Gluten-free savoury muffins with sun dried tomatos, basil and olives

These days it's somewhat inevitable that in case you throw a party, there's bound to be at least one vegetarian. So, it was only fair to devise a vegetarian option to go with the cold smoked reindeer muffins I came up with for Philadelphia's recipe contest. I went for classic Mediterranean flavours of tomatos, olives and basil. And it was gooooooood. Take it from a ruthless carnivore!

Oh, and they're gluten-free too!

Depending on the size of your muffin tin this makes  12-22 

150 g butter

2 tbsp sugar

2 eggs

200 g Philadelphia garlic and herbs- cream cheese

1 dl milk

1 dl rice flour

1,25 dl potato starch

1,5 dl finely ground polenta/ yellow corn meal

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarb

1 dl sun dried tomatos, chopped 

handful of basil leaves, chopped (about 1/2 dl when chopped) 
1/2 dl black olives, chopped and drained (about 8-10 olives)

1/2 tsp black pepper

To decorate: 200 g Philadelphia garlic and herbs- cream cheese, cherry tomatos and/or basil leaves

Cream softened butter with sugar. Then add eggs, one at a time, continuing to beat. In another bowl mix cream cheese with milk until smooth and pour into the mixture. Combine the dry ingredients and add those into rest of the ingredients. Fold in reindeer and red onions. Season. There's no need for salt as cold smoked reindeer is that salty.

Spoon into the muffin tins. Those silicone ones totally rock - no need for greasing or lining with paper - nothing sticks to them! Bake at 200° for 15-25 minutes (depending on the size of your muffins). Check the doneness with a skewer - a little moist is perfect. Cool and decorate as you want.

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Gluten-free savoury muffins with cold smoked reindeer

The swiftly approaching summer means a couple of things. Such as the beginning of the barbecue season. And numerous parties: weddings, graduations and so forth. And that, of course, means recipe contests galore! Recently we've been matching wines with food for that perfect summer party and barbecuing porky delicacies. And yes, now there's another one!

This time Philadelphia cream cheese invited bloggers to come up with innovative ways to use their cream cheeses for little savoury treats for the party season. And I can tell you my head was spinning with ideas - salty snacks have always been my preferred choice over anything sweet and cute.

I'm not totally immune to the cute though: tempted by the minimuffin tins I couldn't resist at my latest pilgrimage to the cook ware shop I came up with these gluten-free savoury minimuffins. Which, on top of being über cute are also über easy. The batter is ready by the time the oven has warmed and it's so incredibly versatile. Shavings of cold smoked salmon would compliment cream cheese with chives. Reindeer can be substituted with crunchy bits of fried bacon. And chorizo and roasted red peppers... how can it be anything but delicious! And there's a Mediterranean veggie version coming up, too!

Depending on the size of your muffin tin this makes  12-22 

150 g butter

2 tbsp sugar

2 eggs

200 g Philadelphia chives- cream cheese

1 dl milk

1 dl rice flour

1,25 dl potato starch

1,5 dl finely ground polenta/ yellow corn meal

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarb

1 dl cold smoked reindeer crumbs (about 50 gr) 

1 dl finely chopped red onions (about 1/4 onion)

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp nutmeg

To decorate: 200 g Philadelphia chives- cream cheese, fresh herbs

Cream softened butter with sugar. Then add eggs, one at a time, continuing to beat. In another bowl mix cream cheese with milk until smooth and pour into the mixture. Combine the dry ingredients and add those into rest of the ingredients. Fold in reindeer and red onions. Season. There's no need for salt as cold smoked reindeer is that salty.

Spoon into the muffin tins. Those silicone ones totally rock - no need for greasing or lining with paper - nothing sticks to them! Bake at 200° for 15-25 minutes (depending on the size of your muffins). Check the doneness with a skewer - a little moist is perfect. Cool and decorate with cream cheese. 

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Gluten-free orange and rosemary polenta cake

The pending move is doing my head in. See, I hate moving. And packing in general. It isn't until you're moving to another place that you realize just how much stuff you've managed to amass. You'll come across mountains of boxes in the attic that you've not even opened since the previous relocation. Which turn out to house stuff you don't even know why you held onto. All episodes from Jeeves on VHS for instance. I've never even owned a VHS- player! Oh, and metres and metres of C-tapes (apparently there was a time in my past when I genuinely appreciated the extraordinary musical talent of Janet Jackson and Haddaway...)

And packing - that's never been one of my strengths. These days I draw (an illustrated)list of what to pack as soon as I've booked the flights. Which is called for, as I recall one trip to Ireland for which I'd forgotten to pack any underwear. Which didn't really matter in the end either as I also forgot to wake up that morning and missed my flight altogether...

So far my contribution to the test of organizational skills and sense of logistics has been going through and minimizing the contents of my pantry. Yes, baking. The latest result was this gluten-free polenta cake that was inspired by the success of the polenta fries. It gets its tangy juiciness from oranges and a little something extra from rosemary. That wonderfully fragrant herb is a firm favourite of mine and works well in desserts, too as lemon and rosemary crème brûlées, rosemary and damson flan and these lemony pudding cakes demonstrated.

Instead of orange, you could use lemon too. And in case your guests don't have issues with gluten, you can substitute almond flour with all purpose flour. Alcohol can be omitted (in that case do use the zest of 3 oranges!) but Limoncello (for lemon dishes) and Cointreau (for orange dishes) just add such hard-to-replicate citrusy depth which takes the flavour to a whole new level! Just try this Tagliatelle alla Pollo con Limoncello!

Orange and polenta cake:

200 g butter

150 g sugar

150 g almond flour

2 dl (appr. 140 gr) finely ground polenta

1,5 tsp baking powder

finely grated zest of 3 oranges and the juice of 2 oranges 

(1 generous tbsp Cointreau/ Grand Marnier/ Triple Sec in which case zest of 2 oranges is enough)
3 eggs
1,5 tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary

Take the butter into room temperature well in advance. Combine dry ingredients. You can also speed the softening by chopping it into small cubes. Beat with sugar into pale yellow froth and then add eggs, one at a time. Then add orange zest, the juice of 2 oranges and finally the dry ingredients.

Pour the mixture into a spring form pan you've lined with parchment (mine measured 20 cm) and bake at 175 for 70-75 minutes. As the cake cooks, it starts pulling away from the edges and a skewer comes out almost dry. Remove from the oven and let cool in the tin. In the meanwhile make the orange syrup.

Orange and rosemary syrup:

the juice of 1 orange (1 dl)

1 dl sugar

1 sprig of rosemary

Measure the ingredients into a heavy-based pan. bring to boil and then reduce the heat. Let simmer away for about 5 minutes. Let cool and drain.

Prick the surface of the cake with a toothpick-like-device of your liking. Careful though as it is moist and therefore cracks fairly easily. Pour the syrup on top and let it soak for about half an hour. Then flip it over and remove the parchment. This way the perfectly flat bottom becomes the top and the syrup soaks thoroughly into the cake.

Decorate with orange slices and rosemary sprigs. Or with cream. Or mascarpone mousse.

And mamma mia! I know this was supposed to be a treat for my gluten-intolerant colleagues but you know what? I'll just bake another one. This one I'll eat all by myself...!

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Slightly better fast food

Those polenta fries I made to go with the mussels in grape sauce were one of the most genius things ever come out of my kitchen. So naturally I just had to have some more! Street food is the biggest food trend in Finland right now and food that used to be called junk is getting a serious makeover. Though food trucks as such are a very recent arrival, Finland has a long history of snägäris, small kiosks/ trailers whose burgers and meat pies (with all the trimmings, please!) make the life bearable again for a tired reveler at 3am. One of my personal faves is sausage fries, makkaraperunat. Here's my take on it!

Sure, these would have even more food blogger street cred had I actually made my own sausages. But in my current kitchen (all 1,5 square meters of it) that (along with Kitchenaid!) is but a distant dream. Well, not that distant actually, seeing how I and The Boy Next Door are in the middle of a logistical operation in order to revamp the current living arrangement; also cannily known as Project Fusion kitchen...!

My sausages were Italian-style herby sausages I also used for cassoulet, too. Any fresh sausages will do, merguez for instance would give this a nice Mediterranean twist. I tossed mine in a pan with some fresh thyme and hey presto - the morning after the night before (at Bar Bhangra, of course!) was saved!

Some planning ahead is needed though as the polenta requires a good couple of hours to set. No worries though - you can whip  up a batch already the night before, you know, before putting on your dancing shoes and letting your hair down!

(I must say that the food blogger in me gets perverse satisfaction observing the devotion The Boy Next Door puts into documenting everything I make with his iPhone camera. As I watch him zoom and stage and crop and edit I feel almost... normal again!)

Feeds two party-goers

1 portion of polenta fries (for recipe please see here)
4 good quality fresh sausages (combined weight appr. 200 g)

Prepare the fries. Bake them in the oven and once they're done, cut the sausages into chunks, fry them in a pan and combine with the fries. Serve with ketchup, mustard, (truffle)mayo, relish and a smile.

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(Almost) guilt-free fries

A little while back to go with that roasted duck I whipped up  a batch of polenta - a rustic side dish originating from Northern Italy. It can be served soft and mash-like or you can let it set and then grill it in pieces of your desired shape and size. This way you'll end up with crispy exterior marked with lovely charred lines and a soft, rich interior. These too coming soon as we're moving towards summer and a lighter life.

And that's how the idea for these fake fries. Gluten-free recipes are something more and more people are asking after and polenta, made of corn meal ticks that box. And that of delicious, too. If humanly possible, these are even better than the real thing as they maintain their crunch a lot longer than the regular chips.

With the duck I spiked the polenta with orange and rosemary but lemon and rosemary is at least as good. And chilli turns that into a brilliant threesome! Garlic, thyme or dried mushrooms would work as well. Feel free to go giddy trying to find your own favourites -   just promise you'll try these as they are that goooooooooood!

Serve as guilt-free (well, almost!) snacks with, say, truffle mayonnaise or a side (for instance with that duck or avocado BLT!). We had ours with mussels stewed in grape sauce, lovely rustic bread and some green salad (these on the blog tomorrow!). And oh la la, for a moment there even I mistook us for some seriously sophisticated and worldly Europeans!

Serves 2-3

Polenta fries:

2,5 dl polenta

generous 5 dl water
the juice of half a lemon
(1 chicken stock cube)

the zest of 1/2 lemon

1 chilli

1 generous 1 tbsp butter

(a couple of dl Parmesan)

2 tbsp (fresh) rosemary

salt, black pepper

olive oil for baking

Cook the polenta according to the instructions on the packet, which is roughly like this: Bring water to boil, dissolve the stock cube (if using), add lemon zest and juice and whisking vigorously the polenta. Keep whisking to guarantee a lump-free consistency. If it starts thickening too much too soon, add more liquid. Then lower the temperature and continue cooking, covered for 20 minutes. Stir the mixture every now and then to make sure the bottom and the sides won't dry. After 20 minutes check whether it's done. If not, continue cooking for another 10 minutes until soft and creamy. Stir in butter (and parmesan if using) and rosemary. Season with salt (unless you're using parmesan) and pepper.

Lightly oil a rectangular dish (mine measured 20 x 27 cm) and place a similar size baking sheet onto the bottom. Spoon the polenta into the dish (be quick as it starts setting quickly!), smooth the top, let cool in room temperature and the set in the fridge for a couple hours. If the top is not perfectly even, don't fret, you can always trim it with a sharp knife as you're cutting the sheet into the fries.

Cut into fries of desired size, spread on baking sheet onto a tray, drizzle with olive oil and bake at 225° for about 20 minutes. Then flip them over and keep baking for another 20 minutes until they are golden and crisp. Sprinkle good salt on top and serve.

Truffle oil elevates the mayonnaise to a whole new league, but if you really want to go all out to the Poshville, throw in a couple of truffle shavings too (should you have some just idly lounging in the cupboard, that is).

Truffle mayonnaise:

2 dl good mayo
1 tbsp truffle oil
pinch of grated truffle
(black pepper)

Combine the ingredients and let the flavours combine as the fries are baking. Bon appétit!

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Duck the difficult way

There are many ways of doing things. Such as the weekly shop. Basically there are two ways; out of which the easy and pragmatic is the method followed by my British Brother and his wifey the Mane Magician. They pack the car each Sunday, heading to the hypermarket at the outskirts of the city and following their carefully planned spreadsheet get all their shopping conveniently done under one roof.

Then there's the other one; preferred by our family's food blogger. My Saturdays are spent bouncing from one place to another with a shopping list I scribbled on Wednesday but lost it by Thursday already. Meat comes from the market in Hakaniemi, spices and shellfish from the Asian shop and herbs, beans and such from the Oriental Market. Then there's the wine shop and then at the end of the day the (often very aimless) journey takes me to the amusing world of the little speciality shops on Museokatu. Fresh mussels and crusty country bread from Anton & Anton, pastas from Hella & Herkku, dessert treats from Petri's Chocolate Room... It's not a method famed for saving time (or money for that matter) but does have a certain atmosphere. And those little shops are not going to stay in business without business!

And eventually, as I've finally managed to drag all my shopping bags back home, my hands gorilla-like stretched all the way to the ground the nerves will start recovering too as the wine pops open to signal the beginning of the actual cooking (oh yes, the legacy of the legendary Keith Floyd is ferociously kept alive in my kitchen!). The last Tour De Helsinki saw me score some duck, which roasted in the oven with herbs, garlic and Chinese fivespice. And with it there was polenta, infused with some rosemary and orange and a sauce made of cranberry gelée, cassia bark and red wine (yeah, occasionally there's some wine left for the cooking, too!). And as those wonderful scents floated out of my kitchen (and brand new oven!!! I finally have an oven!!!) I once again remembered why those loved ones in my life are worth every extra effort - it's just soooooo nice to get to spoil them!

Serves 2

Duck:

2 duck legs

8 sprigs of thyme

8 sprigs of rosemary

6 large garlic cloves

salt

1/2 tsp Chinese fivespice (a blend of ginger, anis, fennel, pepper and cinnamon bark)

Rub the salt and fivespice onto the duck. Peel garlic cloves and smash them gently with the back of the knife. Place them along with the herbs on the bottom of a roasting tin and the duck on top them. Roast at 190° for about an hour. Baste the duck a couple of times with the fat that seeps out of them. The amount of fat varies from duck to duck, so in case yours are very supermodel-like lean and fat-free, drizzle some oil on top.

After an hour or so drain any fat left on the bottom of the dish (if there's a lot, don't discard it: run it through a sieve, let cool and store in the fridge. Use it for frying  - it makes the best roasties!). Pour the sauce over the duck and continue cooking for another 20 minutes. Then drain the juices, mercilessly smashing the herbs and garlic to make sure they give out every last drop of flavour there is (don't forget to scoop out the paste outside the bottom of the sieve into the sauce!) and serve with the duck and polenta.

The sauce:

3,5 dl red wine

3,5 tbsp good cranberry jelly

1star anise

1 (cassia) cinnamon stick

1/2 tsp grated orange zest

Measure the ingredients into a pot and bring to boil so the jelly dissolves.Cook for 10 minutes, remove the star anise and cinnamon bark and pour over the duck.

Orange and rosemary polenta:

2,5 dl finely ground polenta

5 dl water

(1 chicken stock cube) 
the juice of 1/2 orange

the finely grated zest of 1/2 orange
1 large tbsp of butter
(a couple of dl finely grated parmesan)
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
salt, black pepper

Cook the polenta according to the instructions on the packet, which is roughly like this: Bring water to boil, dissolve the stock cube (if using), add orange zest and juice and whisking vigorously the polenta. Keep whisking to guarantee a lump-free consistency. If it starts thickening too much too soon, add more liquid. Then lower the temperature and continue cooking, covered for 20 minutes. Stir the mixture every now and then to make sure the bottom and the sides won't dry. After 20 minutes check whether it's done. If not, continue cooking for another 10 minutes until soft and creamy. Stir in butter (and parmesan if using) and rosemary. Season with salt (unless you're using parmesan) and pepper. Serve with duck and the sauce. The polenta can be made in advance (the day before, even), and spooned into a oiled dish lined with parchment too and chilled for a couple of hours. Then cut the polenta cake into bits of your preferred size and shape, brush with oil and grill. Tips for this method coming onto the blog soon!

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