This week’s food column comes from Hawkshead Relish

Cumbria has a distinct Norse heritage but there are more links than you might realise. The obvious ones are similarities in climate, landscape and culture.

The Lake District’s Viking age lasted for some 300 years, despite being a relatively transient phase in our history it has left us a tantalising set of physical and cultural traces to explore.

With artefacts like the Kirkby Stephen ‘Loki Stone’ (one of only two in the world), to place names such as Esthwaite, (the eastern clearing) and Sour Milk Ghyll (cascading waterfalls with a milky appearance) to common names such a beck (brook with a stony bed), tarn (small lake), dale (valley) and fell (hill) we Cumbrian’s owe a fair bit to our Norse ancestors.

That heritage even extends to our legendary Cumbrian hospitality, based on the Nordic concept of Hygge. A concept close to the hearts of many Cumbrians, though in most cases we may not necessarily be aware of the term. Pronounced ‘hoo-ga’ though it can’t be easily associated with an individual word, but it does encompass feelings of contentment, of enjoying the simple things in life. After all it’s derived from the Norwegian word for well-being, which is pretty handy…

After a walk on the fell, following the course of a beck as it wends its way through the dale onwards to a tarn then what you need at the end of your adventures is a little Hygge in your life… And handily what you eat, and drink is an essential part of creating those cosy vibes, and happily spending lots of cash on an expensive meal isn’t the point; it’s simply about comfort food…

With that in mind, we thought we’d point you in the direction of a simple but tasty dish incorporating delicious Mackerel, a little sauce made with Hawkshead Relish Red Onion Marmalade, white wine vinegar, soaked raisins, and a dressing made with pan fried onions and toasted pine nuts, which takes just a couple of minutes to prepare, eight minutes to bake in the oven and four minutes under the grill to get a lovely crispy skin on the Mackerel… you fancy feasting like a Viking you can find the full recipe in our cookbook Embellish With Relish.