Luumua ja mantelia - Plum and almond

 Eilen töiden jälkeen nappasin pussillisen luumuja kaupasta sen kummemmin miettimättä mitä niillä tekisin, mutta tänään tuli himo tehdä luumu-mantelipiirakkaa johon Englannissa asuessani rakastuin. Yleensä kun yhdistää kaksi rakastamaansa ruoka-ainesta on lopputuloskin tuplasti rakastettava, tässä tapauksessa ehkä vielä enemmän.Tätä tulen ihan varmasti tekemään uudelleen ja uudelleen ja uudelleen...  Ohjetta jouduin hetken etsiskelemään ja lopulta päädyin helpoimpaan ja kauneimpaan reseptiin joka löytyi blogista jota voin muutoinkin suuresti suositella, ihana Cannelle et Vanille. Noin hienoihin ruokakuviin haluan minäkin pyrkiä!

After work yesterday I grabbed a bag of plums from the shop without thinking, but today I had a epiphany - I needed to make a plum and almond tart! I fell in love with this dessert in England. This recipe combines two ingredients that I love so I double-love the recipe, if not a little more even. I'm sure I will make this again and again and again... After some searching I ended up with the easiest and prettiest recipe that I could find, at the wonderful blog Cannelle et Vanille. I recommend this blog to anyone, the photography is something to aspire to!

 Luumu-mantelipiirakka
 Ohjeesta saa yhden suuren piirakan tai kaksi pienempää, kuten minä tein. (Luumut ei siis ole jättiläislajiketta!)

150 gr kananmunan valkuaista
155 gr sokeria
70 gr vehnäjauhoja
65 gr mantelijauhoja
190 gr suolaamatonta voita, sulatettuna ja viilennettynä
Pussillinen luumuja

1. Vatkaa valkuaiset ja sokeri kevyeksi vaahdoksi.
2. Lisää vehnäjauho ja mantelijauho, sekoita.
3. Lisää sulatettu voi varovasti kunnes taikina on tasaista.
(4. Alkuperäisessä ohjeessa kehoitettiin pitämään taikina yön yli jääkaapissa, minä kärsimättömänä laitoin piirakan uuniin noin tunnin jäähdyttelyn jälkeen ja hyvää tuli!)
5. Levitä taikina voideltuun piirakkavuokaan, täytä noin puoliväliin. Asettele puolikkaat luumut taikinan pinnalle leikkauspinta ylöspäin, upota
6. Paista 175 asteessa noin puoli tuntia kunnes taikinan pinta on kullanruskea ja reunat mukavan rapeat. Tarjoile vaniljajäätelön tai -kastikkeen kanssa

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------.
Plum and Almond Tart
This recipe will make one large or two small tarts (I made small ones, those are not giant plums!)

150 gr egg whites
155 gr sugar
70 gr flour
65 gr almond flour
190 gr unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1. Whisk together the egg whites and the sugar into a light foam. 
2. Add the flour and almond flour, mix. 
3. Slowly add the melted and cooled butter until the batter is smooth. 
(4. According to the original recipe you should leave the batter in the fridge overnight. I'm a rebel (And impatient) so I didn't and think my tart was still fantastic. Up to you what you decide to do!)
5. Spread the batter onto a buttered tart pan. Fill the pan about half way up. Top with the halved plums.
6. Bake in 175 degrees celsius in the oven  for about 30 minutes until the pastry is golden brown and nice and crisp on the sides. Serve with vanilla ice cream or custard.

Death by chocolate cake

Ehem,here is where I say how busy it's been and blah blah blah, except I'm not gonna. Let's just accept that this blog is not updated daily, not weekly, sometimes not even monthly. Such is life.

Anyhows, here finally comes the recipe for the amazingly rich dark chocolate cake, originally found at Suolaa & hunajaa . I have made it twice, for my other half's birthday (/our engagement party) and for my sister-in-law's birthday. Same cake, different fillings. Many of the pics on this post were taken by Kate, thank you!!

Chocolateeee...

 Death by chocolate cake

Sponge

200g good quality dark chocolate

6 eggs (separate whites and yolks)

2 dl caster sugar

120g almond flour

50g butter

0,5 dl flour

1. Melt the chocolate and butter over boiling water.

2. Whip egg yolks and sugar until fluffy. Whip the egg whites separately into a firm foam.

3. Add the melted chocolate-butter into the egg yolks.

4. Add flour and almond flour.

5. Gently mix in the egg whites.

6. Bake for about 30 minutes in 180 degrees celsius. The time depends on the oven, just be careful not to overcook to avoid the cake from being too dry. 

7. Allow to cool before filling.

Filling

The original recipe had a chocolate mousse filling but I thought that would have been a bit too much, because the cake is also iced with chocolate. I made a fresh lemony filling instead.

1/2 jar of Lemon curd

1 tub of mascarpone

1. Mix the lemon curd with the mascarpone until smooth. Taste and and add lemon curd to desired amount. I prefer plenty of lemon! Next time I would like to make my own lemon curd so I could make it more sour.

2. Cut the sponge and fill. Moistening the sponge first with juice or booze optional. I think I splashed some Coientreau on it...

Chocolate icing

180g dark chocolate

1,5 dl cream

1. Melt the chocolate over boiling water.

2. Bring the cream to boil.

3. Mix the cream to the chocolate until smooth.

4. Spread on the cake and allow to set. Decorate to taste. I had candied violet petals that we found in a little epicerie in Paris, as well as chocolates.

The other version had lemon quark as the filling and groundcherries on top.

Lemon....

Idiotic "I made a cake" grin!

Can I have some cake please? with puppy eyes

May you bake this cake and eat it too! I know I will make this one many more times...

Sunday Brunner

Breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner all in one, what's not to love?

Today we had a friend over for "brunch" as an advance thank you for taking care of our dog while we're away on holiday in Paris.

Menu du jour:

Saint Clair Vicar's Choice Sauvignon Blanc Sparkling, Marlborough, New Zealand

Beetroot Carpaccio with Goat's Cheese

LaiLai Pinot Noir, Chile

Herb crusted Salmon Fillet with Creamed Leeks and Sugarsnap Peas

Vinho Verde Alvarinho, Portugal

Metsuri Cheese with Fig Jam and Rye Crispbread

Rose Flavoured Macarons

Taltarni Brut Taché, Tasmania, Australia

Table setting

The best wine today, unusual sparkling out of Sauvignon Blanc that worked as an aperitif as well as with the starter and the main.

Beetroot carpaccio

Vinos

Herb crusted Salmon Fillet

I <3 Creamed Leeks

Lovely Johanna

Main Course

Metsuri Cheese

Rose - Macarons AND Bubbles

Pretty happy with these, although half of the batch failed - but more about that in a post coming soon...

 So this is what you might get for taking care of our dog - who wants to be next? :)

Ps. Consumed life encourages you to drink responsibly !! (In other words, we did not finish all those bottles of wine during this meal)

Homemade Lavender and Dark Chocolate Macarons

I can't resist macarons.
If I see them at a bakery, I must have one of every flavour.
When my boyfriend asked me what I wanted for my birthday last year, I wished for macarons.
Instead of a pretty box from a patisserie I got a book, Parisian macarons by Sylvie Aït-Ali. (You can find a great tutorial video on the book's webpages) "Make them yourself." Food porn at it's best, dozens of colourful variations of the pretty little biscuit.

I found a recipe for a chili chocolate macaron but made own adaptation with lavender instead of chilli. I tried to make them a lavender colour but I was too afraid to muck the marenque up and didn't add enough colouring. It was also a challenge to find the right temperature and time for them but the last batch of four oven trays was close to a success. I will be making more macarons in the future and will post a recipe when I have perfected it. Meanwhile, enjoy some pictures!

Banoffeeeeeeee!

It was 2004, London, I fell in love.
With Banoffee pie. It was a revelation. From then on, I'd order it almost whenever it was on the menu. Crispy pastry, sweet bananas, gooey toffee and cream, mmmmmmm.

It was about time now I learned to make it! It's pretty easy, only boiling the condensed milk for three hours is a bit boring, so it's good to plan ahead when making this. I don't probably have to mention that this is not for the calorie-consious of us. I like to believe Nigella when she says that it's all about moderation, also when it comes to moderation, so you have to be immoderate sometimes. There is some wisdom in her sayings every now and then.

Banoffee pie (from Food for thought cookbook)

 Pastry:
50g caster sugar
100g butter
150g white flour

Toppings:
400ml tin of sweet condensed milk, boiled in the tin for 2-2,5 hours
4 bananas, sliced and mixed with lemon juice to avoid browning
285ml cream

piece of dark chocolate

1. Preheat the oven to 180c.

2. Cream the sugar and butter together in a bowl until light and fluffy. Stir in the flour until the mixture forms a ball. Press the mix into a greased 20 cm spring-form tin or something similar.
I cheated with shop bought oat pastry. Nigella would approve.

3. Prick allover witha fork to prevent the pastry from rising. Bake for 25 mins until golden. Cool down. Remove sides if you used a spring form tin.

4. Open the tin of condenced milk and spread on the pastry.

 5. Place the bananas on top of the toffee.

6. Whisk the cream and spread over the bananas. Grate dark chocolate on top.

Enjoy without guilt. You deserve it.

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

 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!!

Getting in the Christmas mood...

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)

Finnish Food Icon : Laskiaispulla

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!