Salmon fish fingers, served with green peas

about 500 g salmon filet
lemon pepper seasoning
freshly squeezed lemon juice
about 7 Tbsp rye flour (wholemeal is perfect)
salt*

oil and butter, for frying

Remove the skin from the fish filet and cut the fish into chunky fingers. Season generously with lemon pepper seasoning and a little bit of freshly squeezed lemon juice. 
(* If you're using salt-free lemon pepper, then sprinkle some salt over the fish as well). 
Dredge the fish fingers into rye flour.
Heat oil and butter on a frying pan. Brown the fish fingers on all sides and cook for a few minutes, until done. 

Serve with mashed potatoes and/or mushy peas. To make the latter, simply heat some butter in a small saucepan. Add frozen peas, season with salt, pepper, lemon juice and mint, and heat through. Mash lightly and serve with the fish fingers.


From nami.nami food blog

Recipe of the week - Estonian style crapes with cheese-garlic filling

If you decide to make them - you will love them!. In Estonia this filling is offered in one Crape place downtown Tallinn. In Estonia we call crapes  -  pancakes! Here is the recipe - should be super quick to make!

Recipe in a nutshell - make the batter - put it in the fridge for 30 min - grate cheese, mince garlic and mix them with mayo and sour cream. Cook crapes on the pan, both sides and then put filling on it and turn it into a pocket and fry until cheese starts to melt - DONE!

Ingredients for crepe:

2 cups of 2% milk
2 eggs
1,5 – 2 cups plain flour
a pinch of salt
a pinch of sugar
2 Tbsp. melted butter

Ingredients for filling:

6 cloves of garlic, minced (try mincing it your own, instead of the garlic from can)
¼ cup of sour cream
3 Tbsp. mayo
250g grated cheese (cheddar)

Process:

• Whisk the eggs with sugar and salt. Gradually add flour and milk. Whisking in the center of the mixture, slowly draw the flour in until it is fully mixed. Then add the melted butter, whisking until smooth. The batter should be runny enough to thinly coat the back of a spoon; add a little more milk if too stiff. Let the batter sit for 30 minutes to an hour, covered, in the fridge.
  
• Mix the sour cream, mayo, garlic and cheese. You can put it to fridge for 15 min, but don’t have to. Garlic will get stronger over time.
  
• Coat a small nonstick skillet with a small amount of butter over medium heat. (Make sure the pan is hot.) Add about 1/3 cup of batter to the pan for a large crepe. Tilt the pan so the batter coats the bottom evenly. Cook until set, about 1 minute. Loosen the crepe with a spatula; flip over with the spatula. Cook the second side for about another minute. Then put 2 Tbps.(or as much as you want) filling on top of the crepe and cover it with the other half of the crepe and flip it again into a size you see at the photo in top! Wait till the cheese melts and then it’s ready to be eaten!

Enjoy!

You can fill it with any kind of foods - ham, different cheeses, e.t.c. And for sweet lovers - very yummy is condensed milk and fresh raspberry one!

Recipe of the week - Sesame Honey Chicken

You like Chinese food but don' t know how to make it yourself? We can help you here :)

Sesame Honey Chicken

Serves four



400 to 500 g chicken breast fillets or boneless thigh fillets
1 Tbsp light soy sauce
1 Tbsp Shaoxing rice wine or (medium) dry sherry
2 tsp sesame oil

For the batter:
4 Tbsp cornflour/cornstarch

For deep-frying:
groundnut oil or rapeseed oil

Honey sauce:
3 Tbsp sweet chilli sauce
2 Tbsp good-quality ketchup
2 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp oyster sauce
2 Tbsp light soy sauce
3 Tbsp water

To garnish:
toasted white sesame seeds

Cut the chicken into 2 cm pieces.
Mix soy sauce, Shaoxing rice wine or sherry, sesame oil in a bowl. Add the chicken, stir and leave to marinate in the fridge for at least an hour.
Sprinkle corn flour over the chicken pieces to cover on all sides, shake off excess flour.
Heat couple of cm of oil in a small saucepan until slightly sizzling. Deep-fry chicken pieces, couple at a time, until golden brown on all sides and fully cooked. Put fried chicken pieces aside.
Combine the sauce ingredients in a small saucepan and bring into a boil. Simmer for a few minutes, until the sauce thickens slightly.
Add the cooked chicken pieces into the honey sauce, heat thoroughly through.
Sprinkle sesame seeds on top.
Serve with steamed rice or cooked noodles.

Baked apples

Do you still have a ton of apples at home and need a easy recipe? here it is - oven baked apples. SO easy to make!

INGREDIENTS

·         4 large good baking apples, such as Rome Beauty, Golden Delicious, or Jonagold 1/4 cup brown sugar

·         1 teaspoon cinnamon

·         1/4 cup chopped pecans

·         1/4 cup currants or chopped raisins

·         1 Tbsp butter

·         3/4 cup boiling water

METHOD

 

1 Preheat oven to 375°F. Wash apples. Remove cores to 1/2 inch of the bottom of the apples. It helps if you have an apple corer, but if not, you can use a paring knife to cut out first the stem area, and then the core. Use a spoon to dig out the seeds. Make the holes about 3/4-inch to an inch wide.

2 In a small bowl, combine the sugar, cinnamon, currants/raisins, and pecans. Place apples in a 8-inch-by-8-inch square baking pan. Stuff each apple with this mixture. Top with a dot of butter (1/4 of the Tbps).

3 Add boiling water to the baking pan. Bake 30-40 minutes, until tender, but not mushy. Remove from the oven and baste the apples several times with the pan juices.

Serve warm with vanilla icecream on the side.

Makes 4 servings

Pumpkin & goat's cheese risotto

Total Time: 55 mins

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: 45 mins

Ingredients (serves 6)

• 20g unsalted butter
• 1 large leek (white part only), finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 500g pumpkin, peeled, diced into 1cm pieces
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 1 tbs chopped thyme leaves
• 100ml dry white wine
• 900ml chicken or vegetable stock
• 250g arborio rice
• 1/2 cup (60g) frozen peas
• 100g soft goat's cheese, crumbled
• Roasted pumpkin seeds and Parmesan 

Method

1. Melt butter in a deep frypan over low heat. Cook leek for 2-3 minutes until softened. Add garlic, pumpkin, half the zest and half the thyme, then stir to coat. Add wine, cover and cook for 10 minutes or until pumpkin is almost cooked.
2. Meanwhile, bring stock to the boil in a pan. Reduce heat to very low and simmer.
3. Add the rice to pumpkin mixture and cook for 1-2 minutes to coat the grains. Add stock 1 ladleful at a time, allowing each to be absorbed before adding the next. Continue for 12 minutes, stirring constantly, until stock is absorbed and rice is cooked but firm to the bite. Season to taste. Stir in peas and half the cheese.
4. Serve topped with the remaining zest, thyme, cheese and pumpkin seeds. Plus a little bit parmesan cheese.

Notes

• We used roasted pumpkin for this recipe, and gorgonzola in place of the goat's cheese. While you make the risotto, toss the pumpkin and 4 unpeeled garlic cloves in a little olive oil and roast for 20 minutes in an oven preheated to 180°C. Add the roasted pumpkin and peeled garlic cloves to the risotto with the peas and cheese.

Cinnamon buns

Cinnamon buns
Makes about 16 large buns


450 g all-purpose flour (about 750 ml or 3 cups)
85 g caster sugar (100 ml)
1.5 tsp ground cardamom pods
0.5 tsp salt
1 packet of fast-action dried yeast (about 11 g)
250 ml lukewarm milk (1 cup)
1 egg (divided)
75 g butter, softened

Filling:
50 g butter, softened
4 Tbsp caster sugar
cinnamon

Topping:
pearl sugar (optional)

In a large mixing bowl, mix most of the flour, sugar, cardamom, salt and yeast. Stir in the milk and about half of the egg (leave some for brushing the buns before baking). Knead in the softened butter and the rest of the flour, if necessary. Knead until you've got a soft and pliable dough that releases from the sides of the bowl. Cover with clingfilm or a clean towel and leave to prove for about 45-60 minutes, until doubled in size. (The place for proving should be warm and draught-free). 
Turn the dough onto a lightly floured table, knead gently couple of times. Roll into a reclangle sized 30x60 cm. Spread soft butter over the dough, then sprinkle generously with cinnamon and sugar. Roll up tightly, starting from the long side, leaving the "seam" under the roll.

Now use a sharp knife to cut into buns, following the scheme here. The buns should be about 2 cm wide on the narrow end and 5 cm on the wide end. 


Transfer onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, placing them upright. Using your thumbs or a large pencil, press a dent into the middle of each bun, just like this:


Cover with a kitchen towel and leave to raise for another 30 minutes in a warm place. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 225 C/450 F. 

Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with pearl sugar. Bake in a preheated oven for 10-15 minutes, until the buns and golden brown.

Take the baking sheet out of the oven, and cover the buns with a kitchen towel and let them cool (a little) - this way they remain nice and soft. 

Dessert for Holiday weekend - Rasberry and Mascarpone Fluff

Yesterday I had an early Thanksgiving dinner with the people I usually have dinner parties with. It was my time to do a dessert. As I am Estonian we have this thing called Kama, that you can use in desserts or everyday cooking. Kama is an mixture of various roasted and ground grains & pulses - usually peas, barley, rye and wheat. You can read from here about it KAMA and a tasty dessert,

Here I have you a different fluff dessert with berries. I know, I know - what am I thinking about posting a recipe for summer fruit dessert in the middle of the Christmas season?? You see, I craved a fruity dessert the other day, and came across this recipe for a blackberry fluff in the October 2006 issue of the British food magazine Olive. Unfortunately, neither one of the two nearby grocery stores had frozen blackberries that day, so I had to settle for frozen Estonian raspberries instead. Not a bad choice, I think - they're still tart and sweet at the same time, plus I love the colour.

Note that the dessert has much more character when it's been given a few hours' rest in the fridge - you can taste the mascarpone again then. I didn't bother to sieve the fruit pulp, but please do, if you think the small seeds will bother you.

Supereasy and rather nice.

Raspberry and Mascarpone Fluff
Serves six to eight

300 g frozen raspberries
1 Tbsp sugar
250 g mascarpone, at room temperature
200 ml whipping cream (35% fat content)
1 tsp vanilla sugar or extract

Heat the berries (keeping a few aside for decorating) gently with the sugar for a couple of minutes or until they give off juice. Whizz in a food processor until smooth, then push through a fine sieve, if you want to get rid of the seeds. Cool.
Beat the mascarpone with a spoon until it is softened, then fold in the berry purée and the vanilla extract. Loosely whip the cream and fold it in.
Spoon into small dessert bowls, decorate with extra berries. Place in the fridge for a few hours before serving.

In my yesterdays recipe I used fried rye bread as a garnish - You can use crumbled ginger cookies! 
In my yesterdays recipe I used ricotta cheese instead of mascarpone cheese and I also added cinnamon!!!


Here is a picture of yesterdays dessert (sorry about the blurriness) and main course. Main course has our last week recipe of butternut squash!

Roasted Butternut Squash

Its Thursday - time for a recipe of the week!   My favorite side dish for fall is Roasted butternut Squash!

This is a naturally low fat fall side dish that would make a great accompaniment to a Thanksgiving dinner. Sometimes squash are hard to cut, but you can make this task easier by piercing it with a fork, then popping it in the microwave for 60 seconds before cutting into it.

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 small butternut squash (2 lbs)
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup maple syrup

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Using a sturdy knife, cut off the top of the butternut squash near the stem, then cut the butternut squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out seeds and membranes. Halve again, making four wedges.

Place wedges cut side up in a large glass baking dish. Sprinkle cinnamon on top. Combine orange juice and maple syrup and drizzle over squash wedges. Cover with foil and roast for 45 minutes. Spoon syrup over wedges before serving.
Serves 4
Per Serving: Calories 166, Calories from Fat 5, Total Fat 0.5g (Sat 0.1g), Cholesterol 0mg, Sodium 11mg, Carbohydrate 35.3g, Fiber 3.8g, Protein 3.4g

International Quinoa Salad

Do you know how good Quinoa is for you? Its a Super Food!!

Quinoa is highly nutritious and supplies complex carbohydrates, fiber, potassium, calcium, riboflavin, Vitamin B6, naicin, thiamin, magnesium, manganese, iron, zinc and copper. It is also a complete protein as it contains all nine amino acids, including lysine. Being gluten free, it’s ideal for people who suffer from food allergies from typical grains.
It’s easy to cook and is great with steamed or sauteed vegetables. You can find pasta made from quinoa as well and it’s easy to experiment with to make your own hot breakfast cereals. You’ll find it ideal for many meal options this time of year.


Here is a recipe from Fat-Free Vegan Kitchen at http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/

Quinoa:

1 1/2 cups quinoa, rinsed very well
2 1/4 cups water
1 clove garlic, minced or pressed
1/2 tsp. salt (optional)

Vegetables:

1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced
2 medium-large tomatoes, finely chopped
kernels of 2 ears of cooked corn (about 1 cup)
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and diced
1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas
1/2 cup scallions, thinly sliced
2/3 cup parsley — minced
1/3 cup fresh mint — minced
1 ripe avocado, peeled, pitted, and diced (reserve a few slices for garnish)

Dressing:

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (NOT lemon)
3 tablespoons vegetable broth or bean cooking liquid
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste (optional)
1/8 teaspoon ground pepper
1 clove garlic, pressed or minced
1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon chipotle chili pepper

To cook the quinoa in a pressure cooker, place it and the water, garlic, and salt in the cooker and lock the lid. Over high heat, bring to high pressure and cook for one minute. Remove from heat and allow the pressure to come down naturally. Fluff the quinoa and allow it to cool.

Combine all of the vegetables in a large bowl. Add the quinoa and mix well. Whisk the dressing ingredients together and pour over the salad. Mix well and refrigerate until chilled. Taste before serving, and add more lime juice as necessary (you want it to be tangy). Garnish with avocado slices and serve. Makes about 8 servings.

Nutrition (per serving): 239 calories, 55 calories from fat, 6.4g total fat, 0mg cholesterol, 366.2mg sodium, 627.7mg potassium, 38.8g carbohydrates, 7.7g fiber, 4g sugar, 9.1g protein, 4.5 points.