Cheese sandwich, anyone?

Triggered by Pete Wells' article on foodblogs in the March issue of an American food magazine, today is the official Cheese Sandwich Day, where foodbloggers post their favourite cheese sandwich ideas.

My contribution to this foodie event is a simple Scandinavian- influenced open sandwich with beetroot* and goat's cheese that I've been making recently, where the sweetness of the beet and sharpness of the cheese complement each other perfectly.

We don't really do the "sandwiched sandwich" in the Nordic countries at all. The Danes are famous for their opulent open sandwiches that feature on the famous smørgåsbord, whereas the Estonians often serve small simple open sandwiches as part of a coffee table - or then decide to go all festive with a fancy sandwich cake.

Beetroot and goat's cheese sandwich
(Kitsejuustu-peedivõileib)



sour rye bread
olive oil
boiled beetroot, sliced
goat cheese, sliced (Chevré or something similar. I used Somerset Capricorn cheese)

Cut the rye bread into thickish slices, drizzle with olive oil. Cover with beetroot and goat's cheese slices.
Grill in a pre-heated oven until the cheese is golden and slightly melted.
Decorate with a (lemon) thyme sprig and enjoy.

* This particular cheese sandwich was also chosen because I had some beets left over from my Paper Chef # 15 entry.

Read what the legendary American food writer Ruth Reichl thought of the British cheese sandwich

UPDATE 17.11.2006: Teadmiseks eesti lugejaile, et kitsejuustu võib siinkohal edukalt asendada nt suluguni juustuga (Kehras tehakse, turgudel üsna vabalt saadaval).

An ode to wild mushrooms

I have posted quite a few recipes and stories about various mushrooms since I started this blog, so it's probably not surprising to anyone when I say that I'm quite fond of my mushrooms. I like the musky and earthy smell of proper mushrooms that evoke childhood forest adventures; their slightly meaty, yet smooth, texture that gives a nice bite under your teeth; the way how they happily absorb any flavours of the dish, if you're looking for something to bulk up your dish without lots of extra calories. Unfortunately it's a fondness that is quite difficult to satisfy here in Scotland. Yes, I've spotted chantarelles in some of the upmarket delis in Edinburgh, but until I remain working in academia, their price is prohibitive. And although dried porcini is a brilliant standby and meaty shiitake mushrooms irreplacable when I'm making my staple blue cheese and mushroom sauce to douse into my pasta, the choice here is generally meagre.

Back home the situation is luckily still a bit better. I've mentioned going forageing for mushrooms with my grandparents when I was younger, and although I sadly haven't done that for years now, my relatives still provide us with a choice of varied forest mushrooms. In late summer and early autumn you'd be able to pick up wild mushrooms from elderly - mostly Russian, whose love for mushrooms is quite wellknown - women at any of the marketplaces in Tallinn. And if you fail that, then you can just pick some pickled or salted mushrooms in most supermarkets. So you can leave those handy, but disappointingly bland cultivated mushrooms on the supermarket shelf instead..

I brought back 3 packets of mushrooms during my last trip home - pickled chantarelles (kukeseened), salted woolly milkcaps (kaseriisikad) and salted rufous milkcaps (männiriisikad). I've been lovingly looking at them in my fridge for weeks now, and last weekend devoured the wooly milkcaps. The didn't need any cooking - only soaking in water to get rid of the excess salt. I made a simplest of salads, where the earthy mushroom flavour could deservedly dominate.

Mushroom salad
(Soolaseene ja kodujuustu salat)



300-400 ml salted mushrooms, soaked, rinsed and chopped
2-3 salted cucumbers, chopped
1 red onion, minced
1-2 garlic cloves, minced
300 grams cottage cheese
fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
green onions, chopped
crushed black pepper

Just mix all the ingredients, season to taste. I had the salad with toasted rye bread, but you can use it as a filling for jacked potatoes.

I had a handful of mushrooms left over, which I pan-fried later with some boiled potatoes and sprinkled with herbs. Also delicious, with intense mushroom flavour..

That is if you can get hold of some flavoursome salted wild mushrooms then..

Võileivatort - Sandwich Cake

Dagmar over at A cat in the kitchen posted a picture of a fancy seafood smörgåstårta that her mother had made, so I decided to share a picture of the võileivatort I made for the New Year's Eve party. Sandwich Cakes have been a popular feature on Estonian buffet and coffee tables since 1990s, most common being either ham cake or seafood cake. Although I happily eat fish (less bones, heads, scales etc), I don't eat seafood like shrimps, mussels etc. Which inevitably means that I tend to prefer the ham version:



This ham sandwich cake served 20 people as part of the New Year's Eve table. I used whole rye bread slices for the 3 bread layers (3x4 slices per layer). The moist (NB! this is absolutely essential, as there is nothing worse than a dry sandwich cake!) filling consisted of finely chopped pickled dill cucumbers, lean turkey ham, cream cheese, sour cream, mayonnaise, loads of herbs (dill, chives and parsley) and seasonings. But basically you can layer the bread with any of your favourite sandwich fillings. I do one with canned tuna, leek and chopped egg and mayo occasionally as well.

For decoration - small peppered pork ham rolls filled with grated cheese, mayonnaise, garlic and smoked sweet pimento pepper. But it's your call, really.

Singi-võileivatordi retsept
Tuunikalatordi retsept