The Scandinavian Year: A warm hygge hug of a cookbook

Ever wanted to serve Scandinavian food but didn’t know where to start? Well, Bronte Aurell’s The Scandinavian Year gives you multiple entry points for inspiration. Her 11th volume of a Scandinavian cuisine odyssey is divided into an easy-to-digest month-by-month compendium of seasonal dishes from Sweden, Denmark and Norway.

A native Dane, Aurell also has plenty of experience in the UK food scene – she lives in London and owns the Scandi Kitchen cafés in Fitzrovia and Victoria. In the book she shares recipes from her own childhood as well as how she cooks as a Scandinavian emigrant, substituting in more local ingredients.

The book leans into full hygge cosiness, beginning with winter recipes such as Jerusalem artichoke soup (a top tip is to soak the artichokes in water with lemon juice for 15 minutes before cooking to make them easier to digest) and haddock with beetroot and parsnips (in Scandinavia, cod would likely be used instead of haddock, which isn’t as popular there).

Of course, classic meatballs make an appearance, but Aurell’s mother’s Danish version uses veal and pork, and the meatballs are oval, not round.

Moving into spring, we find an adapted mazarin cake, traditionally made with marzipan but for a modern twist her version is made with pistachio, sitting cheek by jowl with suggestions for eight open sandwiches on rye bread, including smoked salmon and egg, dill-marinated carrot and avocado, and roast beef with celeriac salad.

Summer’s selection focuses on lighter dishes for those long Scandinavian days, such as Swedish strawberry cake, where double vanilla sponge layers alternate with a half-cream, half-pastry cream and chopped strawberry filling. And for salads, Danish ‘grandma dressing’ is yet more comfort food, whisking cream, lemon juice and seasoning to drizzle over fresh leaves.

Coming full circle into autumn, The Scandinavian Year in food closes out with “warm-belly feeling” recipes, such as Hunka Hunka Burning Love – essentially bacon-loaded mash with added parsnip and veg – or prepare for advent with Christmas biscuits, such as Danish butter cookies and saffron biscotti.

There’s a sprinkling of insight into Scandinavian culture throughout too – did you know that on Norway day, 17 May, a koldtbord (the Norwegian smörgåsbord) is usually served, consisting of scrambled egg, air-dried lamb, prawns or shrimp, salmon, roast beef, cheese, fruit salad and rømmegrøt (sour-cream porridge)?

In mixing tradition with the practicalities of finding more local ingredients, The Scandinavian Year shows how simple it is to serve up a regionally-inspired feast and create a ‘hyggelige’ atmosphere.

The Scandinavian Year by Bronte Aurell (Ryland Peters & Small, £25). Cook the hunka hunka burning love recipe from the book

Photography: Peter Cassidy © Ryland Peters & Small