The lowly rutabaga makes a delicious casserole (lanttulaatikko).

For dinner tonight, we had lanttulaatikko, a very traditional casserole in Finland at Christmas time.  It is surprisingly sweet and satisfying.  

I started by peeling and cubing two rutabagas and boiling them for 20 minutes in salted water.

Rutabagas are very solid, a little difficult to cut up.  This picture shows a whole peeled rutabaga and one that I am cutting into cubes.  Isn't my coffee cup in the background beautiful?  It was a present from my sister-in-law, Taika by Arabia.   After they boiled, I used a stand mixer to mash them thoroughly.  

In another bowl, I combined 1/4 cup cream with what should have been 1/4 cup of DRY breadcrumbs.  I had to make my own out of bread from the freezer, so I used closer to 1/2 cup of fresh breadcrumbs.  After mixing in two beaten eggs, a teaspoon of salt, and a 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg, I added it to the beaten rutabagas.  The mixture then went into a 1.5 quart greased casserole.  The top is dotted with butter like this:

After about an hour in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven, it was lightly browned and ready to eat.  It was quite sweet already, but some Finnish recipes call for a little "siirapi" which translates as syrup, but unless you shop at Ikea, it would be impossible to find in the U.S.  I usually substitute brown sugar for "siirapi" in recipes, and the flavor is very authentic.  Maple syrup would probably taste ok in this dish, but I would never use the U.S. syrups we have generally available in a Finnish dish.  Finnish syrup has a molasses taste, much like brown sugar.

So the results are in, 4 out of 5 family members enjoyed the casserole.  My first grade son smeared it around his plate and then asked if he could get a new plate and a ham sandwich...I guess I should count the dogs as enjoying it, too!

My high schooler who loves science might not have enjoyed it if he had seen the Wikipedia page for rutabaga,  evidently the bitter taste is a thiocyanate, but " there have been no reports of ill effects in humans from the consumption of glucosinolates from normal amounts of Brassica vegetables."  Normal amounts.  Makes me wonder what a normal amount would be for a teenage boy... 

Hope you enjoy making this casserole as much as I did, it is a very authentic taste of Finland.

Thursday is craft day on Brushes and Paint...today I am making lankatonttuja...if you enjoy Finnish recipes, check out my art blog every Thursday for a fun seasonal craft.

The Finnish Mustard was absolutely delicious with ham on homemade bread.

The mustard from yesterday's recipe was absolutely delicious!  The only thing I noticed was that it didn't contain any salt, I wondered if this was an error with the original recipe or not.  I tasted it immediately after cooking and it was already very good, but then I added a pinch or two of salt.  I should have only added the salt to half of the mustard in order to get everyone's opinion, because the salt may have been unnecessary.  We ate the mustard with thick sliced ham from the deli, I like to buy the end pieces from the deli--they are very inexpensive and tasty.

I had to run out to the grocery to pick up the dry mustard, the closest market only had bulk mustard, not the name brand.  Really being in a hurry to get home before my children, I rushed through, but remembered to pick up some Rutabagas, doesn't a warm casserole sound good on a cold day like this?  I think even my husband will enjoy it (Did I tell you that my Finnish husband doesn't always enjoy traditional Finnish foods?  Things could get interesting around Easter because of my blog project).  Anyway, as I rushed through, I didn't check my cart carefully until checkout time.  Then I noticed that most of the cart was full of someone else's groceries!  At that point, I had no idea what to do, so I took all the extra groceries to the help desk and left them, apologizing profusely.  I'm sure somewhere there is a grandma-type who would like to hit me over the head with her purse!  

So in all the madness at the store, I forgot to buy bread.  This bread is not Finnish at all except in the spirit of using what is available.  It contains:  2 cups water (warmed for one minute in the microwave), a couple of Tablespoons of yeast, a couple of Tablespoons of Olive oil, a little salt, a half cup of stone ground corn meal (from Graue Mill, a wonderful girl scout field trip!), a half-cup of old fashioned oats, and enough flour to make the dough pull away from the sides of the bowl.  I let it rise while I picked up kid #1 from school, came back and made two long loaves, let rise a little longer, then baked it while picking up kid #2.  It was done just in time to eat before I had to get kid #3 to his Cub scout pack meeting.  We are all looking forward to winter break next week!  

Some bean soup from the slow cooker completed the meal.

Would I have done anything different with the mustard?  Maybe.  The mustard was a good consistency in the pan, but continued to thicken after it set.  Next time I would cook it a little less.

It was a little spicy, I'm wondering if more cream/less mustard would make it less spicy, or if it is just the type of dry mustard I used.  I am definitely making this again, next time I will try using corn starch instead of potato starch to see how it affects the results.  Also, I will cook it slightly less, and divide it in half before adding salt to some of it.  As long as it is served with a salty food like ham, it may not need the salt at all.

Well, time to start the lanttulaatikko, my rutabagas are waiting...

Finnish Mustard for Christmas

Meira makes the mustard I would really like to have for Christmas, or anytime really, but our supply has run out.  When we visit Finland, we bring it back in our suitcases.  We tape the tops with duct tape, and haven't had one leak yet.  It is a smooth mild mustard with a sweet flavor.  Not as sweet and much darker than the honey mustard we get here in the U.S., usually as a salad dressing.  

Ikea's Swedish Druvan mustard is similar and will have to do until our next visit to the grandparents.  The hodgepodge of candles in the background are some my daughter brought out last night for her Santa Lucia "festival."  My husband's cousin and godmother painted the lovely lavender holders with gold inside.  The round glass ones I picked up at Tiimari in Finland in the early '90s, and the star shaped one is from Iitala glass.

Today I am going to make homemade mustard from a recipe I found at Maku ("Taste" in Finnish) called "Grandpa's Christmas mustard."  I don't expect it to be anything like Meiran Sinappi, but am interested to see how it turns out.

Here is the translated and converted recipe:

1/2 cup Coleman's dry mustard
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 Tablespoons potato starch (I often substitute corn starch for potato starch, but today I happen to have potato starch in the cabinet)
1/2 cup cream
1-4 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Mix the dry ingredients together and sift into a heavy bottomed kettle.  Add the cream and mix well.  Heat over a medium heat, stirring and scraping the bottom constantly until it starts to bubble and thicken.  Take the pan off the heat and add at least a Tablespoon of vinegar.  You can add more if you like, the vinegar makes the mustard more sour and a thinner consistency.  Put the mustard in a bottle while warm.  Keep in the mustard in the refrigerator.  Warning:  Do not let the sauce boil because the potato (or corn) starch will thicken and become like glue!

The recipe also says to experiment and add a little cognac or whiskey.

So now I am off to the store to buy the dry mustard.  I need to plan ahead a little better!

I wish I could get some Finnish sausages to go with the mustard, the joke in Finland is that sausages are the Finnish national vegetable.  We will probably eat our mustard with cold smoked salmon for Christmas Eve.

The final result, Saint Lucia saffron buns 2010

Here are some of the buns, the server is looking a little tired, just home from an orchestra concert where she played Christmas songs on her viola beautifully!

St. Lucia bun dough ready to rise!

This is a little update-- the dough from my previous post is ready to rise, note that I moved it from the stainless steel Kitchenaid bowl.  Bread dough doesn't rise well in metal bowls, they conduct heat too well.  I did put in the optional egg.  The saffron didn't dissolve as well as it should have--I should have crushed it better first.  Next year I'll do better, and I'm sure they will be quickly eaten, anyway.  That is the beauty of having teenagers in the house.  Now into the warming drawer until the kids get home from school--now that we have dogs I have to be careful where I leave the dough to rise.  Our dogs go crazy for sweet rolls!

The penguin cookie jar in the background is one that we bought for a teacher gift, isn't it cute!  The jar is a gift from a good friend of mine, it has layers of all the ingredients for Cranberry Hootycreeks, you can find the recipe by clicking on the underlined word.  The beautifully decorated jar is full of yummy ingredients like cranberries and dried cranberries.  Such a thoughtful gift, not Finnish at all, but I can't wait to bake them! 

Happy St. Lucia's Day!

My daughter absolutely loves St. Lucia's day.  Since she has two brothers, one older and one younger, this is her day to show off a bit.  My boys have no interest in being star boys, as the boys in Finland often do on December 13.  But my daughter loves to dress in a white robe and put a wreath of lingonberries and candles on her head (we never light the candles).  A red belt made of a ribbon completes her costume.  If you are interested in the legend of St. Lucia, you can read about it on wikipedia here.   Wikipedia does a fairly good job explaining the real tradition, I'll just describe the holiday as it happens here in our transplanted, half-Finnish family.  We just see it as another fun way to celebrate during the dark winter.

This is a picture from 2008, we haven't had the big event yet today where she serves her dad the traditional lussekatter saffron buns. Usually she just dresses up and we get a good picture before she sets the buns down for her brothers and father to devour.  The fun part for the kids is making the buns.  I'll post the recipe now in case you want to bake along today.  Once again, I am converting to U.S. measurements, but I'll leave the metric in parenthesis in case anyone in Europe wants bake too.

Saffron Buns--Sahramivenänen--Lussekatter
makes 30

1 packet of dry yeast (50 grams yeast)
2/3 cup butter (150 grams butter)
2 cups milk (5 dl milk)
0.5 teaspoons of salt
2/3 cup sugar (1.5 deciliters sugar)
1/3 ounce of saffron (1 gram saffron)
1 egg
about 6 cups of flour (1.5 liters flour)

1 beaten egg to brush on before baking
raisins to decorate

Melt the butter and warm the milk to about 120 degrees Fahrenheit (37C).  Be careful that the liquid is not too hot or the yeast will be killed and the dough will not rise.  Dissolve the yeast and add the salt, sugar and saffron.  Stir until all is dissolved.  If you want to, you can add an egg at this point to make the dough easier to handle.  I think I will try adding it today, only because I have a lot of eggs in the refrigerator.

Stir in so much flour that the dough pulls away from the edge of the bowl.  Sprinkle a little flour on top, cover with a cloth, and allow to rise in a warm place until it doubles, about 45 minutes to one hour.  I love to make bread in my Kitchenaid mixer with a bread hook, it makes it so much easier to knead.

After the dough has doubled in size, knead it for a few minutes on a floured surface, and put in the rest of the flour.   To make the traditional buns, make a thin  rope out of the dough, about 5 inches long.  Curve this rope into an S or 8 shape (without the spaces within the S or 8) .  Put a raisin in each of the two indentations of the bun.  I like to make the buns kind of small, kids seem to be more willing to try something small.
This is the public image from Wikipedia of the bun shape.

Brush the buns with beaten egg, and bake on an oven lower rack at 400 degrees F (200C) for 15 - 20 minutes.

Well, I am off to bake now, I'll post pictures and give an update when the buns are finished.  Hope you have good luck with baking these delicious buns, too!

Chocolate mint cookies for the holiday cookie exchange

My daughter and I were looking for a different, simple cookie for this year's holiday cookie exchange.  When we saw this one in Parhaat Leivonnaiset, we knew it would work wonderfully.  The original cookie had pearl sugar sprinkled down the middle, but we substituted crushed peppermint candy canes for a festive touch.  Candy canes are not a Finnish candy, but we think you would enjoy these anyway.

Chocolate Slices (Suklaaviipaleet)

makes 75 cookies

preheat oven to 350 Farenheit (175 Celsius)

200 grams butter = 14 Tablespoons butter (almost two sticks)

2.5 deciliters sugar = 1 cup sugar 

2 Tablespoons vanilla 

4 Tablespoons cocoa powder

3.5 dl flour =1.5 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 egg

pearl sugar (or sprinkles or crushed candy canes, as we used)

Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla.  In another bowl, combine the cocoa, flour and baking powder.  Combine these dry ingredients into the butter mixture to make a dough.  Let the dough sit in the refrigerator covered for 30 minutes to firm up.

Make the dough into ropes about finger-thickness and as long as the greased baking sheet.  Press them flat with a small spatula (or by hand).  Brush lightly with beaten egg and sprinkle the sugar or other decoration down the middle.

Bake in the middle of the oven for about 15 minutes at 350F.  Slice the warm cookies diagonally and let them cool on the cookie sheet.  I like to bake on parchment paper and slide the paper off the cookie sheet so I can reuse it.  

These were delicious, with a flavor like hot chocolate.  

We had so much fun at the party, and my daughter even had a chance to make her favorite star/snowflake decorations, which you can find the instructions to in my other blog, brushesandpaint.blogspot.com.