Ingredients
4 large Norwegian scallops
Olive oil
Juice of 1 lime
Cauliflower purée
1/2 cauliflower
100 ml (6 tbsp.) cream
150 g (10 tbsp.) butter
Grated nutmeg 

Confit tomatoes
4 ripe tomatoes
1 clove of garlic, thinly sliced
2 shallots, thinly sliced
10 sprigs of fresh thyme
50 ml (3 tbsp.) olive oil
Salt and sugar

Vinaigrette
50 ml (3 tbsp.) hazelnut oil
50 ml (3 tbsp.) sunflower oil
2 tbsp. sherry vinegar
1 tbsp. chopped hazelnuts
4 strips sundried tomato, diced 

Method 
Blanch the tomatoes; peel, quarter and seed them. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and sugar. Place on parchment paper and spread the shallots, garlic and thyme over top. Season again with salt and sugar. Place in a 75° C (165° F) oven for 6 to 8 hours.

Boil the cauliflower for 7 minutes in salted water, then cook in the cream for 5 minutes. Put the cream and cauliflower into a food processor and blend until smooth. Pass through a sieve. Cook the butter until golden brown and add to the puree. Season to taste with salt and nutmeg.

Heat the hazelnuts gently in a warm pan until golden. Combine the other ingredients for the vinaigrette and add the nuts last.

Slice the scallops crosswise into thirds and sear in a little olive oil in a very hot sauté pan for one minute. Remove and season with lime juice, olive oil and salt.

To serve, arrange three small rounds of cauliflower purée on each serving plate. Top each with a slice of scallop. Arrange the confit tomatoes around the scallops and spoon the hazelnut vinaigrette all around. Serves 4.

Christmas In NORWAY
In the Norwegian home it is first and foremost at Christmas that culinary traditions are strong. Dinner on Christmas Eve is the most important meal of the year and the menu varies according to which part of the country you come from. In northern Norway and on the south coast it is cod and cod liver that prevail. In the northwest they prefer bacalao or preserved fish, whilst the rest of the west country eats cured mutton ribs. On tables in the east they serve roast pork ribs with crispy crackling.

Norwegians have an emotional attachment to Christmas food – it says something about where you come from and which part of Norway you identify with. People happily eat food they never would have thought of eating the rest of the year. Norwegians also eat Christmas cakes. There must be seven kinds, and faithful to tradition most people bake all the different kinds themselves. And it isn’t just at Christmas that Norwegians bake.

Baking is a part of the Norwegian culinary tradition. In other countries people buy cakes at a confectioner’s for special occasions, but in Norway people put their hearts into home baking. This is also true of bread. Norwegian bread is preferably unrefined and succulent and based on a variety of different grains.

The preferred accompaniment to salty, rich Norwegian Christmas food is akevitt (Aquavit). Akevitt could certainly be called Norway’s national drink. The spirit is distilled from potatoes and Norwegians put much pride and care into its production. Norwegians have made akevitt into one of the world’s finest spirits, while our neighbouring countries still look on akevitt as just something to have with food. The well-known Norwegian Linie-akevitt is shipped to Australia and back to mature in the perfect way and to achieve the finest flavour. It gets the name Linie because it crosses the equator (The Line) on its journey.