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!

Floating isles on a rhubarb kissel

Floating isles is a traditional dessert in many countries. Also in Estonia. Here, it is sometimes called "a snowball soup". Rhubarb kissel, on the other hand, is another really popular spring dessert (or drink, as you like it) here. So, I put the two together and got a new approach to the dish we all know well. Who said you should boil the eggwhite isles in milk... I put them in boiling rhubarb kissel. I did not forget the usual sauce of milk and eggyolks, at the same time. I made a vanilla custard and put it on top of the isles. So, I think that if you like floating isles and if you like rhubarb, then this might be a dessert for you! You need (4 servings):

For the kissel:
250 gr of rhubarbs (peeled and cut to pieces)
500 ml cold water
1,5-2 dl of sugar
1,5 tbs of potato starch


For the isles:
3 big egg whites
3 tbs of sugar


You need a couple of tablespoons of good vanilla custard for every serving. So, you can make more, use some for some other desserts, some for the isles and freeze some for a nice vanilla ice cream!


For vanilla custard:
250 ml milk
250 ml whipping cream
3-4 tbs icing sugar
0,5 vanilla bean (split the pod and scrape the seeds out)
4 egg yolks


First, make the custard. For that mix the milk an the cream, add 2 tbs of sugar and vanilla pod (both, the seeds and the pod), bring to boil. Remove and let it cool down a bit. Put the eggyolks to another pot, add the rest of the sugar and whip until foamy. Remove the vanillapod from the liquid. Add a bit of milk-cream mixture to the eggyolks, stirring continously. Repeat this for a few times. Then add the whole milk-cream mixture and stir well. Heat the custard on a bain-marie until it gets thick. Cover and let it cool down!


For the kissel and the floating isles, put the rhubarb pieces to a pot and cover with cold water. Bring to boil.
Mix the eggwhites and sugar, whip until itgets really firm. Take spoonfuls of eggwhite foam and put on the boiling rhubarbs (in one layer). Keep for just a few seconds, then turn all the isles around. Few seconds more and take them out. Repeat until all the whites are turned to isles. Put a few isles to every serving plate. Mix potato starch with just a bit of cold water. When the rhubarbs are soft (about 8 minutes of boiling), add 1,5-2 dl of sugar and starch liquid. Mix through, let it come to boil and remove immediately. Add the kissel to the floating isles on serving plates. Cover with couple of tablespoons of vanilla custard!


Ujuvad saared (või lumepallid) rabarberikissellil


Kisselli jaoks:
250 gr rabarberitükke
500 ml külma vett
1,5-2 dl suhkrut
1,5 spl kartulitärklist


Ujuvate saarte jaoks:
3 munavalget
3 spl suhkrut


Vanillikastme jaoks (valmiv kogus on oluliselt suurem, kui ujuvatele saartele vaja läheb, samas võib ülejäänud koguse jäätiseks külmutada):

250 ml piima
250 ml vahukoort
3-4 tl tuhksuhkrut
0,5 vanillikaun (poolitatud ja seemned eraldatud)
4 munakollast


Esmalt valmista vanillikaste. Selleks sega kokku piim, vahukoor, 2 spl suhkrut ja vanillikaun (nii kaun kui seemned). Kuumuta keemiseni, tõsta tulelt. Lase veidi jahtuda. Sega teises potis munakollased ülejäänud suhkruga ja vahusta heledaks vahuks. Eemalda vanillikaun piimasegust. Lisa veidi piimasegu munakollasevahule, sega pidevalt. Korda sama veel paar korda, lõpuks vala munakollaste hulka kogu piimsegu. Sega korralikult läbi. Kuumuta veevannil, kuni kaste pakseneb. Eemalda ja lase jahtuda.


Pane rabarber potti, lisa külm vesi. Lase keema minna. Vahusta munavalge koos suhkruga tugevaks vahuks. Pane supilusikatäied munavalgevahtu keevate rabarberitükkide peale ujuma, ühe kihina. Lase hetk keeda, pööra neil teine pool. Lase veel hetk keeda ning tõsta saared serveerimiskaussidesse. Kui kõik saared on ära keedetud ja rabarber on pehme, lisa 1,5-2 dl suhkrut ning väheses külmas vees lahustatud tärklis. Sega läbi, lase hetkeks keema tõusta ja eemalda kohe tulelt. Vala kissell ujuvate saarte ümber. Vala igale taldrikule kõige peale paar spl vanillikastet!

Another rhubarb tart, this time on oatmeal base

Here is another great recipe for rhubarb season. I love the light pink swirls, that are hardly visible through the curd cheese (or sieved cottage cheese, if you like) and sour cream mixture. The base (the recipe for which is taken from a great estonian cooking site http://www.perenaine.ee/) adds an extra touch with the interesting texture that comes from a quite a big quantity of 4-grain flakes in it. You need:

For the base:

80 gr butter

60 gr sugar

1 egg

1,5 dl 4-grain flakes

1,5 dl flour

1 ts baking powder

Filling:

200 g curd cheese (or you can use sieved cottage cheese instead)

150 gr sour cream

1 egg

50 gr sugar

4 medium sized rhubarb stalks

100 gr sugar

To make a batter for the base, mix soft butter with sugar, add an egg (room temperature) and mix until smooth. Mix together the dry ingrediences and add to the batter mixture.

Peel the rhubarbs, cut to about 5 cm pieces and put them on a baking tray. Cover with 100 gr of sugar and bake in an oven with 180 C until soft. Remove and break the rhubarbs gently with a fork (not making a puree of them). Mix curd cheese (or cottage cheese) with sour cream. Add the egg and sugar.

Butter the baking mold (with a diameter of 24cm). Cover the base and sides evenly with the base batter. It is easy to do that with wet hands. Mix the baked rhubarbs to the curd cheese mixture and pour it over the base. Bake in the oven of 180 degrees for about 40 minutes or until slightly golden on top and crunchy on the sides. Serve, when it has cooled down!

Rabarberi kohupiimakook 4-viljahelbe põhjal

80 gr võid

60 gr suhkrut

1 muna

1,5 dl 4-viljahelbeid

1,5 dl jahu

1 tl küpsetuspulbrit

Täidiseks:

200 gr kohupiima

150 gr hapukoort

1 muna

50 gr suhkrut

4 keskmise suurusega rabarberivart

100 gr suhkrut

Sega taigna tegemiseks pehme või suhkruga. Lisa toasoe muna ja sega ühtlaseks. Sega omavahel kuivained ja isa taignasegule.

Koori rabarerid, lõika umbes 5 cm tükkideks. Pane ahjupannile ja kata 100 gr suhkruga. Küpseta 180 kraadi juures kuni rabarberid on pehmed. Võta ahjust välja ja suru rabarberid õrnalt kahvliga katki, ilma neid püreeks tegemata.

Sega kohupiim ja hapukoor. Lisa muna ja 50 gr suhkrut.

Määri 24 cm diameetriga vorm võiga, kata vormi põhi ja ääred ühtlaselt taignaga. Seda on hea teha märgade kätega. Lisa kohupiimasegule küpsetatud rabarberid ja vala koogipõhjale. Küpseta 180 C ahjus umbes40 minutit, või kuni kook on pealt õrnalt kuldne ja ääred on krõbedad.

Rhubarb ice cream with a ginger touch

I have lost counting just how many different tings I´ve done with my dear rhubarbs this spring - soufflé, tarts, cakes, muffins etc. But as the last two weeks have been as warm as our best summer here in Estonia, then I had to make something cooling to have next to your sunchair during these hot days. So, I decided to take another couple of rhubarb stalks from my garden and put them into a nice and creamy ice cream. And I added some ginger for that little extra touch. This recipe is perfect, if you don´t have the ice cream machine yet as I don´t. All you need is whipping cream, condensated milk and a freezer.

400 ml whipping cream

1 can of condensed milk (400 g)

4-8 rhubarb stalks (depends on size)

5 tbs of sugar

2 ts of grated ginger

a bit of vanilla seeds or vanilla extract with seeds

Peel the rhubarbs and cut to pieces. Put them on a baking pan, add sugar and grated ginger. Bake in an oven with 180 C until the rhubarbs are completely soft. Remove from oven and brake them with fork to make a puree.

Whip the cream and add one can of condensed milk (on room temperature). Mix through and add half of the rhubarb puree. Stir until smooth. Keep in freezer for about half an hour, until the ise cream is a bit frozen, but still creamy enough to be able to stir. Stir through and add the rest of the puree. Gently fold for a couple of times with a spoon to make beautiful swirls. Freeze completely!

Rabarberijäätis sutsu ingveriga

Retsepti leiad siit!

The easiest rhubarb tart

Another cake with rhubarbs, this time it is a really easy and quick one. It´s more beautiful, if you use the rhubarbs that are red all the way through, the ones that have seen a lot of sun! So probably not the first rhubarbs of the spring.

You need:

500 gr puff pastry

300 gr of curd cheese (or replace it with ricotta)

3 tbls icing sugar

4-8 rhubarbs

4 tbls sugar

a bit of vanilla extract or vanilla seeds

Heat up the oven to 200 degrees C. If you use thick rhubarbs, peel them, if you have young and thin ones, it is not that important. Cut the rhubarbs to about 5 cm pieces. Bake them in the oven, covered with sugar, for 10 minutes. Remove. Mix together curd cheese (or ricotta), icing sugar and vanilla. Cut the puff pastry to about 7-8 cm wide pieces. Make a shallow cut about 1 cm from each edge. Bake the pastry in the preheated oven until it is possible to remove the upper layers of the middle part of each piece. Now you have something like "little puff pastry bowls". Fill them with curd cheese (or ricotta) mixture and set the rhubarb pieces side by side on it. Bake until the edges are golden brown.

Lihtne rabarberi-kohupiima pirukas

Eestikeelse retsepti leiad siit!

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

Rhubarb season in Estonia - cake of (happy) tears, our family´s style

The cake of tears (pisarakook) has thousands of different recipes in Estonia. The base and the filling may be different, but the one certain thing is, that the cake is covered with a layer of slightly baked meringue and when it cools down, beautiful little tears appear on top. Well, as rhubarbs are my favourites and as they always are the ones announcing the beginning of summer that we have waited for so long, then it is a cake of happy tears.

Here comes a recipe from my mom. She is the kind of person, who can take a look at what´s in the fridge and bake wonderful cakes. But this one is written down to be shared with all of you. You need:



200 ml sour cream
200 ml sugar
350 ml flour
1 ts baking soda
4 medium sized egg yolks

300 ml rhubarb (peeled and cut to little pieces), if you want, replace some of the rhubarbs with pieces of strawberries

4 egg whites
appr 100 ml sugar



Mix sour cream and sugar together. Add egg yolks and mix until smooth. Mix flour and soda and add to the sour cream mixture. Test the thickness of the batter putting a piece of rhubarb on top of it - if it doesn´t sink, the batter is ok, if it´s sinks, you should add a bit more flour. Butter a round baking tray with a diameter of around 27 cm (if you have smaller tray, you should reduce the quantity of batter also, otherwise the base will be too thick). Pour the batter to the tray and cover evenly with the pieces of rhubarb (and strawbrries). Bake in preheated oven of 180 degrees for 30-40 minutes.



While the cake is in the oven, whip the eggwhites until they reach soft peaks. Add the sugar and whisk until they reach stiff peaks.

Remove the cake from the oven and turn up the heat to 225 degrees. Cover the cake with the meringue. Return the cake to the oven for about 3 minutes until some of the meringue starts turning slightly golden. Remove from the oven and let it cool down. The cake should have beautiful little teardrops on top of it when it has cooled down!

Rabarberi pisarakook meie pere moodi

200 ml hapukoort

200 ml suhkrut

350 ml jahu

1 tl soodat

4 keskmise suuruseg munakollast

300 ml kooritud rabarberi tükke (või asenda osa soovi korral maasikatega)

4 munavalget

ca 100 ml suhkrut

Sega hapukoor suhkruga. Lisa munakollased ja sega ühtlaseks. Sega sooda jahusse ja lisa taignale. Testi taigna paksust visates ühe rabarbritüki taignale - kui see ära ei upu, on kõik ok, kui upub, tuleb veel veidi jahu lisada. Määri 27cm läbimõõduga vorm võiga kokku (kui sul on väiksem vorm, tee ka tainast vähem, kuna muidu saab koogipõhi liiga paks). Vala tainas vormi. Puista ühtlaselt rabarbritükke peale. Küpseta eelkuumutatud ahjus 180 kraadi juures 30-40 min. Samal ajal vahusta munavalged pehmeks vahuks. Lisa suhkur ja vahusta edasi, kuni moodustub tugev vaht.

Tõsta kook ahjust välja ja keera ahju kuumus 225 peale. Vala munavalgevaht koogile ja silu ühtlaseks. Pista umbes 3 minutiks veel ahju, kuni pealispind hakkab õrnalt kuldses minema. Tõsta ahjust välja ja lase jahtuda. Koogi pinnale peaksid moodustuma kaunid pisarad.

Sweet curd cheese donut-balls

I still remember my happiness every time my mom decided to make those delicious little curd cheese donuts when I was a child. If you are looking for them in Estonia, look for something called "kohupiima pontšikud". They look so beautiful in their golden brown colour and tender icing sugar cover. The curd cheese in the batter gives a subtle sourness to them that suites so perfectly with the sweetness of the sugar. If you cannot get the curd cheese, then try to replace it with the cottage cheese (pushed through a sieve) or Petit Suisse (as my good friend Mari, who has lived in France, suggested). You need:

200 gr of curd cheese
1 ts baking powder
2 eggs
10 tbs milk
4 tbs sugar
400 gr wheat flour
a bit of grated nutmeg or orange peel
pinch of salt
icing sugar for serving
Rapeseed oil for deep frying

Mix curd cheese, eggs and milk. Add baking powder, sugar, flour and salt, mix until smooth. Season with nutmeg or orange peel. Heat oil (enough to cover the donut balls) up. Test if it is hot enough putting a wooden spoon in, if small bubbles start to come up, the oil is ready for frying. Take a bit of batter with tablespoon and pop the batter to oil. Repeat the same over and over again, until you have many little donut balls getting a golden skin in the oil. Remove the donuts and put them on a kitchen paper, to get rid of the extra oil. When the sweet little balls have cooled down, serve them with some icing sugar sprinkled on! Lovely with a big cup of fesh cold milk!



Kohupiimapontšikud

200 gr kohupiima
2 muna
1 tl küpsetuspulbrit
10 spl piima
4 spl suhkrut
400 gr jahu
riivitud muskaatpähklit või apelsinikoort
suts soola
serveerimiseks tuhksuhkrut
Rapsiõli pontšikute praadimiseks

Sega kokku kohupiim, munad ja piim. Lisa küpsetuspulber, suhkur, jahu ja sool. Sega ühtlaseks ja maitsesta muskaatpähkli või apelsinikoorega. Kuumuta õli potis. Et õli kuumust testida, pista puust lusikas õli sisse, kui selle pinnalt hakkavad üles tõusma väisked mullid, on õli piisavalt kuum. Vala supilusikatäied tainast õli sisse ja prae, kuni nad on kuldpruunid. Tõsta köögipaberile nõrguma. Serveerimisel raputa nad üle tuhksuhkruga. Maitseb imehästi tassikese külma piimaga!

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

Sega kõik koostisosad kokku ja maitsesta soola-pipraga!

Curd cheese bar with chocolate and raspberry sauce - children love it

There is a very typical estonian sweet snack, in estonian the name is Kohuke, in english it means something like chocolate glazed curd cheese bar (translation from Nami-Nami). The real thing looks like a little roll, covered everywhere with a thin layer of chocolate. This is something all the estonian children are craving for when they are away from here. And adults also, I have to admit. It is a good kind of snack, as it is not that unhealthy as the snacks usually are. I like the taste of a good kohuke - having a slightly sour curd cheese with a bit bittersweet chocolate, sometimes with just a few drops of berry jam inside. So I decided to turn this trio of tastes to a dessert and serve it after lunch. You need (for 4 servings):

For the bar:

200 gr of curd cheese

50 gr of unsalted butter

100 gr sugar

0,5 ts of grated lemon peel

seeds from one vanilla pod

For the coating:

100 gr od dark chocolate

50 gr of butter

For the rasperry sauce:

100 gr (frozen or fresh) raspberries

50 gr sugar

0,5 ts of grated lemon

Mix together the curd cheese and butter. You might need to soften the butter slightly in microwave or leave it out to room temperature for a while. Mix well, you don´t want to have pieces of butter in your dessert. Add the sugar, vanilla seeds and lemon peel. Mix through. Roll it to tin foil and keep in freezer for about half an hour (until it is firm). While the curd cheese roll is in freezer, melt the chocolate and butter on bain-marie. Remove the rolled curd cheese from freezer and cut to 4 nice pieces. Put the curd cheese bars to serving plates and let a big spoonful of melted chocolate to flow over the edges. Keep in cool place for a couple of more minutes and cover with sauce made of crushed raspberries, sugar and lemon peel.

Šokolaadi ja vaarikakastmega kaetud kohupiimadessert kohukese ainetel

Vaja läheb (4-le):

200 gr kohupiima

100 gr suhkrut

50 gr võid

vanilliseemned ühest vanillikaunast

0,5 tl riivitud sidrunikoort

Šokolaadikatte jaoks:

100 gr tumedat šokolaadi

50 gr võid

Kastme jaoks:

100 gr vaarikaid (külmunud või värskeid)

50 gr suhkrut

0,5 tl riivitud sidrunikoort

Sega kokku kohupiim ja pehme või. Sega hästi, et võitükke sisse ei jääks. Lisa suhkur, vanilliseemned ja sidrunikoor. Sega uuesti läbi, aseta foolimile ja rulli pikaks toruks. Pane pooleks tunniks sügavkülma. Samal ajal sulata veevannil šokolaadvõiga vedelaks. Tõsta kohupiimatoru välja ja lõika sellest 4 ühesuurust väikest toru. Aseta desserditaldrikutele ja vala igaühele peale suur lusikatäis sulašokolaadi. Pane veel paariks minutiks külmikusse tahenema ja vala enne serveerimist peale vaarikakaste purustatud vaarikatest, suhkrust ja sidrunikoorest.