Avocado & carrot salad

I really haven't felt like cooking or taking pictures for a while now, and it shows in my lack of updates. I'm hoping to get more inspired in the future, though, because I sort of have to eat, and I've been told it's really not cool to live on instant noodles.

So, I decided to make my glorious comeback with a sort of labour intensive, but awfully delicious salad. It's not difficult to make, at all, it just take a bit more effort than salads usually do, and it's totally worth it. The spicy, savoury carrots go wonderfully with the soft and subtle avocado, and the seeds and breadcrumbs are crunchy and nice. Once again we have Jamie Oliver to thank, although I first came across this recipe here.





300 g carrots
2 avocados
a couple of handfuls of lettuce
a couple of slices of ciabatta or toast
3 tbsp toasted seeds
1 dl crème fraîche
1 lemon
1 orange
1-1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder or 1-2 dried chili pods
thyme, fresh or dried
salt
ground black pepper
cloves of garlic
olive oil
red or white wine vinegar

Heat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius. Slice the carrots lengthwise and boil them in salted water for about 10 minutes. Mix together the chili, cumin, thyme, black pepper and a pinch of salt. Add crushed garlic, a splash of olive oil and vinegar and stir well. Drain the carrots, line them on a baking sheet and smear with the spice mixture you've just made. Halve the orange and lemon and place them also on the baking sheet, cut surfaces facing down. Roast for about 30 minutes. (If you want, you can remove the orange and lemon after 30 minutes and continue roasting the carrots for a bit longer at a higher temperature.)



While this is going on, cut the avocados into slices and put in a bowl, accompanied by the carrots when they're done. Take another bowl and squeeze the juices from the orange and lemon into it, add a generous splash of olive oil, a little bit of vinegar and salt and pepper to taste. Pour the sauce carefully over the carrots and avocados, toss gently. Rinse and drain the salad and toast the bread, tear into pieces and add to the bowl. Toss again to combine everything and serve with crème fraîche and toasted seeds (pumpkin seeds, pine nuts or sunflower seeds, whatever you like). Awesome!

Kitchen!

Inspired by Mari's excellent challenge, I decided to photograph my sweet little cook space. We moved into this apartment last summer and it has the tiniest kitchen I've ever had to work with, but I love it nevertheless. Even though we don't have a draining cupboard, and most of the storage space is obviously designed for someone at least a feet taller than I am.


Please take notice of my favourite lamp and the awesome dolphin-shaped watering can.



Hello!



Loved ones.



This mortar is awesome, and cute!



A cat jigsaw puzzle from my early childhood that I recently saved from my mum's basement.



This pepper mill would be the light of my life if only it weren't so damn small.



One of the cupboards that are too high for me to reach.



The magic cupboard above the fridge.



Once more with feeling: the shiny pasta machine!



My humble collection of cookbooks.



And the reason why I don't own that many of them.

Lemon shrimp pasta

Now, I am somewhat proud to announce that this here recipe is my genius idea. Which of course isn't to say nobody else in the history of this planet has ever thought to couple shrimp with lemon and black pepper, but I came up with this when I first started cooking by myself back in high school, and I think this might just be the very first thing I ever learned how to make! It has stayed with me ever since, and I doubt the combination of lemon, black pepper and strong garlic will ever stop to tickle me. (That said, a vegetarian version of this is also really, really good.) In addition to being absolutely delicious, it's simple and easy to make, and it will never fail you. It might just be my favourite pasta in the whole world.





250 g fusilli
300 g shrimp
2 dl crème fraîche
juice of one lemon
1/2 tbsp lemon peel
cloves of garlic
ground black pepper
30 g grated parmesan

Boil the pasta. Wash the lemon carefully, grate it and squeeze out the juice. Mix the juice and peel with the fraîche. Now, the juice of one whole lemon is quite a bit, so you should cut down if you feel like it; I personally like this pasta as lemony as possible.

Crush the garlic, sauté in oil and add the fraîche-lemon mix and a lot of black pepper, heat through. When pasta is done, drain it and add the shrimp into the pan, stirring it in with the sauce (again, make sure not to boil the shrimp!). Add the drained pasta and parmesan, toss to combine everything. Add more pepper to taste if needed.

Palak paneer & red lentil dal

Palak paneer is probably my favourite Indian dish and making it myself for the first time was exciting, yet surprisingly easy and awfully rewarding. I was also really impressed by the dal, since my experience with lentils isn't exactly what you'd call extensive and I admit I was sort of suspicious of them. This, however, will be subject to change, and I predict that my co-existence with lentils is going to be all pleasant and cuddly.

The recipe was found from here, and is originally from a Finnish vegetarian cookbook Kasvisruokia Aasiasta (page 32) by Marianne Kiskola. I'd like to thank Mari for pushing me into the right direction, and Kiskola for being awesome in general.



I didn't have any store-bought garam masala at home, so I consulted various sources and found out I had all the ingredients at hand. I made my own with cloves, green cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, cumin, mustard seeds, coriander, turmeric, anise and fennel. I ground everything up in a mortar, using one part each. Garam masala keeps from one to three months, but it's always best made for the occasion. Seriously, though, the stuff was so much more fragrant and aromatic and anything you'd get from the store, I recommend making it yourself, especially if you like making Indian food and have these spices in your cupboard anyway.



Palak Paneer

200 g paneer of farmer cheese
300 g frozen spinach
1 tbsp tomato purée
1/2 dl soy cream
1 onion
4 cloves of garlic
1/2 tbsp grated ginger
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp dried chili
1/2 tbsp ground coriander
1 tsp garam masala
salt
olive oil

Chop the onion and garlic and sauté them in a bit of oil. Add the ginger, cumin, chili, and coriander. Continue cooking until the onion and garlic turn translucent and add garam masala, tomato purée and salt to taste. Add the spinach and let simmer under a lid for five minutes. Stir in the cream, chop the cheese into bite-size chunks, add to the pan and heat through.



Red lentil dal

1/2-2 dl red lentils
1 l water
1 tsp salt
1 tsp turmeric
2 cloves of garlic

butter
1 onion
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp chili
1/2 tsp salt

Rinse the lentils in cold water. Bring water to a boil in a kettle and add the lentils, crushed garlic, salt and turmeric. Cook the lentils for 20-30 minutes at a low temperature, stirring every once in a while. Heat the butter in a small pan, chop the onion and sauté gently with the ginger, coriander and garam masala. Drain the lentils and combine all the ingredients.

Spaghetti with aubergine & trumpet chanterelle balls

I can't believe this is the first pasta dish I am blogging! We used to be famous for our pasta-eating ways. Well, we probably still are, unless our friends have found out about our new sneakier habits. Anyway, while traversing through the endless life-eating monster that is the world of food blogs, I came across this (thank you so much for the great recipe!) and - does it ever sound like I am repeating myself? - I immediately knew I had to try a dish that combines aubergines with trumpet chanterelles. And behold; it even exceeded my expectations!

I love aubergine. I love saying "aubergine" and I love eating it. There's something awfully satisfying about the texture and taste, a certain kind of richness that I haven't found in any other vegetable.



Tomato sauce

olive oil
4 cloves of garlic
500 g crushed tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato purée
dried oregano
ground black pepper
dried chili
salt
sugar

The thing I love about tomato sauce is that it's a very simple thing to prepare, yet everyone has their own way of making it. I like mine quite spicy, black pepper and chili -wise, but a mellower version would also work here. I made the sauce first and let it simmer over a low heat while I put together everything else, so it had time to bubble slowly and become tasty and thick.

Chop or crush the garlic and sauté it in a bit of olive oil in a small pan. Add the crushed tomatoes, tomato purée and spices, give the sauce a stir and let cook gently under a lid. Remember that if you use, say, fresh basil instead of dried oregano, don't add it until the very end.



Aubergine & trumpet chanterelle balls

300 g aubergine
1 dl trumpet chanterelles
30 g pine nuts
4 tbsp breadcrumbs
4 tbsp grated parmesan
2 cloves of garlic
1 egg
ground black pepper
olive oil

Heat the oven to 225 degrees Celcius. Slice the aubergine lengthwise into two pieces and smear some olive oil onto the cut surfaces. Roast the slices for 30 minutes, or until they turn golden brown. Let them cool for a bit before peeling and mincing. Lower the heat in the oven to 200 degrees.

Take a bowl and mix together the pine nuts, breadcrumbs, crushed garlic and 3/4 of the grated parmesan. Chop the mushrooms a little (and saute them in a pan if you're using fresh ones) and add to the bowl with minced aubergine and whisked egg. Let sit for 15 minutes. Roll the dough into small balls and place on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with the rest of the parmesan and bake for 15-20 minutes.

Cook a desired portion of pasta of your choice, toss together with tomato sauce and serve with aubergine & trumpet chanterelle balls beautifully arranged on top (and garnished with some fresh basil, which unfortunately I didn't have).

Indian shrimp curry

Now this definitely isn't an orthodox way of making Indian shrimp curry (I don't suppose there really is just one right way when it comes to something like this), but it's accurate enough so I dare to call it such. You can either go with red or green curry paste; I personally tend to use red paste with Indian and green with Thai because the green goes wonderfully with lime (as a general principle I also like to use red bell peppers with red curry and yellow ones with green, but this time I only had a yellow one and anyway that's just me being fussy over how my food looks).





Writing down the spices was simply horrible, since this is something I always make based on a gut-feeling and pretty much by tasting as I go. I love these kind of dishes because you can use whatever green you want in it, and by omitting the shrimp and maybe adding a different kind of vegetable you get a vegetarian or vegan version.

300 g shrimp
a couple of carrots
a small leek
1 yellow bell pepper
a can of coconut milk
250 g egg noodles
cloves of garlic
a piece of ginger
2 tbsp red curry paste
1 tsp yellow curry powder
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1-2 dried chili pods





Bring a kettle of water to boil for the noodles. Peel the carrots and cut them into thin strips. Do the same with ginger, using as much as you want (alternatively, you can grate it and use just the juice by squeezing it from the pulp, but this way I'd add it only right before or after the coconut milk). Slice the bell pepper and leek.

Start heating up a frying pan and grind the spices in a mortar (you can go easy on the chili if you're squeamish about that sort of thing; it's impossible to say how much one should use). Start by dumping a bit of oil and curry paste onto the pan, crushing some garlic and sautéing it lightly. Add all the other greens and fry them quickly, giving everything a good toss. Make sure your pan is hot enough! After everything has softened down a bit, add the coconut milk and spices and let it simmer for about 5 minutes. Egg noodles need just a couple of minutes to cook, so don't start boiling them until everything else is pretty much ready.

Cook the noodles but don't let them go mushy, drain and place into bowls. Return to your curry, check the taste and add the shrimp, giving it a gentle stir. Make sure sure to take the pan off the plate now; you're only meant to heat the shrimp, not boil it (boiling makes it chewy). Ladle the curry on top of the noodles and serve.

Fried risotto balls

See? For once when said I soon, I actually meant it! This is one of Tessa Kiros's wonderful recipes from Apples for Jam (page 35), and it was one of those things you just know you have to try. I mean, fried risotto! Who could resist? I used the leftovers of this mushroom risotto, but I'm sure any kind of risotto will do just fine. Mrs. Kiros suggests using tomato risotto, which I think would be pretty close to perfect. This, however, wasn't half bad, either. (Although that is an understatement.)

500 g cold risotto
50 g grated parmesan
125 g mozzarella
2 eggs
breadcrumbs
olive oil



Cut the mozzarella into small cubes, whisk one of the eggs lightly and stir into the risotto with the parmesan. Take tablespoons of the mixture and roll into a ball, pushing a piece of mozzarella inside with your finger and sealing it in. (The smaller you make the balls, the nicer the frying process will be. As you can see from the pictures, mine were a bit on the large side.) Repeat with the rest of the risotto, then beat the other egg enough to break the yolk and batter the balls with egg and breadcrumbs. Place on a large plate and put in the fridge for about 30 minutes.





Take a pan and fry the balls in a generous amount of hot olive oil, rolling them around every once in a while until they turn golden brown. Serve hot with tsatziki (or some other kind of yogurt-based sauce) and salad.

I'm feeling kind of sluggish today, so I can't think of anything clever to say. Except that these were really really good and I'm definitely making them again, next time probably with a different kind of risotto. Now I'll proceed to groom myself a little, and then I'm meeting a friend for a pint. And I still have about 298 recipes waiting in the depths of my computer, so I really hope I'll be able to keep updating a bit more regularly. We'll see how that goes!