Finland: Meatballs in Cream Sauce, Rosolli Pink Beetroot Salad & Loaded Rutabaga Mash
With months of darkness in winter and a sun that never sets in summer, it’s not surprising that the Finn’s have developed an extremely sophisticated cuisine that is strongly influenced by the seasons. Historically Finnish food practices have been based around agriculture and gathering food from nature to supplement the table.Finland’s vast forests are a food-bowl open to all Finns and forest foraging for wild delicacies such as berries and mushrooms is considered a national right. Its sweeping southern coastline and lakes provide abundant fish to add to the key Finish ingredients of dairy products, tubers such as potato and turnip and wild game. It is a food tradition that favours fresh produce and cooking methods that allow the flavours of the ingredients to speak for themselves.
Our menu included:
Meatballs in Cream Sauce
Rosolli Pink Beetroot Salad
&
Loaded Rutabaga Mash
With sides of
Cranberry Sauce
And
Dill Pickles
MEATBALLS IN CREAM SAUCE
Ingredients:
· 500 gm beef mince
· 500 gm pork mince
· 2 eggs beaten
· 1 cup sour cream
· 2 cups breadcrumbs
· 60 gm gouda/havarti cheese, shredded
· 1 small salad onion, finely chopped
· 2 tsp salt
· 2 tsp ground allspice
· 2 tbs olive oil
· 2 tbs butter
· 2 tbs plain flour
· 1 cup chicken stock
· Extra ½ cup sour cream/heavy cream (for the sauce)
Method:
1. Pre heat oven to 180 degrees C
2. Mix minced meats, onion, cheese, egg, 1 cup sour cream, salt allspice and pepper in a bowl until well mixed
3. Roll mix into golf ball sized meatballs – if too wet add more breadcrumbs
4. Heat a heavy dutch oven on top of the stove with olive oil and cook half the meatballs until evenly browned on all sides then remove from the pan and set aside
5. Melt the butter in the pan and brown remaining meatballs and set aside
6. Now begin making the sauce in the dutch oven
7. Sprinle the flour across the fat and butter in the bottom of the pan and over a low heat mix with a wooden spoon until ingredients form a smooth golden brown paste
8. Remove pan from the heat and begin pouring in the stock stirring rapidly to prevent lumps
9. Put pot back on low heat and whisk in the rest of the stock
10. Add salt and pepper to taste and when sauce begins to thicken stir in the sour cream/heavy cream
11. Add meatballs to the pot and spoon over the sauce sauce the oven
12. Put the lid on the pot and bake in the oven with lid on for 45 minutes
13. Serve with Cranberry Sauce and Dill Pickles
This is a Q-Zine original recipe informed by several found at:
ROSOLLI BEETROOT SALAD with PINK CREAM DRESSING
Ingredients:
· 3 beetroot (can be pickled beetroot)
· 2 potato
· 2 carrot
· 2 large pickled cucumber, diced in ½ cm cubes
· 1 apple, peeled and dices in ½ cm cubes
· ½ small onion, finely diced
· Salt
· White pepper
· Pinch of sugar
Dressing Ingredients:
· ½ cup heavy cream
· ½ tsp white vinegar
· ¼ tsp sugar
· Pinch salt
· 3 tbs chilled ‘pink’ beetroot cooking liquid
Method:
1. Peel and chop beets, potatoes and carrot into ½ cm dice
2. Boil vegetables together in a pot of water (with a pinch of salt) until tender but still firm
3. Beets will dye all the other vegetables pink
4. Save a small amount of cooking liquid in the fridge for the dressing and discard the rest
5. When vegetables are cooled down add the apple, onion and pickles
6. Season with salt and pepper and chill in the fridge for 2 hours so flavours develop
7. Now make the sauce
8. Whip the cream then add the vinegar, sugar and salt and whip a little more
9. Finish dressing by folding through enough of the chilled beetroot water to tint the dressing pink – not too much though – the dressing should still be the consistency of whipped cream
10. Chill the dressing in the fridge. When ready to serve it can either be folded through the salad or served on the side
This is a Q-Zine original recipe informed by several found at:
LOADED RUTABAGA MASH
Ingredients:
· 2 large rutabagas (aka Swedes), peeled
· 6 large potatoes, peeled
· 3 tbs butter
· 60 ml milk
· Salt and white pepper to taste
· 2 tbs sour cream
· ½ bunch chives, chopped finely
· 4 tbs Havarti Cheese, shredded
· 4 tbs bacon, diced
Method:
1. Fry bacon in a little butter until crisp then put aside
2. Cut rutabagas and potatoes into 1cm cubes
3. Place the cubes vegetables into a large pot of cold, salted water and bring to the boil with the lid on
4. Once boiling, remove the lid, turn the heat back a bit to a rolling boil and cook the veg until they are soft enough to mash – around 25 minutes
5. Remove the pot from the heat, strain the rutabagas and potatoes into a colander then put them back into the hot pot
6. Put the pot back on the stove top on a warm element and stir the vegetables with a wooden spoon until steam stops coming out of the veg
7. Stir in the milk, remaining butter, salt and pepper and mash until smooth
8. Mound the mash onto a plate or serving bowl and top with the last 4 ingredients in this order, sour cream, chives, cheese and bacon
This is a Q-Zine original recipe informed by several found at:
https://finnishfoodgirl.com/2013/05/homestyle-mashed-potatoes-recipe/
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Yield: Around 4 cups of mashed potatoes
Serving Size: Enough to fill you up!
8 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Teaspoons s
Pepper to
Directio
N
If you would like a more buttery taste to your mashed potatoes, you can substitute the Ok of unsalted bu
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