CONSUMED LIFE

Spicy Sweet Potato and Coconut Soup

2012-01-25T21:46:00.000+02:00

This soup has amazing thai-style flavour, a combination of sweet, spicy and acidity that really tickles the tastebuds. It is absolutely great as a starter or even as a light meal on its own, as it is quite creamy and filling. Serve an off dry or medium white wine with it and the flavours will be even more wonderful. I love a good Riesling but I'm pretty sure that a Gewurtztraminer or a Pinot Gris would work as well. Go for something from Alsace and you're at least on the right track.

Sweet Potato and Coconut Soup
(New food for thought, Jane Noraika)
(Serves 4)

1 onion, finely chopped
sunflower oil
25g of root ginger
2 tsp roasted and ground cumin seeds
1 small fresh chilli (I cheated with jarred chilli paste)
600g sweet potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
400ml coconut milk
750 ml veg stock
juice of 1 lime
salt and pepper
fresh coriander

1. Fry the onion in a large saucepan. Add the ginger, cumin and chilli and cook until the onion is translucent.

2. Add sweet potato, coconut milk and stock, cook until the sweet potato is soft.

3. Process with a blender until smooth. Add lime juice and seasoning. Serve with coriander. I also added some crayfish tails.

Sunday dinner with good friends, good food and wine

2012-01-22T22:04:00.000+02:00

When we invited our good friends over for Sunday dinner, I announced that I would like to be cooking it all by myself. This has not really happened much before, as my significant other happens to be a professional chef. Somehow he always ends up taking over in the kitchen whenever we want to have something slightly better than a everyday salad or pasta.

So, I planned ahead for a three course menu which ended up looking like this:

Sweet Potato and Coconut Soup with Crayfish

2009 Schloss Johannisberg Riesling, Rheingau, Germany

Parcels of Beetroot, Green Lentils, Mushrooms, Spinach and Mozzarella served with a Salad of Rocket, Fennel and Parmesan

2008 Krug'scherhoff Pinot Noir, Rheinhessen, Germany

Banoffee Pie

The wines were bought during our Berlin trip in August, I liked the Riesling a lot but as I tasted the Pinot Noir I started dancing and laughing, I absolutely loved it. Beautiful berries with cherry, cranberry and strawberry aromas, velvety lightness and balance, no tannins. Match made in heaven for the beetroot and lentils. I am not ashamed to say I was proud of myself today, definately the best dinner I have ever cooked, without any help. Need to do this more often!
Next some pictures of the night, I will be posting the recipes in the next few days when I am less tired.

Fresh!

2012-01-18T15:02:00.000+02:00

Spent two hours walking in the fresh snow today. It was beautiful! Finally a proper amount of the white stuff, and the days are getting lighter as well. What follows are some pics from the walk and a lunch salad idea - recipes for salads are a bit pointless, aren't they?

Vanhakoski rapids

Pihlajamäki skatepark

Vantaa river

The reward

Lunch today was a fresh salad of crayfish, avocado, cucumber, pink grapefruit and green herb marinated olives dressed with lemon pesto and extra squeeze of lemon. Add mayo if you like!

Red peppers & Almonds

2012-01-17T23:06:00.000+02:00

I must admit I am inspired, the moussaka was so delicious that I couldn't wait to cook the next recipe from "New food for thought". I think I should try to make an effort at the beginning of every week to cook one more substantial dish and one soup, which will last for many more days during the busy week, and even longer when frozen.

This is part of my effort to try and change my habits of nibbling unhealthy foods and not planning ahead on my meals. Also by freezing individual portions in the right size will reduce the temptation to take seconds, one of my many bad habits.

As I am trying to find a more sensible attitude to eating you might find me writing more about that aspect of food on the blog as well. Any discussion and tips are certainly welcome! Now, to the recipe of

Red pepper and almond soup
(serves 4 according to the original recipe)

Olive oil
700g red peppers, cored, de-seeded and cut in half
2 onions, finely chopped
4 sticks celery, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tsp paprika (I used smoked cause I love it!!)
400g tinned tomatoes
100g ground almonds
600g veg stock
salt & pepper
fresh basil
roasted, flaked almonds for garnish

1. Roast the peppers under a hot grill until lightly charred. Peel off the skin and discard.

2. Fry the onions, celery, garlic and (smoked) paprika together with the olive oil for 5-10 mins until soft.

3. Add tomatoes, ground almonds and roasted peppers. Continue to cook another 3-4 minutes. Add the stock and use a stick blender to mix until smooth.

4. Season with salt, pepper and the fresh basil. Bring gently back to boil. (Might want to use a bigger saucepan than me, I nearly had the soup all over the stove.)

5. Serve with the roasted almonds.

Vegetarian moussaka

2012-01-16T23:47:00.000+02:00

So, we have a pretty good selection of cookbooks but we rarely pick a recipe and follow it. I am on a mission to change this, and started with Jane Noraika's "New Food for thought". Food for thought is a lovely little vegetarian restaurant in Covent Garden of London, which I used to regularly visit when I lived over there in 2004-2005. It was also the first ever restaurant I took my meat eating boyfriend to, with success I think. He took me to Pizza Hut. :D

He gave me this book around 2006 (we can't agree on the year...) but not many recipes have been followed, as I said. I browsed through the book and decided to start on Moussaka, as it is most certainly apt food for the dark cold wintertime.

MOUSSAKA
(Serves 6)

Tomato sauce:
Olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 sticks celery, sliced
1 carrot, grated
tinned chopped tomatoes, 400g
2 tbsp tomato puree
splash of soy sauce
bunch of fresh basil, chopped

White sauce:
50g butter
50g flour (2tbsp in the original recipe, found that it wasn't enough)
pinch of nutmeg
150 ml milk
100g cheddar (think I nearly doubled this...oops)
(original recipe adds a beaten egg white but I gave it a miss)

Vegetables:
100g green lentils (bought mine ready cooked)
675g potatoes, cooked and then sliced
2 aubergines (aka eggplant), sliced
275g mushrooms, cut into quarters
1 red pepper, de-seeded and sliced into thin strips
450g FRESH spinach, washed very well

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Cook lentils if didn't buy them ready cooked.

3. Place sliced aubergine on a large oven tray with plenty of olive oil. Add pesto if you want extra flavour. I used the new Pirkka lemon pesto, which is nice and fresh. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes until tender, stir every now and then.

4. Stir-fry mushrooms and peppers, set aside.

5. Cook the spinach quickly in a saucepan in olive oil and butter (no butter in the original but I think spinach needs it) until it's wilted. Squeeze extra liquid out.

6.In a large saucepan fry the onion, garlic, celery and carrot in olive oil until soft. Add tomatos, tomato puree and soy sauce. Bring to the boil and season with basil, salt and pepper. Let it cool down for a while.Combine with lentils, mushrooms, peppers and spinach.

The best ever white sauce I ever made! (Might be the first one too...)

7. In a small pan melt the butter with the nutmeg. Lower the heat and stir in the flour slowly. I needed much more flour than 2 tbsp like the original recipe suggested, almost the same quantity as butter. Cook until the texture of the roux changes to breadcrumb-like. Slowly add the milk and stir vigorously all the time to avoid lumps. Stir in the cheese and season with salt and pepper. Stir until the cheese is melted.

8.Cover a deep dish with half of the tomato mixture, layer half of the aubergines on top.Add half of the potatoes on the aubergines. Repeat, and cover the final layer of potatoes with the white sauce. Add extra cheese if you're as greedy as me.

9. Cook in the oven at 200-225C for 20-30 minutes until the cheese is golden brown and bubbling.

10. Serve with something green and ENJOY!

I look forward to making more yummy vegetarian recipes from this book. I really need to experiment more with pulses and stuff to get more vegetable proteins, I eat too much fish for my liking at the moment. I'd like to eat soups more regularly, so the next recipe might be a red pepper and almond soup. And we are hoping to visit UK at some point this year, maybe it's time to visit the good old Food for thought again...

Too-good-to-be-true Muffins with Red Onion Jam and Blue Cheese

2011-12-13T21:26:00.002+02:00

Ha so only about a week later than planned I finally have made my muffins with the glögi-spiced sweet onion jam and blue cheese. So tasty I have already had three...

I am taking part to Chocochili's food challenge with this recipe. The challenge was to use glögi (mulled wine) in a recipe or create a recipe for glögi. I came up with the idea of using glögi in red onion jam, and asked my boyfriend for instructions when I made it. I made mine quite sweet and fruity with the glögi and cherry liquor and it tastes great just with a piece of cheese on it's own. He traditionally makes an onion jam for Christmas but I think my version is much better. Don't tell the chef that though...

For the muffins I used Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's savoury muffin recipe as a base and added my own ingredients. I have made muffins before with this recipes and they always turn out delicious! I like my muffins savoury and cheesy.

Red onion & blue cheese muffins

makes 12

Use baking paper to make cups for the muffins. Cut/ rip squares that fit your muffin tray, use some warm water and crunch to soften them and place in the muffin tray ready for the dough mix. (Can use ready made cups or just pour the dough straight onto a buttered tray but these look more rustic and save you from a mess)

Ingredients:

250g flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
80g butter, melted and cooled
200 ml buttermilk
2dl of Red onion jam
150g blue cheese, preferably crumbly
(I added some grated cheddar on top)

Mix together the dry ingredients.
Mix eggs, butter and buttermilk together in an another bowl.
Combine.
Fold in onion jam and blue cheese carefully, not too much to make sure the muffins come out light.
Spoon the dough into the muffin cups.
Bake for 18 minutes in 200C degrees.

Enjoy!! Best muffins ever!!

Red Onion Jam with Mulled Wine

2011-12-07T23:03:00.001+02:00

December's blog challenge is so interesting I have to take part again! This time with something a little more challenging than my mom's macaroni soup. Congratulations to Chocochili who won November's challenge, her blog is one my favourites, not least because of her amazing food photography! Her choice for the challenge was glögi, Finnish version of mulled wine. The idea was to share your glögi recipe or use glögi in cooking. We start drinking glögi as soon as it arrives in the shops in September, so by December we're already quite fed up with it. I decided to make up something different, and spent a few days thinking how to use glögi in something savoury.

Red onion jam is made in our kitchen a few times a year and so I thought I would make a more Christmassy version of it, finally making some savoury muffins with the onion jam and blue cheese. I'm making the jam tonight and the muffins (which will be the challenge recipe) tomorrow. The jam takes a couple of hours to make and it's simmering as I write this post.

Red Onion Jam with Mulled wine
Measurements are estimates, add,change or reduce to your liking!

6 large red onions, finely chopped
A bottle of readymade mulled wine or glögi (I had Kaskein Marja Juhla glögi, 0,75l)
1 dl Berry liquor (I happened to have some Estonian Cherry liquor in my cupboard)
1 dl Port wine
You can use what you happen to have, or buy some cheap, full bodied red wine, but remember to add more sugar
3 dl Brown sugar
Couple of dashes balsamic vinegar
Star anise or other spices used in mulled wine, that you like. Star anise is my favourite

Assorted liquids found in the cupboards

Lotsa onions!

Mix all the ingredients in a big pan, bring to simmer at medium heat and keep simmering until the liquids have evaporated and the onions are soft and sweet. Ready!

Serve with cheese, in a sandwich, fill a quiche with it or as a side dish with anything you think it would go with. You can also fill some cute little jars with it and give to other foodies as a gift. Keeps for a couple of months or so in the fridge.

I will post my muffin recipe tomorrow, with which I will be taking part to the monthly blog challenge.

Getting in the Christmas mood...

2011-11-30T22:16:00.001+02:00

I think I have always been a Christmas person. I love making my own Christmas cards, I actually enjoy Christmas shopping, the songs make me sentimental and I love the food. And there must be fairylights and candles out at least a month before, especially now when there is no snow to brighten the terrible kaamos days.

So Christmas has arrived to our home in these past two days with a star in the window, a little decoration here and there, bowls of candy (must have Quality Street and Fazer green marmelades) and gingerbread. What I love about Finland is that you can buy the gingerbread dough frozen, supereasy! (I once nearly broke a food processor making my own dough in England. There was smoke coming out of it...) Glögi(Finnish mulled wine) we started drinking already in September.

I took some photos today that I am planning on getting printed and making my cards with this year. Hope you like!

Just over three weeks until Christmas!!!

(Can't wait to see my family)

2011-11-15T21:20:00.001+02:00

My ultimate comfort food: Mama's macaroni soup

I spotted a food challenge in Kulinaarimuruja blog with the subject being comfort food. I've never taken part to these challenges before but it's a great way to get inspiration so I might make this a habit! So, comfort food, I started thinking. I love cheese, I love mash, I love fish pie, pasta, soups and so on, but I think that the REAL comfort foods come from our childhoods, and they are certainly not fancy foods. So I'm sharing my mom's recipe for a milky, salty, thick macaroni soup, known as makaronivelli in Finnish. It was the whole family's favourite when I was little, and nobody elses mom could make it as nice as mine. Some added sugar to it, which was unheard of! This is how it's made...

Cook around 3 dl macaroni for a little longer than the packaging suggests.

It's meant to be overcooked to be soft.

Drain the water away and add milk so that it covers the macaroni.

Simmer on low/medium heat, don't let the milk burn.

Mix 2 tbsp flour with a little milk, add in to thicken the soup.

Simmer until desired consitency is achieved.

Season with salt and a knob of butter, slice of nice rye bread on the side.

Mmmmmmmmmm!

The times I've made this myself are not many, as to be real comfort food it has to be made by my mom, which happens now about once a year. My British boyfriend absolutely hates the soup, and I think it's a forgotten dish already for most Finns as well. But I love it and I'm proud of it! Really enjoyed having some tonight actually...

2011-10-22T15:35:00.000+03:00

Hearty chickpea stew with mushrooms and spinach

Inspired by Movida in Melbourne

Garlic

Onion

Olive oil

Mushrooms

Can of chickpeas

2-3 dl of vegetable stock

Chopped tomatoes or passata- optional

Fresh spinach

Fennel seeds (Cumin would also work)

Smoked paprika-optional

Couple of slices of white bread, cubed -optional

Start by sauteeing the mushrooms in the olive oil, add some salt to remove moisture from the mushrooms.

Add garlic and onion, and after a couple of minutes the chickpeas as well.

Add half of the stock and let simmer on a low heat.

Don't add too much liquid unless if you want to make a soup (which wouldn't be bad either I'm sure).

Add the optional chooped tomatoes and passata and spices, as well as the bread.

The bread just gives the stew a more glutenous consistency so it's entirely optional for those more carb-conscious of us.

Taste and when the stew starts to seem ready add the spinach and mix until spinach has just wilted.

Ready!

We had a similar dish when we ate at Movida in Melbourne, Australia. It's a suprisingly tasty dish, the appearance is modest to say the least but it's seriously goooooood. I didn't really use a recipe or measure things - which is how I tend to cook to be honest. I am sorry for anyone who likes accurate recipes, I'm afraid you're not going to get them from me! It also gets better in the fridge so you can keep it for a few meals. I used the last bit of my batch for an omelette type dish with cheese and it was awesome. Could also work as a side dish. I think this is going to be a new favourite in our kitchen, hope you like it too!

Shroomy risotto

2011-10-22T00:20:00.004+03:00

A couple of days ago I was going to visit my friend's new place and was given the permission to take over her kitchen. This often happens when I visit people, no one seems to mind, but it makes me wonder if everyone thinks I am a kitchen-nazi or something. I also love cooking but often I just make food for myself and those times you can't really call it cooking, if I just make salads most days. So it's always nice to make a small effort for something more interesting. I could say that risottos have become my favourite thing to cook for friends and family as I always get compliments for them. This time I took some black chanterelles (suppilovahvero in Finnish) with me and we shopped for the rest together before my friend introduced her kitchen to me.

My awesome shroomy risotto

Serves 4 (or 2 if you are seriously hungry!)

Butter

Mushrooms (Chanterelles, ceps, button mushrooms, whatever you have!)

2 tbsp Oil

3 dl Risotto rice

Garlic, depends on how much you love it

1 Onion

5 dl Good vegetable stock

2 dl White wine (could use red as well)

100g Parmesan

Fresh sage

Salt & pepper

Panfry the chopped mushrooms in butter, add salt and pepper. Set aside for later.

Place the oil and risotto rice in a non stick pan, add garlic and onion when the pan gets hot and the rice is nicely glaced. Add 1 dl of veg stock and let simmer. Keep adding the stock and white wine gradually until the rice is cooked for your liking (taste!), usually takes around 15 minutes. With the last bit of stock add the mushrooms, parmesan and sage, mix well, take off heat and enjoy in a couple of minutes!

We tried two wines with the risotto, both worked but we preferred the white. (Although the red one had that cute picture of a dog on it, so extra points for that).

White wine recommendation: Wolfberger (W)3, Riesling, Muscat, Pinot Gris, Alsace, France

Red wine recommendation: Trifula, Nebbiolo, Barbera d'Asti, Dolcetto and Pinot noir, Piemonte, Italy

I also have to recommend the band we saw after our dinner, French Films were playing at Tavastia and they were great! I hope they become the next big thing in Finland, beautiful music. Here's a clip for those who would like to check it out:

Butternut squash soup

2011-10-07T14:31:00.003+03:00

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with a Moroccan Twist

1 large butternut squash, peeled and cubed

1large onion, chopped roughly

3 garlic cloves, chopped roughly

knob of butter

dash of olive oil

ras el hanout, to taste

star anise, to taste

salt & pepper to taste

1 litre good vegetable stock

Mix all ingredients in a roasting dish,

cook in the oven in 200 C for 45 minutes or until the squash is soft and cooked through.

Go for a walk and enjoy the autumn while you wait.

When you come back enjoy the scent of the star anise and spices.

Place the vegetables in a pan (remove star anise), add vegetable stock and mix with a stick blender.

Add more stock until you have the desired consistency.

Heat up and enjoy!

Berlin!!

2011-10-04T12:13:00.001+03:00

And only six months later I am back! The whole summer passed without a laptop and hence no opportunity to process my photos hence no inspiration to blog. I feel an inspiration to write more now that the laptop situation is fixed and the weather is getting colder, making it cosier to stay at home wearing woollen socks and drinking tea. Perfect time to start looking back at the lovely summer we had...

We had our summer holiday at the end of August, destination Berlin. It seems like everybody loves Berlin and I was convinced we would too by all the recommendations from credible sources. (Check Pumpkin Jam's post in Finnish of her trip for example) We stayed at Excelsior hotel near Zoologischer garten, which I had found just by browsing online. It was a bargain for a four star hotel, but we found it lacking personality and while the location was nice as such being very close to the U-bahn, S-bahn and busses, we were enjoying the eastern Berlin a lot more and found it a little annoying to have to travel quite a long distance to our favourite brunch cafe in Prenzlauer berg.

We spent a week in Berlin, mostly hanging around, eating LOTS, seeing the sights, shopping, getting a bit lost and just enjoying. Here is my Best of Berlin list:

1. Mauerpark

Berliners know how to spend their Sundays! At Mauerpark there is a huge fleamarket with lots of quality stuff, food stalls and good atmosphere. Behind the fleamarket there is a park where you can find all sorts of bands busking, people having picnics and chilling out. There is also an amphitheatre where a huge crowd gathers every Sunday for the Bearpit karaoke. I have never ever enjoyed watching karaoke as much as I did there.

2. Dinner in the dark

What an experience, recommend to everybody! We booked a table at Nocti vactus in advance and chose to have the surprise three course menu for around 30 €. We were a little apprehensive before the dinner wether it would be worth going or not, but as soon as our waiter Thomas led us in to the darkness of the dining room we were amazed. You really cant see a thing and you have to rely on all your other senses. You don't know what the food looks like, or in fact what it is so you really TASTE the food. After each course Thomas would ask us what we thought we had eaten and then correct us, if necessary. I was quite proud of my taste buds, I believe that practising with wine tasting has made me quite accurate. At one point we got company as unexpectedly an another couple was seated at our table. It was truly amazing to to start talking to strangers in the darkness and get to know them without seeing them. The night was unforgettable and so much fun. Thank you for the great company if you are reading this!

3. Brunch

Nearly every morning we had a great breakfast, the best ones were at Anna Blume in Prenzlauer berg and Schwarzes cafe quite close to our hotel. The three-tiered brunch is a must at Anna Blume, and well worth the wait. The cake selection looked amazing but we never had any room in our bellies for them...Next time. Schwarzes cafe had a lovely garden in the inner court and a good selection on different breakfasts. I made my own ordering smoked salmon and avocado, the best combo ever.

4. Getting lost

In Berlin you never know what is behind the corner. There are bars and cafes in courtyards, behind the East side gallery there is a beach bar, in Kreuzberg a Kiosk bus and a cafe in a vegetable garden.

Next some pictures starring the culinary delights of our visit... enjoy!

Pad thai and a green curry at Mai Thai in Prenzlauer berg. Quite expensive but pretty tasty.

Prater, our favourite beergarten. Hundreds of people, pretty lights, Berliner Weisse and pretzels.

Anna Blume three-tiered brunch. Divine.

Beach bar behind East side gallery. I tried Moet Ice for the first time, quite refreshing but basically a waste of Champagne.

Amazing sushi at Sasaya in Prenzlauer berg.

4€ Caipirinhas at Wohnzimmer.

Outside Spanish restaurant Tres tapas where we enjoyed some really good red wine and tapas section, plus good tips from our waitress on what to see and do in Berlin.

Kjosk in Kreuzberg.

Mexican lunch at Santa Maria in Kreuzberg. Loved it!! So happy that there is something like this also in Helsinki, might do a post about it later...

Cafe in a vegetable garden in Kreuzberg.

Saturday market in Prenzlauer berg.

Andy had a taste of the famous Berlin snack, Currywurst. Verdict: not the best you can have in Berlin.

This is a crap picture from our African dinner at Massai. Interesting,would love to try again.

Had to try one of these! Ice tea with bubbles.

Tasty focaccia type snach at Mauerpark fleamarket.

Brunch at Swarzes cafe.

Caffe & Gelato ice cream... Amazingness!

Proper German food on our final day. This was at restaurant Bavarium in Europe center. Schnitzel, spätzle and strudel. We like! Washed down with a glass of Riesling and a beer of course.

I loved the graffiti, observing was fun as you never knew where the next piece of art would be.

Berlin, we will be back!!!

Rustic chickpeas, mushrooms and mash

2011-02-24T16:54:00.000+02:00

So you remember how I was declaring my love for zumba in my previous post? My love for zumba caused me to sprain the ligament on my ankle yesterday. It hurt like hell. I am not able to move around very well now, I can't stop laughing at my self hopping around looking pretty stupid. Anyway, I have the best boyfriend in the world, he has been pampering me with flowers and sweets and a lovely dinner yesterday.

He stewed some canned chickpeas with onion, garlic, spinach and spices (ras el hanout, tagine mix, piri and something else too), cooked the mushrooms with red wine vinegar and shallots and made mashed potatoes with garlic cream cheese and some herbs. He is my hero!

This dish is lovely with some red wine, we were having some Italian Vino d'Tavola, but I think the meatyness and spice of the chickpeas can match to some heavier, earthier reds. Have to expirement something else next time...

Today I made A Pretty Good Omelette (whatever the French may say)

2011-02-22T11:21:00.000+02:00

So, not so much cooking has been happening recently. Seems like it is not my top priority when my days are full of stuff to do... but it will come back, and I'm happy to accept that. The main point is to enjoy fully the things you have time to do.

This morning I was studying food culture of Provence in France, and then it became my top priority to cook a tasty brunch for us, instead of writing an essay. So I decided on an omelette. Cooking an omelette for a chef is scary, but I think it came out pretty good even if I say so myself. The trick is to cook it just for the right time so that the inside is still a little runny. Traditionally the outside should have no colour, but mine wasn't really traditional, with lots of filling as well ; red pepper, rocket and pecorino cheese, with a little pesto, salt and pepper.

Help me I'm a tea freak!!!

2011-01-21T23:05:00.000+02:00

Oops I did it again! I bought more tea!! I was visiting the Travel Fair and of course instead of booking a holiday like most people I was exploring all the foods and drinks... so tea it is. I bought six Forsman loose tea bags.

I now have 23 different types of tea at home. Insane. I do drink a lot of tea though, like six cups or more on a heavy tea drinking day. If that justifies this... I should host a tea party or something. Anyway, I thought it might be an interesting idea for a post to look what I've got. Here we go!

Women's fitness, Sweet chili, Rose and Bedtime

I love Yogi teas, they are full of flavour and they are organic on top of that! My new favourite is the women's fitness with rosemary, nettle, rosehip and lavender. Lavender is one of my favourite scents and this tea smells heavenly! Sweet chili is Andy's favourite.

T2 French Earl grey and Turkish apple

These boxes make me miss Australia! One of my favourite shops down under was T2, better than any candy shop. So many flavours and smells, it was AWESOME! I wish they would come to Finland too. Or I need to get someone to ship me some of the good stuff. Cause obviously I can never have enough tea.

CLIPPER; Indian chai, Green chai, Peppermint, Nettle and Detox

I'm a heavy user of Clipper's detox and peppermint teas. Detox is so tasty with flavours like raspberry and liqourice root and peppermint is just perfect after a meal. I like chai, but these are maybe not the best. When we were in India I drank lots of Chai, strong, cinnamonny, supersupersweet and goooood. It will never be the same here.

Finnish Forsman; Green jasmine, White pearl, Liqourice, Rooibos with blood orange, India yoga chai, Russian blend(aka golden apple) and Green earl Grey

So this is what I bought today. Amazing loose tea, we have Forsman tea at my workplace and it's very good quality. I've only tasted the jasmine and the Russian blend, which are both suberb, but I look forward to the others. Especially the blood orange rooibos! Sounds a bit different. I love liqourice so I hope I can substitute the candy with the tea.

Proper Brittish tea like.

This is Andy's stuff. I rarely drink black tea but when we lived in England it was a habit more than anything. I learned from Andy's family to make drinks to others, it's such a sweet gesture. Here it's more the "help yourself" way but in England everybody knows just how to make their loved one's cuppas. But since we've been here in Finland that habit has been forgotten. Maybe I'll make Andy a nice cuppa tea in his favourite (read OLDEST) mug when he gets home from work.

The mixed bag; Rooibos with almond and cream, Indiska chai, White tea with orange spice and Thehuone Green tea sencha sakura

The chai and the green tea are gifts from friends, I mentioned my love for chai before (R, you know me!) and this green tea is amazing. Some green teas can have a really bitter flavour but this one is smooth and pleasant. It's flavoured with rosehip and cherry aroma. I have to visit the shop Thehuone myself one day...

The other two are new as well, but I already love the White tea with orange spice. I think white tea is going to be my next big favourite.

Cheeky tea tin and elephant tea pot

I love tea pots and would like to collect more. This one is so beautiful, from Indiska. We collect elephant related things that we find beautiful. I think it started from our trip in India and Thailand where we saw elephants for the first time, they are somehow so wise and gentle animals, yet powerful. i'm not superstitious but I like the Indian god Ganesha and how it's meant to bring good luck if you have a statue or an image of Ganesha. So in a way by collecting elephants I am trying to ensure that I will have good luck. I think it's worked pretty well so far... The story went a bit of topic there but nevermind, elephants are cool!

Are there any other tea hoarders out there? Any recommendations?

My SuperGreen Smoothie

2011-01-18T19:57:00.000+02:00

As I was sitting at the hairdresser today, I got through quite a few women's magazines. I saw an article about smoothies in one of them and there was an idea about combining avocado, kiwi and yoghurt. Here's my version of that!

My SuperGreen Smoothie

Makes around 2 large glasses

1 Avocado

2 Kiwis

1 Lime

Cucumber

Spinach

Basil

1 dl Apple juice

1 dl Organic Turkish yoghurt

Sesame seeds

Blitz in a blender until smooth. I do mine with a stick blender, to make a nice froth bring the blender to the surface so air mixes in the drink. Does that make any sense? I got the idea from how the froth in cappucino is made, and that's how they get that fluffy texture to soups in professional kitchens. Just a little tip from me to you! This was an ideal afternoon snack so I had energy to go for a long walk after my day at uni (and the hairdresser). And it makes you feel super healthy and hippie!


MMmmmmmmmmm

Sushi Sunday

2011-01-16T23:23:00.001+02:00

Our ingredients

Sushi Sunday - I could make this a habit. Lazyish day with long walks with the dog, Toy Story 3 on DVD and making sushi. Or Andy making and me taking pictures. Sundays are more or less the only days he has time to cook at home, so I let him. We hadn't made sushi together before so it was about time

Speedy sushi making

I got the ingredients yesterday from Hakaniemi, we made two different fillings; raw salmon & avocado and tuna with cucumber. We also made a salad from fresh spinach, raw salmon and avocado with a dressing from sesame oil, soy sauce, lemon juice, ginger, garlic and honey, as well as sesame seeds.

Rollin'!

We had miso soup as a starter, super easy, just boil the kettle and add hot water to a sachet of stuff that looks like mud! Would've been nice to add tofu but since we didn't have any I made it extra seaweedy with this sea salad stuff. It's a mixture of dried seafoods and you can use it in salads or soups. I got it from the organic food shop Ekolo in Hakaniemi.


Miso soup Moomin mugs

With the meal we had a piccolo bottle of Pommery POP rose Champagne. The bubbles complimented the fattiness of the salmon, avocado and Japanese mayonaisse, it was a good match. Shame it was just a piccolo...

After a Sunday like this it almost doesn't feel too bad to get back to studies tomorrow, it's just that waking up at 6:30 was never my favourite thing. Let's hope that I'll still find time to cook and blog after the everyday life begins again. Bye bye holidays!

Salmon, avocado and spinach salad with sesame dressing


Maki rolls

California roll style

Saturday Market Brunch

2011-01-15T13:05:00.003+02:00

Woke up to bright frosty (-15c) sunrise and took the bus to Hakaniemi for some food shopping. Asian food shop for bok choy (still not available at supermarkets in Finland!), sushi rice, japanese mayo, wasabi and seaweed - tomorrow is sushi Sunday!

Then to Hakaniemi food hall for some Moriz bread from Tuffe's bakery, herb marinated olives, avocado, cherry tomatoes on the vine and zucchini and some salmon for tomorrow's sushi from Töölön kala. Also treated myself to some tulips from the florist. The sunlight is starting to win and the idea of spring starts to feel like a possibility. I love mornings like this!

Simple and tasty!

With the good ingredients, only little cooking is needed and so when I came back I had a tasty lunch of tortilla Espanola from before, Moriz bread, avocado, tomatoes (best I've had for a while!) with a little finger salt & white wine vinegar and olives. YUM-MY! Happy Saturday to everybody!

My Version of the Tortilla Espanola

2011-01-14T13:55:00.000+02:00


Muy delicioso!

Another new thing I tried in the year 2011! Go me! Andy has made tortilla espanola many many times, and his version is super tasty but it's a very easy dish so it was about time I made it myself. I used a whole bag of potatoes so it made a rather large batch, hopefully it will taste good after freezing. (Need to work on my portions!!) The traditional version is just potatoes, onions and eggs but I added harissa paste, red pepper and fresh spinach for some flavour.

Good on it's own, makes a meal when served with a salad, or can be served as a side dish.

Tortilla Espanola a la Sari

Bag of potatoes, sliced thinly, season with salt
2 Onions
Red pepper
Spinach, handful
Harissa paste
6 eggs (free range)
Salt & pepper

Cook the potatoes on a pan with olive oil until they're cooked. (Confession... I could have cooked mine for just a bit longer... al dente potatoes are not so nice!)
Add the onion and pepper once potatoes are ready. Add the spinach at the end, cook further for a minute until it's just wilted.
Crack the eggs in a separate jug, add seasoning and the harissa paste.
Use an oven proof pan or tray, and mix the potatoes with the eggs. Cook in 200 C until the egg is set and the top is a nice golden colour.

Silvoplee - possibly the best vegetarian restaurant in Helsinki

2011-01-14T12:51:00.006+02:00

I have heard about this restaurant many many times, but somehow I just hadn't visited even though I've been living in Helsinki for two years now! This week I've already been there twice and I can feel that I'm going to be a regular.

So what is this place I'm talking about? It's a vegetarian place called Silvoplee, located in Hakaniemi on Toinen linja 3, just opposite the food market. They're open for lunches and they serve a buffet with an overwhelming choice of hot foods, soup and salads. The food is priced at just under 20 e per kilo so it's not super cheap but the ingredients are good quality and the variety is excellent. They also offer some delicious looking desserts, freshly made juices and the house tea was tasty.

Menu of the week

Some of the foods (not the best picture)

Buffet 19,58/kg, Soup 13,89/kg

There is a nice, warm atmosphere

The front door. Check the website for more info!

It's not always easy or cheap to buy a lot of different kinds of fresh vegetables. So when you don't feel like chopping and cooking for yourself, this is the perfect place for lunch! I recommend this place also for the meat lovers, who are a bit suspicious about vegetarian food, as the dishes are tasty and do really fill you up! I'm not trying to convert anyone to become vegetarian, but there are so many good reasons to reduce eating meat.

At the moment I'm in the process of reading the book Eating animals by Jonathan Safran Foer, and it's eye opening even for me, and I have been thinking about these issues for a while, been a vegetarian since 1998. I will probably do a book review once I'm finished with it but I can already recommend it to all.

Happy Tasty New Year 2011!

2011-01-12T21:29:00.007+02:00

I'm back again! New year, new inspiration, new attempt at posting. I believe that most New Year's resolutions are made to be broken, forgotten or eventually ignored. Yet, I'm willing to risk it. Here's my 10 food related resolutions:

In the year 2011, I will cook more often. (Not only frozen chips, pizzas or boring salads)
In the year 2011, I will post on my blog what I have cooked. Not only take lots of pictures of food that I will never use.
In the year 2011, I will comment more on other food blogs that I follow.
In the year 2011, I will use recipes from the various cookbooks and food magazines (and food blogs that I follow) that fill our house. (They are more than food porn.)
In the year 2011, I will cook more tasty vegetarian foods and use my imagination, making things from scratch.
In the year 2011, I will eat less and drink more tea. No explanation needed here. :)
In the year 2011, I will explore the French cuisine. In April, I get to visit Nice through my studies and the trip involves food and wine and all related. Can't wait!!
In the year 2011, I will go to more small, independent restaurants, that I have never been to.
In the year 2011, I will shop at the food markets and ethnic shops more often.
In the year 2011, I will try more new things.
In the year 2011, I will waste less food and recycle more.
In the year 2011, I will either wash up more often or finally buy a dishwasher.

EDIT; I kept coming up with more resolutions. Hence numbers 11 and 12. :)

That's a lot of resolutions for someone who didn't make any... Well, at least I should be able to keep one or more of them, even by accident.
Here's the first recipe of the year.

Soy, carrot, red pepper and bean sprout stir fry

Soy strips, cooked in veg stock and marinated with sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce and sesame seeds
Sesame oil
Garlic
Red chili
Ginger
Onion
Carrots, thinly chopped like noodles
Red pepper, thinly chopped
Bean sprouts
Coriander

I recommend investing in sesame oil for stir fries and salad dressings as the nutty flavour it gives is sensational! First heat the wok pan and the add the oil. Once oil is hot add the red chill and ginger and stir for 30 seconds, then add the onion. Add garlic after a minute (this prevents the garlic from burning), then the soy, carrot and pepper. Stir fry for a couple of minutes, add bean sprouts and coriander and stir for a minute.

I don't know if recipes are really needed for stir fries as you can really just throw in whatever you happen to have. The key is to use chilli, garlic and ginger and it will always taste good! I season mine with soy sauce in the end.

Where did the summer go?

2010-08-25T16:02:00.008+03:00

My last post was about spring and now it's the end of August already, with some clear signs of the inevitable autumn. So where have I been all summer? Mostly working, and with the HOT HOT summer here in Helsinki I have been mostly eating salads and sandwiches, not really very interesting to blog about.

We did manage to have a week off, spending it in England, eating for the best part of the time. It was partly inspirational, partly nostalgic, mostly unhealthy, but definately cheaper than in Finland! What follows in this post is a photographic diary of what we ate... well, not nearly ALL that we sampled, but consider it as The Best Of.

Highlight of our culinary adventures was our lunch at Arbutus in Soho, London, where we had four courses with wine and also got the cookbook. Everything was delicious or at least interesting, and service was truly attentive and friendly. Up there in our top 5 dining experiences, for sure.

Arbutus from the outside

My starter of Squid and mackerel burger with razor clam. Went down beautifully with a caraf of Chablis!

Andy's starter of Braised pig's head with potato puree and ravioli of caramelised onions. He enjoyed it! Our waiter suggested a full bodied red from Douro, the port wine region in Portugal, which was full of fruit and tasty indeed.

Andy's main was offalish too; Pied et paquets - Lambs' tripe parcels and trotters, served by three waiters, it was quite spectacular and interesting.

My main course of Line caught Plaice, wild mushrooms and Swiss chard. Full of flavour!

On the left Livarot, on the right Sainte-Maure, with a glass of 1991 vintage Port and a sweet red from Barbera, Italy

Have to have chocolate! This was a Cold chocolate fondant, chocolate wafer and salted caramel ice cream... Heavenly!

Suberb smoothies from Joe & The Juice near Oxford Circus. Just what you need on a break from some serious shopping!

Lunch at a Thai restaurant in Beverley. This is squid in a garlicy sauce, which was nice but not perfect... Squid is tricky!

Just had to add this picture of a comedy carrot from my friend's garden! The rabbit got to eat it though, not me.

Bramble picking. YUM!

Steak and Ale Pie at Green Dragon pub in Beverley. So very British.

Prawn cocktail - a classic! At Green Dragon, Beverley

Ahh-sparagus!

2010-05-11T21:00:00.005+03:00

Springy foods part two:

Asparagus, New potatoes, Zucchini, Poached egg and Home-made Mayo

First, the asparagus needs to be prepared. We cooked this already about a month ago so the asparagus wasn't as good as it is now in the shops. Hence they were a bit woody and needed trimming quite a lot. First I snapped the ends off and then peeled the skins of the asparagus.
Green asparagus doesn't need to be cooked too long, or it looses it's freshness. 3 minutes or so, depending on size.

New potatoes were boiled, and zucchini was lightly pan fried. Eggs were poached in hot water with vinegar for about three minutes to keep them runny in the middle.

This was my first time making mayonnaise from scratch and it turned out beautiful. I used about three egg yolks, started whisking them and then slowly added rapeseed oil to the eggs. Once the mix started to turn white from yellow I added some mustard (dijon is best but I used Finnish Turun sinappi ), white wine vinegar and seasoning.

Then all this was piled on the plate and I can tell you it was divine! We sipped some Anna de Codorniu cava that matched the flavours quite nicely I think.

We have some more asparagus in the fridge so maybe there will be an another asparagus posting coming up soon... Any good recipe ideas?

Sunny spring, sunny food

2010-04-20T21:02:00.005+03:00

So the long winter is finally over here in Helsinki, only some small piles of snow are left and today I saw my first flowers of the spring. Nothing beats the feeling of knowing that summer is just behind the corner, with t-shirts, freckles, long long light nights, flip flops, festivals and of course the food. Fresh peas on the pod from the market, ice cream cones (too many of them in my case...), strawberries that taste like strawberries, barbeques, and anything fresh and light. Maybe a glass of something cold every now and then on the terrace. Bring it on already!

After a German lesson and swimming today I felt like having a treat of something fresh but filling. So, I whizzed up these wraps with garlic cream cheese, pan fried zucchini and pepper (with shallot, garlic and chili), avocado, lettuce and surimi (fake crab). And it was like spring on a plate!

Fish, my favourite dish - should I eat or should I not?

2010-03-09T00:03:00.004+02:00

While I have been well aware about overfishing and problems related, I was still shocked when I watched The End of The Line - Imagine a World Without Fish documentary on tv tonight. In a nutshell, if we keep fishing and consuming fish in the present way, the seas will run out of wild fish by 2050. Now, that's soon to me.

As a foodie, fish has been my favourite food for the past five years. I love seafood of all kinds, tuna, salmon, swordfish, fish and chips, mussels and prawns. I choose not to eat meat because I don't approve of the mass producing industry. How have I been able to close my eyes from the fishing industry? It was a selfish deed to start eating fish again - it is healthy for me.

The film really stopped me, and made me rethink what I buy. I've known to avoid cod, since it's nearly disappeared from the seas already. But I didn't know about bluefin tuna being overfished so badly. What is in those tins of tuna I buy? I avoid the cheapest stuff - they taste bad, and it's pretty obvious they can't be sustainable.

Also what is happening is that the big food producers are fishing in the seas of the developing countries - hence taking away the resources from the local fishermen and endagering their livelihood. Just so we westerners can get our food cheap as hell.

You'd think it's safe to eat farmed fish. Whaa whaa, incorrect! What do farmed fish eat? Wild fish, small white fish. A staggering amount of the caught wild fish is actually eaten by fish, not people. Problem is, we will fish away all the wild fish so it will be impossible to farm more fish. One solution given in the film was to eat small fish - anchovies, mackerel and herring. Lucky for us in Finland, herring comes in various forms, and Andy is definately doing his bit with the anchovies - he loves that stuff.

I am determined to change my ways and really pay attention to what I buy. I hope more people will do as well, since according to the program, there is still hope and we can affect the future of the seas. I am feeling quite emotional at the moment about this but I am happy that I have opened my eyes. How much attention do you pay to the fish that you buy?

Visit the website here , watch the movie. Think about it, and do what you can. Discussion please!

I spy with my little eye...

2010-03-03T22:19:00.004+02:00

Thai Fishcakes

...some recipes with spices that just need blogging!

Have been occupied with studies, work, cold (weatherwise and healthwise) and just an all round lack of motivation. Tonight's meal will not be blogged, ever ; it was a very politically incorrect pizza made from a base of a Mexican tortilla. Have to say it was deliciously thin and crispy without a trace of sogginess, for once being able to not go overboard with the toppings, opting for a simple margherita. But I just could not face any Italian reading about a tortilla pizza. Although I do have an Italian friend who tells me it's ok to have french fries on pizza... Hmmm.

While eating the horrendously delicious cheesy pizza I enjoyed watching Julie and Julia, which all the other food bloggers have all most likely gone to see in the cinema ages ago. I loved the characters and the two stories intertwining, and really it was a nice movie to watch after a day of writing uni reports in a cold. A feel good movie. Also inspiring if you're writing a blog and have kind of forgotten to post anything for a while. Naturally I share many of the feelings of Julie about blogging but I have very different aspirations from those of hers regarding to blogging. The movie is based on a true story a few years back from now, and five years ago food blogging was still a new thing. Getting people to read your blog was probably a lot easier. I definately feel like a drop in the ocean and feel like no-one is reading this. Feel free to introduce yourself if you are!

To the recipes, then. I have a couple of dishes that Andy cooked a couple of weeks ago. It seems that recently I haven't really been cooking much, it has mostly been Andy. He cooks better, I write better, so I guess it kind of works. Although he cooks better than I write, I guess.
Both recipes have spices so if you have a cold like we do, these will open up your sinuses for sure.

Thai Fishcakes
Recipe from Olive magazine, February 2010. Original recipe used prawns but we had some bland frozen white fish lying around so used that. Swap for something else if you like!

Serves two

Ginger, 1 tsp, finely grated
Fresh Coriander, handfull, chopped
Shallot,1, finely sliced
Red chilli,1, seeded and diced
White fish, 400g
Lime, zested
Fish sauce, 1 tbsp
Oil

Put ginger, coriander, chilli and shallot in a food processor and blend until fine. Add rest of the ingredients and mix until chunky. Season with black pepper and form into six flat cakes. Place on baking paper, brush both sides with a little bit of vegetable oil. Grill in the oven at 200 degrees for 3 minutes on each side.

Serve with a salad, rice or noodles if you like. We also had a way too hot chilli sauce, won't be posting that!

Pineapple with Star Anise and Cinnamon Caramel a la Andy

Brown granulated sugar, 100 g
Pineapple, fresh or tinned, in slices, 200g
Star anise, 2
Ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp
Unsalted butter, 20 g
Dark rum, to taste... depends how much you like alcohol. We had 5 cl or so.

Vanilla ice cream to serve

Make the caramel by putting sugar in a frying pan on high heat. Don't stir. When it gets to a light caramel colour, add the spices and the pineapple. Once the caramel is darker and coats the pineapple, add the butter. Once butter is melted, add the rum and cook for a minute or so until the alcohol of the rum has evaporated. Serve with your favourite vanilla ice cream!

Finnish Food Icon : Laskiaispulla

2010-02-15T22:19:00.005+02:00

Yesterday was Valentine's Day as everyone on this planet probably knows, but this year in Finland the winter festival of Laskiainen or Shrove Sunday fell on the same date. Both are celebrated, but I think Laskiainen is still more popular in Finland, and not least for the Finnish food icon I'm about to introduce. In a nutshell Laskiainen is an orthodox celebration before the lent season, and the idea is to eat lots of fat and sugar before the lent. In the UK it is known as the Pancake day, but the pancakes were far less visible in my opinion when I was living in the UK for three years. Laskiaispullat or Shrove buns are everywhere in Finland around this time of the year!

Laskiainen has been around since the 1800s, and was a joyful peasant holiday involving sledding down the snowy hills and making wishes for a good crops in the coming year. Sledding is still very much involved in the celebration of Laskiainen, after all it is only healthy to burn off those bun calories somehow. I have to confess I haven't yet been sledding this year, but I hope I'll get a chance to make it to the hills! The snow doesn't seem to be going nowhere so I'm really not worried.

Laskiaispulla is basically a sweet bun, cut in half and filled with either jam or almond paste, but always with whipped cream. A heavenly creation combining all things bad for you, but oh still so good. Best enjoyed with a class of cold milk or alternatively with hot chocolate to bring the sweetness of the treat to a whole new level. Another traditional Shrove delicacy is pea and ham soup but I am saving that for Shrove Tuesday.

I got the recipe from Helsingin Sanomat (Helsinki newspaper) Food section, and it worked well for me. I just swapped the regular jam to a sugar free puree of strawberries and wild raspberries that I had available in my freezer. I know, it still doesn't make them one bit healthy but every little helps, right?

Laskiaispulla

Makes 16 buns
Dough:
2,5 dl Milk
25 g Fresh Yeast
100 g Butter
1 Egg
1 tsp Cardamom
1 dl sugar
7 dl All-purpose flour
Pinch of salt

To top:
1 egg
Flaked almond or sugar drops

Filling:
Jam (or berry puree!)
OR
Almond paste
AND
Whipped cream

Warm the milk to body temperature, combine with fresh yeast.
Add egg, sugar, cardamom and salt. Start adding flour with a whisk, and when the dough thickens, knead with hands. Add the butter, which should be softened to room temperature.
Knead the dough until it's even and springy and comes off the bowl easily.

Allow to rise in a warm place for around 40 mins. - I have learned from my mother to fill the kitchen sink with warm water and place the bowl with the dough in the sink to rise. Works!

Once risen, tip the dough onto a floured surface and knead the air off. Form a long "sausage" (lol) shapeand cut into 16 pieces. Make little buns and place on baking paper on an oven tray. Let rise for another 30 mins under a tea towel in a warm place.

Break the egg in a small bowl and brush over the buns. Top with flaked almond or sugar drops. Bake in 225 degrees for 10- 15 minutes. Once ready and cooled, cut in half and fill with jam/ almond paste and whipped cream and put the top back on. Then have a bun party and go sledding or skiing!

Soup and Bread

2010-02-10T23:36:00.005+02:00

As any self respecting foodie would, we too do collect many cook books and food magazines to fill our bookselves. However, we have a bad habit of just looking through them and not actually using any of the recipes - this could be called food porn I guess...
But since one of the main resons we started this blog for was trying more new things, I have systematically started marking the recipes that I would like to give a go. We wouldn't really need any new magazines or cook books for a year, that's how little we've been using the ones that we already have!

We really enjoy the UK food mag Olive, which fortunately is also sold in many shops in Helsinki. It has beautiful and inspiring photography, a variety of recipes from really easy to professional and a great travel section, to mention a few good reasons to keep buying it. A foodie's must-read I think! Both of the recipes today are from Olive's February issue 2009.

Before

Celeriac and Pear Soup
A lesson learned with this recipe; always check how many it serves. This recipe is for 6, and as Andy does not much like to eat soup, I will most likely be slurping this for days unless I freeze some. Nevermind, it is delicious! I'd never used fruit in a soup and the pear and celeriac were a great combination. A little bit sweet, but the ginger balanced it nicely. A good winter day soup!

Olive oil, 1 tbsp
Shallots, 4, finely sliced
Garlic, 2 cloves, chopped
Ginger, to taste, finely chopped
Celeriac, 1, peeled and roughly chopped
Pears, 4, peeled, cored and roughly chopped
Veg stock, 1 litre
Parsley, chopped for garnish

Heat the oil in a large saucepan, add shallots, garlic and ginger and cook over medium heat for about 5 min or until softened but not coloured.
Add cleriac, pears and stock, bring to boil and then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 20-30 minutes or until the celeriac has softened.
Whiz and blitz in your chosen method until smooth, sieve if you like it really smooooth. Season and serve with parsley and your homemade bread!

After

Quick Carrot and Walnut Bread
This was super easy as well as super tasty, reminding me of something I know as "tea bread" that all Finnish kids learn to make in domestic cooking classes at school.

Plain flour, 350 g
Wholemeal flour, 150 g
Salt, 1 tsp
Bicarbonate of soda, 2 tsp
Carrots, 150g, peeled and grated
Walnut pieces, a handful
Greek yoghurt, 300 ml
Milk, 125 ml

Heat oven to 230C/fan 210. Mix flours, salt and bicarb, stir in carrot, walnuts and yoghurt, then add enough milk to make a soft, sticky dough. Tip onto a floured surface and form a flat ball, but on a baking sheet, slash the top and bake for 30 mins until risen and cooked.

The Fifth Taste

2010-02-10T22:44:00.005+02:00

I think we should talk about some current issues in food on the blog and not just recipes. Today I found something that made me laugh. I happened to bump into an interesting piece of news on Yahoo pages; at Waitrose in the UK they are apparantly going to be selling a product called The Fifth Taste, basically Umami flavour in a tube. Umami refers to the savoury taste in meat, cheese and mushrooms.
This paste is made from umami-rich ingredients such as tomato, parmesan and mushrooms.

Picture from Yahoo News

I personally think it sounds really weird but if I have a chance I think I would like to try it just for a laugh, and because I'm not 100% sure what the umami flavour really is. I doubt that it will hit the supermarkets in Finland for a while though. What do you think? Would you ever try it?

Somewhere Over The Rainbow Trout

2010-02-09T00:06:00.007+02:00

Today we had a lovely friend visiting us and we enjoyed a long long dinner of nibbles for a starter, Rainbow trout for a main and olive oil-chocolate fondants for dessert. We also played with my new Canon eos 450d camera and between courses we rocked some serious(ly scary) singstar. Who says Mondays are boring?

Nibbles consisted of olives, hoummus, macadamia nuts and crackers with G&T for aperitif.
I love hoummus and it's a piece of cake to make ; blitz together a tin of drained chickpeas, garlic (I had enough to make sure no vampires will ever approach Helsinki), juice of a lime or lemon, salt and olive oil. Too easy mate!
(You should also use tahini but we didn't have any. )

I also made a carrot and walnut loaf, which was also easy and very tasty indeed. Will post the recipe at some later point. Promise!

Rainbow trout was a bargain at the supermarket costing less than 5 euros for the whole bugger. Andy first washed the trout, then skilfully (ehem) filleted it and removed the bones. He placed the fish in an oven proof dish and rubbed home-made macadamia-pesto all over the two fillets. It was cooked in 200 degrees for around 15 minutes, until cooked. We served it with a rocket, tomato and onion salad.

Macadamia Pesto

1 dl Olive Oil
Two small handfull of Basil
One small handfull of Rocket
One small handfull of Parsley
1-2 Garlic cloves
Dozen whole Macadamias
2 tbsp Grated Parmesan
Salt & Pepper

Blitz all ingredients to a paste in a blender.
Our choice of wine was Yalumba Viognier 2008 from Eden Valley in South Australia. Viognier is a great alternative to Chardonnay, the usual option for fatty fish. There was only subtle flavour of oak, with floral aromas and exotic fruit both on the nose and palate. It was quite full bodied but had enough acidity to balance the fattiness of the fish. A beautifully balanced and richly flavoured wine.

Dessert was divine, olive oil chocolate fondants served with rhubarb compote and Vanilla ice cream, but we'll save the recipe for that for later.

Egg Fried Rice

2010-01-27T00:10:00.005+02:00

Uni, working out, doing laundry, must cook something easy... but what? Left over rice from Sunday dinner (will be posted later!) found in the fridge, always have eggs and tofu. Egg fried rice! I can't believe I've never made this before, it's so easy and so yummy. Googled it and think I used a recipe from the BBC food pages as a guideline and then just threw in what we got. In a way I'm a rubbish person to be writing a food blog, because I have trouble following recipes - most of the time I make something easy. Just chuck in stuff from the cupboards that -hopefully- goes well together.

Egg Fried Rice
Serves 2

Sunflower/ ripeseed oil
Left over rice
Frozen peas
2 garlic sticks - normal garlic is fine too
1/2 tin of beansprouts
100 g tofu
1 egg, mixed in a glass with some oil
Red chilli paste
Soy sauce
Pepper

Heat the oil in a wok pan. Add rice, stir fry until hot. Add garlic, beansprouts, peas and tofu. Stir fry for a few minutes. Season with soy sauce, chilli and pepper. Push the rice to one side of the pan and add the egg. Let the egg set for 10 seconds, then use a chopstick to scramble it. Mix with rice. Enjoy!!

An Out-of-body-cheese-experience

2010-01-19T20:54:00.005+02:00

Roquefort and Port, originally uploaded by Sari&Andy.

This time we didn't have time to wander further than our local supermarket and it was a challenge to find a quality blue cheese there, but luckily we picked a gem ; cheese of the week is the Societe des Caves Roquefort from Southern France. It is one of the most famous of blue cheese, and has been said to be possibly the yummiest moldy substance in the world. I find it hard to say, as there are so many yummy moldy things around!

Our book of fine cheese tells us that the origins of Roquefort supposedly lie with a lovesick shepherd who abandoned his picnic basket of bread and curdled ewe's milk at the mouth of a cave in the Causses to follow his loved one. When the lad returned a few days later the milk had turned into a mighty moldy cheese indeed!

Roquefort is still made from sheep's milk and matured in the Cambalou caves below the village of Roquefort-sul-Souzon. "Roquefort" made anywhere else from anything else in any other method is an impostor! I am thinking making a pilgrimage to thoses caves must go on our to-do-list...

As any cheese, it is always best to take it out of the fridge well in advance and let the aromas develop and the texture soften. Roquefort is dense, buttery and white with green-blue veins of mould in it. The taste is wonderfully salty, sweet and tangy, and it just melts in your mouth.

We enjoyed some Taylor's Late Vintage Bottled Port and fig jam with it, and I almous left my body and went to heaven. It was that good!

A word about Port! It is a sweet fortified wine made from grapes grown in the upper Douro in Portugal. It can be purple, ruby or tawny, depending on how it's been aged. The Taylor's LBV that we had is a small bottle and was reasonably priced at Alko. It is not the traditional style LBV so it doesn't require decanting, and it keeps for weeks after opening.

The flavour is full of rich ripe fruit flavours like plums ans cherries, with something spicy from the oak maturation. It is very sweet and therefore balances the tangy saltiness of blue cheese. Also an excellent match to chocolate! Try it yourself!

Zucchini with Mushroom and Spinach, served with Tabbouleh

2010-01-18T16:43:00.009+02:00

Yesterday we wanted to try something with mushrooms and Andy had zucchini in mind, finding his inspiration on Cook almost anything blog. We are both quite busy again with work and studying and so the most time we have for cooking is on Sundays. This was a tasty light Sunday dinner but we are looking forward to cooking a proper English Sunday lunch with Yorkshire Puddings soon...

Zucchini with Mushroom and Spinach, served with Tabbouleh

Serves 4, or 2 hungry ones...

2 Zucchinis, cut in half with seeds removed
Garlic
Onion
10 Cap mushrooms, wiped and chopped small
Balsamic vinegar
Good bunch of fresh spinach, washed and chopped thinly
Bunch of fresh parsley, chopped
Olive oil
Breadcrumbs
Feta cheese, to taste
Parmesan (optional)

Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius.
Gently boil the zucchini until tender. Place in an oven proof dish.
Prepare the topping. Cook the onion and garlic in a pan with olive oil, add mushrooms.
Sautee until cooked, season with balsamic vinegar then add spinach, let it slightly wilt and finally add parsley.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Fill the zucchini with the mushroom mix and top with feta and/or parmesan.
Cook in the oven for 20 minutes or until the zucchini is throughly hot and the cheese is melted and golden.

Inspiration for Tabbouleh was found on Gordon Ramsay's Healthy cooking book, but I ended up pretty much doing it to the recipe on the Gogreen bulgur wheat box. A really good side dish and if there's any left, you can easily add tuna or tofu or something else to make it a filling salad on the next day.

Tabbouleh
Serves 4

1 1/2 dl Bulgur wheat
3 dl water
1 onion, chopped
250 g vine tomatos, chopped, with or without seeds
Bunch of fresh parsley, chopped
Fresh Mint, chopped - we couldn't get any!! Buu huu.
Juice of one lemon
Olive oil to taste
Salt and pepper

Cook bulgur wheat according to package instructions.
Chop the other ingredients and place in a bowl.
Add the bulgur once it's cooked. Season.
Easy peasy!

Three times a brunch!

2010-01-12T23:46:00.010+02:00

A lie in, slowly waking as the sun rises (10 am or so at the moment over here), making a cup of tea and maybe doing some excersice and then taking some time to fix a good meal to keep you going for the rest of the day. What's not to love?

First there is the smoothie. So easy to make, so healthy. I just randomly pick stuff from the freezer - thanks to mum there are wild blueberries, lingonberries, raspberries, blackcurrants and redcurrants in there. Then I add some liquid like juice (sugarfree cranberry, orange or apple is good) or milk, and some quark (light but high in protein) or natural yoghurt. In this one I also added some three-grain mix for extra fibres as well as some banana for a lovely smooth texture. Then I just blitz it all together until it's a good composition.

The Shakshuka a.k.a Shakshouka, shaqshuqa, chakchouka; is something we fell in love a couple of years ago in Thailand when we were staying at an Israeli guesthouse in Bangkok.

Quote from wikipedia tells us that it "is a North African dish consisting of poached or fried eggs cooked in a sauce of tomatoes, peppers, onions, and spices (often including cumin, turmeric, and chillies), and usually served with pita bread.
The dish is now a staple in Israeli, Yemeni, Tunisian, Algerian, Somali and Moroccon cuisine.It is similar to the breakfast dish Huevos rancheros."

We make different versions according to what we have in our cupboards, this one had garlic, red onion, butter beans (left over from the previous night's dinner), chopped tomato, seasoning and three organic eggs from Lentävä lehmä at Hakaniemi food market.

All the ingredients are sauteed on a frying pan (oven proof) and then the eggs are broken in the middle. The pan is then placed in the oven(around 180 degrees celsius) until the eggs are cooked to your liking. We personally like 'em runny! We had some lovely 7-grain bread with it, but it's also great with pitta or othre kind of flatbread for dipping.

Last but not least there is the good old Full English breakfast, but with a healthy twist. This is from the other day and I had two organic poached eggs, two slices of wholegrain toast, avocado, cottage cheese, grilled tomato and a tofu sausage. Served with green tea to make you think it's even healthier! Yum yum yum.

Cheese, glorious cheese!

2010-01-10T13:50:00.005+02:00

We have a problem with cheese. We love it, we love it too much. There have been times when it has been eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Cheeseboards are nothing unusual in this household. And it really doesn't matter what cheese it is, blue, washed rind, goat's , cheap and plasticy, smoked or stinky, we'll have it. Even Cheeseaholics anonymous has come to mind...

But no, we will never ever in this world give up cheese, and why should we? Instead of munching down vasts amounts of any cheese, we have made a wow that we will visit Lentävä Lehmä in Hakaniemi food market, or another good cheese retailer, and try a new cheese once a week or so. We were inspired by the book "Fine cheese" by Leonie Glass, a recent Christmas present. There are so many cheeses we've never tried!

The idea is to try one or two cheeses, find out about them and in best case also find a matching wine. So this week we already had a bottle of Sauvignon blanc, which we decided to find the cheeses to match. Obvious choice was to visit Lentävä lehmä (Flying cow) cheese shop in Hakaniemi food market. The lady behind the counter was very helpful once we described we we're looking for a goats cheese or brie for our wine. So here's what we got:

Crottin de Chavignol, Loire Valley, France
(On top in the picture)

As we were told by the nice cheese lady, this is the classic match for a Sauvignon blanc. It comes as a small cylinder without any wrapping, therefore we did not eat the rind of it. It is quite soft on the inside and has a strong aroma, similar to the "cat's piss" fragrance found in Sauvignon blanc. It is rich with 45% fat and has a strong nutty taste. The acidity in the wine cuts the fat well and balances the flavours.

Eco-Bio, Vall de Cati, Castellon, Spain
(At the bottom in the picture)

A much milder treat than the French one, this is a hard, white cheese in a thin grey-green mold casing. Deliciously salty and slightly acidic taste that went well with the wine. Reminded us a little bit of Tomme de chevre, but this is a lot saltier. It is made from organic goat's milk, which must be a good thing. A lovely little cheese indeed.

We enjoyed the cheeses with some dried figs and dates as well as some organic carrot crackers, also from Lentävä Lehmä. Already looking forward to our next cheese adventure!

Whole Roasted Bream with Lemon, Herbs and Fennel

2010-01-10T12:22:00.014+02:00

On Saturday morning we took some shopping bags, hopped on the bus and headed to Hakaniemi Food Market .
It was very busy, as you would expect, since there aren't that many food markets in Helsinki, and so it is probably the best place to go to for all your top ingredients. The downstairs is dedicated to food and there you can for example find the fishmongers, butchers, delicatessens, cheese shops, bakeries, fruit and veg stalls and a fantastic soup kitchen. This place makes you wish you never had to shop at a supermarket again. Upstairs you can find clothing, crafts and such. I especially like the Epäonnistunut tyttö (Failed girl) stall with quirky accesories.

So we had our minds set on preparing a whole fish for dinner but we we're open minded on the choice of the fish. Töölön Kala oy seemed to have the best choice on whole fish so we had a little chat with the jolly guys behind the counter and ended up catching a bream, scaled and gutted for us. The whole fish cost less than 5 euros so you can call it a bargain!

We also got a fantastic bread loaf from the bakery, some beans and fennel from the organic stall Satumarja, olives and artichoke from Maustekeidas and some cheese from the Lentävä Lehmä, but more about that later.

Olives, artichoke and bread for a starter

Whole Roasted Bream with Lemon, Herbs and Fennel, served with Butter Beans

We chose to use Bream for the dish because we hadn't used it before and also because it was very cheap at 7 euros per kilo. The taste of the fish was good but we did not realize that the fish is quite boney, with some y-shaped bones that are difficult to take off. Therefore we recommend some other fish for this recipe, such as rainbow trout or sea bass, if available.
Serves 2

Whole Bream or other suitable fish, ask your fishmonger to de-scale and gut the fish for you
Thyme, few sprigs
Cinnamon Basil, few sprigs
Zest and juice of one lemon
One clove of Garlic, finely chopped
Pinch of red chili paste
Fennel fronds
Salt and pepper
Olive oil, 5 tbsp

To stuff the fish
Half a fennel, sliced
Half a lemon, sliced

On the side
Butter beans, 400 g can
Zest and juice of half a lemon
One clove of garlic
Seasoning
Half a fresh red chili
Olive oil, 2 tbsp

Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius.
Wipe the fish, make five cuts on each side in the flesh. Place in an ovenproof dish.
Chop the herbs and mix all the other ingredients to make a paste. Rub the paste on the fish and stuff it with the lemon and fennel. Place in the middle of the hot oven and cook for around 20 minutes.

Drain and rinse the butter beans. Warm the oil in a pan on medium heat. Cook chili and garlic from one to two minutes, without colouring the garlic. Add the beans, cook until hot. Add lemon juice and zest. Season to taste.
We also had some salad with romaine lettuce, fennel and sprout with our fish.

Wine Match

White-fleshed fish is quite mild , and when you serve it like this in herbs and a lot of lemon juice, an aromatic dry wine will complement it well. Sauvignon blanc is perfect with herbacious green aromas and acidity, that will match the flavours of the dish. Yet, it won't overpower the subtle taste of the fish.

Best examples of Sauvignon blanc come from Malborough in New Zealand and Sancerre in France. Those can be a bit pricey though so we chose another Loire valley Sauvignon from Touraine, from Alko for under ten euros. It proved to be a delicious match with our fish!

Spicy Shepardess Pie

2010-01-08T20:41:00.008+02:00

Friday night, and time for some serious comfort food!
This is a veggie version of the British dish Shepherd's pie, which normally has minced lamb in it. I saw a recipe of the meaty version on Maku magazine's Kevät 2/09 issue and was inspired to make it, maybe for the first time actually. I made up this slighty spicy version, perfect for the -21 degrees weather we're having over here at the moment. For the vegetarians this is an excellent filling and protein rich meal.

Spicy Shepardess Pie

4-5 Portions

For the mash:
Around 6 potatos
Cream
Seasoning

Filling:
4 dl Vegetarian Soy Mince
Veg stock
1 Onion, diced
2 Garlic cloves, chopped
1 Carrot, grated
~100 g Frozen Sweetcorn or Peas
Teaspoon of minced red chilli paste (Rajah)
Teaspoon of Paprika powder
Worcestershire Sauce to taste- LOTS in mine!
Salt and pepper to taste

Parmesan Cheese

Heat the oven to 200 degrees celsius.

Boil the potatos in salted water until cooked.
Mash and add cream, season to taste.
Prepare the soy mince according to the package instructions.
Heat some olive oil on a frying pan, cook the onion for a minute, then add garlic.
Add soy mince and some water if needed to prevent the mix from sticking to the pan.
Add carrot and sweetcorn/ peas.
Season with chilli paste, paprika powder, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper.
Pour the soy mince mix on the bottom of a baking dish. Spread the mash on top.
Add lavish amount of parmesan cheese.
Place in the middle of the oven and bake for around 20 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

I have decided to find a drink match to all of my recipes and since this dish is really a pub classic I recommend you wash it down with some dry apple cider or a thirst- quenching lager. Since we don't really have the proper equilavant of a British pub here in Helsinki, this home version will do just fine!

Edit. I forgot the chilli paste earlier! Very important ingredient to make it spicy.

Gingery Broccoli and Spinach Soup with Pan-fried Tofu & Toasted Sunflower Seeds

2010-01-08T17:30:00.008+02:00

First post of the blog! Finally!

We have been planning this blog for months, if not years, and here it is now.
You can expect to find a lot of vegetarian recipes as well as some fish dishes, as one of us doesn't eat meat at all.
I might also be a typical woman and have started another healthy life with the beginning of the year, so healthy, yet tasty food will most definately be displayed.

Our experience regarding cooking is that Andy is a professional chef of many years and Sari has been more in the serving food and eating lots of it-side of things.
We both like cooking at home and hopefully through this project we
both can try more new things and be inspired about home cooking a little more.
Sometimes when you work with food you can get bored with it. Believe it or not!

I (Sari) love taking photographs and am really looking forward to getting creative with the camera as well as my cooking. I have to admit the first photo didn't turn out great, but wait until we get some natural light in the apartment!

Ok, let's cut the crap and I'll get into my first recipe.

Gingery Broccoli and Spinach Soup
with Pan-fried Tofu & Toasted Sunflower Seeds

Serves 4

Half an onion
2 garlic cloves
5 dl vegetable stock
200 g fresh or frozen broccoli (I used frozen this time)
Good bunch of fresh spinach
teaspoon of ginger paste
cream (optional)

Tofu - I used Alpro soya herb flavored

Sunflower seeds

-Heat some olive oil in a sauce pan
-Sweat the onion in on medium heat until see-through
-Add garlic, cook for another minute or so, don't let it burn
-Add the stock, bring to boil
-Add broccoli, boil until tender
-Add Spinach and ginger, let spinach wilt and take off from heat
-Allow cool

-Heat a frying pan for the sunflower seeds
-Place the seeds in the pan and toast until light brown
-Add salt if desired

- Use the same pan for the tofu
- Wipe it clean, heat up some olive oil
- Squeeze excess liquid from the tofu and dice into desired size cubes
- Season with salt and pepper
- Pan-fry until golden brown

-Blitz the soup with a stick blender or in a mixer until smooth
-Bring to boil in a sauce pan, add cream if desired
-Serve the soup with the tofu and sunflower seeds sprinkled over

Enjoy!