Cold and creamy summer soup with herring

After a few days, when it was actually possible to breath, the heat is back again. And the time for cold soups is back as well. This one, with light sour cream and herring, is another childhood favourites of mine.

You´ll need:

50-70 gr herring filet

300 gr light sour cream (10% fat for example)

1 tomato

1 small cucumber

1 small onion

salt and pepper

boiled potatoes to serve

Cut the herring, cucumber, tomato and onion to small pieces. Mix in the sour cream. Season with salt and pepper. Let the soup stay in fridge for 15 minutes. Boil some potatoes, sprinkle with fresh dill and serve with the cold herring soup!

Külm hapukoore-heeringasupp

50-70 gr heeringafileed

300 gr 10% hapukoort

1 tomat

1 väiksem kurk

1 väiksem sibul

soola ja pipart maitsestamiseks

kõrvale keedetud kartulit värske tilliga

Haki heeringas, kurk, tomat ja sibul. Sega kokku hapukoorega. Maitsesta soola ja pipraga. Lase vähemalt 15 minutit külmkapis maitsestuda. Serveeri koos keedetud kartulitega, millele puista värsket tilli.

Spiced sprat, with black bread and melting egg

Oh, how I dreamed of estonian spiced sprats, while I was travelling around the world for a year. And all the other estonians we met on the way, did the same. So as you can see, it is something really estonian to eat - spiced sprats with black bread. The process of making it is such a joy - all the aromas of the spices that you crush with your mortar and pestle make your tastebuds water already from the beginning. The traditional version is to use the real sprats (Sprattus sprattus), but sometimes they are hard to get. Then you can replace them with the baltic herring, like I did this time, the result is as wonderful. If possible, buy fresh fishes and fillet them yourself, it will be so much more juicy afterwards. If you buy the fish that has been already filleted before, then add a few drops of oil between every layer of fishes. You need:

500 gr sprat or baltic herrin fillets

1 ts ground black pepper

1 ts ground allspice

0,5 ts of ground clove

0,3 ts of ground nutmeg

0,5 ts of ground cinnamon

0,3 ts of ground mustard seeds

1 ts of ground coriander seeds

2 tbs of salt

1 ts of sugar

2 laurel leaves

The best way to break all the peppers, allspices, cloves etc, is to use mortar and pestle, then they don´t have the concistency of a flour. Mix all the ingredients except the fish. Take a container of half a litre. Break one laurel leaf to pieces and put on the bottom. Cover with one layer of fish filets, skin side facing the bottom. Cover with a thin layer of spice mixture. Add another layer of fishes and spice mixture. Continue until all the fish is in the container, cover with the other laurel leaf. Put alid on the container and put something heavy on it to add pressure. Let it stay in cool place overnight.

To serve, take a slice of black bread, put some good butter on, add a few spiced sprats and half a halfboiled egg (I usually boil them for 6 minutes and add the eggs when the water is boiling already).

Vürtsikilu musta leiva ja poolkõvaks keedetud munaga

Vaja läheb:

500 gr kilu- või räimefileed

1 tl purustatud musta pipart

1 tl purustatud vürtspipart

0,5 tl purustatud nelki

0,3 tl riivitud muskaatpähklit

0,5 tl jahvatatud kaneeli

0,3 tl purustatud sinepiseemneid

1 tl purustatud koriandriseemneid

2 spl soola

1 t suhkrut

2 loorberilehte

Parim viis kõiki vürtse puustada on minu meelest uhmri ja nuia abil, muidu on tulemus liialt jahusarnane. Sega kõik maitseained kokku. Võta pooleliitrine anum. Purusta kergelt üks loorberileht ja aseta anuma põhja. Kata ühe kilukihiga, nahk allapoole. Puista peale vürtsisegu nii, et kõigile fileedele saaks ühtlaselt. Lisa järgmine kiht kalasid ja vürtsisegu. Jätka kuni kõik kalad on purgid ja aseta kõige peale teine purustatud loorberileht.

Elegant Baltic herring steaks

Baltic herring is an all estonian fish. In fact it is our national fish (what a funny thing to have, a national fish). It is a small fish more similar to sardine, than the real herring, which, in fact, is another all estonian fish. I remember my grandmothers and my mother frying the small cleaned baltic herrings in thin batter. It tasted amazingly good and made a quite healthy snack. Today I am using the idea of an estonian cook Anni Arro to make something a bit more elegant of those delicious little fishes. You need:

500 gr of baltic herring filet
Salt to taste
A bunch of fresh dill (chopped)
100 gr of wheat flour
100 gr of grated dried black bread
Butter
Lemon juice

For the sauce:
Sour cream (the best would be the one with 30% fat content, as then it will be thick enough even after mixing with the lemon juice)
Lemon (a bit of grated peel and squeezed juice)
Salt, pepper and chopped dill to taste

Wash the filets and dry with kitchen paper. Put them on a baking tray skin side down. Season with salt and chopped dill. Cover every filet with another one, skin side up. Mix flour, breadcrumbs and season the mixture with salt. Turn the prepared steaks in this mixture. Put the steaks on a buttered baking tray. Cover them with small pieces of butter.
Bake in the oven with 180 C until they turn golden. Remove from oven and sqeeze some lemonjuice. Serve warm with sauce made of sour cream, lemon peel, lemon juice, salt, pepper and fresh dill. The sauce is best, when it has stood about half an hour before serving.

Elegantsed räimepihvid

500 gr räimefileed
maitse järgi soola
punt värsket tilli (hakkida)
100 gr kogust nisujahu
100 gr kogust riivitud leiba
võid
sidrunit peale pigistamiseks

Kastme jaoks läheb vaja:
hapukoort (parim siinkohal on 30%-ne, see ei muutu sidrunimahlaga segades vedelaks)
sidrunit (veidi riivitud koort ja veidi mahla)
näpuotsaga hakitud tilli
soola ja pipart

Pese räimefileed ja kuivata köögipaberiga. Lao nad alusele nahaga allapoole, maitsesta soolaga ja raputa peale hakitud tilli. Aseta igale fileele peale teine filee, seekord nahaga ülespoole. Sega kokku jahu, riivleib ja maitsesta soolaga. Keeruta ettevalmistatud räimepihve selles segus. Aseta pihvid võiga määritud ahjupannile. Pane ka pihvide peale võitükikesi.
Küpseta 180 kraadises ahjus kuldseks. Tõsta ahjust välja ja piserda peale sidrunimahla. Serveeri soojalt koos kastmega, mille valmistasmiseks sega kokku hapukoor, veidi riivitud sidrunikoort, veidi sidrunimahla, soola ja pipart ning näpuotsaga hakitud tilli. See kaste on parim, kui ta on vähemalt pool tundi seisnud, siis on sidrunikoorest tulevad eeterlikud õlid ilusti hapukoorega segunenud.