Maaliskuun ruokahaaste - March Food Challenge

 So, I am one day late to actually take part to the monthly recipe challenge hosted by Jaana at Kulinaarimuruja. But as the challenge is so funny I am still going to post it!

The object was to find somebody else's receipt at the supermarket and use at least two ingredients out of it to make a dish. I did my shopping tonight at Alepa in Hakaniemi after a long day at uni and work, and as I was packing the shopping I remembered the food challenge. I felt like a proper weirdo when I grabbed a handful of receits from the end of the cashier where people leave the unwanted receipts. I was hoping that there would be one with two ingredients that we would already have at home. Literally a lucky dip!

So, the first receipt had beer and cigarettes on it, and I started to feel uneasy. Will I find anything on here? Some very depressing receipts came up with processed ready made meals, boring salad ingredients (tomato, cucumber, lettuce) and sugary yogurts. Finally I was was happy with this one that included two ingredients that we just happened to have- cherry tomatoes and halloumi.

I did some googling to find a nice salad dressing that would have honey to match the salty cheese and found a recipe here.I think halloumi always needs something really contrasting for maximum yummyness, be it something really sour like lemon juice, sweet like honey or tangy like balsamic.

Our dog eats everything, even tomatoes. But cucumber is his favourite...

Halloumi and Cherry Tomato Salad with a Sweet and Sour Dressing

Halloumi, sliced
Cherry tomatoes
Salad (Rocket would have been nice here)
Herbs; Mint and Basil worked great
Cucumber, Sliced thinly with a potato peeler

Dressing:
1 tbsp Honey
3 tbsp Olive Oil
1 Garlic clove, grated finely
Zest of 1 lemon, grated finely
Juice of half a lemon
Chilli to taste

1. Grill or slow roast the cherry tomatoes until soft.
2. Make the dressing by mixing together all ingredients.
I find an old jam jar or such is great for this.
3. Plate the salad, cucumber and herbs.
4. Take tomatoes out of the oven when ready, pan fry the halloumi in hot sunflower oil (not olive), until golden and crisp on both sides. Place on some kitchen paper to remove excess oil and place on top of the salad.
5. Dress the salad and enjoy!

Red Onion Jam with Mulled Wine

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.

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...