Nami-Nami on Spanish TV

Free Wi-Fi: Estonia. Report by Ángel Varela Pena. (Andrew Poole voice-over)



Earlier this year (in May, to be precise), a Spanish film-maker Ángel spent couple of hours with us, eating rhubarb cake and filming us for a report on free wi-fi and work-life balance. The report was aired on Spanish TV in September, and here's the clip for you to see (Nami-Nami section begins at about 2:10).

I'm making Anne's mango shrimp, sing praises to my dear friend Ximena, show off my "Nami-Nami cookbook", mention Nami-Nami gardening blog, and leaf through the pages of the book where this popular apple cake recipe comes from.

Surströmming and surströmmingfest (Swedish fermented herring)

There's a popular evening show on Estonian national TV, called Ringvaade. About two weeks ago they had a brief section about the infamous Swedish delicacy, surströmming or fermented herring. There's a krog (tavern) on the island of Vormsi, called Krog №14 and they were holding a traditional surströmmingsfest in early October. On the show, the chef of the Krog was talking about the event and about surströmming, and then offered the host a chance to taste some of the fermented fish. The moment they opened the canned surströmming, the host looked utterly disgusted and although he later admitted that it didn't taste as bad as it smelled, he still named it No 2 in his list of the most awful food he has ever tasted (apparently he had eaten some barbecued cockroaches that tasted even worse).

This brought back "fond" memories. About a year ago we hosted a surströmmingfest ourselves. A colleague of my dear K., a cheeky middle-aged Swedish guy called Lars-Olof, offered to bring back some surströmming cans from Sweden, and K., ever so open to new culinary experiences (and experiments), said yes before even consulting with me. Let me know that this was certainly a culinary experience that will NOT become a tradition in our home.

After opening the first can in our kitchen, we quickly decided to move the surströmming-party outdoors. I could still smell the fish on the following morning, even though we cleaned up thoroughly after the party :)

We had actually about 20 people at the party, all with a Swedish connection - they had either lived or studied there, or they were Swedes living or working in Estonia. Here are three brave men preparing the surströmming:


That's the way to do it: take some tunnbröd or flat wheat bread, smash some "almond potatoes" on top, garnish with finely chopped onions and top with the fish:


One of our guests, Maarja, eagerly biting into the surströmming sandwich:


And we are thorough here over at the Nami-Nami kitchen. We didn't just hold a surströmmingfest, we had a comparative tasting of surströmming. Last autumn, we had three different types of surströmming - filleted fish canned in the same season 2010, whole fish canned in 2010 and whole fish canned in previous season 2009. The adventurous jury decided that the whole fish that had fermented over a year - although it looked most suspicious - was the best, taste-wise. It's like a good bottle of wine - ageing improves - and mellows - the flavour, apparently.



Overall, we had loads of fun and a great party (I didn't serve _just_ surströmming, of course - I'm not some Cruella de Vil, but a kind hostess. However, we did decide that this was a one-off event - the smell of surströmming is just a wee bit too overpowering, and not something we're keen to replicate at our home any time soon.

Sorry, Swedes :)


* As I was pregnant with our second child at the time, I restrained from eating the fermented fish for obvious reasons and acted as the photographer for the event :)

There's no Cheddar without an oatcake

We've been eating lots of cheese recently. Upon returning from France in early September, we brought along some wonderful French cheese - Livarot (aka 'the Colonel'), Pont-l'Évêque and an excellent Camembert by Domaine the Saint-Loup (after all, we had been travelling in Normandy with our family, so we had to include a Camemembert as well). We had a nice cheese tasting evening with our friends - enjoying those three cheeses, a nice crusty baguette, fig and apricots jams, nice wine and even some apples from the orchard of Olivier Roellinger's chateau :)

Just days later K. went on business to my dear old Edinburgh. While there, he visited the best cheesemonger in town, Iain Mellis, and brought back a wonderful selection of British cheese - my old favourite, Cashel Blue (an Irish farmhouse cheese that I've mentioned here earlier), as well as two new cheeses - an excellent Cheddar called Keens Cheddar (from Somerset) and a gem of a find, Berkswell (from West Midlands). We had invited the same cheese-tasting buddies over, and had another very enjoyable night contemplating the characteristics of the cheeseboard. While preparing for the night, I knew from the beginning that a baguette alone - however lovely and crusty - will not do. You simply cannot have a good British Cheddar without an oatcake :)

While I was still living in Scotland, I had a good choice of various oatcakes to go with cheese. However, my favourite was a small oatcake from the selection of Marks & Spencer that was speckled with coarsely ground black pepper. They used to sell them in the little M&S outlet at the Waverley train station, and I often bought a box to nibble on my commute from Edinburgh to Stirling (I did a 9-month post-doc at the University there during my last year in Scotland). And that's the kind of oatcake I wanted to serve with our selection of British cheese. After some searching, I came across just the thing. You'll find the original recipe in Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage Every Day (look for Bill's Rona oatcakes, or see the recipe in The Guardian), here's a very slightly tweaked version that we loved and that I'll keep.

Peppery oatcakes
(Kaeraküpsised)
Makes about 30-40 small oatcakes

150g medium oatmeal (I used Veski-Mati kaerajahu)
150g wholemeal oats
0.25 to 0.5 tsp freshly ground black pepper
0.5 tsp salt
5 Tbsp or 75 ml rapeseed oil or olive oil
about 150 ml freshly boiled water

Preheat the oven to 180 C/350 F and line a large baking tray with parchment paper.
Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl, make a well in the centre. Pour the oil into the well, then pour in enough boiling water to bind it into a firm, not sticky, dough. Work quickly. Don't worry if you over-water a bit - you can remedy the situation by adding more oatmeal.

Form the dough mixture into a ball and leave it to rest for 15-30 minutes.

Dust your worktop with some extra oatmeal, and roll out the dough to about 5 mm or 1/5th of an inch thick.

Cut out discs with a cookie cutter (I used a 5 cm one). Place the oatcakes onto the baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes, then turn and bake for a further 5 to 10 minutes. Cool on a rack.

Store in an airtight container and serve with your favourite Cheddar.