nectarine pie, not for therapy

i happened on the taste of the taste kitchen blog a few days back, and saw pictures of a therapy pie. i was sold, had to bake it, soon. and i did, yesterday. you should, too. just don't burn your tongue with the steaming hot goodness!







there is a fat war going on in finland, animal fats versus vegetable fats, what is healthier and why, and whatnot. i have made my peace with fats, use very little when cooking, if at all, but will use the real stuff when baking, like here. oh, no, i didn't use all of that!

i don't like the packages of butter in finland, can't they understand the difficulties of measuring 227gr out of a 500gr package. butter people, sell you butter in sticks! (phew, that made me feel so much better)

i did, however, mess with the recipe a bit and replaced ½ a cup of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour (with visible grain particles)







was feeling lazy and used the machine







gosh, i should use it more often, didn't even break a sweat







spread out some cling film, makes rolling the dough, and clean-up, so much easier







packed well and refridgerated for an hour







rolled it out on the cling film







then placed the pan on the dough upside down, put my hand under the cling film and turned the whole thing over, ta-daa!







took the film out (you should do that, it might not survive the oven later on...) and placed the pan in the fridge while preparing the filling







i love the taste of peaches but the little furry stuff on the skins makes my lips feel funny, therefore i don't buy peaches but nectarines, they worked fine in this recipe







aren't you loving my mise en place?







mix well before placing on the cold dough, bake in 180C oven for 45 mins







i moved the pie to the bottom rack for the last 15 mins, and put the convection on as well. i think the whole wheat flour gave more texture to the crust.

the smell was amazing! and yes, i did burn my tongue!

happy belated b'day, dad!

my dad had a "big" birthday over the weekend and as he didn't want to stay home and have a bunch of people come over, we arranged to have the b'day lunch in tampere.

mom, dad, certain someone and i booked into tammer hotel on friday afternoon. the hotel was very fancy in its' hey-day, the story goes that only the kitchen girls peeling potatoes spoke finnish, all other staff were either from sweden, france and japan...







since it's opening in 1929 the hotel has gone thru several revations, the latest in 2009. the building is protected by the national board of antiquities. the board is very strict on making sure that only period style and work methods be used.

i fell in love with the bathroom fixtures, all modern but looking very old-fashioned.







who does radiator covers any more?







i could imagine society people here sitting and idling away their afternoons and evenings.







friday afternoon we took a walk in the town center and i saw this...







...and this. my curiosity took the better of me and walked closer to see what these were.







torn old terry cloth towels! this art installation was part of the 231 anniversary of the town of tampere, the town celebrates every year on oct 1st. cotton products would be the perfect material to make art and celebrate the town's history.







there were several occasions where i thought something reminded me of manchester, england. the waterways, old red brick factory buildings.






i've been to tampere several times, i even lived there for school, but i've never paid attention to the rich history the town has. like finlayson, which is more or less a household name in finland when it comes to textiles. the finlayson that started the reputation was a scottish machinist james finlayson who in 1820 built cotton factory in tampere. in 1860 half of the population of tampere worked for the factory, and there were finally employment opportunities for women as well.

in 1882, in this building called plevna, the first electric light in scandinavia was lit. the plevna was originally a huge weaving hall, nowadays there is a brewery restaurant. we ate there on friday evening, and sampled on some of the beers...see the resemblances with manchester, england?







the history is still showing in the old factory buildings.







but what the heck is this doing inside that historic building???







we took a walk on saturday morning before getting ready for the family lunch. this bridge is just few hundred meters from the hotel and the plevna. the weather was weird, it looked very grey and cold, but there was so much light.







on the bridge we noticed a fairly new phenomenom in finland, the locks with names and dates. rest of the world might know what it means, but for those who don't: a couple committing to each other get their names engraved on a lock, they lock it on a bridge and throw away the key, as a symbol of their undying love; no key, no way to break the lovers' bond.







hope this spider-web is in no relation to the state of a relationship "locked" on this bridge.







we had chosen the grill as the venue of our lunch. while we waited for the others (we were 14 in total) to arrive, we had a cup of coffee...i still haven't quite made up my mind whether i like this design or not...







for appetizer we had ensalada mozzarella (mozzarella, tomatoes, strawberry balsamico and garlic toast). the entry was bifé con chipotle (a steak with creamy chipotle sauce and oven potatoes)







the dessert was torta de azul (blueberry cheesecake). it looked like everyone was having a great time, the food was very tasty, and i think the birthday-boy was happy, too.

dinner in 15

we were away for a night (tell you about that tomorrow) and there wasn't much at the shack to cook dinner with, therefore had to stop at the store on the way. i saw some fresh looking brussles sprouts, which i really don't like. what i mean, i really don't like them. i always try to be brave and have some anyway, because they are so good for you. so today, according to my twisted logic, i bought some with the intention to cook something "nice" with them...







as you can see, they needed a good wash and a trim







before deciding how to cook the sprouts, i consulted a couple of cookbooks. i ended up half steaming, half frying them. i also learned that the sprouts shouldn't be cooked too long, they get bitter (hence my dislike for sprouts).

first brought a cup of water to a boil, added the sprouts, and a blob of butter, to the boiling water, put the lid on and cooked on high for 10 mins...







...during which time the water evaporated and the sprouts got lovely color. i then added 1 tbps of balsamic vinegar and black pepper, shook the pan a bit to mix the flavours







served the sprouts with teriyaki salmon, which took all of 10 mins to cook. as usual, there was no salt added, but i did put some soya sauce on the salmon. i just might have to buy sprouts again, while they are in season, this was good!

this truly took only 15 mins to cook, both the sprouts and salmon took 10 mins and while they are cooking there is time to slice and dice some greens and cukes and tomatoes for a salad

autumnal shots

some pics from last few days







have i mentioned that the dog is quite a nosy creature?







amazingly, our little vegetable garden at the shack has produced decent size carrots, not many but still...







towards the end of august i noticed strange looking plants starting to pop up on fields around the roads we use for walking the dog. i had suspected they were sunflowers, then thought who would plant sunflowers in august...but sunflowers they were. i find it rather strange seeing the yellow sunflowers blooming agaist the trees that are are turning yellow as well







the flowers are pretty, though, and very complex







the clover seems to bloom in a much deeper shade of purple in the autumn







apples are plentiful this year







he likes apples too

slightly cheesy mac & meat

nowadays i often cook dishes that will be easy to take to work for lunch/dinner, since our canteen will not be for another 2 yrs...

last week i decided to tune old time (finnish) favourite macaroni and meat. here's what went in:

5 dl / 2 cups whole wheat elbow macaroni, boiled to very al dente, rinsed
400 gr / 14 oz (lean) minced beef, browned
1 big onion, minced and sauteed
150 gr / 5 oz grated cheese (best to grate your own)
2 eggs
7,5 dl / 3 cups liquid (combination of cooking cream and any stock you might
have)
crushed black pepper, to taste
serves 4 to 6


first mix the macaroni, browned mince and sauteed onion







then add the grated cheese and mix well. i used this mix but it's best to grate your favourite, these bags aren't very economical...







then mix the wet ingredients and black pepper. i had some 10% cooking cream so i used that, any leaner or fatter will work, as will any stock you might have. i was tempted to add some curry powder but decided to keep it "traditional" with just black pepper. if you use salt, now would be the time to add some







then mix the wet with the dry and you'll have something similar to this...it should be quite wet as the macaroni will suck up most of the moisture while in the oven. that is why you shouldn't cook the macaroni too soft in the first place. second, if you cook whole wheat pasta into can-be-eaten-by-babies-and-people-with-no-teeth mush, you've lost the nutrients that make whole wheat better, and that is not a good thing







grease a 20x26cm / 8x10inch baking dish, place mixture on it and cook in 200C / 400F oven for 30 mins, or until bubbly and slightly brown on top







i had mine with ketchup, but pickled beets or cukes would have been great as well. or green salad, green salad goes with everything...