Rutabaga Spaghetti with Peas and Pistachios ‒ Lanttuspagetti herneillä ja pistaaseilla

The spring has been early this year, after practically no winter. I saw catkins already in February, caltsfeet flowers in March and right now finding some leftover snow is a matter of some serious search. Yesterday there were, pushing out of the ground, something green which I am almost certain was ground elder. It's definitely the time to get rid of the last root vegetables, berries in the freezer and dried nettles to make room for the fresh stuff.

This pasta dish was something I came up with one night when I came home late and hungry, from the ingredients I happened to have. This time we tried it with a bit more special twist, using a "pasta" famous among so-called paleo eaters and low carbers. By hand, it required some work, but the idea seems so great I'm seriously considering to buy a new kitchen gadget just to make sure I'll prepare this more often from now on.

- 1 large rutabaga (the bigger you can find the easier this gets)
- 2 tbsp canola oil

- 200 g frozen peas
- 1 dl roasted and salted pistachios, peeled
- 1 orange
- black pepper

Peel the rutabaga. Then take your peeler, a cheese slicer or a dedicated kitchen gadget. Try to carve out as long stripes out of the rutabaga as you can. When the whole of the yellow root is spaghettisized, steam the stripes a few minutes to get them half done. (If you prefer your spaghetti a little al dente, you can skip this step.) Then fry them on a pan with oil just enough to get some delicious browning on the edges.

You can finish the spaghetti with any of your favourite pasta sauce, but for this version, simply peel and cut the orange and then add the pieces into the pot, together with peas and pistachios. Stir. The dinner is ready when the peas have fully melted.

Nutritional values / 1387 g:
energy 987 kcal
fat 59 g
protein 35 g
carbohydrates 76 g
fiber 32 g

Himalayan Balsam Pasta ‒ Jättipalsamipasta

The plant known as policeman's helmet or Himalayan balsam (Impatiens glandulifera) is native to the Himalayas, as the name might suggest for the brightest of us. In recent years however, it's become a real menace in Finland too. It looks pretty, so people have planted it in their gardens but it's managed to spread very effectively, invading the habitat areas of more domestic species with its huge and dense growing stalks. Luckily, unlike most other invasive weeds, this one is completely edible, so we can try to get rid of it by filling our bellies. Before flowering the stem can be used as a vegetable, the flowers themselves look decorative and the seeds make a nice snack. Unless of course, you let the pods explode and scatter their seeds all around up to seven metres. Simple minded people like me could be popping them open for hours in a row just for the fun of it.

This time of the year the stems have already gone a bit woody, but since I wanted to try this idea of filling them which I nicked from Sami Tallberg's Villiyrttikeittokirja (Readme.fi 2010), I wanted to try anyway. I was going to use cashew cheese here but since it had gone bad already while waiting for me to get round to actually doing this, I had to settle for basic store-bought spread. Tallberg describes the taste as peppery, but I got a little disappointed from the plant's lack of flavour, especially considering how aromatic it seems. This pasta might need something with more zest, say celery or extra apple. The seeds were crunchy and nice though, so they can make a nice addition to dishes. Next time I think Imight try roasting them a bit. Collecting them is less work if you wait until they're ready to pop open. Just place a bag around them and poke with your finger.

- 250 g good quality pasta
- 3 Himalayan balsam stems
- 1 dl Himalayan balsam seeds
- 4 small apples (not those watery market varieties but real apples)
- 5 spring onions with their stalks
- 50 g soy-based cream cheese spread
- 0.5 dl white wine
-  2 tbsp rape oil
- 1 tbsp spruce syrup
- 1 garlic clove
- white pepper
- salt
- flowers to decorate

Cook the pasta in well salted water. Chop the onions and sauté them in plenty of oil.Cut the apples in four parts and remove the core. Throw them on the pan as well. When the pasta is done, pour away the water. Then add the onions, the apples, the wine, the syrup and the seeds.

Crush the garlic. Mix it and pepper with the cream. Peel the balsam stems and fill them with the cream. I find this is easiest done with a syringe. If the cream seems too thick for this, add a little bit of oat milk. Cut the stems in pieces.

Arrange the stems on pasta portions. Decorate the plate with some flowers.

(I wasn't able to find any nutritional information for the balsam, so I guess there's no point in counting it for the rest of the dish either. I'll add it here in case the situation should change.)

80's Salad with Horseradish Mayonnaise ‒ Kasarisalaatti piparjuurimajoneesilla

Continuing my perversion of dishes from the luckily bygone 80's, pasta salads are a must. The classic version features a certain bag of frozen vegetables abbreviated HMP, herne-maissi-paprika or pea, corn and bell pepper. There is also ham, mayonnaise and macaroni, or in a flashier version tricolour pasta. I thought I'd modernize it by improving every part of it a little, using fresh ingredients we now enjoy during summertime.

Now, I've had my share of failures when trying to make mayonnaise myself. Usually I just got soy milk with added features. The Youtube videos I tried to watch mostly left out the actual part where the ingredients are mixed together. Then I managed to bump into this instruction and had to laugh out loud when it worked so easily for me. The only important parts are the lemon juice and the oil, the rest is just up to your personal taste. And I'm pretty sure you could use vinegar instead of lemon juice, as well as experiment with different vegetable oils.

The salad
- 250 g funny-looking wholemeal pasta
- 200 g extra firm smoked tofu
- 5 dl pea pods
- 2 pre-cooked corn ears (grilling does wonders if that's an option)
- 2 red bell peppers

The mayonnaise
- lemon juice (about 2 tbsp)
- 2 dl rape oil (not cold pressed but the neutral type)
- 2 tsp mustard
- 2 tbsp grated horseradish
- salt
- white pepper

Cook the pasta and in salted water. While it's cooking, separate the peas from their pods, chop the bell peppers and take out the edible parts of the corn with a help of a knife. Cut the tofu into long thin pieces. When the pasta is ready, drain it and mix everything in a bowl.

For the mayonnaise, you'll need a hand-held immersion blender and a jar just the size of it. First, pour enough lemon juice to cover the bottom of the jar. Stick the blender firmly on the bottom and pour the oil on it. Start the blender and pull it out sloooowly. Now the mayonnaise should be firm and you can mix the spices in it. Serve as a salad dressing or mix about 0.5 dl of it right into the salad and put the rest into fridge for later purposes.

Nutritional values / 1415 g:
energy 1807 kcal
fat 43 g
protein 90 g
carbohydrates 258 g
fiber 39 g

Fresh Tomato Sauce with Ground Elder and Horse Bean ‒ Tomaattikastike tuoreista tomaateista, vuohenputkesta ja härkäpavuista

This is quite likely the ugliest photo I've posted all year. The actual dish I promise is definitely worth a try though. It was one of those nights it got late before we had time to cook and feeling hungry we had to put up something quick. So I took the punch of fresh tomatoes that really start to taste their best this time of the year and put them in the pot. With them I wanted to use ground elder which is said to be on its best in tomato-based dishes. When the sauce was ready, I took the extra time to take couple of fast shots and then it was suddenly gone with even plates licked. Forever gone. No remains for morning. I may have to prepare it again.

- 5‒6 well riped tomatoes (let them go over ripe by all means)
- 1 big punch of ground elder leaves
- 2 dl horsebean crush
- 1 lovage sprig
- 1 small punch of fresh basil (or 2 tbsp pesto)
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 tbsp rape oil
- black pepper
- salt

Pour the oil into a sauce pan. Quarter the tomatoes and sauté them on a mild temperature until they've turned into mash. Add the rest of the ingredients (greenies chopped, garlic minced) and let the sauce simmer for about half an hour. Serve with good quality, nutritious pasta.

Nutritional values / 770 g:
energy 714 kcal
fat 18 g
protein 47 g
carbohydrates 88 g
fiber 48 g

Avocado Pasta ‒ Avokadopasta

Doesn't sound like a terribly Finnish dish, does it? The reason I decided to add this to my blog however, is that it's been somewhat a phenomena in Finland for a year or so now. People are asking their friends: "Have you tasted Avocado Pasta already?" Half of Finnish food bloggers seem to have repeated it. They even say at one point it was so popular it was difficult to find avocados in all Helsinki. And now that I realised several vegan versions of it exist too, I thought I'd had to try it that way as well. Frankly, didn't notice much difference.

Avocado Pasta was created ex tempore by a Helsinki-based chef Alexander Gullichsen for his wife-to-be Hanna when they first started dating. According to the story, she thought it so good she was close to crying. Later, the pasta turned out a success in Alexander's restaurant Rafla, so it was also included in the couple's fresh cook book Safkaa, from where it really started to have a life of its own.

And no wonder. It's really simple to prepare. Perhaps I wouldn't weep over it but it does combine some quality ingredients in a way that make it hard to fail. In the vegan version two imported cheeses, pecorino and parmesan, are replaced with nutritional yeast, which also makes it a fairly cheap dish. At least unless you want to buy some Finnish-style taxed wine to go with it, which this dish does somehow call for.

- 400‒500 g spaghetti
- 2 perfectly ripe avocados
- 1.25 dl nutritional yeast
- 1 lime
- 1 bunch of fresh basil
- 1 bunch of fresh leave persil (or coriander)
- 1 garlic clove
- 0.5 chili pepper without seeds (Unless you've neve tasted chili before or you're using Naga Jolokia I recommend upgrading this to whole fruit.)
- a dollop of olive oil (I used 0.5 dl)
- salt
- black pepper

Make the sauce straight to the serving bowl. Mince the garlic and chili. Squeeze the juice from the lime. Split the avocados, remove the seeds, dice them in their skin and help them too into the bowl with a spoon. Cut the herbs. Add the yeast, the salt, the pepper and the oil as well. Mix with a spoon a check you used enough of salt.

Cook the spaghetti al dente in well salted water. Strain the pasta, but don't flush. Save a small amount of the cooking water and pour in the sauce. Stir the spaghetti up with the sauce.

Finalize the portion with nutritional yeast and black pepper on top. Serve immediately.

Nutritional values / 938 g:
energy 2614 kcal
fat 100 g
protein 79 g
carbohydrates 342 g
fiber 38 g

Pea and Beetroot Sauce ‒ Herne-punajuurikastike

Continuing with simple and humble comfort foods. Peas and beetroot make a really nice combination. I was making pea soup anyway, so I put some of the cooked peas aside for a fast dinner couple of day later. If you happen to have some canned pea soup in the closet it would also work as the basis. I think the cook book Härkäpapua sarvista (Irina Somersalo & al., Multikustannus 2007) has a similar pasta sauce but I didn't even look at the recipe while cooking so don't blame them.

- 5 beetroots (mine were rather small)
- 2 dl dry peas
- 1 tablespoon rape oil
- 1 tablespoon vinegar (or a dollop of the sour broth used for preserving beetroots)
- 1 chili pepper
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 dose of stock
- fennel seeds
- basil
- salt
- water

Soak the peas overnight. Cook them in plenty of water. Peel and slice the beetroots. Fry them on a hot pan with oil, chili and garlic. When they have softened up but still feel firm, add them to the pea pot, as well as the rest of the ingredients. Let the sauce simmer for a few minutes more.

Enjoy the sauce for example with pasta. If you add some dark syrup, it gets a rather christmassy clang to it.

Nutritional values / 772 g:
energy 744 kcal
fat 16 g
protein 35 g
carbohydrates 111 g
fiber 27 g

Bolete Pasta ‒ Tattipasta

Looks like this is going to be a terrific mushroom year so I'll be probably posting a lot of mushroom recipes. Boletes (tatit in Finnish) are among my favourites: easy to identify and always tasty. They're pretty safe even for a beginner like me since there's only one common bolete you shouldn't pick (Tylopilus felleus) and even that one isn't poisonous, just bad tasting. The only problem is all kinds of maggots love them too. You have to pick them very young if wanting to keep the meal vegan. I had to throw away my first catch since I picked individuals too big and didn't remove all holey parts on the spot. The next day they were all swarming. This time I was wiser.

A creamy pasta dish is definitely something that makes justice to their delicate taste. I used punikkitatti (Leccinum) and kangastatti (Suillus variegatus) the flesh of which turns strikingly blue in contact with air.

- 2 dl fresh boletes or 1 dl dried ones (clean and sliced)
- 250 g dark pasta
- 1 onion
- 1 apple
- 2 dl soy yogurt
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise (I use a market brand, X-tra)
- 1 tablespoon margarine (I use Keiju 70%)
- 1 small bunch of parsley
- 2 cloves of garlic
- black pepper
- salt

Cook the pasta in salty water. Mince the onion and fry it in margarine. When the edges start to acquire colour, add the mushrooms and the apple, also chopped. Sauté them lightly. When the apple starts to be mushy, combine with the pasta. Add everything else and stir couple of times.

Enjoy with white wine.

Nutritional values / 982 g:
energy 1701 kcal
fat 31 g
protein 59 g
carbohydrates 192 g
fiber 24 g

Vodka Sauce ‒ Votkakastike

Happy this year! Quite many people in Finland have a habit of going totally teetotal for January. This questionnaire even suggests that during 2008 as many as a quarter of the whole population stuck to tipaton tammikuu, "dropless January". I've never heard of anything like that happening in any other country. The rest of us on the other hand are persistent alcohol people. That means alcoholics as much as outdoors people means homeless.

Those who aren't alcohol people often think that such delicate drink as vodka doesn't have any other taste besides alcohol. Sure, most vodkas are made by distilling it almost to pure alcohol and then diluted down to about 38 percent (the ideal volume according to Dmitri Mendeleev who worked several happy years for the Russian Tsar to find this out). But that 2 percent of impurity or possibly the water lead into significant results in character. If you're not used to spirits, try comparing them mixed with water. The differences should become quite oblivious.

Why am I jabbering about this? Because the key to success in the following recipe is to select a quality vodka with a smooth taste. Most of these are made in the traditional Vodka Belt of Northern and Eastern Europe. I prefer Russkiy Standart, Finlandia or Smirnoff, you may like something else. The point is it should be something you could enjoy on its own. And of course, your homemade moonshine can only be called vodka if it's made exclusively out of grain or potato, although EU has some twisted ideas about this definition.

As you may have noticed, I like to use alcohol beverages in cooking. I don't do it only to bring a whip of their own aged flavours into the food but also to release some of the alcohol soluble components (which tomato has quite a lot). Alcohol acts as a flavour enhancer. Sorry to crush your hopes but most of the alcohol content burns off when heated so it won't get you drunk, unless you pour the lion's share of it directly into the chef. I got the idea for this sauce from Veganomicon (Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero, Perseus Books Group 2007) and decided to add raspberries that pair nicely with tomato. Besides pasta, it fits for example with seitan or simple fried veggies. This time I went for the easy way and added some beans to call it a full supper.

- 1 dl vodka
- 400 g canned, crushed tomatoes (If you absolutely insist to start with fresh ones you'll first have to roast them or simmer them for about an hour.)
- 100 g frozen rasberries
- 1 dl soaked almonds
- 2 dl cooked fava beans
- 1 tablespoon rape oil
- 1 dose of stock
- 3 cloves of garlic
- basil
- dragon's wort
- marjoram

Sauté the beans in the oil to get some colour on them. Add the raspberries, the tomatoes and the spices. Simmer until the sauce has a nice, thick structure. Add the vodka. Cook a few minutes more until the stinginess of ethanol has given way to caramel-like sweetness, with just a hint of that wonderful burning bite left. Make a smooth paste out of the almonds and add to the sauce. Sprinkle some nutritional yeast flakes on your pasta portion.

Nutritional values / 834 g:
energy 1076 kcal
fat 53 g
protein 32 g
carbohydrates 60 g
fiber 22 g

Salmiakki Pasta ‒ Salmiakkipasta

As you may have noticed I'm not especially good in sticking with recipes. For once I thought I'd try with this one simply because Okriina's cookings always sound so perfect just as they are. But of course I couldn't help myself. This is the story of how her liquorice pasta ended up as a salmiakki pasta in my hands.

It may not look like the most conventional combination but works surprisingly well. My spouse looked into the kettle with a horror in his eyes but eventually went for the second round. The taste is really round so it needs some full-bodied red wine to go with, just like the original recipe suggests.

- 250 g pasta
- 2 parsnips (or 250 g yellow beet)
- 1 cellery (which I used instead of fennel that I couldn't find)
- 3 large mushrooms (gods created boletes for the accompaniment of pasta but this time I had to go with champions)
- 0.75 dl walnuts
- 1.5 dl oat cream (I might consider leaving this one out)
- rape oil
- half a lemon peel
- 1/2 dl red wine (which I used instead of 1/4 teaspoon of balsamico)
- 100 g fresh salmiakki liquorice (the original recipe actually warned not to use liquorice types featuring salmiakki but think this came out quite nice)
- big punch of fresh parsley
- big punch of fresh thyme
- black pepper

Oil a casserole. Slice the veggies and put them in it with some oil on top. Bake them in a 300°C oven until they start to turn golden from the edges (about 15 minutes). Remember to turn them over every now and so they won't turn black instead. In the end add the walnuts as well in small pieces.

Cook the pasta in salty water. Pour the extra water out and add the veggies as well as the wine, the cream, the pepper and half of the liquorice so it melts nicely. Chop the parsley and the thyme. Slice the rest of the liquorice. Grind the lemon peel. Throw all into the pasta and stir. Shout: "Dinner is ready!"

Nutritional values / 1400 g (with protein rich dark pasta):
energy 2028 kcal
fat 73 g
protein 79 g
carbohydrates 251 g
fiber 40 g

Macaroni Salad ‒ Makaronisalaatti

Finland is all about forest. Even if you live in a city centre as I do forest is never that far away. You can do a little walk and return home with a bag of veggies you found there. That's what I call the right way to live. I sincerely believe a person's every meal should contain something he's picked with his own hands. Of course that's much harder in a real metropolis with no real nature anywhere near. But even then you can grow herbs on your window sill.

Just remember that just like rhubarb, common wood sorrel contains a lot of oxalic acid so you shouldn't eat it on a daily basis. When I was a kid teachers told us to pick and eat wood sorrel to get vitamins. Nowadays I think they more like warn kids not to. This is a great lunch or party salad even without it but I think it really gives the final touch.

- 2 dl macaroni
- 3 dl textured soy protein flakes
- 1 chili
- 3 red onions
- 2 apples
- 2 dl common wood sorrel
- 2 dl soy yogurt
- 2 tbsp vegan mayonnaise
- oil for frying

Cook the macaroni. Fry the soy flakes together with one chopped onion and chili. Cut the rest of the onions and the apples to pieces as well. Combine. Enjoy.

Nutritional values / 1073 g (without the wood sorrel):
energy 1403 kcal
fat 32 g
protein 53 g
carbohydrates 120 g
fiber 26 g

Macaroni Casserole ‒ Makarooniloota

We often eat some fiber or protein rich pasta as a sidekick for the main dish. But me and my spouse haven't been able to make a deal about how to cook pasta. He thinks it should be al dente in South European style, I find crunchy pasta plain raw. So the ideal way to steamroll my opinion through is to make macaroni casserole. It's so easy to make that pretty much the only way to ruin it would be using raw macaronis. No one could ever want stony macaronis in their casserole.

This is one of those dishes that all the Finns love. (And I'm next to certain that the comfort food of Americans called macaroni and cheese resembles this a lot.) First it was just a sidekick, nowadays it has developed into a main course. But it can still be used as both. If you just want a sidekick leave out the soy, the cauliflower and the broccoli. And probably part of the milk. I shold test that myself.

- 4 dl full corn macaroni
- 3 dl soy crumbles (or pea)
- 1/2 cauliflower
- 1 broccoli
- 1 red onion
- 2 dl soy yoghurt
- 50 g blue-style soy cheese
- 3 dl oat milk
- 1 stock dose
- 1 chili
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 pucnd of fresh dill
- black pepper
- mustard powder
- oil for frying
- margarine for the casserole and on the top
- breadcrumbs for the casserole

Cook the macaroni with the stock. Soak the soy with the remaining broth. Chop the onion and the chili. Fry the onion and the soy together with the chili and other spices. Crumble the cheese into the yoghurt. Butter your casserole and cover with breadcrumbs. Mix everything except the milk and the remaining margarine in the casserole. Pour the milk evenly and top with a few margarine pieces. Bake in 200°C for half an hour.

Many peoople like to eat their macaroni casserole with ketchup. It's worth trying although this is quite delicious on its own.

Nutritional values / 1600 g:
energy 2454 kcal
fat 88 g
protein 104 g
carbohydrates 207 g
fiber 43 g