Finnish Christmas casseroles vol.2: Swede Casserole. Swede Casserole (Lanttulaatikko) is one of the oldest and most beloved Finnish Christmas dishes. Swede Casserole has a very distinct flavour, it’s slightly sweet with a hint of spices, usually from ginger and nutmeg. Just like its cousin Carrot Casserole, Swede Casserole is traditionally served as a side dish to baked ham and/or fish. Heads-up though, boiling and cooking swedes may not be the most pleasant of smells, but please don’t judge this humble dish based on the whiff — let the flavour do the talking!
Swede Casserole
🍴 Servings: 8 – 10
🕒 Hands-on: ~ 20 minutes
🎛 Cooking time: 2 hours (hob + oven)
INGREDIENTS
- 1kg swedes
- 1 tsp salt
- 600 – 700ml water
⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯ - 100ml (50g) fine breadcrumbs
- 250ml cream (double)
- 1 egg
- 50ml golden syrup
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground ginger
- ⅛ – ¼ tsp white pepper
Plus
- 20 – 25g butter
- 2 tbsp (15g) fine breadcrumbs
STEPS
1 Peel and roughly chop the swede(s). Put them into a large saucepan and add the water and salt. Cook until soft, for about 25 minutes.
2 Drain the swedes but save 400ml of the cooking water. Return the swedes back on the pan and purée using a hand blender. Once puréed, add the reserved cooking water.
3 Next, in a separate bowl mix the cream with the breadcrumbs. Leave for 5 minutes for the breadcrumbs to absorb the cream.
4 Stir all remaining ingredients (egg, syrup and seasoning) with the puréed swedes, followed by the cream-breadcrumb mixture.
Turn the oven on now, preheat it to 170℃. Also grease the oven dish!
5 Transfer the swede mixture into the buttered dish and smoothen the surface. Make holes on top using a back of a spoon and add a few knobs (the more the better 😉) of butter. Finish with a light coating of breadcrumbs. Cook in 170℃ (fan) for about 1.5 hours until the top starts darkening.
Notes:
- Pan — The bigger your pan is the easier it is to cook the swedes! You’ll need at least a 3 litre pan but I’d recommend using a bigger one if possible as the swedes will cook quicker if there’s more space in the pan. You can also cover the pan with a lid in the beginning to speed up the cooking
- Blender — Stick blender is very convenient for puréeing as you can keep the swedes in the same pan you cooked them in. But you can of course use a food processor too to blitz the swedes. Even a potato masher will do the job as they don’t need to be silky smooth
- Syrup — You can substitute golden syrup for dark one or use a mixture. Just note that dark syrup has a bit stronger flavour
- Oven temperature — You can also cook swede casserole in 170℃ for one hour and another in 150℃
- Freezing — If you want to make this casserole ahead, it’s suitable for freezing. You have two options:
1) Freeze the casserole before cooking. Defrost frozen casserole overnight in the fridge and cook in the oven as usual. If you are using this method, you can freeze the casserole without the butter and breadcrumbs and only add them right before cooking it
2) Cook the casserole as usual and freeze after it’s cooled. Defrost frozen casserole overnight in the fridge and simply reheat in the oven for 15-20 minutes
I think uncooked casserole freezes slightly better but both methods work really well 🙂 Tip: Lidded tin foil pans are perfect for freezing, small 400ml ones in particular as they don’t take up much space in the freezer and you can then also cook the casserole(s) in these
ALLERGEN & DIET INFO:
(GF) Breadcrumbs give the casserole “firmer” texture but since they don’t really affect the flavour, you can leave them out to make the casserole gluten-free.
Main equipment:
Saucepan (minimum 3L)
Small bowl
Measuring cup
Peeler
Chopping board + knife
Colander (optional)
Hand blender or potato masher
Oven dish (2L)
How about also making Carrot Casserole while you are at it? The cooking process is almost identical 🙂 ⤵︎
