Pinnekjøtt (cured lamb ribs) will be served on many tables this Christmas and New Year’s Eve. When all have had their fair share – belly’s content and smiles abounding – there might even be a couple ribs leftover. And this is when it’s fun to get creative and come up with new ways to serve the leftovers. For me, a family favorite – and indulgent one at that – is homemade macaroni and cheese. Cheesy and creamy, simple and versatile – the perfect balance of pasta and cheese.
I’ve had this idea brewing in my head since last year – combining these two traditional meals into one glorious hot casserole of macaroni, cheese, and shredded pinnekjøtt. While this recipe is about bringing two traditional dishes together, and may even appear a bit un-Norwegian, macaroni has been a Norwegian favorite for quite some time. (more…)
One of the great things about holiday baking is that everyone has their own traditions and favorites. Recipes which span for generations, recipes that cross continents, recipes that adapt and evolve in one’s own kitchen. Each recipe with a history and a story.
Smultringer is considered one of the seven Norwegian Christmas cookies (syv slag), with very interesting origins. Before smultringer, Norwegians were making similar-looking fried cakes called hjortetakk out of horn salt (ammonium bicarbonate) or what was earlier referred to as hjortetakksalt. It’s suspected that hjortetakk came to Norway from Germany, as there are German recipes for them tracing back to the 1700s. 
Norway has a long tradition of curing – graving – both fish and meat in order to conserve them. While cured salmon (
