Punajuurikeittoa

Yhteishyvän resepti oli taas aika hyvä. Korvasin kyllä fetajuuston Aura-juustolla. Jopa mies, joka yleensä ei välitä mun kasvispöperöistä, kehui keittoa. Lapsi taas ei oikein tykännyt, vaikka sai pinkkiä keittoa!

Bagels

We got hooked on Great British Bakeoff - and on the second episode they had to make bagels. I've never done them before, but decided now is the time to learn. And I have to say they were pretty good, just to right chewy consistency and good taste. But a bit troublesome, you have do a lot of kneading and rising. The recipes used in the show were a bit easier (they only had 4 hours or so), but I was using a very thorough recipe from a bread book I got from the fleamarket. 

I was a bit worried about the process of actually baking them, but it turned out quite easy. First you make round balls of dough, and then just stick your finger through and try and form a nice donut shape. 

Then you put each bagel in boiling water for about 30 seconds, to cook the outside and stop the rising process. And supposedly it helps to create the right kind of surface. Then you did them in poppy seeds (or the topping of your choice).

And then you stick them in the oven. Now, you should use egg wash to create the shine, but as we can't use it, we have to settle for this ugly non-shiny surface. But like I said, the taste was good!

Leipää! Bread!

I love bread. I also love making it, and I'm determined to learn how to bake really good bread. Sometime ago I bought this Ballymaloe Bread book, 'cause I wanted to learn how to make brown bread. The book gives some good recipes for brown bread, but I've always modified them a bit. And anyway the bread just won't taste the same if you bake it from Finnish flour. 

But anyway, yesterday I wanted to try something else, and ended up making this walnut-raisin bread. This book (and other foreign books, i.e. not Finnish) tells you to mix the dry yeast with the water and let it stand for 5 minutes, to activate the yeast. All the Finnish recipes always tell you to mix the east in with the flour. Anyway, this is what the yeast looks like after 5 minutes. 

And then kneading the dough starts. Even though I had a keen helper, it was hard work! I think I didn't put enough of water, as the dough was really tough and dry. 

The recipe included walnuts and raisins (which I substituted with cranberries). They were only added towards the end of the kneading, which was a bit difficult, as they kept falling from the dough. Again a bit more water might have prevented this. 

And this is what it looked liked when it was done! The texture was okay, and the walnuts worked really well in the bread. And it tasted freat!

Spinach and mackarel for dinner

Instead of going to the shop I decided to make dinner from whatever was available, starting with the smoked mackarel. Found this recipe, which turned out splendidly!

First you put the spinach mixture (I used frozen spinach) and the smoked mackarel on top (and I prefer the whole smoked, not the filets). 

Then you make a whole in the middle, and fill it with the egg. And then put the creme fraiche and cream cheese mixture on top and pop it in the oven. 

Scrumptous!

I've admired a local restaurant, who serve eggs (poached in their special cooker where you can adjust the temperature very very accurately) so that the yolk is nearly hardboiled but the white is still a bit loose. Well here I managed it myself!

Roast chicken

I've been pondering about getting an organic chicken and tasting it, just to check if they are any better than the normal ones (as I don't like the normal ones - they are not as good as chicken in my childhood). Plus of course the ethical side. So here it is, the chicken!

And this is what it looked like when we started...

Lemon and herbs (thyme and rosemary) in the cavity...

Bit of oil on the skin and in it goes.

Half way through you add the potatos and garlic. And then just before it's ready, you add the tomatoes. 

Then you set the table and enjoy!

With some pear and blue cheese salad... 

and side vegetables. Perfect comfort food. Let the autumn begin!

Little red riding hood

Just a quick project to get rid of some leftover yarn. Very old Novita Nalle and Novita Polku from last year. Two rows of red and 4 rows of the other one. 

Cast on 120s and knit 3x3 rib for 3cm. Then switch to stockinette stitch, yarn 2 and add 10 s. Knit 4 rows with yarn 2 and 2 rows with yarn 1. Repeat until the hat measures about 30 cm. Then start reducing - details to be added later...

Lempiruoka

Eilen sain kokata lounaksi omaa lempiruokaani - eli kasviswokkia. Tätä söisin joka päivä, jos elelisin yksin.

Kasviswok

Valikoima vihanneksia (parsakaalia, porkkanaa, kesäkurpitsaa. paprikaa)

Sipulia

Valkosipulia

Inkivääriä

(kokojyvänuudelia - jollet karppaa)

Paistamiseen wok-öljyä

Kuullota ensin sipulia öljyssä, lisää sitten kasvikset ja wokpannun pohjalle vähän vettä. Paista 10-15 minuuttia ja lisää tarvittaessa vettä. Lisää pilkottu inkivääri ja valkosipuli. Laita nuudelit kuumaan veteen 3 minuutiksi, lisää ne sitten wokkiin ja paista vähän aikaa. Tarjoile chilikastikkeen kera. 

Viiniä en joisi joka päivä, mutta lauantai-lounaalle se sopii oikein hyvin. Kuvassa näkyy myös kuivuneet hortensian kukat, jotka edelleen näyttävät todella hienoilta!