dorie's lemon poppy seed muffins

dorie as in dorie greenspan. i have no idea how i have managed all things kitchen all these years and not bumb into her...

anyway, as i mentioned in my april 10th post, i recently got her baking, from my home to yours cookbook. her lemon poppy seed muffins looked very attempting at first sight...ahem, these are mine...







i tried to find dorie's recipe on her website but couldn't (which isn't necessarily the same that it's not in her blog). her recipe is online but i'll let you find yourself, i feel that if the author didn't post it, i won't.

it din't take much to figure out what sour cream and creme fraiche are in finnish. in fact, that part was quite easy. trying to determine which of the dairy products offered in finland are similar in texture, taste and behaviour compared with dairy products recipes from all over the world call for is a another, longer story.

i made these muffins already last weekend at the cottage sans the poppy seeds (equally good without) and found out that whatever the english name for our kermaviili might be, it works in this recipe and one package is just the right amount. it's like with kajmak in croatia, i loved cooking and baking with it, but we just don't have anything just the same.

when working with recipes that call for lemon peel, make sure you get organic lemons (you don't want to be eating all those pesticides...)







what fragrance! don't skip this part, rubbing the sugar and lemon peel with your warm fingers will bring out all the flavors.







the batter will be lumpy, bigger mistake will be to mix too much.







almost too hot to handle. i had to resist the urge to put butter on top the hot muffin (did manage to do that!) baked these last night and had one for breakfast today. they definitely are best straight from the oven (what isn't?) but 15 seconds in the microwave did "freshen" it up a bit, still very tasty.







i've picked out a habit to post-it all interesting recipes in my cookbooks (dorie got 17 of them) and magazines (that would be the february issue of delicious in the background) for easy reference. now, if i could only find the dicipline to stick to any one recipe and not freefall them...well, baking is a no brainer, but with food i'm hopeless.







ps. i made a biga last night for sour dough bread. as i thought that cling film wouldn't stay on the jar i made it in, i placed the lid on (the lid isn't completely airtight) the jar and the jar in a plastic bag that i then tied with a knot. very simple. during the night, the jar had moved 15 cm and keeled over...certain someone saved the biga, but i'm not sure i want to bake with it... what if it explodes in the oven?!?

happy easter!

happy easter everyone!







the bumblebees are already busy at the crocuses

lemon risotto with asparagus and peas

as i finally got the "real" risotto rice, carnaroli, i decided that i would do all the fancy stuff that goes along with the real stuff...and turned to martha for the recipe...







the recipe is from the martha stewart living cookbook, the new classics. couldn't find the exact recipe online, but there are several similar, just have your pick...here's what went into mine.

the carnaroli is from delideli at hakaniemen halli. i got some organic lemons in order not to get all the pesticides with the peel...and the parmesan! got that from hakaniemen halli as well, will not ever by the prepackaged version, ever.







my very messy mice en place. with all the stirring going on with the recipe i thought this was more than necessary.







i even got the wine called for in the recipe (by chance!!)







i still lack the experience of a real italian risotto but this turned out great, very fresh, lots of layers of different tastes. i bet it would have a whole lot better with lots more salt but i just can't put that much in...this would become a staple in my kitchen if not for all the stirring...too much work!

loaves, steak & asparagus with bearnaise

we were back form switzerland late on friday evening, but the weather has been too nice to sit indoors and post on the blog...sorry about that.

on sunday, however, i felt like it would be a good day to bake bread.







baking bread could do with the fact that i found the remains of the biga i used to bake ciabatta little over a week ago. i've read about making your own biga and baking with it. the fanciest versions take 14 days to get going, and you need to feed it at specific times...too much hassle for my taste.

i figured that since this biga still showed some signs of life (bubbles) it was useable. i did add 1 sachet (11gr) of dry yeast to the dough, used 4,5 dl water, 0,5 dl cream and approx 10 dl of flour...







...mixture of these two flours in fact.







gave the dough a good workout with my kitchen aid.







after the first rise i punched the dough and formed two loaves out of it...







the loaves here after the second rise. i let them rise on these smaller baking trays and had the big ones in the oven getting hot. when the oven was hot, i just slid the loaves onto the bigger ones in the over. it seems the bottoms get a harder crust this way. i will keep on doing this until i get my pizza stone to bake on.







baked them in 200C oven with convection on. in the beginning threw some water on the bottom of the oven and placed 2 little bowls with water on both baking trays.

the crust was perfectly hardened and the inside moist. not sure if i've mentioned this before, but my meter on how good the home baked bread is, is how the bread tastes on day two, or three. sure, warm bread is always good, but let it sit for a day and it becomes soggy, soft and sometimes develops a nasty yeasty flavor. this one was nice even on day three, thank you saint honoratus, or something...







my previous attempt to make a hollandaise ended very messy. long story short, i had cooked and reduced the vinegar and spices, whipped in the egg yolks in a double boiler, seasoned the sauce (so good!!) when i took hold of the sauce pot with my left hand (important detail)...next thing i know, there is this huge pain, in my left hand, and because of the pain i let go of the sauce pot...there was probably a one fifth left in the pot, rest of the sauce was all over the counter and the floor. i was not a happy cooker.

anyways. yesterday i chose to make bearnaise instead of hollandaise. there were numerous recipes in (my numerous) cookbooks but i chose anna olsen's recipe for the fact that it looked the simplest...the recipe is from in the kitchen with anna (amazon sells it, too), but doesn't seem to be online. here is what went in: melted butter, egg yolks, lemon juice, white wine, tarragon, salt and pepper.







it's spring and time for asparagus...







...fried us nice steaks to go along with the green goodness.







certain someone seemed to enjoys his dinner a lot. however, next time i will definitely use fresh tarragon in the sauce. i know tarragon has somewhat of a slightly bad reputation, but it does serve a purpose in the bearnaise, i think. just don't go overboard with it!

a lot of sauce you say? well, i figured that since i eat bearnaise maybe three times a year, i can have all i want when i do eat it...







the swiss pictures are coming, please be patient. there are a lot of them and i still need to pick the best ones to post...

pureed broccoli-potato soup & spring things

it seems i cook and take pictures of what i've accomplished almost daily, but never get them posted here...i blame the sun. anyways, this pureed soup of broccoli and potatoes turned out quite nice.






got two stalks of fresh broccoli. took the florets apart, peeled the stems ('cause the stems are edible, you just need to cook them a bit longer)







peeled and cubed three potatoes to cook with the broccoli stems. let them simmer on low for 15 mins in 2 cups of water.







minced one medium onion and sauteed that on medium heat in 2 tbsp butter. when the onion became translucent, added 2 tbsp all-purpose flour and cooked that for 2 mins, then slowly added 2 cups of boiling vegetable stock while mixing to avoid lumps. then added the boiling broccoli-potato mix, with water, and the broccoli florets and let simmer for another 5 mins.







then took out my immersion blender and gave the veggies a squish. seasoned the soup with 1 tsp celery salt and 1/4 tsp fresly grated nutmeg. as a final touch added 100 gr of low-fat cream cheese and mixed well.







very nice with rye bread. while eating, something unusual happened, we both thought this soup really needed some salt...so you might want to add some when seasoning.







yes mom, certain someone and whoelse. i do have a fair amount of cookbooks, but i absolutely needed these. now that i have these, i can see that might not need some that i already have. (but let's not get into that right now)

so far i have just browsed these thru, dorie greenspan's baking would have been the one to get from the start, it has it all. forget all the other "bakings" i have...the baked explorations definitely has some that need to be experimented, and martha's latest, this just might be the one i will bake from cover to cover (if i do, you'll be the first to know)







this little, sad, pale and lonely crocus has managed to pop up from under all that snow we had...







...and this snowdrop, as well.







the compost froze in december...the manufacturer says it won't, but i'm not going to sue them, the winter was quite harsh. now it needs thawing and warm air inside, the sun warmed it up some yesterday.







the dog enjoys the sun as well. i'm jealous, i wish i could spend my days idling around, maybe get up, once in a while, to bark at fatties (=squirrels) or just for fun...







though, i'm starting to agree with scientists...too much sunlight doesn't agree with us finns. i rather liked the darkness of winter, could also be that the stark sun makes one (too) aware of things one should start mending. i'm not feeling the kick from sun that most people seem to get in the spring, so i'm not feeling very productive, but rather very impatient and at the same time not sure what it is that needs to happen. but i'm sure it needs to happen soon!

it wasn't enough that i broke a nail. it broke almost all the way, and was painfull, well, still is. and this really didn't need to happen, a knife fell out of my hands and as i was trying to catch it, i hit my finger on the edge of the counter, hard. i got the knife, lousy save, if you ask me.







i'm taking a little trip with my parents this coming week. rest assured, you will have to endure the pics of all the food we ate and places we visited...

ps. remember to vote! (there is a parliamentary election in finland on april 17)