Chocolate egg filled with Blueberry "pasha"

Okay okay I know this isn't exactly like a pasha which is a traditional Orthodox dessert eaten at easter but it's a bit lighter version of it (without any butter) and that's where I got my inspiration from when thinking what to fill my homemade chocolate egg with.
Typically pasha contains almonds and dried fruits, drained quark, butter, sugar and cream.  But I just made it a bit quicker.

A few days ago I tried making my own chocolate eggs in an egg shaped chocolate mould. I just melted white chocolate in a bain marie and once melted I gradually added some chocolate chips to it until they just a bout dissolved. The hard nibs are working like the "teacher" teaching the melted chocolate to become hard again like in tempering. If you don't do this your chocolate egg will not harden completely. 

Just to quicken the procedure I put my eggs in the freezer making them properly hard before removing from the mould.

I now had made my own easter egg :) YEY

 Today I thought I would fill these with something and came up with making a lighter version of pasha as here in Finland we like to eat that during easter.

You can use this filling without the egg or even fill just a ready bought egg.

2dl Quark

1dl whipping cream

0,5 dl sugar

lemon zest

lemonjuice from half a lemon

2 gelatine leaves

a bit of cream cheese (1dl) just in case to make it a bit more firm (this can however be omitted)
Pistachios (unsalted)
blueberries
blue spirulina or food colouring of your choice.

Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for a few minutes.

Mix the quark and the sugar and add the blue spirulina or food colouring.

Heat up the lemon juice and add the gelatine leaves until they dissolve. Take off the heat and let it cool a bit before mixing it into the quark mixture.
Add the cream cheese if using.

Whip the cream until quite firm. Fold in with the quark mixture.

Place in the cold for a couple of hours unless it already is piping consistency.

Mix in some chopped pistachios and the lemon zest.

Top with blueberries and some more pistachios

Mirror glaze

Yesterday I shared a recipe of the frozen mango cheesecake with passionfruit. It's a perfect recipe also if you want to cover it with a mirror glaze like I did. Any kind of cheesecake or mousse can be covered with mirror glaze as long as it's freezing cold and has a smooth surface.
I made this cheesecake in a chocolate mould shaped like an egg as I couldn't find a silicone mould which would have been more ideal. I still wanted to try. I covered the mould with cling film to make it easier to remove from the mould. However if you have a silicone mould it's much better cause the cling film already made the surface of my cake a bit uneven.
I also was not quite as amazed with the colour of my egg as I have been previous times I've used this shiny glaze. I recommend to use quite vibrant colours because the finish will be much better. Also add a bit of edible glitter to make it shine and sparkle as I did in my red dome shaped (version shown at the bottom of this page).

Here's how to make a mirror glaze:

You will need:
300g granulated sugar
200g sweetened condensed milk
150ml water

2tbsp of gelatine powder
125ml water
350g white chocolate 

Mix these into a saucepan:

300g granulated sugar
200g sweetened condensed milk
150ml water

Place these into a pot and heat up on medium heat, stirring occasionally.

In a separate bowl:
2tbsp of gelatine powder
125ml water

while the condensed milk mixture is heating, mix the gelatine powder with the water and let it swell up for a few minutes.

Once the condensed milk has come to a simmer take it off the heat and add the gelatine lump. Mix well.

Chop some white chocolate 350g and por the hot mixture onto the chocolate and allow to melt 5 mins and mix well with a whisk.

Add the colour of your choice and let it cool a bit until body temperature (37°C).

Place your frozen cake or smaller cakes onto a rack with a baking tray underneath. Pour the glaze onto the cakes and let it set in the fridge.

Here's a mirror glaze with a more vibrant colour

Cheesecake with mango and passion fruit

One day I got these silicone moulds shaped like flowers from a friend of mine. I immediately wanted to try to make something with them. At first I wasn't sure I liked them and if I would use them much as I thought they were a bit kitsch...but seeing the end result really changed my mind. I found this recipe on Linda Lomelino's blogg call me cupcake and it was really easy to make and delicious. I mean how can you not love cheesecake, passionfruit and mango, right?

I hadn't thought about sharing this recipe but as easter is right around the corner I thought this would be the perfect dessert. You can make it into one big cake like Linda Lomelino did, or make it into smaller individual cakes depending on which moulds or cake forms you use.

For the cookie base:
150g Digestive cookies
60g melted butter

Cheesecake filling:

300g Philadelphia cream cheese
250g Ricotta
4 dl whipping cream
1,75dl sugar
1 tsp lemon zest
250g mango

Decoration:
3 passionfruit

Place the biscuits into a blender and grind until smooth.
Mix the cookies with the melted butter.
Press the cookie mix into the bottom of your cake form (one where you can easily get the bottom off).
Place into the fridge for 20 minutes.

Or like in my case, I pressed the cookie mix onto a oven tray covered with parchment paper into small individual circles using a round form. I then placed this into the fridge to harden, like above, while I prepared the cheesecake mix.

Whisk together the cream cheese, ricotta, cream, sugar and lemon zest. It should start to thicken but still be pouring consistency.
Pour the filling into the moulds or into the cake pan with the cookie bottom.

Peel the mango, remove the pit and cut into chunks. Place into the blender and blend until it's a puré.
Pour the mango puré onto the cheesecake filling and by using a spoon, gently mix it in like a swirl. Not mixing it in completely.
You could also pour the puré into small individual half globes and freeze until hard and press into the cheesecake filling to make small domes that will be revealed when you cut into the cheesecake.

Cover the cake/cakes with clingfilm and place into the freezer for 6hrs.
Take out the cake approximately 30 mins before serving. Pour te passionfruit onto the cake.

This is super easy to make and can be made in advance.

Today I also tried placing this filling into an egg shaped mould and covered it with a vibrant mirror glaze.

I'll post more on that soon!

Easter Shakshouka

Shakshouka....what? Shakshouka...shake what?

How can you not already love Shakshouka even if you never ever heard of it before? The name already implies that it's something fun, exotic, spicy and interesting and the word itself already makes you want to do a little dance.
Shakshouka is a one pan dish of eggs cooked in a tomato sauce, packed with spices originating, from North Africa and is also very popular in the Middle East. It's usually made with tomato sauce, red chili peppers, onions, cumin and other spices. I like to add Ras el Hanout which is a spice blend (usually containing cumin, cardamom, clove, ginger, cayenne, coriander, paprika etc.) made in these countries and is perfect for this.
The first time I had Shakshouka was in Tel Aviv, Israel, which is also the first place I got hooked on Ras el Hanout.

Normally the Shakshoukas are made with a red tomato sauce, but as Easter is coming up I thought of making my own version using yellow tomatoes, yellow and orange bell peppers and of course yellow chillies.
I love how this dish turned out and I'm sure you will love it too. It can be served as breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner or midnight snack....so t's just perfect and it's also so easy to make (especially if you were to use canned tomato sauce).

Ingredients:

3-5 eggs (depending on the size of your pan and how many people you are. I only used 3)
1 yellow bell pepper (200g when whole)
1 orange bell pepper (200g)
200g mixed yellow tomatoes
3 yellow chillies (30g)
1-2 garlic cloves
2 spring onions (20g)
1 tsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp Ras el Hanout
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp flake salt
20g Kale (optional)
cilantro
flatleaf parsley

Take a few tomatoes and a slice of pepper aside for garnish and to get a bit of texture. I also saved one of the chillies for later. This step is completely optional as you could just chuck everything in the pan at once and pop in the blender to make the sauce, but I really like to chop some fresh peppers, tomatoes and chillies on top not only for texture but because it just looks prettier too.

Chop the bell peppers, chilies, tomatoes, onion and garlic roughly. In a pan with olive oil sautée the ingredients until a bit soft. Add the spices and place into a blender.

While the blender is doing its work, Finely slice the kale and sautée until a bit soft. Even some of these I saved for later and fried them as a crunchy topping only because I love the variety of texture and love a bit of crispiness and crunch.

Season with salt. To balance off the spiciness and bitterness add the maple syrup (can be replaced with sugar).

Once you are happy with the taste, pour the mixture back into the pan.  Add the sautéed kale. Let the mixture simmer a bit.
Using a spoon make som wells into the sauce to crack the eggs into.
Carefully cover the whites with the sauce. This will make the whites cook faster. Cook the eggs in the sauce on low heat. Add the rest of the finely chopped bell peppers and halved cherry tomatoes.
Once the egg whites are cooked and the egg yolks are still runny turn off the heat.
Sprinkle with chopped cilantro and flatleaf parsley.
If you saved some of the kale add this too.
To add a bit more kick...add the rest of the chili.
Serve the shakshouka from the pan.
A bit of bread can be a nice condiment to scoop up all the goodness.

You could mix all the ingredients together to make it easier but as I said I really like mine with a bit of texture. The Kale is completely optional and if you like you can use some spinach instead to add some greens.

Happy Shakshouka Easter!

Burbot Soup

When it's cold outside I often like to eat something that will properly heat me up from the inside. Even if it's not leg numbing cold or I can't feel my face kind of cold anymore it's still been windy and the kind of cold that goes through to your bones. So the best kind of food on days like this are definitely soups and stews.
 I only felt it was finally time to make burbot soup before the season ends. I think I just about got one of the last ones but I still left some really fat plump ones at the Fishmongers.

Burbot is a really ugly fish which is related to cod. Don't judge this fish by it's looks 'cause it's really delicious. The meat is white and very firm.
Usually they sell this fish whole with all the intestines still inside. You can always ask the fishmonger to prep the fish for you, if you are scared to take on the task, but I just enjoy to do everything myself as it just adds to the whole soup making process and I'm sure it also adds to the taste when you've had to do all the hard work.

You will need:
Burbot 1-1,5kg (can be replaced with cod or almost any other fish of preference)
Shallots 3
Bayleaves 3
All spice 4-5 kernels

Carrots 4
Parsnip 1
Swede (Rutabaga) 1/2
Potatoes 5
Fennel 1
Fresh Turmeric 1 nub about 1x5 cm
White wine 1 glass approx. 12cl (optional but gives a bit of acidity to the soup)
Salt
Curry 2tsp (optional)
Turmeric spice
Cream 2 dl
Dill

Put on a pair of plastic gloves cause it's time to Skin the fish and it can get a bit messy if you're not used to it (however, to make it easier for yourself you can always ask the fishmonger to do it for you).
To skin the fish, cut a collar like slit just behind the fins behind the head. Slide your fingers under the collar and pull like you were pulling off a very tight sweater or pvc outfit off of someone long and slim :D
The intestines will be revealed by this time. The big light pink, almost a cream white firm piece that falls out first is the liver. Be very careful not to break the gall bladder, next to the liver, because this will give off a very bitter taste and ruin your whole soup. Pull out the intestines and remove. Save the liver (will be added to the soup later) and if you are lucky you will also find a big bag of roe (fish eggs), which are very silky, tiny and soft in texture (truly delish).
Unfortunately my fish had no eggs :(

 Cut the fish into 4 pieces (optional but it makes it easier to fit into the pot) and place into a big pot including the head and all (you can even add the skin).
Add 2 shallots cut into 4.
Add some sprigs of dill, the bay leaves and the all spice and cover with water.
Slowly bring it to boil and remove any foam that forms onto the surface. As soon as it looks like you can remove the fish off the bone take it out of the water. Wearing plastic gloves clean the fish.
Be careful when doing this to get all the smallest bones out too.
I still like to keep the fish filet as whole as possible, this way it will stay more juicy.
Place the fish bone back into the boiling water and let simmer until you have a nice stock.
Drain the stock to remove any bones, dill, all spice, shallots and bayleaves.

Now you have a great fish stock for your soup :)

Dice the carrot, potato, swede and parsnip into cubes (1 - 2cm).
Dice the shallots.
Cut the Turmeric into 4. Turmeric will dye everything yellow and it will not come off easily so please be aware of this and try to touch it as little as possible with your hands or anything white.
Place olive oil and butter into the pot.
Add the shallots first and sautée until they are a bit translucent.
Add the potato, swede and parsnip and fennel and sautéed a bit more until they get a bit of colour.
I like to add my carrots in after a little while as I don't want them to be completely mushy as they cook faster than the potatoes.
Pour in the white wine and simmer until reduced.
Add the fish stock.
Add salt.
Remember to add the carrots too.
Cook until the root vegetables are done. I don't like anything to be overcooked but you don't want the potatoes to be undercooked either.
As soon as the potatoes are cooked add cream and the fish.
Add the curry according to taste.
Chop in some fresh dill.
Taste until you are satisfied with the amount of salt and curry.
To add a bit more yellow colour to the stock you can add a bit of ground turmeric.

The wine and the curry are completely optional. I just like to add a bit of character to an otherwise very traditional soup and I hadn't originally planned on adding the wine but I just happened to have some leftover chardonnay in my fridge.

 I hope this will keep you warm and cosy :)

Hot Chocolate on Cold Frosty Days

Lately the weather has been amazing. It has really been a proper winter the way I like it. The temperatures dropped to -20°C (feeling like -28°C with the wind) but the sky has been a clear vibrant blue and the sun has been shining. In weathers like this I love to take long walks on the ice and admire the nature's beauty. Everything has frozen and it's just truly magical. Ice crystals are just among some of the most beautiful things I know and they were everywhere.  Even waterfalls were frozen, forming such beautiful ice sculptures.

I know you must be thinking who is crazy to go out at temperatures like this, and many of my friends would prefer to stay indoors, but if you dress up properly and pack a thermos with hot cocoa to have a picnic on the sea it's just a pleasure.

I was not the only one in this crisp weather. There were a lot of people of all ages enjoying walks, making snow men, skiing or even ice fishing. Nobody looked like they were suffering despite the Siberian temperatures instead everybody looked healthy and fresh with their red blushed cheeks.

Enjoy your cold days with this warming Hot Chocolate

You will need:
1 l milk ( a bit more than 4 cups)
1 dl cream  (1/2 c)(optional but as I was left with this one dl I decided to use it as well)
1 can of condensed milk (397g)
4 tbsp of unsweetened chocolate powder (I used Van Houten brand)
2 pinches of flake salt
1 vanilla pod

For garnish
1 dl cream whipped
sugar
1 tsp cardamom seeds
marshmallows

Pour the milk, cream and condensed milk in a saucepan. Cut the vanilla pod in half and scrape all the seeds into the milk mixture including the pod. Add part of the salt. Bring the milk mixture to a boil. In a separate bowl measure the cocoa powder. Slowly add just a little bit of the liquid and mix well until you have a smooth paste. Add a bit more of the liquid and stir well to avoid any lumps.  Strain the milk to get rid of the vanilla pods. Add the rest of the milk to the cocoa paste.. Taste until it is to your liking. Add the rest of the salt if you wish. I like my chocolate to have a bit of saltiness to it to bring out the flavour of the chocolate. I also do not like my cocoa to be too sweet so I didn't add any extra sugar as the condensed milk is already very sweet.

Whip the whipping cream  and sugar until soft peaks form. Add the amount of sugar to your own liking. Ad the cardamom seeds. You could even use grated cinnamon or more vanilla in the cream if you like.

TIP: I always save my vanilla pods for later use. Rinse them well under water and let them dry. Once dried, place them into a glass jar and cover with granulated sugar. This way you will get a really good vanilla sugar for later use.







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