24-hour cucumbers

We, estonians, eat a lot of cucumbers - fresh, in salad, pickled or marinated. In summer, we love to make a really quick and delicious snack - 24 hour cucumbers. We use the little fresh cucumbers, make a tasty marinade and after 24 hours they are ready to be eaten. I guarantee, you will love the crispyness and freshness of this tasty summer snack. It´s also wonderful to accompany your grilled meat!

You need:

As many cucumbers as you like (those little rough ones, not the long and smooth ones)

Enough marinade to cover the cucumbers

For the marinade:

per 1 l boiled water, you need

1,5 tbsp strong vinegar

4 tbsp coarse salt

0,5 tbsp sugar

Handful of fresh dill

Handful of black currant leaves

3 cloves of garlic, halved

3 peppercorns

Boil the water. Add vinegar, salt, sugar and pepper. Mix until sugar and salt are dissolved.

Put dill, black currant leaves and garlic to a big pot. Add washed cucumbers. Pour over the marinade, while it´s still hot. Cover with a heavy plate or something that presses down the cucumbers, but lets in the air. After 24 hours, you have wonderful, fresh, aromatic and crunchy sour cucumbers!

Cheese and fresh garlic spread

Huge fresh bulbs of pinkish garlic are on the market now. I love garlic in every season, but those new ones are especially tasty. This salad or spread, made of grated cow cheese, garlic and mayonnaise, is a very common estonian party-dish. Sometimes we have it on fresh or grilled white bread and sometimes we roll it inside thin slices of good ham. It takes just some minutes to make, so it´s all good, if you´re a garlic-addict, like me. You need:

100 gr of cow cheese (you can use edam, emmentaler, gouda, cheddar or any other you like)

2-4 gloves of garlic

100 ml of mayonnaise

black pepper and salt for seasoning

Grate the cheese. Chop the garlic as thin as possible. Mix cheese, garlic and mayonnaise. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with fresh bread or roll inside a thin slice of ham.

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!

Alexander salad with smoked cheese and chicken

This salad actually is not an old estonian recipe, but it´s been in our family for years by now. Smoking food - chicken, cheese or fish, is a very traditional thing to do around here. The recipe came with my sister from a restaurant called Alexander. My sister had this salad there and she liked it so much, so we copied it. And copied it again and again over the years. It is easy to make and so full of flavour. And it´s a rich salad, enough for a lunch with just a slice of bread aside.

You need:

1 cucumber (about 20 cm long), cut in small pieces

1/2 medium sized chinese cabbage, cut in small pieces

200 gr smoked cheese, cut in small pieces

300 ml of small cubes of smoked chicken fillet

200 ml mayonnaise

100 ml sour cream

salt and pepper for seasoning

Mix all the ingredients and season with salt and pepper! Keep in cool for about 15 minutes before serving. It cannot be easier! :)

Alexandri salat suitsujuustu ja suitsukanaga

1 ca 20 cm pikkune kurk, väikesteks kuubikuteks lõigatuna

1/2 keskmise suurusega Hiina kapsast, väikesteks kuubikuteks lõigatuna

200 gr suitsujuustu, väikesteks kuubikuteks lõigatuna

300 ml väikseid suitsukanaliha kuubikuid

200 ml majoneesi

100 ml hapukoort

soola ja pipart

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