Blunt Cook

Mini Mudcakes and a Touch of Kitchen Psychology

2012-08-27T15:00:00.000+03:00

Being a single cook is sometimes challenging. Everything comes in family size, and even one mudcake can be slightly too big sometimes. I like Frödinge mudcake (in Finnish and Swedish). You can buy it straight to the freezer, cut a wedge when you want and eat it one piece at a time. But it feels so obligating. There you have it, an opened cake in the freezer, it's so hard to resist at times. Surely it will get that horrible freezer taste if it's there too long...

So how about mini mudcakes? Do they rest better in the freezer? After all, when you eat a small cake from start to finish, there's no unfinished cakes whispering to you from the freezer. Let's make a batch of them and watch the effect. Actually, it's a kitchen psychology experiment! Does cake size affect the speed of demolishing a certain weight of mudcake? Or the fact that it's already opened? Oh well, I'll find out soon enough :D In addition to kitchen psychology testing material, mini mudcakes are good for parties (serve with a selection of jams), picnics (you can munch it from a napkin, no spoon needed) and serving an elegant but not too big dessert to a fine meal.

Here's one instruction to mini mudcakes, basically the difference to a regular one is using small cake forms or a muffin tray. Instead of rum you can use raspberry, apricot or cherry liquor, or maybe whiskey, or some strongish juice. Baking time will depend on the size of your cake forms and oven. My muffin tray pits are 5cm wide at the bottom, and baking time is approx. 15 mins in lower middle part of the oven. I prefer to have mudcake with raspberry jam and cream, apricot jam is a good choice too. With a nice glass of madeira, it's absolutely bliss.

70gr dark chocolate (60-70% cacao)
100gr butter
1 dl coffee
1,25 dl sugar
0,3 dl rum
1 egg
1,5 dl wheat flour
3 tsp unsweetened, milk free, pure cocoa powder
0,5 tl baking powder

1. Butter the forms if you are using metal cake forms.

2. Measure butter, chocolate, sugar and coffee in a kettle and mix and let melt on a very low heat (on a scale to 1-6, I use 1). Do not allow to boil or bubble, as the chocolate will get bitter if heated too much.

3. Pour the chocolate mix in a bowl. Whisk egg in a separate bowl. Whisk the egg then into the chocolate mix.

4. Mix cocoa powder, flour and baking powder. Put a sieve over the chocolate bowl and mix the dry stuffs in through sieve. Mix until even.

5. Pour the dough in forms and bake in 170C for 15-20 minutes depending on your form size.

6. Take cakes out of the oven. Let cool properly as they are soft from the inside. If you are using a muffin tray, put the tray upside down on a baking parchment and a cold wet (squeeze excess water out) towel on the bottom side, it helps with cooling and loosening the cakes.

7. Serve with cream and jam!

How to Feed your Cat and Make Chicken Stock on the Same Go

2012-08-24T17:49:00.000+03:00

Making your own stock is essential if you are serious about taste. The difference is equal to coffee made of home ground beans compared to coffee made of pre-ground beans. When I got my first cup of coffee made from home ground beans, there was only one option: to buy a coffee grinder and begin to use whole coffee beans. With stock, it's basically the same, especially when it comes to foods that set great emphasis on the stock, consommé, in other words the liquid component of soups, risottos and ramen, to mention a few. Granted, you can get away with pre-made stock in some situations but the taste just doesnt compare.

Now, my cat has got a relatively sensible tummy. I will not go into graphic detail but it's been enough to make me start thinking about replacing the industrial cat foods with more natural ones. So, to introduce him to actual, bona fide meat, I've come up with the idea to get two flies with one swat. I usually buy chicken wings or drumsticks for making stock, and obviously the meat left over is perfectly good for human food (but I forget to use it), but the meat can be used to feet your feline friend too. Of course, as some may be keen to note, cats don't really need their meat cooked: when have you seen a cat roasting mouse over a fire?

You can make stock from meats, bones or vegetables. Here's a great tip from Greenthyme's blog how to make your vegetable stock in an easy and cheap way. To make rich beef stock, you can try this, for instance. Also boiling tongue makes a nice stock, instructions here. Anyways, here's one way to make chicken stock. Have a nice weekend everyone!

Chicken Stock

Obviously, you can vary this according to your needs. For more oriental taste, add for instance fresh ginger and rice wine and leave out carrots, celery and bay leaves. If you intend to use it for risotto, be sparing with salt. You can add more salt afterwards but taking it off is a bit harder ;)

Chicken meat you can use as such for cat food, or mix it to wet food, drop of lactose free sour milk product, egg yolk etc. For us bipeds, you can also use it with couscous, pasta sauce or pizza, for example. Just give it proper seasoning, as it is quite plain as such, or let simmer a little bit longer in the stock with spices and vegetables before removing meat.

1,2 kg chicken wings or drumsticks
2 onions
2 garlic gloves
1 celery stalk
2 smallish carrots
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp whole black peppers
Salt

1. Put the chicken in a big kettle, cover with water and bring to boil.

2. Meanwhile, peel and chop vegetables. Rougish chopping is enough.

3. When it begins to foam, peel the foam off to acquire clear stock.

4. When the meat is done, remove it from the kettle, and let cool for a moment.

5. Put vegetables and spices into the kettle, and let simmer. When the meat has cooled a bit, remove skins and bones. Set the meat aside to cool for storing, dip the skin and bone back to the kettle. Simmer for a few hours, add cold water if the bones begin to stick out.

6. Put a sieve over a bowl, drain and set to cool. Discard bones and soggy veggies. You can initially cool it by placing the kettle/bowl in cold water, then put it in the fridge overnight.

7. Peel the excess fat off the surface

8. Now the stock is ready! You can freeze it for future use. I suggest measuring in practical portions, for instance, I make the portions about 3,5 dl. That's how much I use for my risotto. It's easier to combine smaller portions than thaw just a bit from a big lump.

And that's the cat napping after his meal

More Risotto: Asparagus, Saffron and Basic

2012-08-17T20:33:00.003+03:00

I just love risotto and how versatile it is. Admittedly, it's not a health food with all the cheese and butter that goes in, not to mention white rice full with carbohydrates. But it's good. And easy. And forgiving to some extent. It's a fantastic dish for cooks like me who aren't too particular with measuring; you can play around with it and it turns out good every time when you just keep in mind the basic principles.

1. Stock and rice ratio - rice should be not too soft (and not too hard)
2. Dont let boil too long or vigorously
3. Good quality, low-salt stock
4. Not too much other ingredients as vegetables, meat etc.

My Basic Risotto

This makes for one person if the risotto is meant for main course. If it's used as a side dish, 0,75dl rice should be enough, then adjust other ingredients accordingly. You can leave out celery and/or peas, or replace them with your preferred vegetables. Feel free to add garlic. If you don't want to use wine or sherry, just replace it with stock.

1 dl arborio rice
0,5 dl dry sherry
3,5 dl chicken stock
2 small onions or 1 medium
10-12 cm piece of celery stalk
3 tbsp frozen peas
Black pepper
0,5-0,75 dl grated parmesan
Butter or oil for sauteing

1. Dice onions, slice celery and put stock to simmer.

2. Saute onions and celery on a pan, then add rice. Saute until the rice gains a slightly glassy appearance (1 min).

3. Add wine and let lightly boil. Stir occasionally.

4. Let the rice absorb the wine.

5. Pour in a ladle of stock and let the rice absorb it, stirring occasionally. When the liquid is absorbed, add the next ladle.

6. Repeat 5 until the rice is almost done. Add the last laddle with the frozen peas. Stir, let absorb.

7. When the rice is done, remove from heat and add parmesan. Mix and let melt. Grind some black pepper over.

Saffron Risotto

Follow the basic risotto recipe but add saffron with the last scoop of stock. Use no-salt or low-salt stock to avoid too salty combination with prosciutto. Shred some of the prosciutto and mix it to the risotto when it's ready.

1/3 tsp saffron
3-5 slices of prosciutto

Asparagus Risotto

1 dl arborio rice
0,75 dl dry sherry
3,5 dl low-salt chicken stock (or even salt-free with prosciutto)
2 small onions or 1 medium
7-8 cm piece of celery stalk
3-5 asparagus stalks cooked and cut in pieces
Black pepper
0,5-0,75 dl grated parmesan
Prosciutto (optional)
1 tbsp lemon juice (optional)

1. Put water to boil in a wide based pan. Snap the hard bit off asparagus (discard) and peel, leaving the tip intact. Put salt in the water (and a spoonful of lemon juice). When the water boils, add the asparagus. Let the asparagus simmer until a fork sinks in. Drain and cut the asparagus in 2 cm pieces. Set aside.
2. Prepare risotto as the basic recipe but instead of peas, add asparagus.
3. When the risotto is ready stir in some prosciutto shreddings (optional).

Winter Chanterelle and Vegetable Solyanka

2012-08-08T17:48:00.001+03:00

Finally had the time to make a post. There are so many twists and turns in my life at the moment I haven't had the time plan and do food blog cooking. Here's one though. This mushroom-vegetable soup makes a nice, light summer day meal. Serve bread with it, to make it a sturdier meal. Solyanka can also contain meat or fish, so if you want to make it more filling, just add them.

I actually got the idea for this soup from my sister-in-law. It's originally from a magnificient book, which every Finnish food lover should have. In the book this recipe is under the name "Valamo's mushroom-vegetable solyanka". I consider the book the contemporary Finnish food bible and will be introducing recipes (twisted or not) from it. The book I am gabbing about is Ruokatorstai (in Finnish), and it nicely reflects the mixed influences on Finnish home cooking - italian, russian, french, swedish and especially lately, oriental.

This soup is of russian origin. The original recipe uses penny buns, also known as ceps, or salted milk-caps, which have been soaked to remove excess salt. As I still have winter chanterelles from my huge catch from last autumn (and new season is approaching) I decided to use them. These soups are traditinonally served with smetana but also creme fraiche will do.

Ingredients:

1 onion
1/2 dl vegetable oil
300gr root vegetables sliced into matchsticks (carrot, celeriac, swede etc.) I used carrot, celeriac and amandine.
70gr tomato purée
1 L vegetable stock
250 gr mushrooms, fresh or soaked
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 dl pickled cucumber sliced into matchsticks
Juice from sauerkraut or vinegar
Parsley, tarragon, chervil

1. Finely chop onion and mushrooms, cut vegetables and pickled cucumber.

2. Saute onion and vegetables in oil.

3. Add tomato purée, mix and saute for a little while more.

3. Add stock, mushroom, spices (not the herbs) and pickled cucumber. Simmer until ready.

4. Add vinegar to taste, I suggest beginning with 1 tbsp and then adding more after tasting if needed. Chop and add herbs.

5. Serve with smetana.

Milk Kissel - Finnish Panna Cotta

2012-07-30T15:19:00.001+03:00

In the olden days, when money and food were tight, you had to use everything to the last drop. Milk kissel was served as dessert, and to use milk that was getting old but not spoiled yet. You can use milk that is not spoiled, discoloured or smelly, even it's a few days old. Actually there are cake recipes where soured milk or cream is preferred, and slightly sour milk is also good for pancakes, bread and sweetbread. But I digress - the main point of this post is milk kissel, the Finnish version of panna cotta.

Milk kissel is not even very heavy treat. You can use semi-skinned milk and keep sugar to the minimum. Instead of jams or sauces, you can use fresh berries or diced fruit. Use a kettle with a thick base or a non-stick coated kettle. Original recipe here (in Finnish). You can also use potato starch for thickening (1 dl for 1 L milk). If you want the lighter version follow the instructions and leave white chocolate out. Makes a light dessert for 2-3 or a bowl of comfort food for 1 person.

Original recipe (measures slightly adjusted):

3 dl milk (semi-skimmed, whole or mix of milk and cream)
2 tbsp cornstarch (Maizena)
1 tbsp caster sugar
Pinch of icing sugar

To add a wee twist I also used:

1 tsp vanilla powder
60gr white chocolate

1. Put milk in a kettle with cornstarch, caster sugar and vanilla powder. Whisk properly and bring to lightly boil. Keep whisking and let it boil for 2 mins or until it thickend, then remove from heat.

2. Add white choc or icing sugar into the milk, mix and let melt.

3. Fill a sink with cold water and place the kettle in the cold water. Let cool whisking occasionally to avoid film forming on the surface.

Raspberry sauce

This is a recipe I picked up in a book, orginally meant to be served with pavlova swiss roll. You dont need anything complicated with milk kissel, but this adds a little bit more glam to the dessert.

200gr raspberries
2 tbsp rum (or juice; orange, apple, etc.)
1 tsp flour sugar

1. Put raspberries, rum and sugar in a bowl.

2. Mix with spoon (or use a food processor) and crush the berries. Mix until an even mass.

3. (optional) Put the raspberries into a kettle and boil for 2 mins. Sometimes imported frozen raspberries have been known to cause food poisoning epidemics, so to be on safe side it's best to heat them. If you have berries from a safe source, just skip this step.

4. Check for sugar. Milk kissel with white chocolate is rather sweet, so you can leave the berries a bit bitter to form a nice contrast.

Put some kissel in a glass

Add some raspberry sauce

Add more milk kissel on top and a teaspoonful of raspberry jam. Enjoy!

DIY Burger

2012-07-27T21:52:00.001+03:00

I like burgers. The first McDonalds appeared in Helsinki in the mid-80's and I took to burgers immediately. I still remember the first visit there with my English class, and I think I had a Big Mac with chocolate milk shake. These days I don't set my foot in McDonalds unless it's a dire emergency but they served as inspiration to make burgers at home.

Burgers are notorious for being unhealthy food but they can be better than their reputation. One part are the side dishes, french fries and soft drinks that contain very much useless energy - if you are calorie conscious, consider replacing them with salad, oven baked fries and water or juice. I usually have mine without any sides. Burger itself is not that bad (if you don't have them every day), provided you use good quality meat, vegetables generously and mayonnaise containing dressings sparingly. Ketchup itself is healthy stuff (provided it's low-sugar) because it contains lycopene, which is good for your heart. Lycopene you can get especially from processed tomato.

Making your burger at home puts you in control of what you have in it, plus it's easy, and even fun! You can get high fibre bread rolls for it, use more vegetables, low-sugar ketchup, low-fat mayo and so and so forth. Burger is very modifiable, you can leave stuff out, try adding different things, such as varying types of cheese, meat, vegetable steaks or sauces and dressings. This basic instruction makes for one.

Beef mince (10% or less fat) 150-200 gr per person
Bread roll
Salad (iceberg, lettuce, whatever you like), 1-3 leaves
Pickled cucumber, 3-5 slices
Tomato, medium, sliced
Onion, finely sliced
Low-sugar ketchup, 2-3 tbsp
Dressing or mayo, 1-2 tbsp
Cheddar, 1-2 slices
Oil for frying, salt, pepper

1. Pat the meat into a burger steak and let it warm up a little in room temperature.

2. Meanwhile slice vegetables and have everything at ready.

3. Fry the steak until it's well done - brown from each side and meat juices begin to seep through.

4. Sprinkle some salt and freshly ground pepper over the steak.

5. Place a slice of cheese over the steak and take off heat, put aside.

6. Halve the bread roll and toast it for a few minutes on mild heat, it needs to become warm, not brown.

7. Place the lower half of the bread roll on a plate and put ketchup and half of the dressing on it.

8. Place the salad on top.

9. Then the pickled cucumber slices and some more dressing.

10. Add tomato slices. Press gently with a spatula. (add another slice of cheese if you like on top)

10. Put the steak on top and then onions on it, add extra tomato slices if there's some left.

11. Add the top half of the bread roll and press lightly. It's ready!

Urban Hike: No Sausage, But Blueberries And Frog!

2012-07-20T16:46:00.000+03:00

No, we didn't eat the frog. It just happened bounce about amongst the blueberry twigs while I was picking. So I took a picture.

I guess it's best I start from the beginning. The other day, we decided to go to a lake side campfire spot and and torch some sausage, pick blueberries, spy for new mushrooms and have a good healthy dose of fresh air. Many cities here have established campfire or barbeque sites for citizens to use and often the city council provides wood for the fire. As Finnish cities are small and practically next to nature, it's very popular summer pastime, to go hiking and eat in the wild. So we bought sausages, filled water bottles and I prepared some vegetables to roast in the fire: cut them in pieces, add some spices, oil and wrap in tin foil. Then we set out.

Weather wasn't ideal but you cannot always choose. It was good enough (not raining constantly). After stumbling on a work site with explosives (due the map that was not updated properly) we finally found the right path and begun wading through undergrowth, mud and midgies. The path meandered between swamps and forest, and to my delight I saw arctic cloudberries, blueberries and wild strawberries, some of them already ripe.


Arctic cloudberry


Blueberry

Finally we reached the campfire site. It was next to a small lake and heavily populated with insects.
To our dismay, there was no wood to burn. The forest was wet because it had been raining heavily, so no hopes of finding dry wood to burn from there. We sat a while, listened the never-ending "eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" of midgies, drank some water and begun our journey back home. After all, you can always roast your sausages in an oven too.

No wood, no fire

On our way back home we picked some blueberries and a few occasional wild strawberries. And got bitten here, there and everywhere. Picking berries is not that hard a job, but trying to stay calm in midst of a cloud of midgies is another thing. Midgies are not dangerous but when there's a plutoon of them trying to land on your fingers and feed on you, it tends to get bit annoying. The bites itch quite a bit. There are many ways to try to avoid them incuding poisons, clothing, ignoring them and staying inside. The most hardy people up north, where midgies are weather (not insects), say that you should just ignore them and get about on your business. Your body will adapt to the bites, and them and bites bother you less. I guess I've been away long enough to become soft and squealy. Midgies are one reason why I rather pick mushrooms, or rather their absence. In the autumn, midgies are gone for the most part, and it's more calm in the forest. Excluding of course, an occasional bear or wolf. (just kidding, it's quite rare to run into those two in the wilderness, they tend to avoid people)


That's a midgie bite. Luckily I am not as juicy as my friend.

When we got back home, we stuffed vegetables and sausages in the oven. It was good but I do miss proper fire burned sausage. Not often but it belongs to summer fun. Traditionally, mustard goes with sausage. I especially like dijon with honey, though I am not a big fan of mustard. Finnish mustard that is know as the Finnish mustard, is Turun sinappi, though it's not manufactured in Finland anymore but in Poland. Ah well, that's the global market for you.

That's all folks! I have a lot going on in my life the following few weeks so I might post a little more infrequently but I'll be around. Have a nice weekend everyone!

And here's what we did with the blueberries - ice cream with bluberries and cherry sabayon

Mediterranean Patties

2012-07-16T15:33:00.001+03:00

Before I move on the recipe, I do have to declare the mushroom picking season hereby opened! I found these little beauties on my way to the shop. They are chanterelles and one of my favourite mushrooms (but not number one though). So far this summer, the fresh chanterelles sold in Finland have been from Estonia but soon we can go pick our own. Half the fun is finding and picking them, it's like treasure hunting!

And now onwards with the recipe.

Years back, to my great astonishment I had lovely-tasting mediterranean meatballs at one of the canteens of Oulu University. I say "to my astonishment" as taste of food in that kind of canteens tends to be rather mediocre and even bland. In a way it's undestandable as they have to produce food for masses of students and do it cheap. Though I have to say for Julinia that their deli-line served a bit more special meals for very, very nice price/quality ratio.Yummy! Anyways. that time I was truly surprised by the taste of those mediterranean meatballs. I liked them so much, to the point I wanted to replicate the taste. I have done a few attempts, and here's the most successful so far.

Notes: Don't add salt, capers and olives contain enough already. Use meat that contains at least 10% fat, the skinnier ones tend to dry too much. This recipe makes for 2, use 400gr meat if you have hungry dinner company, and add a tad more of the other ingredients.

300 gr beef mince, or mix of pork and beef mince (20/80)
Onion (medium)
2 tsp small capers
2 tbsp black kalamata olives
Black pepper
0,5 tsp fresh thyme (or to taste)
Oil or butter for frying

1. Dice onion quite finely and chop capers and olives into tiny bits. I use a heavy knife to chop but it's ok to put them into a blender for a few twists, too.

2. Put onions and capers into a bowl with the meat, thyme and grind some black pepper over. Mix thoroughly.

3. Pat the meat into small patties (3-4 cm). I roll them in a meatball with my hands and then press slightly to flatten.

4. Fry the patties on a well warmed-up pan over good (but not too hot) heat.

4. Fry on other side, then when you see red meat juices start to prickle on the surface of the patty, turn them over and fry the other side until you see the juice prickle again (here I let the juice come through well for the sake of the picture, less is enough usually). Remove from heat.

5. Serve with garlic yoghurt (scroll down for recipe) and oven roasted vegetables or a nice salad.

Steak Tartare

2012-07-13T16:40:00.000+03:00

Steak tartare surely divides opinions. Some are totally abhorred at the thought, such as Mr. Bean who goes to great lengths to hide it, and then there are people like me who absolutely love it. Personally, I think it's closest to umami you can get.

There are several ways to prepare steak tartare. It is most often made of beef or horse. Pork is not advised because of the risk of trichinosis and I would hesitate eating chicken tartare too. Here's a link to a story discussing safety concerns and a recipe for lamb tartare, too. I think I have to try that, I like lamb meat so much! To me, the most classic steak tartare (one version here) is with an egg yolk in the middle, served with finely hacked onion and pickled cucumber. I've seen versions where pickled vegetables and onion were mixed into the meat and then patted into steaks, and also vegetables served separatedly. As with some other raw foods, schnapps can be served with tartare.

Eating raw beef is no health concern if the meat you use is safe, properly stored and processed, otherwise I do suggest you fry your steak. Be especially careful, if you have a condition that weakens your immune system. This being said, I am lucky to live in Finland, as the food handling chains are very thoroughly supervised and tested. Oh yes, and it's cold for the most part of the year so no heat wave problems here usually. I am so lucky, counting my blessings here ... Anyways, I've eaten raw mince all my life, and it's always been good. The same goes for raw eggs: salmonella in Finnish poultry is rare. Though my English pronunciation teacher claimed that it's not true, but not even English gents know everything. It's perfectly safe to eat a whole, fresh egg, even raw, in Finland.

So go to a good quality butcher, and have them make you mince from well cleaned beef meat (roast) that has not been vacuum ripened or conditioned. Obviously you can use finer meats too, like sirloin or tenderloin (fillet). If you want the true state of the art version, use fillet and scrape it ever so finely with a sharp knife into a mass. Have it minced or scraped, prepared and eaten the same day. If the weather is really hot, be extra careful with handling and hygiene, or even postpone until it's cooler, after all, it's raw stuff and it doesn't keep well.

For steak tartare a la Minna you need (for 3-4 meat lovers):

Small shallot onion finely sliced
2 tsp capers
600 gr best quality tartare mince
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp balsamico vinegar
Black pepper, salt

1. Pat the meat on the plate and put some capers over. Sprinkle sparingly/moderately with salt.

2. Put the onion slices over and grind some black pepper onto the steak. Mix oil and vinegar.

3. Spoon the vinegar-oil mix over and press gently with a fork so that capers and onion slightly sink in. Let sit for 20-30 mins in the fridge.

Things to serve with a steak tartare

Think of pickles, vinegar and crunchy vegetables. The taste of raw meat is mild and mellow with soft texture, so you need to accompany it with something that gives structure and backbone. Pickled stuffs like cucumber, artichoke, onion, pumpkin and capers, raw onion (chopped), marinated vegetables are good choices to accompany steak tartare. You may like try sour and bitter sauces with it, like Worchester, tabasco or good quality mustard. I like to have dijonnaise, mixture of mayonnaise and dijon mustard, with my steak.

I did Promise myself a Herb Garden

2012-07-09T15:05:00.000+03:00

As my friends may have noticed, I don't have plants in the house. I've killed so many flowers and what-nots that I gave up indoor plants ages ago. I better not go into what happened with bonsai. I think it's partly because I see many flowers too much fuss for nothing but to grow something you can eat - definately worth the trouble. So, I've always wanted my own kitchen garden. To be able to grow exactly the type of beetroots I want! To have my herbs fresh from the garden!

Assistant gardener watching out for birds

So far I've been living in a flat, most often not having even a balcony but now I got a veranda. Here comes the herb potter! The veranda is partially paved with stone tiles and covered with a wooden floor, so I begun practising with potted herbs and salad. After all, I think it's safer to practise with small scale cultivation than let me loose on a real garden.

At the moment, my best success appears to be salad. I bought some mizuna and wild rucola salads, used them for food and planted the rest. I must say mizuna proved to be hardy: I had it in the fridge for a week and it still sprung to a new flourish. I planted mizuna and rucola in the middle, and plain salad (from seed) around it. Finally I can get my fresh salad from the garden. It's always fresh and doesn't rot in the fridge as those ones bought from the shop sometimes do.

The rest in the big pots are cylindrical beet root and multi-coloured chard. Chard started out fine (from seed) and I am truly looking forward to using it for food. It can, for instance, be used instead of wine leaves in dolmades. Unfortunately I didn't plant enough beetroots, some of the seeds didn't germinate. A shame really, l love the sweet juiciness of cylindrical beetroot. Once you have tasted them, you don't want to go back to the watery round ones!

I've tried starting herbs from seeds with varying level of success. Chives, cilantro and melissa officinalis are thriving, or at least alive. Sage started strong but didn't survive re-potting. The one in the picture is from a plant bought from the grocery and potted. I have found potting plants from the supermarket most efficient, no fuss with seeds, germination or re-potting. Parsley is quite hardy, the first thyme and chives I got are still alive. When you are buying supermarket plants pay attention to roots. Roots need to be white, not black and brown. Cut the herb down (but leave some leaves to it for photosyntesis) and hey presto! You got a potted herb.

My thin-skinned drunkard basking in the sun. But only for a moment!

Basil is a wonderful plant to have in your kitchen. Love the scent, and how easy it is to pinch a leaf or two to salads, sauces and marinades. It's a fussy plant though. It needs plenty of water, very moderate amount of sun and no draft at all. It's also a bit problematic from the perspective of shopping and potting. You can pot it the first time but adding more basil in the same pot or repotting just tends to kill it.

Here are a few links for more expert advise:

Yrttitarha (in Finnish)
The Herb Gardener blog - a very extensive site for information and tips
How to plant herbs in the same pot

Have a nice week everyone!

Chocolate SIG aka The Choc Club

2012-07-06T15:14:00.000+03:00

Today im posting about something different for a change - a casual chocolate tasting club. If you are looking to start your own, here's a collection of articles to get the basics and more. Chocolate tasting is a nice way to spend good time with your fellow chocolate lovers and friends. Why not try this weekend? Anyways, have a nice weekend folks!

Samples from a session in 2011

Our Choc SIG (special interest group) was kicked off some 3,5 years ago by yours bluntly and 4 other chocolate enthusiasts working in the same office. Things change but we do meet every now and then, sit and chat, and eat chocolate.

This is how it works: everyone brings their own sample, we taste and discuss them together. It's not very formal, oftentimes discussion drifts to completely different matters. There are no statistics, spreadsheets, questionnaires or rating scales involved but we discuss the samples tasted and choose a winner per each meeting. Slow pace and dark choc work against gorging: you would be surprised to see how much of the choc is actually left over from the sessions! The Choc Club is indeed beneficial: reduced cravings for chocolate, drifting towards allegedly more healthy, dark chocolate and quality time spent in good company. What else could a girl want?

The Winner

Here's the winner of last session, Marabou Premium Dark chocolate and almond. The choc was praised for it's feel, and crunchy, balanced taste. Truly a nice dark almond chocolate.

Runner-ups

Black salt lakrits bar was well liked too, not for its chocolate but for salmiakki it contained. Yes, I know, a horrible acquired taste. The chocolate in the bar was your common, light Marabou quality, bit too sweet but the salmiakki used was really good. Maybe salmiakki needed some mild, non-spectacular chocolate to shine?

Fazer's strawberry chocolate divided opinions. Some of us liked the strawberry chunks and others considered it too bland or sweet.

Other Candidates

We had some other candidates in the session but they received not too many mentions. This beautiful French chocolate was visually pleasing but due its uneven structure there was no concensus on its taste. Dark Fazer blue is a classic, and won an earlier round but I guess we have eaten so much of it that it made no special impression. Nevertheless, chocolate is always good!

Beautiful chocolate souvenir from France

Darker version of a Finnish classic

Asparagus Ravioloni

2012-07-02T19:29:00.000+03:00

Pansotti, ravioloni, whatever. Filled pasta shapes with a yummy filling. If there's a true Italian reading this or a pasta connoisseur, let me know what they should be called. Nevertheless, here's a surefire meal to get a good number of your dishes dirty. Filled fresh pasta takes time and effort to prepare but it's worth it. If you have a kitchen assistant, make good use of them!

This recipe progresses assuming you have your pasta dough ready. You can make the dough, instructions here, while you are boiling the artichokes (or buy pre-fabricated fresh pasta sheets). While the dough rests, prepare the veggies and roll pasta when the asparagus is boiling (cover so that it doesnt dry while you prepare the filling). You can leave bacon completely out (add some salt to the filling then), or replace it with kalamata olives. Use 10+ olives according to taste. I suggest adding some first and tasting if it needs more. If you want more chunky feel to the filling, dice some of the cooked asparagus or bacon very finely and add to the filling after it's been trough the mixer. If your filling is too runny, add more parmesan to make it a stiffer. The filling should not be too moist as it has to stay put in the middle when you make the ravioloni shapes.

You can add different type of vegetables to sauté, and some herbs or seasoning. I purposefully kept it very simple for not to clash with the fine taste of the filling. I surmise some smooth sauce with not-too-complicated/pungent a taste would be fine. This recipe makes a light meal for 2.

250 gr asparagus
2 largish jerusalem artichokes
2 summer onions with green stalks
1-2 garlic glove(s)
8-12 mini plum or cherry tomatos
15-20 large basil leaves (filling + a few for the saute)
Pasta sheets (1 large egg dough here)
Half a lemon
Black pepper, salt
170 gr bacon
1 dl + grated parmesan (filling + garnish)
Olive oil for sauteing

1. Peel Jerusalem artichokes, put them into cold water and to boil. Add a pinch of salt and a touch of lemon. Boil until a fork easily sinks in but the chokes are not too soggy. Put in cold water to cool and set aside.

2. Put a large pan with water to boil. Snap the hard bit off (discard) and peel the asparagus. If you are using very thin asparagus, dont bother to peel, just rinse well. Cut the tip off and set aside. When water boils add asparagus stalks to the pan with a pinch of salt and a squirt of lemon. Let lightly boil until a fork sinks in, then drain.

3. While artichokes/asparagus boil slice summer onions and garlic. Divide onion cuttings into 2 equal piles, light end to the filling and the darker ends to the sauté.

4. Halve tomatos and put aside with asparagus tips, garlic and green onion stalks.

5. Grate parmesan and set aside.

6. Trim fat off the bacon and cut very finely first to strips and then very small squares.

7. Fry the bacon until it is done and lightly brown here and there. Put the pan aside, don't rinse as you can use it for the vegetable sauté later and make use of meat juices in the sauté.

8. Drain the artichokes and put with asparagus, bacon, basil leaves and one of the summer onions into a bowl and puré with a stick mixer. Grind black pepper into the mass, approx. 0,5 tsp or to taste.

9. Add a generous squirt of lemon and a good pinch of parmesan. Mix again. Taste for salt (I didnt add any as the bacon is salty enough). Put your big pasta kettle to boil.

10. Spread the pasta sheets on a slightly floured surface and cut in squares. You can make for instance 6-8 big ones or ~14 smaller ones. Bigger ones are faster to make but the filling/dough ratio might not be ideal. Fill a cup with water and put it next to pasta sheets.

11. Add the filling in the middle.

12. Lightly moist the sides with a brush. Dont make the sides too wet or the dough doesnt stick well.

13. Pull the other side to overlap so that the borders are as even as possible, grab it from both sides with your fingers and flip it so that the intact side points downwards. Gently press the sides together, working from bottom to top. If you added too much filling and it starts to spill out, just press it through, wipe away and press the sides gently but firmly together.

14. When the water boils, put the ravioloni in and let boil lightly for a few (3-5) mins. Do not let water boil too vigorously or your ravioloni might break. You can carefully cut a piece off the pasta and taste for readiness. Or save some excess cuts, press them together, put in with ravioloni and fish out for checking. Drain, set aside.

15. When pasta is ready, quickly saute onion, garlic and asparagus tips in olive oil. After a few minutes, add tomato halves and saute until they look a bit suffered. Add a light sprinkle of salt if you washed the pan after frying the bacon.

16. Mix pasta with sauted asparagus tips and onion on the pan, rip a few basil leaves over and, turn gently and let warm up.

17. Scoop on a plate, garnish and serve.

Sit down and enjoy with a good wine, you have deserved it after all that hard work!

Part II: Can You Roll your Tongue?

2012-06-29T18:40:00.001+03:00

Here's something I come up with for a Saturday meal. I had a piece of tongue left, and was supposed to make winter chanterelle risotto to go with it. So there am I, wondering what to do with the tongue. My last attempt, to dice it finely and shove it in the risotto wasn't too great a success. Not horribly bad but didn't do justice either to the risotto nor the tongue. So what to do, what to do?!

I grabbed the lappy and googled. Not very many recipes of that sort kicking about but I saw a picture of finely cut tongue over risotto. (Thanks!) That gave me an idea. Finely slice, add something nice over and roll? Yes, let's try that!

Tongue Rolls with Winter Chanterelle Risotto

This meal is best to be done in the following order:
1. Slice, cut and chop non-meat items you need for both risotto and tongue rolls. Put the mushrooms to soak. You can also put the stock to simmer for the tongue.
2. While the stock simmers, slice the tongue.
3. Prepare the rolls and put them into oven. (See recipe below)
4. Prepare the risotto. (See recipe below)
5. Take the rolls out of the oven and serve over risotto.

Tongue Rolls

1-2 tsp grated lemon rind
1-2 tbsp lemon juice
1-2 tbsp olive oil
2-3 basil leaves
2-3 sage leaves
Piece of tongue from the thicker end, approx. 10 cm
black pepper
grated parmesan or flakes

1. Put the stock to the boil. Add 1-2 tbps lemon juice. Let it simmer until its reduced to 50% or so. Taste it occasionally, it is ready when it develops a good strong but not too pungent flavour. Thicken the sauce.
2. Grate the lemon, chop herbs finely and mix all except for parmesan. Set oven to 150C.
3. Cut the tongue into very thin (few millimetres) slices. This mix makes enough for about 15 slices.
4. Brush one side of the tongue slice with the lemon-herb mix and sprinkle some parmesan over.
5. Roll the tongue tightly, secure wih a coctail stick if needed and place in a oven proof dish.
6. Pour over the sauce, stick into oven and let heat up for about 20 mins.

Winter Chanterelle Risotto

This is a non-meat version of winter chanterelle risotto. If you rather use some other kind of mushroom, it should be as good as well. You can combine mushroom-soaking water with stock if you want more mushroomey taste to the risotto. If you dont want to use wine, just replace it with stock.

1,5 dl arborio rice
1 small onion quite finely chopped
7 cm piece of celery sliced
1 dl dry sherry or 1,5 dl white wine
1,5- 2 dl of dried winter chanterelles
1 dl grated parmesan
6-7dl (or so) low salt chicken stock
butter for frying

1. Soak mushrooms in cold water, 10-15 mins is enough. Dice and slice all veggies.
2. Fry mushrooms lightly on medium heat. Put the mushrooms aside.
3. Put stock into a kettle and bring it near boiling temperature.
4. Saute onion and celery, add rice and let it get slightly glassy look.
5. Pour in wine and let it lightly boil while stirring. Let rice absorb wine before adding stock.
6. Add the first ladle of stock, let the rice absorb it while stirring occasionally. Do not let the risotto boil vigorously.
7. Repeat 6 until the rice is almost done (when there's still something to bite but the hard starchey quality is gone) and put in the musrooms.
9. Add stock and let the rice absorb it. Test the rice and add some more stock if it's not ready yet, let absorb.
10. Take the pan off the heat, mix parmesan in and let it melt.
11. Pile on a plate, put some tongue rolls on top and serve!

Zabaglione Mini Baked Alaska

2012-06-25T17:31:00.000+03:00

Lately I've been learning to make zabaglione. The process itself is straightforward when you get the hang of it but silly me couldnt just be happy with scooping zabaglione over berries. Another twist is that the local liquor stores here dont sell but sweet Marsala. Well, to be honest, I even did one experiment with cherry liquor. Technically, it can be done but oh my it was sweet! Nevertheless, here's a version I am happy enough with to share it in the blog.

When I make desserts like this one, I usually pay a lot attention to sugar and sweetness. I like sweet but not too sweet. My taste for sugar has seriously declined (Or developed? Your call.) since teen years. Back then we used to joke that sugar in coffee is not for sweetening but thickening. Now I can't ingest it too sweet. Still like sweet more than my mom, whose gift choc boxes usually eats yours truly. My dad, oh well, he can down a Fazer Blue bar in a respectable time.

My steamer boiler thingy

Concerning this recipe, 1 xl egg (73-80 gr) should be enough to cover a portion for 2 persons, for one it's maybe even a bit too much. I tried to use one medium egg, and it proved difficult; heat management was more difficult and the egg curds easy as there is so little of egg mass to heat. Anyways, this is a good recipe in that way that you are not left with extra egg whites wondering what to do with them.

Pictures are from a portion with 3 ladyfinger bisquits, which makes a abundant dessert for one (or 2 on a diet). Add a few more bisquits for 2 gourmands. This dish is easy to spoil by daydreaming, so make sure you can work without delays and interruptions. You also need a two-storey kettle or some other means to keep the bottom of the bowl out of simmering water, and a metal bowl for whipping.

And for those who are still wondering, ice cream does not melt in the oven because air that has been whipped into egg mass provides insulation. When the egg mass has been cooked, then heat can access ice cream and melt it, so be sure to take your baked alaska out in time!

Ingredients for zabaglione baked alaska:

2-5 savoiardi/ladyfinger bisquits
1 egg, separated
25 cl Marsala (dry)
0,75 tbsp sugar
3-5 tbsp cherry, raspberry etc. jam
0,5+ dl sweet wine, juice or liquor to moisten the bisquits. I diluted cherry liqour.
Plain vanilla ice cream

During my experiments I also came up with a Finnish version. Arctic cloudberry (hilla) works fantastically in zabaglione! Yummmmy! To be honest, I prefer it over Marsala. I heartily recommend to try it if you can get your hands on arctic cloudberry.

Use arctic cloudberry liquor instead Marsala ( a generous 1 tbsp)
Do not add sugar to the yolk nor the egg white foam
Moisten the bisquits with diluted (50/50) arctic cloudberry liquor or apple juice
Use low-sugar apricot or arctic cloudberry jam or even fresh fruit/berries pureed with a small pinch of sugar

1. Fill the kettle with water and put to simmer on medium heat.

2. Put bisquits on baking parchment and moisten generously with liquid of your choice. Soak them well, 'til they turn darkish from the liquid. They need to become soft.

3. Separate egg, white in one bowl and yolk in the metal bowl.

4. Start whipping the egg yolk with sugar until it foams lightly.

5. Add Marsala and transfer the bowl to the boiler. The bowl itself must not touch water.

This is a picture from another zabaglione experiment but demonstrates the kettle system

6. And keep on whipping. If the egg mixture doesnt begin to heat up despite minutes of beating, add heat very carefully.

7. Still keep on whipping. Depending on the number of eggs this can take a good while. Check with your finger that the foam doesnt get too hot, or it curds. You should be able to put your finger in. If it starts to get too hot, remove from heat for a moment.

8. Now it starts to look like it's ready. Note how the foam keeps the waves and shapes after beater movement.

9. That's it ready!

10. Beat the egg white into stiff foam. It should stick to the bowl even if you turn it upside down.

11. See, it sticks there.

12. Mix egg white foam into zabaglione very tenderly. See that it makes a nice perky foam able to "stand on its own", it must stick to the sides and stay over ice cream. If there is excess egg white foam, discard it.

13. Put some jam over the bisquits.

14. Put ice cream over the bisquits.

15. Finally coat the whole thing with zabaglione foam. Be very careful especially to cover the ice cream so that it wont melt. Then rush it into oven.

16. Bake in 250C for 2-3 mins, until the foam gets a nice golden brown hue.

17. Cut, put it on a plate and serve immediately.

Midsummer Special: Oven Sesame and Barbeque!

2012-06-23T21:10:00.001+03:00

I honestly didnt mean to make this post. The meal just turned out so well I could not resisist. It is weird how dishes you plan carefully, research and reflect, take several experimentation rounds to reach the desired quality. Then you do something rather impromptu, and it comes out fantastic!

Midsummer if any is the time of year when you should be roasting your stuff over a grill. I dont happen to own a grill, then my oven must do. Ok, I fried the chick on the pan but you could easily barbeque the whole set. This plate consists of veggie skewers, sesame coated chicken breast fillets and blue cheese champion mushrooms. This recipe makes for 2 hungryish eaters or 3 light eaters.

Vegetable skewers

I used metal skewers but if you have wooden ones, dont forget to put them to soak a few hours before. In this recipe everything is rather inaccurate, depending on taste and what you have handy. 1 long skewer or 2 smaller ones should be enough to feed one person.

You can also use mini champion mushrooms

8-10 mini plum or cherry tomatos
Half of a large yellow bell pepper
Stems of 4 large champion mushrooms
4-6 very small onions
rape-seed or sunflower oil
salt, pepper, paprika powder, chili etc. to taste

1. Peel onions, cut bell pepper in large square pieces, rinse tomatos and brush mushrooms (separate the stem), cut the browned part of stem off.
2. Put all ingredients in a bowl and add salt, pepper and spices. Add oil. Dont be too sparing with oil as the veggies are on their way to the grill and require some coating protection from the heat; on the other hand it's not necessary to soak them in oil.
3. Mix with a spoon so that everyting gets nicely coated with oil and spices.
4. Put the vegetables to 2-4 skewers and set aside.

Blue Cheese Champion Mushrooms

This is a summer classic! Bacon pieces are optional. You can use prosciutto instead, and my definate favourite is prosciutto added afterwards, as a topping. Some add onion into the cheese or under it, too.

4 large champion mushrooms
4-6 generous tbsp blue cheese
4 pieces of bacon (optional)

1. Brush the mushrooms clean with a baking or mushroom brush or kitchen tissue. Do not rinse, it is a criminal act to rinse fresh mushrooms!
2. Gently push the stem to side, it should loosen with a mild snap. Take the stem off.
3. Fill the cavity with blue cheese and wrap a strip of bacon over. Set aside.

Garlic Yoghurt

Another classic and traditional companion to meats and grilled food. Simple to make and taste develops overnight, so if you can make it beforehand, the better.

Garlic gloves
Turkish or Bulgarian, plain non-flavored yoghurt

1. Put yoghurt in a bowl, press garlic over.
2. Mix, set aside to set. Probably even better the next day ;)

Chicken Breast Fillets with Sesame Coating

The original plan was to make chicken skewers. Then I recalled I had egg whites sitting in the fridge from zabaglione experimentations. (3 of them was more than abundant for coating 3 breast fillets) Since the oven was getting crowded anyways I decided to put them chicks on the pan. Sesame seeds, why not?! Sesame coating gives a nice, crispy coating with nice feel.

2-3 skinless, boneless chicken breast fillets
1-2 egg whites
2 dl (approx.) sesame seeds
Butter, for frying

1. Take the fillets to room temperature 30-60 mins before cooking. If it's very warm, shorten the time or prepare immediately.
2. Pound them fillets gently with your knuckles to flatten them a bit.
3. Whisk salt and pepper into egg whites.

4. Put sesame seeds in another bowl.

4. Dip the fillets in egg white (one by one), then in sesame seeds. Let the egg white drip from the fillet before putting into sesame seeds.

Putting it All Togeher

1. Put the oven grill to 250C and heat up your frying pan (with an option to use lid, preferably).
2. Melt butter in the pan and when its bubbled and hot, add the chicken pieces.
3. Fry them from one side for 5 mins, then put the mushrooms and skewers into oven, as close as the roof with grill as possible.
4. Turn the chicks over and fry 5 more mins. Check the oven, and lower the grill pan if the vegetables start to go too brown.
5. Put the lid on, turn heat off and let the chicken fillets steam for a few mins. Take the grilled veggies from the oven.
6. Serve with garlic yoghurt!

Finnish Pancake

2012-06-21T14:33:00.000+03:00

I am posting this a day before my regular schedule, as Finnish Midsummer festivities are starting tomorrow. Finns celebrate the nightless night of Midsummer with vigor; favorite activities are barbequing, bonfires, drink, music and dance. I am past the wild party phase, so I just have my mother over and I am gonna feed her my latest cooking notions. Let's see if you get a picture later! Happy Midsummer everyone!

And now to the pancake.

Almost done

One of the goodies my gran used to make when I was younger, was pancake. Not what is internationally known as pancake but Finnish Pancake. I call this Finnish Pancake, as I haven't seen the name pancake used this way anywhere else nor heard of similar recipe from other countries (though I am quite sure there's something similar somewhere). Pancake in Finland is usually a form of crêpes, and called lätty, räiskäle or ohukainen. But then there's this other kind of pancake, (literally) pannukakku, in Finland. There's an interesting read in Wikipedia about different kinds of pancakes, if you want to read about regional varieties and history.

Finnish pancake is not what is usually known as pancake. More like baking tray cake. The dough used is almost the same as in your regular pancakes but you bake it in the oven in one big mass. My baking tray is 35cmx37cm (or so). Use a deep baking tray with high borders and line it with a baking parchment. You can, of course, use skimmed milk, oil instead of butter and use just 2 large eggs, if you want skinnier result. I won't guarantee the taste, then, but it's possible. Number of eggs depends on the size of eggs, and how rich and bumpy you want it. This pancake here has 3 large eggs whipped in. I've seen some recipes with more added sugar but since you have it with a sweet jam, ice cream and/or whipped cream, you could leave sugar completely out of the dough. Just maybe sprinkle sugar lightly over the pancake when it's out of the oven.

There are also salty versions of this, with for instance ham and cheese. For those, ditch the sugar, mix filling into dough and bake (and dont serve with cream and jam ;). My gran used to make a blood pancake in the oven, and it was very good with lingonberry jam. I think I need to fish the recipe out of her for future reference.

This is what you should get!

Nevertheless, here's the basic recipe for sweet pannukakku:

1 L milk (semi-skimmed/whole)
5 dl wheat flour
3-5 eggs
3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
0,5-1 dl butter

To serve:
Jam, whipped cream or ice cream, sugar. Traditionally jams with strawberry, on it's own or combined with other berries or fruit are called "Pancake Jam" but any sweet jam will do.

1. Set your oven to 200C and line a baking tray with parchment.

2. Pour milk in a bowl and whisk flour, salt and sugar in. Let it sit until the oven is ready.

3. Melt butter. You can also cut butter in pieces and place them evenly over the baking tray before pouring in the dough.

4. Add eggs and butter.

5. Pour it in a baking tray covered with baking parchment.

6. Bake for 30-45 mins, until its golden brown and developed considerable bumps. Bumps, or Nattaset as my gran says. Nattaset are fells, very small mountains right at the bosom Maiden of Finland. And Maiden of Finland refers to the shape of the country on the world map.

Serve with cream and jam

Part I: It's on the Tip of the Tongue

2012-06-18T20:50:00.000+03:00

If you have a weak stomach I suggest you stop reading now. You're welcome to return later, I'll let you know when it's safe to come back ;) This time, I am gonna prepare some tongue. A cow's tongue, to be exact. Tongue is a cheap delicacy but some find it the idea of eating it too repulsive. Most often, you can find beef tongues in the stores but they sometimes offer reindeer, pork and lamb tongues too. Mind you, tongue is a cheap and healthy eat, it doesn't contain much fat. Plus it's tasty!

Preparing a Tongue

Preparing tongue is best to begin at least day before the intended meal. The tongue needs to be cooked before it can be used for various kinds of dishes. Many textbooks say that you need to soak the tongue in (salted) cold wated for hours before cooking, and others maintain that you need to brush it under running cold water thoroughly. These are needed to remove blood etc. from the tongue before cooking. I just usually rinse it very thoroughly under running water, rubbing with my hand. For cooking the tongue you need

Tongue (Beef)
A big kettle
Water to cover the tongue
A peeled and thickly sliced carrot
1-2 onions, cut in 4 wedges
15 cm stick of celery, in slices
1-2 garlic gloves, roughly chopped
8 whole black peppers, 2 bay leafs
Salt
Long, thin, sharp instrument (knife, skewer, metal knitting pin)
(other herbs, veggies and spices)

1. Cover the tongue in cold water in a large kettle and bring to boil.

2. When it starts to develop foam on the surface, remove it with a spoon. This is done to obtain clear stock; you can use it for soups and sauces later on.

3. When the foam is all peeled, put in all the spices and vegetables and let lightly boil. A beef tongue is cooked in 2-3 hours, the smaller tongues (pork etc.) in 1,5 hrs or so. You can test if the tongue is done by sticking a long, sharp instrument half-way into the thickest spot: if the liquid that seeps out is clear, it's ready. If the liquid is brown or red, let it boil for a while.

4. When the tongue is done, remove from the kettle and peel the skin off. It should come of easy, especially from the tip. At the root you may have to aid with a knife and maybe thinly cut it off. This must be done while it's still hot, as the skin comes off easiest then. I usually use kitchen paper to avoid touching it with my bare fingers. It's hot! Ouch! (Here I am not using paper for the sake of the picture)

After peeling, put the tongue back into the liquid and let it cool. Now the tongue is ready for some really delish dishes! You can keep the liquid and use it for stock in sauces and soups etc. You can also put the tongue -or part of it- in the freezer, it takes freezing rather well. You also may want to consider letting the stock simmer a while to concentrate it for freezing or sauces.

Breaded Tongue Steaks

This is dish brings back childhood memories. Breaded tongue, lemon and potato mash! It was served in restaurants in Finland in the 1970's and early 80's and considered a fine delicacy. And it is yummy, and oh so filling. These days a fresh, green salad would be a lighter side dish instead of potato mash.

Tongue slices, 1 cm thick
1-2 Eggs
Plain wheat flour
Bread crumbs
Salt, ground black pepper, paprika, a touch of chili or cayenne
Butter or mixture of oil and butter to fry

Mix the spices into the flour. Put flour in one plate, lightly whisked eggs on another, and bread crumbs on third plate. First cover the slices in flour, then dip into the egg and finally in bread crumbs. Put the breaded slices aside and heat the butter in a pan. Fry the slices in the butter until golden brown on each side. Take it from me; use butter, plain oil gives a poor finish. Pile on a serving plate, and serve with lemon wedges!

Tongue Steaks with Parmesan Crust

And we have a winner! This is the result of my third (3) attempt to coat tongue steaks with a parmesan crust. Lessons learned are: 1) Use freshly grated good quality parmesan in big strips or flakes, 2) Coat the steaks lightly, do not make a thick lumpy coating, 3) Be careful when baking them in the oven, the thinner coating doesnt protect the meat from drying at all.

1 egg white (approx. 3 for the whole tongue)
Tongue cut in ~1cm thick pieces
3 tbsp grated parmesan
1,5 dl parmesan (generous)
Pepper

1. Rub the lemon thoroughly under running warm water. Turn the oven on to 200C.
2. Grate cheese and parmesan.

3. Mix them in a bowl.

4. Put egg white(s) in one bowl or plate.

5. Cut the meat and grind some black pepper over.

6. Dip the steaks first in egg and then in the cheese-lemon mix.

8. Place the coated steaks on a baking tray.

9. Bake in 200C until the crust is golden, slightly brown, for about 15 mins. Be very careful not to bake too long or the meat dries.

10. Serve with salad!

Asparagus Pie with Two Fillings

2012-06-15T14:50:00.000+03:00

Them asparaguses got the upper hand again. I saw them in the store with a nice price so I ended up buying two bunches of them. But then, what to make of them?

I like veggie pies but the fat content of crusts just makes me hesitant. So Google was my friend again and I was able to find some more light ones instead of the rather buttery one in the original filling recipe. Credit for this crust recipe goes to Himme who posted at Marttaliitto's website (in Finnish) about lighter, less-fat pie crusts. If you don't mind a buttery crust, just make one, it compliments the fair taste of asparagus better.

So, decided to make an asparagus pie. But then I couldnt decide whether to try a blue cheese filling or a lemon one. So I decided to try both! Here are both of them. With blue cheese, be careful or it drowns the taste of asparagus.

Oatmeal Pie Crust

1 dl oatmeal (flakes, flour)
2 dl wheat flour (plain, whole grain)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt (optional)
1/2 dl oil
1 dl water

1. Measure the dry ingredients in a bowl; then oil and water. Mix with a wooden utensil lightly.

2. Pat on the dough flat the pie tray. Bake 10 mins before filling and 30 mins with filling.

How to Prepare Green Asparagus

Asparagus
1-2 tbsp lemon juice
Pinch of salt
Large, deep pan
Water

1. Rinse asparagus stalks. Put some water with a pinch of salt and squirt of lemon juice to boil in a deep pan.

2. Snap the hard bit off and peel the asparagus but leave the tip part intact.

3. Boil the asparagus lightly for just a minute or two if you are adding them into the pies here (or something else to be baked, cooked or fried, check the recipe). If you use them as a side dish, just boil them until a fork goes through but the asparagus are not soggy. Then drain.

Asparagus and Blue Cheese Filling

The filling for this pie I adapted from Maku.fi (in Finnish again). I replaced leek with summer onion and instead of cream cheese I used blue cheese. I also halved the orginal recipe. Doubling the filling makes for a baking tray (30 x 35 cm)

450 gr green asparagus
40 gr blue cheese
100 gr summer onion + stalks
3 eggs
200 g light sour cream
0,5 tsp salt
Pinch of black pepper

1. Mix the dough, pat on a pie shell or baking tray and bake in 200C for 10 mins.
2. Peel and boil asparagus lightly in a large pan and drain.
4. Cut union

3. Crumble blue cheese.

5. Beat eggs, mix in sour cream, pepper, salt, cheese and onion.

6. Put the asparagus on the baking tray or pie shell over the pre-cooked dough and pour the sour cream-egg mix over. Bake in 200C mid-lower part of the oven for 30 mins.

Lemony Asparagus Pie Filling

500 gr green asparagus
100 gr cream cheese (Oltermanni, Havarti, etc. or Port Salut)
3 eggs
200 g light sour cream
2-3 tbsp grated lemon rind
0,5 tsp salt
Pinch of black pepper

1. Mix the dough, pat on a pie shell or baking tray and bake in 200C for 10 mins. 2. Peel and boil asparagus lightly in a large pan and drain.
3. Scrub lemon thoroughly under running warm water and grate the peel (just the yellow part, the white part is bitter).
4. Grate cheese.
5. Beat eggs, mix in sour cream, pepper, salt and lemon rind.

6. Sprinkle half of the cheese over the dough. Then put asparagus over it.

7. Pour sour cream egg mix over the asparagus and then sprinkle the rest of the cheese over. Bake in 200C mid-lower part of the oven for 30 mins.

Cherry and Cocoa Tiramisu

2012-06-11T15:30:00.000+03:00

Short Cut Tiramisu

This is one of my short cut versions of tiramisu. Basically, I've left the eggs out. True, the more original recipe with eggs does have a more refined taste, eggs or zabaglione add fine nuance to it. If you are looking for the original recipe, here's one with a short treatise to the history of tiramisu. This recipe is maybe a tad lighter, less fussy and works especially if you cannot use eggs for one reason or another (obviously there could be egg in the bisquits). For instance, eggs can carry salmonella and they spoil easy. Not that a good tiramisu has a chance of spoiling because it doesn't live that long...

You can easily convert this recipe to resemble more the original one by using strong espresso instead cocoa and use coffee liquor, brandy or rum (the right kind of spirit is under debate) instead of cherry liquor. My choice is brandy. Omit cherry jam. If you're looking for a nice twist, try adding lemon juice and rind (a few spoonfuls, taste) into the cream-cheese mass. If you are allergic to eggs, you can use some other kind of bisquit that can absorb up the liquid used (cocoa, coffee) or eggless sponge cake.

Cheese I use in this is known as "fresh cheese" in Finnish. Traditionally for tiramisu you use Mascarpone cheese but at least in Finland they don't have it low-lactose. Plus, if you want less fat, there are more meagre versons of fresh cheese; Mascarpone tends to be rather rich in that sense. Internet dictionaries translate "fresh cheese" to unripened cheese, cream cheese, curd-style cheese and American cottage cheese. One of the brand names for it is Philadelphia. Basically it's soft cheese (plain and flavoured) you can spread over bread, or use in cold cheese cakes. And tiramisu.

Cherry and Cocoa Tiramisu

This makes for 8-10 people. Taste for sugar, as I do tend to avoid excess sweetness in desserts, add sugar if you find it too sour. The amount of sugar used, plus sweetness of liquor and bisquits make this cake gently sweet but not over the top.

1 dl cherry liquor
350gr savoiardi (ladyfinger) bisquits
6 dl whipping cream
600gr plain "fresh cheese", (unripened cheese)
0,5 dl sugar
1,5 dl cherry jam
4-5 dl strong cocoa (from pure cocoa powder) + few spoonfuls of sugar
Cocoa powder to garnish

1. Make the cocoa by whipping powder into water. Use pure cocoa powder, not any of those mixes containing also sugar, milk and/or extra flavourings. Bring it to boil briefly, just a few bubbles and then remove from the heat. Mix in the liquor and sugar. Do not add milk. Set aside to cool.

2. Put fresh cheese in a bowl with sugar and mix until it softens up.

3. Whip the cream. Mix the cream into the fresh cheese in small portions. Patience is virtue here, rushing and mixing cream in big portions causes the mass to become lumpy. Taste for sugar, add more if it's not sweet enough. Mix thoroughly.

4. Lay the bisquits into bottom of a tin. Moisten generously with cocoa mixture.

5. Spread the cherry jam thinly over the bisquits, then spread half of the cream-cheese mix.

6. Make another layer of the bisquits on top of the cream-cheese mass and moisten it with the remaining cocoa.

7. Spread over the rest of the cream-cheese mass and put it into fridge overnight to set.

8. Next day, sieve cocoa powder over, add some cherries to garnish and serve!

Roasted Bell Peppers, Capers and Taglioni

2012-06-08T13:59:00.000+03:00

This dish has no particular story attached to it. Except for I like roasted bell peppers. Just the other day, I begun to fancy roasted bell peppers with capers. This is what I ended up with.

Summer is the best season to toy with bell peppers -or paprika as we call it- as it's not very expensive and the veggies are in good condition. Obviously, bell peppers are not native to Finland, and those grown in greenhouses year around are very expensive. So most of the variety is brought from abroad. Use of bell pepper was quite minimal in Finland until 1960-70's from where it became more widely known and is now an everyday veggie.

I heard a story dating back to early seventies from the more rural parts of Finland. Someone's granpa saw a bell pepper in a store, gave it a good hard long look and after fumbling it a while, placed it into his shopping basket. At home he sat by the table, grabbed his knife and cut a bit off it. To his astonishment, it wasnt like an apple ,"Gosh, it's hollow!". Then he cut a fine piece off it, chewed and spat out with a grimace. And hurled it away to the wall!

Anyways, I'll stop gabbing and move onto the recipe. Have a nice weekend everyone!

Roasting Bell Peppers

1. Set the oven grill to max. Halve bell peppers, remove stem and seeds. Place them over an oven proof grill. Mine's a dish with a grill, I put some water on the bottom so that juices wont burn and cause smoky smell. Roast the bell peppers for about 10 minutes or when the peels bubble and turn black. Turn the oven dish around half way as many ovens dont roast evenly.

2. That's the bell peppers roasted. Now cover with a towel and let cool down a bit (but not to get cold).

3. Peel the bell peppers while they are warm, the peel will loosen easily. It may be more sticky at the sides where the peel didnt roast too good but you can leave thin strips of peel intact, if they sit tight.

This is what you should get. Now the bell peppers are ready to use in marinade, salad or a sauce.

Roasted Bell Peppers, Capers and Taglioni

I suggest you make the pasta boil-ready before beginning with the bell peppers. Or you can crank it into ribbons while the bell peppers roast and rest. How to make fresh pasta you can read here. Boil the pasta before making the sauce, drain, put back into kettle and lid on it. Set aside.

Cream used in this recipe is something known in Finland as "cooking cream", lighter, thicker cream-like substance. It doesnt curd if you boil it with salt. This recipe makes for one person.

2 roasted bell peppers
1 red onion
2 garlic gloves
1 dl cream
2-3 tbsp capers
Oil
Pepper, pinch of salt

1. Dice onions, cut garlic and cut the bell peppers into fine strips.

2. Saute onions until lightly softened and transparent. Add bell peppers and stir and mix on a medium heat for a few mins. Add the capers and stir for a minute more. Add cream and let lightly simmer until the sauce thickens (a few minutes).

3. Taste for salt, add pepper or some herbs if you like. Mix with pasta on the pan (I use the kettle to allow more vigorous mixing). Garnish and serve!

Taglioni with Grape Sauce

2012-06-04T16:49:00.000+03:00

Here's a dish I invented when I was still studying at the uni, money was tight but you got to eat something! So I took the grapes sitting on the table and made them into a pasta sauce. This sauce is probably better with cheese filled ravioli, or pasta with some other shape but I do love long thin pasta ribbons. I dont mind what you call them (I am already confused) - bavarettine, taglioni, linguini - I christen mine "taglioni".

Hints and Tips

Now, I am gonna give basic instructions how to make fresh pasta here but the net is actually abundant with them. You can also buy fresh pasta and use it instead. If you are determined to do everything from the scratch, read on. If you just want the sauce, scroll down.
By the way, if you are thinking getting your first pasta machine, here's two tips:
1. Buy a sturdy one, not one of those flimsy models. It has to be heavy. When you lift it up, you should get the feeling "this is good for clubbering a burglar senseless".
2. See that it can be properly attached to the table. Nothing is more irritating than loose pasta machine when you trying to work your dough.

Phasing the work

1. Make the pasta dough. Cover and let rest.
2. Meanwhile, slice, dice and saute veggies. Prepare the sauce.
3. Put a big kettle with cold water to boil. While the sauce is simmering, work the pasta into shapes (ribbons, ravioloni)
4. Finish sauce, boil pasta.

Making Pasta Dough

The basic ingredients for pasta dough are durum flour, eggs, olive oil and salt. You can also add tomato paste or garlic paste. You can blend the ingredients in a food mixer. Here's how you do it by hand. Check measurements from your durum flour bag, or use approx. 2,8 dl flour for 2 (medium) eggs, a tbsp olive oil and half tsp salt. This dough is one of those where you need to feel your way through, so exact measures are hard to give. Add flour rather conservatively to begin with, you can always add more but too much ruins the dough. Traditional instructions advise to make the dough on a table but I use a bowl, it's easier to control egg leakage. If you have a gentleman in the house, let him do the kneading, it's hard work! ;)

Measure ingredients in a bowl or on a table. Pour flour in first, make a well in the midde and put eggs, oil and salt in the well.

Mix the wet ingredients into flour working from side to middle.

Dough is ready for kneading. Knead on a table until the surface is smooth and doesnt stick to anything. If its sticky, add little more flour. Kneading takes approx. 6-8 mins.

Now the dough is ready. It should feel firm, not sticky and dry to touch. Cover it with a plastic wrapper or towel and let rest. If you are using a pasta machine, the dough does necessarily not need to rest. You can put it in a fridge too, it'll keep 48 hrs. If you're making the grape sauce below, get down to it now.

Use your pasta machine (or a rolling pin) to roll out pasta. See your machine leaflet for instructions. Here I made the pasta sheet to size 5 with my Atlas pasta machine.

Use the part for making ribbons to make taglioni. Cover the ribbons or put in a freezer if you made extra (when you prepare it, dont thaw just put it in a boiling water).

Grape Sauce

This makes for 2 persons. If you have ripe tomatos kicking about, you can put them in too. I usually do this in kind of a rustic way, I let the peels stay in and all. If you want a smoother sauce, you can press it through a sieve but it takes some extra effort.

600 gr seedless grapes (and tomatos).
2 onions
1-2 garlic gloves
Olive oil
Touch of stock concentrate, pinch of salt
Pepper, basil, small pinch of dried sage
Grated parmesan to garnish

1. Halve grapes, dice onion and slice garlic. Put olive oil in a pan and saute them on medium heat until the fruit starts to soften and break a little. Then lower temperature, cover with a lid and let simmer lightly. Make the pasta into ribbons now or if you use premade pasta, go browse the net for 20 mins or so, stir occasionally. Put water to boil for pasta.

2. When everything is quite a pulp (press thru sieve now if you're feeling fussy), add seasoning. You can lightly press the more whole looking grapes with a wooden utensil and mix to get smoother texture. Let simmer a bit more.

3. The sauce is ready. Add some oil in boiling water and cook pasta, it should take only a few minutes as the ribbons are so thin. Fish one ribbon out and taste for readiness. It should feel al dente. Mix pasta and sauce.

Garnish and serve!

Baker in the Making

2012-05-28T15:00:00.000+03:00

Here's one of my more recent attempts

I have a confession to make. I was never a very good baker (except for sponge cakes). In the early days of my cooking career I managed to make sweet bread (pulla in Finnish) so hard that my alsatian dog Pippin could not chew them. "Pulla" is very much like your basic yeast bread, except more sugar, butter and sometimes cream or jam on it. Or you can slice it up, add marsipan or jam and whipped cream in the middle. That'd be the Finnish delicacy for Shrove Tuesday. Or roll out the dough on the table add cinnamon, sugar and butter, roll it up, cut to wedges, bake and call them "cuff on the ear" (or more commonly, cinnamon roll). The one in the picture was rolled out on the table and filled with dried figs, marzipan chunks and dark choc pieces. Then rolled into one long log, sprinkled with coarse sugar and almond flakes. Bit sweet, eh. Note to self: next time be very sparing with the choc!

Basic "pulla"

5 dl milk
50 gr yeast
1-2 eggs
2 dl sugar
~1,5 L wheat flour
1 tsp salt
200 gr butter, margarine or 1,5 dl oil rape-seed oil

1 egg + coarse sugar for garnish
Directions for how to bake "pulla" are below with bread roll instructions.

Even making bread rolls proved difficult. All I got was yeast-smelling, thick lumps that would stick to your teeth. Until quite lately, I discovered how the trick is done. It's in the working of the dough. You really need to work the dough diligently and thoroughly. I love oat bread, so these are my current favorite rolls. Be careful not to add more oatmeal flour, as it makes the bread too dry. I find 3 dl oatmeal is ok, but beyond that it gets very dry. You can subsititute some (or all of it) with other types of flour, or flour and seeds. I found the tips at Murmeli's blog (in Finnish). Thanks, much appreciated!

Minna's bread rolls

Breakfast roll

5 dl water
25 gr yeast
1 tsp salt
1-2 tbps sugar
2-3 dl oatmeal flour
3 dl wholegrain wheat flour
4+ dl dark wheat flour
2 tbsp butter or oil

1. Take everything to room temperature 1 hr before baking. It's also handy to have everything measured beforehand, as finding flour bags from cupboard with your hands in dough is, well, quite messy. Measure all flour in a separate bowl.
2. Heat liquid (water, milk) in a kettle to body temperature. Be careful, it warms quickly!
3. Crumble yeast in a big bowl, pour liquid over and mix. Then add salt and sugar. I use whisk because it adds air to the dough and thus makes the bread more fluffy. (Add eggs here if youre making sweet bread)
4. Grab the flour and whisk it slowly to the liquid mixture. When the dough is like loose porridge, get rid of the whisk and put your (clean) hand in the dough.
5. Squeeze, knead and press the dough while adding more flour. Be careful not to add too much in one go. If the dough feels too loose, add some more flour. When the dough starts to de-attach from your hand, add the melted/soft butter or oil. Do some more squeezing, and add a little bit more flour. Dough is ready when it starts to loosen from the bowl and hand. For bread rolls, you can leave the dough quite loose. I often find 10-11 dl flour is enough bread rolls (plus some more on the table for making the rolls). Kneading usually takes 10-15 minutes.
6. Cover the dough and let it rise (30 mins) in a warm place. It's ready when it's double size.
7. Knead air bubbles out of the dough
8. Sprinkle flour (generously) on your table and put the dough over it. Roll (pat and squeeze) it to a long, thin rectangle. For bread rolls, make 12 small buns and put them on oven tin. Pat them into 1,5 cm thick oval lumps. If youre making sweet bread, make small buns and put them on the tin.
9. Cover, let rise. Set your oven to 225 C.
10. Bread rolls you can just bake in the middle upper part of the oven when they have risen. Depending on your oven 10-12 mins. Sweetbread: wipe the buns with beaten egg and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake for 8-12 minutes depending on size. The rolls and buns should aquire a nice golden-brown colour. When ready, knock their bottom side to hear a hollow sound (it means its well baked). If not, put them back in the oven for a short while.
11. Put the bread rolls on a grill and let them cool. Sweet buns are best to be kept under a kitchen towel until cooled. This kind of bread wont keep very well in room temperature, so I suggest freezing for later use.

These ones happen to be made into milk but usually it's just water

The Light Side of Life

2012-05-25T12:00:00.000+03:00

Helsingin Sanomat (the biggest Finnish newspaper) tipped me off. This is quite an entertaining and informative gadget that shows how healthy eating is dependent on daytime. So we eat healthy in the morning and by the late night news have found our gargantuan eating monster, and begun devouring pizzas, hamburgers and ice cream. The site is worth to have a look at for those who are interested in healthy eating and changing their eating habits.

There is an old saying that goes "Eat like a king in the morning, like a prince during the day, and like a beggar in the evening". Personally I've always found that bit of advice problematic, as I really dont feel like eating much in the morning. Just coffee and bread for me, thanks. When I was overhauling my eating habits, I had to teach myself to eat lunch, even before noon! (It wasn't easy) Though, I recognize the need and craving for sweets and palate pampering towards the evening. I suppose it is as the day progresses, and we get tired and loose energy, the body starts to crave more. Researchers actually have found that sleep deprivation makes you eat 300 calories more per day. So how about actually winding down and having a decent amount sleep?

Being an avid self-indulger (hey, someone's gotta do it!) I've tried to teach myself to enjoy some less questionable evening treats. Some are actually very good, so good that it makes you wonder how can this stuff be healthy?!

Mango-Banana Smoothie

This is less imaginative recipe than most of the smoothie recipes out there. See for instance here.
Nevertheless, this one is my favourite. It's quick, cheap and simple. Most of all, I love the taste. It's especially good during hot summer evenings. This makes 1 big glass or 2 smaller ones.

2-3 dl unsweetened apple juice
1 banana
1,5 dl frozen mango cubes

1. Put everything in a bowl. Grab a stick mixer and pure the whole thing. If you have a bowl with a lid, I strongly advise using it. Mango cubes tend to splurge about quite a bit.
2. Pour in a glass and enjoy!

Banana-Blueberry Quark

This is another simple, easy and rather a healty dessert type of food. I don't usually put in cream, as it is like giving your finger to the devil, start with small doses and end up using more and more. Usually I dont use any sweeteners with it but if your sweet tooth is aching bad, a teeny weeny pinch of stevia is good. This makes for 2 or one greedy.

250 gr quark (fat-free or low-fat)
1 banana
1+ dl blueberries
touch of vanilla powder
(sweetener of your choice, sparingly dosed)
(1 dl low-fat fake whipping cream or vanilla custard)

1. Put everything (but the creamy stuff) in a bowl and mix with a stick mixer.
(2. Whip the cream and slowly mix it in with a spoon.)
3. It's ready to serve!

Tomato-Basil Salad

Tomato and basil are a great pair. They make a great salad just with onion and a touch of olive oil and vinegar. Add mozzarella to that and its mmmmmmm.. Here's another kind salad, for light evening meal or side dish. Lovely with grilled chicken or warm baguette. This makes for one not too famished person.

1,5 dl sweet mini plum tomatos
10 basil leaves
1/2 small very finely sliced onion (shallot)
5-6 pieces artichoke in oil (with herbs/grilled)
Handful of rucola leaves
1 tsp balsamico
Pepper
1-2 tbsp olive oil (or use the artichoke oil instead)

1. Halve tomatos, slice onion, cut artichoke in 1 cm pieces. Rince rucola.
2. Put tomatos, onion and artichoke into a bowl and rip basil and rucola over them.
3. Sprinkle oil, balsamico and pepper over. Mix with spoon and let sit for 15 mins.
4. Serve.

Winter Chanterelle Risotto

2012-05-21T21:07:00.000+03:00

Oh well, my favorite musrooms and recent obsession with risotto. What else you could expect?!
This makes for 2. This risotto can be also made without bacon, just saute garlic, onion and celery together. You can use dried penny buns instead of winter chanterells, then consider using 0,5 dl chopped parsley instead of peas.

Winter Chanterelle Risotto with Bacon

1,5 dl arborio rice
1 onion quite finely chopped
10-15 cm piece of celery stick sliced
1-2 garlic glove(s), sliced
1 dl dry sherry or 1,5 dl white wine
1,5- 2 dl of dried winter chanterelles
150 gr fillet bacon
1 dl grated parmesan
6-7dl (or so) low salt chicken stock
0,5 dl peas
butter for frying
(olive oil)

1. Soak the mushrooms in water, 15 mins is enough. Dice and slice all the veggies.
2. Remove all the excess, visible white fat from the bacon. Cut the bacon into thin slices
3. Heat the pan to almost max-maximum heat, fry the bacon until it lightly browns.
4. Lower the heat, put in some olive oil if needed and saute the onions. Scrape bacon and mushies into a bowl and set aside.
5. Put the stock into a kettle and bring it near boiling temperature.
6. Set the pan on medium heat and melt the butter. Saute the celery and garlic. Put the rice in, mix and stir, and let it aquire a glassy appearance (1-2 mins). It should not get brown. Pour in the wine and let it lightly simmer while stirring. Let the rice absorb the wine.
7. Add the first ladle of stock, let the rice absorb it while stirring occasionally. Do not let the risotto boil vigorously.
8. Repeat 7 until the rice is almost done (when there's still something to bite but the hard starchey quality is gone) and put in the peas and bacon-musroom mixture.
9. Add stock and let the rice absorb it. Test the rice and add some more stock if it's not ready yet, let absorb.
10. Take the pan off the heat, mix in the parmesan and let it melt.
11. Pile on a plate, sprinkle parmesan over and serve!

There's Nothing Permanent but Change

2012-05-17T20:47:00.000+03:00

As you notice, I've done some changes on the blog - name, pictures, colour scheme. Along with the name change, the blog will be available with new blogger and domain adresses. The old adress, www.minnaskitchen.com will still work. I've added a domain, www.bluntcook.com, to serve as the main url for the blog. Additionally, the blogger adress will change accordingly. So the following urls will work from mon 21 May 2012 onwards (and minnas-experimentalcooking.blogspot.com ceases to work):

www.bluntcook.com
www.bluntcook.blogspot.com
www.minnaskitchen.com

As for the changes, I felt I needed to profile it a tad better. The blog is about creating, experimenting with recipes, nature, Finnish food culture, lessons learned and non-fuss instructions how to prepare good meals. I wanted to reflect to my approach to live, love and cooking; creative, curious and straightforward. Therefore: Blunt Cook - with sharp instruments and twisted recipes. A good inspiration for blog makeover offered delicious days, thank you very much! It's a good read for any aspiring blogger.