Summer salmon soup

We've been trying to fish for a few times now but the devils are so smart that they just nibble the worm from our hook and line and stay in the lake. So we had to buy our fish from the store instead. For me this is one of the most luxurious foods and one of my favorite foods. It's so simple, it's traditional Finnish and the fact of buying a whole fish for it makes it something special. You make it with love.

Music for the food

Salmon soup

Half salmon (about 400 gr)
new potatoes
1 spring onion, chopped
2-4 garlic cloves
dill
water
2 dl cream
salt
black pepper
1 bay leaf


Soften the chopped onion in a butter on a kettle. Add the chopped garlic a bit later. Add water (not too much) and spices. Let them boil and add potatoes. When the potatoes are half done add the fish (we also used the gutted bits and pieces from the whole fish. It gives extra flavor to the soup. If you use those, remember to take the bones away and boil the bits before you add potatoes.) Cook until everything is done and then add the cream. Let is boil just a while and check the flavor.



With the soup
sour cream
1 garlic clove
salt

malt bread crutons

Mix minced garlic to the sour cream and add salt. Serve with the soup.

Lemony goat cheese lasagna

Italian food! We both adore it. The taste of every single ingredient, fresh tomatoes, herbs and everything. The meditative process of doing the food from the beginning, also the lasagna strips. The making of it is the perfect quality time for long weekend days, and the taste is heavenly!

Music for the recipe

Lasagna strips:

2 dl durum flour
2 dl basic wheat flour
3 eggs
1 tblsp salt

Mix the two flour and salt together. Add eggs and knead the dough about 10 minutes until it's tough but elastic. Make a ball from the dough and wrap a cling film onto it. Put it to the refrigerator for the time you're making the sauces.


Red sauce:

6 cloves of garlic
3 chopped red onions
few fresh plum tomatoes (buy the trusses of tomatoes) and few pieces of the tomato stem
5 dl tomato passata
oil
water
chili pepper
salt
pepper

Chop the onions and garlic cloves. Add oil to the pan and soften the onions. Add the fresh tomatoes whole and throw a few pieces of stem from the tomato too (it gives the perfect tomato flavor to the sauce!). Add tomato passata and some water, not too much. Let the sauce simmer about half an hour or until you finish everything else. Add spices.


Green sauce:

300 g fresh spinach (frozen is ok, too)
3 dl almond milk
150 g cream cheese
100 g goat cheese
2 cloves of garlic
lemon zest from 1 lemon
lemon juice from 1 lemon
salt
pepper
nutmeg

Fry the spinach on the pan to make them soft. Chop the garlic cloves and add to the pan with everything else. Let the sauce simmer so the goat cheese melts into the sauce.


The lasagna:

On top of the lasagna:
100 g goat cheese

Warm up the oven to 200 Celsius degrees. Make the lasagna strips with a pasta machine or just roll them thing with an empty wine bottle. When everything is ready, grease a lasagna pan. Add a layer  of red sauce first. Add a layer of lasagna strips. Add green sauce layer. Keep continuing like this. The most top layer should be a green one. Put a cover on the lasagna pan. Put the lasagna in the oven for a half an hour or until it's done. Then add pieces of goat cheese on top and put the lasagna on the upper level in the oven to get a beautiful crust on top of it. It takes about 15 minutes but check the lasagna regularly. Take the lasagna from the oven and let it sit. Serve with good red wine in a good company!

Good morning, Asparagus!

It's asparagus season! And we love it. This morning we woke up and started to think about breakfast. We didn't have anything special but what we did have was asparagus, eggs, avocados and basil. Simple is the best. So here is a dish that is worthy of a fine dining restaurant menu. Luxury in the easiest way to your mornings.

Music for the recipe

Asparagus, poached egg, hollandaise and avocado platter
for 2

Put a cast iron pan to the stove to heat up (for the asparagus). Then jump in to making the sauce:

Hollandaise sauce: 
 2 egg  yolks
1/4 dl water
1 tblsp vinegar
50 g clarified butter (ghee)
splash of lemon juice
salt

Put the egg yolks, water and vinegar to a metallic bowl and put the bowl over the simmering water bath. Whisk constantly for a minute or two until the mixture is slightly thickened. Take the bowl away from the heat and add the clarified butter slowly while whisking constantly. Add the lemon juice and salt.

Asparagus:
4 asparagus stalks
butter and oil

Peel of the asparagus stalks thinly (not the buds). Cut the wooden, white end of the stalk away so that the stalks fit to your pan. By now the cast iron pan should be hot so add a drop of oil and butter to it and let it melt. Put the asparagus stalks to the pan. It takes about 2 minutes per side but check it out yourself.

Poached eggs:
2 eggs
cling film

Put a kettle with water to boil (use the boiling water that you used when making the sauce). There are a few ways to make poached egg, use the one you are familiar with. We made it like this: Put a piece of a cling film on top of a glass so that the film makes a little nest for the egg. Crack the egg on top of the film and make a little bag and wrap it tight. Put the egg bags into the boiling water, keep the top of the bag out of the water. Boil 5 minutes, after that remove the cling film and put the egg in to the plate.

Serve everything with avocados and basil and a hint of parmesan cheese.

Falafel and quinoa surprise

Falafel is one of the foods that goes along with both of us when wanting a hearty, almost meaty, protein dish. It's also easy and cheap to make, especially if you buy lots of dried chickpeas at once. But we also keep ready-made chickpeas in our cupboard, if we need to make a quick food after work or when just hungry and lazy. They are also perfect for a quick hummus desire. We usually make the falafel in the oven, not frying in a pan or deep-frying (because it's easier and healthier that way) but you can choose the way you want to cook them.

Quinoa is a newer friend in our kitchen. This quinoa salad was actually made from what we had in our refrigerator. So also a perfect quicker-than-falafel dish. You can make this as you are waiting the falafel to cook in the oven.

Music for the recipe

Falafel balls
about 20-25 balls

1 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 dl onion, chopped
3 1/2 dl chickpeas, soaked and boiled
3/4 dl whole-wheat flour
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp cumin
drop of Naga chili sauce or chopped chili of your choice
1,5 dl coriander or parsley, chopped
1 tbsp tahini
1/2 lemon juice
salt
pepper
1-2 tbsp water, if needed

First fry the chopped onion (not garlic) on the pan with olive oil to make them tender and sweet. Add all the other ingredients on a large bowl (or straight to blender) and grind them together. I like to leave some texture to the mix but you can make it quite smooth, too. Check the taste, add spices if needed and add the soft onion to the mix. Then just mix together (not in blender anymore). If the mixture feels too dry and you cannot make a ball out of it, add a bit water to it. Roll the balls and cook them in the oven, 200 degrees about 30 minutes.

Quinoa surprise salad

3 dl quinoa
6 dl water
1 tsp salt

4 spring onions
1 sweet red pepper
1 bunch of romaine salad
1 dl salty peanuts

sauce:
1 bunch of parsley
1 dl of salty peanuts
1 garlic clove
1/2 lemon juice
1 dl olive oil
1 tsp honey
salt
pepper

Put the water to boil, add the salt to it. Rinse the dry quinoa under the cold water and add to the boiling water. It takes about 15-20 minutes the quinoa to be ready. Slice the spring onions, chop the pepper and salad to the bowl. Make the sauce for the salad: put all the sauce ingredients in a blender and mix until smooth. Mix the boiled quinoa and sauce to salad base. Garnish with peanuts.

Fake meatballs with Zucchini and tomato sauce

And we're back! Now actually one of us is studying to be a cook so recipes in our household are developing quickly. This fake meatball recipe has been on our test kitchen quite a few times, just to find out the perfect taste and texture. I love meatballs and the battle first started when I challenged Z to make real meatballs and "meatballs" from soybean meal. And then I would be the judge which ones would be the best. Nowaydays I don't even want to eat real meatballs anymore, these are my favorites.

This dish is a tribute to the classic Italian meatball pasta dish but with a vegetarian twist. The delicious soya meal balls, the tasty and rich tomato sauce that has been cooked for hours and lighter version to replace the pasta: zucchini slices.

Music for this recipe

Fake meatballs (soybean meal balls) with Zucchini and perfect tomato sauce 
for 4


The balls:
6 dl of light or dark or mixed soybean meal (granules)
1 vegetable stock cube
water
1/2 dl olive oil
1 onion
3-5 garlic cloves
1/4 of Habanero chili
fresh herbs of your taste (basil, coriander, rosemary...)
salt
pepper
1/2 packet Philadelphia-cheese
1 egg

Tomato sauce:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion
3 garlic cloves
1 tsp honey
about 15 cherry tomatoes
4 dl tomato passata (puree)
fresh basil
1,5 dl red wine
2 dl almond milk
salt
pepper

Zucchini:
2 large zucchinis
salt
water


Do the balls:  Put the soybean meals into a large bowl and crush the vegetable stock cube there too. Add plenty of water so that all the granules are under the water. Let them just soak there for half an hour. Meantime you can chop the onion to little bits and sauté it on a pan. Also chop the garlics, chili and herbs. Mix oil, onion, garlic, chili, herbs, salt and pepper in a bowl. After the granules have soaked up take balls between your hands and squeeze all the water out of it. Then add the soybean granules to the bowl with oil-spice-mix. The point is that we do not want extra water to the soybean meal ball mixture. Blend it all together. Add 1/2 packet of Philadelphia and one egg to the mixture and mix it all up. Taste the dough and add spices if you want. Leave the mixture to rest in a refrigerator for an half an hour.

Heat the oven to 175 degrees. Roll the balls and place in a baking tray. Bake in the oven for about 30-40 minutes.

Tomato sauce: Put oil on the pan and chop the onion and garlic and sautée them. Add the honey to make the taste a bit caramelized. Half the cherry tomatoes and add to the pan. Fry a bit, no too much. Add the tomato passata (Mutti is the one we use), red wine, handful fresh basil leaves, salt and pepper. Let the sauce simmer in a low temperature for an hour or two depending how patient you are. The taste just gets better depending on how long you let it simmer. You can actually do the sauce first and while waiting for it do the balls or just drink the red wine. When you're done with the waiting check the taste and add the almond milk to soften the taste a bit. Add more basil leaves on top.

Zucchini: Rinse the zucchinis and slice them lenghtwise just like you would make tagliatelle. Peeler is great for this! Put a kettle full of water and a pinch of salt in it and on a stove to make it boil. When the water boils, add the zucchini slices. Now you have to be quick, because we want the zucchini to be al dente. So just put them there, max. 20-30 seconds depending on the thickness of the slices. Then take them away and drain.

After all these are done it's time to eat! Add the zucchini slices on a pasta plate, then the balls and add the beautifully rich tomato sauce on top. Then sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top. And there you have the perfect fake meatball, fake pasta dish that is simply delicious and you want be feeling as quilty after this (compared to eating a real meatball pasta dish). 

Fava meets friends stew

He is a vegetarian, she likes meat and we both love music. This will be the combo for our food passion and the main incredients in this blog.

Tadaa! Let us introduce: fava beans. These guys were one of the main protein sources in medieval ages in Finland. They are easy to grow, good looking, fun to cook and delicious. Totally worth of money. This sturdy stew is easy to make and fills your stomach and heart. Beans with top-ranking products from the nature, such as chilis, garlic and fresh coriander, are a perfect match.

Music for this recipe

Fava meets friends stew

400 g                        Dried fava beans

2                               Red onions in large pieces

5-9                            Cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1 bunch                    Fresh coriander, chopped

15-25                        Cherry tomatoes, cutted in half

2 dl                           Kalamata olives, take the seeds away

1                               Lemon, only the juice

4 tbsp                       Tomato puree

2 dl                           Paserated tomatoes

1/2                            Naga Morich -chilli, finely chopped (put it less or more, depends on your     resistance)             

1 packet                    Processed cheese in large pieces (we used Finnish Koskenlaskija)

2 tbsp                       Tagine or Harissa paste

Salt & pepper

Olive oil

Soak the beans for about 8 hours and then rinse. Boil them 1 hour gently and rinse again. Wash, cut and chop all the needed ingredients. Put everything in a pot and mix them. Check the flavor. Add a glass of water. Put it in the oven, 195 degrees for about 1 to 2 hours. It depends on the amount of liquid. Serve with bread and red wine or just anything you want. Enjoy!