.
Here, a few of my favourite recipes.
While the cod is cooking, trim and peel the asparagus. Trim the spring onions, and discard the green tops. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil, and add the asparagus and spring onions. Cook over a medium heat for five minutes, or until the asparagus is al dente (insert a sharp knife into the base of the asparagus; if it slides through with little resistance, it’s ready). Remove with a slotted spoon and toss in a bowl with a knob of butter, a pinch of pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice while still warm.
Melt the rest of the butter in a medium-sized saucepan. Stir in the flour until it forms a lump and beat hard. Gradually whisk in the milk, cream and lemon zest. Bring to the boil and cook for one minute before taking off the heat and stirring in a generous amount of salt and white pepper. Check the seasoning and adjust to taste. Chop the parsley leaves and stir most of them in, then add the 2 tablespoons of grated horseradish and the mashed eggs.
Divide the asparagus and spring onions between four plates, place a piece of cod on top and pour over a generous ladle or two of the smashed egg sauce. Sprinkle over some freshly grated horseradish and the rest of the parsley, and serve with some new potatoes, if you like.
Top tip: Trim about 2cm from the woody end of the asparagus, then lay the spears flat on a board and peel the stems with a vegetable peeler.
These tennis ball-sized potato dumplings are the Bjorn Borg of the dumpling world. They are oldschool champions, and can be boiled or fried, filled or unfilled (and differ in other ways, depending on which regional variety you make: Smalandska dumplings sink when they are initially boiled and rise to the top when they are finished, whereas those from Oland, an island off the east coast of Sweden, do the opposite). Peas aren’t usually added, but I like the way they give the otherwise grey-looking dumpling a lovely green pop. I’ve skipped the filling in this recipe, instead piling them high with a salty, sweet and spicy topping.
For the dumplings:
❚ 300g potatoes
❚ 300g frozen peas
❚ Sea salt
❚ 2 medium eggs
❚ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
❚ 300-350g potato flour
For the topping:
❚ A knob of butter
❚ 1 teaspoon ground allspice
❚ 1 teaspoon white pepper
❚ 250g smoked streaky bacon, finely chopped
❚ 2 onions, peeled and finely chopped
❚ A handful of chopped fresh chives
❚ Sugared lingonberries or lingonberry jam
Fill a large saucepan with cold, salted water and peel the potatoes. Put the potatoes in the pan, bring