Norwegian Easter meal?

Question

I am in charge of the Easter meal for my new in-laws. They are all North Dakota Norwegians. I am Italian. You see the problem? I want to honor their traditions and favorite foods. Is there a Scandinavian version of Caprese? I have met some of them; all they say is "yep" and "you bet cha". My partner has told me that they want to know what all my gesturing and yelling is about......I think I'm just speaking normally. I need to make a good impression. I would like to coast by on my good looks and charm but what I really need is some recipes. I know nothing about Norwgian cooking. You bet cha, fer sure. I'm totally in over my Southern European head.

Someone in the family apparently said something about hoping there is "luda-fisk". I don't think I have spelled that right.....and I don't know what that is. Is that a fish of some sort?

Answer 1

Hi!
We don't eat lutefisk in Easter, only around Christmas. And you should count this as a blessing, because lutefisk is terrible food :-)
If you want to know more about lutefisk, see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lutefisk

Also, there is no Norwegian version of Caprese, not even close.

The most typical Easter food is leg of lamb. Everybody eats that for Easter:
Buy a nice leg of lamb, with bone. Cut some small slits in the meat, and stuff it with pieces of garlic. Rub salt, pepper and rosemary on the meat, and put it on a wire rack in a big pan that you have buttered. Also add a little water (about a pint/500 ml), some carrots and onions in the water. (This will be part of the sauce.)
Bake this in the oven. It is best if you can bake it for a long time in a slow oven - 100 degrees Celsius, for about five hours. If you have a thermometer, the meat should reach about 70 degrees in the middle. Add more water to the pan if it gets dry.

Let the meat rest for a while, and make the sauce. Melt 3 - 4 tbs butter in a saucepan, add 3-4 tbs flour and whisk. Pour the water from the pan through a sieve (discard onions and carrots), add water so you have 1 litre, and whisk this gradually in the butter/flour-mix. Cook for five minutes, add 200 ml cream. Heat up. Add salt and pepper if needed.

With this it is tradition to eat boiled potatoes and boiled vegetables, like carrots and brussel sprouts.

Good luck!!!

Answer 2

For Cripes sake, don't make Lutefisk! You don't want to live outside for a week after you pollute the house. I'd say ham and the trimmings like someone else said, that's about the norm anyway. CRIPES YAH HEY!!


Did you hear about the Norwegian and the Arab getting married and having a child? They named it Yassir Ya-betcha!

Answer 3

People in North Dakota eat the same things as the rest of the US. You can make ham and vegetables, dessert, salad - make a mix of both Italian and US recipes.

Be a jovial good host and they will be pleased to have a nice supper at your home.

Norwegian recipes:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~wgnorway/recipe.html

Answer 4

Lutefisk, ya love it or ya hate it, you bet cha. Steamed is better than boiled.

Answer 5

Don't forget the salt-codfish!

Answer 6

http://www.recipeslog.com/category/europes/norwegian/

http://www.msl.no/index.paaske.htm

http://www.upress.umn.edu/GreatScandinavianRecipes2.html

http://festivals.iloveindia.com/easter/traditions/easter-in-norway.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/news_and_events/events_easteraroundworld3.shtml

http://www.lawzone.com/half-nor/food.htm

http://www.urbanmozaik.com/UM.Fall2003/2003.fall.html/fall03_dept.food.html

http://www.aquavit.org/flash.html
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Any cookbook/recipes by Chef Marcus Samuelsson

Answer 7

sushi