Month: August 2020

Wild Mushrooms Soup. Seenesupp

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I used in headline word “mushroom”. But in Estonia, when we are talking about mushrooms, we mean forest and/or wild mushrooms: milk mushrooms, russulas, chanterelle….

As Estonia has an abundance of forest, we like to pick berries and mushrooms.

This is very simple mushroom soup.  If you believe that barley takes too much time, replace it with rice,

important:
I use frozen mushrooms. They do not need any additional cooking, while they are already prepared
Heat the mushrooms in a skillet until water has evaporated and added butter. Pour mixture into boxes and freeze over winter.

In autumn, when you use fresh mushrooms. Blanch, depending on mushrooms, remove blanching water and add mushrooms into the soup

Wild Mushroom Soup

  • Servings: 4-6
  • Difficulty: easy
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A light vegetable soup for dinner.


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Ingredients

  • 1/2 glass of barley groats
  • 1-2 onions
  • 200 g – 400 g mushrooms
  • 1 tomato
  • 4-5 potatoes
  • oil
  • salt, pepper, dill

Directions

  1. Cook groats while these are soft
  2. heat some oil, add sliced onion, mushrooms and tomato. Cook, while onion and tomato are half ready
  3. Add potato slices, groats and onion mix into the soup
  4. Cook, while the potato is soft. Season
  5. Serve with sour cream and add a lot of dills

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Simple Mushroom Salad. Lihtne seenesalat

mushrsalad (5)I have been writing that Estonia has an abundance of forest, we like to pick berries and mushrooms.
But Estonia is a maritime country. The Baltic Sea surrounds Estonia from the north, west and southwest.

In August the night is dark and the sky is full of stars. In August we have an amazing tradition. At sunset Come to the shore of the Baltic Sea and enjoy a bonfire or light one yourself. The sea unites all of us.

Read more about this The Night of Ancient Lights

But August is the chanterelle month, as well. Mushroom Salad Sandwiches or filled pancakes are the best picnic food.
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 The simplest Salad recipe.

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Salted mushroom:
How to remove additional salt are a lot of tips.
My South Estonian relatives told me that they boiling salted mushroom in milk. And after that mushroom look and taste like a fresh.
The second option is to boil mushroom just in the water.
And the simplest one.  Put mushroom to soak the night before.

Fresh chanterelle: The mushrooms are cleaned without water, with only a clean, dry towel and paring knife. Heat the chanterelle in a skillet without fat/butter until water has evaporated.

Frozen mushroom : melt, fry slightly.
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For Salad:

Chop prepared mushrooms
Chop boiled eggs
Chop onion

Mix everything with sour cream and season with salt and pepper.mushrsalad (6)

Crispy Waffles with Mineral Water. Vahvlid

minwaffle1 (5) Waffles have a very important role in Estonian history.
At the end of the 80s when the Soviet Union started to collapse, people began to private business. Private business was until then prohibited but the end of the 80s was the perfect time to start it.

And a lot of Estonians earned their ” first million” to baking.. waffles…

This was the easiest way to earn some money. Everyone had at home waffle baker, everyone knows recipes and making waffles was very easy.

A few years later this business was out of fashion 🙂 and people became set up more advanced businesses: shops and plants.

And what is the saddest, we throw away our old waffle makers “ESTA” or “Volta”. This is very sad because using modern waffle makers you NEVER get the similar result we used to. Old-time waffles were very thin and light and very crispy.

Now are these old waffle makers rarity and possible to get only in the black market paying a high price.

One option to achieve a similar result is to use mineral water instead of milk
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Continue reading “Crispy Waffles with Mineral Water. Vahvlid” →

Simple Bitter Sweet Black Currant Cake. Mustsõstrakook

blackcurcake (1)Simple and delicious cake for people, who do not want or like very sweet cakes.

The bitterness of the chocolate, sweet and sour berries creating a wonderful combination.

Quark makes this cake lighter and healthier

And make quark by yourself. Trust me: It is much simpler to make than you might think. I won’t tell if you don’t 😉
Look at for recipe.
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Continue reading “Simple Bitter Sweet Black Currant Cake. Mustsõstrakook” →

Home Made Rye Bread Kvass. Leivakali

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Kvass is a fermented beverage, which is made is made from fermented black or rye bread, spring water, and herbs. During the Soviet Union, kvass was nicknamed “The Communist Coca-Cola” (because of colour). In those times we could freely buy Pepsi, but not Coca-Cola.

In my childhood almost every street corner boasts the ubiquitous yellow kvass tanks, which dispense the thirst quencher throughout the day. At that time, we did not know anything about hygiene… This time was used glass drinking glasses ( no plastic!), and after each drinker, the glass was simply flushed with cold water..:) (those were just the times! And no one had a Covid19…)
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But kvass was very delicious. And the most important. This is very easy to make it by your self.
Look how to do rye bread by yourself

Bread leftovers use for rye bread pudding.

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Home Made Rye Bread Kvass. Leivakali

  • Servings: 1-litre
  • Difficulty: easy
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A Kvass is a fermented beverage, which is made is made from fermented black or rye bread, spring water, and herbs.


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Ingredients

  • 2 litre water
  • 400 g fermented rye bread
  • 100 g honey ( or less if you do not like very sweet)
  • 10 g yeast
  • (mint or black currant stalks or leaves)

 

Directions

  1. Bring water to the boil and pour over dried and roasted rye bread
  2. Let set under lid few hours.
  3. Strain and add honey, yeast ( and peppermint stalks)
  4. Let the mixture ferment for 5-6 hours.
  5. Strain the mixture into the towel-covered sieve and drain properly. And pour into bottles. Close the cap
  6. Keep refrigerated and drink after 2-3 days.

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