Holiday cooking: browned sautéed cabbage

Photo by Juta Kübarsepp for Nami-Nami

Christmas is just around the corner and I'm busy coordinating various festive dinners and other occasions. Good times, and I always feel a bit sad when all the feasts are finally over. Well, there will be another Christmas in just a year, of course :)

One of the staples on Estonian Christmas table is sauerkraut, and I've got a lovely version here on my blog, sauerkraut braised in dark beer. However, not all people have access to Estonian-style sauerkraut (fresh and unpasteurised, containing just cabbage and salt and perhaps some caraway seeds), or perhaps they cannot stomach the fermented version. Here's where this recipe comes to rescue - a fresh cabbage that's been sautéed and browned in butter, dark syrup and some stock. This has a slightly milder flavour compared to the traditional sauerkraut, but it's just as lovely as a side dish alongside the traditional pork roast that I always serve on Christmas eve. It also works brilliantly with oven-baked salmon or other fish, so it's quite versatile.

Here's the recipe. If you use vegetable broth, then the dish is also suitable for vegetarians. For a vegan version you'll need to choose vegetable stock and oil instead of butter. It's also suitable for a gluten-free diet, as long as you'll use proper vegetable or chicken broth.

Browned sautéed cabbage
(Pruunistatud kapsas)
Serves 6 to 8

1 head of white cabbage
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp dark (corn) syrup
about a cup of hot vegetable or chicken broth
salt, to taste

Cut the cabbage into wedges, then into thin ribbons.
Heat butter in a large saucepan, add the cabbage, a sprinkling of salt and fry for a few minutes over a moderate heat. Add the dark syrup and the stock, give it a stir. Cover and simmer over a low heat for about an hour, until the cabbage is tender and nicely golden brown. Season to taste with salt.

Can be successfully re-heated, so feel free to make this in advance.

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Sautéed Brussels sprouts with lemon, garlic and cheese

While I'm trying to decide what to do with the bag of lovely and fresh Brussels sprouts that I bought from my local Farmers Market, it's time to post the first ever Brussels sprout recipe here on Nami-Nami. This on-the-hob method of preparing Brussels sprouts has been tested in our kitchen few times already, and it's really quick and rather effortless. Although I have a feeling that the next batch of Brussels sprouts (called rooskapsas or "rose cabbage" in Estonian :)) will be roasted in the oven and seasoned with some crispy bacon, then it's good to have a pan-fry and vegetarian method in the recipe archives as well.

So here we go.

Sautéed Brussels sprouts with lemon, garlic and cheese
(Rooskapsad sidruni ja küüslauguga)
Serves 4 to 6

1 kg Brussels sprouts (about 2 pounds)
4 Tbsp olive oil
3-4 garlic cloves
1 lemon, juiced and zested
salt and freshly ground black pepper
a few Tbsp grated hard cheese (Parmesan or something similar)

Clean the sprouts - trim the root end and remove the floppy outer leaves, if necessary. Halve or quarter the Brussels sprouts, depending on their size.

Heat oil in a large heavy frying pan. Add the prepared sprouts and fry gently for 7-10 minutes, tossing every now and then, until they're soft and caramelised and lovely golden brown all round. Few minutes before reaching that stage add the chopped garlic to the pan as well.

Season to taste with salt, pepper and lemon juice and zest. Heat for another 1-2 minutes, then taste again for seasoning.

Sprinkle with grated hard cheese, and serve immediately.

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Oven roasted cabbage steaks recipe

Sometimes you come across a great and simple recipe that appeals to you instantly. These roasted cabbage "steaks" caught my attention at a food bloggers' Facebook chat few days ago, and I made the dish just hours after reading about it. I had made roasted cabbage slices with lemon from Kalyn's Kitchen before, several times, actually, so I knew I'd love roasted cabbage. This was very similar recipe, though the cabbage was cut into thick slices instead of wedges, and garlic was used to season the cabbage instead of lemon juice.

Cheap as chips, suits pretty much all known diets (Paleo, LCHF, vegetarian/vegan, gluten-free), overall a great way to serve that humble cabbage to your family and friends.

Oven-roasted cabbage steaks
(Küpsekapsas)
Serves 4 to 6

Adapted from Everyday Maven, originally Martha Stewart's recipe. Martha suggests you sprinkle a tablespoon of caraway or fennel seeds on top and I can see how that would work really well. Next time!

1 head of green cabbage, preferably organic
olive oil
a few garlic cloves, finely chopped
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 200 C/400 F.

Brush a baking sheet lightly with oil.

Remove the outer leaves of the cabbage, then cut the cabbage from top to bottom (e.g. the root end) into 1-1,5 cm thick slices ("steaks"). Place onto the baking sheet.

Scatter about half of the garlic on top, season generously with salt and pepper, then drizzle with olive oil.



Bake in the middle of the oven for about 25-30 minutes, until the "cabbage steaks" are golden brown on edges.

Carefully flip the cabbage slices over, scatter the rest of the garlic on top, season and drizzle with oil. Return the oven and bake for another 20-30 minutes, until cabbage is cooked and golden brown around the edges.

Serve hot.



Got leftovers? Chop the cabbage and use in those dishes:
Finnish mince and cabbage gratin
Estonian cabbage and mince stew

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Roasted pumpkin soup with almonds and spicy dukkah oil a la Silvena Rowe

From the recipe archives, originally posted in October 2011. Totally worth making!!! 
PS Check the comments section - Silvena Rowe herself left a comment - how cool is that!?

I spotted this soup recipe in Silvena Rowe's beautiful Orient Express: Fast food from the eastern Mediterranean, one of my recent cookbook acquisitions. I've been making various pumpkin soups and certainly wasn't looking for a new soup recipe, but this one caught my eye because of almonds. There are almonds both inside the soup and in the dukkah-mixture (Not sure what dukkah is? You can read more about it here). We cooked four recipes from Silvena's book last Sunday (see the menu below, scribbled on our newly painted kitchen wall), and the soup was very well received. The almonds add a thickness and a lovely texture to the soup, the dark red pomegranate seeds are a true eye candy, and the dukkah oil is a wonderful flavour enhancer. I more or less followed the recipe, though I used a bit more pumpkin and less chicken stock, and used some coriander/cilantro for garnish.



You can either use any orange-fleshed winter squash here - butternut squash or a Hokkaido pumpkin (potimarron in French). Well, you could use any winter squash, but orange-fleshed one looks prettiest :)

More pumpkin soup recipes @ Nami-Nami:
Pumpkin soup with nutmeg
Pumpkin soup with thyme
Estonian pumpkin and semolina soup

Roasted pumpkin/butternut squash soup with dukkah
(Röstitud kõrvitsa supp mandlite ja vürtsiõliga)
Serves six



For the dukkah oil:
50 g while almonds
1 Tbsp coriander seeds
0.5 Tbsp cumin seeds
0.25 Tbsp fennel seeds
5-6 Tbsp olive oil

For the soup:
1.2 kg orange-fleshed pumpkin or squash
8 fresh sage leaves, chopped
2 onions, peeled and quartered
6 garlic cloves, peeled
4 Tbsp olive oil
750 ml chicken stock (3 cups)
100 g ground almonds
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

To serve:
pomegranate seeds
fresh coriander/cilantro leaves

Preheat the oven to 180 C/350 F.

Peel the pumpkin, remove the seeds and cut the flesh into 2-3 cm (1 inch) chunks. Place onto a large roasting tray alongside the onion quarters, garlic cloves and chopped sage leaves. Season to taste with salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil:



Cook the vegetables in the preheated oven for 30-40 minutes, until the pumpkin is soft. Remove from the oven and cool.

Make the dukkah oil while the pumpkin is roasting. Place the spices and almonds onto a small dry frying pan and cook over a moderate heat until fragrant and slightly golden (keep an eye on them, as the spices burn easily!):



Using a pestle and mortar (or a small food processor), bruise the spices and almonds until you've got a coarsely ground mixture. Add the oil, put aside.

When the vegetables are cooked, place them into a food processor or a blender. Blend to a purée, adding a little of the vegetable stock if necessary. Return the pumpkin purée into the saucepan, add the rest of the stock. Bring into a slow boil, then simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the soup is smooth and slightly thickened. Stir in the almonds, season to taste.

To serve, ladle the soup into warmed bowls. Spoon some dukkah oil on top, sprinkle with pomegranate seeds and garnish with some cilantro/coriander.

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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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Recipe for Beef Stroganoff with Chantarelle Mushrooms

Recipe by 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)

Boeuf Stroganoff, a popular family classic, gets an seasonal-autumnal touch here from fresh chanterelle mushrooms. As I've mentioned in another post, stroganoff doesn't usually include mushrooms over here. Yet I can see why mushrooms are often paired with beef in this classic Russian dish. While cultivated mushrooms are all right during the winter season, it'd be silly to use the pale and rather bland-tasting white button (or even small brown cremini) mushrooms when the local forests are full of wonderful wild mushrooms. Hence the use of chanterelle mushrooms here instead.



Beef Stroganoff with Chanterelle Mushrooms
(Kukeseentega böfstrooganov)
Serves 4

vegetable oil for frying
300 g beef sirloin or tenderloin or "stroganoff" or stir-fry strips
salt and black pepper
1 Tbsp mild paprika powder
1 onion, finely chopped
300 g fresh chanterelle mushrooms
3 Tbsp concentrated tomato purée
200 ml fresh cream*
fresh parsley, finely chopped

If you're using sirloin or tenderloin, then cut the meat into thin stirps about 1 cm wide and 5 cm long (1/2 inch wide by 2 inch long). Clean the mushrooms thoroughly, cut into smaller pieces, if necessary.

Heat oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat. Add the beef strips and brown quickly on all sides (in batches, if necessary). Transfer the meat onto a plate, sprinkle with salt, pepper and paprika pwider.

Add a little more oil to the pan, reduce the heat to medium. Add the onion and fry gently until softened.

Increase the heat to medium-high again, add the chanterelle mushrooms and fry for 4-5 minutes, until mushrooms are cooked.

Add the tomato concentrate, cook for a minute. Return the seasoned beef strips to the pan, alongside any liquid that's dripped into the plate. Add the cream and cook gently until heated through, the sauce has thickened and the meat is tender.

Taste for seasoning, add more salt and/or pepper, if necessary. Sprinkle with parsley and serve immediately.

We like to eat our stroganoff with mashed potatoes, but buttered wide egg noodles would also work well.

* You can use single cream, double cream, pouring cream, whipping cream, even half-and-half. Any of those would work well, giving you a lighter or richer stroganoff.

More Stroganoff recipes:
Kurzeme stroganoff aka Latvian pork stroganoff with pickles @ Nami-Nami
Oven-baked pork stroganoff with mayonnaise @ Nami-Nami
Mushroom stroganoff (vegetarian recipe) @ Nami-Nami
Classic beef stroganoff @ The Cook Who Knew Nothing
Mushroom stroganoff (vegetarian recipe) @ Cook Sister
Skinny mushroom stroganoff (vegetarian recipe) @ Skinny Taste
Ribeye and mushroom stroganoff @ Farmhouse Delivery Blog
Beef stroganoff @ Simply Recipes
Beef strogranoff @ My Baking Addiction
Beef stroganoff with gnocchi @ Eat, Live, Run
Chicken stroganoff @ Kayotic Kitchen
Venison stroganoff @ Hunter. Angler. Gardener. Cook
Maria's Russian beef stroganoff @ Natasha's Kitchen
Stroganoff (recipe in Finnish) @ Pastanjauhantaa
Savumakkara-stroganoff (recipe in Finnish) @ Hellapoliisi
Böfstrooganov (recipe in Estonian) @ Da Vahtra Residence
Böfstrooganov (recipe in Estonian) @ Ise tehtud, hästi tehtud
Böfstrooganov sinepi ja kartulipüreega (recipe in Estonian) @ Puhas rõõm

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Courgette salad recipe (Shredded Zucchini Salad)

We've got just three summer squash plants this year, and gosh, have they've supplied our family well. I harvest one or two good-sized courgettes (zucchini) every other day and I've been cooking all our family favourites on a regular basis (see recipe links at the end of the post).

I've also been discovering new and novel ways of using the zucchini. Nigel Slater's courgettes with dill cream were a huge hit (bigger with adults than kids, I must admit), as was this (raw, gluten-free and vegan) courgette/zucchini salad from BBC Good Food. The grated courgette salad was new as well as novel - although I had made zucchini "carpaccio" salads before, I had never shredded/grated a courgette for a salad.

Recommended!


One of this year's prolific summer squashes in our garden. 

Shredded courgette salad
Adapted from BBC Good Food
(Särtsakas suvikõrvitsasalat)
Serves 4 to 6



3 - 4 young courgettes/zucchini (about 1 kg in total)
3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp poppy seeds or black onion seeds or black sesame seeds
1 garlic clove, finely grated
juice of half a lime
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Rinse the courgettes, grate/shred coarsely (I used the coarse grater blade of my food processor). Put the grated courgettes into a large colander, sprinkle with about a teaspoonful of salt, mix gently. Leave for 30 minutes, to get rid of excess water. Then squeeze with your hands to get rid of even more liquid and transfer into a large bowl.

Dress the courgettes with olive oil, garlic, lime juice, poppy seeds and black pepper. Toss to combine and serve.

More favourite courgette/zucchini recipes:
Courgette and Parmesan tart @ Nami-Nami
Courgette cake with lemon frosting (Lemon and Zucchini Cake) @ Nami-Nami
Oven-baked zucchini and tomatoes with feta @ Nami-Nami
Estonian courgette and cheese soup (Zucchini and Cheese Soup) @ Nami-Nami
Greek Zucchini Pie (Kourkouto) @ Nami-Nami
Roasted marrow with garlic and herbs @ Nami-Nami

See also:
Zucchini cake with crunchy lemon glaze @ David Lebovitz
Zucchini stuffed with freekeh @ Sarah Melamed
Zucchini bake with feta and thyme @ Kalyn's Kitchen
Zucchini and carrot ribbons @ A Veggie Venture
Zucchini, pancetta and farro salad @ Lucullian Delights

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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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Georgian recipes: green beans with herbs and garlicky yogurt (mtsvane lobios borani)

It's a season for green beans (aka French beans, fine beans, string beans), though I'm getting my beans from the market stall just now and not from my garden. Back in April, when all decent gardeners were sowing their beans, I was in Tuscany with my dear K. and our three small kids, so some of my vegetables will be ripening later than usually this year, as they were planted or sown later than they ideally should have been planted or sown :)

Today's recipe is a flavoursome Georgian (= the country in the Caucasus region, not the state in the US :)) vegetable dish, with loads of herbs and a garlicky yoghurt dressing. Simple to make (and during winter you can cheat by using frozen beans) and a great way to use a great variety of herbs from your allotment or backyard.

Enjoy!

You'll find all of Nami-Nami's Georgian recipes here.


Green beans (haricots verts) at a Lyon market in France, August 2009

Georgian-style green beans with herbs and garlicky yogurt
(Rohelised oad ürtide ja küüslauguse jogurtikastmega)
Serves four to six

450 g green beans
1 onion, chopped
4 Tbsp butter
0.25 tsp ground cinnamon
a pinch of ground cloves
freshly ground black pepper
finely chopped fresh herbs, including (purple) basil, tarragon, coriander/cilantro, dill, savory

Yoghurt dressing:
250 g strained Greek yoghurt
1 small garlic glove, minced
0.5 tsp salt

Garnish:
1 Tbsp fresh spearmint, finely chopped

Trim the beans, cut into 2 or 3 and blanch in a salted water for a few minutes or until al dente. Drain. (If you use frozen beans, then these are pre-cooked and just need to be defrosted.)

Heat the butter on a large frying pan/skillet, add the chopped onion and sauté till translucent. Add the pre-cooked beans, then season with cinnamon, cloves, pepper. Fry gently on a medium heat, stirring every now and then, until the beans are fully cooked and soft.

At the same time prepare the yoghurt dressing. Place the minced garlic clove and salt into a bowl and pound into a paste (or simply use a fine Microplane zester/grater). Mix with yoghurt. Put aside.

Add the chopped herbs to the cooked green beans, toss thoroughly and heat for another minute. Transfer the herbed beans into a serving bowl, drizzle the yoghurt dressing on top.

Garnish with mint. Serve hot or at room temperature.

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Sautéed Swiss chard aka warm mangold salad recipe

We had a looong winter this year, and for a while it seemed that Spring has decided not to pay us a visit this year. It did, if a bit late. And then, suddenly, the summer arrived. Surprisingly, my vegetable garden seems to like this long winter/late spring/sudden summer a lot. My salad leaves and leafy greens (kale, Swiss chard/mangold, sprouting broccoli) are really thriving, the radishes gave us a bumper crop. The tomatoes, beets, carrots - you name it - all seem to be having a great time! And we'll surely be eating lots of Swiss chard this summer!

Here's my latest Swiss chard crop:

My first mangold dish of the season? This Swiss chard, ricotta and tomato bake, of course. However, then I was a bit lost again, as I couldn't decide which one to pick from those 20 recipes on my Estonian site. I turned my (well, Nami-Nami's) Facebook fans (all 17 000 + of them!) for their favourite Swiss chard/mangold recipes, and one of them, Nelli, recommended this salad recipe on Shelly's QuickQuickYumYum blog.

Thank you, Nelli - and Shelly!

Warm mangold salad
(Soe lehtpeedisalat)
Serves 4 as a side dish



a large bunch of Swiss chard/mangold

Dressing:
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp sweet paprika powder
1 tsp cumin seeds, toasted and slightly crushed
salt
half a lemon, juiced

Rinse the mangold leaves, leave to soak in cold water for 5-10 minutes. Drain and cut into strips about 1 cm wide (just under half an inch).
Heat a large wok or frying pan, add the mangold, a few spoonfuls of water and heat for 5 minutes. Stir every now and then.
Mix the dressing ingredients (except lemon juice). Pour over the mangold leaves and continue sautéing for another 5-7 minutes, until chard is soft. Remove from the heat, drizzle with lemon juice, taste for seasoning (add more salt, if necessary).
Serve hot or cold.

More Swiss chard recipes:
Dalmatian chard with garlic and olive oil @ Maninas: Food Matters
Kartul lehtmangoldiga @ Elust siin ja seal (recipe in Estonian)
Hautatud lehtpeet @ Pisike ja Pisut Segi (recipe in Estonian)
Swiss chard recipes @ Simply Recipes
Swiss chard recipes @ Kalyn's Kitchen

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A great starter recipe: Shrimp and cucumber salad with mint vinaigrette

Photo by Juta Kübarsepp for the May 2013 issue of Kodu ja Aed ("Home and Garden", an Estonian monthly)

Back in early April, when I was trying to decide what starter would suit my Mother's Day menu spread in the next magazine, a FB-friend mentioned Jamie Oliver's shrimp and cucumber salad in a totally different context. I'm not a huge fan of shrimps - although I'm getting there, slowly - and I never figured out which Jamie's recipe my FB-friend was talking about. However, I came across this shrimp and cucumber salad recipe by Ellie Krieger, which sounded pretty good. After some minor tweaking I settled for this extremely light and healthy - and beautifully elegant, don't you think? - salad that works brilliantly as a starter.

Highly recommended. And let me warn you - I've witnessed people with impecable table manners drinking the minty-cucumber-shrimp "juice"from the bottom of the glass - it's so good :)

Shrimp salad with cucumber and mint
(Kurgi-krevetisalat mündiga)
Serves 4 to 6 as a starter
Adapted from Ellie Krieger

   Photo by Juta Kübarsepp for the May 2013 issue of Kodu ja Aed ("Home and Garden", an Estonian monthly)

400 g cooked shrimps (peeled weight)
1 long cucumber
a large handful of fresh mint
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 Tbsp finely grated lemon zest
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Drain the shrimps thoroughly. (If using frozen shrimps/prawns, then defrost them slowly overnight in the fridge).
Rinse the cucumber, then peel and cut into small cubes. If the seeds are rather large, then scoop the soft seeded part out first.
Chop the fresh mint leaves finely.
In a bowl, mix the shrimps, cucumber and mint. Drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice, sprinkle with lemon zest and season with salt and pepper. Toss everything gently together.
Serve at once or macerate in the fridge for a few hours.

Similar recipes:
Kalyn added Sriracha sauce to Ellie's version and got Spicy shrimp and cucumber salad with lemon, mint and cumin
Burmese shrimp and cucumber salad @ Girl Cooks World
Shrimp salad on cucumber slices @ Gina's Skinny Recipes
Shrimp and cucumber salad with dill vinaigrette @ Epicurious
Shrimp and cucumber salad with horseradish mayonnaise @ Bon Appetit
Seared shrimp with cucumber salad @ Martha Stewart

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Pineapple carpaccio with mint sugar

Photo by Juta Kübarsepp for Nami-Nami/Kodu ja Aed, 2013

I know all my far-away readers - at least those on the Northern hemisphere -  are feasting on rhubarb and early strawberries already, but neither one is ready for consumption here in Estonia just yet. The local rhubarb should be ready in a fortnight or so, strawberries in 5-6 weeks. Until then I'll resist buying the imported stuff. Pineapple, however, doesn't grow locally anyway, so I must buy the imported fruit if I want to enjoy some.

Here's a quick dessert idea, originally popularised by Jamie Oliver. You'll find the recipe for "Pukka pineapple with bashed-up mint sugar" - that so Jamie, don't you think? - either in his book Happy Days with Naked Chef or on his website. I've been making this for years, and it's not the first time it's been mentioned here on Nami-Nami - I was served at our 2009 Easter Brunch. A great idea, really quick, and again, suitable for many popular diets (it's gluten free, vegan, raw*, etc).  Note that I gave up bashing up the mint and sugar long time ago, and simply sprinkle these on top. Works just as well.

* Use either a really sweet pineapple and omit the sugar, or use Sucanat or some of the other allowed sweeteners listed here.

Pineapple carpaccio with mint and sugar
(Ananassiviilud mündi ja suhkruga)
Serves 4



1 small, sweet and very ripe pineapple
2-3 Tbsp caster/superfine sugar
a handful of fresh mint leaves

Top and tail the pineapple. Cut off the skin and remove the "eyes". Then cut the pineapple into four wedges and remove the hardened core. Cut into thin slices, place onto a serving plate.

Chop the mint leaves finely, mix with sugar and sprinkle onto the pineapple slices. Leave to macerate for half an hour or serve immediately.

Similar recipes:
Pineapple carpaccio with mint sugar by Anna @ Morsels & Musings (same recipe)
Pineapple carpaccio with mint and rum marinade by Silvia @ Citron & Vanilla
Pineapple carpaccio @ Kitchen Delights
Pineapple carpaccio with saffron syrup and pinenuts @ MyFrenchKitchen
Pineapple carpaccio, candied ginger and lime by Anne @ A Foodie Froggy in Paris

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Recipe for buckwheat with leeks and soy sauce

What's your standby side dish? Pasta? Rice? Couscous? Bulghur? Potatoes? While these figure most frequently in our kitchen as well, then we also have buckwheat about once a fortnight or so. It's easy to cook and the slightly nutty flavour of this pseudo-grain complements quite a few dishes nicely.

Despite its name, buckwheat is not a wheat nor a cereal grain, but belongs to the same family with rhubarb and sorrel. The flavour is hearty and earthy, and it's quite a health food, being nutritionally high in all eight amino acids, calcium, vitamins B and E, and low-GI.

Just some years ago, the buckwheat meant just three things to most people - the Japanese soba noodles, Russian blini and the Breton crepes - all made with buckwheat flour. The hulled and roasted buckwheat kernels - buckwheat groats (kasha) - didn't figure at all, unless you lived somewhere in the Northern and Eastern outskirts of Europe. The Flavour Bible (2009), an excellent compendium of what-goes-with-what written for the American audience, doesn't even mention buckwheat. Heidi Swanson briefly mentions buckwheat flour in her Super Natural Cooking (2007), and suggests combining it with buckwheat honey and tart berries (cranberries, cherries, and such like) - there are no recipes in her book, though you'll find many on her excellent blog, 101 Cookbooks.

And then recipes started popping up here and there. Kim Boyce's Good to the Grain: Baking with Whole-Grain Flours has a great choice of buckwheat recipes, though all using the flour, not the groats (her buckwheat-poppyseed sablés were lovely!). Estonian-American food writer and nutritionist Marika Blossfeldt has several buckwheat recipes in her Essential Nourishment, including kasha casserole and vegetable soup with kasha. Oh, and yours truly has been sharing her favourite buckwheat recipes over the years - see links below :)

2013 seems to be the year of the buckwheat, at least the year of the buckwheat becoming more and more  mainstream.

The Wall Street Journal started the year with Buck-Wild for Buckwheat, including a recipe for San Francisco's Tartine Bakery's buckwheat hazelnut sablés (January 4th, 2013).  The Kitchn praised it recently (Buckwheat: The New Baking Star, January 15, 2013, and Buckwheat for breakfast! 5 stunning ways to fall in love with buckwheat, February 26, 2013). The Guardian followed suit - one of the hottest chefs in Britain Yotam Ottolenghi shared his recipes for buckwheat polenta, and polenta and rice salad with dried cherries and hazelnuts (March 15, 2013). I'm sure more will follow.

Here's a simple buckwheat dish I love making for myself and the kids. Great way to use up leftover cooked buckwheat, though I admit I often cook buckwheat in order to have some left over for this particular dish. Note that it's vegan - and if you use tamari soy sauce, then it's also suitable for those avoiding gluten (buckwheat itself is gluten-free, despite the name).

If you're a fellow buckwheat lover, you may want to check out the Buckwheat Recipes Pinterest board, where you'll find 40+ great pins leading you to some wonderful foodbloggers' recipes. If you'd love to contribute to that board, then just leave your Pinterest handle in the comments and I'll send you an invite!

Buckwheat with leeks and soy sauce
(Tatar porrulauguga)
Source: L. Virkus, A. Kang, H. Ilves "Wok-toidud" (2002, in Estonian), slightly adapted
Serves 4



2 Tbsp oil
1 large leek, white and pale green part only
400 g cooked buckwheat (just under a pound)*
3 Tbsp soy sauce, or to taste

Halve the leek lengthwise, rinse off any dirt, if necessary. Cut into thin slices.

Heat oil in a large non-stick frying pan/skillet over moderate heat. Add the leeks and sauté for a minute.

Turn up the heat, add the cooked buckwheat and fry, stirring constantly, until the buckwheat is heated through.  Season to taste with soy sauce and serve.

* To cook the buckwheat groats, heat some oil in a saucepan, add the groats and give them a quite stir for a few minutes. Add boiling water (the ratio is 2 parts groats to 5 parts water) bring to the boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for about 15-20 minutes. Season to taste with salt and fluff up with a fork before serving. NOTE that I prefer buying raw groats - if you only have that dark kasha available, you can skip the toasting bit.

More buckwheat recipes here on Nami-Nami:
Buckwheat with beets and dill
Cabbage and buckwheat kasha
Buckwheat kasha with mince
Warm buckwheat and mushroom salad
Buckwheat with beef liver
Buckwheat and mushrooms casserole

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Recipe for DIY Bounty bites aka homemade Mounds candy bars

Some home-made candy bars for a change. If you live in the US, then you'd think of these as Mounds, the candy bar produced by Hershey's. Everywhere else - including UK and Canada - you'd recognise these as Bounty, the candy bar produced by Mars Inc. A dense and sweet coconut centre, enrobed with either dark or milk chocolate.

I used milk chocolate (the American equivalent would be Almond Joy without the almonds :)), and made small cubes instead of the traditional oblong bar shape. I must admit we ate half of the coconut cubes before we even dipped them into chocolate :)

There are links to several homemade Bounty/Mounds recipes at the end of this post - do check these out as well.

DIY Bounty bites aka home-made Mounds candy bars
(Kodune Bounty)
Makes about 3 dozen



Coconut filling:
300 g desiccated unsweetened coconut flakes
300 g sweetened condensed milk
150 g butter, at room temperature

Chocolate glaze:
300 g dark or milk chocolate

I used the mixing bowl of my standing mixer, but you could also simply use your hand muscles to prepare the coconut mixture.

Place the butter and coconut into the mixing bowl and mix thoroughly - about 1-2 minutes. Add the condensed milk and mix for another 2-3 minutes, until thoroughly combined.

Line a small baking sheet/tray/tin with a parchment/baking paper. Transfer the coconut mixture into the tin and press into a block about 2 cm/0.8 inches high. Cover and put into the fridge for about 3 hours or freezer for about 1 hour.

Remove from the fridge/freezer, transfer the coconut block onto a cutting board and cut into 2x2 cm (0.8 x 0.8 inch) cubes. Like this:



Now there are two ways to proceed. First, cover a small tray with parchment paper and put aside.

If you prefer your candy bars at room temperature, then melt and temper your chocolate (here's a good article about tempering the chocolate or see my instructions below), dip each coconut cube into the melted chocolate until coated, then place onto the prepared tray. Cool completely, then keep in a cool place until ready to serve.

If you want to avoid tempering the chocolate - or simply like your sweets cold - then you can simply dip these into melted chocolate to coat, then place onto the prepared tray and put into the freezer. The butter and sweetened condensed milk keep these blocks from freezing completely, so you can always just grab one candy bar and enjoy straight from frozen. (This is how I enjoyed them, but then I also like my brownie bites straight from the freezer).

Why and how to temper the chocolate? The Internet - and food blogs - are full of detailed instructions on how to temper chocolate - and why. The latter is easy - unless you temper the chocolate, the chocolate-glazed candy bars/bites will lack the shine and the snap, both very desirable elements. "How" is trickier and indeed, tempering can be a hit-and-miss. I've followed this simplified seed-technique for tempering. Place about 2/3 of your chopped up chocolate (or, indeed, chocolate pellets - and NOT compound chocolate!) into a heat-proof bowl and place the bowl on top of a small saucepan, where you've brought about 5 cm/2 inches of water into simmer. Let the chocolate melt slowly, stirring as you go along. Remove from the heat, stick a chocolate thermometer into the bowl. Now add the "seed chocolate" or the chocolate you put aside at the beginning in two or three installments and keep stirring the chocolate and cooling it. Once all the added chocolate pellets have melted, you must continue stirring the chocolate, until it registers 28 C on the thermometer - that will probably take about 15-20 minutes of active stirring, so be patient! You can then gently re-heat the chocolate - either over the waterbath, on top of a hot water bottle or by hovering your hair-drier over the chocolate - until it's about 30-31 C (best temperature for working with chocolate). 


Other foodbloggers making these:
Batoniki a la Bounty by Ania @ Strawberries from Poland (recipe in Polish)

Similar recipes:
Nourishing and scrumptious "Mounds" candy bars by Kimi @ The Nourishing Gourmet
Homemade Bounty by Dagmar @ A Cat in the Kitchen
Homemade coconut Bounty candy bars by Christina @ Scientifically Sweet
Mounds candy bars by Elena @ Elena's Pantry
Homemade Bounty bars by Louise @ Lick that Spoon
Homemade Bounty by Eva @ Made by Eva
Easy homemade Bounty bars aka Mounds by Marie @ Not Enough Cinnamon
DIY Bounty barres by Emilie @ Emilie and Lea's Secrets (recipe in French)
Isetehtud Bounty šokolaad by Sandra @ Sentjurin Food Production (recipe in Estonian)
Kookoskommid šokolaadis ehk kodused Bounty'd by Teevi @ Ampsukas (recipe in Estonian)
Kookostrühvlid by Silja @ Jagatud rõõm (recipe in Estonian)

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Beet deviled eggs aka Beetroot devilled eggs for Easter brunch

Beet-pickled eggs have made quite a few appearances here on Nami-Nami. First in April 2007, then again in March 2008, but in a marbled form. The ruby eggs were present on our Easter brunch in 2009, and ruby-red quail eggs were present on our Easter brunch in 2012. Probably in 2010 and 2011 as well, I just forgot to take a photo of them. If you read Estonian, then you saw them in my recipe column in the March 2013 issue of Kodu ja Aed ("Home and Garden") magazine as well:


Photo by Juta Kübarsepp for the March 2013 issue of Kodu ja Aed

Yet it had never occurred to me to make deviled beet eggs until I came across this post on The Kitchn (well, I actually first spotted the recipe on Pinterest, where I promptly pinned this to my Beautiful Beet Recipes board). I had to make them.

Deviled beet eggs/Beet deviled eggs/Ruby eggs/Beetroot devilled eggs

Step 1: Simple beetroot eggs:
free range and/or organic eggs
beetroot juice/beet juice
salt

First you need to hard-boil some eggs. There are several "schools" of boiling eggs, but here's what I do. Place the required number of eggs in a single layer in your saucepan. Pour over boiling water to cover. Set the timer at 8 minutes (I use large eggs, 7 is enough for smaller eggs) and simmer over moderate heat.  Once the timer goes off, rinse the eggs under a cold running water for a few minutes to cool them down.

Note that you don't want  to overcook your eggs, as this results in those unsightly green-blue rings around the egg yolk, caused by sulphur compounds. You can avoid those by not overcooking your eggs in the first place and quickly cooling them down in cold water after cooking. 

When cool enough to handle, peel the eggs carefully. Place in a single layer in a bowl, pour over the beetroot juice, season with a bit of salt. Cover, place into the fridge and leave to marinate for about 3 hours. (Longer, if you want, but I wanted just a thin ruby-red beetroot effect this time).

If you wish, you can serve the eggs just like this, halved - look at that gorgeous yellow yolk! I cut off a thin slice from the base of each egg half - this way they sit neatly on the plate and don't slide all over the place or fall over.


Hey, I still have that chicken!

Step 2: Stuffed beetroot eggs/Deviled beet eggs:

If you want to make devilled beetroot eggs, then halve the eggs and gently scoop out the egg yolks. Make your favourite devilled egg mixture. My regular "Estonian deviled eggs" include some mustard, butter and mayonnaise. However, knowing the affinity of beets and horseradish, I used egg yolks, butter, mayonnaise, some strong horseradish and finely chopped dill for the filling. Worked like a treat!



To be more precise, then that's what I did. Mash the egg yolks and butter (I grate the butter and egg yolks finely, but you can also press them both through a sieve). Stir in the mayonnaise and season with salt and horseradish. Mix in the dill.
Spoon onto the egg halves or use an icing bag with a serrated tip and fill the eggs.

Enjoy! You can make these a few hours in advance, but keep them in the fridge until serving then.

More ruby egg/beetroot egg/beet egg recipes:
Perfect hard-boiled ruby eggs by Alanna @ A Veggie Venture
Beet-pickled deviled eggs by Leela @ The Kitchn
Beetroot-pickled eggs by Allegra McEvedy @ The Guardian
Beet pickled eggs with fennel @ Not Without Salt
Beet pickled deviled eggs by Paula @ Bell'Alimento
Pink deviled eggs by Denise @ Chez Us
Beet deviled eggs by Angie @ Eclectic Recipes
Pickled deviled eggs by Kelly @ Just A Taste
Beet-pickled eggs @ Cookistry

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Beets with cumin seeds and tomatoes

Regular readers of this blog know about my fondness of beetroot. I'd like to think that I have a pretty good selection and variety of beet recipes here on Nami-Nami. You'll find recipes for beetroot cream cheese spread with horseradish, beetroot and blue cheese risotto, Georgian beetroot and walnut salad, Persian beet borani, beet and feta quiche, a wonderful vegan beetroot borscht, beetroot pesto, beet and blue cheese muffins, beetroot pickled eggs, beetroot and goat cheese soup, beet and ginger cake, beet bruschetta, raw beetroot salad, beet and potato pie, a layered beet and smoked salmon salad, dashing coconut and beet soup here on Nami-Nami - and this is just the tip of the iceberg!

Yet I discovered something totally new - and exciting - last weekend. It all began when my dear hubby told me that he had discovered a long-forgotten pile of beets in our garage that also doubles as a very cold larder. And these were not just beets that he unearthed, but some lovely Chioggia, Golden Burpee and small long beets grown by yours truly last summer. They were perfectly crisp and happy, as they had been hiding themselves in a box of sand destined to entertain our five chicken :)




They needed a great recipe. I made actually two great dishes - a beetroot and chocolate cake (using raw, not cooked beets), and then this recipe for an Indian-style beetroot dish that I came across on Delicious Magazine (UK) website. The recipe was by Tom Norrington-Davies, who credits the Indian food guru Madhur Jaffrey for the original recipe. Tom Norrington-Davies writes that he loves making it "for barbecues and serve it with lamb chops or sausages. It is good hot or cold".

A very novel way of using beets, I thought, and made this dish for our leisurely and long afternoon meal on Sunday. I tweaked the recipe - I couldn't see the point of squeezing the hell, sorry, liquid, out of the canned tomatoes, only to replace it with water later, but otherwise I followed Tom's recipe.

Our test group of the day - four adults and three kids - were all happy with the result, and if you're into sweet-and-sour flavour combinations, you'll love it. Just like Tom, I can see serving this with grilled meats during the summer, or as a vegetable side dish during the winter.

If you're a fellow beet lover, you may want to check out the Beautiful Beet Recipes Pinterest board, where you'll find 100+ great pins leading you to some wonderful foodbloggers' recipes. If you'd love to contribute to that board, then just leave your Pinterest handle in the comments and I'll send you an invite!

Beetroot with cumin seeds and tomatoes
(India peedihautis vürtsköömnete ja tomatitega)
Serves 6

400 g canned crushed tomatoes
about 500 g small beets
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 heaped tsp of cumin seeds
1 garlic clove, chopped
2 medium onions, chopped
0.5 tsp dried chilli flakes
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar or juice of 1 small lemon
a generous pinch of sugar

Peel the beets, cut into smaller chunks or wedges, depending on the shape of your beets.

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan, add the cumin seeds, onion and chilli flakes and sauté gently for about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and fry for another few minutes, until the onions are starting to brown a little.
Add the beets, canned tomatoes, vinegar/lemon juice and salt and sugar. Bring the ingredients to a simmer, then cover and cook for 40-60 minutes, until the beets are tender.

Uncover, season to taste. Turn up the heat to thicken the sauce a little, if that seems necessary.

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Gigantes plaki aka Greek giant baked beans

Gigantes plaki (yigandes plaki, γίγαντες πλακί) is a popular Greek taverna dish, consisting of oven-baked fasolia gigante ("giant") beans with tomato sauce. Gigantes are occasionally also called elephant beans (elephantes) - which is the name reserved for extra large giant beans :) The gigantes are native to Greece, and the ones from Kastoria are especially prized, as well as the ones from Florina and Drama regions - all three have the PGI-designation or are recognised by the EU as products of Protected Geographical Indication.

If you're in Estonia, look out for Garrido gigantes (either canned or dried, offered by Kaupmees) or Palirria (large cans, offered by HellenicTrade - these are the ones I've been using). Elsewhere, look for the jumbo beans/elephant beans/gigantes at Greek and Middle Eastern markets.  Amazon.com sells Kastoria giant beans online, and there's also a canned variety available. You can use dried or canned cannellini or lima beans instead, but you'll need to adjust cooking times accordingly.

Serve as part of a mezedes spread, or spoon onto a slice of leavened white bread. I sometimes crumble some decent feta cheese on top at the end of the baking time :P

Giant baked beans, Greek style
A recipe from BBC Good Food (September 2009), slightly modified
Serves 8
 

400 g dried giant or butter beans or 3x400 g canned beans
3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil (Greek, of course)
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbsp concentrated tomato paste/pureé
2x400 g cans crushed tomatoes
1 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp dried oregano
couple of pinches of ground cinnamon
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

To garnish:
2 Tbsp finely chopped flat-leaf/Italian parsley

If using dried beans: soak the beans overnight in plenty of water. Drain, rinse, drain again. Place in a large pan covered with fresh water. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat, then simmer gently for 50-60 minutes, until the beans are tender but not too soft. Drain.

If using canned beans: tip the beans onto a large colander, rinse with cold water. Drain and put aside.

Heat the oven to 180C/350F.

Make the sauce: heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over moderately low heat. Add the onion and fry for about 7-8 minutes. Add the garlic and fry for another 2-3 minutes, until the onion is translucent.

Add the tomato puree, sauté for a minute. Add the rest of the ingredients (except the beans) and cook for 2-3 minutes. Season generously with honey, oregano, salt and pepper, then tip in the drained cooked beans.

Transfer the mixture into a large ovenproof dish - I love using my lasagne pan - and bake for approximately one hour. Don't cover and don't stir! The dish is ready when the tomato sauce has thickened and the beans are soft and flavoursome.

Remove from the oven, cool a little. Scatter the parsley on top and drizzle with some extra olive oil.



Similar recipes:
Gigantes sto Fourno @ Kalofagas
Greek style baked beans @ Souvlaki for the Soul
Gigantes in savory tomato sauce @ Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska
Twice-cooked gigante beans with garlic and feta @ Kalyn's Kitchen
Gigantes plaki (Greek baked beans) @ Closet Cooking
Gigantes plaki: Greek baked beans @ Choosy Beggars
Gigandes plaki by Simon Rimmer
Fasolia Gigantes Plaki: Big Greek Beans baked in a Bodacious Red Sauce @ Sortachef: One Hot Cat in a Woodfired Kitchen
Gigantes plaki @ Jono & Jules do Food & Wine
Gigantes plaki @ Life is Like a Dumpling
Greek baked beans (Gigantes plaki) @ the taste space – steam, bake, boil, shake!
Greek baked beans @ Eats Well with Others

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The 3-ingredient cookie

An excellent version with oats, bananas, dried cranberries and grated orange zest.

Have you heard about those three-ingredient cookies consisting of nothing but bananas, oats and an optional fill-in (chocolate, raisins or nuts, for instance)? No added sugar. No added fat. Suitable for vegans and all those on lactose-free, casein-free, gluten-free*, egg-free, dairy-free diets. Take 2 minutes of prep work and need about 15 minutes in the oven. That's less than it takes to unpack your regular grocery bags, so they're super-quick as well.

* You need to make sure you use certified gluten-free oats, also called 'pure oats'. 


I came across the recipe in The Burlap Bag. As the author Lauren notes, even if you eat all of those, you've basically consumed 2 bananas and a cup of oats, so this qualifies as health food in my opinion. They are soft and slightly chewy. They're not the best-oat-cookies-in-the-world (these are!), but they're pretty moreish and satisfying. Flavour- and texture-wise, these remind me of those soft apple and oat drops I've been making, just much quicker and simpler.

My two older kids love them (Karoliine, our youngest, is still to young to have any solids), and the grown-ups are pretty fond of them, too:

 

So here's the recipe. Again, a huge thank you goes out to The Burlap Bag for this great 'cookie' idea. Come autumn, I'll try their Autumn 2-ingredient Cookie, using pure pumpkin pureé.

Use really ripe bananas for making these - the riper your bananas, the sweeter the cookies.

3-ingredient oat cookies
(Kaerahelbeküpsised)
Makes about 16 bite-sized morsels

2 ripe medium-sized bananas
200 ml (4/5 of a cup) of quick-cooking oats
a handful of either raisins or dried cranberries (craisins) or chopped dark chocolate or chopped walnuts

Pre-heat the oven to 170 C/350 F. Line a cooking sheet with a parchment paper or simply grease your cookie sheet thoroughly.

Peel the bananas, place into a bowl and smash with a fork. Add the oats and the add-in (I love the tiny seedless currant raisins):

 

 Mix till combined. Take about a teaspoonful of the mixture at the time, form into a ball and transfer onto your cookie sheet.

 

Bake for about 15-20 minutes, until golden brown. Cool slightly and enjoy!

Other foodbloggers making these:
Anne @ Anne's Food (9 March 2013, in English)
Martiina @ Tegemisi. Toimetusi (4 March 2013, in Estonian)
Gaili @ Tsheburashka (3 March 2013, in Estonian)
Kätrin @ Kätrin kokkab (13 March 2013, in Estonian)
Karen @ Kafka na praia (2 April 2013, in Brazilian Portuguese)

More moreish oatcake recipes:
My melt-in-your-mouth oat cookies
Cheesy oatcakes
Peppery oatcakes
Oatcakes with ginger
Apple and oat drops

Two years ago: Estonian Soda Bread Recipe
Four years ago: Raisin Fruit Soup Recipe (Kissel)

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