3 Scandinavian recipes to help you be more hygge this winter (2024)

Autumn 2016's buzzword is without doubt hygge. It doesn's translate directly into English, but it encapsulates a very Danish way of living, which is all about warm, cosiness and conviviality. It's about celebrating nature, spending time with family and friends and making the most of the simple things in life like food.

Here, author of haute hygge manual How to Hygge: The Secrets of Nordic Living Signe Johansen, shares three warming winter recipes you should try at home, including a sticky ginger cake, roast lamb and a hot cauliflower salad.

Always a favourite during the yule season, Serves 8–10 I baked this on Kirstie Allsopp’s Handmade Christmas TV programme and it was so popular I decided to include the recipe here. I’m not wild about sickly sweet marzipan or toothbusting sugar icing on traditional British Christmas cakes, so this is my Nordic alternative —festive colours, flavours and just the right amount of sweetness to feel celebratory …

125g butter, plus extra for greasing

175g molasses sugar

(or dark brown muscovado)

150ml treacle

250ml buttermilk

2 medium eggs, lightly beaten

175g refined spelt flour (or plain flour)

75g wholemeal spelt flour

(or rye, wholewheat, oatmeal flour)

2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp freshly grated root ginger

1 tsp ground cardamom

½ nutmeg, freshly grated

½ tsp fine sea salt

For the Glaze

150g icing sugar

zest and juice of 1 clementine

juice of 1 lemon

To Decorate

seeds of 1 small pomegranate

bright green raw pistachios

Preheat the oven to 170˚C/gas mark 3 and lightly grease a 900g loaf tin.

Melt the butter, sugar and treacle in a medium saucepan, stir through and remove from the heat. Cool slightly then add the buttermilk and eggs.

Sieve the flours, raising agents, spices and salt into a medium bowl. Add to the liquid ingredients in the pan in stages, stirring thoroughly after each addition until evenly mixed. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf tin and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 45 minutes, then cover with aluminium foil to prevent the top from scorching. Bake for a further 10–15 minutes or until the loaf has risen and feels firm to the touch. If in doubt, insert a metal skewer into the centre and if it comes out clean the cake is done.

Place the cake on a wire rack and allow to cool for a few minutes before turning it out and piercing the top in several places. Make a clementine glaze by mixing together the icing sugar, clementine zest and juice, and lemon juice until you have a sticky icing. It shouldn’t be too runny or the glaze will just pour right off the cake.

Drizzle the glaze over the ginger cake and sprinkle with pomegranate seeds and pistachios to decorate.

During the autumn and winter months I frequently make some variation on this salad — thenuttiness of roast cauliflower adds a pleasing warmth. You can mix it up and use roast sweet potato instead, or a mix of cooked broccoli and Brussels sprouts for a super-green salad.

1 head of cauliflower, broken into florets

2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to serve (optional)

1 small pack of baby spinach

100g blue cheese, crumbled

handful of dried sour cherries

handful of walnuts

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

cherry vinegar or vinegar of your choice, to serve (optional)

Rack of lamb is a really quick and delicious way of having roast lamb and this rye crust adds a little extra crunch and spice to the sweet lamb meat. A green salad on the side will cut through the richness of the lamb nicely. Any leftover lamb can be gnawed on the next day, or shorn from its rack and sliced into a salad or wrap.

125g rye breadcrumbs or panko breadcrumbs

30ml vegetable oil, plus extra for the pan

15g pack of flat-leaf parsley

15g pack of dill

2 Abba anchovy fillets (or 1 regular salty anchovy)

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 tsp French mustard, plus extra to rub on the lamb

1 tsp smoked sea salt

½ tsp freshly ground allspice

pinch of white pepper

4 x French-trimmed racks of lamb

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 190˚C/gas mark 5. Start by blitzing all the ingredients up to and including the white pepper in a blender so that you have an aromatic breadcrumb mixture.

Lightly season the lamb racks and place them fat side down in a hot pan with some oil, so you render and crisp the lamb fat before roasting the racks with the rye crumbs. Keep an eye on the lamb to make sure the fat doesn’t burn. Place your lamb racks in a roasting dish so they stack against each other in two pairs. Allow them to cool slightly before using your hands to rub a little mustard over the surface of the racks. Press the breadcrumb mixture firmly on to the racks and put in the preheated oven—cook for 15 minutes if you like your lamb pink and 20–25 minutes if you like it a little more well done. Ovens vary so keep an eye on the racks as they cook.

When the lamb is done to your liking, remove from the oven and rest on a chopping board for 10–15 minutes before transferring to a large platter. Serve with a portion of the celeriac gratin on page 117 and an assortment of quick pickles such as fennel, cucumber and rhubarb.

Recipes extracted from How to Hygge: The Secrets of Nordic Living by Signe Johansen (£14.99, Bluebird Books). Signe Johansen will be sharing the secrets of Nordic living at The Weekend of Hygge at The London EDITION on October 22-23; editionhotels.com

MORE ABOUT