Tuesday Pub @ Gastropub Tuulensuu

Last night we met up with some friends from school at Gastropub Tuulensuu one of Tampere’s many excellent gastropubs. The reason we choose Tuulensuu this time around was because they have a special Sour Ale & Lambic week going on 18.-26.3.  (You better hurry if you want to go test it yourself! ) They had an incredible list of beers, particularly Belgian beers, lots of which they’ve imported themselves which means if you’re in Finland you’ll only find it here. You can see the list on their website here or browse through it in the bar or just tell the bartender your taste and they’ll point you in the right direction. In addition to their extensive beer list they have wine, cider and a mouthwatering menu which can be found here.

Last night the bar was surprisingly full for a Tuesday evening. There were couples having dinner, friends meeting for drinks and a larger group of people. Tuulensuu’s customer base is perhaps a little older than we are, but that shouldn’t deter anyone. The service has generally been efficient and knowledgeable. The atmosphere is bistro-classic not the type of place you’d bump into ‘trendsters”, with very low lighting and dark wood furniture.

Last night I opted for Tuulensuu’s own brews which were on tap last night. I first took the Tuulensuu Karpalo Lambiek (4€/25cl or 8€/50cl). It turned out to be pleasantly balanced with a bit of a bitter kick at the end from the cranberry. Not sweet at all and definitely sour. Not a bad lambic at all so I do recommend this if you want to try one of their own. Next I tried the Tuulensuu Sorbus Lambiek (4€/25cl or 8€/50cl) for comparison. It had an herb-y somewhat funky Jagermeister whiff to it and a very interesting taste. Definitely not everyone’s cup of tea (or pint of beer for that matter). I’m still not entirely sure if I liked it or not. It was very sour with an interesting aftertaste bordering on licorice/salty licorice. Kind of reminded me of this Finnish candy, noitapilli. I think I liked the aftertaste but the overall taste lacked some depth and flavor and I think that was my main concern with this beer. But I don’t regret trying either of the beers and for 4€/8€ I think they were definitely worth the money.

In addition to their regular menu they had a selection of Belgian cheeses for 3€ and being the cheese nibblers we are we had to get some! Firstly we were pleasantly surprised that 3€ gets you 4-5 nice sized slices of cheese to snack on, good value for money. We tasted the Oud Brugge (a lovely cheese we fell in love with last year during a course in Belgian gastronomy), Orval and Bink. If I remember correctly the Bink was the mildest tasting of them. The Oude Brugge was as good as I remembered, creamy fairly mild yet surprisingly complex with a hint of sharpness. The Orval cheese is produced in the same abbey as Orval beer (Orval Cistercian Trappist Abbey to be precise). They use whole-fat pasteurized cow’s milk which gives the cheese a delicious soft creamy consistency of the Port Salut variety. I highly recommend trying one or more of the cheeses. I don’t know how long they’ll have them I hope for longer than the Sour Ale & Lambic special!

All in all a nice place to have a drink or even dinner. Perhaps not the cheapest but well worth the money.

-Laura

Satu’s Skagen

Yesterday we got together at Satu’s place to work on a school project and of course this also meant food! Satu had prepared us a full three course ‘business/study’ lunch which turned out to be delicious! As a starter we had a toast skagen an originally Swedish treat. What could be more delicious than shrimp mixed with cream and sour cream topped on a slice of freshly toasted bread! (recipe hopefully to follow from Satu)

As our main course we ate a student friendly casserole. Satu first fried some chicken pieces with garam masala. Then put the chicken in an oven dish with cream, sour cream, cauliflower, broccoli and topped the whole set with generous amounts of cheese The dish turned out really good. The chicken remained juicy in the creamy sauce, the veg was cooked yet stayed crisp and the cheese melted into stringy cheesy goodness. I’ll definitely be making this dish at home and I hope Satu will share the recipe on the blog

Dessert was perfect with spring and summer on the way. Satu made a mango lassi (yogurt drink) in her blender and it was a great finish to the meal. My only complaint of yesterdays lunch was that we were doing work all through out the meal such a shame …

I had to rush of straight after the meal for my theory classes. Nope I’m not taking any extra classes in school… I’m FINALLY getting my drivers license (hopefully)! I’m going to have to sign up for the actual driving lessons soon. People of Tampere be wary I’ll be behind the wheel and dangerous in no time

-Laura

Chicken Galliano

Yay! Today is officially the first day of spring! And to celebrate I’m posting this entry from our sunny, yet totally snowy, patio. Thankfully yesterdays snow storm is over and today has been a  lovely sunny day. Sitting in my coat and scarf listening to the sun (slowly) melting the snow away it is finally beginning to feel like spring (might be on its way)!

A while back my in-laws visited and as a gift they brought us a lovely bottle of Galliano. After an evening of various renditions of Harvey Wallbangers we were left with fond memories, a slight hangover and an unfinished bottle of Galliano. Now I’ve been stuck without any good use for the remnants of the bottle since it seems like a waste to finish it whilst getting ready for a rowdy student night. So, you can imagine how excited I was when I found a chicken Galliano recipe whilst flipping through issue #131 of Saveur magazine! I made a few changes to the recipe so here is my version to fit my taste and student budget.

What you need
3 chicken legs (thigh & drumstick… but you can use chicken breast)
salt & pepper to taste (bacon and chicken broth are quite salty)
goats cheese (I used plain soft goats cheese and added my own “herbs de Provence” mix)
6 slices bacon
6 small/medium common white mushrooms
butter
flour, for dredging
1 1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup Galliano liqueur

What you need to do

1. Mix goats cheese with herbs until cheese is softened. Separate the thigh and drumstick. Then de-bone the thigh and remove skin. Season both thighs and drumsticks with salt and pepper. Lay thigh meat flat on a cutting board and spread goats cheese on one side of the thigh meat.

2. Using bacon wrap thighs into tight little cylinders (with goats cheese on the inside bacon on the outside). Then using kitchen twine (if you can find the darn thing anywhere anymore!) or in my case dental floss (!!) tie the chicken into neat little rolls. Snip off any excess twine you don’t want random strings hanging from your neat little packages!

2. Heat about 3 tbsp. butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and cook, without stirring, until browned, 4–5 minutes. Stir mushrooms and continue cooking until softened, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Put flour on a plate; dredge each chicken roll in flour.

3. Heat 2 tbsp. butter and the oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook, turning, until browned and cooked through, 12–14 minutes. Transfer chicken rolls to a plate.

4.  Add broth and Galliano to skillet; boil, stirring, until sauce has reduced by a third, 4–5 minutes. Return mushrooms and chicken to skillet; cook, turning to coat in sauce, until warmed through, about 5 minutes.

3. Transfer chicken to a platter. Remove skillet from heat; swirl in remaining butter to make a smooth sauce. Spoon sauce over chicken and serve with rice or as I did with pasta.

The chicken turned out really good It was moist (because of the goats cheese & bacon) and really flavorful! The Galliano and it’s 30 or so aromatic herbs gave the sauce a complex and deep flavor and I have to say that I prefer Galliano being used as a component in this dish rather than it being a part of a Harvey Wallbanger no matter how much of a classic the drink is!

-Laura & Bobby

PS. This post and the making of Galliano Chicken was unofficially powered by some Liviko Cherry liqueur and cola left over from the last student party I attended.

When it snows, go shopping.

I woke up this morning to find that it had snowed at least 10 cm during the night and more was coming. A bit of a bummer since I was hoping that it would look at least a bit more spring-like for my birthday this Thursday. Since my arse hurts like hell from yesterdays workout at the gym (never trying out that thigh-exercise-torture-machine again!) I opted for a day at IKEA and Prisma (supermarket) rather than my planned Zumba class.

IKEA for me usually equals meatballs and the mandatory packet of scented candles (seriously who can leave IKEA without buying anything? ) rather than cheap, hard to assemble plywood furniture. Once we got there we headed straight to the cafeteria/restaurant. I of course went for the meatballs (15 pieces) and fries (5,95€) whilst Sam (my boyfriend) decided to go for some weird looking mushroom filled cabbage rolls (4,95€). They had some special pancake/crêpe offer; 2 pancakes with vanilla creme and strawberry jam (1,50€). Yummy!

My meatballs in creamy gravy were good, as usual. Fries were hot and crisp and to be honest 5,95€ for a meal that is both satisfying and filling is a good deal The mushroom filled cabbage rolls looked OK. Not a really big fan of cafeteria boiled potatoes or cabbage rolls but Sam said they were good and worth the money. The crêpes I was a little skeptical about since they were cold and something they don’t usually have on their menu. They turned out to be quite delicious with the cream and jam, a perfect ending to the meal.

I ended up buying a TRYGG glass bowl (1,95€) and on Thursday it’ll be filled with booze for my birthday! In addition to this I bought my grandparents a KONCIS roasting pan (14,95€). And would you believe it, I left IKEA with no candles! I resisted the sickly smell, the cheap price tags and just sailed on by to the cashiers!

In Prisma we stocked up on food and drinks for the party. I’m thinking about making some interesting ice cream… with bacon. But more about that later! Other food I’ll be serving will also be bacon related, needless to say. All in all we hauled 700g of bacon… but I’m starting to think that won’t be enough (not that there’ll be that many people attending)!

-Laura
PS. Shame on you Prisma for not having kitchen twine! Guess no one wants perfectly tied roasts in Finland (anymore?). I’ll have to make do without it for tomorrows lunch… but more of that tomorrow!