Foodie Friday – A Swedish food tradition

Did you know that many Swedes have pea soup and pancakes every Thursday.  You did!  Well, did you know why?  Many accounts say that it was served as a big meal to fortify people for the fasting on Friday.  But that didn't totally add up for me – because no meat on Friday means that stocking up the day before would also have no meat??  Although some versions of the soup include pork. And Sweden is now a protestant country anyway.

So I did a bit more digging.  And found that a deposed and imprisoned Swedish king was poisoned by pea soup in 1577 on a Thursday and this is in his memory.  Not sure about the pancake bit.

So here are the traditional recipes:

Pea Soup

• 1 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 2 large carrots, chopped
• 1/3 tsp black pepper
• 1 1/3 cup dried yellow split peas
• 6 cups reduced-sodium vegetable broth or water
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf or Italian parsley or dill

Method

• Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large saucepan.  Add onions, carrots and black pepper.  Cook for 6 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Vegetables should be soft.
• Stir in peas or broth (or water).  Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for 35-50 minutes.  Stir occasionally, peas should be very tender when complete.
• Take a cup of soup solids and either mash with a fork or with a food processor.  It should be a smooth puree.  Return to the saucepan and add half of the parsley in.  Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring often, to blend the flavors.  Add more water for a thinner soup.
• Serve warm, sprinkled with fresh parsley or dill.

Pancakes

• 3 Eggs
• 2 cups Milk, 2% or higher--skim and 1% milk don't work well with this recipe
• 2 Tablespoons Butter, Melted
• 3 Tablespoons Sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1.5 (1 + 1/2) cups Flour, Sifted
• Lingonberry sauce or jam

Method

1. Beat eggs until they are very fluffy.
2. Add milk and 2 Tablespoons of butter.
3. Add dry ingredients.
4. Combine--the batter may be bubbly and funny looking, but don't spend much time combining the ingredients: that's the way the batter always looks.
5. Using a greased or non-stick electric frying pan set for "pancakes", pour about 2 tablespoons of batter per pancake. The pancakes should be extremely thin.
6. Lightly brown on each side.
7. Place on a plate and drip on a bit more of the melted butter.
8. Serve with lingonberry jam