Garden lunch

White & green aspargus, peeled and cooked in a steamer basket for respectively 10 & 5min., and served with an Hollandaise. Add a glass of Pouilly-Fuissé, and there is no better way to enjoy them.

 

The taste of spring

 

Slices of new potatoes (yes you can find some already, like a lot of veggies & fruits one couldn't find at this time of the year 20 years ago - always go for seasonal products) are gently pan fried in a mix of olive oil and butter. When the potatoes are almost done, baby green aspargus and green onions are added for 1-2min. Everything must stay a little crunchy, mostly the aspargus. Earlier, white aspargus have been peeled and cooked in a bamboo steamer for approx. 10 min. Again, they must have some crunchiness left in them. Finally, the plate is dressed with whites aspargus at the bottom, then the pan mix, then an entire burrata at room temperature on top, a bit of extra virgin olive oil, a few drops of lemon juice, some sea salt and black pepper, a glass of chilled white, and you're ready for a treat. Yummi.

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!

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.

Easter Lamb

An arch classic dish from the french gastro repertoire is the "Gigot d'Agneau Flageolets" or leg of lamb with flageolet beans. There is no escape. When you do lamb, you have to serve it with flageolets. A bit like like fish & lemon, or pastas & Parmiggiano Regiano. Unfortunately for the french living in Finland, this kind of beans is not sold in the country. The only way is to buy online (Amazon). Pity really because the locals have no idea how good these beans are, full of flavors (a cross between white beans and peas), soft and delicates, and an absolute match made in heaven with the lamb. 

This is a 1.5kg leg of organic young lamb from Ahvenanmaa, which is probably the best you can find in Helsinki. Small incisions have been made all around the leg and been stuffed with with freshly made garlic puree. Then the leg has been rubbed with the rest of the puree mixed with a bit of extra virgin olive oil and sea salt.

Now, there are some rules when you cook lamb. The golden rule is, when you do use quality meat like this one, that it should be cooked pink. Otherwise it would be a total waste. To start with, the meat should be at room temperature and not cold. It's a good idea to have it out of the fridge at the very least 2 hours in advance. Usually, the cooking time is 15min. at 220° per 500gr. and the meat temperature should be between 50°-55° (the use of an electronic oven thermometer is essential in this case). So for this leg, knowing that the ratio meat/ bone is roughly 2/3-1/3, we did cook it for almost 40min. the meat being at 53° when out of the oven.

The leg has been resting with a sheet of aluminium on top for 10min. The meat is now moist, juicy and tender, ready to be carved.

There you go: Gigot d'Agneau Flageolets.

Traditionally, a roasted leg of lamb is served with a Bordeaux, like a Pauillac, or a Côte Rôtie (Rhone). At first, we were leaning toward the 2nd, when we did spot this lonely bottle in Alko Stockmann: "Bruno Rocca Barbaresco 2018". This light fruity italian red was described as specifically for the lamb, and indeed was a great match. Superb.

Home v Restaurant

It's not because it's still snowy outside that we can't grill things. And because we have kilos of premium beef cuts in our freezer, we keep grilling in the cold finnish evenings like maniacs. With the grilled meat, we decided to skip potatoes altogether, and make a celeriac mash, as well as a wine sauce, or as we call it in France "sauce marchand de vin" (wine merchant sauce). For the mash, we cut a kg of celeriac in cubes. Then the cubes were placed in a sealed vacuumed bag, and cook in hot water until tender. When the celeriac was cooked, the bag was opened, and the cubes were mashed with a bit of cream (crème fraiche or even sour cream are good options here), butter, white pepper and salt. As for the sauce, we peeled, cut, and gently fried until soft 1/2 kg of shallots. Then 1 bottle of red wine (spanish Tempranillo) was added (when reaching boiling point, the wine was flamed to remove the acrity), as well as some fresh thyme. Once the wine was reduced by half in a gentle boiling, all the bits were removed and a small bottle of veal stock was added. Then we let reduce the liquid further until it became like a syrup. At that point cubes of fridge cold butter were gently added, as well as black pepper and salt. And voila! Can't even begin to imagine the price in a restaurant for a dinner like this. Hopefully we don't have to!

Almost a kg of Atria's Premium Entrecote - winner of the World's Best Steak Challenge 2019 - cooked 11min. each side for rare (14min. for medium rare)

Without the sauce

With the sauce

Juhannus "à la française"

The "Juhannus" tradition in Finland is about to go to sauna. Then swim in lakes or elsewhere. Then grill some things, usually sausages but not only. And to drink, reasonably or not. The point is to be with friends and or family and have a good time. So...

1kg of thick premium entrecôte for 4 pers.

grilled rare to perfection...

served with green beans with persillade, and strong Dijon mustard...

followed by some stinky french cheeses...

all washed down with bottles of Pommard "Grand Clos des Épenots" 1er Cru 2010

(bought online on a french site specialized in Bourgogne wines)

Namaste

We had this sudden craving for indian food. 

Because there aren't any indian restaurants in our immediate surrounding, and because we were too lazy to take the subway and go some place, we decided to have a Tandoori at home. The great thing in Helsinki now, is that one can easily find spices blends & exotic herbs, thanks to the many ethnic groceries scattered in the city (but mainly in the east), and thus to cook in a different way using different ingredients.

So, these pieces of organic lamb (bought in Reinin Liha) come from a shoulder. I have removed the bones and most of the fat. The meat is then put to marinate in a bowl for approx. 30min. with a table spoon of Tandoori Masala, a tea spoon of coriander and one of cumin (a few drops of olive oil have been added as well as salt).

The meat is skewered, as well as some veggies (sweet onions, red peppers and zucchinis).

Because the cooking time isnt't the same, the veggies skewers are grilled first, lid on, for 10-15min. Then the meat, for 6 to 8 min. depending on how cooked you like your lamb (we like ours pink and moist). The skewers are then served on a bed of flat bread, with a creamy organic yogurt sauce "raita" style, flavored with ground cumin, chopped fresh mint & coriander, ground cayenne pepper, black pepper & salt. 

If you don't have indian "lassi", a cold beer works as well. Fab.

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.

 

Looks like an italian pattern here...

Sometimes, out of the blue, you crave for something in particular. Could be anything, from Nutella to jamón de bellota. At the mo, Saila craves for italian food. So, here's something halfway between a stew and a pasta dish that is not stricto sensu an actual italian recipe, more like a mix of a few existing. So, in a cast iron pot, gently fry a finely chopped onion & 1 garlic clove in olive oil, add more or less dry red chili flakes according to your taste - but this dish should have some heat - and a tin of Mutti arrabbiata tomato sauce (outside homemade sauces, Mutti has the best tomato based products one can buy in finnish supemarkets - of course you can buy as well online, like Amazon Italy), and a glass of good red wine. As a general rule, do not use wines you wouldn't drink otherwise yourselves. After 10min. add about 400gr of fresh spinach and 400gr of fresh italian sausages (those found in Prisma market are particulary tasty), meat removed from the casing and mixed with garlic puree. Let the stew gently cook for 1/2 hour. During that time, cook 250gr of Tofette pasta in salted water. When cooked, add the pastas to the stew, add a few extra spoons of extra virgin olive oil, salt, black pepper, put the lid on and switch off the heat. After 5min. the dish is ready. And so you have...

"Tofette con Salsiccia e Spinaci" with a glass of Amarone della Valpoliccella 2017. Best enjoyed with slices of a good country bread. Parmigiano-Reggiano not recomended in this case.

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.

 

Back to the future

There was a time when prawns avocados & prawns cocktails were at the top of food fashion and mainstream in most restaurants. Now, good luck to find them on a list - or maybe in ferries buffets between Finland and Sweden. Anyway, it's quick n easy to do, convenient when out of ideas, and with the heatwave hitting the country, kinda refreshing as a late light dinner. Works a treat with a glass of dry white.

Stew a la vacuum

This is how to make a slow cooked "sous vide" stew at low temperature - in this case a "Pot au Feu". First you need vacuum bags to fill them with meat and vegetables. Here we have pieces of Osso Bucco with leaks, carrots, parsnips, onions, potatoes, bay leaves, parsley, black pepper corns, sea salt an a cup of vegetable stock. The bags are then vacuumed and sealed tight. No air inside. Just for the record: you can prepare bags in advance and put them in the fridge for a few days, or in the freezer for a few months. It works the same with the bags "cooked". A very convenient way to preserve food.

Then what you need is a immersion heater - in our case a "Anova Nano Precision Cooker". Basically, you fill a container or large pot with water, fix the heater on the side of it while making sure that the end of the device is immersed. Next, you place the sealed bags in the water and start cooking using the Anova app.

The end result: the "Pot au Feu" has been slowly cooked for roughly 10 hours at 82°. The meat and the vegetables melt in the mouth and the stock is concentrated and fragrant. Best eaten with Dijon mustard.

 A bottle of Bourgueil is the perfect companion. 
(note the gun on the label - the wine maker must be an Arsenal fan)

Little green things

"Petits pois à la française"... or peas the french way. In a pan, add olive oil & butter and gently fry a few chopped spring onions and stripes of bacon. I must pause here because in France, we use "lard fumé" or "poitrine de porc fumée" which translates as smoked pork breast. Unfortunately, you can't find that in Helsinki. The closest thing is the italian "Pancetta affumicata" (can be found @ Casa Italia or the italian stall @ Hakaniemen tori). So, back to the recipe, I used english bacon by default. Once the onions & bacon have been in the pan for a few minutes, add half of a green salad finely chopped (lettuce is a good choice), then fresh or frozen peas. Mix well, add half a tea spoon of caster sugar, black pepper, salt, and cover with a little bit of water (just for the peas to be submerged). Let them cook for 10min. approx. lid on. At the end, add a few cubes of cold butter and chopped parsley. Can be eaten on its own, or with a roasted chicken, or with any white meat. Needs a good white or a light red wine from the Loire Valley (Anjou, Bourgueil, Chinon, Touraine, Saumur Champigny or Saint-Pourçain to name a few) to be truly enjoyed.

Best steak in the world?

On Atria's online meat shop, under the title " Atria's Premium beef - tenderness guaranteed" one can read: "This steak made from Atria's entrecote was awarded as the best steak in the world at the prestigious World Steak Challenge in Dublin on July 10, 2019. The competition jury judged that the taste and fat composition of the winning steak was near to perfection...". So we bought 1.5kg of it, as one can't buy less than that amount. But it's no big deal as we use a vacuum sealer machine. Our "fragile" food (meat, fishes, mushrooms, berries, aspargus, and all kind of spring veggies) is safely preserved in vacuumed sealed bags in the freezer.

Half a kilo of Hereford beef put on the grill. The entrecote is roughly 4cm thick, generously sprinkled with black pepper and sea salt, and is about to be cooked for 4min. each side for medium/rare.

The beef is served with oven baked root vegetables (carrots, swedes, turnips, parsnips & onions) cooked in a mixture of olive oil, organic honey, Pimentón de la Vera powder, dry garlic powder, chili flakes, black pepper & salt. This beef is probably not the best in the world, but is very tasty & very tender. For superior beef, see "Bosgård" or "The 3 Butchers", were you can find organic dry aged beef or Spain's Txogixtu beef (very rare, they don't have that very often - see post Jan. 11.2020 tag: beef), which for us is truly the best in the world.

A bottle of Hacienda Monasterio Reserva Especial 2013 is the perfect match.

(bought online in Spain)

Baa...

Roasted goat cheese salad with a mustard & herbs dressing.

(green salad, potatoes, spring onions, sun dried tomatoes)

Mixed grill

The heat is on...

Skewers with pork belly, marinated in moroccan spices: harissa (moroccan chili paste), ginger paste, cumin, honey and lemon juice.

the meat burns a little because of the sugar contained in the marinade.

Now is the turn of fresh pork sausages to go on the grill. 

(the ones on the right are flavored with paprika and chili)

To go along the meat, some grilled veggies.

(green & red pepper, courgette, eggplant, and spring onion)

The veggies are ready and will be served lukwarm, sprinkled with dry oregano and a good dash of extra virgin olive oil. Yummi!