Bánh mi - Vietnamese baguettes

Enjoy while the meat is still warm.

Vietnames baguettes are street food in Vietnam and they are so good. You can fill them with pork, chicken, beef or have them as vegetarian alternative.

In this recipe I used chicken. For 2 persons you need:

1-2 baguettes (depending on the size of them)
250-300 g chicken meat
pickled Chinese white raddish and carrots
1 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
2 minced garlic cloves
2 tsp minced ginger
mayonnaise
lettuce
half a cucumber, thinly sliced
bunt of cilantro
sriracha chili sauce

For the pickled raddish and carrot you need to grate 1 carrot and about a same amount of raddish. You can either mix the vegetables or have them in separate bowls.  Mix the 1 dl rice vinegar with 3 tbsp of sugar and half a tsp salt. Pour the mixture on the carrots and raddish. Let it pickle in a fridge at least 30 minutes.

Mix the soy sauce, hoisin sauce, garlic and ginger together. Slice the chicken and fry on a frying pan golden brown. Mix the sauce on the meat and cook on a low fire for 2 more minutes.

Cut the baguettes and smear mayonnaise on them. Put some lettuce, fried chicken, sliced cucumber and cilantro on the bread. Pour some sriracha sauce on the top and enjoy the baguette.

Grated carrot steaks

Cook each side until golden brown.

I should do more often vegetarian food beucase some studies say that you should eat maximum of 500 g of red meat a week.

So here is a recipe for carrot steaks:

100 g grated carrots
1 dl corn flour
200 g grated cheese
Salt
Pepper
Cajun spice

Mix all the ingredients and season with salt, pepper and if you have, cajun spice.

Mold the mixture to steaks and cook on a pan until golden brown. Turn side and cook again until golden brown. Enjoy for instance with gold yoghurt sauce on the side.

Tiger bundt cake

Finnish tiger cake is really tasty.

Tiger cake, or tiikerikakku in Finnish, is a bundt cake that most likely gets its name from the chocoloate stripes that mimics the ones to a tiger.

This recipe is good for a bundt pan size of 1,5l:

250 g butter
2 dl sugar
3 eggs
3,5 dl flour
2 tsp vanilla sugar
2 tsp baking powder

For the stripes:

1/3 of the dough
3 tbsp raw cocoa powder
3 tbsp cream or milk

Mix the butter and sugar until it becomes foam. Mix the eggs and continue mixing. Mix the flour, vanilla sugar and baking powder together and then mix it to the butter-egg foam.

Take 1/3 of the dough and mix some raw cocoa powder and cream or milk to it. Mix well.

Take a bundt pan and smear butter inside it. Then sprinkle finely grounded bread crumbs on the butter. Spread some white dough on the pan and on it some chocolate dough. Finish with white dough and cook about an hour at 175 ºC.

Smear butter inside of the pan and then
bread crumbs on the butter. This prevents
the dough sticking to the pan.

Cook for about 1 hour at 175 ºC.

Tiger cake gets its name from the beautiful
chocolate stripes.

Bolussen - dutch cinnamon rolls

The stickier, the better.

I was introduced these sweet Dutch sweet buns called bolussen by my dear Dutch friend. No wonder they are popular in the Netherlands.

For the dough you need:

8-9 dl flour
1,5 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
50 g yeast
2 dl water
0,5 dl milk
1 egg
25 g butter

Mix the water and milk together and warm the liquid to 37 ºC and mix the sugar to it. Then mix the yeast to the liquid. Add the salt, egg and flour. Knead the dough for 2 minutes. Add the butter and knead for 4 more minutes.

Let the dough to rise in a warm place under a plastic foil for about 20 minutes or when it has doubled its size. Then divide the dough to pieces of 80-100 g each and roll the balls of a strand of 30 cm long.

Roll each dough piece to a 30 cm long strand.

Now you can prepare the sugar mix where you roll the buns. For the sugar mix you need:

250 g brown sugar
4 tbsp cinnamon powder

Mix the brown sugar with cinnamon powder in a bowl. Dip each strand of dough quickly in cold water and then to the sugar and cinnamon mix. Roll them up into a tightly coiled rounds.

Quickly dip the strands in cold water and
then in the brown sugar and cinnamon mix.

Roll the sticky strands to tightly coiled rounds.

Let them rise for 5 more minutes and then cook the buns in the oven for 7 minutes at 225 ºC. After removing the bolussen from the oven, immediately flip them upside down. After they have cooled down, these sticky sweets are ready to be enjoyed.

Serve with coffee!

Malt bread

Enjoy the bread fresh with butter, cheese and
ham for instance.

I recently bought a kitchen machine to me and I don't know how did I survive without it before I had one. It is just amazing and of course I am baking and baking all the time with it. This recipe is for a malt bread.

For two large breads you need:

1 liter butter milk (also water or milk are fine)
50 g yeast
2 tsp salt
1 dl dark syrup
2 dl malt flour
3 dl rye flour
18 dl flour
100 g melted butter

Mix the yeast with 37 ºC warm butter milk. Mix then the syrup, salt, malt flour, rye flour and flour.
 Knead the dough with kitchen machine for 5-10 minutes. In the end of the kneading, add the melted butter.

Let the dough to rise to double its size under a plastic foil in a warm place with no draft. Then divide the dough and place the dough in bread tins. Let the dough to rise again under a plastic foil.

Bake the bread on the lower level of the oven for 30 minutes at 220 ºC degrees. Take the bread out and brush the bread with a mixture of syrup and water (ratio 50/50). Place the bread back in the oven and bake 10 more minutes.

Take the bread out from the bread tin and place the bread on an oven grate to cool down. This allows the bread to dry a bit and does not leave the bottom moist.

Let the bread to cool down on an oven grate.

Spinach and cream cheese cannellonis

These cannellonis have no meat at all.

I have eaten cannellonis before and I absolutely love them. But I have never made them myself. After I realised they really are easy to make I headed to the grocery store and decided to go for this vegetarian version with spinach and cream cheese.

This recipe is for 4 persons.

For cannellonis you need:

12-15 lasagna sheets (3-4 sheets per person)
200 g cream cheese
100 g mozzarella cheese
200 g fresh spinach
100 g broccoli
1 white mushroom
1 garlic clove
1 egg
salt
pepper

For the sauce you ned:

500 g tomatosauce
2,5 dl cream
Basil
Salt
Pepper

Cook the spinach for 1 minute and wash under cold water three times. Cut the spinach to small pieces. Mix it then with cream cheese, grated mozzarella, finely grated broccoli, finely chopped mushroom, minced garlic and egg. Season with salt and pepper.

Cook the lasagna sheets for 3 minutes in water with some salt. Wash the sheets under cold water. Place the cream cheese filling with a spoon on the other end of the lasagna sheet. Then simply roll the sheets and place them on a casserole. Pour the sauce over the rolls and finish with grated cheese.

Place the pasta rolls on a casserole.

Pour the sauce over the pasta rolls and
finish with grated mozzarella.

Bake on a lover level of the oven for 35 minutes at 175 °C. Then 10 more minutes on the highest level of the oven also at 175 °C.

Serve with a kale salad.

So good!

Runeberg's cakes

You may also soften the cakes with some apple juice or milk,
or then not to do this at all.

 Finland celebrates its national poet Johan Ludvig Runeberg today and what would be better way to do that than with the delicious winter treats Runeberg's cakes (Runebergintorttu in Finnish).

Recipe:

200 g butter
2,5 dl sugar
2 eggs
1 dl butter milk
1 dl cream
3 dl flour
3 dl breadcrumbs (finely ground)
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp almond extract (the amount of extract you need can vary a lot depending on the extract you have used. In this recipe I have used a Norwegian almond extract from Idun)

Garnish:
2 dl powdered sugar
1-2 tbsp water

Mix well the butter that is at room temperature with the sugar. Add the eggs and mix again. Add the buttermilk and cream to the mix. Then add the almond extract. Mix the flour, breadcrumps and baking soda together and add to the dough.

Spoon the dough i.e. to cupcake cases or similar. Make a hole in each cake and put raspberry jam in them. Bake for about 20 minutes at 200 ℃.

Let the cakes to cool down and add again some raspberry jam to the holes. Make the frosting by adding some water to powdered sugar and garnish the top of the cake with it.

The picture is a bit dark but this shows better
how the frosting should be around the jam.

Sausage sauce

Serve the sauce with mashed potatoes.

This sauce recipe is brings up memories from my childhood. I just loved this especially with mashed potatoes.

400 g mild sausages
half an onion
3 tbsp flour
5 dl water
half a beef stock cube
1 tbsp mustard
1 tbsp tomato purée
1 tbsp soy sauce

Cook the sausages on a pan until golden brown and set them a side.

Dice the onion and cook them in oil until translucent. Add the flour and cook until it is light brown. Add the water and bring it to a boil mixing the sauce all the time. Add the sausages, stock cube, mustard, tomato purée. Cook on a low fire for about 15 minutes.

Let the sauce to simmer for about 15 minutes.

Serve with mashed potatoes and salad.

American pancakes

Enjoy with jam or syrup. Soo good!

I have been growing up with thin Scandinavian pancakes and when I got American thick pancakes in a diner in USA, I just thought they were horrible. I had them twice at a real American diner but they were always dry and tasteless. But then earlier this year I got the best pancakes ever at a Radisson hotel close to Nashville airport. They were so good that I realise that my earlier experience was just bad luck.

I have now learned how to make American style pancakes at home.

For 4 people you need:

4,5 dl flour
3 dl milk
2 eggs
2,5 tsp baking powder
2-3 tbsp of melted butter or oil
Salt
Sugar

Beat the eggs and add the milk and melted butter. Mix the flour with baking powder, salt and sugar. Mix it all together.

Heat the pan and pour the desired amount of batter on it. Flip the pancake once bubbles appear to the surface. Continue cooking maximum one more minute.

Enjoy with jam or syrup.

Cook the second side maximum of 1 minute.

Rolled beef topside with goat cheese

Roll the meat and close with toothpicks.

This recipe is one of my favorite because it is so simple. I found it in one of my old cook books.

For 2 persons you need

2-4 slices of topside of beef
Basil
Goat cheese
Bacon
Salt
Pepper

Place the bacon on the beef and then on the other end have a piece of goat cheese on the bacon. Then have some basil on the goat cheese and roll the meat. Pierce the rolls i.e. with toothpicks.

Cook the meat golden brown on a frying pan and then 10-15 more minutes in an oven at 225 °C.

Here I have added some apple sauce after
I took the meat rolls out from the oven.

Chili mayo

You can keep the mayonnaise in a fridge about a week.

I just love spicy food and chili in general. Many restaurants serve various chili mayonnaise and I was wondering if it would be easy to make home. And it was!

Mayonnaise base:

2 egg yolks

1 tsp dijon mustard

About 4-5 dl oil

Dash of vinegar

Dash of lemon juice

2 cayanne long slim chilis (or other chilis depending on your own taste and tolerance for the heat level)

1 tbsp (or more) of sriracha sauce

1 minced garlic clove

1 tbsp ketchup (rounds up the taste)

Smoked pepper powder

Salt

Pepper

Whisk the egg yolks and add the dijon. Then start adding the oil really carefully and whisking the egg yolks at the same time. In the start it is important that you add only few drops of the oil and then continue pouring slowly the oil to the egg yolks while whisking the mix at the same time. If you add the oil too quickly and too much, the oil will separate from the yolks. When the mayonnaise starts to thicken, add some vinegar, lemon juice and salt.

Mince the fresh chilis and garlic and add to the mayonnaise. Add sriracha, ketchup and smoked pepper powder. Finally taste with salt and pepper.

This mayoannaise lasts in the fridge about a week. So good!

Some of the ingredients for the mayo.

Baked potato with smoked salmon

I have not been a huge fan for baked potatoes but while I lived in England I started to enjoy and appreciate more this food. When baking the potato it is important to choose a potato that is starchy. Before putting the potato to the oven, remember to have some holes on it. And for crispy outcome, do not cover the potato in a tin foil since this will only make the skin soft and not crispy.

The potato should be baked in 200 °C for about 80 minutes depending of the size of the potato.

The filling:

350 g smoked salmon
200 g sour cream
2 tbsp mayonnaise
2 tbsp diced pickles (or pickled pumpkin)
half a diced small onion
juice of half a lemon
2 tbsp dill
lemon pepper

Shredd the salmon and mix all the ingredients. After the potato is baked make a cross cut on the potato and fill it with the salmon mix.

The tin foil is only for a decoration,
do not cover the potato with it while
baking.

Chicken alfredo

I fell in love with cajun spice during my holiday in USA. There I also had my first taste of Chicken Alfredo that is basically chicken in creamy cajun sauce.

This recipe serves for 4 people:

300 g chicken breast sliced to small pieces
450 g of mixed sliced vegetables
4 tsp Cajun powder
3 dl cream
3 dl milk

Cook the chicken on a frying pan golden brown. Add the vegetables, cream, milk and cajun powder and let the sauce to simmer for about 5 minutes. Add the boiled pasta to the sauce and cook for couple of more minutes.

Add some more cajun powder if needed.

Salmon with Asian touch

Serve with sesame seeds and pan-fried kale.

Salmon is very common everyday food in the Nordic Countries. Here salmon is not expensive and accessible easily.

For four persons you will need:

800 g of salmon
1 dl teriyaki sauce*
lime juice from half a lime
2 tsp (or more) fresh ginger
red chili flakes

*Teriyaki sauce: 5 tbsp sugar, 1 dl soy sauce, 3 cloves minced garlic, 2 tsp minced ginger, 4 tbsp worchestershire sauce, 2 tbs applecider vinegar, 3 dl water and 2 tsp corn starch. Mix all the ingredients, cook up and let it cool down.

Dice the salmon. Mix teriyaki sauce with lime juice, ginger and chili. Pour the marinade on the salmon and let it marinade for at least 2 hours.

Marinade minimum for 2 hours.

Cook the salmon dices on a pan but do not overcook them. You should stop cooking right before the white fat comes out from the fish and the center of the fish is warm but slightly raw (the center will continue cooking after you turn the heat off). Serve for instance with pan-fried kale and mushrooms.

The dish is full of flavors.