Rose Raspberry Sorbet with Bilberry Basil Sauce ‒ Ruusu-vadelmajää mustikka-basilikakastikkeella

Besides the Mofo, I though I'd also take part in the food challenge Finnish food bloggers circle around every month since these are both wonderful ways of connecting us food bloggers into a community. This month's theme is the ball shape. Mushroom balls would be my oblivious choice at the moment, but instead I decided to go with something more experimental.

I just gathered a bag of rose hips and since cleaning them out is quite a hard work, I wanted to use them in  something that would really bring out their flavour. Kissel is a classic for a reason, but you can do it with dried rose hips too. Paula of Veikeä Verso just made rose ice cream from the flower petals, and that sounds beautifully aromatic as well, but this time I thought I'd try sorbet for the first time in my life. After all, sorbet is just as great for rolling cute little ice cream balls. And that raspberry still sounded like a nice pair for rose.

I find it a shame how most rose hips just rotten in bushes though they grow everywhere. Still, I felt a bit nervous, picking the hips in the middle of bright daylight. As if I was a kid stealing apples. An old lady came to me and I was sure she was going to scold me off for stealing something from their housing cooperative, but instead she just asked me what I was going to do with them and told how delicious they are.

This doesn't really need a sauce, but once I had my mixing wand in my hand, I thought I'd try the idea of combining bilberries and basil which I nicked from here. They fit together just perfectly, though next time I might omit the sugar.

- 200 g cleaned rose hips
- 200 g raspberries
- 2 dl water
- 1 dl dark sugar (I find this more aromatic)
- 1 tsp agar (not really necessary, just wanted to play it safe)

For the sauce:
- 2 dl bilberries
- 2 tbsp bilberry juice
- 2 tbsp basil leaves
- 1 tbsp sugar (unless the juice is sweetened already)

Bring the water to a boil. Add the agar and once it's dissolved, also the sugar. Mix in the rose hips and raspberries. Blend smooth. In case you want the sorbet really smooth, press the mass through a filter. This is a nice option if you're using rose hips without cleaning their seeds out beforehand, but not necessary otherwise.

Place the bowl in the freezer. Blend smooth again after couple of hours. Repeat every hour until the sorbet feels sturdy enough.

For the sauce, just blend everything together. Adjust the consistency by adding bilberry juice if needed.

Nutritional values / 850 g:
energy 698 kcal
fat 3 g
protein 10 g
carbohydrates 148 g
fiber 24 g

Raw Buckwheat Porridge ‒ Raaka tattaripuuro

A typical Finnish breakfast to date is still porridge. According to this survey, that's what 40% of Finns eat, while 11% uses cereals. I've always been more on the bread league myself, but sometimes it's nice to get variation.

Raw porridge as an idea sounded like something only a very dedicated hippie would eat but once I managed to ovecome my prejudices this turned out quite yummy indeed. You could use any other grain you wish here, besides buckwheat at least millet, barley and oatmeal seem popular. If you add some dried fruits and berries it becomes surprisingly sweet as well.

- 2 dl barley
- dried berries and/or fruits, rosehips in this case
- nuts and/or seeds, sunflower seeds in this case
- enough water to cover it all

In the evening, put everything in a bowl to soak for the night and cover up with water. In the morning, blend smooth. Serve with berries or jam. (The ones you see in the picture are gooseberries, by the way.)

Nutritional values / 1152 g:
energy 2503 kcal
fat 124 g
protein 68 g
carbohydrates 276 g
fiber 89 g

Rose Kissel ‒ Ruusukiisseli

Somehow I had associated this dessert with English kitchen - perhaps because of all those puddings and fruit soups. But when I recently tried to google a recipe I couldn't find much of anything in English. What I did find was a Wikipedia article explaining kiisseli (from a Slavic word meaning sour) is popular only in Eastern and Northern Europe. I can certainly verify that claim for Finland. They're among the basic groceries and young people even like to make drinks out of the thinner soup-like varieties.

Though I still find myself a bit unconvinced that a dessert this simple could not be known in the English-speaking world, I thought I'd write down one version. Bilberries, strawberries and black currants are perhaps among the most classical flavours but I decided to use rose this time. There are two layers to complement each other but you could make just either one. Kiisseli is often prepared from plain juice but I wanted to get some odds and bits to chew. I also tried throwing some potato pearls into the white layer but that only made the mouth-feel resemble a barley porridge so I left that out from the final recipe. The thickening agent is nearly always potato starch but you might use for example ground flax seeds instead.

The milk layer:
- 3 dl soy milk (or other fatty milk)
- 3 tablespoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons potato flour (+ 0.5 dl water)
- rose water
- almond extract (just a drop)

The rose layer:
- 4 tablespoons dried rose hip pieces
- 4 dl water
- 1 tablespoon blackcurrant juice (non-sweetened, non-watered)
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons potato flour (+ 0.5 dl water)

Dissolve the sugar into milk on a hot stove and season with rose water and/or almond extract. Let the milk come into a boil. Dissolve the potato flour into a dollop of cold water and pour it gradually into the pot, whisking all the time (to avoid clumps). Let the mixture come into a boil again and remove it from the stove. Stir well and pour your serving cups half full.

Wash the pot and fill again with rose hips and water. Let them simmer for a while to soften the hips and get the flavours out. (Taste to decide.) Season with sugar and black currant juice. Now repeat the potato flour adding as before. Remove the pot from the stove, stir well and pour on the milk kiisseli.

Serve either hot or cold. If you refrigerate these the structure will evolve from gluey to jelly.

Nutritional values / 957 g:
energy 517 kcal
fat 6 g
protein 14 g
carbohydrates 101 g
fiber 4 g