October 30, 2006

Sausage stroganoff

Today´s Swedish word: korv. Means sausage.

You cannot live in Sweden without encountering the famous sausage falukorv. It is a true classic, saviour of the hungry and stressed families, useful in many ways, you can eat it raw, fried, boiled, thai style, in the oven with apples. But this is the falukorv dish I love the most, korv stroganoff. And yes, I admit without blushing that actually this is on my top ten, even five, of absolute favourite dishes. There are people frowning upon falukorv, but I am not among them.
When I grew up, my mother´s korv stroganoff was a real treat, the kind of food you were very happy to see on the table (well, I liked almost everything she made, apart from black pudding and prune-stuffed pork). Now I make my own, maybe once a month, because I love it so much. Falukorv is a large sausage, bent in a circle, with a mild taste. Its origin is in the landscape Dalarna where there was a mine in Falun where they used oxes to run the carriages. Or was it when they made ropes from the leather they got so much meat they had to make sausages? I don´t remember, maybe it is all true. Anyway, here´s the recipe for my best comfort food!
Korv stroganoff
Serves 6-8 (freezes well)
600 grams falukorv or other mild-tasting, meaty sausage
1 small yellow onion, very finely chopped
2-3 tbsp plain flour
500 ml boiling water
2 tbsp mustard (not Dijon)
2-3 tbsp tomato purée
100 ml creme fraiche or similar
Shred the sausage quite finely and brown them in a little butter. Add the onions and sautée carefully not to burn them. Salt and pepper! When everything is a bit soft, powder over the flour and stir, it should soak up the juices in the pan. Pour over the water a little at a time, stir and let simmer until it thickens. Go easy on the water, you don´t want runny stroganoff! Stir in the mustard and tomato and let simmer for a couple of minutes. Add the creme fraiche and stir. Taste, the sauce should taste a little tart, mustardy, but still mild.
Serve with rice and green peas which is the very best veg for this (i.e. what Mum used to serve). This time I had to make do with a carrot. If you want you can add some finely chopped salted cucumbers in the sauce.

4 comments:

Steve said...

Looks good. Ranks up there with the "Grillkorv Sweet Chili" recipe I sent you a while ago. I'm not sure I can get falukorv, but I can find something that will work.

Pille said...

Sounds like my kind of comfort food, and my mum used to make 'vorstikaste' (the humble Estonian variant) quite often, too. Time to make it again:)

Anonymous said...

Hi! It's interesting were you'll end up when you're just searching for a korv stroganoff recipe to make for your host parents. I'm a swedish exchange student in Australia and thought I would share some genuine swedish culture :P Found a sausage called Fritz here that I believe is close enough to falukorv to work. I'll see tomorrow... Anyway, thanks for a enjoyable read.

Anonymous said...

Hi, like you i love Korv Stroganoff. For me it's food for the soul. I'm living i UK at the moment and the only way i can make stroganoff is by using (Hot dogs) it's not same but it works quite well..

Minna