Smoked herring and rye bread canapés

I'll be posting some Estonian recipes during this week, and there's a good reason for that. I got an email from a reader on the other side of the world (Down Under, actually) today, who is organising a surprise party to an Estonian friend this weekend. She'll be using various Estonian recipes I've posted here on Nami-Nami over the last five years, but I've promised to give her some more food tips and ideas, so she can choose.

Here's a smoked fish and rye bread appetizer that I made couple of months ago. While it is not exclusively Estonian (any Finnish or Swedish foodblogger could claim it to be 'theirs', I imagine), it certainly tasted very Estonian to me :)

I used smoked herring, but smoked mackerel would work as well.

Smoked herring canapés
(Suitsuheeringasuupisted)
makes about 12 canapés

6 slices dark rye bread (seeded is fine)
butter, for spreading
3-4 salad potatoes, boiled and peeled
2 smoked herring fillets
100 g thick sour cream (30%)
freshly ground black pepper
fresh chives or green onions, chopped

Butter the bread slices and cut into 2 or 4 pieces, depending on the sice of the bread.
Cut the potato into 5 mm slices, place onto bread slices.
Remove the skin from the fish fillets, cut the fish into 2 cm wide pieces. Place on potatoes.
Spoon a dollop of sour cream onto each canapé, then sprinkle some freshly ground pepper on top and garnish with a piece of chive or green onion.

Dulce de Membrillo, 2010

I made a large batch of the quince paste, Dulce de Membrillo, last week. I used the same same old recipe that I've used previously and really liked the result. Rather conveniently, one local speciality store had a 9-month old Manchego cheese on offer last week, so we got to sample plenty of Membrillo the way you're supposed to - a slice of salty and crumbly Manchego cheese with a slice of sweet and sticky Membrillo paste (aka Manchego con Membrillo).

Highly recommended.



Eestikeelne küdooniamarmelaadi retsept on siin. Küdooniad ehk aivad on müügil suurematel turgudel (nt Tallinna Keskturg).

Beetroot & blue cheese risotto

(This recipe was originally posted on January 30, 2007. I've updated the recipe considerably; the photo above is from October 2010).

I first served this kind of risotto at a dinner party in January 2007, right after the smoked salmon and dill tartlets. The inspiration for this dish back then came from Anne's beet risotto with garlic, fava beans and goat cheese and Angelika's beetroot risotto with orange and Gorgonzola (blog no longer available). As I had realised during a beetroot and cheese experiment, I knew I wanted to use a blue cheese in my beetroot risotto instead of goat's cheese. Furthermore, I was looking for a vegetarian risotto, so adding crispy bacon or other meaty garnish was out of the questions. I also wanted the recipe to have a slightly Nordic twist, however defined, so I ended up using a fabulous Finnish blue cheese, Aura.

As far as I can recall, the beetroot and blue cheese risotto was a hit with my guests back in 1997, and it has appeared on our table on several occasions since then. Here's how I've been making it recently. I LOVE how the piquancy of the blue cheese balances out the sweet earthiness of the beetroot. A truly excellent pairing indeed!

Beetroot & blue cheese risotto
(Peedi- ja sinihallitusjuusturisoto)
Serves 6

150 g raw uncooked beetroot
2 Tbsp butter
1 small onion or 2 shallots

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
300 g risoto rice (I used carnaroli)

100 ml dry white wine
1 litre hot vegetable stock
100 g blue cheese
salt and freshly ground black pepper
fresh chopped parsley to garnish

Grate the beetroot coarsely.
Heat the vegetable stock in one saucepan, keep it simmering under a lid while you start making risotto.
Heat the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Add onion and sauté gently for 5-6 minutes, until onion starts to turn translucent. Add the garlic and fry for another minute or to. Make sure not to burn the onions!

Add the rice, stir until rice is glossy with butter. Add the grated beets, sauté for a minute.

Add the wine and stir over moderate heat until reduced by half.

Now start adding the vegetable stock, a ladleful or a few at a time. Keep stirring the rice gently to avoid sticking, or even worse, burning. Only add more stock when most of the previously added stock has been sucked up by the rice.
Risotto is ready, when the rice is cooked, but still al dente - this should take about 20 minutes.
Now stir in crumbled blue cheese, which flavours the risotto and makes it beautifully creamy. Season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with plenty of fresh parsley and serve.

UPDATE 14.2.2007: Check out these gorgeous beetroot risotto recipes over at Fiordizucca's blog (with feta cheese) and Bea's blog (with parmesan cheese).