blue artichoke

Norwegian food involves a lot of fish because Norway has a long coastline. I spent three weeks in Norway and ate not a single fish. I did try a bit of whale, which is technically a mammal that lives in the ocean. It looks like beef and tastes fishy, a incongruous combination that grossed me out. Many of our meals were buffets or smorgasbords, making it easy for me to bypass all fruits of the sea. I ate a lot of sandwiches with various sausages (reindeer sausage, anyone?) and cheeses, roasted meats and meatballs. What we usually call Swedish meatballs are actually Norwegian meatballs; Swedish meatballs include more spices (typically allspice, nutmeg, cloves and ginger), brown sugar and mashed potatoes. Both are served with gravy.

Norwegian Meatballs (Kjøttkaker)

Munsen, Sylvia. Cooking the Norwegian Way. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1982.

When making the gravy, don't be surprised if the roux (flour + butter mixture) seizes when you add the first little bit of water, just keep stirring and it will smooth out. Though the recipe says to stir with a fork, if you're using a nonstick skillet, use a wooden or plastic spoon to avoid scratching the nonstick coating. In hindsight, I should have halved the recipe, but I was so excited to be making Norwegian food that I made the whole recipe. We'll be eating meatballs for months! I browned the meatballs in batches; the meat mixture was sort of soft, so the balls were actually little pucks. After browning, I transferred them to a 13x9" dish that I covered with foil before baking. Don't worry if the gravy seems scant; while baking, the meatballs will give off juices that will mix with the gravy. You'll have plenty. These are really good, but I must admit that as much as I'd love my favorite meatballs to be Norwegian, they aren't spectacular. I'd serve them to company, and I'll enjoy the leftovers, but I think I probably could find a better meatball recipe.

4 slices white bread
¾ c. hot milk
2# ground beef
½# ground pork
2 eggs, beaten
¼ t. nutmeg
¼ t. pepper
1/8 t. allspice
½ c. chopped onion
2 t. salt
2 t. shortening

Soak bread in hot milk until milk is absorbed.

Combine all in a large bowl and mix thoroughly by hand. Shape into small balls 1” in diameter (~ heaping tablespoon).

In a skillet, brown meatballs in 2t. hot shortening. Place in a covered baking dish. Pour off fat but save drippings for gravy.

Norwegian gravy:
2 T. butter
2 T. flour
1 beef bouillon cube
1 ¼ c. boiling water

Preheat oven to 325.

Melt butter in skillet with dripping from meatballs. Stir in flour with a fork. Add bouillon cube dissolved in 1-¼ c. boiling water. Add a little at first, stirring with a fork to incorporate. Then add the rest a little at a time, stirring constantly to keep gravy smooth.

Pour over meatballs and bake 30 minutes in the covered baking dish.

Serves 10.

As weird as it sounds, one of the dishes my mom and I raved about in Norway was cabbage with caraway. Who goes nuts over cabbage? You will, when you try this recipe.

Sweet-Sour Red Cabbage (Rödkål)

The Scandinavian Cookbook, from the Culinary Arts Institute, Chicago, 1956.

I used my 3-qt saucepan and it was just big enough to hold everything, but the boiling water splattered over the stove top, creating a lovely purple Jackson Pollock-esque design that I had to clean up. Next time, I'll use my Dutch oven, or a smaller head of cabbage. The caraway seeds make the house smell like baking rye bread while this cooks. It's really an easy recipe. Cabbage is really good for you and this is a tasty way to eat more. This makes a lot, so be prepared for many nights of red cabbage, or cut the recipe in half if you aren't serving a crowd. Gentleman Caller gave it rave reviews, rating it higher than the meatballs and even the Norwegian pancakes we had for dessert. Fun fact: red cabbage turns blue when cooked, unless vinegar or something acidic is added. Cabbage juice is a homemade pH indicator, turning red in acid and blue in basic solutions. Neat!

Set out a heavy 3-qt. saucepan.

Remove and discard wilted outer leaves from
1 head (~2#) red cabbage
Rinse, cut into quarters, discarding core, and coarsely shred (~2 qts., shredded). Put cabbage into the saucepan and add
Boiling salted water to cover (1t. salt per quart of water)
1/3 – ½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 T. caraway seed
Cook 8-12 minutes, or unitl cabbage is just tender. Remove from heat and drain.

Add to cabbage
½ c. vinegar (I used cider vinegar)
¼ c. butter
Toss together lightly to mix.

Serve immediately.

Serves 6.

For dessert, we had waffler, a Norwegian pancake made on a special waffle iron. These were what my mom remembered from her last trip to Norway with my grandmother. She was so looking forward to eating pancakes all across Norway, but the only place we found them was at the deli on the mail boat fjord cruise. These are thin, slightly spicy pancakes in the shape of a flower (with five heart-shaped "petals"), covered with butter and lingonberry jam. The only souvenir I wanted from Norway was a waffler iron, but couldn't get one that matched our outlets and power system. I guess I lamented loudly enough; some of my cousins found an Americanized waffler iron at a Scandinavian store in Minnesota and sent it to me as a wedding gift. As excited as I was to receive it, it took me almost two years to put it to use. I am ashamed. It's small and cute, and has a very Norwegian-sounding chirp to alert me that my waffler is done. Now that I've broken it in, I hope to have many waffler nights. It makes only one at a time, so a fun game is to see how much I can accomplish in the 90 seconds it takes for each one to cook. I vacuumed and dusted the living room, put away clean dishes and wrote yesterday's blog entry, all while half-watching an episode of Clean Sweep. Not bad!

Norwegian Waffles (Hjemlengsel)

Notably Norwegian

You could make these in a regular waffle iron, but cooking times will vary.

2 eggs
¼ c. sugar
1-½ c. flour
1 ½ t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
½ t. salt
¼ t. ground cardamom
2 c. buttermilk
2 T. melted butter

Beat eggs and sugar until light and creamy.

Mix next 5; add sugar mixture alternately with buttermilk. Add butter. Cook waffles in waffler. These waffles are soft in texture. Serve cold with butter, lingonberry or fruit preserves.

Serves 8-10.

Getting to Know All About You: What's your favorite vacation food?