I have been travelling back and forth to Sweden every year for more than 10 years now. First it was to follow young love and now it is a pilgrimage that has become tradition. More recently, I was working once a month in Stockholm, presenting a cooking show called Mitt Kök and it was during this time I got a sense of what Swedish families eat.
Far from sophisticated foams, sous vide meat and foraged samphire, the dishes that were requested most were more familiar, in the form of traditional comfort food such as simple soups, slow-cooked stews and roast meat. All not too dissimilar to the cooking that takes place in Irish homes.
As cutting-edge as Nordic cuisine is, traditional Scandinavian fare has its place on the menus of some of Sweden's top restaurants. Gothenburg's Kometen restaurant, owned by Leif Mannerstrom, one of the godfathers of classic Swedish cuisine, is a testament to this old style of cooking.
The menu features starters such as steak tartare with white fish roe and fried anchovies on toast with Béarnaise sauce. Main courses such as veal liver fried in butter with capers and bacon, and lemon sole with a white wine sauce served with potato croquettes, take pride of place. It is all undeniably retro and there are no excuses made for the fact that most Swedes prefer this full-on comfort food.
My most recent visit to Sweden was to celebrate the end of the summer with my wife Sofie's family in Gothenburg, on the west coast. In mid-September we were about a month late for the traditional kräftskiva (a crayfish party), but the whole family had held out for our arrival.
Mounds of cooked sweet and salty shellfish are enjoyed with crispbread and Vasterbotten cheese tart. It's customary to wear bibs, party hats, drink schnapps and sing traditional songs.
As Sweden has become a second home to me, I want to share some recipes which take inspiration from tradition and native flavours – all ideal for autumnal eating.
