I had some polenta left from a previous recipe for a while and I was thinking hard how to use it. So when I received a catering order for a pikkujoulu (pre-Christmas) party last week, I decided to put the polenta into good use and make a gluten free cake with it! Result: the sticky, orange-y, syrupy cake finished in seconds!
In Turkish cuisine, there is a series of dishes cooked specifically with olive oil, called “zeytinyağlı yemekler” (in English: dishes with olive oil). These dishes are vegetarian and are mostly eaten cold, some of them can also fall into the category of “mezzes”. I say that they are “mostly” eaten cold because even a little asking around friends brought various answers, some people prefer to eat them warm or even hot. I personally prefer eating them cold. What I mean by this is not almost frozen. It means that I let those dishes cool down to at least room temperature before eating – but I actually love them even more when they stay in refrigerator for a while.
I feel very happy that some fruits and vegetables do not grow in Finland. This way, we can enjoy them all year round, importing from other parts of the world! Take figs for example. At the moment, we have Brazilian figs in the stores. In late summer, early autumn there are Turkish figs and sometimes Israeli figs. Yes, we cover the whole world of figs!
If you are a regular reader of my blog, then you certainly know by now what a terrible child I was when it came to food. If I were my mother, I would beat me all the time – or at least during / after each meal! I was one of the pickiest little girls (nowadays I am rather picky about other things, erm, like men!!). However, there were certain dishes that I was totally obsessed with. This soup is one of them.
Last month I bought a cookbook named “The New Mediterranean Table”. It consists of recipes that are inspired by traditional cuisines of all the countries around Mediterranean sea, spanning three continents. The first recipe I wanted to try from the book happens to be the first recipe in the book (oh wow how interesting is that heheh).
The first and only time I ate poppy paste buns was when my sister-in-law’s mother Nafize baked them for us. I’ve loved them ever since and I’ve craved for them all this time in Helsinki – until one day, just by chance, I found poppy paste in Alanya Oriental Market in Itäkeskus in Helsinki!!!
I have been planning to make a nice gluten free plate for a long time – not one, not two dishes but a full plate that consists of a variety of tastes. Finally I made it! And it is incredibly easy to make!
I don’t remember the first time I ate this dessert, nor do I remember who had made it. All I can remember is the feeling. I absolutely loved the dessert, even though I had never been a fan of quince as a fruit or of the fruit desserts such as baked apples or poached pears etc.
I like using unusual ingredients in baking. Using zucchini in a sweet recipe to give moisture is a rather unusual thing to do (ok, not the most groundbreaking idea, but still..).
I love searching for old, ancient recipes from around the world. It doesn’t only give me an idea of what people used to eat or how they cooked, but it gives an idea about their life in general and puts food in a historical context.
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