fake jansson

the other day i felt the need to have jansson's temptation for dinner but felt lazy. normally i would think that getting something pre-cut is a waste of money as you'll end up paying a lot more for potatoes and onions (needed in jansson's), but like i said, i felt lazy...

...therefore got a 1kg package of frozen potato-onion mix from the store's freezer (jansson's is such a staple dish in finland, they sell the mix a lot, and the recipe is printed on the package). i thought i had a tin of anchovies at the shack but all i could find were a jar of "sardells"... closer inspection proved that they are the same, just prepared different. in a tin the fish would be packed in salty, vinegary and oily brine, which is ideal for seasoning jansson's. the jar lacked the vinegar, but i decided to use the oil anyway (duh! there wasn't anything else).

first poured half of the semi frozen potato-onion mix into a dish, spread the tiny fish on top...

...then poured in the other half of the mix, made it somewhat even, poured the oil from the jar all over, then poured the 3dl cooking cream all over as well.

after 40 (or so) mins in 220C oven...

...you get this bubbly goodness.

you'd be wise to wait a few minutes before digging in, you really don't want to burn your mouth (like i did). for me, you absolutely have to have pickled beets with jansson's. i know people who will eat jansson's with lingon berry jam, but it really doesn't need anything. if you think you don't like fish, well, by the time the dish has been bubbling away in the oven, the tiny pieces of fish have gone to mush and you almost don't even see them...love this dish (it's good even cold).

salmon on fennel and leek

on saturday certain someone had gone shopping and bought salmon and fennel for sunday lunch. i had not felt like eating much all week, let alone cook anything so i was looking for something very easy...

for some reason i've started to like fennel, i figured it would go swell with salmon. there was some leek in the fridge, so that went in as well.

sliced the fennel lengthwise, on hindsight, the mandolin would have been very useful in getting nice thin slices and getting everything in the oven at the same time.

placed the sliced fennel on an oven dish...

...and the chopped leek (just the white part) on top, then added ½ dl of white wine (just because there was some left in the fridge) and 1 tbsp of butter and ½ tsp of salt on top and placed the dish into 200C oven for 15 mins. now, had i sliced the fennel much thinner, all would have gone in at the same time. live and learn.

meanwhile, i checked there were no bones in the fish.

after 15 mins i took the dish out, placed the salmon on top, smeared the salmon with teriyaki sauce (certain someone is daft about it) and placed the dish back into the oven for 25 mins, the last five with the fan on. the salmon pieces were well over an inch thick, if smaller use shorter time in the oven, you don't want to overcook fish, it gets dry.

the fish was yammy, fennel and teriyaki are so good together. there was leftovers for lunch today.

the weather improved much since yesterday and the dog is spending his time outside.

i went out to get the snow off my car, broke a sweat, the flu can really drain your energy. did have some left to throw the rubber bone with the dog for a while.

powershot of the dog.

curly oak in the yard.

what is this? why aren't we going for a walk? maybe next week, she says, when i'm feeling better, i promise.

pickled herring & grilled leg of lamb

my luch yesterday, new potatoes, serrano ham, olives, swiss cheese and tomatoes.







certain someone's lunch, similar but with pickled herring, which is supposed to be a delicacy...i have never been able to eat even a tiniest piece of pickled herring, there is something, well, fishy about it. but don't let me stop you from trying it if you ever get a chance...







this is how it's supposed to be at its best, with new potatoes...







another food that i'm not too eager to eat is lamb...we had a leg of lamb in the frrezer and i thiught it was time to cook it. i had decided on grilling it and made a marinade out lemons, fresh oregano, mint, thyme and parsley, garlic, salt and olive oil. put the ingredients into a plastic bag and let marinate over night.







wiped the surface clean before placing on the grill. 10 mins on both sides on a medium flame, then 15 mins on indirect heat.







let it rest for about 5 mins (we were hungry...)







only a minute longer and the meat would have started dry out, how lucky i was! certain someone thought that this was my best lamb ever, and better than anything we had in italy. well, thank you. i can't say it was bad but there is this thing with lamb and me...call it prejudice, call it something else, all i will say is that the marinade was spot on, will have to try it on something else as well.







heated some let-over potatoes on the grill and made a cucumber-avocado salad with lime-dijon -vinaigrette.







his and her drinks. white wine spritzer and tequila with lime, demerera sugar and soda water...

smoked perch

as mentioned i was on leave for a few weeks and have now been back to work for a couple of days. it seems that there is a pile pictures needing sorting, and posting...bags and laundry all over at the apartment...bear with me, getting back to a schedule is taking longer than i thought, but i will get there. eventually.

at the cottage, the fish was plentifull...here a bucket-full of perch waiting...







...to be smoked. i might have posted about hot-smoking fish before, but here goes again. the fish are beheaded and gutted 8yes, a very messy business), rinsed and placed on a stand and the stand then droppen into the smoker itself. this was "custom made" for dad eons ago. on the bottom of the smoker dad puts alder shavings and a few sugar cubes. a tight lid is placed on top.







a fire is lit under the smoker and kept going...until the fish are done, says dad. for how long depends what kind and how much fish you have in the smoker.







when the fish are done, the stand is lifted out of the smoker...







...and the fish are left to cool a bit before...







...stacking into a container and salted...







...salted generously. the container is wrapped tightly and the fish are then left to suck in some of the salt for a few hours, or overnight, in the fridge.







smoked perch are finger food, you do need a small knife for the tiny bones.







i did cook a fair bit at the cottage, but there seemed to be so much going on that i forgot to take pics of the food. this grilled eggplant-tomato-basil-mozzarella tower managed to get photographed...







...as did this pancake with strawberry jam and whipped cream...

from garda to päijänne & bouillabaisse

i'm spending the last days of my summer leave at the cottage. the lake was amazingly calm on yesterday morning.

peculiarly shaped tree along the path in the forest.

the dog enjoys a dip in the lake after a walk, it's getting too hot for all his fur...

the nieces and nephew spent a couple of nights at the cottage as well. the dog never had so many adoring fans rubbing him all day long...

...but he did need his rest at the end.

the fish has been plentifull, perch here.

i had wanted to make bouillabaisse for a long time. decided to try a simplified (what else!) version with just one kind of fish and shrimp. dad here de-boning the perch filees.

i did the fancy-pansy mis-en-place getting everything ready, and the second i had dumped the last ingredienst into the pot, i remembered that i had forgotten to take pics...

for the soup i used:

1 liter of fish stock (that mom made yesterday with zander bones)
2 dl white wine
1 onion, thinly sliced
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
½ tsp dried thyme
½ tsp dried tarragon
3 stalks of celery, sliced thinly
2 carrots, diced into 1cm cubes
1 parsnip, diced into 1cm cubes
1/4 celeriac, diced into 1cm cubes
1 bulb of fennel, diced into 1cm cubes
1 can (400gr) crushed tomatoes
½ dl lemon juice
300 gr perch filees or any other fish or combination of fishes
250 gr shrimp, slightly thawed

brought the fish-stock to a boil, added the first 5 ingredients and let simmer briskly for 10 mins, then added the veggies, cooked them for 10 mins, then added the fish, cooked for 5 mins, then added the shrimp and lemon juice and turned off the heat and let the pot sit for 5 more mins.

for the garnish i mixed (with immersion blender, all together)
1 egg
1 dl rape-seed oil
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp dijon mustard
3 cloves of garlic (grated)

i knew certain someone would like this soup, but i wasn't so sure about my parents...my mom did pic out the shrimp but dad was brave enough to try the garlicky garnish as well.

after lunch, certain someone took me out on the lake in the row-boat.

fish, fish, onion tart.oh, ice anyone?

now that the lake has been free of ice for some weeks, my parents are back to fishing. water temperature is at refreshing 6 degrees C. there has been a lot of fish, (european) perch here, keeping themselves fresh in a fish-trap (katiska in finnish).







the other day we talked about my mummi (dad's grandmother) and a perch dish that she used to make eons ago. i don't remember ever eating that particular dish, but i took my parents word for the dish being very good. we had plenty of the fish, some bacon and butter and that's all what's needed.

i started by layering the fish, bacon and butter in a small dutch oven...







...topping everything with bacon, and some more butter. somehow i think that the amount of butter i used wasn't even close to what mummi would have used.

placed the pot on hot stove until everything started heating up, approx 10 mins. then put the lid on and placed the pot in the oven (approx 200C, hard to be sure on wood-burning stoves) for 4 hrs.







this certainly isn't a looker, but it was so tasty and actually better once it cooled to room temperature. dad said it needed salt, i hadn't added any while preparing thinking that there'd be salt in the bacon. this was so good on slightly dried rye bread, with some more butter!

the bones and what-not had melted into mush and though you can see the tiny fish bones, they were so tender that i didn't bother picking anything off, just spread it over the bread.







this big boy (a zander) got caught tuesday...







...and we had it for lunch yesterday, with warm german potato salad. some of my aunts and uncles were visiting at the cottage on tuesday, i made burgers with caramellized onions, the potato salad and crepe suzettes for dessert. and flambeed for the first time ever! and no one took any pictures of it! i was surprised as to how good the crepes actually are, i might have to make them again, soon...with pics.







there were plenty of left-over onions (picky eaters...), i decided to make an onion tart of them. i had caramellized a full kilo of thinly sliced yellow onions over low heat in "some" butter for an hour. as the filling was going to be smooth and soft (added some chanterelles and cream cheese to the onions) i wanted the crust to be little hardier.

i ended up using 6 dl all-purpose flour, 1 dl rye flour, 1 dl rolled oats (long cooking ones), 220 gr butter and one egg. first mixed the dry ingredients and butter, ideally that should be done with pastry blender but as there was none (and no machine) i used my fingers, and mixed in the egg. placed the dough in the fridge for an hour before rolling it, the placed the rolled dough in the fridge for another hour before blind-baking it for 20 mins in 200C oven. spread the filling (approx 4 dl in total) and baked for another 20 mins, for the last 5 mins oven turned off. could this be my own, very first pie crust recipe? i'm tempted to try adding more rye flour for a more robust flavor...







with green salad and tomatoes the tart made a nice late dinner.







the weather was acting up all day yesterday, rain and shine, rain and shine. around 6 pm it started raining again, heay, the rain got icy really fast, and i thought why this shower of hail didn't come on tuesday, we could have had ice in our drinks!







15 mins later all was quite and sunny again.