Part I: It's on the Tip of the Tongue

If you have a weak stomach I suggest you stop reading now. You're welcome to return later, I'll let you know when it's safe to come back ;) This time, I am gonna prepare some tongue. A cow's tongue, to be exact. Tongue is a cheap delicacy but some find it the idea of eating it too repulsive. Most often, you can find beef tongues in the stores but they sometimes offer reindeer, pork and lamb tongues too. Mind you, tongue is a cheap and healthy eat, it doesn't contain much fat. Plus it's tasty!

Preparing a Tongue

Preparing tongue is best to begin at least day before the intended meal. The tongue needs to be cooked before it can be used for various kinds of dishes. Many textbooks say that you need to soak the tongue in (salted) cold wated for hours before cooking, and others maintain that you need to brush it under running cold water thoroughly. These are needed to remove blood etc. from the tongue before cooking. I just usually rinse it very thoroughly under running water, rubbing with my hand. For cooking the tongue you need

• Tongue (Beef)
• A big kettle
• Water to cover the tongue
• A peeled and thickly sliced carrot
• 1-2 onions, cut in 4 wedges
• 15 cm stick of celery, in slices
• 1-2 garlic gloves, roughly chopped
• 8 whole black peppers, 2 bay leafs
• Salt
• Long, thin, sharp instrument (knife, skewer, metal knitting pin)
• (other herbs, veggies and spices)

1. Cover the tongue in cold water in a large kettle and bring to boil.








2. When it starts to develop foam on the surface, remove it with a spoon. This is done to obtain clear stock; you can use it for soups and sauces later on.






3. When the foam is all peeled, put in all the spices and vegetables and let lightly boil. A beef tongue is cooked in 2-3 hours, the smaller tongues (pork etc.) in 1,5 hrs or so. You can test if the tongue is done by sticking a long, sharp instrument half-way into the thickest spot: if the liquid that seeps out is clear, it's ready. If the liquid is brown or red, let it boil for a while.

4. When the tongue is done, remove from the kettle and peel the skin off. It should come of easy, especially from the tip. At the root you may have to aid with a knife and maybe thinly cut it off. This must be done while it's still hot, as the skin comes off easiest then. I usually use kitchen paper to avoid touching it with my bare fingers. It's hot! Ouch! (Here I am not using paper for the sake of the picture)


After peeling, put the tongue back into the liquid and let it cool. Now the tongue is ready for some really delish dishes! You can keep the liquid and use it for stock in sauces and soups etc. You can also put the tongue -or part of it- in the freezer, it takes freezing rather well. You also may want to consider letting the stock simmer a while to concentrate it for freezing or sauces.

Breaded Tongue Steaks

This is dish brings back childhood memories. Breaded tongue, lemon and potato mash! It was served in restaurants in Finland in the 1970's and early 80's and considered a fine delicacy. And it is yummy, and oh so filling. These days a fresh, green salad would be a lighter side dish instead of potato mash.

• Tongue slices, 1 cm thick
• 1-2 Eggs
• Plain wheat flour
• Bread crumbs
• Salt, ground black pepper, paprika, a touch of chili or cayenne
• Butter or mixture of oil and butter to fry

Mix the spices into the flour. Put flour in one plate, lightly whisked eggs on another, and bread crumbs on third plate. First cover the slices in flour, then dip into the egg and finally in bread crumbs. Put the breaded slices aside and heat the butter in a pan. Fry the slices in the butter until golden brown on each side. Take it from me; use butter, plain oil gives a poor finish. Pile on a serving plate, and serve with lemon wedges!

Tongue Steaks with Parmesan Crust

And we have a winner! This is the result of my third (3) attempt to coat tongue steaks with a parmesan crust. Lessons learned are: 1) Use freshly grated good quality parmesan in big strips or flakes, 2) Coat the steaks lightly, do not make a thick lumpy coating, 3) Be careful when baking them in the oven, the thinner coating doesnt protect the meat from drying at all.

• 1 egg white (approx. 3 for the whole tongue)
• Tongue cut in ~1cm thick pieces
• 3 tbsp grated parmesan
• 1,5 dl parmesan (generous)
• Pepper

1. Rub the lemon thoroughly under running warm water. Turn the oven on to 200C.
2. Grate cheese and parmesan.









3. Mix them in a bowl.








4. Put egg white(s) in one bowl or plate.

5. Cut the meat and grind some black pepper over.









6. Dip the steaks first in egg and then in the cheese-lemon mix.









8. Place the coated steaks on a baking tray.







9. Bake in 200C until the crust is golden, slightly brown, for about 15 mins. Be very careful not to bake too long or the meat dries.

10. Serve with salad!

Asparagus Pie with Two Fillings

Them asparaguses got the upper hand again. I saw them in the store with a nice price so I ended up buying two bunches of them. But then, what to make of them?

I like veggie pies but the fat content of crusts just makes me hesitant. So Google was my friend again and I was able to find some more light ones instead of the rather buttery one in the original filling recipe. Credit for this crust recipe goes to Himme who posted at Marttaliitto's website (in Finnish) about lighter, less-fat pie crusts. If you don't mind a buttery crust, just make one, it compliments the fair taste of asparagus better.

So, decided to make an asparagus pie. But then I couldnt decide whether to try a blue cheese filling or a lemon one. So I decided to try both!  Here are both of them. With blue cheese, be careful or it drowns the taste of asparagus.

Oatmeal Pie Crust

• 1 dl oatmeal (flakes, flour)
• 2 dl wheat flour (plain, whole grain)
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt (optional)
• 1/2 dl oil
• 1 dl water

1. Measure the dry ingredients in a bowl; then oil and water. Mix with a wooden utensil lightly.








2. Pat on the dough flat the pie tray. Bake 10 mins before filling and 30 mins with filling.

How to Prepare Green Asparagus

• Asparagus
• 1-2 tbsp lemon juice
• Pinch of salt
• Large, deep pan
• Water

1. Rinse asparagus stalks. Put some water with a pinch of salt and squirt of lemon juice to boil in a deep pan.

2. Snap the hard bit off and peel the asparagus but leave the tip part intact.









3. Boil the asparagus lightly for just a minute or two if you are adding them into the pies here (or something else to be baked, cooked or fried, check the recipe). If you use them as a side dish, just boil them until a fork goes through but the asparagus are not soggy. Then drain.

Asparagus and Blue Cheese Filling 

The filling for this pie I adapted from Maku.fi (in Finnish again). I replaced leek with summer onion and instead of cream cheese I used blue cheese. I also halved the orginal recipe. Doubling the filling makes for a baking tray (30 x 35 cm)

• 450 gr green asparagus
• 40 gr blue cheese
• 100 gr summer onion + stalks
• 3 eggs
• 200 g light sour cream
• 0,5  tsp salt
• Pinch of black pepper

1. Mix the dough, pat on a pie shell or baking tray and bake in 200C for 10 mins.
2. Peel and boil asparagus lightly in a large pan and drain.
4. Cut union 
 









3. Crumble blue cheese.









 
5. Beat eggs, mix in sour cream, pepper, salt, cheese and onion.

6. Put the asparagus on the baking tray or pie shell over the pre-cooked dough and pour the sour cream-egg mix over. Bake in 200C mid-lower part of the oven for 30 mins.

Lemony Asparagus Pie Filling

 

• 500 gr green asparagus
• 100 gr cream cheese (Oltermanni, Havarti, etc. or Port Salut)
• 3 eggs
• 200 g light sour cream
• 2-3 tbsp grated lemon rind
• 0,5  tsp salt
• Pinch of black pepper

1. Mix the dough, pat on a pie shell or baking tray and bake in 200C for 10 mins. 2. Peel and boil asparagus lightly in a large pan and drain.
3. Scrub lemon thoroughly under running warm water and grate the peel (just the yellow part, the white part is bitter).
4. Grate cheese. 
5. Beat eggs, mix in sour cream, pepper, salt and lemon rind. 








6. Sprinkle half of the cheese over the dough. Then put asparagus over it.








7. Pour sour cream egg mix over the asparagus and then sprinkle the rest of the cheese over. Bake in 200C mid-lower part of the oven for 30 mins.

Cherry and Cocoa Tiramisu

Short Cut Tiramisu

This is one of my short cut versions of tiramisu. Basically, I've left the eggs out. True, the more original recipe with eggs does have a more refined taste, eggs or zabaglione add fine nuance to it. If you are looking for the original recipe, here's one with a short treatise to the history of tiramisu. This recipe is maybe a tad lighter, less fussy and works especially if you cannot use eggs for one reason or another (obviously there could be egg in the bisquits). For instance, eggs can carry salmonella and they spoil easy. Not that a good tiramisu has a chance of spoiling because it doesn't live that long...

You can easily convert this recipe to resemble more the original one by using strong espresso instead cocoa and use coffee liquor, brandy or rum (the right kind of spirit is under debate) instead of cherry liquor. My choice is brandy. Omit cherry jam. If you're looking for a nice twist, try adding lemon juice and rind (a few spoonfuls, taste) into the cream-cheese mass. If you are allergic to eggs, you can use some other kind of bisquit that can absorb up the liquid used (cocoa, coffee) or eggless sponge cake.

Cheese I use in this is known as "fresh cheese" in Finnish.  Traditionally for tiramisu you use Mascarpone cheese but at least in Finland they don't have it low-lactose. Plus, if you want less fat, there are more meagre versons of fresh cheese; Mascarpone tends to be rather rich in that sense. Internet dictionaries translate "fresh cheese" to unripened cheese, cream cheese, curd-style cheese and American cottage cheese. One of the brand names for it is Philadelphia. Basically it's soft cheese (plain and flavoured) you can spread over bread, or use in cold cheese cakes. And tiramisu.

Cherry and Cocoa Tiramisu

This makes for 8-10 people. Taste for sugar, as I do tend to avoid excess sweetness in desserts, add sugar if you find it too sour. The amount of sugar used, plus sweetness of liquor and bisquits make this cake gently sweet but not over the top.

• 1 dl cherry liquor
• 350gr savoiardi (ladyfinger) bisquits
• 6 dl whipping cream
• 600gr plain "fresh cheese", (unripened cheese)
• 0,5 dl sugar
• 1,5 dl cherry jam
• 4-5 dl strong cocoa (from pure cocoa powder) + few spoonfuls of sugar
• Cocoa powder to garnish

1. Make the cocoa by whipping powder into water. Use pure cocoa powder, not any of those mixes containing also sugar, milk and/or extra flavourings. Bring it to boil briefly, just a few bubbles and then remove from the heat. Mix in the liquor and sugar. Do not add milk. Set aside to cool.

2. Put fresh cheese in a bowl with sugar and mix until it softens up.







3. Whip the cream.  Mix the cream into the fresh cheese in small portions. Patience is virtue here, rushing and mixing cream in big portions causes the mass to become lumpy. Taste for sugar, add more if it's not sweet enough. Mix thoroughly.






4. Lay the bisquits into bottom of a tin. Moisten generously with cocoa mixture.






5. Spread the cherry jam thinly over the bisquits, then spread half of the cream-cheese mix.

6. Make another layer of the bisquits on top of the cream-cheese mass and moisten it with the remaining cocoa.

7. Spread over the rest of the cream-cheese mass and put it into fridge overnight to set.




8. Next day, sieve cocoa powder over, add some cherries to garnish and serve!

Roasted Bell Peppers, Capers and Taglioni

This dish has no particular story attached to it. Except for I like roasted bell peppers. Just the other day, I begun to fancy roasted bell peppers with capers. This is what I ended up with.

Summer is the best season to toy with bell peppers -or paprika as we call it- as it's not very expensive and the veggies are in good condition. Obviously, bell peppers are not native to Finland, and those grown in greenhouses year around are very expensive. So most of the variety is brought from abroad. Use of bell pepper was quite minimal in Finland until 1960-70's from where it became more widely known and is now an everyday veggie.

I heard a story dating back to early seventies from the more rural parts of Finland. Someone's granpa saw a bell pepper in a store, gave it a good hard long look and after fumbling it a while, placed it into his shopping basket. At home he sat by the table, grabbed his knife and cut a bit off it.  To his astonishment, it wasnt like an apple ,"Gosh, it's hollow!". Then he cut a fine piece off it, chewed and spat out with a grimace. And hurled it away to the wall!

Anyways, I'll stop gabbing and move onto the recipe. Have a nice weekend everyone!

Roasting Bell Peppers

1. Set the oven grill to max. Halve bell peppers, remove stem and seeds. Place them over an oven proof grill. Mine's a dish with a grill, I put some water on the bottom so that juices wont burn and cause smoky smell.  Roast the bell peppers for about 10 minutes or when the peels bubble and turn black. Turn the oven dish around half way as many ovens dont roast evenly.

2. That's the bell peppers roasted. Now cover with a towel and let cool down a bit (but not to get cold).

3. Peel the bell peppers while they are warm, the peel will loosen easily. It may be more sticky at the sides where the peel didnt roast too good but you can leave thin strips of peel intact, if they sit tight.

This is what you should get. Now the bell peppers are ready to use in marinade, salad or a sauce.

Roasted Bell Peppers, Capers and Taglioni

I suggest you make the pasta boil-ready before beginning with the bell peppers. Or you can crank it into ribbons while the bell peppers roast and rest. How to make fresh pasta you can read here. Boil the pasta before making the sauce, drain, put back into kettle and lid on it. Set aside.

Cream used in this recipe is something known in Finland as "cooking cream", lighter, thicker cream-like substance. It doesnt curd if you boil it with salt. This recipe makes for one person.

• 2 roasted bell peppers
• 1 red onion
• 2 garlic gloves
• 1 dl cream
• 2-3 tbsp capers
• Oil
• Pepper, pinch of salt

1. Dice onions, cut garlic and cut the bell peppers into fine strips.








2. Saute onions until lightly softened and transparent. Add bell peppers and stir and mix on a medium heat for a few mins. Add the capers and stir for a minute more. Add cream and let lightly simmer until the sauce thickens (a few minutes).





3. Taste for salt, add pepper or some herbs if you like. Mix with pasta on the pan (I use the kettle to allow more vigorous mixing). Garnish and serve!

Taglioni with Grape Sauce

Here's a dish I invented when I was still studying at the uni, money was tight but you got to eat something! So I took the grapes sitting on the table and made them into a pasta sauce. This sauce is probably better with cheese filled ravioli, or pasta with some other shape but I do love long thin pasta ribbons. I dont mind what you call them (I am already confused) - bavarettine, taglioni, linguini - I christen mine "taglioni".

Hints and Tips

Now, I am gonna give basic instructions how to make fresh pasta here but the net is actually abundant with them. You can also buy fresh pasta and use it instead. If you are determined to do everything from the scratch, read on. If you just want the sauce, scroll down.
By the way, if you are thinking getting your first pasta machine, here's two tips:
1. Buy a sturdy one, not one of those flimsy models. It has to be heavy. When you lift it up, you should get the feeling "this is good for clubbering a burglar senseless".
2. See that it can be properly attached to the table. Nothing is more irritating than loose pasta machine when you trying to work your dough.

Phasing the work

1. Make the pasta dough. Cover and let rest.
2. Meanwhile, slice, dice and saute veggies. Prepare the sauce.
3. Put a big kettle with cold water to boil. While the sauce is simmering, work the pasta into shapes (ribbons, ravioloni)
4. Finish sauce, boil pasta.

Making Pasta Dough

The basic ingredients for pasta dough are durum flour, eggs, olive oil and salt. You can also add tomato paste or garlic paste. You can blend the ingredients in a food mixer. Here's how you do it by hand. Check measurements from your durum flour bag, or use approx. 2,8 dl flour for 2 (medium) eggs, a tbsp olive oil and half tsp salt. This dough is one of those where you need to feel your way through, so exact measures are hard to give. Add flour rather conservatively to begin with, you can always add more but too much ruins the dough. Traditional instructions advise to make the dough on a table but I use a bowl, it's easier to control egg leakage. If you have a gentleman in the house, let him do the kneading, it's hard work! ;)

Measure ingredients in a bowl or on a table. Pour flour in first, make a well in the midde and put eggs, oil and salt in the well.

Mix the wet ingredients into flour working from side to middle.

Dough is ready for kneading. Knead on a table until the surface is smooth and doesnt stick to anything. If its sticky, add little more flour. Kneading takes approx. 6-8 mins.






Now the dough is ready. It should feel firm, not sticky and dry to touch. Cover it with a plastic wrapper or towel and let rest. If you are using a pasta machine, the dough does necessarily not need to rest. You can put it in a fridge too, it'll keep 48 hrs. If you're making the grape sauce below, get down to it now.

Use your pasta machine (or a rolling pin) to roll out pasta. See your machine leaflet for instructions. Here I made the pasta sheet to size 5 with my Atlas pasta machine.

Use the part for making ribbons to make taglioni. Cover the ribbons or put in a freezer if you made extra (when you prepare it, dont thaw just put it in a boiling water).

 

Grape Sauce

This makes for 2 persons. If you have ripe tomatos kicking about, you can put them in too. I usually do this in kind of a rustic way, I let the peels stay in and all. If you want a smoother sauce, you can press it through a sieve but it takes some extra effort.

• 600 gr seedless grapes (and tomatos).
• 2 onions
• 1-2 garlic gloves 
• Olive oil
• Touch of stock concentrate, pinch of salt
• Pepper, basil, small pinch of dried sage
• Grated parmesan to garnish

1. Halve grapes, dice onion and slice garlic. Put olive oil in a pan and saute them on medium heat until the fruit starts to soften and break a little. Then lower temperature, cover with a lid and let simmer lightly. Make the pasta into ribbons now or if you use premade pasta, go browse the net for 20 mins or so, stir occasionally.  Put water to boil for pasta.

2.  When everything is quite a pulp (press thru sieve now if you're feeling fussy), add seasoning. You can lightly press the more whole looking grapes with a wooden utensil and mix to get smoother texture. Let simmer a bit more.

 3. The sauce is ready. Add some oil in boiling water and cook pasta, it should take only a few minutes as the ribbons are so thin. Fish one ribbon out and taste for readiness. It should feel al dente. Mix pasta and sauce.

Garnish and serve!

Baker in the Making

Here's one of my more recent attempts

I have a confession to make. I was never a very good baker (except for sponge cakes). In the early days of my cooking career I managed to make sweet bread (pulla in Finnish) so hard that my alsatian dog Pippin could not chew them. "Pulla" is very much like your basic yeast bread, except more sugar, butter and sometimes cream or jam on it. Or you can slice it up, add marsipan or jam and whipped cream in the middle. That'd be the Finnish delicacy for Shrove Tuesday. Or roll out the dough on the table add cinnamon, sugar and butter, roll it up, cut to wedges, bake and call them "cuff on the ear" (or more commonly, cinnamon roll). The one in the picture was rolled out on the table and filled with dried figs, marzipan chunks and dark choc pieces. Then rolled into one long log, sprinkled with coarse sugar and almond flakes. Bit sweet, eh. Note to self: next time be very sparing with the choc!

Basic "pulla"

5 dl milk
50 gr yeast
1-2 eggs
2 dl sugar
~1,5 L wheat flour
1 tsp salt
200 gr butter, margarine or 1,5 dl oil rape-seed oil

1 egg + coarse sugar for garnish
Directions for how to bake "pulla" are below with bread roll instructions.

Even making bread rolls proved difficult. All I got was yeast-smelling, thick lumps that would stick to your teeth. Until quite lately, I discovered how the trick is done. It's in the working of the dough. You really need to work the dough diligently and thoroughly. I love oat bread, so these are my current favorite rolls. Be careful not to add more oatmeal flour, as it makes the bread too dry. I find 3 dl oatmeal is ok, but beyond that it gets very dry. You can subsititute some (or all of it) with other types of flour, or flour and seeds. I found the tips at Murmeli's blog (in Finnish). Thanks, much appreciated!

Minna's bread rolls

Breakfast roll

5 dl water
25 gr yeast
1 tsp salt
1-2 tbps sugar
2-3 dl oatmeal flour
3 dl wholegrain wheat flour
4+ dl dark wheat flour
2 tbsp butter or oil

1. Take everything to room temperature 1 hr before baking. It's also handy to have everything measured beforehand, as finding flour bags from cupboard with your hands in dough is, well, quite messy. Measure all flour in a separate bowl.
2. Heat liquid (water, milk) in a kettle to body temperature. Be careful, it warms quickly!
3. Crumble yeast in a big bowl, pour liquid over and mix. Then add salt and sugar. I use whisk because it adds air to the dough and thus makes the bread more fluffy. (Add eggs here if youre making sweet bread)
4. Grab the flour and whisk it slowly to the liquid mixture. When the dough is like loose porridge, get rid of the whisk and put your (clean) hand in the dough.
5. Squeeze, knead and press the dough while adding more flour. Be careful not to add too much in one go.  If the dough feels too loose, add some more flour. When the dough starts to de-attach from your hand, add the melted/soft butter or oil. Do some more squeezing, and add a little bit more flour. Dough is ready when it starts to loosen from the bowl and hand. For bread rolls, you can leave the dough quite loose. I often find 10-11 dl flour is enough bread rolls (plus some more on the table for making the rolls). Kneading usually takes 10-15 minutes.
6. Cover the dough and let it rise (30 mins) in a warm place. It's ready when it's double size.
7. Knead air bubbles out of the dough
8. Sprinkle flour (generously) on your table and put the dough over it. Roll (pat and squeeze) it to a long, thin rectangle. For bread rolls, make 12 small buns and put them on oven tin. Pat them into 1,5 cm thick oval lumps. If youre making sweet bread, make small buns and put them on the tin.
9. Cover, let rise. Set your oven to 225 C.
10. Bread rolls you can just bake in the middle upper part of the oven when they have risen. Depending on your oven 10-12 mins. Sweetbread: wipe the buns with beaten egg and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake for 8-12 minutes depending on size. The rolls and buns should aquire a nice golden-brown colour. When ready, knock their bottom side to hear a hollow sound (it means its well baked). If not, put them back in the oven for a short while.
11. Put the bread rolls on a grill and let them cool. Sweet buns are best to be kept under a kitchen towel until cooled. This kind of bread wont keep very well in room temperature, so I suggest freezing for later use.

These ones happen to be made into milk but usually it's just water