Fish

norwegian fish gratin

Norwegian Fish Gratin

Norwegian fish gratin is kind of our weird take on mac and cheese. Originally potatoes were used, but sometime after macaroni was introduced to Norwegians in the early 1900’s, we switched over.

Another weird thing is the use of curry powder, which isn’t always used but it’s not uncommon in some Norwegian fish dishes. I learned this recipe from my father who always uses a lot of curry powder.

This makes for a pretty bizarre combination of ingredients, a kinda fusion of Norwegian, Italian and Indian cuisine, but ever since I was a kid this has been one of my favorite dishes. Fish gratin is actually so common here in Norway that every grocery store has at least 2 or 3 different variants of it in the frozen produce isle, right next to the frozen pizzas and such. Many of them are not bad at all, but needless they don’t come close to a good home made one.

smoked salmon tartare fennel ice cream

Smoked Salmon Tartare with Fennel Ice Cream

Norwegian salmon is some of the best in the world, and it is our biggest export to the rest of the world. But farm-raised salmon is one thing and wild salmon is a whole other thing. Even here in Norway, a lot of the farmed salmon is filled with lice, and because of the food they eat and the water they swim in, they have a lot more contaminants in them.

So before eating a whole lot of salmon, it can be wise to read up a bit on salmon farming, and the best thing overall is of course to get wild salmon, which is also much tastier.

Thankfully I have a family that loves to go fishing and that provides me with a lot of good fish, like the smoked salmon I used in this recipe. As anyone who has eaten sushi knows, raw salmon is awesome, and therefore good for a tartare. In this recipe, I will be mixing raw salmon loin and smoked salmon.