Nordic Inspiration

"Eat your way to health and happiness" - er yes please! When a recipe book has this as the tagline how could I possibly resist? Trina Hahneman's The Nordic Diet was gifted to me by my good friend Sarah, and promising to cook her a recipe or two from its 144 pages, I delved in, finding myself not only inspired but also encouraged to look beyond the ingredient rut that I get myself into.The book focusses on the traditional diet of northern Europeans, consisting of a variety of grains, berries, vegetables, fish, poultry and game. There are plenty of vegetarian options and creative ideas for any meal of the day.

Zesty Coleslaw and Sardines & Tomato Breakfast Smorrebrod

For my dinner party, as one of my dinner guests is vegetarian, I chose to follow the "Beetroot burgers with barley salad" recipe which turned out very well. The ingredient list was not extensive and the instructions very simple so I felt confident to make this for guests, plus the salad could be made ahead and allow more time for socialising. I've since created my own beetroot & bean burger recipe that I'm very happy with too.

Beetroot Burgers with Pumpkin, Orange and Barley salad

Rice is the staple in Thailand so other grains tend to be expensive and not always available.
The need for barley had me scouring the local shops and I was pleased to find it in my local store for 40 baht per 500g which I'm happy with as its on a par with brown rice. I'd never cooked barley before and found it to have a slightly nutty taste and firm bite, but also to be quite filling. I've started to use barley more and more, particularly instead of rice in risotto recipes, Yottam Ottolenghi has a wonderful pearl barley risotto with watercress in his latest book NOPI. I also found a brilliant recipe in BBC Good Food Vegetarian Christmas magazine which combines barley with pumpkin, orange and rocket for a delicious salad or side dish. The even better news is barley has 15g of fibre per 100g whilst brown rice only has 3g per 100g - so I'm eating more healthily and I hardly noticed!

Pearl Barley Risotto with Watercress

I have a bad tendency to eat white bread, which though usually homemade, a wholegrain variety would be more nutritionally beneficial. I love Ryvita dark rye crackers though so when available locally I grab a couple of packets.The Nordic Diet has plenty of wonderful Smorrebrod ideas and this week I created a beetroot & lentil salad to top mine with. I also enjoy sardines mixed with a little lime juice or a cabbage and carrot coleslaw using yoghurt instead of mayonnaise but you can top them with anything to make filling breakfast or light lunch. Tomorrow's plan is scrambled eggs with spinach.

Beetroot and Lentil Salad on Rye Crackers

Other inspiring recipes include the Jerusalem artichoke salad with cold sauce verte, which is made from natural yoghurt, dill, parsley and lime juice; fresh, tangy and light. Having bought a 500g bag of artichokes I opted to also make the very yumtastic Tarragon chicken with roasted artichokes, the dish was ready in just 25 minutes - I'll definitely be making this one again. 

The range of herbs used in the different recipes ensures plenty of flavour without the need for heavy cream, butter or oil, so I'm definitely well on my way to the health part and yes the cooking and particularly the eating of these lovely dishes makes me very happy, so I can only surmise that Trina's claim is well founded!

I'll be trying out the baked fish with fennel and lemon gremolata and the rabbit stew with rosemary and lemon sounds divine, photos and results coming soon...