Macarons

Finally writing about those macarons which I did like a month ago. I used an old recipe from the school times. I don't know from where the recipe originates:

Plain macarons made with Italian meringue

300 g ground almonds

300 g icing sugar

110 g egg whites

110 g egg whites

30 g caster sugar

300 g caster sugar

100 g water

Combine the almond meal and icing sugar in food processor and sieve the powders to aerate the texture. Stir the 110g of egg whites in. Cook 300g of caster sugar with the water to 110°C and pour over the egg whites slightly whipped with the 30g of caster sugar. Whip until nearly completely cold and fold to almond mixture. "Macaroon" the mixture, which means to stir the macaron paste in folding manner making the texture to go shiny and slighly runny. Pipe on baking trays lined with silicon mats. Baking: Bake at 140°C in convection oven for about 12 to 15 minutes with the vent opened.

Let the macarons dry before baking

Blackcurrant puree for the filling

As a filling for the macarons I made blackcurrant curd for the lila ones and lemon curd for the yellow ones. Underneath you can see the recipe for the blackcurrant curd in two photos.

Used this recipe from the book "Mastering the art and craft: baking & pastry" of Culinary Institute of America

Here is the lemon curd recipe, also from the same book as the fruit curd recipe:

Lemon curd

595 g butter, cubed

510 g sugar

540 ml lemon juice

35 g lemon zest, grated

510 g egg yolks

1. Combine 298g of the butter, 255g of the sugar, and the lemon juice and zest and bring to boil over medium heat, stirring gently to dissolve the sugar.

2. Meanwhile, blend the egg yolks with the remaining 255g sugar. Temper by gradually adding about one-third of the lemon juice mixture, stirring constantly with a whisk. Return the tempered egg mixture to the saucepan. Continue cooking, stiring constantly with the whisk, until the mixture comes to boil.

3. Stir in the remaining butter.

4. Strain the curd into a large shallow container or bowl. Cover with plastic wrap placed directly on the surface of the curd. Cool over an ice water bath.

5. Store the curd, covered, under refrigeration

Yrttipuutarha / Herb garden

Here are some photos of my herbs. I did some replanting in my herb garden.

Lavender (Lavendel/Laventeli) is just about to start flowering

Top of the garden clockwise from left: Summer savory (Bohnenkraut/Kesäkynteli), Rosemary (Rosmarin/Rosmariini), rosemary again, Sage (Salbei/Salvia), Tarragon (Estragon/Rakuuna), Chives (Schnittlauch/Ruohosipuli), Parsley (Petersilie/Persilja), Santolina Viridis (olivenkraut / "Oliiviyrtti"), Lemon thyme (Zitronenthymian/Sitruunatimjami, Thyme (Thymian/Timjami). In the middle: Oregano (Oregano/Oregano) and Marjoram (Majoran/Meirami)

Clockwise from the top left corner: Summer savory (Bohnenkraut/Kesäkynteli), Parsley (Petersilie/Persilja), Chives (Schnittlauch/Ruohosipuli), Tarragon (Estragon/Rakuuna), Tagetes lucida/Mexican tarragon (Lakrizraut/"Lakritsayrtti", in front of tarragon), Dill (Dill/Tilli), Lovage (Liebstöckel/Lipstikka). From bottom to to: Bear's garlic (Bärlauch/Karhunlaukka), Bloody dock (Blutampfer) and Woodruff (Waldmeister/Tuoksumatara?)

Bloody dock / Blutampfer / I have no idea how you call this in Finnish

Santolina Viridis (olivenkraut / "Oliiviyrtti")

From left to right: Strawberry mint (Erdbeerminze/"Mansikkaminttu"), Lemon thyme (Zitronenthymian/Sitruunatimjami, Nettles (Brennnessel/Nokkonen)

Strawberry mint

Peppermint (Pfefferminze/Piparminttu)

Moroccan mint (Marokkanische Minze/ "marokon minttu) the best thing for Mojito

Curry plant (Currykraut/No idea: "karrikasvi"), Lemon balm (Zitronenmelisse/Sitruunamelissa)

Bay leaf (Laurus nobilis) (Echter Lorbeer/Laakerinlehti)

Lemon verbena (Zitronenverbene/Sitruunaverbena)

And as last something which isn't a herb: Flowers of a tangerine tree

Nettle-ricotta ravioli with bear's garlic pesto

Rolling the pasta dough

Those nettles and bear's garlic I talked about in the last post turned into a super fantastic dish of nettle-ricotta ravioli with bear's garlic pesto. I got the pasta dough recipe from my Italian colleague. At the moment I'm working in a kitchen which serves two restaurants. We have a normal Swiss restaurant but also an Italian restaurant. The team of the Italian restaurant actually comes from Italy and sometimes I'm not so sure if I'm in Italy or in Switzerland because all I hear are loud Italian voices ;D 

I have never been to Italy. It has always been one of those countries I definitive want to visit but even though it's so close we never made it there so far. Well, that's about to change in June. Our Italian guest chef comes from the southern part of Italy and as I was looking for some nice place to spend our wedding anniversary weekend this year he inspired me to book the flights to Bari. Maybe that's why in the last times I have had some Italy-fan-thing going on and what could be better to catch some of that Italian flavour than home made ravioli. Here is the recipe for the ravioli dough:

Ravioli dough

400 g flour

100 g Semola di grano duro rimacinata "Hartweizendunst"

1 egg yolk

1 big egg

50 g olive oil

50 g white wine

Just throw all the things in the mixer bowl and let the stand mixer do the kneading. If needed use more wine for more moisture. You should let the dough rest for about one hour before rolling. I did the dough a day before and it worked out fine.

Soon thin enough to be filled

For the filling I didn't use any precise recipe or measurement. I just threw together what tastes good gives a nice consistancy. Here is what I used:

Nettle-Ricotta filling:

250 g Ricotta

blanched nettles (about 100g after blancing)

grated parmesan

1 egg yolk

pepper

salt

Placing the top layer of the dough on the filling. Before placing the top layer you should brush the down layer with some egg so the they stick together good.

Cutting the ravioli

These with the round shape might in fact be called something else than ravioli?

Ravioli

With rest of the dough I made tagliatelle

I also didn't use a recipe for the bear's garlic pesto. I had forgotten to buy pine nuts so I used peeled  almonds instead. It's really easy to make. You just throug all the things in the blender, let it blend well and ready is the pesto. I used:

 Bear's garlic pesto

mixture of olive oil and canola oil

bear's garlic leaves

peeled almonds

some lemon juice

grated parmesan

salt and pepper. 

Bear's garlic pesto

Ravioli filled with nettles and ricotta served with bear's garlic pesto, tomato concassé and parmesan

Lillet vive as apéritif then pasta with pinot grigio

Allium Ursinum...

...bears's garlic / ramsons / wild garlic / bear leek / karhunlaukka / Bärlauch are just some of the names used for one of my favourite wild growing herb. It's a plant with a kind of garlic-chives flavour and very much in season here in Switzerland at the moment.

Bear's garlic

Bear's garlic grows in forest and is widely spread in the Europe. In Finland it's only seldom met and that's why it's a protected plant over there so one isn't allowed to collect it. Maybe that's why I never tasted this plant back in Finland but my first encounter with it was here in Switzerland.

I know a great place with lots of bear's garlic not so far from my home so the other day I decided to take a walk and get me some so that I could cook something nice. The plants grows in woodlands with moist soils and when you walk by you might even smell a light garlicy fragnance. The leaves should be used when they are still young and before the plant flowers, because that's when their aroma is on its best. By the way, the plant is called bear's garlic because the bears seem to like the flavous as well :D

The flowers are already coming. Soon it will be too late to collect.

The bears's garlic can be used in many ways for cooking. One can use it like chives: in salads, in cream cheese, in cottage cheese...one can also make pasta, späzle, risotto or polenta with it. Also sauces like pesto made with bear's garlic are fantastic. Here you can buy it in the shop so if you aren't into a trouble of finding it in forest you can just buy it. Unfortunately I have no idea if it's available in shopd inFinland.

Well washed, ready to be used.

As I was already anyway on the way with scissors I decided to cut me some nettles (Urtica dioica / Brennnessel / nokkonen) as well. When I was a kid we sometimes had some nettle pancakes or nettle soup. This time I collected them for my ricottaravioli. Nettles can be used as spinach. Just remember to take gloves with you :) Nettles are best used when they still young, approximately under 20 cm. Later in summer it's also possible to cut of the tips and use them.

Nettles wating to be collected

Nettles together with common wood sorrel

After washing before blanching

I also saw lots of common wood sorrels on my way. The Latin name is Oxalis acetosella and in German it's called Waldsauerklee. I find the Finnish names the funniest: ketunleipä (translates fox's bread) or käenkaali (translates cuckoo's cabbage). As a kid when we walked trough the forest we used to eat these direct from the bush among other things like blue berries or lingon berries. Th common wood sorrel can be used for salads, soups or sauces and it has a really nice sour taste.

Common wood sorrel / Ketunleipä / Waldsauerklee

Grillbits

 Here are some tastebits of our grilling season so far:

Long bell pepper, simply served with some olive oil and salt

Filled Zucchini: The filling is made of zucchini, herbs, tomato, breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese

Sea bass (Wolfsbarsch) and chicken: The fish is marinated with some chilli, seasam oil, soya sauce, fresh ginger, garlic and rice vinegar

Smoke-grilled duck: So tasty! Hubby made it and he is at work right now so I can't ask him what all he used.

Chicory/endive: Grill until sweet and tossed with olive oil, salt, manchego cheese and parsley.

On the front is eggplant dip (similar to Baba ganoush) and at the back is Tomato-Mozzarella salad with some super tasty tomatos and Buffalo mozzarella. The tomato variety is called Marinda and at the moment it's available in Migros. At work we are using these tomatos for the tomato-mozzarella salad.

Tomato-Oregano-Focaccia on the grill

Something good for breakfast

Last week I was in the book store because I wanted to find a good crime novel for me to induldge in during the solitaire evenings when my Hubby is at work. As usual, I ended up next to the cooking books section. Because the grill season has started here in Switzerland it has been on my mind that we need some ideas for good veggie grilling. As it happened, my crime search turned into a successful find of vegetarian grill book. The book is called "Grill it! Vegetarisch" by Ross Dobson. The original English title is "Fired Up Vegetarian" available in Amazon. I can truely recommend this book if you are looking for tipps and ideas for grilling without meat or for some nice side dishes. The recipes are simple and the ingredients are available pretty much everywhere. Since we are not the best recipe followers, when it comes to cooking, this book's recipes are also easily adjustable for your own flavour. Check it out!

Ancha baking bread

The book brought back a memory. When we were in Mosambique our cook Ancha prepared us some bread and even cakes on a tiny small charcoal stand grill. Back then I didn't pay so much attention for the whole procedure but since I saw the recipe for the focaccia in the Grill it!-book I decided to give it a try. Our Ancha had to work on a mini grill, but luckily our grill is big enough to place the whole form directly inside and the temperature control is also a bit easier. Here is the recipe:

Before baking

Palermo Focaccia

3 tsp Dry yeast (I used one pack of 7 g)

450 g Flour (type 550 or Italian type 00, I used normal wheat flour)

2 tbsp olive oil (I just used some, not too precise ;D)

Polenta for the form

1/2 tsp seasalt (Once again, I wasn's too precise)

60 g strained tomatos (I used tomato puree whithout measuring)

1 tsp dried oregano (used some thyme as well)

1. Mix 60 ml of warm water, the dry yeast and one table spoon of the flour in a smal bowl. Let the mixture stand in a warm place for about 10-15 minutes until it forms bubbles on the surface. 

2. Oil a round form of about 23 cm with olive oil and dust with polenta to avoid the focaccia sticking to the form. (I used normal spring form because I don't have anything more suitable. The author of the book is using a round casserole form).

3. Place the rest of the flour with the salt in a mixer bowl. Add 250 ml of warm water, the yeast mixture and the olive oil. Knead the dough in the stand mixer until its elastic and doesn't stick to the bowl. (The author writes 10 minutes but I think I only needed about 2 min.)

4. Place the dough in the prepared form and with the help of some flour press the dough evenly over the whole bottom  of the form.

5. With fingers press some holes on the top. Spread the tomatos and some olive oil on the top and sprinkle with oregano. Let raise in a warm place for about an hour.

On the grill

6. Heat up the grill to a medium temperature (I kept the temperature around 180-210 for the whole time of baking). Place the form, with a lid on, inside and bake for about 15-18 minutes. (I think I needed about 25 minutes.)

Just about to be ready

7. Serve warm with olive oil and seasalt. (I think that the Focaccia tasted the best the day after)

Enjoying the summerlike spring day.