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Midsummer Table

Serves
8
Dishes
5

A Nordic long-table lunch for the lightest day of the year: home-cured gravlax on dark rye, grilled mackerel, new-potato salad with herbs, and a towering strawberry cream cake. Almost all of it is cold and made ahead, so it can wait while everyone arrives.

Midsummer Table: A Nordic long-table lunch for the lightest day of the year: home-cured gravlax on dark rye, grilled mackerel, new-potato salad with herbs, and a towering strawberry cream cake.

On the menu

  1. Gravlax with Mustard-Dill Sauce: Salmon cured in salt, sugar and dill for three days — the Nordic wayStarterGravlax with Mustard-Dill Sauce

    Cured for 3 days; served thinly sliced on Dark Nordic Rye Bread with mustard-dill sauce.

  2. Dark Nordic Rye Bread: Dense, seeded, keeps for a week and slices thin for open sandwichesBreadDark Nordic Rye Bread

    Bake 2 days ahead; it slices best after a full day's rest.

  3. MainGrilled Mackerel with Rhubarb or Gooseberry RelishMake ×2

    Eight whole mackerel, grilled in two batches just before serving.

  4. SidePotato SaladMake ×1.33

    Use new potatoes and plenty of dill and chives.

  5. Norwegian Cream Layer Cake (Bløtkake): Feather-light sponge, berries and whipped cream for every celebrationDessertNorwegian Cream Layer Cake (Bløtkake)

    Bløtkake with the first Norwegian strawberries.

To drink

Ice-cold aquavit with a cold lager, as is traditional. Non-alcoholic: elderflower cordial with sparkling water and lemon.

The day before

  • Ten days ahead, unless the salmon was sold previously frozen: freeze it for 7 days in a home freezer, then thaw it overnight in the fridge.
  • Three days ahead: cure the salmon, weighted, in the fridge, turning it every 12 hours.
  • Three days ahead, in the evening: soak the rye grains and seeds for the bread.
  • Two days ahead: mix, prove and bake the rye loaf (about 4 hours); cool it and leave it wrapped in a towel at least 12 hours before slicing.
  • Day before: bake the cream-cake sponge and keep it wrapped. Make the mustard-dill sauce, the rhubarb relish and the potato salad.
  • In the morning: slash and oil the mackerel and keep them covered in the fridge.

Game plan

Counted back from the moment you serve.

  1. 2 h 30 min before serving

    Split the sponge into three, whip the cream and assemble the cream cake; chill at least 1 hour (up to 6).

  2. 1 h before serving

    Unwrap the gravlax, scrape off the cure and slice it thinly on the diagonal. Slice the rye thinly. Take out the potato salad and refresh it with herbs.

  3. 45 min before serving

    Heat the grill to high (or the oven broiler with the rack 8–10 cm from the element). Arrange the gravlax on rye with the sauce and dill.

  4. 35 min before serving

    Serve the gravlax.

  5. 20 min before serving

    Season and grill the mackerel in two batches, 4–5 minutes on the first side and 3–5 minutes on the second, until the skin blisters and the flesh lifts cleanly from the bone.

  6. Serve

    Serve the mackerel with rhubarb relish, lemon, dill and the potato salad.

  7. 1 h after serving

    Bring out the cream cake.

Shopping list

Produce

  • 1 red onion
  • 2 shallots
  • 3 celery stalks
  • 1.5 kg waxy potatoes
  • 2 lemons
  • 600 g strawberries
  • 400 g rhubarb or gooseberries
  • 3 bunches dill (about 150 g)

Meat & fish

  • 1 kg very fresh skin-on salmon fillet, center cut, previously frozen
  • 8 whole mackerel (about 300 g each), gutted

Dairy & eggs

  • 5 large eggs
  • 150 ml whole milk
  • 750 ml heavy (whipping) cream
  • 400 ml buttermilk
  • 60 g sour cream

Pantry

  • 150 g cracked rye or rye flakes
  • 150 g all-purpose flour
  • 100 g whole-wheat flour
  • 300 g wholegrain rye flour
  • 50 g potato starch (or cornstarch)
  • 350 g sugar
  • 40 g powdered sugar
  • 60 g dark syrup, molasses or treacle
  • vanilla extract (1 tsp)
  • 5 g instant yeast
  • baking powder (1½ tsp)
  • 80 ml white wine vinegar
  • 60 ml cider vinegar
  • Dijon mustard (1½ tbsp)
  • Swedish or Dijon mustard (mildly sweet) (3 tbsp)
  • 200 g mayonnaise (or Mayonnaise)
  • 80 g dill pickles or cornichons
  • 100 g strawberry or raspberry jam
  • 80 g sunflower seeds
  • 50 g flaxseeds
  • 30 g pumpkin seeds
  • 70 g coarse sea salt or kosher salt (not iodized)
  • Pantry check: neutral oil (sunflower or rapeseed), fine sea salt, black pepper

Spices

  • white peppercorns (1 tbsp)

Drinks

  • aquavit or vodka (2 tbsp)