Risotto Milanese with Grilled Fennel and Herbs

My great-grandmother Olga was notorious for her elephant's memory: she would never forget, especially when she got bad service in a shop. If that happened, she would make a dramatic exit, declaring in her broad Karelian dialect: "I will never come to this place again." And she would indeed keep her word.

So do I.

This risotto recipe is dedicated to Coma, an Italian restaurant in Helsinki that boasts simple Italian dishes, made from scratch in their open kitchen. Me and my cousin had dinner there on Tuesday and were very disappointed with the risotto we both had as main dish. The only thing the waiter could answer to our very polite criticism was: "But this is the best risotto in Helsinki!" It turned out it had indeed been nominated as the best risotto in town - back in 2007. Anyway, de gustibus non est disputandum - but it's not acceptable not to take polite remarks seriously (or at least to fake to do so). And the dish was horribly expensive, too; 18 euros for a small plate.

So, I will never go to Coma again.

To recover from that awful risotto experience, I tried out a new risotto idea today, featuring saffron, garlic, grilled fennel, and herbs. For this big portion enough for 5 eaters I paid about 12 euros... and I happen to live in one of the most expensive places in the world - so the chances are, you'll pay even less :)

Here's what you need:

• 1 large onion, finely chopped


• 2 garlic cloves, crushed


• 5 Tbsp olive oil, divided


• 0,5g saffron


• salt and pepper to taste


• 150ml dry white wine


• about 1 liter hot vegetable stock


• 2 large fennel bulbs, sliced finely


• a handful of fresh basil and parsley leaves


• a handful of toasted pine nuts


• (and some grated Parmesan to serve, if you want)

First, set your oven to 250C. Place the fennel slices on a baking tray and sprinkle them generously with olive oil and salt. Once the oven is hot, grill the fennel slices until they start to get some colour, or about 15 minutes.

In the meantime, cook the risotto: Heat 3 Tbsp olive oil in a large pan. Sauté the onions over a medium heat until they are translucent. Add the garlic and stir, then add the rice and fry 1-2 minutes more. Now, add the white wine, saffron, salt, and pepper, and about 1/3 of the vegetable stock. Let simmer over a medium heat. Add gradually the rest of the vegetable stock until the rice has cooked al dente. Your risotto should be rather liquid at this point, because it dries a lot before you get to serve it - even if you're very fast :)

Now, arrange the grilled fennel slices on top of the risotto. Sprinkle generously with basil, parsley, pine nuts ans some more pepper and salt if needed. Serve immediately with a glass of your favorite red wine!

Day 21: Sweet Christmas Bread, Finnish Style

You remember I wrote in my previous post about one almost never coming to think of recipes that wouldn't already exist? The following is the exception justifying the use of almost; at least I couldn't find anything similar with a quick Google research.

The first bread I ever baked from scratch was a Finnish Christmas loaf, and, if my memory is to be trusted, it turned out perfect. It was the classical recipe from the best-known traditional Finnish cookbook, Kotiruoka, or Home Cooking. It's baked with molasses, fennel, bitter orange peel, and caraway seeds - and lots of yeast. Which is the reason why I wanted to modify the recipe, to be baked with sourdough starter instead of yeast.

The result was the most delicious and moist loaf ever! (If you happen to like sweet bread and anise taste, that is. I'm the only one in my family who does! More bread for me......!)

This is what you need for two loaves:

• 200g sourdough starter (on the stiffer side)


• 400g buttermilk


• 200g rye flour


• 200g spelt flour


• 200g all-purpose flour


• 12g salt


• 100ml molasses, divided


• 1tsp aniseed or fennel seeds (I couldn't FIND my fennel seeds, so I used aniseed instead)


• 1tsp bitter orange peel


• 1tsp caraway seeds


• plus some more fennel and caraway seeds for the topping

Combine starter, all three flours, and buttermilk in a baking bowl. Stir so that the flour gets moist and let stand about 20 minutes. In the meantime, combine 60ml of the molasses, the orange peel and slightly crushed fennel (or aniseed) and caraway seeds in a small saucepan. Bring to the boil and remove from heat.

Now, add salt and the molasses mixture into the baking bowl. Knead about 10 minutes or until you have an elastic, smooth dough. I had to add some water because my flour was very thirsty (whole-grain rye and spelt flour tend to be...).

Cover the dough with a damp kitchen towel and let ferment overnight, or about 8 hours.

After the fermentation, beat the dough about 2 minutes and divide it into two parts. Proof each loaf in a proofing basket about 1 hour.

Transfer the loaves on a baking tray and brush with the rest of the molasses (add about 1 Tbsp water to make it liquid enough for brushing) and sprinkle with some seeds.

Bake in 225C for about 15 minutes, then turn the heat down to about 180C and bake until thoroughly cooked, about 45 more minutes. This bread burns easily, so check every once in a while. If necessary, cover the loaves with a wet parchment paper.

Let cool and enjoy with lots of butter!

P.S. I baked this bread now twice with sourdough starter, and the oven spring with the first batch was incredible: first, the loaves didn't seem to rise at all, but suddenly they had turned into small "volcanoes"! The second batch didn't turn out that pretty - but just as delicious ;)

P.P.S. I baked these loaves yesterday but didn't have time to write the post. Today, I'm going to bake Linzer Schnitten - among my favourite Plätzchen! And then - two more days to go!!

 

 

Stir-Fry with Fennel, Kohlrabi, Carrot, Cucumber, and Leek

On Friday, I checked my “compost” box in my fridge. It had the green parts of one leek and stalks and greens of one fennel. In addition, I peeled two carrots, one kohlrabi and one cucumber for the kids’ salad for lunch. That left me with 300g still perfectly usable vegetable parts that I was determined to eat for lunch.

As I was in a hurry, I opted for this quick stir-fry. It really only takes less than 10 minutes to have this dish ready! If you want, you can serve some cooked rice with it. Then this portion would be enough for two.

For one portion you need:

• 300g stalks, stems, leaves, greens, or peels of organic, well-washed vegetables


• 1 Tbsp sunflower or olive oil


• 1-2 garlic cloves, crushed


• 2 Tbsp soy sauce


• 1 Tbsp sesame oil


• chili to taste


• a handful of nuts – I had pistachios, but would have used cashews if I’d had some :)


• fresh coriander

Chop the vegetables very small – especially the fennel. If left too big, they will be too hard to eat. Heat oil in a heavy pan and add vegetables. Fry some 3-4 minutes over a medium heat, then add chili and garlic, stir and fry 1-2 minutes more. Then add nuts, soy sauce, sesame oil and a bit of water (3-4 Tbsp), and let simmer 2 more minutes. Check salt – add if needed.

Sprinkle with fresh coriander and serve!