Janssons frestelse
Janssons frestelse ( Swedish. "Janssons Temptation") is a casserole that is known and lovedall over Sweden . It is made from potatoes , onions , Swedish anchovy fillets (Swedish ansjovis ) and cream . The casserole is part of a typical Christmas meal in Sweden, but it is also eaten all year round. In Finland the same dish is known as janssoninkiusaus .
preparation
The potatoes, which boil as floury as possible, are cut into very fine sticks and left raw, while the onions are cut into slices or rings and then preferably braised in butter until they are translucent. Depending on your preference, you can mix a few slices of garlic with the onions, but you should be able to guess the garlic later rather than taste it. Then you layer half of the potatoes, the onions, the drained anchovy fillets and the other half of the potatoes on top of each other in a baking dish, seasoning each of them a little carefully (because of the not exactly mild anchovies) with salt and more generously with freshly ground white pepper , pour everything over with plenty of fresh cream (which you can also mix with the anchovies' liquid), garnish with breadcrumbs and butter flakes and then let the dish cook at 200 ° C in the preheated oven for at least 45 minutes until the surface turns golden brown, depending on your taste until it has turned dark brown. Finally, some freshly chopped parsley is sprinkled over the dish and “Jansson's temptation” is served hot.
As in Germany spicy pickled anchovy fillets - in Sweden traditionally skarpsill ( "dt. Sprat " or "Sprott", "Brisling" or "Breitling"; Sprattus sprattus balticus ) produced - are often confused with salted anchovy fillets, it is not there easy to get to the right fish. In order not to adulterate classic Swedish food with such products, one should use an anchosene - semi-preserved product such as the so-called appetite suppressant made from sprats or herb sprats.
Variations
If kippers are used instead of anchovy fillets, the corresponding dish in Sweden is known as Karlssons frestelse (German: "Karlssons temptation"). And without any fish it is called Svenssons frestelse (Eng. "Svensson's temptation").
Controversial origin of the designation
According to Swedish Wikipedia, according to tradition, the Swedish opera singer and gourmet Per Adolf "Pelle" Janzon (* 1844 ; † 1889 ) was the creator of Janssons frestelse . However, other sources report that a restaurant owner who was not known by name wanted to entice a regular Jansson, whom she secretly wanted, with this dish.
Gunnar Stigmark writes in his article Så var det med Janssons frestelse ( Eng . "That was the way it was with Janssons frestelse") in the Gastronomiskkalender that the name was borrowed from the 1929 film of the same name Janssons frestelse . Stigmark's mother and a cook who was hired for a social evening had taken over the film title for their dish - and after that, the recipe for the dish ended up in other households and ultimately in various cookbooks.
The casserole is typical of the Småland region , where it is prepared in the evenings in the still hot ovens in the numerous glass-blowing factories.