Spelt and cider rolls

I have made these cider rolls a few times before, but never posted the recipe. Now I thought that these could also be nice for the Christmas season. How about serving them to your Christmas guests?

I used the organic Black Fox cider for these rolls, but any dry British style cider will work well in this recipe and will add a lovely flavour. I have previously posted a review of the Black Fox cider here. 

And here's now my cider roll recipe, powered by spelt flour, of course. If you don't have any spelt flour, don't hesitate to use wheat flour as it also works in these. I got 10 medium sized rolls with this recipe.

Ingredients

3 dl dry cider

7 dl spelt flour

1 tbsp dry yeast

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp sugar

25 g butter

Method

Melt the butter and set it to side.

Heat the cider lukewarm and dissolve the dry yeast to the cider.

Add the flour, salt and sugar and mix it all into an even dough. You can mix the dough with a spatula as it is quite soft, so no hand kneading needed.

Add the melted butter and mix a little more.

Let the dough rise covered for about one hour at room temperature.

Shape rolls from the dough and let them rise for further 30 minutes on a baking tray.

Pre-heat the oven to 220C.

Brush the surfaces of the rolls with water and bake them for about 10-15 minutes. You can also add various seeds or cheese on the top.

Serve them freshly baked with butter and cheese, and maybe even a glass of cool cider on the side as there will be something left over in the bottle.

Your VegHog

Cranberry dessert – Karpalokiisseli

A Christmas dessert can certainly be a lighter one after such a heavy meal. Quite often I choose to make a fruit salad, but I think that this sort of cranberry dessert is just as good, as it also contains a couple of Christmas spices. I found the original recipe here, but as it's in Finnish again, I have translated it below.

Ingredients

4 dl cranberries

1 l water

2 star anise

1 cinnamon stick

1 dl sugar

A sprinkle of salt

4 tbsp potato flour + a little cold water

Method

Bring the cranberries and water to the boil. Then pour the mix through a sieve to another pot. Press the cranberries a little to release more juice. Add the star anise and cinnamon stick to the pot.

Let it boil at mild heat for a couple of minutes and then rest off heat and under the lid for 15 minutes. Remove the spices and add the sugar and salt. Heat again.

Mix the potato flour with a little cold water and pour it slowly as a long string to the hot cranberry juice. Bring it to the boil and then take off heat.

Let it set and cool at room temperature. After that it can be stored in the fridge. This is especially good served with whipped cream and some gingerbread cookies, which makes it a really Chritsmassy dessert. 

Your VegHog

Cheese board

Cheese board is a brilliant thing to have as a snack in between, not just in the Christmas season. I am a cheese lover anyway, so I would never say no to that. However I can get a bit particular with my cheeses. I don't eat blue cheese or the so called “stinky cheeses” at all, I just haven't quite figured out their attraction. I do enjoy mature, hard cheeses, cream cheeses and cheeses with flavours, like walnut (heavenly!) or chilli, smoke. One cheese will always stay my main favourite and that is Finnish Oltermanni. Obviously mozzarella and halloumi are also my favourites, they just don't work so well on a cheese board. Maybe more in canapés in the festive season. Crackers are an important part of a cheese board. Purchase good quality crackers, and you'll enjoy the snacks more. Here is a list of what I had on my cheese board today.

Cheeses:

• Cheddar with chilli
• Emmental
• Applewood smoke flavoured Cheddar
• Red Leicester
• Plain soft cheese

Crackers:

• Onion and garlic rye buttons
• Oat and walnut biscuits
• Seeded spelt biscuits
• Black olive crackers

… and of course some grapes to go with it all.

Are you planning to assemble a festive cheese board this year?

Your VegHog

Brussels sprout and potato bake

We don't traditionally eat sprouts in my family at Christmas, as they don't really belong to the Finnish Christmas vegetables. Things are different here in England though, sprouts are considered to be very much Christmas vegetables. I wouldn't mind having them anytime though, and I'm planning to possibly adding them to this year's nut roast, maybe shredded. But that will remain to be seen, as I haven't fully decided on the nut roast yet. But even this Brussels sprout and potato bake could be a nice addition to a festive meal, or served outside the holidays as a stand-alone dish.

Here's how I made this bake.

Ingredients

500 g miniature potatoes

550 g brussels sprouts

3 shallots

3 garlic cloves

1 tbsp hazelnut oil

50 ml dry cider

1 tsp rosemary

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp salt

Ground black pepper to taste

Ground nutmeg to taste

300 ml vegetable stock

250 g cheddar and mozzarella mix

3 spring onions

Method

Clean the potatoes and sprouts and cut them in half. If you are using a bit bigger potatoes, cut them into even smaller chunks.

Chop the shallots and garlic finely and cook them soft in the hazelnut oil. Add the sprouts and potatoes to the pan. Then also add the dry cider, rosemary, thyme, paprika, salt, pepper and nutmeg.

After the cider has evaporated a little, add the vegetable stock and let simmer until the liquid has almost absorbed and the potatoes are cooked. I even preferred the potatoes to be quite soft already before the baking. But if you want firmer potatoes, don't cook them too long in the pan, as they are going to the oven as well.

Mix half of the cheese to the potatoes and sprouts in the casserole. Then fill an oven dish or dishes with it and layer cheese into the middle.

Bake at 200C for about 10-15 minutes until the cheese has melted and the flavours come together. Chop the spring onions and sprinkle them fresh onto the bake and it's ready to be enjoyed!

This dish is also my contribution to December's Eat Your Greens challenge by A2K – A Seasonal Veg Table. I linked a recipe there for the first time last month, and now I'm determined doing so every month. It's a great challenge and so is Shaheen's blog, check them out through the links! I found this dish quite suitable as the December contribution as it can be an addition to a festive meal or just a plain seasonal weekday meal (+ it's green!).

Your VegHog

 

All I want for Christmas is moo?

I want to avoid commercial Christmas as far as I can, but isn't it nice to buy presents for your loved ones once a year? I've now been so busy that I'm badly behind with the present shopping. I have a few, but more are needed. Luckily online shopping is quite effortless.

I have collected here practical and quirky kitchen and dining items that I happen to find attractive at the moment. They are not too expensive either.

When I make such posts, I don't collaborate with any of the companies and this is not an ad. These are just my own desired items that have basically caught my eye. There are also millions of other good items out there that you can buy, but I'm definitely getting that Moomin mug for Christmas!

1. Scrub'a potato gloves by Eddingtons / 2. Foldable grater by Fiskars / 3. Seasonal Moomin mug by Arabia / 4. Beasties cake tins by Magpie / 5. Cheese dome by Sagaform / 6. Kastehelmi plate by Iittala / 7. Vinterfint mugs by Ikea / 8. Reclaimed chapatti board by Nkuku / 9. Reindeer wine rack by Array / 10. Star runner by John Lewis / 11. Heritage round casserole by Le Creuset / 12. Kukkuluuruu tea towels by Marimekko

 

Acorn squash salad

I think that this salad could well be served at Christmas. It's colourful, wholesome, comforting... the clue is in the mixture of warm and cold components: the squash, lentils and halloumi will be served warm and the salad leaves and pomegranate cold. Have a look below, how easy it is to compile.

Salad ingredients

1 acorn squash

1 tbsp olive oil for roasting the squash

½ cup green lentils

1 vegetable stock cube

250 g halloumi

1 tbsp vegetable oil for frying the halloumi

200 g mixed salad leaves

1 pomegranate

Dressing ingredients

1 tbsp pomegranate molasses

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

4 tbsp olive oil

½ tsp thyme

½ tsp salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

Method

Cut the acorn squash into slices, basically rings, and remove the seeds. There's no need to peel the squash. Then brush the slices with olive oil and roast at 180C for about 30 minutes until they are fully roasted. The roasting time can vary depending on the thickness of the squash slices and the oven's performance.

Rinse the lentils and cook them in water with the vegetable stock cube until soft, yet with some bite. This takes about 20-30 minutes. After that drain them.

Cut the halloumi into cubes and fry them in hot vegetable oil until they are golden brown.

Wash the salad leaves and remove the pomegranate seeds.

During the roasting and cooking, the dressing can be made. Just mix all the ingredients together.

Then assemble the salad. Make either a nice presentation on individual plates, or place the components nicely into a salad bowl and drizzle the dressing on the top.

Your VegHog

Winter Festival at the Southbank

Last weekend I visited the Winter Festival in London's Southbank including the Christmas market and Real Food Market.

I love the Southbank, so had automatically a good time. I preferred last year's Christmas market, though, when it was on the actual bank and not in a corner closer to the London Eye. I believe that the Christmas tree maze is a new added feature, but unfortunately it wasn't free to enter. Luckily the delightful illuminated rabbits had arrived to different places around the area to bring joy. I also thought that the small train transporting kids by the river was a nice touch.

The Real Food Market is always brilliant and one of my favourite places to visit in London. They offer excellent street food and drink, and many of the options are vegetarian. In this season it's lovely to hang around there and sip some mulled cider or wine.

Here are some photos from my visit.