Kjøttkaker med Brunsaus

I know I said I was taking a break – but here is one more post for the year!

Monday marked the holiday of Winter Solstice or Yule as it was known to the Germanic peoples in pre-Christian times. The word Yule or Jul is still used in Nordic countries to describe the Holiday or Christmas season – which also coincides with the 12 Days of Christmas. Yuletide is a melding of the secular and religious celebrations of the season. Originally Yule was a Solstice celebration of the coming of the sun after the longest night and has been celebrated for likely as long as humans have been around to live through the longest night of the year and rejoice the longer days ahead.

I enjoy celebrating the Solstices and Equinoxes throughout the year. It helps me stay connected to the natural world and appreciate the natural cycles that could have meant life and death to our early ancestors if they were unprepared. In turn, these celebrations help me think about being more prepared in my own life by canning and preserving foods and enjoying a more seasonal bounty. Winter Solstice is a time to celebrate the bright and joyous times in our lives and give thanks for days filled with more light and less harsh times.

I get very inspired to cook Norwegian foods this time of year. When I lived in Norway I really enjoyed all the special foods that were served and enjoyed during the Christmas season. Of course in my family we have own own traditional foods that we enjoy during this season too. So when I came back to the US, I decided that I would celebrate the Winter Solstice by feasting on Nordic cuisine, that way I could enjoy all of the food traditions that I love this time of year. Usually I make Gløgg and Rommegrøt however, I already made versions of them this year for my birthday party that you can read about on a guest post I contributed to Outside Oslo . So I wanted to make something different.

Pinnekjøtt is a dish that was served during the Christmas I lived in Norway. It is a preserved and roasted mutton rib dish. The mutton is generally cured in brine or sea salt and served on Christmas eve with boiled potatoes and Akvavit or Akevitt – a distilled potato or grain liquor that is typically flavored with caraway seeds. Pinnekjøtt means “stick meat” in Norwegian because traditionally a layer of twigs from a birch tree is placed in the bottom of the saucepan instead of a metal steamer.

Since I have no access to Pinnekjøtt, and did not plan for making it, I decided to make some Norwegian spiced meatballs – or Kjøttkaker med Brunsaus – meat-cakes with brown sauce for our Solstice dinner. Kjøttkaker are very common in Norway and every family has their own “in house” version. I made the gravy using turkey stock from our Thanksgiving bird, although a gravy made from beef is traditional. I also served it with roasted potatoes and carrots (why have boiled if you can have roasted? Even if it is not the traditional Norwegian way) and sauerkraut.

This is a quick but festive meal – and I enjoyed every bite, reliving many wonderful times spent in Norway.

For dessert we had Yule log cookies. The cookies are fragrant with rum and nutmeg, and the perfect crunchiness, while the icing made with brown butter is truly heavenly. We decorated them with some toasted coconut and cocoa powder to make them look more like logs. (Recipes under the cut)…

Speaking of cookies, don’t forget to make some treats for the furry creatures in your life. We just made some for Pepino and Cipollina today! For some healthy ones, try these Holiday Cookies for Pets .

Happy Solstice and Happy Holidays to everyone! Thanks for reading this blog! Wishing everyone health, happiness and love this New Year!

Kjøttkaker

INGREDIENTS:

2 ¼ lb ground beef

2 TBS salt

4 tsp flour

2 TBS bread crumbs

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 tsp ground ginger

½ tsp nutmeg

1 onion minced

1 tsp ground cloves

butter

1 liter of brown gravy (or use homemade)

For Homemade Gravy:

3 cups of homemade stock (I used turkey)
salt & pepper to taste
splash of Akvavit
1 TBS non-GMO corn starch

METHOD:

Mix all ingredients together and form into oval shaped cakes. Make the gravy. In a small saucepan, mix the stock, salt and pepper and Akvavit. Heat over medium heat. Whisk in the corn starch and cook until thickened into gravy. Fry meatballs in butter on all sides, in a large pot. Add the brown gravy until thoroughly cooked – about 5 minutes.

Yule Log Cookies – see recipe at Kicked Up Cookie Recipes

I have seen lots of awesome Holiday Cookies popping up all over the Blogosphere. My friend Judy and a few of my other great blogging buddies are doing the 12 Days of Cookies and I am getting really inspired to start baking. My mom and I always bake Holiday Cookies together (see here and here for last year’s cookie series) and we are heading down to see her the week of Christmas, so we will do our cookie baking then.

As you all know Roberto and I got a puppy a few months ago, Peperoncino (- but we call him Pepino because we found most people have trouble pronouncing “Peperoncino”). Pepino has been going to Puppy School and the trainers had a big holiday party for all the dogs in all their classes at a dog park over the weekend . So since I can never go to a party empty handed, I decided that I wanted to make some holiday treats for them all to enjoy at the party. I had this recipe for pet treats that came with a cute dog bone cookie cutter, so I decided to make them, and add some peanut butter to the mix since that is Pepino’s favorite flavor. Also making my own treats makes me feel better about what I am giving them. I am not just about healthy eating for humans! The dough was great to work with and it made about 70 treats!!!! Sadly I couldn’t find the cookie cutter, so Roberto put his artist hat on and devised a way to make the shapes.

Somehow Pepino knew these treats were for him, because the whole time we were making them, he was right at our feet in the kitchen sitting on his “magic carpet” – the carpet that when he sits on it, gets him treats. It was so cute!

We had a great time at the party and Pepino had fun playing with friends. He shared his treats very nicely and asked for us to make them again soon. I am going to make the same recipe again, but instead of Peanut Butter I am going to use cheese. Our cat Nimue, loves cheese and it is the only “treat” she will eat. I am sure Pepino won’t mind!

INGREDIENTS:

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup non-fat dry milk powder (we actually had this in our hurricane stash!)
1/2 tsp salt
6 TBS butter
1 egg
1 cup water
3 tsp wheat bran
3 TBS Peanut Butter

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Put butter and egg in food processor and process until smooth. In a bowl mix the flour, milk powder, salt and wheat bran together. Add flour mixture, PB and water alternately to butter and egg mixture and pulse processor until the dough has come together into a nice ball (you may not need to use all the water).

Roll the dough out onto a floured surface and roll to about 1/2 inch thickness. If you have a cookie cutter, cut the shapes out. If not, you can use the Roberto method. Cut small (about 2 inch long) rectangles in the dough with a knife.

Fold piece in half lengthwise. Squish the middle of each end towards the center to make the 2 rounded knobs at each end. Flip over to smooth side and place on a cookie sheet (don’t worry about spacing, they aren’t going to grow).

Bake for about 15 minutes, flip and then bake another 3-4 minutes. Place on cookie racks to cool and keep out overnight to harden.

Makes about 60-70 cookies.