Here are a couple of recipes from the Scandinavian country of Sweden. Often prepared at Christmas time, they can be enjoyed all year long.

Beef Lindström

Most people are familiar with the Swedish word, Smörgåsbord, which is commonly used in America to describe a robust variety of just about anything. Most people also know that the origin of the meaning comes from the Swedish buffet style of serving food for a social occasion. The word is a contraction of "open faced sandwich" and the Swedish word for table, bord. The most elaborate version of smörgåsbord is called julboad (roughly Christmas table, jul=yule). Swedish smörgåsbords consist of a large variety of dishes. Bread, cheese, and butter are essential for a smörgåsbord but other offerings include cold, either pickled or smoked fish dishes (salmon, herring and eel), ham (with mustard), meatballs, crab canapés, sausages, potatoes (done up many ways), hardboiled eggs, cabbage, beets, pickles, cabbage rolls (kåldolmar) mushroom or shrimp omelettes (with béchamel sauces), and more. Usually the dinner follows a progression of eating cold fish dishes to meat cold cuts and finishing off with warm dishes such as Swedish meatballs (köttbullar).

Straight shots (snaps) of strong Swedish alcoholic spirits (notably, aquavit) often heighten the enjoyment of smörgåsbord, a commensal ritual that was immortalized in the song "Smorgasbord and Schnapps" by jazz great Duke Ellington. Not so rarely a Swedish dinner might be kicked off with several rounds of the drinking song Helan Går (which literally means "The whole thing goes down"). The song is so well ingrained that when Sweden won the World Ice Hockey Championship in 1957, after it was discovered that some of the players didn't know all of the words to the Swedish National Anthem, the team decided instead to sing Helan Går!

It is believed that Biff à la Lindström was brought to Sweden in 1862 by Henrik Lindström who was born and raised in St. Petersburg Russia by his Swedish parents. The addition of beets to the recipe reflects the Russian culinary influence.

Beef Lindström Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pound ground (minced) beef
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 yellow onion
• 1 cup pickled beets with juice
• 1 ounce capers
• salt
• butter
• white pepper

Preparation:

1. separate 3 egg yolks into a small bowl
2. Finely chop 1/2 of a yellow onion
3. Dice the pickled beets into small pieces
4. Mix the ground beef with the egg yolks, a little water, plus salt and pepper into a smooth mixture
5. Blend into mixture the onion, capers and beets plus a hearty splash of the beet juice
6. Shape into small round patties
7. Fry the beef patties in butter until golden brown on both sides

Kåldolmar

Kåldolmar are Swedish cabbage rolls usually stuffed with rice and either ground or minced beef or pork or a combination of the two. Similar to Biff à la Lindström, Swedish cabbage rolls may have a transcultural origin. As the story goes, after being defeated in the Battle of Poltava by Tsar "Peter the Great" of Russia, the bellicose (no adjective was ever more apt) Swedish king Charles XII fled to Moldavia which was then under control of the Ottoman Empire. The Swedish king spent the next half decade in Ottoman controlled lands before he was able to resume his passion for war with his northern neighbors.

Voltaire was so fascinated by Charles XII that he wrote a biography of him and the English poet penned a poem about Charles entitled, "The Vanity of Human Wishes" which contains the line, "Peace courts his hand, but spreads her charms in vain; 'Think nothing gained', he cries, "till nought remain".

The Swedish word Kåldolmar is a contraction of "Kål" meaning cabbage and "dolmar" derived from the Arabic word for grape leaves, dolma. It is thought that when Charles XII returned to Sweden, either he or his Ottoman creditors brought with them to Sweden the art of making stuffed grape leaves.

The first Swedish literary mention of dolmas (then still made with grape leaves) may be found in Anna Christina Warg's 1755 book Hjelpreda I Hushållningen För Unga Fruentimber (Assistant in Housekeeping for Young Women) which became for many decades a leading household guide for women in Sweden, Finland, and Germany.

While Kåldolmar are often eaten with boiled or mashed potatoes—now considered essential staples in Sweden—Warg's guide pre-dates the introduction of potatoes into the Swedish diet.

So interconnected are Kåldolmar, Charles XII and Swedish national identify that the Friends of the Cabbage Roll (Kåldolmens vänner) created the holiday "Kåldolmens dag" (Day of the Cabbage Roll) which is commemorated on November 30th, the day of Charles XII's death.

Kåldolmar Ingredients

• 1/2 cup white (short grain is best) rice
• 1½ cups milk
• 1/2 pound of ground beef
• 1/2 pound of ground pork
• 1 head of cabbage
• ½ cup water
• salt, white pepper, thyme
• margarine or butter
• ½ cup light cream

Preparation

1. Remove the leaves from the cabbage and boil them in salted boiling water. If the leaves are hard to remove,cut around the bottom of the cabbage where the leaves attach to the base. Then stick a fork in the base of the cabbage and then lower the cabbage into boiling water. In less than a minute the outer leaf will soften to the point that it may be separated from the leaf below it. Tranfer the leaves to a bowl near the boil pot. Use rubber gloves and be very careful so that you don't injure yourself by the steam or boiling water!
2. Return the loose leaves to the boiling water and cook them until they are slightly transluscent (about 5-6 mins)
3. Remove cooked leaves from the boiling water and shake the water off or dry them with paper towels
4. Trim the coarse centre vein of each cabbage leaf (or trim the lower part of the leaf)
5. Cook rice in a covered pot until the rice is almost done (about 12 minutes after water comes to a boil) Note, different kinds of rice require different amounts of water, follow rice package instructions to learn proper amount.
6. Stir in milk and cook till the mixture stiffens
7. Let rice cool and then add meat and spices to the mixture
8. Put a large tablespoonful of filling on each cabbage leaf
9. Fold the leaf around the filling like you would a burrito or an egg roll
10. Heat butter on medium heat in a skillet and lightly brown the Kåldolmar on both sides
11. Transfer rolls to a casserole or wide pot
12. Spear each roll with a toothpick or two to ensure the rolls don't unravel in the pot.
13. Cover rolls with water (or beef broth) and simmer for 15 minutes
14. Add the cream and cook for another 15 minutes

Both Biff à la Lindström and Kåldolmar can be complimented by some lingonberry preserve which can be obtained at any Ikea store restaurant.

Recipe by T. Johnston-O'Neill
Photo by Shari K. Johnston-O'Neill

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Chef and cookbook author Julia Child also celebrated French culture and cuisine. Her classic Mastering the Art of French Cooking (co-authored by Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle) has for the past 50 years teaching amateur cooks and professional chefs the sublime secrets of French cooking. One of her most notable recipes is for Boeuf Bourguignon the quintessential French "peasant" dish, perhaps the ultimate French comfort food. The dish was the subject of the very first episode of Julia Child's path breaking television series "The French Chef". There are, of course, many ways to make Boeuf Bourguignon, and Julia Child herself published different versions in her many books. The version she presented on her TV show is also somewhat different than the one she offered in "MAFC". The version below is derived from her TV show, it is a bit stripped down and a bit easier to make than the version found in her first book. As Chef Child points out, the recipe embraces a wide range of versatile and useful techniques that are employed in French cooking but can be used in many other styles of cooking as well. One nifty thing to know is if you substitute chicken for beef in this recipe, shorten the cooking time (chicken cooks in only 1/2 hour!) and add a 1/3 of a cup of cognac, but keep everything else the same (including the red wine) voila! you will have coq au vin! The techniques required for Boeuf Bourguignon are easy to learn (and you will be glad you learned them even if you never cook the dish again), but the dish takes a long time (more than 3 hours) to prepare. Fortunately much of that time is spent just waiting for the dish to complete cooking, requiring a minimum of intervention. It's not fast food.

Boeuf Bourguignon is a beef stew that originated from the Burgundy region of France (the dish's name literally means "Burgundy Beef"). It started as a peasant dish that eventually became a well known haute cuisine dish fit for the fanciest of occasions. Quite naturally the wine used is a Burgundy red wine but other full bodied red wines can be used as well. Be aware that expensive wines become worse and cheap wines become better with cooking, Julia Child's contention that you should use the best possible wine for cooking is no longer considered to be wise. However, it is best to avoid wine with strong tannins (they will turn bitter) or any wine sold as "cooking wine" (which is had added salt to make it undrinkable). An inexpensive Pinot Noir (a variety that originates from Burgundy and is also known as "Red Burgundy"). Cabernet Sauvignons, Zinfandels and Syrahs are less good because of their strong tannins.

Ingredients

• light olive oil (not extra virgin which burns too easily) or peanut oil
• 3 pounds chuck, cut into 2-inch cubes
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon. pepper
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 3 cups red Burgundy wine
• 2 or more cups beef stock or beef bouillon
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 2 cloves mashed garlic
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 1 crumbled bay leaf
• 18 to 24 small white onions.
• 1 pound quartered fresh mushrooms
• 2 tablespoons of butter

Preparation

Don't be put off by the number of steps in this recipe, they flow naturally and logically and all are very easy to manage even for the beginner cook!

Equipment needed: Covered casserole dish or Dutch oven, large frying pan.

1. Cut beef into 2-inch cubes and dry the beef in paper towels (it helps with browning).
2. Sauté the beef in a large frying pan a few pieces at a time, in the hot oil browned on all sides.
3. Move brown beef to the oven-safe casserole pan.
4. Pour the wine in the still-hot frying pan and scrape the bottom of all the residual bits on the bottom of the fry pan (this is called deglazing).
5. Stir the wine from the frying pan and then the beef stock into the casserole dish so that the meat is barely covered.
6. Pre-heat your oven to 350° F.
7. Blend in the tomato paste, garlic and herbs to the casserole dish.
8. Bring casserole dish to a simmer on top of the stove.
9. Cover the casserole and then place it in the lower third of the preheated oven.
10. Regulate the oven heat so liquid simmers very slowly.
11. Cook for approximately 3 hours. The meat is done when a fork pierces it easily.
12. While the beef is cooking, prepare the onions and mushrooms. Check the oven ever so often to see if the temperature is right. The Bourguignon should be lightly simmering not boiling.

Prepare the Pearl Onions:

1. Boil a quart of water.
2. Add the onions to the boiling water.
3. After the water boils again wait 20 more seconds, then remove pan from stove and then remove the onions from the water.
4. slice off the ends of the pearl onions and peel them.
5. Return the onions to a sauce pan of boiling water, reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 10 mins. Again, light simmering is what you are aiming for, not boiling.
6. Remove onions from pot and cool so that they can be handled.
7. Carefully pierce the bottom end of each onion with a small knife.
Prepare the Mushrooms:

1. Wash and then dry the mushrooms.
2. Remove the stems from any mushrooms that have open caps and then quarter them.
3. For mushrooms that have closed caps, remove and slice stems (one or two cuts) and then quarter the caps.
4. Add 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of oil to a large frying or saute pan and heat on medium high heat.
5. With a spoon or spatula mix the melted butter with the oil and then heat until the butter no longer bubbles (important, don't omit).
6. Add the mushrooms to the pan and brown lightly. Do not overcrowd the mushrooms, cook in two or more batches if necessary! Overcrowding or using too low of a heat will cause the musrooms to lose all their juices.

Final Preparation

1. After the meat has reached proper tenderness (3 hours or more), remove casserole from oven and pour the contents into a sieve or strainer set over a saucepan.
2. Return the beef to it
3. Distribute the cooked onions and mushrooms over and around the meat.
4. With a ladle, skim any accumulated fat off the sauce in the sauce pan.
5. Mix into a paste 2 tablespoons of softened butter and 3 tablespoons of all purpose flour in a small bowl or cup.
6. Blend in butter/flour mixture to the sauce.
7. Heat sauce just to a boil keeping everything moving with a sauce whip. It will thicken.
8. Taste the sauce and add salt and pepper to taste (a little at a time, re-tasting as you go).
9. Pour the sauce over the meat and vegetables.
10. Cover the casserole and simmer on the stove top for 3 minutes, folding over the ingredients so that everything is covered in sauce.
11. Serve in its casserole, or arrange the stew on a platter surrounded with potatoes, noodles, or rice, and decorated with parsley.

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Coconut Burfi (Photo by Vijaya Vedantham)

Burfi is a confection that is extremely popular throughout India. Made from a wide variety of ingredients burfi are rich, dense mildly sweet two-bite sized cut into the shapes of quadrilateral polyg<khoya) made from boiled until thickened condensed milk, boiled down cream or sometimes dried milk powder, and flavored and colored with mango, chocolate, saffron, rose water, coconut figs and carrot. Burfi are often topped with various ingredients such as slivered almonds, chocolate or an edible metallic foil. Sometimes burfi are made in layers. Often the shape of the burfi is an indication of its ingredients; saffron burfi are often flattened rounds, cashew or pistachio burfi are typically diamond-shaped and coconut flavored cham cham are pink and round (or obloid). Burfi are great as a snack or as a finale to delicious Indian meal. The best place to buy burfi here in San Diego is at the restaurant/snack shop Surati Farsan in Little India off of Black Mountain Road in Mira Mesa. Make 'em and take 'em to a potluck and not only will they be the talk of the party, but they will all disappear! The two burfi recipes were submitted by our fabulous "Calendar Master," Vijaya Vedantham, who hails from Mumbai. Ingredients are readily available in local Indian food markets.

Coconut Burfi

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup grated fresh coconut
• ¼ cup cashew nut powder (Optional, if not used substitute 1 cup finely grated fresh coconut)
• 1 tablespoon butter/ghee
• 1 teaspoon green cardamom powder

Preparation:

1. Mix all the ingredients together
2. Add mixture to a dry pan and heat on medium mixing continuously
3. Continue cooking and mixing until it thickens
4. Mix in ghee or butter
5. Stir the mixture until it no longer sticks to the pan. It takes a long time and if you stop mixing it will burn!
6. Grease a pie can (or better yet a small square pan) with butter
7. Spread mixture in the bottom of the buttered pan and let cool
8. Slice Coconut Burfi into 1 ½ inch squares

Badam (Almond) Burfi

Ingredients:

• ½ cup whole un-roasted almonds
• ½ cup un-roasted cashew nuts
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon green cardamom power
• 1 teaspoon ghee or unsalted butter

Preparation:

1. Soak almonds for 1 hour in warm water and then drain
2. Soak cashews in warm water for ½ hour and then drain
3. Peel off the almond skins
4. Grind both nuts together in the blender without adding water until you have a paste
5. In a deep pt add sugar and some water and heat on medium flame. Amount of water should be just enough to soak the sugar. Do not add too much water.
6. Heat till sugar melts and the syrup begins boil and thicken
7. After the syrup thickens add the nut paste & cardamom powder and keep mixing. Continue mixing without stopping until the mixture thickens
8. Add ghee/butter once the mixture thickens
9. Continue mixing until the mixture no longer sticks to the pan
10. Grease a pie can (or better yet a small square pan) with butter
11. Spread mixture in the bottom of the buttered pan and let cool
12. Slice Almond Burfi into 1 ½ inch squares

Recipe and photo by Vijaya Vedantham

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Originating in Northern Africa—specifically Morocco—tagine (sometimes mispronounced tangine) is a stew made of meats and vegetables and traditionally cooked in a conical clay pot for which the cuisine is named after. The tagine pot's shape is meant to allow steam to rise, condense and drip back down into the stew. Tagines are traditionally prepared on top of a portable clay majmar under which people put hot coals. Practically anything can be turned into a tagine: meat, chicken, fish, vegetables and some even make it with meat and fruits. Every part of the country has its regional tagine dish and different ways of preparing it. Because this meal takes a long time to prepare, the woman of the house starts preparing the lunch tagine as soon as breakfast is over.

Moroccan cuisine is filled with intense flavors and unique combinations. While other African food is defined by its spiciness, Moroccan food is characterized by its fusion of sweet and savory tastes. Specialties vary regionally, but certain foods are widespread such as khoobz (pita bread), kefta (minced lamb or beef with spices) and mechoui (roasted stuffed lamb). Generally, Moroccan dinners usually include mezze (different small salads), couscous, a variety of tajine and bastilla (similar to a meat pie). Popular desserts include sfaa (couscous with cinnamon, dried fruit, nuts and cream) and various almond-based indulgences. Mint tea is one of the most common beverages, as is coffee and fresh-squeezed orange juice.

You can buy simple tagine pots from World Market, or more elaborate tagine pots from Williams-Sonoma.

Ingredients:

• ½ Chicken, in pieces
• 3 medium carrots, peeled and cored (if core is bitter) and sliced in half lengthwise
• 1 large peeled potato, cut in 1/2 inch thick rounds
• 1 large green bell pepper, cut in chunks
• 1 medium red onion, cut in 1/2 inch thick rounds
• 2 medium tomatoes, cut in 1/2 inch thick rounds
• Handful of pitted green olives
• 2 cloves garlic, sliced
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon ground pepper
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• ½ cube or 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon powder
• Dash of yellow food colorant powder, or a few strands crushed saffron
• 1-2 teaspoons salt (to taste)
• 6-8 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1/4 cup of water

Preparation:

1. Splash 4 tbsp of oil on the bottom of the tagine
2. Layer your ingredients evenly in the tagine in this order: carrots, chicken, potatoes, bell pepper, red onion, tomatoes, garlic, ginger*
3. When you get to the spices and salt, sprinkle them evenly over the vegetables
4. Spread your olives on top
5. Drizzle the olive oil all over everything
6. If water is needed, add it now
7. Close your tagine and cook until your vegetables are tender, on a very low heat, this may take up to one hour**
8. Once it's cooked, turn off the heat and you can drizzle olive oil on top if preferred
9. Let the tagine rest for about 10 minutes to cool off, and enjoy!

* The carrots must be on the bottom, and the chicken pieces should be on top of the carrots, not touching the bottom of the tagine. When the carrots start to burn they add delicious flavor and protect the rest of the ingredients, but if anything else burns that's not going to taste very good.

** Make sure you have liquid in the tagine or it will burn. Watch out for too much liquid, or it will bubble over.

Recipe by Ian Williams

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