Strawberry Pavlova, a real Midsummer Treat

Midsummer is just around the corner :) one of my favourite yearly celebrations because it's mostly enjoyed in the company of my best friends and family. It's the time of the year when the sun never sets and everybody is at their summer cottages enjoying heaps of good food in the outdoors no matter what the weather :D The capital is completely dead...I mean hardly anyone is in the city except for the tourists 'cause literally anyone with a summer cabin or a friend with a summer cabin will leave the city. Must feel like a shock of tranquility to all the foreigners visiting Helsinki this weekend.

I can still remember those warm summer nights when we would still be eating, drinking, swimming, going to the sauna or playing outdoor games throughout the whole night. Lately the midsummer nights haven't been that hot...but it doesn't stop us from all the fun and staying up all around the clock. Besides, all the alcohol and the sauna will keep us warm.

This year I will not be home for the midsummer but I still felt like sharing you my strawberry Pavlova which for me is the perfect cake for a summer festivity. I made this cake last year when we celebrated the Midsummer at my friends house....and as I recall (and looking at old pics), the sun was shining most of the time.



For the Pavlova the key is to make a perfect Meringue which is a bit crunchy on the outside and chewy in the middle. For the rest just choose your favourite berries or fruits and whip up some cream or even put some ice-cream in the middle as my mum always does.

For the Meringue:

4 large egg whites
2  dl granulated sugar (a little less than a cup)
1 tsp corn starch
1 tsp white wine vinegar

For the filling:

4-5 dl whipped cream or even add a few slices of vanilla ice cream
powdered sugar
500g strawberries or other berries and fruits of your choice
vanilla paste
lemon zest finely grated

1. Heat oven to 175°C (350°F). Prepare a baking sheet with baking paper.

2. Whip egg whites until they become foamy. Add the sugar little at a time while whipping. Whip until the mixture forms stiff peaks and is shiny and glossy.

3. Add corn starch and white wine vinegar and stir until incorporated.

4. Divide the mixture betweens two large dollops on the baking sheet, spreading out mixture with a spoon. Leave some space in-between because the will spread a bit when baking.

5. Put the baking sheet with the meringues in the lower part of the oven and reduce oven temperature to 125°C (260°F). Bake for about 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes, then turn off the oven leaving the meringue to cool completely, preferably over night.

5. Whip  the cream with powdered sugar and vanilla paste until soft peaks. Put the first meringue layer on a serving platter. Spread whipped cream (and ice-cream) on top and top with some mushed strawberries and also sliced strawberries. Add the next layer and repeat the previous step. Powder with powdered sugar.  Add grated lemon zest on top and decorate with heaps of berries and edible flowers. Serve immediately.

The meringue can be made in advance. 

Happy Midsummer to you all <3

Taste of Helsinki 2017

I don't often go to festivals but if there's food involved I wouldn't want to miss it in the world. Taste of Helsinki is probably the best event ever. It's a food festival, which has been arranged already for years by Barry and Mira MacNamara, where some of the top restaurants from Finland and also Estonia participate. It's amazing to be able to enjoy food from 10 different top notch
restaurants all in one day. It's a 4 day event...and I already thought I would miss it this year again. Lucky for me though I managed to come home on Friday and got the tickets online before going to bed :)

I wrote about this event also last year :) so please check out my blog about that event too Taste of Helsinki

This year the restaurants involved were Pastor, Ludu, Toca, Grön, Savoy, Shelter, Passio, Bistro o Mat, Noa and pop up restaurant Tuohi.

The weather was so much better than last year and it was nice to walk around the area and enjoy the food in the sun. Again the event didn't disappoint me but this year,  I had difficulty choosing a favourite dish. I guess the most surprising dish was the gazpacho with veg from Passio. I hadn't ordered that dish but was lucky to get a taster from my friend's plate :)
Restaurant Grön was again on my top along with Passio and Tuohi.

Let's start the day with Flying Solo, You don't want to go around feeling dehydrated before a snack :)

I started off with GRÖN, my favourite from last years event.

On the left, Their signature dish with raw dry aged beef and mustard flavoured kale, lovage and smoked bone marrow fat. On the right: Charred onion with chicken liver cream, wheat and crispy chicken skin.

Next up was TUOHI, a wild herb pop-up restaurant with four different chefs. 

Here Ragnar Eiriksson from Dill in Iceland is serving his special: Captain grill heart and his magic herbs.

Ossi Palonevas Beesting Blini, Resin cream and fermented buckwheat honey

Sasu Laukkonen's Fish Terrine with Yoghurt and wild herbs of the season

LUDU

Signature dish by Ludu: Beef tartar, celery-cucumber salad, brioche and mustard hollandaise

Bream Wallenberg, new potatoes from Rymättylä, bouillabaisse mayonnaise and peashoot sauce

Should I be chirping like a bird with Logans Weemala or be a Foxy lady?

SAVOY

Blackcurrant seasoned Baltic herring Escabeche, potato pearls and dill crème

An old classic Savoy's signature dish:Vorschmack 

PASSIO

Asparagus soup and Iberico tempura

Sausages 'n' potatoes, lamb sausages, black pudding and new potatoes

CHAMPAGNE HOUSE ANDRÉ CLOUET

Monsieur Jean-Francoise Clouet

SHELTER

24hr braised organic lamb belly, pickled chanterelle & smoked yoghurt

Signature dish: Sugar salted whitefish & whitefish roe, new potatoes cooked in brown butter & pickled apple

PASTOR

Grilled Octopus, potato terrine, cold-smoked salmon roe

Time for Desserts. First in line again, restaurant GRÖN

Parfait flavoured with spruce shoot vinegar, sunflower seeds, lactic acid and spruce shoot caramel

BISTRO O MAT

Apple sorbet, roasted white chocolate and salted caramel

NOA

"Vana Tallinn" strong beverage

If there ever is an event like this, I highly recommend you to go 'cause to me this is the best festival ever and there should be events like this more often :D

Salmon poke salad bowl

One of my favourite easy to make dishes definitely has to be the Hawaiian Poke bowls. Poke bowls were originally invented by the fishermen serving their cut-offs from their catch seasoned as a snack. The flavours have heavily been influenced by the Japanese cuisine and therefore is a meal I like to have when craving sushi. You can serve your Poke with Sushi rice but if you want a more fast and light meal then skip the rice :) Honestly cooking the sushi rice is probably the reason I don't make sushi that often and more often stick with sashimi, ceviches....and now my favourite the Poke salad bowls.
You can use any kind of fish that can be served raw and why not even make a seafood or meat version. I've used this version even with roasted chicken which was devine as well. Your imagination is the limit!

It's not that long ago that the first restaurants started serving the Poke bowls here in Helsinki but honestly...I prefer my own :) This way I can season it to my own taste and can have as much of the good stuff as I want.

Here's my Poke bowl :) I love it and so do my friends <3

(serves 2)

300-400g salmon
1/2 lime
1/2 dl soy
1/2 dl sesame oil
2-3 leaves Kale with the hard middle stem removed
1 Avocado
red onion, spring onions or chives
macadamia nuts (3-4)
furikake (a Japanese mix of sesame seeds, shies and seaweed)
sriracha (chili sauce)
shiso leaves
coriander (cilantro)
fresh chili

1) Cut the salmon (or whichever fish you have) into cubes (approximately 2cm) and place them onto a fireproof plate or stone. Using a blow torch grill the surface of the salmon until it gets a bit dark. The torching is optional but I love the flavour of charred fish and it really makes a difference to the dish.

2) Remove the stem from the Kale and tear into smaller mouth size pieces. Add a bit of olive oil to a pan and sautée until the leaves become a bit crispy

3) Mix together soy sauce, sesame oil and lime juice in a small bowl.
The amounts of soy sauce to the sesame oil can vary a bit depending on how salty your soy sauce is. add more soy sauce for more salt or more sesame oil for more of the sesame taste.

4) Add the salmon into the sesame and soy mixture and let marinate while you chop the rest of the items

5) Cut the avocado into cubes and press a bit of lime onto them to prevent them from getting dark

6) Assemble your dish in a bowl. Place the avocado cubes in one third of the bowl, next to it the kale and the fish. Sprinkle with onions, furikake, shiso leaves, coriander and crushed nuts. Finish off with a drizzle of sriracha.

You can even pickle the onions if you like and add other ingredients of your choice. I sometimes use   alphalpha or beansprouts in mine.

I really love the textures and flavours in this dish. Roasty, acidic, salty, crunchy, soft and crispy all at the same time!

Now I became really hungry and wish I wasn't in a cafe writing but was at home on the sofa with a Poke bowl of my own :)