Sweden 8 - Picasso & The Flying Jacob

Modern Art, that's what I experienced last Friday.

First, a trip to the famous Moderna Museet, which is found on the very small, yet cultured, island of Skeppsholmen. And what a place. Now, I'm not much of an art afficianado, in actual fact I only went because I'd read it had a really cool restaurant, but the place was pretty cool.

I started with a yummmmmmmmmm lunch in the famous Museum Restaurant - fabulous Cod with Marinated Chanterelles was served up looking out over Stockholm through the floor to ceiling windows...watching everyone else freeze outside as I sucked up that glorious fish!

Then it was art time...a bit of Picasso, a touch of Matisse, and a dabble in Dali...it's sorta the perfect museum really, enough to keep you interested and not too much to make you wish you could find the bloody exit! Of course all that art makes one a little peckish...so a visit to the little cafe for a coffee and a Chokladboll (a chocolatey coconut ball thing) was a must!

So, after an afternoon of culture (and Chokladboll), it was time for my own modern art at home.

When I got home I was greeted by TMW with dinner on the bench, ready to go into the oven and a warning "I'm not going to tell you what's in it, you might not eat it". Hmmmmm...challenging!

I waited patiently for my challenging dinner. And finally, Tuna Man got home and we could eat!!! OH YEAH BABY!

Let me introduce you to the Swedish dinner masterpiece...The Flying Jacob. This happened to be my dinner this evening, after such an experimental afternoon at the modern museum...how coincidental!

The Flying Jacob was a dish created in the 70s by a Swedish flight cargo worker, Ove Jacobsson...hence the name, Fylying Jacob, or Flygande Jacob in Swedish. This guy sent the recipe into a magazine and it was published in 1976, and like Picasso, took the world (well, at least the Swedish world) by storm! It became an overnight sensation - this oh-so-wacky Friday night dinner. There it is above. Looks innocent enough.

Let me walk you through it. Layers of cooked rice, stripped bbq chicken, sliced banana (yes, you read right, sliced banana), salted peanuts, fried bacon (which um...our esteemed TMW forgot to add in, but don't tell her I told you that), then a layer of WHIPPED CREAM MIXED WITH CHILLI SAUCE!!!! It's wacked in the oven till that crazy combo of whipped cream and chilli sauce is golden brown...then served.

And how was it? BLOODY GREAT!!! Creamy, banana-y, you can't really taste the chilli, just the tang, and the peanuts give a great crunch, all a bit wacky really, but extraordinary, sorta like a Picasso. Like I said...culinary modern art!!