Janssons Frestelse

Every winter, I miss Sweden. The last few months have been particular difficult for me because for some bizarre reason I want snow and snow is not easy to come by in England. I want a lot of snow and I am just not getting it here in London. However, a couple of weeks ago, I woke up to snow. Yes, in London! There was snow and the whole place looked so beautiful with the trees and houses covered in snow. I was happy for two hours and I didn't want to move back to Sweden. But then the snow melted and I went back to missing Sweden.
I lived in Sweden for nearly two years and loved it. Of course I didn't like everything about Sweden. For example, I hate that some people who use snus would just spit it out without thinking about it. It's disgusting! So if you do use snus, don't just spit it out onto the pavement.
"What is snus?" I hear you ask. Snus (or snuff) is tobacco put under the upper lip. People don't want to smoke or are not allowed to smoke, so they use snus instead.
Anyway, back to the good things in Sweden. In my Swedish classes, my teacher would ask me to write essays and translate recipes. One of the first Swedish recipes I translated into English was Janssons Frestelse which means Jansson's Temptation. I am not a big fan of potatoes but I really love this dish. In Sweden, it is made with tinned sprats but I use anchovies partly because when I first saw the recipe I thought anjovis were achovies. I now know that anjovis means sprats but I still use anchovies. I don't use as many tinned achovies as I would sprats because tinned anchovies tend to have too much salt. Here is the original recipe.

 1-2 tin sprats (approx. 20 whole sprats)
 2 large onions, sliced thinly
 500g (around 6 medium potatoes), peeled and cut into strips
 300ml cream
 A handful of breadcrumbs
 2 tablespoons butter
 1 teaspoon dill (to serve)


1. Preheat the oven to 225oC.
2. Fry the onions in a tablespoon of butter.
3. Butter an oven dish.
4. Put a layer of potatoes in the oven dish.
5. Then layer the rest of the potatoes with the onions and sprats.
6. Put a final layer of potatoes at the top.
7. Pour over half of the cream; sprinkle the breadcrumbs and add the butter.
8. Cook in the oven for 30 minutes.
9. Add the rest of the cream and cook for a further 30 minutes.
10. Garnish with dill and serve with sliced tomatoes and knackerbröd (Ryvita).

*You can use a number of different tinned fish including anchovies and tuna. Be careful when using anchovies as they tend to be heavily salted.