as luck would have it...

(she carefully lifts her head to see if anyone is still out there...)

the luck would have it part? the weather, what else! just as i had planned, carefully i might add, to grill some veggies and ambitiously try to do the same to a couple of nice steaks, the heavens open and it not just rains but pours down...

plan B was in order, there was the oven...

the veggies got chopped, the mushrooms filled with a mixture of cream cheese, minced mushroom stubs and fried bacon and topped with some more bacon. i tried a new cut of bacon here and it sort of worked. the traditional strip would have worked better.  

as the oven was on i decided to put the asparagus there as well. 200C with fan on for 15 mins. placed the other veggies on another baking tray, they cooked for 20 mins.

oozing goodness...

lemon juice for the asparagus

minced some lovage and thyme for the other veggies

i'm loving fennel right now

the steak got the old and tried method of pan frying. done my home work on how to get it right on the stove at the shack, not sure i'd been as lucky with my spanking new (coal) weber.

those two seem to have endless stories to tell each other...

ps. if you've ever mixed windows, chrome, nokia booklet and an apple apparatus you might have some sort of idea of my IT desperation during the past several weeks. whether i actually manage to post this online remains to be seen...

not the kind of apple your doctor prescribed, my apple crumble

the apples are plentiful this year, they are breaking the trees...the red ones on this very old tree are so sweet. even though that huge branch has almost fallen off, the apples are ripening happily. many fall on the ground and i bet it doesn't take very long when the deer start coming in for dessert as well.

these would be so very healthy like this, but you can turn them into a very yammy dessert...there really isn't a recipe, there really isn't a need for one as this is so simple.

isn't this a cool tool? i used think this was waste of material, but one autumn when i made about 40 jars of apple sauce, i suddenly figured how handy this actually is. but you could use a knife as well.

rolled oats, demerera sugar and very cold butter cut to cubes. let your conscience tell you how much of each. my conscience was pretty quiet...

you could use another fine tool the pastry blender here. i couldn't find mine, so used my fingers to rub the ingredients slightly together, it's ok to leave lumps of butter.

place the apples onto an oven dish, spread the butter-sugar-oats mixture on top and place on the lower part of 200C oven (preheated, no fan)...and let the dish bubble for a good hour...

...the smell will be mind-blowing. you need to be patient here, you really don't want to burn your mouth...

...while the bake is cooling off, you can take some (full fat) cream, whip it, add a generous amount of vanilla paste, some sugar won't hurt either, and mix them well. when you're absolutely sure you won't burn your mouth, or just can't wait any longer, spoon some of the bake on a bowl, add some of that cream...gosh, you gotta know how good this is!

i just had a check-up with blood works and all, the company wants us to have one every other year. my numbers are great and my risks of getting diabetes or heart disease are minimal. could be my genes, could be what i eat when i'm not indulging in desserts like this...

cabbage casserole & another with pasta

went to the store to get ground beef for a pasta casserole i was planning to make for dinner, but noticed this nice head of cabbage calling my name... sometimes that happens. this time listening to that voice resulted in very tasty cabbage casserole.

as you would have it, it all starts with cabbage, recipe is very simple and adjustable:

1 kg cabbage, shredded
400 gr minced beef browned (or go vegetarian and use tofu in some form)
1 liter veal stock, or any stock you have around (i made some from knorr fond)
2 dl barley pearls (quick cooking rice is fine, or precook brown rice for half the cooking time before adding to this recipe, if you omitted the beef and didn't use tofu of any kind, you could add more grains, if so, add more stock as well)
1 dl dark syrup

cooked in 200C oven for 1 hour, first half hour covered.

here, although the in season young cabbage cooks relatively fast, i wanted to save some time and sauteed it for about 10 mins on medium high heat, just to wilt it and get the cooking going. (if time isn't an issue, skip this part and mix with other ingredients raw. cook in the oven for 2 hrs, first hr covered with foil, for the second hr make sure the dish doesn't dry out and have some more stock around to add if needed.)

browned ground beef is one of my sins, i could eat all this...but didn't!

there are several types of fonds (basically it's an industrial variety of concentrated pan-juices) around. they are very convenient, but some contain too much salt, and of course, additives of all sorts. this particular "taste" from knorr is ok, but there is the fine line after which, if you add too much, the food has an "industrial" taste.

pearl barley, quick cooking kind. as the package says "domestic option to rice".

the dark syrup i used, to me syrup is the secret to this dish. if you think it's going to make it too sweet...start with a smaller amount.

i had one medium size sweet potato around, grated it roughly and added half to this dish (sweet potato is good for you, don't have any, don't worry, not essential). placed the cabbage, browned meat and barley in a big bowl, mixed well, placed the mixture into an oven dish, poured the stock and syrup on. on hindsight, some butter on top would have made everything taste even better...

...but for someone who used to hate everything with cabbage (=me), this was oh-so-good. when taking off the foil at half-time, check if you need to add some more stock. if it looks wet, you're good, if it looks dry at half-time add a good 3 dl more stock.

the second dish was mac and beef casserole. in finland it is traditionally made with white elbow macaroni, ground beef, milk and egg mixture to set it. i'm not a fan of white pasta, so i used full-grain spelt pasta.

recipe goes:

400 gr pasta, cooked
400 gr ground beef, browned
150 gr grated cheese (i used swiss type polar)
3 dl cream (used the fattier version, there are some lighter ones around)
(and that half of a roughly grated medium size sweet potato, totally optional, but it'll be good for you...)

you can certainly use more cheese if you like, i thought that with the full fat cream, i should go easy on the cheese (the cheese is only 15% fat).

again, mixed 2/3 of the cheese, pasta, ground beef and sweet potato in a big bowl, placed the mixture into an oven dish, poured the cream on top and covered with foil and placed next to the cabbage dish into the 200C oven for a half hr.

after the half hour took the dish out, added rest of the cheese and returned the dish to the oven for another 15 mins for the cheese to melt.

the spelt pasta might be an acquired taste as it is very "healthy" (but nothing a good squirt of ketchup can't cure). this was perfect to have right out of the oven, but if re-heated it could use a bit more liquid, whether in the form of cream or stock of any kind.

tomorrow you'll see what we had for dessert...

zucchini frittata, fresh from the garden

i was so happy with the frittata i made at the cottage some time ago, i wanted to try if zucchini would make a decent filling for one. first, i have to complain a bit...gardening this summer...oh, boy, took forever for everything to get going because of all the rain and chilly weather. in my book +8C on a july morning is chilly. now that the weather is finally getting a bit warmer, everything is puffing up in record time. like my zucchini, just last week they were tiny, barely bigger than my thumb, this week they are almost bursting at their seams!

took out my late grandma's well seasoned cast iron pan and placed it in cold oven, then cranked the oven to 220C. rinsed my veggies (zucchini, kale (which grows like crazy), radishes (certain someone eats them as they are), chives, oregano)

quartered the zucchini and sliced each quarter, placed them on a hot pan with 1 tbsp canola oil (i didn't know until recently that canola oil is plain old rapeseed oil, but that that name isn't used because of what the first part of the name implies), and browned the slices for 2 mins. too long and you end up with zucchini mush, you don't want that, all the goodies, vitamins and such, will disappear. remove the slices from pan and keep aside.

next placed the roughly minced kale on the hot pan, added ½ dl water and steamed the kale just so, keeping it still bright green. again, too long and all the goodies go elsewhere. you won't believe how good the kale is, compared to the green things you get in the winter. and aren't i lucky, the deer nor rabbits have found them! yet...

took six eggs (organic) from the little grocery store toivo, and added a generous amount of minced herbs (chives, parsley, oregano) and mix well...

...took out the by-this-time very hot pan from the oven, first layered half of the zucchini on the pan, then all the kale, then sauteed red onion (red only for the fact that there was half of a big one left and i wanted to use it, 1 medium white minced is good replacement) (oh, forgot, i did sautee the onion until translucent, and it pays to drain the kale, otherwise you'll end up with soggy frittata.)

rest of the zucchini went on top...

...then poured in the egg-herbs mixture, and wiggled the pan in order to get the eggs to go everywhere. placed the pan back into the 220C oven for 25mins.

this makes a light lunch for 4, we had it warm with tomato. later in the day i had a piece straight from the fridge, equally tasty. i only added salt (maldon flakes) while eating, little salt goes a long way like that. however, i will admit that not using salt while cooking takes some getting used to.

potato frittata

i've been reading alexis stewart's blog ever since she got it going after she quit the whatever radio blog (loved her portion of it, too). she frequently makes frittatas of all vegetarian sorts (all her food is vegetarian). while at the cottage i came across one of mom's very old cast iron pans which got me thinking...

this isn't exactly a recipe (what else is new?) but sort of adaptation of several, and collection what mom had (that needed to be used soon) in the fridge: potato, fennel, onion and ham frittata with chives.

first, crank the oven to 225C and place your well seasoned cast iron 9"/20cm pan into the cold oven. if using any other kind of pan, please, make sure its handle can hold the heat of the oven (you really don't want a smelly plastic meltdown in your oven) (trust me).

i was making this for 3 persons. i sliced 6 smallish potatoes, chopped one medium white onion, one fennel and 100gr of ham (totally optional).

cracked 6 eggs into a bowl, added 1dl of grated swiss cheese, and later on approx 2 tbsp of chopped chives.

first sauteed (with a view!) the fennel and onion until translucent, removed them onto a plate...

...browned the ham and placed it next to onion/fennel mixture.

by this time the oven and pan in it were hot. carefully oil the hot pan, place half of the potatoes on the bottom...

...then layer the onion, fennel, ham and rest of the potatoes in the pan. be careful, you really don't want any more burn marks on your hands (i didn't either)...

...then mix the eggs, cheese and chives and pour the mixture onto pan, shake a little to make it go everywhere.

place the pan into the oven and bake for 15 mins.

let the frittata rest for a few minutes before slicing it. i'm told that frittatas are good cold as well, we ate all of this warm...

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).