Do you need a great new side dish to make for Christmas dinner? Your mouth will be watering in a matter of moments, guaranteed…
By the way, have I mentioned lately what a sweetheart my friend, Stan, is? He’s very thoughtful, so knowing what an extra busy time of year it is for Mom’s with young kids, he offered to write a guest post for me this week! Remember, Stanley wrote the amazing cookbook, Tender Grassfed Meat: Traditional Ways to Cook Healthy Meat
Jansson’s Temptation for the Holidays
By Stanley Fishman, Author of Tender Grassfed Meat
This is my family’s favorite side dish. It is rich with cream, butter, sautéed onions, and anchovies, which unite to provide a wonderful flavor to the potatoes. It is hearty—best served steaming hot—and great for cold weather and the holidays.
Potatoes & Carbs…
This dish does contain potatoes, which concerns many people because of their high-carb content. No worries, because I have loaded this dish with more than enough butter and cream to smother the potatoes with healthy fat that makes them easy to digest, and counters any negative effects from the carbs. Some of the healthy peoples studied by Dr. Weston A. Price, the Peruvian and Bolivian native peoples, ate a lot of potatoes. All traditional peoples served potatoes with plenty of fat.
This dish was inspired by an old Scandinavian dish called Jansson’s Temptation.
I say “Scandinavian,” because the Danes, Swedes, Norwegians, and Finns all claim it. There are several different stories about who Jansson was. This is my favorite: Jansson was said to be a fire and brimstone preacher, who denounced every form of fun, including good food. He was caught eating a rich dish of potatoes, cream, butter, onions, and tiny fish, which was so good that it tempted him to betray his strict principles.
There are many different versions of Jansson’s Temptation, and just about all of them use grated potatoes. This gave the dish a somewhat sticky texture that I did not care for. I solved the problem by using potatoes that were shredded, not grated. The texture is creamy and tender, and is perfect for the delicious blend of flavors.
Different recipes call for various kinds of small fish. I decided to use anchovy fillets, which disintegrate into the butter and cream, giving the dish an intriguing flavor which is not fishy.
The version of Jansson’s Temptation included in Tender Grassfed Meat uses bacon, not anchovies. While it is a fine, tasty dish, my family likes this one even better now.
Serves 4 as a side dish.
Jansson's Temptation
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons pastured butter
- 1 medium organic onion sliced
- 6 medium organic potatoes sliced into thin circles, then cut into small thin shreds, approximately 1 to 2 inches long, (see the photo above for how the circles and shreds look)
- 12 anchovy fillets preferably imported, packed in a glass jar with olive oil, (not soy oil or canola oil) ***See note below about where to find these.
- 1½ cups organic cream divided into 2 equal (¾ cup) portions
Instructions
- Melt the butter over medium heat in a heavy bottomed frying pan. When the butter is hot and bubbly, add the onions, and cook for about 5 minutes or until the onions are soft.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place half the potatoes on the bottom of a greased, medium sized glass baking dish. Place the onions evenly over the potatoes. Place the anchovy slices evenly on top of the onions. Place the rest of the potatoes on top of the anchovies. Pour ¾ cup of the cream evenly over the mixture.
- Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.
- Add the rest (¾ cup) of the cream to the dish, spreading it evenly, return to the oven, and bake for another 20 minutes.
- Serve and enjoy this tempting dish.
I asked Stanley where to find the anchovy fillets and here's what he said:
“We just buy the bottled anchovy fillets at our local market. I think even chain supermarkets should carry them. Certainly any kind of Italian food market should have them, because they are important in the cuisine. Whole Foods also carries them. I think canned anchovy fillets are widely available, but we prefer the bottled version. I am pretty sure that Trader Joes also carries quality anchovy fillets.”
THANKS STAN!
- Buy Stan's book: Tender Grassfed Barbecue: Traditional, Primal and Paleo
- Check out this miracle healing of infertility!
- Check out his first book: Tender Grassfed Meat: Traditional Ways to Cook Healthy Meat.
- Also be sure to visit his blog: TenderGrassfedMeat.com.
Peggy says
Thanks for posting this delicious delight. We saw this recipe from Stan a few years back and we savoir it with delight.We have added it to our Christmas tide tradition since. Don’t try to have left overs though as it is best enjoyed the first night.
Thanks Stan and Kelley and to all a good night, as we like to eat it during the cold Holiday season.
Stanley Fishman says
Thank you, Peggy. I am so glad that you and your husband enjoyed it.
Stanley Fishman
peggy says
Thank you so much for the great recipe and for the history. I am an anchovy fan. I can eat them straight out of the can. I ran to the store as soon as I got a hold of your splendid recipe. The history, tradition and season beckoned me to give it a try. Well, to my delight, not only did I absolutely relish every bite, but my husband, who does not appreciate anchovy anything, loved it and asked if we could make it again to serve with the Christmas ham. How about that surprise? My warmest regards Stanley and Kelly, Peggy Swank
Julie says
The story behind this lovely dish reminds me of one of my most favorite movies of all time “Babette’s Feast”. It’s the story of a French lady, Babette, who comes to work for a pair of pious Danish spinsters. If you love good food and a good story, rent it and watch it as you eat Jannson’s Temptation!
hottiern12 says
This is one of my most favorite Scandindavian dishes! I’ve not tried making it myself yet, but loved it every time I found it last year while I was in Sweden at Christmas time. I highly recommend trying it! (and I’ll probably try making it myself now that I have a good recipe!)
dani says
Looking at the picture, it’s hard to imagine that there’s not any cheese in this dish! Can’t wait to try it–I have hated onions my whole life, but have recently been trying to find ways to incorporate them into dishes, and cooked is the only way I can manage them just yet… This does look and sound wonderful!
Miz Helen says
Hi Stan,
This side dish sounds really good. Thank you for sharing your recipe and have a great holiday!
Stanley Fishman says
Miz Helen, you are welcome. We will be having this as a side dish on Christmas. I hope you also have a great holiday!
Judy says
When you talked about layering it, you mentioned bacon but I don’t see it in the ingredients list. I so want to try this dish.
WordVixen says
Judy- He’d mentioned above that the version in his book uses bacon. Since the part of the recipe that he mentions bacon again is directly after placing the anchovies, I think he simply forgot to change “bacon” to “anchovies” in the post. On the other hand, I was seriously considering using both…. 😀
Stanley Fishman says
Judy, “bacon ” should have been “anchovies”. Sorry about that.
Stanley
KitchenKop says
I’ll go fix it! 🙂
Belinda @zomppa says
Thanks, Stan! Looks wonderful – bet the anchovies add that perfect balance. Tempting, indeed.
April@The 21st Century Housewife says
Janssons Temptation sounds delicious – and I like the story behind it as well!