firsts, other bakes and another soup

been sort of ailing lately therefore had time to sort out pics, plus cook and bake. i think that in my first entry i promised a pic of the frosted cake for the certain someone's b'day. here is, used the the frosting mentioned on alexis's blog on oct 26 -08




now you're going to think i'm all freaked about alexis 'cause here is another by her, chocolate chip cookies




one would think to take pics of the finished product, but i forgot, honestly. and then they were gone. mine came out chunkier than the ones in the pic of the link





here is a first, angel food cake from martha stewart's baking handbook

first time i ever had angel food cake was in saginaw, MI, in the 80s, made by my friend marie's mom. somehow it tasted so good, at that time i had never even heard of angel food. it took me years to find a recipe, then it took years to find cream of tartar, no one in finland knew what it was and it was always the one thing that i forgot to buy on my trips to US. then it took years and many trips to US to find an angel food cake pan. so you better believe i had great expectations for this cake!





almost couldn't get over on how many egg whites were needed...





as you can see, finished version took to looping a bit, but it tasted great, with red currant jam. not as good as marie's mom, but maybe 20 odd years had done their magic...





i used to have a great recipe for veggie lasagna that i got from a swedish magazine (forgot which one) years ago. it had aubergines, spinach, kalamata olives and the usual tomatoes and cheese in it. i tried recreating the recipe, ended up adding some zucchini





did remember that the aubergine needed to be sliced very thinly, or prebaked. thought it would be easier to mandoline them




first a layer of tomato sauce (canned tomatoes, chopped onions, basil, pepper, simmer to a thick sauce), lasagna sheets, some more tomato sauce, julienned zucchini, spinach and cream (just mix thawed spinach with low fat cooking cream, season with some nutmeg), sliced aubergines, mozzarella cheese, and some kalamata olives as well. the olives were the only salty ingredient, to my taste that was enough





forgot in which order i put the ingredients in but the lasagna turned out ok. maybe time had done the trick again because this wasn't as good i had hoped it would be, perhaps zucchini wasn't a brilliant idea. definitely need to work on this, or just keep digging my recipe archives for the "perfect" veggie lasagna





another first, yeast dough belgian waffles. i have used my waffle iron / sandwich grill to make waffles before but always used dough that had baking powder in it. now this is weird, i had great yeast dough waffles at marie's house in holland, MI, years ago. (really hadn't thought of getting all these michigan memories into one blog entry...)





never got the recipe, even bought a belgian cookbook (in french! which i don't read fluently) to get a good one for yeast dough. looks like i need to keep looking further because, althoug very tasty, these did not have the consistency i was looking for. very good for sunday breakfast with maple syrup, though





sunday lunch was chicken soup with curry. had some home made chicken stock in the freezer, used that as a base for the soup. chicken came from the freezer as well. i think i should take some pics on my pantry (at the shack, that is) for you to understand what i actually happen to have. certain someone has told me, well more than once, to use up whatever there is in the pantry before buying new stuff. i feel, however, that one needs to be prepared! this is not just my idea...





thought of using the mandoline to get smaller pieces of the veggies (celeriac, parsnip, carrot, celery and leek) to reduce the cooking time. if you have a mandolin, it pays to read the instructions, don't do what i did. and yes, i know i need a manicure




used approx one liter of stock, added another liter or so of water. 2 chicken breasts cut up to bite size pieces, bring the stock and water to a boil, add chicken. i usually start by adding celeriac, cook that for 5 mins, then carrots and celery, cook for 5 mins, add parsnip cook and cook for 15 mins. i had 2 bay leaves in, added some chili powder and curry paste at the end to season the soup. chile and curry powder added a nice indian kick to the soup




some parsley, also from freezer, as a final touch

pea soup / hernekeitto

as it is shrovetide pea soup is appropriate. this was my first time ever making it from scratch, turned out to be very easy. just not for a quick cook

for 6 you'll need:
500 gr / 18 oz dried peas
2 liters / 8 cups water
2 finely chopped medium size onions
1 to 1½ tsp marjoram
500 gr / 1 lb smoked pork (preferrably shank)


i more or less tripled the recipe and got, well, enough for a while, and some for freezing

start by rinsing the peas, then soak them overnight in water. i did this in the same big kettle that i used for cooking the soup. here are the soaked peas before adding anything else in the pot





did not have shank but some smoked ham. there are some nasty bits like skin and some of the fat, but hey, that's where the flavour is! there was some bone as well and some nice pieces of actual meat, which was cooked in one piece, later cut up to bite size pieces. i did take out all the nasty stuff at the end





let the peas come to a boil before adding everything else, except the marjoram. simmer for 1½ to 2 hrs, stirring occasionally. add marjoram after the first 45 mins





fish out the meat and bones, cut up the meat to smaller pieces and put back to the pot. taste for salt, pork in itself is salty so you might not need to add any. it seems i always eat my soups with rye bread and cheese, crisp bread is more traditional with pea soup (ask any man who has been in the finnish army...)




if you're not into meat, try a veggie version with carrots or potatoes (cut up to 1 cm cubes / 1/3 inch) or leek. if you have vegetable stock, use that for half of the required liquid, or add a couple of maggi (or any other brand) cubes

there was even one recipe that suggested adding ginger, was not brave enough to try it. mustard is another traditional condiment to add to pea soup, personally, i like mine without

bandit roast

perhaps not appropriate for this time of year as this dish involves digging a hole into ground but here goes:

depending on how many you need/want to feed you'll need to adjust the amount of meat, i used 2 whole chicken, 4.5lb of moose (preferably a rump steak), 3lb pork (with or without bone) and 3lb lamb to feed 8 adults and 3 kids, there were plenty of leftovers

day before you plan to eat this, you'll have to find a shovel and dig a hole approx 20" deep and 25" wide to a place where there is no danger of the fire spreading. line hole with stones (flat ones work best), we did this into the kids' sandpit at the cottage by a lake...

poor kids! no more playing on this pit



preparing the first fire



take pliable sheet of wire mesh slightly bigger than hole and place onto stones bending it into the shape of pit. Start a fire in pit and keep it going for at least 6 hrs to make pit really hot. it's a good idea to use this fire to cook something else, toast marshmallows, bake bread on a stick, grill sausages…

once you get the fire going, put moose meat into re-sealable plastic bag with approx 2 cups of red wine (i'm sure you got your favourite, use that, i usually go with spanish crianza). place meat in fridge and turn a few times during next 20 or so hrs

let fire die after 6 hrs and cover pit over night with a lid, a round metal one works best, anything else goes as well as long as it won't catch fire

we didn't use a wire mesh on this one, would have made things easier if we had




next morning start fire again, this time it needs to burn approx 3 hrs. meanwhile, you can prepare the meats.

rinse and dry chickens. wash and halve 3 lemons, sprinkle salt and black pepper generously all over chickens, divide big punch of parsley in half. stuff chickens with lemon halves and parsley and place them onto parchment paper and wrap the paper around chickens making a tight package

you'll also need plenty of aluminium foil. wrap the chicken package in foil 4 to 5 times over, making a leak proof packet. take the sunday newspaper and soak in water until it is veryvery wet. take one section (8 pages spread all out) and wrap that around foil packet, repeat with 3 more sections alternating the seam side up and down, put aside

the newspaper needs to be soaking wet



before the second fire on day 2, packages in pit, wire mesh on top




remove wire mesh, hot stones (they will be VERY hot) and packages which by now have become dry and brittle on the outside. handle packages carefully, have a dish and a bowl ready once you start opening them, peel carefully layer by layer, gather juices into a bowl (separate ones for different meats), put meats on dish and let them rest under foil for 20 to 30 mins

removing the last of hot coals



carefully digging for the packages



steaming hot!



too hot to handle without gloves



the layered packaging, fiskars knife



casual setting of the table




i usually make just a few simple salads (mixed greens, german potato salad, coleslaw) and good bread to go with this. whatever wine you used in marinating is good, beer works as well




first time i made this i asked people to dress as bandits/villains, my brother was the only one who got the dressing part perfect!




obviously this is no ordinary sunday roast. i've done this at midsummer, which in our part of the world is huge deal (finland, midnight sun, magic you make in the bright night). tending the fire keeps one person busy, others can join in with, or without drinks. wherever you dig your pit and make fire, make sure you get permission to do so if you don't own the land

not into meat that much? you can make one packet with root vegetables, leave them rather big so as not to overcook them, put some olive oil or butter with thyme (or any other herb, or none at all) and salt in package. once we buried foil wrapped potatoes in the sand just next to hot stones with the last fire. they came out great, they just need turning so as not to burn on one side and remain undone on the other

sometimes i've used the juices to make gravy, sometimes strained and frozen them to use in soups later (remove any fat before freezing, though). i've also used moose and pork in same package, no reason not to use your imagination in paring meats or choosing what cuts to use, how to season, just keep in mind that whatever you bury in the pit, should take approx same time to cook. chicken and pork don't mind overcooking; they won't dry out provided you got the package tight. moose tends to get dry if overcooked, but bacon helps and the fact that it is in a package. any leftovers can be used as sandwich filler during the night, or for sturdy breakfast while nursing the traditional midsummer hangover

happyland

someone in cavtat, croatia, has aptly named their house happyland. we were in cavtat last may and totally enjoyed the whole trip, great scenery, great food, wonderfull weather. i've been to croatia before, there is something about that country that makes me go there again and again



our hotel hotel croatia has a wonderfull location on a cape above the town of cavtat. there are footpaths around the cape and hotel, you need to be fairly fit to walk around as the hotel is on a hill




food is one of the reasons i like croatia so much. my all time favourite is "ligne na zaru" (those fluent in hrvatska, please excuse my spelling) grilled squid





we were there in may, i guess the owner of this boat thought that there is still time to fix it before summer...




dubrovnik in the distance, went there by bus for a day-trip




not sure i would have enjoyed this many birds around me!




old town of dubrovnik is filled with narrow alleys, love the potted garden on this one




cavtat at night, lights of dubrovnik in the distance




not jealous or anything, someone got picked up by this one




to have a house with a view like this!





newly budding cactus



there was this house that we liked a lot, great location, some obvious damage to it, not sure if that is from the war or something else. we wondered how someone could neglect a house this beautiful, with a great garden in the back, so that it is slowly turning into ruins. so sad, almost made us want to find out if it is for sale... the picture was taken from a footpath behind the house, to catch the view from the house. i'm still curious to know the story of this house




succulent of some sort




love love love the pink




secluded courtyard




makes my mouth water...




another version of ligne na zaru




interesting mosaic on the entry walls of hotel

winter fishing

winter finally came and froze the lake. mom and dad are fishing with nets, under the ice, and getting some nice catch! went there the other weekend and updated my knowledge of winter fishing.

first of all, you need to know the exact location where to put the net, fish don't just wander about, that's what i'm told anyway. once you got the location right, you make 2 holes in the ice, distance between the holes depends on the leght of your net. there are special tools that make making the holes easier that it sounds. then you take a sledge (particularly designed for this purpose) and put that under the ice with a line attached to it (so that you'd be able to pull the net under ice once you get to that point). your aim is to slide the sledge under ice from one hole to the other. you can drill holes in the ice to get the sledge moving if it gets stuck in the middle.

once you get the line (which needs to be few meters longer than the distance between the holes) under ice, you attach one end of the line to net and start pulling the net under. once you get the net under the ice, you need have weights on both ends to keep it at right depth, finally you secure the net with another set of lines on both ends so that currents don't move the net. my dad uses sticks longer than the holes are wider for this purpose. there is a lot of "science" to this and it'd take me forever to excplain it, let's prentend you got it right and a couple of days later are ready to see if you caught any fish.

you need to break ice on the holes, if you put some sort cover on the holes it'll be easier. take the long line, attach it to the net and start pulling it from the other hole. usually when you got fish, you can feel their movements on the net before you pull it all out. the idea is to gather the net to the other end to check if you caught anything. if you did get something, like my dad here caught a pikeperch / zander, you'll need to release the fish trying to keep damage to net minimal, sometimes easier said than done.



once you've checked the whole lenght of the net, go to the other other and pull the net under ice with the line you attached earlier. very simple!

in finland you need to have a permit to fish like this, so make sure you got one before doing all the hard work. this time the pike-perch got salt, butter and prunes inside before going into the oven. we don't usually mess around too much with fish since we eat it so fresh.



another fish caught in the net was a burbot, ugly bugger. it has no scales so it needs to be skinned.





this one ended up in a soup a day later. start with cutting up the skinned fish into 3-5 pieces, put to kettle with enough water to barely cover the pieces and simmer until fish is almost done. take out the fish, if you want to be fancy, strain the water and put back to kettle. add peeled and cubed potatoes, sliced yellow onion, salt and peppercorns and cook until the potatoes are almost done. while the potatoes are cooking debone and cut further the fish, leave the pieces quite big. once potatoes are almost done, put the fish back to kettle and simmer until done. add milk and butter to taste, or sour cream like i did here. great meal with rye bread and swiss cheese.



the dog loves it at the lake because it's the only place where he can run around free.



he is pretty fast!