Rhubarb Apple Pie

Since rhubarb is also in season, I bought some last week just to see what I could do with it. Apparently rhubarb goes well with strawberries, since I found a lot of interesting recipes that pair them. Though for simplicity I just went with apples this time.

Since my dinner guest was 'watching the waistline', I ended up eating this entire pie in 4 days by myself. Great. It makes a great breakfast though ;)

pie crust

500 grams rhubarb, chopped

4 apples, peeled, cored and chopped

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup corn starch

2 tbs lemon juice

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup flour

4 tbs butter

1 tsp cinnamon

pinch nutmeg

1. Preheat the oven to 200C. Bake the pie crust for 12-15 minutes until golden.

2. Mix the rhubarb, apple, sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, lemon juice, and corn starch thoroughly in a large bowl.

3. Pour rhubarb mixture into the pie crust.

4. Mix walnuts, flour, butter, 1/2 cup brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl with hands until a coarse crumbly mixture is attained.

5. Sprinkle the crumbles over the entire pie and bake for 45 minutes.

6. Allow to cool slightly before serving. Good with vanilla or strawberry icecream!

Mushroom and White Bean broth with Polenta and Asparagus

Ok this is not the most photogenic dish, but also this was a picture of the leftovers because the original was devoured too quickly for pictures. (and it was late in the evening when the lighting was bad)

It does seem like a whole menu here, but I assure you the combination of these flavors goes so well together that it makes sense to list it as one recipe. Asparagus and mushrooms both just went in season recently, so it makes sense to try to pair them.

Polenta is a good thing to know how to make because it goes with so many other delicious things. If you can find the instant variety, it takes about 5 minutes to make, including the time to boil the water.

Polenta

3 cups vegetable broth

3/4 cup instant polenta

1 cup grated parmesan cheese

1. Bring broth to a boil.

2. Stir in polenta and continue stirring for about 3 minutes until the mixture gets thick and bubbly.

3. Stir in the parmesan.

4. Serve immediately (or else it hardens and will not look as pretty, but will taste just as good!

Mushroom and White beans in broth

1 1/2 cups mushroom stock

3 cups chopped fresh mushrooms, such as crimini or portabello (the smaller ones), chopped roughly if they are too big, but if they're bite size you can leave them whole

2 tbs olive oil

1 bunch scallions (greens included) minced

2 cloves garlic

1 1/2 cups canned white beans drained

500 grams asparagus

1. Saute the mushrooms until golden brown in color.

2. Add garlic and scallions and cook for another minute.

3. Add the stock and beans and simmer until mushrooms and beans are well heated and soft.

Serve with steamed asparagus and polenta. Just pour the mushroom mixture over both and garnish with grated parmesan.

Beet and Tomato Ragout with Goat Cheese

Yes, you can find beets all year round in Finland. But I believe they're finally in season, because the prices took a dive and I just had to pick some up. Maybe too many, so this will not be the last beet post to come for a while.

I do realize now why Jamie Oliver went by 'The Naked Chef', because cooking with things like beets requires a little bit of nudity if you don't want to ruin all of your clothing. I'm getting used to cooking in the nude as a way to cut back on laundry, and it's warm enough, and the tree blocks the window to my kitchen, so who's complaining? Just check this picture of my hand after peeling and chopping 3 beets and trying to wash off the juices:

This is good as a main course with a few greens on the side or as a side dish. I ate this for two days straight (TMI, FYI a bit concerned about the color of my stool afterwards), but I know beets aren't everyone's number one favorite, so a side dish is also appropriate for guests.

2 tbs olive oil

1 red onion, diced

1 tbs tomato paste

1 tbs brown sugar

2 cloves garlic, crushed

3 large beets, cubed into about 1 inch cubes

1 cup tomatoes canned or fresh

salt and pepper to taste

balsamic vinegar to taste (about 1-2 tbs is probably more than enough)

a few sliced rounds of good quality goat cheese

1. Heat the olive oil in a sautee pan. Add the onion and slowly brown it for about 5 minutes on medium heat.

2. Add the tomato paste, sugar, garlic, and 3/4 cup water to the pan and stir well.

3. Simmer until the liquid is reduced by half, which takes about 25 minutes.

4. Add the beets and tomatoes with salt and pepper and balsamic vinegar and simmer for another 20 minutes, or until beets are soft.

 5. Serve the ragout topped with slices of goat cheese.

Bagels!

I don't know what came over me. I just got a craving this afternoon and HAD to make bagels. In many places outside of the East Coast of the US, it's very difficult to get the perfect bagel. In Finland, we have Arnold's, but I don't believe they boil theirs. As I've heard from others in the bagel industry, an unboiled bagel is 'just a roll with a hole'. My first real job was at Einstein Bagels in Severna Park, MD. I was lucky enough to work with my good friends, N, M, and D. We didn't really make the bagels ourselves back then, nor did we take the job seriously, but we did eat a lot of bagels. (I was 15 and a 3 season athlete back then so carb loading wasn't as dangerous at that time.) It's a dangerous thing, making bagels alone. No one there to moderate how quickly you eat them ALL (ok, I ate 3/8 the first night). Time to go for a long run to work off all the carbs. But first I'll tell you how I made them.

4 cups all purpose or bread flour (or you can also trade some all purpose flour for rye or whole wheat, but then you need to pay more attention to the dough consistency as these flours can absorb more/less water than all purpose.)
1 1/4 cup warm water
1 tbs vegetable oil
1 tbs sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp instant yeast
water and a few tablespoons of sugar for boiling
toppings or extras: I tried black sesame seeds, dried garlic flakes, organic sunflower seeds, and poppy seeds, but I would also recommend regular sesame seeds, dried onion flakes, cheese, jalopenos, or dried fruits within the dough, like raisins or blueberries.

1.) Mix the water, oil, sugar, salt and yeast in a large mixing bowl. Add the flour half a cup at a time incorporating well after each addition. Add until you have an almost firm dough.
2.) Place on a large kneading board or a floured counter surface and knead together with the remaining flour for 10 minutes. You may add flour to help the dough not to stick to the surface (which is why I advise to mix until 'almost' firm in the previous step).
3.) Cut the dough into 8 equal pieces. I usually cut my ball of dough like you might a pie, so that I'm sure all pieces are roughly equal. Then I have triangles which I make rounded between my palms into little balls.
4.) Allow the balls to rest 10-20 minutes.
5.)Preheat your oven to 225C. While the oven is heating, rolls the balls into snakes just a bit longer than the width of your hands together as you roll. When it reaches that length, wrap the snake around your dominant rolling hand, placing the ends side down on the rolling surface and roll a little until the ends of the snake are merged. They might not look perfect or pretty at this stage. It takes practice. They'll still taste amazing.
6.) Allow the rolled bagels to rest another 20 minutes. In the mean time, prepare a large pot of boiling water, filled about half way, with some sugar dissolved in it (3 tbs to 1/4 cup will do sufficiently). I've also heard of people using syrup for this, maple or otherwise. This gives it the chewy glaze on the outside. I've heard people brushing with egg whites or whole eggs before baking, but the sugar technique is simpler and more efficient in my book. I'm going to cover the bagels in toppings anyway!
7.) Boil bagels 1 minute on each side. I put 2-3 bagels in the pot at a time and set my phone's stop watch for one minute, flipping with a spoon. Remove with a slotted flat spoon after the two minutes are up, and allow to drain a bit on a baking cooling rack for one minute.
8.) After 1 minute, you can dip the 'top' side of the bagel into a bowl of your topping of choice.
9.) Place all bagels onto a lightly oiled baking sheet.
10.) Bake for 10 minutes on one side, flip the bagels and bake for another 10 minutes.
11.) Remove from the oven and allow about 10-20 minutes for them to cool a bit.
12.) Enjoy with a number of combinations.

My favorites have always been:
1.) Runny egg and melted cheddar with a scant bit of plain or garlic cream cheese on an 'everything' bagel.
2.) Hummus, cucumber, bean sprouts on a pumpernickle rye bagel.
3.) Strawberry cream cheese and strawberry jelly on a toasted poppy seed bagel.
4.) Honey almond cream cheese on a cranberry bagel.
...... the list goes on and on. More suggestions welcome!

One Did It –

I just wanted to find out what my eco backpack was like. Finland's hiking rep in Scandinavia, Hendrik Morkel, has a hiking blog that also included this. It's a bit difficult to accurately calculate this at the moment because I don't have my electricity bill in front of me and I have only been living in my current apartment for one month. Further, heating isn't necessary much in April/May, so it's hard to say how much heating I really do use. For these questions it's optional to select 'European Average', though I believe my average heating use to be above the European average, and my other electricity use to be below. This is because I have 2 appliances (a coffee machine and a water boiler), a fridge, and a laptop computer. All the lights in my apartment are halogen energy saving lights that last two years.


One Did It – And more should do it. It's fun! There's a similar test featured in the Deutsches Museum in Munich that I tried which was quite nice. It asked a lot more specific questions as well about how often you take baths/showers and for how long. I think my profile would look even better if this test asked those same questions :P

Asian Spicy Sweet Mustard Salad Dressing

With ready salad greens and a random assortment of veggies in the fridge you can make any salad in no time. If you haven't planned the perfect salad, any veggies will do, though then there's more emphasis needed on a good salad dressing.

I used a mixture of readied greens that was mostly rucola and spinach leaves (plus this pretty looking kind with red veins which I couldn't find out the name in English for- in Finnish it's punamangoldi) The rest of the ingredients were chopped red cabbage, red onion, tomatoes, and bean sprouts. I refrained from over complicating this one- as fridge veggies go I could have also added cucumber, carrots, beets, avocado, celery, just to name a few (I think I have an assortment from the whole vegetable section of my grocery store in my fridge).

Now for the dressing, I wanted to make something Asian inspired to go with the shrimp egg rolls I was serving. From enough Chinese food experiments, I happened to have these ingredients already on hand, but if you don't already have them, go make the investment from your local asian market. I really recomment. None of it goes bad for a long time and you will find other occassions to use them that really give authenticity and flavor to your other recipes:

This will make enough for 4 servings only- you can double the recipe if you need, but it's so fast to make that I just whip it up whenever I'm in the mood. Balsalmico and olive oil are my typical standbys;

3 tbs rice wine vinegar (sushi vinegar)

1 tsp toasted sesame seed oil

4 tbs vegetable oil

2 tbs prepared mustard (I like to use a very spicy one, but honey mustard or dijon will also work)

1 tsp sugar or honey

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp Chinese 5-spice blend

Put all of the ingredients into a tupperware, seal the lid on top. Shake well until well combined (over the sink if your tupperware lids aren't fitting well). These ingredient porportions can, of course be tweaked to your personal preferences

Shrimp Egg Rolls with Cucumber Sauce

I had wanted to make these for a long time. If you like this, you may like another eggroll recipe without seafood. This is another one of those recipes adapted from my fave, Giada de Laurentiis from the Foodnetwork that does a lot of Italian and Californian style recipes. I keep a bag of jumbo shrimp in my freezer, mostly for when I have guests over or want to make something that looks fancy fast. Ok, this recipe is not a fast one. It takes some time to chop and roll. With the hang of it it gets faster. I made these for T & G for dinner last Sunday and the words 'very impressed' were used, by T, which means more than when coming from G (doesn't take much to impress that one ;)

I started with the sauce because as with most sauces the longer is marinates together in the 'fridge the better it tastes when time comes to devour it. 

Cucumber Dipping Sauce

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup mayonaise 

4'' piece of cucumer diced finely

1 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp chilli sauce (the kind I used has extra garlic in it)

Blend these ingredients well and cover with plastic wrap or in a tupperware and store in the fridge until ready to use.

Shrimp Egg Rolls

18 egg roll wrappers (premade is the way to go here)

2 shallots

2 cloves garlic

1 carrot

3/4 lb (500 grams) shrimp, cooked, peeled and deveined

1 cup of mixed mushrooms (I used shitake and black flower fungus)

1 cup lightly cooked bean thread noodles

2 tbs soy sauce

2 tbs sugar

1 tbs fish sauce or oyster sauce

peanut oil for frying 

1.) Finely chop the onion, garlic and carrot as best you can. Add to a larg bowl.

2.) Prepare the shrimp, chop them, chunky, not too small. Add to the vegetable mixture.

3.) Chop the mushrooms also a bit smaller than the shrimp but not as small as the vegetables. This all goes more easily with the help of a food processor, but if like me you do not have one, this is not impossible, just time consuming. My mushrooms were in the dried form, so this step required soaking in hot water for about 20 minutes before chopping. Add to the mixture.

4.) Add the soy sauce, sugar, and fish sauce to the mixture and blend well.

5. ) Now that the mixture is ready to roll, set up your rolling area so that you have everything you need in close proximity. You may want to roll the egg rolls and lay them flat on a baking sheet until ready to fry. Have a small bowl of water on hand for dipping your fingers in and wetting the ends of the wrapper when ready to close, have the bean thread noodles, drained, cooled and possible chopped into 2'' or otherwise manageable lengths. and as you can see from my picture of course, coffee.

6.) Starting with an egg roll with the point facing toward you, like a diamond, place a heaping tablespoon of the shrimp and veggie mixture in the middle of the square. Add a few of the bean thread noodles on top. Don't over do it, you'll need to wrap this soon, but you'll figure out the best amount as you go.

7. Roll tightly the first half up. Tuck in the two sides. On the last triangle, dab some water on the tip with your fingers and finish the rolling. The water keeps the roll 'glued' together. Place on the baking sheet with the closed side down (this gives it some time to firm the seal).

8.) When almost ready to serve, heat the peanut oil in a large pot or a deep saucepan. You will want just enough oil to almost cover one egg roll dropped in, not much more. The deeper the pot or saucepan the less likely it is for you to get splattered with hot oil. When the oil is hot enough, an eggroll will take only about 20-30 seconds to brown. You may have to gently flip the egg roll to the other side if it is not completely submerged in oil. This part goes relatively quickly.

9.) Return to the baking sheet and drain on top of paper towels for several minutes.

10.) Transfer to a serving dish or plates and serve with the cucumber dipping sauce.

Sushi- First Attempt

Sushi- it seemed alltogether daunting from the outset. But I have seen J & F do it a few times, so I figured I'd give it a go. It was inspired by this beautiful weather, and I was hoping to make this into a picnic lunch.

First, assemble the necessary ingredients:

Pictured I have here:

rice (soaking)

nori, seaweed sheets

bamboo rolling mat

rice wine vinegar

pickled ginger strips

black sesame seeds

wasabe paste

assorted vegetables: jullienned carrots, bok choy cabbage, avocado, cucumber

Really, the only thing you need to pay attention to is getting the rice right. But since the main thing with the rice is the rinse and soak, it really isn't that hard. I made rice with 2 cups of uncooked rice, and 2.5 cups water. This was already too much for little ole me, because it rendered enough for 4-5 rolls.

Start with your rice in a collander and bowl. Cover the rice with water and swirl a few times, get your hands in there and mix it around, don't be afraid to get those hands wet! Drain the water from the rice and repeat the process. Finally towards the end I just put the collander full of rice under the faucet and let it run. Repeat washing and rinsing until the water exiting is clear and not foggy anymore.

Then, soak the rice fully covered in water for at least a half an hour.

Cook the rice in a 1:1.2 ratio, or really not much more water than there is rice. Like other rices, you let the water boil first, add the rice, bring back to a boil for a moment and turn down the heat to low and cover. This kind of rice only takes about 20 minutes to cook. Remove from heat and set aside with the lid still on top to 'steam' further.

Rice Vinegar

1/3 cup rice vinegar

2 tbs white sugar

1 tsp salt

Heat the vinegar ingredients on the stove top just long enough for the salt and sugar to dissolve. Remove from heat and let vinegar cool.

Mix the vinegar into the rice, gently not to break too much rice, and let all cool.

Now you're ready to begin.

Start by placing the rough side of the nori face up on the bamboo mat

With wet hands, place a large mound (a little more than a handful) on top of the middle of the nori. Spread evenly over the nori (this is easier with wet hands). Start with less than you need, because adding more rice is easier than taking rice away.

Leave an inch or so without rice at the end so you can close the roll properly.

Add the other ingredients, such as fish if you have some top quality fresh fish, or in my case the vegeteables and crab sticks.

Roll tightly with the bamboo mat until closed. Cut with a sharp knife, and serve with soy sauce, ginger and wasabi. Enjoy!

To make the inside-out roll is a bit trickier. You must first cover your bamboo mat in plastic wrap, seed lightly with sesame seeds, and roll out the rice on top of that, about the same dimensions as the nori sheets. Cut one nori sheet in half, place the fillings on top of the nori sheet and roll tightly.

Tofu in Spicy Chile Sauce with Coconut Rice

This recipe has it all, salty, sweet, sour, spicy. Very spicy in fact. I love the aesthetics of shapes with both rice cakes and tofu, and the green and red peppers contrasting the yellow color from the tumeric. It all comes together really well and is really easy to make. What can I say, I just love this. It reminds me of this Thai restaurant that I ate at with my friend W in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica, and they served their coconut fish soup with star fruit and it was lovely.

Start with the rice the day before or in the morning. That way the rice has time to cool and set so that it's easier to cut into shapes.

Coconut Rice Cakes

1 1/2 cups basmati rice

1 cup coconut milk

1 tsp tumeric

black and/or white sesame seeds

peanut oil for frying

salt and pepper

1. Rinse the rice. Boil 2 cups of water with the coconut milk and add salt, pepper, and tumeric.

2. Add the rice, turn down the heat to a simmer, cook covered for about 20 minutes or until the rice is ready. Allow the rice to cool.

3. Lay a piece of plastic wrap on a cookie sheet. Spread the rice evenly about 1 1/2 inches thick over the cookie sheet. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Cover the top with another piece of plastic wrap, so the rice doesn't dry out.

4. Place in the refridgerator over night or until well chilled.

5. When ready to make the tofu, cut into squares or triangles and fry lightly on either side. Enough to give a crisp to the edges and heat through.

Spicy Tofu
1 package firm tofu sliced into 1 1/2 inch thick triangles
1 cup coconut milk
3 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs brown sugar
2 limes
3 shallots, diced
1 red jalopeno chile, sliced on the diagonal (seeds removed if you want to minimize the heat)
1 green jalopeno chile, sliced on the diagonal (''   '')
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp tumeric
1 tbs fresh or dried mint leaves
1 tbs fresh or dried basil leaves (Thai basil works best here, but isn't easy to find)
salt and pepper

1. Cook the tofu on low heat on a dry non-stick skillet for about 10 minutes on each side. This evaporates a lot of the excess liquid and makes the tofu a bit firmer. Since we'll be adding more liquid later, you don't want soggy tofu.
2. Remove the tofu, sprinkle with the juice of half of one lime.
3. Return the skillet to heat, add peanut oil, shallots, garlic, and chiles and saute until golden.
4. Add cocounut milk, soy sauce, sugar, mint and basil, salt and pepper. Continue to cook until everything is well heated through.
5. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon over the sauce.
6. Assemble the rice cakes on a plate and dish the tofu and sauce on top. Drizzle with excess sauce, serve with lime slices.

Easy Chocolate Cake

When ice cream just isn't enough, but you don't have enough time for a fancy dessert, this is one of the easiest cakes you can whip up and it requires only ingredients that you're more than likely to already have laying around- Hence, why I made this cake.

2 cups sugar

3 cups flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking soda

1 tbs vanilla sugar

1 cup vegetable or grapeseed oil

2 cups water

1 tbs vinegar

1. Preheat the oven to 175C. Grease a cake tin and lightly dust with flour.

2. Mix all the dry ingredients together first.

3. Mix in the wet ingredients, make sure to de-lumpify as best possible.

4. Bake for 40 minutes or until a knife/toothpick stuck in comes out clean.

Normally I'd like to make some kind of easy fondant or other icing to go with this cake. But that requires both time and ingredients, which for this I didn't have. But if you have ice cream, which I always do, then it goes perfectly with this cake. For my friends and I, the cake came out of the oven minutes before it was time to eat dessert. The contrast of the cold ice cream and warm cake really hit the spot. I'm still amazed at baking things without yeast or eggs....

Spinach and Artichoke Lasagna

This is one of my favorite recipes. I've made it more times than I can count, but I'm always making small modifications. The basics are always the same, spinach and artichoke, but sometimes I'll add olives, or use red onions instead of yellow.

8 sheets lasagna

2 cans crushed tomatoes

1 tbs tomato paste

250 grams spinach

250 grams artichoke hearts drained, quartered or roughly chopped, liquid reserved

250 grams shredded mozzerella

1 cup cottage cheese, drained

1 red/yellow onion, diced

2-3 cloves garlic, crushed

olive oil

1 tbs each rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil (or whatever you have/like)

salt, pepper, crushed chilli pepper (optional)

parmesan cheese, grated

1. Heat olive oil in a skillet. Add the garlic and onion, spices and cook until softened and fragrant.

2. Add the artichoke hearts and spinach and and cook until softened.

3. Add tomatoes to the skillet, turn the heat down to low, and simmer for as long as you have time for, with the lid on, stirring occassionally. The longer the more flavor infuses. If the mixture thickens too much, add some of the reserved liquid from the can of artichokes.

4. Layer a small amount of the sauce on the casserole dish, then two of the lasagna sheets, a quarter of the sauce, a quarter of the mozzerella, a quarter of the cottage cheese, and repeat, until the everything is used. Sprinkle with parmesan.

5. Bake for 30 minutes uncovered at 175C, and then another 15 minutes covered with aluminum foil.

6. Let cool for several minutes before cutting and serving.

Serves 6 (a large casserole dish full)

Siltanen Brunch

I had brunch on Sunday at Cafe Siltanen on Hameentie 13 with some of the girls. There are a lot of brunch places in Helsinki, some better than others. Many aren't open on Sunday either, as my friend S and I found out last time. Another place I like for brunch, Belly isn't open on Sundays, nor is Eckberg. Siltanen is a hip little place with a DJ even for brunch (though we were decidedly unimpressed, I did like the Finnsh covers of several funk and soul greats)

The difference between Siltanen and some of the other brunch places is that it's not a buffet, but they plate everything you could want and it's more than enough. There are two options, the Berlin or the Buddha. Guess which one I took? The Berlin came with some meatwurst and Bratwurst, though my German and Austrian friends were a bit bemused by the claim that it was Bratwurst. But it didn't matter, they liked it anyway. The Buddha option came with a spicy cous cous with roasted eggplant instead.

They all came with salad greens, tomatoes, cheese, a croissant, jelly, butter, a boiled egg, yogurt with berries and honey and your choice of coffee or tea (refilled for free upon request).

I would recommend this to my Brunch club friends, though I might say to get there early to get a seat :)

Tofu with Bok Choy and Orange Ginger Carrots

Marinating tofu for a whole day before cooking this recipe makes a big difference. Marinating is simple when you know how to do it and it's well worth the prep time.

My first line of order is to slice the tofu into sizeable chunks and slow cook it on a non-stick skillet without any oil, on low heat, to allow all the excess water to cook off. Some people suggest putting a towel on the tofu and putting some weight to 'press' the tofu, but I think this works better.

Block of tofu

2/3 cup orange juice

2 cloves garlic, crushed 

2'' fresh ginger, grated

handful of coriander, torn

2 tbs soy sauce

2tbs brown sugar

4 heads of bok choy, lightly steamed

3 large carrots, peeled and chopped

2/3 cups orange juice

2'' fresh ginger, grated

1/2 cup vegetable broth

1. Marinate the seared tofu in the first 6 ingredients. Let sit over night.

2. Boil carrots in orange juice, ginger and broth. Mash with a potato masher if possible, or use an emersion blender, or just keep carrot slices whole if you're like me.

3. Lightly steam the bok choy, don't over do it- mushy bok choy is not delicious.

4. Assemble and serve :)

Labneh- Greek Yogurt Cheese

I met this Greek dude last Tuesday coming out of Nordea bank in Munkkiniemi. He came out grumbling about the fact that it was snowing in May and that they had charged him a 7 euro surcharge for making a deposit. I sympathized, clearly. I don't believe in charging people to deposit money into a savings account. I don't believe in snow in May! I don't believe in a lot of things, but I do believe this is pretty good cheese.

As it turned out, the guy was from Ohio, but his family was Greek and he had just visited them in Greece. I wanted to like him, I really did. I usually approach fellow Americans with a very hopeful attitude. But ya know, we can't all be awesome. This guy only wanted to complain about Finland, Finnish people, weather, and so forth. If you've been here as long or longer than me, those complaints are beaten into the ground with a mat-cleaning-whacker-thing by now. Old, hackneyed, frusterating. If you don't like it, go back to Greece and join the protests there. Or go back to Ohio and...... do whatever it is that they do in, Ohio.

This Greek cheese was not inspired by my ungrateful American compatriate turned expatriate. It was inspired by a lot of plain yogurt leftover from last week's Indian food frenzy. None-the-less, I just had to try it out. I would compare it to cream cheese in consistency and taste.

1 liter plain yogurt (full or fat free will both work fine- I used fat free)
good olive oil
rosemary, thyme and garlic

1. Season the yogurt with salt and pepper.
2. Simply pour the yogurt into a coffee filter, or double folded cheese cloth (I used a coffee filter)
3. Tie the ends of the bag/filter. Tie the strings to a knife, and lay the knife with the dangling bag over a deep dish, like a tall tupperware.
4. Leave the bag there for 2-3 days, draining the water from the tupperware if needed. I drained mine only for two days before I realized no more liquid was coming out.
5. Using teaspoons, make small balls from the cheese and put them in a container covered with the oil and spices.

This is better presented contained in a wide-necked glass jar, but since I didn't find any, I used the wine glass for the photo. Obviously the cheese will now taste of rosemary, thyme and garlic, but with a little imagination you can season it however you might like. I was thinking next time to make a sweet version with honey and the rind of an orange. The cheese is really soft, but the balls stay separate with the oil. This will make about 10 tbs size servings and lasts about 4-5 days in the fridge.

Asparagus & Mushroom Risotto

Happy Mother's Day!

I would have loved to make this recipe for my mom, who will be visiting me later this summer. This was the best risotto I ever made. I was a little disappointed, though, that the package of Carnaroli rice said that the cooking time took only 14 minutes. I used to use Arborio but saw this as a new and interesting option for risotto. I thought, 'hey, now I can make myself risotto in a jiff, whenever I want!' but of course I was wrong. I suppose the lesson was, the best things in life take time and patience.

Overall the cooking time was about 45 minutes. I was starving when it was finished and I didn't have any more time or energy to go on a run like I planned. There's always tomorrow!

4+ cups water

1 vegetable boullion cube

6 stalks fresh asparagus, cut thinly on the diagonal

1 small can of sliced mushrooms, about 125 grams

1 onion, diced

2 gloves garlic, crushed

1 cup risotto rice, such as Carnaroli or Arborio

2 tbs olive oil

2 tbs butter

1/2 cup dry white wine

grated parmesan

salt and pepper to taste

1. Blanch the asparagus slices in the vegetable broth. Since they are already cut thinly, they won't take long to make al dente. Maybe 5 minutes maximum.

2. Drain the asparagus and set aside. Reserve the broth.

3. In a large sauce pan or pot, heat oil and butter. Add garlic and onion and stir until translucent on medium heat.

4. Add mushrooms and stir for a few more minutes.

5. Add the rice and coat with the butter and oil, stir for 1 minute.

6. Add the white wine and stir until absorbed.

7. From the reserved brother, stir about 1/3 a cup at a time. Waiting between each interval until all the liquid is absorbed, stirring constantly.

8. More water may be needed, check the consistency of the rice after you have added all cups of broth and continue adding HOT water if more cooking is needed.

9. Stir in a few tbs grated parmesan, or to taste, and stir the asparagus in last. (This preserves the look and taste of the asparagus and doesn't over cook it).

10. Garnish with more grated parmesan and serve hot.

This, like most risotto recipes, is not as good leftover. It will thicken quite a bit more in the refridgerator. I suggest this as a good recipe to make to impress guests, because though easy, it is time consuming. This recipe serves only about 2.5 (1.5 for dinner last night and 1 for lunch today). And so it can be doubled or tripled quite easily.

Asparagus & Zucchini Crudi

For being so simple, this is one of the best, freshest things I've eaten in a while. I was inspired to make this because asparagus is finally in season (thus affordable) and from some recent discussions I've been having with my friend F about raw food diets. Ok so this isn't technically all raw, of course with a little parmesan and olive oil, but it ups the flavor immensely and is at least a way to get into raw foods gradually. This is something I've meant to get into a bit more, in fact, though I admit I probably wouldn't last long with this, as I love to bake and don't even have a food processor.

Though I was skeptical about raw asparagus, the original recipe is from one of my favorite TV-star chefs, Giada de Laurentiis. I love her show because she's always doing something fresh, simple and healthy.

1 zucchini, washed and cut into strips with a vegetable peeler

4-6 stalks of fresh asparagus, cut thinly on the diagonal
shaved parmesan for garnish
1 tbs lemon juice
1 tbs olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Toss these ingredients together and serve immediately. Some reviews from Giada's page said that if you let it sit too long the zucchini gets a bit soggy. Since this is a scaled down recipe, it only serves about 2 as a side (or 1 for my lunch ;-)

Gado Gado

This Indonesian dish is strangely like comfort food for me. It's a combination of raw and cooked vegetables and tofu with a spicy coconut peanut sauce, garnished with bean sprouts and boiled eggs. Sounds strange enough, but if you like tofu, fresh vegetables, and peanut butter as much as I do, you'll understand why this is both extremely nutritional and really satisfies a craving.

It may sound weird to cover vegetables of varying consistency with a peanut butter based sauce, but trust me, when it all comes together you'll understand.

5 small-medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 carrots, peeled and julliened
1 red bell pepper, julliened
100 grams string beans
1 block fresh firm tofu, cubed
2 boiled eggs
a handful of mung bean sprouts
other optional vegetables include fresh spinach, strips of cucumber, cauliflower florets, and shredded cabbage
Peanut sauce (recipe follows)

1. Boil the potatoes, green beans and carrots separately. The carrots and green beans may be boiled a bit aldente.
2. In a non-stick skillet, dry cook the tofu cubes on low heat, flipping often, to extract as much of the water moisture as possible. This takes about 10 minutes and can be done while boiling the other vegetables.
3. Toss all the vegetables, potatoes and tofu together in a large bowl.
4. Quarter the boiled eggs.
5. Serve the gado gado with peanut sauce and boiled eggs on the side.

Peanut Sauce
1 tbs peanut oil
1 onion, diced finely
1/2 cup peanut butter (unsweetened)
3 tbs soy sauce
2 tbs sugar
2/3 cup coconut milk
2 tbs ground coriander
2 tbs lemon juice
2 tsp chilli paste

1. Fry the onion in the oil until golden brown.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and whisk until smooth, tasting and adjusting to your preference. I like to add a little extra chilli paste for some heat and soy sauce for a bit of salt to balance the other sugars.

Curried fish soup (Me ga thi)

This soup is inspired by something from Laos though I think it's pale in comparison in both heat and lime-ishness. Yes, I said lime-ishness. Spell check can stick it where the sun don't shine.

2 large onions, diced

3 stalks celery, diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
3 gloves garlic, crushed
2'' piece of fresh ginger, peele and finely diced
2 tbs peanut oil
1 vegetable boullion cube
2 tbs yellow curry
1 tsp tumeric
1/2 tsp red chilli flakes
4-5 potatoes, peeled and cubed
100 grams white fish (I used frozen Alaskan Pollock)
1/2- 1 cup coconut milk
handful of cherry tomatoes, quartered
handful of fresh coriander, chopped roughly

salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat the oil in a large pot or dutch oven. Add the garlic, onion, ginger and spices and fry on medium high until the onions are translucent and the spices are aromatic.

2. Add 4 cups of water, the coconut milk, and vegetable bullion cube and turn heat down to simmer.

3. Add celery, potatoes, carrots and fish and return to a low boil. Heat until potatoes and carrots are tender. I used frozen fish, so I put the whole filets in the broth and once cooked, the filets were easily flaked apart.

4. Add tomatoes and coriander just before serving.

Ok, so the tomatoes and potatoes aren't really Laos, but I needed to use these potatoes finally and I didn't have any lime on hand, so I used the tomatoes for a little acidity. For me it didn't quite hit the spot, and next time I'll just go out and get some lime. For this I was just happy to be able to use what I had already laying around.

Cleaning out my fridge after Vappu means I have a few veggies left (including asparagus which is finally in season :) a half bottle of whiskey and a bottle of sparkling wine.... Hmmm...

Easy Salsa

Cinco de Mayo is upon us. Ok so this is aparently a holiday only celebrated in the US even though it commemorates the victory of the Mexicans over the French at the battle of La Pueblo on this day in 1862. I'm always cheering for the underdogs (though the Orioles' losing streak is getting a little old), and I can't say I'm anti-France (although I should be making my own 'freedom fries' soon), but hey, go Mexico!

Thanks for giving us another random holiday to excuse getting drunk on a weeknight. And with tequila no less! Arriba!

Nevermind that it's snowing in Helsinki today- I may need to ease up on the drinking, after a long Vappu weekend, so instead of posting a recipe for the perfect margherita, here's some salsa for ya :)

2 pints cherry tomatoes, quartered

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1/2 red onion, diced finely

a handful of fresh coriander

1 tsp chilli powder

1 tbs lemon juice

1 tbs olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

I just combined all these ingredients in a dish and left in the refridgerator over night to marinate. I'll probably be making some quesadillas to go with since nothing will stop me from finding an excuse to melt some cheese :)

Munkki

Munkki is part of the traditional foodstuffs of Vappu, the Finnish labor day holiday on the 30.4-1.5. Among lots of other traditions, such as wearing your highschool graduation cap, drinking sparkling wine, paying too much for a helium balloon the shape of 'Hello Kitty', wearing jumpsuits, picnicing.....

.... well the list goes on. Other foods include Silli (herring), Sima (fermented yeast soda), nakki (little sausages) and tippaleipa (from what I can tell this is stale funnel cake).

Needless to say Munkki, or sugar coated doughnut holes, are probably one of the best. My friend Jenni made this over a vat of spatting oil and survived. If she can do it, so can you.

1 cup milk, warmed

25 grams dry yeast

1 egg

a pinch of salt

1/5 cup sugar

2 1/5 cups of flour

50 g butter, softened or at room temperature

oil for frying
sugar for coating

1. Proof the yeast in the warm milk and sugar.

2. Incorporate the egg, butter and flour graduatlly until a soft dough forms.

3. Knead dough to eliminate lumps, about 5 minutes.

4. Allow the dough to rise, 1 hour, covered in a warm place free of breezes.

5. Roll balls of dough between floured palms to the size of ping-pong balls. Allow the balls to rest covered for about 10 minutes.

6. Heat oil to about 375. I check to see if the oil is read by taking a small bit of dough and dropping it in. The ball should take about 3-5 seconds to get golden brown.

7. Fry in small batches of 3-4 to avoid cooling the oil too much. Turning once in the process.

8. Remove munkki with a slotted metal spoon when they are golden brown.

9. Drain on paper towels until cooled enough to handle.

10. Coat munkki in sugar while still warm. I used a bag half full of sugar, dropped the munkki in, closed the bag, and shook.

For Mom and Apple Pie

Apple pie is probably one of the easiest, cheapest, most standard pies ever made. But it's also one of the most delicious. As I've come to embrace my Americanism in the last years being abroad, I must say there's something to 'American as apple pie'. Let's hear it for this cutural icon.

When asked why they were going to WWII, soldiers often said 'for mom and for apple pie'. When I think of these kind of cultural icons I think of Simon and Garfunkle's America or Bela Fleck's version of 'America the Beautiful.' Or I can laugh along with Ruudolf's videos in Finland in which he's wearing huge Hulk-Hogan-style American flag pants. I'm on the lookout for a pair of my own.

This apple pie recipe isn't for exactly your traditional pie with a bottom and top crust and lots of this gelled substance on the inside. It's more of a tart. Also I've switched from cinnamon to apricot and almond for flavoring. But of course, this recipe is as simple as it is versatile.

• 
  
  basic pie crust, lightly pre-baked
• 
  
  5 granny-smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced
• 
  
  1/2 cup sugar
• 
  
  1/4 cup apricot jam
• 
  
  2 tbs Disarrono almond flavored liquor

1. 
   
   Preheat the oven to 175C. When the oven is ready, prebake the pie crust in the tart shell with aluminum foil pressed into it to avoid the shell sinking into the pan and losing its shape.
2. 
   
   While the crust is baking (about 10 minutes), toss the apple slices in sugar and whisk the apricot jelly and liquor.
3. 
   
   Take the crust out of the oven, remove the foil, allow to cool for a few minutes.
4. 
   
   Layer the apple slices in the crust evenly. Spread the jelly mixture on top of the slices.
5. 
   
   Bake pie in the oven for about 35 minutes, until the top is becoming golden.