A Swedish Breakfast
Recipe, words & photography by Harriet Davidson
I feel very lucky to have grown up in and out of the home of my dear Swedish friend, Klara, and to have spent time living in Stockholm. The philosophy around food from the importance of baking your own bread to the 11am ritual of stopping for coffee and a nibble, fika, promotes a way of life that fosters connection and intention.
Harriet uses our IN BED 100% linen tablecloth in french blue, and napkins in marigold & french blue.
Sitting around a table is one of life’s truest treats, and is perhaps more associated with dinners here in Australia. Breakfast time in Sweden was always an event. Always on the candle-lit table was a perfect triangle of cheese ready to be thinly sliced, home-made bread, perfectly boiled eggs sitting next to an egg slicer, thinly sliced cucumber bringing a lovely cool crunch and a big jug of hot filter coffee. And maybe it’s summer and there are the berries you picked to have with yoghurt or kefir.
Sitting around a table is one of life’s truest treats, and is perhaps more associated with dinners here in Australia. Breakfast time in Sweden was always an event.
The nut-seed bread pictured here is a recipe I’ve developed from combining a few wonderful recipes. There’s something about making your own bread that feels good, and every loaf I’ve baked through lockdown has been a joy. Knäckebröd, similar to a cracker, is a pantry staple in Sweden and is a wonderful thing to have on hand for quick lunches or snacks, or as I’ve done here, as part of a breakfast spread.
This isn’t so much a recipe as a reminder to slow down this long weekend, get out your table cloth, light the candles and start your day with complete intention, not to mention delicious. It’s also perfect picnic fare for the picnic days ahead.
Ingredients
Lovely bread, either home-made or a nice rye from your local baker
Knäckebröd, or Swedish crisp bread (available at Harris Farm)
Salted butter
Hard-boiled eggs - 6 minutes is my golden number for jammy but go closer to 8 for hardboiled
A wedge of cheese - Sweberg Swiss from Harris Farm is the closest I can find to Swedish cheese
Cucumber
Dill
Thinly sliced red onion
Berries, yoghurt, granola
Coffee
Salt and pepper
Candles
Spend your morning sipping coffee and building what the Swedes would call sandwiches - a slice of bread, perhaps with a smear of butter, a thin slice of cheese and a few rounds of cucumber with pepper and dill, or a perfectly sliced egg arranged over butter Knäckebröd.
The berry compote is my Stewed Blueberry and Walnut recipe available on the INBED Journal, and I’ve served it here with Greek Yoghurt, olive oil and honey.
Harriet uses our IN BED 100% linen tablecloth in french blue, and napkins in marigold & french blue. Harriet’s speckled ceramic plates are by Muckware.