Lutfisk with white sauce, peas and potatoes
55 min · 29 g protein · 379 cals / serving
The quiet classic of the Christmas table: soft, pearly lutfisk baked gently in the oven, with a velvety white sauce, sweet green peas and boiled potatoes. The finishing touch is what makes it: freshly ground kryddpeppar over the top, and a spoon of mustard on the side if you grew up with it.
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 lb raw lutefisk, frozen, ready-to-cook lutfisk, thawed, skin removed
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 3/4 lb gold potatoes, peeled
White sauce
- 1 tbsp butter
- 3 1/2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- a pinch white pepper
- 2 cups cooked frozen green peas
To serve
- 1/2 tsp ground allspice, freshly ground kryddpeppar
Steps
- Heat the oven to 350°F. Boil the potatoes in salted water for about 20 minutes, until tender, then drain.
- Cut the lutfisk into portion pieces, lay them close together in an ovenproof dish, sprinkle with the salt and cover tightly with a lid or baking paper, never aluminium foil. Bake for 25–35 minutes, until the fish is white, just flakes and reaches 145°F. Pour off the liquid that collects in the dish before serving: lutfisk releases a lot of it.
- Make the white sauce: melt the butter in a saucepan, stir in the flour and cook for a minute without browning. Whisk in the milk a little at a time, bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes, whisking, until smooth and thick. Season with the salt and white pepper.
- Heat the peas in a little salted water for 2–3 minutes and drain.
- Serve the lutfisk with the potatoes, peas and plenty of white sauce, with the kryddpeppar ground over the top.
Good to know
My lutfisk always turns watery.
Salt it and bake it covered (a lid or baking paper, never foil) in a dish where it fits snugly, and pour off the liquid before serving. Some cooks lay it on a clean kitchen towel for 30 minutes before baking. Avoid aluminium or silver (stainless steel and glass are fine): lye-treated fish can react with them and darken.
Mustard sauce instead?
In much of southern Sweden lutfisk comes with mustard sauce. Whisk 2 tablespoons of Swedish mustard into the finished white sauce.
What about the crispy bacon?
In Norrland and Norway diced bacon fried crisp is scattered on top. A slice of lean bacon per person adds a lot of flavor and only a little to the plate.
Per
- Calories
- 65
- Protein
- (31%)
- 5 g
- Fat
- (13%)
- 1 g
- Carbohydrates
- (56%)
- 9 g
- of which sugar
- 2 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 152 mg
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. General guidance, not medical advice. Talk to your prescriber. How
As written, 1516 kcal goes into the pot and 2654 g of ingredients comes out as about 2350 g of food: 65 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.