I saw an interesting recipe for a strawberry dessert over at Chez Pim the other day - Strawberries in Hibiscus & Vanilla Syrup. I bookmarked it with a view to try it when Estonian strawberries come in season, which is usually in late June/early July. However, when browsing the Tallinn Central Market on Saturday morning, I saw loads and loads of rather fragrant strawberries imported from Spain. What a heck, I thought, and bought a small box. The recipe was really easy to make, and we enjoyed it with some softly whipped cream, seasoned with vanilla extract.There's really no need to change or improve Pim's recipe, it's brilliant as it is. I'll add the amounts I used below, but feel free to visit Pim's blog for the original recipe and even more, her home video demonstration. But what I'll...
This is a very simple and very tasty rhubarb pie – the creamy filling complements the tartness of rhubarb very nicely, and using melted butter in the crust makes it especially crumbly. If you use thin and youngish rhubarb, you don’t need to peel them first, but that would be wise with older and thicker rhubarbs. I actually prefer to use unpeeled rhubarb, as the pie gets a lovely pink hue then. And the scent of cinnamon and cardamom makes your kitchen smell divine..A creamy rhubarb pie(Kreemjas rabarbripirukas)A recipe adapted from June 2003 issue of PereköökThe crumbly crust:250 ml of plain flour0.5 tsp baking powder2 Tbsp brown sugar100 g butterSieve the flour and baking powder, mix with sugar and melted butter. Press the mixture into Ø 26 cm loose-bottomed cake tin and put into...
I cooked another dinner for the Estonian gang last week here in Edinburgh. Introducing them to the local cuisine, we feasted upon brinjal masala, chicken korma, gobi matar, strawberry shrikhard, and masala chai . Indian food is extremely popular in Scotland, and here's my version of a home-cooked Indian feast. All cooked from scratch, not a ready made curry paste or sauce on sight, although I did use a shop bought curry powder for the korma. And it was all on the table within an hour. Not bad, I think, for my first full Indian feast..Brinjal Masala or deep fried aubergines/eggplants.(Praetud pommuviilud)The recipe for deep fried aubergines is from the October 2000 issue of Waitrose Food Illustrated, and I modified it only slightly. Instead of 2 large aubergines I used 6 baby aubergines...
I hope you're not tired of my rhubarb posts just yet? I know you've had juicy rhubarb muffins, rhubarb & ginger jam and a creamy rhubarb pie already, but as there is still quite a lot of rhubarb left - no wonder, if you look at these pictures - then I've got a few more rhubarb recipes up my sleeve. Here's a crumble to you. You can add grated ginger, finely chopped rosemary, any other nuts (hazelnuts, pistachios, maybe even grated coconuts), a dash of orange juice to the crumble - you name it. Sometimes I add some grated nutmeg to the filling. And over the years I've realised that there's no need to crumble the crumble topping either. You just mix the oats, sugar and almonds, sprinkle on rhubarb and top with butter slices.This crumble is especially delicious with softly whipped cream, but...
We are still enjoying the rhubarb bounty. Here's a recipe for really moist rhubarb muffins that I made twice last week. Firstly, they were served at a 'girly' housewarming/birthday party last Thursday, attended by all my aunties (that's three maternal and one paternal), my parents (my dad was unable to attend the 'real' birthday party on a previous weekend), as well as some of my first cousins (not all 11 though:). Instead of birthday cake, I made lots of these rhubarb muffins that day, served as a pyramid on a cake stand. Very pretty!! But in the midst of all the buzz and excitement, we forgot to take a picture. Not that it mattered much, as it gave me a good excuse to make these very same muffins again on Sunday.These muffins, let me tell you, are the moistest muffins you'll make....
Tove Jannson's Moominmamma (that's Moomin's mother, of course) apparently made a delicious rhubarb jam with ginger. So when I found myself with lots of rhubarb the other day, I decided to make rhubarb & ginger jam, just like Moominmamma. I've made it few times before, and really like it. It's a slightly tart rhubarb jam, where ginger leads exactly as much zing as you choose, and it's not overly sweet (we've reduced the amount of sugar a bit).I was supposed to make this jam again yesterday, but somehow K. ended up making it (we enjoyed it with golden saffron pancakes, also made by K.) My rhubarb, my idea, my recipe printout, my kitchen, my blog - so who cares who actually made this jam ;-) Here's a recipe for you to enjoy...Moominmamma's rhubarb jam with ginger(Muumimamma...
We always have pancakes for breakfast on Sunday mornings. I don't know if we can call it a tradition yet, as we've only lived together for just over six months (I moved in with K. upon my return from Scotland in mid-October), but we've surely had loads of pancakes during that time. If we're not having pancakes at home, we enjoy them at either my parents' place or at K's mum's place. Not having pancakes for Sunday breakfasts seems almost wrong.. I wonder if "Sunday pancakes" might be an Estonian thing, as I know many-many other families who start their Sundays with pancakes and some jam. Any thoughts?But there's a pancake confession I need to make: I'm not very good in making pancakes. Althought I can make small, fat pancakes (dropcakes), I'm utterly useless in making thin crepe-style...
Same recipe - mocca cake with toasted almonds - just this time down-sized to feed 7 hungry adults and 2 ravenous kids. Oh, I did mix some milk curd cream into the filling, so it'd be healthier, sorry,...
It's customary in Estonia to treat your colleagues for something special on your birthday. In return you get lots of beautiful flowers, so it's actually a pretty fair deal :-) My birthday is on the same day as the birthday of one of my dear senior colleagues, who's well known at the Institute for her excellent culinary skills. I remember having met her about a decade ago, fresh out of university (me, that is), and falling in love with her eggplant-filled spicy pastries that were served at one of the informal meetings at the Institute (I was only loosely attached to the Institute back then). In any case, Klara and I share birthdays, our love for cooking, and even our specific research focus (national identities and multiculturalism). It made only sense to combine our skills and efforts for...
Following Friday night's salmon with a creamy orange sauce, I served a very Scottish dessert - Cranachan.
I almost gave up the idea. While shopping for fish (and the elusive rosemary) on Friday morning, I was also looking for raspberries. Unfortunately my local vegetable shops only stocked imported French raspberries, which seemed a bit exhausted of the trip across the Channel and looked a...
I guess I shouldn't really post a recipe for apple muffins this time of the year. After all, there's no more apples from my mum's garden left, and I cannot bring myself to buy those imported expensive, tasteless, waxy-shiny apples in the supermarket. However, as my uncle brought us a bag full of organic apples last week, you'll get yet another delicious recipe for an apple cake and a recipe for simple apple muffins this week. Hope you don't mind..In terms of texture and taste, these muffins remind me of my Canadian apple cake. The recipe below yields 12 European-sized muffins. (I don't really know if there's such a thing as a 'European sized muffin pan', but whenever I use an American recipe that states that it'll make 6 muffins, I actually get 12 muffins with my muffin pan. If you've got...
Here is a very-very-very simple and delightful Estonian pudding. There's a saying in Estonian - 'heal lapsel mitu nime' which translates roughly as 'a loved child has many names'. This one is either known as 'häbelik taluneiu' - a shy peasant girl, or 'taani talutüdruk' - a Danish country girl (hence the title:). It's a bit like a trifle - after all, it's layered fruit and cream and a floury element. Makes a good alternative to the Scottish cranachan-pudding, which isn't so dissimilar either.I usually have this small trifle with lingonberry jam (check your local IKEA:) or not-too-sweet apple jam. As we had none in the house last weekend, then K. quickly made some jam from the last of last autumn's apples that my Mum had given us, and some of the frozen cranberries I had picked myself....
My 85-year old paternal grandmother refuses to accept Christmas gifts. Or if she does, you can be pretty sure to find the given item - be it a book, a lovely shawl or a pair of woollen socks - in your next birthday or Christmas parcel, which is both cute and embarrassing. So years ago we decided to give her presents she cannot pass on - a newspaper subscription, a bottle of medicinal brandy or something similar. This year I gave her a gift-wrapped bag of home-made pistachio and lemon shortbread to devour with her daily cup of tea infusion.I think she liked them:)Pistachio and lemon shortbread(Muredad pistaatsia-sidruniküpsised)Recipe adapted from Epicurious (Bon Appétit, May 2004)Yields 24 pieces350 ml plain flour125 ml sugar125 ml semolina/cream of wheat100 grams butter2 tsp grated...
As I mentioned in my previous post, I had another Estonian friend visiting and I treated Margit, her colleague and another MacEstonian to a Scottish meal. The Estonian visitors had heard rumours of haggis, the Scottish national dish of lamb bits and other things, so I decided to make some exactly a week ago. My choice of haggis is MacSween of Edinburgh, and I bought both a vegetarian and traditional version. These were served with neeps (alias mashed turnip, seasoned with butter, salt, pepper, and nutmeg) and tatties (potato mash, seasoned with salt, pepper, milk and butter).We drank my current favourite whisky and Whisky Mac cocktails. For the latter you mix 1.5 oz Scotch whisky and 1 oz green ginger wine. I suspect my ginger wine (not easy to find!) wasn't the green one, as the cocktail...
For some time now already, I have been longingly glancing at pictures and recipes of macaroons at various foodblogs. The equisite creations at The Traveler's Lunchbox, Kuidaore and Anne's Food have left me drooling in front of my computer screen. Whispering names like Pierre Hermé and Ladurée in the same sentece as macaroons did nothing to convince me that I could muster these delicate sweets myself. I was convinced I am doomed to wait for my maiden trip to Paris to get a taste of my first ever macaroon.Until yesterday. I had - finally - bought a hand held electric mixer cum mini food processor. I had some leftover egg whites in my fridge. I had picked up a packet of green pistachios last weekend. And Nigella's How to Be a Domestic Goddess: Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking had once...
Valentine's Day hasn't really caught off in Estonia, unless you count the piles of red boxes of chocolate in supermarkets. I'm with Molly here - I prefer romance in small quantities, on a daily basis, if possible :) However, I'm also a chocoholic, so any excuse for eating chocolate is good for me. The imminent arrival of Valentine's day was a good excuse to bake a chocolate cake last weekend. I chose a recipe for chocolate brownies from an Australian booklet, Sweet & Simple: Chocolate (Australian Women's Weekly). I had to bake mine in a round cake tin, as I hadn't got a square one at the time (does that mean I cannot call these 'brownies' any more??). And as I wanted my coconut brownies to be really coconutty, I doubled the amount of coconut. A good idea, if I may say so myself - the...
One of my favourite restaurants back home is Olde Hansa, the Medieval Restaurant of Tallinn. The name highlights that Tallinn used to be a member of the Hanseatic League, a medieval network of trade towns in the Northern Europe. Olde Hansa is a fun and wonderful restaurant in a huge medieval warehouse, just off the Town Hall Square in Tallinn's Old Town. I like the candlelight medieval atmosphere, I like the music, I like the food (their thick mushroom soup is divine!), their slightly OTT medieval pub style service. I simply love the place and it's one of the restaurants I always try to visit when at home.Few years ago they started selling spicy sugared almonds outside the restaurant (above), and public events around the town. These have become a huge success both among the numerous...
The bright green Japanese matcha tea powder has been intriguing me for a while now. The slightly bitter taste had been haunting me since eating the Mont Fuji cake at Mariage Frères last May. The vivid green colour had captivated my visual tastebuds even earlier, when browsing Bea's and Keiko's blogs. I've now bookmarked numerous recipes using matcha. Last November I made dark chocolate & matcha truffles, but I've decided that more - many more - dishes incorporating matcha should be making an appearance in my kitchen. I'm thinking of making matcha panna cotta soon, as well as matcha ice cream. But to start things off, I made a simple green loaf during the weekend.My green matcha loaf(Rohelise tee keeks)Serves 84 medium eggs150 ml sugar200 ml plain flour1 Tbsp matcha tea powder*a pinch of...
My dear boyfriend K. has stolen my recipe. Really. For umpteen years I used to make sweet cardamom scented and cinnamon filled rolls based on a recipe in a small treasured book I've had for ages: Cakes, Cookies and Bread from Sweden. The recipe never failed to produce satisfied smiles and happy tummies, be it at Christmas or during various birthday parties. Depending on the occasion, I either made one large round 'pidusai' (for birthdays) or individual rolls (for Christmas). To make 'pidusai', you roll the dough, fill with something yummy, roll up, cut into chunks and place the rolls into a round baking tin, where they bake into one large round bread that can be easily teared into separate rolls later. I believe it's known as 'Boston' elsewhere?This was my cinnamon rolls/boston recipe.Few...
