Restaurant Day in Helsinki: May 19, 2012

Finally May 19 has arrived! I was waiting for it since a few weeks ago, when I discovered restaurant day. Basically, on restaurant day everyone can open their own restaurant or café anywhere. It could be a park, a backyard, an apartment or office, or even a window! Whoever participates can decide the menu and how to set up the restaurant. It’s not only an event about eating, but also about food culture. Restaurant day started in Helsinki one year ago, and took place four times since then. The last one was on Saturday, May 19, 2012. This time I only participated as a “customer”, but who knows, maybe one day I will have my own pop-up restaurant!

Bizu de chocolat: home-made chocolate pralines on a bike

Spaghetti Aglio Olio e Peperoncino

Spaghetti aglio olio e peperoncino is one of the simplest, fastest and classic Italian dishes. I fall in love with Italian food with this dish: I was amazed how the right amount of ingredients can bring out a very distinct flavor. It has already been my favorite Italian dish since long ago. However, when I was in Italy, I noticed that it did not require a lot of olive oil and garlic as I had seen in many recipes. As you know, too much is as bad as too little! You will need only a few ingredients – spaghetti, garlic (aglio), oil (olio), chili (peperoncino) and Italian parsley – in the right amount.

Spaghetti, garlic, chili and Italian parsley

Artistic Milk Carton

I think this milk carton is the most artistic one that I have ever seen. When I discovered it in a grocery store, I had to buy it right away, even though I don’t  really like skim milk. It is so different from regular milk cartons! One of my Finnish friends told me that it was designed by Klaus Haapaniemi, who is well-known for his illustrations, advertising art and clothing fabric prints. Haapaniemi also designed mugs and dishware for Iittala. You can even buy a print of this beautiful cat, called Putte The Cat, on Haapaniemi’s website. All the profits will go to the Khanapur School for unprivileged children in India.

Valio milk carton designed by Klaus Haapaniemi

Mini Italian Easter Pie

It’s already been two weeks since Easter, and now it looks like too late to still talk about it. However, learning how to make an Italian Easter pie could be good for the next year!

Easter is one of the biggest holidays in Italy. In Italian Easter is Pasqua and the Italian Easter pie is called torta pasqualina. A traditional Easter pie consists of 33 (as the age of Jesus Christ) very thin layers and is filled with ricotta and either chard or artichoke. My mini Italian Easter pie, however, was made with only 4 layers and was baked in a souffle dish instead of a pie pan. That’s because I wanted to serve it as an individual dish to my guests with no leftovers eventually! I have made this mini pie in several ways. For example, I have tried both frozen and fresh spinach (it did not matter so much, even though fresh ingredients are always my favorite choice), regular eggs and quail eggs (regular ones were visually more appealing on the top of the pie) and different amounts of ingredients such as ricotta, marjoram, and so on. I will show the recipe which gave the best result. Let’s look at the main ingredients!

Fresh spinach, nutmeg, onion, eggs, marjoram, parmesan, ricotta and organic flour

Itailan Easter Lunch

I had an early Italian Easter lunch with friends a few days ago. I tried to get all the ingredients from Italy, and I managed to find most of them, even though the shank of lamb I got was from New Zealand.

Starter, Bresaola with Arugula and Grana

I started with bresaola with arugula and shaved Grana Parmesan. Bresaola is an air-cured beef meat which is typical of northern Italy, and it is usually eaten this way as an appetizer.

First course: Mini Italian Easter Pie

New Pot Guards

I have recently moved to a new country, so I had to buy many things, and especially those for kitchen. I’ve lately visited the Iittala store, which is one of the most famous Scandinavian design companies, especially for housewares, including ceramic and glass objects. I found two ingenious woodenware pot guards, one elk-shaped and the other with the Aalto design. They are not only fancy but also convenient. They can be placed between a pot and a lid to help steam to come out when boiling. If you cook very often, you  know how they can be useful. Here are my new friends, Mr. Aalto and Mr. Elk!

Mr.Aalto and Mr.Elk

If you like Scandinavian and especially Finnish design, check out also Arabia and Marimekko. Enjoy!

Dried Pineapple Decorations

A few days ago, I was inspired by the post Dried Pineapple Decorations and I wanted to give it a try. I love it! Have you ever thought that a dried pineapple slice can be a beautiful decoration? It took a bit long to dry the slices – about an hour in the oven at 110°C (225°F) – but they turned out very well. They could be a fabulous decoration on top of an ice cream or a cupcake, and they can even be a tasty snack. I made them last week and they are still in good condition. You should try it! It’s so much fun!

Beautiful dried pineapple decorations

Whole Wheat and Cocoa Biscotti

I was intrigued by one comment on my biscotti recipe. What about using whole grain flour instead of all-purpose flour? Well, since I am not a professional chef, the only way I can do is to experiment… and the experiment was successful indeed! So here you are the whole wheat biscotti with pecans.

Whole wheat biscotti with pecans

Italian Bread

Do you know what “Italian Bread” means? Italian bread is typically known as unsweetened, yeast-leavened, and baked into a thick oblong loaf with tapered ends. Recently, I have been baking this Italian Bread  twice a week. After constantly practicing for more than 10 times, the result turned out very good and I even got full approval from my Italian friends.  So what are you waiting for? You are going to have so much fun with this!

Wheat flour, salt, fresh yeast, sugar, lukewarm water and extra-virgin olive oil

IKEA Vegetable Basket

Tomatoes!

Carrots