Apr
9

Raspberry and pistachio gourmet meringues

by Sofia   -   in Cooking

Löysin Pinterestistä aivan hurmaavan suloisen näköisiä marenkeja ja halusin ehdottomasti kokeilla itse niiden valmistamista. Pääsiäsen jälkiruoka oli juuri oivan kohta niiden valmistamiselle. Ohjeessa oli pistaasin ja vadelman lisäksi myös tumma suklaa-appelsiini marenkeja, mutta niiden kokeilu jää seuraavaan kertaan. Käytin omaa marenkitaikinaani, eli 3 kananmunan valkuaista ja 7 rkl sokeria. Lisäsin siihen yhden vaniljatangon siemenet. Vadelmamarenkeihin tuli 1/2 kuppia pakastekuivattua vadelmaa murusteltuna ja hieman pinkkiä elintavikeväriä. Pistaasimarenkeihin tuli hivenen vihreää elintarvikeväriä ja 1/4 kuppia rouhittua pistaasipähkinää. Tällä kertaa tein marengit tarkoituksella hieman epätasaisiksi kuten alkuperäisessä ohjeessa. Se onnistui hyvin keksitaikinan annosteluun tarjoitetulla mitalla ( cookie scoop) koska minulla sattuu sellainen olemaan, mutta kahdella ruokalusikalla saisi hyvin myös tehtyä marenkikasoja. Ripottele vielä koristelut marenkien pinnalle enne uuniin laittamista. Jos haluat, että marengit jäävät sisältä sitkeiksi niin paista niitä noin 70-100 asteessa noin 1,5-2 h. Me tarjoilimme marenkeja pistaasijäätelön, kermavaahdon ja marjojen kera. Ihana yhdistelmä!

Apr
7

Easter dinner

by Sofia   -   in Cooking  Party planning

I hope you all had a great Easter! Ours included lots of family time, many rounds of dominoes, some good food and great wine and we went to see some cute new born lambs and chicks. They were all just a few days old if even that and so adorable. All in all we had a fun and lovely time.

I really wanted to share a few photos from our dinner table setting from one of the nights that we dined in our house. Our menu was inspired by the spring. We had green asparagus for starters. I really love it with a mixture of great olive oil and butter heated up with herbs such as oregano, sage and thyme. Add some grated lemon rind and juice, salt and pepper and you are in heaven. Generous shaving of aged parmesan on top is a must! For our main course my dad prepared the lamb and the sauce for it. He is the best chef in the world. I made us a big salad of mesclun greens with a sweet balsamic dressing and garlic potatoes. No one in our family is really in to the creamy kind and everyone always just wants the crispy topping so instead of making it in to a casserole I sliced the potatoes very thin on a mandolin, spread them evenly on baking sheets and drizzled olive oil on top. Then I added plenty of garlic, salt and black pepper and put them in the oven until crispy golden brown. To die for-good. Mint jelly is a must with lamb in our household and we baked an Italian Easter bread to go with it. I actually used my friends challah recipe that is a little sweet and added boiled and coloured eggs for lovely original looks. I added some saffron to it for a lovely yellow colour. This was a suggestion from a colleague of mine and the colours looked very pretty together. I also braided a regular challah loaf to save for the morning and we made ridiculously good french toast from it for breakfast. For dessert I made some meringues to be served with pretty pale green pistachio ice-cream, whipped cream and red currants. I´m sharing the recipe for those meringues this week. We used the rest of the whipped cream at breakfast. What a feast!

I found my inspiration for the table setting on Pinterest. I chose a few photos that had a great casual and a little “farm table”-feel to them. Fresh and spring like.

Mar
31

Easter Cookies

by Sofia   -   in Cooking  DIY projects

I baked some lemony cookies for me and the girls to decorate. I used my sugar cookie recipe ( it is a winner! It´s similar to this one that is in English) but substituted vanilla for lemon extract and added the grated rind of a lemon too. I also added some lemon extract to the icing. And I let the girls do whatever they wanted with their cookies. Bubble Gum obviously went a little crazy with sprinkles but Cotton Candy was quite restrained and tried different techniques and made pretty pearl necklaces for the chicks and bunnies. I love how they decorated their cookies ( you can see them here). I made polka dot bunnies and chicks that will be cute for an after school snack before the Easter holiday starts.