Blueberry and feta salad

We've had a few good sunny and warm weeks here in Estonia, with temperatures hovering above 20 C on most days (that should be around 70 F). Warmer on some days, with occasional showers. A nice summer indeed.

The weather also determines the food, of course. Ice teas, panzanella and fattoush salads, gazpacho-style and kefir-based cold soups (sweet and savoury) - all these feature heavily. Ice-cream as well, both homemade and shop-bought (Estonian major ice cream makers have come up with some nice flavours, and there's the expensive, but delicious, local organic ice cream brand now, La Muu). Various berries from the farmers market stalls and straight from the bush in our backyard.  Proper summer food :)

I love watermelon and feta salads and have shared few recipes here on my blog: watermelon and feta salad with olives, watermelon and feta salad with lime, watermelon and feta salad with roasted pepitas and balsamic glaze. Still, I was thrilled to discover an alternative fruit and feta cheese salad using blueberries instead. I spotted the recipe over @ the improvised life, and vowed to make it as soon as bilberry season begins. At the end I ended up using large blueberries instead, as I thought they'd be easier to chase with a fork and a knife on a plate than our smaller forest bilberries.

(See the end of the post for more blueberry and feta salad ideas).

Blueberry and Feta Salad with Mint
(Mustikad feta ja mündiga)
serves 1, can be easily multiplied

a large handful or two of blueberries
crumbled feta cheese
few mint leaves, chopped, if too large
sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
extra virgin olive oil

Place the blueberries into a shallow plate, crumble the feta cheese on top and sprinkle with mint. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle about a teaspoonful of olive oil on top.

Serve immediately.

More blueberry and feta salad recipes:
Blueberry and feta salad with poppyseed dressing by Laura @ Real Mom Kitchen
Blueberry, cucumber and feta salad by Stacie @ One Hungry Mama
Blueberry feta salad with toasted pecans by Courtney @ The Fig Tree: Vegetarian cuisine from around the world
Blueberry, almond and feta salad @ Savvy Mom
Blueberry and grapefruit salad with mint and feta by Briat @ Thought for Food
Blueberry feta cheese salad by Alessandro @ Curative Cuisine
Watermelon, blueberry and feta salad @ Skinny Muffin
Cold pasta salad with asparagus, blueberries, feta and basil by Rowena @ She Knows
Blueberry, cucumber, feta salad by Sharib @ My Judy The Foodie
Salad with feta, blueberries and almonds by Catherine @ Albion Cooks
Blueberry and feta salad by Sues and Chels @ We are NOT Martha

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Asparagus and cheese tart recipe

Originally posted in May 2011, but I'm bumping this up again, as the local asparagus season has began.

Isn't it pretty? This lovely topless tart can be served either warm (perhaps with a green side salad) or cold (cut into thin slices to accompany drinks). It's a simple tart - a puff pastry base (I made a quick rough puff pastry myself) is covered with a layer of grated cheese, followed by an egg and cream mixture, and finally topped with lightly cooked asparagus spears. You could certainly mix the cheese in to the egg and cream mixture, but I loved the visual effect of using a separate cheese layer.

The basic idea is from the UK-based food writer and photographer Alastair Hendy via the always-inspirational Delicious Days, but I omitted the potato layer.

Asparagus and cheese tart
(Spargli-juustupirukas)
Serves 8 to 10



500 g puff pastry (store-bought or home-made rough puff pastry)
24 medium-sized fresh green asparagus spears
150 g Gouda or Gruyère cheese, coarsely grated
3 large eggs
200 ml fresh cream (whipping, heavy or double)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
freshly grated nutmeg

Snap off the hard and woody lower end of the asparagus spears (these can be used to make stock, for instance). Cook the asparagus spears in a simmering and lightly salted water for about 2 minutes. Drain, rinse quickly under cold water and drain again. Put aside.
Line a rectangular pie dish (approximately 25x35 cm) with a parchment paper. Roll out a puff pastry so it'd cover the base and come up the sides a little. Prick with a fork here and there.
Scatter the grated cheese over the base.
Whisk the eggs with cream, season with salt, pepper and grated nutmeg. Pour carefully over the cheese.
Place asparagus spears on top.
Bake in a preheated 200 C oven for about 30 minutes, until the tart is nicely golden on top and the puff pastry is cooked.

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If you love cheese and you're in Estonia this weekend ...

... then you should head to the Rotermanni Quarter this Friday and Saturday for Estonia's first cheese festival:

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Apple and Cheddar Cheese Scones

Poster designed by Marju Randmer of Tassike.ee

My local farmers market, Viimsi Taluturg, hosts a big apple feast tomorrow, called Ubinapäev. If I remember it correctly, its the third year in a row. And for the second year in a row, a group of local foodbloggers, including yours truly, sets up a apple cake stand, Toidublogijate õunakoogikohvik. There are five of us, just like last year, and as last year was lots of fun and a great success (we sold all the cakes within 2 hours or so), we're more than happy to participate this year as well. So all of you who are in Tallinn or Viimsi tomorrow, are most welcome to come by and have some apple cake. But come early :)

Today's recipe is for apple and Cheddar cheese scones. The ones on the picture were made exactly a year ago, and come highly recommended. If it weren't for the prohibitive cost of Cheddar cheese over here, I'd make these for the apple cake stand tomorrow. These are excellent - slightly sweet, slightly savory, full of roasted apples and strong-flavoured cheese - a great snack first thing in the morning or with your afternoon cup of tea.

The original recipe appeared in Melissa Clark's "The Perfect Finish" (2010, Apple and White Cheddar Scones), but I've played with the amounts and ingredients a little. Smitten Kitchen and Leite's Culinaria have blogged about the same recipe from the same book (these are helpful when you're looking for US measurements). And a search for apple cheddar scones gives numerous results on the FoodBlogSearch, if you're looking for something slightly different.

Apple and Cheddar Cheese Scones
(Õuna-juustukakud)
Makes 6 large scones


3 to 4 large apples (about 450 g/1 pound in total)
200 g all-purpose flour
4 Tbsp + 1.5 Tbsp caster sugar
0.5 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
85 g cold butter, cut into cubes
100 g strong/mature Cheddar cheese, coarsely grated
4 Tbsp (1/4 cup) fresh cream (single or double)
2 large eggs, divided

Line a baking sheet with a parchment paper. Peel the apples, remove the cores and cut apples into thin sectors. Place on the baking sheet on an even layer, and bake at 180 C/350 F for about 20 minutes.
Remove from the oven, let cool.

  

Mix the dry ingredients (flour, 4 Tbsp of sugar, baking powder and salt). Place the cubed cold butter into your food processor. Add the apples, grated cheese, fresh cream and 1 egg. Scatter the dry mix on top. Using the slowest setting, quickly mix the dough until it just comes together.

 

Line a baking sheet with a clean parchment paper.

Place the scone mixture onto a lightly floured table, sprinkle some flour on top as well. Gently roll  it into a round disk, about 3.5 cm high. Cut into 6 sectors and transfer these onto the baking sheet, leaving some space between the scones.

Whisk the remaining  egg with a pinch of salt. Brush the scones with the egg wash, then sprinkle with the rest of the sugar.

Bake in the middle of a preheated 180 C oven for about 30 minutes, until the scones are lovely golden brown.

Let cool a little, then transfer onto a metal rack to cool for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

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Zucchini and Parmesan Tart

What's your favourite zucchini/courgette dish this year?

I'm still harvesting a good-sized zucchini or two every few days, and here's my favourite zucchini dish of 2012 (another recent favourite is this courgette/zucchini cake with lemon frosting, but as one is sweet and the other savoury, I believe I'm allowed to have two favourites :)). I spotted this idea in the May 2009 issue of the British food magazine Olive, but there was too little cheese and too much zucchini in the original recipe, so I've been playing around with it quite a lot. The tart has been a real hit with everybody who has tried it (just look at the number of comments on my Estonian site), and I can see why - the cheese, garlic and courgettes work together immensely well.

Use a slim and crisp zucchini for this - both for the looks and the texture.

Courgette and Parmesan Tart
(Parmesani-suvikõrvitsapirukas)
Serves about 8 to 10

500 g puff pastry
ca 500 g zucchini/courgette
2 large garlic cloves
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
fresh herbs of your choice (oregano, thyme - optional)
150 g cream cheese
75-100 g finely grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 200 C/400 F. Line an oven sheet with a parchment paper. 

Slice the courgette thinly (I use my Benriner Japanese kitchen mandoline for this), peel the garlic cloves and slice thinly as well. Place into a bowl, season generously with salt and pepper and herbs (if using), drizzle with olive oil. Toss gently to combine and leave to macerate for 10-15 minutes.
 

Roll out the puff pastry. Using a sharp knife, score a border about 1-1.5 cm from the edge of the pastry. Transfer the puff pastry onto the baking shet.
Mix the cream cheese with half of the grated Parmesan cheese, spread the cheese mixture onto the puff pastry (stay withing the cut you made).

 

Layer the zucchini slices neatly on top of the cheese mixture, overlapping them as you go.

 

Bake for 15 minutes at the pre-heated oven.
Take the tart out of the oven, sprinkle the rest of the Parmesan cheese on top, and return to the oven. Bake for another 15 minutes or until the tart is lovely golden brown on top.

Cool a little and cut into small squares. 


 

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Watermelon and feta salad with roasted pumpkin seeds and balsamic vinegar

August 2012

Watermelons are at their best just now - juicy and sweet, very flavoursome. Coincidentally, we've also had few rather warm days here in Estonia, with temperatures reaching 30 C. I imagine the watermelon vendors are doing a brisk business, and our family and friends are helping them rather nicely.

 
August 2010

I had some girlfriends over for an al fresco lunch at our patio on Tuesday, and they brought along a large watermelon. We ate half of it au naturel, but were too stuffed to finish the rest. I cubed it, and chucked the cubes into the fridge. Yesterday, my mum and two of my aunties came over for an al fresco lunch (yes, it's that time of the year - and as I do like entertaining, my extended family and friends are all very welcome), so I used those chilled watermelon cubes to
 a) make a simple watermelon juice (process the fruit until smooth, then press through a sieve and serve over ice cubes, diluted with some soda water, if too thick).
 b) make this watermelon salad.  It's an old favourite of mine that I've been making for years, and yes, the recipe was included in my first cookbook. The salty feta, juicy-fresh watermelon and nutty crispy pepitas - all drizzled with a piquant balsamic dressing - are simply wonderful together. 

More watermelon salad recipes:
Watermelon, feta and lime salad @ Nami-Nami 
Watermelon, feta and olive salad @ Nami-Nami
Watermelon Salad Thing  @ Lootie + Doof (very cool!)
Tomato and watermelon salad @ Steamy Kitchen
Kurgi-arbuusisalat mündi ja basiilikuga  @ Pisike ja Pisut Segi

 
August 2010

Watermelon and feta salad with roasted pumpkin seeds and balsamic dressing
(Feta-arbuusisalat röstitud kõrvitsaseemnetega)
Serves  8 

Balsamic dressing:
1 dl balsamic vinegar (a good supermarket brand is ok, nothing fancy)
85 g (100 ml, 7 Tbsp) caster sugar

Salad ingredients:
3-4 Tbsp pumpkin seeds (hulled, of course)
1 smaller watermelon
200 g feta cheese
handful of fresh mint and/or basil leaves

Start by making the dressing. Combine sugar and balsamico in a small saucepan and bring quickly into a boil. Let bubble on a high heat for a minute, then transfer the balsamic syrup into a small bowl or jug and let cool.
Toast the pumpkin seeds on a hot skillet until aromatic and toasty. Take care not to burn them!

Cut the feta cheese and watermelon flesh into cubes (re: the size - it's up to you). Transfer onto a serving plate or shallow bowl, drizzle with balsamic dressing and scatter pumpkin seeds and mint/basil leaves on top.

Serve immediately, and let everybody help themselves to more balsamic dressing, if they want.

HINT: if you're in a hurry, you can omit the balsamic syrup bit and simply drizzle the salad with a good aged balsamic vinegar or use one of those thickened balsamic syrups from a bottle. 

 
August 2010

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Déjà vu: Estonian tomato and smoked cheese soup recipe

On Monday morning I opened my mailbox and saw this:

Hello from London

Love the blog.  I had a wonderful tomato and smoked cheese soup in Tallinn and wondered if this was a traditional Estonian soup and whether you had a recipe for this?

Thanks and best wishes
Chris B.

Why déjà vu? You see, it's not the first time I get a recipe request for an "Estonian cheese soup" - I even posted a recipe for an "Estonian" courgette/zucchini and cheese soup last Spring, when a reader was inquiring about a soup he heard about on an American radio station. I wasn't really aware that there's such a thing as a typical Estonian cheese soup, but then realised that something called juustusupp (cheese soup) is served in most pubs, and I did have several soups in my regular recipe repertoire that relied on being thickened with either smoked cheese (suitsujuust) or melted cheese (sulatatud juust) or flavoured or unflavoured cream cheese (toorjuust).


Some cherry tomatoes from picked from our greenhouse this weekend. The varieties are Sungold and Suncherry. 

Here are some of the soup recipes here on Nami-Nami foodblog that contain cheese:
Estonian courgette/zucchini and smoked cheese soup
Goat cheese and beetroot/beet soup
Creamy fish soup

But back to the tomato and cheese soup that Chris was inquiring about. Here's a version I made for lunch today, and my family loved it. I used tomato passata or sieved pureéd tomatoes. You can use canned chopped tomatoes (just process them smooth first) or even chopped fresh tomatoes from your garden (chop, cook with a bit of salt, pureé and press through a sieve to remove the skin).

The smoked cheese that's most popular here in Estonia is this "log" - currently produced by Tere (but this has been around - looking exactly the same - since the Soviet time), weighs 280 grams. After you remove the wrapping and the skin and nibble a slice or two, you're left with about 200 grams of cheese:

I might try this spreadable smoke-flavoured cheese by E-Piim next time (180 g) - would be probably so much more convenient to use in a soup:
If you cannot get hold of either one of those, then Kitchen Ninja helpfully left a comment after the courgette and smoked cheese soup recipe that smoked Gouda worked brilliantly, so try to locate some of that Dutch cheese, or look for a Räucherkäse, geräucherter Käse, копчёный сыр or such like in your local international food isle. 

Tomato and Smoked Cheese Soup 
(Tomati-suitsujuustusupp)
Serves 4

400 g canned chopped tomatoes or tomato passata
400 ml water
200 g smoked cheese, finely chopped
200 ml single cream/pouring cream
salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
sugar, to taste
fresh parsley, to garnish

Mix tomatoes and water in a medium saucepan. Bring into a slow boil, then add the smoked cheese and cream and heat, stirring constantly, until the cheese has melted.
Season the soup with salt, pepper and sugar.
Garnish with some finely chopped parsley and serve. A good crusty bread would be a nice companion.

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Israeli food, and a recipe for Roasted Aubergine (Eggplant) with Feta

 I'll be eating lots of Israeli food in the coming few days, together with few other foodbloggers from England, France and the US, and you'll bound to hear much more about it. In advance of the foodie journey, we were all sent a gorgeous coffee-table/cookbook by Riga-born and Israel-based food writer and cookbook author Janna Gur, called The Book of New Israeli Food: A Culinary Journey. I've been browsing through the book and sticking enough yellow post-it notes on the pages to give my family and friends menu ideas till Christmas. The first dish (and certainly not the last one) I tried was a little number with roasted aubergines/eggplants.

Lovely on some rye bread crisps!



Please keep your fingers crossed that this Nordic foodie won't collapse under the Israeli sun - the dry heat is somewhat intimidating, I must admit. Nordic summers with about 20 Celsius and few degrees above that are what I'm enjoying most, you see, but sometimes we need to challenge ourselves, especially in the name of good food and good company ;)

Roasted aubergine with feta 
Serves four to six



2 firm medium-sized aubergines/eggplants, rinsed
200 g feta cheese, crumbled
4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
a pinch of sumac
a pinch of dried oregano or marjoram leaves
3 chopped spring onions
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Roast the rinsed eggplants either on an open flame (if you've got a gas grill) or simply in a hot oven until soft and blackened. Cool slightly, then peel (discard the skin) and mash the roasted flesh with a knife and/or a fork.
Add the crumbled feta cheese and olive oil, season with sumac and oregano (I used a close relative, marjoram). Add the chopped spring onions (I used a mixture of chives, green onions and Siberian garlic chives from my garden), season to taste with salt and pepper, if necessary.


Note: if you season the aubergine/eggplant flesh while it's still slightly warm, then the flavours are absorbed much better!

Serve at once or cover and keep in a cool place until ready to serve. 

Other bloggers cooking from this book:
David Lebovitz tried the Tu bi'Shvat Cake
Family Friendly Food baked the Apple, Cinnamon and Walnuts cake
Noshes, Thoughts and Reves made the Beetroot and Pomegranate Salad

NB! Note that you can follow Nami-Nami foodblog updates - and my other food-related tweets - in Twitter now: https://twitter.com/#!/PilleNamiNami

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Persian scrambled eggs with dill (panir bereshteh)

After "discovering" this wonderful Persian beetroot and yogurt borani recipe, I was hungry for more Persian recipes. Browsing the FoodBlogSearch results and using Google gave me plenty of ideas for diversifying my family's diet during the coming weeks. One dish that really caught my eye was "Persian feta omelette" that's apparently a real hit at byblos le petit café - a favourite Persian brunch location in Montreal, Canada. As we have a ready supply off fresh eggs from our four chickens, I'm always willing to try new egg recipes, and this feta omelette fit the bill nicely.


Fluffy, one of our two Orpingtons, on a walk 

I didn't have an exact recipe, instead I took inspiration from here and there (see some links at the bottom of this post). I call it Persian scrambled eggs with feta as opposed to Persian feta omelette, as, well, this is how I make scrambled eggs and not an omelette :) By blitzing the eggs with feta cheese first guarantees you have a uniform feta-egg mixture, and every bite you take tastes of the lovely feta cheese, as well as the farm-fresh eggs.

Serve with a selection of flat and soft white breads, or on top of - or between - toasted sliced bread.

Persian scrambled eggs with feta cheese
Serves two to three



4 large eggs
200 g soft feta cheese
freshly ground white or black pepper
a pinch of oregano or marjoram

fresh dill, to garnish

Place the eggs and the feta into the beaker of your hand-held/immersion blender and blitz until combined. Season with pepper and a pinch of oregano or marjoram.
Lightly oil a heavy-bottomed omelet pan.
Pour the egg mixture into the cold pan and place the pan onto a hob over a medium-low heat. Heat gently and slowly, stirring with a wooden spatula or spoon, until the eggs are scrambled, yet soft and creamy.
Remove the pan from the heat, transfer the eggs into a serving dish. Garnish with chopped dill and serve at once.  

More about Persian feta omelette/omelet: 
Cooking and Cooking (recipe for Panir Bereshteh)
Julie's "Eating Project" blog (see photo no 5)
She Said (same recipe/photo in the Australian Herald Sun)
Cheese contest @ Canadian Living

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Beer, mustard and cheese bread recipe, inspired by Welsh Rarebit

Are you familiar with the British pub classic, Welsh Rarebit? It's a slice of toasted bread topped with a melted cheese, mustard and beer concoction. Excellent, if rich, comfort food. Those three flavourings are all present in this soft yeast bread that's been a favourite for years - I even included a recipe in my first cookbook. It's soft and tender, with plenty of gutsy flavours going on. It's obviously not a bread that you'd toast and slather with jam, but with some extra cheese or a slice of good country ham - oh yes!

See also Felicity Cloake's post How to cook perfect Welsh rarebit in the Guardian to give you some insights into the dish that inspired this bread. 


Beer, mustard and cheese bread
(Õlle-juustuleib)
Makes 2 loaves



500 ml dark beer (ale, porter, stout - all work; 2 cups)
50 g fresh yeast or 2 envelopes fast-action instant yeast
3-4 Tbsp light syrup (golden syrup or corn syrup is fine; about 80 g)
2 tsp fine salt
150 g hard cheese, coarsely grated (Cheddar's good, or any Estonian cheese :))
600-650 g all-purpose flour*
1-2 tsp English mustard powder (I use Colmans)
100 ml vegetable oil or 75 g butter, melted and cooled

Use a large mixing bowl.  If using fresh yeast, then crumble it into lukewarm (37C) beer and stir until dissolved. Add the syrup, then fold in the grated cheese and about half of the flour. Add the salt, mustard powder and knead in the rest of the flour. Finally add the oil/melted butter. 
(If you're using the fast-action instant yeast, then simply mix all the dry ingredients, then add the beer, syrup, cheese and mix, finally adding the oil/butter). 

* A note on the amount of flour. I've successfully made this with 600 g flour, which is about 1 litres or about 4 heaped cups.  You may need a little more - you're aiming for a soft, dropping consistency.

Cover the dough with a clean kitchen towel, place the mixing bowl into a warm and draught-free location and let the dough raise until doubled in size. This will take about an hour.
Transfer the dough onto a lightly floured worktop. Lightly knead the dough and divide into two equal parts. Form into oblong loaves and transfer into buttered or lined baking tins. (I've used 22 cm/2 litre bread tins to make high loaves and 30 cm/3 litre bread tins to make smaller loaves).
Bake in the middle of a pre-heated 175 C/350 F oven for about 45 minutes, until well risen and golden brown on top.



Alternatively, you can free-form the loaves and bake them on a baking sheet, as above.

More unusual takes on Welsh Rarebit:
Welsh rarebit lamb nachos @ Endless Simmer
Cheddar, beer and mustard pull-apart bread @ Smitten Kitchen (an idea not so dissimilar to this)
Welsh rarebit souffle @ Amuse Bouche

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Savoury chive and goat cheese cheesecake

Another recipe request of a kind. A reader from Denmark, Nina, noticed this savoury cheesecake on Nami-Nami's 2010 Easter brunch table and has now written me already twice, begging for the recipe. After another cold and dark winter, I can finally sense some spring in the air (or at least, some imminent spring), and am therefor happy to share this unusual and delicious spring-time recipe. As for inspiration, the recipe was adapted from the French Regal magazine, one of the few food magazines that we subscribe.

Savoury chive and goat cheese cheesecake
(Murulaugu-toorjuustukook)
Adapted from the French food magazine Regal (issue 16)
Serves 8 (fits a 20 cm springform tin)

Crumb base:
125 g graham crackers or water biscuits
60 g butter, melted

Cheese layer:
300 g soft/cream cheese
300 g soft/spreadable goat cheese (I used Soignon)
1 small garlic clove
200 ml single/pouring cream
4 gelatine leaves
a generous bunch of chives
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Garnish:
handful of chives

Process the crackers/biscuits into fine crumbs, then mix with melted butter until combined. Line a 20 cm springform tin with baking paper, then press the crumb mixture evenly onto the base. Refrigerate.
Make the cheese mixture. Finely mince the garlic, mix with soft cheese and goat cheese until combined. Fold in the chopped chives.
Soak gelatine leaves in cold water for about 5 minutes.
Heat the cream, then add the soaked and squeezed gelatine leaves, one at a time. Stir the cream and gelatine mixture into the chive and cheese mixture. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Carefully spoon the cheese mixture over the biscuit crumb base, smooth the top.
Place overnight into the fridge (about 12 hours, ideally).

To serve, remove the tin and transfer the cheesecake onto your serving tray. Snip the remaining chives into 2-3 cm/1 inch lengths, place in the middle of the cake.

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Roasted Jerusalem artichokes (sunchokes) with lemon, Parmesan cheese and parsley

Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus), also known as sunchoke, sunroot, topinambur, earth apple (and curiously, 'earth pear' or maapirn in Estonian) is a great and flavoursome vegetable to grow. Once the tubers are in the ground, they need no attention from you, and you can leave the new crop in the ground until you want to use them. We were shovelling snow and digging out fresh Jerusalem artichokes throughout the last winter and as late as in April were awarded with young and fresh sunchokes looking like this - they're were frost-tolerant:



It's invasive, however, so be careful to allocate it a spot where it can take over and grow in peace!

The recipe for lemon-roasted Jerusalem artichokes is from Nigel Slater, with some minor changes. A lovely alternative to your regular roast potatoes - and a great option for Meatless Monday.

Lemon-roasted Jerusalem artichokes with Parmesan and parsley
(Röstitud maapirnid sidruniga)
Serves 4 to 6



750 g Jerusalem artichokes/Sunchokes
250 g (new) potatoes
1 lemon
olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Parmesan cheese
fresh parsley

Preheat the oven to 220C/450F. Drizzle some olive oil in a roasting tin, set aside.

Scrub your vegetables really well. Do not peel, but cut in halves or quarters depending on their size. Par-boil or steam for about 10 minutes, until crispy tender. (Drain thoroughly, if par-boiling).
Tip the steamed or par-boiled vegetables into the roasting tin, stir gently. Cut the lemon in half and drizzle the lemon juice over the vegetables. Season generously with salt and pepper.
Place the roasting tin into the oven and roast for about 35 minutes. Give the vegetables a good stir once or twice during that time.
Scatter grated cheese and chopped parsley on top and serve immediately.


More recipes using Jerusalem artichokes @ Nami-Nami:
Jerusalem artichoke gratin with cheese
Silky Jerusalem artichoke and mushroom soup

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There's no Cheddar without an oatcake

We've been eating lots of cheese recently. Upon returning from France in early September, we brought along some wonderful French cheese - Livarot (aka 'the Colonel'), Pont-l'Évêque and an excellent Camembert by Domaine the Saint-Loup (after all, we had been travelling in Normandy with our family, so we had to include a Camemembert as well). We had a nice cheese tasting evening with our friends - enjoying those three cheeses, a nice crusty baguette, fig and apricots jams, nice wine and even some apples from the orchard of Olivier Roellinger's chateau :)

Just days later K. went on business to my dear old Edinburgh. While there, he visited the best cheesemonger in town, Iain Mellis, and brought back a wonderful selection of British cheese - my old favourite, Cashel Blue (an Irish farmhouse cheese that I've mentioned here earlier), as well as two new cheeses - an excellent Cheddar called Keens Cheddar (from Somerset) and a gem of a find, Berkswell (from West Midlands). We had invited the same cheese-tasting buddies over, and had another very enjoyable night contemplating the characteristics of the cheeseboard. While preparing for the night, I knew from the beginning that a baguette alone - however lovely and crusty - will not do. You simply cannot have a good British Cheddar without an oatcake :)

While I was still living in Scotland, I had a good choice of various oatcakes to go with cheese. However, my favourite was a small oatcake from the selection of Marks & Spencer that was speckled with coarsely ground black pepper. They used to sell them in the little M&S outlet at the Waverley train station, and I often bought a box to nibble on my commute from Edinburgh to Stirling (I did a 9-month post-doc at the University there during my last year in Scotland). And that's the kind of oatcake I wanted to serve with our selection of British cheese. After some searching, I came across just the thing. You'll find the original recipe in Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage Every Day (look for Bill's Rona oatcakes, or see the recipe in The Guardian), here's a very slightly tweaked version that we loved and that I'll keep.

Peppery oatcakes
(Kaeraküpsised)
Makes about 30-40 small oatcakes

150g medium oatmeal (I used Veski-Mati kaerajahu)
150g wholemeal oats
0.25 to 0.5 tsp freshly ground black pepper
0.5 tsp salt
5 Tbsp or 75 ml rapeseed oil or olive oil
about 150 ml freshly boiled water

Preheat the oven to 180 C/350 F and line a large baking tray with parchment paper.
Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl, make a well in the centre. Pour the oil into the well, then pour in enough boiling water to bind it into a firm, not sticky, dough. Work quickly. Don't worry if you over-water a bit - you can remedy the situation by adding more oatmeal.

Form the dough mixture into a ball and leave it to rest for 15-30 minutes.

Dust your worktop with some extra oatmeal, and roll out the dough to about 5 mm or 1/5th of an inch thick.

Cut out discs with a cookie cutter (I used a 5 cm one). Place the oatcakes onto the baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes, then turn and bake for a further 5 to 10 minutes. Cool on a rack.

Store in an airtight container and serve with your favourite Cheddar.

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Meatless Monday: Swiss chard, ricotta and tomato bake

I'm officially a fan (perhaps even an afficionado) of Swiss chard now. It took a while. Yes, I've been dutifully buying plastic boxes of those pretty baby salad leaves that are available in most supermarkets' vegetable aisles here in Estonia, but that's not what Swiss chard is about. Last year I took a leap and grew several varieties (silverbeet, rhubarb chard, rainbow chard) on my vegetable patch, but didn't do much with them. I tried to sauté them once or twice, but wasn't so keen on the flavour (I was pregnant at the time, so perhaps my tastebuds were just off?). However, I did decide to give the leafy version of one of my favourite vegetables another go this year.

I'm happy I did.



I don't know if it's the fact that my chard has been freshly picked (Elise suggests that this makes all the difference), or whether my tastebuds are working properly now, but I love the vegetable this year. I mean, look at that colour!!!

The recipe below is adapted from the British Olive magazine (June 2011), and I've made it three times already. There are so many things to like about this particular dish. It tastes delicious. It uses an heretil underused vegetable. It's two meals in one - you get a warm oven bake to serve on the first day, and it cuts into neat tiny squares when cold, so you can serve it as a tasty nibble. And there's no need to separate the stalks/ribs from the leaves, which is unusual for swiss chard (granted, I've picked the leaves when they're about the size of my hand and stalks the thickness of my fingers.)

If you don't like - or you cannot get hold of - Swiss chard, then don't despair. Good grown-up spinach leaves work just as well (blanch them first, then rinse under cold water and drain thoroughly before sautéing). 

Swiss chard and ricotta bake
(Lehtpeedi ja ricotta ahjuvorm)
Serves six to many*



400 to 450 g (a little under 1 lb) Swiss chard
1 Tbsp butter
1 to 2 garlic gloves
salt and freshly ground black pepper
0.5 tsp ground nutmeg
250 g ricotta cheese
4 large eggs
100 g grated cheese
2-3 ripe tomatoes or a handful of cherry or small plum tomatoes
extra virgin olive oil

Preheat the oven to 220 C/450 F.
Rinse the chard, drain thoroughly and pat dry with a kitchen towel. Chop the leaves and stalks coarsly (see photo above).
Heat butter on a large frying pan, add the chard and sauté for about 5 minutes, stirring every now and then, until the chard is wilted and tender.
Add the garlic and fry for another minute. Season generously with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Drain any excess liquid, if necessary. The chard mixture should be on the dry side.
Mix ricotta and eggs until combined, then stir in the cheese. Season, then fold in the sautéed chard mixture.
Spoon the mixture into a 2-quart oven dish.
Cut tomatoes into half or slice them thickly. Scatter on top of the ricotta-chard-egg mixture, then drizzle with some olive oil.
Bake in a preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, until the dish is set and golden brown on top.

* Serve hot with a green salad or cold, cut into small pieces.



Here are some more Swiss chard recipes from some of my favourite foodbloggers:
Simply Recipes (Elise)
A Veggie Venture (Alanna)
Kalyn's Kitchen (Kalyn)
Smitten Kitchen (Deb)
David Lebovitz (David)
Farmgirl Fare (Susan)

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Meatless Monday: grilled eggplant/aubergine with feta, golden raisins and mint

Time for another Meatless Monday dish. Aubergine/eggplant is one of my favourite vegetables and while I'm looking forward to our own aubergine crop soon, at the moment I must have do with imported aubergines. Luckily there are nice ones around just now (I dislike those huge sponge-like bulbous ones that you get during winter and early spring), so I cook something with aubergines/eggplants every week or two.


Aubergines/Eggplants from Nami-Nami garden, September 2010

This lovely vegetarian dish is good as it is, but it could also be served as a side dish to some grilled chicken, fish or meat.

Other aubergine/eggplant recipes @ Nami-Nami:
Nasu dengaku or miso-glazed aubergine
Ottolenghi's roasted aubergine with saffron yoghurt
A lovely aubergine curry with tomatoes, coriander and nigella seeds
Armenian Aubergine Stew
Brinjal Masala (deep-fried aubergines)
Hob-to-table moussaka

Grilled aubergine with feta, golden raisins and mint
(Meatless Monday)
Adapted from a recipe on Swedish Arla-site
Serves 4

2 medium-sized aubergines/eggplants (not too bulbous)
3-4 Tbsp oil
salt and black pepper
small bunch of mint
4 Tbsp golden raisins
4 Tbsp roasted pinenuts
150-200 g Greek feta cheese, crumbled or cubed

Rinse the eggplants and cut into 5 mm (that's half a centimetre or about 1/4th of an inch). Sprinkle some salt and place in a colander to drain (contrary to a widespread misconception, this is NOT done to get rid of any bitterness - modern eggplant varieties simply are not bitter. However, by draining some of the eggplant juices off beforehand, they immerse less oil when frying later). Put aside for about 20-30 minutes.
Pat the aubergine slices dry, then brush with oil on both sides.
Heat a heavy frying pan until very hot, then reduce heat to medium-high and fry eggplant/aubergine slices until golden brown on both sides (about 2-3 minutes per side). Season with salt and pepper and place on a serving tray.
Sprinkle with crumbled feta, chopped mint leaves, golden raisins and roasted pinenuts.
Serve.

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Crisp stuffed courgette flowers aka zucchini blossoms

From all the vegetables we're growing in our garden, zucchini/courgette thrives best (closely followed by Jerusalem artichokes). And whereas the fruit might need another few days to be ready, zucchini blossoms are perfect already. Previously I've made zucchini blossom fritters and zucchini blossom frittata, this year I tried to stuff them. I came across two more or less identical recipes - one by Lucas Hollweg in the UK Sunday Times, the other by Jamie Oliver. A bit of tweaking here and there (who uses self-rising flour!?!?), and I came up with this version that we all LOVED.

You can use both male and female zucchini blossoms for this dish, as I did. (How can you tell them apart? The female blossoms have a tiny zucchini attached to them; the male blossoms just have the stem). I usually just use the male blossoms, as the female are the ones providing us with tasty courgettes later on. The male blossoms look like this:


Male courgette flower/zucchini blossom

However, if you don't need so many proper zucchinis, you can pick the female blossoms as well - it'll give you a more substantial dish.


Courgette flowers @ Lyon Market, France, August 2009. Female blossoms are at the front, male blossoms at the back.

What's your favourite way to stuff courgette flowers/zucchini blossoms?

Deep-fried stuffed courgette flowers
(Frititud täidetud suvikõrvitsaõied)



12 large and fresh zucchini blossoms/courgette flowers
vegetable oil, for frying

Filling:
250 g ricotta cheese
25 g freshly grated Parmesan cheese
finely grated zest of half a lemon
a small handful of fresh mint, finely chopped
a generous pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
salt anf freshly ground black pepper

Batter:
120 g all-purpose/plain flour (about 200 ml)
0.5 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
250 ml (a cup) of sparkling water/mineral water

To serve:
sea salt flakes and lemon wedges

Make the filling. Mix ricotta, Parmesan, lemon zest and mind leaves. Season generously with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Form the mixture into 12 small balls.
Prepare the zucchini blossoms - I avoid rinsing, if at all possible, and neither do I remove the
filaments from the female flowers. (You're welcome to do so, if you prefer). Make sure there are no little critters hiding inside the blossoms! Using your fingers, gently open each blossom and place one small stuffing ball inside. Gently close the blossom around the filling - either just folding the petals over the stuffing, twisting the petals or using a chive to tie the petals tightly together.
Mix the ingredients for the batter - it should have the consistency of a thin crepe batter.
Heat 4-5 cm (about 2 inches) of oil in a small saucepan. The temperature is about right when a little peeled potato cube or bread cube begins to sizzle and turns into nice golden brown when you drop it into the oil.
Now, working with couple of zucchini blossoms at the time, dip them into the batter, then lower them into hot oil. Fry for about 2-3 minutes, then gently turn them over and let them brown on the other side as well.
Using a slotted spoon, transfer them into a double layer of kitchen paper to drain off the excess oil.
Fry the rest of the stuffed zucchini blossoms in a similar fashion.

Serve hot, sprinkled with some Maldon sea salt and lemon wedges on the side.

Here's another close-up:

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Crostini with Västerbotten cheese

Another little recipe using the wonderful Swedish Västerbotten cheese. The recipe is Swedish as well, from a relatively new food magazine Lantliv Mat & Vin that K. brings me back from Sweden every now and then. You should use whitefish roe or löjrom ideally. Unfortunately it's difficult to track down in Estonia, so I had to settle for dyed herring roe instead.

Crostini with Västerbotten cheese cream and whitefish roe
(Krõbesaiad Västerbotteni juustukreemi ja siiamarjaga)
Source: Lantliv Mat & Vin 4/2010
Makes 12

12 thin slices of baguette
1 Tbsp butter
100 cream
100 ml grated Västerbotten cheese
100 g fish roe (preferably whitefish roe or löjrom)
freshly ground black pepper
fresh chives

Heat the butter on a frying pan, fry baguette slices lightly on both sides until golden. Cool.
Mix grated Västerbotten and cream cheese, spread on toasted bread slices.
Spoon the caviar on top, grind some black pepper over the cheese and garnish with chopped chives.

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Gardener's revenge: ground-elder and cottage cheese pie

Originally posted here.

A well-known (and much-hated) garden pest, ground-elder (Aegopodium podagraria, also known as bishop's weed and goutweed in English, naat in Estonian) has a long history of being used for medicinal purposes. However, it was also cultivated as a food crop in the Middle Ages, especially in Russia (and in Siberia in particular - the Russian Saint Seraphim of Sarov is said to have survived three years on eating mainly ground-elder while on self-exposed exile in a deep forest), Scandinavia, in Central Europe. Old Finno-Ugric peoples were keen consumers of ground-elder, too. According to some sources, old traders wrapped their vegetables into ground-elder leaves to keep them fresh looking and smelling - the leaves are high in essential oils and helped to keep the other produce fresh and aromatic, too. Young and tender ground-elder leaves can be added to soups, omelettes and stews. Blanched leaves can be mixed with cottage cheese and curd cheese. The leaves are high on Vitamin E, as well as vitamin C, they're rich in antioxidants, minerals, flavonoids and fibre. Dishes containing ground-elder are easily digestible, and have cleansing properties - so they're good for that spring-time detoxing :)



Make sure to use only very young ground-elder/goutweed leaves (like those on the photo above) - the big ones tend to be too bitter and rough. Pamela Michael, a well-known "herbal cook" and author of Edible wild plants and herbs, writes that "those of us who suffer from the weed in our gardens, should rejoice in the knowledge that we can eat the pest" :)

Intrigued? You can also use young ground-elder leaves to make delicious spring-time vanilla-scented muffins.

Ground-elder and cottage cheese pie
(Kevadine naadipirukas)
Serves 8 to 10



Pastry:
200 g butter
200 g sour cream
350 g all-purpose flour
a pinch of salt

Filling:
100 to 200 g young ground-elder leaves
1 Tbsp oil
one large onion (about 100 g)
300 to 400 g cottage cheese, drained
1 egg
1 tsp dried oregano
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Make the pastry: melt butter over moderate heat. Take the saucepan off the heat, stir in sour cream, flour and salt. Stir until well combined, then place into the fridge for about 30 minutes to rest.

Make the filling: wash the goutweed leaves carefully, drain lightly. Place onto a dry hot skillet and heat until wilted. Then rinse quickly under cold running water to stop the leaves from cooking further. Press to dry the leaves thoroughly, then chop roughly.
Heat oil on a heavy frying pan, add onion and sauté gently for about 10 minutes, until the onion softens. Add the chopped ground-elder leaves, cottage cheese, oregano, salt and pepper. Give it a stir, then add most of the egg and stir again.

Take the pastry out of the fridge, divide into two. On a flour-dusted table, roll out one of the pastry pieces into a large circle (approximately 40 cm in diameter or whatever the size that fits your oven sheet). Transfer onto a lined oven sheet, spoon the filling on top. Roll out the other pastry and cover. Press the edges tightly together, prick the top with a fork here and there.

Brush with an eggwash. Bake in a preheated 200 C oven for about 25-30 minutes, until the pie is lovely golden brown on top.

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