This year’s Scandinavian-themed Christmas Eve dinner was a roaring success! Considering that nobody in my family is Scandinavian or really has ever eaten much Scandinavian food, we were quite happy that the dinner turned out as well as it did. Here is the menu and links to the recipes where available:
Swedish Meatballs
Roasted Pork Loin with Cardamom-Currant Jelly Sauce
Poached Salmon with Mustard-Dill Sauce
Mushroom Pie
Kukkakaalilaatikko (Cauliflower Rye Casserole)
Potato Pancakes with Sour Cream and Homemade Applesauce
Braised Red Cabbage with Apples
Romaine and Cucumber Salad with Sour Cream-Dill Dressing and Blue Cheese
Although the meatballs were addictive, the pork loin was beautiful and the cauliflower rye casserole won for most amazing name, the biggest hit of the evening was the mushroom pie. The filling, which consisted of little more than mushrooms, onion, thyme, and cream cheese, was so good. It was really hard not to just serve it up right then and there as our lunch. The crust had a bit of leavening in it which made it puff up. The end result was closer to a mushroom pot pie than a tart. I had some of the leftover pie for lunch today which was definitely the high point in my first day back at work.
More photos from our dinner are below. The last photo is of the baby hats that my mom and sister and I made for a charity called Caps to the Capital. We knit the hats and then let everyone at our Christmas party choose one that they could submit in their name. Aren’t they cute?
That green hat with the rosette looked pretty good on Ruby!
Comment by Ole Jasers — January 13, 2007 @ 2:34 pm
Ha! When I first saw the name “Ole Jasers” I thought it was a fan from some Scandinavian country commenting on the Scandinavian food we made for Christmas. You fooled me!
Comment by elliemay — January 13, 2007 @ 2:40 pm
now people will know at least one of the hats never made it to charity.
(it was my favorite –so i’m glad it stayed in the family)
Comment by Robert — January 13, 2007 @ 2:59 pm