Mummi Hukka's Karelian Pasties or Karjalan Piirakat

As some of you know, I have a Finnish connection. For over half my life, I've had a rather odd obsession with the country, its quirky inhabitants and even quirkier language. I lived there for half a year, going to the university in Helsinki. This quintessential Finnish dish is a comfort food for Finns and foreign exchange students like me alike. I'd often duck into Stockmann's bakery on the way to school and pick up one or two of these as a quick lunch.

Mummi Hukka is a good Finnish friend's grandmother, and the origin of this recipe. It's been made time and time again for years, so it's absolutely perfect!

These pasties are truly delicious any which way you eat them. Fresh, warm, or cold, for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, with munavoi (chopped hardboiled eggs in melted butter), butter, or a slice of cheese.

They can also be made with mashed potato filling, but I happened to have leftover rice after dinner today (I added milk, and boiled, simmered, added more milk, until I got a porridge out of it) .

Crust:
2 dl cold water
1 tsp salt
2 dl wheat flour
3 dl rye flour

Mix well, and roll out, thinly and evenly, atop a floured surface

Filling:
3 dl water
2 dl rice
8 dl milk
half a tsp salt

Bring to a boil, then simmer until you've got a good rice porridge

Check out the pictures for the next steps.

Heat the oven to 300 degrees Celsius.
Bake for about 15 minutes.
Moisten them with milk just after you take them out of the oven.
Enjoy!

Rye Bread Chips

Was out diving with Mina again. I like going with other people best, it's kind of dark and lonely out there!

Anyway, I got a whole untouched, still wrapped mind you, loaf of organic spelt rye bread. Expiration date was still a day away, they probably chucked it to make room for new wares.

This particular bread is not one I buy myself, since I find it quite dry, but I'd been wanting to try making some rye bread chips for a while, something I've tried at an international festival here in Copenhagen. I remember it as being thinly sliced, crispy strips of rye bread, very crunchy, with an oily, garlicky flavor. Should be a cinch to reproduce!

It turned out pretty good, I'd say, though I didn'e have fresh garlic, only garlic powder, and I should have oiled the bread more before baking it. but here's a break down:

1 loaf of rye bread, not too many visible kernels, thinly sliced and cut into smaller strips
olive oil
garlic, either crushed and mixed with the oil, or powdered
salt

Arrange the strips on a piece of baking paper, coat liberally with garlicky oil, or add the garlic powder after oiling.
Sprinkle with salt.
Bake 15-20 minutes in a medium warm oven.

I took them out while they were piping hot and still a little soft, transferred them to a wire tray to cool, and they hardened up as they cooled. They turned out near perfect, and they kept well until the day after.

I happened to serve them as an hors d'oeuvres with Danish soft smoked cheese and chives.
Oldest kid got the rest for his lunch box day after - loved them!



So for divers, or those who just have an old rye bread at home going stale - this is an excellent, tasty and easy snack!

Kale. Chips. Kale Chips

Meet your new favorite snack. Or rather, meet mine.



The past month or so, I've noticed a couple of new kilos on my chops that while not overtly voluminous, are still an unwelcome addition to my wardrobe. Admittedly, I've been slacking on the exercise, but that usually doesn't throw the scale this much out of whack! I started charting my daily eating habits with a Calorie Counter application on my smart phone. Things were looking pretty good there, so I was really starting to wonder if I had a glandular problem or what. Then I noticed something. Something that I was eating, but not adding to my daily calorie counter. Because I didn't really consider it a meal or snack in itself.

See, my kids have gotten pickier lately. And they leave a lot of food on their plate. Food that goes uneaten. Rising food prices. Africa. See my logic? Yeah, I clean their plates for them. A direct connection between my childrens' pickiness and the scale. I will start serving them smaller portions, and subsequently refuse to eat their leftovers from now on - the worms in the compost bin will just have that much more to mulch from now on!

To get back to the point of this blog post (ie Jennie's fat!), I have nothing but praise for the kale. Kale, I love you. Usually, I just fry the hell out of it with some oil and garlic, reducing it to a spinach substitute that I gladly put in lasagne or on pizza. But kale is a lovely snack in its own right. And while I may need to watch what I eat a bit more closely, to be able to fit into those pants again, i will gladly have my kale chips, and eat them too, no guilt attached. They are absolutely delectably crispy, salty, yummy with just the tiniest bit of olive oil and some salt. And nothing else.

Just take 1 kale, removing the stems, and tearing the leaves up into smaller bits. Arrange on a baking tray, drizzle with oil and salt. Bake at 200 C (180 convection oven) for 10-15 minutes until they are crispy, and just slightly browned at the edges. The ones that were excessively browned still tasted fab, actually reminding me of fried okra, but the green ones were prettier. Still looking fresh from the farm. But packing a great flavor and a perfect crunch!

Crispy Salmon Skins

Yesterday I made a fairly good, but not blogworthy, pasta dish with a nice creamy blue cheese sauce and some salmon. The skins were not really welcome in the dish, kidwise or aesthetically. No reason to let it go to waste though, give them a light rubbing of your favorite oil, a sprinkle of sea salt and under the grill they go. So good! Unbelievably good! And filled with essential fatty acids, hooray!

Pimento Cheese Spread

There *was* a picture here, now it's gone forever, thx Blogger!

Okay, so you've guessed the obvious. There is cheese and pimento in the spread I'm presenting to you now. But there is also, the epitomy of buffet lunches in the southern part of the U.S. You'll most likely find the spread between the veggies/dip and the crackers/bread, just behind the devilled eggs. Most people buy it ready made at the supermarket, but it's tastier if you make it at home, not to mention dead easy to make.

1 cup of finely grated cheddar cheese
1 whole pimento, diced (smoked red pepper, from a can or jar)
1/4 cup of mayo (Hellman's preferably)
1 small pickle, finely diced
dash of salt
dash of ground garlic

Mix ingredients well.
Just for kicks, I grated fresh horseradish, and added about 1 tbsp to the mixture. It wasn't too strong, and freshened it up a bit. Very tasty.

Most Americans know pimento cheese from the starchy white sandwich it's usually served in. It's excellent on Wasa too, or used to dip carrot/celery/cucumber sticks in too.

The Most Decadent Popcorn, Evah!

To combat the Autumn in Denmark, Danes do the "hygge" thing. They make tea, light candles, snuggle and under afghans with a good book, if they don't just go whole hog and bring the duvet into the sofa. That is one of the many variations at least. We do a Blockbuster run, renting 4-5 dvds at a go, splurging on hot cocoa and popcorn (and maybe a mixed bag of sweets after the kids are asleep).

I have slowly learned to elevate popcorn to a new level, beyond the salt, beyond the melted butter. It took me a while to catch on. My first lesson was this one at Everybody Likes Sandwiches. Then, I turned on to truffle oil, and now I can never go back. The truffle oil I use os diluted to begin with, the stuff is potent I tell you!

I fry my popcorn in a big pot, in the old fashioned manner. I use cold pressed virgin coconut oil in the pot, for that genuine cinema popcorn effect. I melt a good 50-60 grams of butter, and when that's melted and taken off the heat, I add just 1-2 tsp. of truffle oil to it. Mix it well with the finished popcorn, adding a good sprinkling of sea salt as you go. Some call for a handful of shredded parmesan to top it all off as well. Divine. And for all the luxury it exudes, it goes down very well with hot cocoa and dvds.