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.

Another great fish dish: Salmon with Lime and Mustard

It was just over a week ago when I posted a recipe for Salmon with Creamy Orange Sauce and Rosemary, but since we're adviced to eat oily fish on a weekly basis, I hope you don't mind another salmon recipe so quickly. I made this for K's mum's birthday party last weekend, and it went down really well. So well that we'll definitely try it again soon.

It's based on vague instructions of an Estonian celebrity chef Imre Kose that appearead in a local daily newspaper back in 1999 (I'm glad I kept that newspaper clipping!). There was a brief moment of confusion as whether to season the fish fillet with salt or not, as the instructions didn't specify, and we decided not to. We're glad we did - the resulting fish had plenty of flavour (mustard and lime), and definitely didn't seem to cry for some salt.

If you prefer more flavour, do the prep work earlier and let the fish marinate for an hour before cooking.

Salmon with Lime and Mustard
(Laimi-sinepi ahjulõhe)
Serves 10



a salmon or trout fillet, approximately 1-1,5 kg
1 lime
Dijon mustard
fine dried breadcrumbs

Preparation is supereasy - place the fish fillet in a ovenproof dish (remember to remove any pin-bones first!). Then sprinkle the fish fillet with lime juice (throw the lime shells into the oven dish as well), spread generously with Dijon mustard and scatter breadcrumbs on top. NO NEED TO SEASON WITH SALT!

Cover loosely with foil, and cook in a preheated 200 C oven for about 20 minutes. If you wish, remove the foil after 15 minutes - this will allow the breadcrumbs to get some colour.

Take out of the oven and serve with cooked rice and/or some green salad.

Revisiting an old favourite: Salmon with a Creamy Orange Sauce and Rosemary

I already posted a recipe for this dish during my early foodblogging days (in July 2005, to be precise). However, it never had a decent photo to illustrate it, plus I've changed the cooking temperatures a little, so I hope you don't mind me writing about it again. Also, I do believe that this fish dish deserves attention. It is an elegant salmon dish, you see, with a lovely creamy, sweet and herby sauce dressing the fish. We had it for dinner last weekend, eating it with some steamed quinoa, and it was a thoroughly satisfying simple meal.

Do try it as well. Oily fish is good for you, you know...

Salmon with a creamy orange sauce & rosemary
(Rosmariini-apelsinilõhe; original recipe: Apelsin- och rosmarinlax, Arla Sverige)
Serves 4 (can be easily halved)


4 pieces of salmon fillets (ca 500 g in total)
1 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
250 ml (1 cup) single cream
3-4 Tbsp orange juice

First, remove any pin-bones from the salmon fillets with pliers (see photo below).
Put fish fillets into an ovenproof dish, season with a mixture of salt, pepper and rosemary. Cover and let marinate for 30 minutes in the fridge.
Mix the single cream with orange juice and pour over the fish.
Grill in a pre-heated 200˚C oven for 15 or so minutes, until fish is cooked through and the creamy orange sauce has thickened a little.
Transfer the fish onto warm plates and serve with plain rice or quinoa, spooning the extra sauce over the fish.

Salmon Roe Canapés, two ways

Already a new post? Well, my friend and colleague Elizabeth (a Romanian girl based in Tallinn) just 'skyped' me and asked for some advice about what to serve to some guests tonight. She's already making a quiche, but wanted something else simple and savoury, so we agreed I'll post something a.s.a.p. 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..

Cooking from The Cook's Book: Salmon with Cajun Blackening Spices

I haven't had any fish recipes on the blog for a while (not since the picturesque teriyaki salmon, but that post didn't contain a recipe), so it's time to remedy the situation, especially as 'eating more fish' was one of my 2007 foodie resolutions.

I chose a recipe from Jill Norman's The Cook's Book: Step-by-step techniques & recipes for success every time from the world's top chefs, a book I gave to K. as a Christmas present last year after reading Sam's enthusiastic praises to Jill Norman's hefty tome. The book is divided into sections, each full of great instructions and recipes by the masters of their field - Dan Lepard (Breads & Batters), Ferran Adria (Foams), Marcus Wareing (Meat), Ken Hom (Chinese Cooking), David Thompson (Thai Cooking), Pierre Herme (Pastry & Sweet Doughs; Desserts), to name just a few. I've tried quite a few recipes from the book (Pierre Herme's recipe for pâte brisée with a twist is a particular favourite of mine; K. has been taken by Madame Guérard's method for deep-frying eggs), and due to the accumulation of our newest kitchen gadget have been reading up on Adria's chapter recently :)

The recipe is from Peter Gordon's chapter on Flavourings, and has been very slightly adapted. I reduced the recipe to feed the two of us; only used whole spices, as that's what we keep in the house; used fresh garlic, as I've never understood the appeal of dried garlic powder. I also cooked my salmon fillets for a wee bit longer than prescribed by Peter Gordon, yet still leaving salmon tantalisingly opaque-pink inside. Note that although it is usually recommended to dry-roast your whole spices first, it's not necessary here, as the spices will be coming into direct contact with the heat anyway.

And yes, of course it's a keeper. I wouldn't be sharing the recipe with you otherwise.

Salmon With Cajun Blackening Spices
(Peter Gordoni lõhefilee Cajuni vürtsidega)
Source: Peter Gordon in The Cook's Book (p 99), very slightly adapted
Serves 2-3



2 salmon steaks or fillets

1tsp cumin seeds, crushed
1 tsp coriander seeds, crushed
2 tsp smoked Spanish paprika, pimenton
1 tsp black peppercorns, crushed
1 tsp dried thyme
a pinch of dried oregano
2 tsp fine salt
1 garlic clove, finely minced

olive oil or rapeseed oil, for frying

Crush all cumin seeds, coriander seeds and peppercorns in the pestle & mortar, add other spices and finely chopped garlic clove. Mix and rub over salmon fillets or steaks (both sides!). Cover the tray and leave to marinate at room temperature for about 30 minutes.
Heat a heavy-bottomed frying pan on a moderately high heat until hot, add the oil. Place salmon fillets in the pan. Leave to cook for 2-3 minutes, without moving them (this helps to get a nice and even browning).
Turn salmon fillets around, cover the pan with a lid and cook for another 2-3 minutes, depending on how cooked you like your salmon.
Transfer onto warmed plates and serve with a cucumber salad and a dollop of thick yogurt/sour cream.

Food Bartering: Wild Strawberries for Freshly Smoked Flatfish

Careful readers on my blog may have noticed a discrepancy in my strawberry posts. I claimed here to have picked a good kilogram of the best and sweetest strawberries in the world (this doesn't include all the berries - and there were many, oh so many, let me tell you - that ended up straight in my mouth as opposed to the basket), yet I only used 750 grams to make wild strawberry jam.

What happened to the rest? Well, we bartered them for 8 gorgeous fresh hot-smoked flatfish on Sunday night. And not just any flatfish, but eight lovely specimens of European flounder (Platichthys flesus trachurus), to be more precise:



Aren't they gorgeous? They're picked by a fisherman in our suburb, and hot-smoked by a kind friend who lives just around the corner. They're still small, as their peak season is only in August.*

I'll be eagerly waiting for August, as 'suitsulest' (that's smoked flounder for you) is the smoked fish with the softest, tenderest, tastiest and most delicate flesh imaginable..

* Which means that the special foodblogger who's coming for a visit in August is in line both for a jar of wild strawberry jam, a guided tour to pick her first ever cloudberries and some unusual edible wild mushrooms, as well as eat some freshly smoked flatfish when they're at their best. Lucky her, let me tell you :)

Oven-roasted salmon with coriander/cilantro

How time flies!! Remember the asparagus with coconut & lime starter and rhubarb & coconut pie dessert I served at a dinner party in May? Well, between these two courses I served a rather tasty and healthy oven-roasted salmon with coriander/cilantro. I wanted something that would connect the coconut & lime starter with the coconut & rhubarb dessert. As Dianne, one of the guests that night, doesn't eat red meat, then I knew it had to be a fish course. At the end I came up with this recipe - combination of various coriander/cilantro salmon recipes in the web, and lime is the ingredient that appeared both in the starter and in the main course dish. Coriander is not a very widely used herb here in Estonia, though it is increasingly available at some supermarkets, and can be found under the name kinza at the markets, where Russian-speaking ladies sell it (it's widely popular in Caucasus, for example - Georgian chakhohbili wouldn't be the same without it). I hated coriander in the beginning, but have grown to like its piquancy over the last few years, and now grow some on my windowsill.

I used salmon steaks, but it would work just as well with fillets. Also, I served it with quinoa, which worked well, but steamed rice or boiled new potatoes would go well as well. Or simply a nice crusty bread, if you prefer.

Oven-roasted salmon with coriander/cilantro
(Koriandrilõhe)
Serves 4


Click on the photo to enlarge

4 salmon steaks or fillets

Coriander/cilantro marinade:
100 grams fresh coriander, chopped
2 fat garlic cloves, chopped
the zest and juice of 1 lime
5 Tbsp olive oil
sea salt
coarsely ground black pepper

few tomatoes on the wine, optional

Mix all the marinade ingredients together. Season salmon steaks lightly with salt and pepper on both sides, place in a greased oven dish. Spread the coriander marinade over, tuck the squeezed lime halves in the dish as well. [This can be done few hours earlier; cover the dish with a clingfilm and place in the fridge].
Add few smaller tomatoes for extra colour. Cover with foil and roast at 225 Celsius oven for about 15 minutes, depending on thickness, until fish is cooked. Avoid overcooking, as overcooked salmon is simply dry & nasty. (You may want to remove the foil about 5 minutes before end, just to get some golden colour).

Other salmon recipes @ Nami-nami:
Creamy salmon & potato gratin (February 2007)
Oriental salmon with honey, mustard & soy sauce (February 2006)
Salmon fishcakes with green peas (November 2006)
Salmon kulebyaka (February 2007)

Waiter, there's something (stuffed) in my ... tomatoes with two types of filling

Waiter, there is something in my ... - a wonderful food blogging event organised by Johanna, Jeanne & Andrew - has reached it's fifth instalment: stuffed fruit/vegetables, hosted by Jeanne.

My entry for this round is stuffed tomatoes with two kinds of salad fillings. It's not really a recipe, just a tip for serving nice small tomatoes. The first filling is a cod liver salad that I have written about before. The 'recipe' is my mum's, and this is how cod liver has been eaten in our family for decades. I thought that was the only way of serving this particular fishy preserve, until K simply put a canned cod liver on the table. Apparently his family simply spread the liver on a slice of bread, straight out of the can. I prefer my way, and as far as I've understood, have converted him, too :)

The other recipe for wild garlic & cucumber salad is from my local bus stop. Yes, you read it correctly - bus stop. I knew that wild garlic (Allium ursinum) grows somewhere in our neighbourhood, but I had never seen it wild, nor had I ever picked it. One late morning in early April I was standing in a bus stop, waiting for the bus to take me to town, and next to me were two elderly Russian-speaking women, or babushkas:) My Russian is very rusty, so I didn't understand much of what was said, but my sense of smell seems to work just fine, as I suddenly realised that something was smelling very fragrantly and faintly garlicky. I turned to the women and asked them about the smell, and they kindly showed me their bounty. Eventhough I had never seen 'uncooked' Allium ursinum in my life, I recognised the green leaves immediately from photos - it was wild garlic! I was given a large bunch to go with, and two recipes to boot. One of the women claimed that the best way to eat it is with some cucumber, sour cream, and salt & pepper. The other swore by wild garlic, boiled egg, sunflower oil, salt & pepper. As they both seemed to be very knowledgeable about wild garlic, I took their advice seriously and have been religiously following it. I can tell you that after I found the secret hidaway near my house, I've been eating a lot of the first salad since. I'm yet to try the other..

Stuffed tomatoes with two types of salad



about 20 small ripe, but firm tomatoes

Cod liver salad
(Tursamaksasalat)

1 can of cod liver chunks, drained (reserve the oil)
1 small shallot, chopped
1 pickled cucumber, finely chopped
1 boiled egg, chopped
salt
black pepper

Mix all the ingredients, add some of the reserved oil to make it moister, if you want.

Wild garlic & cucumber salad
(Karulaugu-kurgisalat)

a bunch of wild garlic, washed and roughly chopped
a small cucumber, washed, quartered or halved lenghtwise, and sliced
sour cream

Mix the cucumber, wild garlic and enough sour cream to bind everything together. Season with salt, if necessary (I haven't done it, as the salad has plenty of freshness and taste without any).

Now comes the tricky part. Halve the small tomatoes, scoop out the flesh and drain the juices. Stuff tomato halves with above-mentioned salads. Voila!

Other stuffed fruit & vegetables @ Nami-nami:
Baked red onions stuffed with mushrooms, feta cheese & pine nuts (March 2006)
Oven roasted pears with caramelised oats filling (November 2005)
Red peppers stuffed with spinach & mushrooms (April 2006)
Red peppers with cumin-scented halloumi cubes (November 2006)

Here are links to my previous Waiter there is something in my ... entries:
April 2007 (BREAD): a traditional Estonian quick mushroom bread, Seenekarask
March 2007 (EASTER BASKET): a selection of various Easter delights.
February 2007 (PIE): a great Russian puff pastry and fish pie, Salmon Kulebyaka.
January 2007 (STEW): my version (in collaboration with Anthony Bourdain:) of the French classic Boeuf Bourguignon.

UPDATE 1. June 2007: Read Jeanne's roundup here

Copycat: Johanna's omelette and smoked salmon stack

On our recent trip to London, K and I stayed with my friend Johanna's for a weekend. During that time we had the pleasure of feasting - literally - every morning. We had eggs benetine or florendict on Saturday (great poached eggs!) an omelette layer cake with smoked salmon and rocket on Sunday (an impressive-looking layered affair), and a savoury clafoutis with cherry tomatoes and rocket on Monday (a 'requested breakfast' dish - I had the pleasure of eating this on the morning after Jeanne's & Johanna's blog birthday bash in June 2006, and couldn't wait to have it again). Each one of those breakfasts sounded & looked fabulous and tasted een better. But it was the omelette layer cake with smoked salmon & rocket that kept haunting us long after we were back home in Estonia. So it happened that we recreated Johanna's omelette layer cake at home last Sunday, when my friend Liis came for a Sunday brunch with her family. We followed Johanna's recipe to the letter as far as the omelette pancakes were concerned. Our resident pancake-expert (that's obviously not me, but K) did a good job and cooked no less than seven thinner-than-thin omelettes, six of which were perfect (and the seventh one had few beauty shortcomings).



The rocket leaves were picked from our windowsill garden, and partially replaced with some young spinach leaves. I also used salt-cured sliced trout, which I quickly pan-fried on a dry frying pan and drained on a paper towel to rid of excess oil. I then simply crumbled the fish between omelette layers, interlacing them with green leaves.

We served the omlette and smoked fish layer cake with a herby sour cream sauce (sour cream, mayonnaise, dill, salt), which nicely complemented the saltiness of the fish. And for the garnish, few extra rocket leaves from the window sill..

A great dish, believe me, and I heartily recommend that you go and check out that recipe yourself!

WIP: Smoked Salmon and Cucumber Tart

May I present you with a smoked salmon and cucumber tart, also on the table last Saturday (alongside the cute mini potatoes with wasabi cream and fake 'caviar' and the mocca cake with toasted almonds):



It's a bit like a sandwich cake, only that it contains no bread :) The dish is lined with thinly sliced cucumbers - pretty and spring-like. The recipe is still being developed - hence the WIP (work in progress) in the title of this post. It was tasty, but a bit too salty for my liking; the filling contains sour cream, cottage cheese, mayonnaise, cold smoked salmon, dill and is set with the addition of gelatine (thus not too dissimilar to the festive smoked salmon sandwich cake). I'm also not happy how the filling has leaked through the cucumber slices, so next time I'll double-line the dish with cucumber slices to make sure the upside down tart is perfectly green when I turn it around.

Otherwise not bad, not bad at all..

My first ever ... kedgeree

Kedgeree is an Anglo-Indian dish that was a popular breakfast item during the Victorian era. It's a rice dish with smoked fish and soft boiled eggs, seasoned with curry and herbs. I had seen various kedgeree recipes during my years in Edinburgh, yet I hadn't had a chance to try, yet alone make it myself. The opportunity finally knocked at my door during Easter, as I had all those colourful Easter eggs needing to be used up.

I cannot really tell you the origin of this recipe any more. I wasn't sure I will be able to find smoked haddock here, so I decided to go with salmon - the post popular and common smoked fish in Estonia. I searched the web and my bookshelf and printed out several recipes for a smoked salmon kedgeree. Eventually, I did find smoked haddock after all, and after some further inspiration from Jamie's Dinners: The Essential Family Cookbook (aitäh, Merilin, mulluse sünnipäevakingi eest!) I came up with a following recipe. Whereas kedgeree is usually made with pre-cooked rice, a bit like egg-fried rice, then I cooked it from scratch to be served straight away.

I enjoyed it, and I hope you'll do as well. It was a light and unusual brunch dish, and the pretty yellow colour made it especially suitable for a sunny spring day.. One day I will give the smoked salmon kedgeree a try, however, too..

My kedgeree
(Suitsutursakedgeree)
Serves 6-8



250 grams basmati rice
400 ml water or vegetable stock
200 grams hot smoked haddock, flaked (cleaned weight)
25 grams butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 Tbsp mild Indian curry powder
half a lemon
salt and black pepper
fresh coriander or parsley, chopped
2-3 boiled eggs, peeled and halved lengthwise

Rinse the rice in a running cold water, drain.
Melt the butter in a pan over a medium heat. Add the onion, garlic and curry powder and fry gently for about 5 minutes.
Add the rice and the boiling water/stock (all at once). Simmer gently, covered, for 10 minutes, until rice is 'al dente'.
Add the flaked fish and lemon juice, heat through.
Season, sprinkle with chopped herbs.
Garnish with thinly sliced lemon and top with halved boiled eggs.

OTHER BLOGGERS BLOGGING ABOUT KEDGEREE:
Sam and her Kedgeree (including a link to some further background information on this dish)
Mae and her beautiful Smoked Haddock Kedgeree
Freya & Paul and their Kedgeree a la Lindsay Bareham
Sher and her Salmon Kedgeree a la Nigella Lawson
Liz and her Smoked almon Kedgeree with Shrimps

Copycat: Molly's bouchons au thon & emakeelepäev

Today is emakeelepäev (pronounced ['emakeelepæev] - now there's a mouthful!) alias the day of the mother tongue in Estonia. It's the birth anniversary of Kristjan Jaak Peterson (1801-1822), the father of Estonian written poetry. Since 1999, this day has been marked by various events celebrating Estonian language, the mother tongue of just one million people. It's a beautiful language, closely related to Finnish, and more distantly to Hungarian (and not at all to Russian, Latvian, English and other Indo-European languages). Apparently it is a pretty difficult language to learn. We have a funny letter Õ in our language (as well as more familiar Ä, Ö and Ü), three degrees of phoneme lengths, no grammatical gender (the word for 'he' and 'she' is both 'tema', no distinction is made), our nouns and adjectives decline in 14 cases, we have no future tense, yet we've got two infinitives. You get the picture..

A former US Peace Corps guy, Douglas Wells, has written a funny account about The Origins of Estonian Language, describing his frustration about learning the language after five years' residency. Do read it, it's hilarious! And if you want a more serious overview of the language, then check out this article by the Estonian Institute.

Back to food now. We had a most delicious and simple dinner last night, courtesy of Orangette's Molly. Two years ago she posted a recipe for tuna mouthfuls, or bouchons au thon - a recipe she had brought back from her time in Paris. I bookmarked the recipe ages ago, but, as it often happens, didn't make them until much-much later. I was beaten to it by Michelle of Oswego Tea, and Zarah Maria of Food & Thoughts - both praised those tuna bouchons. You can officially add me to the list of your bouchons au thon fans, Molly!

Molly's bouchons au thon
(Tuunikalaomletikesed)



I followed the recipe pretty much to the letter, so I'm not reposting it here. The only changes were doubling the amount of parsley (I love lots of herbs in my food), and using a local cheese instead of gruyère, and sour cream instead of crème fraîche. I used a regular 12 hole muffin pan, resulting in 12 bouchons. These were moist, tasty, and light, the tuna-egg-tomato combination working wonderfully together! K, who just few weeks ago claimed that one cannot make a decent dish out of canned tuna, changed his mind. We both agreed that these should soon make an appearance in our kitchen again. Maybe alongside my own (and pretty similar) feta & spinach mini omelettes?

UPDATE 15.3.2007
I had made 12 of those on Monday night, and K. and I finished 11 between us for dinner. I was quite reluctant to leave one in the fridge for the following day (but we were too full to finish the last one:), as I wasn't sure it'd taste nice on the day after. I was so wrong. The texture of cold bouchons was really different - smooth and dense, as opposed to soft and moist. But the flavour was still absolutely wonderful. I think I'll make them in my mini muffin tray next time - and that'll be soon, and take them along to a spring picnic:)

Waiter, there is something in my ... salmon kulebyaka

For the first round of Waiter, there is something in my ... ! I made Anthony Bourdain's boeuf bourgoingnon. For the second round of this new foodblogging event - in February focusing on pies and hosted by CookSister's Jeanne - I made something from the Russian cuisine: kulebyaka. Kulebyaka should have been on my 2007 list of foodie resolutions, as I had been thinking about making it for months, but somehow it slipped my mind when I wrote the post. But better late than never, and now was my chance to make that festive Russian pie. Kulebyaka is a high and oblong closed pie with different types of fillings. When looking for the perfect recipe, I came across kulebyakas stuffed with fish, mushrooms, meat, cabbage, even apples. Some recipes used puff pastry, some yeast pastry. I realised that it is the shape of the pie (enclosed, high, long) that distinguishes kulebyaka from a pirog (that's simply a 'pie' in Russian). However, to me kulebyaka has always meant - first and foremost - a fancy puff pastry pie filled with salmon and rice. At the end, puff pastry, sliced fresh salmon, rice, dill and dainty quail's eggs were my chosen ingredients. For those of you from the British Isles - think of Beef Wellington, just with salmon and rice instead of beef and mushrooms.

Salmon kulebyaka
(Lõhekulebjaaka)
Serves 6-8



500 grams puff pastry
500 grams salmon or trout fillet, thinly sliced
150 ml rice
12 quail's eggs
fresh dill, chopped
salt
freshly ground black pepper
lemon juice

(egg for brushing, black peppercorns for decorating)

Season the salmon slices with salt, pepper and lemon juice.
Cook the rice in salted water until al dente. Drain and cool.
Boil the quail's eggs in simmering water for 2-3 minutes, then cool quickly under cold running water. Peel and put aside.
Roll out the puff pastry.
Place the smaller pastry sheet on a baking tray. Cover with 1/2 of the rice, then dill and 1/2 of the salmon slices. Place the quail's eggs over the salmon.
Sprinkle with dill, then cover with the rest of the rice, top with salmon slices (see right) and sprinkle any leftover dill on top. Season with salt and pepper and a squeeze or two of lemon juice.
Cover with the larger pastry sheet. Decorate with small cut-out fish figures (optional - I used black peppercorns for eyes:). Make a couple of insertions into the pastry with a sharp knife, so the steam can evaporate during cooking.
Brush with egg.
Bake at 200C for 20-30 minutes, until kulebyaka is golden brown.
Serve hot, either with a good bouillon (traditional way) or a dollop of mayonnaise.

Here's a cross-section of the finished pie - I really liked the way those quail's eggs looked:

A simple, yet festive, salmon sandwich cake

When I first wrote about a sandwich cake on this blog, it was an elaborate multi-layered affair with fancy toppings. This one is so much simpler, but no less prettier or festive. I made it few weeks ago for K's mother's birthday (yep, the same party where K. contributed a lovely cinnamon boston). I can still think of ways of developing this recipe, but it is also good enough as it is, so I'm sharing it with you now and here. It's loosely adapted from this Finnish recipe from Pirkka - the base is directly from them, whereas the topping is all mine:)

A great addition to a buffet table or coffee table - it can be eaten with a small dessert fork.

A simple salmon sandwich cake
(Lõhetort)
Serves 16



Rye bread base:
400 grams full-grain rye bread
75 grams melted butter

Filling:
350 grams cottage cheese/farmers cheese (with 4% fat)
200 grams sour cream/smetana (with 30% fat)
50 ml fresh dill, chopped
1-2 tsp wasabi paste
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp Maldon sea salt flakes
freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbsp lemon juice
5 sheets of gelatine
200 grams cold smoked salmon or trout in thin slices

To garnish:
fresh dill sprigs
thin lemon slices
slightly crushed pink peppercorns

Crumble the bread into a bowl, add the melted butter and stir until combined. Press the bread mixture into a 24x24 cake tin that has been lined with baking paper. Put into the fridge to set a little.
Soak gelatine sheets in cold water for 5 minutes.
In another bowl, mix cottage cheese, sour cream, dill and cucumber cubes. Season with salt, sugar, mustard and/or wasabi paste, and pepper.
Heat the lemon juice, add the pressed gelatine leaves and let them melt in the hot juice. Pour into the cheese mixture and combine thoroughly.
Spoon the cheese mixture onto the rye bread base and put into the fridge to set for at least four hours.
Cut the smoked salmon or trout slices into 16 long strips, each about 2-2.5 cm wide. Roll them up, twisting edges slightly outside, so you've got 'roses'.
Cut the sandwich cake into 16 squares and top each with a rose. Garnish with thin lemon slices and dill sprigs, sprinkle with slightly crushed pink peppercorns.

Baby, it's cold outside: a creamy salmon and potato gratin

I'm sitting in my office at work with a large mug of hot tea to keep me warm. It is -17 Celsius outside (1 Fahreinheit, I believe) and I'm trying not to think that I'm supposed to step outside in half an hour to meet a friend and check out a new creperie that has opened its doors near our university. It's freezing cold. But it's also incredibly beautiful - everything is covered with a thick, pure white snow blanket, and the sun is shining amazingly brightly - if briefly. Quite appropriately for such a chilly time of the year then, the Nordic food magazines provide recipes for filling and heart-warming casserole dishes and stews. The recipe for a creamy salmon and potato gratin is adapted from the Finnish Ruokamaailma. We had it on Monday night, together with some salad leaves and cucumber slices..

Salmon and potato gratin
(Lõhevormiroog)
Serves 6



500 grams salmon fillet
0.5 tsp salt
1 onion or a small leek
oil
1,5 kg potatoes, sliced
a handful of fresh dill, chopped

To cover:
3 eggs
300 ml single cream
300 ml milk
1 tsp salt
0.25 tsp white pepper

Remove the skin and small bones from the fish, season with salt and cut into smaller slices.
Peel and slice the onion, fry gently in some oil. If using leeks, then cut in half, rinse and slice thinly.
Peel the potatoes or scrub thoroughly. Slice thinly.
Grease the oven dish with oil, cover with half of the potato slices.
Now place the fish slices, fried onions/leeks and dill on top. Cover with the rest of the potato slices.
Mix the eggs, milk and cream, season and pour over the potatoes.
Bake at 175Celsius for one hour, until potatoes are tender, and the top layer has browned and crisped nicely.

Serve with a salad.

Smoked salmon & dill tartlets

Some ten days ago I had invited a friend of some friends and a young American colleague over for dinner. I wanted the dinner to be slightly Nordic in honour of our overseas guest, who was also a fish-eating vegetarian. The main dish was a beetroot and blue cheese risotto (beetroot qualifying as the 'Nordic' element there:), and we started the meal with small smoked salmon and dill tartlets. Dill is one of the most-loved and most-used herbs in Estonia, and as the country is surrounded by water on three sides, then fish is a suitably suitable main ingredient, too.

A note on smoked salmon. Here in Estonia, you can buy either hot-smoked salmon or cold-smoked salmon. When I moved to Scotland, I found it confusing when recipes just asked for 'smoked salmon' and didn't specify which type of smoked salmon they're talking about. Eventually I learned that 'smoked salmon' always indicates 'cold-smoked salmon' and 'hot-smoked salmon' always says so on the tin/packet..

Smoked salmon and dill tartlets
(Suitsulõhe-tillipirukad)
Source: BBC Good Food, July 2004
Serves 6



300 grams shortcrust pastry
150 grams cold-smoked salmon or trout
2 eggs
2 Tbsp chopped fresh dill
200 ml single cream
salt
freshly ground black pepper

To garnish:
dill sprigs and fresh lime or lemon wedges

Divide the pastry into six, roll into thin circles and line six individual Ø 10 cm pastry forms with them. Prick with a fork and put into a freezer for 15 minutes to reduce shrinking in the oven.
Pre-bake for 15 minutes at 200Celsius, until slightly golden. (If you prefer to blind bake your pastry cases, then cover with parchment paper and dried beans, bake for 10 minutes, then remove the paper&beans and bake for further 5 minutes).
Cut the smoked salmon into thin strips and lay on shortcrust cases.
Whisk the eggs with dill, add single cream and season with salt and pepper. Pour over salmon.
Bake for 15 minutes, until the filling has set and the tartlets are golden brown on top.
Serve at once, or wrap in foil and keep in the freezer. Defrost, and re-heat at 180Celsius for 4-6 minutes until warm.

Garnish with dill and citrus wedges.

A tasty salmon spread

A starter from a dinner party some 10 days ago. A smoked salmond spread/pâté that preceded a wonderful boeuf bourguignon and delicious risalamande. On the photo below you can see it being served alongside the first - and rather good - local Estonian blue cheese, Breti Blue, some rocket leaves and crostini.

Can be eaten standing up around the table (read: perfect for cocktail parties and such like).

Smoked salmon spread
Adapted from Rachel Allen's Rachel's Favourite Food for Friends (2005)
Serves 10



100 grams ('cold') smoked salmon
100 grams cream cheese
100 grams sour cream/creme fraiche
about a tablespoonful of lemon juice
couple of spoonfuls of finely chopped dill
freshly ground black pepper
Maldon sea salt

Chop the smoked salmon finely, mix with cream cheese and sour cream. Season with lemon juice, dill, salt & pepper.
Serve.

Easy-peasy, I know.

UPDATE 14.1.2007: "Elust siin ja seal" also made this simple salmon spread and liked it!

Cooking for kids: Salmon fishcakes with green peas

Just a child-friendly recipe for a change. I made these while staying with Dianne & Peter and their children Maarja-Liis (8 yrs) and Maarek (12 months) in Edinburgh just before leaving. These were especially popular with the wee boy, though the adults (including me) ate them just as happily.

The recipe is adapted from a recipe in BBC Good Food 'Fresh family food' supplement, November 2006. I don't like canned salmon, and didn't want to use tartar sauce, so replaced them with fresh salmon and cream, respectively.

Salmon Fishcakes with Green Peas
(Lõhekotletid hernestega)
Serves 4



400 grams of potatoes, boiled and mashed (or use leftover mash)
400 grams of salmon filet
100 grams frozen green peas, defrosted
a generous handful of fresh mint leaves, chopped
1 Tbsp cream
salt and pepper

4 Tbsp semolina or plain flour (I prefer the former), for forming the cakes

4 Tbsp vegetable or olive oil, for frying the cakes

Put the fish filets into a glass bowl and microwave for 4 minutes at 600W, turning them around after 2 minutes, until cooked. (Alternatively, poach in little water). Mash with a fork.
Mash the boiled potatoes in a big bowl. Add the cooked fish, peas, chopped mint and cream, season with salt and pepper, and mix until combined.
Form the mixture into small fishcakes, dip these into semolina or flour. Shallow-fry in hot oil for 3-4 minutes until cooked through.
Serve with a fresh green salad and a slice of lemon.

Choux pastry roll with smoked fish, in two different ways

Here's a simple choux pastry roll that would make a lovely dinner as well as suit a more festive occasion. I've made it few times as a light meal recently, but I can just as well imagine serving this alongside coffee when my friends will finally come and visit my new home, or as a starter with some salad. Here I've used the choux pastry roll as a carrier for various smoked fish, but feel free to stuff it with coronation chicken, egg mayo & watercress, tuna salad, chopped mushrooms or any other flavoursome and moist (sandwich) filling..

Choux pastry roll with smoked fish (or any other stuffing you like)
(Keedutainarull suitsukalaga)
Feeds 8



Choux pastry:
100 grams butter
150 ml plain flour
500 ml milk
0.5 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
3 medium eggs

Stuffing A (a