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...

braised red cabbage & duck breast

had some red cabbage in the fridge and a duck breast in the freezer (i'm constantly trying to empty it). in days gone by we used stay at the taverna hotel (now called mercure budapest) in budapest. their restaurant used to serve the best goose leg and braised cabbage. oh well, maybe once again one day...

i've tried to braise red cabbage "their way" but obviously never got it just right. nevertheless, i love braised red cabbage, even my way. this time i wanted to try cooking the cabbage in the pressure cooker, to save time, for one. i did some googling and found lobstersquads (fun drawings!) recipe for it. and made this dish my way...



my way really isn't a recipe, sorry about that. in addition to cabbage i used 2 red onions, an apple and 2 dl apple juice (lobstersquad doesn't use any liquid in her recipe). i added red wine and raspberry vinegar, you might want to skip the raspberry vinegar, i don't know what i was thinking...



my mom shreds cabbage with a cheese slicer which does make the cabbage a lot juicier, but i made a mess, i continued with a knife.



dump everything into the cooker...



...mix the ingredients somewhat. i took my potato masher to pack everything, did not want a purple explosion on the walls...did add some salt and black pepper before pouring the apple juice and 2 tbsp vinegar in.



after a mere 8 minutes of phiffing and whisling later...all done!




now that i look at the picture i remembered that i should have scored the skin...




fried the breast on medium for 6 mins per side, then foiled it for 10 mins.



very red but don't let that bother you, green salad would have been a nice addition.



the sun shone for a few hrs last week, it was nice on the deck.




sun was melting ice and snow, but we just got 20 cm more snow...



i'm going thru my seed collection and wondering what all should i grow this year.



however, the sun needs to get pretty busy melting all this before i can hide any seeds in the garden.

monster beet and miracle potatoes

way back when i was busy planting everything, i did hide some potatoes in the dirt with hopes that we might get some new ones later in the summer. it was just days after i had planted the potatoes that i read one should not plant potatoes in soil that used to be grass. well, that's just what i had done, turned over the huge pieces of grass that i dug out while digging for the raised beds onto a patch...the soil under the grass seemed so good, full of fat worms...the reason for not planting was this tiny bugger/parasite that would end up eating and/or rotting the potatoes. as the seedling potatoes weren't a huge investment i decided not to worry. certain someone had been sure for days (if not weeks) that we wouldn't get a single potato...but low and behold! today we decided to take a look and maybe have for lunch...can you tell how happy i was to see these!

gloves would be advisable, but i find them a nuisance, unfortunately my hands are starting to show the wear...we only dug out 2 plants, plenty to boil for lunch.

i wish i had marked which kind of beet seeds i planted here, all of them got to be monsters like this one! there is no way to pickle these, no jar big enough...

i almost felt sad to dig it out.

on to the carrots...they've grown nicely, too.

got enough for lunch, they just need...

...a little wash, garden hose comes in handy...

...no scrubbing required!

what an amazing color! however, the picture really doesn't make justice to it, somehow reds don't turn out well in pics.

i got the recipe from elizabeth over instagram (don't you just love instagram!), it's very simple, just chick peas, onion, beets, vinegar and oil...

i decided to grate the beet by hand, not a very bright idea, the kitchen looked like someone was butchered there...

but how sweet the beet was! i ended up using red wine vinegar and one of my better olive oils in the salad. certain someone has had some issues with chick peas (how can anyone have issues with peas?) and has not gladly eaten them before. i loved this salad, thanks E!

i did not do a single thing to the carrots, the chicken i browned in rapeseed oil, the potatoes had to have some butter on them. very simple and easy lunch in 20 mins, from the garden to table...being able to eat veggies that i grew myself is curiously satisfying!

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.

easiest roast chicken & veggies, dessert

another take-along lunch...very easy and not too bad for you, lots of veggies, or all veggies if that is what you like.

the difficult part was to grate the peel of one lemon, mix that with 1 tsp crushed black pepper and salt...

...then rub that on the chicken, and put the chicken in one of those oven bags...

...and place the bag next to roughly diced veggies, potatoes washed with peel on, carrots and parsnips peeled and diced, one fennel sliced into 1cm slices. 45 mins in 200C oven and you're done.

certain someone chose oregano as the herb.

i got two lunches and some munches of this.

dessert was on the easy line as well, quark, 2 bananas...

...seeds of half a pomegranate, some milk and an immersion blender.

garnished with more pomegranate seeds.