Jansson's Temptation,

Scandinavians are cool, that's a fact. But one things always worried me and that's the food. Every time I have saw pictures in books it all looks distinctly eighties, the bad sort of eighties, now surely that can't be right? Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Iceland have gave us some brilliant design quirks as well as this excellent movie.

No they have a healthy coffee and cake culture that i'll be exploring in the near future, but what about food? Well I have been experimenting Viking style. The first dish that i have tried is 'Jansson's Temptation' (Jansson's Frestelse), This is quite a traditional Swedish dish that was apparently born when an explorer was lost and only had potatoes, cream, onions and anchovies in his pack.

Here's what you'll need,

Jansson's Frestelse,

(Makes Two)

500g Potatoes

2 Cloves Garlic

2 Onions

Anchovies

Butter

Thyme

150ml Cream

Breadcrumbs

How to,

1, Peel and grate the potatoes and squeeze out any excess moisture.

2, Gently fry the garlic and add the onions, Diced or sliced its up to you. Cook lightly till golden and add half a tin of anchovies and a little oil.

3, After letting the onion mix cool, its time to start building, start with a layer of potato (i used a nice earthenware dish, looks are important) then the onion, garlic and anchovies mix, on top of this add the thyme before topping wish the rest of the potato.

4, pour the cream over the dish, topping off with a little milk if necessary.

5, Sprinkle with breadcrumbs (an easy way to get good breadcrumbs is to let a slice of bread dry out in a warm oven and then break it up with your fingers) and dot with butter.

6, After forty five minutes at two hundred degrees Celsius it should be light golden on top and ready to eat.

Scandinavia

It has to be said I did really enjoy this, I served it with a pan roasted fillet of Lamb and a red wine sauce. I think the only thing i would consider changing is the anchovies, maybe reducing the amount a little. They tasted good, its just the smell while cooking was, ermm prominent.