some fish, pulla, souvenirs and the moon

last week i made a trip to my hometown. these tiny beauties here are perch, or perca fluviatilis, slightly breaded and fried in butter, ready to be eaten...







...this is how you catch them...my dad is usually the one to do the fishing as he knows the best spots to catch something.







scaled and gutted, ready for cooking







white pepper, just a little salt is mixed with half rye flour and half all purpose flour.







ready for pan.







as my brother's birthday happened during my visit, he got a whole lot of pulla in several shapes and forms. this here was baked in a tin and filled with demerera sugar and coconut.







on my way home i stopped at two locations to buy some "souvenirs". first at kuhmoisten kädentaitajat to get some honey and sea buckthorn juice. super healthy but awfully sour, i dilute 2 tbsp to a glass of water and i think it needs at least 3 tbsp of sugar not to curl my tongue...but i'm brave and drink it as is, eww.







in kuhmoinen they also sell the products from vääksyn mylly / vääksy mill (i visited that place on my way up). they have tons of locally grown grain products. i bought, well, a lot of all sorts of things, but this risotto spelt was the most interesting. i already tried it for risotto, but more on that next time.







this rye loaf is from hyvän olon mestari. they bake the bread on the premises and if they (still) have that rye bread, it's usually still warm...it is so good you can't believe! it's just that the side effects of fresh rye bread are painfull and i will not get into details here...







the other night i was already in bed reading when certain someone said "come see the supermoon". superwhat? i usually try to pay attention to when the moon is full and go out to take pics. this supermoon had escaped my attention totally. i had to get dressed and out with my camera to capture sight. hmm, i need to say try to capture the sight as it was magical to the naked eye and my pictures didn't quite have the same magic in them...

jumbo size laskiaispulla

for some reason i made the first batch of laskiaispulla already a month ago, maybe because lent was in the mid february last year, or something.

i wanted to experiment a little and made a normal pulla dough but baked it into 3 jumbo buns.







first divided the dough into three pieces and formed them into huge balls which i places in paper baking tins (more or less to secure them from spreading allover in the oven). here, all three after the second rise getting an eggwash.







sprinkled some slivered almonds on top before...







...placing them into 190C oven for 15 mins.







once cooled, i cut top third off with serrated knfie...







...and took out the strawberry jam and marzipan.







i decided to grate the marzipan in order to be able to spread it more evenly on the bun.







as this was to be his and hers, the other half got jam.







generous amount of whipped cream before placing the "lid" on.







i would like to be able to tell that this served 8, the truth is closer to 3...

lent menu, pea soup & lent buns / pastry (hernekeitto & laskiaispulla)

today is ash wednesday, the beginning of lent. everyone, i assume, might have a few things to repent, observing lent isn't neverthelss my way to do it. after the long, dark, cold, dreary (did i forget something?) winter the renewal comes naturally with spring.

however, i did make the traditional pre-lent dishes, laskiaispulla (lent pastry) and hernekeitto (pea soup). my laskiaispulla is filled with strawberry jam and whipped cream...







i made pulla dough with 2,5 dl milk, full recipe here. let the dough rise till it doubles, then roll it into a log, divide into 8 pieces, roll them into balls between the palm of your hand and the work surface, place on a baking sheet and let rise for 20 mins...







...normally i'd make about 15 smaller buns of the same amount of dough but as it's lent... traditionally you're supposed to eat big and fat (so that you pigs will grow to be huge and your grains plentyfull in the coming summer)







before placing into 200C oven for 10 mins, i eggwashed the buns







certain someone likes to have his with marzipan (almond paste), on the right







the pea soup then...another very old tradition.







i've made it several times before so this time i wanted to try little something different. there is a recipe on the side of the package of peas, to that i added 0,4 liter water, 2 carrots, 100 gr celeriac and fresh marjoram







i cubed the carrots, celeriac and the smoked ham. i added these only after the peas and onions had been simmering for 2 hrs.







i had some smoked ham rind in the freezer, the rind was simmering in the pot from the start. the ham appreared on this post. the ham rind in totally optional but gives a lot of taste. this could well be a veggie dish as well, just leave out the smoked ham and replace it with smoked tofu (if there is such a thing!)







the soup was garnish with fresh marjoram and served with rye bread.

views & pulla

monday morning at the shack...







manhattan skyline on tuesday evening, as seen from long island city







i wanted to make it look like the moon had popped out of the pepsi bottle but that would have required a dip in the east river...hmm, too cold!







was visiting friends the whole day yesterday, ended up experimenting with cream cheese, blueberries and pulla, quite nice if i say so myself...

pulla, pancakes & fish dinner

during the week i spent a few days at my brother's house. since the kids are back to school, i had the mornings to myself. my nephew always wants me to make american pancakes (regular buttercream pancakes, our pancakes are more of the crepe sort) for breakfast. as there was no way i would get up 6.30 on my day off, i made some for him for after school snack. and if there is something that disppears quickly in my brother's house, it is pulla, my brother being the culprit!

the finnish recipe calls for cardamom, i use a lot of it. the recipe for pulla is on every package of all purpose flour in finland, i use this recipe, the amount of flour depends on the humidity and how the starts happen to be aligned when you're baking







i use handheld mixer, experts like my mom, do this part by hand







adding the vegetable oil/butter mixture (or you could use all butter. note to self: find out if there is something similar in US)







over the years i've learned to stop mixing at the right time, still a bit sticky and almost impossible to handle







that day the yeast puffed the lid of the bowl! luckily, little niece had just come home from school and noticed it







divided the dough in half, rolled one part out to ½ cm thickness







spread out some butter on the dough and sprinkled sugar/cinnamon mixture on top







rolled the dough into a log







cut the log to equal pieces







then pushed down in the middle with my thumbs and pulled outwards a little. this form of pulla is called korvapuusti, a slap in the ear...it does kinda remind the ear, kinda?







repeat with rest of the dought and place under teatowel for another rise (approx 30 mins)







after which time they look like this







after egg-wash and 10 mins in 225C oven. leave any on the kitchen counter and they'll disappear overnight...







i do have an apron, even at my brother's house, why don't it use it!







this is my recipe for american pancakes:

3,5 dl all-purpose flour
1½ tsp baking powder
3/4 tspt baking soda
½ tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
2 eggs
5 dl buttermilk (often use half sour cream (kermaviili) and milk)
3 tbsp melted butter, plus some for pan







this old cast iron pan makes the best pancakes, heat on medium-low







these puffed up quite a lot as well...







almost out of control...







i was on a roll and made dinner as well, pike-perch and oven roasted veggies with mustard caper butter, but took little liberties with martha's recipe...







chopped the capers...







added them and some mustard to softened butter, mixed well







places on parchment paper







rolled into a log and palced in the fridge to harden again







mom and dad had been fishing again, therefore the abundance of pike-perch filees (we don't complain! you should see what these cost at the grocery store, it's outragious!)







as i had the oven going anyway, i scrubbed some red potatoes and sweet potatoes, cut them to vedges, poured on some olive oil, sprinkled with thyme and cooked in the oven for 45 mins. the colors are a little bland here, the taste was not!