"The Scandinavian Cookbook"

By Lee Svitak Dean

If you've got a taste for Scandinavian food and beautiful photographs, "The Scandinavian Cookbook" is for you. The author is Trina Hahnemann (pictured below) of Denmark, where she is a well-known chef and author who appears on TV. See her talk about her book here. Trina sees no reason that "rodgrod med flode" should not be as popular a dessert as tiramisu all over the world. And that's true for many other of the Scandinavian specialties.

On Wednesday, Sept. 23, Trina will be at Magers and Quinn Booksellers (3038 Hennepin Av. S., Minneapolis; 612-822-4611) at 7:30 p.m. to talk about her new book, which she has divided into recipes for each month. The photos are stunning and take the reader all over Scandinavia -- and into the kitchen with many of the recipes shown in full color. Some recipes are standards -- gravlax, for example -- but the range of recipes is broad and very do-able for home cooks.

Here are two recipes for September from her book.

CHANTERELLE, BACON AND

PLUM SALAD WITH BLUE CHEESE

Serves 4.

1/2 pound bacon, cubed

1/2 pound chanterelle mushrooms

1 tablespoons olive oil

Salt and pepper

10 red or green plums, pitted and cut into wedges

4 1/2 ounces blue cheese, crumbled

Dressing:

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1/2 teaspoon superfine sugar

2 tablespoons olive oil

Cook the bacon until golden in a skillet. Drain on a paper towel.

Use a dry brush to clean the chanterelles, then pan-fry them for 5 minutes in 1 tablespoon olive oil.

To make the dressing: Mix the balsamic vinegar and sugar together in a small bowl, then whisk in 2 tablespooons olive oil until the mixture has emulsified (this will take a while as there is more vinegar than oil).

Just before serving, combine the bacon, mushrooms, plums and lettuce in a serving bowl. Pour the dressing over and toss gently Add the blue cheese but do not toss the salad any more because it easily turns mushy.

WALNUTS IN WINE

1/2 cup superfine sugar

1/3 cup water

1/3 cup dessert wine, port, sherry, or red or white wine

1 1/2 cups shelled walnuts

DIRECTIONS