Classic Swedish Christmas food – Stromma’s best recipes

Tips and recipes for the Christmas buffet

Here you can find inspiration for your Swedish Christmas buffet. Head Chef Annika Gorgiev from Vaxholm’s Kastell and well renowned restaurateur KC Wallberg share their best Christmas recipes so that you can impress friends and family with exiting new flavours for Christmas. Making your own Christmas dishes doesn’t have to be complicated – we have mixed quick and easy recipes with ones that require a bit more attention to detail. Read our tips and make a classic Swedish Christmas dish for your buffet. Read about Vaxholm’s Kastell’s brand new novelty Christmas Dinner pick up – full of homemade Christmas delicacies.

Christmas buffet favourite – Kastellet’s classic herring

Herring is a must have on the Swedish Christmas buffet and at historical Vaxholm’s Kastell you can usually find over 20 different kinds of herring ranging from classic flavours to lingonberry and Gin & tonic herring – there is something for everyone!

Ingredients  
200 g soused herring (matjessill) 
3 tbsp chopped chives  
4 tbsp trout roe   
1 tbsp French mustard  
1,5 dl mayonnaise 
1 dl crème fraiche

How to make Kastellet’s herring
Let the herring and roe drain. If you have whole pieces of herring you can chop them in to smaller bits. Mix all other ingredients before mixing in the herring and stirring it all together. 

Poached salmon by KC Wallberg

A delicious piece of poached salmon is usually a firm family favourite on the Christmas buffet. Restaurateur KC Wallberg has a fantastic recipe for poached salmon flavoured with fennel, carrot and dill. His best tip is to make sure to use a dish that’s large enough for the liquid to cover the entire salmon as well as using a thermometer to make sure it’s cooked perfectly!

Ingredients
600 g skinless salmon fillet (from the back part of the fish)  
15 white peppercorns 
1 tbsp fennel seeds 
6-8 small carrots, preferably purple  
Half a fennel 
2 banana shallots 
1 dl vinegar (12%) 
7 dl water 
2 dl dry white wine  
2 tbsp sherry vinegar 
1 tbsp sugar 
6-8 dill stalks

How to poach the salmon
Trim the salmon fillet and cut in to 1 cm thick slices or cubes and put them in a large oven proof dish. Toast the white peppercorn and fennel seeds in a dry frying pan until aromatic, then put to the side. Scrub the carrots, slice the fennel finely with a mandolin and peel and shred the onion. Combine vinegar, water, wine, sherry vinegar and sugar in a sauce pan and bring to the boil. Add carrots, spices, dill stalks and simmer for 3 minutes. Add fennel bring back to boil. Pour the liquid carefully over the salmon to make sure it’s all covered. Leave to cool. The salmon is ready after ca 5-10 minutes, depending on the thickness of the slices. Larger pieces may need to be cooked in the oven for 5-8 minutes at 100 degrees.

KC Wallberg’s Christmas pork belly

Dishes such as meatballs, cocktail sausages and the traditional Swedish dish Jannson’s frestelse are common staples on the Christmas buffet. Looking to try something new? This delicious pork belly recipe from KC Wallberg can be made with many different flavour combinations – experiment with a mix of citrus fruits or rich wine.

Ingredients  
900 g bork belly (with rind) 
4 tbsp ”gravmix”– 3 dl sugar and 2 dl salt, preferably a coarse mix 
2 yellow onions 
1 orange 
1 whole garlic 
6 thyme sprigs 
2 tbsp buckthorn 
1/3 pot fresh oregano

How to make the pork belly
Day 1 – Cut a crisscross pattern in the rind, try to get as close to the meat as possible without cutting through the rind. Rub in the “gravmix”. Shake off excess mix and put the meat in a bag. Leave the meat to rest in the fridge for 24 hours.  
Day 1 – Take out the meat one hour prior to cooking and leave out in room temperature. Turn your oven on at 225 degrees celcius. Peel and cut your onion, rinse the orange and cut into segments and peel the garlic. Put the the onion, orange and garlic in an oven tray and add thyme, buckthorn and oregano. Put the pork belly on a grid with the rind up and put the grid on top of the oven tray. Cook in the oven for approximately one hour and baste every five minutes. The pork belly will become dark, almost black (if this happens within 30 minutes the oven is too hot). Lower the heat to 125 degrees and cook for a further 120 minutes and baste every 15 minutes.

For dessert – classic Rose Hip soup

One of the favourite desserts at Kastellet’s Christmas buffet is the classic Rose Hip soup, served in a shot glass. It can be served hot or cold and with or without accompaniments – it pairs very well with  almond bisque and vanilla ice cream.

Ingredients  
1 liter Rose Hip (Nypon) – fresh or frozen 
1 liter water 
3 dl sugar 
2 tbsp freshly grated ginger 
2 cinnamon stick 
1 lemon, sliced 
1 pinch of fresh or dried chopped chilli

How to make Rose Hip soup
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and boil until the rose hips have softened (ca 30 minutes). Take out the lemon and cinnamon sticks. Mix the rest of the contents in a blender or using an immersion blender and leave for a couple of hours. Strain through a fine mesh sieve. If it’s too thick you can dilute it with water and reheat for a few minutes. Freeze or keep in the fridge for 1-2 weeks.

Kastellet’s gluten free saffron and almond cake

This saffron and almond cake is perfect for dessert and coffee time. It’s delicious, easy to make and naturally gluten free. It can be made nut free by switching the almond flour for regular flour.

Ingredients 
100 g melted butter 
3 eggs 
1 packet of saffron 
2 dl sugar 
1 tsp baking powder 
3 dl almond flor 
0,5 dl milk

How to make the cake  
Melt the butter and let it cool, add milk. Butter and bread a cake dish, measuring ca 24 cm in diameter. Whisk eggs, saffron and sugar until fluffy. Add the dry ingredients and mix. Last but not least, add the butter-and-milk mix. Pour the batter in to the cake dish and bake in the oven for ca 30 minutes on 175 degrees. The cake should have a temperature of 90 degrees when it’s done. 

Order your Christmas buffet – Kastellet’s Christmas dinner hamper

Do you want to spare yourself the cooking but still enjoy delicious and traditional Swedish dishes this Christmas? Then we recommend trying this year’s novelty Christmas hamper from Vaxholm’s Kastell. It includes three different kinds of herring, orange and thyme gravlax, smoked lamb roast with pear chutney, Janssons frestelse, saffron and almond cake, homemade nougat and much more!

Information:  The Christmas hamper is available to order every week up until Christmas. Order latest Wednesdays at 12 pm to have it delivered at the quay in Vaxholm on Friday between 4 and 6 pm. For a hamper for Christmas Eve you can order it before Friday 18th of December to for pick up on Tuesday 22nd o December.