The New Nordic Diet & IKEA 2/3

I am continuing my IKEA collaboration series with yet another super simple recipe. These bite sized avocado and gravlax wraps make a great party food, but also a delicious lunch. Instead of using the soft thin bread as a wrap, you could also use dark bread (cut up in small pieces, if used as finger food, of course) or a combination of both! The combination of avocado and gravlax is quite mellow, so you may want to considering offering a dab of mustard and dill sauce alongside. This is such a quick and easy recipe idea even if guests are already on their way! 

Avocado and Gravlax Wraps

(makes 20-25 pieces)

soft thin bread, thawed 

gravlax (marinated salmon), thawed

2 avocados

fresh dill, to serve

mustard and dill sauce, to serve

1. Peel the avocados and remove the seeds. Mash the avocados with a fork. 

2. Spread some avocado on a piece of thin bread and top with 2-3 slices of gravlax. 

3. Wrap the bread into a roll and cut to bite sized pieces. Decorate with fresh dill and serve with mustard sauce. 

The New Nordic Diet & IKEA

I am so excited to be teaming up with IKEA to promote the Nordic diet in Australia. Ever since I started this blog back in 2009, I have been doing my bit to help spread the word about the Scandinavian way of eating. Time and time again, I have mentioned the health benefits of a traditional Nordic diet, which includes plenty of seafood, game meat, wild berries and mushrooms and other fresh, seasonal ingredients. There is so much goodness packed into the cornerstones of the Nordic diet that it is about time we start taking real action towards making it familiar to the larger public. 

We all know how ingenious IKEA is in its approach to furniture, and I've always been impressed by their selection of Nordic food as well. I love finding familiar ingredients and I always stock up on a few key products for our home: different types of herring to have with knackebrod, lingonberry jam to have with pretty much everything and those handy bread mixes for long weekend breakfasts. 

In this three part series "The New Nordic Diet & IKEA", I'll share recipes using some of those ingredients found at IKEA. I'm starting off with a traditional salmon soup. This is a great dish for the cooler autumn nights we're heading towards. It's simple food and quick to prepare. If you're keen to make it that extra bit healthier, just leave out the cream and make a clear soup instead. Add seasonal vegetables like carrots and swede, and use fresh herbs for flavour. Knackebrod with cheese is a perfect companion for the soup. I can't even imagine having it without some on the side.

Creamy Salmon Soup

(serves 4)

1 litre of water or fish stock

10-15 whole peppercorns

1/2 teaspoon (or to taste) salt

1 onion, finely chopped

6-7 potatoes, peeled and cut to chunks

500g salmon fillet, cut into bite sized pieces

300ml cream

a whole bunch of dill, finely chopped

knackebrod, to serve

cheese, to serve

1. Add water or stock, peppercorns, salt and onion to a large casserole. Bring to boil and simmer for 5 minutes. 

2. Add potatoes and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the potatoes are half-cooked.

3. Add salmon and simmer on low heat for a further 10-15 minutes or until the fish has cooked through. Finally add cream and let the soup come to a boil. Turn off the heat, add chopped dill and serve with knackebrod and cheese.

Näkkileipä - Knäckebröd

Näkkileipä, the Nordic crisp bread, has always been one of my favourites. We used to always have it at school with school meals, at home with soups or even bits of it broken into semolina porridge. Most of the time you'd have this bread with butter and cheese, or with herring or gravlax. It is a pantry staple, without a doubt, and every household across the Nordic countries would most likely have some at all times.

So far I've been buying all my näkkileipä (knäckebröd in Swedish) here in Sydney. It's quite readily available and it's all authentic, mostly imported from Finland or Sweden. Even in Finland people would buy this crisp bread instead of making it themselves, but as this recipe shows it is incredibly easy and fairly quick to make at home too.

The original crisp bread would be made out of rye and wheat flour, but nowadays there are several flavours available - even quinoa! You could easily add sesame seeds to this recipe and use different flour instead of rye and spelt. I've served my näkkileipä with some cottage cheese that I seasoned with dried herbs and lemon. My partner (who is half-Japanese, half-German Australian), loves this bread too and "näkkileipä" was one of the first Finnish words I taught him.

Näkkileipä - Knäckebröd

(makes 6)

250ml warm water

5g dry active yeast

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 tablespoon cumin seeds

150g rye flour

150g whole spelt flour + extra for rolling

1. Mix both of the flours in a bowl and set aside.

2. Pour the water in a separate bowl, mix a tablespoon of the flour with the yeast and stir it into the warm water. Stir in the salt and cumin seeds and add the rest of the flour in slowly, mixing as you go and kneading with your hands to make a smooth dough.

3. Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel and leave the dough to rise for half an hour. 

4. Preheat the oven to 200C and line a baking tray with baking paper. 

5. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and roll into a log. Cut the log into 6 equal pieces. Using a rolling pin, roll the pieces into thin disks. Note here that you should bake these breads one by one and therefore only roll the pieces as you go and keep the dough pieces covered so they don't dry out. Prick each disk with a fork before placing on the baking tray and baking in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack and store in an airtight container.