Kirjolohipasta - Salmon pasta

Om nom nom.. would one of my Finnish friends say :), but she is not here..
The boys however were, including my husband, and for some reason I am considered the sole provider of cooked food in the house in 90% of the cases..
Tell me about teaching own and future husbands how a modern household functions.. the right way.. *Sigh*...

I had some salmon in the fridge for sushi, but last thing I felt like doing was sushi, especially that the boys like the nigiri sushi, hubby wants the sushi rolls (California roll being one of the favorites), one and I'm not very effective in making any of them, so just didn't feel like making any.

Sooo... What else to make?
The fact that I bought two 3 pound (1.35 kg khhmm) sour creams kinda pushed me to cook a version of the salmon cream pasta I ate loooong time ago while visiting Muumimaailma, or Moomin world. Nice times :). 2004, just turned 30, broken knee, visiting parents, Finnish summer in Naantaali with the bright see and islands. Yayy..

Ingredients (besides the Finnish summer)
penne pasta for 4
1.5 pound fresh salmon (from Costco, again), grilled
0.5 pound ~250 gr cream
80 ml milk, 1/3 cup
1 tsp mustard
pinch salt
pinch black pepper
1-2 tbsp oil 

It has surely nothing to do with the original version as it was 11 years ago and I was lazy to look for a recipe, nor was it so thrilling as the one in Naantaali. But.. California is not a bad place to be as a compensation :), and the taste wasn't any worse than the original.
When I think if salmon three spices pop in my mind: black pepper, mustard and dill.
Not sure why I didn't want to try dill, but I immediately reached for the stone ground mustard that replaced the Dijon mustard's place in my heart. And fridge, for that matter :).

The best pasta to go with would be Costco's penne, however, this time I had a special one in my pantry: German tagliatelle egg pasta. what was so special? There wasn't anything else :D.

I used a table grill, sprinkled the salmon with little salt, wrapped it in foil, and grilled until cooked. The time will depend on how thick your fish is, but mine took about 15 minutes, turning half way.

So I went ahead and cooked 3/4 of the tagliatelle pasta bag (probably the whole bag if your family has a better appetite for pasta), al dente. I always add a tsp of oil when ready, to prevent them from sticking together.

Meanwhile mixed the sour cream with a pinch of salt, the tsp of mustard and lightened it up with the milk.

When the salmon was grilled, I sprinkled it lightly with the pinch pf coarsely ground black pepper.
Serve while the pasta is hot, and let the kids experiment with the proportions of pasta, salmon and dressing.
My older son LOVED the dressing, the youngest skipped the salmon altogether because he claimed he found some fishbone in it :(.
Pity, but he ate his pasta with spoonfuls of sour cream :), so he worked his way around.

Bone appetite!
Apologies for the boring pics but today I was kinda uninspired and tired in mids of planting my new veggie garden. Much more excited tho about my plants! Yay!!

Creamy squash - or - zucchini soup

I am rarely raging about something when it comes to food 'cause I've been spoiled with fresh, home made food.
Squash is however the best ever vegetable I can think of (zucchini will do as well), and the fresh zucchini season just started at our local food store.

We had this soup on a regular bases as soon as the squash was rape in our garden, and it is a pleasure to have on hot summer days as it can be consumed both cold or warm.
The way grandma made was lighter, but when my hubby found this recipe we all fell in love with it, and adopted it to fit our ways of cooking.

Ingredients
3 pounds of squash or zicchini
2-3 carrots
2-3 parsley roots (if you can't find any use parsnip, though not quite the same)
1 middle sized onion
vinegar to taste(start with 1-2 tbsp, we usually add at least 4-5 tbsp)
salt
pepper
     powder paprika (optional!!)
2 small bunches of fresh dill
fresh savory or small pinch of crumbled dry savory (borsikafu avagy csombord)
1-3 tbsp olive (preferably non tasty one, I use sunflower oil)
2 dl sour cream
3 egg yolks

Before you start the next step, you have to decide how you like your soup. I you like it very smooth, and creamy, start grating your ingredients on the larger side of the grater. (you can use a food processor as well, but don't overdo it).
If you like your soup more chunky, cut the carrots and parsley root into thin slices, as well as the squash/zucchini.
Cut the dill as well into tiny pieces, leave some for garnish.
1. In a large pot (I'd choose a minimum 3 quart pot) heat the oil, and stir in the onion.
2. When they are getting "glassy" add the carrot and parsley slices. Saute together shortly, 1-2 minutes, than add 2 liters (2.2 quarts) of water.
3. Add the savory, salt and pepper (2 generous pinches) to taste, and  boil them together for 5 minutes.
4. Now add the squash/zucchini and the fresh dill cut into small pieces. Adjust saltiness, add and boil for additional 15 minutes.
5. Mix the egg yolks with the sour cream and the vinegar in a 1-2 quart bowl. Add one ladle of the hot soup, lightly stir, add one more ladle of hot soup, stir again, and now add the mixture back to the boiling soup. Wait for 1-2 minutes until you see the first VERY SMALL bubbles as a sign of boiling, and remove immediately from heat.
Do NOT boil it again, or the egg will make your soup look like a too liquid omelet...
It is delicious both warm and cold, and it is a veggie in season, so enjoy! 


Garnish with additional dill, and enjoy!

Bon appétit!

Puliszka - polenta - 20 min meals

Puliszka is not a Hungarian, it is a Transylvanian Hungarian dish :).
It sneaked into the Transylvanian kitchen from the Romanian kitchen, with adjustments of course.
The Romanian "mămăligă", or puliszka, or polenta, was (is) made of fine corn grits, almost flour, cooked for very long time, dumped onto the table, cut into slices with a thread, and consumed with smoked bacon or sheep cheese (the shepherds were mainly Romanian, or some Székely = a Hungarian group of people living at Transylvania's borders mainly in the Carpathian mountains).

The Hungarian "puliszka" however is made of corn grits, cooked for much shorter time, and consumed as side dish with.... there are sooooooooooo many possibilities you can eat your "puliszka" with :)....
This is one of them... and something I love this puliszka for is the fact that can be served in 15 minutes. Ok, 20 if I count the time it takes to bring the water to boil and add the cheese.

Ingredients (4 modest portions)
3 cups water
1 cup corn grits
1 tsp salt
1-2 tbsp oil
!!!! I had the wrong water vs corn grits and I just noticed the mistake! So please add water MORE and less corn grits or it won't work..

Serving
feta cheese (sheep or cow), or blue cheese, or cottage cheese
sour cream (optional, but sooo good)
spring onion, chopped (optional)

Put the water to boil with the salt and oil. When boils add gradually the corn grits, stirring continuously. Reduce the heat.
You can choose to stir for about 12 minutes, or stir for couple of minutes (~5 min), and then let it cook under a lid for additional 10 min (reduce the heat even more..). Remove the lid, stir well again, and is ready.
When ready serve still hot with cheese, sour cream and sprinkle with freshly cut spring onion..
After adding the cheese you can let it stay a little for the cheese to melt on the puliszka, but add the sour cream (and onions) just before eating. The contrast of hot puliszka, warm cheese and the cold, fresh sour cream is just soo good :D.

Ps. If you don't know whether people like or not onion, just clean the onions and let people decide and have it bit by bite.. :)