Dear friends, wine, endless laughter and only subtle (but so heart-felt) jokes at the expense of the in-house-food blogger. Those, and one furry little white dog, adored by absolutely everyone but who, were he a human child somewhere in America, would have been diagnosed with some fancy acronym and prescribed Ritalin and long-term counselling a long time ago. Those are some of the things fabulous nights are made of!
That's how we kicked off Tzatziki Champion's birthday celebrations last Friday. She, too, is in the middle of big life changes and facing new beginnings. Only she does it a more glamorous manner: she went and bough herself a flat at the most exclusive zip code in Helsinki. The flat, much like everything else in her life, is tiny and white.
An equally crucial addition to her life is her new personal trainer, who has managed to get some serious results. They haven't come without the pain and sacrifices though: cheese has been replaced with fat-free quark and wine... well, that she still drinks. But in secret.
And what is a birthday without a cake! Though this time it was savoury and suitable for also Vegetarian and Tunisian. In case you can't get your hands on crisp bread, you can use that German rye/ pumpernickel bread too.
Since I abhor gelatin, I set the cake by baking it in the oven. If gelatin is our thing though, feel free to use that instead. In addition to dill, fennel and orange beets also love the company of woodier herbs such as rosemary and thyme. Try ginger too!
That's how we kicked off Tzatziki Champion's birthday celebrations last Friday. She, too, is in the middle of big life changes and facing new beginnings. Only she does it a more glamorous manner: she went and bough herself a flat at the most exclusive zip code in Helsinki. The flat, much like everything else in her life, is tiny and white.
An equally crucial addition to her life is her new personal trainer, who has managed to get some serious results. They haven't come without the pain and sacrifices though: cheese has been replaced with fat-free quark and wine... well, that she still drinks. But in secret.
And what is a birthday without a cake! Though this time it was savoury and suitable for also Vegetarian and Tunisian. In case you can't get your hands on crisp bread, you can use that German rye/ pumpernickel bread too.
Since I abhor gelatin, I set the cake by baking it in the oven. If gelatin is our thing though, feel free to use that instead. In addition to dill, fennel and orange beets also love the company of woodier herbs such as rosemary and thyme. Try ginger too!
My cake tin was the one I also used for cheese-free cheesecake and measures 22 cm in diameter.
In case you don't (for some reason) have beetroot puré idly lying around (you'll need about 8 dl), start by making that one.
Filling:
1,5 kg beetroots
3 dl Greek yogurt
3 eggs
2 tsp fennel seeds
finely grated zest of 1 orange
salt and pepper
Brush (and if you want) cook the beets until done. Let cool. The deep magenta-coloured liquid could also be used to give your risotto a fabulous (and bang on rend) colour!
Peel and blizz into a puré with reek yogurt. Season. Generously. Whisk the eggs and pour into them the beet pure. Whisk until smooth.
Crust:
175 g crisp bread
50 g butter
Blizz the bread into fine, fine crumbs and combine with melted butter. Press onto the bottom of a loose bottom cake tin and let set in the fridge for half and hour or so. Pour into it the filling and bake at 175 for 50-60 minutes.
Let cake cool in room temperature and then let it set in the fridge - at least 4 hours but preferably until the next day.
Soften 200 g goat cheese by adding some Greek yogurt into it. The soft variety works better for this purpose as the skin on the harder variety tends to make it very hard to get the texture silky smooth. Using a pastry bag pipe some rosettes onto the cake (or go crazy trying to create a evenly shaped and sized row of hearts!)
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ANYONE FOR SECONDS?
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