Pasta Vongole

 I made a trip to Anton & Anton in Kruununhaka yesterday and ended up buying a kilo of cockles. I have tasted them a couple of times in a restaurant I've worked at somewhere (Australia?) but never had I bought them or cooked them. Luckily I have my chef who knew what to do, and that was a creamy pasta vongole. The pasta should really have been linguine but we had pappardelle, and I forgot to get herbs - flatleaf parsley would have really nailed it here. But even without the parsley this must have been one of the best things I have eaten in a while - thank you chef!

 Pasta vongole
Serves 4, or two very hungry people in our case

1 kg cockles (sydänsimpukka in Finnish)
Garlic, 2 cloves, chopped finely
Celery, 1-2 sticks, chopped finely
Shallot onion, finely chopped
Olive oil
Dry white wine, 1-2 dl
Zest of 1 lemon, finely grated
Cream 2dl
Salt and Pepper

Pasta - linguine or spaghetti,50 g per person is enough

1. Cockles are full of gritty sand. To get rid of the sand place the cockles in a bowl of cold water in the fridge up to 24 hours before cooking. When you're ready to cook, remove the cockles carefully from the bowl and rinse under running water in a sieve. Discard all open cockles, which do not close when tapped (this means they should be alive before cooking).

2. Cook the pasta by the package instructions.

3. Heat up oil in a (very) large saucepan, sautee the garlic, shallot and celery until soft. (Fennel would work here as well). Heat up to high temperature again and add cockles and the white wine as well as the lemon zest. Place a lid on the pan, shake occasionally. Wait until all the cockles are opened, add cream, reduce for a 2 minutes. Finally add the drained pasta and some flatleaf parsley if you were smarter than me and bought some. Discard unopened cockles. Plate, eat and enjoy!

(There might still be some sand so try not to scrape the bottom of the pan or your plate and chew carefully!)

We had sparkling water with the pasta as we both are working for the evening but as a wine recommendation I would go with something dry and mineralic ; Chablis, Sancerre, Muscadet etc.

Ok, it was a huge amount of cockles for two people as you can see from the shells we ended up woth.. Almost didn't need the pasta!

Lunch at Postres

To celebrate my dear friend Ilona's birthday a special lunch was in order and so we decided to book a table at Postres, one of the few Michelin starred restaurants in Helsinki. The cuisine is modern Scandinavian based on the classic French style. They have two menu choices for lunch, 29€ or Chef's menu for 53€. We mixed a little bit and the price was from between the two menus.

We started with the house Champagne, which suited our occasion and was pleasantly toasty, waking up an appetite. The bread was irrisistably fresh, the best "saaristolaisleipä" I have ever tasted. I liked how the butter was set on a small stone.

We asked for a white wine that would go with both the starter and the main and got a nice Rheingau Riesling which was exactly the kind of wine I love; acidity, fruit, freshness, maybe just off dry. (And it didn't break the bank either.)

Our starter was a beautifully served mussel soup, with a touch of Thai flavours such as coconut, curry and coriander.  The flavours were fresh and balanced, and of course there was a pretty foam. Wonder when that will go out of fashion...

 The main course was the very seasonal burbot, which I have eaten only once before, if you don't count the roe of burbot, which is great with blinis. There were panfried pieces of burbot, burbot liver and a sort of quenelle with a fish mousse inside, as well as a mayonnaise (blisfully forgot what it was flavoured with but it was very tasty!), a parsley puree, carrots, ryebread croutons and a potato snow. It wasn't only beautiful in presentation but also tasted good and satisfied the appetite. The flavour of the fish is quite delicate and everything on the plate was in balance.

 Dessert was a baked chocolate mousse with "tiger ice cream". The mousse was like a softer version of a fondant, fluffy and moist. Tiger ice cream was like a gourmet version of the shop bought stuff and the orange flavour came in the ice cream and a quark as well as gel, jelly and segments of orange. Couldn't fault it, and the dessert wine from Mas Jullien (Southern France) really complimented the orange flavours.

Cloudberry filled profiterols were presented with our coffees, and even we were quite full they were the cherry on top.

All in all the lunch was perfect, and pretty much what I expected it to be. Service was friendly and professional, at the level that the Michelin inspectors would aspire it to be. If I have to come up with any criticism it is that I personally wish that even the Michelin places would relax just a little bit. Who really wants the napkin put on their lap or their table brushed off breadcrumps? However, for me it is a place that is well suited for a special occasion, and I will definately want to go back. Would recommend for anyone who enjoys this kind of food!

Carrot Pancakes with Roasted Carrot Houmous

 Hello there, hope you had a great weekend! Mine went quick with two birthdays and one christening, a lot of food and wine but no cooking.
So I'm here to share the recipe of last week's healthier version of Sunday lunch, again from the Modern Vegetarian cookbook by Maria Elia. The dish could be a light lunch or even a starter.

I had to do some experimenting with the recipe as chickpea flour was nowhere to be found, and I gave up after visiting three speciality shops. I replaced it with ground almonds, and while the flavour was great, the texture of the pancakes didn't seem right. I will give these another go as soon as I get hold of some chickpea flour. I love houmous and the roasted carrots gave it a lovely twist.

Carrot Pancakes with Roasted Carrot Houmous
Makes 4 pancakes

Pancakes:
150g carrots, grated
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 green chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
1 tsp baking powder
100g chickpea flour(besan/gram flour)
50g semolina (that's mannaryyni for the Finns, had to think about that for a sec myself)
2 tsp salt
150ml-200ml water
olive oil for frying

Houmous:
200g carrots, peeled
4 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
200g chickpeas, cooked (Tinned are fine)
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
juice of half a lemon
2 tbsp tahini
1 tsp cround cumin

Salad:
Any pretty little leafy salad variety
Mint
flaked almonds, toasted
Feta cheese (optional)


Dressing:
25ml sherry vinegar
25ml water
2 tbsp ev olive oil
1 tsp dijon mustard
pinch of sugar
1 garlic clove, crushed

1. Preheat the oven to 200C.

2. To make the houmous, cut the carrots into thin slices, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast on a baking tray for about 20 mins until soft( mine were maybe forgotten a little and they bacame a little caramelized...). While still hot, put the carrots in a blender with the remaining houmous ingredients, and mix until smooth, adding olive oil if needed. Check the salt and pepper and add if needed.

3. To make the pancakes, mix all ingredients, except olive oil, together to form a thick batter. Heat olive oil in a small no stick frying pan until hot, spoon in quarter of the batter and fry until golden on both sides. Repeat to make 4 pancakes.

4. Whisk the salad dressing ingredients together and season to taste. Mix the salad ingredients together and add the dressing.

5. Place the pancake on a plate, top with houmous and salad. Voila!