I Love Swedish Food... And New Mexican Food

There are definitely Swedish foods I could live without, as you know if you've read my other food posts (aside: I just learned there's horse meat on the smorgasbord spreads around town. No! Frenchy!!!), but there's some pretty lovable cuisine going on here, too. Actually, scratch "cuisine." Make that "grub." As is usually the case, the simple foods eaten by common people are some of the best Sweden has to offer. For instance, Swedish fish may be a myth, but Swedish meatballs are for real. And they are excellent. I'm pretty sure they're crafted from the meat of adorable baby cows, for whom I have far fewer emotions than any anonymous horse—but I didn't tell Rebecca that last night as she was happily tearing into a plateful. She ordered them at this cool place we went to called Tranan, while I virtuously nibbled a salad. (Okay, not so virtuously. There was also a bunch of chevre, and some homemade bread. But who's counting?) We traded bites, of course, and her meatballs were definitely spectacular. Big, meaty delights drowned in the richest gravy I've ever tasted. It was probably made with veal stock, bay leaf, butter roux and a hint of allspice.

The bread in Sweden is to die for, and although I try to steer clear, (since carbs often find their merry way directly to my hips), I have a weakness for rågbröd, literally "rye bread"—but that doesn't do justice to the dark, moist, wholegrain/molasses reality. I'm so glad I found the awesome Rosendal cookbook. I can't wait to cook all those delicious Swedish recipes for my family in the U.S.

Next week I'm going back to Allt Om Mat for another lunch, and it's really fun to see what they cook. We're actually meeting to discuss a feature I pitched, in which I'd prepare a New Mexican Thanksgiving meal. What fun, to have a feature in a Swedish food magazine, right? Whether or not we end up doing it in print, my friend Mark (with whom I used to cook in tke pastry kitchen at SantaCafe) and I are going to prepare the meal together for our families in New Mexico over the Christmas holiday.

Here's the proposed menu:

Starters:
Turkey caldo tlapeno (turkey, roast corn, chipotle soup thickened with pinto bean puree and garnished with cojita, avocado and cilantro)
Mincemeat empanaditas (little crescent-shaped pockets of dough filled with spiced, brandied fruit cooked in suet)
Red chile-pork tamales

Main:
Turkey enchiladas with served with green chile sauce or mole negro
(could also just prepare a turkey, but I think the leftovers are the best part)

Sides:
Green chile mashed sweet potatoes
Cranberry, blood orange and ginger chutney
Winter green salad with roasted parsnips and shaved fennel
Roasted brussels sprouts with pepitas and pomegranate seeds


Desserts:
Biscochitos (crumbly New Mexican sugar cookies made with lard and cinnamon)
Pinon brittle
Pumpkin flan
Pecan pie (pecans are farmed in southern New Mexico)
Smoky chipotle frozen custard

Yuuuummmm. For some separate holiday meal—perhaps New Years?—I plan to serve a totally Swedish jul bord, with Janssen's temptation and smoked herring with all the fixings (boiled potatoes, creme fraiche, chives, radishes and pickled onions). I might even try pickling my own herring if my friends at Allt Om Mat will give me that really good recipe with the tomato and oranges, hint, hint. For dessert, I'll try making the lovely hazelnut cookies from Rosendal. They're made with ground hazelnuts, powdered sugar and egg whites. Almost a meringue, but much nicer, with a crispy outside and a chewy, hazelnutty center. They're so rich and toothsome you don't even notice they're flour-free.

Since I'm in a cooking sort of mood, the links to some of the foods above go to recipe pages, in case you want to try them out yourself. Otherwise, show up at my house in Santa Fe between December 20th and January 4th to see how my own creations turn out.