Poached Salmon with "Creamed" Mushrooms (WW International Cookbook, 1977)

Further north for today's recipe, from the Scandinavia section of the International Cookbook. Admittedly, my knowledge of Scandinavian food is limited to infrequent trips to Ikea cafeterias - but I have enjoyed everything I've tried, at least. Meatballs? Love 'em. Lingonberry jam? Delightful. Princess cake? Always.

A few months ago I read "A Man Called Ove" by Fredrik Backman, and I was completely spellbound by the writing. I've been seeking out his other works since then, and equally loved "My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry." I'm in the middle of "Anxious People" right now, and finding myself just as fascinated and rapt by the story. 

They're all so, so good - and all set in Sweden, so naturally, I've been curious about the area and the culture I've been surrounding myself with in the stories.

What better introduction than food?

I love literally everything about this recipe - salmon is delicious, dill is my favorite herb, and I absolutely can't get enough mushrooms. 

Plus, like I mentioned the other day, I wanted to try some fish recipes - one, to mix things up from all the chicken ones we've done; and two, because I had some in the freezer and I'm trying my darndest to clear it out completely so we can do the semiannual thaw and deep clean.

This was my favorite part of the recipe. Cooking the mushrooms, with the herbs and everything together ... it smelled so amazing. I could've just doubled the water and I would've eaten it as-is, like a soup.

Alas, there were other plans for these mushrooms.

The plating is lovely and festive, which I appreciated. But the mushroom sauce was a bit of a flop. It was too watery to be much of anything. To be honest, next time I'll just cook up the mushrooms and serve those with the salmon, instead of blending them into nothing special to note. That said, it was delicious, and since we like salmon and have it fairly often, this will certainly be added in to the recipe rotation.