I Smell Something Fishy….

HI!!! I’m back!! Terribly sorry I have to ditch out on you like that sometimes, but the life of a seaman’s wife is not always bon bons and blogs….I have a full schedule and some weeks/days seem busier then others and this week I’ve been busy.. There is so much that has happened that I’m not sure where to begin but I thought I’d share with you my day yesterday which I found to be extremely interesting.

The Norwegian government has a program called Fiskesprell which involves trying to get children in kindergardens and elementary schools to eat more fish. The thought behind it is if you can get children started early eating fish they’ll live a healthier lifestyle and hopefully live longer!

FISKESPRELL

I apologize to my English readers that this information on the link is only in Norwegian- however if you can translate the page- do so and enjoy the reading! There are some great recipes there also.

The wonderful thing with children is that they are so accepting and open to anything- however, over time, the world around children, parents, siblings, etc, have such an impact on what a child will continue to be open and accepting too. If a family is not use to eating fish the child will eventually dislike it also even if they’ve never tried it! That is why it is so important to be open to new things when you have children or work with children.

At our kindergarden the children often eat Mackrell in tomato sauce..

and Caviar-

I’ve tried both and have to say I’m a bigger fan of the Mackrell in tomato sauce then the Caviar, but it wasn’t BAD either..just not something I’d rush out and buy again. The kids love both of these items and it’s funny on days when the kids are getting oatmeal instead of bread and different things to have on their bread, they always look at me because I bring a box of Mackrell to work every day and I had one little boy who asked me if I was going to eat all the Mackrell. I told him I’d eat my three Knekkebrød (breakable bread from Wasa) and I’ve found if you pile the right amount on each of these breads you get about three from a box of Mackrell- so he kept watching me and kept saying, “Are you going to have SO much on your bread?!” hahahaha….So they love this fish food and we’ve been encouraged to serve even more. Here in Norway we have fish cakes- which is basically fish ground up with maybe some onion, chives, pepper, and salt and a little milk and egg to bind the fish and then you fry them in a pan- they are wonderful and you can use almost any fish. These are great on bread or by themselves. And the fish cake recipie is very giving, you can add and subtract items as you like and it usually works just fine.

I made “Fiskegrateng” which is basically fish and macaroni in a white sauce with bread crumbs- it’s so easy peasy and served with a light salad of shredded carrots in a vinagerette it’s so yummy! I even made my own white sauce this time and if I can do this you can do this! Here is the easy peasy recipe:

Cook up about 100 grams of Macaroni or 1-2 dl (I doubled this recipe) in lightly salted water.

Cook up about 500 grams of fish (I used Seth or Sei in Norwegian but you can make this with any fish)

To make the white sauce, you’ll need the following:

2 TBSP (SS) margarine – let this melt

add 2TBSP (SS) flour – mix well so there isn’t clumps and begin to add milk, stirring constantly. You’re going to add a total of about 4dl of milk (again I doubled this recipe- it’s forgiving also, so you can add and subtract as you like pretty much)

Stir constantly as the sauce cooks up, add some nutmeg (about 1/2 tsp) and salt and pepper to taste..once the sauce has thickened you add the cooked pasta and fish and mix well, add three eggs (I just cracked three eggs and dumped them in- the single recipe calls for three eggs and as I said I doubled the recipe but I didn’t add six eggs and it still worked) Mix the eggs into the mixture well and then pour into a baking dish and top with bread crumbs. This is a Norwegian recipe and the Norwegian cuisine doesn’t use a lot of spices but you could absolutely add some if you want on your bread crumbs- I think a little lemon pepper would be lovely on this. Bake at about 350F (180C) for about 40 minutes.

Serve with about 4-5 carrots shredded mixed with 1/2dl water, 2tbsp vinegar, 2tbsp sugar- mix well and let this sit a little.

I’m really excited about seeing how we can introduce more fish into the kindergarden and getting kids excited about eating fish and seafood. My kids were lucky growing up on the coast of Norway, our previous home had a boat house and dock and they were often out there fishing from the dock and whatever they caught they disected, nothing was more interesting then seeing what was in the fish’s belly! I was totally grossed out by this but I didn’t grow up along the coast so I wasn’t use to this!!! My kids didn’t think anything of this!

It’s snowing like crazy today and so I’ve begun the process of making Fenalår with one of the legs to the lamb I ordered from our friends. I got a box with various lamb parts and there were two legs. The one leg I’ll keep for a nice steak and the other I’m making a traditional salted meat here in Norway which is called Fenalår. Looks like this when it’s done

This salted meat is wonderful with a yummy potato salad and a Norwegian flat bread or just eating by itself! The meat is going to rest in a bed of salt for 14 days and then I’ll hang it up for 2 months…I’ll take pictures along the way, though I forgot to photograph it before it went into the bed of salt- so I’ll take photos when I take it out of the bed of salt and hang it up! I’m really excited to try doing this- this is traditional Norwegian food and I think it’s fun to try something new and yet so traditional!

Now, onto something a little sad- I’ve lost a follower! Uff…I’m really sorry again that I disappeared for a week, I should have given notice, that would have been the polite thing to do, but I still don’t think my disappearance warranted losing a follower- do you??? It’s funny how you can get hooked up on the numbers when you have a follower log! Sure hope whoever left will give me a second chance and if you’re reading this blog for the first time or you’ve been here before but not added yourself as a follower- please do! And again- I LOOOOVE LOVE LOVE when those who visit post a comment!

Now a few questions:

1.Do you eat fish?

2.How often do you eat fish?

3. What is your favourite fish dish?

I’ll be back tomorrow- I promise- Until next time my friends…