*cough cough* *gasp* *cough cough*

So, does anybody have any idea how hard it is for me to NOT talk? At all?

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I've been horribly ill with a serious case of strep throat that is currently doing the rounds here in Sweden. It began on Lambi's birthday when I had a bit of a sore throat. By the Friday night I was feeling the pits and well, the weekend was a complete write-off. I've spent my time since then in bed wishing someone would come and shoot me or else hallucinating about the guy from The Holy Grail coming by with his cart, ringing his bell and yelling out "Bring out your dead".

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I have had strep throat previously, but I’ve never had a throat that felt as ridiculously swollen as it has this time. For the better part of the last week, not only could I hardly swallow, but even worse than that, I COULDN’T TALK. Lars-Göran was thrilled as he could ask me things and I couldn't answer. He had fun playing Sounds of Silence and even ringing me on my mobile just to hear me croak. Of course, he forgets that I'll get better and then he's in big trouble as I have the memory of an elephant and urge for retribution that would rival the mafia.

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Fortunately I had the services of Nurse Lambi, who stayed close by and made sure she was taken care of. There's nothing that helps your recovery like having to crawl from your death bed to get her bowls of water and food, take her out for walks and move over so she has 90% of the quilt.

*cough cough* *gasp* *cough cough*

I'm glad to say that my throat is now working its way back to normal. It’s still very swollen. It’s still hurting like hell. But at least I can make some kind of sound again, much to the dismay of my husband who had anticipated a continuation of those nice quiet days without me hollering after him, telling him what to do. But hey, as you all know, there is no way to shut me up once there is a possibility of me making a sound again!

*cough cough* *gasp* *cough cough*

So, seeing as I've been sick in bed and not out snapping photographs, I thought that instead of nature shots, we'll stay indoors and keeping on the theme of dead bodies I'll talk about a Swedish culinary delight that I first thought was made out of dead bodies. After all, why would they call them "corpse cakes"? I'm not joking - allow me to introduce Kroppkakor.......




We ate these on Öland a couple of years ago, but they were commercially made. You can in fact make them yourself.

Kroppkakor are often translated as 'body cakes' using the literal modern meaning of the word kropp, which can mean either body or corpse. However, neither meaning makes much sense when applied to what is basically a boiled dumpling. I'm always interested in the etymology of words, so with the help of a Swedish dictionary, I saw that the word kropp has an older meaning that makes a lot more sense in this context.

Kropp is related to the old German word 'kropf' and English word 'crop' where they refer a pouch in many birds and some lower animals that resembles a stomach for storage and preliminary maceration of food (see meaning 6). This seems to be a much more likely source for the name since the dumplings are round pouches filled with meat that are heavy and do take quite a long time to digest.

Anyway, despite knowing that, I was more interested in the idea of revolting Lars-Göran by suggesting we start recycling dead bodies for dinner. (It was the same when I suggested making leek soup, only to have Lars-Göran stare at me as though I was nuts, as the word leek is pronounced exactly like the Swedish word for corpse (lik)).

After some investigation, I found that there are two main variations of the recipe - the original Ölandskroppkakor, which uses shredded raw potatoes and the more modern Smålandskroppkakor, using mashed potatoes. I'd opt for the mashed potato version since they're less work and produce a smoother dough.

But, as I've discovered by trial and error, there is more to boiling a potato than simply dropping it into boiling water. Cooking the potato without it becoming soggy and is an art that was not in my cooking repertoire. After numerous attempts at boiled potatoes, where they started to disintegrate in the pot I began to think that there really must be a secret to this task only marginally more complex than boiling water. I discovered that the potatoes disintegrate when you boil them at too high a boil which causes them to bump around vigorously and break apart. So you need to simmer them gently.

Once you have the dough prepared, use immediately as it tends to get very gummy and unworkable if left to sit for any amount of time. There are many ways to get to the same meat-filled ball, but the easiest seemed to be the log of dough that is sliced into 12 parts, flattened, filled, sealed and formed into a ball. As for the filling, there are many different variations though allspice does appear to be the most common spiced flavouring.

The recipe makes 24 dumplings that will feed you for at least a few days since I'm pretty sure that nobody can consume more than 4-6 of them in one day and live to tell the tale.

Kroppkakor/Pork-filled Potato Dumplings
Makes: about 24 dumplings


Filling:
butter or oil
1 large onion, diced
200g (7oz) bacon
200g (7oz) good ham
1 teaspoon minced garlic
black pepper
white pepper
allspice

Dough:
1kg (2 lbs) potatoes, boiled and mashed
2 eggs, lightly beaten
4.75 dl (2 cups) plain flour
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon salt

For the Filling: Place a little butter or olive oil in the bottom of a frying pan and sauté the onion until soft. Add bacon, ham and spices to taste. Turn down the heat and allow to simmer for about 20 minutes. Allow to cool, transfer to a deep bowl and chop finely to a paste with a hand blender. Set aside or refrigerate overnight for better flavour.

For the dumplings: Fill a deep saucepan with cold water and potatoes. Add salt. Bring to the boil, turn down heat and simmer potatoes for about 20-25 minutes. Drain and mash into a large bowl.

Allow the potatoes to cool for 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile, beat the eggs lightly and when potatoes have cooled, pour it over and stir well. Add flour and knead by hand until the dough forms a smooth ball. Use dough immediately.




Divide the dough into two parts. On a smooth surface, shape each part of the dough into a long cylinder about 12-inches/30cm long. Slice dough into 12 pieces, each 2.5cm (1") wide. Flatten each piece into a circle about 10cm (4") in diameter. Scoop about 1 tablespoon of filling into the center and proceed to seal the meat inside the dumpling by pulling the dough up in three places and pinching the three seams. Gently shape the dumpling into a ball with your palms. Place finished dumpling on a lightly greased baking tray and repeat until you have used up all of the dough.




Boil water in a deep pot and gently lower a few dumplings into the water. They are ready when they float to the surface like giant gnocchi. This takes between 5-7 minutes.




Lift them out of the water with a slotted spoon and place in a baking dish or serving platter. There is a special wooden tool in Sweden just for this task. It's called a kroppkakeslev and is a long-handled wooden spoon with five holes in the spoon to drain the dumplings. But an ordinary metal slotted spoon functions just as well.




Keep the dumplings warm in the oven until ready to serve. Repeat with all of the dumplings until they are all cooked.

Serve with melted butter and lingonberry or cranberry jam. You can also refrigerate or freeze them as well as microwave or pan fry them to reheat. They make excellent leftovers.




And I lied about no outdoor shots - this was snapped at the park on a misty Friday, with the ground covered with a glorious carpet of autumn leaves. I loved the scene, with the male duck approaching the shy looking female - it just seemed so romantic. Or maybe those drugs I'm taking for the strep throat are going to my head.

*cough cough* *gasp* *cough cough*

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