Swedish · Appetizers

Toast Skagen

Prawns folded into dill mayonnaise with a squeeze of lemon, piled on a round of butter-fried bread and topped with roe.

20 min total Serves 4 servings Easy
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Toast Skagen

Photograph credit: Toast Skagen on a plate by Apinanaivot · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons

The dressing has to be looser and sharper than a standard prawn cocktail, because the fried bread underneath is rich — mayonnaise cut with crème fraîche and a real quantity of lemon is what keeps it from being cloying. Frying the bread in butter rather than toasting it gives an edge that stays crisp under the wet topping for the few minutes it needs to.

How to Make Toast Skagen

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  1. Drain the prawns thoroughly and pat them dry on kitchen paper. Wet prawns make a watery dressing.

  2. Mix the mayonnaise, crème fraîche, mustard, lemon zest and half the juice, the shallot, dill, salt and white pepper.

  3. Fold the prawns through gently and taste. Add the rest of the lemon juice if it needs sharpening — it should be noticeably tangy.

  4. Chill for 20 minutes while you fry the bread.

  5. Cut the bread into rounds with a cutter, or trim the crusts and halve them.

  6. Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium heat and fry the bread 2 minutes a side until golden and crisp at the edges.

  7. Drain briefly on kitchen paper and let them cool for a minute so they stay crisp.

  8. Pile the prawn mixture high on each round, spoon roe over the top, and add a dill sprig.

  9. Serve immediately with lemon wedges.

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A Few Pointers

  • Dry the prawns properly. It is the single biggest thing.
  • Fry the bread in butter, do not toast it. Different texture entirely.
  • Assemble at the last moment and serve within two minutes.

Serve It With

A crisp white wine or champagne · A shot of aquavit · Lemon wedges

Leftovers and Storage

The prawn mixture keeps 24 hours refrigerated. Fry the bread to order.

Toast Skagen Nutrition

No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (how much frying oil the food takes up cannot be known from the recipe). Why some recipes have none.

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Compiled by Turab

Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.

First published ; last changed .