Thursday, February 08, 2007
Tonight, after spending all day cooped up in the house watching it snow and cuddling with two sick kids, I escaped to the Frisbee Club to enjoy a few hours out with friends at the International Women's Club Norwegian Evening.
The ladies had a nice table spread with beautiful brochures from Norway and we were not allowed to enter without being given a couple of them including some information about a cruise. A table on the left was filled with beautiful jewelry and the famous Norwegian sweaters for sale.
Front and center the gift table sat filled with things that the ladies made themselves. Most were knit and all were beautiful. In the center was a kransekake - also handmade. Another table had beautiful clothing hanging above it and beautiful handpainted antiques and dolls giving us a feel for the culture there. Every Norwegian lady there wore her traditional attire. Each region has a slightly different dress, but they still all own them and wear them for weddings and other important events - even now.
The food was wonderful!
Plates of Tjukklefse (a variation of the traditional Lefser) sat on the tables as appetizers. Lefse is a traditional flatbread made of potato, cream, and flour and cooked on a griddle, then filled and rolled up. It varies regionally. The "tjukklefse" that we had is a bit thicker. Ours was filled with butter, cinnamon, and sugar. Soon plates of another flatbread came out. This bread is wafer thin and crispy like a cracker. It's made with barley flour, salt, and water. It came with our soup called Sodd that was so delicious, I ended up getting seconds.
Sodd comes from the middle of Norway, the county of Tronderlag, where it is served for special occasions. The rich chicken broth is filled with carrots, leeks, mutton, tiny pork meatballs, and buljong. Ours was served with boiled potatoes also inside.
Before our dessert we were treated to a nice slideshow with beautiful photos from Norway including some of Norwegian faces smiling from behind a layer of snow covering their red faces, and photos of couples sitting around candles lit inside ice caves. It all looked beautiful, but cold and much like photos of Canada and Alaska.
Dessert and coffee time came and we were told to try every dessert. Ok, twist my arm! We had Kransekake, Kvaefjord kake, Chocolate cake, and cheesecake.
Kransekake, or wreath cake, is a traditional Norwegian dessert usually eaten on special occasions like during weddings or at Christmas. It's formed by making concentric circles of cake and layering them on top of each other to form a steep pyramid. The recipe is below.
The cheesecake was delicious and lighter than the American ones. It was more of a sour cream cheesecake, not as sweet or as heavy as the cream cheese ones. On top was a nice thin layer of strawberry gelatin.
The absolute favorite dessert of the night and the thing that all the ladies raved about was the "Verdens Beste," meaning, the best in the world. This cake is similar to the German bienenstich and is excellent! I got the recipe for this one too! Enjoy!
I had to leave early since the kids had been sick, but it was still a fabulous night. The Norwegian ladies did a beautiful job putting the evening together.
The recipes: These were translated from Norwegian to English and then I've changed a few things to make it more readable, but it's late and I'm tired, so it's still a bit oddly worded. Still, be patient. The cake is excellent and worth the effort and a bit of trial and error.
Verdens Beste
Mix 100 grams butter and 100 grams sugar, then stir in 4 egg yolks. Sift 100 grams flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, and 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar together with 4 tablespoons milk into the sugar/butter mixture.
Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the dough onto it.
Whisk 4 egg whites until stiff and then stir in 200 grams sugar. Lay the meringue on top of the dough and sprinkle 100 grams sliced almonds on top. Bake in the oven at 175Celcius for about 30-35 minutes. Cool on rack.
For the cream, whisk 2 egg yolks, 1 T. sugar, 1.5 T. cornflour, and 2 dl (oops... deciliters? I'd better start looking for some conversions!) milk in a large bowl on the stove. Boil it carefully while stirring all the time. Cool down. Mix this with slightly sugared whipped cream (2.5 dl cream plus 1 T sugar).
Assembly: Cut the cake in two similar pieces horizontally (to fill it). Spread the cream on the bottom layer, then place the meringued half on top with the meringue face up.
Kransekake
(makes one cake with about 18 rings)
(I'm writing this recipe down as is... it obviously will need some clarification... I'll try to get that soon.)
Mix:
250g almonds with
250g almonds without
500g powder sugar
3 egg whites
Mix the above until a fest dough. Spray the forms well and put some flavour in them. (I think that means grease and flour the forms) Roll the dough as a 1cm thick sausage and fill the forms. (Or make concentric circle printouts with your computer. Bake on oven at 180C until the rings are golden (approx. 15 minutes).
Mix 100g powdered sugar and 1 egg white. Spray the icing between each ring to stick them together. Decorate with more frosting and candies as desired.
The ladies had a nice table spread with beautiful brochures from Norway and we were not allowed to enter without being given a couple of them including some information about a cruise. A table on the left was filled with beautiful jewelry and the famous Norwegian sweaters for sale.Front and center the gift table sat filled with things that the ladies made themselves. Most were knit and all were beautiful. In the center was a kransekake - also handmade. Another table had beautiful clothing hanging above it and beautiful handpainted antiques and dolls giving us a feel for the culture there. Every Norwegian lady there wore her traditional attire. Each region has a slightly different dress, but they still all own them and wear them for weddings and other important events - even now.
The food was wonderful!
Plates of Tjukklefse (a variation of the traditional Lefser) sat on the tables as appetizers. Lefse is a traditional flatbread made of potato, cream, and flour and cooked on a griddle, then filled and rolled up. It varies regionally. The "tjukklefse" that we had is a bit thicker. Ours was filled with butter, cinnamon, and sugar. Soon plates of another flatbread came out. This bread is wafer thin and crispy like a cracker. It's made with barley flour, salt, and water. It came with our soup called Sodd that was so delicious, I ended up getting seconds.
Sodd comes from the middle of Norway, the county of Tronderlag, where it is served for special occasions. The rich chicken broth is filled with carrots, leeks, mutton, tiny pork meatballs, and buljong. Ours was served with boiled potatoes also inside.
Before our dessert we were treated to a nice slideshow with beautiful photos from Norway including some of Norwegian faces smiling from behind a layer of snow covering their red faces, and photos of couples sitting around candles lit inside ice caves. It all looked beautiful, but cold and much like photos of Canada and Alaska.
Dessert and coffee time came and we were told to try every dessert. Ok, twist my arm! We had Kransekake, Kvaefjord kake, Chocolate cake, and cheesecake.
Kransekake, or wreath cake, is a traditional Norwegian dessert usually eaten on special occasions like during weddings or at Christmas. It's formed by making concentric circles of cake and layering them on top of each other to form a steep pyramid. The recipe is below.
The cheesecake was delicious and lighter than the American ones. It was more of a sour cream cheesecake, not as sweet or as heavy as the cream cheese ones. On top was a nice thin layer of strawberry gelatin.
The absolute favorite dessert of the night and the thing that all the ladies raved about was the "Verdens Beste," meaning, the best in the world. This cake is similar to the German bienenstich and is excellent! I got the recipe for this one too! Enjoy!
I had to leave early since the kids had been sick, but it was still a fabulous night. The Norwegian ladies did a beautiful job putting the evening together.
The recipes: These were translated from Norwegian to English and then I've changed a few things to make it more readable, but it's late and I'm tired, so it's still a bit oddly worded. Still, be patient. The cake is excellent and worth the effort and a bit of trial and error.
Verdens BesteLine a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the dough onto it.
Whisk 4 egg whites until stiff and then stir in 200 grams sugar. Lay the meringue on top of the dough and sprinkle 100 grams sliced almonds on top. Bake in the oven at 175Celcius for about 30-35 minutes. Cool on rack.
For the cream, whisk 2 egg yolks, 1 T. sugar, 1.5 T. cornflour, and 2 dl (oops... deciliters? I'd better start looking for some conversions!) milk in a large bowl on the stove. Boil it carefully while stirring all the time. Cool down. Mix this with slightly sugared whipped cream (2.5 dl cream plus 1 T sugar).
Assembly: Cut the cake in two similar pieces horizontally (to fill it). Spread the cream on the bottom layer, then place the meringued half on top with the meringue face up.
Kransekake (makes one cake with about 18 rings)
(I'm writing this recipe down as is... it obviously will need some clarification... I'll try to get that soon.)
Mix:
250g almonds with
250g almonds without
500g powder sugar
3 egg whites
Mix the above until a fest dough. Spray the forms well and put some flavour in them. (I think that means grease and flour the forms) Roll the dough as a 1cm thick sausage and fill the forms. (Or make concentric circle printouts with your computer. Bake on oven at 180C until the rings are golden (approx. 15 minutes).
Mix 100g powdered sugar and 1 egg white. Spray the icing between each ring to stick them together. Decorate with more frosting and candies as desired.
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