Festive Menus: Spanish Royal Couple visits Estonia

Photo © Õhtuleht

Almost two years ago, President of Estonia went on a State Visit to Spain, where they were treated to a festive Spanish meal. This week, the King and Queen of Spain, Juan Carlos I & Sofia, are on a return visit to Estonia. The festive state dinner took place last night atthe Estonia Concert Hall. Eighty local dignitaries were treated to a meal designed by Jevgeni Jermoshkin. Here's what they ate:

Official dinner at Estonia Concert Hall
on May 4, 2009

Tallinn sprats with rye bread, quail's egg and tomato vinaigrette

Cream of beetroot soup with potato-barley ball and sour cream mousse

Halibut with basil and cauliflower risotto and sparkling wine jus

Warm rhubarb tart with chocolate-covered ice cream and Vana Tallinn liqueur sauce

Sounds all rather delicious, IMHO. Too bad I wasn't invited :D

PS Curious to know what the Queen of England or the Emperor of Japan and other foreign dignitaries were served on their official visits to Estonia? Click on the Festive Menus label on the right hand side to find out.

Ground-Elder and Vanilla Muffins

From the recipe archives, updated in May 2009, orignally posted in May 2008.

Ground-elder, you may wonder? Well, I wrote more about that healthy wild green a while ago (check out my It's a Wild Thing: Hortapita or Greek Pie with Wild Greens post). Here's a recipe for delicious and unusual ground-elder muffins, adapted from a recipe seen in a local food magazine in early 2008. I must admit I first thought 'ground-elder muffins' are savoury ones, so seeing sugar and vanilla in the list of ingredients suprised me a little. However, I did follow the list of ingredients, changing the proportions and instructions as I went along, and was extremely pleased with the end result. The muffins were sweet, very slightly green-tasting, and very pleasant indeed.

Should you come across young and bright green ground-elder leaves in your garden, you should really try this recipe.

Ground-Elder and Vanilla Muffins
(Kevadised naadimuffinid vaniljega)
Ready in 30 minutes
Makes 12


30 g young ground-elder leaves (just over a cup when lightly pressed)
3 large eggs
150 ml caster sugar
100 g unsalted butter, melted
50 g sour cream

300 ml plain flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract

0.5 tsp salt

Pour some boiling water over ground elder leaves and leave to stand for a few minutes.
Whisk eggs with sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the cooled melted butter, vanilla. Mix flour, baking powder and salt, then fold into the batter.
Drain the ground-elder and squeeze dry. Chop finely, then stir into the batter.
Divide into prepared muffin cups* and bake in the middle of 220 C oven for 12-15 minutes, until muffins are lovely light golden brown.

* Either lined with paper muffin cases or generously buttered and dusted with flour. 

My favourite cheesecake recipe

Manhattan cheesecake with strawberry, mint and balsamic vinegar salsa

I just realised that I haven't shared my favourite cheesecake recipe with you. This needs to be corrected a.s.a.p., as I've told some of my Edinburgh friends that they'll find the recipe on the blog. The recipe is originally from a decade-old issue of BBC Good Food, but I've tweaked and changed both the ingredients and timings over the years. Lovers of oh-so-sweet cheesecakes out there - beware - this is a rather unsweet cheesecake. Just how I like it. It's also not as high/tall as some of the cheesecakes I saw in the US last summer - but again, I've never been a huge fan of tower-high cakes myself. 

What's your favourite cheesecake? Feel free to leave a link to the blog post/recipe in the comments.

Manhattan Cheesecake
(Manhattani toorjuustukook)
Serves 8

Base:
8 Digestive biscuits, crushed (I use LU brand, each cookie weighs ca 14 g)
2 Tbsp sugar
50 g unsalted butter, melted

Filling:
400 g full-fat Philadelphia cream cheese, at room temperature
75 g sugar caster 
2 large eggs
0.5 tsp vanilla extract

Top layer:
250 g sour cream
2 Tbsp caster sugar
0.5 tsp vanilla extract

Pre-heat the oven to 350 F/180 C. 

Line the base of a 20-23 cm springform tin with a baking paper. 

Crush the Digestive biscuits finely, mix with sugar and melted butter. Press the biscuit mixture onto the base of the cake tin. Place into the fridge for 10 minutes.

To make the filling, soften the cream cheese in a bowl, add other ingredients. Mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon, or blend for a few minutes, using an electric mixer (I like to do the latter, as it results in a lighter and creamier cheesecake filling). 

Pour over the biscuit base and bake in the middle of a preheated 350F/180C oven for 25-30 minutes, until the filling is more or less set (it shouldn't wobble too much, when you lightly shake the cake tin). 

Remove from the oven and cool for 20 minutes.

Turn the heat up to 230C/450F.

Mix sour cream, sugar and vanilla extract, then gently spoon onto the cooled cake. Return to the oven for 5-7 minutes, to 'dry out' the sour cream layer a little.

Remove from the oven and cool completely before serving. 

* The cheesecake on the photo is baked in a 20 cm cake tin, and is 3,5 cm high.