Köyhät ritarit Goes Vegan

This week I wanted to try a vegan version from an old classic Köyhät ritarit. Köyhät ritarit is basically bun or white bread slices that are first soaked in milk or cream and then fried on a pan with butter to get beautiful golden brown surface. Some tend to make milk and egg mix but egg is not necessary. In the vegan version I just replaced the cream/milk with vegan oat milk and butter with margarine. I chose thicker milk that is meant for coffee because it's consistence is something between milk and cream. 

Fried buns are great with whipped cream, vanilla sauce or ice cream. Vegan versions are sold at least here in Finland in most of the bigger stores. Then some berries or jam and the end result is so delicious! Best part is that if you have buns or white bread that is beginning to get dry you can use those in this treat. Wonderful and tasty way to reduce food waste. I tend to make a bigger amount of cinnamon buns and then put some to the freezer. From there I can take good cinnamon buns to eat as such or use in some other dishes like in Köyhät ritarit.  I will put the cinnamon bun recipe to the end of the post, so you can make good buns to your freezer too!

Köyhät ritarit

cinnamon buns/ white bread

1 1/2 dl thick oat milk

1/2 tsp vanilla sugar

margarine

 vegan vanilla sauce/ ice cream/ whipped cream

berries like raspberries and blueberries

1. Slice the buns or bread. Mix together oat milk and vanilla sugar. Soak the buns in milk so they get moist.

2. Fry the buns in margarine from both sides until golden brown.

3. Serve with berries and vanilla sauce. 

Vegan Finnish Cinnamon buns

1 L oatmilk 

250 g + 50 g margarine

2 dl sugar

1 tsp salt

8 g cardamom

50 g yeast

about 2 kg wheat flour

cinnamon

sugar

farine sugar + water

Step 1. Mix salt and yeast to a paste. Add sugar, salt and medium warm milk. Mix.

Step 2. Add 250 g soft margarine. Start adding flour little by little. When the pastry begins to be too thick to mix with a spoon start working with your hand. Add flour little by little, like you would make a bread. When the pastry doesn't stick to your fingers anymore you can let the pastry rest for 45 minutes covered with a towel.

Step 3. When the pastry is about twice the size you can start making buns. Make simple round buns with no cinnamon or make cinnamon buns as follows: Take a bigger piece from the pastry. Put some flour to the table and roll out the pastry to 0,5-1 cm. Apply warm margarine all over the pastry. Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top of the margarine. Roll the pastry and cut buns from it.

Step 4. Let the buns rest 30 minutes. Preheat the oven 225 Celsius degrees. Mix together water and farine sugar to make liquid that you can use to brush the buns. Sprinkle some almond flakes on top. Bake buns about 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Delicious summer week to you all!

Sannu

Autumn Story: Dinner with Poets

Today I let the pictures do the talking and share two great recipes with you. This Autumn Story is inspired by poets and melancholy of the season. Autumn is the season of contrasts, warm buttery pie crusts and cold winds. It is the best time of the year to gather friends together and organize a bohemian style evening party. Usually letter shaped cookie cutters are used when making sugar ornaments or other sweet treats. You can experiment with the cutters and cut sliced veggies or decorate a savory cabbage pie with pastry letters. Choose your favorite verses and surprise your friends with a creative way. Fun idea would also be to decorate each one's plate with one word and then combine the words to a poem in a group. 

I am sharing two recipes to add to the evening menu. Traditional Finnish Cabbage Pie is a must for the Autumn season when new white cabbages come to the stores. Butter and quark in the crust make this dish super tasty and fulfilling. Fresh bulgur wheat salad gets it's character from lemon and lemon pesto. Letters cut from beetroots or carrots fit in perfectly. Just let the beetroot letters rest for little while before adding to the mix. Otherwise you will have red salad instead of pretty green and yellow. All recipes are relatively easy. Cutting letters is the task that takes most time. You can begin by cutting the veggie letters you need and keep the letters moist in cold temperature before serving. Lets get cooking, baking and crafting!

Poem on the pie: 

Läpi yön käy yrttien henki 

ja kuuma huokaus maan. 

Nocturne by Kaarlo Sarkia.

Poem on the salad:

Turhaan, oi turhaan

     tartun ma hetkehen kiini;

riemua ei suo

     rattoisa seura ei viini.

Elegia by Eino Leino

Traditional Finnish Cabbage Pie

To the crust

250 g butter

250 g quark

4 dl wheat flour

1 tsp baking powder

Filling

one small cabbage

3 carrots

2 onions

water

0,75 dl broken barley

3 tbsp dark syrup

veg. oil

2 tsp apple vinegar

1 tsp white pepper

1 tsp marjoram

salt

black pepper

Step 1. Mix together flour and baking powder. Add butter in cubes. Mix flour and butter with fingers.

Step 2. Add quark and mix properly.

Step 3. Cover the pastry with cling film and let it rest in the fridge.

Step 4. Prepare the filling. Mince onion and cabbage, grate carrots. Sweat the onion in oil on a big kettle. Add little bit of water and small part of the cabbage. When the cabbage becomes slightly softer add more cabbage and grated carrots. Cook barley in a separate kettle.

Step 5. When the veggies are soft mix together barley, syrup and spices.

Step 6. Take half of the pastry and roll it to the bottom. Spread the filling on top. Roll the other half of the pastry on top. Cut off extras and secure the seams.

Step 7. Use the extra pastry to the letters. Attach the letters with a little bit of water. Use fork or barbecue stick to make small holes to the pie's surface. Egg the surface and bake the pie in 200 Celsius degrees preheated over for about 30 minutes.

Bulgur Wheat Salad with Lemon Pesto and Letters

Bulgur Wheat

Lemon Pesto

Lemon juice

Lemon peel

Plum tomatoes

Paprika

Courgette

Veg. oil

Kalamata olives

Salad cheese

Beetroot/ Carrot

Cavolo Nero sprouts / other green salad or herb

Step 1. Peel and slice beetroot/ carrot. Cut letters with cookie cutters. 

Step 2. Cook bulgur wheat. Mince courgette and sweat in veg. oil. Mince paprika, olives and tomatoes. Wash and grate lemon peel. Wash cavolo nero.

Step 3. Mix together cooked bulgur, pesto, lemon juice, olives, minced veggies and salad cheese cubes. Decorate with lemon peel, cavolo nero and beetroot/ carrot letters.

Have a Great Last Week of September!

Sannu

Prepare a Finnish Style Breakfast

Hope you are enjoying the best Midsummer weekend! I tend to spend holiday weekends at home: I keep no shopping days, do crafts that need more concentrating and relaxed mind, read, watch DVDs and prepare good food. Yesterday I sew all day listening to top 100 Finnish favorites from the radio. These kind of slow floating days are perfect for mind. After a day or two practicing silent no fuss life I feel I have gathered so much energy and inspiration. Sometimes there can be too many activities and ideas. Slow days that give space for thoughts are essential for creativity and development of ideas. 

To celebrate long weekends and slow, yet creative, lifestyle I have gathered a luxurious breakfast table with the most simple ingredients and easy recipes. My inspiration comes from everyday Finnish breakfast but instead of just grabbing the most important meal of the day straight from the fridge I have put effort on display and preparing the dishes with care. There is a difference between microwaved and long cooked kettle porridge, you see. Tasty Finnish berries in a soup, oatmeal porridge and rye bread are classics. And as every luxurious breakfast this one too ends up with strong black coffee and sweet rhubarb pie. What a better way to start a good day!

Oatmeal porridge with Berry Soup

For the porridge

2 dl Oatmeal

2 tbsp Wheat bran

1/2 L Water

Seeds (pumpkin, sunflower..)

Put together oatmeal, whet bran, water and pressed seeds to a kettle. Cook until it starts to boil, stir properly. When boiling turn to milder temperature and let cook properly. The longer you cook on mild temperature the better the result. 

For the Berry Soup

1 L Water

400 g Berries (I used raspberry, strawberry, 

blackcurrant and redcurrant mix plus one rhubarb)

3 tbsp Potato flour

Sugar

Vanilla sugar 

Put water and berries to a kettle and cook. Mix together cold water and potato flour. When berries and water are boiling take the kettle off and pour in the potato flour mix and stir properly. You don´t have to use all potato flour in case the soup begins to look thick with less. You can also add more potato flour if needed. Be sure to mix in the flour when the soup is still hot. Mix in sugar and vanilla sugar according to taste.

Bread selection

Rye bread is very Finnish and one of the things most Finns miss when they are abroad. I also put crisp rye bread to the table as I love it and I always have it in my kitchen cabinets. For the white bread I chose oat bread rolls.

Because I don´t eat meat except fish and seafood, I chose vegetarian substitute for cold cuts and sausage. Other quite typical fillings for breakfast sandwich are cheese, cucumber, paprika, tomato and butter. I also boiled eggs that can be sliced to a bread or eat separately.

For drink I have got blueberry juice that is made of Finnish blueberries. What is special about Finnish berries is that when sun shines through the midsummer nights they grow in a relatively short time gaining exceptionally good and strong taste .

Then it is time for strong black coffee and rhubarb pie. Blueberry, lingonberry, strawberry and rhubarb pies are traditional in Finland. What is best is that they are super easy to make and you can vary the fillings according to the seasons. 

Rhubarb Pie

~5 Rhubarbs

150 g Butter

1 1/2 dl Sugar

3 1/2 dl Wheat flour

1 tsp Vanilla sugar

1 tsp Baking powder

1/2 dl Milk (you can use oatmilk)

1 Egg

Peel and chop the rhubarbs. Put rhubarbs and little bit of sugar to a bowl and cook in microwave oven for few minutes until the rhubarbs are a bit softer. Melt the butter.  Mix together sugar, flour, baking powder and vanilla sugar. Pour in the melted butter and mix properly. Separate about 1 1/2 dl of the pastry. To the rest of the pastry add milk and egg. Mix properly. Butter a pie mold and press the pastry to the bottom. Then spread the rhubarbs evenly on the top of the pastry. Sprinkle the separated pastry on top (makes nice crispy texture). Bake in preheated oven 180 Celsius degrees until the pie has gotten a bit of a golden brown color. Serve with cream, ice cream or vanilla sauce. 

Happy Saturday and Midsummer everyone! There is a little bit sunshine outdoors so I am heading for a walk :)

Sannu

Finnish Cuisine: Herring fillets with new potatoes

To celebrate the weekend and that I finally got my recipe page organized I share this simple and tasty summer dish. On my updated recipe page I have divided the recipes in two categories: Finnish cuisine and Global cuisine. In global cuisine I have listed all recipes from tortilla to barlotto and amaranth chickpea patties. Under the Finnish cuisine I have recipes that are traditional Finnish recipes or use ingredients that are typically Finnish. I have long wanted to extend the list of Finnish cuisine recipes on my blog and what could be better time to start this project than summer when the best veggies and berries are available. Finnish recipes are usually relatively simple, use just few ingredients per dish and follow the seasons to achieve the best quality.  Recipe that I am sharing today is real fast food! Beautiful herring fillets are prepared in few minutes and new potatoes need just a little bit of butter and spring onion to make a luxurious side dish.  

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Herring Fillets

Herring fillets

Egg

Breadcrumbs

Vegetarian oil

Salt

Dill

Lemon juice

Break the egg in to a bowl and whisk. Put breadcrumbs in to the second bowl. Dip a fillet to the egg bowl so that it is covered properly. Then roll the fillet in the breadcrumbs. Prepare the rest of the fillets similarly. 

Fry the fillets on a hot pan with vegetarian oil from both sides until golden brown. Sprinkle a little bit of salt on top. Serve with fresh lemon and dill.

New Potatoes in Butter

Potatoes
Spring onion
Butter

Wash potatoes thoroughly and cook. Pour off the water. Add butter and chopped spring onion when potatoes are still warm. Serve when butter has melted.

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Friday luxury at it's best. Pure, tasty food from season's ingredients. It was wonderful to carry the plates to the balcony and enjoy good food on a sunny summer day. And you know, the leftover fillets are excellent on rye bread with a bit of butter on it.

Happy Weekend to you all!

Sannu

Quinoa and Veggie Stuffed Courgettes

Happy Friday! Today I made these tasty stuffed courgettes and now I want to share this easy recipe with you. Stuffed courgettes are a healthy treat for the end of the week and perfect for enjoying the evening with good food. Somehow I think stuffed courgettes are luxury even though the ingredients are affordable and it is relatively simple to prepare these. These would also be perfect for a spring or summer buffet as it is easy to make bigger amounts if needed. 

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Quinoa and Veggie Stuffed Courgettes:

1,5, dl quinoa

3 medium size courgettes

1 paprika

1 carrot

1 onion

100 g cherry tomatoes

0,5 dl fresh basil

2 garlic cloves

0,5 dl Kalamata olives

2 tbsp lemon juice

Salt and pepper

Vegetarian oil

Feta cheese

Step 1. Cook the quinoa as told on the package. Mince the onion, paprika and carrot. Slice the cherry tomatoes. 

Step 2. Split the courgettes in two. Carve out the inside. Place the courgettes on a baking tray.

Step 3. Sweat the onion, paprika and carrot with oil on a frying pan. Add in the tomatoes and contents from courgettes. Let cook until the veggies are a bit soft.

Step 4. Mix together veggies, quinoa, chopped olives, minced basil and garlic, lemon juice, salt and black pepper. Stuff the courgettes and bake in a preheated oven in 200 Celsius degrees until the courgette covers become softer. Serve with crumbled feta cheese. 

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Today I prepared 3 courgettes and my plan is to have a home evening with a good book. I love to read and I make lots of must read lists. For the past two years I have been reading less that I would like to because I have felt that I don´t have time. To be frank to myself time is not the main reason why I haven´t read that much. I have also had difficulties to slow down and concentrate. Especially more challenging books need time to open. Minute every now and then is not enough for me to soak in to the book´s world. Instead of just listing must read good books I have decided to take action and read 100 pages every day. It is a good amount to get in to reading mood and now that I have been following this rule for few days I have read actually more that 100 pages per day. Evening is the best time for me and I have taken the reading time from telly time. It is a great pleasure to read interesting classics and new books with current topics. Books give a lot to think about and it is always fun to be able to take part to book conversations. Now I have been reading A S Byatt´s Possession. A Romance and Margaret Atwood´s The Handmaid´s Tale. The Handmade´s Tale is now also as series. I haven´t seen it yet but it made me curious to read this book from 1985 to learn why is it so current. Maybe I will watch the series afterwards, the cast is amazing!

Have a Wonderful and relaxing weekend!

Sannu