Swedish Meatball Nachos w Lefse.

 Mom did not cook modern Scandinavian food. She was born in 1911. Her Dad arrived in Minnesota in 1882 when he was 2 years old. 35 years later his daughter, my Mom spoke only Swedish when she attended 1st grade.
       Her Swedish meatballs were adequate. We liked them. We never would have thought to eat them on top of fried lefse with cream cheese and lingonberries, as adapted Scandinavian nachos. Garnished with fresh chives or green onions .Lingonberries  are really just tiny cranberries.
       The tart and sweet berry sauce,  soft sweet cream cheese and savory Swedish meatballs over crisp fried lefse is a perfect balance of taste, texture and flavor.
       I don't know if it is modern, but it is really good. A classic re combination of traditional ingredients.                                                                                                                                                                                             

 Paprika Schnitzel 

              

 

                    With  braised cabbage and red potatoes The meat in this picture is pork loin slices  pounded thin with a meat hammer or the back side of a French knife. Tenderizing. Season with salt and pepper . Dredge them in flour and pan fry in med hot oil till bronze on each side. A couple of minutes per side.. Add to paprika gravy and simmer 20 minutes. You can use boneless chicken breasts or pheasant or grouse or even venison chops.  Pound them even and thin.                                                                                                                                                         



Paprika Gravy

 

 

                      1 cup chopped onions

                      1 cup chopped bacon or sausage of choice\

                      3 tblsp oil if you are using already cooked or cured sausage

                      2 1/2 cups chicken broth - 1 bouillon cube per cup of water

                      1/2 cup red wine

                      2 cloves garlic minced

                      3 tblsp paprika

                      1 tsp brown sugar

                      2 tblsp flour

                      2 bayleaf

                      sour cream as preferred or yoghurt to stir in to serve or as a garnish on top 

 

Method:

                   1. Cook onions over medium low heat in oil until translucent and add chopped sausage and garlic. Get hot and add paprika and brown sugar. Stir and simmer a couple of minutes till it smells sweet and smokey and deep and rich. Low heat . You do not want to burn the paprika, as it will then be bitter.  Take your time  with the onions. Have a glass of wine, a smoke outdoors or a chat with your 16 yr old daughter. Walk to the mailbox with Woody your dog and back.

                   2. Add flour, stir to moisten as to make a roux ( oil and flour mixture, cooked), cook a minute, add red wine, stir till hot, add chicken broth and bayleafs, stirring till even and smooth.

                   3.Add cooked meat cutlets to the paprika gravy and simmer till mouth tender / Add more broth or water as necessary.to maintain a medium smooth  consistency. - 20 minutes or so.  Stir in sour cream or yoghurt or serve on the side.

                    4. Serve with boiled red potatoes and braised cabbage with gravy for all.

                    5.Beer or red wine of choice. Or an apple juice spritzer for the kids and those who don't drink

 

Note: If you are using bacon,  put it in with the onion and don't use additional oil. Be sure to cook slow. Add paprika and other ingredients per recipe when the bacon is half  done and the onions are soft.  

 

 

This is good. A Recipe that I got from the Black Forest Inn in Mpls , Mn  from back in the 70's when I worked there. Adapted.

                    

 

 

                      

  

            

 

                                   

 

 



 

 

Antlers And The Meat That Accompanies Them.

                   An unusually wide whitetail rack that I just acquired at a family auction of a  10pt buck( photo does not show all the tines) via my great Uncle Otto or his son Clifford from Gowan, MN, about 7 mi towards Duluth from Floodwood,  shot likely  pre 1960's back to the 30's.
                   I never ate a piece of venison in that rural backwoods home that was either tough or wild tasting. 40 plus years later, I may have finally unlocked the secret . It is a buttermilk and salt marinade, a hydroponic solution that removes the wild taste, tenderizes and adds juiciness to the meat.
                                                                 Buttermilk Marinade

1 qt buttermilk- or 1 quart whole milk plus 2 tblsp vinegar
1/4 cup salt
 4 tablespoons sugar or molasses

Marinate venison for 30 minutes to 24 hrs according to the size of the cut of meat, the largest requiring the longest.

               After you have marinated it appropriately, cook your cut of venison in your favorite recipe. I think you and yours' will notice a large difference. Venison does not need to be an acquired taste.
Or try some recipes that I will be posting during this hunting season.

                    

Macaroni and Cheese w/ Garden Tomatoes and Fresh Basil

             Make your favorite macaroni and cheese recipe and add fresh garden tomatoes, basil and parmesan cheese. A seasonal treatment of a year round favorite.

Mixed Outdoor Grill

      What's better than a mixed outdoor grill of sausages, shrimp, chicken breasts,and  steak
 and potatoes? The late light on the lake is pink and lavender to the east and the loons are singing. The occasional hoot of an owl. The hum of mosquitos.  Family, friends, good food and a cocktail or more. Distant thunder.

Salmon Cream Cheese Spread with Fresh Herbs

             Salmon cream cheese spread on saltine crackers topped with apricot/pineapple jam. Use already cooked or smoked salmon.

Ingredients:
             1 pkg cream cheese, room temperature
             1 cup finger flaked salmon - or chopped 1 /2 inch
             1 /2 cup milk to thin cream cheese
             1 clove minced garlic or 1 tsp garlic powder( granulated)
             1 tblsp chopped fresh chives
             1 tblsp chopped fresh dill or tarragon
             hot pepper of choice to taste - powder, dried or fresh
             juice of 1 /2 lemon

Method:
             Mash cream cheese and milk with a spoon  starting with a quarter cup of the milk until it is soft and creamy.
             Add garlic ,herbs, hot pepper and lemon juice and mash.
             Fold in salmon.

Dollop onto your favorite cracker and top with apricot/pineapple jam. Or orange marmalade. Or apricot jam. You could top the jam with yellow or Dijon mustard, too.
              


            

Chili with Eggs

                                    Make a chili with ground pork, onions, sweet and hot peppers, tomatoes, garlic, cumin and cilantro. Serve it over toast with an over easy egg on top.

Salmon Cakes

           In the unlikely event that you have leftover grilled salmon AND mashed potatoes, you can make salmon cakes .Of course you can cook and chill the salmon, and make and chill the mashed potatoes a few hours or a day ahead of time, too, but there is something to be said about getting 2 meals out of one. Eat the grilled salmon one day and the cakes the next.
          Any salmon will work - wild, farmed or canned - but if you are paying attention these days, you will choose wild caught king( silver) or sockeye. Hand/finger flake the chilled cooked salmon. Make real mashed potatoes - garlic mashed would be an excellent choice. Chill.
                Recipe ingredients:
                                               2 1/2 cups mashed potatoes - chilled
                                               1 cup cooked, flaked, chilled salmon
                                               1 egg
                                               1 tablespoon  minced fresh chives
                                               1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley or dill
                                               2 cloves minced fresh garlic - not necessary if you are using garlic
                                                  mashed potatoes
                                               -  crushed red pepper to taste
                                               -  olive oil to fry
             Method:
                                               Add herbs, garlic, red pepper and egg to chilled mashed potatoes, mix
                                                      thoroughly and fold in flaked salmon.
                                               Pan fry heaping tablespoons of  oval dollops of salmon and potato
                                                      mixture in generous olive oil in sauté pan on med heat till golden
                                                      brown - 3 to 4 minutes, flip and fry till golden on the backside.
             Serve with a tartar sauce of your choice or your favorite pesto.
             Serve it with over easy eggs and toast for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
                                                     
                          

Tuna Melt Sandwich

        Sometimes you don't feel like cooking cooking, so you make something easy and cool and warm and comfortable, like a tuna melt sandwich. Open faced on whole wheat toast on a bed of fresh spinach - with garden chives, avocados and a slice of tomato. Sharp cheddar cheese. Good lunch.

Bluegills with Pesto

          The 12th of June and the blue gills finally came into the shallows. Caught some 9 inchers off the dock with a fly rod and a black gnat fly.
          I think that just about any fly or small popper would work for a blue gill. I put the popper on when too many small ones are taking the fly. I think the fly was originally
 a dry but it is now a wet one after being ravaged by so many fish. Still works great.
         What I like about fly fishing for sunnies is that you don't have to mess with bobbers and live bait and fish stealing your bait. You get to keep on fishing.
         The object, of course, is to catch delicious fish to eat. Flour and fry them in olive or veg oil over med plus heat.You want to get them brown w/o overcooking them. A minute or two per side is plenty.
         Top with a pesto as in the photo - this one made with fresh tarragon, parsley, garlic, olive oil and parmesan cheese. You don't really need the pine nuts at 10 bucks a lb, or the walnuts at about $7, as you can use sunflower nutmeats at $2 a lb. Or no nuts at all.
        You could use traditional basil, of course, or dill and chives ,or just parsley and garlic. Add lemon juice to all.
       You could eat them with scrambled eggs for breakfast as I did.
        

Crepes with Oranges, Cream cheese and Maple Syrup or Blueberries

       A crepe is basically a thin pancake, a French pancake, a Swedish pancake. Add extra milk to your favorite pancake recipe to make a very thin batter .You can add an extra egg too  if you like that eggy flavor. Cook it in an 8 inch sauté pan - frying pan, non stick or a really well seasoned one so the batter doesn't stick. Less batter is more in this situation. You want a very thin pancake.
       Ladle the batter into the medium hot preheated oiled pan(olive or veg oil)  and tilt pan in a circle till the entire bottom is covered with a thin skirt of batter. Cook a couple of minutes till bronze and flip with fingers, spatula or a fork and bronze the backside. Place on plate in oven and make many more, keeping warm in oven. Serve rolled up around chopped fresh oranges, cream cheese and maple syrup, or with blueberries, cream cheese and maple syrup. Garnish with same and fresh mint - which I didn't do in the photo, but you should. I used whole wheat flour for the nutty taste and nutritional benefits, but you can use white flour or half white and wheat.                                                                                                                     

Eggplant French Fries

                Cut eggplant into strips and soak in milk and salt( 1 tsp per pint)  for 15 minutes, roll in  flour( white or whole wheat) and fry in med heat plus olive oil till golden. Drain on paper towels. Serve with lemon basil garlic mayo for dipping.

A Porterhouse With The Dog Because The Daughter Is Gone

              My 16 yr old daughter is in Florida for a week so my dog Woody and I are sharing a porterhouse steak for dinner. I bone out the steak into the filet mignon ( smaller round side of the bone) and NY strip (long side of the bone) portions, season w/ salt and fresh ground black pepper and cook them in a black cast iron pan over medium heat in a little olive oil for about 3 minutes and flip them and cook  2 more minutes. You want the filet side to be rare. Get the filet out of the pan and do the strip an extra minute or so. The strip side is denser and needs a little more cooking time.  The tender filet less.
             The filet will melt like butter in your mouth, the strip has some chew to it.
              First you want to sauté onions and mushrooms w/chopped garlic in the same pan for about a minute, move to the perimeter of the pan, then add the steaks. You can add chopped spinach and  brandy to the pan for the last half minute.
             Serve over artisanal or whole wheat toast. Give only about one quarter to your dog because it is so good and you don't want to spoil him.