Showing some link love

I thought I'd share some blog links that are related to Estonia and/or Estonian food.


Elderflower cordial by Zapxpxau

Elisa is one of the most talented food photographers here in Estonia, and some of you may already follow her Flickr photo stream. She recently - and finally! - launched her own food blog, written in English. Elisa is lives and cooks and takes most of her pictures on Saaremaa, the biggest island in Estonia. While her featured recipes aren't necessarily particularly Estonian - I always get a strong Mediterranean vibe from her blog, then her food pictures are dreamy and utterly beautiful and definitely worth subscribing to.

Katrina with a plate of kama and mascarpone bonbons in her London courtyard

Katrina Kollegaeva is a Russian-Estonian girl, who grew up in Tallinn, but now resides and blogs in the Big Old Smoke aka London. I met Katrina last summer in Tallinn, and have been following her food blog ever since. Her blog, The Gastronomical Me, features lots of Russo-Soviet dishes, and she cooked several of my recipes for her recent Midsummer Baltic Brunch - incl. my kama and mascarpone truffles and caramelised rye bread and condensed milk ice cream.

Estonian rye bread @ Kristina Lupp's blog

Kristina Lupp is an Toronto native with Estonian background, who studies gastronomy at the University of Adelaide (yep, down under!). She's currently living in Tallinn though, researching the effects of the Soviet occupation on Estonia's cuisine. Her eponymous blog cannot boast a huge number of posts, but there are some interesting musings on the topic of Estonian food.

If you are a Facebook user, then you can check out Estonian Cooking and Eating group - it's mainly run by expat and second-and third-generation Estonians in the US and Canada, so it's in English.

If there's an English-language food blog or site out there, that I've missed, then let me know!

Strawberry and sour cream ice cream

Favourite in July 2011

Sour cream is a staple in every Estonian kitchen, and local strawberries are abundant just now. So it's no wonder that I've resorted to making this excellent ice cream from David Lebovitz excellent Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments whenever a) it's hot and b) I crave ice cream. Always a crowd-pleaser and always delicious. Mind you, only if you use good-tasting strawberries, of course!

Strawberry and sour cream ice cream
(Maasika-hapukoorejäätis)
Yields about 1.2 litres (2 pints)
Slightly adapted from David Lebovitz's recipe


Favourite in July 2008

500 gram fresh strawberries
150 gram sugar
1 Tbsp vodka (keeps the ice cream from hardening too much)
250 g sour cream
250 ml whipping cream
1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

Rinse, dry and hull the strawberries. Slice them and toss them in a bowl with sugar and vodka. Stir, until the sugar dissolves, then let them macerate at room temperature for an hour. Stir every now and then.
Place the strawberries (and ALL the liquid from the bowl) into the blender container, add sour cream, whipping cream and lemon juice. Blend until smooth.
Refrigerate the mixture for 1 hour.
Freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Crisp stuffed courgette flowers aka zucchini blossoms

From all the vegetables we're growing in our garden, zucchini/courgette thrives best (closely followed by Jerusalem artichokes). And whereas the fruit might need another few days to be ready, zucchini blossoms are perfect already. Previously I've made zucchini blossom fritters and zucchini blossom frittata, this year I tried to stuff them. I came across two more or less identical recipes - one by Lucas Hollweg in the UK Sunday Times, the other by Jamie Oliver. A bit of tweaking here and there (who uses self-rising flour!?!?), and I came up with this version that we all LOVED.

You can use both male and female zucchini blossoms for this dish, as I did. (How can you tell them apart? The female blossoms have a tiny zucchini attached to them; the male blossoms just have the stem). I usually just use the male blossoms, as the female are the ones providing us with tasty courgettes later on. The male blossoms look like this:


Male courgette flower/zucchini blossom

However, if you don't need so many proper zucchinis, you can pick the female blossoms as well - it'll give you a more substantial dish.


Courgette flowers @ Lyon Market, France, August 2009. Female blossoms are at the front, male blossoms at the back.

What's your favourite way to stuff courgette flowers/zucchini blossoms?

Deep-fried stuffed courgette flowers
(Frititud täidetud suvikõrvitsaõied)



12 large and fresh zucchini blossoms/courgette flowers
vegetable oil, for frying

Filling:
250 g ricotta cheese
25 g freshly grated Parmesan cheese
finely grated zest of half a lemon
a small handful of fresh mint, finely chopped
a generous pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
salt anf freshly ground black pepper

Batter:
120 g all-purpose/plain flour (about 200 ml)
0.5 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
250 ml (a cup) of sparkling water/mineral water

To serve:
sea salt flakes and lemon wedges

Make the filling. Mix ricotta, Parmesan, lemon zest and mind leaves. Season generously with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Form the mixture into 12 small balls.
Prepare the zucchini blossoms - I avoid rinsing, if at all possible, and neither do I remove the
filaments from the female flowers. (You're welcome to do so, if you prefer). Make sure there are no little critters hiding inside the blossoms! Using your fingers, gently open each blossom and place one small stuffing ball inside. Gently close the blossom around the filling - either just folding the petals over the stuffing, twisting the petals or using a chive to tie the petals tightly together.
Mix the ingredients for the batter - it should have the consistency of a thin crepe batter.
Heat 4-5 cm (about 2 inches) of oil in a small saucepan. The temperature is about right when a little peeled potato cube or bread cube begins to sizzle and turns into nice golden brown when you drop it into the oil.
Now, working with couple of zucchini blossoms at the time, dip them into the batter, then lower them into hot oil. Fry for about 2-3 minutes, then gently turn them over and let them brown on the other side as well.
Using a slotted spoon, transfer them into a double layer of kitchen paper to drain off the excess oil.
Fry the rest of the stuffed zucchini blossoms in a similar fashion.

Serve hot, sprinkled with some Maldon sea salt and lemon wedges on the side.

Here's another close-up: