Snow day! Snow day! Snow day!
Yeah, here in Baltimore we are getting hit by quite the winter (spring?) storm. And everything is closed. EVERYTHING.
It is supposed to snow until 5pm tonight, but look at what I’ve got outside my window before noon:
My street doesn’t even look like a street. I don’t think I’ll be getting out of my house anytime soon. But it’s OK considering that I was diagnosed with tonsillitis yesterday at the Patient First and would not have gone to work anyway. I’m a little hopped up on cold meds/antibiotics but I’m gonna write through it. Bear with me.
I made the Swedish Meatballs! That’s what yinz voted for way back when I asked what my next dinner should be.
So, yeah, Swedish Meatballs won. And that made me happy because I do enjoy a Swedish meatball. Who doesn’t?
Where does one buy assorted herring appetizers? IKEA! I needed to make a trip to buy a new mattress for the daybed in Brian’s room (yes, I have decided to just call the front bedroom Brian’s room), so it’s not like I went specifically for the fish. But of course, in addition to the mattress and the herring, I came home with a bag of meatballs and lingonberry jam and pillows and a rug and an end table and candles…oh, IKEA. It always happens that way.
And here is the recipe for the Jansson’s Temptation:
Potatoes cut into strips? This is a job for the VEG-O-MATIC!
By golly did it work! I think I am going to have to try my hand at french fries very soon. Perhaps make a homemade Primanti’s sammich.
Although I loved the fact that I was able to bust out the Veg-O-Matic, the flavor of the Jannsenn’s Temptation was off. And it didn’t thicken right. I don’t know if there needed to be an actual roux, because it didn’t really set. I was expecting this to be more like a potatoes au gratin. Know what I mean? This happened to be more like soggy not-fried fries in a cream sauce with a hint o’ anchovy.
That makes it sound worse than it was. It just needed to be more set.
I should have just made the IKEA meatballs. These were fine. But the texture wasn’t great, and they were a little bit burnt. And there wasn’t enough gravy. And because the meatballs got a little charred, and the gravy was made from the drippings, the gravy had a bit of a burnt taste, too.
OK, so I guess I’m saying that this dinner was kind of a fail.
But it looked nice:
OH! I can’t forget the dessert which I BAKED (and how often do I say that?).
The recipe was from So Good With Fruit.
It was so good. And with fruit.
OK, I’m gonna go make some egg drop soup for lunch. And then take a nap.
Yeah, I need a nap.
It made me want Swedish Meatballs…I see a trip to Ikea coming up. xx
Yeah, we’ve referred to the spare room (when we have one, lol) as the ‘boy’s room’ (the boys being the furry feline variety. And there is Robbie’s chair, Baylor’s table…lol)
Ok, I know you are sick, so I will let is slid, but man I could use a bit more on the dessert. I mean what is a food porn blog without the money shot that is dessert. Feel better.
Feel better soon.
Hi, just quick comment on temptation, there where few things off how you did it. I’m making temptation regularly, mostly from cold smoked salmon or extra gravlax(husband is not fan with anchovy version) but Ikeas anchovies should work and even better when they have Abba brand. But, first thing is that your potato sticks where way too big and dish you baked it is way too deep. It shoul be just few centimeters thick or about inch and then baked way hotter oven what you had. That way it sets on short time and has good ratio crisp top and gratin like layer under it. I try look up recipe for it in English wich should be good. I’ll share if I find. I have at home just in Swedish,Finnish and French. Hope you give it new try in some point, it is really delicious.
Thank you for the suggestions! With these cards, sometimes they don’t give the most detailed of directions and I base a lot of what I do on the photos. I may have to give it another go!
The Temptation really needs canned sprats rather than anchovies, because the usual term for sprat in Sweden looks like our word for anchovy. I think I used canned herring filets when I tried the dish and I couldn’t get it to thicken either.
I’ve bought canned sprats on close out lately (evidently not selling in south Florida) and I have enough to send a few cans as a present if you seriously want to try again…
Dang! I voted for Swedish Meatballs so I feel vaguely guilty they didn’t work out. But then again, what can compete with an Ikea meatball? Feel better!
What? No lutefisk? What sort of a Swedish party is that?
It really does look like a feast, even if it was less than you expected. I have a killer limpa bread recipe if you end up snowed in for a while and need something to do.
I see you’ve really made a Swedish meal of it. Pickled beets, pickled gherkins, lingonberry jam and mustard (I hope it was sweet and strong like Swedish mustard should be). All essentials at a Swedish dinner table 😉
I should have gotten a mustard while I was at the IKEA–but I had 3 flavors of herring, one of which was mustard! I like Swedish food. I may have to find a cookbook.