Traditional Irish Soda Bread

Soda Bread is a quick bread that uses bicarbonate of soda and buttermilk as the leavening agents rather than the more commonly used yeast.

Soda bread today is often associated with Ireland but the idea of soda bread goes back as far as the Native Americans, they used Pot Ash and an acidic liquid to form the chemical reaction that rises the bread.

The oldest known published recipe of Irish Soda bread is from 1836 in a Newspaper in County Down. Traditional Soda bread has only four ingredients in it. Flour, Bicarbonate of Soda (Baking Soda), Buttermilk (Sour Milk) and salt, nothing more. If I type in Soda Bread Recipe into Google I get over 17,000 recipes, however many of these add things like raisins (which makes it Spotted Dog, not to be confused with Spotted Dick), sugar, whisky, eggs and many other non-traditional things.

I used this recipe during St Patrick's Day along with other Traditional Irish foods. It was a big hit with my family (who are all Finnish and thus not so well educated into the fineries of Irish cuisine). It is so quick to make and so morish, that you will be making this every few days just to keep up with the demand.

So for you to replicate this tasty, quick traditional Irish bread you will need:-

450g Plain White Flour
1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
1 tsp Salt
400ml Buttermilk

Preheat your oven to 220 oC. Grease a cake pan or oven pan (I use an old deep drying pan with the handle taken off), or a Dutch Oven if you have one.
In a bowl mix your dry ingredients and then add the buttermilk, using a rubber spatula mixing to make a stickyish dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently (don't heavily knead or for too long as you will knock out all the gases needed for the rising).
Shape into a round and score a cross in the top. Put into your greased pan and then cover with another pan (I used another old pan with no handle), this will create the bastible pot (Irish Dutch oven), or put the lid on if you are using a Dutch oven.
Put in oven and cook for 30 minutes, then remove the covering and bake for a further 15 minutes.
It will have gone a nice golden colour, to check it is ready turn over and tap the bottom of your bread. If it sounds hollow then it is ready.
If not using straight away cover with a tea towel and sprinkle some water on it, this will help it stay moist.

So there you have it, simple, Traditional Irish Soda bread. I guarantee you will want to replace you normal loaf after you have tried this.

Uunimakkara

Uunimakkara (translates to Oven Sauage) is a traditional Finnish dish and really shows what Finnish food is all about, Simple, Filling and Tasty. This dish takes minutes to make up and so can be done on those nights when you are just too busy to make a more complex meal. There is literally hundreds of versions of this dish, however this is one of my takes upon this classic, warming food.

For it you will need:-

Some lenkkimakkara or for those outside of Finland and have no access to this kind of sausage, you can use Bratwurst/Frankfurter style sausages. One per person.
Good, floury potatoes (Duchess are good) about 150g per person.
Onion, roughly sliced, about 1/2 a medium one per person.
Cheese, any will do, Finland has lots of Edam so that is what I used but a nice mature cheddar will give it a beautiful flavour.
some butter
2 tbsp cream per 150g potatoes
1/2 tbsp of sugar per 1/2 onion
seasoning and some water

First preheat your oven to 200oC. Slice your sausage lengthways, about 3/3 of the way through. Then stuff it with your cheese, I find slicing it is better but grating will suffice. Then put on an oven tray ready for the oven.

Then peel your spuds and put into a pan of lightly salted water. Boil till soft, about 10-15 minutes. Drain out and put back into the original pot. While your are boiling the spuds put your sausages in, they will take about 10-15 minutes too, you will know when they are ready when they start going a nice golden brown colour.

While this is going on, in another frying pan put some butter in it and heat up. Add your onions and sweat until soft, then add the sugar and cook until starting to turn brown. Then add some water, about 2 tablespoon per 1/2 onion and cook until all the water is gone. This will make beautiful caramelised onions, just like from the burger van.

Mash your potatoes, add the cream, some butter and seasoning in there to taste.

Put your mash on the plate, put the sausage on top and the onions topping that. You can serve with some tomato sauce or mustard.

Runeberg's Torte

Today (5th February), is the birthday of Johan Ludvig Runeberg who is the national poet of Finland. He was born in Pietarsaari which is a predominately Swedish speaking city (known as Jakobstad in Swedish) in 1804. His poems mainly focused upon the typical, tough, rural lifestyle of the common Finnish man. is most famous work is Fänrik Ståls sägner which is Swedish for The Tales of Ensign Stål. It was written between 1848 and 1860 and it is about the Finnish War which was a war between the Kingdom of Sweden and the Russian Empire. The result was 'Finland' was surrendered to Russia, this was the start of the so called Grand Duchy of Finland. The first poem within the work Vårt Land (Maamme in Finnish, Our Land in English), has become the National Anthem of Finland by overall convention (as there is no law in Finland establishing it as the National Anthem).

On this day it is traditional to eat Runebergin Torttu (Runeberg's Torte). Legend has it Runeberg's wife, Fredrika, invented the pastry when her husband asked for something sweet but she had nothing in. So in typical good wife style she made up something using what she had, wheat flour, breadcrumbs, almonds, rum, apple jam and sugar. He loved it so much that he had one every morning for breakfast with Punsch (a traditional Swedish Liqueur) from that moment on. The recipe is found in her recipe book but it is now believed that it is a personal version of an earlier recipe created by confectioner Lars Astenius of Porvoo.

A 'traditional' commercially available Runebergin Torttu 

So there is a wee bit behind it, I thought i'd give it a try. The ones you buy from the store look like the above picture. However I have no idea how to make it like that and no home cookery book or website says to make it like that. My Wife told me that Finns make it in muffin trays and so that is exactly what I did. So for you to make you own culturally tasty treat you will need to have:-

250g Baking Margarine or Butter
200g Caster Sugar
2 Eggs
100g Ground Almonds
100g Plain Flour
15 grammes of Gingernut biscuits
1 Thin Crisp (those crunchy flat cracker bread things that healthy people eat)
120g Breadcrumbs
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Rum essence

For the topping:-

Rasberry Jam (You can really use any kind of Jam)
200g icing suagr
1 tbsp water or juice

First turn your oven on to 200oc. In a bowl beat together the Marg and Sugar until fluffy. Then add the eggs, one at a time, mixing it in thoroughly.  In another bowl add the almonds, plain flour, breadcrumbs and baking powder, then crush the biscuits and thin crisp (you can use a food processor or beat it in a bag) and add to the bowl too. Then mix all together than pour into the Marg/Egg mix, combined thoroughly and add the rum.

Then put muffin cases into a muffin tray and put about a tablespoon of the mixture into each case. Place into the middle of the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Take out of oven and leave to cool down.

In a small bowl or cup mix the icing sugar and water together and form an icing. You can either spoon in on the top or pipe it on. In the middle put some Jam and then serve.

Tasty Beetroot Pesto Tagliatelle

During a Family Home Evening (A night that we LDS folk set aside to spend with our family and do things together like study, play games, discuss topics etc) I mentioned to my wife that we should try and have at least one vegetarian meal each week, it would be healthier for us as a whole and more in line with D&C 89. She did agree, if only to allow me to experiment more. That was how this dish came into being, it's so simple, super healthy and delicious.

Sorry about the poor quality. The camera I used is not mine.

Why a Beetroot pesto? I don't like Beetroot? Some of you will be saying. I use to not like beetroot either but have slowly changed my opinion over the last few years. Beetroot is a superfood, it is packed full of nutrients and antioxidants. Studies have shown it can increase the white blood cells (The defenders of the body against foreign invasion), help in reduction of blood pressure, have a high content of folic acid, Vitamins A and C. It can be eaten raw or cooked, both ways taste good.

A typical 100g serving of Raw beetroot looks like this:-

• Calories: 43
• Protein: 2g
• Fat: 0g
• Carbohydrate: 10g
• Fibre: 3g

For this healthy, tasty dish you will need:- Serves 2 with some pesto left over.

400g Raw Beetroot (You can used pickled if you desire)

30g of Cashew Nuts

10g Almonds

1 clove of Garlic

2 tbsp Parmesan Cheese

1 tsp fresh parsley

1 tsp oregano

50ml Olive Oil

pinch of salt and pepper to taste

4 nests of Tagliatelle

sprinkling of Parmesan for the top

First peel and rough chop your beetroot (use gloves because the red will get everywhere) and put in a food processor. Then add the nuts, garlic, cheese, herbs, olive oil and seasoning. Blend until it all comes together, 30 seconds or so. Taste and correct seasoning. 

Boil a pan of salted water and add the Tagliatelle. Once it is al dente transfer to a frying pan, then add some spoonfuls of your beetroot, about 2-3 per person. Stir until all combined and put into bowls, top with Parmesan and serve straight away. 

Goes great with some garlic bread or ciabatta. I can promise you that this will become a household favourite and will help you get some super healthy food into you. 

Amazing Rye Rolls

Here in Finland they love to eat Rye products. Don't know what rye is? Ever heard of Black Bread? Well that is Rye Bread. Rye is a grain that is ideally suited to colder climates and those areas with poorly soil types. It is also healthier for you than any wheat flour as it contains less gluten and good soluble fibre, recent research has also shown that Rye flour can help reduce cholesterol. Finland grows over 70,000 tonnes but consumes over 100,000 tonnes every year. The shortfall is imported from Germany and Poland (two of the biggest growers of Rye in the world).

Recently Finnish Rye bread has taken off in New York City thanks to an Ouluite. You can read the article about this here.

Bread has always been very important to the Finnish people, sometimes for the poorest it was the only meal. Traditional Rye Bread was made into a flattened disc with a hole through it. this was then mounted on a stick, in the ceiling, where it would stay for week, even months.

Traditional Ruisreikäleipä

So last week I had my mother in law round for a dinner of meatloaf and salad. I also thought to give a go at making some Rye Rolls (I have made 100% rye bread before). They came out really tasty and went down a treat with everyone present.

So here it is, you will need to have with you:-

500ml Milk
50g Fresh Yeast (or 14g dried yeast)
3 tbsp Golden Syrup
3 tsp Salt
75ml Oil (I used olive oil, but you can use any kind besides motor oil)
400g Rye Flour
300g Wheat Flour (with some extra just in case and for dusting)

First heat your milk up to around 30oC and stick into a bowl then add the yeast in. Leave for about 10 minutes. Then add the syrup, salt, oil and rye flour. Mix until it becomes some stodgy mess. Then start adding the wheat flour, keep adding a little at a time until it comes together in a smooth but slightly sticky dough (rye dough should never be as dry as normal bread dough). Then put into a fresh bowl and cover, stick in a warmest place. Most Finns put some warm water into the sink and put the bowl in there.

Leave to rise for 25-30 minutes and then dust some wheat flour onto a table and take dough out, knead for a short while, about 5 minutes and then break into pieces and roll into roll shape. Place onto a greaseproof papered baking tray and cover. Turn oven on to 225oC and wait to heat up. When it has reached that temp, about 10 minutes, add the rolls into the oven and cook for around 10 minutes.

Serve the traditional Finnish way with butter, freshly sliced cheese, ham and salad.

Not all healthier foods need to taste like cardboard as these will testify to your tastebuds.

Fats

For this weeks nutrition related article I though about tackling one of the two (the other being Carbohydrates) most commonly confused nutritional elements.

A delicious array of cheese.

What is Fat?

Fats are a group of compounds that are generally insoluble in water and are needed for processing certain vitamins and minerals (See below). There are many categories and divisions of fats, firstly they can be put into two initial groups; Solid Fats, which are solid at room temperature, and Oils, which is a liquid at room temperature. They can be divided further, which we will look into, like saturated fats, trans fats etc.

What is the confusion?

The main source of the confusion about fats mainly comes from the name. People see the word FAT and automatically equate it to that belly and increasing waistline. Of course there is some truth in that but all nutrients are involved in that, as was mentioned in the first article, the importance is balance. For starters Vitamins A, D, E and K need fat to be processed and absorbed into the body's system. Fats are also important in containing fatty acids (in fact fat is composed of glycerol and three fatty acids, that is why the chemical name is triglyceride), that are essential for our daily diet (but I will go more in Fatty Acids on a different article).

Some myths that I have found throughout the internet and from my life as a Chef in regards to Fat are the following:

•  Less Fat means weight loss. This isn't entirely true, in fact according to figures obesity rates have soared by 20% in the last 10 years (the same time that the low-fat revolution has been active). The key to weight loss is by managing calories, fats can help this because they are filling and thus make it easier to avoid over eating. 
• All fats are the same. Another big myth, fats have differing values depending on their structure. Also it is scientifically researched that Saturated and Trans Fats are worse for you when taken in excess than mono-unsaturated and polyunsaturated. However all fats taken in excess cause problems and all intakes should be taken into account by your age, weight and activity. 
• Eating Fat-Free is better. This is so not true that it hurts me so much to see health nuts proclaim it as such. Fat-Free foods normally contain higher concentrations of sugar, refined carbohydrates and calories. Don't think so? Just check next time you go to the markets.

So what is recommended in your diet for fat? Well according to food scientists, about 20-30% of your calories should come from fats however to break this down further it is recommended that no more than 10% should be Saturated fats and no more than 1% come from Trans fats. 

However we shouldn't get too scared by all this and start trying to have no fat in our life. If we look at something foodies call the French Paradox we can see that having a lifestyle high in saturated fats doesn't mean you will have a heart attack. It is all about how you eat, all comes down to the magical word BALANCE. If we took the time to just go out for a walk 30 minutes a day, our body would function a whole lot better. If we ate more greener, stable, vitamin rich foods our body would perform harder, better, faster, stronger (That was deliberate for those who get it). So think about your lifestyle and its needs when planning your meals.

Sources of Fats

Here is a list of some sources of fats and what kinds they are:

Monounsaturated Fats

• Olive oil
• Sunflower oil
• Peanut oil
• Sesame oil
• Avocados
• Olives
• Nuts (mainly peanuts, almonds, macadamia, pacans, cashews and hazelnuts)
• Peanut butter

Polyunsaturated Fats

• Soybean oil
• Corn oil
• Walnuts
• Tofu
• Fatty Fish (Salmon, Herring, Trout, Tuna, Sardines and Mackerel) 
• Soy Milk
• Seeds (Sunflower, Flax, Pumpkin and Sesame)

Saturated Fats

• Red Meats, especially the high fat cuts (Chops,Rib-Eyes, Tenderloin, Shoulder) 
• Chicken with the skin 
• Ice Cream 
• Lard
• Butter
• Whole-fat Diary (Milk and Cream)
• Palm and Coconut oil

Trans Fats

• Cheap and Stick Margarines (also commonly know as Baking Margarine) 
• Snack Foods (Popcorn, microwave Burgers and Hotdogs, Crisps)
• Vegetable Shortening (Crisco)
• Fried Foods
• Commerically baked products (Doughnuts, Pizzas, Muffins, Cakes)
• Sweets

Home made Peanut Butter.

What does our body use it for?

Fats have the important job of helping our skin and hair remain healthy. People who suffer from skin and hair conditions are normally advised to take foods that contain higher concentrates of fats, like nuts, seafood etc. It also provides cushioning for our organs against shock (not as in boo you scared the living day lights out of me kind of shock), regulation of our body temperature (which is why I can currently stand this -20oC plus Finnish Winter) and helping the cells in our body stay healthy and perform their tasks. 

Fat is also an emergency energy store, each gram contains around 37 kilojoules (8.8 kcal/g). During the digestion process the fats are broken down into glycerol and fatty acids. The glycerol is turned into glucose by the liver and stored for energy. 

Another very important but very unheard of duty for Fats is in the helping the body against diseases. When the body realises that a substance, chemical or biotic, starts reaching unsafe levels it essentially dilutes it into new stored fat tissue. This protects the organs from the substances and eventually the body removes it by the metabolising, sweating, urination, hair growth and sebum excretion (this is an oily, waxy substance the body excretes to help the skin and hair stay healthy). 

It is impossible, and indeed unwise to try, to remove all fats from your diet. To do so would neglect the body of essential nutrients that would lead to several serious conditions. The essential fat (needed to maintain body functions and thus life) percent for a human body is 2%-5% for Men and 10%-13% for Women. For a healthy lifestyle men should have an overall body fat % of 8%-19% in under 40's and 11%-21% for over 40's. Women should have 21%-32% for under 40's and 23%-33% for over 40's. Having over 25% for Men and over 35% for Women is considered obese. 

Effects of cooking on Fats

There is little effect on fats from cooking other than to make it more digestible. 

We could go on and on about Fats and the pros and cons, but I believe that what is currently wrote here will do for now. Maybe in the future I will go more into detail on fats and each type. 

Bessarabian Pancakes

This recipe came about when I was working at The Famous Creg-Ny-Baa (on the Isle of Man). As one of two full time Chefs there, it was our job to come up with a list of specials everyday and one of those had to be a starter. I then remembered reading in a book about stuffed pancakes from Bessarabian (a region in modern day Moldova) and thought they would make a nice, tasty little started for all our customers because it also was vegetarian. After making them up and we tried them, my boss suggested that a sauce would really help, I agreed with him and thought a light chilli and tomato sauce would be the call.

This is also the first Skill 2 recipe posted, I put it as such because it does need more concentration than the previous recipes and has three main components.

The ingredients needed are:-

For the Pancake;

4 eggs, beaten

3tbsp butter, melted

250ml single cream

250ml soda water

175g plain flour

pinch of salt

1 egg white, lightly beaten

olive oil for frying

For the filling;

350g feta cheese, crumbled

50g Parmesan Cheese, grated

40g butter

1 clove of garlic, crushed

450g Spinach (If using fresh, rough chop, if using frozen drain it and squeeze as much water out as you can)

For the Sauce;

400g tin Chopped Tomatoes (you can use fresh if you want)

2tbsp olive oil

2 cloves of garlic

2 chillies, roasted, peeled and chopped.

1tbsp dried basil

1tsp sugar

pinch of salt and pepper

So first lets make the Pancake batter, you can do this by putting the eggs, butter, cream and water into a food processor and turning on, then adding the flour and salt into it until fully combined. Those with a food processor can put the flour and salt into a bowl, then form a well in the centre, in another bowl combine the eggs, butter, cream and water and then whilst whisking pour into the flour until fully combined. Leave the batter to rest for about 15 minutes. Then grease a small frying pan (about 15cm) and put on a medium heat. When hot, pour about 4 tablespoons of the batter into the pan, tilt the pan lightly to help the mixture spread. Cook for about a minute and a half then turn over and cook for about a minute. Turn out onto a plate and get a nice stack, leave to cool. 

For the filling add to a bowl the feta, parmesan, butter and garlic. Mix together well and then add the spinach, mix thoroughly. Now you can put into the pancakes. Grab a pancake from your stack and put about 3tbsp of the mixture in the centre of it. Brush a little of the egg white around the edge and then fold it over. Press the edges down well so that it seals, put onto a greaseproof lined baking tray. Repeat for all pancakes. 

For the sauce put all the ingredients into a pan and heat for about 10 minutes, simmering nicely. Then blend until smooth, then taste and correct seasoning.

Heat the oven to 200oC and place the pancakes inside for 10 minutes, take out and put on a plate, drizzle some of the sauce on top and serve.

This can be a delicious lunchtime meal or tasty snack, as well as a great start to a larger meal.

And as they say in Moldova Poftă bună!