How to make Norwegian potato pancakes

This classic celebratory dish from Norway takes a little planning, but is seriously worth it, says Prudence Wade

This dish is a tradition at Norwegian weddings (Columbus Leth/PA)

A Norwegian tradition at weddings. In the old days, in small towns in Norway, all the women would gather together to make really big potato pancakes to be eaten at wedding breakfasts!” says Trine Hahnemann, author of Simply Scandinavian.

“This recipe takes a little planning because you need to prepare the potatoes the day before to allow their starch to settle, in order to be able to roll out the dough.”

Potato pancakes

Makes: 10

Ingredients:

For the pancakes:

500g peeled potatoes

50g salted butter

50g full-fat crème fraîche

1 tsp sea salt flakes

175g plain flour, plus more to dust

Freshly ground black pepper

For the topping:

200g spinach

4 tomatoes

1 onion, sliced

1-2 tbsp salted butter

2-3 tbsp full-fat crème fraîche

Method:

1. The day before you want to make the pancakes, boil the potatoes until tender. Drain them, then pass through a potato ricer into a bowl and add the butter, crème fraîche and salt, with some pepper. Mix well, then cover and refrigerate overnight.

2. Next day, mix the flour into the potato mixture and divide the dough into 10. Roll each piece out on a floured work surface into a circle 12 centimetres in diameter. Cook each one in a dry frying pan, turning it once. You will know they are ready when they are light brown on both sides, which will take two to three minutes on each side.

3. For the topping, rinse the spinach in cold water and drain well; it may take several rinses to get it properly clean. Cut the tomatoes in half and discard the juice and seeds, then slice them. Sauté the onion in the butter until golden brown, then add the spinach and wilt it, seasoning to taste with salt and pepper. Turn the heat off, add the tomatoes and mix.

4. Serve the warm pancakes topped with the vegetables, with crème fraîche on the side.

‘Simply Scandinavian’ by Trine Hahnemann (Quadrille, £27).