Ideas for foreign dishes?

Every year, my friends hold a 'Eurovision Party' the night of the song contest, which is this Saturday night. We each get assigned 3 or 4 countries and then we have to bring food and/or drink from that country to consume during the show!

This year, I'm having trouble finding ideas for food to take with me, so I was wondering if anyone here had any thoughts or suggestions of well-known dishes from any of the countries I've been assigned:

Ireland
Netherlands
Norway
Albania

I have several ideas for drinks (e.g. Grolsch or Heineken from the Netherlands, Guinness from Ireland ), but I'm not having much luck on the food front.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated .

I can't really think of any Irish party foods.    You could get a cheese tray of some Irish cheeses, like Cashel Blue and Wexford cheddar.

For the Netherlands you could take Stroopwaffles (sp), which are pretty much the same as the thin, caramel waffle cookies they sell at Starbucks.

Good luck. You have tough countries!

For the Netherlands you could take Stroopwaffles (sp), which are pretty much the same as the thin, caramel waffle cookies they sell at Starbucks.

We do this every year as well!

I was gonna say stroopwafels for NL. Tescos and Aldi sometimes have them. Also chips and mayo. Usually chips are served with fritessaus, which is similar to mayo.

Ireland = Guinness!!!!!!  Maybe the chips could double up?

For Norway maybe pickled herring or gravad lax? Thinking Nordic.

Albania no idea!

Good luck. 

If you wanted to be different, you could take Beamish instead of Guinness! It's actually nicer!

Ireland - something with potatoes!  Soda bread?  Maybe colcannon, or Irish stew.

Netherlands - yes to the stroopwafels.  How about something that you would see at a rijsttafel (i.e., Indonesian curry) like nasi goreng, beef rendang, etc?  Or pannenkoeken (pancakes!)?  From Wiki:  Pannekoeken are slightly thicker than crepes and usually quite large (12" or more) in diameter.  Can be sweet, savoury or stuffed, etc.

No ideas for Norway or Albania - sorry!

For Norway, of course you'll need lutefisk.  Just take some white fish, soak it in water for a few days, then soak it in lye for a few days more, then soak it in water again to get the lye out, then steam it.  Tastes like fish jello mixed with soap.  Yum yum.   


OK, just kidding.  Lutefisk is revolting.  But you could try lefse.  It's kind of like a potato tortilla, and is really nice with butter and a little honey.  In Wisconsin you can get it at the supermarket, so I have no idea how difficult it is to make, but it doesn't look too tricky.  Good luck with your menu! 

Thanks for the suggestions, guys .

I'm hoping to be able to buy things ready-made as I'm not going to have much time to cook anything myself - I'm working Thurs, Fri and Sat, and going to the party straight from work on Saturday... so I'll only really have Friday evening to make anything!

I'm not a fish-eater so I'm going to stay away from fish dishes as I have no idea how to cook them (and the thought of cooking with fish makes me nauseous, lol!), but I'm hoping I can either find or make some of the other things you've mentioned.

I have actually found something from Albania: Baklava, which looks quite nice too .

No ideas to add, but I want to come to your party!!!

But you could try lefse.  It's kind of like a potato tortilla, and is really nice with butter and a little honey.  In Wisconsin you can get it at the supermarket, so I have no idea how difficult it is to make, but it doesn't look too tricky.  Good luck with your menu! 

OMG Lefse! warm and smothered in butter and sugar is how I was taught to eat it.  mmmmm Not sure how this would be, but it seems like an easy enough recipe: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Lefse-from-Instant-Potatoes

Google tells me that they drink Turkish coffee in Albania.  You could get some of that perhaps?  Baklava is good too..  Google tells me that a lot of their food is similar to Turkish so you can always unwrap something and pretend  

Ireland, stick with Guinness it's technically a food.

I don't suggest you take the only food I know of from the Netherlands...

When I first saw the title of this thread, I thought you were looking for dishes from other countries. You know, like spoons and plates and stuff! I was surprised at the number of replies and curious as to what people had suggested! LOL

Dutch: uitsmijter - bread with slices of cheese or meat, topped with fried eggs.

I have actually found something from Albania: Baklava, which looks quite nice too .

Baklava is DELICIOUS!!! You won't be disappointed!

Baklava is DELICIOUS!!! You won't be disappointed!

Indeed it is.  AND you can get it at Waitrose in the bakery section.  Win-win!

AND you can get it at Waitrose in the bakery section.  Win-win!

Ooh, great - thanks for letting me know .

As a Wisconsonite who was raised as a Lutheran, my first thought was also lutefisk.  But I imagine you'd like these party guests to continue speaking to you after the event. :p

So, yes, lefse would be a good choice.  They're not particularly difficult to make, but they are a bit time consuming.  You have cook and mash the potatoes for the dough, then you have to roll each one out very thin.  And, traditionally, they're fairly large, so you need a big pan.   But I suppose there's no reason you couldn't make them smaller.