grated soup gone slightly east

the grated soup i made at the cottage last week was so good i tried to replicate it at the shack. had to add some creme fraiche as garnish (well, it was approaching its best by date anyway...)







this time i added one single bulb garlic (chinese garlic?), coconut milk and hot-sauce.







as with the original version i grated everything, this time using a powertool... although grating the onion does make one cry one's eyes out, i still recommed grating to mincing as the onion disappears into the soup completely.







another powertool, this one is so handy, it gets used the most at the shack







i dared to add this much, or rather little, of the hot-sauce...just the right amount to give little something extra. like usual, no salt added as i like my soup sweet, and the garlic and ginger widen the taste, too. oh so simple, oh so good!

happy valentine's...

...from the dog, well, and his people, too!







yesterday was a bright, sunny winter's day...only -11C but a brute northern gale made it feel a lot colder. the dog doesn't seem to mind, and he loves the snow.







time for a wash-up?







yep...







...good scrub all over...







all done, time to check the scenery and look cool...






ps. this morning we woke up (well, certain someone and the dog did, i slept in) to a chilling -25C temperature, looks like the whole week will be this cold. certain someone gets to go and drink tea with the lords and stay in a manor...

pss. thank you, paz, for all your kind comments!

fried vendace, paistetut muikut

where do i begin...these tiny fish (muikku in finnish, vendace or european cisco in english, coregonus albula in latin) are so good, provided they are fried in plenty of butter, like these here...







while hunting for the butane for my torch, mom and i found vendace in one of the grocery stores. we bought one kilo, which was a lot of work before we could eat them. mom was kind enough to behead and clean (rip the guts out), rinse and flour (in barley flour) them...







...and taking out the big pan, lots of butter and frying the lot. 40 fish will fit the pan, it took 3 panfulls to fry them all, and that woodburninn stove is hot...







a tiny amount of salt was sprinkled on the hot fish. they were the best very, very hot straight from the pan...







...but i did enjoy them piled on rye crisp bread. my stomach was screaming after this meal, so not something someone with reflux disease should eat, let alone gobble!

rustic creme brulee

or as the french would say crème brûlée...

i had wanted to make creme brulee for a long time. i had also wanted a kitchen "blow-torch" for a long time, couple of weeks ago i finally found one that was reasonably priced (and came with 6 ramekins, not pictured).







the hardest part of making these was trying to find butane in my hometown for the torch, the fourth place had it...

separating the yolks and whites, mixing the ingredients, warming up the cream and tempering, was easy but messy...

the torch came with 6 ramekins and a "recipe book" (as in one recipe in a tiny booklet). the one recipe was meant to serve 4 and to me that is a bit confusing, why would they then have 6 ramekins in the package when the only recipe serves 4?

the internet is full of recipes for creme brulee, but this is the one that came with the torch:

2 cups heavy cream
½ cup plus 4 tbsp sugar
4 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract







as i didn't want to haul the ramekins to cottage (we had enough "stuff" as it was) mom and i had to digging in her cupboards for dishes to cook the cremes in. we found these kilta cups from way back when every kitchen in finland had some. perhaps not quite the right shape but worked this time...







i think i might have used a "wrong" kind of cream, 28% fat, low-lactose and only meant for whipping, therefore the overly yellow color. despite the height of the "ramekin" the creme was nicely cooked thru. with the help of the fresh -15C outside temp, had the cremes cooled sufficient enough to be still cool after torching the sugar on top.







very good...will be even better when i use the proper cream and ramekins...






ps. unfortunately i found a finnish website that sells kitchen gadgets and then some. too many things i didn't know i needed!