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.