The Light Side of Life

Helsingin Sanomat (the biggest Finnish newspaper) tipped me off. This is quite an entertaining and informative gadget that shows how healthy eating is dependent on daytime. So we eat healthy in the morning and by the late night news have found our gargantuan eating monster, and begun devouring pizzas, hamburgers and ice cream. The site is worth to have a look at for those who are interested in healthy eating and changing their eating habits.

There is an old saying that goes "Eat like a king in the morning, like a prince during the day, and like a beggar in the evening". Personally I've always found that bit of advice problematic, as I really dont feel like eating much in the morning. Just coffee and bread for me, thanks. When I was overhauling my eating habits, I had to teach myself to eat lunch, even before noon! (It wasn't easy) Though, I recognize the need and craving for sweets and palate pampering towards the evening. I suppose it is as the day progresses, and we get tired and loose energy, the body starts to crave more. Researchers actually have found that sleep deprivation makes you eat 300 calories more per day. So how about actually winding down and having a decent amount sleep?

Being an avid self-indulger (hey, someone's gotta do it!) I've tried to teach myself to enjoy some less questionable evening treats. Some are actually very good, so good that it makes you wonder how can this stuff be healthy?!

Mango-Banana Smoothie

This is less imaginative recipe than most of the smoothie recipes out there. See for instance here.
Nevertheless, this one is my favourite. It's quick, cheap and simple. Most of all, I love the taste. It's especially good during hot summer evenings. This makes 1 big glass or 2 smaller ones.

2-3 dl unsweetened apple juice
1 banana
1,5 dl frozen mango cubes

1. Put everything in a bowl. Grab a stick mixer and pure the whole thing. If you have a bowl with a lid, I strongly advise using it. Mango cubes tend to splurge about quite a bit.
2. Pour in a glass and enjoy!

Banana-Blueberry Quark

This is another simple, easy and rather a healty dessert type of food. I don't usually put in cream, as it is like giving your finger to the devil, start with small doses and end up using more and more. Usually I dont use any sweeteners with it but if your sweet tooth is aching bad, a teeny weeny pinch of stevia is good. This makes for 2 or one greedy.

250 gr quark (fat-free or low-fat)
1 banana
1+ dl blueberries
touch of vanilla powder
(sweetener of your choice, sparingly dosed)
(1 dl low-fat fake whipping cream or vanilla custard)

1. Put everything (but the creamy stuff) in a bowl and mix with a stick mixer.
(2. Whip the cream and slowly mix it in with a spoon.)
3. It's ready to serve!

Tomato-Basil Salad

Tomato and basil are a great pair. They make a great salad just with onion and a touch of olive oil and vinegar. Add mozzarella to that and its mmmmmmm..  Here's another kind salad, for light evening meal or side dish. Lovely with grilled chicken or warm baguette. This makes for one not too famished person.

1,5 dl sweet mini plum tomatos
10 basil leaves
1/2 small very finely sliced onion (shallot)
5-6 pieces artichoke in oil (with herbs/grilled)
Handful of rucola leaves
1 tsp balsamico
Pepper
1-2 tbsp olive oil (or use the artichoke oil instead)


1. Halve tomatos, slice onion, cut artichoke in 1 cm pieces. Rince rucola.
2. Put tomatos, onion and artichoke into a bowl and rip basil and rucola over them.
3. Sprinkle oil, balsamico and pepper over. Mix with spoon and let sit for 15 mins.
4. Serve.

Winter Chanterelle Risotto

Oh well, my favorite musrooms and recent obsession with risotto. What else you could expect?!
This makes for 2. This risotto can be also made without bacon, just saute garlic, onion and celery together. You can use dried penny buns instead of winter chanterells, then consider using 0,5 dl chopped parsley instead of peas.

Winter Chanterelle Risotto with Bacon

• 1,5 dl arborio rice
• 1 onion quite finely chopped
• 10-15 cm piece of celery stick sliced
• 1-2 garlic glove(s), sliced
• 1 dl dry sherry or 1,5 dl white wine
• 1,5- 2 dl of dried winter chanterelles
• 150 gr fillet bacon
• 1 dl grated parmesan
• 6-7dl (or so) low salt chicken stock
• 0,5 dl peas
• butter for frying
• (olive oil)

1. Soak the mushrooms in water, 15 mins is enough. Dice and slice all the veggies.
2. Remove all the excess, visible white fat from the bacon. Cut the bacon into thin slices
3. Heat the pan to almost max-maximum heat, fry the bacon until it lightly browns.
4. Lower the heat, put in some olive oil if needed and saute the onions. Scrape bacon and mushies into a bowl and set aside.
5. Put the stock into a kettle and bring it near boiling temperature.
6. Set the pan on medium heat and melt the butter. Saute the celery and garlic. Put the rice in, mix and stir, and let it aquire a glassy appearance (1-2 mins). It should not get brown. Pour in the wine and let it lightly simmer while stirring. Let the rice absorb the wine.
7. Add the first ladle of stock, let the rice absorb it while stirring occasionally. Do not let the risotto boil vigorously.
8. Repeat 7 until the rice is almost done (when there's still something to bite but the hard starchey quality is gone) and put in the peas and bacon-musroom mixture.
9. Add stock and let the rice absorb it. Test the rice and add some more stock if it's not ready yet, let absorb.
10. Take the pan off the heat, mix in the parmesan and let it melt.
11. Pile on a plate, sprinkle parmesan over and serve!

There's Nothing Permanent but Change

As you notice, I've done some changes on the blog - name, pictures, colour scheme. Along with the name change, the blog will be available with new blogger and domain adresses. The old adress, www.minnaskitchen.com will still work. I've added a domain, www.bluntcook.com, to serve as the main url for the blog. Additionally, the blogger adress will change accordingly. So the following urls will work from mon 21 May 2012 onwards  (and minnas-experimentalcooking.blogspot.com ceases to work):

• www.bluntcook.com
• www.bluntcook.blogspot.com
• www.minnaskitchen.com

As for the changes, I felt I needed to profile it a tad better. The blog is about creating, experimenting with recipes, nature, Finnish food culture, lessons learned and non-fuss instructions how to prepare good meals. I wanted to reflect to my approach to live, love and cooking; creative, curious and straightforward. Therefore: Blunt Cook - with sharp instruments and twisted recipes. A good inspiration for blog makeover offered delicious days, thank you very much! It's a good read for any aspiring blogger.

Saltimbocca alla Kanana

This is my chicken version of saltimbocca alla romana. Kanana comes from the Finnish word "kana" meaning chicken, and "na" here is pure onomatopoetic sillyness. Well, "kanana" means as a chicken (as in "my day as a chicken") but it has little relevance here. I am fully aware that this is not exactly like the original recipe with veal, and for those, you can find many recipes just by googling.

I don't use any additional salt to the fillets as prosciutto contains quite a bit already. I suggest adding salt only after tasting. Another tip is that if you use potato wedges as the side dish, try to take them out the oven 5-10 mins before serving, they cool a little and develop the most delicious sweet taste!

Main ingredients

Saltimbocca alla Kanana

• 2 Boneless chicken breast fillets
• 6 Prosciutto slices
• 8-10 Fresh sage leaves
• 1 dl (+0,5dl water) Dry sherry
• 1 tbsp Butter
• Black pepper
• (Plain cotton thread to tie)

This time I used chives

1. Take the fillets to room temperature. Prepare what ever you are going to serve the saltimbocca with. I often use owen baked potato wedges as they suck up the liquids from saltimbocca and are very tasty. Of course, rice will do nicely too. So peel and cut the potatos, spice them up (I often use just salt and pepper, but paprika is good too, some herbs, or lemon juice to give some spicyness), mix in olive oil and put them into oven for ~30 mins (200C). Or put the rice to the boil.
2. Cut a hole in the side of each fillet. Be careful, it's very easy to cut it through but now we want to create a cavity inside the file. When you have cut the fillets, fill them each with 1-2 sage leaves and 3 prosciutto slices. Don't remove the fat from prosciutto, chicken is so dry that it requires all the extra moisture it can get. If you punctured the sides while cutting, and the filling is spilling out, you can use plain, colourless cotton thread to tie the fillet.
3. Heat up the pan. Put in butter, let it melt and bubble, and fry the fillets from both sides so that it gets nice colour.
4. Lower the heat, put sherry (and water) in the pan, put the lid on and let gently simmer for 10-15 mins. When the chicks are almost done, put in some sage leaves and let simmer for 2-3 mins.
5. Fish the fillets out, grind some pepper on them, ladle some of the liquid over and serve!

Lovely, even though I say it myself ;)

Pork and Cider, a Match Made in Heaven

This is something I stumbled upon when I found an extra can of cider in my fridge. It was simple apple cider on the dryer side and the pork fillet I used was one of those pre-marinated and vacuum packed ones. Actually, the more spicy the marinade, the better. The spicy sauce made by boiling the fillet in cider contrasts beautifully the gentleness of Lappish carrot-potato mash.

My grand-ma used to make Lappish potato mash. She used only potatos, and Red Lappish potatos from her own field. On a dry year, you had to be careful when boiling them because they were really fragile. If you weren't careful, you got a potato pulp smoothie :D The safest way was to steam boil them. For this recipe you can use any floury type potato, such as Rosamunda.

This dish is best made in phases so that you first put the mash ingredients to the boil, then fry the fillet and while it simmers, make the mash. I use one carrot to four medium sized potatos.

Pork in Cider Sauce and Lappish Carrot-Potato Mash 

• 1 whole pre-marinated pork fillet
• 1 can of apple cider (0,5 L; drink the rest)
• Potatos, 4-5 medium sized
• Carrot (s), 1 small one
• Cream, approx. 0,25 dl (add carefully and if the mash is too stiff add some more)
• Butter, 2-3 tbsp
• Onion, a small one, very very thinly diced
• Black pepper
• Salt
• Flour to thicken the sauce

 

1. First you need to peel carrot(s) and potatos for the mash. Put them in water, add some salt and let it gently boil, till they are soft (a fork easily sinks in), but not too soft (potatos crumble).
2. Heat a frying pan very warm (so that meat browns easy). Put in a knob of butter and let it melt and boil. Put the meat in and fry it from every side so that it turns brown. Frying seals the surface, so the meat juices will stay in.
3. Lower the heat and pour in the cider. It should cover the fillet till mid-way. Put a lid on and let it simmer on a low heat for about 20 mins or so.
4. Dice onion very, very thinly. When the potatos and carrots are ready, drain, add onion, butter, cream, ground black pepper and mash it all together. Preferably dont use mixer or any food blender but a wooden or metallic tool and mash it by hand. Blender easily makes the structure like adhesive paste. Taste for salt.
5. Check that the pork has cooked properly, it has to be well done. I usually just brutally cut it into 2 and see if it's still pink on the inside. If it is, back into the pan it goes!
6. Pour the cider from the pan into a kettle. I use rice flour to thicken as it has very little taste on it's own, and you can just sprinkle it in. Check the bag for measures.
7. Serve!

Reasoning with Risotto

Lately, I've been fascinated with risotto. A creamy, thick, lovely risotto that sends all the low-carb people scrambling for cover. Back in the day - school -  risotto would mean parboiled rice, frozen pea-corn-paprika mix and some chicken. Yuck. Well, you could eat it if you were really hungry. Famished. That's the most you can say about it. Now, italian risotto is something quite different. I dont claim to be an expert (yet) but I've been conducting some experiments. Here's one of them, with some lessons learned. This recipe was inspired by my brother, who once served me the most delicious persillade I could ever think of.

Red wine & parsley risotto (with beef fillet)

(makes for one hungry person)

1 small onion, diced
0,75 dl chopped fresh parsley
1 dl arborio rice
1 garlic clove
1 tbsp butter
1 - 1,5 dl red wine
3-4 dl chicken stock
0,5 dl grated parmesan
Black pepper

~200+ gr beef fillet
Butter
Salt, pepper

Preparation: take the meat to room temperature approx. 1 hr before frying.
1. Dice the onion, chop parsley, grate cheese. Put the chicken stock in a kettle, mild heat (hot but not boiling) and keep it warm.
2. Heat the butter in a deep pan, saute onions. Set oven to 200 Celsius (you need this for the meat later on).
3. Add rice, let it aquire slightly glassy appearance stirring it constantly on the pan.
4. Add red wine, let lightly simmer with occasional stir until the liquid is absorbed.
5. Add some of  the stock. Let the rice absorb it, stirring once in a while.
6. Repeat 5. Heat another pan for frying the meat.
7. Fry the meat, browning all sides. Cover the meat with tin foil and put the it in the oven for 5-10 mins depending how well done you want it.
8. Keep adding the stock until the rice is soft but has a tinge of "al dente" to it. Add the chopped parsley and some stock. Take the meat out of the oven and let it rest 10 minutes before salting and cutting.
9. Add parmesan to the mix and stir until melted.
10. Cut the meat into thin slices, serve, garnish with fresh parsley.

Lessons learned:

1. Dont use too strong a red wine (or dilute it).  Syrah Pinotage is too strong, if the risotto is to accompany more delicate flavours.
2. Dont use too strong a parmesan. Dont get me wrong: the taste can be heavenly but too pungent for milder flavours, so it entirely depends on how you serve this dish. With green peas and some celery this would make a lovely "light" meal on its own.

Enjoy!

Mushie Musings

Oh, hello, yes. I've been terribly naughty, lazy and busy and will not promise to make better. Can try though. Happy New Year anyways!

This time, I am gonna present something including mushrooms. I love walking in the woods and picking mushies. In Finland, we have what is called Every Man's Rights - you can pick berries, mushrooms and flowers everywhere - provided you're not doing that on someone's yard or otherwise restricted area. Obviously, you're not entitled to break, spoil or hurt anything. So, every autumn I spend 2 months my head buried into moss and gather mushies for the winter. I especially like winter chanterelles. The only thing I don't like that much in the process, is the mushroom cleaning. You have to wipe dirt, seeds and snails away before preparing them in any way. Cleaning is rather boring when you have a five litre pile of them stacked in front of you. I have considered getting a trained monkey to do that for me, so if you happen to have one kicking about, please feel free to send it this way. One more thing: DONT pick and eat any mushrooms that you cannot 100% identify as being suitable for food. Some mushrooms are very poisonous.

I usually dry winter chanterelles. That way they keep for a long time and are easy to use. Drying is a bit tricky if you dont have a specific gimmick designed for drying plants, berries and mushrooms. If you have a warm, dry place, the thinner mushrooms will dry on their own. The rest of us need to settle with an oven but it's a bit difficult to keep the temperature between 35 - 40 Celsius degrees. A mushroom piece is dry enough, when it snaps between your fingers when you crumble it.



Mushie soup

1 - 1,5 L cleaned and sliced fresh winter chanterelles (or chanterelles)
1 diced onion
150 gr bacon (I use the lower fat version, that goes by as fillet bacon)
250 gr unripened cheese
1-2 dL cream
1-2 tbsp dry sherry
Water
Black pepper
(Salt)
(Olive oil, stock cube)

1. Put the winter chanterelles on a frying pan on low heat. When the mushrooms start to "cry", you can slowly start adding heat. Stir occasionally. This takes a while, you can prepare the other ingredients while you wait that all of the liquid has seeped out from the mushies and vaporised. Take the mushrooms away from the pan. Mind you, the point is not to fry the mushrooms but boil them in the water that seeps out of them. Don't use too much heat!
2. Heat a frying pan. (Remove white fat from the bacon.) Fry the bacon on the pan, you should not need any extra fat for this. When the meat is brown, lower the temperature and saute onions with the meat. If the pan is too dry, you can add some olive oil.
3. Put meat, mushies and onion into a kettle and cover with water. Don't use too much water but just to cover everything nicely. Bring it to boil, and let simmer for 10 mins. Taste and add a pinch of stock cube if it requires more taste or salt.
4. Add unripened cheese and cream, bring to bubble. Check the taste if you want to add salt, pepper or any other spice you think might suite this dish. Add the sherry and serve!