Skagen Baked Potatoes
Skagen: a Swedish shrimp salad
“Swedish skagen salad, or “skagenröra,” combines shrimp, crème fraîche, mayonnaise, dill, red onion, and lemon to create a refreshing cold dish. Typically served atop toast (Toast Skagen), over salad, or as a side with salmon and boiled potatoes in the spring and summertime, it’s a special-occasion favorite for lunch or as an appetizer. If you’ve had it before (and/or if you like shrimp), you probably understand why it holds a special place as one of my favorite things.
To make skagen salad more of a meal, I used baked potatoes as its main vessel. Baked twice until the skin is nice and crispy, the potatoes are filled with the skagen salad and topped with additional dill and lemon wedges, plus a dollop of salty salmon roe, an optional step that adds a lot of flavor. One thing to note is that classic Skagen salad typically uses pre-cooked, cold-water shrimp that are small and are much saltier than the shrimp you’ll find in American grocery stores. This means that using standard shrimp in the U.S. won’t taste exactly the same, but it comes pretty close. To mimic the flavor and texture of cold-water shrimp, I poach them instead of pan-searing or roasting.”
This recipe was originally developed for and posted on Food52–find it there too.
Tips:
To save you the step of poaching the shrimp, buy pre-cooked North Atlantic shrimp, which are closer to the shrimp used in Sweden. In a pinch, you can also just use your favorite pre-cooked shrimp.
To serve these as an appetizer rather than a meal, swap out the 6 large potatoes for several small ones. Bake the potatoes, cut them in half, then fluff and assemble.
If you buy shell-on shrimp, leave the shells on while poaching, as they add flavor to the shrimp. I like to toss half a lemon into the poaching water as well.
If you have any questions or want to share a photo, I’d love to hear from you in the chat below!
