Wholesome Sweet Potato, Carrot and Coconut Soup

At Christmas time, I had been given several large sweet potatoes and so was trying to use them all up. One idea that came to mind was making a soup using these wonderfully tasty tubers. I took a carrot and coriander soup as a base and then tweaked it by adding some coconut milk, ginger, nutmeg and sweet potato.

This soup is also fully Vegan, my first recipe on the blog to be. This soup is super good for your body and full of nutrients.

So to make this simple, tasty soup, you'll want to have:-

1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 clove of garlic, sliced
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground nutmeg
2 medium carrots, washed, peeled and chopped
1 large sweet potato, washed, peeled and chopped
250 ml vegetable stock
400ml coconut milk (1tin)
seasoning
pumpkin seeds for added crunch/decoration (optional)

Heat your olive oil in a pan on a medium heat, add the onions and sweat gently until they go translucent. Add the ground coriander, ginger, nutmeg and garlic and stir for a further minute. Now put in your carrots, sweet potato and vegetable sock . Place a lid on the pan and cook for fifteen minutes or until the sweet potato and carrots are tender. Pour your coconut milk in and blend the soup with a stick blender (You can use a food processor too but be careful not to melt your equipment). Taste and add seasoning as desired.

Serve immediately with a sprinkling of pumpkin seeds and some bread or allow to cool and store in your fridge for up to 5 days and heat up as required.

It is that simple, there is no excuse to not make tasty, healthy, non meat based foods.

Glazed Roasted Pork Neck

Since moving to Finland I have come to discover that pork neck is a very versatile and underrated cut. It contains a fair amount of fat, compared to other cuts, and so doesn't dry out when cooked for long periods of time. It can be roasted, stewed, braised, made into pulled pork, marinaded and fried, the possibilities are endless with neck. Also, because of the high fat content and type of cut, it is very cheap and so affordable to all.

My Glazed Roasted Pork is a simple and tasty dish, one that can be prepared in advance and goes with almost anything. I served mine with a simple home made coleslaw, roast potatoes and some salad.

So to make enough for 6 (plus some leftovers,maybe) you will want to have:-

1.5-2 kg Pork Neck
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil
pinch of ground pepper
100 ml beef stock
2 tbsp honey
1  tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp diced chilli
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 225C. Now mix the ground ginger, coriander, nutmeg, salt, and pepper together and rub onto the pork neck, then add the olive oil and rub until completely covered. Put the pork into a baking tray and place into the oven, cook at 225C for 20 minutes and turn down to 150C. Cook for a further two hours then take out.

Carefully pour out the juices from the baking try into a pan and then add the beef stock, honey, brown sugar, chilli and seasoning. Put on a high heat and reduce by a third. While reducing, slice your pork neck and arrange back into the baking tray. Turn the oven up to 200C and once the glaze is reduced add on top of the pork slices and place in oven for 15 minutes. Take out and rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.

I know it looks like a lot of work, but while you are making the additions like potatoes, vegetables, salads, etc. you'll find it fits in perfectly to your schedule. You can also roast it the night before and then slice when cold and heat back with the glaze at 175C for 20-30 minutes the following day.

My wife really enjoyed this and I know many of you will too.

Happy New Year 2015

So 2015 is here, a fresh page in a new book of our lives, 365 pages to write.

I'd like to thank everyone who has help make this blog brillant, to the readers who look at my posts, to those who comment and share it, to those close family and friends who have offered advice.

So what goals have I planned for 2015 for this blog?

1. To have a new recipe every Tuesday. This should be an easy one, but sometimes I fail to manage my time correctly and posting occurs too late.
2. To post an article every first Wednesday of the month. I have posted several articles in the past aimed at helping improve people's knowledge on many areas of food, but I have failed to do them regularly. 
3. To post a few more vegetarian dishes. I know I have been lacking on dishes for veggies and that isn't fair. I like vegetarian foods, so why should I not be writing about them more.
4. To experiment more. Food is about exploring the taste buds, body and mind. I have a wide range of ingredients within my grasp here in Oulu, Finland but I have failed to touch them. I plan to now research and look towards using new ingredients (and old ones) in inventive and tasty ways. 
5. Be health conscious. I'm slightly overweight and want to be healthier so I can keep up with my son. I also know many of you want to be healthier too. We also want tasty foods. So I need to be more wary of producing articles and recipes that are more in line with being healthier too. 

I look forward to this fresh year in the same way I look forward to the fresh snow. 2015 will be whatever you make it and I plan to make it a good one. 

Happy New Year! Onnelista Uutta Vuotta! Blein Vie Noa!

Mint chocolate cheesecake

Cheesecake was one of the first desserts I learnt within the trade. Cheesecakes come in all shapes and sizes, flavours and styles, it is one very versatile dessert.

Cheesecakes have origins going as far back as ancient Greece, it was a popular Roman dessert as well and both cultures adapted it for religious use. Today, Cheesecakes can be find in many different cultures throughout the world, each using unique cheeses and techniques to produce different textures and flavours.

This one is just a standard no bake cheesecake but it is so simple and easy that it can be knocked up and ready to eat within two hours.

So for a standard 16cm*7cm (6"*3") tin:-

150g digestive biscuits
2tbsp honey
500ml double cream
200g plain cream cheese
200g mint chocolate
1 gelatin leaf
100g grated white chocolate for decoration

Start of by melting you chocolate in a bowl over boiling water, also soak your gelatin in some water. While this is going on put your biscuits into a food processor, turn it on and break them down into crumbs, then add the honey and combined. Lay the biscuits into the bottom of a lightly greased cake tin.

Your chocolate should be melted now, so take it off the heat and put to one side. Whip your cream to medium peak (This is where you lift the whisk out and the 'peak' it leaves is slightly droopy, curling). Fold the cream cheese into the cream, don't be violent, just gentle, patience is the name of the game. Proceed to fold in the cooled chocolate. Finally melt your gelatin in a pan on low heat, pour through a sieve into the mixture and fold a little more. Once all completely folded, pour into the tin on top of the biscuit base and put into the fridge for a minimum of two hours.

Sprinkle some grated white chocolate on top and serve up to the admiration of your friends.

Roasted Glazed Duck with an Apple and Walnut stuffing

I think Duck is a very tasty meat that is quite under rated within the Western world. It has been the stable of many cultures throughout the world from Mongolia to France. It can be prepared in numerous ways, each exploring the rich flavours and exploiting the nutrients. What many people don't know is duck meat is high in protein (around 18g per 100g), zinc and iron to name but a few.

This is also a great dish for Christmas and will definitely be a spin upon the more traditional birds that are cooked at this festive time. 

So what do you need to make this fowl taste good (see what I did there?):-

1 Duck, about 3 kilos is good for 3-4 people
1 orange
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp vinegar (I used Apple but you can use anything from malt to wine)
250ml chicken stock
2 tbsp Cointreau (optional)
2 tbsp crushed almonds
70g breadcrumbs
40g chopped walnuts
100g sausage meat (or in places where no sausage meat is available buy pork mince and put it in the food processor)
1 small onion
1 clove garlic
handful of thyme and rosemary
1 egg
2 tbsp double cream

Turn your oven on to 225oC. Sauté the onion and garlic in some butter until soft, add to a bowl with the walnuts, breadcrumbs, sausage meat and the thyme and rosemary, mix all together, add some seasoning, the cream and egg, then set to one side. Now prepare your duck by washing it out under the cold tap, inside and out, then using paper towel pat it dry. Remove any obvious bits of fat from inside the bird. With a pin prick the skin all over, do not go too deep. Turn it breast side down and press down until your hear the back breaking (Some of you may find this squeamish, don't worry the duck is dead and won't hold it against you, or you can get your big brave partner to do it), this will help the bird cook more evenly.

Fill the inside with your stuffing mixture (any left over you can make into balls for later) and then put breast side down on a wire rack over a tray. Put into oven for 25 minutes. While it is in the oven make the glaze by first zesting and juicing the orange, then put the vinegar and sugar in a pan and caramelise, it should take about 2-3 minutes. Add the zest and juice to the pan also the Cointreau and chicken stock, put on a higher heat to reduce by half, it should also go thicker.

After the 25 minutes take the duck out of the oven and turn it down to 175oC. Turn the duck so the breast side is facing up, use a spoon or pastry bush to baste the duck. Return to oven and baste every 20 minutes. After one hour check the duck by poking a skewer into the thickest part of the leg, if the juice run clear put the remaining glaze on the duck and sprinkle the almonds on top. Return to oven for 15 minutes and then take out and serve.

This goes great with roasted veggies and a nice rich red wine gravy. I guarantee that it will bring the wow factor to your dinner.

Karjalanpaisti, Karelian Hot Pot A National Dish from Refugees.

Karelian Hot Pot (or Stew) is considered the national dish of Finland but its popularity throughout Finland is a recent occurrence. 75 years ago Finland was plunged into a war that it didn't want, the Soviet Union invaded with over 750,000 troops and all that Finland could do was send 250,000 young men, with antiqued equipment to stand against the Red Bear. After a valiant defence which saw the Soviet Union stalled on every front, peace negotiations managed to end the war. However, despite all that Finland did, it lost 11% of its territory and 30% of its economy. The territory was mainly the eastern region of Karelia and given the choice, the Finnish citizens decided to pack up and move away from the Russia areas leaving a ghost region. This caused the biggest refugee crisis that Finland has seen. With the move, the Karelians brought with them many things, like food, music and history.

One such dish, and the most recognised alongside Karelian Pastries, is the Karelian Hot Pot. This dish arose as a festive meal due to the scarceness of meat. It is another dish that exemplifies the simpleness but wholesome tastiness of Finnish foods. It traditionally uses bits of beef and pork cooked in water, black peppercorns and salt. However, nowadays, it is usually seen with added ingredients like allspice, carrots and onion. It is so quick to prepare and is just braised in a iron pot in the oven.

This is a great dish for those with little time, like on Sundays.

So for a nice feeding of 4/5 people you will want to have:-

250g stewing beef, cut into 1" pieces
250g stewing pork, cut into 1" pieces (alternatively you can use just 500g of beef or pork)
1 large onion, sliced
2 carrots, sliced
1tsp salt
1tsp black peppercorns
1tsp allspice
2 bay leaves
250ml beef stock
500ml water

Preheat your oven to 150C. Brown your meat in the iron pot over a medium heat, take out the meat and set aside. Now add a little bit of oil to the pot and add the onions, cook for 30 seconds, add the carrots and meat, salt, peppercorns, all spice and bay leaves. Stir until all mixed and add the stock and water. Cover with a lid and place in oven for 3 and a half hours.

You can also turn it down to 125C and cook for 5 and a half hours.

It is normally served with mash potato and lingonberry jam.

So go on, give it a try, this is a perfect dish for Sundays as you can make it all up the day before and just pop in oven before you head out to church.

Coconut and Treacle Flapjacks

When I was younger I loved to get flapjacks as a treat from the local bakery. There was something about the soft, gooey oaty bars that appealed to me. As I got older I seemed to put them on the back burner. I am not sure why I did that.

They are so easy to make and can be knocked up in a matter of minutes, so they are easy to make at short notice if you have guests coming round. I made mine for Family Home Evening, which is a night in the week (traditionally Monday) which the family gets together and does activities. It is encouraged in the Church and is designed to help strengthen families. They were a smash hit with those present.

To make one baking tray (33cm*36cm):-

250g rolled oats
125g butter (not marg)
125g brown sugar
3tbsp treacle
40g dessicated coconut
pinch of salt

Start by pre-heating your oven to 175C. Put all your ingredients into the food processor and pulse until mixed. Don't overdo it as you want to keep the oaty texture.

Grease up your baking tray and put in the mixture. Using the back of a spoon, press down the mixture firmly and flatly and the score into your desired portions.

Put into the oven and cook for 15-20 minutes (15 makes really soft while 20 makes really crunchy). Take out and place on a cooling rack until cool enough to eat.

It is all that simple and the entire process takes 25-30 minutes. So no more excuses to not having snacks for your guests. They will also keep for a month in a sealed container.