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Finnish freak time
You dig the idea of Scandinavian food — the order, the simplicity, the magazine-photo-shoot-in-a-contemporary-cottage-in-a-town-with-umlauts feel of that idea. Look, I’m eating a moss-smoked prawn served on a bed of frozen sea foam ribboned with strands of pickled krill! But you know, and we know, and everybody knows, that you know nothing about Scandinavian food. We understand! Neither do we!
It’s time you put your Finnish freak on, and not only learned a bit about the regions cuisines, but ate some of it, too.
The , chef Ryan Leinonen’s ode (well, saga) to Scandinavia in the Ballpark neighborhood, is kicking off the first of five Scandinavian-themed dinners on Oct. 16.
First up, Iceland, the land of fishermen-turned-bankers-turned-fishermen, of exceedingly blonde people, of people so tall they make many of us feel like we should have bells on the tips of our pointy felt boots and little beards.
Check it out: Late-season lamb salad with root-vegetable slaw, potatoes, mushrooms, and horseradish rosemary vinaigrette; pumpkin and lobster bisque, with grilled blue prawn, seaweed crackle, and skyr; pan-seared scallops with Colorado sweet corn and barley, crispy Long Farm pork, and caviar butter; and Icelandic almond cake with blueberry cardamom ice cream.
The dinner delivers all of that, wines paired with each course, a cocktail reception and an amuse bouche.
After the Iceland blowout, it’s Finland in November, Sweden in December, Norway in January and finally Denmark.
Douglas Brown, blogs.denverpost.com/food
