Easter lamb

I didn’t spend Easter with Satu and Riikka because I set of to Mäntyharju again to spend Easter with my family at our cottage. We traditionally spend Easter as a family because it’s a longer holiday/weekend and my dad can get off work and come visit. And it’s the perfect excuse to get together and cook a good meal.

This Easter came so late that most of the snow had melted and the weather was so nice

My dad brought us gifts in the form of food again. He brought lamb for Easter, a whole cooked beef tongue, a whole smoked eel, smoked halibut and a smoked and cured slab of BACON <3

The slab of bacon was devoured the first evening. It was great on bread and even better just on its own with a beer. Yummy!

For our Easter meal we fired up the grill and cooked some lamb and asparagus. Grilling is always a joint effort in our family Sam or my dad sets up the grill and my brother and I concentrate on the cooking whilst my mum makes the salad.

My dad brought some gorgeous New Zeland lamb chops which I marinated in olive oil, pepper, salt and loads of garlic.

My mum made a salad out of new spring cabbage. She topped it off with a generous heap of olives, feta cheese and toasted sunflower seeds.

Dad also brought a bottle of wine which made the meal complete.

Sam’s mother made some pasha ice cream which was served with mango sauce and grapes.

Going back home means catching up with all of Sam’s family too. His cousin’s children had their birthday party on Saturday and it was a fun affair. Both of Sam’s cousins have two girls plus Sam’s brother just got a little girl so birthday parties are always very pink and girly!

There were pink sugar cookies, cake, pie and lots of candy. Luckily for me there was also some savory treats like crisps and my favorite, an assortment of cheeses!

A little off topic, but I just had to put this picture of my godchild, Aino. Isn’t she adorable <3

A family dinner

After getting home from work yesterday I was truly exhausted and only wanted to sleep until monday. But I did take the train and came to visit my family.  I arrived here at midnight and almost immediately went to bed. It was probably a good idea, since today I have been in such a great mood!

Usually when I visit my parents I always like to cook a proper meal for us with my mom. The kitchen is big, so for me it’s a real luxury.  A friend of my mom’s had given her a piece of moose tenderloin, so we decided to prepare it for dinner. I marinated it in a mixture of olive oil, red wine vinegar, herbs, black pepper and salt for about 5 hours. Before cooking it I let it rest in room temperature for about an hour, then quickly tossed it around in a hot pan and then put in the oven. The tenderloin was quite small, so it only took about 15 minutes in the oven until the inside temperature was the desired 56 C degrees. And the meat was just perfect! We also made some oven baked vegetables and a creamy pepper and rosmary sauce to go with it.

With this dinner we had a bottle of red wine; Castillo de Molina Reserva, a nice warm Cabernet Sauvignon wine from Chile. It wasn’t a very aggresive wine, but had just enough of tannin to go well with the meat. This was a really good match actually!

And for dessert I made a mud cake with one of the easiest and best recipes I know. It’s one part dark chocolate, one part butter and one part eggs. (I used 200g of each ingredient for this cake.) You melt the chocolate and butter together, quickly whisk the eggs and then mix them all together. You don’t need anything to sweeten this cake with in my opinion, because the chocolate is enough.  Just pour the mixture into a mold and cook in oven for about 10-15 minutes in 200C. And that’s it! You can eat it right away but I think it’s best when it has rested in the fridge for a day.

And because a chocolate cake wasn’t enough.. I made a mascarpone cream with mango to go with it, which I seasoned with lemon acid powder and orange peel. Yummy!

I think that’s enough food for tonight! Maybe another glass of wine, sauna and a good movie to top this day..

-Riikka