lent menu, pea soup & lent buns / pastry (hernekeitto & laskiaispulla)

today is ash wednesday, the beginning of lent. everyone, i assume, might have a few things to repent, observing lent isn't neverthelss my way to do it. after the long, dark, cold, dreary (did i forget something?) winter the renewal comes naturally with spring.

however, i did make the traditional pre-lent dishes, laskiaispulla (lent pastry) and hernekeitto (pea soup). my laskiaispulla is filled with strawberry jam and whipped cream...







i made pulla dough with 2,5 dl milk, full recipe here. let the dough rise till it doubles, then roll it into a log, divide into 8 pieces, roll them into balls between the palm of your hand and the work surface, place on a baking sheet and let rise for 20 mins...







...normally i'd make about 15 smaller buns of the same amount of dough but as it's lent... traditionally you're supposed to eat big and fat (so that you pigs will grow to be huge and your grains plentyfull in the coming summer)







before placing into 200C oven for 10 mins, i eggwashed the buns







certain someone likes to have his with marzipan (almond paste), on the right







the pea soup then...another very old tradition.







i've made it several times before so this time i wanted to try little something different. there is a recipe on the side of the package of peas, to that i added 0,4 liter water, 2 carrots, 100 gr celeriac and fresh marjoram







i cubed the carrots, celeriac and the smoked ham. i added these only after the peas and onions had been simmering for 2 hrs.







i had some smoked ham rind in the freezer, the rind was simmering in the pot from the start. the ham appreared on this post. the ham rind in totally optional but gives a lot of taste. this could well be a veggie dish as well, just leave out the smoked ham and replace it with smoked tofu (if there is such a thing!)







the soup was garnish with fresh marjoram and served with rye bread.