The Enogastronomist — Learning begets hunger

Czech Food, Savoured One Molecule at a Time – Pečená kachna s červeným zelím a bramborovými knedlíky

2026-10-13T11:56:10.375+03:00

From 6.–9. October 2026, I travelled to Prague with a friend, who is also my former boss. (Prague is a city where I lived with my family from 2013 to 2016.) We stayed in the beautiful Vinohrady district, at the four-star apartment hotel Sibelius, which is run by a lovely Czech couple with close ties to Finland. I warmly recommend it: clean and quiet, with excellent transport links and services nearby. There’s even a Finnish sauna. Just as welcome was the lift, which is a rarity in the older apartment buildings of central Prague. It was made by Kone, a Finnish company and one of the world’s biggest lift manufacturers!

In four days we managed to see and experience a lot. We wandered the historic lanes of the Old Town, visited Prague Castle and Malá Strana, admired the views over the Vltava, and enjoyed a wonderful performance of the ballet Kafka: The Trial, which ended in a full fifteen minutes of thunderous applause. The days also made room for parks, the zoo, friendly chats with locals and tourists, shopping and, of course, Czech food. We walked 8–10 kilometres a day, which was a big deal for me, as I’m still recovering from a joint replacement operation a year ago. We got through it with sheer grit (sisu in Finnish), helped by the fact that we switched on the accessible routes option in our navigation app’s settings.

As a first-time visitor to Prague, my friend made a true gastronomic discovery, which she enjoyed, in her own words, “one molecule at a time”. She fell for crispy roast duck (pečená kachna), served with braised red cabbage (červené zelí) and potato dumplings (bramborové knedlíky). The first bite won her over completely that she wanted to eat the same dish every single day! To prevent that, on our last evening I took her to a Belgian brasserie, Bruxx. We ordered fresh oysters and a “fish platter for two”, which included two grilled sea bass, six roasted tiger prawns, eight small squid, a small pot of mussels Bruxx-style, roasted garlic potatoes and two steamed pak choi.

Back to the duck. Juicy duck with crispy skin, sweet-and-sour red cabbage and soft potato dumplings are part of the Czech home-cooking tradition. So I decided to dig out my Czech cookbooks and share this recipe on my blog too.

Adapted and expanded from: Vaněk, R. (2011). Poklady klasické české kuchyně. Prakul Production.

Roast Duck with Red Cabbage and Potato Dumplings

Pečená kachna s červeným zelím a bramborovými knedlíky

Serves 4

Ingredients

Duck

1 whole duck. Fresh: 2–2.8 kg | Frozen: 1.5–2 kg.
(If you’re using frozen duck, allow one to two days for it to thaw in the fridge. Fresh is rather nicer, though, with better flavour and texture, and no waiting about.)
salt
1.5–2 tbsp whole caraway seeds (carum carvi). Do not use cumin (jeera)!
1 tbsp fine plain flour, for the gravy
salt and pepper
400 ml water for the roasting tin, adding more if needed

Braised red cabbage

1 red cabbage, approx. 1 kg
1 onion
200 ml white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
6 tbsp caster sugar
a pinch of ground caraway
1 tbsp plain flour
salt and pepper
2 tbsp duck fat from the roasting tin

Potato dumplings
Boil the potatoes about an hour before the duck is ready!

1 kg potatoes (choose a floury variety such as Maris Piper or King Edward)
300 g coarse wheat flour.
Tip 1: If you only have regular plain flour, replace half of it with semolina to keep the dumplings light and airy. Tip 2: You may need a little more flour if the dough is too loose.
3 eggs
1 tbsp potato starch
salt and pepper
2 tbsp duck fat from the roasting tin, for brushing the finished dumplings

Method

1. Preparing the duck

Preheat the oven to 160 °C (about 140 °C fan).

Remove any remaining feathers and the larger quills from the duck. Score the skin, but don’t cut into the meat, or the meat will dry out. Cut off the neck and wing tips and trim away any excess fat.

Don’t throw anything away, though: put the removed parts into the roasting tin along with the duck. If the heart and liver are included, add them to the tin as well. This makes the pan juices tastier.

Rub salt and caraway seeds thoroughly over the duck, inside and out.

Place the duck on the oven rack. Set the roasting tin underneath, with the neck and wing tips in it, and pour in some water. During roasting, duck fat will drip into the tin. The duck doesn’t need turning, because the rack allows it to cook and brown evenly on all sides.

Roast the duck at 160 °C for about 2–3 hours, depending on its size, or for noticeably longer at a lower temperature (the thermometer decides!). Baste the duck from time to time with the juices that collect in the tin. At the end, raise the temperature to about 200 °C so the duck gets a golden-brown, crispy skin. Note: there must be enough liquid in the tin (add more water if needed), otherwise the fat will smoke. The target temperature, measured in the thigh, is about 85–90 °C.

Lift the duck from the rack onto a chopping board to rest for 15–20 minutes, then carve it into portions.

2. Braised red cabbage

Total braising time is about 45–60 minutes, including the last 15–20 minutes after adding the flour.

Start the cabbage when the duck has been roasting for about half its time.

Halve the cabbage and cut it into four wedges. Remove the core and the outermost leaves.

Shred the cabbage as finely as possible.

Carefully take a couple of tablespoons of duck fat from the hot roasting tin and put it into a saucepan. Heat the fat, then add the chopped onion and the caraway.

Sauté the onion until it turns a lovely golden brown.

Add the shredded red cabbage to the onion. Season with salt, sugar and the white wine or apple cider vinegar.

Stir well, cover the pan with a lid and let it braise over a low heat.

When the cabbage is half-cooked, add a little water. Taste and add more seasoning if needed.

Sprinkle the flour over the cabbage, stir well and let it braise for another 15–20 minutes.

3. Gravy from the pan juices

Now the roasting tin is needed for the gravy.

Pour the excess fat into a clean glass jar, leaving the pan juices and one tablespoon of fat in the tin. Close the jar once the fat has cooled and store it in the fridge. The fat is wonderful for roast potatoes, for example.

Place the roasting tin on the hob. Sprinkle the flour into the pan juices and stir until the flour browns and sticks to the bottom.

Pour in about 200 ml of warm water and/or roasting juices. Scrape up the browned bits stuck to the bottom with a spatula.

Let the gravy simmer gently, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes. The gravy should be thin and pourable, so add more roasting juices or water if needed.

Taste and season with salt and/or pepper.

Strain the finished gravy into a warmed gravy boat.

4. Potato dumplings

Boil the potatoes in their skins in a separate pan. Don’t boil them too soft, or the dough will be too loose.

Let the potatoes cool, then peel and grate them.

At this point, put a large pan of well-salted water on to boil for the dumplings.

Add the potato starch, flour, eggs and salt to the grated potato. Mix quickly into an even dough.

Quickly shape the dough into oblong dumplings about 5 cm thick.

Swirl the boiling water into a whirlpool and put the dumplings straight into the water.

The dumplings will sink to the bottom at first, so make sure they don’t stick to the base of the pan. Gently loosen them if necessary. Once the water returns to the boil, lower the heat.

Don’t take the dumplings out as soon as they float to the surface (these aren’t Italian gnocchi!). Let them float over a low heat (in simmering, not violently boiling, water) for about 15–20 minutes. You can cut one dumpling open to test whether it’s cooked. If you find raw flour or potato inside, cook them for longer.

Lift the cooked dumplings into a bowl with a slotted spoon. Prick them with a fork or cocktail stick so the steam can escape and they don’t collapse. Brush the dumplings with melted duck fat. This keeps the surface from drying out and hardening, so they stay soft and juicy.

Just before serving, cut the dumplings into slices about 1–1.5 cm thick with a sharp knife or a piece of thread.

Plating: First spread a thin layer of gravy across the whole plate. Then arrange a carved piece of breast or a leg on top and add dumplings and braised red cabbage alongside. Simple, but delicious!

The original recipe is a lovely classic, but it leaves some steps open to interpretation, so I filled in the details (temperatures, timings and the dumpling method) to make it easier to recreate at home.

Saturday dinner, with a few changes to the menu

2026-09-28T20:28:28.300+03:00

A couple we know came over for dinner on Saturday, 26 September. I became friends with one of them while I was working in Italy, well over 20 years ago. Tempus fugit!

I had planned a menu, as I always do, but what we eventually served differed a little from that plan. The first obstacle was finding fresh endives. There were none to be found in our rather small local supermarkets, so the French endive salad had to go.

I do miss the choice available in the larger supermarkets around Tammisto and Kartanonkoski in Vantaa, near our previous home, where we lived until October 2025. Judging by the selection on the shelves, the shops here seem to have a rather different customer in mind. Just basic veg available. Those of us who enjoy bitter leaves occasionally have to rethink dinner.

We began the evening with Pimm’s. Neither aperitifs nor nibbles belong on the menu card according to the protocol I follow. They do, however, deserve a mention here.

In place of the endive salad, we served Cerignola olives, caper berries, or frutti di cappero, and Parmigiano Reggiano. Our guests had brought the Parmigiano, aged for 36 months, from the International Grand Market on the final day of its Helsinki stop. The tiger prawn curry stayed on the menu, accompanied by baguette for mopping up the sauce.

For the main course, we had barbecued fillets of beef (bought by our friends from a local meat butcher) with rosemary roast potatoes, grilled aubergines, courgettes and peppers, and gremolata. The original menu had left open the choice between gremolata and black pepper sauce, with chimichurri intended for the vegetables. In the end, we went with gremolata. After tasting the tiger prawn curry, made with plenty of coconut cream, I decided that a creamy black pepper sauce was unnecessary.

There was another change at the end of the meal. I had planned to serve roasted chestnuts alongside grapes, figs and pears. Despite it being chestnut season, I could not find any, which was annoying. Obviously, we live in the right house, but in the wrong municipality! The fruit remained, but we served Roquefort, Bleu d’Auvergne and Morbier instead of the chestnuts. These were the cheeses I had intended to use in the endive starter.

The wines were Jean-Baptiste Adam Pinot Gris Réserve 2025 and Prunotto Bansella Nizza 2021, both recommended by a sommelier friend to accompany the dishes.

I like making a printed menu when friends come for dinner. It is also a small record of the occasion.

The Foods That Our Boys Grew Up With

2026-09-06T11:07:29.971+03:00

This weekend was one of those family moments that made me look both in the past and in the future. My first-born celebrated his IB graduation. He completed his studies in May and has since begun the Environmental Studies Programme at the University of Helsinki. His younger brother, who will graduate next year, served as Flower Marshal at the ceremony. He has decided to apply to the Aalto University’s School of Engineering.

There was something rather satisfying in seeing them both at stage, each at a different point on the same educational path.

For many years, when the boys were small, I stayed at home with them. From the point of view of future pension calculations, this was probably not a great financial strategy. From every other point of view, I have no regrets. Economists would call it an opportunity cost. I gave up earnings, pension contributions and career progression in exchange for something much harder to quantify: time with my children while they were young.

The return on that particular investment is becoming rather apparent. My husband and I made a conscious effort to bring the boys up with books, culture and sport as part of everyday life, with an understanding that how one behaves matters just as much as how one performs, and with a certain can-do attitude towards life.

The grandparents played an important part in that too, especially their Scottish grandparents, who kept us supplied with what sometimes felt like an endless stream of books. Reading was simply part of the atmosphere in which the boys grew up, rather than something that had to be imposed on them.

They seem to have absorbed rather more of it all than we perhaps realised at the time.

I am currently editing a book based on my English-language food blog, The Enogastronomist. It will be called The Foods That Our Boys Grew Up With, and I plan to have a copy printed for each of them.

When I began the blog, I thought I was recording recipes. In practice, I was recording rather more than that.

Over the years, the posts accumulated into a kind of family archive. They contain the food we ate at home, dishes discovered on our travels, experiments that worked, a few that probably did not, celebrations, ordinary weekday meals and recipes that became part of the furniture of family life.

Food has a useful way of preserving context

A recipe may appear to be little more than a list of ingredients and instructions, but after enough time has passed, it begins to carry other information with it. It can recall a particular city, apartment, house, season, journey or stage of family life with remarkable efficiency.

I had always imagined that the blog might one day be useful to the boys themselves. At some point, they would leave home and perhaps want to cook something familiar. For years, that remained a theoretical possibility. It is becoming considerably less theoretical now.

And although the blog will remain there, I rather like the idea of putting the recipes into something tangible. A book can sit on a kitchen shelf, acquiring stains from various spills, and accumulate notes and loose scraps of paper, before perhaps eventually becoming part of somebody else’s kitchen.

So I am now gathering the recipes properly.

The intention is not to prescribe how the boys should cook and what they should eat. That would rather miss the point. Recipes change as they pass from one person to another. Ingredients are substituted, quantities adjusted, techniques improved and occasionally ignored altogether.

What matters is that there is a record of how our life tasted like.

In that sense, The Enogastronomist has become more than a food blog. It records what was placed on our table while two children grew into young adults.

A photograph album shows us what people looked like. A collection of recipes can remind us what life tasted like. I suppose that is one of the underlying reasons families have always passed recipes from one generation to the next.

Before long, both boys will have kitchens of their own and firm opinions about what belongs in them. They will discover new foods, new places and new ways of cooking, as they should.

But among all that novelty, they will also have a record of the foods that they grew up with.

Ukrainian Vegetable Borscht and Its Culture

2026-08-31T17:34:00.000+03:00

Last week, and again today, I made vegetable borscht. For some reason, I have been particularly hungry for this classic Ukrainian dish lately.

I imagine our eastern neighbour is rather irritated by the fact that, in 2022, UNESCO inscribed the culture of Ukrainian borscht cooking on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding.

Yesterday, incidentally, I bought a cooling rack from Jula, and it has proved extremely useful. The soup cools down quickly on it, after which I can portion it into freezer containers and put them away for those moments when I fancy a bowl of borscht.

The next occasion will be, at the latest, the second Saturday in September, when Ukrainian Borscht Day is celebrated around the world.

UNESCO, Culture of Ukrainian borscht cooking.

A Thai-inspired Friday dinner with friends

2026-08-22T12:08:13.789+03:00

Som Tam Salad

Friday night was dinner at home with my Filipino friends, and I decided to put together a meal with a Southeast Asian flavour. Not everything on the table was strictly Thai, but that is rather typical of the way I cook.

I chose Thai food quite deliberately. There is something faintly terrifying about cooking food from your guests' own homeland. They know exactly how it is supposed to taste, how their mother or grandmother makes it, and every shortcut or questionable substitution is immediately exposed.

The first dish was som tam green papaya salad. It is one of those dishes that is crunchy, salty, sour, sweet and hot at the same time. Raw green papaya is mixed with blanched french beans, chilli, fish sauce, juice of a lime, grated garlic, fresh coriander, and toasted peanuts. If you do not happen to find green papaya, you can use hispi cabbage.
For the main course I made gai yang, Thai grilled chicken, served with jasmine rice. The chicken is marinated with garlic, lemongrass, fish sauce and other aromatics before being grilled. The result is deeply savoury, fragrant and slightly charred.
I based mine on this excellent recipe from RecipeTin Eats: Gai Yang – Thai Grilled Chicken. I did not have dark soy, so the result was not that dark. After grilling the meat, I placed it in the oven at 120°C for 10 minutes to rest.

Gai Yang – Thai BBQ chicken.

I served the chicken and jasmine rice with a sharp, spicy dipping sauce made from white wine vinegar, fresh lemon juice, brown sugar, garlic, chillies, shallots and freshly ground black pepper.

Grilled meat and rice was served with an improvised sauce.

And then the menu took a small detour because I had bought some good-looking plantains from an Asian food shop and could not resist. So I made pan-fried plantains with Italian pancetta, a dish taught to me by my friend Gemma, who divides her time between Rome and Kigali. Sweet, caramelised plantain and salty pancetta may not be an obvious flavour combination, but they work remarkably well together.
So, one dinner table travelled from Thailand to Finland, with a small excursion through Italy along the way. The Italian connection felt particularly fitting, as my friend Imelda's sister lives in Italy.
That, for me, is one of the pleasures of cooking for, and with, friends. Recipes travel with people. They are borrowed, adapted and remembered, and eventually become part of your own kitchen repertoire. Last night's dinner was less about following one particular cuisine faithfully and more about putting together food I love for people whose company I enjoy around the table.
Pan-fried plantains with pancetta.

Two Filipino Recipes: Stir-Fried Bitter Gourd with Egg and Steamed Okra with Lemon-Soy Dipping Sauce

2026-08-16T20:19:17.646+03:00

Being rather cosmopolitan, in the best sense of the word, I have friends from all over the world. Last week, I met my Filipino friend Imelda, whom I have known for about 20 years. She told me that her sister, who has lived in Bologna for close to 30 years, was coming to Finland on Sunday to visit her for a week.

I immediately told Imelda to come over for dinner and, naturally, to bring her sister along. They had already eaten, so we agreed to have dinner on Friday instead.

So tonight, I finally had the pleasure of meeting Imelda's sister. Having lived in Bologna for so long, she is naturally fluent in Italian, which gave us plenty to talk about. She arrived bearing gifts: three bitter gourds and a generous bagful of okra, even though I had specifically told Imelda not to trouble her sister with bringing anything.

There was a little horticultural exchange involved, too. In return, I gave Imelda several varieties of courgette and some ripe tomatoes from my garden.

I think I'll use the bitter gourds to make Ginisang Ampalaya, a Filipino dish of sliced bitter gourd sautéed with garlic, onions and ripe tomatoes, with beaten eggs added towards the end. The savoury aromatics and eggs help balance the distinctive bitterness of the gourd. I will, however, wait for Imelda and her sister's own recipe before attempting it.

As for the okra, Imelda says she simply steams and then dips it in soy sauce with lemon. Simple.

I was also very pleased to meet Imelda's husband, after all these years, who was kindly acting as chauffeur while Imelda and her sister explored the Helsinki metropolitan area.

I'm now very much looking forward to preparing dinner for Imelda and her family when they return from their trip to Stockholm and Tallinn on Friday. This time, perhaps, the produce from my garden will get to play its part too.

UPDATE #1: I prepared the bitter gourd for our Monday dinner using Imelda's recipe.

Bitter Gourd with Eggs

Ingredients

3 green bitter gourds, halved, with the seeds and pith removed
1 red onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, halved or chopped
Ripe tomatoes, as many as you like, chopped
Freshly ground black pepper, optional
3 eggs, lightly beaten with a fork
Extra-virgin olive oil, for sautéing

Method

Heat a little extra-virgin olive oil in a frying pan and gently sauté the garlic and onion. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook until they begin to soften.

Add the sliced bitter gourd and continue cooking until tender but still with a little bite. Towards the end, pour in the beaten eggs and stir everything together until the eggs are just cooked.

Finish with freshly ground black pepper.

Voilà!

UPDATE #2: I prepared steamed okra for our Tuesday dinner using Imelda's recipe.

Bring the water into boil, and then insert the steam tray into the pot

Bring the water to the boil, then place the steaming basket in the pot.

Ingredients

Okra, well rinsed, trimmed and halved

Whatever dipping sauce you fancy. I chose soy sauce with fresh lemon juice, mixed in equal parts.

Method

Steaming is better than boiling, as the okra keeps its texture and flavour better. Close the lid and set a timer for no longer than 5 minutes. Keep the heat at high.

Simple, but so tasty! I don't think I'll ever make okra in coconut milk again.

Pizza on umami steroids!

2026-08-08T15:41:48.716+03:00

Pizza con fiori di zucca e acciughe

At the moment, my courgettes are producing lots of flowers. Rather than frying them, stuffing them or turning them into yet another courgette dish, I had an idea.

I trimmed a good handful of courgette flowers, grabbed a jar of anchovies and headed to my new favourite Neapolitan trattoria, Trattoria Napoletana, to ask Chef Alessandro a favour. Fortunately, he said yes. It helps that he is my friend.

A little tomato sauce, plenty of mozzarella, my freshly picked courgette flowers and anchovy fillets.

I love anchovies. I know they divide opinion, but I am firmly in the love camp. A few good anchovy fillets can transform a dish, adding saltiness, depth and that wonderful umami flavour without necessarily making the whole thing taste of fish. Which brings me to a book I read in 2024: Christopher Beckman's A Twist in the Tail: How the Humble Anchovy Flavoured Western Cuisine.

The flowers soften in the heat of the pizza oven, their delicate sweetness working beautifully with the salty anchovies. The mozzarella brings everything together, while the tomato adds just enough acidity. And all of it sits on the Neapolitan pizza base. And what a flavour combination. Pizza on umani steroids!

This is precisely the sort of cooking I love: taking what is in season, keeping the ingredients recognisable and letting someone who really knows what they are doing turn them into something special.

I may have created a dangerous precedent. As long as the courgettes keep flowering, Alessandro may see me coming through the door again with another container full of fiori di zucca. Well, I promise not to.

Anyway, I owe him a favour now.

A little shout-out to my new favourite Neapolitan trattoria, Trattoria Napoletana in Kivistö. Proper Italian food, good ingredients and, most importantly, a chef and staff who are always kind and happy to feed hungry people.

Opened in April 2026, Trattoria Napoletana is owned by Luigi, who moved to Finland because his daughter, a keen figure ice skater, wanted to train here.

My friends and I have already enjoyed many lunches and dinners there, so now it's your turn.

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Biological pestcontrol in our home garden

2026-07-30T15:16:04.239+03:00

Mission accomplished. 🐞

I ordered 30 two-spot ladybirds from the TarhurinApu online shop to tackle the aphids on our glazed terrace. I also released a few of them in the garden, where I grow courgettes. Each ladybird cost €1.20, including delivery. I'm clearly in the wrong business!

After completely destroying the nasturtiums last week, the aphids moved on to the courgette flowers, tomato and chilli plants. Now nature's own pest-control team is getting to work.

Gardening is much harder than it looks. Aphids are only one part of the problem. Blackbirds help themselves to my blackcurrants, redcurrants and raspberries straight from the bushes, while an enormous hare has developed a taste for my herbs. Then there are the snails and slugs, not to mention the endless task of removing weeds such as dandelions and ground elder.

Gardening often feels like a constant battle, with something always trying to eat, invade or take over. Nuff said!

Baked Stuffed Courgette Flowers and Baby Courgettes — Meatballs in Basic Tomato Sauce

2026-07-27T19:51:14.475+03:00

Before being baked in the oven

As I have several courgette plants growing in our garden, I can harvest fresh courgettes and their flowers almost every day. Tonight, I used them to make courgette flowers stuffed with pork and anchovies. I turned the remaining filling into meatballs and served them in a simple Italian tomato sauce.

Serves 4–6

Ingredients

10 fresh courgette flowers and several detached baby courgettes
800 g minced pork
8 anchovy fillets, finely chopped
100 g Parmigiano Reggiano, grated
2 tbsp breadcrumbs
2 eggs
A little water
Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4–6 Mediterranean mint leaves, finely chopped

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Prepare the courgette flowers. Trim the stems, then carefully open the petals and remove the stamens. Gently rinse the flowers or wipe away any dirt, taking care not to tear the delicate petals. If any small courgettes are still attached, detach them.

Place the minced pork in a bowl. Add the chopped anchovy fillets, grated Parmigiano Reggiano, breadcrumbs and eggs. Season lightly with salt, as the anchovies and Parmigiano Reggiano are already salty, and generously with black pepper.

Mix thoroughly, adding a small splash of water if necessary to make the filling soft and easy to spoon into the flowers.

Carefully fill each flower with the pork mixture. Do not overfill them. Gently twist or fold the tips of the petals over the filling.

Lightly oil an ovenproof dish. Arrange the stuffed flowers in a single layer and place the detached baby courgettes between them. Sprinkle with the finely chopped mint leaves and drizzle with EVOO. Season with black pepper and just a pinch of salt, bearing in mind that the filling contains salty anchovies and Parmigiano Reggiano.

Bake at 180°C until the pork is completely cooked through and the courgettes are tender, approximately 30–40 minutes. The precise cooking time will depend on the size of the flowers and the amount of filling used.

Allow the stuffed flowers to rest for a few minutes before serving.

Note: Eight hundred grammes of pork is likely to make more filling than is needed for ten flowers, unless the flowers are particularly large. Any remaining mixture can be shaped into meatballs and baked separately alongside the dish of stuffed flowers.

Baked stuffed courgette flowers and baby courgettes

Meatballs in basic tomato sauce

Use the remaining pork and anchovy mixture to make meatballs.

Shape the mixture into small meatballs and place them in an ovenproof dish. Drizzle with a little EVOO and add herbs of your choice. I added quartered shallots and fresh thyme for extra flavour. Place the dish in the oven alongside the courgette flowers.

While everything is baking, prepare a basic Italian tomato sauce for the meatballs.

2 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped, optional
700 to 800 grammes bottled passata di pomodoro
1 tbsp capers, optional
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
A few fresh basil leaves or a pinch of dried oregano
Parmigiano Reggiano shavings

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan. Add the onion and cook gently for 5–7 minutes, until soft and translucent.

If using garlic, add it and cook for another minute.

Stir in the passata di pomodoro. Season lightly with salt, bearing in mind that the meatballs contain anchovies and that the capers, if used, will also add saltiness. Add freshly ground black pepper.

If using capers, add them to the sauce. Add the basil or oregano and simmer gently for 10 minutes.

Transfer the browned meatballs to an ovenproof dish. Pour over the tomato sauce and scatter some Parmigiano Reggiano shavings on top. Cook in the oven at 180°C for approximately 10 minutes.

Serve immediately with crusty bread, or enjoy the meatballs cold in sandwiches the following day.

Baked meatballs with shallots and thyme

As if there were any chance of leftovers lasting until the following day! Our 19- and 18-year-old sons ate the entire dish with crusty bread. Now I have to work out what to cook for tomorrow’s lunch, with all of us at home on summer leave.

Tuscan Courgette Scarpaccia — an Easy and Delicious Summer Bake

2026-07-26T19:24:23.890+03:00

Tuscan Courgette Scarpaccia — an Easy and Delicious Summer Bake

In our garden, we grow standard courgettes (Nelson ‘Black Beauty’) and striped courgettes (Nelson ‘Latino’ F1) in grow bags. We also grow mini courgettes (Buzzy® ‘Patio Star’) on our glazed terrace. I do not allow the courgettes to grow too large, as I dislike the soft, seedy centre. When using larger courgettes, I always scoop out the seeds.

During the summer, I often make oven-baked stuffed courgette flowers and courgette fritters. Today, I decided to make scarpaccia di zucchine, a thin and crisp savoury courgette bake originating from the province of Lucca. The wheat flour can be replaced with fine polenta, chickpea flour or a mixture of the two. I departed slightly from the original recipe by adding Parmesan shavings.

Serves: approximately 8-16

Quantity: one large baking tray and two smaller ones

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Resting time: 1 hour

Cooking time: approximately 30 minutes, or until golden brown on top and crispy bottom


I bought my French de Buyer mandoline from Eiring’s kitchenware shop on Korkeavuorenkatu in Helsinki more than 20 years ago. It still works perfectly, and spare parts, such as replacement blades, are available. Eiring is one of the leading kitchenware retailers in the Nordic countries, offering a wide selection of kitchen tools and equipment to suit every need. https://eiring.fi/en

Ainekset

1 kg courgettes
2 small red onions
200 g plain flour
2 eggs
30 g Parmesan shavings
200 ml water
(1/4 tp of baking powder, optional)
salt
freshly ground black pepper
extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp breadcrumbs, which may be replaced with fine polenta
fresh rosemary

Method

Wash the courgettes and trim off the ends. Slice them thinly and place them in a large bowl.
Peel the onions and slice them thinly. Add the onions and Parmesan shavings to the courgettes.
Whisk together the eggs, flour, baking powder and water, then season the mixture with salt and black pepper. Pour it over the courgettes. The batter may seem quite thick at this stage, but do not worry, as the courgettes will release liquid while resting.
Mix with a spoon until all the courgette slices are evenly coated.
Cover the bowl with a tea towel or baking tray and leave the mixture to rest at room temperature for one hour. Stir it again after resting.
Grease baking baking tray/s with extra virgin olive oil. You can also sprinkle breadcrumbs over the base.
Spoon the mixture onto the tray and into the dish, spreading it as evenly as possible into a fairly thin layer.
Sprinkle the surface with breadcrumbs or fine polenta and fresh rosemary. Finish with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
Bake the trays one at a time in a conventional oven at 180°C for about 30 minutes, or until the surface is golden brown with a crispy bottom.
Cut the scarpaccia into pieces and serve warm or cold as a snack, starter or accompaniment to an aperitif.

Ready for the oven!

The joy of home-grown courgettes!

Elk Meatballs with Funnel Chanterelles and Pecorino

2025-11-03T18:41:00.012+02:00

After work today, I stopped by K-Supermarket Mustapekka, one of my favourite grocery shops in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. Their customer service is excellent, and they always stock good seasonal produce. Today they had fresh minced elk and funnel chanterelles, which inspired me to make these hearty autumn meatballs.

For frying the mushrooms:

800 g funnel chanterelles

Chopped parsley, to taste

Extra virgin olive oil for frying

Salt

For the meatball mixture:

1 pack minced elk (about 450 g)

1 egg

2 tbsp breadcrumbs

A splash of white wine

About 50 g pecorino cheese (Galbani Pecorino Romano DOP)

3 juniper berries, finely crushed

The cooled fried funnel chanterelles

Salt and black pepper, to taste

Method

1. Prepare the mushrooms

Clean the funnel chanterelles and tear any large ones in half.

Heat a frying pan, add a dash of olive oil, and fry the mushrooms until their liquid has evaporated and they start to take on a little colour.

Stir in the chopped parsley and season lightly with salt and black pepper. Set aside to cool.

2. Make the mixture

In a bowl, combine the minced elk, beaten egg, breadcrumbs, crushed juniper berries and a splash of white wine.

Add the cooled mushrooms and grated pecorino. Mix gently until even, but don’t overwork the mixture or the meatballs will become tough.

3. Shape and bake

Form the mixture into evenly sized meatballs (around ten).

Place them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.

Drizzle lightly with olive oil.

4. Cooking

Bake in the convection oven at 180 °C for about 17–20 minutes, or until cooked through. Turn them halfway through the cooking time.

5. To serve

Serve with roasted root vegetables, mashed potatoes, or a fresh salad.

Okra in Coconut Milk

2025-08-09T16:21:00.002+03:00

Earlier this week the police came to our door with heartbreaking news: a close old relative had passed away in his sleep. When I first saw the car outside, my immediate fear was that something had happened to one of my children.

On the same day, our offer to purchase a house was accepted, a welcome piece of news that jarred oddly with the grief.

Not long afterwards, the doorbell became a constant intrusion. First came someone asking for empty bottles to recycle. (In Finland you get a small refund when you return them to the shop.) Then a nineteen-year-old turned up seeking sponsorship for his karting hobby, which struck me as absurd. Next, a salesman appeared, offering alarm systems. By the time the bell rang for a fourth time, my patience was gone entirely.

Yet I should not have lost it. This time, it was a little boy from our neighbourhood, bringing fresh okra as a greeting from his parents. Our children once attended the same international school in Vantaa (now they are in different schools following the IB programme), and the family, originally from Maharashtra in western India, has lived in Finland for more than twenty years. The father, a civil engineer, proudly told me they built their own house "because I am a civil engineer, I had to build my own house". His parents back in India are agriculturalists, growing staples such as mangoes, pomegranates, millet, and okra.

I have tried many times to grow okra myself, but without success; perhaps due to the wrong climate or non-viable seeds. He explained that it is a peculiar plant: each produces its pods one or two at a time, and only if you keep picking them promptly. With just a few plants, you never seem to have enough ready at once for a proper dish, which makes the whole exercise rather unsatisfying.

Here is my take on Okra in Coconut Milk (Serves 4)

Ingredients

1–2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 small onions, finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

A 2 cm piece of fresh ginger, finely grated

400 g okra, rinsed, dried, and cut into 1½–2 cm pieces

½ tsp ground turmeric

½ tsp chilli powder

½–1 tbsp palm sugar (jaggery) or other sugar

Salt, to taste

2–3 green chillies

4 tbsp freshly grated coconut

150 ml coconut milk

½–1 tsp ground coriander

Fresh coriander leaves, to garnish (optional)

Method

1. Prepare the paste: Grind the green chillies and fresh coconut together to a smooth paste in a blender, adding a little water if needed. If you prefer, you can skip the paste: simply chop the green chillies and add them with the garlic and ginger later, and increase the coconut milk slightly. The paste gives the curry a thicker texture.

2. Cook the base: Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the onions and cook until they take on a little colour. Stir in the garlic and ginger, and cook for about 5 minutes.

3. Add the okra: Tip in the okra, turmeric, chilli powder, palm sugar, and salt. Stir well and cook for 5 minutes.

4. Simmer: Add the coconut-chilli paste (if using), coconut milk, and just enough water to almost cover the okra. Cover with a lid and simmer over a medium heat until the okra is tender.

5. Finish: Stir in the ground coriander, taste, and adjust the seasoning. Garnish with fresh coriander if you like, and serve hot with rice or flatbread.

To keep okra from becoming slimy, make sure it is completely dry before chopping it. Avoid adding too much liquid at the start and stir gently to prevent breaking the pods. Adding acid, such as a squeeze of lemon juice, a dash of vinegar or even some white wine, near the end of cooking can also help keep the texture firm.

In Marathi: Chavicha anand gya (चवीचा आनंद घ्या, Enjoy the taste).

Welcome Drink for Laurence: A Jug of British Summer

2025-06-07T14:21:00.004+03:00

This weekend I’m welcoming Laurence, a dear French friend I met during my years in Rome, where I lived from 1997 to 2004. We haven’t seen each other since those days – back before she moved to London in 2002. Since then, life (i.e. hubby) has taken her all the way to Australia, where she now lives. She’s visiting Europe briefly, stopping to see her family in Strasbourg – and now, finally, me.

The last time she came to Helsinki was ten years ago, but we were living in Prague at the time and missed each other completely. This time is different. This time, we get to pick up where we left off – with a jug of something joyfully British.

Yes, Pimm’s.

My husband returned few weeks ago from Scotland after three weeks away and, in true form, brought back a classic UK care package: Paracetamol (as though we didn’t have chemists here), tea, puzzles, and a bottle of Pimm’s No. 1. Practical, comforting, and a bit cheeky – just what I needed.

With summer stirring, and my knee replacement surgery looming in June (my bionic upgrade is nearly here), I’m embracing every light-hearted moment. And Laurence, always game for something bright and a little eccentric, will be welcomed with this sunny glass of British nostalgia.

My Pimm’s Welcome Drink (Scandi-style with a Sicilian twist):

1 part Pimm’s No. 1
3 parts ginger ale
Sliced strawberries, cucumber, and orange segments
A generous handful of fresh mint
A splash of Sicilian organic lemon juice (Polenghi’s, from the Spinagallo farm)

Stir gently and let it sit in the fridge for at least half an hour. Serve over ice with extra mint if you like.

It’s a drink that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Unfussy, summery, and the perfect start to a weekend full of conversation, reminiscence, and laughter.

À ta santé, Laurence. From Rome to Helsinki via Strasbourg and Down Under – cheers to friendship that travels far, and always finds its way back.

Chickpea Fritters — Panelle di ciciri

2025-05-29T21:57:00.005+03:00

Tonight I made panelle, a staple from Palermo made with chickpea flour, water and salt. They're usually served in bread rolls with lemon juice and eaten hot. We served ours piping hot with lemon juice.

The traditional method involves stirring the mixture on the stove for about 30 minutes. I changed the method a bit, as I wasn't keen to stand that long. I mixed the flour with a small amount of cold water, then added boiling water gradually while whisking. When the mixture thickened to a paste-like consistency, I reduced the heat to 1 out of 9 (induction hob), covered the pot, and let it cook for 20 minutes with the lid on. After that, it was ready to be poured into a tray to cool before cutting and frying. I also tossed some parsley and Thai basil into the frying oil for flavour.

Serves: 4–12, depending on what else you’re eating.

Ingredients:

Chickpea flour, 400 g

Water, 1.8-2.2 litres (use your dynamic capabilities, if too stif, add more water)

Sea salt, 1 teaspoon or less

Oil for frying

(Optional) 2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

Method:

Dissolve the flour in cold water gradually so no lumps remain; a blender helps. Add the salt and bring to the boil, stirring constantly. Cook for about 30 minutes until the mixture is smooth and thick.

Pour the hot mixture onto a lightly oiled surface or tray and spread it to a uniform thickness of about half a centimetre. Let it cool completely. Then cut into rectangles and refrigerate (or rest the tray on ice packs) to firm up.

Heat plenty of oil in a frying pan. Deep-fry the fritters until golden brown. Serve piping hot.

(Optional) You can stir parsley into the batter or simply sprinkle with lemon juice when serving.

Chickpea flour is used in many food traditions, but the methods vary. In Ligurian cuisine, there’s panissa (or paniscia), a close cousin of panelle, also made from chickpea flour and fried.

In India, the approach is completely different. Chickpea flour (besan) is rarely cooked into a thick paste that sets into a solid block. Instead, it’s used in batters (pakoras), steamed snacks like khandvi and dhokla, or dry stir-fries such as zunka. While the ingredient is shared, the textures, flavours and techniques are not. I know many Indian women (expatriates in Finland) who prepare delicious pakoras – crisp, spiced, and always worth eating.

Tunnu Riganatu – My take on a Palermitan Classic

2025-05-15T20:53:00.001+03:00

Tonight I made tunnu riganatu, oven-baked tuna with oregano, using thick, beautiful tuna steaks (750 g). Rather than fresh pomodori perini (which we don't have), I used a tin of Mutti’s polpa di pomodoro (400 g), which worked well with a halved Palermo pepper (1 pc), garlic (3 halved cloves), capers (I added 1 tbsp, but you can go lighter), and dried oregano (1 tsp).

I simmered the sauce gently in plenty of extra virgin olive oil (6–7 tbsp); then spooned it over the uncooked tuna steaks, arranged in an oven dish. Oven temperature: 180°C (convection). Season with pepper, and go easy on the salt; the capers add plenty! Cooking time: approximately 20–25 minutes.

I served it hot with some carrot-potato baguette; ideal for mopping up every bit of the sauce. Delish.

Original recipe from Giuseppe Coria’s Profumi di Sicilia.

Simple. Honest. Home-cooked meal.

Nonnas (Netflix, 2025): A tribute to grandmothers and mothers

2025-05-13T19:14:00.081+03:00

"Food is love": Nonnas is a film about the women (grandmothers and mothers) who have held families (and perhaps entire entrepreneunial value chains) together through everyday tasks, food, and cultural memory. It shows how simple routines; ironing, cooking, serving, and teaching children how to cook; carry cultural meaning and pass on values.

I lived in Italy for almost eight years before I moved back to Finland and established a family with my Scottish husband. During my time in the bootshaped land, the nonnas (grandmothers) and the mamme (mothers) taught me how to, for instance, iron trousers and shirts and how to cook meals in their own regional ways. That is how I learned about the daily life and business particularly in Rome, Piedmont, and Sicily. I also read La Cucina Italiana magazine, stayed at numerous agriturismo farms participating in cooking in their kitchens, attended regional wine tasting fairs and Slow Food's events, where I picked up regional dishes and local habits. I learned how food, work, and trust are linked.

The film reflects this reality. It shows how enogastronomy teaching works: by showing, not telling. Monkey see, monkey do.

Five stars. And yes, extra virgin olive oil.

Now I'm more hungry!

— enogastronomist.com

Culinary Diplomacy — Food as a Bridge Between Cultures and Nations

2025-04-18T13:27:00.050+03:00

In recent decades, the world has witnessed an extraordinary shift in how food is used; not just as nourishment but as a diplomatic tool. Culinary diplomacy, also referred to as "gastrodiplomacy," harnesses the universal power of food to build cultural understanding, resolve conflicts, and enhance international cooperation and trade.

What is Culinary Diplomacy?

Culinary diplomacy is defined as the use of food and cuisine as instruments to foster cross-cultural understanding and to strengthen diplomatic relationships between states and peoples (Muhammad & Adilbekova 2023). Chapple-Sokol (2013) termed this cultural strategy "commensality," from the Latin roots com (with) and mensa (table), implying the bond that is formed through shared meals.

As food transcends linguistic and cultural barriers, it creates a shared experience where trust and familiarity can flourish. Nations have begun to institutionalise this form of soft power into their foreign policy strategies—spanning high-level state dinners to grassroots food exchanges and chef ambassadorships.

Historical Roots & Renaissance

Though the formal use of culinary diplomacy gained recognition in the 21st century, the practice itself dates back to ancient trade routes and royal banquets. The Silk Road, for example, facilitated the transfer of spices, herbs, and cooking techniques that shaped civilizations (Kaplan 2020). During the Renaissance, lavish banquets served not only as symbols of power but also as platforms for negotiation (Grellmann 2018).

In modern history, initiatives such as the U.S. State Department's use of "culinary ambassadors" during the Cold War helped bridge tensions between rival states (Collins 2012). Today, state dinners—like the one hosted by President Donald Trump in honour of French President Emmanuel Macron in 2018—serve as key tools of relationship-building (VOA News, 2018).

Examples from the Field

Various countries have successfully launched national gastrodiplomacy campaigns. Italy, renowned for its global culinary influence, has incorporated gastrodiplomacy through initiatives such as "The Extraordinary Italian Taste," a campaign led by the Italian Trade Agency to promote authentic Italian products and protect them from imitation in global markets (Italian Trade Agency 2019). Thailand's "Kitchen of the World" initiative, for example, aimed to increase the number of Thai restaurants globally and maintain authenticity through the Thai Select certification (Arunmas 2018).

In Sri Lanka, food festivals and diplomatic culinary showcases have been used to improve tourism and build international awareness of local cuisine such as pol sambol and ambul thiyal (Vidanapathirana 2020). Similarly, Nigeria leverages culinary diplomacy through events like the Amala Fiesta to promote national identity abroad (Adesina 2017).

FIN-USA Culinary & Sports Diplomacy

A recent and noteworthy example of combined culinary and sports diplomacy took place in March 2025 when Finnish President Alexander Stubb met with the U.S. President Donald Trump. The two leaders shared a private breakfast followed by a friendly round of golf and later enjoyed lunch together.

This seemingly casual encounter carried deep diplomatic undertones. By blending culinary and sports diplomacy, both parties were able to build rapport in a low-pressure environment. The breakfast meeting provided a relaxed setting for dialogue, while golf—a classic venue for informal negotiation—fostered camaraderie and open conversation. The concluding lunch further reinforced the bond through shared cultural experience and the symbolic act of breaking bread together.

On a lighter note: Will Trump’s next trip to Finland see him breaking the ice in more ways than one—through a round of 'steam diplomacy' in the sauna, and maybe even a deal on icebreakers?

Such encounters underscore how carefully choreographed informal settings can meaningfully complement formal diplomacy. They offer leaders a space to build trust, discuss sensitive issues discreetly, and form lasting personal relationships that enhance broader international cooperation.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Tasavallan presidentin kanslia (@tpkanslia)

As seen in a post by Finland’s Presidential Office (@tpkanslia), the visit included shared meals and informal activities.

Beyond International Relations

Culinary diplomacy is no longer confined to formal diplomatic circles. It thrives at the grassroots level through community cooking events, food festivals, and international chef collaborations. Digital platforms like Instagram and YouTube have amplified its reach, allowing global audiences to participate in virtual gastrodiplomacy (Murcott 2014).

Moreover, as noted by the Foreign Affairs Review (2020), the act of cooking and eating together can often succeed where formal negotiations fail; helping to ease tensions and build empathy between conflicting groups.

Culinary Diplomacy & Conflict Resolution

Food serves as a neutral and hospitable medium for initiating difficult conversations. The symbolic meal shared between North and South Korean leaders in 2018 is a prime example of food paving the way for political thaw (Korea.net 2018); though the détente proved temporary.

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO 2021), food fosters inclusive dialogue, making it a useful tool in post-conflict reconciliation and peacebuilding.

Challenges & Considerations

Despite its strengths, culinary diplomacy is not without challenges. Cultural sensitivity, appropriation, and commercialization can dilute its message if not carefully managed. Practitioners must strike a balance between celebrating culinary identity and nurturing authentic cross-cultural relationships.

Conclusions

Culinary diplomacy is more than a trendy concept—it's a strategic instrument for nation-branding, cultural exchange, economic diplomacy, and peacebuilding. By transforming dining tables into forums for dialogue, it fosters empathy, curiosity, and mutual respect. In a world often divided by politics, perhaps the most enduring connections are still made over a shared meal.

References

Adesina, O. S. (2017). Projecting Nigeria's Soft Power Through Culinary Diplomacy. African Journal for the Psychological Study of Social Issues.

Arunmas, P. (2018). Kitchen of the World gets reboot. Bangkok Post.

Chapple-Sokol, S. (2013). Culinary Diplomacy: Breaking Bread to Win Hearts and Minds. The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, 8, 161.

Collins, R. (2012). The Cultural Cold War and Culinary Ambassadors. Smithsonian Magazine.

FAO (2021). Food and Diplomacy: Dialogue through Cuisine.

Foreign Affairs Review (2020). Delectable Diplomacy: What is Culinary Diplomacy?

Grellmann, G. (2018). Banquets and Politics in the Renaissance.

Italian Trade Agency (2019). The Extraordinary Italian Taste.

Kaplan, D. (2020). Spice Routes and Cultural Exchange.Korea.net. (2018). North-South Korean leaders share a symbolic meal.

Muhammad, A., & Adilbekova, K. (2023). Culinary Diplomacy: Unveiling the Palate as a Pathway to Stronger International Relations. ISOEC Journal.

Murcott, A. (2014). Social Media and Culinary Globalization. Food Culture & Society.

Vidanapathirana, V. (2020). A Diplomacy of Pol Sambol and Ambul Thiyal: The Role of Gastrodiplomacy in Strengthening Sri Lanka's International Relationships. ResearchGate.

VOA News (2018). Trump Hosts Macron for First State Dinner. Voice of America.

YLE Finnish Broadcasting Company (2025). After golfing with Stubb, Trump says US will "purchase badly needed Icebreakers" from Finland.

The Future of Food Blogging — How AI Revolutionises Recipe Creation

2024-12-17T15:19:00.006+02:00

The world of food blogging has entered a transformative era, where artificial intelligence is changing the way recipes are crafted, customised, and shared. All food enthusiasts know how much effort goes into creating the perfect recipe: gathering ideas, ensuring the dish suits dietary needs, and balancing tradition with innovation. Enter AI tools like ChatGPT-4o and Google AI Studio – they not only streamline this process but redefine creativity in the kitchen.

AI as your personal sous-chef

AI models like ChatGPT-4o excel in generating recipes based on your preferences. Whether you need:

Allergy-friendly alternatives
Health-conscious options
Eco-friendly suggestions
Innovative combinations rooted in cultural cuisines

These AI tools adapt and tailor recipes to meet your specific requirements. For example, AI recently combined traditional Balkan cuisine elements with a modern vegetarian twist to create the delicious Ajvar-Stuffed Peppers recipe (shared below). The result? A flavourful dish with all the essence of the Balkans, without relying on a single traditional source.

My reply: Thanks for the recipe from the Balkan region. Where did you find it?
ChatGPT’s reply: "I combined common elements of these dishes with a modern vegetarian twist to suit your request. It wasn’t taken from a specific source but rather crafted based on my knowledge of Balkan flavours and culinary techniques."

Google AI Studio – Turning images into recipes

What if you could take a picture of a dish you ate and instantly receive the recipe? This is exactly what Google AI Studio offers. With a single image, AI can identify key ingredients, suggest cooking steps, and even estimate proportions. It’s like having a food critic, chef, and nutritionist all rolled into one. For example:

A pasta dish image might inspire this AI-generated identification:

"This pasta dish appears to contain rigatoni, cauliflower, saffron, and pine nuts..."

Pasta: Rigatoni
Cauliflower: Roasted and mashed for a creamy sauce
Saffron: Adds colour and depth of flavour
Pine nuts: For texture

Instructions from Google AI Studio:

Roast the cauliflower: Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C). Toss cauliflower florets with 2 tablespoons olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast for 20-25 minutes, or until tender and slightly browned.
Cook the pasta: While cauliflower roasts, cook pasta according to package directions until al dente. Reserve about 1 cup of pasta water before draining.
Toast the pine nuts: In a small dry skillet over medium heat, toast pine nuts until fragrant and lightly browned. Set aside.
Make the sauce: Heat the remaining olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add minced garlic and sauté for 1 minute, until fragrant. Add saffron and cook for 30 seconds, stirring constantly.
Puree some cauliflower: Transfer about half of the roasted cauliflower to a food processor or blender and puree until smooth.
Combine ingredients: Add pureed cauliflower to the skillet with the garlic and saffron. Add chopped black olives and a splash of reserved pasta water. Stir to combine.
Add pasta and remaining cauliflower: Add cooked pasta to the skillet and toss to coat in the sauce. Add the remaining roasted cauliflower florets and toss again. Add more pasta water if needed to thin the sauce.
Serve: Divide pasta among bowls. Top with toasted pine nuts, chopped parsley, and grated Parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
This recipe is a starting point. You can adjust the amounts of ingredients to your liking. You could also add other vegetables, such as spinach or kale. Enjoy!

A photo of Salad Niçoise yielded a full recipe:

Romaine lettuce, green beans, cherry tomatoes, quail eggs, anchovies, and artichoke hearts…

Recipe: Ajvar-stuffed peppers

This dish showcases how AI can inspire delicious and creative meals while honouring traditional flavours. Here’s the recipe for a perfect vegetarian main course.

Ingredients (Serves 4):

4 medium bell peppers (red or yellow)
1 cup cooked rice (white or brown)
1 cup Ajvar (roasted red pepper and aubergine spread)
1 cup crumbled feta cheese (optional)
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp paprika (sweet or smoked)
Fresh parsley, chopped (for garnish)
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Prepare the Peppers: Preheat oven to 200°C. Slice off pepper tops and remove seeds. Lightly oil the peppers and place them in a baking dish.
Make the Filling: Sauté onion and garlic in olive oil for 3 minutes. Add rice, Ajvar, feta (if using), paprika, salt, and pepper. Mix well.
Stuff the Peppers: Spoon the filling into each pepper. Top with extra feta if desired.
Bake: Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 10-15 minutes until tender.
Garnish: Sprinkle with parsley and serve.

The end of food blogging as we know it?

The arrival of AI marks a turning point for food blogging. While AI can generate recipes, suggest tweaks, and even write entire posts, it also challenges us to think about the role of the human creator. Are food bloggers being replaced? Perhaps, but there’s also an opportunity to collaborate with AI to unlock new levels of culinary creativity.

AI excels at efficiency and customisation, but it still needs a human touch to add stories, emotions, and that irreplaceable personal flair. Food blogging isn’t dead—it’s evolving. Those who embrace tools like ChatGPT-4o and Google AI Studio can take their cooking and creativity to new heights.

Are you ready to co-create your next recipe with AI?

Haunted Hospital Halloween Party, Bake Sale & Pop Up Restaurant Day

2024-06-02T19:15:00.015+03:00

Raising Funds for School Camp: A Community Effort with Big Results

One of the highlights for our students was the incredible opportunity to attend a memorable school camp at Hyvärilä, thanks to the successful fundraising efforts during our ISV Pop-Up Restaurant Days (with Italian theme in 2018, and Indian theme in 2024) and Halloween Haunted House & Bake Sale in 2019. This was not just a financial victory but also a significant learning experience for everyone involved.

ISV students, parents, and homeroom teachers came together to organize these events, allowing students to develop important life skills such as teamwork, responsibility, and leadership. It was also a fantastic networking opportunity, with former ISV staff and alumni stopping by to say hello and enjoy lunch, reinforcing the strong sense of community within our school.

What we didn’t expect was a positive problem: we raised more money than we had anticipated! With the funds, the students enjoyed a 4-day adventure at Hyvärilä, went sailing on old ships, and still had enough left over for a day at an action park and other fun activities. Plus, we were able to purchase end-of-year gifts for our beloved teachers. These experiences created lasting memories for the students and strengthened the bond within our school community.

If you're looking for inspiration on how to organize a successful event for school fundraising, check out link A, link B and link C for some great ideas. With a bit of planning, teamwork, and creativity, you too can turn your school fundraiser into a success!

My Greek Meatballs — Human Impact on Forest Fires

2023-07-23T22:52:00.011+03:00

The Mediterranean region has been facing the devastating impact of frequent forest fires, and Greece is no exception. These fires pose significant threats to both the environment and human communities. During my expatriate period in Rome, I learned from a Finnish man — who was a forest fire specialist in the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations — that a staggering 90% of forest fires are caused by humans. This statistic highlights the crucial role that human behaviour plays in the occurrence and severity of these devastating fires.

As I had lamb meat and leftover rice in the fridge, I decided to make Greek Meatballs with Tomato Sauce for dinner.

Ingredients for the meatballs:

Minced lamb meat, 300g
Leftover rice, 1.5 dl
Medium egg, 1 pc
Black pepper, 1 tsp
Dried oregano, 1 tsp
Salt

Instructions:

Mix all the ingredients together.
Form meatballs with a diameter of 3-4 cm.
Cover the balls with breadcrumbs and gently pat until fully coated.
Lightly flatten them for even cooking.
Fry on a pan with 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil, 1/3 tsp of chilli flakes, and two chopped new onions, turning occasionally.
Add chopped fresh mint to enhance the flavours.

Ingredients for the tomato sauce:

Crushed garlic, 2 cloves
Extra virgin olive oil, 2 tbsp
Leftover grilled red bell pepper, finely chopped, 1 pc
Passata di pomodoro (tomato puree), 500g
Concentrated tomato paste, 2 tbsp
Water, 1/2 dl
Kalamata olives, 15-20 pcs
Mint, oregano, salt, and black pepper for seasoning

Instructions:

Sauté the crushed garlic, then add tomato paste, chopped bell pepper, and passata di pomodoro.
Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer, mixing occasionally, for about 12-15 minutes.
Pour the sauce over the meatballs and continue to simmer for 20 minutes on medium-low heat with a lid on. Be sure to mix every now and then to avoid burning.
Serve the meatballs on their own or with toasted/grilled bread. Enjoy!

#HomeAloneDinner #GreekCuisine #MeatballRecipe #TomatoSauce #MediterraneanFlavors

Let's unite in our efforts to prevent human-caused forest fires. By respecting and protecting our natural environment, we can make a significant difference in preserving our precious forests for future generations.

Decadent Marsala Mushroom Cream Sauce

2022-10-30T10:21:00.007+02:00

Here is how to make a decadent marsala mushroom cream sauce.

NB! Cook the mushrooms in badges and do not overcrowd the frying pan as you do not want to boil the mushrooms.

Cook sliced mushrooms (mix of button, shitake and portobello mushrooms, 500-600 g in total) in butter and evoo in a frying pan, until mushrooms have a crisp sear. Then put the heat on full blast and mix in a 1 dl dry marsala wine (Semisecco), stir until alcohol has evaporated. Season with salt and pepper. Mix in some chopped parsley and thyme, and set aside. At this stage, try not to gobble up all those decadent mushrooms!!!!

Now let's make the sauce!

Boil dry white wine (1dl), water (4dl), onion (2 small, quartered), bay leaves (3 pcs), carrot (little finger sized piece, finely chopped), celery (idem), parsley, and black peppercorns (10 pcs or more) in a pot, uncovered, until reduced by 50%. Pour the reduction through a sieve into a bowl and set aside. Discard onions, bay leaves etc.

Whisk together 2dl of cream and 3 yolks in a bowl, set aside.

Melt 2 tbsp of butter in a pan, then add 1 tbsp of evoo and 2 tbsp plain flour and cook the roux, whisking for 5 to 10 minutes, depending how light or dark you want your roux to be. I prefer "Blond roux" with meat, and "White Roux" with fish and seafood.

Remove roux pan from heat and pour in the reduction in a stream, whisking constantly. Then do the same with cream & yolk mix.

Return the pan to heat and simmer, whisking constantly. Do not boil the mix as you do not want the eggs to scramble! When the sauce has thickened, mix in the marsala mushrooms, taste, and season with salt and pepper. I use toasted crushed black peppercorns here for extra flavour!

Lombardo Marsala Fine I.P. D.O.C. – Ambra Semisecco

Serve the sauce with, for instance, pan fried rib-eye steaks, hasselback potatoes and baked Jerusalem artichokes.

Wiener Weinwandertag ran from 24 to 25 September 2022

2022-09-29T20:23:00.122+03:00

In Austria, there's a rich array of 40 grape varieties - 26 white and 14 red. Vienna boasts approximately 700 hectares of vineyards and 145 wineries, making it a hub for wine enthusiasts (read more here).

Viennese Wine Hiking Days

I went to explore Vienna's unique vineyards during the annual Viennese Wine Hiking Days. I stayed at an apartment in the heart of the Old Town.

Familiar with Vienna's charms from previous visits, my itinerary was set: breakfasts at Cafe Central, Demel and Sacher, sampling wines and delicacies during Wiener Weinwandertag, checking out the famed Spanish Riding School horses, a shopping spree at Gerry Weber's flagship store, and purchases of Grüner Veltliner wines, Mozartkugelns, and Manner wafers. The Weather Goddess thankfully granted a rain-free weekend.

Café Central Frühstück 22,00€

During the Weinwandertag, the route spanned from Neustift to Sievering, encompassing iconic wine-growing regions like the Vienna Cobenzl estate, Grinzing, and Nussdorf. The trail wove through charming wine taverns (Heurigen) and offered breathtaking views of Vienna and the Danube. In my programme was also to check out Zum Schwarzen Kameel and taste their delicious veal goulash.

Having trekked over 15 kilometers on the previous day, my next day's choice was the Vienna Heurigen Express directly to Mayer am Nussberg, a newfound favorite Heurigen. I tasted local delights like Kürbissuppe, Schwein am Spieß gebraten, Wienerschnitzel, and Kartoffelsalat.

Spit-roasted pork, Mayer am Nussberg.

The taverns offered not just food and wine, but also sturm, a fresh grape juice in an early state of fermentation, and gespritzter, a mix of dry white wine and sparkling water. Yet, the quality of the wine used in the latter was not impressive.

Grüner Veltliner, a favorite Austrian wine, proved affordable and versatile, pairing seamlessly with an array of dishes. While priced at 20 euros during Wine Hiking Days, I found the same bottle for under 10 euros in local supermarket.

Two GV bottles for 8.99€. What a bargain!

The history of Viennese wine culture spans over three millennia, a testament to its enduring legacy. Anticipation brews for the next Vienna Wine Hiking Day in autumn 2023, while a video from the Demel Cafe breakfast offers a glimpse into Viennese cafe house culture.

Penne alla quasi-puttanesca

2022-09-13T18:10:00.002+03:00

My goodness, this pasta dish was tasty!!! It was the delicious smoked fish that made the dish sing!

Sauce

plenty of evoo
1 garlic glove, sliced
1 red onion, finely chopped
6-8 anchovy fillets
chillies, as much as necessary
5 san marzano tomatoes, chopped
a splash of white wine.
1 tbsp of capers
8 green olives. sliced
black pepper
parsley, chopped
No added salt, except for the pasta water
400 g of BBQ smoked salmon (leftovers from last night)
500g pasta

Pour extra virgin olive oil into the pan and add the garlic, red onion and anchovy fillets. Fry until the onions are soft. Then add the tomatoes and continue cooking until the tomatoes are amalgamated with the onions. Now pour in some dry white wine and stir for a while. Finally, add the capers, olives and salmon. Season with black pepper, stir and cover with a lid. Cook the pasta. Stir the al dente pasta into the sauce. Drizzle over some chopped parsley.

I used in this tasty pasta dish leftover salmon that my husband barbequed last night. A regular BBQ can do the job a smoker, too. We use a Weber smoker box that holds wood chips. It adds a delicious smoke flavour to any grilled meal.

How to harvest, peel and eat prickly pears

2022-08-24T08:23:00.004+03:00

Yesterday I bought two boxes of Sicilian cactus (Opuntia) fruit (4€/1 kg) at the local supermarket. In Sicily I learned how to pick, soak (remove the spines), peel and eat prickly pears. Picking Indian figs (as they are called in many places; in fact it is in their scientific name, Opuntia ficus-indica), is a demanding and even dangerous job, as their thin spines (glochids) fly everywhere and far, even when the fruit is removed from the cactus with a long picking tool. This means you have to protect your body, eyes and lungs from these nasty spines. The cactus fruit is placed one by one in a bucket filled with water and allowed to soak until the thin spines on the fruit are removed, and then rinsed once again before peeling. Fortunately, grocery stores only sell spineless cactus fruit and there are many videos on YouTube showing how to peel and eat them.

In Sicily, I learned that you first bite off a piece of fruit pulp, then gently press it with your tongue against your palate and swallow it. So you can swallow the seeds, but you shouldn't bite them because they are very hard. You can spit the seeds out, but you will lose the fibre. Prickly pears are a good source of fibre and are rich in vitamins and minerals.

Cooking to Save Your Life

2022-08-09T14:43:00.005+03:00

I just received the most beautifully illustrated cookbook -- that is going to make my other cookbooks redundant -- from our Indian friends, who just returned to Finland from their summer holidays.

Written by Abhijit Banerjee and illustrated by Cheyenne Olivier "Cooking to Save Your Life" is a truly international cookbook full of interesting and easy recipes. I have already tried six that I found off the Internet, and now I have plenty more recipes to try out.

(Nota Bene! You can't find this book in Europe, yet. It is sold in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh only).

Banderjee's foreword:

"This book grew out of many years of trying to impress out friends with meals that look fancy and taste delicious but come together easily. It is dedicated to all of you, in gratitude for your enduring indulgence and enthusiasm (even when it is stretched credibility)."

Feeling loved ❤️ by friends who return favours or should I say flavours. 😊

My cookbook collection

The Enogastronomist — Learning begets hunger

Czech Food, Savoured One Molecule at a Time – Pečená kachna s červeným zelím a bramborovými knedlíky

Roast Duck with Red Cabbage and Potato Dumplings

Ingredients

Duck

Braised red cabbage

Potato dumplingsBoil the potatoes about an hour before the duck is ready!

Method

1. Preparing the duck

Preheat the oven to 160 °C (about 140 °C fan).

Remove any remaining feathers and the larger quills from the duck. Score the skin, but don’t cut into the meat, or the meat will dry out. Cut off the neck and wing tips and trim away any excess fat.

Don’t throw anything away, though: put the removed parts into the roasting tin along with the duck. If the heart and liver are included, add them to the tin as well. This makes the pan juices tastier.

Rub salt and caraway seeds thoroughly over the duck, inside and out.

Place the duck on the oven rack. Set the roasting tin underneath, with the neck and wing tips in it, and pour in some water. During roasting, duck fat will drip into the tin. The duck doesn’t need turning, because the rack allows it to cook and brown evenly on all sides.

Lift the duck from the rack onto a chopping board to rest for 15–20 minutes, then carve it into portions.

2. Braised red cabbage

Total braising time is about 45–60 minutes, including the last 15–20 minutes after adding the flour.

Start the cabbage when the duck has been roasting for about half its time.

Halve the cabbage and cut it into four wedges. Remove the core and the outermost leaves.

Shred the cabbage as finely as possible.

Carefully take a couple of tablespoons of duck fat from the hot roasting tin and put it into a saucepan. Heat the fat, then add the chopped onion and the caraway.

Sauté the onion until it turns a lovely golden brown.

Add the shredded red cabbage to the onion. Season with salt, sugar and the white wine or apple cider vinegar.

Stir well, cover the pan with a lid and let it braise over a low heat.

When the cabbage is half-cooked, add a little water. Taste and add more seasoning if needed.

Sprinkle the flour over the cabbage, stir well and let it braise for another 15–20 minutes.

3. Gravy from the pan juices

Now the roasting tin is needed for the gravy.

Pour the excess fat into a clean glass jar, leaving the pan juices and one tablespoon of fat in the tin. Close the jar once the fat has cooled and store it in the fridge. The fat is wonderful for roast potatoes, for example.

Place the roasting tin on the hob. Sprinkle the flour into the pan juices and stir until the flour browns and sticks to the bottom.

Pour in about 200 ml of warm water and/or roasting juices. Scrape up the browned bits stuck to the bottom with a spatula.

Let the gravy simmer gently, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes. The gravy should be thin and pourable, so add more roasting juices or water if needed.

Taste and season with salt and/or pepper.

Strain the finished gravy into a warmed gravy boat.

4. Potato dumplings

Boil the potatoes in their skins in a separate pan. Don’t boil them too soft, or the dough will be too loose.

Let the potatoes cool, then peel and grate them.

At this point, put a large pan of well-salted water on to boil for the dumplings.

Add the potato starch, flour, eggs and salt to the grated potato. Mix quickly into an even dough.

Quickly shape the dough into oblong dumplings about 5 cm thick.

Swirl the boiling water into a whirlpool and put the dumplings straight into the water.

The dumplings will sink to the bottom at first, so make sure they don’t stick to the base of the pan. Gently loosen them if necessary. Once the water returns to the boil, lower the heat.

Lift the cooked dumplings into a bowl with a slotted spoon. Prick them with a fork or cocktail stick so the steam can escape and they don’t collapse. Brush the dumplings with melted duck fat. This keeps the surface from drying out and hardening, so they stay soft and juicy.

Just before serving, cut the dumplings into slices about 1–1.5 cm thick with a sharp knife or a piece of thread.

Saturday dinner, with a few changes to the menu

The Foods That Our Boys Grew Up With

Food has a useful way of preserving context

What matters is that there is a record of how our life tasted like.

Ukrainian Vegetable Borscht and Its Culture

A Thai-inspired Friday dinner with friends

Som Tam SaladFriday night was dinner at home with my Filipino friends, and I decided to put together a meal with a Southeast Asian flavour. Not everything on the table was strictly Thai, but that is rather typical of the way I cook.

I chose Thai food quite deliberately. There is something faintly terrifying about cooking food from your guests' own homeland. They know exactly how it is supposed to taste, how their mother or grandmother makes it, and every shortcut or questionable substitution is immediately exposed.

Two Filipino Recipes: Stir-Fried Bitter Gourd with Egg and Steamed Okra with Lemon-Soy Dipping Sauce

Bitter Gourd with Eggs

Ingredients

Method

Ingredients

Method

Pizza on umami steroids!

Biological pestcontrol in our home garden

Baked Stuffed Courgette Flowers and Baby Courgettes — Meatballs in Basic Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

Method

Meatballs in basic tomato sauce

Tuscan Courgette Scarpaccia — an Easy and Delicious Summer Bake

Ainekset

Method

Elk Meatballs with Funnel Chanterelles and Pecorino

Okra in Coconut Milk

Welcome Drink for Laurence: A Jug of British Summer

My Pimm’s Welcome Drink (Scandi-style with a Sicilian twist):

Chickpea Fritters — Panelle di ciciri

Ingredients:

Method:

Tunnu Riganatu – My take on a Palermitan Classic

Nonnas (Netflix, 2025): A tribute to grandmothers and mothers

Culinary Diplomacy — Food as a Bridge Between Cultures and Nations

What is Culinary Diplomacy?

Historical Roots & Renaissance

Examples from the Field

Potato dumplings
Boil the potatoes about an hour before the duck is ready!

Som Tam Salad

Friday night was dinner at home with my Filipino friends, and I decided to put together a meal with a Southeast Asian flavour. Not everything on the table was strictly Thai, but that is rather typical of the way I cook.