>> Funding for this series has been provided in part by the following... >> Up Norway, curates Norwegian travel experiences in the footsteps of "New Scandinavian Cooking."

>> ♪ No, take me home ♪ Take me home where I belong >> Vgan, the full taste of chocolate.

>> Grieg Suites.

Chocolate with apples from Norway.

♪♪ Havila Voyages.

Pure Northern.

>> Viestad: This is what we're here for -- the vendace, or European cisco, a small freshwater fish, not much known outside of this region.

♪♪ Hi, and welcome to "New Scandinavian Cooking" from Helgoya and Nes in Eastern Norway.

I'm Andreas Viestad.

This is the richest agricultural soil in the country, the breadbasket of the North.

And in today's program, we'll delight in the rich history, the great food, and, not least, the life-giving limestone of this region.

And I'll start off with stone and bread.

I'm going to bake my own scones using not only local flour but also local homemade baking soda made with the limestone that's prevalent in this landscape.

Then I'll use local herbs to create another chemical miracle, a mayonnaise without eggs.

It may sound more like an experiment than like food, but it actually tastes delicious.

And then there will be eggs in the thousands, if not the millions.

The lakes in this region are home to small and seemingly insignificant fish, vendace.

In addition to being a great fish for eating, preferably fried and crispy like sprats, it has really delicious eggs.

Also, vendace roe, together with some baked rutabaga.

And, finally, I'll make a Norwegian version of a classic dish, beef Wellington, the dish that seems like such a mysteriously complicated way to ruin good meat.

I'll make a version that is a whole lot simpler and that actually makes sense and tastes great, with local potatoes and herbs.

♪♪ The limestone is basically everywhere -- underground, under the topsoil, and even in driveways, like here at Hovelsrud gard.

Hi!

>> Hi!

Have you picked up a stone from the driveway?

>> Yeah.

Yeah.

I've helped myself.

I'm gonna use it in my cooking today.

>> [ Chuckles ] Maybe you want some vegetables.

>> Yeah, that'd be nice.

Thank you.

Now, I'm going to start off today by making some scones, some beet scones, and in order to make beet scones, you need beets.

So I've got these beautiful yellow and red beets.

But I'm also going to use this limestone.

Normally when you make scones, you need baking powder, and baking powder is a combination of an alkaline compound and an acidic compound, and together they react and they leaven the bread without using yeast.

But instead of using baking soda, I'm going to use limestone, which is alkalic, and I'm going to combine it with some yogurt and some cultured milk and a little bit of vinegar in order to get the acidic part.

So what you need is basically a piece of limestone, you know, from a driveway, not a church, preferably, or a dilapidated house or somewhere that you find it, from the Cliffs of Dover.

And you just grind it into fine powder.

And I'll just illustrate the reaction we are going to get.

Here I've got a little bit of powdered limestone, to which I'm adding just some normal apple cider vinegar.

It's a completely harmless process, but this is what is gonna leaven that scone.

My scone recipe is really quite simple.

It's just 450 grams, or 1 pound, of spelt flour.

You can also use normal all-purpose flour.

1 pound, 450 grams, of fine rye flour.

1 teaspoon of salt.

3 tablespoons of sugar, and then 1 tablespoon of limestone, local limestone.

If you don't have limestone, you can use normal baking soda.

And before everything blows away, I'm adding some butter, about 150 grams, or 5 ounces, of butter, and it should be room temperature so that it dissolves quite easily.

The best thing is to use your hands.

Work quite fast.

Try and make sure that the butter is always covered with some of the flour.

And now I'm adding the acidic compound, which is yogurt.

Many people don't think about it, but yogurt is actually quite acidic.

It is the result of another chemical reaction, that which happens when lactic-acid bacteria comes in and eats the lactose in the milk.

2 cups, 5 deciliters, of yogurt, and then one splash, about a deciliter, of a cultured milk.

You can use buttermilk, or you can use normal milk that's just gone a bit off from the back of your fridge.

It's still good to use in baking.

And then just a small splash, a tablespoon or so, of apple cider vinegar, mainly for the flavor but also to help this acid-base reaction.

And then mixing it together quite carefully.

You don't want to work it too much when you're making scones.

When the dough is like this, quite even, then it's time to stop.

It's pretty dull-looking dough, isn't it?

Well, it won't be after this.

I'm adding yellow and red beet, then just carefully mixing it in, and it doesn't have to be evenly distributed.

It's better not to work the dough too much.

And then I'm just cutting them through like this.

And just a little more of the red beet on top, just for decoration.

So I'm gonna bake this in a quite hot oven, at 450 degrees Fahrenheit, around 220 centigrade, for between 15 and 20 minutes.

The stately buildings at Hovelsrud gard date back to 1840.

And this is still a working farm, producing large amounts of cereals and poultry, now in transition to organic.

But what most people know the farm for is its splendid garden that its owners, Marianne and Are, have spent the last 10 years establishing.

10 years -- that's really quite remarkable that you built all of this in such a short period of time.

>> We have drawings on how the garden has been, so we have just been, yeah, trying to do it exactly like it was when my great-great-grandfather was building it.

>> So this was -- This is the original layout?

>> Yes, almost.

We had everything in a book talking about the history of the farm.

>> So, this is basically what it would have been like to visit in the 1840s?

>> I think so, yeah.

And we are working with history to try to re-create as it has been.

>> Do you manage to eat at all?

>> We have more than we can eat, so you can have some.

>> Yeah.

So you don't mind?

>> No.

>> No, I will.

♪♪ Now, at the end of a Norwegian summer with long days, lots of light, relatively modest temperatures, to say the least, nature is just bursting with energy, and that is also the case with gardens like this.

And every plant is a miracle.

It's bursting with vitamins, with flavors, and I'm going to celebrate them by making something that shouldn't be possible.

I'm going to make a mayonnaise without using any eggs, just the compounds that can be found in fresh fennel and chives.

There's plenty of chives here.

And what I'm doing is I'm just juicing the chives and the top part of the fennel stalk.

The fantastic thing about these vegetables and herbs that have grown outside in this cool climate is that they're so bursting with energy that they actually jellify once they come out of the juicer.

They contain a lot of jellifying agents, and that's what I'm going to utilize when making a mayonnaise without eggs.

I'm also adding just a splash of vinegar.

That's just for flavor.

This is apple cider vinegar.

And a little bit of salt.

That's also just for flavor.

Mix it together and add the rapeseed or canola oil drop by drop.

Do it slowly to ensure a good result.

And here you have it -- a perfect mayonnaise with no egg yolk.

And here's Marianne with the scones.

So are you ready to try the bread that has been baked with your driveway and the mayonnaise without eggs?

>> Yes!

I'm excited.

>> Okay.

You can just dip.

I think we're allowed to double-dip, aren't we?

And it is interesting to note that when I made what is probably the first altogether vegan recipe here on "New Scandinavian Cooking," the eggless mayonnaise, it does contain more than 95% fat, so it's not exactly health food.

>> [ Chuckles ] >> Mmm.

>> Mmm!

>> The interesting thing to note is that if you're gonna make this eggless mayonnaise, it's basically the same way as making normal mayonnaise, except you start off with the jellified juice of whatever herbs or vegetables you want to use.

But they will behave a little bit different according to the season, so if it's rained a lot, they'll contain more water, and you might not get the desired result.

But then you can just start from scratch but with an egg yolk and maybe a little bit of mustard, and then you'll have a good mayonnaise but not without egg.

>> Mmm.

>> You can find all the recipes at our website... ♪♪ >> [ Speaking indistinctly ] >> Marianne's mother still lives on the farm, and in addition to being an active gardener, she's also the family fisherwoman.

She's promised to take me fishing for one of the region's specialities, vendace.

[ Speaking Norwegian ] >> Oh, there they are.

>> All the farms around Lake Mjosa used to fill their larders with this small fish, and Karin, she keeps up this old tradition.

This is what we're here for -- the vendace, or European cisco, a small freshwater fish, not much known outside of this region, but here it is considered a delicacy.

♪♪ A few times a year, the vendace comes here in huge schools, and then you can catch hundreds or thousands, but today we just got six.

♪♪ [ All speaking Norwegian ] Mmm!

It's a delicious, sort of semi-fatty dish, somewhat like a really big sprat.

In late summer, early fall, there's an added bonus to the vendace.

That is when it readies to spawn and it's full of roe like this, and that is a true delicacy.

♪♪ Vendace roe is a little bit milder flavor than Russian caviar, and I think that it works well in numerous dishes, especially if there's something sweet there.

So now I'm going to serve them with some baked rutabaga.

Here I've got a rutabaga -- ow, ow, ow -- that I've baked in the oven at about 350 degrees Fahrenheit or 175 centigrade for an hour and a half so that it's completely baked.

It's sweet, very aromatic.

So just cut off the top and puree it.

And then I'm adding some butter while it's still steaming hot.

Now this is a really rich puree with a nice sweetness to it and a little bit of saltiness, too, 'cause I'm using salted butter.

If you're using unsalted butter, just season with salt.

And I'm also flavoring it with chives... and some sour cream.

This is not really cooking light, but it's quite easy to make.

And then the vendace roe.

You can also use trout or salmon roe.

Now, this would be a really good sharing dish for, say, six to eight people, but that means that it's just six to eight times better for me.

That's a really good combination.

Mmm.

You can find all the recipes at our website... ♪♪ A stately farm, a stately house, and, most important to me, a stately kitchen.

A really great kitchen to look at but also great to work in, and one way you can feel the history, look at this workbench.

Imagine what it's been through and imagine what it would be like to have one in your own house.

Well, when you're in a place like this, you need to make a stately dish, and when I cook meat, I don't often use the fillet, but I think this is the right occasion.

You know that old British dish beef Wellington?

Well, that's an incredibly old-fashioned dish but also a very, very complicated way to ruin perfectly good meat.

I'm gonna make a somewhat easier version, I would say, but also one that preserves the flavors a little bit better.

I'm using a nice midsection, the thick part of the fillet, and it's beef, naturally, and I'm just seasoning it quickly with salt and pepper and some dill seeds.

And if you can't find dill seeds, you can also use dried dill, which has some of the same sweetness to it.

And I'm gonna fry this in the pan with some dill flowers, and, again, if you can't find dill flowers, you can use just a bunch of fresh dill.

Now the meat is nicely seared but seriously underdone, and I'm leaving it to rest here.

I'm gonna wrap it in a potato crust, and I've cooked some potatoes here, nice local potatoes.

And there's a nice extra whiff of a mustardy note.

I've added some horseradish, about this much horseradish, and if you don't have fresh horseradish, you can also add a couple of tablespoons of grated horseradish into the potatoes after they've boiled.

And I've also added half a fennel bulb, finely chopped.

And I've cooked that together with the potatoes, just removed the water, and then I'm just mashing the potatoes.

Now, of course, the potatoes now are just relatively dry and boring with a hint of horseradish.

So to make it just a little bit richer, I'm adding half a pound, 220 grams, of butter.

Mmm.

Yes, that's much, much nicer, and I'm seasoning with a few more dill seeds and some powdered mustard.

And you won't really be able to taste where the mustard ends and where the horseradish starts.

The two flavors will go together, but it will give the potatoes a bit of character, a bit of sting, and I think they need that.

And then, finally, one egg.

Now is the time to act quite quickly.

Once the egg is worked into the mashed potatoes, I turn it out onto a silicone mat.

You can also use parchment paper that's well oiled.

And then I just wrap the meat in this potato batter.

Now if you want a little extra work, you can use the rest of the mashed potatoes to make nice patterns on top here.

But I honestly think that's a waste of time.

And when it looks like a log like this, it actually gets the best crust.

I've placed it on top of a piece of birch.

You can also use just an ovenproof dish, but I think it's nice like this to use a bit of local wood.

And I'm baking it in the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit, 200 centigrade, for about 40 minutes.

Now, while the meat has been baking in the oven, I've fried some mushrooms.

These are lovely local chanterelle mushrooms that I've just fried in the same pan that I used to sear the meat, so there's a little bit of meat stock in it, as well.

And I've seasoned with dill, some mustard, and quite a generous amount of cream.

And the important thing to remember is, with the meat, once you take it out of the oven, just leave it to stand and rest for at least 20 minutes.

♪♪ Remember that you can find all the recipes at our website... [ Speaking Norwegian ] [ Conversing in Norwegian ] ♪♪ >> For more of the "New Scandinavian Cooking" experience, visit our website or Facebook page.

♪♪ >> Funding for this series has been provided in part by the following... >> Up Norway, curates Norwegian travel experiences in the footsteps of "New Scandinavian Cooking."

>> ♪ No, take me home ♪ Take me home where I belong >> Vgan, the full taste of chocolate.

>> Grieg Suites.

Chocolate with apples from Norway.

♪♪ Havila Voyages.

Pure Northern.

♪♪