Smoked salmon with broccolini and funnel chanterelles

During the week we either sometimes skip the cook altogether and eat sandwiches (Finnish type, will post later on), eat leftovers or coo something simpler. Well-you-know-why. This particular dish is also a nice light lunch for the weekend.

Any mushroom would do here, but since funnel chantarelles and aplenty in Finnish woods, and have a nice earthy taste, we cooked them did time. They worked actually surprisingly well! Self-picked - feels like hunter-gatherer :)

I was in three days in Stockholm the week before, in Gothenburg for Friday, in Copenhagen Mon-Tue and will be in Oulu Thu-Fri. 'Nough said. This food brought me joy and comfort for this almost only night at home this week <3

Smoked salmon with broccolini and funnel chanterelles
Cold-smoked or warm-smoked salmon (lax)
Broccolini
Funnel chantarelles or other mushrooms
Pepper
(Salt)

This is very basic to prepare:
- If you use cold-smoked salmon, just sear lightly. But beware! This is a very salty fish, so don't add extra salt (to anything) and you might even want to soak the fish. But we really like cold-smoked salmon cooked, so that's what we use. If you use warm-smoked salmon, just warm up (always preferrably in a pan)
- Wash and cook broccolini in a pan.
- Cook funnel chantarelles in a pan.
- Add pepper to taste.

Light, tasty, simple but still complex......... I feel comforted.

Port wine slowly braised pork cheeks with risotto

We live in the countryside and during summer we have summer chicken <3 Wait until next summer - I can't get over my enthusiasm for freshly laid eggs! But this post has actually almost nothing to do with the chicken.

The reason I bring them up is that we do love to travel, and during the summer our lovely neighbors take care of our chicken (paid in eggs!) when we're away. They also help us out in so many other ways too that every once in a while we like to treat them to a nice dinner. This time we started with french onion soup (recipe coming later), port wine slowly braised pork cheeks and risotto, and tarte tatin for dessert (we'll do another to get the photo and then you'll get the recipe ;) ).

If you haven't yet cooked pork cheeks, don't be scared! They are super since they are very cheap, especially compared to value. The only thing you have to remember is to cook them long! They have fat in them and they are not nice to eat if the fat hasn't melted. I've had some too little cooked at a restaurant and it's not nice. So as long as you remember to cook them until very ripe, you're home free.

The photo is not much, as we didn't plate this time, and we were all SO hungry. I guess the photo still gives you two of the most important things: the ripeness of the cheeks and the consistency of the risotto.

The risotto is perfect consistency in this photo. Remember that. It's important. For years now I've taken my perfect risotto recipe from "Basta!" cook book by Saku Tuominen (Finnish only, I think). Saku has lived in Italy for many years and he has simply the best recipes; I have all three of his cook books. Risotto is actually really simple to make, as long as you remember few key things:
- Cook it slowly, add stock or broth very slowly.
- Don't let it dry out at any point.
- Don't overcook the rice.
- Use actual risotto rice.
- Do not add cream.
With that said, just try it! I've failed miserably a few times, I still do if I'm not paying attention. But mostly I succeed and it's goooooooood!

Braised pork cheeks
2-4 pork cheeks per person (I've used about 1,2 kg for this recipe, so adjust per your kg)
1 dl tomato pure
2 red onions
2 tbsp bell pepper powder
4 dl port wine (or red wine)
salt and pepper
Clean up the cheeks of the excessive connective tissue and fat. Cut onion in large rings or large dices. Put cheeks in an oven dish and add all of the other indegrients. Let braise in 120 C oven for at least 4 hours; we did 6 hours and they were really nice, not dry at all.

Perfect risotto (serves 4-6)
6 shallots
1 l premium quality vegetable stock
100 g butter
350 g risotto rice (e.g. Carnaroli or Arborio)
1 dl white wine
100 g grated parmesan
olive oil
salt and black pepper

First, dice shallots. Sauté them in good amount of olive oil in fairly large pan. Add risotto rice, sauté until it becomes a bit translucent. Be careful, I've burnt my rice doing this many times...

Combine stock and wine. Keep risotto on very low and keep adding the liquid in small amounts at a time (about 1 dl). You have to keep an eye on it! But as long as you do, and add the liquid slowly, you have no problems. You should have added all of the liquid during some 20-40 minutes, depending on how low heat you keep the risotto. I like to take 40 minutes. Once ready ie. al dente to your taste - taste to know! - turn off heat, add butter and parmesan and salt and black pepper to taste. Remember! The diners wait for the risotto, risotto waits no one - i.e. serve immidiately when ready.

Note: If you want to, you can use more wine (then use less stock, you should have 1,1 litres combined). This will give your risotto more acidity. I do this at times.

This time I served with roasted cauliflower and broccoli (simply just cut on put in an oven dish; sprinkle salt, pepper and olive oil and roast in 220 C ~15 minutes). It went okay with the dish, but did not add anything so special (in my opinion).

I'm glad to hear your thoughts if you do try this dish out!

Chili con Carne - guaranteed to make you sweat!

Chili con Carne is one of our all times favorites. It's like an addiction - but the more good kind of addiction I think!

This recipe is originally from a cook book printed in 1997 (!). It's of Swedish origin (!) and it's called "The American Cookbook" (!). I have it since I was Au Pair in America in 1998, and my mon (bless her!) gave me this book to go with me. It's a... cook book of sorts. But I love it for the memory. And for this recipe! Naturally, I've done personal amendments to the recipe though. (Mine's better.)

The recipe is supposed to feed 6-8 (maybe Americans - sorry!), but the way I do it, it feeds the two of us like 15 portions at least. Which is nice.

I will promise you: it will make you sweat and sniff! But in a good way. Don't be scared about the amount of chili in the recipe! Try it out. Or don't if you feel scared still - use less. At any rate, do not eat the same day you prepare it! Must rest overnight.

Chili con Carne
1 kg minced meat
1 large onion
(much) garlic gloves (originally 3 cloves)
2 bell peppers diced
1-2 tbsp jalopeno diced
½ dl chili powder (sic!)
2 ½ tsp cumin (or more, I use more, I love cumin) (juustokumina)
2 bay leaves
smoked bell pepper powder
2 frech chilies diced
2 dl tomato pure
3-7 dl meat broth
2 cans crushed tomatoes (Mutti preferably)
4 cans of ready kidney beans
(1,5 dl porridge rice, uncooked)
olive oil
salt
black pepper
pinch of sugar and cinnamon
Serve with creme fraiche and grated cheddar

First, sauté the onions and fry minced meat in olive oil, adding garlic and bell peppers in the end and fry them for a few minutes too. Add jalopenos, chili powder, chili, cumin, bay leaves, smoked bell pepper powder, tomato pure and fry for a few minutes more (keep stirring). Add crushed tomatoes, the rest of the seasoning and a right amount of the broth (see below). Also - and this is optional - add the rice. I add not much, as I don't want to turn it into a porridge, but some, since it makes it more to eat on.

The reason why the scale is so large for the broth is that it depends so much on what you like and what type of tomato you use (you can also used canned whole tomatoes). I like my chili fairly "wet" (but not runny). If you use rice, you will need more broth.

At this stage everything is in but the beans. Let simmer for at least two hours. This is important. Do not think you can do this faster. Keep on low heat. Towards the end of the simmering (maybe before 15 minutes you're done), add the kidney beans. Once you feel it's ready, cool down and refrigirate. Eat the next day. You'll love it.

Note1 on the chili powder: like said, use less if you feel like it. But if can handle any heat, you should be able to handle this. But only if you a) let simmer for two hours and b) let rest overnight. If you taste while cooking then... Have fun :) (And yes I taste while cooking since you have to. It's one of the curses of being the cook I think.)

Another note2 on the chili powder: I've used the "regular" chili powder before, but this time I tried one tablespoon each of regular chili powder, chipotle chili flakes and guajillo chili flakes. No less firy, but more tasty.

A note3 also on adding cinnamon and sugar: I think anything tastes better with a pinch of sugar. So I add it pretty much to anything. But even to this amount it's no more than one teaspoon. Also, cinnamon enhances the flavor in tomato-based foods. So I always use that too in these types of food. But remember it's a pinch (or else, put on the Christmas carrols).

Now you're done! Do tell me if you like it :) It's minimal work, maximum pleasure <3

Zander Walevska

We had bought zander in July for some dish we never got around preparing at the time - hence putting the zander in the freezer. But as we know, fish doesn't get any better in the freezer, and it can actually go bad too if left alone for too far. (Trust me I've tried.) So I decided to cook the zander over the weekend. But logistical reasons, I had a very short time to decide what to do from the zander. Via some magical mystery brain-kinda-way, I decided on Zander Walevska. This dish is actually often quoted as "Zander in Mannerheim way" in Finland. Mannerheim is a hugely famous (in Finland anyway) military leader and statesman, passed away already in 1951. Which title - Walevska or Mannerheim - for this zander is correct then... let me know if you know. This recipe below is my take on multiple recipes I found in the web; mostly based on the one in Turun Sanomat. Serves 4 (or.... 2 at least).

This is a rather easy disg to do. And oooooooohhhhhhhmg how good it is! You basically inhale everything on your plate. So if you want to have "just a little", don't even put it on your plate. Then you might be able to save some for later. If you would want to. Why would you, I'm not sure.

There were some "funny" mishaps while preparing this dish, like the piping bag breaking and someone forgetting to pick all the fish bones... But of course, cooking is like that. I'm fairly happy with the duchesse roses, after working with the torn down piping bag and VERY hot mashed potatoes... You live, you learn.

Hope you do better than me - enjoy! :)

Duchesse roses
~500 g of floury potatoes
3 tbsp butter
3 egg yolks
½ tsp nutmeg
water from boiling the potatoes and/or milk
salt, black pepper

Gratin sauce
 1,5 dl dry white wine
1,5 dl fish broth
1 shallot or small onion
~15 small fresh button mushrooms (or as much as you like)
½ dl wheat flour
1 dl cream
1-2 dl grated cheese (robust tasting)
butter
thyme (dried or fresh)
salt, pepper

Other
~800 g zander (about 4 fillets)
~1 dl de-shelled shrimp (larger the better)
fresh thyme twigs to garnish

First, get the mashed potatoes going: wash, peel and dice the potatoes. Boil in salted water until cooked. Pour the boiling water away, but take some in a cup before you do. Let steam dry on a warm stove (the stove can't be on though!).

Add the butter and mash until pureed. Add the yolks and the seasoning, if it feels dry, add some of the boiling water, cream or milk once you have the desired consistency (it has to go down the piping tube you know). Let cool.

Butter a casserole tin. Once the mashed potates have cooled down enough, use piping bag or piping tube to create pretty roses on the sides of the tin. If you don't have anything for piping, use two spoons the best you can. No worries, the taste is the same :) Cook the potatoes in 225 C oven for about 10 minutes, or until it stars to brown a bit. Not too long though, it'll get more time in the oven soon. Once ready, let it rest.

For the gratin sauce, start with peeling and mincing the onion. Clean the mushrooms, if small leave as is, or cut in half or if very big, slices. Heat up a pan, add butter and minced onion. Sauté the onions, add mushrooms and sauté a bit more. Add the flour and heat for a few minutes (don't fry, they'll turn brown and it's not the point). Measure in the wine and fish broth, add bit more butter and seasonings. Boil about 10 minutes. Add cream and boil a few minutes more. Taste, add salt or pepper if needed. Add cheese and let melt.

Put the zander in the casserole tin (where the duchesse potatoes already are). Put shrimp on top of the zander. Pour the sauce on top of everything; try to get it even.

(It's easy to overcook the shrimp in this recipe, so try and use the larger ones you get. Alternatively, you can add shrimp on top of everything few minutes before the dish is ready - provided you have pre-cooked shrimp. If you do this, you can always put a bit of grated cheese on top to make it pretty too.)

Bake in 225 C for about 15 minutes or when the grating is nicely brown. Not too much though, otherwise the zander and shrimp will go over (they won't get spoiled still though).

Garnish with fresh thyme twigs and enjoy with cooled white wine! I'd go for Riesling, although this time we enjoyed it with Gewürstraminer (since we had it), and it did go really well. I guess it's your basic rule of thumb; if you use the same wine for cooking and dringking it always (?) goes together.

I'd do this on a Sunday, but I'd also do this on a Tuesday to brighten up a day :) 

Welcome! My first blog ever!?

Well, this has been long time brewing... But never did I get around doing this. Before now. I read a lot of blogs, so I suppose I'm haf way there.... Hmm. Hope you enjoy this blog! Would love to hear any and all comments too (roses but throns as well, nothing develops without). We're off!