On the difference between Scandinavian and non-Scandinavian anchovies

Yes, of course it was a stylistic choice to photograph the dish
 after part of it was removed. It's not like I was eating a serving
 of it and suddenly realised I had forgotten to take a photo...
Not at all, I assure you.

The other day I got a big parcel from the homeland. My Mum sent me some beautiful Finnish design glasses and some Finnish delicacies, like cloudberry jam and Dominos (Finnish Oreos, and they are much better than Oreos by the way). Along with all of the other goodies, she also sent over a few Pirkka magazines. It's the monthly magazine for one of the big grocery store chains, and it always has great recipes for easy, everyday meals. Think along the lines of the free magazines you can pick up in Tesco. So I was browsing through the magazine (ok, to be honest I pretty much read every single word of it, including the advertisements) and was reminded of this great and simple dish I haven't made in ages. 

The name Janssonin kiusaus (Finnish) means Jansson's temptation. Apparently Jansson might have been a Swedish opera singer who lived in the late 19th century, or alternatively the name might have come from a movie called Janssons frestelse (which is the Swedish name for the dish) from 1928. I also learned, when I looked up this dish on Wikipedia, that it is originally made from sprats (I had no idea what sprats were, I had to Wikipedia that too, and it's a small fish). Apparently, the Swedish word for sprats pickled in sugar and spices is anjovis, which has lead to confusion when the recipe has been translated. The thing called anchovies in English is called sardell in Swedish. I'm amazed at all these things you learn when you have to research things you thought you knew.

Anyhow, this whole thing of sprats versus anchovies explained why the things I bought over here called anchovies tasted different from what I thought were anchovies back home. Apparently I have been eating sprats all the time and thinking they are anchovies. And Mum, since you are going to ask anyway, sprats are kilohaili in Finnish and skarpsill in Swedish. It's picked in spices including cinnamon, black pepper, bay leaf, cloves, oregano, cardamom, allspice and sandalwood. So no wonder it just didn't taste quite right when I used UK anchovies.

One thing I do know for a fact is that Janssonin kiusaus is usually served as night food. You know, the type of thing which is served way past midnight when the party is at it's best and everyone is drunk and need something really salty and flavourful to soak up the alcohol. I have often seen it served at New Year's parties, or at weddings which have gone on into the wee hours. But it makes a great lunch or dinner, and above all, it is both super easy to make and really cheap as well. And obviously it scales really easily to serve more people.

Janssonin kiusaus (serves 4):
5-6 potatoes
1 big onion
1 tin of pickled sprats or alternatively anchovies if you don't happen to be in Finland or Sweden (mine was about 120g including the oil)
1.5 dl single cream
1.5 dl milk
black pepper

The howto:
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. Chop the onion and cut the potatoes into thin strips (first cut into slices, and then into strips). Mix the onions and potatoes, and layer half of them in an oven proof dish. Layer the sprats (or anchovies) next, and cover with the rest of the potato and onion mixture. Mix the brine/oil from the sprats/anchovies with the cream, milk and pepper and pour over the potatoes. Cook in the oven for about 50-60 minutes, until the potatoes have softened. 

The verdict:
One thing I have learned today is that not all anchovies are created equal. The Finnish/Swedish variety, which isn't even anchovies in the first place, is much tastier than regular anchovies. However, you shouldn't let that keep you from trying out this dish. It has a bit of the right flavour, it's not just as intensive as it would be if it was made from the right stuff. It's still a nice hearty meal. And most of us should include more fish in our diet, and this is a great way to include a fish you don't usually eat (at least I assume most people don't regularly eat anchovies, but please correct me if I'm wrong). And last but not least, Mum could you send over a few tins of Finnish anchovies the next time you are sending over a parcel so I can make the dish properly. Thanks!

Mary Berry's carrot cake

Why is it that men come with a huge collection of all sorts of doodaahs? I get the fact that you might need a DVD player and a satellite decoder (I had to ask the Culinary Consultant what the thing is called, I knew it had something to do with satellite...). And cables! Boxes and boxes of the most obscure cables which never seem to be needed, but have to be stored nonetheless. Had I only measured the length of cables I shoved into moving boxes when we vacated the Bachelor Pad. I would say there were miles of them, possibly enough to reach to the moon and back. Twice. What they are needed for is beyond me, but when it comes to men, it seems to be all about who has the longest cables. We also have a number of silver/black/white boxes located in the shelving unit underneath our gigantic TV (another mine is bigger than yours device). Not sure what they are needed for as several of them have never been used. But hey ho, apparently men just come with all this baggage. And the other day, Man Friend (a friend of the Culinary Consultant) brought yet another doodaah into the house. It's one of those game console things, and apparently we have to have it. Not sure why, as the Culinary Consultant spends all his free hours in front of his computer playing games. Again, I don't need to understand it, it's yet another box with yet more cables. However, if I ever meet the person who decided that all games that go with said console have to be packed in bright neon green covers, I will give them a piece of my mind. Seriously, they are the ugliest things I have ever seen! And now there are stacks of said fugliness all over our living room. I have decreed that we now have to buy a new storage unit to the living room, one with doors, so that I don't have to constantly look at those neon green horrors. All you women out there, let me know how you cope with all of this? I'm sure I can't be the only one facing this male behaviour.

Don't get me wrong, despite all these horrors the men in our lives sometimes have good ideas as well. Like the other day when we were in the grocery store and the Culinary Consultant was picking out carrots for our Sunday roast he thought the carrots looked unusually good so he asked whether we could make a carrot cake. I assured him that would not be a problem. When have I ever refused to bake a cake? Although obviously we in this case meant me. I hate grating carrots.

I don't have a "tried and tested" carrot cake recipe, and I tried one last fall that was supposed to be "the best carrot cake ever". Sadly it turned out rather dry and not that good. So this time I turned to Queen Mary Berry for a carrot cake recipe. Don't tell anyone, but I added some raisins which weren't in the original recipe. I wonder if she would disapprove...

Mary Berry's carrot cake (serves 8):
250 g sunflower oil (I didn't have sunflower so I used rapeseed)
4 large eggs
225 g light muscovado sugar
200 g carrots, coarsely grated (this was about 2 carrots)
300 g self raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp mixed spice and 1 tsp ground ginger (I didn't have any mixed spice so I used 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp ground ginger, 1/2 tsp ground cloves and 1/2 tsp nutmeg)
75 g chopped walnuts
(I also added 1/2 cup sultanas as I think a carrot cake should have sultanas or raisins)

Icing:
50 g butter at room temperature
25 g icing sugar
250 g cream cheese
a few drops of vanilla extract

The howto:
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Grease two 20 cm round cake tins and line the bases with parchment (to be honest, I don't have two 20 cm round cake tins, so I used one xx by xx pyrex ovenproof dish and did not bother to butter it). Add the oil, eggs and sugar into a large bowl. Whisk (using an electric whisk) until lighter and noticeably thicker. Gently fold in the carrot, and stir in the rest of the ingredients. Divide evenly between cake tins and bake for about 35 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean from the middle of the cake. Transfer onto a wire rack to cool. I obviously transferred the entire batch of batter into my one dish and baked for about 50 minutes, until a cake tester came out clean from the middle of the cake.

Prepare the icing by combining all ingredients in a bowl and mix using an electric whisk until well combined and smooth. Spread half of the icing on one of the cakes, add the other on top and spread the rest of the icing on top. Decorate with walnuts. 

Note, I had a 300 g tub of cream cheese so I increased the amounts of ingredients for the icing as follows: 60 g butter, 30 g icing sugar and 300 g cream cheese.

The verdict:
This was a great and moist carrot cake. And I think the raisins were a great addition. Personally, I could live without the nuts, but they were put in by request from the Culinary Consultant and I'm not complaining, just saying that if I would be making the cake just for myself, then I would have left them out. But it's a question of personal preference. One thing I do have to say though is that I didn't find this cream cheese icing nearly as good as the one I made for my red velvet cake. Next time I will use that on the carrot cake. Also, if making a two layer cake, where you would need frosting both for the middle and top of the cake, I think using 250 g cream cheese would be a bit stingy. But again, both me and the Culinary Consultant think there is no such thing as too much icing, whereas you might prefer a different icing-to-cake ratio. 

Garden update

It's the end of another week, and that means it's time to see what has happened in the garden during the last seven days. The weekend was absolutely lovely and warm, Saturday was sunny and today was ok and warm although not sunny. We spent quite a while both today and yesterday in the garden, I was mostly weeding and cleaning up the borders and the Culinary Consultant was busy in the greenhouse turning the soil and improving it. I'm actually surprised I enjoy gardening as much as I do, I used to hate weeding, whereas now I get such satisfaction from seeing a nice and clean, weed-free bed in the garden. I did my bit in the garden today and thought I had been outside for a bit more than an hour, but turns out I had been out there for over three hours! Time just flies. And there is so much to be done, it's just never ending. This year will just be a year of discovery, to see what grows where and the slowly starting to make decisions of what to keep for next year, what works, what we like, and what will end up going. And seeing the garden change almost every day now that the growing season is in full swing is just magical.

The plum tree is in flower, and I swear the flowers
 appeared over night. Previous day nothing, next day
a tree full of beautiful flowers. 

Can anyone say rhubarb pie!?!

Raspberries are growing strong, and I
spent a good while weeding out things
from the undergrowth to give the raspberries
maximum access to all the nutrients in the
soil. Hopefully that means more berries when
 that time comes around.

Not long before the pear tree is in bloom. 

Basil seedling are going strong. Hopefully I will be able to
keep them alive and will have a load of basil this summer.
I think basil is my all time favourite herb. 

These pretty fellows turned up in the flower bed.

The mint is starting to grow, I really need
 to come up with ways to use it as we have
 an almost endless amount of mint.

Looks like we will be having asparagus
 this week as well, and this time more
 than just two spears.

Gratin of mussels

My body's clock seems to be quite well tuned and getting used to waking up at 6 am, as I was fast asleep a bit past ten pm last night. I'm such a party animal! And although I did sleep in a bit this morning, I was still up at quarter to seven. But I don't want to sleep in too late on the weekends, as that will only make it harder to get up during the week. So instead, I have a few hours of crafting and blogging time on Saturday and Sunday morning while the Culinary Consultant sleeps. That lucky bastard gets to sleep until eight in the morning even on working days, and he tends to stay up rather late, so he does take the opportunity to sleep in a bit over the weekend. I used to be able to easily sleep past midday on weekends. I guess I'm officially old now, no longer able to sleep in the mornings. During my holiday, I established a nice sleeping pattern of going to sleep around 11.30 and waking up around 8 am. I think that would be ideal for me, being able to sleep until 8 am. But I guess the next time in my life when I'm able to sleep as I wish is when I get retired. And I'm sure by then I am one of those people who wake up at 4 am, complain that the day feels so long and then I fall asleep on the sofa at 8 pm. Hopefully shifting the clocks tonight won't upset my internal clock too much...

I am also slowly getting used to my commute, I spend some mornings dozing off a bit in the bus, other mornings I plan next week's menu, or just read a book. On the way back home, I try to get some work related reading done, and sometimes I just stare out the window with a completely blank mind. There is no point in thinking about all the time that is wasted sitting in the bus (or as was the case yesterday - waiting for a bus for over 45 minutes). This is the choice I made, and the price I pay for a nicer job is the longer commute. It won't get any better by complaining about it, so I might as well make the best of it. I have now used the car+bus combo for three weeks, and kept a diary of the expense as well as the time it has taken me every day. Next, I will drive in for the next three weeks and compare time and cost, and then decide on what is the best option in the long run. I'm so annoyed we get charged for parking at work. I'm sure that should be illegal...

After all those pointless ramblings, on to today's recipe. You know all that food your Mum used to make when you were a child? And then trying to re-create it years later, and it just doesn't look the same. This is something I remember my Mum making quite often for her and Dad. I don't think I ever tasted it, not sure if it was because we were never served this dish, or because we simply refused to eat it (I would assume the latter is the more accurate). 

Gratin of mussels (serves 4 as a starter):

1 dl (approx 1/3 of a cup) chopped parsley

1 dl (approx 1/3 of a cup) chopped leek

1 dl (approx 1/3 of a cup) chopped chives

1 clove of garlic, sliced

2.5 dl (1 cup) dry white wine

2.5 dl (1 cup) fish stock

2 dl (3/4 cup + 1 tbsp) single cream

2 tbsp flour in 2 tbsp water

black pepper (you can add salt, but the smoked salmon which is added later is salty enough for my taste)

1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

a pinch of dill

about 400 g mussels (thawed if frozen, smoked mussels will give nice added flavour)

100 g smoked salmon

150 g grated cheese (or more/less to taste)

chopped parsley

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Add the chopped parsley, leek, chives, garlic, wine and fish stock into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Let boil until the volume is reduced to half. Add the cream and bring to a low boil. While stirring, add the water and flour mixture in a thin stream and let bubble for a few minutes. Season with finely chopped garlic, black pepper and finely chopped dill (fresh is better, but dried will do).

In an oven proof dish, or individual ramekins, spread the mussels and salmon. Cover with the sauce. Top with grated cheese and chopped parsley. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until golden brown and bubbling. Serve with fresh bread or baguette.

The verdict:

In my memories, when my mum made this, it looked very different. But then again, she used to make it in individual servings, whereas I didn't have any ramekins which were the right size, my soufflé ramekins were too small. It was very tasty though. I can't remember whether I ever tasted my mum's version of it so I can't compare taste. One warning I have is to be very careful with the salt. I don't think this dish needs any added salt, especially if you use smoked mussels or smoked salmon. This makes a really great starter, and I took the leftovers with me to work for lunch the next day. It felt rather decadent to eat such amazingly good food for lunch at work, but it certainly made my day. To be honest, the dish is definitely best if served right out of the oven, re-heating does make the mussels a bit tough.

Spring interrupted

This week's spring watch is a bit gloomy, as my little seedlings aren't faring very well with all this frigid weather. And to be honest, I'm not faring very well with the cold either, I am sick and tired of constantly being cold to my bones, only managing to get truly warm while driving my car and blasting all heaters on maximum. If the weather doesn't turn more spring-like soon, I will bury myself in my bed and not get out until the sun is shining and it's at least ten degrees in the morning. I have been standing in the icy rain waiting for buses for longer than I care to think of lately. And how come the bus is always late on the rainy and windy days? But keep on believing, and maybe the spring will come eventually. 

I don't know what this is, but it's very
pretty with it's yellow flowers. 

I found a few of these little pink fellows hiding
 behind the daffodils in the flower bed. 

I have now harvested my first two spears of
asparagus. We enjoyed them the other night,
and I can honestly say it was the best asparagus
I have ever had. Cant wait for more of the same! 

The vines are springing to life!

Pollination going on around the rosemary bush.

Some more pretty flowers which I have no idea what they are...

Chicken and leek pie

I seem to be completely out of sync with my blogging schedule. I realise I didn't publish a single food blog post over the weekend! But it all got a bit crazy with a surprise visitor. Well, he wasn't so much of a surprise to the Culinary Consultant, just to me. Can you say communication breakdown? So it all ended with me running around like crazy trying to clean the whole house (which usually takes at least three hours) in less than an hour and a half. To his defence, the Culinary Consultant did chip in when I started to run up and down the stairs with a mop in my hand a completely panicked face. 

Any left over time I had in the weekend was spent crafting. I had a few cards I wanted to finish. Funnily enough, I seem to manage at least from time to time to photograph my cards in daylight, whereas I never manage that feat with my food. I always seem to eat when it's dark. But spring is coming, along with the slim chance that I manage to photograph some food in actual daylight! 

Today's recipe is just a simple an humble chicken and leek pie. I love pies. And I love to get the corner pieces with loads of pastry. Who wouldn't love flaky pastry? And the creamy hot filling oozing out when you cut the pie. I get hungry just looking at the picture!

Chicken and leek pie (serves 4-5):
3 tbsp olive oil
600 g mushrooms
1 leek
500 g chicken (I used thigh fillets as that was what I had in the freezer)
300 ml (1 1/4 cup) single cream
1 egg
150 g cheddar, grated
1-2 tsp mild curry powder
1-2 tsp tandoori curry powder
1 tsp chilli flakes
1 tsp ground pepper
a pinch of salt 
1/2 tsp pilau rice seasoning

1 pack of puff pastry, egg for brushing

The howto:
Start by preparing the mushrooms, leek and chicken. Peel the mushrooms (if you wish, I always peel mushrooms, although the Culinary Consultant thinks I'm crazy) and thinly slice them. Cut the leek in half and wash thoroughly before chopping. Dice the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Heat a tablespoon of oil in a large frying pan, and fry the mushrooms in two batches and set aside in a large bowl. Add another tablespoon of oil to the pan, and cook the leak briefly, I like it to still be green and a bit crunchy instead of limp and pale. Add to the bowl with the mushrooms. Add the last tablespoon of oil into the pan and cook the chicken until cooked through. While the chicken is cooking, preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. Add the chicken in with the mushrooms and leeks. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix. Line a pie tin with puff pastry, and add the filling. Add the pastry lid on top, and seal the puff pastry with a fork or by pinching the pastry base and top. Brush with egg and bake for 45 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown. 

The verdict:
I like the slight twist in seasoning to this otherwise very traditional pie. There is just something very comforting with a good pie. I also love how the leek brightens everything up with that bright green colour and gives you an excuse to pretend there is actually something healthy in there as well. Oh, who am I kidding. But like I said, the point of making a pie in a square instead of a round tin is that you have the corner pieces which have more pastry than you would get in a round tin. 

Tomato soup

Some days you just need a lovely and comforting bowl of hot soup. I am still not rid of my stubborn cold. Yesterday also turned out to be a day when life once again sent a reminder of how sudden things change without any warning. Life takes you on weird, winding paths, and sometimes it's very hard to see any reason for why things turn out like they do.
Talking about comforting soups, if you have been reading my blog for a while, you could not miss the fact that we had quite a tomato crop this summer. I just couldn't believe how much tomatoes our plants produced. However, as we only moved in in July, the wonderful previous owners grew the tomato plants and all we had to do was harvest the wonderful orbs of red yummyness. During high tomato season they matured so quickly that all I could do was to freeze them whole as I just didn't have time to make tomato sauce every evening after getting home from work, particularly as we were working on the Bachelor pad most evenings during last year's harvest season. And now I have the wonderful task of using up all that produce from our own garden. The great thing about the frozen tomatoes is that when they defrost, the skin is really easy to pop off without having to go through the time consuming process of blanching. 

My sister discovered this tomato soup recipe on the BBC good food website and encouraged me to try it. It's basic and doesn't have any fancy ingredients but it will have a great flavour, particularly if you will have access to really ripe, sweet tomatoes. It makes a great, affordable lunch full of flavour and it's healthy too. Add some (home baked) bread and it makes a perfect lunch.

Tomato soup (serves 4):
1-1 1/4 kg tomatoes
1 onion
1 carrot
1 celery stick
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp tomato puree
black pepper
a good pinch of sugar
2 bay leaves
1.2 litres (2 pints) vegetable stock (or less if tomatoes produce a lot of liquid)

The howto:
Prepare the tomatoes by chopping them in quarters and removing the cores. Then chop the onion, carrot and celery. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan, and sauté the chopped onion, carrot and celery. Cook until the vegetables start to soften a bit, about 10 minutes on medium heat. Add the tomato puree and give the vegetables a stir before adding the tomatoes, sugar, black pepper and bay leaves. Cook for about 10 minutes until the tomatoes soften. Add vegetable stock, if there is a lot of liquid from the tomatoes (my frozen tomatoes produce more liquid than fresh tomatoes, so I don't add very much stock at all, just a stock cube and a splash of water). Cook for about 25 minutes. Puree with a handheld blender or liquidizer, and season with either salt, sugar or pepper according to taste. Serve while hot or freeze in individual servings. 

The verdict:
I love the simple favours of this soup. When you cook with tomatoes, you should always add a bit of sugar to balance the flavours. As I'm using my own tomatoes, this soup actually cost next to nothing. It is the perfect way to use the frozen whole tomatoes, as they get a bit sloppy when they defrost. I prefer to handle them when half thawed, it's easy to peel off the skin and cut out the hard stem while they are still frosty, once completely thawed they are a bit challenging to work with. You can blanch the tomatoes or just leave the skins on, as the blending will get rid of any unpleasant bits of tomato skin.