Enjoy Dr Dahlqvist´s Christmas food!

Elisabeth: This post is taken from the swedish newspaper Aftonbladet on Sunday 07 December 2009 instead of Annika Dahlqvist´s blog.

"Just in time for Christmas the lipid doctor Annika Dahlqvist comes back cookery book. And what could be better for Christmas than eating fatty food?

A sumptuous Christmas dinner. According to the traditional view, it’s a sight full of sinful futilities. But among the supporters of LCHF it can hardly be better – if you make a few exceptions.


- Provided that it’s cooked on natural ingredients it’s just about stuffing oneself with ham, chipolata sausages and brawn. But an ordinary Jansson´s temptation, I wouldn’t eat, it’s too much potato, says the “lipid doctor” Annika Dahlqvist, physician and advocate of the LCHF diet. It has sparked much about Annika Dahlqvist and her lipid diet over the past year.



RECIEVED MUCH CRITICISM
Many have criticized her for lack of evidence for her radical arguments. But she has hade many supporters and a lot of support too. And Annika Dahlqvist continues in exactly the same track as before. Now she releases a LCHF cookery book with feast food – for the one who wants an even fatter Christmas.



For it’s not lipids which is the major culprit in weight at Christmas – it’s the rice pudding if you listen to Annika Dahlqvist. Sick and old people shouldn’t eat rice pudding at all, according to her. And to the one who wants to put something outdoors for Santa Claus, she recommends cottage cheese with whipped cream instead. - Cottage cheese á la Malta – I think he’s certainly on, she laughs.


A GOOD CHRISTMAS PRESENT
The so-called fat war has calmed down considerably since last spring, Annika Dahlqvist thinks. But she wishes for Christmas a little appreciation instead of silence from the worst critics. I wish that professors should understand that natural saturated lipids are healthy. It would be a good Christmas present, she say’s


THIS IS LCHF!
Since 2005, the doctor Annika Dahlqvist has been the LCHF diet’s main proponent. LCHF represents LowCarbHighFat (low carbohydrate intake and high intake of lipids). More recently, the diet has got its big break.


The diet consists of, as the name gossips about, eating many natural lipids but very few carbohydrates. Butter, cream and fatty fish and meat are high in price. Sugar, pasta, potatoes and bread, however you should stay away from.


The LCHF diet has been severely criticized among other experts in the National Food Administration, the National Board of Health and Welfare, and the highly respected science journal The Lancet. Among other things, it’s accused of lacking a proper scientific basis.


IN THIS WAY YOU CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS ACCORDING TO THE LIPID DIET:
• Grill the ham after coating with ground almonds instead of bread crumbs
• Avoid sweet pickled herring. Eat raw spiced Baltic herring instead.
• Replace the potatoes in Jansson´s temptation of sliced zucchini instead.
• Choose something else than the carbohydrate-rich Christmas sausage, for example salsiccia.
• Select the potatoes away – and if you want to go all the way – rice pudding.




CHRISTMAS HAM WHICH IS GRILLED WITH A COATING OF GROUND ALMONDS

Elisabeth: In Sweden, ham which is grilled with a coating of bread crumbs plays the same major role at Christmas the turkey does in the Anglo-Saxon parts of the world. A recipe where the coating consists of ground almonds instead of bread crumbs in order to lower the carbohydrate intake follows below.


Almond is a delicious alternative to bread crumbs for the crispy surface of the ham.

0, 42 cups of ground almonds
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard
0, 2 teaspoons of salt and pepper
If necessary whole cloves

1. Switch on the oven at 437 – 482 degrees F (225-250 degrees C).
2. Chop the almonds finely or pulverize them in a food processor or grind them in an almond grinder.
3. Take half the amount of the almonds and stir together with the egg yolk, the mustard and the spices.
4. Remove the rind but spare the fat rind on the boiled ham and dry with a little kitchen paper if the ham is clammy by lipids.
5. Spread the almond coating evenly over the entire surface.
6. Sprinkle on the remaining almond powder so that it covers the whole surface of the topping.
7. Grill the ham under supervision until the ham is golden brown and crispy.



CURRY HERRING MADE OF SALTED HERRING

7 ounces of herring
6 ounces of mayonnaise
1 teaspoon of curry
Salt and pepper


1. Pour the herring broth away. Cut the herring in small into small pieces if the herring filets are whole.
2. Stir all the sauce ingredients together quickly and turn the pieces of herring down into the sauce. Chill it down.
3. Sprinkle a little curry powder on top of it when serving.




BALTICH HERRING DISH AU GRATIN
1 pound of Baltic herring filets
1 small jar of anchovy filets
1 – 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
0, 84 cups of whipping cream
0, 42 cups of chopped chives
0, 2 teaspoons of salt
0, 2 teaspoons of pepper
Butter for greasing the dish


1. Switch on the oven at 392 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Clear the herring carefully and cut off the fins.
3. Grease an ovenproof dish generously with butter.
4. Roll in a piece of anchovy in each Baltic herring filet.
5. Whip the cream until it’s stiff. Add tomato paste, the chives and the spices. Spread the spicy cream over the Baltic herrings until it’s completely covered.
6. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 20 -25 minutes.



RED COLESLAW WITH FETA CHEESE

4 – 6 servings

0, 66 pounds of red cabbage
0, 84 cups of Crème Fraiche
2 tablespoons of mayonnaise
1 teaspoon of unsweetened mustard
0, 42 cups of mashed feta cheese
0, 2 teaspoons of black pepper
If desired some salt


Do like this:
1. Cut the red cabbage in small shreds.
2. Mash the feta cheese with a fork. Mix together cabbage, Crème Fraiche, mayonnaise, mustard and feta cheese.
3. Add some pepper but be cautious with the salt because the cheese is a bit salt itself.
4. Mix well. Store cold and garnish with crumbs of feta cheese when serving.



COTTAGE CHEESE Á LA MALTA

Elisabeth: A popular Christmas dessert in Sweden is Rice á la Malta which consists of rice, whipped cream and oranges mixed together. In this variety the rice is replaced with cottage cheese in order to lower the carbohydrates and keep the dessert’s original consistency.


0, 44 pounds of cottage cheese
1, 27 cups of whipping cream
½ vanilla pod
1 small mandarin/Clementine
If desired garnish with some berries

1. Put the cottage cheese into a strainer or colander.
2. Let it drain during at least half an hour.
3. Whip the cream until it’s stiff.
4. Scrape the vanilla pod out and add to the cream.
5. Chop the fruit finely.
6. Mix cottage cheese, cream and fruit gently by help of a spatula.
7. If desired serve with some berries."