Easter traditions
Photo: TINE Mediebank
This elegant “niste” seems to contain some sort of waffle sandwich (yum!) but yours could have almost anything.
Linn Chloe Hagstrøm
Norwegian American Weekly
Easter is that wonderful time of the year where all the stores are closed and families get together.
Hei hei! My name is Linn Chloe Hagstrøm and I am a new Editorial Intern at Norwegian American Weekly! I’ll be working on bringing new content to this Opinion page, among other things.
I am from an island called Sotra, west of Bergen, but I grew up in Kjøpsvik in Northern Norway. The past three years I spent as an international student at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Wash., where I did my Bachelors of Arts in Cultural Anthropology and Global Studies. Two of those years I spent at the Scandinavian Cultural Center working with public relations, advertising, and curating together with Director Dr. Elisabeth Ward. I am very excited for this opportunity to work at the Norwegian American Weekly with this wonderful team.
To me personally, Easter means good food, family time, and spending days outdoors. In Norway, we like to say that during Easter there is always great “Påskevær” (Easter weather). Thus, a hike or three is a must. On these sunny and restful Easter days, we take to the mountains to hike or go cross-country skiing, often with a delicious “niste” (lunch) to consume on the trip.
A classic niste could include a few open-faced sandwiches with, for example, brunost, an orange, hot cocoa, coffee, and a Kvikk Lunsj. If you are looking for fun activities for the kids, you can make pinnebrød dough at home to cook during a mountain trip. Pinnebrød is a classic bread that is grilled on a stick over the bonfire, which I grew up with in Kjøpsvik, a small town in the north of Norway. You can find a number of recipes for this dough online, mostly in Norwegian; I translated the following from www.matprat.no/oppskrifter/kos/pinnebrod.
Photo: Steffenpihl / Wikimedia Commons
Pinnebrød gets its name from the twisty shape it makes after being wrapped around a stick and baked over an open flame.
Pinnebrød recipe for 2-3 people:
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsps. sugar
2 tsps. baking powder
5 tbsps. oil (soy or canola)
1/2 cup water
Mix all the dry ingredients, add oil and water, and mix until it becomes a sticky dough. Add some extra oil around the dough before placing it in a container or plastic bag to avoid it sticking. While the bonfire is getting ready, start prepping sticks to grill the bread on. Cut some nice sticks from a tree and twist dough around each stick. Grill the bread over the fire; open fire will burn the bread, so turn the sticks often.
Another good lunch to bring is foil packages, by which I mean tasty veggies (and chicken or fish) wrapped into aluminum foil. Just toss your favorite raw foods and spices into a foil bag and cook it on the bonfire! My favorite foil package consists of one piece chicken filet, one carrot, two potatoes, a red bell pepper, two tbsps. leek, two tbsps. butter, 1/2 tsp. paprika, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/2 tsp. pepper. All you need to do is cut the meat and veggies up in nice pieces, toss in melted butter, and then wrap it in foil and place it on the fire. A good tip is to cook the foil package while you grill the pinnebrød, that way you avoid burning the bread!
For the days spent at home, we enjoy the day cooking yummy foods and watching biathlon. One of my favorite Easter meals is lamb steak and oven-roasted vegetables. My father’s favorite is making Easter ham with a honey mustard glaze.
This article originally appeared in the March 25, 2016, issue of the Norwegian American Weekly. To subscribe, visit SUBSCRIBE or call us at (206) 784-4617.
