Festival food: Estonian Song and Dance Celebration 2014

This is a very special weekend for Estonia - our 26th Song Celebration and 19th Dance Celebration takes place. You'll get all the necessary information on this website, I'll focus on food here ;)

It's a huge festival - with about 100 000 people gathered at the Song Festival Square, among them over 20 000 singers! You can imagine the amount of food you need to feed all those people during the weekend :)

Festival food isn't usually known for its gastronomic finesse and wonderful flavour, but the food I saw yesterday at the Tallinna Lauluväljak (Song Festival Square) was pretty interesting. Here's a short overview for you, should you head to the celebrations today.

The main eating area is marked with the red circle on the map below. "Merevärav" marks the "sea entrance" on Pirita road, so in case you're hungry, you should head to the right after entering the Song Festival grounds:



It's also where the EESTI TOIDU VÄLJAK aka Estonian Food Court is located. This consists of three large tents, marked by coloured signs. The Green sign marks the tent that represents the Estonian Food Industry Association.  The tent with a Blue sign hosts the local small producers, Estonian Horticultural Association and the Estonian Chamber of Agriculture and Commerce. The Red signs marks the Estonian Chefs Association.


Let start with the "Blue" tent (well, the tent is white, the sign is blue :)), hosting the small/artisanal/local producers. You could feast on "haugišašlõkk" (pike shashlik, type of white fish), "soolakurgid" or fresh salted cucumbers, or small goat cheese and rye crisp "burgers":



Saaremaa is the biggest island in Estonia and they're increasingly becoming big players on the culinary scene as well. What about sandwich with elk fillets, a floral tea mixture (primrose, apple and meadowsweet), or smoked pork and rye sandwich?


The "Green" tent hosted several big food producers, including Saaremaa Delifood that introduced their new "kohuke" (curd cheese bar, top right) with cloudberries and lemon as well as Semu with their really nice sea-buckthorn drinks.


Finally, the "Red" tent, hosting the representatives of Estonian Chefs Association. There were three catering companies present, Tervise Catering, Event Catering and House Gourmet. Some of the festival food items were flatfish terrine with roasted vegetables (lestavorm röstköögiviljadega); pulled lamb with wild-garlic pearl barley (rebitud lammas karulaugu-odrakruubiga); hot smoked perch with tomato-cucumber salad (suitsuahven tomati-kurgisalatiga):



 Pike fishcakes with curd cheese and cucumber dressing (haugikoogid kohupiima-kurgikastmega, below left). You could also a buy a selection of six dishes for 6 Euros (below right):



This being Estonia, black rye bread was served everywhere - either fresh (below right) or as garlic bread (below left; yes, that's what you'd get if you ask for garlic bread (küüslauguleib) in a pub in Estonia).



There's food outside the Estonian Food Court as well. I spotted these happy people from soon-to-be-opened Inspiratsioon Catering, serving vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free food:



I didn't have a chance to look into the big "beer and food" area, where many food stalls were located, but overall I can say the food was pretty decent for a festival food :)

What type of food did you have last time at a music festival?

Nami-Nami Easter Brunch 2014

Last Sunday we had a full house again. 28 people, including the kids, celebrating the Spring and enjoying the traditional Nami-Nami Easter brunch. It was a gorgeously sunny and pleasant day, and we ate al fresco.



First, the eggs. To be honest, we only dyed them after the party, but they're still part of the Easter brunch in a way. We used the Estonian way of dyeing eggs with onion skins (read all about it here) for the yellow-brown eggs, and frozen blueberries for the blue eggs. I think they turned out gorgeous, and the kids loved them!


Small rye cups were filled with salmon roe and sour cream (also known as creamy caviar dressing, recipe here).


Smoked fish salad, spiked with some horseradish (I used hot-smoked hake).


Ottolenghi's cucumber and poppyseed salad - always festive, yet simple to make. I omitted the sugar this time and didn't miss it at all!


Marinated fresh sprats from the Ristemäe talu stand at my local farmers' market, Viimsi Taluturg.


Pasta and sausage salad, very Estonian and always popular with older kids.


Puff pastry canapés with sun-dried tomato pesto and black olive filling.


Another view of the table.


Wild garlic is in season, so I made some crostini with ricotta and wild garlic spread, served with Estonian cured pork filet.


I did all the prep work on Sunday morning (the kids make sure we wake up rather early :)). However, I did slow-cook a huge Boston butt (2,5 kg) on the previous day, serving the pulled pork at the brunch. The recipe was adapted from this Finnish magazine.


Rosemary and Garlic Roasted Salmon a la In Sock Monkey Slippers. It was a huge salmon, so there was plenty for everybody.


Green fruit salad looked inviting and spring-like. I omitted the maple syrup, as the kiwis and grapes were sweet enough, and sprinkled some almond slices on top for some extra bite.

Over the years I've got better in delegating. Some friends brought imported strawberries, some oranges for the freshly squeezed orange juice, some brought wine. Some friends volunteered to bring food. And they brought some wonderful dishes.


My friend Liina baked a fantastic mutabak.


Piret brought along a typical Estonian mushroom salad (wild mushrooms, onion, sour cream, seasonings).


Our friend Kristiina makes wonderful salads, here's what she brought along this year.


And her husband Paavo baked a big batch of Swedish cardamom twists.


I had also made a small cake, namely gluten-free buckwheat hearts with mocha glaze. Our son Aksel is somewhat sensitive to wheat (and hazelnuts), so I try to make sure there's something on the table that doesn't make his skin all itchy. (If you need more buckwheat inspiration, then check out my buckwheat recipe board on Pinterest.)


Here's another look at the table:

We drank Prosecco and various wines, cold-brewed hibiscus water (the bottle on the left) and black aronia cordial (the jug on the right). Coffee and tea later.

What did you have for Easter? I'd love to hear more in the comments!

See overviews of our previous Easter brunches:


Easter brunch 2013, featuring blood orange Mimosas, avocado and smoked salmon salad, cucumber bites with cream cheese, small tattie scone rounds with smoked salmon mousse, deviled beet eggs,  chorizo meatballs, a great carrot and cream cheese cake, roasted cauliflower, and much more.
 
Easter brunch 2012, featuring crostini with dill-marinated pork tenderloin, Ms Marmite Lover's focaccia shots, marinated olives, Estonian mushroom salad, cold-smoked salmon, a delicious paskha, cardamon-scented apricot and curd cheese cake, and much more.

Easter brunch 2011, featuring a pretty (imitation) snow crab salad, beet quail eggs, two types of home-made Estonian cheese "sõir", smoked salmon with horseradish dip, wild garlic (ramp) pesto with almonds, crostini with white cheese and red onion jam, puff pastry rolls with feta, white bean salad with  chorizo, Limoncello, coconut and white chocolate tart.

Easter brunch 2010, featuring spinach and hot-smoked salmon salad with quail eggs, green beans and asparagus, Marika Blossfeldt's quinoa salad with beets and fennel, savory cheesecake with goat cheese and chives, Ottolenghi's cucumber salad with poppyseeds, bean salad with lemon and parsley, Baltic herring with cherry tomatoes and herbs, Estonian home-made cheese "sõir", paskha, traditional Simnel cake, and another cake with coconut, lemon curd, elderflower cream and lemon balm.

Easter brunch 2009, featuring bright green pea soup shots, zucchini rolls stuffed with goat cheese, hazelnuts, figs and mint, peppered beef fillet, marbled beetroot eggs and marbled turmeric eggs, layered surimi "crab" and egg salad, pineapple carpaccio with mint sugar, matcha madeleines, and two different paskhas.

We also hosted Easter brunches in 2007 and 2008, but somehow I didn't document their properly. I can see on Flickr what was on the table back in 2007, but that's about it.

Wild garlic pesto aka ramson pesto recipe

(From the recipe archives - originally posted in April 2011. Three years on, this is still my favourite way of preparing wild garlic pesto. You can use either ramson or ramps).

Wild garlic has arrived! Wild garlic, also known as ramson or bear's garlic (Allium ursinum, 'karulauk' in Estonian), is a very close relative to the wild leek aka ramp (Allium tricoccum, 'grislilauk' in Estonian). I've been eagerly waiting for this spring green, as I love both the flavour and the versatily of it, and it's a good health-booster at this time of the year. Well, if it's good enough for big brown bears, it's good enough for us :D

Although I've been happily making a wild garlic pesto with pinenuts for a few years now, this one is a new favourite. There's more flavour, and somehow it's much more gutsier than the 'regular' wild garlic pesto. The idea to use almonds instead of pinenuts in a wild garlic pesto is from a German food magazine. I've upped the amount of almonds and cheese, and used regular almonds instead of blanched.

Let me tell you - this was a huge hit at my recent birthday brunch, where the guests were spreading it on thin slices of ciabatta. I'm heading to my secret wild garlic field later today, just so I could make this one again :)

You could definitely try this with ramps or even with garlic scapes. If you love garlic, you'll love this, I promise!

Other recipes using wild garlic/ramson @ Nami-Nami:
Wild garlic tzatziki
Wild garlic and potato mash
Wild garlic butter
Wild garlic pesto (with pinenuts)
Stuffed tomatoes with wild garlic salad

Wild garlic pesto / Ramson pesto
(Karulaugupesto mandlitega)
Makes about 200 ml



a good bunch of wild garlic (about 125 g), rinsed and drained
50 g Parmesan cheese, roughly chopped
50 g whole almonds
75 ml (5 Tbsp) extra virgin olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Place almonds and cheese into a food processor and blitz into fine crumbs. Add wild garlic, process again until you've got a coarse pesto. Now add the oil little by little, with the machine still running.
Season with salt and pepper.

If you want to keep your pesto for a few weeks, then place into cool sterilised jars and pour a layer of olive oil on top. Keep in the fridge.

Nami-Nami Easter Brunch 2013

Another Easter Sunday, another traditional Easter brunch at the Nami-Nami household. We were no less that 25 this time, including lots of kids. The number keeps growing and growing - no wonder considering that our own little family consists of five persons already! Had all the invitees made it, we would have been no less than 36 :)

The weather was bright and sunny, but pretty cold. It was snowing in the morning, and the children actually made two snowmen while playing outside during the afternoon! Not something you associate with Easter Sunday, I'd say, but then Easter was pretty early this year. Still, some of the guests ventured outside for a while and were basking in the sun on our south-facing patio. Very spring-like :)

As always, I tried to devise a menu that'd be light and spring-like, colourful and bright. I outsourced some of the dishes, and prepared some myself on Saturday evening and the rest on Sunday morning. Considering how quickly everything disappeared, we hit the spot (or perhaps I simply didn't make enough food?).

Here's the full menu:



We started - as always - with Mimosa cocktails, this time made with freshly squeezed blood oranges:


Our friends Kristiina and Paavo and their daughter Gretel brought along this beautiful citrus salad. Kristiina simply makes the best salads in our neighbourhood!

There was a colourful dish of fresh trout/salmon, avocados and arugula leaves, drizzled with a lime and olive oil, the recipe from one of the top Estonian bloggers, Mari-Liis:

I made small cucumber bites with herb and garlic cream cheese (a last-minute idea from Annie's Eats):


Small tattie scone buttons with smoked salmon mousse:

Marinated sprats (Sprattus sprattus balticus), bought from the Ristemäe Talu stall at my local farmer's market. A great mix of small fish, herbs, lemon and seasoning:


Another sprat dish, this time a tart using spiced canned sprats in oil on a bed of sautéed leeks and onions - a recipe from another great Estonian food blogger, Sille:

Deviled beet eggs, of course:

A small bowl of tiny chorizo meatballs for all the kids out there:

A big tray of simple roasted cauliflower (two huge heads of cauliflower, olive oil, salt'n'pepper) - not a morsel was left!


And another hit, prepared by our friends Liina and Tauno and involving caramelised onions and fried kid liver and hearts (kid = cabrito = young goat):

The desserts included this really lovely carrot and cream cheese cake with lime:

The traditional paskha, made again by our dear friends Paavo, Kristiina and Gretel:


and a huge pile of Estonian profiteroles aka choux puffs filled with cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk:


I'll try to blog about some of the dishes over the next few weeks or months - and if there's anything that you'd definitely want me to blog about, let me know in the comments. I may not be able to do it this week, but I'll try my best.

What did you eat on Easter Sunday? 

See overviews of our previous Easter brunches:

Easter brunch 2012, featuring crostini with dill-marinated pork tenderloin, Ms Marmite Lover's focaccia shots, marinated olives, Estonian mushroom salad, cold-smoked salmon, a delicious paskha, cardamon-scented apricot and curd cheese cake, and much more.

Easter brunch 2011, featuring a pretty (imitation) snow crab salad, beet quail eggs, two types of home-made Estonian cheese "sõir", smoked salmon with horseradish dip, wild garlic (ramp) pesto with almonds, crostini with white cheese and red onion jam, puff pastry rolls with feta, white bean salad with  chorizo, Limoncello, coconut and white chocolate tart.

Easter brunch 2010, featuring spinach and hot-smoked salmon salad with quail eggs, green beans and asparagus, Marika Blossfeldt's quinoa salad with beets and fennel, savory cheesecake with goat cheese and chives, Ottolenghi's cucumber salad with poppyseeds, bean salad with lemon and parsley, Baltic herring with cherry tomatoes and herbs, Estonian home-made cheese "sõir", paskha, traditional Simnel cake, and another cake with coconut, lemon curd, elderflower cream and lemon balm.

Easter brunch 2009, featuring bright green pea soup shots, zucchini rolls stuffed with goat cheese, hazelnuts, figs and mint, peppered beef fillet, marbled beetroot eggs and marbled turmeric eggs, layered surimi "crab" and egg salad, pineapple carpaccio with mint sugar, matcha madeleines, and two different paskhas.

We also hosted Easter brunches in 2007 and 2008, but somehow I didn't document their properly. I can see on Flickr what was on the table back in 2007, but that's about it.

Chickpeas with chorizo (Garbanzos y chorizo)

Chickpeas (or garbanzo beans, as they're known in the US), that excellent store-cupboard ingredient that helps one to make many an excellent meal. A filling chickpea and tuna salad with smoked paprika powder. A healthy vegetarian side dish consisting of chickpeas and pomegranate molasses. A quick tortilla wrap with chickpeas and tuna. A chickpea and tomato soup with smoked paprika.  A chickpea and tomato soup with Moroccan spices. A quick hummus with beets. Or a quick hummus with wild garlic, come ramp or ramson season. Or a quick hummus with harissa paste, if you want something a wee bit spicier.

I always keep some in the cupboard, as they are indeed an excellent stand-by.

Chickpeas and smoked paprika powder (pimentón) is a match made in heaven, and this is utilised in this wonderful Spanish creation, garbanzos y chorizo. No pimentón or smoked paprika powder - pimentón de la Vera is considered the best - is needed, but you need a good-quality Spanish cooking chorizo that is seasoned with pimentón to start with. I came across a locally-made chorizo sausage last weekend - produced by Liivimaa Lihaveis - and decided to try an old favourite chorizo-and-chickpea (or chorizo-and-garbanzo) dish of mine*, and see, if the locally produced chorizo stands up to the proper Spanish one.

It did, I'm happy to admit.

Chickpeas with chorizo
(Kikerherned chorizo-vorstiga)
Serves four to six

 

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion
1 red or yellow bell pepper
300 g cooking chorizo
400 g canned chopped tomatoes
800 g canned chickpeas (that's 2 regular cans)
about a cup of water
salt and freshly ground black pepper
fresh parsley, finely chopped

Peel the onion, halve and cut into thin slices. Halve and deseed the pepper, then cut into thin strips. Rinse and drain the chickpeas. Cut the chorizo into thin slices.

Heat the oil in a heavy saucepan or a large sauté pan. Add the onion and pepper and a sprinkle of salt and sauté over moderate heat for about 5 minutes, stirring every now and then.

Increase the heat, add the chorizo and fry for another few minutes, until the chorizo is slightly browned.

Add the chopped tomatoes, then pour about a cup of water into the tomato can, give it a quick swirl and pour into the pan. Add the chickpeas. Bring into a simmer, reduce heat to medium, cover and simmer gently for about 20 minutes.

Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle some herbs on top and serve with some crusty bread and a fresh green salad.

NOTE: This reheats well (you can add some water, if too dry), and it also tastes great when cold. 

 

* This dish is indeed a regular in our kitchen - I discovered this photo from August 2011 and this photo from April 2009 as well this one from April 2008 in Flickr :)

Similar recipes in other foodblogs:
In my Life (very similar to mine)
Morsels & Musings by Anna
Lindaraxa
Spanish Recipes pic by pic
Flanboyant Eats (much soupier version)