Kesäkeitto

Wow, it seems that this blog is full of Finnish recipes. You can really tell what country's food I really love. Well, I love Finland in general, but their food is some of my favorite ever. :D So, today I am going to give you this early summer, late spring recipe. Kesäkeitto is a vegetable soup that you can add shrimp to for special occasions or if you just like shrimp in your soup. It is pretty tasty. So, here you go.


Ingredients

• 6 small potatoes
• 1 teaspoon of sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
• 6 small onions cut in thin rounds
• 3 carrots cut into thin rounds
• 3/4 cup of peas
• 4 small radishes chunked
• 3/4 cup of green beans
• 1 small head of cauliflower 
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 cup of milk
• 1/4 cup of heavy cream
• Optional 1/2 pound of medium sized cooked shrimp

Directions

• Place all the vegetables into a large pot and fill with water and the salt. Boil uncovered until the vegetables tender
• Remove from the pan from heat and strain water into a bowl and set aside  with vegetables in a separate bowl 
• In the pan, melt the butter
• Remove from heat and stir in the flour, slowly pouring in the vegetable stock beating vigorously with a whisk
• Beat in the milk
• In a small bowl, combine the egg yolk and cream
• Whisk in 1 cup of the hot soup, a couple tablespoons at a time
• Slowly whisk the warm egg yolk mixture into the soup
• Add the vegetables back and bring to a simmer
• Add shrimp if you want to and simmer uncovered until shrimp and vegetables are heated through
• Add pepper

There you have it. It is pretty tasty even though it takes a bit of effort to make. It is definitely not something you can just whip up in a few minutes. Personally, I think it tastes better if it has been simmering on supper low heat all day when it is really cold outside. Of course then it sort of defeats the purpose of it being made with fresh vegetables. Hope you all enjoy this recipe! I will try to add more non-Finnish food recipes in.  

Pulla

Sorry for the sporadic updates. The semester is winding down here and I have a ton of work to do. Also, I am getting ready to submit another book for publication and work. As such, my time to get on here is hit and miss. I have a ton of recipes to upload and the one I am uploading today is probably one of my favorites. Pulla, for those of you who do not know, is a Finnish bread. Pulla is a sweet bread, so it is not good for making sandwiches on, but it is delicious for breakfast and tea snacks. An interesting thing is that cinnamon rolls, are actually a modified Pulla recipe. :P So, next time you eat a cinnamon roll, you are really eating a bit of a Finnish bread. Just remember that. So, on with the recipe!

Ingredients

• 2 cups of milk
• 1/2 cup of warm water (110 degrees F)
• 1 package of active dry yeast (.25 oz)
• 1 cup of white sugar (vanilla sugar is preferred, but not required) 
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of ground cardamom (cardamom is one of the most expensive spices you can buy. It is possible to substitute a mix of nutmeg and cloves to get a similar taste if you do not wish to spend $15-$20 for a small container of it)
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 9 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1 egg beaten separate from the others
• 2 tablespoons of white sugar (vanilla sugar is preferred, but not required)

Directions

• Warm the milk in a saucepan until it bubbles and then remove from heat
• Dissolve the yeast in the warm water 
• Stir in the warm milk, 1 cup of sugar, salt, cardamom, 4 eggs, and approximately 2 cups of the flour
• Beat until the dough is smooth and stretchy
• Add 3 cups of flour and beat until the dough is glossy and smooth
• Add melted butter and stir well until it looks glossy once again
• Add remaining flour until the dough is stiff
• Turn dough out of bowl onto a floured surface and cover with the bowl for 15 minutes
• Knead the dough until it is smooth
• Place in a lightly greased mixing bowl
• Roll the dough over so that the top is greased as well
• Cover with a cloth and let rise until doubled or about 1 hour
• Punch it down and let rise until doubled again
• Turn bread out onto a floured surface and divide into 3 parts
• Divide each of these into 3 more parts
• Roll out into 12 inch strips
• Braid three strips into a loaf (This means you will end up with 3 loaves)
• Place onto greased baking sheets and let rise for 20 minutes
• Brush each loaf with the 1 beaten egg
• Sprinkle with remaining sugar
• Bake at 400 degrees F for 25- 30 minutes

Keep in mind that it is very easy to burn sweet breads. Since it is Easter time, I figured I would share this Easterish recipe with you. It is fairly simple, in terms of bread recipes. I can think of numerous others that are much more complicated. It is important that the water you put the yeast into is between 108-112 degrees F. If you get too far from it, it could mess up the recipe. I hope you enjoy this recipe! Happy Baking!