Travelling Emotional Food

People have always travelled for food. Just think of the Great Famine that happened in Ireland  when the country’s potato crop was destroyed by potato blight disease and many people left to make a new living in America between 1845-52. Nowadays, in the more developed world, people travel for food on purpose for pleasure, to find new experiences, new tastes, learn about foreign cuisines. Many food blogs are created by people travelling and reporting their food adventures, TV programs are produced every year in many languages about food and travel.

My writing today about the emotional food that travels was sparked when I was reflecting about what I have seen my international colleagues and friends living abroad bring back to Switzerland from their trips to their home countries. I can say that over the years of my observations the popular items that people miss and bring from their home country to give them comfort, provide a home feeling in a foreign surrounding are actually quite basic: bread, sweets, beans, tea, cheese, tortillas, rice, more special items include chorizo or blood sausage. The tea in Switzerland is very weak and people who like black tea with milk must bring it from home or find an Asian food shop locally to stock up if they don’t want to drink a vague almost transparent brownish liquid pretending to enjoy a cup of tea. On top of the list of the South American sweets is a local basic like dulce de leche (Spanish). Some exchange students from Uruguay had packed at least 3 or more liters of it for their stay in Estonia. The locally available sweet condensed milk when boiled becomes a similar caramel sort of thing is clearly not the same. My Brasilian colleagues bring doce de leite (Portuguese) from their trips home. Also peanut based sweets from Brasil are very popular items to which I would add my own halvaa from Estonia. 

Another group of products are spices and sauces. Chiles and spicy sauces from Mexico, my elementary item of a certain type of Mayonnaise that always has space in my suitcase, occasionally Estonian mustard, sometimes flavour mixes that one used to like at home. A certain Chinese spice mix that a friend could not find in Switzerland, he had to bring from the UK. I also bring jams made out of Estonian berries, I have even brought green onions as I can’t find such ones here. Plus Estonian bread, either my Mom’s or my sister’s self-made bread or something new from the huge choice of breads from the country’s many bread makers.

Of course there is plenty of bread, sweets, or other food for that matter, here in Switzerland. It is just that special connection one has built with some foods and ingredients since childhood or simply grown to like them so much that the more or less similar substitute products in the foreign country fill the stomach but are incapable of satisfying the real craving. That little piece of dark brown rye bread with some butter and at best times with the Tallinna kilu (sort of spicy anchovies filet, but not quite) creates an emotional connection and a feeling of happiness thousands of kilometres away even if for just 10 minutes.

Now, it may seem that there is more import than export. Not true.

I can say that there is equally heavy traffic of food going out of Switzerland. Every time I go to Estonia I get a shopping list of things to buy and pack. Again the foods are not always specialty foods, rather simple basics like a certain cream cheese, a red pesto, tortellini, Allgäuer cheese. Since I have been making the Brasilian pão de queijo in my household and introduced my family in Estonia to it, the sour manioc flour travels with me. Not available to buy locally.

There is another type of food traffic developing slowly as the world globalizes and global sourcing through friends or international colleagues becomes possible. For example, I have a great supply of goiabada, the guava marmalade from Brasil. I have already got to know some different types of it. Or Arbuequina olive oil from my colleagues in Spain. The recent additions are a tamarind sauce and red chiles from Mexico and romesco sauce from Cataluña. Even if I don’t travel to these countries, I can still get to know them through food.

I must confess that I have travelled just for food. I once took a holiday and travelled back to Luxemburg mostly just because to visit a rather small casual restaurant that had basically only king prawns cooked in oven with lots of garlic on the menu. The guests were happily breathing in an intoxicatingly strong garlic air and all tables were eating prawns and more prawns and more garlic. Unfortunately I know where the restaurant is (I hope it is still there), but I don’t remember the name. I guess I have to go back and look what it is called...

Here is a recipe of a substitute dish for the Estonian räim, a small fish that is bigger than anchovies, but smaller than sardine or perhaps the size of the small sardine. I can buy Italian sardines here and occasionally make the very traditional “Estonian” fried small fish.

Fried and marinated sardines as a substitute to Estonian räim

Remove the bones from the fish. Put some salt and black pepper on the filets, turn the fish in flour, then in the egg mixture. Fry in a pan with some oil for a few minutes. The fish is great just fried, so I eat if warm. Another way is to marinate the fried filets in a mixture of sliced onion, vinegar, sugar, salt, some tomato sauce or ketchup and a little water and eat the next day.

Carrot Pie with Chunky Parmesan

It is weekend and more time again for kitchen experiments. I feel I need something without meat or even fish. The whole week I have wanted something in the lines of a cake, a pie or something else baked but have resisted the temptation. A veggi pie today perhaps? So I hit the market.

It is June and the counters at the Farmers Market have made space for piles of orange fresh new carrots. These thin sweet roots are “knackig” (Ger.), crisp and juicy and best enjoyed raw. Somehow I suspect that the bigger thicker carrots further away that are not sold in a bunch and don’t have the green leaves but are equally bright orange, hard and clean of soil are from the last harvest. I am really embarrassed that I am doubting this…I should know this. My logic of the agricultural calendar says they must be from last year’s harvest but as a consumer it can be confusing as they look the same all year round. Old or new crop today is carrot time.

I’ve grown up with carrots. Carrots grow in the northern latitudes and are a common vegetable, besides potatoes of course, in Estonia. My Mom used to make carrot pies and my aunt, who had a real stove with an oven that was heated by wood, used to make small carrot pies that were juicy soft and looked like small shiny golden brown pouches. We call them pies, picture them as empanadas filled with carrot and egg and sometimes some bacon.

I buy my carrots, Italian flat parsley – onions I have at home – for the pie and some strawberries for dessert. I see some big free range eggs and get half a dozen. Somehow I’ve always thought that the eggs at the market are more expensive, but no. So I’m thinking that from now on, I will take my egg business to the market.

I made the pie dough with my sister’s recipe:

100g hard butter from the fridge

2.5dl or 250ml flour (white or wholegrain)

Salt (two pinch)

1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon cold water

Chop the cold butter in the flour and salt mix into small pieces. A two pinch salt = a pinch between two fingers. Add the egg yolk and 1tbl spoon water. Mix all into a dough, wrap into the plastic foil and leave in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Carrot pie filling:

500-600g carrots

3 medium-small onions

3-4 tablespoons olive oil

150g parmesan

3 eggs + egg white left-over from the dough

75ml milk

Thyme

Curcuma

Flat parsley, a good handful, chopped

Salt and pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees Celcius.

Clean and chop the onion rather finely but the fineness and equal piece size is not important at all. Peel the carrots and grate with the rough side. Very thinly grated carrot will lose the bite.

Heat the oil in a pan and fry the onion slightly. Add the grated carrots to the onion and cook for about 5 minutes till carrots are softer. Add some salt and pepper, chopped thyme, curcuma (about a three pinch) and as last the parsley. Taste for salt as the carrots have a natural sweet taste.

Chop the parmesan into small chunks. In this recipe I replaced the usually grated cheese with chunks of Parmesan to give the filling a crunchier texture.

Mix the eggs, add the milk and some salt.

Roll the dough into a thin layer and fit into a 24-26 cm diameter baking form that is fitted with baking paper to avoid sticking to the bottom and sides.

Layer on the dough half the carrot mix, half the chopped parmesan, then carrots again and on top parmesan chunks. Pour the egg-milk mixture on the carrots.

Cook in the oven for 30 minutes or until the filling is cooked and the cheese on top is turning golden brown.

Mouth-watering Carrot Pie with Parmesan Cheese

Enjoy warm or cold.

I was showing the pie on the Skype and the mouths were salivating on both sides of the camera in Estonia and in Switzerland. :-)

Peppery Strawberries

June is definitely strawberry time in Switzerland as the local strawberries are on the market. In Estonia the best time for local strawberries is July. The best are the ones picked from the garden on the first round of walk around in the morning. How many ripe red ones are there today? Going around and looking for the best of the best and eating straight away.

Strawberries with sugar, with whipped cream, with chocolate, with mint, in fresh desserts, with champagne, in cakes - the classics.

Sometimes unusual combination of ingredients can produce a delightful outcome.

If you are looking for a new taste experience try fresh strawberries with some freshly ground black pepper. A little powder sugar on top if you wish.

Spice your strawberries up with black pepper

….The soothing cool juicy sweet strawberry with a tick of spicy sizzle lingering on the tongue for a moment or two or three….help yourself to another! ;-)

Gravlax with lemon and dill

Dill (Fr. aneth) is a very popular northern herb. In Estonia it is traditionally used with fish, especially oily fish like salmon or trout, crab and almost inseparably with new potatoes. In the more southern countries dill becomes a rarity. In Switzerland one can still find it in the supermarket every day, but in the restaurants it is very rarely used. One of my favourite or perhaps the favourite restaurant in Bern Mille Sens is the only place that has managed to surprise me in the most positive sense with its use of dill.

Back to gravlax.

In this blog you can find some instructions how to make your own gravlax in one big piece - see under "Fish".

I am a great fan of gravlax and generally of raw fish. For more variety I made it in a different way and was very pleased with the result. Instead of curing the fish in one piece I cut the raw fish into slices and then added the marinade. After some curing time the salmon with all its good omega 3 and 6 fatty acids is ready to be served with bread or with boiled new potatoes and some butter. It is an indulgent weekend brunch dish to be enjoyed withour any rush.

It does not take a lot time and is cheaper than buying the cured fish. It is very simple to make and the taste can be varied by adding different ingredients. Next time, why not with either lime, orange, capers, horseradish, onion and/or mustard?

Ingredients:

250g raw salmon

Zest of 0.5 lemon

Juice of 0.5 lemon

0.5 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon sea salt flakes

Dill, chopped thinly

Cut the raw salmon into slices as thick as you prefer.

Wash the lemon. Peel off or grate off the yellow skin and chop very thinly.

In a bowl mix the juice of half the lemon, sugar, salt and the chopped or grated lemon zest.

Marinate the salmon with lemon juice

Gravlax - Dill gives the salmon a delicious northen taste

Put one layer of salmon slices into a bigger bowl or plate, sprinkle with some marinade and chopped dill. Repeat in layers until finished. Put the last dill on the top layer. Cover with aluminium foil and leave to marinate for 12 hours.

Classic rhubarb cake with strawberries

Classic rhubarb cake with strawberries (Est. rabarberi-maasikakook)

Whilst the rhubarb is a little earlier in season than the strawberries there are a few weeks when both can be harvested locally and so the classic rhubarb cake has another facette.
The base recipe is the same. Only for the filling add about 200g of strawberries cut into slices or cubes. Keep the cinnamon for more spice if you like it.
As strawberries are sweet less sugar can be mixed with the rhubarb.

Classic Rhubarb - Strawberry cake (Est. Klassikaline rabarberikook maasikatega)
Here the recipe again:

Base dough:

150g butter

100g sugar

1 egg

250g plain wheat flour

A good pinch of salt

0.5 – 0.75 teaspoon baking powder

Filling:

400g Rhubarb cut into pieces

6 table spoons sugar

Cinnamon, 0.5-1 teaspoon
200g strawberries, sliced 

Top layer:

3 large eggs (63g+)

3 full table spoons sugar

3 full table spoons flour, same as above

For the dough: Mix the butter with sugar with a mixer, add the egg and mix again. Add the flour, salt and baking powder and mix the dry ingredients together before mixing with the butter. Form the dough into a ball and leave to settle in the fridge for 20-30 minutes.

Peel and cut the rhubarb into slices.Cut the strawberries into slices.

Heat the oven to 175 degrees C.

Roll the dough more or less into the size of the baking form and place in the form on the baking paper. Form the dough with your hands to fit and cover the bottom. Only cover the bottom, no need to have the dough cover the sides. Bake for 10 minutes until the dough seems cooked from the top and slightly brown from the edges. Pre-baking the bottom is good as the filling and top is heavy and juicy raw and the dough my remain uncooked - not so tasty.

Mix the eggs and sugar in a bowl until the egg forms almost white and very thick foamy mixture – ca 10 minutes. Take a sieve and sieve the flour into the egg-sugar mixture and stiring very carefully mix the flour with the egg.

Mix the rhubarb with sugar and lay the pieces on the pre-cooked dough.

Powder the rhubarb with a very light layer of cinnamon.
Add slices of strawberry on top.

Now add the egg-sugar-flour mix on top and bake for further 30-40 minutes until the top firms and turns light brown. I don´t recommend putting an aluminium foil on the top to avoid too quick browning as the cake raises and may stick to the foil. Instead, if you see the colour change too fast, lower the temperature to 150C.

Let the cake cool down in the warm oven with the door slightly open. Cover with powder sugar to give it a seductive visual effect.

Estonian classic rhubarb-strawberry cake

 

Green Asparagus and mushroom soup

Asparagus tastes good together with potato and goes well with mushroom. Why not have all three together? In a soup. This soup is an "antipode" of two pyramids. I explain.

Ingredients Pyramid:

3 medium large potatoes forms the base of the soup and gives it the thickness. In the middle is generous handful of asparagus (about 200-250g). On the top of the pyramid is 15g of dried porcini (cep) mushrooms (Ger: Steinpilz/ Fr: Bolets/ Est: puravik)

Taste Pyramid:

The most prominent taste comes from the mushrooms (base of the taste pyramid), the middle folds into the taste of asparagus and if you really look (ie. taste) hard you may detect the taste of the potato in a small triangle in the tip of the pyramid.

Makes 3-4 as a starter:

15g dried mushrooms

250ml warm water

3 medium large potatoes

200-250g green asparagus

0.5l water or vegetable stock

1 tablespoon of cream cheese or fresh cream (optional)

Put the mushrooms into warm water for ca 20 min.

Heat the water or stock in a pan. Peel and cut the potatoes into cubes and add to the boiling water. Cook until soft.

Cut the asparagus into pieces. (No need to peel the green asparagus.)

Drain the mushrooms and add the mushroom water into the pan for more taste.

Add the asparagus and mushroom to the soup and cook for 5 minutes or until the asparagus is almost soft.

For visual effects and more bite you may want to take out the “heads” of the asparagus spears now.

Purée the soup with a mixer or blender. Taste for salt and thickness. If the soup is too thick add some more water.

If you want add some cream cheese or fresh cream to the soup.

Add back the asparagus “heads” and serve.

Asparagus - mushroom soup