Sometimes simple vegetables can be so beautiful. This was just lightly cooked broccoli, bean sprouts, edamame and cucumber with a little brown rice vinegar, oil and sea salt:
Home Eats
Brussel sprouts delicious
Home Eats, Paleo, Salads, VeganBrussel sprouts have the potential to be exquisite. These were incredibly simple. Hot oil, sprouts chopped in half, add to oil chopped half down. After a bit, put a lid on. Add a bit of water if needed to get the pan juices. Sprinkle with flakes of fine sea salt.
Sauteed Brussel Sprouts with Sea Salt
Cooked this way they get a sort of sweetness. Broth could be added instead of water. If you have no objection, I recommend trying this with duck fat, but butter and vegetable oils– including coconut oil– work as well. You can have it going while you cook something else. If only brussel sprouts were not so expensive!
Egg streak
Breakfast, Home Eats, PaleoEasy paleo and gluten-free friendly breakfasts full of vegetables:
Eggs and vegetables
For a several weeks
,
This last one was served over baby chard– the only sort of chard available outside of high summer in Helsinki. I have been making something like this every morning. The possibilities are infinite.
Fennel for late spring
Home Eats, Organic + Local, PaleoSpring is officially here. The late spring as the weather struggles towards summer can be rough, the body feeling depleted of nutrients, vitamins, sunshine. A couple weeks ago I got delicious organic fennel from my food co-op. It was Italian. Here are some things that I did with it:
Duck breast and fennel
Duck breast is really easy– pan friend, excess oil scooped out and used to cook the carrots and fennel. Then I put it all in the oven to get it extra crispy. The juices of the duck added to the vegetables when served.
It has also been asparagus season in Europe:
Asparagus and fennel
However, the most spectacular was an easily roasted chicken, using my slapdash interpretation of Marcella Hazan’s famous and foolproof roast chicken with lemons. (Here recipe is all over the interwebs, but that link is to a no-frills posting of it on the New York Times). My lemons were too large, so I had to cut them and only used one. The fennel was cooked beneath the chicken; this must be one of the best ways to cook fennel.
Spring vegetables
Home Eats, Paleo, Salads, VeganFinnish spring vegetables are finally starting to be available here, including beautiful radishes from the Lindroth farm near Turku.
I only buy those radishes when I can get them really fresh. The leaves are great to eat as well; I wash them in several waters and put them into a curry, or sauté them. It was wonderful to see the beautiful colours again!
This salad had a very very easy dressing, with sesame seeds toasted in macadamia nut butter, salt and a nice unsweetened rice vinegar. Yums.
Kale and Korean Mint
Home Eats, Where to find...?
Served with pan-friend salmon stakes. Kale, tomatoes, beautiful Korean mint, amaranth (quinoa might have been better), lime, salt, macadamia nut oil. This is Lacinato or Tuscan Kale, a bit harder to find in Helsinki. I found this at Citymarket Ruohonlahti. In the summer, one can find this kale, called mustakaali (literally, Black Cabbage) from Anton and Anton shops. Interestingly, in England this sort of kale is also sometimes known as Black Cabbage. In the United States, I have heard people call it Dino Kale. It is softer that standard kale and lends itself easily to raw salads when massaged with a bit of oil and salt. The salmon I served with it was seasoned primarily with sumac and paprika. It was very fast to make!
The korean mint came from Stockmann’s. It was from Mimis . Mimis salads and greens are expensive, but they are so fresh and spectacular. You can also find them at S-Market Bulevardi, and I think the prices are maybe a tiny bit better there, but the selection is also more limited.
Organic Finnish goat quark (rahka)
Helsinki, Home Eats, Organic + Local, Where to find...?Recently I chanced upon some kutun rahka or the Finnish version of quark made with goat milk, on sale. It was from a lovely Finnish creamery, dairy and cheesmaker Saloniemi (Saloniemen Juustola).
Local, organic Finnish goat quark
The prices for their products are high, but so is the quality. If my budget allowed, I would likely be a regular consumer. This was DELICIOUS. If you are a fan of chevre, it had a similar light goat-y taste, and it is full of protein. It mixed well with pesto, eaten on those amazing, sweet Finnish carrots.
Finnish carrots dipped in goat quark and organic pesto.
It would also have been fantastic with fresh fruit or fruit preserves. For example, fig jam or fresh strawberries. Anything that would work with chevre would also work here. Yum.
Their products are available at most larger super markets (K-supermarkets, S-markets) and many specialist grocers like Ruohonjuuri and Anton & Anton. I also want to consider using rahka instead of quark in English; I think it sounds more inviting. “Quark” reminds me too much of quorn, the fake engineered meat pioneered in the U.K.
Cold Song 