Simply Scandi Midsummer

Let’s celebrate Midsummer together...

When I plan our summer issues, I just love including anything on Midsummer. It’s such a joyous excuse for a party with family and friends, and chance to dress your outdoor space with everything that just says ‘summer’. As a special treat, we’re giving you a FREE digi mini mag of our favourite Midsummer content that we’ve produced since we launched over two years ago, along with my favourite summery buys – for inside and out. Hope you enjoy and we inspire you to hold your own Midsummer celebrations.

Our latest issue of Simply Scandi is out now – you’ll find Vol 10 Summer available direct to your door at simply-scandi-newsstand.co.uk (where you can also pre-order Vol 11 Autumn, which launches 27 July), or on the high street, stocked at larger WHSmith, Sainsbury’s, Marks & Spencer and Waitrose. See you soon,

Jennifer Morgan Editor & Publisher

PS Watch out for more Scandi news and house tours from Simply Scandi in your inbox

SUMMER BLOOMS

Plan your Midsummer outfit – this cute Vera corsage cardi would look great teamed with jeans and pumps, £76, palava.co

UNDER COVER

Stay in the shade with this green and white garden umbrella, £249, idyllhome.co.uk

GATHER ROUND

Add a warm glow to your garden with the Cosiscoop fire lantern, £99.95, cuckooland.com

SNUG AS A BUG

Prepare for all weather eventualities with this Mika throw, £117, jjtextile.co.uk

CARRY ALL

Keep a spare knit to hand in this reed basket in violet, £26, bohemiadesign.co.uk

Scandi edit The

Get ready for Midsummer wherever you are spending it, with our Scandi-style finds

HOST GIFT

Take a mini tree for your Midsummer host. Flowering cherry Pandora tree, £79.50, treesdirect.co.uk

PULL UP A CHAIR

Dress outdoor polyrattan with a few cushions and throws. Ilderhuse chair, £89.99, jysk.co.uk

ALL THE SPRIGS

Pile up the pretties floral print cushions, ready to dress benches and garden chairs, iblaursen.dk

SERVE UP

Perfect for a Midsummer’s smorgasbord. Acacia serving board, £14, procook.co.uk

FLORAL WREATH

What a lovely Midsummer memory. Dark prink flower wreath floral art print, £15, florarozita.com

EVENING GLOW

Carry the Nordlux Jim to Go LED battery lantern from the house to party venue, £79.95, limelace.co.uk

WEAR THE SEASON

Summer wouldn’t be summer without sweetpeas. How lovely is the Louise dress? £165, palava.co

GRAB A STOOL

Team with tresel tables for easy Midsummer entertaining. Gert teak wood stool, £65, sazy.com

SITTING PRETTY

Soften garden chairs with this Rice Denmark cotton flower print seat pad, £22, bode-living.com

CELEBRATE IN STYLE

Raise a glass to Midsummer, with HKliving’s nude swirl wine glass, £11.50, roseandgrey.co.uk

DANCING SHOES

Pop on a pair of espadrille wedges and dance through the night. Plaster pink espadrilles, £85, onehundredstars.co.uk

Pretty tables

Midsummer is the perfect styling opportunity, with chance to dress your table with pretty tableware. We love Talking Tables’ Vintage Floral range, which includes napkins, paper plates and even a ‘blooming lovely’ paper tablecloth, that’s perfect for layering over a wooden picnic table. talkingtables.co.uk

RING OF FLOWERS

Why not set up a wreath making station at your Midsummer party? Choose dried flowers and use for years to come. The DIY summer wreath kit, £35, from Mary Elizabeth Flowers has all you need. to make your own asymmetrical design. maryelizabethflowers.co.uk

MAKE MIDSUMMER PERSONAL

The perfect Midsummer gift for hosts (or those summer birthdays), the personalised Wild Floral gift set from stationary brand Martha Brook, comprises of a personalised notebook and notecard set, along with a delightful shopping list and pen. They are all decorated with hand-illustrated flowers, and the set comes in a gift box. The notecards would make the sweetest Midsummer invitations for your party (or thank-you notes after the celebrations are over).

marthabrook.com

Midsummer celebrations

Dancing around a pole with flowers in your hair, eating pickled herring, potatoes and summer berries all washed down with aquavit, Midsummer is a sign of good things to come as Niki Brantmark, an ex-Londoner now living in Malmö, shares

LEFT & ABOVE

Midsummer has plenty of symbolism, from the folk costumes women wear to the flowers used to decorate the maypole, which must be blue, white and yellow BELOW Girls go out to the meadow on Midsummer’s Eve and collect wild flowers for their floral crowns

My first visit to Sweden was at the tender age of nine,” says Niki, “and I have wonderful memories of wearing a floral crown and dancing around a maypole. Little did I know, I was participating in Midsummer: a sacred Swedish tradition. It’s always celebrated on the Friday between 19 and 25 June. Traditionally, the day was connected to magic, and gathering wild flowers was a way to secure nature’s magical powers to ensure good health for the rest of the year.

“Today, Midsummer is one of the oldest and most widely celebrated holidays of the year. ‘Families and friends gather and celebrate the abundance of light,’ says my childhood friend Ulrika Häggström – who was witness to my first ever Midsummer celebration.

“Up and down the country, villagers gather to create a large midsommarstången (maypole) dressed with wild flowers. They then create beautiful sommarkrans (floral crowns), which many wear in their hair before dancing around a maypole to classic tunes such as ‘Små Grodorna’ (‘The little Frogs’). “Dancing and leaping around the maypole like a frog is in our genes and feels perfect normal to a Swede,” my husband Per tells me.

“The revelry is followed by a feast of herring, potatoes, strawberries and other in-season delights, washed down with schnapps and beer – and lots of singing! Little wonder it has become one of my favourite events of the year. I love the simple, rustic nature of the celebration.

“If you’re lucky enough to be in Sweden for Midsummer, wrap up warm; it’s traditional to spend the day outdoors no matter what the weather. A common joke is that rain, gale-force winds and occasionally even snow will invariably feature in the forecast,” laughs Niki.

Photography: iStock.

Flowers, maypoles, food and friends - the perfect Midsummer

Midsummer Celebrate

Set the scene for Midsummer with a pretty garden party, complete with a few Danish traditions

With Summer Solstice celebrated on the 21 June, and Sankt Hans Day (St John’s Day, when Denmark became Christian) commemorated on the eve of 23 June, Danes tend to mark both with a garden party. There are lots of traditions you can try at your own Midsummer event – from floral wreaths to Sankt Hans witches, which came from Germany about 100 years ago and are burned on a bonfire, lit to ward off evil. Happy Midsummer!

Little witches

Cut a piece of fabric for the head and body 10cm x 15cm. Pop cotton wool into the centre and gather the fabric around this to make the head, wrapping with yarn. For the arms, roll a piece of fabric 7cm x 18cm into a long sausage and tie to the body, just below the head. Cut a piece of fabric 10cm x 20cm for the dress, cutting a hole for the head to pass through. Tie on with a crochet or fabric belt. Embroider the face of the witch (or use a felt tip). For the headscarf, crochet a triangular shape or use an offcut of fabric. Finally, make a small broom from twigs.

“WITH SANKT HANS SO CLOSE TO MIDSUMMER, THE POWER OF nature IS AT ITS HIGHEST, ACCORDING TO FOLKLORE”

Flower crown

Make a base to fit around your head using thick wire. Cover with florist’s tape (this helps the flower bunches stick to the wreath). Cut foliage into pieces 3-4cm long, then, using florist’s wire, make a small bunch with some fresh flowers. Secure the bunch to the wire base, then repeat, overlapping each.

Sweet delights

Top your favourite pudding with fresh strawberries (the season is in full swing come Midsummer). Bring out your favourite serveware, mixing and matching patterns and plains in a pretty summery palette. Pick up coloured glassware at flea markets and charity shops.

“CELEBRATE MIDSUMMER DANISH STYLE WITH THE PRETTIEST OF garden PARTIES, DRESSED BY NATURE” Blooming lovely

Gather vases and vessels to fill with summer flowers, picked from your garden. Hang small bouquets in jam jars from trees or along fences – just tie a hanger made from string around the jar’s neck. Red clover, chamomile, cornflowers, bluebells, larkspur, lupins, sweet peas, ranunculus, daisies and bladderwort all look so pretty – pop in a few sprigs of fresh herbs to boost the scent.

Table posy

Use wild flowers and grasses collected from your garden to create individual posies for each Midsummer guest – just cut the stems to the same length and wrap several times with natural string. Pop on a pastel-coloured plate, making sure guests take them home with them at the end of the celebrations as a lovely memento.

Midsummer menu Brontë Aurell’s

Scandinavians do summer food so well believes Brontë, especially when it comes to Midsummer celebrations

Pickled herring two ways

“No smörgåsbord is complete without the infamous pickled herring,” says Brontë. “There are as many recipes for the sauces or dressings for herring as there are people who make them. Anything can be used – from vegetables to berries or creamier bases. If you are new to eating pickled herring, starting with one in a dressing is a good idea as you will get a good balance of flavours.”

SERVES 4

Mustard herring

“This herring dressing is as traditional as they come,” shares Brontë. “Every Nordic country has a favourite; in Sweden, the favourite is this mustard dressing.”

150g (drained weight) onion-pickled herring, cut into bite-sized pieces

2 tbsps Swedish wholegrain mustard (or a grainy sweet mustard will work)

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tbsp caster sugar

2 tbsps white wine vinegar

2 tbsps double cream

1 tbsp crème fraîche

1 small shallot, finely chopped 100ml plus 1 tbsp sunflower oil

2 tbsps finely chopped fresh dill

1 tbsp chopped chives (optional)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 Drain the herring and discard the onion bits and brine.

2 In a bowl, mix everything together except the oil, herbs and herring. Slowly pour in the oil while whisking continuously so that the sauce emulsifies.

3 Stir in the herbs, then the herring. Leave the bowl in the fridge for a few hours to marinate, then serve with rye bread or crispbread.

Dill & apple herring

“These flavours pair perfectly with slices of a good, strong Scandinavian hard cheese and crispbread or rye bread,” says Brontë.

50ml mayonnaise

100ml crème fraîche

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tsp honey

Squeeze of fresh lemon juice, to taste

3 tbsps finely chopped fresh chives

3 tbsps freshly chopped dill

½ red apple, cut into small cubes

150g (drained weight) plain pickled herring

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Chopped red onion, to garnish

Whole sprigs of dill, to garnish

1 In a bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, crème fraîche and mustard. Add the honey, salt, pepper and lemon juice and then fold in the chives and dill. Finally, add the apple and then the herring at the end.

2 Leave the bowl in the fridge for a few hours to let the flavours mingle. Garnish with chopped red onion and dill.

“MIDSUMMER CELEBRATIONS ARE CENTRED AROUND FOOD AND THE BIG smörgåsbord FEAST SERVED AT HOME OR BROUGHT ALONG IN A PICNIC” BRONTË AURELL

Tip

Always serve your herring at the beginning of a meal along with a glass of chilled aquavit

Potato salads

“At a Midsummer celebration, potatoes with dill always feature, alongside any pickled herring, classic dishes such as a beetroot salad, Swedish meatballs, salmon and an array of lovely summer salads and sliced meats,” says Brontë.

Easy new potato & dill salad

“This makes a nice fresh bowl of potato salad, perfect for a summer buffet,” says Brontë. “The dressing is light and fresh, and if you want to make the salad even lighter, just add less of the dressing. It’s truly one of those two-minute salads that takes some basic new potatoes to a different level.”

1kg of cooked skin-on new potatoes, warm or cool

MUSTARD DRESSING

75ml sunflower oil or other neutral oil

2 tbsps white wine vinegar

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 tbsp caster sugar

1 shallot, very finely chopped

1 bunch of fresh dill, finely chopped

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 You can use slightly warm potatoes or cooled ones straight out of the fridge for this dish, but only dress them just before serving for best results.

2 To make the dressing, whisk the oil, vinegar, mustard and sugar until the sugar has dissolved, then fold in the chopped shallot and dill. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Toss the dressing with the potatoes and ensure they are evenly covered.

Creamy potato salad

“Just like my mother makes it,” says Brontë. I love this with cold meatballs – a perfect al fresco lunch.”

500-600g cooked skin-on new potatoes, cold and cut into bite-sized pieces

CREAMY DRESSING

75g Greek yoghurt

75g mayonnaise

1 tsp Dijon mustard

4 spring onions, sliced

50g chopped pickled cucumber

6-7 radishes, sliced

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 Mix everything together and leave in the fridge for a few hours for the flavours to mingle before serving. If you need more zing, add pickle juice or lemon juice.

Warm summer potatoes

“This side goes well with summer fish dishes such as fried plaice or baked salmon,’ says Brontë.

Knob of butter

700g cooked skin-on new potatoes, cold and cut in half

150g cooked peas (warm or cold is fine)

Small bunch of freshly chopped dill

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Handful of pea shoots

1 Melt the butter in a frying pan and fry off the potatoes for a few minutes until golden in places. Take off the heat, then add the peas and allow to warm through.

2 Add the dill and season with salt and pepper (add a glug of olive oil if the potatoes feel dry – some varieties are better than others). Stir through the pea shoots; serve.

Tip

Try a dill pesto potato salad, pulsing dill, parsley, garlic, walnuts and a hard cheese in a food processor

Fresh dips

“Beetroot is a real staple of Scandinavian food, used in everything from salads to hot dishes to dips – like this one,” says Brontë. “For the nettle dip, you can buy dried ones for a good, easy option. Find them online and add to salads or crackers or use as a general flavour like dried herbs.”

SERVES 4

Nettle dip

“Fresh nettles taste a bit like spinach in my opinion, but they have a stronger aftertaste and are a bit coarser in texture,” says Brontë.

50g nettle leaves (see Note)

1 shallot, chopped

¼ garlic clove, crushed

50g Västerbotten or pecorino cheese, finely grated

1 spring onion, chopped

1 tbsp mayonnaise

Greek yoghurt, to taste

Squeeze of fresh lemon juice, to taste

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 First, wearing protective gloves, discard any thick stems and rough bits from the nettles. Rinse the leaves and then pop them into a saucepan of boiling water for around

2-3 minutes until soft. This will kill the stings.

2 Drain, then chop the nettle leaves. Add to a food processor or use a stick blender and blitz. Add the other dip ingredients (except the Greek yoghurt and seasoning) and blitz again until fairly smooth.

3 Fold in the Greek yoghurt and season to taste. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes before serving.

NOTE When foraging for nettles always wear protective gloves. Only use the new tips and leaves, not the old plants – the best season is April through to May in the UK where I live, but if you live elsewhere check online. Never pick nettles that have grown next to polluted roads.

Pea purée dip

“This herb-packed dip works particularly well as a base for open sandwiches with smoked oily fish,” shares Brontë.

500g frozen peas

Pinch of baking soda

½ bunch fresh chives

2-3 sprigs fresh tarragon

Good glug of olive oil

Squeeze of fresh lemon juice, to taste

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 Blanch the peas in boiling water with the baking soda for 2-3 minutes (the baking soda helps the peas to keep their colour). Quickly plunge the peas into ice-cold water to stop the cooking process.

2 Add the peas to a food processor or use a stick blender to blitz until smooth. Adjust the seasoning to taste. If you like a creamier finish, add a dollop of Greek yoghurt.

Beetroot dip

“This earthy dip is delicious served with simple crackers or flatbread,” says Brontë. “If you don’t like the strong taste of cumin, you can replace it with fresh dill.”

300g cooked beetroot

50g toasted hazelnuts

1 tbsp grated fresh horseradish or horseradish sauce

Pinch of ground cumin

2 tbsps Greek yoghurt

Balsamic vinegar, to taste

Squeeze of lemon juice

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 Blend the beetroot and toasted hazelnuts in a food processor or use a stick blender to blitz until smooth.

2 Mix this smooth paste with the rest of the ingredients until well combined.

Making

your own crispbread? It takes a lot of drying in a warm oven to get homemade ones nearly as crisp as the shop-bought ones

Homemade dill aquavit

“Aquavit is a flavoured, alcoholic spirit to enjoy with your smörgåsbord. Dill, caraway and fennel are common flavourings, but berries or flowers can be used too,” explains Brontë.

MAKES AROUND 350ML

1 bunch of fresh dill

1 tsp white sugar

350ml vodka, plus extra to taste

Large sterilised mason jar and glass bottle

Coffee filter

1 Blanch the dill in boiling water for a few seconds, then shake dry and add to the jar (I would always blanch fresh herbs before adding as it gives a stronger taste). Add the sugar, then top up with vodka and stir. Seal the jar and leave for 5-6 days at room temperature.

2 Strain through the coffee filter to remove the dill. Decant into the bottle and keep for another month before topping up with more vodka to taste. Serve chilled in shot glasses.

FROM THE BOOK

Find more seasonal recipes in ScandiKitchen Midsommar, by Brontë Aurell, with photography by Peter Cassidy (Ryland Peters & Small, £18.99).

Gooseberry pavlova

“Inspired by my parents-in-law, who have lots of gooseberries in the garden of their house near Gothenburg,” says Brontë, “the tart berries with sweet meringue make a perfect summer dessert.”

SERVES 4-5

MERINGUE LAYER

6 egg whites

350g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla sugar or the vanilla seeds from 1 pod

2 tsps cornflour

A few drops of vinegar

GOOSEBERRY COMPOTE

300g fresh gooseberries, plus extra to garnish

2-3 tbsps caster sugar (or more if needed)

CREAM TOPPING

½ quantity of pastry cream

300ml whipping cream

1 Preheat the oven to 120°C/gas mark 1½. To make the meringue, whip the egg whites in the very clean bowl of a stand mixer or with a hand-held electric whisk until soft peaks form.

2 Start to slowly add the sugar mixed with the vanilla, bit by bit. Continue whisking at high speed for 4-5 minutes until the meringue is stiff and glossy. If you can no longer feel the sugar grains it is a good indication. Fold in the cornflour and vinegar.

3 Pile the meringue on to a prepared baking sheet in a loose rectangle shape. Bake in the warm oven for around 1 hour 30 minutes or until crisp on the outside. Turn off the oven but leave the meringue in there to cool for a good few hours if you can, with the door propped open.

4 Prepare the gooseberries by removing the tops and tails. Place into a saucepan with the sugar and a dash of water. Bring to the boil and cook for 3 minutes until the berries are soft. Mash lightly with a fork and taste – they might need more sugar. Gooseberries are delightful because they are sour, so don’t add too much. Set the compote aside to cool, then refrigerate until needed. Whip the cream and fold together with the pastry cream.

5 Place the meringue on a serving plate and pile over the whipped cream mixture. Top with the gooseberry compote and extra fresh gooseberries to garnish.

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Midsummer

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Photography: IB Laursen.