oops... (lemony pike patties & mushroom risotto)

the oops? well, i was at the cottage for last week and eventhough there's great internet service, i just wasn't in the mood to blog, sorry for that. i did cook, and bake, last week, some of which will be posted in a day, or two. first i want to post the latest kitchen accomplishments...(so not!)

ice covering the lake disappeared a couple of weeks ago, so mom and dad are fishing again. on sunday they got a nice-size pike (true fish-story). my parents consider pike to be trash-fish and not edible, which i kinda understand considering the amount of fish they eat. i happen to think that pike fried in butter or in fish cakes is very tasty (naturally, the butter helps...) anyways, i got the filees (aren't i lucky! i'm scared to think what happens to my fish, berry and mushrooms supplies when they aren't around anymore) and decided to make pike patties, which are kinda very simple fish cakes







these went in the food processor as well: 2 eggs, 2 dl whipping cream (i happened to have some left after my baking spree), 10 cm piece of light green and white parts of a leek, dill, peel of one lemon, salt (yes! a little salt with fish is a must) and white pepper







first a whirlwind chopping to leek, dill and grated lemon peel (you must by now know how much i love my microplace grater. well, my brother scored some points from my sister-in-law by bringing one to her from manchester. we were in a kitchen supply store and i was looking at these graters, my brother came by and i told him how good they were, he decided to buy one. no coersion on my part, honestly!) you need to let the processor do its thing for a while to get everything into super-tiny pieces







had approx 700 gr of pike (any white flesh fish would do) that went in next. you need to let the processor run some more 'cause you'd want to get all the tiny bones in the fish mishmushed really well. if you think you got it done, run it for a minute longer, it pays.

once the fish was fine enough, i added the salt and white pepper, gave them a whirl or two and the added the yolks first (one cookbook suggested that egg yolks and whites should be added to a fish cake batter separately starting with yolks. why did i pay attention to what a recipe says, i don't know!), then the whites, last the cream







the batter was quite impossible to form by hand, so i took my trusty spoon and blobbed ½ dl of batter onto a pan with butter on it on medium high heat







i would have preferred to cook these in the oven but it was so hot in the shack (+28.7C) that stove option won







after browning all, i added some water to the pan, turned the heat to low and let cook further under a lid for 10 mins







this has never happened before...when i first started the processor it felt like there was something off, i checked it and everything seemed ok. obviously, i should have checked further. hopefully i got rid off all this goo and hope the machine won't blow up when i use it next time...







had some for dinner with boiled potatoes, green salad and lemon vinaigrette (wanted to make use of the lemon that lost its peel to the fish batter). had some more for luch today and the patties were even better, lemon and dill had done their thing overnight







on to todays dinner, morel, or should i say false morel risotto. i always thought that these mushrooms were called morels, i guess i've been wrong (that's a first! hih). these mushrooms are deadly unless prepared correctly, but so far i have no reason to think that my mom wants to poison me...i had mine prepared, so we'll skip that process







i used risella risotto rice. there is a recipe for forest mushroom risotto on the package, i didn't have white wine nor parmesan. i sort of followed the recipe and used a bit more cream and grated gouda. i do like the taste of these mushroom but they a pain to clean. it seems that no matter how well you rinse and rinse, there's always sand somewhere







the garden came to life in just a week. these peonies were barely visible in the soil when i left and look how tall they are already! i can't wait for them to bloom (and by the time they are done blooming you all will be sick and tired of me posting a zillion pictures of them...)







this lonely tulip was just showing some leaves a week ago, now it's all grown up. love the delicate pale yellow and white combination







the daffodils are late this spring as well, must have been the very cold weather earlier in the month







hmm...this is something my mom does on a regular basis. she buys some herbs or salad (with roots and soil in a tiny pot) and then plants the stubb somewhere (well, at the cottage almost anywhere where there is enough soil). as my gardening so far this spring has been non-existent, i thought i'd give this method a try. it's not like this sorry excuse for dill will bother some other decent herb







this was taken yesterday evening when walking the dog. fortunately, the thunder went elsewhere







how do you know summer has finally arrived? the dog is shedding white hair all over the place (and i mean everywhere) and he gets to go swimming to cool off. he doesn't seem to mind water despite a near drowning experience when he had just arrived to us.

that's all, folks! a fair advance warning is in order, there is another little trip in the books for next week (if the ash cloud from iceland won't spoil it...)