Dangerously delicious

Rhubarb - Strawberry Pie

Rhubarb. How much do we know about this beautiful plant? Well, I didn't really know much about this plant until recently. I was lucky enough to receive a hefty bunch of flesh long stalks a few days ago.

Not knowing what to do with them, I started looking into recipes and cooking ideas online. In my venture, I discovered some pretty interesting facts about this plant.

Rhubarb can come in a variety of colors like the familiar to most of us red, green and white. Also, the reason why we only see its stems sold in markets is due to the high toxicity of the plant's leaves. Although only consumption of a large portion of the leaves can kill, it has been suggested that even a small bite of the rhubarb leave can make one very sick!

Despite this fact, rhubarb is used in medicine and it is considered a dieting product due to its laxative qualities. It doesn't offer large amounts of many vitamins but it is rich in vitamin C. It has a sour taste and therefore in recipes it is usually combined with cinnamon, lots of sugar, ginger and, when baked, it is typically offered with vanilla cream or vanilla ice-cream.

My quick internet search did not really satisfy me so I opted for a look in my favorite baking site. Bingo! A lovely and relatively easy Rhubarb-Strawberry Pie recipe was there ready to be tested. I thought that preparing rhubarb would have been time consuming but I soon realized that I was wrong. Depending on whether one wishes to do the pie crust from scratch or not the preparation of the filling i.e. the rhubarb-strawberry-spices filling, is actually a matter of minutes. Otherwise, preparing the pie crust from scratch is what adds more time to this recipe. I tried it and the result was excellent and pleasing not only to the eyes but to our taste-buds as well.

I am now a bit more confident to handle rhubarb and have at least one recipe to keep perfecting. My next step though will be to try out rhubarb jam :) You know, something that can last and be enjoyed longer!

May Day Breather

Cooking in my kitchen is absolutely amazing and I enjoy it enormously. However, this mother has to take a breather and hang her apron for a day ;)

What a better day than May Day! According to tradition, people here in Finland take to the parks to

May Day 2013 _ Vantaankoski River

enjoy a picnic and some drinks (well...more than some ;) ). I have myself enjoyed a few May Day celebrations in the main park of the City of Helsinki in the past. However, the weather in Finland is very unpredictable in May. Some years we had a wonderful summer's day and some, like today, a cold autumn-like weather.

Taking to the parks may sound great and some people might actually enjoy doing that every single year. For us, a family of four, this tradition belongs more to our youth. Somehow, we slowly shifted our habit of picnic in a park by the sea to a more classy May Day meal in a villa or mansion. Having small kids to drag about played a big part towards this shift.

So, our tradition for May Day changed. It was more practical and intimate to enjoy a cozy meal with each other and take the time to really enjoy each others company. After a couple of years of trying out meals in various villas and mansions, we came across the Kuninkaan Lohet (King's Salmon) Old File Factory by the river Vantaankoski in Vantaa.

Kuninkaan Lohet _ Viilatehfas

This year was the third time we booked a traditional May Day meal at Kuninkaan Lohet. The place is just beautiful. The Old Factory is right next to the river and the view can be enjoyed through the large windows in the dinning hall. The dinning hall, which features an old fireplace (below), used to be a factory where they crafted files. Moreover, one can clearly see the history emerging from the walls as the hall is covered with red brick walls and ceilings supported by iron bars and wooden beams.


The booking can be done online by filling in a form, via phone or email. The menu is a set buffet of traditional
May Day treats with starters, main dishes, desserts and coffee. Included is also Finland's traditional May Day drink called 'sima'. 'Sima' is a drink that can be brewed at home and resembles a bubbly lemonade.

May Day 2014 _ Menu

In the menu one can find all sorts of salads, new potatoes, variety of cheeses, breads, lamb, salmon and wonderful "typical" children's buffet treats like sausages and fries. At the dessert buffet one can savor traditional May Day treats like doughnuts and fruit of the month cakes.



We have enjoyed our May Day meals every year here and we strongly recommend this place. You can visit their pages Kuninkaan Lohet (English version coming soon) to view their offers. Special occasion lunches are organised all year round and their spaces can also be used for other gatherings like personal celebrations, business meetings and even culinary courses.

Red Velvet Cake

For some time now I have been trying to find interesting recipes to add to my repertoire of delicious foods. One of them is the Red Velvet cake. I have seen it being made for wedding cakes, birthday cakes and other special occasions.

As usual, I don't cook food or make desserts just for fun (well, ok, sometimes i do!). I always try to have a reason to create something. Most often it is meant for larger groups to enjoy like events at my kid's day care center, events at home like birthday parties and events at work.


Recently my husband needed to take a cake to work and my inner "Barney" (character from the series How I met your mother) popped up and replied: "Challenge accepted!" Red Velvet, here I come!

I had a little search online and quickly realized this ain't an easy recipe. Perhaps the ingredients aren't anything too special but there is a precise process there which takes the level of difficulty up a notch.

The one recipe that worked for me came in the form of a video from Joy of Backing (see video and recipe here). The best part of this was that the instructions were clear, the ingredient dosages were also given in grams and dl and, most importantly, there is that video there to show you "how to". Marvelous!!



I followed the steps and the result of the cake can be seen here in pictures:

First I made the two sponges, which will later form the four layers of the cake. Make sure you oil the bottom and place parchment paper so your cake can be removed easier.

Among the ingredients were flour, eggs, cacao powder, butter and a touch of red food color.

One of the important aspects of the recipe is the chilling of the sponge in the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour. It helps cut the layers later as the cake is meant to be quite moist and is not easy to cut if not chilled.

Making the buttercream was easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy. It is better to have the ingredients at room temperature though because the cream cheese needs to be a bit soft. Having said that the whipped cream needs to be added cold!

Placing the buttercream on the chilled cake layers makes it easier.





Cover the top and sides of the cake and decorate to your taste
Your Red Velvet is ready to be placed in the fridge or served straight away.

Now, I just need a bit of feedback since I was not able to taste it :o
I hope people enjoyed it.

If you were amongst those who ate some of this cake, go on, be a good sport and give me some feedback ;)

Easter Feast

Easter is the most important celebration for the Orthodox church and for Greeks, whose religion is almost synonymous with their identity. The Holy Week is a build up to Christ's Resurrection and a wrap up of fasting. Easter Sunday is the time to enjoy good food with family and friends. However, during the Holy Week there are many other culinary traditions which lead up to Easter Sunday's great feast and complete the festive table.

Keeping in touch with my roots, my culture and my love for cooking is enhanced during this time of year. Keeping up with some traditions is of out most importance. It is almost like a blessing for the remaining of the year. It is a blessing for good health and prosperity in the family. So, no matter what, I try to keep them.

These traditions have been imprinted in my memory ever since I was old enough to help my mother around the kitchen. A little apprentice learning while helping and mastering an art by watching. A grown up woman perfecting this art by cooking and cooking some more every year. Indeed, most of these traditions are old but, as always, I try to bring in new influences and, without spoiling them, add a unique twist.

Holy Thursday is the time to color our eggs. According to tradition the eggs represent new life and the color red symbolizes the victory of life over death and Christ's blood. However, there are many who dye eggs different colors either by using non-toxic food colors or by making natural colors from red onion skins, spinach, coffee,cabbage etc. My touch to this year's egg tradition was to dye some eggs yellow (by using Turmeric) and brown (by leaving red onion skins cook longer than the time required for red color).

Holy Friday or Saturday we bake the Easter Bread "Tsoureki" (from the Turskish word 'Corek') or "Labropsomo" (in Greek). According to tradition the bread symbolizes life (as the flour changes form and becomes bread). The word "tsoureki" was most likely adopted by Greeks during the Turkish occupation.

I have always feared making tsoureki simply because there are as many recipes as there are cooks. So, it is a bit confusing as to how much to make, how many grams of each ingredient and, in fact, what ingredients to use. I have searched and searched and also asked my mother for her recipe and I believe this Easter I have finally found the one that worked for me (check the recipe here). The result was amazing and I will most definitely do this again.


Last, but not least, comes the lamb. Traditionally lamb is prepared on Easter Sunday. I have eaten it before in other celebrations but, in Greece lamb is synonymous with Easter. Buying a whole lamb on a spit is commonplace. Fastened securely with barb wire, it is then placed on top of an open fire where it is left to spin slowly for hours and hours to cook till the meat drops off the bone. Yum! According to tradition lamb is eaten during Easter because it symbolizes the body of Christ who sacrificed himself, like a lamb, for the salvation of humanity.

As great as all these sound, our reality is somewhat different here in Finland. We live in an apartment block so we had to restrict ourselves to grilling only some parts of the lamb; the tender and yummy ones ;) Lamb sirloin and rib stakes :) And, boy, did we enjoy them!

As we say in Greece "Και του χρόνου με υγεία" (Kai tou hronou me ygeia).
May we be healthy to do this again next year!

Cooking for four!

Here I go again!! After a looong pause, I am back again with recipes, news and ideas about my favorite past-time, namely cooking :)

Since my last post, I have given birth to my second child, a beautiful baby girl. Although the whole new baby situation took me away from writing, it has not stopped my passion for cooking. In fact, it has had the opposite effect. I was able to focus more on the foods I have been cooking for my now 9-month old girl.  

My babies have a five year gap and, I must admit, I had forgotten a lot of the advice concerning baby solids, schedule, dos and don'ts, etc. I remember back in the day when my son started solids that I had the same passion for making everything fresh but that's pretty much it! Now, I have the chance to reacquaint myself with the concept of 'baby foods'.  

Moreover, through contact with other mothers, I realized just how important it is for moms to share recipes, exchange knowledge and, why not, ask for help on such important issues as nutrition.   

I am no expert but I want to share great meal ideas that have worked for my babies. For instance, this following recipe had been a hit with my daughter at first and it is basic and simple. Please note that certain foods doctors recommend for babies (6m +) in my country might not be the recommendation in other countries. 

5 months + 

Carrot-Potato Puree 

carrots

1 large carrot

1 large potato

left over formula milk or breast milk

Peel and wash the vegetables. Place them in a deep pan. Fill in the pan with water just enough to cover the vegetables. Boil till soft. Do not drain the water. Rather take the pan off the heat and place it aside to cool. once cooled add some formula milk or breast milk and mush with an immersion blender. The puree is ready. 

At first you can make small quantities as you don't know whether the baby will develop any allergies. It is, however, recommended you try one food or combination of foods at least three times in a row (for three days in a row) before you can move on to another. Therefore, the one portion of each veggie might be already a big quantity. Moreover, at first you might not want to keep cooking for just one portion so it is better to make enough for you to just take out of the freezer and use when needed. I suggest you store the food in the freezer after having placed it in ice cubes or ice-cube-type containers for baby foods. 

Other variations of this recipe are possible. Instead of carrot you can combine the potato with other veggies like zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, parsnip, leek or corn.  In addition, instead of potato one could try to combine some veggies with sweet potato. Later on you could start trying out spices like pepper or fresh parsley, dill, oregano etc. 

Another alternative to boiling is steaming, which is recommended for better retention of vitamins. Just add a bit of boiled water and the necessary formula or breast milk and repeat the process.  

Once you have tested one simple combination of foods you can keep on adding to the puree mixture. For instance, I started with sweet potato. I just mushed sweet potato and after three days with no signs of allergies I added the second veggie. Then after three days the next and so on. This way you keep track of what the baby has tasted and whether or not he/she is allergic to it. 

Check the section on the right hand side of the screen, under the 'Baby Foods' page, for more ideas. 

Happy cooking :D