A Swedish crayfish party #2

In the autumn it is time for crayfish parties all over Sweden. We had excellent timing this year and had already planned an autumn journey to Sweden to attend a wedding and visit friends and family. If you don’t get a hold of fresh crayfish you can always but frozen at IKEA all over the world.

This is a crayfish party according to the Schmidts!

Crayfish liquor (enough for 4 kg crayfish)

• 2 Onions, cut in large pieces
• 4 l Water
• 1 l Beer, lager
• 1 dl Salt
• 2 tbsp Sugar
• 10-15 heads of Dill

Blend all the ingredients together, except for the heads of dill. Make sure that the salt and the sugar dissolve. Then put the crayfish and the heads of dill in layers and pour the fluid over. Let draw for at least an hour.

Homemade Västerbotten cheese pie with chanterelle

You need to eat a lot of crayfish to get full. All snaps make it hard to survive the evening without having something satisfying. This delicious pie help you overcome the evening.

Pie pastry

• 3,5 dl Wheat flour
• 150 g Butter
• 2 tbsp Water
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt

Pie filling

• 4 Egg yolks
• 2 dl Milk
• 2 dl Cream
• 300 g Västerbotten cheese, grated
• 200 g Chanterelle
• 1 small Onion, chopped
• Butter
• Salt
• Pepper
• Nutmeg

Start with the pastry, mix butter and flour together. Use an electric mixer if you have one. Add water and salt. Press out the pastry in a pie dish and let it rest in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

In the meantime, fry the chanterelle and the onion in butter. Whisk the egg yolks, milk, cream and the spices together, grate the cheese. Fill your pie dish with the chanterelle and onion, pour over the milk mixture and finally sprinkle the cheese on top.

Bake in oven at 200 degrees Celsius, for 35-40 minutes.

Lysholms Linie Aquavit

Besides beer we also have a snaps or two to our crayfish. A very popular snaps is the Norwegian Linie Aquavit. 1805 the Norwegians sent a ship with snaps, stored in barrels, to Australia. Unfortunately the company that were receiving the snaps faced bankruptcy and the snaps were sent back to Norway. When it returned the Norwegians thought that the snaps tasted even better than before and from 1842 the Lysholms Linie Aquavit always passes the equator (the line) in a ships before it is filled into bottles and sold.

Music: The crayfish party were accompanied by our own horse and raucous voices, singing Swedish snappsvisor (snaps songs).

We’re making meatballs

Meatballs with mashed potatoes, cream sauce, pressed and pickled cucumber and lingonberry jam was served to us by our grandmothers and mothers. And I guess it will always be a favorite. Forget the ones from IKEA. This is the real thing!

Meatballs

• 500 g minced Beef
• 2 Egg
• 1 tbsp Mustard
• 1 bread Roll, only the content (or other fresh white bread)
• 0,5-1 decilitre Milk or Cream
• 1 Onion, finely chopped
• 5-6 Cloves
• 5-6 Pimentos
• Salt
• Black pepper

Blend everything together, crush the pimento and the clove in a mortar, let the mixture draw for a few minutes. Form the meatballs with wet hands and fry them in a pan with butter.

Mashed potatoes

• 8-10 Potatoes
• 1 decilitre Yoghurt
• 1-2 decilitre Milk
• a knob of Butter
• Nutmeg
• Salt
• Black pepper

Boil the potatoes, when they’re done pull out the water and mash the potatoes. Use an electric mixer, add a knob of butter, nutmeg and yoghurt and mix. Gradually add the milk until you get preferred consistency. Spice it with salt and black pepper.

Pressed and pickled cucumber

• 1 Cucumber
• 1-2 teaspoons Salt
• 1 decilitre Water
• 2 tbsp Sugar
• 2 tbsp Vinegar essence
• Parsley

Slice the cucumber thinly, put it in a bowl with the salt. Put a lid (or a plate) on top of the cucumbers and add a weight to press it down. Leave it for 30 minutes. Blend water, sugar and vinegar essence.

Pour out the water from the pressed cucumber and put the cucumber in a glass jar, add chopped parsley and pour the fluid into the jar. Leave it in the fridge for a couple of hours before you eat it.

Brown sauce

• Cream
• Beef broth
• Soy sauce
• Sauce thickener
• Salt
• Black pepper

Make the sauce in the pan where you fried the meatballs without washing it in between. Add the ingredients depending of your own taste, you can of course exchange the cream for milk. Stir everything until you have a nice consistency and a tasty sauce.

The lingonberry jam is bought in Sweden and not homemade.

Music: CEO – the swede Eric Berglund – and his latest record White Magic.