Slightly less deadly but just as delicious- carrot cake

Carrot cake deceptively sounds like something that should be super healthy. It's not. Especially not considering most of the recipes I found online, where there was 300ml oil in the dough and 880g sugar, half of it in the frosting! So, I made my own recipe, using kefir instead of most of the oil and leaving out most of the sugar. I also reduced the amount of cinnamon to a minimum because to me, cinnamon tastes of evil. Here's my version:

Slightly less deadly carrot cake:

For the dough (*- optional ingredients):
4 eggs
200g or less sugar
200ml kefir (or buttermilk)
100ml vegetable oil
250g flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
0.5 tsp salt
0.75 tsp cinnamon
350 g grated carrots
*three handfuls of frozen lingonberries
*70g slivered almonds
*70g coconut flakes

Preheat the oven to about 170-175 degrees, line a cake tin with baking paper. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, oil, buttermilk and sugar. In a smaller bowl, mix together flour, baking bowder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and the optional ingredients (if using). Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well. Fold in the carrots, making sure the dough is homogenous enough. Transfer everything into the cake tin and bake for about an hour or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Cool under a towel for 10 minutes, then remove from the tin and let it cool completely before frosting.

Frosting:
200g cream cheese
~80g butter, softened (I used 50g creamed coconut and 40g butter)
150g sugar (or more, if it's not sweet enough for you)

Whisk everything together until soft and fluffy. Spread over the cooled cake. Cut into squares and enjoy. Makes 12 huge pieces or 18 medium ones.

I've made this kind of cake twice now and it's been a raging success!

It's been ages! Variations on cookies.

So, I'm back. The summer was just too hot and busy and amazing for me to actually cook something I'd like to write about. Or cook anything at all.
Now, the winter is creeping closer and the nights are colder and it's time to spend more time behind the stove, where it's warm.
Since I've gone lazy over the summer, cookies seemed like the easiest choice. I've made them a couple of times now and they've turned out really well.

Basic cookie dough:

150g butter, softened
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla sugar (heaped)
280g flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
150g sugar
1/4 tsp salt

"Optional" additions - add one or two of these to the basic cookie mix to make it more interesting.

* 2 tbsp cocoa powder
* 100g nuts (I prefer hazelnuts, but whatever floats your boat)
* 100g raisins or other dried fruit
*~1tsp? cinnamon (I'm not a big fan of cinnamon so you're going to have to figure out the exact dosage)
* chocolate chunks, why not try mixing bits of white and dark chocolate?
* lemon zest or lemon juice
* a pinch or two of nutmeg (don't overdo it!)
* seeds, generously (I'm sure sesame seeds would do wonders even though I've never tried)
* crunched caramel candy (crunched mint flavoured candies and cocoa powder for fans of that particular combination!)
*...

Whisk together butter, egg and vanilla sugar, then add all the other ingredients. Mix well, using hands if necessary. Bake in a preheated oven at 175C, making sure they don't burn. Let cool (the ones with chocolate bits may need to cool for quite a while for the chocolate to harden), and enjoy.

Jackdaws are posh birds

They eat at restaurants now.

Rhubarb and coconut tart with curd

It's rhubarb season! Yesterday I went to the market and bought 2.5 kilograms of rhubarb. This will definitely not be the last rhubarb based thing I make this year. No sir.

Rhubarb and coconut tart with curd:

Crust:
1/2 of the crust recipe from here. Line a 26cm baking tin and set aside.

Filling:
500g rhubarb, chopped
400g curd paste (or cream cheese, I suppose)
grated zest of 1/2 lemon
1 egg
~100g sugar
100g coconut flakes
1 tbsp potato starch (second thought: skip it)

Mix everything together and pour into the prepared crust. Bake at 175C for about an hour or until it looks done. Cover with a towel and let it cool.
Serves 8-10 people.

Strawberry - rhubarb tart

Springtime! What does it mean? Rhubarb. Lots and lots of rhubarb to be made into delicious tarts.

Strawberry - rhubarb tart

1 yeast dough recipe
500g rhubarb, chopped
200g strawberry jam (I used frozen wild strawberry jam)
2.5 tbsp potato starch
~120g sugar

Line a medium sized baking tin with rolled out yeast dough and let it stand for about 10 minutes. In a large pot, mix the sugar, 1.5 tbsp starch and rhubarb and shake it up until the rhubarb pieces are covered in sugar. Mix the remaining 1 tbsp of the potato starch into the strawberry jam.
Spread the strawberry jam over the dough and cover it with the rhubarb-sugar mix. Bake at about 180C for about an hour or until the crust is nice and golden.
Cover it with a towel and let it cool for about an hour. Serve with vanilla ice cream.
Makes about 16 servings.

Even my mum liked this one.

Cherry bakewell tart

Writing a masters thesis is hard work and one has to reward themselves for a job well done. The cherry bakewell tart is one of my favourites, but making it is quite a hassle, so I only make it on special occasions. Finishing a thesis is a good enough reason, I think.

Cherry bakewell tart

Crust: 1/2 of the crust recipe from here.
Use it to thinly line a medium size baking tin. Preheat the oven to 170C. Cover the dough with baking paper and fill it with rice for weight. Bake the crust for about 15 minutes, then remove the rice and bake it for 5 more minutes. Set aside to cool.

Filling I: The cherry jam
300g cherries
 1tbsp potato starch
70g sugar (or to taste, I never measured that)

Boil the cherries and sugar with a little bit of water until cooked. Homogenise(sciency!) it with a blender. Mix the potato starch with 2 tbsp cold water or cooled(!!) cherry juice from the pot and quickly stir it into the cherry mush. Cook the jam for a little longer until it thickens and set aside.

Filling II: Almondy goodness
150g ground almonds
3 eggs
100g butter, softened
100g sugar
almond extract (1/2 tsp)

Whisk together the butter and sugar, followed by eggs, one at a time. Add the almond extract and fold in the ground almonds.

Assembly:
Cover the bottom of the crust with the cherry jam. Carefully pour Filling II over the jam. Bake at 175C for about 30 minutes until it's golden brown.

Glaze:
100g caster sugar
juice of 1/2 lemon

Once the tart is ready, let it cool a little, then pour the glaze over the tart and let it set for about an hour.
In theory, it should make about 12 servings. In practice...well, it's an amazing tart.

The tart can also be made in muffin tins. These tiny cherry bakewell tarts were made for Aapos birthday in November.

Recipe stolen and modified from here

Broccoli - mushroom quiche

A nice vegetarian quiche for my mums' birthday dinner.

Crust:
160g plain flour
50g rye flour
50g butter, softened
35ml oil
1 egg
2 tsp sugar
0.3 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
20ml milk or water

Mix the dry ingredients and whisk together the wet ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ones and mix well (use your hands!). Line an oven-proof glass dish with the pastry and set aside.

Filling:
250g broccoli, cut into medium-size florets
200g mushrooms, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
salt, pepper
350g cottage cheese
3 eggs
100g cheese, grated
2 tbsp oil

Fry the vegetables over low heat until the broccoli is soft, season with salt and pepper, set aside.
Meanwhile, thinly cover the bottom of the unbaked pastry case with some of the grated cheese. In a bowl, mix together the eggs, cottage cheese and the remaining grated cheese, season with salt and pepper.

Evenly distribute the fried vegetables over the dough, pour over with the cottage cheese-egg mix, making sure it's more or less even aswell. Bake at 170C for about an hour or until it looks done.
Makes 10-12 servings.

Peach and poppy seed tart

Another experiment, this time for my mums birthday.

Crust:
350-400ml flour
1 tsp baking soda
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 egg
65 g butter, melted
pinch of salt

grated zest of 1/2 lemon
60g sugar
35ml cooking oil

Mix together the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together butter, oil, egg, lemon juice and lemon  zest. Add the dry ingredients, mix well. Line a pie mold with the dough and set aside. Prepare the filling.

Filling:
2 packs sweetened vanilla curd (or cream cheese, I suppose)

1 tbsp sugar
1.5 eggs
2 tbsp melted butter
2 tbsp sour cream
0.5 tbsp flour
zest and juice of 1/2 lemon

300g canned peaches, drained and sliced
dodgy polish poppy seed pie filling (I suppose you could use poppy seeds mixed with honey and raisins instead)

Spread the poppy seed mix over the bottom of the unbaked crust, cover with sliced peaches. Carefully pour the curd mix over the peaches, making sure you don't displace any of them.

Bake at 180C for about an hour or until it looks done.

I like the way this tart turned out.

Matzo ball soup

Every now and then I've seen this soup on food blogs and wondered what it's like. Since I didn't know where to get some matzo meal, I couldn't make it until now.
When I went to the Passover celebration, they were selling matzo boxes and for the first time (for me anyway), packs of matzo meal. I had to get my hands on that!

The pack of crushed matzo sat in my cupboard for almost a month, until I finally decided to give it a go. The recipe itself is fairly simple, and requires few ingredients.

Matzo balls
1 egg
30ml water
20ml oil
1/4 tsp salt
dash of pepper
60ml matzo meal

Whisk the egg with oil and water, add salt and pepper and mix in the matzo meal. Cover with plastic wrap and let it stand in the fridge for a couple of hours or overnight.

Matzo ball soup
750ml stock (vegetable or chicken or whatever strikes your fancy)
2 medium carrots, sliced
some sweet potato (I have no idea how much I used, perhaps 60g?), cut into sticks
Fresh dill, if you wish

Bring the stock to boil. With wet hands, roll little balls (2-3cm diameter) out of the matzo ball dough and drop them into the boiling stock. Boil for about 8 minutes, then add the carrots. After 4 more minutes, add the sweet potatoes and let everything boil for another 8-10 minutes. Garnish with dill. Enjoy.
Serves two.

To me, it tasted similar to meatball soup, something I haven't eaten since I became a vegetarian and what used to be one of my favourites. Definitely a keeper.

Sweet potato soup

I've had this kind of soup once before, in France. All I remember about it is that it tasted absolutely amazing, so I've been waiting for the chance to make it myself.

Yesterday, while in a shop, I stumbled upon a crate of these magical vegetables and bought one of them. In Estonia, sweet potatoes are worth their weight in gold. Figuratively. They're actually a little cheaper than that. I almost felt like I should dress up for the cooking.

At first, my mind was blown - every time I'm dealing with a new kind of vegetable, I look it up on Wikipedia. I like to learn about the cultural background and different ways of preparation. This time, it was different. I thought they were from the same genus as normal potatoes, but they're not. Silly botanist. They're from the genus Convolvulaceae, which means they're closer to bindweed. How strange, I never would have guessed something edible came from that genus. I even forgot to look up the culture bit.

The recipe I found was with cauliflower, but since I didn't have any, I made it with carrots instead. Feel free to try it out the original way.

Sweet potato soup
3 tbsp oil
1 small onion chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 level tsp turmeric powder
2 medium carrots, cut into rough chunks
1/2 sweet potato (350g), cut into rought chunks. Yes, they're humongous.
1l veggie stock, or chicken stock if you wish
50ml milk, or coconut milk
pepper, cayenne pepper

In a large pot, heat the oil and fry the onions and garlic until soft, then mix in the turmeric. Add chopped carrots and potatoes and cook until they're a bit softer too. Pour the stock on top of the vegetables and cook until they're soft. Puree with a blender, then bring it to boil again and stir in the milk. Adjust seasonings and enjoy.
Makes 4 servings.

Personally, I think it came out really nice, but I think it will be better with cauliflower. I still have half a potato left, so I'll try that next. Coming soon on this blog... or something.

Chocolate chip cookies

Who doesn't like cookies? And wholewheat flour makes them *sound* healthy, right?

160g butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla sugar
1 egg
160g brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
150g flour
150g wholewheat flour
100g dark chocolate, chopped
100g white chocolate, chopped

Preheat your oven to 170C. Whisk together butter, egg and vanilla sugar. Add sugar. Add all other ingredients except the chocolate chips and mix well. If you want, you can add 2tbsp cocoa powder to make them even more chocolaty. Finally, add the chopped chocolate. Roll into balls (~3-4cm diameter) and slightly flatten them on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Make sure they are spaced well apart, about 4 cm, because the cookies will expand.
Bake for about 13 minutes, or a little longer if you want them extra crispy.

Renew your gym membership.
Enjoy.

Red lentil dal

Today, I failed my driving theory exam by 1 point. Grue. It's also snowing again, so much for my hopes of the snow melting so I can ride my bike again. Ah well, perhaps it'll get warmer in April.

I've had a thing for Indian food for quite a while now. Today I made one of my favourites - dal. It's really very simple and a true comfort food, especially for days like this.

Red lentil dal:

2 tsp oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup red lentils (~120 ml)
1 cup water plus more if needed (~240 ml)
1 cup tomatoes (~240ml)
0.5 tsp salt
0.5 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp mild paprika
0.5 tsp hot paprika
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp chili flakes

Fry the onion and garlic in a saucepan until the onion bits become transparent. Add lentils, tomato sauce, water and all the spices except the chili flakes and cook stirring every now and then until the lentils are done, about 20 minutes. Add more water if it looks too thick. Mix in the chili flakes and cook for two more minutes. Adjust flavourings, making sure it has plenty of salt and is hot enough for you. Serve over rice.
Makes three to four servings for a small person.

Spaghetti with sundried tomatoes and pine nuts or lament for Trehv

Something horrible happened on 14th of February this year. One of my favourite restaurants in Tartu closed its doors. Their food was affordable even to poor students, generously sized and unbelievably delicious. Their warm strawberry-banana crumble was to die for, but what made the strongest impression on me was this pasta dish they served. I wasn't a big fan of pasta before I went there, but Trehv made me appreciate pasta again. Tagliatelles with sundried tomatoes, peppers, carrots and pine nuts. Oh. My. God.
But now, they're gone, and their amazing pasta with them.

I had two choices - carry on living without being able to eat that amazing dish ever again or make it myself. Naturally, I went with the best option.

So here goes:

Pasta a la Trehv or spaghetti with mushrooms, sundried tomatoes and pine nuts:

120g (dry) spaghetti, boiled
200g mushrooms, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 tbsp oil
6 sundried tomatoes, chopped
2 tbsp oil from the sundried tomatoes jar
2 tbsp pine nuts
salt and pepper to taste

Boil the pasta as instructed on the package. While the pasta is boiling, chop the vegetables. In a pot, fry the onions and mushrooms with a little salt and pepper in the 1 tbsp of oil until done. Drain the pasta and mix it with the vegetables. Add the chopped sundried tomatoes and the sundried tomato oil. Cook while stirring for about 2 minutes or until all components are warm. Turn off the heat and mix in the pine nuts. Prepare to ascend to culinary heaven.
Makes three portions for a small person.

Yes, this recipe has pine nuts. No, I never learn.

We are surrounded by the strangest things

Yesterday me and Roju sat at the creperie (inventively called "Crepp") and ate ... wait for it ... crepes. When it was time to pay, I pulled out my wallet and with it an old receipt:

The cashiers name means "lap cat" in Estonian, which is absolutely adorable.

Less adorable:

This horrific composition was stuck in a flowepot at the coffee room at my uni. Botanists really hate animals, apparently.

My own sourdough rye bread. Aw. Yeah.

I've been wanting to make sourdough bread for quite some time. As you all know, sourdough requires a starter culture. There are several ways to acquire one: first, you could make it yourself by fermenting bread or fruit for a couple of days. The problem with that method is that it may not turn out strong enough for the first couple of batches of bread to rise properly. The second method is to get a starter from someone who already has a good, working one. Lazy as I am, that's exactly what I did. Since I don't know anyone who makes their own bread, I had think of a clever way to get my hands on some starter.

Once again, I was rescued by The Internet.

I went on a foodie forum and asked people in my area if any of them would be so kind and share their starter with me. I got two replies, which was more than enough. A couple of days later, I was the proud owner of a little plastic box full of greyish, fermented goo and a set of instructions. I am forever grateful, nice lady.

Making sourdough bread has two steps.
First, the evening before you want to start baking, you mix the starter with some water (I used 400ml) and enough rye flour to give it the thickness of yoghurt. Then you leave it to ferment for at least 12 hours, preferably in a warm place. You'll know if it's done by the foam forming on top.
Next, you add more rye flour, salt (1 tsp), sugar (3 tsp, heaped) and caraway seeds (1 tsp) to taste (I had my mum taste it since I can't - due to reasons mentioned in the previous post). The dough should be just soft enough to be stirred with a spoon. This is also the point where you take a new starter (two tablespoons for making one loaf).

Then you ladle everything into a loaf tin, smooth it out with wet hands, cover with plastic wrap or a towel and leave it to rise in a warm for an hour or three.

 

When the dough has doubled in size, preheat your oven at 225C and bake for 15 minutes. Then, turn the heat down to 200C and bake for about 30 minutes, making sure the crust doesn't burn. Finally, turn the heat down to 180C and let it bake for about 25 more minutes (total baking time should be around 70 minutes).
Take your bread out of the oven, brush it with wet hands and let cool under a towel for at least an hour and a half.

Since I forgot to take a starter when I was supposed to, I had to take it when the bread was almost ready to be baked, resulting in my bread having a crater in it. Ah well.
The starter should keep in the fridge for up to two weeks. It can also be frozen, but that may reduce its activity.

If you ignore the bitter undertaste caused by my curse, my bread was amazing.

Of course, this didn't happen without casualties, good things rarely do. Mainly, my bread got stuck in the loaf tin and I had lots of trouble getting it out in once piece. It was soft and fluffy on the inside, but the crust was STUCK. I tried to force it out with a spatula. The bread won. The spatula shattered. Note to self: next time, use baking paper or butter.

Hnnngh, I've been cursed!

So, as you could tell from my previous post, I made a kringel with pine nuts. Of course, I didn't use all of them, which means I've been snacking on the leftovers all weekend.
And...weird things started happening.

I had porridge for breakfast today, and it tasted like the milk I used was a bit off. Bitter. I ignored that and went about my daily things until I sat down to have lunch, which was pea soup and a garlic sandwich. Again, everything had a pretty strong bitter taste to it, the only thing that tasted like it should was the garlic. I tried to drink kefir, no change. I ate honey and it was bitter. Cookies? Same. Horrible.

Of course, when this happens to you, you get worried. So you google it. Taste disturbances are usually a symptom of brain tumours or diabetes. No. It's not cancer. It's pine mouth.

Wow.
I'm hungry but I don't want to eat anything, because the taste will come back and linger for an hour after I've finished my food.
According to Wikipedia, this can last for weeks.

Somebody put me in a coma.

Jooseps birthday kringel

Since my last kringel was a raging success, another friend of mine has asked me to make one for their birthday. This time, it will be a savoury one, which means another challenge for me, since I haven't done that before either. What makes it even trickier is that I'm vegetarian, and selfishly, I want my kringel to be something I can enjoy as well. Which means  excluding the best part (according to some) of a pizza kringel - ham. So I needed to think of something that is a) absolutely delicious b) isn't a body part. And Joosep isn't a fan of mushrooms or peppers, so they're out. Which left me little choice, since those were the two things I would have used. I mean, cheese and onions are nice on their own, but they're not enough. I want it to be awesome. At first, I had a blasphemous thought - soy slices, fried with spices and soy sauce would probably fool my carnivore friends. That would be cheating. Also, even to me, soy slices have this Soylent Green aura to them. So, over the course of a week, I've been thinking about components, with the brightest ideas hitting me the night before the party (sundried tomatoes!) and THE best idea reaching me when I was shopping for food. Pine nuts. This is going to be amazing.
Mind, I'm writing this before I've even started baking it, so we'll see what actually happens.

Dough:
40g yeast
375ml warm milk
2 eggs
120g butter, softened
~700g flour
2 tbsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt

Dissolve yeast in warm milk and in another bowl, whisk the eggs and butter (that makes them easier to incorporate) and mix everything together. Add flour, sugar and salt. Knead well. Kneading is important, I can't stress this enough. Give it a proper beating, about 10 minutes, until the dough stops sticking to your hands. Cover with a towel and let it rise in a warm place for about an 45 minutes, punch down and leave it for another 45ish minutes.

Filling:
50g butter, melted
1 large onion, chopped and fried in a tablespoon of butter. Seasoned with salt and pepper.
100g sundried tomatoes, cut into small pieces
50g pine nuts
100g roasted almonds, chopped
300g grated cheese
40g grated parmesan
oregano
1 egg

Fry the chopped onion while the dough is rising and let cool. When the dough is ready, evenly roll it out into a rectangle, making sure it's pretty thin. Cover the rectangle with melted butter, leaving 2 cm on one of the long sides so it will stick when you roll it up. Add all other components, spreading them evenly across the dough. Now for the tricky part. Roll up the dough, stretch if it looks too short. With scissors, cut it up lengthways, making sure the fillings don't fall out. Braid it as shown in my previous kringel recipe and carefully transfer to a baking tray. Pick up all the bits that fell out and stick them back on the kringel. Let it stand for 10 minutes, meanwhile preheat the oven to 165C. When all is done, brush the kringel with egg, stick the tray in the oven and bake for about an hour, until the kringel is nice and golden. While baking: I wish I could take pictures of the smell. Oh. My. God.
Enjoy. Makes one large kringel slightly too big for my silicone mat.

Hopefully it tastes as awesome as it smells!
Happy birthday, Joosep!

Special: Rob's chocolate poundcake!

 By Rob:

I want to have my cake and eat it too. And by that I mean, I want my girlfriend to make me some cake and then I eat it. The only problem with this is that Rita, who is a cake-baker par excellence, is around about 1,200 miles away, and even with airmail, that cake is going to go stale.

So she made the radical suggestion that I bake a cake myself. Having used an oven before, and achieved a C in Food Technology at school, I was not one to back down from this challenge.

That’s not to say it went well.

First, I carefully (skim) read the instructions that had been laid out for me:

“100g chocolate
3 big tablespoons of cocoa powder (afterthought: maybe not so big)
170g sugar
170g butter
170g flour
4 eggs
no salt if using salted butter  (if not, add a pinch)
1 level tsp baking powder

Chop the chocolate bar into nice chunks. Preheat your fan-oven to 160ish degrees (170C if using a normal oven). Grease a loaf tin or a glass bowl and set it aside. In a bowl, blend butter and sugar until fluffy. With a whisk (or a blender, I suppose), add eggs, one at a time (wait until it's incorporated until you add the next one). Mix flour, salt, baking powder and cocoa powder, add to the butter and egg goo and mix. Mix in the chocolate chunks. Spoon batter into the prepared loaf tin/glass bowl, bake for about an hour.
If the top looks like it's getting too dark, cover with a lid for a bit. Test with a narrow knife or a toothpick for doneness. If you stick it in and it comes out clean it's done. Let the cake cool for about 15 minutes, flip it out of the bowl, let it cool some more. Nom.”

I then set to the mission with all the zeal of a hero from romance literature, which would have been appropriate had the task not required specific measurements and precise processes to complete.

Clouds of flower in the eyes later, I establish that 170g of butter is an obscene amount and pile the sugar on top.

I have a Tesco Value blender which, in its instructions, advises use for periods no longer than 45 seconds, upon which time it is prone to spontaneous combustion or failure. The thought of its shuriken-like appendage melting off its moorings and shattering the glass mixing bowl in my hands would not deter me however, nor would the very real and offensively acrid smell of burning plastic. I pureed that butter and sugar to a consistency akin to ectoplasm and forged on.

I remember at this time to turn on the oven and grease the bowl, requiring more butter, which makes my arteries forcibly retract from my hands in an attempt to prevent me from subjecting them to the torture I was under orders to design.

I then set about lobbing eggs like hand grenades against the side of the glass bowl and then practicing my field surgery skills by picking out bits of shattered eggshell. By the fourth egg there is a long slew of egg-white goo stretching from the mixing bowl to the empty, broken shells a foot away in a bowl of their own.

This mess is compounded by the adding of flour and baking powder, making it seem like my kitchen was inhabited by a troll with a cold and a coke addiction.  Gratuitous paper towelling later, and it was time to spoon in the cocoa.

“Heaped” apparently does not equate to mountainous, but that’s hindsight talking. I dump my glorious brown spoonfuls into the mix and immediately add the solid, milk chocolate chunks. Before mixing.

With my temperamental blender a loose cannon at the best of times, it’s banshee-like wails at the interference of these chunks meant the mixing process had to be done with a fork. The result was lumpy and of pitch-like consistency, until I once again braved the blender and obliterated the last of the stubborn pockets of cocoa.

Splatter-shot now once again required cleaning and I foolishly left the blender stood upright in the mix. It’s see-saw descent onto the kitchen side made sure to include maximum black-brown discharge across the shiny white surface, doubling the task of cleanup.

With the bowl now full of the chunky brown mixture and several pieces of cutlery smothered in floury, bitter crème, I put the cake into the oven and spent 20 of the 50 minutes cooking time in repairing the damage this foul invention had wrought on my kitchen.

When it finally emerged from its slow roasting, the cake had risen and hardened like a bakery product. I was stunned.

Taking it out of the oven to cool, and later popping it crisply from the bowl, I was even more surprised to find the mayhem that had ensued was now so orderly and cake-looking. And cake smelling. The chocolate aroma was so strong I could smell it upstairs, and now taking a small piece at point blank range and taste-testing it, I found it so overpowering I could still taste the fragment 40 minutes later at the gym (which I felt the need to visit, having seen what goes into such a creation).

Finally, after two hours of cooling and marvellous Sunday dinner, the cake was cut and had with tea. Thankfully, it’s immense density of flavour had mellowed somewhat and the slice was eminently edible. My dad told me to pass on the message that it’s “fantastic” and argued that when Rita had given the recipe, one couldn’t say anything else.

He took two pieces with him as we went off to London for the week, and I have half of it still in my fridge awaiting consumption. Were it not for the milk chocolate chunks however, I would be sure my overzealous cocoa portions would have made it unbearably strong. Nevertheless, I count it as a success for my girlfriend, and write this as a formal endorsement of her food-blogging capacity. If a busy and culinarily incapable man such as myself can enjoy the recipes found herein, so can you .

Kringel time!

Yesterday was Rojus birthday party. The theme was Glam. The party was amazing. The party games were lots of fun and we never ran out of wine.

As a part of my birthday present to Roju I offered to bake her a pastry for her party. Since I've never baked a kringel before, it was an adventure for both me and my mum, who graciously agreed to help me with it.

Here's what you will need:

60g bakers yeast
450ml warm milk
4 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
225g softened butter
1200g flour
4 large eggs

I used the biggest pot we had and it was barely big enough to contain the rising dough. Crumble yeast into a bowl/pot, pour in the milk and mix until the yeast has dissolved. Add sugar, salt and eggs, mix a little, add the flour, mix a little bit more and finally, add the butter. Knead well, until the dough comes loose from the sides of the pot. If it's still too sticky, add more flour. Let the dough rise for about an hour, preferably in a warm place.

Meanwhile, prepare the filling.

1.5 jars chocolate spread
300-400g raisins, soaked in hot water
150g white chocolate, chopped
300g dried cherries, chopped
300g hazelnuts, roasted and chopped

Since I ended up doing two pastries, I divided everything in two.
Roll the dough into a rectangle, it has to be quite thin. cover the dough in chocolate spread, leaving about 2cm from one side empty (it's going to be rolled up and the naked dough sticks better). Evenly distribute other fillings over the dough and roll it up.

Should you want to make it a little longer, this is the time to stretch the roll. With scissors, split the roll lengthways. Don't worry, the filling won't fall out. Much.

 Twist the two halves around each other (like this), transfer carefully to a baking tray. Give it a shape, brush it with egg and bake at 170C for about 40 minutes or until the top is nice and golden.
Let the kringel cool under a towel for about an hour.

Chocolate glaze:

Heat 100ml whipping cream until it's almost boiling (but don't boil!), mix with 200g dark chocolate and pour over the cooled kringel. Give it an hour to set and enjoy your delicious pastry.
It really was delicious, by the way.

Happy 25th, Roju!

Birthday vanilla-raisin stritzel

Once again it's time to get all the family together and celebrate me getting one year closer to my death. Or, I guess, celebrate my birthday. Ignore the cynicism, I'm actually quite happy they're coming. I get to spend time with my family and bake interesting things.

I usually make a cake, but this time I decided to take the easy way out and make this ...stritzel...twist...pastry...thing?

Vanilla-raisin stritzel
Modified. Makes one long pastry.

Dough:
12g yeast or 1/2 pack of dry yeast
1.5 dl milk
1/4 egg
0.5dl sugar
0.5tl salt
3.5-4 dl flour
50g butter, melted

Filling:
200g curd paste
150g butter, melted
0.5dl sugar
2 small packs of vanilla custard mix (dodgy, I know)
1.5 tbsp vanilla sugar
a couple handfuls of raisins

a little egg for glazing
caster sugar for dusting

First, prepare the dough.  Break the egg into a glass and whisk slightly with a fork. Dissolve the yeast in warm(not hot!) milk, or if using dry yeast, mix it with the flour first. Add 1/4 of the egg mix, butter, sugar and salt, then mix in the flour. Knead well. Leave it to rise for about 30 minutes.

For the filling, mix the curd, butter, sugars, custard mix and raisins. There's no egg here, but don't worry, the starch in the custard mix will thicken it.

Roll the dough into a rectangle, add the filling and braid as shown here. Carefully transfer to a baking tray, or make it easier for yourself and roll the dough out on a tray to begin with. Let the whole thing rise for 15 more minutes. In the meantime, preheat the oven to about 180C(-190C). Brush the stritzel with some leftover egg mix to make it shiny and stick it in the oven for about 30 minutes.

When it's golden brown it's done! Let it cool a little, then dust with caster sugar. Enjoy.

Hangover food

I took this picture almost two weeks ago, when unspeakable things happened the night before (read: mixing drinks is a bad idea).

This is THE food for the horrid morning that follows a rough night.

Mushroom pilaf and why I love my freezer

Yesterday I decided to make a dish my grandmother used to make very often, but which I haven't eaten for over three years becuse I turned into one of those annoying vegetarians who don't usually accept food with meat picked out.

After a quick look through my cookbooks and The Internet, I found a decent recipe and modified the hell out of it, as you do.

Mushroom Pilaf
1 cup/240ml long grain rice
2 cups/480ml veggie stock (or whatever you prefer)
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 medium carrot, grated
~150g mushrooms, sliced (estimated amount)
2 tbsp cooking oil
spices (0.5 tsp black pepper, 0.5 tsp turmeric, a little cayenne pepper, two pinches of cumin, 0.5 tsp paprika)

First, you bring the stock to boil in a deep saucepan and keep it warm on a low flame. Then, on a frying pan you saute all the vegetables with spices of your choice, and when they're done, add the unboiled rice. Fry the rice for a couple of minutes, mixing well. Spoon everything into the saucepan with the stock, bring to boil, reduce heat and cover with a lid. This is also the point where you can taste if you got the spices right. Let all this mess simmer for about 20 minutes or until the rice is done, turn off the stove and let it stand for another 10 minutes or so.
Makes about 5 portions for a small person

Afterthought: The rice was a little too soft, so you should add less stock, maybe 400ml. I think the vegetables give out extra liquid. Also, I need to learn how to take pictures of food so it looks as good as it actually is.

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When Roju was coming to my birthday party, she asked me if I needed anything from the shop and I said I needed one large pack of whipping cream for my pavlova (I will write about that sometime later this week). She was nice and bought two. That extra package stood in my fridge, unopened and lonely, until it reached it's date of expiry, which is when I remembered that good stuff should be used and decided to make a creamy pasta sauce for when I'm feeling especially decadent. Or something.
I haven't eaten it yet, but from the numerous tastings I can say it turned out very nice. 

Creamy Pasta Sauce
400g can of tomatoes
1 cup/240ml whipping cream
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
salt, pepper, basil

In a saucepan, simmer the onion and garlic until they are cooked. Add the tomatoes and spices and simmer for about 10 minutes. Now, add most of the cream (leave about 2 tbsp) and simmer for 20 more minutes, mixing every now and then, until the sauce is slightly reduced. In the end, add the remaining cream, mix and serve on pasta. Or in my case, ladle portions into bags and freeze.
Makes 4 portions for a small person.

Man, catfood is amazing these days

Today, at the mall, I saw this:

  

Gourmet indeed.

Translation for those who don't speak Estonian: canned cat food (dragon, turkey).

Seriously guys. Dragons are an endangered species. PETA, where are your eyes?

Carrot soup

Rob was visiting last week, and it was great. This was an exceptionally succesful holiday, almost all planned activities got done in the end. We went skiing, we walked on the river, we watched the movies we wanted to see, we talked, we went to the pub with my friends, we ate at that awesome restaurant that serves unbelievably greasy but awesomely delicious food. 
Celebrated my birthday. Cooked all day. It's so great to have a willing helper at hand!

Rob went back home this morning. After over a week of indulging in all kinds of fatty, sugary and delicious culinary stuff, it's time to take a break.

Here goes my first...

Carrot soup (Rob's mum gave me the initial push)

4 medium carrots (or 2 huge ones)
1 potato
1 small onion
25g butter
1l vegetable stock
salt, pepper, nutmeg or cayenne pepper if you wish.

Put all vegetables(roughly chopped) in a deep saucepan and fry them in the butter for about 15 minutes (the carrots should be a little softer at this point). Season with salt and pepper. Add the stock and boil for another 15 minutes. Puree with a blender. Adjust seasonings.
Yum.

XD

Rob is feeling rather uneasy about me blogging, mainly because he never knew I was capable of such things. Whenever he asked me to write something longer than a sentence, I whined and moaned and cowered. Mostly because I really didn't know what to write about. Now I do, and there you go. Blogs are easy.

Or.

Maybe I've just been replaced.
MWAHAHAHA

In the beginning there was... pound cake.

I've had the idea to keep a blog for quite some time now. So far, lazyness has kept me from doing it, but there's only so much procrastinating a person can tolerate... and eventually you run out of stuff to do instead of what you should be doing.

So here it is. First post.
Shiny.

At around 2am in the morning, as I was stumbling around foodgawker I got an IDEA. You know how it goes. The idea becomes an obsession. The obsession becomes a need...
So, first thing after I woke up at around midday was to drag myself to the shop and buy a can of condensed milk and two packs of butter. And kiwis, but I will talk about those later.

And I made... Condensed milk pound cake (recipe below)! As it baked, it filled our entire flat with the most fantastic smell. When it was done, I took it out of the oven, told my brother to keep his hands off until I get back... and left for the gym. Leaving my dear brother sitting next to the cake.
I am so evil.

When I got home a couple of hours later, I discovered my cake unmolested, so I sliced it up and stuck 2/3 of it in the freezer. Pound cake freezes perfectly.
If I had known about starting a blog, I would have taken a picture.

I had a slice of it later with a bowl of fruit salad (that's where the kiwi comes in) and it was definitely the best pound cake I have ever made. It was moist and aromatic and light(!!!) and just sweet enough.
I will definitely make that again. And you should too.

Recipe, with slight modifications:
226g unsalted butter at room temperature
200g flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
100g sugar
half a small bottle of butter vanilla flavouring
1 tsp salt (I used a little less because I'm afraid of using too much)
240g sweetened condensed milk
3 large eggs (I lost some of the egg white because I dropped an egg in the sink...)

Preheat the oven at 160C. Forcefully mix the butter with the sugar. Add the condensed milk, mix some more. Add the vanilla flavouring. In another bowl, mix dry ingredients, then pour them on top of the wet ingredients. Mix some more (getting tired now?). At last, add the eggs and mix some more. Transfer the batter into a loaf pan. Bake for about an hour and a bit until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool under a towel. Prepare to have more reasons to visit the gym.

I refuse to butter my loaf tin for cakes that are mostly made of butter. They don't slide out, but they are very easy to remove once they've cooled. Lazy.