Minnesota Recipes – WordPress test9

Do you know what people do for fun in Minnesota? They ice fish. As in, go out on the frozen lake, drill a hole through the ice, and stick their fishing pole down. I know…crazysauce! Minnesota is a fishing mecca that people travel far and wide to come to simply to freeze their buts off for little fishes.

Oh but those little fishies are tasty! And the most famous Minnesota fishie? The walleye, of course. This hot walleye dip is a fantastic way to cook up Minnesota’s favorite fish. The dip is cheesy and creamy acting as a perfect way to showcase your walleye. If you don’t have access to walleye other white fish will be delicious, as well!

Putting the cheese mixture on the bottom of the baking pan BEFORE and SEPARATE from the fish helps to keep that fish the star of the dip. With each scoop of dip you are sure to get a chunk of gorgeous walleye.

Now, for those of you without access to walleye. Or, you want to use another of your favorite fish… go for it! Alaskan cod, trout, sunfish, and many others of the white fish would be excellent in this dip.

I always cook my fish skin side down with a pat of butter. When cooking a fish as special as walleye, DON’T skip the pat of butter. Walleye deserves you adding the extra calories. For this dip, I also cook onions along with the fish and then flip the fish over for a couple of minutes just to absorb some of that butter and onion flavor. That means that ALL of the flaky pieces have some great butter and onion flavor.

After you’ve cooked the fish (and gently flaked it and stirred it with the onions) press it gently into your cheese mixture. The dip will meld beautifully while it bakes without losing any of those great chunks.

Why am I using a pie tin rather than a gorgeous baking dish? First reason…I don’t own a baking dish just for a dip and feel no reason to purchase one when something I already own will suffice. Second reason…pie tins are used for everything here in Minnesota, even as plates (no really!?! some “cool” restaurants use them and everyone goes crazy for it!). Third and most importantly…I love the depth of pie tins for dips. They make it so you can get everything in the dip with one scoop.

Top the dip with more cheese and some breadcrumbs to give it a great crunch and golden brown flavor. Bake it up in the oven for about 25 minutes. The top will be golden brown and the edges will bubble when it has reached perfection.

Note: You can use crushed potato chips or crackers here if you like.

Serve this dip up with crunch bread, chips, or crackers for the next Game Day party or as an appetizer for a party.

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Ole and Lena were eating dinner when Ole yelped and exclaimed…”Lena, vat did ya put in da food, it’s dam spicy!”. Lena said “Dat neighbor down da street gave me something and told me it would make da food da best food we ever had. Cripes, I knew he vas no good.” Ole…” What vas da spice?”. Lena…”Pepper.”

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And that, my dear friends, sums up the whole spice profile of Swedish cooking. Okay, so there IS pepper and salt used in Swedish dishes. But that’s about all the spices good, traditional Swedish dishes have. They tend to be very bland by most other cuisine standards.

How do I know this? Well, I worked in a local cafe for quite sometime as a teenager in a MN town called Mora. Mora is all things Swedish. Mora is the home of a gigantic Dala horse, and a Mora clock commemorating the town’s Swedish roots. Mora’s sister city and namesake is Mora, Sweden. Mora DOES Swedish. And that little local cafe I worked at knew how to cater to its locals! Which meant it knew Swedish dishes inside and out.

At that cafe, I learned how to make many a Swedish dish. Yes, even lutefisk. Gah!! Try getting that smell out of your clothes!

(traditional Swedish Meatballs require grated or minced onion, not chopped. )

AND…AND…Nate is 1/4 Swedish. I remember when we first married and I met his great-uncles Raymond and Russell. They were 100% Swedish, spoke Swedish, cooked Swedish, and one was dressed in overalls every time you saw him. And they were huge, tall men. Nate’s grandpa and these great uncles were children of Swedish immigrants.

Quite a few years back Nate’s great-uncle was becoming too elderly to stay in his home by himself and wanted to clean out some of his belongings. I was utterly thrilled to be able to get one of the trunks that traveled with the family on the boat from Sweden. That, along with an original Swedish hymnal and Bible are treasures in our home. The stories and history those items have must be incredible!

(soak your breadcrumbs in the milk for a few minutes)

Nate’s parents stick to meat and potatoes, salt & pepper as the only spices, and lots of cream in their dishes. Standard Swedish cooking. I am often looking for the salt and pepper shakers when we are at their home for dinner. The Swedish roots are strong with those two :).

Swedish Meatballs have their roots as leftovers. No really, it’s true! The meat came from whatever scraps of meat and fat were leftover from the week, and then ground. Which is why Swedish Meatball recipes feature a blend of multiple meats. Onions were readily available because of the ease of storing them in the winter. Breadcrumbs were the leftover pieces of bread that had become stale or not used. And cream? Well, what is a Swede without good cream?

Truly, Swedish Meatballs are the ultimate in leftover use!

Why did they cook them in a pan, you wonder? Well, I’m thinking that they weren’t terribly concerned about perfect ball shapes for their leftovers. AND…ovens. Yeah, they weren’t quite as available, in that time, as a plain ol’ fire or cooktop.

Traditionally, Swedish meatballs use the scrapings of the pan with a bit of cream and flour added to create the gravy that you pour on them. And, of course…serve with potato puree and lingonberries.

Notes about Swedish Meatballs:

Chilling the meat mixture for about an hour will help the balls hold together while cooking.
Traditional Swedish Meatballs are soft in texture, this is normal.
Balls that are only 1 inch in size is traditional. Probably because of how quick they were to cook.
Traditional Swedish Meatballs aren’t really balls. More like triangles. They are cooked on a side and then turned, resulting in more of a triangle shape. Perfect.
Traditional Swedish Meatballs are rather bland, almost sweet (because of the nutmeg) in flavor. Feel free to adjust the recipe as you prefer.

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Category: Minnesota Recipes

hot walleye dip recipe

traditional swedish meatballs recipe