Individual Rhubarb and Oatmeal Crumble

I’m slowly getting a bit better. I am already able to cook! At least in small portions. I’m not super tired all the time and I have high hopes that tomorrow I’ll be ok at work. I really cannot be absent from work, as there’s a lot of stuff to do.

Today I made two experiments in kitchen, actually. A productive day, I would say! For the breakfast we made Russian syrniki, curd pancakes. They were totally delicious, but not very photogenic. I need to fry them in a cast iron skillet next time, and not in a non-stick frying pan. They didn’t stick, but didn’t look very pretty either. So for the recipe you’ll have to wait…but try this following instead!

A while ago a friend of mine (she’s having a wonderful food blog, take a look!) gave me a few rhubarb stalks from her parents garden. Now they’re in the fridge, getting bad and I had to quickly rescue them. So I made the most simple rhubarb dessert there is, a rhubarb oatmeal crisp. It was improvised, so I try to remember the amounts I used. This portion is for two people only, as I made two individual desserts (see in the pic).

Serve this summery dessert with vanilla ice cream, we didn’t have, what a pity!

Rhubarb and Oatmeal crumble (serves 2)

2 stalks rhubarb

0,5dl light brown sugar

2 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

a pinch of cinnamon

50g salted butter

about 1dl oatmeal

0,5dl all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons sugar

Preheat the oven to 175C°. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Peel the rhubarbs if necessary and slice them crosswise. Toss together rhubarbs, light brown sugar, 1 tablespoon of flour and cinnamon. Press the rhubarbs with the spoon so that they let out some juice. Set aside.

Using your fingers, mix together the rest of the ingredients until everything is crumbly and well mixed.

Spoon half and half of the rhubarb filling into individual ramekins. Top generously with the oatmeal crumble.

Bake on the center rack of the oven, over the covered baking sheet for 30 minutes or until the filling starts to bubble.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Fresh Pea Soup

It’s officially the last day of this semester for me. On Monday I’m moving from the small student city of Jyväskylä to Helsinki. These last days are really busy for me, therefore this post today will be short. But this recipe will be great for you, who wants to prepare something simple (all my recipes seem to include the word simple, heh) and summery in the weekend. Just head to the nearest market, or market place if you’re lucky to have one near, get a lapful of fresh peas, take some time to shell them, and prepare this soup.

This time I didn’t use anyone else’s recipe, but improvised. The soups are one of the easiest dishes to improvise, aren’t they? I am not so accustomed in kitchen that I could easily prepare any dish without using a recipe, but I do that with Italian and Mexican food, like pastas, pizzas, risottos, enchiladas, quesadillas…and soups. I guess by doing you learn, right?

Have a sunny Friday!

Fresh Pea Soup

400-500g fresh peas (the weight after shelling), you can also use frozen peas

1 onion, roughly chopped

1 clove garlic

1 tablespoon olive oil

400-500ml light chicken or vegetable broth

half teaspoon dried marjoram

1 small bay leaf

salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste

50ml heavy cream, whipped and spiced with a pinch of salt

Heat up the olive oil in a medium saucepan. Add onion and garlic, and cook until soft and transparent.

Add the peas, marjoram, chicken or vegetable stock and the bay leaf. Let boil gently until the peas are cooked, but be careful with overcooking so that they won’t lose their beautiful green color.

Take the soup off the heat, remove the bay leaf and puree using a stick blender. Season with salt and black pepper to your taste.

Serve with a spoonful of lightly whipped cream and a pinch of black pepper. And better, with freshly baked sour dough bread, which unfortunately we didn’t have.