• Red Cabbage Slaw with Apples, Beets, and Dill

    Red Cabbage Slaw with Apples, Beets, and Dill

    As we prepare for the upcoming holiday season, I’m thinking about all the buttery cookies, aromatic spiced breads, and Norwegian celebration meals I want to make. But the truth behind my work as a food writer and author is that…

  • Broiled Mussels with Dill Butter

    Mussels always take me back to that summer day in Norway, when my husband and I ate lunch on the waterfront in Oslo, on a patio where the chairs were draped with blankets to shield diners from the marine breeze.…

  • Smoked Mackerel Salad, Two Ways

    On hot summer days when you just don't want to turn on the oven, salads can be an appealing dinner option. Today I have two versions of a smoked mackerel salad that offer plenty of flavor and protein with little…

  • Skagenröra

    Creamy Shrimp and Dill on Cucumber Slices (Skagenröra)

    Toast Skagen, or Skagenröra, is a popular Scandinavian appetizer that’s as easy as can be yet a crowd pleaser. This creamy, herb-flecked shrimp salad is typically served on triangles of buttered toast, but I’ve lightened up my Skagenröra by using…

  • The Easiest Gravlax

    The cure begins by tucking the salmon into a blanket of sugar, salt, and dill. By the time the ingredients are fully applied, there’s no trace of the fish. The vibrant red of the sockeye is buried—as its name gravlax…

  • Scandi-Style Salmon Burger in The Norwegian American

    A taste for the sea must run in my blood. Wild salmon grilled, cured, or smoked; oily silver-blue mackerel salted and grilled; humble cod, elegant with its understated opaque white flakes–these are foods my kitchen knows well. Most of the time…

  • Smoked Mackerel Spread

    Smoked Mackerel and Dill Spread

    Over Mother’s Day weekend I sat on the porch with Mom, embracing the fresh air of spring with a glass of gentle white wine and this Scandi-worthy appetizer. The dish took a matter of minutes to prepare yet was something…