Västerbottensostpaj — Sweden

Västerbottensostpaj is a savory pie centered on Västerbotten cheese, a hard, long-aged cow's milk cheese produced in northern Sweden and prized for its sharp, slightly crystalline character. The cheese is grated into a custard of egg and cream and baked inside a short pastry shell. The pie is reported from Sweden generally, though it takes its name from Västerbotten county in the north, where the cheese itself is made in a single dairy; the dish appears widely at festive tables, buffets and crayfish parties across the country, often paired with bleak roe. To prepare it, a plain butter pastry is blind-baked in a tart tin, then filled with a mixture of eggs, crème fraîche or single cream, grated Västerbotten cheese and a little chopped onion, and baked until the custard is set and lightly browned on top. Within the broader family of savory custard pies and quiches found across northern Europe, this version is set apart by the cheese itself, whose intensity carries the whole dish with little further seasoning needed. Cooks vary the proportion of cream to egg for a firmer or softer set, and some add chives, dill or a spoonful of roe on top before serving.