Creme Ninon aka Posh Pea Soup

 

Creme Ninon is so easy to make and tastes so good, great light starter for a nice dinner. My recipe goes something like this:

(serves 2-4)

2 small bags of frozen peas (can use fresh when they're in season but frozen are always good)

1 onion, chopped

Olive oil, 2 tbsp

1 herby veg stock cube

Water, enough to cover the peas

Plenty of fresh mint leaves

Cream, 1dl, whipped but not too much

Champagne (I used Cremant d'Alsace) , 1dl

1. Sautee the onion in the olive oil in a saucepan until translucent.

2. Add the peas, veg stock cube and the water. Bring to boil and let simmer for a couple of minutes, don't overcook the peas. 

3. Add the mint leaves and blitz with a stick blender. Pass through a sieve to make it very smooth.

4. Serve the soup on bowl, add a dollop of cream in the middle and pour a small amount of Champagne around it. 

5. Enjoy with some more Champagne. Oh la la!

 

Monday dinner

 It's starting to look and feel like winter finally, with heaps of snow and temperature going down to -20 celsius soon. On days like these nothing tastes better than my home chef''s Asian style noodle soup. We often have it on Monday nights, and it always tastes so good. He makes the broth separately with lots of spices, the flavour is intense with chilli, ginger, garlic, star anise and a hint of sweetness. The broth is poured on a bowl full of chopped vegetables and cooked noodles. Plenty of coriander is needed, as well as either tofu or prawns. I might share the recipe one day as well.
It is really a weeknight dish for us normally but you could make it more special and enjoy a glass of medium dry Gewurtztraminer.

We have sun!!!

Spicy Sweet Potato and Coconut Soup

 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.

Red peppers & Almonds

 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.

Butternut squash soup

 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!

Soup and Bread

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.

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

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!