Appetites: Eat like a real Viking with the Nordic diet

For people trying to eat healthy, a lot of tricks have come and gone: low carbs, low fat, the Paleo diet, etc.

But what about eating the way a large portion of the world's population eats, especially a population that's relatively healthy and has a similar climate to ours here in Minnesota?

Food writer Emily Vikre spoke with MPR News' Tom Crann about the new Nordic diet.

What is the new Nordic diet?

It's really based on the idea of going back to some of the really traditional food ways of the Nordic countries, and it's focused on using seasonal ingredients and more local ingredients, cooking with whole foods, incorporating a lot of vegetables and plant foods and forage foods, and more game meat and seafood. And whole grains, rye, oats and barley as opposed to wheat.

What are the potential health benefits?

People who have followed this new Nordic diet compared to people eating a more standard Westernized diet with more processed foods have seen outcomes like weight loss, lower blood pressure, lower blood lipids. ... But most of these studies are still pretty preliminary.

What's nice is that it's also a nice way of eating. You're not depriving yourself of any major food groups. You're not cutting out anything, you're just focusing on more of the healthier things.

Is it really even healthier than the Mediterranean diet, and what are some similarities and differences?

It's pretty similar at its heart. Both of them are focusing on more whole foods, on fresher foods, on things that are home-cooked as opposed to processed foods. Both of them really focus on getting a lot of plant-based foods, vegetables, a lot of seafood in there.

I say they have a similar spirit. This is just a colder version, with a little bit more emphasis on that seasonality and more local foods.

Another thing that is similar between them that you don't see as much on the diet side but is really at their heart is a more active and more outdoor lifestyle.

What's a good way to ease onto the new Nordic diet?

Think about seasonality a bit more. So in the winter, really focus on getting some more root vegetables and some interesting root vegetables — not just potatoes but also parsnips, rutabagas, carrots, beets. Incorporate more cruciferous vegetables — cabbage, kale, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts. And see if you can source some meat that's more pasture-raised... and try to incorporate more seafood, at least a couple times a week.

Recipe: Aromatic poached salmon with dill-butter sauce

Serves 4

• Poached salmon
• 1-1/2-2 pounds salmon fillet
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup dry white wine or aquavit
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• Sea salt
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped flat leaf parsley
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest

Use a sauté pan large enough to hold your piece of salmon and that has a lid. Add the water, wine or aquavit, and white vinegar to the pan. Place the salmon in the center of the pan — the liquid should come up alongside the salmon but not cover it. Sprinkle the salmon well with salt, then sprinkle the parsley, dill and lemon zest onto the fillet and press them down onto it gently.

Cover your pan, and bring the mixture to a simmer. Allow it to simmer until the salmon is just cooked through, approximately 7-8 minutes (you should be able to use a fork to gently flake the salmon apart, but you don't want it to be totally light pink and dry; there should be some that is still just barely the darker pink-orange of raw salmon — unless you prefer your salmon well done). Use a large slotted spatula or two to transfer the salmon to a serving platter.

Serve accompanied by the dill-butter sauce for drizzling (below) plus roasted beets and a cucumber salad.

Dill-butter sauce

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1 tablespoon-sized pieces
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
• Salt

In a small saucepan, heat the cream until it is just starting to bubble and boil around the edges, then turn the heat down to low. Gently stir in the butter, lemon juice and dill. Season to taste with salt. Keep warm over low heat until you're ready to serve.

Recipe: Cucumber salad

• 1-2 English cucumbers (the long kind with the thin skin, also known as hothouse cucumbers)
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

Finely slice the cucumbers into thin rounds (this is done most easily with a Scandinavian-style cheese plane or a mandolin). Mix the cucumber with the salt, vinegar, sugar and pepper and let this rest in the refrigerator at least an hour before serving.

Recipe: Lamb and cabbage stew (farikal)

This is a very traditional Norwegian stew. It is incredibly simple, but the end result is very rich and flavorful, much more than the sum of its parts.

• 3-pound bone-in lamb shoulder, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 large head of green cabbage, sliced into 1/2-inch thick wedges
• 1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 1/2 cups water

Layer the meat and cabbage, sprinkling each layer with some salt, in a large Dutch oven or other heavy stew pot. Sprinkle the peppercorns, bay leaf and water over the top. Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to low and let the stew simmer until the meat and the cabbage are extremely tender, about 1 1/2-2 hours. Remove the bay leaf and serve accompanied by mashed root vegetables (like carrots, parsnips, or rutabaga).

This stew is even better if it is made the day before you wish to serve it, chilled, and then reheated before serving.

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