Shrimp scrambled eggs--katkarapumunakas

Tonight we were a little busy, still working on the bathroom remodel/sauna addition.  I had planned to make cabbage rolls, but just didn't have time.  Instead, I looked online for a Finnish recipe which had the ingredients that were already in the refrigerator.  I found shrimp scrambled eggs from Kotivinkki.  I followed the directions fairly closely, but substituted white onions for red ones.  I also increased the amounts by half, we have five to feed, including a teenager who is usually very hungry.

First, I chopped a large onion and two roma tomatoes.  Then I broke a dozen eggs into a large mixing bowl and added 1/4 cup of water, as in the original recipe.  Next time I will use milk instead, as I usually do.  We think scrambled eggs taste much richer with milk.

Then I soaked the precooked, frozen shrimp in water to thaw.  This just takes a few minutes, especially if you change the water often.  After they were thawed, I drained them and put them on a clean towel to dry thoroughly. 

I used a nonstick pan and a couple of tablespoons of canola oil to sauté the onions over medium heat until they were translucent.  Stir constantly and don't let them burn!  The pan I used has an eco-friendly, non-toxic nonstick, it works pretty well, but has started to show its age on the bottom.  It is from a set I found at Target a couple of years ago.  


After the onions started to get translucent, I added the tomatoes and continued cooking and stirring for a couple of minutes.  Then I added the eggs and continued to cook, stirring occasionally, until the eggs were just barely set.   Then I added the very well drained shrimp.  Salt, pepper and snipped fresh dill completed the dish.  Snipping herbs is so easy if you use kitchen shears (scissors).  

If we were in Finland, or if I had baked this week, we would be eating rye bread with butter with this dish.  Tonight we had to make do with bagels and salmon-flavored Philadelphia cream cheese, not Finnish at all, except that everyone who has visited us from Finland has liked them.  

My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed the dish.  The kids, not so much...the comments were (in descending age order):  

Kids' questions:

1.  Are there tomatoes in that?  

2.  I'm not really in the mood for eggs.  

3.  Why do the shrimp look like that?

My answers:

1.  Just a little.
2.  Put more salt on it.
3.  Because they are shrimp.

Anyway, not the kind of table banter that I was hoping for, but all kids have their days where they just aren't in the mood to eat something.  Next time I make it, I'm putting milk instead of water, a little more salt, and maybe adding something salty like Parmesan cheese or capers.

My husband was very happy this week to find Christmas soda at World Market.  Tastes kind of like very sweet Coke, if you added apple cider spice. He is enjoying it with some Italian nougat, which I also don't care for. I am waiting for his sugar headache which will be coming any time now.

As an update, we still have some mead left (kotikalja), look at how carbonated it has gotten, the bottom of the jug is rounded! The last time I opened a bottle of mead that was this carbonated, I had to clean the ceiling and walls afterward.  

Have fun cooking and keep checking back, I have to make the cabbage rolls very soon.

Ham, shrimp and blue cheese pizza with homemade crust

This may sound like an odd combination, but it is one that my husband and I ordered many times from my apartment in Helsinki years ago.  I don't know if it is particularly Finnish or not, but it is a great reminder of simpler times for us.  Finnish pizza in general is thin crust, and seafood toppings are not unusual.  One very popular pizza is Frutti di Mare, which has tuna, shrimp, and oysters.  This may sound a little strange for Americans, but it is really delicious.  Shrimp is a pretty common pizza topping in Finland.


When we ordered this pizza in Helsinki, we actually ordered it with mushrooms, not olives.  Unfortunately, the mushrooms I bought for tonight ended up as a second portion of mushroom salad!  So tonight I substituted olives, we had a mixture of green and black olives leftover in the refrigerator.  


I like to make my own pizza dough, it is so easy.  First I microwave 2 cups (5 dl) of water for one minute, it shouldn't be hot at all, otherwise it will kill the yeast.  I put this in my stand mixer with the dough hook, and add about 1 packet of dry yeast (I buy yeast in bulk, so I usually just put a little in...) and a dash of salt.  Next, add flour (bread flour if you have it) one cup at a time with the mixer on low until the dough forms a ball and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.  I think this took about 5 cups today...it varies with the conditions in the kitchen.  It shouldn't be too stiff, but it will look like this:

Let it knead in the machine for a few minutes, then put it in a lightly oiled plastic, glass or wooden bowl to rise.  Don't leave it in the metal bowl from the mixer, bread dough doesn't rise as well in metal--it conducts heat too well.  Cover with a clean cloth and put in a warm place for up to an hour.  Today I only let it rise for half an hour, because we were in a hurry.  Thin crust pizza doesn't seem to require as long of a rise as bread dough.

While the dough was rising, I got some leftover ham chunks out of the freezer and thawed them slightly in the microwave.  The stand mixer grinder attachment grinds meat better if the meat is partially frozen.  The ham on the pizza we ordered in Helsinki was ground like this.

Next, the dough was ready to form.  I just patted it out into the oiled jelly roll pans, this amount makes two large pizzas.  My technique is to put the crusts in a cold oven, set it for 400 Fahrenheit (200 Celsius) and let the crusts rise just a bit as the oven heats up.  This also lets them cook just a little and reduces the overall cooking time.  

If we are not in the mood for pizza, sometimes we sprinkle on some rosemary and salt (or Parmesan cheese) and fully cook the dough at this point for delicious foccaccia bread.

Next, I put on some canned marinara sauce.  My kids are really particular about spaghetti/pizza sauce, and I used the one they eat the best.  You might call this "picking your battles..."  Then I sprinkled on the ham liberally, and covered the pizza with precooked peeled frozen shrimp (still frozen, not thawed, otherwise they would overcook).

Then I coated the pizza with mozzarella and dotted on the blue cheese.  This was the last of an excellent blue cheese that our neighbor Anna brought to the New Years eve party.  A smattering of olives, and the pizzas went back in the oven.  I rotated them from the top to lower rack, and cooked them for about 25 minutes.

The pizzas were a big hit, even our youngest had two big slices.  No one complained about the unusual toppings, and I am really looking forward to leftovers for lunch tomorrow!