Warm weather is finally here!

Springtime always feels so special, especially when you’ve been through the dreariness of a UK winter. But we also love it because the warmer weather brings with it inspiration to try out new recipes, or at least to switch from the hearty and warming winter dishes to fresh and summery food that keeps us feeling good in the sunny weather. Don’t worry, UK summer, much like Danish summer, also brings plenty of opportunities to enjoy a good bowl of soup. The rain and cold certainly still make an appearance! However, the change of seasons always pushes us to incorporate new flavors and textures, and today’s recipe is a perfect example of that. Today, we’re sharing our recipe for a very refreshing and classic Danish sandwich topping – rejesalat.

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The perfect sandwich topping – rejesalat

Rejesalat, or shrimp salad, is very much a Danish classic that you’ll find on big lunch tables at holiday meals, like Christmas and Easter. It’s eaten cold, so it’s included along with the other cold fish toppings, including herring and mackerel. Sometimes, we also like to serve a version of it as a sort of appetizer or starter, because it’s very light and fresh. When it’s not a big holiday meal, this also works well as a light lunch or dinner option, especially on a hot summer day. We like it best when it’s eaten on rugbrød, or Danish rye bread, but it’s also sometimes served with white bread or a crispy crostini or something similar, so feel free to switch it up.

Our rejesalat – fresh and creamy!

What makes this rejesalat so delicious is that it’s cold, creamy, and full of lots of fresh and bright flavors. The small shrimp are delicious, and they form the base of the flavors in rejesalat. Then, you add a creamy dressing made with both sour cream and mayonnaise, so you get a nice balance of creamy, tangy, and savory. Chives and dill get added to bring lots of complementary flavors to the party, and then we add plenty of lemon to brighten everything up a bit. For a bit of crunch, we add cucumber, but you could add radish or even apple to get the same effect. Finally, season with plenty of salt and pepper to bring all the flavors together and ensure it’s not a bland rejesalat.

Ingredients you’ll need

For this rejesalat, the first thing you’ll need is small North Atlantic cold water shrimp. These are easy to find in Denmark and the UK (frozen), but might be a bit more challenging in some parts of the US. If they’re not in your usual grocery store, we would recommend looking in specialty grocery stores or doing a Google search to see if any local fishmongers in your area sell them. You can also buy them from Nordic import stores such as Scandinavian Butik in Connecticut, who sell them here. Nowadays, you can luckily check the stock of a lot of grocery stores online, so it might be worth doing a bit of research before you head out looking for the shrimp. Many IKEA stores in the US also stock small shrimp in the frozen food market section! If it’s impossible to find North Atlantic shrimp, go for the smallest cooked shrimp your grocery store has in stock.

The shrimp are the hardest thing to source for this recipe, we promise. Apart from them, all you’ll need is sour cream, mayonnaise, chives, dill, lemon juice and zest, cucumber, and salt and pepper. You can replace the creamy elements (sour cream and mayo) with whatever you prefer, such as Greek yoghurt or creme fraiche. We always like to have a bit of mayo in there for savoriness, otherwise it might get too tangy, but you can try to balance it out instead with plenty of salt and lemon. The chives and dill are our herbs of choice, but again, use what you like! Same with the cucumber – it adds freshness and crunch, so you can easily use a different vegetable if you don’t like cucumber.

How to make rejesalat

This is luckily a very easy recipe to make, and for me to explain how to make! The most important step is to properly defrost and drain the shrimp. If they’re still frozen at all and start to thaw, this will make the salad very wet, which is not what you want. Once you’ve thawed and drained them, pat them dry with a paper towel to get even more of the moisture out. Once you cut up the cucumber, you should also squeeze it in a paper towel to get the moisture out. Then, simply combine the ingredients in a bowl and either serve immediately or let it sit in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour so all the flavors can really come together. When you’re ready to serve, just stir it together again and either plate it up or leave it for people to serve themselves. Enjoy!