Green Expectations:  Musque de Provence Pumpkins

For many years I have celebrated my birthday in part with some element that I call “Happy Birthday to Me!”  One year it was a brand new backpack for overnight treks into the Cascade Mountains of Washington State.  One year it was as mountain bike.  Another year, a day off to wander around exploring the city of Seattle, doing whatever suited me at any given moment.  Of course the birthdays also included cake and friends and family – and a joyful “Happy Birthday” song (sometimes sung deliberately off-tune or with improv harmony).   Birthdays are a celebration of us, and a celebration of the years behind as we think about expectations for the years ahead.

Expectations.  Odotuksia, in Finnish.

Cafe Regatta in Töölö, Helsinki, Finland

Life is Good.

Odotuksia is the head title for today’s food page in the Helsingin Sanomat – a page which is, in a way, a “Happy Birthday to Me!” as well.  For the first time ever – I’ve been published!  The recipes there are mine.  And while the foods there aren’t ground-shakingly unusual:  One is for Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes or as translated Amerikkalaiset mustikkapannukakut and the other is for Apricot Almond Granola or Aprikoosi-mantelimysli, the recipes themselves are ones that I have worked on and adjusted and tasted and served to my loving (did I mention patient?) husband to get the flavors and textures just right.  In the world of American breakfasts, there are hundreds of versions of pancakes and granola – tweaked and adjusted for individual tastes.  For a morning where we want to relax and enjoy breakfast slowly – pancakes are often the choice.  For a standard weekday morning breakfast at my house, Granola, Mysli is standard fare.

Expectations.  Odotuksia.

Spring!

The Helsingin Sanomat article was created and written to celebrate Mother’s Day.  I was asked to fulfill the culinary expectations of two pregnant women – or as we say in English:  two women who are expecting.  That is, expecting their child’s arrival any day now.   They each had a wish for the type of breakfast they would like on Mother’s Day this year.

I am not a mother.  I don’t know how it feels to wait for the birth of a new baby – to watch your body change and your stomach grow day by day, as a life forms inside you.  I have friends who are now waiting for their first child with great joys and hopes.  For them, I wish a beautiful, delicious and lovingly prepared breakfast this Mother’s Day!

I know of expectations of other kinds, though – we all have them.  Life is full of goal setting, and waiting, and expectant, hopeful, thoughts of desired outcomes.  As we get older, our expectations can still be great and the waiting for them can still be long, but as I celebrate my 37th birthday, I know that expectations need not be large and expensive and expansive in order for their fulfillment to make me happy.

I have long expected the arrival of Spring here in Helsinki.  Winter lasted 7 months.  Spring is here!  It is a glorious thing.  I spent all of yesterday evening out wandering in the forest, enjoying the fresh, bright green of nature.

Fratello Torrefazione:  the best.

Every morning, I look forward to a cup of coffee.  It is a ritual that makes me smile every single day.  We buy good coffee for home:  JJ & I have decided that we want to take care to include in our lives things that add joy to the every day.  For us, coffee is one of those things.  It’s a small thing, but its importance is sharply underscored on the days we run out, forget to buy new beans, and face a very sad, coffee-free (and caffeine-free!) morning.  Not good.  Good morning coffee is an expectation.  Indeed, a good life is made not of a few large wonderful things but of the many small very good things.

A strong and dominant component of expectations is the waiting.  Waiting for something we are hoping for.  Waiting to see friends and family, near and far.  Waiting for good news, waiting for the train or plane to arrive bringing a welcome visitor or taking us somewhere.  It is waiting for the closure of one thing, the celebration of another, the beginning of another:   a birthday is all of three of these.  And for me, today’s Helsingin Sanomat Ruoka sivu with my name printed small next to the title Odotuksia as the author of the recipes was the perfect “Happy Birthday to Me!” for this year.

And for you, as a celebration of Spring, I share with you the recipe for Granola/Mysli that I created for the article.  The recipe below yields a much larger batch than the one printed in the newspaper – when I make Granola, I like to have it around to enjoy for a while.  You can easily reduce it.  Also, for the Helsingin Sanomat article, the flax seeds have been omitted as pregnant women shouldn’t eat these.  If you are pregnant and therefore not eating flax seed, you can replace half of the flax seed with almonds and the other half with sunflower seeds.

• Preheat oven to 170°C / 350°F

• Line a deep oven pan with a piece of parchment paper and set aside.

• In a large bowl combine:

• In a small pot or a microwave-safe glass bowl combine:

• Pour the granola mixture onto the prepared parchment-lined pan and spread out evenly.  

• Place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes.   Remove from oven; stir.  Place in the oven and bake for 10 more minutes.  Remove from oven; stir.  Place in the oven and bake for 5 minutes. Remove from oven; stir.  Place in the oven and bake for 5 minutes.  Remove from oven.  At this point the mysli should be a nice golden brown and looking slightly crisp.  If it is, it is done: set the pan on the counter and turn the oven off.  If it is not, bake for 5 more  minutes.  

• As the granola is cooling, pour evenly over the top:

• Allow granola to cool completely.  Stir to combine the dried fruit throughout.  Granola will store in an airtight container for up to two weeks.  

Yield:  approximately 3.5 liters / 14 cups

Pretty blue flowers are blooming all over the place in the bright sun.

The Swans are back.

The nights are lighter and warmer for our evening walks.

Balcony sunset views & open sea!

Signs of Spring popping up everywhere

Picnics in the park are now a real possibility.  The songs of birds of all kinds fill the air with joyous noise.  It feels as though life has started again.  Never in any place I have lived has Spring been such a welcome sight.  

One of the first types of produce in the Spring is Asparagus.  To me its bright green (or white & purple in some cases) is a sure sign that summer is just around the corner.  When I was living in Munich, Germany, Spargelzeit in the local restaurants and cafes often meant that soup was on the menu.  It’s one of the easiest and most enjoyable ways to enjoy this tasty vegetable, and takes about 20 minutes from start to finish.  Enjoy!

A soup for Spring

Asparagus Soup with Shallot, Pine Nut and Asparagus tip garnish

2 bunches of asparagus, ends trimmed, tips reserved (blossom end) (about 25 asparagus spears
2 large or four small potatoes
4 cups Homemade Bouillon or vegetable broth

Cut asparagus into 1″ pieces.  Place all ingredients in a small pot and bring to a boil.  Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, until vegetables are fork-tender.

Meanwhile,

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan.  Add

4 shallots, halved and sliced
Asparagus tips
1/2 cup pine nuts or sliced almonds, roasted
15-20 basil leaves, julienned

Stir over medium-high heat until the shallots are soft and slightly golden, the asparagus tips a bright green, and the almonds lightly toasted.  Set aside.

When the soup vegetables are cooked, puree the soup with an immersion blender.  Taste the soup and add salt or pepper if desired.

Pour the soup into four bowls.  Divide the asparagus tips evenly on the top of the soup.  Divide the shallot mixture among the four bowls and sprinkle the roasted pine nuts on top.

Serves 4

Sibelius monument, Helsinki

Bilberry Rhubarb Sima

If you hurry up with this, you can still have homemade sima for Vappu – it’s just a few days away!

Vappu, which is Finnish for “May Day”, celebrated on the first of May, is a celebration that I’ve never seen the likes of anywhere else.  The closest is maybe Mardi Gras in New Orleans or Karnival in Germany.  Finns in Helsinki start the celebration on April 30th already, when the march down to the Esplanade wearing their white Lukio graduation caps, if they are students – they are wearing the one-piece  long-sleeve overalls representing their school, and for many, the day is all about eating, drinking (a lot) and hanging out in a huge crowd in the city center.  There are multi-colored streamers and crazy clothes, and the putting on and taking off a Lukio graduation cap to and from the head of the statue in the square near the marketplace.  The Finns have a great time with this holiday, and look forward to it every year.

As with most Finnish holidays, there are very specific foods involved.   Vappu is also about “munkit”(donuts), “sima” (a special yeasted fruity beverage which I’ve made here with a new spin) and “tippaleipä” which is essentially a soft dough that is piped into a bird’s nest still shape directly into a pot of hot oil (I’ve never really understood this last one, but Finns seem to love it.  Could be like mämmi…can any of you Finns let me know what the trick is there).  At any rate, the Finnish holiday is great fun (though I don’t understand the appeal of getting blazing drunk – there are plenty of ways to enjoy it – especially with homemade sima on hand).

It is a lot different from my childhood version, though that was always good for a laugh when we were kids too:  we’d hang flowers on the neighbor’s door, ring the doorbell, and run away – hiding behind a bush or a tree to see their reaction and then be completely pleased with ourselves all day.  We never got a day off for it though! And we never had any special food either.

But here in Finland, the traditional munkki and sima combination is excellent.  You need to plan your sima in advance if you cannot buy it where you live, because it takes 4 -7 days for the brew to be ready: the yeast needs time to do its work in carbonating the beverage.  Traditional sima is made with water, sugar, yeast and lemons.  I’ve changed that up here to use rhubarb and bilberries.  The recipe is based on a recipe I found a couple of years ago in the Meidän Mökki magazine from May 2010 for Strawberry Rhubarb Sima, which they apparently pulled from the Maku magazine published in April 2006.  There’s a lot of good sharing going on around here in the food world, and I love it.  I’ve used bilberries because I didn’t have strawberries, and used a bit less sugar than called for in the original recipe.  My batch is brewing in the refrigerator now, so I’ll let know how it goes.

Get your supplies ready!  You’ll need fresh yeast rather than the dry kind that comes in a box on the grocery store shelf, and you need far less than you think.  And as always, you can use blueberries instead of bilberries if that’s what you have.

Ready?  Here we go:

Filling the bottles.  Isn’t it pretty?

Bilberry Rhubarb Sima
based on recipe from Meidän Mökki 5/2010


In a large pot, combine:
1 liter/quart of water
5 dl (roughly 2.5 cups) chopped rhubarb

Bring to boil, reduce heat slightly, and allow to boil for 5 minutes.  Pour the mixture into a large heat-resistant bowl, and add.
2 liters / quarts cold water
4 dl (2 cups) of bilberries
2.5 dl (1 1/4 cups) of sugar

Stir; check the temperature.  It should be slightly warmer than room temperature.  If so, add the yeast; if not, wait until it reaches room temperature:
7 g of fresh yeast combined with 1/4 cup water and stirred until smooth

Stir the yeast mixture into the fruit mixture to evenly distribute it.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a lid and allow it to sit and bubble at room temperature for 24 hours.

One day later…

Drain the sima through a fine-mesh sieve to separate the solids from the liquid.  Pour the sima liquid into sterilized bottles that have a tight-fitting lid.  Add 3-4 raisins to each bottle and screw the lid tightly on.

Note:  you’ll want to leave air space for this as the yeast will continue to ferment and the gas will build up inside the bottle creating the carbonation that makes sima so good.

Note the head-space in the bottles:  don’t overfill!

Place your bottles of sima in the refrigerator and patiently wait for 3-5 days until the raisins rise to the top, indicating that your sima is ready to enjoy. (when I made this last time, not all the raisins rose, but boy was the sima ready to go after 3 days – so maybe test a bottle then so you can enjoy this as soon as possible.  Open carefully!  There is a high chance of these fizzing heavily so open over the sink and have a glass ready.

Makes roughly 4 liters.

…………………………………………….

For you traditionalists out there, I give you the sima recipe from Helsinki Sanomat:

 Heat the water until it boils.  Add the sugar.  

 Wash the lemons carefully.  Remove the yellow part of the peel with a knife.  Remove any remaining white pith, and slice the lemon peel.  Add the lemon peel to the water  mixture and allow the mixture to cool to room temperature.  

 Soak the yeast in a small amount of water and mix it into the sima mixture.  Cover and allow the mixture to sit at room temperature until the next day.  

 Drain the sima through a colander to separate the liquid from the solids.  Pour the sima into bottles and add a few raisins to each.  Cover the bottles tightly and put them in a cool place.  The sima will be ready in about a week.