Rutabaga casserole - Lanttulaatikko

Christmas is just around the corner. So are the Christmas preparations. in Finland one of the traditional Christmas foods are different kinds of casseroles. 

Rutabaga casserole or lanttulaatikko, as we call it (lanttu=rutabaga, laatikko=casserole or box), is one of them and it is one of my all time favourites.  It tastes good on its own but even better with Christmas ham. This casserole takes a bit time to prepare but it is not difficult at all. Just try it. 

This recipe is my mother's and it is one of my favourite Christmas recipes even though it is not the most traditional one. I would say it is even better! Without this there really isn't a Christmas at all. 

I usually prepare this in the beginning of the December since it can be frozen. This way Christmas preparations are easier to handle and not make you dead tired. You even enjoy Christmas more if you aren't exhausted. Christmas should be joyful and not something you are forced to do. 

In this casserole you can clearly taste rutabaga and dark syrup. This is also one of the few recipes my family uses white pepper. Non of us truly enjoys that spice but in this, it is absolutely perfect addition.

3 kg of washed, peeled and cut rutabagas

enough water to cover the rutabagas in large pot

salt

about 3-4 g white pepper

about 400 grams dark syrup

(salt according to taste)

(some boiling water)

1. Wash, peel and slice the rutabagas.
2. Boil the rutabaga pieces in well salted water as long as the pieces become soft. Reserve part of the boiling water in case you need it later for the rutabaga mash.
3. Mash the cooked rutabagas with a potato pestel.
4. Add dark syrup and white pepper to the hot rutabaga mash. Don't add all at once since rutabagas taste a bit different each year and in some years you need to youse more syrup and some years less. Same with the white pepper. The amount are referential. Trust your taste since after all, you are eating it. Add some boiling liquid if the mash is too thick. It shouldn't be runny but not too thick either.
5. Butter the casserole tins and pour in the spiced rutabaga mash. If you wish you can make some pattern on the surface by using a spoon. Add a few smallish pieces of butter on the top. Bake about 3-4 hours in 125 Celsius degrees.

If you want to freeze the casseroles bake only about 3 hours since otherwise casserole dries too much .
Syrup will change the casserole darker each time you bake it since it caramellisizes.
I hope you enjoy the recipe!

If you are searching for a completely traditional version you prefer this one:

1 kg rutabaga
2 dl heavy cream
2 eggs

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground ginger

¼ tsp allspice

¼ tsp ground nutmeg

¾ dl dark syrup

1. Wash, peel and slice the rutabagas.
2. Boil the rutabaga pieces in well salted water as long as the pieces become soft. Reserve part of the boiling water in case you need it later for the rutabaga mash.
3. Mash the cooked rutabagas with a potato pestel.
4. Mix all the ingredients, add some more if needed.
5. Grease the casserole with butter, add the mix and level. 
6. Add some butter pieces and breadcrumbs on the top.
7. Bake in 175 Celsius degrees for about 2 hours. 

Hello world!

The blog has been silent for way too long time. Sorry about that. I did start this with such enthusiasm and excitement. But I ended up having too little time in the end.  

Well, what has happened that I was able to return to this blog? That's kind of a long story but I'll make it short. 

To make returning to this blog possible, I decided to make a few changes so that it is more possible for me to do that. I am now constantly reorganizing my life so that I'll have a small piece of my own time for the things I like to do. I am carer for two of my three special needs children and that takes quite a bit of my time. Other thing is that I will  (at least for now) provide the ingredients only in metric system. That way I don't have to keep worrying did I make the changes correctly or not. That took a lot of energy since I have dyslexia and numbers can be nightmare. 

Anyway, I'll start adding new recipes soon and I keep adding new content every now and then. Drop by when it suits your day and maybe you'll find something you like to try. 

In the future I'll also write more about gardening and our yard/garden projects that I think might be interesting to others as well.

Love, 

Lady A

Finnish Rye Bun Meets Mediterranean Flavors

I hate to throw away perfectly good ingredients. I hate wasting in all forms. Nowadays people waste a lot - we did (and probably still do) too even though we try to live in a ecological way.

I hate to see when people don't use all the parts of the animals or waste perfectly good food simply because they don't want to eat the same food for the next two or three days. Ingredients needs to be respected and treated with love and care.

In the last few weeks we have started to use banana peels and potato peels. So far all the potato peels have been used but I must admit that I had to throw away about 5 banana peels since I simply did not have time to prepare anything out of them. But I am getting better in this and maybe in the future I will create a banana peel recipe that is easier and healthier to use than cakes and biscuits I have created so far.

So after having all these thoughts I created a rye bread recipe with Mediterranean tastes and here comes the twist.... Potato peels. Oven baked, spiced potato peels. Delicious just like that but in the bread dough they are magnificent.  You simply have to try this!

For potato peels:
400 grams (14.110oz)  potato peels
50 grams (1.7637oz)olive oil
1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp parsley
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp basil
2 tsp oregano
4-5 garlic gloves
salt

(black pepper)

1. Let's prepare those potato peels first. wash and dry the potato peels with a towel.
2. Mix oil and spices on the bowl. Add potato peels and mix well.
3. Bake in 200 grams at a time in 225 °C  (440°F) for about 10-12 minutes or so.

For the bread dough:
300 grams (10.582oz) sourdough starter
All of the baked potato peels 
600 (1.3228 lb) grams water
900-1000 grams (1.9842 lb - 2.2046 lb) rye flour
salt

1. Mix the sourdough starter, oven baked potato peels and salt.
2. Add the flour and knead.
3. Take small pieces of the dough  (appr. 100 grams/ 3.5274 oz) in your hands and make it a ball and then flatten it. Do it as long as you have used all  the dough.
4. Let the buns leaven in a warm place (I have done this many times in the oven which I heated as little as possible. That way the buns leaven faster)
5. When ready, bake in the 225 °C  (440°F)  for about 30 minutes or so.

Cinnamon Spelt Cookies

I made these cookies in December when I wanted to have s scent of cinnamon in the house. The yard did not have white snow on it but there was some frost on rocks and moss. The air was nippy and your cheeks would become wonderfully red after a walk in the silent forest. walking in the forest is one my favorite things to do. It is just you and the wind and the trees - you can really relax and hear your own thoughts. It's magical.

These cookies ended up being loved by the whole family and what's best they were really simply and quick to make and the scent of cinnamon prepared the  Christmas spirit.

250  (8.8185 oz) grams butter
200  (0.44092 lb) grams sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla sugar
2-3 tsp baking powder
350  (0.77162 lb)  grams Spelt flour

sugar and cinnamon for covering the cookies

1. Mix soft butter and sugar to tunr it into a soft foam.
2. Add the eggs
3. Mix the dry ingredients and and add them to the butter/sugar mix.
4. make about 30 round balls in your hands.
5. Put some cinnamon-sugar mix in to a small bowl and put the balls in it one by one and cover them with the sugar-cinnamon mix. Put the cookies on the papered baking tray.
6. Put the cookies into fridge for about 20 minutes and bake them in  the center of the oven for about 12-14 minutes in 200 °C (400°F).

Rye Bread with Lingonberry Jam

It is no longer autumn in Finland. Two days a go we got white fluffy flakes which covered the land and turned the whole world white. However, I know, it won't last yet. It will melt away here in southern Finland. Now we just need to wait and see will we get a white Christmas. Hopefully we do. In a mean while we can enjoy these colorful autumn photos of lingonberry bread.

Lingonberries and rye are one of those match made in heaven ingredients. this one of the variations I have made since no one (not even Finns) want to eat same bread day after day. Still healthy, especially if you make your own lingonberry jam since then you can control how much sugar you add in to it and you can even choose to use better sugar option than the common white sugar.

Lingonberries grow even in our yard. They are wonderful addition to many dishes like smashed potatoes and (now close your eyes, if you believe in Santa) sautéed reindeer but also equally delicious with liver casserole which is one of my favourite ones. Lingonberries are smashed and  spiced with sugar when used with these dishes. if you ever have a change to try them - go for it! They are delicious!

I remember that my grandmother who lived in Rovaniemi, always made sautéed reindeer (poronkäristys) when we visited there. She served it often with boiled potatoes and that version was great too but I simply love smashed potatoes with milk, butter and little sugar so you can guess which option I like the best. And I must say that my mom makes the greatest smashed potatoes I have ever eaten. Well, enough about the lingonberries and other dishes. Back to the lingonberry bread.

The recipe goes like this:

350-400 grams (12.346-14.110 oz) sourdough starter
300 grams (10.582 oz)  lingonberry jam
500 grams (1.1023 lb) water
1200 grams (2.6455 lb)  ryeflour

1. Mix the strater, water and salt.
2. Add lingonberry jam. Mix well.
3. Add rye flour.
4.Knead on the baking board, add flours when needed.
5. Bake into two breads
6. Leaven them under a baking cloth for about 6-8 hours or so. Even over night works weel at my house.
7. Then bake them in the 250 °C (480°F) for about 15 minutes and then lower the temperature to 200 °C (400°F) and bake them 60 to 75 minutes more or until they are done.

Finnish Sourdough Rye Bread with Malted Rye Flour

 My family wanted to have a different sort of rye bread after a while. I had these malted rye flours in my pantry and I decided to add some of them into the dough in order to get a little richer and slighter sweeter taste. It completely changes the taste of the sourdough rye bread.

I like malted flours. You can do so many things with them and special Easter time treat called mämmi is made by using malted rye flours. It is delicious even though it does look like something you can find in baby's diapers. Still, if you ever have a chance to taste mämmi I say go for it! It's really worth it.

This bread was so good that my family ate half of the bread I had baked before I could take the photos. I had other two  breads too but I had already frozen them so  I was left with this little piece to deal with. Luckily  there was still something left so that I did not need to shoot just  the crumbs.  :)


550-600 grams (1.2125 - 1.3228 lb) sourdough starter
appr.  1100 grams (2.4251 lb) water
1100-1200 grams (2.4251 - 2.6455 lb)  rye flour
800 grams (1.7637 lb) malt flour (I used malted rye flour)
salt

1. Mix the sourdough started, lukewarm water, salt and malted flours. Mix.
2. Add almost all of the rye flour and start kneading. Add more flours if needed. Bake 3 breads.
3. Let the bread leaven in a warm place, under a baking towel for about 6-9 hours (depends on the room temperature)
4. Then bake them in the 250 °C (480°F) for about 15 minutes and then lower the temperature to 200 °C (400°F) and bake them 60 to 75 minutes more.

Quick and Easy Apple Pie

At first it seemed that we would have totally appleless autumn. How wrong we were! Now I have received  several big boxes of apples from my dad and from my mother-in-law. I am very grateful of all the apples but right now I wish I would have no apples left - there are still so many apples to dry in the veggie dryer and there are still so many apples to turn into a jam. And since making jam and drying starts to be a bit boring I decided to make a really quick apple pie.

My pie tin was 25 cm (appr. 9-10 inch)
I measured most of the ingredients in small glass and used that during the whole recipe where I needed the glass.

A glass of eggs (I used four eggs)
A glass of sugar
A glass of all purpose flour
1-2 tsp of baking powder
(100 grams (3.5274 oz) chopped almonds)
appr. 100 grams (3.5274 oz) melted butter


1. Whisk the eggs and the sugar into foam.
2. Add the melted butter (make sure it's not hot) and mix lightly.
3. Mix the all purpose flour and baking powder and add them into the pie batter. (Add the chopped almonds) Mix just as much as you need to get it mixed - no more.
4. Pour the batter into a well greased pie tin.
5. Add the apple jam/pieces on the the pie so that all the pie is covered with them. They will fall on the bottom but that is what it is supposed to do.
6. Bake in the 180 °C (360°F) for about 30-40 minutes (or longer if the apples are really moist or if you want to use more apples in a pie.)  Keep checking the pie.

If you want you can drop the almonds from the recipe. I sometimes use them and sometimes not.

Apple jam I had made earlier today. You can also use store bought jam. My apple jam for pies has big pieces of apples and I spiced the jam with cinnamon and some sugar. I used about 450-500 (1-1.1023 lb) grams of this in my apple pie.

I  used about 1200 grams (2.4251 lb) chopped apples and added appr. 100 grams (3.5274 oz)  sugar, about 100 grams (3.5274 oz) water and 4 tsp cinnamon and let it simmer on the stove as along as it takes for apples to soften and break a little. That depends on the apple variety. So this is not really a jam after all, Maybe it should be called soft and spiced apple pieces. It's good though and not too sweet.

This works well with most jams or fruit pieces. use what ever you have in your kitchen.

Even better this pie is if you serve it with vanilla sauce or ice cream. Nothing beats the classic I guess. Enjoy!

Nutty Raisin Bread

This bread recipe is perfect for our already nutty day! :D

The life here has been more than hectic. I have missed writing my blog and recipes. Now it seems that things calm down a little and maybe I am able to post recipes more often.

This bread was so wonderful to make. After such a long time I was able to do something else than just basic bread. Basic is good too but it becomes boring after a while and you would like to add something extra in it. This time it was nuts and raisins. Breads and nuts go so well together!  Add some raisins or other dried fruits with them - it's well made match in heaven!

This is what I made this time. It was rather large dough since I had lots of sourdough starter which needed to be used. It's good idea to either down size the recipe or maybe you can freeze some of the bread so you will save some time on the following days.

600 grams (1.9842 lb) sourdough starter
1000 grams (2.2046 lb) water
150 grams (5.2911 oz) hazelnuts
250 grams (8.8185 oz)  raisins
3-4 tsp salt (or what ever you prefer)
1800-2000 (3.9683 - 4.4092 lb) grams all-purpose flours
appr. 100 grams (1.7637- 3.5274 oz)  olive oil


1. Add lukewarm water to the sourdough starter.
2. Add chopped nuts and raisins to the dough and let them soak for about 30 minutes so that the raisins get softer.
3. Add some flours and salt. Then almost all the flours
4. Keep kneading and adding flours if needed.
5. Add the olive oil
6. Knead some more (add flours if necessary) and let rest about 30 minutes before kneading a bit more and shaping into breads.
7. Cut the bread in a preferred way and let them rise under a baking cloth about 6 to 8 hours depending on the room temperature.
8. Bake in the 200°C (400°F) for about an hour or so. Knock the bottom of the bread and if you hear the nice "drumming" sounds it's well baked.

Enjoy the days nutty recipe!

The Last Gifts of the Garden

The autumn came fast once the summer started to fade away. The trees are starting to have lots of yellow leaves and this week is supposed to be the last warm week when the temperature hits 20 Celsius degrees. The air is wonderfully fresh and the early mornings are starting to be a little nippy.

The last week I have been very busy with  harvesting and even though the carrots and potatoes are still on the ground I was very busy with the pumpkins and courgettes. Today I picked up the very last ones. Still left the plants be since some autumns the weather warms just enough so that we will get one or two pumpkins more. Not huge ones but still food from our own garden. When the frost bites the plants for the first time I do the rest of the garden work. Then I will be sure that there is no more harvest to get.

Last week we got apples from my husband's  parents. This week I have been slicing and drying those apples for the winter. We use them mostly on homemade  muesli but they are also great for the kids to eat instead of candies. More healthier too! And now that  I am writing this our house is filled with a wonderful scent of apples drying. Most fruits and herbs do give that wonderful scent while drying. Makes you love the autumn.

Needless to say that baking has been very limited. I have only made the daily bread and that's it. No cookies or cakes since harvesting and my little one has taken all my time. But we have had much fun too and some unforgettable moments - like when he said mother (äiti) for the very first time. :)

Next week will be different too since then my husband will go back to work after his wonderfully long summer holiday. This was great time in many ways - mostly because this was a fist time in a long time that he was able to have this long summer vacation.

In a way it's a little sad that he has to go back to work. I know that the children will be sad too - it has been nice to have dad around this much and after the vacation it's back to more or less insane working hours. But this is how life is and we need to get by with the things that are our life. We all do our share.

In the following weeks I still need to dig up the potatoes, carrots, pick up the rest of the beans (I saw small ones hanging in the bushes) and I might dry some more herbs since those little treasures have already grown up again. Last gifts of the garden before the autumn really arrives.

Rough week

This week has been extremely busy one and the last couple of months have been like that.

I am a mother of two special needs children and our third one just started the speech therapy. Also my husband's father has been on and off hospital the whole summer and right now my husband is there to see him. Things look really serious at the moment. We are very worried about him.

This week has been filled with one of my children's school things and plans for this autumn's SI-therapy. The support system at school needs to be planned with the teachers and SI-therapist so that my son's days will get easier. Things seem to start rolling nicely now but there are still tons of things to do before it's all planned and scheduled.

And since there simply isn't enough in these things we are about to start a roof renovation and that will last a few weeks. That simply has to get done before the roof starts to leak and things get even worse. I can only imagine how much noise that will make and how difficult it will be with the child/children who are very sensitive to such noises. The daily routines became even more important.

I have been extremely happy about a certain organic store which has home delivery. That makes our week so much more easier since all those hours of  running around the stores are mostly  saved for something else which is simply great. I started ordering from there during the summer and now I think we could not live without it. It truly is a life saver. Last order looked  so delicious! I am also extremely happy that the beetroots had the root part too and not cut away like they do in the supermarkets and such. I just made a new order and it will arrive next week since weekend deliveries aren't available. But I knew that and planned accordingly. :)

Life is a bit rough at the moment but it will pass eventually. It always does. You just need to remember to smile. :)

Forest biscuit - Mettäkakko

Forest biscuits are something that people who lived in northern Finland used to take with them when they
went to work in the forest. Just by looking at the recipe you can tell it's old one since nowadays no one uses that much butter and sugar since it is considered unhealthy. Mettäkakko sure was a calorie rich eating! And it needed to be since the work at the forest was hard and lots of calories were needed. This was also easy thng to take with you and it preserved  for a long time. Sometimes it was made by using sour milk or mix of cream and milk (half and half). I made these by using milk.

These cookies are sort of mix between Finnish pulla and biscuit. It's crunchy like biscuit from the outside and inside it's beautifully mellow and when the first bite melts in your mouth you simply got to have another one. Surprisingly the biscuit is not overly sweet. I would have thought that with this much sugar in it it would be disgustingly sweet but it's not. And that's a good thing. Store them in an air tight container.

People used to bake a big batch of these and the dough was not divided in order to make a smaller portion so I made a big portion too just for the old times' sake. :)

1 kg ( 2.205 lb) milk
500 grams (1.102 lb) butter
1 kg ( 2.205 lb) sugar
2 kg (4.409 lb) all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder

1. Heat the milk and melt the butter and sugar in it. Don't let it boil. Mix the flour with baking soda and baking powder. After the it has cooled a little add the flour mix and knead it into the liquid.
2. Let the dough cool in the fridge over night and bake in the morning.
3. Roll out the piece of dough and roll it into 0.5 cm (0.2 inch) thick sheet and take pieces by using a drinking glass as a cookie cutter.
4. Put them on a papered baking tray and bake in 225°C (450°F) for about 10 minutes or until they get a tiny bit color.

Traditionally these are made without sugar or almond toppings but I wanted to try out those too - just for a change. :)  Either way they are nice.

Please, forgive me

First of all let me say that I am terribly sorry and I hope my mistake has not destroyed any ones baking. Please, forgive me.

Last night I discovered something extremely terrible and have been trying to sort it out somehow today.

I have a cup measurement set. So I started to bake and  I added flour according to one of my converted recipes and it was all wrong! But when I checked it from the source I used for conversions for the blog it was right. The problems is that my cup set says that 200 grams of wheat flour is about 1 cup and different conversions sites say it's something like 110-150 grams!!!! If the variation is that huge the recipe cannot simply work!!!

I mostly bake by using weight measurements since I think it's the only way to get really accurate results so I have been thinking about changing those darn cups into ounces and pounds. Does that sound good? Let me know and I'll fix the problem during this week. And again - please accept my sincerest apologies. I am so sorry.

Courgette pies

 Courgettes are great but when you are starting to drown into them the situation becomes desperate. There is a fine line between having enough of them and having way too much of them. Currently we are dealing with the last option so I needed to dig up my old and trustworthy courgette recipe I came up with several years ago during a really courgette filled summer.

I usually make 12 small ones and one larger one (appr. 20cm / 8 inch)

My children simply love this pie and they are not big fans of courgettes so it's good that there is at least one (real food, chocolate cakes are not counted as real food even though chocolate is almost like real food but don't let my children know what I just said...) recipe that they think is actually delicious. I am happy about that too!

I guess I need to prepare this recipe a few times more this year before we run out of all the courgettes in the vegetable garden. But it is just good that you get food from your own garden. Cheaper and healthier. :)


Filling:
1 kg (2.205 lb) courgettes
500 grams (1.102 lb)  red bell peppers
130 grams (4.586 oz) leeks
appr. 3 tbsp dried dill (fresh goes well too)
3 eggs
black pepper
salt
appr. 200 grams (7.055 oz) feta cheese

Goat cheese (or some other cheese) for grating on the top of the pie.

The crust:
460 grams (1.014 lb) barley flour
200  grams (7.055 oz) water
1/2 tsp salt
olive oil


1. Mix the barley flour, cold water and salt. Mix well. Add the oil. Add as much as you need to get all the still dry flours into the mix. If it gets too wet add a bit more flour. This dough is usually always made by how it feels and looks like. The measurements are not exact - especially the water.

2. Wash, trim and chop the courgettes. Put them on the hot pan with olive oil. Season with salt, peppers and dill. Let them simmer there until they become quite soft and they change color. Don't let them burn though.

3. Wash, trip and chop the bell peppers and leeks.

4. Mix the courgettes, bell peppers and leaks in a bowl. Add black pepper and salt. Add the crumbled feta cheese.

5. Butter the muffin holes/pie pan and spread the dough quite thinly onto the *muffin pan* / pie pan by using your hands. This dough is pretty difficult to roll but if you want to you can put it between two baking sheets and roll. I just find it easier to do with my hands. Once the dough is ready spread the filling on  and grade some goat cheese on the top.

6. Bake in 200 °C (400 °F) for about 25 minutes when using muffin tray and about 45 if making a bigger pie.

I usually use onions and not leeks but I had leeks and needed to use them. If you want you can substitute the leeks with onions - just add a bit more of those and fry them with courgettes until they are transparent. Onions make a filling a bit more sweeter.

Finnish Blueberry Rooster - Mustikkakukko - Rättänä

 Mustikkakukko (Mustikka=blueberry, kukko=rooster) is a traditional Finnish dessert from the Savo region.  It is also called Rättänä which is totally impossible to translate! It's very simply and only a few ingredients are needed. In other words: a perfect dessert for busy people. What's great about it is that no wheat is needed either. The almost only "bad" thing for you in it is the sugar...well OK maybe a bit much butter too...  I know that some people make it without the sugar and they use 50 grams less butter so if you want a version with a little less calories, feel free to cut down the butter.  I could see it working like that too. But I still added the sugar and the whole amount of butter! :D Serve this fresh from the oven with whipped cream, ice cream or vanilla sauce or eat it just like that. Delicious in every way!

For the crust:

250 grams (8.819 oz) butter

140 grams  (4.938 oz) sugar

300 grams ( 10.582 oz) rye flour

1 tsp baking powder

For the filling:

250 grams (8.819 oz) frozen or fresh blueberries

80 grams (2.822 oz) sugar

(2-3 tbsp potato flour)

1. Melt the butter.
2. Mix the flour sugar and baking powder and add the little cooled butter with them. Mix well.
3. Take 8 ramekins, butter them lightly and cover the bottom and the sides of the ramekins with the dough. Don't add too thickly.
4. Mix the blueberries and sugar. If using frozen blueberries add 2-3 tablespoons of potato flour and mix. Add the blueberry mix on to ramekins.
5. Sprinkle the rest of the dough on top of the little "roosters". (I added a tiny piece of butter on top of each one before I put them in the oven.)
6. Bake in 200°C (400°F) for about 25-30 minutes. Or if you make one large one appr. 22 cm (9-10 inch) diameter then you need to bake it about 45-60 minutes or so.

Rhubarb Strawberry Pie

Rhubarb is probably the first plant in the garden you can see in the spring. It comes up from the ground with spring flowers and I think it looks like a flower when it's small. People tend to use these a lot in spring time but seems that most people forget that rhubarbs grow all summer!

In Finland people make pies, kissel, juice and lots of other things out of rhubarb - but maybe kissel and pies are the most common ones. There are lots of variations of rhubarb pies.

Rhubarbs are wonderfully sweet and sour. When you add strawberries with them the whole experience changes more sweeter. I especially love the rhubarbs which are beautifully red. I could swear they even taste better! I have that sort of rhubarb growing in my garden. I took the plant from my childhood home before it was sold about  5 years ago. It's a nice memory of childhood's care free days when we used the big rhubarb leaves as hats.

The rhubarbs in our yard are big and they grow really well but even though we have them quite much, I am still planing to plant more of them next summer. There are just so many things you can do with rhubarb. This pie and rhubarb rice porridge are my two favourite ones.

Soon the rhubarb season will be over. The autumn is coming eventually but a few more weeks we will still have summer.  After that it's  time to enjoy all those frozen rhubarbs I have in my freezer - the little memories of the summer past.

The pie batter:  (Pan size 30cm x 20 cm / 12 inch x 8 inch)

4 eggs
190 grams (6.702 oz) sugar
400 grams (14.110 oz) all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
2-3 tsp vanilla extract  ( *This is my favourite one* )
200 grams (7.055 oz) water 
200 grams (7.055 oz) melted butter

1. Whisk the eggs and sugar
2. Add the vanilla extract
3. Mix the baking powder and flour together
4. Add water and flour mix into the batter. Mix gently.
5 Add cooled, melted butter and mix again gently.


For the topping /crumble

200 grams (7.055 oz)  frozen or fresh strawberries chopped
250 grams (8.819 oz) chopped rhubarbs

130 grams (4.586 oz) all purpose flour
90 grams (3.175 oz) sugar 
4 tsp vanilla sugar
70 grams (2.469 oz) butter

1.Mix the flour, butter, vanilla sugar and sugar with your hands.

Pour the pie batter into papered baking pan. Add the rhubarb and strawberry pieces on it and finally add the crumble on top of them. Bake in 200 °C (400°F) about 30-40 minutes or longer if needed.  Test with a toothpick.

This is wonderfully moist pie if you don't over bake it. And with this pie it's very fine line between over baked and just wonderfully baked so keep your eyes on the pie!

Kale Pie with Feta Cheese

Kale is great! Sad thing is that I just recently really discovered it. How many years I have wasted for not eating this treat! Kale is similar to spinach in many ways. The taste is rather similar and so is the use. Kale is very rich in vitamins and iron too so it's also really good for you!

I actually planned that next summer I really need to plant lots of kale. This pie alone is so delicious that I simply cannot let my garden be without this green treat from heaven!

Growing your own food is much fun in many different ways. You get to spent lots of hours in the fresh air, you save money when you don't need to buy so much food and probably the best thing is that once you grow your own veggies you really know what you are eating! My choice is organic.

This pie is similar to the spinach pie I make. And if you don't have access to kale you can easily substitute it with spinach.

This time I made the crust with using all purpose flour only as little as possible and used mostly whole grain spelt flour. It was good but a little heavier crust.


600 grams (1.323 lb) kale
2 large onions
5-6 eggs 
3-4 garlic gloves
400 grams (14.110 oz) milk
150-200 grams (5.291 - 7.055 oz) feta cheese
60 grams (2.116 oz) almonds
salt
black pepper

THE PIE CRUST: (appr. 40cm x 40 cm / 15,7 inch x 15.7 inch pan)

490 grams (1.080 lb) all purpose flour (or a mix of different flours) 
250 grams (8.819 oz)  butter
1 tsp salt
little water if needed

1. Chop the kale and onions. Fry them gently on a pan so that they soften. After they have cooled a little mix them with the milk eggs, finely chopped garlic, salt and spices. If you want you can use hand held food processor to get really fine mix  or if you prefer the bite size pieces of kale don't use it. Either way it's good.

2. Spread either ready made dough or home made on a baking pan. Pour the kale mix on the top, sprinkle chopped almonds (with or without the skins)  on top and feta pieces as well.

3. Bake in 200 °C (400 °F) for about 25-30 minutes.

Less salt is good but in this case remember to use enough salt since this much greens won't taste so good if you don't. :) And like always: remember to enjoy! :)

Summery thoughts

This summer has been quite different from the earlier ones. Usually we have planted lots of different plants and grown much of our own vegetables and greens generally. Currants and rhubarb have grown a lot this summer. And looks like we are getting some raspberries too.

Earlier this summer, just around the midsummer,  we had very unexpected guest. Snow. It covered our vegetable garden and my poor little courgettes looked like they were lost. No sun shine to warm them or gentle summer breeze to fondle them - just cold wind and wet and even colder snow.

But my courgettes made it through all the hardship. They did cry a little and grew very slowly until one week when the heat wave came and they really came alive! Suddenly they started to spread their little leaves and in a short time those poor little leaves had all grown up and now my courgettes are not poor at all! So, after a month of very very warm weather, looks like we are getting some delicious courgette pies!

Since this  summer started so badly, I am happy that we also use wild vegetables. Dandelions and chickweed are part of our salad plates. They taste great and what's best: they grow all by themselves and they are not afraid of a little frost!

Even though the summer has not been a great one to grow vegetables we are still getting bush beans, peas, carrots, hopefully a couple of pumpkins, courgettes, spinach, dill, parsley, beetroots, tomatoes and maybe even some bell peppers.

Herbs are great too since they grow without so much care. Oregano, lemon balm, different sorts of mints have pretty much conquered our yard. They also attract  bees and butterflies which hopefully pollinate our apple trees. And this year we will get 3 apples! That is three more than last year! Maybe next summer we will have six apples so that every family member will get one!

It's great to have own yard, own garden and plants and flowers to work with. Gardening is just as great as baking. :)

Traditional Finnish Sourdough Rye Bread

Rye bread is something heavenly. Fresh from the oven, cut a thick slice of the loaf, spread some  organic butter on the slice and enjoy the rich taste of it.  The experience is beyond words.

Sadly not many bake their daily bread anymore. Especially rye bread is usually bought from the store since people feel it is complicated to bake. But it is not! I made these rye breads with my sourdough. Traditionally the rye bread is baked with 3 ingredients only. Rye flour, water and salt - and it's leavened by using the sourdough.  You don't need anything else. Some store brought breads here are made with sourdough starter but far too many use baker's yeast for leavening the rye bread. But you really don't need to. Rye bread is simple and heavenly at the same time.

Rye bread stores really well - most sourdough breads do. Wrap it in a baking towel so the crust doesn't become so hard. In old times people stored the rye breads like that.

Some people prefer this bread straight from the oven but others like it after it has matured day or two. Then it's less "sticky" when cut with the knife. Either way it's good! Spread some butter on the bread, cut a nice slice of cheese and maybe some cucumbers too. So good! It really is something else than those wheat breads. Rye bread has a character.

300 grams (10.582 oz) sourdough starter (I have starter with rye flour)

600 grams (1.323 lb) lukewarm water

appr. 1000-1100 grams (2.205 - 2.425 lb) rye flour

3 tsp salt

Mix the starter, water and salt. Add 1000 grams  of rye flour. Start mixing, add more flour if needed. Knead the dough on the baking board, add flours if necessary. Rye dough is different from wheat dough. It has no viscosity what so ever. You need to have relatively soft but firm dough in your hands. You have kneaded enough and added enough flour once it doesn't stuck on your hands anymore. Be careful not to add to much flour or you will end up having some really hard bread! Shape them into two breads. Leaven  them under a baking towel for about 6-8 hours. Then bake them in the 250 °C (480°F) for about 15 minutes and then lower the temperature to 200 °C (400°F) and bake them 60 to 75 minutes more. 

Swede Sourdough Bread

Swedes are terrible to dry. I mean the smell that fills the house is simply ghastly. But I have dried vegetables in every autumn and I guess this year is no exception. Must admit though that I am seriously thinking about quitting swede drying. Beetroots, carrot, onions and numerous wild vegetables are totally different thing.

Most people say that you must dry your wild veggies before midsummer. I think that is sort of short sighted. It can't be that the wild vegetables would be totally useless after that day. Bigger plants don't usually taste that nice but even in late summer there are still small plants too. And you can always cut down the plants and they will grow back in a week or two and you'll get small ones again! That's how I do it anyway and so far I have dried a big jar of nettles so during the winter we will have nettle bread and get all that green in a good use! Nettles are great in dough, soups, pancakes, pies...almost every where! And bigger wild veggies can be easily used once dried and grounded into a green powder, they are nor bad at all once used like that.

Today I made swede sourdough bread - just because I still have dried grated swedes in my pantry and no one wants to use them. But I can't throw them away. I simply hate throwing away food so I needed to use it some where. Breads and buns are usually always a solution for that and  root vegetables are very commonly used in Finnish baking. So here comes my altered sourdough recipe for swedes! And surprisingly enough it tasted well, really well actually! But be aware that the swedes give taste quite easily. The amount I used is not huge but it gave enough taste for the bread. Of course if you are mad about swedes you can put a lot more!

300 grams (10.6 oz) sourdough starter (I have starter with rye flour)

600 g (1.323 lb) lukewarm water

900-1000 grams (1.984 - 2.205 lb) all purpose flour

3 tsp salt

appr. 20 grams  (0.7055 oz) dried, grated swedes 

some olive oil ( I never measure this)

Mix the ingredients except the oil. Knead the dough for a while and then add the oil. Knead some more and let the dough rest about 15-30 minutes and then knead again. Shape into bread and let it leaven about 6 hours under a baking towel. Bake in the 200 °C (400°F) for about an hour or so.

Lemon Curd Cheese Cake

I love lemon curd! It's wonderfully sour and deliciously sweet at the same time. Sadly (or luckily) my husband does not share my love for lemons in any form but occasionally I do make lemony pies and cakes.

This lemony cheese cake is one of my favorites. I sometimes add very much lemon curd and sometimes less - that option takes place when I know that my husband wants to eat it too. Small amount of lemon makes it eatable for him too and he likes cheese cakes a lot. What is great about this too is the fact that it's no way dry in a way that many baked cheesecakes are. This is moist and tasty.

For the crust I used 200 grams (7 ounces) of whole wheat biscuits and about 100-150 grams (1/2-2/3 cups) soft butter which I mixed very well. Sometimes I add about 80 grams (3/8 cup) sugar in it. This time I did not. I wanted to make less sweet of it since the everything on the top is so sweet. Must say that I do prefer the crust  made from the Rolled Oat Biscuits but sometimes ready made biscuits save the day.

FOR THE FILLING:

3 eggs

150 grams (5.291 oz) sugar

750 grams (1.654 lb) ricotta cheese

460 grams (1.014 lb) yoghourt( or crème fraîche)

2 tsp vanilla essence

zest of one organic lemon

3 tbsp lemon juice

3 tbsp all-purpose flour 

1. Whisk the eggs and the sugar into light foam. 
2.Add rest of the filling ingredients

FOR THE CRUMBLE

100 grams (3.527 oz) all-purpose flour

75 grams  (2.646 oz) demerara sugar

90 grams (3.175 oz) soft butter

75 grams (2.64 oz) crushed blanched almonds in quite large pieces

1. Mix all the crumble ingredients

You also need some lemon curd (about 100-150 grams which makes about 3,5-5,2 ounces)  which you add on the top of the cheese cake right before you add the crumble on it.

FOR THE CRUST

200 grams (7.055 oz) whole wheat biscuits 

100-150 grams (3.527-5.291 oz) soft butter

(80 grams (2.822 oz) sugar - IF NEEDED)

1. Crush the biscuits and mix them well with the soft butter (and sugar)

Press the biscuit-butter mix on a baking tin, preferably in a one with the loose bottom, about 25-28cm (appr. 11 inches)  diameter.  Add the filling. Add the lemon curd on top of the filling by either dropping it here and there or cover the whole area with it. I like the version with lots of lemon curd so I say cover the whole area. That way the cheese cake won't be too sweet either and it gives more taste to it too.  Bake in the 175°C ( 350°F) about 60-90 minutes. Make sure it won't get too brown.