18th century market in Isokyrö - Isonkyrön 1700-luvun markkinat

So I'm in Finland again, and this year I cunningly timed my summer holiday for the annual historical 18th century market in Isokyrö. The market lasts for three days and brings many local and other vendors to Isokyrö transforming the small town into a vibrant market place. The setting for the market couldn't be more suitable as it is held in a museum area that includes many traditional buildings and a spectacular 14th century stone church that has historically significant wall paintings. It's also situated right on the bank of the beautiful Kyrönjoki river.

I like this market very much as the products offered are mainly handcrafted items made from natural materials; plastic has no place here. The atmosphere is great with music and dance performances, local food and some people wearing historical costumes.

The market was well visited this year as always, and there were many other happenings since it also was the 300 year anniversary of the tragic Napue Battle (1714), which was fought in Isokyrö.

Here are some of the photos I took at this market last Sunday. I hope they capture the setting and the market atmosphere.

 

 

Cool strawberry and bell pepper soup

I found this experimental summer soup recipe on the web pages of a Finnish newspaper. The combination of peppers, shallots and strawberries does sound a bit strange, but it also made me curious of what it would taste like. Of course we are all familiar with gazpacho, the classic of cold vegetable soups, and the principle of making this soup reminds me of gazpacho, but combines other, more exciting summer flavours. I must say that the taste of this soup is very interesting (as was my first reaction), but it's not too bad at all. This dish was a nice refreshment and a sufficiently filling meal on a hot day. 

I changed a couple of things from the original, and here is my version of the recipe.

Ingredients

3 large red bell peppers

1 shallot

2 tomatoes

400 g strawberries

2 garlic cloves

½ tbsp rosemary

1 tsp salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

Method

Chop the fresh peppers, tomatoes, shallot and garlic roughly. Purée all ingredients, apart from the ground black pepper (that should be ground on the top of the soup before serving). Add a little water, if the soup seems to be too thick.

Let the soup rest one hour in the fridge before the serving. Then serve cool in glasses with ground black pepper on the top.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Casa Castagno in Avignon

It is quite rare for me to recommend a restaurant that isn't fully vegetarian, but with Casa Castagno I'll have to make an exception. Casa Castagno is a pizzeria and pasteria in the centre of Avignon and they serve fresh pastas and artisan pizzas with loads of ambience and good humour. I believe at least one of the daily specials is always vegetarian and there is a selection of vegetarian pizzas and salads on the regular menu. You can also have a half a pizza and the other half of the plate is then covered with salad. 

I went to this restaurant twice during my holiday as I had such a good night the first time around. On the first night I ate possibly the best bowl of pasta that I've ever had. It was fresh pasta with local tomatoes, intense buffalo mozzarella and a drizzle of basil, olive oil and garlic – simply heavenly! The portion was huge, but I still tasted their mandarin sorbet as a dessert, which was very refreshing. All this was served with exquisite wines. 

The staff there is very friendly and they tend to joke around, which makes it all nicely informal. The chef occasionally pops out of the kitchen to have a chat with the guests. We tried to converse with him with our limited French and it was very nice.

On the first night I already saw that there were several vegetarian pizza options, and they all sounded very tempting, so on the second night after a long consideration I ended up having a pizza with fresh mushrooms, mozzarella, emmental and local vegetables (courgettes and aubergines). It was a very tasty pizza with a thin crispy crust and the vegetables were full of flavour. You could also add spicy chilli oil on the top of the pizza, if you were brave enough for it. As a dessert on that day I had lemon sorbet with limoncello liqueur, which was also a very nice dessert.

I can warmly recommend this place to any hungry traveller and I really want to go back there as soon as I can.

Hopefully I'll see you soon, Casa Castagno!

Tasty summer breads

Light, fresh food is the best thing to have in the summer, and even better if you can get tasty local vegetables. As mentioned before, I often like to have just a bread lunch or dinner with vegetables and possibly cheese. I'm not always up for baking my own bread, especially in the heat, but then a nice artisan bread from the bakery is just right. I added my watercress pesto (recipe here) on these breads to bring an extra punch and freshness.

These are the ingredients I used today.

1 loaf of olive bread

150 g char-grilled pepper antipasti

200 g red & gold santini tomatoes

250 g mozzarella

Watercress pesto

Basil leaves

Sea salt

Ground black pepper

Simple instructions for a simple dish.

Slice the bread and the tomatoes. Spread some watercress pesto on the breads. You can replace this by a regular pesto or a basil and olive oil drizzle.

Then place the tomatoes and the antipasti on the bread slices, and tear the mozzarella on the top. When mozzarella is torn it releases less of its liquid, and I tend to prefer this method these days.

Sprinkle basil leaves, salt and pepper on the top and the breads are done.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

The VegHog's great India Pale Ale tasting – Part I

It's long overdue that I dedicate a few posts entirely to IPA (India Pale Ale) and what could be a better occasion than the IPA Day, which is celebrated today (not sure who invented this). I have written a few beer reviews before, as you know, but in this series I will concentrate on different international IPAs only. There will be at least a couple of more posts like this coming up, as there are so many exciting IPAs to sample.

India Pale Ale was originally created to supply beer to the British troops and colonists in India in the 18^th century. In such a hot climate the craving for beer was great, so British breweries started exporting this new type of beer to India. Due to its hoppy character, IPA endured the long sea voyage around the Cape well, and the taste developed further in the casks at high sea in the warm weather and in the ship's movements. After the colonisation ended, IPA disappeared from India, but it had become a popular type of beer internationally, and countless sorts of IPA exist these days. IPA has become a very popular beer type in the United States of America as well.

Why I started this IPA tasting venture is partly because of my newly found fondness of beer and the book Hops and Glory by Pete Brown. Pete's book is a vivid description of his journey trying to re-create India Pale Ale's original 18^th century route and the history of IPA. The author took a cask of beer that was brewed like the original ones on an adventure along that route. You don't even have to be a beer fan to be able to enjoy this book, the sea journey alone is exciting enough.

Here are the IPAs I sampled this time, some of them are a little unusual, but all very good:

Siren Craft Brew – Limoncello IPA 9,1%

• Very citrussy and hoppy
• Fruity citrussy smell
• A massive lemony explosion followed by a crisp aftertaste with fading lemon and malts
• Some hints of raspberry/blackberry

Magic Rock Brewing / Lervig – Farmhouse IPA 6,0%

• A collaboration brew between Lervig Aktiebryggeri (Norway) and Magic Rock (UK) 
• Bitterness from hops is the first thing to be tasted
• Belgian yeasts
• Tropical fruits
• Sourness of the farmhouse style yeasts
• Pine, toffee and banana in the aftertaste
• Lingering bitterness on the tongue

Rooie Dop – Chica Americana IPA 7,1%

• American levels of bitterness, with pine and citrus notes throughout
• Caramel in the hoppy aftertaste

Moylan's – Northern California IPA 6,5%

• Birchy resin taste
• Less malty character

Little Valley Brewery – Python IPA 6,0%

• Grassy character
• Raisin and rum
• Sweet, malty aftertaste

Would you have an IPA to recommend that I could taste? And happy IPA Day everyone!

Your VegHog

Roasted mini aubergines with a snack board

Do you really need anything else for lunch than a snack board full of beautiful products? The answer is no. I don't know how you feel about this, but I do prefer a cold lunch to a warm meal in the middle of the day. If I'm supposed to work and pay attention after lunch, then a cold light lunch is the best option for me.

Yesterday I assembled these things together as a snack board for two persons, and it had a little bit of a Mediterranean feel. On that board there was nothing else to be cooked than the roasted mini aubergines, and they are easy.

Cut the mini aubergines in half. Pour three tablespoons of olive oil into a roasting tin and one teaspoon of oregano on the top. Put the aubergines there and mix first cut side down and then turn them cut side up for the roasting. Roast them at 220C for about 10 minutes until tender and golden brown. The aubergines can be eaten either warm or cold.

Serve them on a board of snacks, and you can have whatever you like there. These are the items I had on my board with the roasted mini aubergines:

• green olives
• emmental cheese
• roasted pepper antipasti
• aubergine caviar
• green heirloom tomatoes
• olive bread
• baguette

Do you ever make this kind of lunches, and if so, what are your favourite food items to use then?

Your VegHog