A Visit To Tallinn And Spring Salad With Herbs

Last week, we took our West Australian visitors for a ferry trip across the Gulf of Finland, to visit the old town at Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. The boat trip takes only 1 ½ hours and it is a popular day or weekend trip from Helsinki. The old town is a Unesco world cultural heritage site. It is beautifully preserved with a large section of the old town wall and towers still standing.

Apart from all the beautiful old buildings and cobbled streets, there are interesting and imaginative decorations and signboards everywhere you look.

We loved this gutter in the shape of a boot with 5 little toe holes where the water pours through.

... as well as this lamp above the door of the Maritime Museum.

This iron man on a doorway delighted some young tourists.

And some of the 'decorations' were quite modern and just for fun.

Every cobbled street and alley had a lovely visual surprise in store.

My Aussie visitors brought the warm and sunny weather with them and I decided to make this salad for lunch.

Artichoke, Olive and Chickpea Salad with Fresh Herbs

A Small jar of pitted Kalamata Olives in Olive Oil

A Small can or carton of Chickpeas

A Small jar/can of Artichoke hearts

1 - 2 Tblsps each fresh herbs, according to your taste:

Parsley

Rosemary

Basil

Sage

A Few Coriander leaves

Some Mint leaves

- whichever ones you prefer but get at least 4 types

-  Drain the Olives, Chickpeas and Artichoke hearts.

-  Halve the olives and mix olives, chickpeas & artichokes(if the artichokes are big halve or cut into quarters)

-  Finely chop the herbs in quantities you prefer and mix through.

Make a salad dressing with Vinegar, Oil, Lemon Juice, Salt and lots of coarsely ground Black Pepper and toss.

Variation: Add washed, chopped English Spinach.

Serve on its own with good rye or sourdough bread) or with savoury muffins or cold meat as lunch.

South, North, A Hint Of Spring And Lemony Steamed Salmon

Our short trip back to the land downunder was luckily spaced around the recent volcanic eruption in Iceland. We were fortunate that all flights returned to normal just two days before we flew back to Helsinki. Of course we would have been delighted to spend a few more days on beautiful beaches and enjoying the sublime Australian autumn weather.

 

Unfortunately, our trip meant that we missed the annual Icebreak 2010 Kayaking competition near home here. Following a very snowy winter, April has been unusually warm in Helsinki. The big melt resulted in an impressive amount of water streaming over the rapids and waterfall near home. Fortunately, a few enthusiastic kayaking fans placed some excellent video material  and photos on the web to allow us to catch up on some of the action.

Apart from the bustling birdlife out there, a few hints of green and colours are appearing everywhere. I am anxiously waiting for the eruption of spring before some of my visitors from West Australia arrive later in the month.

 

Vappu and the May Day parades were grey and wet this year. I had to shelf my own planned celebration at the local driving range and instead, practise in the lounge with the new SKLZ toy we bought on Syney airport. It comprises a little green mat, soft balls with velcro plus three velcro pads that you stick on your golf clubs. Because the little ball sticks to the club, you can see whether the shot would have gone straight or whether you hooked/sliced it. Great fun. Recommended for rainy days.

When in Finland, you eat lots of Salmon. Therefore I am always looking for different ways to prepare this yummy fish. Visiting our friend Dave, in Perth, it just happened that he prepared this salmon dish for us. Quick and simple and delicious – it really does not need a recipe.

Lemony Steamed Salmon

Prepare a steamer, or get water boiling in a wok with a lid.

Wash and slice 1-2 lemons – very thin slices. Remove any pips.

Prepare squares of greaseproof paper by placing slices of lemon on it – the same size as your fish fillet.

Place a fillet on the lemon slices.

Then cover the top of the Salmon Fillet with more lemon slices.

Fold the paper parcel closing and sealing it well. Fold the sides under the parcel.

Place on a steaming rack or in the top basket of a steamer and put the lid on.

Steam the Salmon for 10-15 minutes.

Open the parcels over a bowl, there will be quite a bit of liquid inside and the lemon will go really soft.

Drain off the liquid and serve the Salmon with the lemon slices piled on top.

Sprinkle with a little chopped Dill or Parsley.

Serve with Asparagus Spears.

I usually steam the Asparagus at the same time as the Salmon, in their own parcel with some Balsamic Vinegar, a pat of Butter, Salt and Pepper.

 

These boots were made for walking.

I said goodbye to my old hiking boots today. I have been hiking in them for 10 years. I paid only $20 for them on a sale in the K-Mart in Detroit but they hiked the Inca Trail in Peru, climbed the Grand Canyon, the overnight hike through the Royal National Park, too many day hikes to list here, and got me through two snowy and slushy winters in Finland. Now they are falling apart inside and are not so waterproof anymore. It has been good fun, cheers!

 

The Sounds of Spring, Rainy Day Art And Malted Guinness Bread With Walnuts

Easter weekend was moody with lots of fog and rain except for a few lovely hours of sunshine on monday. The rain heralded the arrival of spring, of course. Temperatures were particularly mild this week and the ice in the bay and on the river is melting very quickly. For the first time this week, you could see the migratory birds arriving over the bay. So, on Easter Monday, when I headed out to slip and slide in the slush along the hiking trails, the sound of birdsong and the thundering river were vying to fill the sky around me with the most beautiful sounds. And, peeping through the slush, were the first few green shoots from some bulbs. There really is no bad or ugly season in Finland.

I also took an historic picture yesterday. Well, I would like to think so. It was mentioned on the English news bulletin that a stork had been spotted in southern Finland although it is very early in the season for them to be arriving already. When I checked the pictures I took around the bay and at the bird santuary, what did I see…. a stork. I had been concentrating on other things and never even noticed. I was rather pleased.

I love catching up on art blogs and art exhibitions on rainy days. Currently on show at the Amos Anderson Art Museum in Helsinki, is a wonderful exhibition of Escher’s art, called Impossible Worlds. I do own quite a few books on his art, but nothing is quite as good as seeing the real thing. And some favourite blogs are Finnish artist Maarah who will email her rainy day sketches to you if you subscribe. Another favourite is a young British graphic artist, Albert Eyre  who does commissions. Check out some the modern and dynamic art on his site. Other sites I regularly visit is Gurney Journey  and my favourite graffiti site  
Art Crimes.The Writing on The Wall. I am always on the lookout for interesting graffiti and discovered this scene on a construction site at the beginning of winter. I thought it was an interesting combination of textures and colour.
 

Easter is a busy time in the kitchen. I was baking hot cross buns, shortbread and an interesting malt bread that is made with Guinness and includes walnuts and raisins. It tastes wonderful with a big hunk of strong, aged cheddar or a hard cheese such as a mimolette  Living in Finland, you just have to search and settle for some cheddar. Not many interesting cheeses are available here.

Malt And Guinness Bread With Walnuts and Raisins

1 ½ Cups Malt – I used the really dark malt that is used to make the dark rye bread here in Finland but you can use a Graham or Malthouse flour instead.

2 Cups Plain Flour, I actually replaced one cup with bread making flour, and it makes a very firm dough.

2 teaspoons Sea Salt

1 Sachet Dry Yeast, about 10g

350 ml Guinness - adjust according to the flours your are using

50 ml Lukewarm Water

½ Cup Walnuts, chopped

½ Cup Raisins

- Dissolve the yeast in 50ml of the water and let it sit till frothy.

- Mix the flour and salt.

- Make a well in the flour and add the yeast mixture and the Guinness.

- The dough will be quite sticky and moist.

- Knead the dough for 5 minutes till smooth and elastic.

- Place in an oiled bowl and let it rise for 1 ½ hours or, till doubled in size.

- Deflate the dough and press into a circle shape.

- Sprinkle with the walnuts and raisins.

- Bring the dough into the centre from the edges to cover the nuts and raisins.

- Turn over and form into a round loaf.

- Put it seam side down on a lined baking sheet and let it rise again till double in size. It will take about 30 minutes.

- Preheat the oven to 220 C.

- Slash the top of the loaf a few times and brush with an egg wash.

- Place the bread in the oven and bake for 10 minutes.

- Turn the oven down to 180 C and continue baking for another 20 to 30 minutes on the fan.

- Cover with foil if the top gets too brown.

- The loaf is ready when the base sounds hollow when tapped

- Turn off the oven and leave it in the oven with the door slightly open for another 5 minutes before you take it out.

- Let it cool for 15 minutes while you get the salty butter and cheese ready and pour some red wine.

I will be spending the next two weeks back in Australia in Sydney and Perth. After a long winter I am looking forward to two weeks of sublime autumn weather, sunshine and blue ocean, before returning to the northern spring.

Snowball Fights, Ritzy Rodents And Anchovy Rolls For BBD#28

It is the middle of March and Spring is nowhere in sight yet. Following umpteen snowstorms, a sports centre’s roof collapsing under the snow and two ferries colliding after being pushed together by pack ice, we have just enjoyed several days of sunshine and temperatures up to 0 degrees C. This lulled us into a false sense of spring fever which was quickly quashed by a news report forecasting a late spring and sub-zero temperatures for “several more weeks”.

I also discovered the annual Snow Fighting Competition (dramatically called, The Sport of Snowball Battle, on the Finnish site) that is held at the end of March at Kemijärvi in Lapland. The competition was invented by the Japanese and not the Finns. The site encourages you to: “Find six friends, strap on your crash helmets and get ready to rumble...”. It sounds like fun, but if you don’t feel like travelling that far to throw snowballs at your friends or enemies, any old open square or backyard in Helsinki will do just fine right now. In the meantime, the ski trails are still in great shape and the landscape sparkles in the sunshine.

Another funny news report concerned rats. Apparently the Finns have been doing research into alcohol abuse with rats. Specially trained rats too. They have been trained to prefer alcohol over water. I did not think that that required training and these ritzy little rodents must have very exclusive taste when it comes to drinking. They are so expensive to keep that the Finns cannot afford to keep them during these hard times and will be exporting/flying them to the USA instead. I wonder how that will affect the US economy? And, pardon the pun, but is it just me who can smell a rat when hearing this news?

During the worst weather or when the snowstorms cover the trails, even more time than usual is spent in the library. This led to my partner, Paul, bringing home a book on breadbaking, while I was recovering from a bout of flu. Well, how can you stay in bed when a new recipe book is beckoning.

The book is ‘The New Family Bread Book’ by Ursula Ferrigno. Inside I spotted this recipe for small rolls filled with anchovies. I added other ingredients to the filling and made half the rolls with the anchovy filling and filled the rest with an olive filling. The recipe instructed to make 16 small rolls, but I made them slightly bigger and made 12 rolls.

Anchovy Rolls

For the Rolls: 

250g Bread Making Flour
2 teaspoons Sea Salt
10g Fresh Yeast (I was not particular and used what I had, probably double that amount)
150 ml Lukewarm Water
2 Tablespoon Olive Oil

For the fillings:
8 Anchovies – Chopped
1 Tablespoon Finely Chopped Jalapeno Peppers – I used the bottled slices
2 Tablespoons Fresh Parsley – Chopped
1 teaspoon Coarsely Ground Black Pepper
and:
6 Stuffed Green Olives
2 Tablespoons Grated Mozzarella Cheese
1 teaspoon Coarsely Ground Pepper

- Dissolve the yeast in 50ml of the water.
- Mix the flour and salt.
- Make a well in the flour and add the olive oil .
- Then add the rest of the water and yeast mixture and make a firm dough.
- Knead the dough for 5 minutes till smooth and elastic.
- Place in an oiled bowl and let it rise for an hour, till doubled in size.
- Deflate the dough and knead again for a few minutes, then let it rest for 5 minutes.
- Cut the dough into 12 portions and form little balls.
- Flatten each ball, fill with a teaspoon of filling and form a ball, enclosing the filling
- Put the little rolls on baking paper on a baking sheet, seam side down and leave to prove for half an hour.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200 C.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes.
- Cool a few minutes and serve warm, but equally good cold.
- Serve with a little chilli sauce, lots of green salad and cherry tomatoes.

I decided to send this along for inclusion in Bread Baking Day.

BBD is a monthly event created by Zorra and BBD #28, hosted by Tangerine’s Kitchen, the theme is Bread Buns.

Photographing Snowflakes And A Variety of Sweet And Spicy Bites for Morning Tea In February

Because of all the snow we have had, sooner or later, we were going to start photographing snowflakes. Easier said than done and most of our efforts ended up being deleted. We got these little flakes on an old pipe near home and also some on our windscreen but nothing really impressive.

 

So we started a little research project to satisfy our curiosity about how to photograph snowflakes. Very soon Paul came home with a wonderful book full of photos of snowflakes, called - The Snowflake: Winter’s Secret Beauty. That led us to the the author's wonderful website: SnowCrystals.com. It is an interesting site not only featuring a gallery of beautiful snow photos like this one,

But also features videos showing how snowflakes form or grow. Much like little plants, adding more branches as they get bigger.

The site features interesting facts about snow, how snowflakes form, equipment required and how to photograph snowflakes and grow your own etc, etc. If it wasn’t for the fact that we were returning to the southern hemisphere before the year end, we would have been as busy as beavers building the gear (plans also on the site) needed to do the pictures.

Currently on the menu at the cafés in Finland - Runebergintorttu. Little cakes named after the Finnish poet Johan Ludwig Runeberg. A poem by Runeberg called Maamme (Our land) became the Finnish national anthem. Apparently the gentleman used to have breakfast consisting of a glass of schnapps and a small cylindrical dry cake with a drop of jam on top in a café in his hometown every morning. These cakes appear on the menu from the beginning of February to celebrate the poet’s birthday on February 5th. They contain almonds and rum with a dollop of rasberry jam surrounded by a ring of almond flavoured icing on top.

Also on the menus are Laskiaispulla - soft cardamom buns filled with almond paste or raspberry jam and whipped cream. Traditionally they are/were served on Fat Tuesday but seem to be available all month. Well, after a good few weeks of tucking into all of the above, I think Fat Tuesday could not have been more appropriately named.

Not wanting to bake what every bakery and Finnish housewife was baking this month, I made an unusual cake that combines lemon and coriander with dried figs and walnuts. It is a moist and flavourful cake and the coriander and lemon makes for a delightful surprise on the tastebuds. I do prefer dark cakes and breads with lots of flavour/spice and texture. This is one of them.

Fig and Coriander Cake with Lemon Syrup

For the Cake:
330ml Unbleached Cake Flour

120g Soft Butter

200ml Soft Dark Brown Sugar

2 Large Eggs

10 ml Baking Powder

5 ml Ground Coriander

Pinch Salt

Grated Zest of a large Lemon

125ml Buttermilk

200g Soft Figs, chopped

100ml Dark Port

½ Cup Walnuts, chopped

For the Syrup:

100ml Lemon Juice

Cut some slivers of peel from the lemon and chop into fine strips

15ml Dark Brown Sugar

60ml Honey

30ml Raw Sugar

10ml Whole Coriander Seeds, bruised in a mortar

Soak the chopped figs in the port overnight.

• Prepare a 19cm ring pan – butter and lightly flour.
• Preheat the oven to 200 C.
• Beat the butter and brown sugar till fluffy.
• Add the eggs one by one, continue beating.
• Then add the lemon zest, nuts and figs together with the soaking liquid.
• Sift together the dry ingredients.
• Add the butter mixture and buttermilk to the flour and mix through.
• Ladle into the ring pan and level the top with a spatula.
• Place in the oven and turn the heat down to 180 C.
• Bake for 30 minutes – cover the top with foil when it gets brown.
• Turn the heat down to 160 or 170 C and bake for a further 30 minutes.
• Test and take out of the oven if ready.

Combine the ingredients for the syrup and boil for 2 minutes.

Turn out the cake on a cake rack or plate and ladle the hot syrup over it with a spoon.

Let it cool before serving – it hardly needs much more that a little cream.

The flavours will develop overnight and it will taste even better the following day.

I also love fiery hot food. Watch this space.

A Few More Weeks Of Winter Fun And Other Favourites

Following a huge snowstorm in Lapland yesterday, it has been bitterly cold with most day temperatures dipping well below –10 C. We have also had more snow and that means that the endless groomed hiking and skiing trails remain in good condition, and we can ski for miles and miles on the rivers and bay. All the soccer fields at the schools are now ice-hockey rinks. The two ice-breaker ships in the harbour, Sisu and Kontiu, are kept busy to keep channels open for the ferries and shipping. Skiing north along the Vantaa river, you get to a warm water outlet near Tuomarinkartano. It is the only place along the river that is not frozen and all the local ducks gather there to spend the winter.

It can be uncomfortable to go out hiking when the temperature is dipping to –16C during the day. But skiing gets the blood pumping and fifteen minutes later, when you are surrounded by the beautiful white landscape, you cannot imagine having considered staying indoors all day. Out on the trail during the day, I keep running into small groups of kids or classes having skiing lessons. School in Finland seems to be a lot more fun than I can remember from my own primary school days. The pre-schoolers, in their down jumpsuits, look like colourful little puffballs rolling around the snow. And this little class of skiers were being encouraged to fall into line by their teachers after much hilarity trying to push each other off balance and then making snow angels.

Of course, the reward of having a mug of hot chocolate after every outdoor session, is irresistible and it just does not taste the same if you have not worked up the thirst for it outside. And if the old muscles are aching a bit, add a slosh of mint liqueur to the choccy. Don’t be stingy with the liqueur. It has remarkable medicinal qualities.

If you really cannot bear to ski another meter, then head into Helsinki City to the Pablo Exhibition at the Ateneum Art Museum. Pablo Picasso is without doubt my favourite artist and this exhibition is the biggest exhibition of Picasso’s art I have seen. It covers works from his whole lifetime and include drawings, paintings and sculptures. At the same time, an exhibition called In the Spirit of Picasso showcases the work of Finnish artists inspired by Picasso. Feeling revived from the exhibition (and yet another hot choccy - this time with whipped cream) you can cross the road and go skating in the square in front of the National Theatre of Finland.

This last week I baked my favourite loaf, again. It is a very tasty bread that lends itself equally well to be eaten with a strong cheddar, sweet preserves or just some good organic, salty butter. The recipe include toasted barley flour, cooked rice and some dried fruit, which I vary according to my taste or the stocks in my pantry at the time. The bread rises only once and is therefore also a relatively quick bake. Recently I’ve discovered some beautiful organic black rice in a local store and have been using it for everything from risotto to my favourite loaf.

Toasted Barley, Rice and Whole-Wheat Bread with Dried Fruit

Firstly, toast a half cup full of barley flour in a hot oven till just golden and it releases its flavour. Set aside to cool.

30g Fresh Yeast or 20g Dry Yeast

1 ½ Cups Lukewarm Water

1 Tablespoon Dark Brown Sugar

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

1 teaspoon Salt

1 teaspoon Malt Vinegar

2/3 Cup Brown Rice – cooked

1 Cup Bread Flour

2 – 3 Cups Whole-wheat Flour

Dried fruit mix:

½ Cup each of Unbleached Sultanas and Currents, or

½ Cup each of chopped Dried Figs and Dates

- Add yeast to the lukewarm water and let it stand a few minutes till it starts to froth

- Mix the toasted Barley Flour, Bread Flour, cooked Rice, 1 Cup Whole-wheat Flour, Salt and Dried Fruits.

- Add the Oil, Sugar and Vinegar to the Yeast mix

- Add the Yeast mixture to the Flour mixture and stir or beat well.

- Then add the rest of the Whole-wheat Flour a half cup at a time till the dough is too stiff to stir.

- Gently knead the dough adding enough flour to make a firm but elastic dough.

- Form into a round loaf or put in a bread baking tin and cover with a damp teatowel.

- Let it rise till almost double its size

- Preheat your oven to 220 C

- Bake for 10 minutes, turn the oven down to 180 C and bake approximately another 20 minutes. Cover with foil if the top gets too brown.

- When the bread sounds hollow when tapped, remove from the oven and let it sit for 10-15 minutes.

It is a fairly dense, chewy but very tasty loaf full of texture. I am not aware of anyone who has ever been able to have only one slice.