Blueberries, so many blueberries

A week of summer vacation spent at the cabin in Eastern Finland resulted in litres and litres of blueberries (or, officially bilberries, I guess).

Most are in the freezer to enjoy during winter but some I baked into a pies and pancakes.

INGREDIENTS

150 g butter

1,5 dl sugar

1 egg

3 dl flour

1 tsp vanilla sugar

1 tsp baking powder

blueberries (recommended amount approx. 350 g)

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for the crumb:

100 g butter

1 dl sugar

2 dl flour

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for the vanilla custard:

3 dl milk

 1 egg

2 tbsp sugar

1,5 tbsp corn starch

vanilla sugar to your liking

Heat your oven to 200 degrees C.

In a large bowl, mix together soft butter and sugar. 

Add rest of the ingredients and mix until smooth. 

Grease a large (30 cm) pie dish with butter and spread the dough on it evenly. 

Add an even layer of blueberries, amount depending on your taste (more blueberries, more moisture).

Prepare the crumb by mixing all its ingredients in a bowl by picking & crumbling with your 

fingers and sprinkle it on top of the blueberries. 

Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes. 

For the vanilla custard, in a kettle mix together milk, egg, sugar and sieved corn starch. 

Heat up on medium heat while constantly whisking. 

Be careful not to boil, as the egg will cook and you will have clumps. 

In 5-10 minutes the custard should thicken. 

Remove from heat when consistency is to your liking, let cool a bit and add vanilla sugar. 

Cool to room temperature.

Best, if served immediately!

But, will do the following day too :) Enjoy!

The better pasta

Pasta bolognese is something we make quite often, but normally it's our fast food. Minced beef & canned tomatoes and it's ready. This is the better, slower version.

It's still nothing more than chopped onions and garlic, seared minced beef, seasoning (salt & black pepper, beef stock cube) and tomato pulp, but it has simmered for two hours in a cast iron pot.

Well, I loved this, but the thing about living with a two-year-old is the immediate feedback. And apparently this time it wasn't good. See, no sauce.

If you'd like to take my word, and not the two-year-old's, for it, here's the very simple recipe for this very tasty bolognese.

700 g minced beef

1 medium sized onion

2 garlic gloves

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp butter 

1 can of tomato pulp

beef stock cube

salt, black pepper

1 tbsp chili seasoned olive oil, optional

Peel and chop onion and garlic. 

Heat your cast iron pot on the stove, add (both) olive oil(s) and butter and let butter melt. 

Add onion and garlic and sauté for a few minutes. Mix so they don't burn. 

Add minced beef and quickly sear it. Season with salt and black pepper.

Add the can of tomato pulp and half a tomato can of water. 

Throw in the beef stock cube and mix until it dissolves. 

Reduce heat to low, cover the pot with a lid and leave to simmer for 1,5 to 2 hours, stirring occassionally. 

 

Coconut chicken

Super easy, super tasty, kid friendly, healthy. My criteria for everyday food. And this coconut chicken ticks each box.

This recipe makes enough for three (the kid eats as much as I do) and you'll probably have enough left overs to make a small lunch salad the following day.

i n g r e d i e n t s

500 g chicken fillets

2 dl flour

2 eggs

2 dl coconut flakes

paprika

garlic powder

Heat the oven to 200 C degrees.

Cut the chicken fillets into 1 cm thick strips. 

Place flour, paprika and garlic powder into a bowl and mix. 

Break eggs into another bowl and whisk to mix the yolk and the white.

Place coconut flakes into a third bowl.

One by one, dip the chicken strips into the flour & spice mix, then to eggs and then to coconut flakes. In each bowl, make sure that the chicken gets completely covered. 

Place the strips then on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Cook in the oven's middle rack until coconut has turned golden and crispy (approx. 15 minutes).

Serve with rice and veggies.

I often get asked if I make simpler versions of these dishes for the kid. I don't. This particular recipe would go down well with any kid, I'd imagine, but whatever I cook, the kid eats the same as we do. Only he eats it from an Angry Birds plate.

Celebrations

It's not typical Finnish food but still not too bad for Finland's Independence Day celebration dinner.

Salad was kind of an accidental creation but turned out to be absolutely yummy; romaine lettuce, spinach, canned peaches and fresh persimmons, topped with roasted chevre and balsamico syrup.

Happy Independence Day Finland.

Chili con carne

Your everyday, super simple version of it.

In an ideal world, I would make this out of finest beef which I'd mince myself and use only fresh ingredients. In reality, I don't have the time nor the money.

So your busy-but-poor-working-mum-recipe is as follows:

In a cast iron kettle, sear 400 g of minced beef.
Add 2 dl of canned corn and 2 dl of canned kidney beans (remember to rinse well!).
Add 1 can of tomato puré and 1 dl of beef broth.
Season to your liking with paprika, chili, garlic powder and taco seasoning.
Mix well and let simmer on low temperature, under a lid for about 30 minutes.
Serve with boiled rice and top with corn kernels and avocado cubes.

Someday I WILL make a fancy version of this. Maybe on my next vacation.

Retro dining

This is a dish from my childhood. I see it as retro, some as vintage. And if you ask my husband, he'd say it's antique. Funny guy.

I guess you could say it's a pie. A puff pastry pie filled with minced beef. The original, as I recall, had beef, onions and boiled egg in it. I added some kale too.

Puff pastry dough is store bought. You need 500 g of it. Let the frozen pastry sheets melt in room temperature for about 30 minutes and then roll them into two bigger sheets. If you're a superhuman, make your own dough.

FILLING:
Sear the minced beef (400 g), chopped onion (1 medium sized) and minced garlic (2 gloves). Season to your liking - I used salt, black pepper and paprika. Add shredded kale and cook for a few minutes.
Mash two hard boiled eggs with a fork. In a bowl, mix together the eggs and the beef, onion & kale mixture. Check the seasoning. At this point, I added some sweet chili sauce.

Lay the other sheet of dough on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Spread the filling evenly on top and cover with the remaning dough. Pinch the edges so that the sheets stick together.

Bake in 175 C degrees oven until golden (35-45 minutes).

Easy, quick and tastes good. My kinda food.

Roasted chickpeas.

I've been trying to come up with something to make out of chickpeas. Something that tastes good.

You see, I have tried, for example, chickpea burgers which did NOT taste good. They were, in fact, terrible and I have been banned from ever making them again. EVER.

But these turned out quite nice! I used dried chickpeas; rinse them, soak them overnight and pat them dry. Place in a bowl, add two tbsps of canola oil, three tbsps taco seasoning mix and mix well. Spread onto a baking tray and toast in a 150 C degrees oven for 35 to 40 minutes.

Not a bad snack for a Monday night movie!

Grilled kale

We have kale growing in our garden. And by growing, I mean taking over. Free kale over here for anyone who's interested. Just add some canola oil and garlic powder, and put it in the grill.

With the kale, roast some potatoes. Sprinkle boiled & cubed potatoes first with canola oil, then season with salt, paprika and garlic. Roast on the grill until golden brown.

While your at it, cook some pork tenderloin in the grill as well. Season it with salt, sear it quickly on the grill and then place and keep on the top rack of the grill until inner temperature reaches 68 degrees C. Serve it all with a side salad and some nice red wine.

Good times

It's always nice to have friends over for some dining & wining.

BBQ pork ribs my style. Cover with minced garlic and spice mix (garlic, paprika and chili powders and salt). Cook in a 150 C degree oven for 6 hours. Slather with BBQ sauce and place in hot grill for 10-15 minutes until practically charred.

Chives that grows in our garden has gone wild and I'm adding it to every dish. Here with butter and EVVO and on the grilled corn and toast.

Funny how eating BBQ ribs can make you feel dead tired the next day. It may also be caused by staying up until 2 am.