Green smoothie recipe

Recipe by Pille @ Nami-Nami. Above photo by Juta Kübarsepp for the September 2013 issue of Kodu ja Aed ("Home and Garden", an Estonian monthly magazine. I've been their food writer since October 2012)

Here's a recipe for a healthy and delicious pick-me-up smoothie for those days that kids have been driving you crazy, the to-do-list doesn't seem to get any shorter however hard you try, and you simply have no time to cook anything decent for yourself. It's the matter of peeling three fruits and throwing them into the blender (and rinsing the blender afterwards). I'll find time for that any day :)

The green smoothie - if the name didn't give it away already - is the one third from the left on the above photo. Feel free to guess what the other three are ;)

Green smoothie
(Roheline smuuti)
Serves 2

2 kiwis
1 banana
1 avocado
200 ml orange juice*

Peel the banana, kiwis and avocado. Place the flesh into your blender. Add the orange juice and process till smooth. Serve at once.

If you want your smoothie thinner, then add more orange juice, ice or ice-cold water.

* Ideally freshly squeezed, but any good-quality bottled juice will work as well.

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How do you take your tea? Russian Revels and their Tea Horse tea

Although I like my coffee - a lot - I've been drinking more tea again recently. My tea-loving friends are to blame - first KAFO sent me nine jars of their just t's Black Label No X teas  to try (I'm still in love with their Luxury Earl Grey tea that I used to me those dainty Earl Grey cookies). Then a Tallinn-born and London-based food blogger Katrina of The Gastronomical Me mentioned that she and her food-loving friend Karina have created a tea blend.

Tea blend? I knew that film stars, singers, models and such like always end up creating their own perfume, but apparently that's so old-fashioned. Nowadays you blend your own tea :D

Karina and Katrina together run a supper club in London, called The Russian Revels, hosting Russian feasts with Slavic generosity, Soviet attitude and British humour. These two Russians joined forces with London-based tea club Tea Horse and  came up with their own tea blend, called "Russian Revels". The tea was included in the March 2013 taster box:

"A bright Ceylon Uva black tea is blended with lemon and cloves for a refreshing and lightly spicy infusion. Enjoy black, with a splash of milk or a slice of fresh lemon for an extra citrus zing."

I know I spent seven years in bonnie Scotland, but never got used to drinking tea with milk. Instead I've been enjoying this tea for almost daily now, always with a slice of lemon, like instructed. Lovely - the cloves add a surprisingly mellow, yet distinct flavour - nothing chai-like at all.

If you're based in the UK and if you like your tea, you may want to give the Tea Horse's subscription a go.



Disclaimer: I was sent the 75 g packet of tea for free by aforementioned Karina. Thank you!

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Mulled sea-buckthorn drink

A glass of warming sea-buckthorn drink. If you're unfamiliar with the name "sea-buckthorn", then it's also known as sandthorn, sallowthorn or seaberry, and tyrni in Finnish, Sanddorn in German (as well as Seedorn, Sandbeere, Weidendorn and so on), havtorn in Danish and Swedish, duindoorn in Dutch, Hippophae rhamnoides in Latin, argousier in French.

Are you a fan of Pinterest? I am. I hopped on the Pinterest-bandwagon quite late, but have grown to love it for the ease of identifying and saving various inspirational dishes. It's a great way to spot gorgeous drink and food ideas, and that's where I came across Sandy's sea-buckthorn punch. Sea-buckthorn, the wonderful superberry, has been featured quite often here on Nami-Nami (see below for numerous recipe links), and I try to use it quite regularly in my kitchen as well. This mulled hot drink using a mixture of sea-buckthorn juice, orange juice and black tea, was a great discovery.

Mulled sea-buckthorn drink
(Kuum astelpajujook)
Adapted from Confiture de Vivre
Serves 6 to 8

1 litre of brewed tea (I used Early Grey)
500 ml (2 cups) sea-buckthorn juice
250 ml (1 cup) good-quality orange juice
4 cloves
4 star anise
1 cinnamon stick/bark
5-6 Tbsp soft brown sugar

Optional (for the alcoholic version):
vodka and/or sea-buckthorn liqueur

Mix tea, sea-buckthorn and orange juice, spices and the sugar in a medium-sized saucepan. Bring into a gentre simmer, then leave to infuse for 15-20 minutes on a very low heat.
Remove from the heat, ladle into heatproof glasses and serve.

For an alcoholic version, add 2 cl of vodka and/or sea-buckthorn liqueur per glass.

More sea-buckthorn recipes:
Sea-buckthorn jelly with kama mascarpone mousse @ Nami-Nami
Sea-buckthorn and Amaretto cheesecake @ Nami-Nami
Sea-buckthorn and apple tart @ Nami-Nami
Sea-buckthorn sorbet @ Nami-Nami
Cardamom panna-cotta with sea-buckthorn and apricot compote @ Nami-Nami
Sea-buckthorn juice @ Russian Season
Sea-buckthorn @ Real Epicurean
Gelbe grütze @ Küchenlatein
Coconut cream custard on sanddorn mirror @ Vegalicious Recipes
Sea buckthorn curd with raspberries @ Swedish Food
Sea-buckthorn cheesecake @ Bumpkin Mag
Sea-buckthorn mousse @ Andie's Veggies
Sea-buckthorn kissel with Greek yoghurt @ Suvi sur le vif

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If you like Cosmo (and Sex and the City), then you'll love this drink: Cosmopolitan glögg

Sex and the City (2008)

Miranda Hobbes: [at a bar, drinking Cosmopolitans] 

"Why did we ever stop drinking these?"

Carrie Bradshaw: "Because everyone else started! "

Perhaps it's time to start again?

This delicious and soul-warming winter drink has got its name from the famous Cosmopolitan cocktail. Ok, there's plain vodka and not lemon vodka here, and I haven't used any limes to give the drink an extra zing (though you could, by all means), but the similarities are definitely there. It's officially my favourite mulled drink this year, even if I do go very easy on the vodka most of the time :D

If you like the classic Cosmopolitan, and enjoyed watching Sex and the City, then this drink is for you :)

Cosmo Glögg
(Jõhvikaglögi)
Serves six
Adapted from Finnish-language book "Kotilieden jouluaika: Pikkujoulusta loppiaisen" (2006)



1 litre good-quality cranberry juice drink
2 Tbsp glögg mixture*
100 ml vodka
50 ml orange liqueur (Triple Sec or Cointreau)

To serve:
dried cranberries (aka 'craisins')
orange twist

Bring the juice and glögg mixture into a simmer, then remove from the heat and leave to infuse for 20-30 minutes. Add some sugar to taste, if you really wish so.
Strain and re-heat. Add the spirits and serve in heat-proof glasses.

* I used Meira's glögimauste, which contains finely chopped dried Sevilla orange peel, ginger, cloves, cinnamon and cardamom. You can use any mulled wine or glögg seasoning mix of your choice, if that's not available. 

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The ideal thirst-quencher - a refreshing real lemonade

I love the fact that Estonia is becoming more knowledgeable about food - both its own and in general. During the Soviet time you couldn't really buy lemons at all. Then, for well over a decade, we got lemons, but often of questionable quality. I guess with our small population - just over 1.3 million people (= a very small market share) - our fruit importers didn't have much bargaining power at the European fruit and vegetable wholesalers and often ended up with the worst of the available fruit - including dried up lemons. (Still, compared to the "fresh" artichokes or rubbery fennels I've seen, the lemons have been pretty decent, I guess).

Now, during the last few years, we've had a bit of a food(ie) revolution happening. The number of excellent food blogs have sky-rocketed. There are lots of lovely restaurants popping up here and then. Organic food is becoming more available and small, artisanal producers have appeared on the shelves. The country of origin has become more important. If we take lemons, then it's not just a lemon you're buying, but lemons from Spain, Italy or elsewhere - depending on the season and the grocery store. And just recently I've realised that some stores even mark the variety of lemons. My local grocery store has been selling Spanish Primofiori lemons -huge, juicy and beautifully acidic (NB! Do not confuse with the Sicilian primofiore lemons). According to this page, Primofiori (locally known as limon Fino or limon Mesero in Spain) is the most important and popular lemon variety in the Mediterranean basin- over half of the annual Spanish lemon crop is made up of this variety. Primofiori lemons are large (mine averaged at 350 g each!), and they yield a lot of juice for their size.

Here's how I've been making lemonade to quench the thirst - we've had weeks of sunny, warm and dry summer here in Estonia, so this lemonade has been a real hit. It keeps for a week in the fridge, so it's

Note that there's no point giving exact number of lemons here - my Primofiori lemons were weighing about 350 g, yielding about 100 ml (just under 1/2 cup) juice each. I'll just give a proportion of sugar per juice that I've used. This yields a sharp and just slightly sweet lemonade - use more sugar, if you wish.

A really refreshing lemonade
(Tõeliselt mõnus limonaad)



juicy lemons
caster sugar

to serve:
still or sparkling soda water or plain water
ice cubes

Wash the lemons carefully, cut in half and juice them. Measure the juice, then take about 100 g (3.5 oz) of sugar per 250 ml (1 cup) of lemon juice.
Place sugar and lemon juice into a small saucepan and bring slowly to a boil. Let it simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring every now and then.
Cool a little, then bottle and keep in the fridge.

To serve, place some ice cubes into a glass, pour some lemonade extract in over the ice cubes and top with (soda) water, to taste.

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It's Pimm's Time!

What's your favourite way of enjoying Pimm's?



Last Thursday Estonians celebrated summer solstice - Jaanipäev - and we had 4 consecutive days off. Being a stay-at-home mum, I'm always at home, but it was wonderful to have our family's busy bee K. stay at home for 4 days in a row. We had friends over on Thursday night (dry, but sadly too windy for lighting a bonfire outside, so we stayed indoors), went to the Tallinn Zoo on Friday, had a wonderful meal at our friends' place on Saturday and hosted various visitors (all grandparents of our kids, plus some more) on Sunday. In addition we managed to do quite a lot of cooking, make three different types of jam for spreading over pancakes during the winter, and spend quite a few hours gardening - and taking pictures of our beautiful garden. I just wish that all summer weekends be four days long!



On Saturday night, when packing our family up for visiting nearby friends, we also grabbed a bottle of Pimm's No 1 from our drinks cabinet and stocked up on various mixers at a nearby store. I fell in love with that British summertime classic when living in Scotland for seven years, and I've got many fond memories associated with that drink. For those of you unfamiliar with Pimm's, it's a gin-based liqueur that was first produced in 1823 by - yes, you guessed already - a certain Mr Pimm. James Pimm was a farmer's son from Kent, who was the proprietor of an oyster bar in the City of London. He sold a cocktail containing gin tonic, quinine and an assortment of herbs to aid digestion. The drink became very popular, and Mr Pimm's began selling it ready-mixed.

There have been other versions of Pimm's over the years, based on vodka and brandy and others. Currently only two varieties are made Pimm's No 1 (gin-based) and Pimm's Winter Cup, which is a version of the brandy-based Pimm's No 3 (with added orange peel and spices; apparently excellent with warmed apple cider).


Pimm's No 1, Appletiser, ice cubes, slice of lemon and some borage flowers.

The traditional way of enjoying Pimm's is to mix one part of Pimm's No 1 to three parts of mixer, serve it with ice cubes and a slice of fruit (lemon, orange, strawberry), slightly bruised mint leaves and some borage flowers (a slice of cucumber works as well). Ginger beer and good English lemonade are popular mixers, but both are hard to find over here (and I doubt that anyone will start importing my favourite Fentimans sodas and drinks any time in the near future). We tried four different Pimm's Cups with our friends - with Ginger Ale (Schweppes), Bitter Lemon (Schweppes), Appletiser, San Pellegrino Limonata. Although the lemonade Pimm's are popular - and all four were definitely quaffable and very much so - then K. and I loved the versions with Ginger Ale and Appletiser most - the latter being the more dry option of the two.



We've been mixing Pimm's Cup over the weekend (don't worry, I've been only sipping a little), and another favourite is a generous slug of Pimm's No 1 mixed with San Pellegrino's red orangeade (Arancia Rossa), garnished with a slice of orange. If we continue on this pace, then I must humbly ask my Scottish friends Emma & Michael to bring us another bottle of Pimm's No 1 in July (and Pimm's Winter Cup!), as, sadly, Pimm's isn't available in Estonia :(

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Watermelon lassi

Just like that, and ever so suddenly, the summer is here. We've just had almost a fortnight of very high temperatures (about 30 C/85 F) and constant sunshine (almost 24/7 - us being rather high up North :)). It's hard to believe that just a few months ago the summer seemed soooo far away. Last winter was long, cold and harsh and unwilling to ever end. After still complaining about the amount of snow in early April, I felt ashamed about complaining about the heat of last summer (temperatures hovering around 30 C aren't exactly my cup of tea - and last summer was especially difficult for me as I was expecting our second baby). And yet I was already ready to complain about the heat last weekend :)

Luckily, the temperatures dropped a little last night, and we finally got some long-awaited rain this morning (I've got a vegetable garden as well, remember, so occasional moderate rain is very much needed and welcomed). But should the heat wave return, then here's one of the easy summer smoothies that helped me stay cool and sane a year ago :)

Watermelon lassi
(Arbuusi-jogurtijook)
Serves 1

150 g watermelon (weight after cleaning)
100 g plain yogurt
1 Tbsp sugar (optional)
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp finely chopped fresh mint

Cut the watermelon into chunks and blend until smooth. Stir in the yogurt, sugar and lemon juice.
Pour into cold classes, sprinkle some mint on top and serve at once.

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Juiced

A delicious combination of orange, lime and apple (Granny Smith).

What's your favourite freshly pressed juice? I'd love to get new ideas.

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Easiest Mango Lassi ever

Open a 400 g can of East End's Alphonso mango pureé and a 400 ml tub of good organic plain yoghurt (unstrained). Mix until combined, season with ground cardamom, if you like. Pour into 4 glasses, garnish with mint and enjoy :P

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Watermelon drink

It's VERY hot here. For the last week or two, the usually moderate summer temperatures have been replaced with about 28-30 Celsius, and the weather forecast doesn't forecast end to that heat any time soon. Perfect excuse for cold and refreshing drinks. One of my favorites has been a combination of watermelon, grated ginger and lots of crushed ice.

How do you keep yourself cool these days??

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Eggnog Recipe

After reading about the popular American Christmas tipple, eggnog, for years, I finally took the plunge and made some last weekend. We loved it, and I'm probably making another batch tonight for tomorrow's Christmas Eve dinner, and then another one for the New Year's Eve party. The recipe below is based on Melissa's and Elise's recipes, and make an excellent Christmas-time drink.

Eggnog
(Eggnogi jõulujook)
1 litre (serves about 6)

4 large eggyolks
100 g caster sugar
500 ml milk (2 cups)
1 vanilla pod
1 cinnamon stick
250 ml whipping cream
2 Tbsp bourbon whisky
2 Tbsp dark rum

freshly grated nutmeg, to serve

In a large bowl, whisk egg yolks until frothy, then slowly beat in the sugar, whisking until fluffy.
Combine milk, cinnamon stick and vanilla pod (halved lengthwise) in a thick-bottomed saucepan. Slowly heat mixture on medium heat until it is steaming hot. Do not boil! (If you're not in a hurry, then remove the saucepan from the heat and let infuse for 30 minutes. Slowly reheat again before proceeding).
Temper the eggs by slowly adding ladlefuls of hot milk mixture into the eggs, whisking constantly. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan.
Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until it begins to thicken slightly, and coats the back of the spoon (candy thermometer should show 71C). Do not allow the mixture to boil, or the heat will curdle the egg yolks!
Remove from heat and immediately stir in the lukewarm cream (this will bring the temperature down and keep it from curdling).
Remove the vanilla pod and cinnamon stick. Cool until lukewarm, then stir in the bourbon and rum.
Chill before serving. NB! Grate some nutmeg on each serving!!

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Chokeberry aka Black Aronia and Kephir Smoothie Recipe

It's official. Black aronia berries aka black chokeberries are the newest superfood. These beautiful black berries apparently have the highest concentration of useful flavonoids and antioxidants of any known natural food product. They're also rich in vitamins B2, B6, E, C and folic acid. I see articles praising Aronia melanocarpa e v e r y w h e r e!!

The berries have been grown in hedgerows in Estonia for decades. The most common use for the berries is in cordial, but I've made apple and black aronia jam couple of times as well. While most people find raw aronia berries a wee bit too astringent and tart, then I like nibbling on them. Luckily, there are lots of black aronia hedgerows bordering the streets in the suburb where I live. I get a healthy dose of these on my daily walks with the baby, as I pick a berry from here, and another one from there :)

We've just planted couple of chokeberry bushes into our new garden, and the berries I used for this super-healthy smoothie were from these bushes.

Chokeberry and Kephir Smoothie
(Aroonia-keefirikokteil)
Serves 1

1 ripe banana, peeled
handful of chokeberries/black aronia berries
250 g (1 cup) kephir
honey or agave nectar, to taste
a squeeze or two of lemon juice

Place banana chunks, berries and kephir into a blender and blend until smooth and frothy. Sweeten with honey or agave nectar, and season with lemon juice.
Serve at once.

Other recipes using chokeberries/black aronia berries:
Black aronia muffins

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Cherry smoothie with kama and kefir

Here's a quick smoothie I fixed myself yesterday. A large handful of pitted cherries, a cup of kefir*, blended with an immersion blender. I then stirred in 2 Tbsp of the famous Estonian kama mixture, and seasoned the smoothie with a spoonful of agave nectar and a squeeze of lemon. Lovely, and perfect for summer!

What's KAMA??? Read more here.


* If you live in the UK, try looking for kefir in the Polish shops. If you live in the US, you could look for Lifeway Kefir in Whole Foods, Target etc.

(Keefirikokteil kama ja kirssidega)

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What we are drinking right now

Collecting fresh birch sap in our back yard.

For a few days now, we've been drinking lots of freshly collected birch sap instead of table water. It's very refreshing, and tastes like a mildly sweetened water. According to folk medicine, birch sap helps to combat 101 illnesses. It's detoxifying, contains C and PP vitamins, carotene, various sugars and malic acid.

But most importantly, it tastes good.

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