Recipe: Västerbottenpaj – Swedish Västerbotten cheese pie

The Swedish Västerbotten cheese pie (Västerbottenpaj) is the most famous and traditional Swedish savoury pie. It is almost as mandatory to eat as the crayfish at the Swedish crayfish party (kräftskiva) in August but can be eaten all year around. The recipe ingredients and proportions are so easy that you can remember it without the recipe! The recipe below is the traditional simple yet delicious version but you can also add ingredients like onion, bacon and chanterelles (or any other mushroom). The direct translation of Västerbotten cheese pie to Swedish is “Västerbottensostpaj”, but even Swedes think that sounds too complicated so it is more known as “Västerbottenpaj”.

Recipe: Västerbottenpaj - Swedish cheese pie

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Prep Time 40 mins

Cook Time 40 mins

Total Time 1 hr 20 mins

Course Main Course, Main Dish, Side Dish

Cuisine Swedish

Servings 4

Ingredients

  

Pie dough

• 100 g wheat flour
• 100 g butter
• 2 tbsp water

Filling

• 200 g Västerbotten cheese
• 2 eggs
• 200 ml milk
• salt
• black pepper

Instructions

 

Pie dough

• Allow the butter to soften a bit but not melt
• Mix butter with flour and then add the water
• The mixture should be a bit stickier than your ordinary pie dough, but this allows the dough to be spread out easily in the pie form with a spatula (I use a 21 cm/8 inches pie form, but you could take a bit smaller to get some more height)
• Place the pie in the fridge for 20-30 min
• Heat up the oven to 200°C (400°F)
• Cook the pie dough for 10 minutes and then let it cool a bit while you prepare the filling

Filling

• Grate the cheese and put aside
• Whisk the eggs with milk and season
• Add the cheese in the bottom of the pie
• Pour over the egg and milk mixture and bake in oven for around 30 minutes (top should be brown but not burnt)
• Serve hot or cold with a salad or if used at the typical Swedish "Kräftskiva" then of course you have crayfish to it