ScandiKitchen is a much-loved haunt for Scandinavian expats and lovers of Nordic food. This cafe and supermarket has everything from open sandwiches and Swedish köttbullar meatballs to pickled fish and ciders.
Swedish-born Bronte Aurell opened the cafe back in 2007, on the very same day her baby was born. Here she gives us the lowdown on Scandi food, and shares her very own recipe for Semlor buns, traditionally eaten in preparation for Lent. Oozing with marzipan and custard, they're made fresh each day in the cafe until Easter.
How would you describe Scandinavian food?
Simple. We don’t do anything complicated with our foods, because we use good produce. People often ask me if we really forage, like we are often portrayed in the media. Well, we kind of do, but not in the way that many people think. We don’t go home and make up complicated, magnificent dishes from the golden treasures we find on the roadside. Instead, we may go out when it's Chanterelle season, find some, pick them, take them home, prepare them in the pan with a bit of butter and eat them on toast. Or pick some wild strawberries and put them on our ice cream for dessert. I think it's very much a pick-and-use approach, not an over-complicated way of eating.
Which are ScandiKitchen's most popular foods?
Open sandwiches, we make a huge array of these daily. On colder days, meatballs and mash with lingonberries.
Where in London does good Scandi food?
I’m biased here, sorry. But okay… Bageriet is a Swedish bakery run by the lovely Daniel and he really is amazing. His flaky, Danish pastry is excellent and he is a true craftsman. But the best cinnamon bun however, in my opinion, is to be found at The Swedish Church on Harcourt Street. There is a café in there. They only serve filter coffee and cinnamon buns, that’s the extent of the whole menu. But you can go there every day of the week, buy a bun and a cup of really strong filter coffee (the way we Scandies like it), sit in their library and just enjoy silence and calm.
You released your first cookbook, The Scandi Kitchen, in September 2015. What highlights can you give us?
Personally, I love a lot of the savoury recipes – especially the ones that came from my mum and grandmother. To me, it’s nostalgia and homesickness. I know that the cinnamon buns have become a staple in many homes now and that makes me very proud. To have parted with a recipe that becomes dear to people and becomes part of their family, well, it makes me very happy.
There is a rumour that Semlor buns have no calories if you eat them with your eyes closed. Where does this come from?
Hmmm… It might be me. I may have been fibbing a little bit. But it’s comforting, right?
Semlor Lent buns recipe (from The ScandiKitchen by Bronte Aurell, Published by Ryland Peters & Small)
Ingredients (makes 12)
13 g dried yeast or 25 g fresh yeast (see below)
250 ml whole milk, heated to 36–37°C
80 g butter, melted and cooled slightly
40 g caster sugar
300–400 g white strong flour
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cardamom
1 egg, lightly beaten
For the filling
100 g marzipan paste
good dollop of custard or Crème Pâtissière
500 ml whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
icing sugar, to dust
piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle
Method
If using fresh yeast, add it to the finger-warm milk and mix until dissolved. Then pour it into the bowl of a food mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment.
If using dried yeast, sprinkle the yeast granules into the finger-warm milk and whisk together. Cover with clingfilm and leave in a warm place for about 15 minutes to activate and become frothy and bubbly. Pour into the bowl of a food mixer with a dough hook and stir in the melted butter. Add the sugar and stir again. Add half of the flour as well as the salt, baking powder and ground cardamom. Add half the beaten egg (reserve the other half for brushing before baking).
Mix well until all the ingredients are incorporated and then start to add more of the flour, bit by bit, until you have a dough that is only a little bit sticky. Take care not to add too much flour. Knead the dough for at least 5 minutes in the mixer. Cover the bowl with a dish towel or clingfilm and leave to rise in a warm (not hot) place until it has doubled in size – about 30–40 minutes.
Turn the dough out to a floured surface. Knead again for a few minutes, adding more flour if needed. You want a firmer but not dry dough. Cut the dough into 12 equal-sized pieces. Place, evenly spaced, on a baking sheet. Leave to rise for 25–30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F) Gas 6. Brush each bun with the beaten egg and bake for 8–10 minutes or until baked through – keep an eye on them as they can burn quickly. Remove from oven and cover the buns with a lightly damp dish towel immediately – this will prevent them from forming a crust.
When they have cooled completely, cut a ‘lid’ off the buns – about 1.5 cm from the top. Scoop out about one-third of the inside of the bun and place this in a separate bowl. Mix it with the marzipan paste until it forms a very sticky mass – add a dollop of custard or Crème Pâtissière at this point to help it along. You want a spoonable, even mixture. Spoon the filling back into the buns, equally divided.
Whip the cream with the vanilla sugar until stiff, then use a piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle to pipe cream on all the buns. Put the ‘lids’ back on and dust lightly with icing sugar.
Image: Peter Cassidy