Jessica Frej sitting on some steps to an outdoor terrace, holding a bowl with food, flower pots next to her and a grill in the background.
Swedish chef Jessica Frej. Photo: Jessika Strand

Swedish recipes for a feast

Whatever you're celebrating – here are some mouth-watering Swedish recipes for success.

Jessica Frej’s grilled salmon and potato salad

This recipe works best using a charcoal grill with lid.

You will need one small wooden plank, which you allow to soak in water for 5–8 hours in advance.

Ingredients

1 kg boiled fresh potatoes, cut in halves
2 dl crème fraiche or sour cream
25 g brown butter
2 dl finely chopped dill
1 finely chopped onion
The juice from 2 lemons
3 small chopped cucumbers
2 tablespoons of mustard
1 dl salted almonds, chopped
250 g green asparagus

and

1 boneless salmon half side, 500 g
1 teaspoon dill seed
1 teaspoon fennel seed
0.5 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 wooden plank that has been soaked in water for 5–8 hours

Instructions

Mix the potato halves, the crème fraiche, the brown butter, the chopped dill, onion and cucumbers, the lemon juice and the mustard.

Grill the asparagus for 2 minutes, then chop them up to top the salad. Sprinkle with the chopped almonds.

Season the salmon with the dill, fennel, sugar and salt.

Put the salmon on the plank, then place the plank on the indirect heat of the grill.

Close the lid of the grill. The salmon is ready when it has reached an inner temperature of 54 degrees Celsius.

When the salmon is ready, cut it into pieces and place these on the salad.

Two girls with headscarves and aprons holding a strawberry cake – one of many classic Swedish recipes.
Strawberry cake – one of the classic Swedish recipes for summer celebrations. Photo: Johan Willner/imagebank.sweden.se

Camilla Hamid’s Swedish strawberry cake

Strawberry cake is one of the classic Swedish recipes for summer celebrations.

Cake base

100 g butter, softened
1.5 dl white sugar
5 egg yolks
2.5 dl flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tbsp vanilla sugar
0.5 dl milk

Meringue

5 egg whites
2.25 dl sugar
50 g flaked almonds

Filling

5 dl heavy cream
600 g cream cheese
2 dl powdered sugar
zest from 2 lemons
1kg fresh strawberries

Instructions

  1. Set the oven to 150° C.
  2. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Then add one egg yolk at a time while continuously whisking.
  3. Add flour, vanilla sugar and baking powder through a sift and carefully fold in these dry ingredients with a spatula. Then add the milk and fold that in too.
  4. Spread the batter onto a well-greased piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet.
  5. In a clean bowl with clean beaters, beat the egg whites into a firm foam. Then add the sugar little by little, while continuously whisking until you get a thick and shiny meringue.
  6. Spread the meringue on top of the cake batter and sprinkle with flaked almonds.
  7. Bake for about 30–40 minutes in the middle of the oven. Afterwards, let it cool completely on a wire rack. Then cut the cake into two layers and remove the baking sheet.
  8. While the cake cools you, make the filling by whisking together heavy cream and cream cheese until thick and creamy. Sift in powdered sugar and fold it in gently into the filling with a spatula. Finally, add lemon zest for flavour and fold that in too.
  9. Clean and cut your strawberries. Spread out half of the filling on the first layer of the cake. Add half of the strawberries, then top with the second layer, more filling and lastly a lot of strawberries.
Paul Svensson chopping broccoli in a kitchen. He has a few Swedish recipes on his resume.
Swedish chef Paul Svensson. Photo: Erica Wessman

Paul Svensson’s Fish Wallenbergare

Wallenbergare is one of the classics among Swedish recipes – here with fish instead of meat.

500 g mince of Clarias (catfish)
2 egg whites
500 g cream
10 g salt
white pepper to taste
2 dl sourdough breadcrumbs
1 dl brown butter

Mix the fish mince with egg whites and salt in a mixer. Add cream quickly during mixing. Form into patties of 100 grams. Turn patties in sourdough breadcrumbs and fry crispy and golden brown on both sides. Bake in oven to an inside temperature of 70°c.

30 shoots of green asparagus
20 wild garlic leaves (ramsons)
8–10 tomatoes
20 Jerusalem artichokes (sunchoke)

Boil the Jerusalem artichokes in lightly salted water until soft. Place in baking dish and roast at 230°C until golden brown and crispy. Add the asparagus for the last 3 minutes. Roughly cut onions and wild garlic leaves. Divide the asparagus into pieces and distribute all vegetables on the plate. Add a hearty click of Swedish remoulade in the middle and finish with the warm Wallenberger and some brown butter.

Swedish remoulade

6 tbsp mayonnaise
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp vinegar
1 dl whipped cream
1 dl sour cream
Salt and white pepper to taste

Mix mayonnaise with mustard, sour cream and whipped cream. Season with vinegar, salt and white pepper.

Conversions and abbreviations for Swedish recipes

1 g = 1 gramme = 1/1,000 of a kg

1 kg = 1 kilogram = 2.2 pounds (lb)

1 dl = 1 decilitre = 100 millilitres (ml) = 1/10 of a litre = 0.4 US cup

1 litre = 10 dl = 0.9 UK quart (qt) = 1.06 US liquid qt

1 fl oz, UK = 1 fluid ounce = 1/33 UK qt = 30 ml

1 fl oz, US = 1/32 US qt = 28 ml

1 lb = 16 oz = 450 ml

1 tsp = 1 teaspoon = 1/6 oz = 5 ml

1 tbsp = 1 tablespoon = 3 teaspoons = 1/2 oz = 15 ml

°C = degrees Celsius; °F = degrees Fahrenheit

For more online conversions: onlineconversion.com.

Gustav Johansson’s vegan smörgåstårta (‘sandwich cake’)

If there's one recipe to remember among Swedish recipes, it's smörgåstårta. It doesn't get much more Swedish than that.

Skagen stir

2 dl vegan mayonnaise
100 g firm tofu
3 tablespoons seaweed caviar
0.5 lemon, the juice
0.5 dl fresh chopped dill
1 dm cucumber
1 small red onion
Salt and pepper

Vegan ’egg’ cream

2 dl vegan mayonnaise
1 pinch black salt (kala namak)
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 pinch turmeric
100 g of firm tofu
Salt and pepper

Horseradish and smoked tofu stir

2 dl vegan sour cream
2 tbsp horseradish on tube
100 g smoked tofu
50 g of arugula
0.5 lemon, the juice
1 pinch liquid smoke
1 tbsp cold pressed rapeseed or olive oil
Salt and pepper

Mayonnaise topping

2 dl vegan mayonnaise
2 dl of vegan yoghurt
2 dl vegan cream cheese (optional)
Salt and pepper
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Other toppings and the bread

1 loaf of white toast, about 24 slices
1 cucumber
1 red onion
150 of vegan ham
50 g of beet root sprouts
1 jar of red seaweed caviar
1 jar of black seaweed caviar
1 pot of fresh chives
10 twigs of fresh dill

Instructions

Skagen stir

  1. Peel and finely chop the red onion. Rinse and dice the cucumber and the tofu into small pieces. Rinse and chop the dill.
  2. Mix the cucumber, tofu, red onion and dill with the other ingredients. Season to taste with lemon juice, salt and pepper

Vegan ‘egg’ cream

  1. Scramble the tofu to crumbs with your hands.
  2. Mix with the other ingredients. Season to taste with black salt, salt and pepper.

Horseradish and smoked tofu stir

  1. Rinse the arugula. Grate the tofu on the rough side of a grater.
  2. Mix the ruccola and the grated tofu with the other ingredients. Adjust the amount of horseradish, lemon, salt and pepper to taste.

Mayonnaise and cream cheese topping

Mix all the ingredients together and adjust the amount of lemon, salt and pepper to taste.

Building the sandwich cake

  1. Cut the crusts off 24 slices of bread, keeping as much of the bread as possible.
  2. Place six slices next to each other to form an elongated bottom.
  3. Spread a layer of the smoked tofu stir over the bottom, around one centimetre, then place another six bread slices on top. Then spread out a 1 cm thick layer of the egg batter, add six new slices, then the Skagen stir and finally the last six slices of bread.
  4. Cover the cake with an approximately 0.5 cm thick layer of the mayonnaise mix, and try to spread it as evenly as possible. Everything up to this point you can prepare in advance. The cake will actually taste even better if it is allowed to soak overnight in the refrigerator. If not, at least allow the cake to soak for 30 minutes before proceeding to the next step.
  5. Decorate the cake as you see fit with the rest of the toppings.
  6. Serve!