Yumi Yumi

Beet-pickled eggs have made quite a few appearances here on Nami-Nami. First in April 2007 , then again in March 2008 , but in a marbled form. The ruby eggs were present on our Easter brunch in 2009 , and ruby-red quail eggs were present on our Easter brunch in 2012 . Probably in 2010 and 2011 as well, I just forgot to take a photo of them. If you read Estonian, then you saw them in my recipe column in the March 2013 issue of Kodu ja Aed ("Home and Garden") magazine as well: Photo by Juta Kübarsepp for the March 2013 issue of Kodu ja Aed Yet it had never occurred to me to make deviled beet eggs until I came across this post on The Kitchn  (well, I actually first spotted the recipe on Pinterest , where I promptly pinned this to my Beautiful Beet Recipes board ). I had to make them. Deviled beet eggs/Beet deviled eggs/Ruby eggs/Beetroot devilled eggs Step 1: Simple beetroot eggs: free range and/or organic eggs beetroot juice/beet juice salt First you need to hard-boil some e...

I was due to give a Scottish cookery class last Sunday in Aegviidu - a small town about an hour from Tallinn. While finalising the menu for the cookery class (skirlie and clapshot and cranachan and such like), I flipped again through the pages of Scottish author's  Sue Lawrence 's excellent " A Cook's Tour of Scotland: from Barra to Brora in 120 recipes ". One of the last recipes in the book was for Anta Bars - a tray cake that Sue Lawrence was served at the Anta Pottery 's tearoom in Fearn, Tain, near Ross-shire in the Scottish Highlands (see here for the exact address). Ingredients? Digestive biscuits, butter, sweet condensed milk, milk chocolate and desiccated coconut. Very similar to Magic bars, though these tend to have a layer of nuts included as well, and are layered somewhat differently (I rely on the Joy of Baking blog for this information). I had a whole packet of sweet condensed milk I wanted to use, and while I really wanted to make the Millio...

Regular readers of this blog know about my fondness of beetroot.  I'd like to think that I have a pretty good selection and variety of beet recipes here on Nami-Nami. You'll find recipes for beetroot cream cheese spread with horseradish , beetroot and blue cheese risotto ,  Georgian beetroot and walnut salad , Persian beet borani , beet and feta quiche , a wonderful vegan beetroot borscht ,  beetroot pesto ,  beet and blue cheese muffins ,  beetroot pickled eggs , beetroot and goat cheese soup , beet and ginger cake , beet bruschetta , raw beetroot salad , beet and potato pie , a layered beet and smoked salmon salad , dashing coconut and beet soup  here on Nami-Nami - and this is just the tip of the iceberg! Yet I discovered something totally new - and exciting - last weekend. It all began when my dear hubby told me that he had discovered a long-forgotten pile of beets in our garage that also doubles as a very cold larder. And these were not just beets th...

Gigantes plaki (yigandes plaki, γίγαντες πλακί) i s a popular Greek taverna dish, consisting of oven-baked fasolia gigante ("giant") beans with tomato sauce. Gigantes are occasionally also called elephant beans (elephantes) - which is the name reserved for extra large giant beans :) The gigantes are native to Greece, and the ones from Kastoria are especially prized, as well as the ones from Florina and Drama regions - all three have the PGI-designation or are recognised by the EU as products of Protected Geographical Indication. If you're in Estonia , look out for Garrido gigantes (either canned or dried, offered by Kaupmees) or Palirria ( large cans, offered by HellenicTrade  - these are the ones I've been using). Elsewhere, look for the jumbo beans/elephant beans/gigantes at Greek and Middle Eastern markets.   Amazon.com sells  Kastoria giant beans  online , and there's also  a canned variety available . You can use dried or canned cannellini or lima beans i...

One of my favourite pasta dishes recently is this clean-looking pasta (usually tagliatelle, but I've also used linguine) with seared salmon, fresh spinach and cream, with a light lemon kick. For an extra quick version I've used smoked salmon, but using fresh salmon is much wallet-friendlier and has more kid-appeal as well. Also, it's a great way to use that thinner tail-end of the fish that I usually put aside when baking salmon in the oven. Note that there's no Parmesan cheese in the dish!!! Tagliatelle with creamy spinach and pan-fried salmon ( Makaronid praetud lõhe ja spinatiga ) Serves 4  400 g tagliatelle pasta (linguine or spaghetti would work as well) water and salt, for cooking pasta 400 g salmon or trout fillet butter, for frying 100 g fresh baby spinach leaves, rinsed about a cup of double cream a handful of fresh parsley 1 lemon, zested sea salt and freshly ground black pepper Bring a large pot of water into a rolling boil, season with salt and cook the past...

Imagine a kitchen - well, actually a whole house - where the wonderful aroma of Bergamot orange is floating in the air. (If you're unfamiliar with bergamot, then my blog friend David Lebovitz comes to the rescue ). Does that smell sound appealing? If yes, then read on :) A friend of mine who works at KAFO   (the Estonian distributor of Lavazza coffee, Just t teas, Jura coffee machines, Monbana Trésor chocolates, David Rio chais and such like) gave me a selection of Just t Black Label No X teas for degustation recently. All nine of them: I had fun brewing and sipping them. Personal favourites - No 1 (Lemon balm herbal infusion), No 5 (Black tea Earl Grey Luxury), No 7 (Green tea jasmine blossom) and No 9 (Black tea Bombay Chai, with ginger, cloves, black pepper, cinnamon). However, Nami-Nami is a food blog , not a drink blog, so I should provide you with a recipe instead of going on about my favourite teas, right? Coincidentally, my Uppsala-based friend Annika gave me two Swe...

Chickpeas (or garbanzo beans, as they're known in the US), that excellent store-cupboard ingredient that helps one to make many an excellent meal.  A filling chickpea and tuna salad with smoked paprika powder.  A healthy vegetarian side dish consisting of chickpeas and pomegranate molasses . A quick tortilla wrap with chickpeas and tuna . A chickpea and tomato soup with smoked paprika.  A chickpea and tomato soup with Moroccan spices. A quick hummus with beets . Or a quick hummus with wild garlic , come ramp or ramson season. Or a quick hummus with harissa paste , if you want something a wee bit spicier. I always keep some in the cupboard, as they are indeed an excellent stand-by. Chickpeas and smoked paprika powder ( pimentón ) is a match made in heaven, and this is utilised in this wonderful Spanish creation, garbanzos y chorizo . No pimentón or smoked paprika powder - pimentón de la Vera is considered the best - is needed, but you need a good-quality Spanish coo...