pepper steaks, rosettes and fat squirrels

mom had dug into the freezer and found 2 packages marked "moose steak", their contents couldn't have been more different. my initial idea was to make stroganoff of the meats but the cuts were way too good for that. this one was tied, browned on all sides and cooked in a finnish design dutch oven with onions and carrot. later on, i took the meat and vegetables out, reduced the liquid and added some cream. delicious, with mom's mashed potatoes







in the other package was a wonderful moose tenderloin which ended up as pepper steaks. classic dish, sear the steaks on a hot pan, add cream and some brandy. there aren't too many dishes that beat this one







my dad's paternal grandmother was an excellent cook and baker. i'm glad i got to meet her, i think i was 6 when she died. i remember we used to go and visit her regularly, she always had something fresh out of oven. when i was a kid i saw the box in the next pic and played with its' contents never quite thinking what it's for. the other day, while fighting boredom i found a recipe for rosettes. meanwhile, mom had found this box in their storage, there was a simple recipe for rosettes inside the box and there were plenty of people at the cottage to finish of a batch...







today the little red dutch oven was working overtime after decades of neglect







the very simple recipe in the box for batter for these rosettes, or waffles, is similar to batter used for crepes, only slightly thicker. the recipe i posted in the link is from martha stewart and is a bit more complicated, but equally good, i'm sure. this batch tasted like a combination of crepes and doughnuts. these are not for anyone on a diet, though







the squirrels are getting fat. over the years dad has been trying to figure out ways to hang out fat (in the winter) for birds so that the squirrels can't get their tiny paws on it. this one has figured out a way to do it anyway. the squirrels do provide fair bit of amusement for us with their acrobatics







this one is either too fat or too lazy (or both!), it dines on sunflower seeds

sacher torte, of sorts, and another soup

decided to try this sacher torte, the recipe is in finnish so i won't post a link, sorry. i was at my brother's house and had the little niece to help me, so i had an extra pair of hands. the recipe might have required a smaller cake pan, the cake turned out ok, it just could have been a little higher.





used orange juice to moisten the cake, apricot jam as filling





little sous pastry chef at work





always thought that chocolate frosting would be hard to make, it's not!





the cake at the cottage, we brought to my mom. orange and yellow nonparells on top





for lunch today we had frankfurter vegetable soup, as easy as they come. i used carrots, rutabaga, parsnip, root parsley, celery, potatoes and frankfurters





chopped veggies, minus potatoes. i started by sauteing the chopped veggies in olive oil for a couple of minutes, then adding 2 stock cubes and boiling water to cover veggis. after 15 mins, i added the potatoes and some more boiling water, after another 10 mins the frankfurters. another 10 mins and the soup is ready.





didn't have any leaf parsley, that would have been nice garnish, or chives





curious thing at the cottage... there is this tiny flower bed with daffodils. last year the daffodils were the normal size, approx 25 to 30 cm high. this year, they are in full bloom but are only approx 12 cm tall, or short i should say. mom did replant some in the fall, but there are no new bulbs in the flower bed. weird, is what i think

may day lunch

did remember to take pics! the weather wasn't too warm yesterday, sunny but windy. my wrist isn't getting any better, the docs are figuring out what happens next. the surgeon thinks he'd like to do what he does best, cut me up. we are waiting what the MRI pics show. because of the wrist, my cooking has reduced to dishes that can be done with minimum effort and basically with one arm. may day lunch was super easy, just needed to cook pasta and potatoes (separately, duh!), open a jar or two and a few bags of frozen veggies, etc


here is pasta salad: whole wheat pasta, corned beef (not canned!), gouda cheese, peas and corn (frozen), bell pepper, sun dried tomatoes (from a jar, already minced), dressing made with buttermilk and mayo, salt, pepper, apple sider vinegar and some chili powder





chicken legs cut in half, marinated overnight in a mixture of bbq-sauce, brown sugar and thai sweet chili sauce and baked in oven. would have been just as fine to grill them but that would have been a lot more work...





tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, olive oil, balsamico





all time favourite , warm german potato salad





corking the bubbly, this time it was latvian





half way thru lunch i remembered that i forgot to make dessert. quickly thought of using up some bananas that were about to get tossed. i know you should make this with firm bananas but trust me, this was equally good. i served them with vanilla custard. those of you who aren't in the know, the gooey stuff on the pan is brown sugar and butter...





this was last weekend's menu, deer patties in creamy sauce. minced deer came from certain someone's freezer, used my gadgets to mush onion, garlic, parsley, egg, breadcrums and sour cream. hardest part with this dish was turning the patties...





tabbouleh made with wheat berries instead of bulgur, took some liberties with massoud's recipe





a classic cole slaw, added some cellery, though





there is a squirrel problem at the shack, they bother the dog big time. the other day the dog was going crazy in the front, i went up to see what was going on this time. i found the dog barking, yelping, making all the dog noises in the book and trying to get on, under and in my car which was parked next to the shack. it was obvious that there was something of great interest under/in my car. watched the dog for a while and decided to pop up the hood to see if there actually was something. this little creature was all couped up under the hood, shivering. i took the dog away, left the hood open and hoped that the squirrel had gone when i half hour later left for errands with the car...

hauskaa vappua! happy may day!

yesterday, vappuaatto / eve of may day was sunny but on the chilly side. we celebrated with this:



not much of a beer drinker but half of this went down quite effortlessly. later on we had company over, we had quasedillas (anna olson style), gancia asti and beer. quesadillas are super-easy to make, all you really need is tortillas,cheese and jalapenos, but it's easy to add minced beef, black beans, bell peppers. unfortunately, and it seems that this happens way too often nowadays, i forgot to take pics of the food! so you'll just need to take my word that it looked, and tasted, great.

certain someone's mom is coming over for may day lunch. i'll try to be more diligent with pics this time. in the meantime, hope your hangover isn't the killing kind...

all bananas

in my fair and ever growing collection of cookbooks (remind myself to take pics to show you) i took the baked cookbook to bed with me the other night. there were a couple recipes that looked good, especially the banana espresso chocolate chip muffins. the wrist is still not right and this recipe requires only minimal stirring by hand, therefore ideal in my condition.





as i recently bought another gadget (yes mom, i do have some already but not this one...) i thought it would be cool to try it mashing the bananas (like i couldn't have used a fork) in this recipe.





the batter was looking ok, but you think it should be darker as i mentioned espresso and chocolate chips. well, i did some virtual tasting and decided that i didn't want coffee taste with banana, and i like chocolate chips better in cookies.





here, only slightly cooled, they still look quite ok. now, several hours later, they are starting to get an ugly color. i guess the baked boys were on to something adding darker ingredients in the recipe. well, live and learn. anyway, the muffins taste great and that's what counts in my book.





as i had the bamix out, and i was preparing fresh sausages from reinin liha at hakaniemen halli i decided that the sausages need a slaw and a slaw needs mayonnaise. haven't done mayo myself too many times, not sure why because it's easy and a lot tastier than what you get in jars. there is a very basic recipe in the booklet that came with the gadget, did add more lemon juice, though. and, as i had the oven on already, decided to roast some potatoes, carrots and sweet onions as well. this is what i had for lunch, it was a nice day so we lunched "out".