Hyvää Joulua!

Hyvää joulua = Merry Xmas!

Here are a few delicacies we enjoyed at our Xmas dinner on 25th December. The dinner was hosted at our new apartment :)





Melitzano salata, eggplant salad with tomatoes, feta, parsley..


Beetroot, goat cheese and cashew casserole


Marinated red onions wih coriander and lemon juice


Red cole slowly cooked in sherry (my dad's dish)

.. we also have German potato salad and cakes for dessert but i forgot to take pictures of them :D

This was no traditional Christmas meal in Finnish style, I'm not a big fan of Finnish Christmas food and wanted to do something a bit different. The 9 kg ham stayed in the fridge during this vegetarian dinner!

If you want recipe of these dishes, let me know :)

Marinated Mushrooms

Today I was browsing in a grocery store and found this easy and delicious recipe:

Marinated Mushrooms


Ingredients

1 packet of mushrooms
1/2 dl olive oil
2 or more garlic gloves chopped
fresh oregano
dried mint

Mix all ingredients in a bowl..


... put the mushrooms in a foil...




Bake in 200C for 20min until the juice from the mushrooms in dripping out.


Serve with vegetables, fish, steak, chicken.. or let it cool in a fridge and eat them the next day!

Kürbis- Fenchel- Croustade

Habe euch schon mal von dieser Speise erzählt. Das Rezept ist von hier. Dem gibt es auch nichts zu widersetzen :) Hier aber nochmal kurz zur Übersicht, was man alles braucht:

1 Zwiebel
2 Knoblauchzehen
300 g Rinderhackfleisch
300 g Fenchel
300 g Kürbis
1 Packung Schafskäse (Feta)
Salz, Pfeffer, Chili-Pulver nach Geschmack
1 Paket Yuffka-Teig

Gemüse klein schneiden, bzw. fein hobeln. Zwiebeln und Knoblauch in Öl glasig dünsten, Hackfleisch hinzugeben und anbraten. Danach Fenchel und Kürbis hinzugeben und kurz mitbraten. Anschließend das Ganze nach Geschmack würzen und den Schafskäse untermischen.

Den Yufka-Teig wie hier in einer Kuchenbackform vorbereiten, die Füllung (etwas abgekühlt) hinzugeben und verschließen. Mit zerlassener Butter bestreichen und dann ~30 Minuten bei 180°C im vorgeheiztem Backofen backen.

A Basic Greek Salad and Snack Potatoes

Both of these dishes are my favourite stay-at-home-and-snack foods - so easy to make and delicious!

Basic Greek Salad

1 cucumber
1 pepper
5 cherry tomatoes
1 red onion
1 packet feta in olive oil
1-2 handfuls of black olives

olive oil
lemon juice
salt and pepper
a bit of balsamic vinegar if you like

Chop and mix all the ingredients in bowl. Let it rest for a while before serving.


Snack Potatoes


4-5 potatoes
fresh chives
olive oil
lemon juice
salt and pepper

Peel and cut the potatoes, heat the oven to 220C. Mix olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a bowl - add the potatoes into bowl and mix the marinade well into the potatoes.

Roast potatoes in mid rack for 30min. Then add another mix of marinade and fresh chives. Roast for 10-15min more, depending how the potatoes look like.

Soy and Ginger Salmon

Here is a lovely new recipe from Epicurious which I modified a bit:

Soy and Ginger Salmon (with Sesame Noodles)

Ingredients

800g salmon

Marinade

0,5 dl brown or normal sugar

1 organic lemon

1 garlic glove

fresh chives

soy

1 teaspoon olive oil

fresh ginger or ginger paste, a few teaspoons

1 dl orange juice

Mix all marinade ingredients except orange juice in a small kettle and cook until sugar is melted.

Add orange juice.

Put the salmon in a plastic bag or in a pan, add the marinade and make sure it's all over the salmon and let it rest in a cool place. Ideally the salmon should sit in the marinade for 3hrs- overnight but I didn't have time for that, so I took it out after an hour.

Heat a iron pan and add a bit of butter. Pour the marinade into a small kettle and let it cook slowly while you cook the salmon. Add the salmon on a very hot pan, skin side down, and let it cook for 6minutes. Turn the salmon around carefully and let it cook for few minutes more. The skin of the salmon should go off very easily at this point.

Put the salmon on a plate, pour a bit of marinade on it, add fresh chives.

Sesame noodles

1 packet ( 300g) whole wheat egg noodles

Marinade

0,5 dl soy

2 table spoons sugar

4 garlic gloves, smashed

2 table spoons rice wine vionegar

3 table spoons sesame oil (I used a sesame/chili oil mix)

1/2 table spoons chili sauce (I used sweet chili sauce)

5 table spoons oil

Mix all the ingredients, cook the noodles according to the instructions on the packet. After the noodles are ready, pour water away and mix the marinade with the noodles.

Ahhh, delicious and easy dinner for 2!

Steak Sandwiches

I found another great recipe from Epicurious which I modified a bit.

Here is my version of Steak Sandwiches:


Ingredients:

4 big tomatoes
2 onions
1-2 cups of olive oil
2-3 garlic gloves
4 pork or beef steaks
2 table spoons of white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons of sugar
1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro
1/2 cup finely chopped mint
1 fresh bread
salt and pepper

How To Do It:

Preheat oven to 250C with rack in middle.

Toss tomatoes with shallots, garlic, oil, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt in a shallow baking dish, then arrange tomatoes cut sides up. Roast, uncovered until tomatoes are tender but still hold their shape and are starting to brown, 35 to 45 minutes. Let them cool in room temperature.

Sprinkle each steak all over with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper (total per steak). Cook them medium-rare in a frying pan / grill / . Transfer to a cutting board.

Cut bread into 2 cm slices, add butter into a frying pan, add bread slices and let them cook until beautifully brown on both sides.




Stir together vinegar and sugar until sugar is dissolved, then stir in herbs. Spread one side of each bread slice with some of herb mixture (about a tablespoon per slice). Slice steaks, then make into sandwiches with bread, roasted tomatoes and onions.

As a bonus I added some home made coleslaw to my sandwiches.

Ingredients:

1/4 cabbage
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
salt and pepper

Cut cabbage into thin slices add spices, olive oil, vinegar and toss in a small bowl.

*

Gaijin

Here are some pictures of an amazing dinner on Saturday night, I cannot describe how good the food was, so I let the pictures speak for themselves.

Menu of the evening :

(tasting menu for the whole table)

MUSSEL
green shell mussel, yuzu-honey dressing, gari-ginger, sesame

PORK BUN
pork belly, kimchi mayonnaise, pickled cucumber, soft bread

SASHIMI
sashimi of the day

FOIE & UNAGI
glazed eel, duck liver, nori-bread, beet root

SOFT SHELL
soft shell crab, walnuts, apple-fennel salad, mustard-apple dressing

BABY BACK PORK RIBS
pork ribs, soy-mirin caramel, togarashi

‘XO’ SCALLOPS
fried scallops, rare Chinese ‘XO’ sauce, seaweed caviar

GAIJIN HOT POT
braised veal cheeks, roasted eggplant puree and pine nuts

GOHAN
Japanese rice

‘UMESHU PLUM’
umeshu-plum sorbet, white chokolate, umeshu marinated plum

Want to know more about Gaijin (or maybe come to Helsinki and eat there with me?;)), read more here.

Salmon in Lemon & Pepper Sauce

28.10.2011

After enjoying TGIF drinks with my coworkers in the city I came home and I got an inspiration in the kitchen from Epicurious. This dish was fresh, light and easy to make.

Salmon in Lemon & Pepper Sauce

Ingredients

1 cup crème fraîche or sour cream
3 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice, divided
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel, divided
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons olive oil plus additional for brushing
2 tablespoons chopped shallot
6 6-ounce salmon fillets
1/4 cup small fresh dill sprigs
1/4 cup fresh tarragon leaves

How To Do It

Whisk crème fraîche, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and 1/2 teaspoon lemon peel in small bowl. Season with salt and generous amount of pepper. Let it sit in the fridge for 15-30 min while you prepare the other dishes.

Whisk honey, 1 tablespoon olive oil, onion, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon lemon peel in glass baking dish. Add salmon fillets and turn to coat. Cover and chill at least 15 minutes and up to 1 hour, turning salmon fillets occasionally. Position rack in top third of oven and preheat to 200C. Line large baking sheet with foil and brush with olive oil. Transfer salmon fillets, with some marinade still clinging, to rimmed baking sheet. Roast until salmon is just opaque in center, about 14 minutes.

Meanwhile, toss dill sprigs, tarragon leaves, remaining 2 teaspoons lemon juice, and remaining 2 teaspoons olive oil in medium bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Place 1 salmon fillet on each of 6 plates. Top with green tarragon and dill salad. Drizzle with lemon-pepper sauce and serve with the creme fraiche sauce and a fresh salad.

Lemon and Rosemary Chicken

27.10.2011

I'm not a big fan of cooking chicken at home, but sometimes I do find great chicken recipes, I really want to try. This one is from a Finnish food blog Fanni&Kaneli (Fanni&Cinnamon):

Lemon and Rosemary Chicken

- 8 chicken legs (naturel)
- 1 organic lemon
- 500 g potatoes
- 10 garlic gloves
- 4 table spoons olive oil
- fresh rosmary
- sea salt and black pepper
- glass of white wine (maybe two, one for you, one for the chicken ;))

as a bonus I added 1/4 bag of dried italian herb mix.

Put the chicken legs in a casserole. Cut the potatoes and lemons in to wedges.Make sure your poato wedges are not too big. Peel the garlic gloves and halve the bigger ones. Put the potatoes, lemons and garlic gloves in to the casserole with the chicken.

Add olive oil and the crushed rosemary leaves. Add sea salt, pepper and a italian herb mix. Mix the marinade well into all ingredients. Add the white wine. Bake in 200C in the mid section of your oven for 40-50 min until the chicken is cooked and the potatoes have gotten some colour.