Mum's Lingon Berry Christmas Cake

This cake has lovely seasonal flavours and the lingon berry makes it moist and gives it a fresh taste.

4,5 dl flour

3 dl dark muscovado sugar

2 tsp vanilla sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp bitter orange peel

2 tsp ginger

2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 dl lightly crushed lingon berries

2 eggs

1 dl double cream

1 dl kermaviili (or cream fraiche)

1,5 dl melted butter

- Mix all the dry ingredients together and then add the eggs and berries carefully.

- Mix the cream and kermaviili (or creme fraiche) in a separate bowl. Add the cream mix and butter to the dough.

- Pour the cake mix into a greased dish and bake low in the oven at 175 degrees for about an hour.

Spicy Lentil Soup

The spicy lentil soup is a perfect winter warmer.

1 onion (chopped)

2 carrots (chopped)

1 stick celery (chopped)

2 inches ginger (finely chopped or grated)

2 cloves garlic (finely chopped)

chili to taste

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1 tin tomatoes

about 200 g red lentils

1 l vegetable stock

salt

pepper

(fresh parsley/coriander to garnish)

- Sweat the onion, carrot and celery in a soup pan until soft. At the end throw in the ginger, garlic and chili and cook them for about 5 minutes, add the rest of the spices and fry for a further minute.

- Add the tinned tomatoes and blend the mixture. Let it simmer for 20 minutes with the lid on.

- Add the stock and lentils and cook until the lentils are soft.

Apple Tart

2 eggs

1 dl sugar

1 dl milk

2 dl flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 dl melted butter

3 apples (peeled and sliced)

sugar

cinnamon

- Whip the sugar and eggs until foamy.

- Combine the flour and baking powder and then stir this mixture plus the milk into the whisked eggs. Finally add the melted butter.

- Grease the oven dish, and pour in the dough. Top with the sliced apples and sprinkle some cinnamon and sugar on top.

- Bake at 200 degrees for about 30 minutes.

Lingonberry Muffins

I used the same basic batter for these muffins as I did for the mint chocolate ones. These, however are spiced up with some cardamom and lingonberries.

150 g butter

1,5 dl sugar

2 eggs

3,5 dl flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2-1 tsp cardamom

1,5 dl milk

2,5 dl lingonberries

- Beat the butter and sugar until foamy.

- Mix in the eggs one at the time.

- Mix the flour, baking powder and cardamom together and sieve into the batter, adding milk at the same time.

- Stir the berries gently into the batter.

- Bake at 225 degrees in the middle shelf of the oven for about 15 minutes.

Jamie's Cabbage Soup

This cabbage soup was quite different from the boring, tasteless stuff you often get. Being vegetarians we left out the meat and anchovies and added some green olives and capers instead. The garlic bread and sage butter made this dish extra delicious.

Jamie's Coleslaw

This is another good way to use cabbage. Coleslaw is a great accompaniment to cheese, falafel and other salty foodstuffs.

Avocado and Sun Dried Tomato Bruschetta

This fresh tasting Celia Brooks Brown recipe makes a perfect appetizer, starter or snack for any occasion.

crusty white bread

1 avocado

dried chili to taste (we had some nice apple tree smoked habaneros a friend gave us)

1 tsp cumin seed, toasted and ground

salt

pepper

lime juice

sun dried tomatoes

olive oil

- Peel and mash the avocado, add the spices, season and add the desired amount of lime juice (roughly one lime).

- Drizzle some olive oil on the bread slices, and bake at 180 degrees until crisp.

- Spread a generous layer of the avocado paste on the hot bread and top with a sun dried tomato.

Beetroot and Coconut Soup with Cucumber Salsa

This is a perfect autumn or winter dish with a lovely citric and soft coconutty combination. The recipe is from Celia Brooks Brown's cook book called Entertaining Vegetarians.

Cucumber Salsa:

- 1/2 a small cucumber, cored and finely chopped.

- 1 red chili, de-seeded.

- salt

- lemon juice

Combine the ingredients and season with a twist of salt.

The Soup:

-1/2 kg of fresh beetroot

-zest of 1 lemon, juice of 1/2

-1 tsp ground cumin

-400 ml coconut milk

-vegetable stock

- 4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped.

- In a large pot of salted, boiling water, simmer the beetroot for 45-60 minutes until tender. Rinse them with cold water, remove the root, top and peel.

-Warm some stock in a pot, retaining a small amount for later, add the coconut milk and continue to gently warm the mixture.

- Combine the lemon zest and juice, ground cumin, some of the stock, garlic and beetroot and blend until smooth.

- Add the blended mixture to the pan and gently simmer with a lid on for about 20 minutes.

-Serve with a few spoonfuls of the cucumber salsa sitting on the surface of the soup.

Stuffed Turkish Aubergines and Lemon Roast Potatoes

These are another perfect Celia Brooks Brown recipes. The sweetness of the dates and cinnamon perfectly complements the citric potatoes.

Lemon roast potatoes:

about 500 g small new potatoes

olive oil

lemon (juice of half and zest of one)

salt

pepper

1 tsp sugar

- Whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, sugar, salt and pepper.

- Wash and scrub the potatoes thoroughly.

- Par-boil the potatoes for 5 minutes in salted water.

- Place the potatoes in an oven dish and coat with the dressing.

- Roast for about 30 minutes at 200 degrees, turning and basting the potatoes regularly.

Turkish Stuffed Aubergines

1 large aubergine

50 g couscous

3 dates, pitted and chopped

olive oil

25 g pine nuts

handful of parsley, fine chopped

1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1tsp ground cumin

salt

pepper

A tomato half

(vegetable stock)

(Olive oil)

-Cover the couscous with an equal volume of boiling water and leave for 15 minutes. Then fluff with a fork and set aside.

-Being careful not to break the skin, gently bash the aubergine all over with a rolling pin until it feels soft to the touch. Then gently flatten it as much as possible and make a shallow cut around the tip, avoiding simply chopping it off. Twist and pull the top off the aubergine, and the core should come away with it. Liberally salt the insides of the aubergine and leave upside down to drain.

-Fry the onion and finely chopped aubergine-core in some olive oil until golden and soft. Add the ground spices and garlic and fry for a further 2 minutes.

-Fry some pine nuts in neutral oil until lightly browned.

-Combine the couscous, pine nuts and onion mix in a bowl with the remaining ingredients and season to taste.

-Stuff the aubergine with the filling, plug the hole with a tomato half, and barbecue until the skin is charred and the insides tender.

OR: In a baking tray, sit the aubergine in 1 cm of vegetable stock mixed with a few glugs of olive oil, cover with foil and bake for around 45 minutes at 200 degrees, turning the aubergine over halfway through.

Cut the aubergine into slices and serve with the lemon roast potatoes, or with lemon slices and greek yoghurt for a lighter meal.

Waffles

I love waffles! One savory and one sweet waffle make a perfect sunday brunch for example. This recipe makes about 5-6 waffles.

Batter:

1,5 dl milk

1,5 dl sparkling water

2 eggs

1 tsp baking powder

about 3 dl flour

a pinch of salt

20-25 g melted butter

Allow the batter to sit for half an hour before cooking.

Savoury topping:

cream cheese

chopped spring onion or red onion

sun dried tomatoes

fresh basil

Sweet toppings:

For example jam and whipped cream or ice cream and berries.

Warm Potato Salad

One of my work mates made a warm potato salad for my boyfriend and I, and we have been enjoying making it in different ways ever since, especially with new baby potatoes.

potatoes (preferably new baby potatoes, washed and boiled)

sun dried tomatoes (chopped)

capers

pepper (grilled and peeled)

red onion (sliced and flash-fried)

a bunch of fresh basil

olive oil

salt

pepper

- While boiling the potatoes, chop all the other ingredients. When the potatoes are just cooked, drain, chop into bite-sized pieces and combine with the remaining ingredients. Best served warm.

Grilled Halloumi Salad with Lime and Caper Dressing

Lime and halloumi are a perfect match. Sweet grilled pepper goes nicely with the salty and sour combination.

halloumi (sliced and grilled)

pepper (grilled and peeled)

green salad (for example with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, radishes..)

Lime and caper dressing:

juice of one lime and zest of half

olive oil

1 clove of crushed garlic

1 tsp capers

a handful of coriander (or parsley), finely chopped

1 dried chilli, crushed

1 tsp white wine vinegar

1 tsp sugar

Combine all the dressing ingredients in a bowl, adding the olive oil last, whisking the mixture until it emulsifies. Serve immediately after the halloumi is cooked as it becomes rubbery when it cools.

Gazpacho

We have been enjoying/suffering a long heat wave so this cold soup was a perfect meal to make - no need to cook anything!

5-6 ripe tomatoes (peeled)

1 yellow pepper

1 red pepper

a whole cucumber

a small onion

olive oil

balsamic vinegar (or cherry vinegar)

salt

pepper

- Finely chop the cucumber, half of each pepper and half the tomatoes.

- Blend the remaining ingredients until smooth.

- Add a splash of balsamic vinegar and whisk in some olive oil. Season well, chill for a few hours and serve with ice cubes.

Paguette

I found this recipe from a Finnish bread blog called Viva Ciabatta! The original recipe is from Richard Bertinet´s book "Dough".

500 g flour

3,5 dl water (hand temperature)

10 g yeast

10 g salt

- Mix all the ingredients well, nead the dough, and let rise for about an hour.

- Make the baguettes and let rise under a kitchen towel for another hour.

- Sieve some flour on top and bake at 220-250 degrees for about 20 minutes or until they have a bit colour.

If you want the baguettes to rise only upwards, you can let them rise with help of a towel. If you do this, move them to the baking tray very carefully in order to avoid knocking the air out.

Spinach, Tomato and Pesto Pasta

This is a simple and quick pasta that serves two.

olive oil

4 cloves garlic (crushed)

half a courgette (sliced)

2 tomatoes

a couple of handfuls of spinach (frozen or fresh)

salt

pepper

(lemon juice)

ready pesto sauce

parmesan/feta to garnish

pasta

- Boil the water in a large pot and start cooking the pasta.

- Fry the garlic for one minute, add the courgette and fry with the lid on, stirring occasionally, until cooked but firm to the bite.

- Add the tomatoes and spinach and simmer until just cooked, then season to taste.

- Sieve the pasta and mix in a couple of spoonfuls of pesto sauce. Serve into bowls and spoon over the sauce.

- Garnish with parmesan or feta.

Jamie's Chickpea Salad

I highly recommend another Jamie Oliver salad; easy to make, healthy, affordable and obviously very tasty! This salad makes a good starter, side or main course depending on your needs.

Carrot Cake

Even my boyfriend, who usually is not a huge fan of sweet desserts, likes this moist cake. This recipe is big enough for an oven sized baking tray.

4 eggs
3 dl sugar
4 dl flour
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1-2 tsp vanilla sugar 1-2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 dl vegetable oil
6 dl grated carrot (maybe 3-5 carrots depending on their size)

topping:

200 g cream cheese
100 g butter
300 g icing sugar
1-2 tsp vanilla sugar

crushed almonds for decoration

- Mix the dry ingredients (flour, soda, vanilla sugar and cinnamon) in a bowl, peel and grate the carrot and mix it with the oil.
- Beat the eggs and sugar until foamy and add the dry ingredients, oil and carrot to the mixture.
- Spread on a big baking tray lined with baking paper.
- Bake at 225 degrees for about 15 minutes and let cool.
- Mix room temperature butter and soft cheese together and then sieve in the vanilla sugar and icing sugar and mix with a spoon.
- Spread on top of the sponge and sprinkle with crushed almonds.

Mint Chocolate Muffins

I found this recipe from a Finnish baking blog "Kinuskikissa". These muffins were really crumbly and nice, I will definitely try them again with different fillings and tastes, this time I used mint truffles. This recipe makes about 16 muffins.

150 g butter

1,5 dl sugar

2 eggs

3,5 dl flour

2 tsp baking powder

2,5 tblsp cocoa powder

1,5 dl milk or cream

150-200 g chocolate

- Beat the butter and sugar until foamy.

- Mix in the eggs one at the time.

- Mix the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder together and sieve into the batter, adding milk at the same time.

- Crush half of the chocolate and mix into the batter. Leave half of the chocolate into chunks and use them as hearts of the muffins as shown in the pictures.

- Bake at 225 degrees in the middle shelf of the oven for 12-15 minutes.

Thai Curry

This is one of many ways to make a thai curry and an easy introduction to the cuisine. You can use any vegetables you like and make the curry paste to your own taste adding more chilies if you like it hot.

Curry paste:

2-3 fresh chilies (or to taste)

4 cloves garlic

1 - 1.5 inches fresh ginger

1/2 onion

handful of fresh coriander

lemongrass (preferably fresh, I had to use jarred lemongrass)

soy sauce (or fish sauce)

oil for frying

about 500 ml coconut milk

200 g mushrooms (chuncks)

1 pepper (sliced/chuncks)

1 small courgette

1/2 block tofu (small chuncks)

salt/soy sauce/ fish sauce

lime juice

fresh coriander

- Roughly chop all the curry paste ingredients before blending, blend until smooth.

- Fry the curry paste on medium heat for about 10 minutes, then add the coconut milk and bring to boil.

- Add all the vegetables and tofu, simmer until cooked, about 20-25 minutes

- Season to taste, add some lime juice if required and garnish with some fresh coriander.

- Serve with rice or noodles.

Baba Ghannouj

Baba Ghannouj is best served with freshly baked bread.

2 aubergines

1/4 red onion (finely chopped)

1 clove garlic (crushed)

1 peeled tomato (chopped)

1 tblsp tahini

lemon juice

salt

parsley (finely chopped)

- Half the aubergines lengthwise, Place them the peel side up on an oiled oven dish and grill until soft.

- Scoop the flesh out, mash or blend and add onion, garlic, tomato and tahini. Season to taste with salt and lemon juice and garnish with fresh parsley.

Spaghetti Siracusani

This recipe is from "The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook", very simple and tasty dish. We have made small alterations to it but it's still basically the same.

olive oil

3-4 garlic cloves (crushed)

1 pepper (cut into strips)

1-2 courgettes (cut into strips)

2 tins good-quality tomatoes

1 tblsp capers

3 tblsp good calamata olives

salt

pepper

fresh basil

parmesan

spaghetti or other pasta

- Fry the garlic on a low heat for a minute, then add courgette and pepper and cook on a medium heat with the lid on, stillirg occasionally, until cooked but still firm to the bite.

- Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for 20-30 minutes. Boil your pasta.

- Season to taste and garnish with fresh basil and parmesan.

Mung Dal & Aloo Gobi

These are my boyfriends versions of the famous curries. The coconut milk adds softness to the cauliflower and potato curry and makes it moister. Daal shouldn't be too dry either. Daal is flexible with spices so you can change them to taste. We try to use different spices in all the curries served at once so each of them has an unique taste. We had the curries with homemade naan bread and raita.

Mung Daal:

3-4 dl Mung lentils (or other lentils), soaked for 1/2 hour

oil/ghee

1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds

small bit of star anis

1/2 tsp cumin seed

2 bay leaves

1/2 tsp black mustard seeds

(cardamon pods)

(caraway seeds)

(kalonji)

(cloves)

water

salt (to taste)

oil/ghee

1 medium onion

1-2 fresh chillies

an inch ginger

2-3 cloves garlic

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

lemon juice

fresh coriander

- Fry the seeds in hot oil adding the bigger seeds at first, smaller seeds next and finally the mustard seeds and bay leaves.

- When the bay leaves are browned add the lentils and stir fry for a couple of minutes.

- Cover with water and add the salt.

- Put the lid on and and simmer until soft, adding small amount of water if necessary.

- Fry onion, garlic, ginger and chili in a separate pan for a couple of minutes, then cover with a lid and simmer until soft. When the onion mix is soft, add the ground spices and fry for a further minute, and then add to the lentils.

- Cook for another two minutes, then season to taste with salt and lemon juice, and garnish with fresh coriander.

Aloo Gobi:

4-5 medium potatoes (chopped)

a small cauliflower (florets)

a tin coconut milk

oil/ghee

4-5 green cardamom pods

fresh coriander

for the curry paste:

a medium onion

3 cloves garlic

inch of ginger

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp ground fennel

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1-2 fresh chillies (to taste)

1/2 tsp salt

lemon juice

fresh coriander

- Blend the curry paste.

- Heat the oil, fry the cardamom pods for a couple of minutes. Add the curry paste and fry for a few minutes on a high heat, then keep cooking the paste on a low heat for about 10 minutes.

- Add the coconut milk, potatoes and cauliflower and simmer in the sauce until soft.

- Season to taste with salt and lemon juice, and garnish with fresh coriander.