Tonnato, the versatile tuna mayonnaise

Vitello tonnato is a popular summer-time dish in Italy, originating in the 19th century Piedmont. Cold thin slices of cooked veal are topped with a creamy tuna and anchovy dressing. I love the classic version a lot, but the tuna mayonnaise is much more versatile. It's been a frequent visitor in our kitchen this spring, and I've given below the recipe I've come to love. I especially like it on top of crisp crostini slices, but it's also a good dressing for some left-over boiled eggs.

What's your favourite tonnato recipe and dish?

Crostini with tuna mayonnaise, garnished with caperberries (Suupisted tuunikalamajoneesiga):


Vitello tonnato aka cold veal slices with tuna mayonnaise (Vasikalihalõigud tuunikalamajoneesiga). That's the classic way of serving tonnato:



Uova tonnata or boiled eggs with tuna mayonnaise, garnished with some capers and lemon zest (Munad tuunikalamajoneesiga):


Tonnato aka Italian tuna mayonnaise
Serves 4

Note that I make my tonnato from scratch and not cheating by simply mixing mayonnaise with canned tuna :)



2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
2 anchovy fillets in oiled
juice of half or whole lemon
10 salted capers, rinsed and drained
1 shallot, finely chopped
freshly ground black pepper
150-200 ml mild olive oil
200 g good-quality tuna chunks in oil

Place egg yolks, capers, anchovy fillets, juice of half a lemon, chopped shallot and some black pepper into the bowl of a hand-held blender. Blend until you've got a thick paste of uniform consistency.
Add oil in a thin stream, still blending the mixture.
Finally add the tuna chunks and blitz a little bit more.
Taste for seasoning - add more pepper, lemon juice or perhaps salt.

Quail Eggs with Smoked Paprika (Pimentón de la Vera)

I love quail eggs in all their disguises - whole quail eggs served with Egyptian dukkah-dip, as a component in a "mushroom canapé", as topping on an Estonian wild mushroom crostini, Swedish-inspired quail egg topped with whitefish roe, as a filling inside salmon kulebyaka, or as a garnish on top of Estonian seven-layer salad or smoked salmon and spinach salad.

Here's a neat idea for a tasty morsel from Jill Dupleix - boiled quail eggs are dipped in smoked paprika powder, Pimentón de la Vera, and then sprinkled with Maldon sea salt flakes.

(Vutimunad suitsupaprikaga)

Georgian recipes: walnut and egg salad

In the early days of my foodblogging (we're talking about summer 2005 here), I ended up defending the joys of Georgian cuisine on Kuidaore's picture-perfect blog (note we're talking about this Georgia and not that Georgia here!). I'm still wondering where I got the courage from!! Still, we eat Georgian food with some regularity at home -simply because it's tasty and different, and I'll be sharing some Georgian recipes with you over the next few weeks. I've recently given two cookery classes focusing on this fascinating cuisine, and I do hope you enjoy the recipes as much we enjoyed the finished dishes!

There are already some Georgian recipes on Nami-Nami. I wrote about fried Suluguni cheese earlier this week, and there's a recipe for khatchapuri cheese bread and another for chakhohbili chicken and herb stew. Today I'm sharing a recipe for Georgian Egg Salad (azelila), seasoned with lots of fresh herbs and ground walnuts. It's creamy and flavoursome, and a great way to use up all those boiled eggs that you have over the Easter holidays! Walnuts are essential for this dish - as well to many other dishes characteristic to Georgian cuisine.

We served this on lightly toasted ciabatta-slices (see photo below) - not terribly authentic, but this salad is excellent on crostini, I think.

If you are interested in learning more about Georgian food, then I can highly recommend Darra Goldstein's excellent "The Georgian Feast: The Vibrant Culture and Savory Food of the Republic of Georgia" (on Amazon.com/on Amazon.co.uk). Many of the recipes I'll be sharing are based on her book, though not exclusively. There is also a nice chapter on Georgian food in Nigella Lawson's "Feast: Food that Celebrates Life" (on Amazon.com/on Amazon.co.uk).

Georgian Egg Salad
(Gruusia munasalat)
Serves 4 to 6 (or more, if served as canapés)



4 large eggs
4 Tbsp butter, softened
4 Tbsp finely chopped walnuts (pestle and mortar is best)
2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh dill
2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh coriander/cilantro
2 Tbsp finely chopped spring onions (white parts only)
a pinch of salt

pomegranate seeds, to garnish

Hard-boil the eggs, then cool quickly under cold running water and peel. Put into a medium-sized bowl and "chop" until mushy with a fork. Using the fork, work in the softened butter - you want a reasonably creamy mixture.
Add the fresh herbs and finely chopped walnuts, stir until combines. Season with salt.
Place into a bowl and garnish with ruby pomegranate seeds.

Sticky & Sweet

No, I'm not talking about Madonna's 2008/2009 concert tour, but about Sticky & Sweet Chicken Wings. I've only discovered the pleasures of chicken wings (very) recently and was surprised to find that there is actually some meat and not just bones and skin involved :) I've been trying out various recipes now - three different ones just during the last week (garlickly Lebanese ones, Teriyaki wings and these sticky and sweet ones), and have bookmarked a number of other recipe ideas (Blake Royer's Baked Buffalo Wings and Susan Russo's Maple-Beer-Chili Chicken Wings, for example). I bet there will be more chicken wing recipes coming up on Nami-Nami as well.

This particular recipe is a slight adaptation of a recipe by the beloved British author, Nigel Slater. The tanginess of the mustard and sweetness of honey make these deliciously sticky and sweet indeed.

Sticky & Sweet Chicken Wings
(Kleepjad magusad kanatiivad)
Serves 3-4 as appetizers, can be easily multiplied to serve a crowd



about 600 g of chicken wings
2 heaped Tbsp grainy French mustard
1 heaped Tbsp runny honey
about 5 Tbsp lemon juice (one medium-sized lemon)
3 large garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
salt and freshly ground black pepper

First, you need to prepare you chicken wings. Using poultry shears or a sharp chef's knife, cut the wings into three parts, as shown on the photo below. Discard the wing tips. Susan mentions in her post that you can buy something called "party wings" in the States - that is chicken wings that have already had their tips removed. No such produce over here, but removing the tips is actually easy.

Combine mustard, honey, lemon juice, crushed garlic in a bowl, season with salt and pepper. Add the chicken wings and move them around, so they're evenly covered with the mixture. Cover the bowl with a cling film and leave to marinate for at least 2 hours.
Line a smallish oven dish with foil, place the chicken wings and any marinade in the tray. Roast in a pre-heated 220 C oven for about 30 minutes, turning once, until the kitchen wings are fully cooked (yet moist inside), gorgeously dark golden brown and very sticky.

Serve with a fresh salad and provide plenty of wet napkins.

Deviled Eggs with Shrimp Filling

Devilled eggs are a popular appetizer in Estonia - I've blogged about the classical version here. I love the traditional version, but recently I've been also exploring alternative ways of making and serving deviled eggs. Here's an idea snapped from the Swedish Arla site. It's full of Nordic flavours - dill and caraway seeds - with an addition of cooked shrimps. Slightly more festive than the traditional one, and very delicious.

Deviled Eggs with Shrimp Filling
(Krevetitäidisega munad)
Makes 12



6 large eggs

3 heaped Tbsp sour cream
100 g peeled cooked shrimps/prawns
half a lemon, zested
0.5 tsp ground caraway seeds
2 Tbsp fresh dill, finely chopped
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Boil the eggs for 8-10 minutes, then cool under cold running water. Peel the eggs and halve lengthwise. Remove the egg yolks and chop finely.
Put 12 shrimps aside for garnishing. Chop the rest of the shrimps as finely or coarsely as you wish. Mix with sour cream, grated lemon zest, ground caraway seeds and chopped dill and egg yolks. Season with salt and pepper.
Spoon the filling onto the egg whites. Place on a serving tray, garnish with whole shrimps and dill sprigs.

Chorizo choux puffs (chorizo profiteroles recipe)

Selection of cured sausages at La Boqueria, Barcelona.

Another recipe that I've adapted from Eric Treuille's Canapeś (sold as Hors d'Oeuvres in the US). I served these at a brunch couple of weeks ago, and although there were enough of these for everyone, I barely managed to save one for Kristjan - these disappeared just so quickly!

There's no need to fill these with anything, as the chorizo lends plenty of flavour.

Chorizo Choux Puffs
(Chorizo-profitroolid)
Makes about 24 large profiteroles or many more tiny ones



200 ml water
100 g butter
0.5 tsp salt
120 g plain flour/all-purpose flour (200 ml)
3 large eggs
100 g chorizo sausage

Peel the chorizo sausage and chop finely.
Put water, cubed butter and salt into a medium saucepan and bring to a rolling boil. Take off the heat and stir in all the flour. Return to the heat and "boil" for about two minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon, until you have a smooth paste that leaves the sides of the saucepan.
Remove from the heat and cool for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the eggs one at a time, totally incorporating the egg before adding the next one. This is best done with electric beaters!! The resulting paste should be glossy and slowly drop from a spoon.
Stir in the finely chopped chorizo sausage.
With a help of two tablespoons, place small heaps of choux paste onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake in the middle of a pre-heated 180 C oven for about 30 minutes, until the choux puffs are nicely puffed up and golden brown.

Easy Canapés: Medjool Dates with Goat's Cheese

Here's another canapé idea that I brought back from London. Simple, yes, but with good creamy'n'tangy goat's cheese and soft'n'sweet Medjool dates it's an excellent combination. Although dried dates can hardly be called seasonal, then there's something very Christmassy in them, in my opinion, so this would be an excellent hors d'oeuvre with a mug of hot mulled wine or glögg between now and Christmas.

Medjool dates stuffed with goat's cheese
(Kitsejuustuga täidetud datlid)
Makes 12

12 large soft Medjool dates*
100 g creamy and tangy goat's cheese
couple of sprigs of fresh thyme

Using a small knife, carefully make a slit into each date and remove the stone.
Cut the goat cheese into 12 disks and insert a piece of cheese into each date.
Place on a serving tray, garnish with fresh thyme and serve.

* I haven't seen Medjool dates anywhere in Estonia, so I bought couple of packets in London. You could use the dried dates available here, but these are about 3 times smaller than Medjool dates and nowhere near as soft.

Easy Canapés: Salmon Appetizers with Lemon Pepper

We spent a long weekend in London in the beginning of November, mixing work with some pleasure. The latter part included spending two full days with the always lovely Johanna and her family in Kingston. Johanna is the Queen of Canapeś, and I used the opportunity to browse through her library of canapé and fingerfood and appetisers cookbooks, looking for simple and delicious ideas I could manage myself. We're likely to host a number of festive buffets over the next few weeks, so I could do with an extra idea or two.

Here's one super-simple canapé idea that I served to a bunch of my girlfriends last Sunday. You need good-quality smoked salmon for this, as the salmon is served almost au naturel. I spotted this in Canapeś (sold as Hors d'Oeuvres in the US). You need small cocktail sticks for this appetizer.

Smoked Salmon Canapés with Lemon Pepper
(Suitsulõhesuupisted "sidrunipipraga")
Serves a dozen

100 g smoked salmon*
half a lemon, preferably organic
freshly ground black pepper

If necessary, cut salmon slices into thin, long strips (about an inch wide). Weave each slice onto a cocktail stick, as seen on the photo above. Place on a serving tray.
Wash and dry the lemon thoroughly, then grate generously some lemon peel/lemon zest over the salmon slices.
Finally, season with black pepper.
Serve at once or cover with clingfilm and keep in the freezer until needed. Let the appetizers come back to the room temperature before serving, as the flavour of the fish is better when not cold.

* I used "Saare Hõbe" cold smoked salmon strips from Ösel Fish.

Toast Skagen Recipe

Photo updated in October 2010

Toast Skagen is a very festive and popular Swedish starter. It's not cheap - both good shrimps (preferably from the waters around the Smögen island) and whitefish roe (ideally from European whitefish/Vendance (Coregonus albula) or Powan (Coregonus lavaretus)) are pricy. But if you are looking for that special starter for a special occasion, then this is very elegant, good-looking and delicious*.

This beautiful appetiser was developed by one of the best-known Swedish culinary heroes, Dr Tore Wretman (1916-2003), who served a version of this dish in his Stockholm restaurant already in 1958. Skagen, by the way, is a name of a beautiful fishing port on the Northern coast of Denmark, which has been popular with Swedish and Danish artists for centuries. Who knows, perhaps Wretman was inspired by one of his trips to the area :)

* Yes, I've slowly began to like shrimps.

Toast Skagen
(Toast Skagen krevetivõileib)
Serves 4




4 slices of good-quality white bread, crusts removed
butter for frying
300 g peeled cooked shrimps/prawns (fresh is best, but in brine will do)
5 Tbsp mayonnaise
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
2-3 Tbsp finely chopped fresh dill + extra for garnishing
100-150 g bleak/whitewish roe
one lemon, quartered

Melt the butter on a frying pan and sauté the bread slices on both sides until golden. Place on a kitchen paper to drain excess fat.
Drain the shrimps, cut into smaller pieces (optional; I left them whole, as they look prettier). Mix mayonnaise, mustard and dill, fold in the shrimps. Taste for seasoning - if necessary, add some salt and pepper.
Spoon the mixture on top of the bread slices.
Garnish with a large spoonful of caviar and some dill. Serve with a lemon quarter.

Zucchini Rolls with Herb-Marinated Mozzarella Balls

Given that so many of you were interested in my recipe for Zucchini Rolls with Goat's Cheese aka "Makis" au Chèvre that I served on the Easter table, I wanted to share a recipe for another kind of Zucchini Rolls that I served on my Birthday table. This time the courgette slices are blanched first, and the goat cheese has been replaced by herb-marinated mini mozzarella balls. The ones available here are aboiut the size of a large cherry tomato, so I used medium-sized courgettes/zucchinis. If you get hold of really small mozzarella balls, you may want to use smaller courgettes to wrap them in..

Zucchini Rolls with Herb-Marinated Mozzarella Balls
(Suvikõrvitsasse mähitud ürdised mozzarellapallid)
Adapted from Finnish food magazine Glorian Ruoka & Viini
Makes about 30



2 packets of mini mozzarella balls, drained
2 medium sized green courgettes/Zucchinis

Herb marinade:
4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp white balsamic or white wine vinegar
3 Tbsp of finely chopped fresh herbs (I used chervil and chives)
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

In a medium-sized bowl, mix finely chopped herbs, olive oil and vinegar, season with salt and pepper. Add mozzarella balls and stir gently, until they're coated with the herb vinaigrette. Leave to stand for 30 minutes, stirring couple of times:



Wash the courgettes/zucchinis. Take a vegetable peeler and cut thin long strips of the courgette, first along the lenght of one side, when seeds appear, then another side. Blanch them in a salted water for 2 minutes, then drain and place in a bowl of cold water to cool.



Drain the zucchini slices. Take one slice at a time, and put a herb-marinated mozzarella ball at one end. Roll up, and place on a serving tray. Continue with the rest of the zucchini slices and mozzarella balls.

Sprinkle with some sea salt flakes, herbs and crushed black peppercorns and serve.

Zucchini Rolls with Goat's Cheese aka "Makis" au Chèvre

One of the items served at the Nami-Nami 2009 Easter Brunch were courgette/zucchini rolls stuffed with goat's cheese. The recipe is adapted from a French food magazine that we get by subscription, Régal, and it was K. who made these. However, he's authorised me to blog about making these :)

They're really quick to make, and the unusual stuffing really works.

Zucchini Rolls with Goat's Cheese aka "Makis" au Chèvre
(Suvikõrvitsarullid kitsejuustutäidisega)
Makes about 3 dozens



300 g creamy goat's cheese
4 medium-sized courgettes/zucchinis
6 dried soft figs
50 g hazelnuts, peeled, toasted and coarsely chopped
a large handful of fresh mint leaves
2 Tbsp good-quality fruity extra virgin olive oil
a good pinch of Maldon sea salt flakes
freshly ground black pepper

Wash the courgettes/zucchinis. Take a vegetable peeler* and cut thin long strips of the courgette, first along the lenght of one side, when seeds appear, then another side. Put aside.
Make a filling. Chop figs finely, toast the hazelnuts, cool and chop. Chop the mint leaves.
Mix the goat cheese, figs, hazelnuts, mint and olive oil in a bowl, season with salt and pepper.
Take a strip of zucchini, place a teaspoonful of goat's cheese filling at one end and roll tightly. Repeat.
Place the zucchini rolls alongside each other on a plate.

Will keep for a few hours in a fridge.

TIP: One of my Estonian readers suggests grilling the zucchini strips lightly before using, as otherwise they might taste 'raw'. If you like the taste of fresh and raw courgette, there's no need to do that. If you dislike the flavour, then grill the vegetable strips first.

* I like the V-shaped vegetable peelers, something like this.

Spicy-Salty Tiger Prawns

You may have noticed that there aren't many shellfish recipes on this blog. Fish recipes, yes, but not recipes involving mussels, shrimps/prawns, scallops etc. There's a good reason for that, but it doesn't mean I don't cook them at home. Contrarily to me, K. adores shellfish, so every now and then I try a new recipe. This recipe is an adaptation of Jamie Oliver's, who uses small prawns and eats them with shell and all. I much prefer cooking with large tiger prawns - they look more decent to me. K. wholeheartedly approved, and considering it took about 5 minutes in total, then it's a good recipe indeed :)

Spicy-Salty Tiger Prawns
(Soolased krevetid vürtsidega)
Serves 3 to 4

400 g unpeeled fresh tiger prawns (headless, thoroughly defrosted and drained, if frozen)
2 generous pinches of sea salt flakes
a generous pinch of fennel seeds
a generous pinch of coriander seeds
a generous pinch of cumin seeds
a small pinch of dried chilli flakes

Place fennel, coriander and cumin seeds into a pestle and mortar and bash them couple of times (just enough to crush them, no more).
Heat a large wok or frying pan until very hot, add sea salt flakes, crushed spices and chilli flakes and heat for about half a minute, until they're all aromatic.
Add the tiger prawns and shake the pan, so the spice mixture would cover the prawns nicely. Dry-fry for 2-4 minutes, depending on the size of your prawns, until they've all turned pink with golden brown, indicating that they're cooked.
Peel the prawns while eating them.

Quail Eggs with Dukkah

Have you heard of dukkah before? I had, but hadn't actually eaten any until this June, when in Bloomington, US, I had a chance to try a lovely pistachio dukkah made by Cindy Bradley, a local food blogger. Basically, it's an Egyptian dry mixture of chopped nuts (mainly hazelnuts), seeds (coriander, cumin, sesame) and possibly some other spices. It's a popular street food, where fresh wheat bread is dipped first into olive oil and then into the dukkah-mixture. But it can also be sprinkled on salads to give some crunch (say, instead of toasted pinenuts). Apparently it can be used for breading fish and meat when cooking. Quite a few bloggers have already featured dukkah on their blogs - Heidi adds black peppercorns for some heat, Jaden adds chilli pepper for an extra kick, Rosa combines almonds and hazelnuts, and my dear friend Ximena cheats a little :)

The recipe below is very lightly adapted from the British food magazine Olive (January 2007), and makes a small bowl of very simple dukkah. Feel free to play around with spices.

Quail Eggs with Dukkah
(Vutimunad dukkah-seguga)
Serves six to eight

24 quail eggs

Dukkah-mixture:
50 grams hazelnuts
1 Tbsp cumin seeds
1 Tbsp coriander seeds
25 grams white sesame seeds

To serve:
Maldon sea salt flakes

First you need to blanch the hazelnuts*. Put them on a dry frying pan and roast for 3-4 minutes over a moderate heat, until they're aromatic and slightly browned. Then place on a clean kitchen towel and rub with the towel, until the brown skins come loose. Chop the nuts as rather finely (best done with a knife, as there's a danger of processing the nuts into a paste, when using a food processor).
Place coriander seeds, sesame seeds and cumin seeds on a dry frying pan and toast also for 2-3 minutes, until the seeds start to brown and smell fragrant. Cool, then mix with the toasted and chopped nuts.
Tip into a serving bowl and put aside.
Cook the quail eggs in simmering water for 3 minutes. Drain and run under cold water for a few minutes.
Serve with the dukkah and Maldon sea salt flakes. Each person peels their own eggs, then dips them into salt flakes and the dukkah mixture.

* If you can get blanched hazelnuts (I can't here in Estonia), then simply toast them for a few minutes and then chop finely.

Other recipes using QUAIL EGGS at Nami-Nami:
Small "mushrooms" of quail eggs and cherry tomatoes
Rye bread canapés with wild mushroom 'Caviar' and soft-boiled quail eggs
Soft-boiled quail eggs with dill and lightly salted whitefish roe
Spicy fried quail eggs

Strawberries and Brie and a Little Bit of Mint

That's all you need for a sweet summer mouthful (plus it's a dessert and cheese course in one). I used Finnish Valio Brie - my current favourite.

Eestikeelne 'retsept' siin.

Estonian Deviled Eggs Recipe

There are plenty of recipes for devilled eggs on the blogosphere (just check out this). But you know what - I think the way I make them is just enough different to justify yet another blog post on these :)

There are actually two major 'schools' of making devilled eggs in Estonia - one using something similar to canned anchovy liquid to season the egg yolk filling, the other one prefering mustard. I belong to the latter 'school'. Here's my usual recipe, and I do make these quite frequently for various festive tables - most recently for my birthday, alongside these cute quail egg mushrooms, where they were devoured by the kids and grown-ups alike..

Deviled Eggs, Estonian style
(Täidetud munad)*
Makes 12

6 medium or large organic eggs, boiled**
50 grams butter, not too cold
1 to 2 Tbsp mayonnaise
1 to 2 tsp strong mustard
salt, to taste

To garnish:
fresh parsley or dill, finely chopped
fresh or frozen cranberries or redcurrants

Peel the boiled eggs and halve lenghtwise along the middle. Scoop out the yolks.
Mash the butter with egg yolks (either press both through the sieve grate finely - I do the latter). Stir in mayonnaise and mustard, season with salt.
For a nicer finish, put the mixture into an icing bag with a serrated tip and fill the egg white 'bowls' with the egg yolk filling.
Garnish and keep in the fridge until serving.

* They're simply known as 'filled eggs' or 'stuffed eggs' in Estonian.

** Use whatever perfected egg-boiling method you prefer. I leave my eggs at room temperature for an hour before boiling. I then place them in a pan filled with water, bring to the boil and boil for 7 minutes. After that, I quickly cool them under cold running water. Always works for me, but you can check out what Alanna or Elise or Kalyn or Thredahlia are doing.

'Egg mushrooms' for kids and adults alike

First of all, thank you for all your kind wishes on my birthday - you're too sweet!

And what a lovely birthday I had. On Thursday (the actual b-day), K. and I had a yet another fantastic meal at Stenhus in Tallinn. On Friday I had some 20 friends (incl. few kids) for a birthday party at our home, and today our families came for Sunday lunch. Friday's party was Spanish-themed, today I served a number of typical Estonian party snacks, and I'll tell you more about them in due course. But I wanted to share this happy and bright photo with you.

I suspect you all know about this particular party piece consisting of boiled eggs and halved scooped tomatoes? Yes? No? It's in a classic Estonian children's cookbook published in mid-1980s, so most 'kids' of my age are familiar with this.

But I knew it would be even better in mini format, so I tried this version. Instead of regular chicken eggs and medium-sized tomatoes, I chose quail eggs and cherry vine tomatoes. My nephews - and the rest of the family - loved popping them into their mouth, so I'll be making the mini version from now on.

Here's how (just in case you didn't know already).

Quail Egg and Cherry Tomato 'Amanita muscaria' Mushrooms
('Kärbseseened' lastelauale)

Boil some quail eggs (say 10) for 2 minutes, cool and peel them.
Halve 5 ripe cherry tomatoes, scoop out the seeds and let them drain on a kitchen paper for a few minutes.
Cut some fresh dill or parsley and scatter on a serving plate.
Now cut a very thin slice off the bottom of the quail eggs, and stand them on top of the finely chopped herbs.
Place half of a tomato on top of each quail egg.
Sprinkle with Maldon salt flakes or dot with mayonnaise for that Amanita muscaria* effect :)

* Amanita muscaria aka fly agaric mushrooms are of course poisonous and inedible, but they are some of the the prettiest mushrooms in the forests with their bright red caps and white flecked tops. Kids here learn early on to avoid these when forageing for wild mushrooms.

Estonian Recipes: Black Pudding Chips

Almost three years ago, just few months into my foodblogging thingy, I told you about a beautiful part of Estonia, Lahemaa, and a nice lunch I had with my mum, sister, nephews and a friend in a tavern in Altja. One of the dishes they served us were thin black pudding chips, and I had been thinking about making them ever since..

Not sure why it took me the better part of three years, but few weeks ago I finally picked up a suitable black pudding in the grocery store, and made them at home. Note that for black pudding chips, you need verikäkk - a thicker and denser cousin of verivorst, our typical Christmas fare.

In order to make the tasty black pudding chips above, remove the outer casing, and cut the pudding into thin slices (ca 3-5 mm is about right).

Place the slices on a baking sheet and place into a 100-110 C (225-240 F) oven for about 35-45 minutes, until the chips are dry-ish and crispy. Flip them over after about 20 minutes, so they'd cook evenly.

Serve with a cold sour cream sauce, seasoned with freshly grated horseradish or finely chopped garlic.

(Veritsipsid)

Hot and Savoury: Smoked Salmon and Wasabi Rolls

We had some friends over for dinner on Thursday night, watching a video and slide show of the photos taken during our Austrian skiing trip last month. The buffet table contained some dishes that were Austrian (Wiener Schnitzel a la Johanna), some that were appropriate for Easter table (my Pashka, for example; as well as Marbled Beetroot Eggs), as well as some random favourites (Alanna's Spicy Carrots). But I also wanted to try something new and savoury, and these smoked salmon and wasabi rolls from the Swedish Arla site (Laxrullar med wasabiröra) hit the spot perfectly.

Try them, they're lovely. The Arla-people describe these as Swedish sushi :)

Smoked Salmon and Wasabi Rolls
(Suitsulõhe-wasabirullid)
Serves 10 as a nibble

200 g thinly sliced cold-smoked salmon
50 g dill, finely chopped
150 g cream cheese (Philadelphia)
0.5 to 1 tsp wasabi paste
a pinch of salt
2 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds

Combine dill and cream cheese in a bowl, season with wasabi paste and salt, if necessary.
Cover a cutting board with a cling film, then place salmon sliced next to each other, overlapping slightly. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the salmon slices. With the help of the cling film, roll into a tight cylinder, starting from the longer edge. ´
Place the roll into a freezer for at least half an hour (I kept it in the freezer for 2 hours).
Toast sesame seeds on a dry non-stick pan until golden, then sprinkle onto a cutting board.
Remove the salmon roll from the freezer and unwrap. Roll back and forth in sesame seeds to cover.
Using a very sharp knife, cut into 1 cm slices.

Salmon Roe Canapés, two ways

Photo updated in January 2012

One of the appetizers we served on New Year's Eve to our guests was a simple, but elegant, salmon roe and red onion canapé. The 'recipe' was from this Finnish site, and I copied it pretty much verbatim. I used salmon roe, which is extremely festive-looking, but any fish roe you like and can afford would surely do.

Salmon Roe and Red Onion mouthfuls
(Sibulapaadid kalamarjaga)



2-3 red onions
100 grams trout or salmon roe
100 grams sour cream or cream fraiché (full-fat!)
fresh dill
coarsely ground black pepper

Peel the onion and cut into quarters. Divide into slices, reserving larger slices (2-3 per person) as 'spoons' and chopping the smaller slices finely.
Spoon some sour cream onto each onion slice, top with finely chopped onion and fish roe.
Garnish with dill and a grinding of black pepper.

*******

The other recipe is very similar to the first one, just served in a different way. You see, I had bought too much salmon roe, and had quite a bit left over on the New Year's Day. So when I browsed some of my favourite Estonian blogs, I spotted a salmon roe appetizer that Kajakapesa had made, and quickly tried her version at home. The ingredients are the same, with the addition of fried rye bread croutons, which take some more edge off the salty fishroe and harsh onions.

Salmon Roe and Rye Bread in a Glass
(Kalamarja suupiste rukkileivaga)
Serves 4
Recipe from the February 2007 issue of Kodukiri



2 to 3 slices of dark rye bread
100 - 200 ml sour cream
1 small red onion, finely chopped
100 grams fish roe (I used salmon, but trout roe would be fine)
fresh dill

Cut the rye bread slices into cubes and crisp them by putting into a hot oven for a few minutes, or dry-roast on a frying pan.
Divide the rye croutons between four glasses, spoon sour cream (or creme fraiché) on top. Sprinkle with finely chopped onion, a spoonful of salmon roe. Garnish with dill.



Other fish roe/caviar appetizers on Nami-nami include Johanna's caviar and wasabi mini potatoes.

Good bye, 2007!

Last night our friends Liina, Hille, Anu, Margit, Liis & Kristjan & Matilda, Erika & Mait & Siim Oskar came over to send off 2007 in style, with Peter & Kristel joining us after midnight. We watched some must-see programmes on the TV (Kreisiraadio and the President's New Year's Eve Speech), played Scrabble and the Estonian equivalent of Trivial Pursuit, competed against each other in a quiz (consisting of a literary round, a culinary round and a general knowledge round), watched the fireworks (twice, actually, as about half of Tallinn's population seems to live in a different time zone:), chatted and enjoyed ourselves. And of course, we ate lots of good food.

Here's a list of dishes and drinks we enjoyed last night with appropriate English and Estonian language links (so I'd remember next year what to serve and what not to serve:)

Happy New Year, everyone!!! Head uut aastat!!!

Some eye-catching salmon roe and onion mouthfuls (sibulapaadid kalamarjaga; red onion, full-fat sour cream or creme fraiche, chopped red onion, salmon roe, dill, black pepper). One of the most popular nibbles on the table last night (and yes, although onion is strong-tasting, the creamy sour cream and salty salmon roe stole the show):


Two types of salami fingerfood - small squares with thyme (suitsuvorstisuupisted) and small rolls with slices of paprika (salaamikanapeed):


Kiluvõilevad aka rye bread toasts with butter, pickled Baltic herring, chopped green onions and grated boiled egg (my friend Erika and her family are currently living & working in Brussels, Belgium, so these über-Estonian nibbles were especially for them):


Of course there were Molly's bouchons au thon (tuunikalaomletikesed)- one of our favourite snacks from 2007:


There were two healthy salads on the table for those watching their weight: Russian Vinaigrette Salad (köögiviljavinegrett) and red and white cabbage coleslaw (ameerika kapsasalat):


Just before midnight we enjoyed K's modern take on the traditional Estonian Christmas meal - a canapé of black pudding, lingonberry jelly and roast potato:


And we had cheese, of course. There's an excellent local blue cheese now, Breti Blue (far back), and they also do a Brie-type cheese with caraway seeds (oozing on the front). We also had some lovely Mimolette (you can see a tiny glimpse of it down on the left) and Cathedral City Extra Mature Cheddar (front):


There were two main desserts - a gingerbread tiramisu, garnished with my current favourite berry, sea-buckthorn:


and

Pears poached in mulled wine (hõõgveinipirnid), garnished with toasted almonds (another hip-friendly dessert):


Both desserts were inspired by my recent internship at the top gourmet restaurant in Tallinn (story to follow). As making tiramisu for dessert left us with 8 egg whites, I made two types of meringues - coconut ones (kookosbeseed) and plain ones (beseeküpsised):


I also made Rosettes (krustaadid), using my long-neglected set of rosette irons:


Gingerbread baskets (piparkoogikorvikesed, using some leftover gingerbread dough) with lingonberry cream (curd cheese, whipping cream, sugar, vanilla and lingonberry jam), garnished with toasted hazelnuts:


For drinks? Kir Royals and Piña Colada Espumas, rooibos tea, Chinese cabernet sauvignon (Dragon Seal, 2005), South African Syrah (Simonsig Stellenbosch 2001), Cidre de Bouché de Normandie and much more..