Just in time for Christmas to be over, I thought I'd describe what we ate on Christmas Eve in Norway. We had lutefisk, kjøttkaker or meat balls, mashed peas, bacon, potatoes, lefse and salad. Lutefisk is available here in my part of Norway in the stores around Christmas time, but I've been told that not many people here eat it on Christmas eve or Christmas day. With my cousin Unni we had pinnekjøtt, which is a west coast dish of salted, steamed lamb and julepølser, or Christmas sausage. I went against the advice many of my brother's friends gave him before he came to visit me, and made lutefisk.
After defrosting two pieces in water, I put them on an oven pan and covered them with tinfoil.
We cooked it for about 30 minutes in all, on 180˚C or 356˚F.
For part of our International Student's Christmas dinner we had lutefisk with mashed peas and bacon, and I thought it was really good. So I made it again with my dad and brother:
Bacon makes anything good, right? Even lutefisk.
This I made from a package:
Mashed peas in 5 minutes. "Accessories to the most traditional Norwegian meal time. Delicious" Sorry for the bad translation but you get the idea.
Now this was good, even though it came from a can:
That's the kjøttkaker. In brown sauce.
With some salad and curried potatoes (hey, curry's not Norwegian!) we had ourselves a great feast.
Except for the lutefisk. I ate mine but couldn't even look at the leftover fish afterwards. I think I'd had a smaller piece at the other dinner or something...I put butter on it too! I don't think I'm alone among Norwegians in not liking it though. It is a strange invention. Who makes fish soaked in lye a traditional dish?
Merry Christmas!
2 comments:
And who thought I'd eat that much lye-soaked seafood in a single meal. I'm glad you made the effort and even more glad that I was there to share it with you and Adam.
This makes a nice addition to the food blog! It looks attractive and tasty (except for the lutefisk.)
Good job.
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