Just like that, and ever so suddenly, the summer is here. We've just had almost a fortnight of very high temperatures (about 30 C/85 F) and constant sunshine (almost 24/7 - us being rather high up North :)). It's hard to believe that just a few months ago the summer seemed soooo far away. Last winter was long, cold and harsh and unwilling to ever end. After still complaining about the amount of snow in early April, I felt ashamed about complaining about the heat of last summer (temperatures hovering around 30 C aren't exactly my cup of tea - and last summer was especially difficult for me as I was expecting our second baby). And yet I was already ready to complain about the heat last weekend :)

Luckily, the temperatures dropped a little last night, and we finally got some long-awaited rain this morning (I've got a vegetable garden as well, remember, so occasional moderate rain is very much needed and welcomed). But should the heat wave return, then here's one of the easy summer smoothies that helped me stay cool and sane a year ago :)

Watermelon lassi
(Arbuusi-jogurtijook)
Serves 1

150 g watermelon (weight after cleaning)
100 g plain yogurt
1 Tbsp sugar (optional)
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp finely chopped fresh mint

Cut the watermelon into chunks and blend until smooth. Stir in the yogurt, sugar and lemon juice.
Pour into cold classes, sprinkle some mint on top and serve at once.

It's time for a Paper Chef, a food blogging event with pedigree (launched by Owen back in 2004, now co-hosted with Ilva and Mike. I'm embarrassed to admit that I've only participated twice before - #8 (spinach, olives, Cheddar cheese, potatoes/cream) and #15 (limes, beetroots, pears and aphrodisiac of your choice)), but with Ilva asking us all so nicely to participate, I couldn't say no :)

The ingredients this month - bread, berries, chocolate and lime. I won't dwell on the difference between bread ('leib') and white bread ('sai') in Estonian - suffice to say that even after living in an Anglophone country for seven years, I automatically thought of our dark Estonian rye bread when I spotted 'bread' in that list of ingredients. Only later did it occur to me that I could have gone the 'white bread' (aka 'wheat bread') route, perhaps with summer pudding with lime-macerated berries and white chocolate and mascarpone mousse? Mmmm...

The rules of Paper Chef do not say that you must restrict yourself to those four ingredients alone. However, I immediately remembered a little neat idea I had seen on the Finnish Herkut.net site a while ago - warm rye bread toasts with melted chocolate and sliced strawberries. I added some grated lime zest for, well, extra zest - and using just the four ingredients that were required - and loved the result! I can easily see serving this at one of the many patio parties or summer grill events that are about to follow.

A word of warning, however. While it's a dessert sure to please all the young ones, it's no S'Mores that you grab between your hands and eat without staining a thing (well, couple of cookie crumbs on the floor, perhaps). Our daughter Nora approached her warm rye bread with chocolate and strawberries with gusto, but in the process she managed to smear melted chocolate all over her :)



Rye bread toasts with chocolate, strawberries and lime zest
(Röstitud koorikleib šokolaadi ja maasikatega)

You can use any type of rye bread here - those flat rye breads, halved horizontally ('koorikleib') are ideal, or then thickly sliced naturally leavened rye bread. I used a recently introduced new product at the Estonian market - saib (sai+leib, get it?!) - tastes and looks like white bread, but it's made with 100% rye flour.



sliced rye bread
dark chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used Callebaut chocolate chips)
strawberries,
lime zest, thinly grated

Toast the bread until slightly golden and aromatic. Immediately top with chopped chocolate and strawberries, leave for a few minutes, until the chocolate melts.
Grate some lime zest over the strawberries.
Serve at once.

Picture taken in July 2008

Do you use strawberries for anything else but various _cold and uncooked_ desserts and puddings? 

I realised that I _almost_ never cook strawberries, especially sun-ripened local ones. They're just too luscious and delicious as they are, and I usually run out of them before I manage to start thinking about including them in a cake (and in any case, my repeated attempts to include strawberries in a clafoutis have ended with a disaster). However, there is one baked strawberry cake that I've been making again and again over the years. The recipe is from an old issue of BBC Good Food, bylined by their previous editor Orlando Murrin. I've simplified the recipe a little over the years, and it's been on my early summer table at least one every year. It's delicious both warm or cold (I love it warm with a scoop of good vanilla ice cream).

I think I'll be baking one later tonight :Pc

Almond and Strawberry Cake
(Maasika-mandlikook)
Serves eight

175 g ground almonds
175 g unsalted butter, softened
175 g caster sugar
175 g all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 eggs, whisked
400 g strawberries
icing sugar/confectioner's sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line the base of a loose-bottomed 24 cm cake tin with greaseproof paper and butter the sides.
Mix almonds, butter, sugar, flour, cinnamon, baking powder and eggs in a food processor just until the ingredients are evenly combined.
Spread half the mixture over the base of the tin in a smooth layer. Lay the sliced strawberries on top. Spread the remaining cake mixture over the strawberries.
Bake for 45-50 minutes, until slightly risen and dark golden brown when cooked.
Cool in the tin slightly, then loosen the edges with a knife and remove from the tin.
Transfer onto a serving plate and dust with icing sugar.

It's rhubarb season just now, and here's a selection of delicious ideas to try:

Rhubarb and rye bread soup (June 2011)


Baked rhubarb cheesecake (May 2011)


Rhubarb ripple cheesecake (June 2010)


The best rhubarb muffins ever (May 2007)


Pretty rhubarb tart (May 2010)


Creamy Vanilla and Rice Pudding with Rhubarb Compote (June 2009)


Home-Made Rhubarb Ice Cream (June 2009)


Spiced Rhubarb Cake (egg-free) (June 2009)


Rhubarb Fruit Soup aka Rhubarb Kissel (May 2009)


Vanilla Panna Cotta with Roasted Rhubarb (June 2008)


Rhubarb Sponge Cake with Almonds (June 2006)


Persian Lamb and Rhubarb Stew (May 2008)


Coconut Creams with Poached Rhubarb (May 2008)


Rhubarb and coconut pie (May 2007)


Rhubarb crumble (May 2007)


Rhubarb and ginger jam (May 2007)

A delicious combination of orange, lime and apple (Granny Smith).

What's your favourite freshly pressed juice? I'd love to get new ideas.

Nothing new under the sun :) I took last year's favourite rhubarb cheesecake recipe, tweaked it a little, and ended up with yet another definite favourite. An exceptionally good-looking favourite as well :) The rhubarb is from a farm near Raplamaa (a county in Estonia), and the stalks were especially and beautifully pink this time - both inside and outside. Also, I never peel young rhubarb stalks. Hence the impressive colour scheme of the cake.

Baked Rhubarb Cheesecake
(Rabarbri-toorjuustukook)
Serves 8



Base:
100 g unsalted butter, softened
85 g caster sugar (1 dl/100 ml)
1 large egg
180 g plain flour (3 dl/300 ml)
0.5 tsp ground cardamom
0.5 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt

Cream cheese topping:
400 g full-fat cream cheese, softened
200 g sour cream or soft curd cheese
125 g caster sugar (1,5 dl/150 ml)
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Topping:
300 g young pink rhubarb stalks
a tablespoonful of demerara sugar

For the base, cream the butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, thoroughly beating each time. Add the dry ingredients and stir until combined. Press the mixture onto the base and sides of a 26 cm springform tin lined with parchment paper. Place into the fridge to wait while you prepare the cheesecake mixture.

For the cheesecake topping, mix all ingredients thoroughly (you may use a whisk for a fluffier result).

To assemble the cake, pour the cream cheese mixture over the cake base. Scatter or lay the rhubarb on top, sprinkle with demerara sugar.

Bake in a preheated 200 C oven for 40-45 minutes, until the filling is set and the cake base cooked.

Remove from the oven and let cool completely before serving.

Here's a little something we had for dessert on Sunday. My dear K's mum brought it back from her trip to Madeira. I hadn't tried this before - well, I must admit I hadn't even heard of this particular exotic fruit before (it's a popular houseplant - meeldiv monstera in Estonian - but it doesn't bear fruit indoors). It tasted as we expected once we had read about it in the Internet - a cross between pineapple (flavour) and banana (texture). Not something I'd rush out to buy again, but definitely interesting and quite pleasant.

What do you think about this "Swiss cheese plant" aka "Mexican breadfruit" aka "Penglai banana"? Any interesting recipes out there?

Just wanted to share a neat breakfast idea that I got from the Swedish Allt om Mat magazine - frukostkeso. It was a lovely change from the usual yogurt/cereal/open sandwich type of start to the day. I had to change the recipe a little, as I don't keep two types of linseed at home (the original recipe included both whole and ground linseed), I omitted the sunflower seeds and added a drizzle of agave nectar, one of my favourite sweeteners.

Cottage Cheese Breakfast
(Hommikune kodujuust)
Serves one

200 g cottage cheese (I used 4%)
1 Tbsp flax seeds/linseeds
a good drizzle of agave nectar
handful of strawberries, quartered
sliced almonds or coarsely chopped hazelnuts (I used almonds)

Take your brekkie bowl, spoon cottage cheese into the bowl. Sprinkle with flax seeds and drizzle with agave nectar. Place strawberries on top, sprinkle with nuts and serve :)

Have you decided upon your weekend cake yet? If not, then may I recommend this lovely and creamy and very lemony baked cheesecake? One of the local dairies has began to market cream cheese in 400 g tubs, and I had had one of those in my fridge for week or so. As I had also come across some very nice large Spanish lemons, I ended up making this delicious and creamy baked lemon cheesecake. I used a smaller cake tin this time, ending in a slightly higher cheesecake, but this would be also nice if made in 24 cm tin.

Note that this has quite a thick biscuit base, which nicely balances the zesty lemon filling. You may use much less, if you prefer.

Baked Lemon Cheesecake
Serves 8

Base:
250 g Digestive biscuits
125 g butter, melted

Filling:
400 g cream cheese, softened
150 g caster sugar
1 heaped Tbsp finely grated lemon rind
4 Tbsp lemon juice
3 large eggs

whipped cream, to serve (optional)

Preheat oven to 160°C. Grease a 20 cm round springform cake tin with butter, line the base with parchment paper. Process biscuits into fine crumbs, add melted butter and combine (I actually crushed the biscuits with a wooden spoon and mixed it all by hand). Press the cookie mixture over base and sides of the prepared tin. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, beat the cream cheese, sugar and lemon rind together until smooth. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until combined. Add lemon juice, beat for another minute. Pour the mixture into prepared cake tin.
Bake for about 1 hour or until filling is just set (mixture may wobble slightly in centre, but will firm on standing). Cool in oven with door slightly ajar.
Refrigerate for 4 hours or until cold.
Garnish with some lemon zest and serve with cream.

I'm trying to become a better food photographer. A wise Estonian foodblogger once told me that in order to improve my photos I should take time and study carefully the pictures I like and try to replicate them - and that's what I'm doing here. Zapxpxau is definitely one of the most talented food photographers here in Estonia (note that Zapxpxau is her Flickr user name, not her real Estonian name :) and this gorgeous roasted quince photo appeared on her Flickr-stream couple of days ago. Lovely, I thought..

I was trying to sort out my kitchen counter yesterday, and when I saw three lonely quinces just sitting there, forlorn and slightly wrinkled after weeks in that corner, I remembered Zapxpxau's quince photo. I studied it, read the recipe and made the dessert. I'm pretty familiar with quinces - I've even shared a recipe with you - so I knew the dessert would taste wonderful and smell amazing (quinces must be one of the most aromatic fruits out there). However, the picture part was still missing. It was 6 pm and the light conditions were quickly getting worse (the falling late March snow didn't really help, either). On top of that, when rummaging through our cutlery cupboards I realised that I didn't have a suitable dish for plating the lovely roasted quinces. Luckily, my dear K. was still at work, so I quickly sent him to a department store, explaining vaguely what I was looking for. He found just the thing I needed - bless him.

So early this morning, when my dear K. was at work, our 2-year old daughter at the nursery and our 2-month old son having one of his many naps, I went ahead and took this photograph.

Thank you, Zapxpxau (for the inspiration and the recipe) and Eva (for the tip). Oh, and K. for that plate :)

Roasted quinces with lemon and vanilla
(Röstitud küdooniad)
Serves three to four

2 to 3 ripe quinces
about 500 ml (2 cups) of water
100 g caster sugar
2 organic unwaxed lemons
1 vanilla pod

Heat the oven to 180 C.
Peel the quinces, cut them into two halves and remove the core (be careful - raw quinces are pretty hard!)
Fit the quince halves into a deep oven dish, snugly next to one another.
Pour over the water, freshly squeezed lemon juice and grated lemon zest. Halve the vanilla pod lengthwise, fit the halves between the quinces. (There should be about an inch of water in the dish - add more, if necessary).
Cover the dish with a piece of foil.
Roast the quinces in a pre-heated 180C/350F oven for about 2 hours, turning the quinces around about half way through the baking time.
The dessert is ready when the quinces are cooked and dark orange-red.
Cool a little before serving.

Friands again. I wrote about these dainty Australian cakes just a short time ago when posting a recipe for blueberry and lemon friands. This is the same basic recipe, but I wanted to use coconut this time and paired the pure white coconut with bright red lingonberries. The combination worked like a dream!
I am pretty sure that lingonberries - while widely available and used here in Estonia - are hard to come buy Down Under, so in a way it's a North-meets-South fusion recipe :)

Again, it's an excellent recipe for using up those egg whites, when you're tired of making meringues and mini-Pavlovas.

Coconut and Lingonberry Friands
(Pohla-kookosefriandid)
Makes 8 regular-sized friands

100 g unsalted butter, melted
125 g icing sugar/confectioner's sugar
30 g plain flour/all-purpose flour (50 ml or 3 Tbsp + 1 tsp)
50 g finely ground almonds
50 g grated/desiccated coconut
3 medium-sized egg whites
a very generous handful of lingonberries

Preheat the oven to 200C. Generously butter eight non-stick friand or muffin tins.
Sift the icing sugar and flour into a bowl, add the almonds and mix.
Whisk the egg whites in another bowl until they form a light, floppy foam.
Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, pour in the egg whites, then lightly stir in the butter to form a soft batter.
Divide the batter among the tins. Sprinkle some berries (I used about a tablespoon for each) and flaked coconut over each cake.
Bake in the middle of a pre-heated 200 C oven for about 20 minutes, until just firm to the touch and golden brown on top.
Cool in the tins for 5 minutes, then turn out and cool on a wire rack. To serve, sprinkle with more coconut

Ever heard of friands? These are the Australian "cousin" of the famous French financiers, the little moist egg-white cakes. Both are excellent for using up all those egg whites in the kitchen if you're tired of making Pavlovas and meringues! There are some differences, however. Whereas the financiers tend to use browned butter and are plain, the friands are made with melted butter and usually with the addition of fruit or berries. Another difference is the shape - the financiers are (traditionally) baked in oblong rectangular forms (to look like gold bars, apparently), the friands are usually baked in small oval tins (though you can use regular muffin tins or even tiny fluted tins like this talented Estonian food photographer did). Dorie Greenspan has written more about those two pastries.

I've adapted a recipe from BBC Good Food magazine. Note that I used ground whole almonds - hence the slightly darker colour of the cakes. The texture has more, well, bite to it as well, but you can obviously also use ground blanched almonds.

Blueberry and Lemon Friands
(Mustika ja sidruni friandid)
Makes 8 friands, suitable for freezing



100 g unsalted butter, melted
125 g icing sugar/confectioner's sugar
30 g plain flour/all-purpose flour (50 ml or 3 Tbsp + 1 tsp)
80 g finely ground almonds
3 medium-sized egg whites
finely grated zest of one lemon
a generous handful of blueberries or bilberries

Preheat the oven to 200C. Generously butter eight non-stick friand or muffin tins.
Sift the icing sugar and flour into a bowl, add the almonds and mix.
Whisk the egg whites in another bowl until they form a light, floppy foam.
Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, pour in the egg whites and lemon rind, then lightly stir in the butter to form a soft batter.
Divide the batter among the tins. Sprinkle some berries over each cake.
Bake in the middle of a pre-heated 200 C oven for about 20 minutes, until just firm to the touch and golden brown on top.
Cool in the tins for 5 minutes, then turn out and cool on a wire rack. To serve, dust lightly with icing sugar.

Some cannot eat that want it:

But we hae meat and we can eat,

Sae let the Lord be thankit.

Scots - whether real or adopted or simply fans of all things Scottish - all around the world are celebrating the 252nd birth anniversary of their beloved Bard, Robert Burns tonight. A proper Burns Supper includes, of course, a Selkirk Grace (see above) and a haggis & neeps & tatties and an Address to a Haggis and a Toast to the Lassies and several other must-haves - and during my seven years in Edinburgh I had a pleasure of attending several Burns Suppers, some ticking all the right boxes. Lovely memories indeed...

Now, back in Estonia, I must settle for a slightly more low-profile celebration. I cannot get my favourite haggis here, and at this point of time (just 10 days after the birth of our second child), I'm in no shape to make my own :) I might make a cock-a-leekie soup for supper, and finish the meal with a lovely glass of cranachan (going easy on whisky this year, of course).

Cranachan is one of the most popular Scottish puds - and the ingredients - whisky, oats and raspberries - are all excellent in Scotland. You may have encountered this dessert under other names - Cream Crowdie (containing some soft cheese 'crowdie') or Tipsy Oats, for instance. Raspberries are an important component of Cranachan, suggesting that originally this dessert was served during the height of summer, when raspberries are in season. However, it's now served often during Hogmanay (the Scottish new year's celebrations) and during the Burns Supper (but then raspberries freeze rather nicely).

Cranachan
(Šoti viski-kaerahelbedessert)
Serves up to six



100 g medium ground or pinhead oatmeal (rolled oats, if these are easier to get hold of)
3 Tbsp Scotch whisky (I love a smokey whisky here)
400 ml whipping cream
100 g caster sugar (or less, to taste)

300-400 g raspberries

Put the oatmeal or oats on a heavy non-stick frying pan and toast slightly over a medium heat (stir regularly to avoid burning!)*. Take off the heat, drizzle the whisky over the oatmeal and stir to combine. Let stand and cool.
Whisk the cream and sugar until soft peaks form. Stir in the whisky-infused oatmeal and divide between dessert glasses.
Top with plenty of raspberries.
Place into the fridge for about 30 minutes before serving, so the flavours could mingle and develop.

Another super-easy and lovely dessert idea (these days I seem to be drawn to uncomplicated and super-easy puddings. Must be the dark winter nights). Oven-baked apples - though not necessary exclusively a winter dessert - do make more sense during winter than during summer and autumn (the home-grown apples taste simply too good when in season that they're best enjoyed as they are).

For the first post of 2011 I chose a dessert from our new year's eve table. For various good reasons we didn't host a big new year's eve party this year, and instead had a quiet (and still lovely) evening with good friends living nearby. We were 6 adults (including one Swede), 1 schoolgirl and our little daughter. We shared a feast of cold cuts, some American and Swedish lobsters and, a layered beetroot and salmon salad, and a bit of this and that - all delicious. I was asked to contribute something sweet. I didn't want to bake a cake - exhausted from all the Christmas baking, I guess - and then decided to bring two desserts instead. Both of them were inspired by a Swedish food magazine Lantliv Mat & Vin (4/2010) that K. had recently brought back from a business trip to Stockholm. One of dishes was poached pears in a vanilla and ginger syrup, the other was clementines macerated in a spiced white wine syrup. I didn't want to open another bottle of wine, and had an half-empty vermuth bottle on hand instead, so I adapted the Swedish recipe accordingly (drastically reducing the amount of sugar, to start with!).

I loved the result - slightly spiced, slightly sweet - and a very pleasent new way of serving the clementines/mandarines that are sold everywhere at the moment.

Clementines in star anise and cinnamon syrup
(Mandariinid jõuluses veinileemes)

I know, I know - what am I thinking about posting a recipe for summer fruit dessert in the middle of the Christmas season?? You see, I craved a fruity dessert the other day, and came across this recipe for a blackberry fluff in the October 2006 issue of the British food magazine Olive. Unfortunately, neither one of the two nearby grocery stores had frozen blackberries that day, so I had to settle for frozen Estonian raspberries instead. Not a bad choice, I think - they're still tart and sweet at the same time, plus I love the colour.

Note that the dessert has much more character when it's been given a few hours' rest in the fridge - you can taste the mascarpone again then. I didn't bother to sieve the fruit pulp, but please do, if you think the small seeds will bother you.

I made a large batch of the quince paste, Dulce de Membrillo, last week. I used the same same old recipe that I've used previously and really liked the result. Rather conveniently, one local speciality store had a 9-month old Manchego cheese on offer last week, so we got to sample plenty of Membrillo the way you're supposed to - a slice of salty and crumbly Manchego cheese with a slice of sweet and sticky Membrillo paste (aka Manchego con Membrillo).

Highly recommended.



Eestikeelne küdooniamarmelaadi retsept on siin. Küdooniad ehk aivad on müügil suurematel turgudel (nt Tallinna Keskturg).

Have you ever been to Amsterdam? If you have, then you surely remember this apple tart that was on offer everywhere - in pubs, in cafés. I definitely remember that, although I'm pretty sure it was called simply appeltaart and not Hollandse appeltaart there :) It's a delicious apple cake with a moist apple-raisin-cinnamon filling that's decorated with a criss-cross pattern of pastry strips. Pretty pretty, I'd say :)

Serve it with a generous dollop of whipped cream, or if you're feeling more glamorous, then some delicious home-made vanilla custard.

Dutch Apple Tart
(Hollandi õunapirukas)
Serves 8

Pastry:
300 g plain flour/all-purpose flour
200 g cold butter
125 g caster sugar
a pinch of salt
1 egg, lightly whisked

This is a very American apple pie - very rich, very high, and also very delicious. I had seen them popping up in various American food blogs and finally tried out my own version last year. It's quite unlike any of the typical apple cakes and pies we see here in Estonia, and thus providing a nice change to me, my family and friends.

American Apple Pie
(Ameerika õunapirukas)



Pastry:
300 g plain flour
1 Tbsp (demerara) sugar
1 tsp salt
200 g cold butter
4 Tbsp cold water

Filling:
1 kg cooking apples (e.g. something not too sweet or too soft)
3 Tbsp plain flour
100 g caster sugar
0.25 tsp ground allspice
0.25 tsp ground nutmeg
0.5 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla sugar
2 Tbsp cognac or brandy

Egg wash:
1 egg + 2 tsp water, whisked

Start with the pastry. Put flour, salt and sugar into the bowl of the food processor, then add cold cubed butter and blitz until you've got fine crumbs. Add about 4 Tbsp cold water and process once again. (Avoid overworking your pastry, as it'll result in hard cake crust).
Divide into two, press into flat discs, and place into the fridge for at least half an hour.
Meanwhile peel and core the apples, cut into thin slices or wedges.
Take a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, cinnamon, allspice, vanilla and nutmeg. Add the brandy and stir gently.

Take the pastry discs out of the fridge and roll both of them into a circle (about 28 cm in diameter). Line a 24 cm fluted pie dish with the pastry. Top with apple slices, piling them high in the middle. Top with the other pastry disc, pressing the edges tightly together. (If you wish, you can decorate the top disc with pastry leaves and such like).

Brush with an egg wash. Bake in the middle of a pre-heated 180 C oven for about 40 minutes, until the apples are soft and the pie is lovely golden brown.

Cool a little before serving.