The smörgåsbord
The Scandinavian smörgåsbord is a mixture of hot and cold dishes, and the scale borders almost on a buffet. Serve it alongside traditional schnapps or aquavit – but if you prefer a lower ABV, a sancerre will stand up nicely to the range of flavours mingling happily on this board. A smörgåsbord would not be complete without traditional cheese varieties, such as brown Norwegian gjetost and jarlsberg.
SERVES 68 | PREP 40 MINS | NO COOK | EASY
CHEESE
300g jarlsberg
150g goat’s milk gouda
100g gjetost
FISH
10g salmon caviar or roe (optional)
50g sliced smoked salmon
2 pieces of cooked salmon fillet
ACCOMPANIMENTS
750g cooked new potatoes
3 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and halved 6 hard-boiled quail’s eggs, peeled and halved 130g pickled red cabbage
7 radishes, sliced
1 head of chicory, leaves separated gin-pickled cucumbers (see recipe below) 20g cornichons
1 lemon, sliced
30g rocket dill sprigs and capers, to garnish COTTAGE CHEESE DIP
1 spring onion, thinly sliced
1 heaped tbsp of chopped dill
200g cottage cheese
squeeze of lemon juice
BREAD AND CRACKERS
200g seeded crackers
4 slices of rye bread
1 To make the cottage cheese dip, mix the spring onion and dill with the cottage cheese and lemon juice, and season. Put the cottage cheese dip, pickled cabbage and salmon caviar or roe (if using) into separate bowls or ramekins. Slice the jarlsberg in half so that you have two wedges, then cut the gouda into triangles. Using a cheese plane, cut the gjetost into neat triangles. Lightly crush half of the cooked potatoes.
2 To assemble, grab the largest chopping board or platter you have and get creative. Using the full rainbow of colours and layering up the variety of flavours, build the platter, starting by putting the bowls or ramekins across the board, leaving plenty of room in between each one. Put the jarlsberg halves on the right of the board (arranging the board with it placed horizontally in front of you) and the gouda and gjetost triangles in separate piles or overlapping layers near the centre. Put the pickles, radishes, crispbread, rye bread and chicory around the edge of the board, and finish by adding the fish (flaking the cooked salmon), rocket, potatoes, lemon slices and halved eggs. Finally, fill the gaps with dill sprigs and sprinkle over some capers.
Drink pairings
Pairs well with schnapps, aquavit or sancerre.