Delicious cheese popovers

Here's an easy and delightful popover recipe that I adapted from the September 2009 issue of The Gourmet - Mini Provolone popovers. These reminded me of gougerés, but the batter is even easier - not a choux pastry, but more like a Yorkshire pudding pastry. (Not that gougerés are difficult to do, but these were super-easy to throw together). Recommended! They're delightful as they are, but I can also imagine serving these alongside a simple soup instead of 'regular' bread rolls, and although these are best served hot, they'd disappear from a picnic basket or lunch box just as quickly.

I used a 24-cup mini-muffin pan, but you can also use a regular muffin pan, if you haven't got a mini one.

Mini cheese popovers
(Väikesed juustukohrud)
Makes 24 popovers

250 ml (1 cup) full-fat milk
2 large eggs
150 g plain flour (1 cup/250 ml)
1 Tbsp butter, melted
0.5 tsp salt
a pinch of black pepper
5 Tbsp coarsely grated strong cheese (I used Gouda)
2 Tbsp finely grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp finely chopped dill or chives

Whisk together milk, eggs, flour, melted butter, salt, and pepper until smooth, then stir in cheeses and herbs. Chill 1 hour to allow batter to rest. (NB! You can make the batter 1 day ahead and keep chilled).
Preheat oven to 220°C/425°F with rack in upper third.
Butter muffin pan with some extra butter, then heat in oven until butter sizzles, about 2 minutes.
Gently stir batter, then divide among muffin cups (they will be about two-thirds full).
Bake until puffed and golden-brown, 18 to 20 minutes. Serve immediately.

Pädaste moves to the city and becomes NEH

I've blogged about Pädaste, a luxurious manor house/boutique hotel on MUHU island, on Nami-Nami before - back in January 2007, when we spent a romantic winter night there. Since then I've been back for a quick visit couple of times on our way to Saaremaa. We also spent a very charming and delicious two days there back in August - sorry, never got around to blogging about it, but suffice to say that the food blew me away - it was extremely delicious and full of positive surprises.

However, the number of local and international tourists to MUHU island during the winter season drops considerably, and it's simply not financially viable to keep the manor house fully functional throughout the winter. So this season the chefs and staff of the Pädaste restaurant moved to the harbour area of the capital, Tallinn, and opened a charming little restaurant called NEH. They're placed in a little house on Lootsi 4, which also houses a small art gallery:


At the moment the house is surrounded and covered by snow and illuminated by fairylights - the winter came early this year:



K. and I were kindly invited to an opening dinner at NEH last Friday, where we had a chance to explore the venue, peek into the kitchen and enjoy a 4-course meal (amuse bouche, starter. main course and dessert) with matching drinks.

First, we had a chance to explore the ground floor, which has more of a casual feel:



then the first floor, which feels slightly more cosy and romantic:



and peek into the kitchen (NB! there's a chef's table for up to 5 guests just opposite the kitchen):



The meal we were served was delicious and we're certainly hoping to go again with friends very soon. For the first course we enjoyed a 62 C free-range egg with spiced Baltic sprats and salt-baked potatoes.


The main course was a meltingly soft veal's cheek with juniper-seasoned red cabbage and apple and celeriac cream:


The dessert - a custard with bilberry compote, cookie crumbs and thyme ice cream - all very delicious (I especially liked the subtle herbal notes of the ice cream):

(Apologies for not taking any pictures of the food - we were really enjoying chatting to the other couple at our table, Ede & Sten, and simply forgot about the pictures. The restaurant staff has generously allowed us to use some of their photos).

If you are in Tallinn and looking for a place to enjoy a romantic and delicious gourmet meal, then I'd definitely recommend paying NEH a visit. After all, they are only opened till March, when they move back to their real home on Muhu island :)

You can check out the menu options here (price excl. drinks are indicated):
lunch
dinner
Chef's table
Sunday brunch
drinks/wine list

NEH
Lootsi 4
10151 Tallinn
Estonia
T +372 60 22 222
E-mail: info@neh.ee

Nami-Nami cookbook presentation

My first cookbook "Nami-Nami kokaraamat" finally hit the bookstores on Wednesday, December 1st. The official launch party took place in Rahva Raamat bookstore in Viru Keskus in Tallinn, and was a great success. There were lots of people (I signed books for a best part of an hour!) and although I was very stressed about the whole thing beforehand, I felt a great relief - and happiness - once the book was out and the launch party ended. Here's a little photo-review of the presentation.

A huge thank you to the team at VARRAK publishing house, to Heidi Park for the delicious fingerfood, to Põltsamaa Felix for providing the drinks and to all the friends, supporters and family who turned out and made me feel so special!


Krista Kaer speaks on behalf of the publishers.


My cookbook on the bookshelves, with a gorgeous cover by über-talented Ximena Maier. (It's my cousin Ingrid, who helped to coordinate some of the PR, on the phone).


An extremely lovely fortified fruit wine, Põltsamaa Tõmmu Vintage 2002.


The ever-charming Heidi Park, trained at the Culinary Institute of America and now baking fabulous cakes in Estonia (check out her website), did the catering for the party. She made three dishes from the cookbook plus her own famous brownies. Here are the edible goodies (click on the food photos for appropriate recipes, all three recipes are included in the cookbook as well):








Heidi's famous brownies.


Me signing cookbooks.




Some locals celebs with signed copies of my cookbook ;)