Gretchen’s Cookbook - Swedish Julbord

God Jul! Celebrate Christmas with Swedish Style Christmas Smorgasbord

It was our Swedish nanny Isabell's first Christmas ever away from her family. And her best friend Caroline was living with a Jewish family in New Jersey. No hall-decking for Caroline at all. That settled it really. My heart went out to her. It was my duty as a host-mom to make it a Very Swedish Christmas.

There's lots of things that make it “really Christmas.” Family. The ornaments on the tree – the one we got in New Hampshire, the one I made in elementary school, the bells from Grandma Green, the angels from Grandma Shanklin. The songs, the pageantry. And the food. The deck was stacked against us as far as family traditions went, but I figured we could hit a home run on the food – if it smelled like Christmas and it tasted like Christmas, we'd be on our way.

My own heritage is Pennsylvania Dutch, not much help there. So we pored over recipe books, searched the Internet. We tried a recipe for pepparkakor I found in one of my cookbooks. Isabell pronounced them “bleah!” She wore out a phone card getting recipes from her mom.

We invited our family for Christmas Eve dinner before church. Caroline arrived on the train the day before and the three of us were up to our elbows in flour...

Part of the run-up to Christmas includes celebrating Santa Lucia's Day. Avoid actual candles in the hair unless you have better balance than I do. But enjoy some of these with a cup of coffee:

• Lussebullar: Santa Lucia Buns, a slow-rising saffron infused roll, twisted into the traditional S-shape and dotted with dark raisins.

There's a reason why a Smorgasbord in America is a restaurant with an impossibly long buffet where you're encouraged to pile your plate higher than is healthy and then go back for seconds. Have a wide variety of things – some will be hits, some will be misses, but everyone will go home sated.

• Glögg: A warm beverage to toast you to your toes on a winter's evening. Make it from scratch or buy the concentrate at Ikea. Spike it with alcohol or don't. Serve with a spoon for the raisins and nuts.
• Vörtbröd: A dense, Christmas rye bread. Make it with "small beer" – your favorite mild dark beer. Ours is Victory's Milltown Mild.
• Jullimpa: If "beer bread" isn't your style, try this rye bread studded with juicy raisins.
• Shrimp: A big bowl of peel-and-eat shrimp is always festive.
• Smoked fish: Serve it with a fancy cracker, or encourage guests to try it with a slice of Vörtbröd.
• Jarred herring with Crispbread: Our grocery store carries Wasa, large crisp crackers, in a variety of styles. Pick up one or two to serve with the pickled herring.
• Meatballs: What's a Swedish feast without Swedish meatballs? Be sure to serve the gravy on the side. And have a jar of lingonberry jam about.
• Potatoes: Boiled new potatoes with a dab of butter, a dash of salt, maybe a sprig of dill. Easy on the cook – no peeling! Or try Braised Dilled Potatoes with Peas.
• Jansson's Temptation: Or try another potato dish – something of a scalloped potato dish, Swedish-style: matchstick potatoes layered with anchovies and onions.
• Poached Salmon: Fish to honor Sweden's seafaring heritage.
• Ham: Another easy-on-the-cook recipe. Most hams you can buy are already cooked; just warm them up, maybe make a mustardy glaze. You can even buy them pre-sliced.
• Kardemummkarans: A bread rich with the flavor of cardamom.
• Pepparkakor: Swedish ginger cookies cut into Christmas shapes. Or buy a tin of Anna's thins.
• Julgrot: A long-cooked Swedish rice pudding. Whoever gets the almond is assured a lucky new year. Don't forget to save a smattering for the Tomten. (Like leaving out oats for Santa's reindeer. Or a cookie or two for the Jolly Old Elf himself.)

God Jul!