Almost Fisherman's pies

Take small ovenproof dishes, and fill them with whatever fishes or shellfishes you fancy. In our case it's cod, prawns and butter pan fried button mushrooms...

... then cover the mix with a creamy sauce made of fish stock, milk, cream, bit of flour, butter, dill and a bit of lemon juice. Now - and this is the critical moment - if you want to make a classic english Fisherman's pie, you add a layer of mash potatoes on top of the sauce.

15-20 min. in the oven at 175, and it's ready to serve. In our case, these fish pies were meant as a starter. For a main, the real Fisherman's pie is ideal. Don't forget a pint of ale.

 

Simplicity

 A grilled piece of salmon, a few whites asparagus, an hollandaise, and a bottle of Chablis Grand Régnard. I mean, what else? Not an nespresso anyway! 

Footy food

Arsenal game on tv so, bagel with salad, onions, cucumber, cream cheese, cottage cheese and char grilled salmon. Healthier than a burger, but dare I say, probably not as good!

Champagne!

We got the day before these fresh scallops from Norway, by someone we know who imports fine meats, fishes and cheeses from France (plus a few other countries) for Helsinki's finest restaurants. On a side note, we're among the privileged ones who have unrestricted access to the importer's whole catalogue of goodies outside restaurant's professionals. 

So, with these premium scallops, I decided to do a classic french recipe: "Coquilles St Jacques au Champagne", or "Scallops in a Champagne sauce". First the shells are open (4/pers), the meat is delicately removed, cleaned, washed, and put on the side. All the bits and trims are washed as well, and put in a deep pan with an onion, some bay leaves, black pepper, salt, and put to the boil to make a light stock. Once the stock's done, it's time to make the sauce itself. You finely chop a shallot and make it sweat in butter. Once translucent, add a glass of Champagne brut, and half a glass of stock (for 2 pers.). Let the liquid gently boil until reduced to half. Remove the shallots bits and add a couple of spoons of creme fraiche, salt and white pepper. Let further reduce until it reaches a creamy consistency. At the end, you can add a bit more Champagne, but it's entirely up to you. It's possible as well to add a few small cubes of cold butter and/or a few drops of lemon, but it's not mandatory. Now it's time to deal with the scallops. You take a pan and add a generous amount of unsalted butter. Once the butter is of a light brown color and foamy, cook the scallops for 1min. each side (depending of the size, the scallops should be soft when touched with the finger). Now, pour some sauce on a hot plate and dispose the scallops on top of it. Finally, drizzle a bit of chopped chive (or parsley/dill) and serve immediately. In our case, the scallops are served with a cauliflower puree. Ideally, you serve this dish with a Champagne or a premium Bourgogne white. If you have money to spare, go for a Bâtard-Montrachet, a Corton-Charlemagne, a Meursault Grand Cru, or a Chablis Grand Cru (the list goes on and on). Otherwise, a Puligny-Montrachet or a Pouilly-Fuissé will do just fine. For us, the wine of choice was a Bâtard-Montrachet 2011 from Oliver Leflaive (bought in France).

I don't think you can find this kind of dish in a Helsinki restaurant at the moment (the only one I see could be "Palace"), but if you organise a dinner party with some (good) friends, do that dish. It's sure to bring the "wow factor" around the table.

Leftovers again

We had a diner party last evening, and therefore plenty of leftovers for today's lunch. The canapes are pieces of "limppu" bread with a variety of toppings: fish roe (muikunmäti) with sour cream and red onions; smoked salmon with lemon cream cheese, dill and radishes; smoked salmon with salmon tartar and cucumber; prawns with skagen and lime. We even managed to salvage a couple of glasses from a bottle of Moët & Chandon Brut Imperial Rosé opened in the fridge.

As for the main: more smoked salmon with toasts as well as a bit of skagen salad on the side. In fact, the whole lunch was made of ingredients having served to make yesterday's amuse-bouches. 

Washed down with a bottle of Pouilly-Fuissé 1er Cru "Au Vignerais" 2021 (Alko)

The art of accommodating leftovers

Steamed Artic Char from yesterday's evening meal served cold, topped with a crayfish salad with chili mayo, fresh chopped red chilis, spring onions, a bit of chopped dill, lemon juice, and a bit of cayenne pepper powder for extra spiciness. Served with the rest of the siikli potatoes from yesterday as well, and quickly reheated in boiling water. There you go with a brand new dish perfect for a summer afternoon.

Home v Restaurant

This piece of Artic Char has been quickly cooked in a bamboo steamer for a few minutes, and is served on a bed of butter & parsley pan fried chanterelles, and a hollandaise (recipe posted elsewhere in this blog) a bit more lemony than usual to counter balance the buttery aftertaste in the sauce and in the mushrooms. A few siikli potatoes cooked in dill flavored water complete the dish. The wine of choice is a bottle of Chablis Grand Regnard 2021 (Alko webshop). 

At the risk of repeating myself, why go to a restaurant and pay way more (if only for the wine), when you have great ingredients such as the chanterelles at hand? As for the kitchen skills, if you put all your heart in what you do, the flaws won't exist anymore, and it'll always taste good!

A la provençale

"A la provençale" means in the way of Provence, or more generally the mediterranean way. When in France, the original recipe usually uses a whole sea bream (or any kind of mediterranean fishes) and a slightly different veggies mix. Being in Finland, the most common fish found in most supermarkets is salmon. You can do it as well with sea bass (k-citymarket Sello, Hakaniemi market hall's fishmongers, or the best bet's Tukkutorin Kala in Teurastamo have such fishes from time to time). Here, the salmon has been skinned, cut in stripes and laid on an oiled aluminium foil. The fish is then covered with slices of peeled lemon, tomatoes, grilled zucchinis, caramelized onions, chopped black olives and garlic, and drizzled with homemade chili oil and sea salt (a dash of dry white wine can be added as well). The foil is then folded to form an hermetic pocket, and into an hot oven for approx.15min. 

Super easy to do and not very expensive - depending of the fish, it makes for a really tasty summer lunch.

That smell...

Char-grilled salmon and béarnaise sauce are a match made in heaven. At least in France. Served with crushed potatoes with extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice and chopped parsley. Add a bottle of Puligny-Montrachet and it's perfect. So simple and yet so damn delicious.

Tagliatelle al salmone

Based on actual italian recipe, and made with what I could find in the fridge: mix well the ricotta and fresh goat cheeses (can be replaced with mascarpone) with lemon juice, chopped basil (not on the pic obviously - can be replaced with dill), black pepper, very little salt and a couple of organic extra virgin olive oil spoons. Cook the tagliatelles (organic as well) and reserve 2/3 spoons of cooking water to add to the cheese mix. When cooked, quickly put the pastas in a bowl, add the sauce, the chopped smoked salmon, stir and serve immediately in hot plates. The sauce shouldn't cook. The ingredients being a room temperature at least 1h. in advance, it takes less than 20min. to do this dish, and it's delish.

Serve with a good italian white wine.

 

Riso italiano

We've developed along the years a real liking for risottos. There are infinite ways & variations to do them, with veggies, seafood, meat, etc... They're simple and yet complex, needing only a few good ingredients and a good dose of skill. Because it's now aspargus time in Finland - as restaurants adds everywhere can testify - we decided to do a "Risotto agli asparagi".

The one important thing for risottos is the stoke. The better the stoke, the tastier the rice. And in the same way, the thiner the green aspargus are, the better. (and the thicker the white aspargus the better) So, we cut roughly 1/3 of the green aspargus (the heads) that we pre-cooked in a steamer basket for a few min. just for them to be still crunchy, and reserved them on a plate. Then we made a stoke with the aspargus butts, a carrot, an onion, salt and pepper, and let it simmer for 15min.

In a cast iron casserole, we gently fried an onion and some chopped garlic in a mix of olive oil and butter. When soft, the rice was added, and stirred for a few min. then, a glass of dry white wine, and the hot aspargus stoke, little by little. The tricky part is to stir the rice with a wooden spoon to make it creamy, but not too much, otherwise it would become muddy. When the rice was almost done, the aspargus heads were added, and let finish to cook in it. A the end, a few pieces of cold butter were also added and quickly mixed, as well as salt and white pepper to balance the taste.

There you have it: Risotto agli asparagi. The rice is not too compact, neither too runny. Just the right creaminess. Once served in hot plates, it must be eaten quickly. Useless to say, the cost of doing it at home isn't the same as eating it in a restaurant. That is, if you can find in town an italian restaurant doing that kind of rice dish.

With the risotto, we steamed for 2/3 min. these pieces of cod with lemon peels on top. They give a nice lemony flavor to the fish.

The wine comes from Alko.

Classic french

This piece of Artic Char & the organic white aspargus (Stockmann Itis) have been steamed for a few min. and served with an hollandaise (recipe elsewhere in this blog). Perfect for an "almost spring" evening (sunny but cold) and relatively inexpensive, compared to restaurants.

Because Bourgogne whites are best for fish, shellfish, or crustaceans, we have opened a bottle of Pouilly-Fuissé "Château- Fuissé Tête de Cuvée 2019" (Alko - Stockmann Aleksanterinkatu). Perfect.

 

Gusto dell'Italia

This piece of pan fried cod is served with oven caramelized onions on top, and roasted cherry tomatoes in lemon oil and dry herbs. The sauce is a mix of organic extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, chopped red chili, capers, basil, parsley, black pepper and sea salt. Perfect with a few glasses of "Ornellaia Poggio alle Gazze dell'Ornellaia 2017" (Alko).

And to round out the diner nicely, a few glasses of Amaretto with "Amaretti Biscotti con Mandorle" and "Sfogliatine". The mandatory "Espresso" has already been dealt with.

 

Dress Cod

These pieces of cod have been brushed with olive oil, lightly salted, and cooked in oven at high temp. for 5min. As for the sauce, spanish sweet red peppers have been charred grilled, the burned skin has been peeled off and the seeds removed, the flesh put in a blender with fresh goat cheese, spanish organic olive oil Ybarra, lemon juice, salt, black pepper and a hint of smoked paprika powder, then mixed until smooth. The side is a few new potatoes pan roasted in a parsley butter. A few glasses of Chablis 1er Cru Fourchaume 2018 complete the picture.

Bread and spread

 5 different Bruschettas: on top, artichoke & white truffle cream with Parma ham. Middle left: smoked pepper cream, spring onions (white & greens), sweet pepper slices, black olives and smoked garlic. Middle: Provolone & Gorgonzola cheeses with sun dried tomato in oil. Middle right: tomato pesto and tuna marinated in hot chili oil. Bottom: Olive pesto, salame milano and sun dried tomatoes in oil. A few few glasses of dry white are the preferred option because of the outside heat.

Those russian pancakes...

Blinis then. Dead easy to do, for approx 8 pieces: just gently warm 2.5dl of milk - not too hot as you should be able to dip a finger without burning it. Then add 10gr of fresh yeast and stir until the yeast is totally dissolved in the milk. In a bowl, mix 1dl of flour and 1.5dl of buckwheat flour then add to the milk and stir well. Then you add 3/4 dl of sour cream, an egg yolk (keep the white for later), a pinch of salt and a table spoon of clarified butter. Stir the mixture and put it to rest for an hour. Once it's done, add the beaten egg white and gently stir. Then you just need to cook the blinis in blini pans with some clarified butter. The result is on par with restaurant blinis, but cheaper. Great recipe.

So, blini served with Skagen salad (swedish shrimp salad) and vendace roe. Best enjoy with beer and aquavit. But a good Bourgogne white (Chablis, Montrachet) works as well.

The sun at last...

Being starved of sun and warmth for long months, you can bet that the first decent ray of sun sees table, chairs, food and wine making their way outside in a blink of an eye. So, grilled salmon with aioli, potato and green salad mixed, and a glass of Chateau-Fuissé "Tête de Cuvée" 2018 (Pouilly Fuissé -  can be found in Alko Arkadia or online. I've discovered this wine back in France years ago, and it's a nice surprise to see it now in Finland. Excellent wine.) Simple and yet, the best lunch in months.

 

Salmon the french way

The writing on this bag of charcoal does look pretentious, but truth is, it's a bit cheaper than what you can usually find in supermarkets (around 15€ a bag of 50L - can be found in "Motonet" among others). Burns faster, hotter, and doesn't have a bad smell. I've been introduced to this brand by one of my in laws who fancies himself as a grill master.

The heat is on.

Salmon almost ready.

"Saumon grillé sauce hollandaise" or in english "grilled salmon with hollandaise". The recipe for the sauce has been posted a few years back (tag: vegetable - aspargus). The fish is served with fresh green beans with butter & chopped parsley. As a general rule with the fish: the simpler the better! The hollandaise can be replaced by a "Béarnaise", a classic with grilled salmon and more generally with all char grilled things. Garlic butter works also great. But at the end of the day, a simple squeeze of lemon is probably the best to fully enjoy that unique grill flavor.

A bottle of Beaune 1er Cru Domaine des Riottes 2016 is the perfect partner

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Ginger sorbet (Pirkka) soaked in Finlandia lime vodka to cleanse the palate.

Octopussy on the grill greek style

This thing doesn't look very appetizing. Plain ugly even tbh. But it's been a while that Saila pressured me do do an octopussy on the "barbie". So, 2 days ago when we were at K-Citymarket Sello's fishmonger facing this thing, I couldn't dodge her wish any longer. 

So, before to be put to the grill, the damn thing must be pre-cooked first. Boiled for 45min. in water with bay leaves, black pepper corns and a few pieces of lemon. 

The tentacles have been peeled of excess skin and chopped, then put to marinate for approx. 30min. in a mixture of olive oil, lemon juice, garlic puree, dry oregano powder and salt. And now on a very hot grill until they become nicely chared. Not too long tough or they would become as appetizing as an old tyre.

To go along, a few boiled new potatoes put on skewers, rubbed with the octopussy's marinade and grilled for a few minutes until the skin becomes crispy.

The final result: the tentacles have been cut in chunks, liberally sprinkled with olive oil, lemon juice, dry oregano and rock salt. A dry withe wine with a hint of minerality is the best choice for this dish (greek Retsina if you want absolutely play local - not our favorite). Gotta say, looks the part and taste great... only if you're ready to put in some serious work. As for me, I think I'm gonna stick to the nearby greek tavern. And you can break the plates, which you can't do home.