Estonian milk soup with fresh veggies

I bet this soup brings back many childhood memories to all estonians. Both, good and bad. Some people, like me, just love it! Some people hate it as it was often served in school canteens during the Soviet times and was usually not made with the freshest ingrediences of the market. But this is a soup where the freshest of the fresh is a must. If all you got is frozen veggies of an unknown origin, then skip it. But when the little new potatoes, thin crunchy carrots and tiny green peas have just arrived, then I strongly recommend to cook this summer soup, that is really easy to make!

You need:

about 0,5 litres of water

6-7 little potatoes

100 gr fresh peas

4-5 little carrots (mine are beautifully dark red this year)

0,7 litres of milk

1 tbs butter

salt for seasoning

fresh dill to serve

Wash the vegetables. Cut the potatoes to quarters and carrots to about 1,5 cm pieces. Boil in salted water until cooked. Pour in milk and butter. Bring to boil. Serve with fresh dill.

Piima-köögiviljasupp

umbes 0,5 l vett

6-7 väikest värsket kartulit

100 gr herneid

4-5 pisikest porgandit

0,7 l piima

1 spl võid

soola maitsestamiseks

värsket tilli serveerimiseks

Puhasta köögivili ja lõika parajateks tükkideks. Keeda soolaga maitsestatud vees pehmeks. Lisa piim ja või. Aja keema, tõsta tulelt. Serveeri värske tilliga.

The best days of the summer - time for chanterelles

The best time of the summer has arrived. The markets are full of fresh produce - sweet peas, new potatoes, strawberries from garden and forest, fresh herbs, delicious tomatoes and... of course, my favourites, the little cute chanterelles. Now I am a happy foodie :). Although you can do all kinds of things with those beautiful yellow things, the best is to fry them slightly in butter, maybe add a bit of onion, sprinkle on some fresh dill and parsley and serve with new potatoes. Oh yes, and do not forget the salad that suites just perfectly - chopped green onion with thick sour cream. There´s a country-gourmet - ready in a few minutes!

By the way, 2 days ago we had the most important celebration of the summer - Jaanipäev. We make big big fire for this occasion, eat a lot of good food and search for glowing warms in the middle of the night from the forest. It is the shortest night of the year, it almost doesn´t go dark at all during the night. Usually estonians eat a lot of traditional shashlik during the Jaanipäev party. You can find out more about this in a beautiful estonian foodblog Nami-Nami (in english). Take a look!

You need:

Fresh little chanterelles (the more the better)
some fresh dill
some fresh parsley
a few new potatoes (the smaller the better, I think)
some green onion
some thick sour cream
a bit of chopped onion
a few tablespoons of good butter for frying
salt and pepper to season

Boil and drain the potatoes. Do not waist your time trying to peel the new potatoes - they are more tasty with the skin on. Fry the chopped onion in butter a bit, add the chanterelles and fry until fragnant. Season with salt and black pepper and add the chopped parsley. Mix together the green onion and sour cream. Add some salt, if you like. Serve immediately, adding some extra dill on top od everything!

Summer in spinach soup

Spinach soup is another childhood favourite of mine. My mom used to make it in the beginning of every summer. It´s so light, so easy and so full of iron, to make children strong enough for all those summer games. I love the slight sourness and beautiful green colour. I always add a touch of lemon peel and I think it makes it just perfect. Do try it with fresh spinach of the summer! You´ll need (for 4 portions):

1 garlic clove

1/2 small onion

1/2 ts of grated lemon peel

1 tbs butter

1,5 l of vegetable or chicken stock

3 small potatoes (peeled and cut into small cubes)

2-3 big handfuls of fresh spinach leaves (cut into small pieces)

salt and pepper to taste

2 hardboiled eggs

sour cream and fresh dill to serve

Chop garlic, onion and lemon peel. Fry them for couple of minutes in butter. Add potato cubes to the pot and fry for a few minutes. Add stock and let it boil until the potatoes are cooked. Add spinach leaves, bring to boil. Let the soup boil for a minute and set aside. Season with salt and black pepper. Cut the hardboiled eggs to small pieces and stir into the soup. Serve the soup with a spoonful of sour cream and a bit of fresh dill!

Suvine spinatisupp

Vaja läheb:

1 küüslauguküüs

1/2 väikest sibulat

1 tl sidrunikoort

1 spl võid

3 väiksemat kartulit (lõika kuubikuteks)

1,5 l kana või köögivilja puljongit

2-3 suurt peotäit värskeid spinatileht (haki peeneks)

soola ja pipart maits järgi

2 kõvakskeedetud muna

hapukoort ja värsket tilli serveerimiseks

Haki küüslauk, sibul ja sidrunikoor, prae nad või sees läbipaistvaks. Lisa kartulikuubikud ja prae mõned minutid. Lisa puljong. Keeda suppi, kuni kartulid on pehmed. Lisa spinat, keeda umbes minutijagu ning tõsta supp tulelt. Maitsesta soola ja pipraga. Lisa hakitud munad. Serveeri hapukoore ja värske tilliga!

Golden fried potatoes with wild garlic sauce

Everyone knows how to fry potatoes, isn´t it? But for many years I tried to figure out the secret of the ones my grandmother made me every morning when I went to her place. I remember that they were so yellow with dark golden edges around. Unfortunately it was too late to ask. So, I started to test. Today, I think, I can tell that I got it right. So, as weird as it might seem to write a detailed description of potato frying to a food blog, this is exactly what I´m going to do. To add a bit of spring freshness to the golden fried potatoes, I made a gorgeous wild garlic (my spring favourite, like rhubarb) sauce with sour cream and cottage cheese. It is so easy and quick, and most importantly - really healthy. Wild garlic has 10 times more vitamin C than lemon, so we have to enjoy it while we can, soon the wild garlic season is over. You need:


Potatoes, as many as you can eat
good frying oil
salt


For the wild garlic sauce:
100 ml of chopped wild garlic leaves
100 ml sour cream
50 ml cottage cheese
salt and pepper to taste
if you want to make more sauce, then just multiply the quantities

For the sauce you have to chop the wild garlic leaves really thin. Mix them with sour cream and cottage cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Let it stay in the fridge until you fry the potatoes.

Wash the potatoes, unpeeled. Put them to a pot full of cold water. Add quite a lot of salt and bring to boil. Let the potatoes boil until they are soft all the way through (try with a fork), but not breaking apart yet. Drain and let them cool down. Peel the potatoes and cut appr 5 mm thick slices. If the potatoe is still warm from inside, wait until it is totally cooled down.

Put a dry pan on hob, let it heat up and pour some oil on the pan. Let the oil heat up also. Then add the potato slices, one by one, in one layer. Wait until they have nice golden edges from one side, then turn around and fry the other side. Season with salt. Serve hot with the cold wild garlic sauce.


Kuldsed praekartulid karulaugu kastmega


eestikeelse retsepti leiad siit

Mulgipuder, made of potatoes and barley

We all love mashed potato, don´t we. But here in Estonia, when it is minus 30 degrees Celsius during winter, then something strong is needed. Perhaps this is why the ancient estonians created something called Mulgipuder. It´s a mix of mashed potatoes and barley porridge. Or, if you want a quicker version, as I do, then replace barley with cracked barley. It´s absolutely delicious with sour cream. You need:

600-800 gr peeled potatoes, cut in cubes
200 dl cracked barley
1 garlic clove
4 tbs of butter
2 carrots, grated
2 red onions, but in thin stripes
150 gr smoked bacon, cut in thin stripes
Salt/black pepper
Sour cream for serving

Fry chopped garlic in 3 tbs of butter, add the potato cubes, stir through, add boiling water to cover all the potatoes plus 2 cm. Add all the cracked barley. Cover and cook on low heat, until the potatoes are really really soft. Do not stir before that. But when the potatoes are really soft, mix through until the potatoes are mashed. Add carrots, season with salt and pepper. Cook uncovered until all the water has evaporated. Fry the onions on a pan in the rest of the butter until golden. Remove the onion and fry the bacon on the same pan.
Serve the porridge with onion, bacon, sour cream.

Mulgipuder

Vaja läheb:
600-800 gr kooritud kartuleid, kuubikuteks lõigatud
200 dl Lõuna-Eesti tangu (seda ei pea enne leotama ja puder saab kiiremini valmis, kui kruubiga)
1 suur küüslauguküüs
4 spl taluvõid
2 porgandit, riivitud
2 suurt punast sibulat, peenikesteks ribadeks lõigatud
150 gr suitsupeekonit, peenikesteks ribadeks lõigatud
soola/pipart
serveerimiseks hapukoort

Prae 3 spl võis hakitud küüslauk klaasjaks, lisa kartulikuubikud, sega kuumas võis läbi, vala kartulite peale keev vesi, nii et kõik kartulid oleksid sees ja sentimeeter paar pealegi (kui teed putru eelnevalt leotatud kruupidega, siis pane vett niipalju, et kartulid oleksid kaetud). Vala kõige peale tangud. Kata kaanega ja lase madalal kuumusel podiseda, kuni kartul on väga väga pehme. Ära mingil juhul kartulit ja tangu vahepeal sega. Kui kartul on pehme, sega kõik läbi (kartulid peavad olema nii pehmed, et segades lähevad katki). Lisa porgand, maitsesta soola ja musta purustatud pipraga, sega läbi, lase ilma kaaneta üleliigsel veel ära keeda, kui seda on. Prae ülejäänud 1 spl võis sibulad pruuniks. Tõsta kõrvale, prae samal pannil pruuniks ka peekon. Serveerimisel tõsta pudru peale sibulat ja peekonit ning hapukoort.

Hearty soup of potato and smoked cheese

If there is one thing that is the basis of estonian cuisine, then that must be potato. Our families eat it almost every day, either baked, boiled, mashed, roasted, fried or in salads. Also, estonians are good in smoking food. A beautiful snack of ours, is smoked cheese with it´s strong taste and smoky aroma. In this soup, potato and smoked cheese work together. The idea comes from a great little farm restaurant in Southern Estonia, Tammuri Talurestoran. You need:

600 gr of potatoes
200 gr of smoked cheese
1 tbs of butter
50 ml of heated milk and 150 ml of cream (around 20 % of fat)
Salt and pepper
Smoked ham or bacon

Boil the potatoes until they are soft, smash them to puré. The soup will turn out especially silky, if you push the potatoes through a thin sieve. Use a blender to mix together the smoked cheese and cream-milk mixture. Heat up the cheese mixture, add butter and mashed potatoes. If the soup seems too thick, add a bit more of milk and mix well. Season with salt and pepper. Grill quickly under high heat some strips of smokes ham or bacon until crispy. Serve the soup garnished with fresh dill and grilled ham on top.

Kartuli-suitsujuustusupp Tammuri Talu moodi

600 gr kartuleid
200 gr suitsujuustu
1 spl võid
50 ml soojendatud piima ja 150 ml vahukoort
soola/pipart
veidi suitsusinki

Keeda kartul pehmeks ja tambi püreeks (eriti ilusa supi saab, kui kartulid läbi sõela ajada). Purusta saumikseriga juust ja vahukoore-piima segu. Aja juustusegu potis kuumaks, lisa või ja kartulipüree. Kui supp on liiga paks, vedelda piimaga. Maitsetsa soola ja musta pipraga. Grilli suitsusingi või peekoni ribad grilli all krõbedaks. Pane serveerimisel supile värsket tilli ja grillitud suitsusingiribad.