Persimmon with honeyed yoghurt

How do you enjoy the persimmons, in season right now?

Here in Estonia we can by mostly the heart-shaped hachiya variety, which is astringent when raw, but meltingly sweet when ripe. We usually just wash them and cut into wedges, but there's also this super-easy and lovely way of serving them, adapted from the Australian Persimmon Inc page here.

Remember, only try this with perfectly rip persimmons unless you want to be utterly disappointed.

Persimmon with honeyed yoghurt
(Hurmaa mesise jogurtiga)
Serves 4

400 grams Greek yogurt
1 large hachiya persimmon
4 tsp of runny honey
fresh thyme leaves

Divide yoghurt between four small dessert bowls or glasses.
Wash and dry the persimmon (no need to peel!), cut into thin wedges. Top the yoghurt with 2-3 persimmon slices. Drizzle some honey on top, garnish with fresh thyme leaves and serve.

Previously on Nami-Nami:

• Persimmon and cottage cheese dessert (December 2008)

Home-made granola recipe

This was originally posed in January 2009. I'm reposting this with new photos. 

I'm not sure why it took me so long to make my own granola to sprinkle on yogurt for breakfast, considering how incredibly easy it is! The recipe below is a mixture of various ideas, and it's pretty simple. I'm especially fond of the addition of malt extract* that I got from Moosewood granola recipe included in the Moosewood Restaurant New Classics - it adds a lovely, well, malted flavour to the end product. I've used a mixture of chopped apricots, seedless raisins and dried cranberries to 'buff up' my granola, but the choice of dried fruit is obviously yours.

What do you do? Make your own granola/müsli or buy from a shop? If you buy, then what's your favourite brand/type? Just curious :)

Home-Made Granola
(Kodune krõbe müsli)
Makes enough for 2 persons for a week



100 g old-fashioned rolled oats (about 1 cup)
3 Tbsp dark muscovado sugar
5 Tbsp unsweetened coconut flakes
1 Tbsp flax seeds/linseeds
1 tsp cinnamon

3 Tbsp neutral-flavoured oil
2 Tbsp water
1 Tbsp malt extract

To 'top up':
half a cup or so chopped dried apricots or prunes or dried cranberries or seedless raisins

Mix the oats, sugar, coconut flakes, linseed and cinnamon in a bowl. Stir in molasses extract, oil and water, stir to combine.

Line a small baking tray with a parchment paper and spread the granola mixture on top.



Bake in a pre-heated 200 C/400 F oven for 15 minutes, stirring once or twice while baking, until the granola is golden and very aromatic (it will crispen up after you take it out of the oven).

Take out of the oven and cool completely, then stir in the chopped dried fruit.



Keep in a closed jar and serve with your breakfast yogurt or milk.

* Moosewood recipe uses "barley malt syrup or unsulphured molasses", explaining that "Barley malt is a liquid made from fermented barley and often used in baking bread. We use it here for sweetness and moisture. If unavailable, any unsulphured molasses except blackstrap will work fine". I used a local product which is meant for brewing your own beer at home, but is also widely used for baking bread at home. 

An easy breakfast: ahjusoojad kohupiimasaiad aka Curd Cheese Toasts

I'm reposting this post from February 2007, as it was listed as one of the 50 of the world's best breakfast dishes over at the hotelbookers.com few days ago. Although I'm trying not to eat too much white bread these days, I stopped at the local supermarket on the way back home from my firstborn's violin class, bought a bloomer, and made these at home. Being an Estonian, I obviously - and rather conveniently - already had some curd cheese at the fridge. And the kids - all three of them - loved these!

Here's an Instragram short of the toasts (you can follow my daily food related pics here):

And here's the original post from all those years ago:

I was flipping through the pages of a tired thin Estonian cookbook called "Kohupiimatoidud" the other day, looking for some nostalgic recipes. The cookbook was published in 1973, a year before I was even born, and is full of recipes utilising curd cheese, one of the very popular ingredients in Estonian kitchen (frequently featured here on Nami-nami blog, as you can see from the long list of curd cheese recipes at the end of this post). One of the recipes that caught my eye was for curd cheese toasts - something my mum used to make quite often to me and my sister. As I still had some white bread left after making Estonian tomato toasts, I decided to make my childhood recipe from the book for breakfast today. Creamy and sweet topping with a hint of vanilla, hot and crispy base - what more can one ask from a breakfast toast!? Of course, this would work just as well as a weekday dessert, especially if there are children in the house..

If you cannot find curd cheese (ask for tvorog in Russian and Polish shops), then try ricotta or fromage fraiche instead. As far as the bread is concerned, then try to get hold of wheat bloomer.

Estonian Curd Cheese Toasts
(Ahjus küpsetatud kohupiimasaiad)
Makes 6 toasts



250 grams curd cheese
3-4 Tbsp sugar
1 egg
vanilla extract or vanilla sugar, to taste
1 Tbsp sour cream or yogurt
6 slices of white bread (bloomer or brioche)

Mix curd cheese with sugar, vanilla, sour cream and egg.

Lay bread slices on a baking sheet, spoon the curd cheese mixture over:


Bake at 200 C for about 15 minutes, until the curd cheese mixture is slightly golden.
Serve warm with a cup of coffee, tea or glass of milk.

Here's a version with raisins:

Other curd cheese recipes @ Nami-nami:
Curd Cheese Cake with Grated Apples (November 2006)
Curd Cheese & Apple Souffle (September 2007)
Easter Pashka (April 2006)
Lemony Curd Cheese Cake (May 2006)
Lemony Curd Cheese Tart (March 2006)
Milk Curd Cream with Blueberries (March 2006)
Sõrnikud alias curd cheese patties (plain or with carrots) (January 2006)
Vareniki dumplings with curd cheese filling, served with home-made apricot jam & pistachios (July 2007)

Chia, banana and coconut pudding recipe

It took me a while to like chia seeds. I was well aware of all the benefits of enjoying some chia seeds every now and then (if you're not, then check out this article over at Huffington Post), but they reminded me of frogspawn and I wasn't really interested. Yet somehow a packet of chia seeds did find a way into my kitchen cupboard recently and I've been adding a serving (2 Tbsp) here and there. And you know what - they still look like frogspawn when mixed with liquid and left to stand for a while - but they taste actually nice and I quite enjoy the texture now.

Today's recipe is for a simple banana, chia and coconut pudding. Many bloggers use almond milk (see a list of similar recipes at the end of this post), but I never have that at home, so I use coconut milk instead. Enjoy this for breakfast, dessert or a quick snack.

You'll need an immersion blender for making this pudding.

Banana, chia and coconut pudding
(Banaani-chia-kookosepuding)
Serves 1

1 very ripe banana
100 ml coconut milk
2 Tbsp chia seeds
a dash of vanilla extract

Peel the banana, cut into chunks and place into a tall glass or jug. Add the coconut milk and blent until smooth.
Add the chia seeds, blend for a second, just to distribute the chia seeds evenly. Season to taste with vanilla.
Leave to stand for an hour, so the chia seeds can suck in some of the coconut milk.
Serve with a small spoon.



Similar recipes:
Three-ingredient banana chia pudding @ Run Eat Repeat
Banana chia pudding @ Healthy Living How To
Banana coconut chia seed pudding @ Slender Kitchen
Chia seed breakfast bowl @ Oh She Glows (Angela has great topping suggestsions as well!)

The 2-ingredient banana pancakes

First there were the 3-ingredient cookies, consisting of bananas, oats and raisins. Now we're making 2-ingredient pancakes, consisting of bananas and eggs :)

I discovered the recipe in the summer, when it appeared on my friend Liina's blog, and since then we've made them quite a few times - mostly when we have over-ripe bananas on the counter, or simply want a sweet dessert that's ready in minutes. I've seen versions adding some coconut meal, ground almonds or oats, but as long as you make the pancakes small (mine are about 5 cm or 2 inches in diameter), they'll stay together with just two ingredients as well.

These are not vegan, as they contain eggs, but they do suit most other popular diets out there. Plus the kids love them!

Note that you need ripe bananas - the riper your bananas, the sweeter and nicer the pancakes!

I've served them with a sprinkling of cinnamon and a drizzle of maple syrup.

Banana and egg pancakes
(Banaanipannkoogid)
Serves 3 to 4



4 smallish bananas
4 eggs

(coconut) oil, for frying

Peel the bananas, place into a medium-sized bowl and squash with your fork. Add the eggs, whisk with your fork until combined.

Heat some (coconut) oil on a frying pan over medium low heat. Drop small amounts of batter (about 2-3 Tbsp) onto the pan and fry until golden brown on both sides, flipping half-ways.

Enjoy!



More of those pancakes:
Liina @ Da Vahtra Residence (recipe in Estonian)
Triin @ Mõtted ja maitsed (recipe in Estonian)
Jenni @ Liemessä Ruokablogi (recipe in Finnish)
Marika @ Viljavapa keittiö (recipe in Finnish)
Panda @ Piece of Panda (recipe in Finnish)
Jenni @ Pikkuisen pippuria (recipe in Finnish)
Emmi @ Emmin ja Terhin treeniblogi (recipe in Finnish)
Tine @ FITinspiration (recipe in Danish)
Lauryn @ The Skinny Confidential (recipe in English)
Eugenie @ Eugenie Kitchen (recipe in English)
Adam @ Lifehacker (recipe in English)

A healthy start to your day: buttered apple oatmeal porridge

Photo by Juta Kübarsepp for the January 2013 issue of Kodu ja Aed magazine; plate, mug and bowls by Estonian ceramic artist Marion Isabelle Varik of BlueDesign.

How many of you included "have a proper and healthy breakfast every day" among your New Year resolutions?

I did. In the morning chaos of getting three kids out of bed and dressed and ready, I often end up having breakfast consisting of just a cup of coffee and perhaps a tiny piece of leftover cake or a small tub of yoghurt. Yet that's never enough, and I feel sluggish and peckish by mid-morning already. I know a hot cereal (especially oatmeal) would be the best choice, but I don't really want the basic oatmeal porridge first thing in the morning.

I need to pimp up my porridge, so to say.

There's a great Scottish company, Stoats, that began serving freshly cooked oatmeal porridge at the music festivals and farmer's markets back in 2004, and became a huge success. One of the items on their menu both at the Edinburgh Farmers' Market and at their Meadows porridge bar was Cranachan porridge, or oatmeal served with raspberries, cream and toasted oats. I LOVED that one (there's a recipe on their website!), and this opened my eyes to the possibilities of different and delicious oatmeal. Here's a different "pimped up" porridge, served with buttered spiced apples - just as lovely and delicious.

Oatmeal porridge with buttered apples
(Kaerahelbepuder praetud õuntega)
Serves 3-4

Oatmeal:
250 ml water (1 cup)
250 ml milk (1 cup)
250 ml old-fashioned rolled oats (1 cup)
1-2 Tbsp sugar (optional)
1 tsp vanilla sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
a pinch of grated nutmeg
a pinch of salt

Mix all ingredients in a heavy saucepan and bring into a simmer. Simmer gently over moderately low heat for 7-8 minutes, stirring regularly, until cooked.

Buttered apples:
2 large crisp apples (Granny Smith, Antonovka)
2 Tbsp butter
0.5 tsp ground cinnamon
a pinch of grated nutmeg
2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

Peel and core the apples, cut into thin wedges. Heat butter on a small frying pan, add apples and sauté gently for a few minutes. Season with cinnamon and nutmeg and continue frying for another 5-6 minutes over a low heat, until apples are nicely soft, but not mushy! Drizzle lemon juice on top, heat through.

Spoon the buttered apples over the oatmeal and serve immediately.

Need more oatmeal inspiration? Check out these recipes:
Oatmeal with peanut butter @ Nami-Nami
Oatmeal with banana and maple syrup @ Nami-Nami
Oatmeal with grated apple @ 80 Breakfasts
Savoury oatmeal with Parmesan cheese @  80 Breakfasts
Steel-cut oats with Muscovado glazed bacon @ 80 Breakfasts
Christmas oatmeal @ 80 Breakfasts
Oatmeal basics @ Kitchen Parade
Peanut butter oatmeal @ Kalyn's Kitchen
Brown sugar roasted fig oatmeal @ Joy the Baker
Whipped banana oatmeal @ Kath Eats Real Food
English porridge and Vanilla bean oatmeal @ Amateur Gourmet
Heavenly oat bran porridge @ Lottie and Doof via The Kitchn
Slow-cooker spiced porridge @ The Kitchn
Chai porridge oats with rhubarb @ Not Quite Nigella

A recipe for Shakshuka (shakshouka), or eggs nested in spicy tomato sauce

You'll find the recipe for this wonderfully simple and flavoursome basic shakshouka at the end of this post. The colourful selection of hot peppers and tiny tomatoes is from our greenhouse.  


I went to Israel back in June (see disclaimer at the end of this post), and fell in love with shakshuka (also spelled as shakshouka). Shakshuka is a northern African dish, originally from Tunesia or Algeria (depends who you ask from) that has become extremely popular in Israel over the last decades. We were told on several occasion that this is one of the two dishes that every Israeli man knows how to cook (I cannot recall what was the other one. Anyone?). I'm sure Israeli women are pretty good in making this dish as well, but yes, it's mainly men who boast who can make and eat the most fragrant and spicy shakshuka for breakfast :)

As with many traditional dishes, there are as many recipes around as there are cooks.  The hugely popular Yotam Ottolenghi has a version in his second bestselling book, Plenty, using onions and plenty of bell peppers and you can see him making his version of shakshuka in this video recipe on Guardian's website. The guru of Jewish food, Claudia Roden, includes a recipe for shakshouka in her epic The Book of Jewish Food. She notes that  

"This name us used for all kinds of dishes involving fried vegetables with eggs broken on top. A variety of vegetables, from potatoes and broad beans to artichoke hearts and courgettes, are used in Tunesia, where the dish originated, but it is the version with onions, peppers and tomatoes that has been adopted in Israel as a popular evening meal".

Claudia Roden also includes two variations in her book - one with spicy merquez sausage, the other with white Bulgarian cheese.  In another excellent book, Tamarind and Saffron, Claudia Roden provides two recipes, one with the merquez sausage, the other one with peppers and garlic instead of onions, which also happens to be my Allium of choice for this recipe.

Janna Gur - a popular and well-known Israeli food writer whom we had a pleasure of meeting twice during our trip to Israel (she's standing on the far left on this photo) - has included a recipe and several variations of shakshuka in her beautiful The Book of New Israeli Food: A Culinary Journey. Janna claims that there are just three mandatory ingredients - tomatoes, hot sauce and eggs, and her basic recipe includes garlic, fresh and canned tomatoes, seasonings and eggs (note: NO peppers!). She also includes varieties with onions and peppers, with spicy merquez or small cocktail sausages, "the Israeli Army shakshuka" with canned corn, baked beans and sausages, as well as the mild tomatoless shakshuka with spinach and feta.

Last, but not least, there's a recipe for shakshuka in Rebbetzin G. H. Halpern's rather humorously written Confessions of a Kitchen Rebbetzin, using plenty of bell peppers (green, yellow and red), garlic cloves, eggs and spices. Rebbetzin goes as far as claiming that shakshouka is probably the dish Israelis enjoy eating most:

"What Israelis really dig is Shakshuka - a well seasoned North African dish of eggs in hot tomato sauce. The best and nicest (and most barbaric) way to eat it is straight from the pan, no utensils needed, by dipping thick chunks of simple bread."

Here are some of the shakshukas we  enjoyed during our trip to Israel*. First off, the large Shakshuka at restaurant Cordelia (Chef Nir Zook), Old Jaffa, Israel. Challah bread (on the background) is perfect for scooping up the spicy tomato and egg dish:
 

Here's a "single portion" shakshuka at Manta Ray, Jaffa, Israel - about to be devoured by the colourful Ms Marmite Lover. Note the thin layers of grilled cheese on top of the shakshuka - wonderful, if not traditional, addition. Another fellow traveller, David Lebovitz, mentions shakshuka in his extensive post about Israeli breakfast.
 

As the eggs play such an important role in this dish, it's best to use the freshest organic/free-range eggs you can afford. Luckily, our backyard chicken keep us well stocked with eggs at the moment and of course, I used eggs from our own chicken. Here are our Orpington chickens, Buffy and Fluffy, earlier this year. They're excellent layers:


My recipe below is pretty basic - just garlic, tomatoes, seasonings and eggs. Although you can use fresh tomatoes during the summer time, I'll include canned tomatoes in the recipe - the fresh tomato season is coming quickly to an end here in Estonia, and you wouldn't want to use the flavourless winter supermarket tomatoes here. You'll find links to fancier and more elaborate versions below. Somehow I prefer this dish to be very basic.

As hinted above, you need a good bread - no pita bread (that's for eating hummus!), but a nice challah or a bloomer or a crusty country bread to scoop up all the shakshuka from the pan!

A simple shakshuka recipe 
(Shakshuka ehk teravas tomatikastmes küpsetatud munad)
Serves one

1 Tbsp oil
1 large garlic clove, crushed
200 g chopped tomatoes
a generous pinch of chilli flakes or a scant teaspoon of harissa
a pinch of ground cumin
a pinch of ground caraway seeds
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 eggs

Heat oil in a small frying pan over medium heat. Add garlic and fry gently, until garlic is golden.
Add the chopped tomatoes and the seasonings, stir, cover and let simmer for 10-15 minutes, until the tomato sauce is well flavoured and slightly thickened. Taste for seasonings - add more chilli or other spices, if necessary.
Using a spoon, make two dents into the tomato sauce and break an egg into each one. Sprinkle some salt on top and heat for another 5-6 minutes, until the egg white is thickened and the egg yolk is half-cooked (if you prefer your egg yolk fully cooked, cover the pan or transfer it under a hot grill for a few minutes.

Other foodbloggers writing about shakshouka (in English): 
Kitchen Parade (September 2012; Alanna hosted me generously - and fed me, of course - in June 2008. Do check out her blog, if you're not yet familiar with it)
The Wednesday Chef (September 2006)
Smitten Kitchen (April 2010; Deb crumbles feta cheese on top of her shakshouka)
The Bojon Gourmet (October 2011)
The Leftover Queen (May 2012)
The Shiksha in the Kitchen  (July 2010)
A Sweet Spoonful (March 2012, incl. fennel!)
Cook Republic (May 2011)

Other foodbloggers writing about shakshouka (in Estonian):
Ise tehtud. Hästi tehtud. (August 2011)

 * Disclaimer: I spent six days in Israel in late June/early July as a guest of a non-profit social start-up Kinetis, more specifically their Vibe Israel programme. This particular trip hosted five international food bloggers and writers, introducing them to the multifaceted and pluralist Israeli culture and cuisine. 

See other posts about my trip to Israel.

Persian scrambled eggs with dill (panir bereshteh)

After "discovering" this wonderful Persian beetroot and yogurt borani recipe, I was hungry for more Persian recipes. Browsing the FoodBlogSearch results and using Google gave me plenty of ideas for diversifying my family's diet during the coming weeks. One dish that really caught my eye was "Persian feta omelette" that's apparently a real hit at byblos le petit café - a favourite Persian brunch location in Montreal, Canada. As we have a ready supply off fresh eggs from our four chickens, I'm always willing to try new egg recipes, and this feta omelette fit the bill nicely.


Fluffy, one of our two Orpingtons, on a walk 

I didn't have an exact recipe, instead I took inspiration from here and there (see some links at the bottom of this post). I call it Persian scrambled eggs with feta as opposed to Persian feta omelette, as, well, this is how I make scrambled eggs and not an omelette :) By blitzing the eggs with feta cheese first guarantees you have a uniform feta-egg mixture, and every bite you take tastes of the lovely feta cheese, as well as the farm-fresh eggs.

Serve with a selection of flat and soft white breads, or on top of - or between - toasted sliced bread.

Persian scrambled eggs with feta cheese
Serves two to three



4 large eggs
200 g soft feta cheese
freshly ground white or black pepper
a pinch of oregano or marjoram

fresh dill, to garnish

Place the eggs and the feta into the beaker of your hand-held/immersion blender and blitz until combined. Season with pepper and a pinch of oregano or marjoram.
Lightly oil a heavy-bottomed omelet pan.
Pour the egg mixture into the cold pan and place the pan onto a hob over a medium-low heat. Heat gently and slowly, stirring with a wooden spatula or spoon, until the eggs are scrambled, yet soft and creamy.
Remove the pan from the heat, transfer the eggs into a serving dish. Garnish with chopped dill and serve at once.  

More about Persian feta omelette/omelet: 
Cooking and Cooking (recipe for Panir Bereshteh)
Julie's "Eating Project" blog (see photo no 5)
She Said (same recipe/photo in the Australian Herald Sun)
Cheese contest @ Canadian Living

A healthy breakfast for one

Just wanted to share a neat breakfast idea that I got from the Swedish Allt om Mat magazine - frukostkeso. It was a lovely change from the usual yogurt/cereal/open sandwich type of start to the day. I had to change the recipe a little, as I don't keep two types of linseed at home (the original recipe included both whole and ground linseed), I omitted the sunflower seeds and added a drizzle of agave nectar, one of my favourite sweeteners.

Cottage Cheese Breakfast
(Hommikune kodujuust)
Serves one

200 g cottage cheese (I used 4%)
1 Tbsp flax seeds/linseeds
a good drizzle of agave nectar
handful of strawberries, quartered
sliced almonds or coarsely chopped hazelnuts (I used almonds)

Take your brekkie bowl, spoon cottage cheese into the bowl. Sprinkle with flax seeds and drizzle with agave nectar. Place strawberries on top, sprinkle with nuts and serve :)

Honey Granola Recipe - simple, but delicious

I've been making my own granola for years now, using different recipes so we wouldn't get tired of this specific breakfast staple. I've made malted granola, chocolate granola, rye granola, honey granola - to name just a few. However, I've just realised that I've only shared one of the recipes with you - malted granola - back in January 2009.

Here's another recipe - slightly simpler than the malted granola one, using honey as a sweetener. I like this one with just raisins, but feel free to add your choice of chopped dried fruits to the granola at the end.

Honey Granola Recipe
(Lihtne mesine granola)

250 g old-fashioned oats (about 3 cups)
100 g almond slices
8 Tbsp runny honey
4 Tbsp neutral oil
4 Tbsp water
raisins or currants (optional)

Mix oats and almonds on a large baking sheet. Mix honey and oil in a small bowl, then add water and stir again. Pour the liquid mixture over the oats and mix until everything is well combined.
Roast in a pre-heated 150 C / 300 F oven for about 30 minutes, shaking the pan every now and then, until the oats are golden and slightly crispy (they crisp up even more when cooling down).
Remove from the oven and cool. Fold in the raisins.
Keep in an airtight container.

Almost a full English breakfast

Trying to think what to make for breakfast this Sunday? Here's what we had last weekend.. No tomatoes and mushrooms, and ciabatta instead of white sliced toast, but otherwise pretty close and rather nice..

Russian syrniki aka curd cheese patties

A little something from the Russian kitchen - fried thick curd cheese patties that are best enjoyed while still hot with a generous dollop of soured cream or a jam of your choice. You'll find curd cheese or quark cheese (tvorog, read more here) in Russian or Polish or German shops. Remember, the higher the fat content, the tastier the end result - or try farmer's cheese instead. Ricotta is too smooth and lean to work, in my opinion.

We love them for breakfast, but syrniki also make an excellent mid-day or mid-afternoon snack.

Syrniki
(Sõrnikud)
Serves 4

500 g curd cheese
2 egg yolks (or 1 egg, if you wish)
60 g plain flour (100 ml), or slightly more, if necessary
a generous pinch of salt
1 Tbsp sugar (for sweet syrniki)

flour for breading
oil for frying

Combine curd cheese, egg yolks, salt and sugar, if using.
Sprinkle some flour on the work surface and on your hands. Form small patties from the curd cheese mixture (add a spoonful or two of flour, if the mixture is too loose), flatten them slightly. The curd cheese patties should be about 1 cm thick.
(You could put them into the fridge for about and hour - it helps them to stay in shape).
Heat some oil on a frying pan over moderate heat. Fry the syrniki on both sides for 3-5 minutes, until they're golden brown.

Serve when still warm.

Simple scones

I had no intentions to blog about scones today. Actually, I had a spinach and filo bake lined up. But then Peter G's lemon and date scones popped up on my blog reader and I got an urge to finally put up my scone post. I love a good scone with an afternoon tea - one of the few habits I picked up during my seven years in Scotland :) Although I love a spiced-up scone every now and then (will be so making those lemon and date scones, and also Johanna's raspberry scones soon), I actually prefer a good old-fashioned plain one. This gives me a chance to let one of our home-made jams shine, you see :)

Here's a recipe I love using for plain scones. If you've got a good plain or seasoned scone recipe, then please share the recipe or a link to it in the comments. That'd be much appreciated!

(The photos are from 2008)

Simple scones
(Scones-kakukesed)
Makes eight



225 g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
50 unsalted butter
2 Tbsp caster sugar
100 ml milk
1 large egg

To serve:
whipped double cream or clotted cream (if available)
thick raspberry or strawberry jam

Dip flour, baking powder, salt and cubed butter into a bowl. Stir to cover butter with flour, then pinch between your fingertips until you've got a crumbly mixture. Stir in the sugar.
Pour half of the milk into a measuring jug, whisk in the egg. Pour into the crumb mixture and give it a stir.
Now add the rest of the milk, a spoonful at the time and stirring very gently, until you've got a soft dough that's not sticky (it's possible that just 1 Tbsp is enough). Do not overwork!
Now dip the dough onto a floured surface and press and form into a circle. Using your hands or a rolling pin, roll the dough into a 2 cm (4/5 inch) thickness (that's about the width of your thumb :)).



Take a round cookie cutter (6 cm in diameter) and dip it first into the flour, then cut out 8 circles (you need to gather and re-roll the dough to make enough scones).



Place the scones onto a baking sheet that's either floured or covered with a baking parchment. If you like your scones shiny, then brush with a little milk. If you like your scones matte, then dust lightly with flour.



Bake in a preheated 220 C oven for 13-15 minutes, until the scones have risen and are golden brown (you can also test for doneness by tapping the base of a scone - it should sound hollow).

Transfer the scones to a metal rack to cool. If you prefer your scones slightly crispy, then leave them as they are. If you love yours softer, then cover the hot scones with a clean kitchen towel.



Serve warm with a spoonful or two of jam and whipped cream. A good scone can be split into two halves with a fork alone (and you can see that the recipe gives you exactly this type of scones :))

Coconut French Toast with Berries

Something for the forthcoming weekend :) We usually have pancakes or crepes on Saturday mornings, and try to go for a coffee in a nice café on Sunday mornings. I cannot make pancakes, so K. is our Saturday morning chef :) However, sometimes we stay in on Sunday mornings as well, and then I have to come up with a special breakfast. Last Sunday we had these lovely coconut french toast with berries on our sunny balcony. I make French toast quite often, but always with the traditional egg-and-milk mixture. These are made without eggs, making them a somewhat lighter option.

Coconut French Toast with Berries
(Vaesed rüütlid kookospiimaga)
Serves 4

8 slices of white bread (f.ex. bloomer)
200 ml creamy coconut milk
1 tsp cinnamon

butter, for frying

To serve:
250 g plain yogurt
1 tsp vanilla sugar
a heaped cup of raspberries and blueberries/bilberries

First, make the toast. Mix cinnamon and coconut milk in a deep plate. Dip both sides of the bread slices into the coconut milk.
Heat some butter on a non-stick frying pan and fry the bread slices on both sides until golden brown. Place onto a plate.
For the sauce, season the yogurt with vanilla, then gently stir in the berries. Spoon the sauce of the coconut french toast slices.

Wild strawberries, 2010

Bircher-muesli (fresh muesli)

Our little family spent a week in Davos, Switzerland at the end of March. I wish I could show you gorgeous photos of the impressive slopes, hillside restaurants and skiing chalets. The truth is, that K. spent a week enjoying the slopes, whereas I and our little daughter spent most of the time trying to recover from the rather annoying cold that had hit us out of the blue :( At least by the time we were back in Zürich we were recovered enough to have enough energy to check out the Ladurée shop and Café Péclard in town, so it wasn't all wasted on us. During our vacation we had breakfast at three different hotels in Switzerland, and true to their local traditions, they all served Bircher-müsli ;)

If you haven't heard of Bircher-müesli before, then it's cold cereal or "fresh müsli" that was first served to its patients by a Swiss physician Maximilian Bircher-Benner over a century ago. Since then müsli has become popular all over the world, although the original müsli has changed quite a bit when travelling across time and space. The Bircher-müeslis we tried in Switzerland were quite different, and some versions were better than others, but it truly was a breakfast staple and found everywhere. (And not just for breakfast - we saw it on the menu at a riverside café in Zürich, where it came topped with a huge pile of whipped cream!!! I'm not convinced that the doctor would have approved that ;))

Here's a version I've been making for a few years now.

Bircher-muesli
(Bircher-müsli)
Serves 2

Night before:
250 ml/1 cup rolled/old-fashioned oats
125 ml/half a cup (boiled) water
half a lemon, juiced

In the morning:
150 ml (10 Tbsp) plain yogurt
one large green apple, grated (Granny Smith is excellent)
2 Tbsp honey

To serve:
fresh fruit or berries or soft raisins
toasted nuts
a little honey

Place oats on a bowl, pour over the water and lemon juice. Leave to soften overnight in a cool place.
In the morning stir in the yogurt, honey and grated apple.
Top with sliced fruit or berries and a drizzle of honey.
Serve and enjoy.

Oatmeal with peanut butter, and on breakfast cereal compromises

First I complain that I don't post nearly as many breakfast recipes as I should and then I post two in a row!!! Again, this is one of several Alanna's oatmeal recipes, and this particular one has been praised by Kalyn as well. I did adapt the recipe for using the stovetop-method. Although we do have a microwave in our kitchen, we don't use it for cooking, just reheating food occasionally. Somehow the stovetop method seems more wholesome to me, plus it only takes few minutes longer. If you are in a real rush in the mornings then refer to Alanna's original post for microwave instructions.

What about the breakfast cereal compromises mentioned in the post title? Well, K. likes his breakfast porridge/oatmeal with milk, I'm happy with half-and-half (that's half milk, half water, not half milk, half cream, mind you). So depending on who's making the oatmeal for breakfast, one of us always gets the less preferred version. That's relationships to you, eh :) The curious thing is that Alanna's peanut-butter-oatmeal is made with just water, and neither one of us - not even the only-milk-no-water-type K - complained about the lack of milk in the oatmeal ;)

Oatmeal with peanut butter
(Kaerahelbepuder maapähklivõiga)
Serves 2 to 3

1 cup of old-fashioned/rolled oats
2 cups of water
0.5 tsp salt
2 Tbsp peanut butter (I used sugar-free organic brand)

Mix oats, water and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat and simmer for a 5-7 minutes, stirring every now with a wooden spoon, until the oats are ready. Stir in the peanut butter and serve at once.

Oatmeal with banana and maple syrup

I don't post nearly as many breakfast recipes as I should. You see, although Nora is eating solids now and is a very happy eater, then there's still only two proper eaters in our house. Despite of that we bake lots of cakes and quiches and tarts and pies (all for the good of the users of my Estonian site). On most days, we have something for dinner and then eat the rest of the cake or tart for breakfast the following morning, so I rarely make special breakfast dishes (Sunday morning pancakes is an exception, of course). I know I should eat oatmeal or other hot cereal for breakfast much more often, but a slice of yesterday's cake is a lazy, but quick alternative.

However, I may have just stumbled upon a hot cereal recipe that I might bother to make even if there's some cake in the house. My dear blog friend Alanna has posted several healthy oatmeal recipes (one of which - Alanna's famous oatmeal with peanut butter - she served me when I visited her in St Louis in Summer 2008). I added a generous drizzle of maple syrup to her Stovetop Oatmeal with Whipped Banana, and LOVED IT!

What's your favourite breakfast? And how do you like your oatmeal?

Oatmeal with banana and maple syrup
(Kaerahelbepuder banaaniga)
Serves 2 to 3

1 cup of old-fashioned/rolled oats
1 cup of milk
1 cup of water
0.5 tsp salt
1 large ripe banana, peeled and thinly sliced
maple syrup, to serve

Mix oats, milk, water and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat and stir for a few minutes.
Add the sliced banana and continue simmering the porridge for about 7 minutes, stirring regularly with a wooden spoon, until the oats are ready.
Serve at once with a generous drizzle of maple syrup.

Pain perdu - French toast - Poor knights - Vaesed rüütlid

I've been going through last year's food photo images and came across this. I love this picture - the plate of white bread slices, dipped into sweetened egg and milk mixture and gently browned in butter, looks appealing and appetizing.

It'll be cold here today - some say the temperatures will drop to minus 26 Celsius this weekend. It's been snowing almost daily since Christmas, and everything is covered with gorgeous, thick, white snow blanket. We're really enjoying this beautiful winter - it's truly like the winters of our childhood, and obviously that brings back lots of nice memories. Like memories of French toast for breakfast, made by my mum. I think I'll have some for breakfast today :)

Wish you all a lovely weekend!

Chokeberry aka Black Aronia and Kephir Smoothie Recipe

It's official. Black aronia berries aka black chokeberries are the newest superfood. These beautiful black berries apparently have the highest concentration of useful flavonoids and antioxidants of any known natural food product. They're also rich in vitamins B2, B6, E, C and folic acid. I see articles praising Aronia melanocarpa e v e r y w h e r e!!

The berries have been grown in hedgerows in Estonia for decades. The most common use for the berries is in cordial, but I've made apple and black aronia jam couple of times as well. While most people find raw aronia berries a wee bit too astringent and tart, then I like nibbling on them. Luckily, there are lots of black aronia hedgerows bordering the streets in the suburb where I live. I get a healthy dose of these on my daily walks with the baby, as I pick a berry from here, and another one from there :)

We've just planted couple of chokeberry bushes into our new garden, and the berries I used for this super-healthy smoothie were from these bushes.

Chokeberry and Kephir Smoothie
(Aroonia-keefirikokteil)
Serves 1

1 ripe banana, peeled
handful of chokeberries/black aronia berries
250 g (1 cup) kephir
honey or agave nectar, to taste
a squeeze or two of lemon juice

Place banana chunks, berries and kephir into a blender and blend until smooth and frothy. Sweeten with honey or agave nectar, and season with lemon juice.
Serve at once.

Other recipes using chokeberries/black aronia berries:
Black aronia muffins