Shakshuka

During weekdays I often browse through possible breakfast and brunch foods to cook in the weekends. I was not familiar with Israeli brunch food shakshuka until I bumped into this and this recipe. The pictures were so beautiful that even though I was doubtful about tomato sauce combined with eggs I wanted to give it a try.

And yes it worked. I think eggs are always a must at brunch, in form or another. With tomato sauce they again have a different flavor than when eating scrambled or fried. And as the original recipes say, this dish is extremely adaptable! I also did not follow the recipe, but made it my own version based on what we happened to have at home. This recipe works perfectly like that, as you can mix in different vegetables, different cheese and for example beans, lentils or even sausage of your choice. I had English cheshire cheese in my fridge, but you can as well use feta cheese, cheddar, goat cheese or ricotta, for example.

A friend of mine who lived in Israel told that shakshuka works even better with hummus spread on the sides of your pan. Wipe the hummus and shakshuka with a piece of fresh bread and enjoy the flavors together. Sounds really worth a try!

Here’s my adaptation.

Israeli Shakshuka (serves 2)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 small green bell pepper, chopped in small cubes

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

1 teaspoon chili flakes, or to taste

400g jar chopped tomatoes

1 tablespoon tomato paste

freshly ground black pepper and Himalayan pink salt

pinch of sugar

1 handful of baby spinach, roughly chopped

1 can of chickpeas, drained

50g English cheshire cheese, crumbled

4 eggs

fresh cilantro to garnish

Preheat oven to 200° C.

Sautée onion and garlic in olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet until the onion softens and gets transparent color. Add cubed bell pepper and sautée for a few minutes more.

Add cumin, paprika and chili and stir to incorporate.

Lower the heat to medium-low. Mix in chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, salt, pepper and sugar. Add spinach and chickpeas and let bubble gently for a few minutes.

Move the mixture in two small oven-safe skillets or pans. Sprinkle with cheese crumbs.

Make two holes in the tomato mixture and carefully crack the eggs in the holes.

Place the skillets in the oven and bake until the eggs have settled. Mine got a bit over-cooked, don’t you let yours to do that ;-)

Top with cilantro and serve with freshly baked bread.

Green Asparagus and Broccoli Pizza

I think for starters I should admit something. I did not succeed in my cleansing diet of just green and superfood that I last blogged of. I feel kind of embarrassed about it, but on the other hand I realized something: for me food is primarily, and utterly, about enjoyment. When I had raw spinach, broccoli and arugula for dinner, without salt, just a splash of olive oil, I didn’t enjoy it. Instead of wishing the portion would last forever, so that I could keep eating, I wished it would end soon. Eating felt like an obligation, just to fill my stomach and be done with it.

And I don’t want that! I love food, I want to be happy for every bit of it! So I realized that these diets are not for me. Not even this kind of lifestyle is for me. But I can keep these healthy bits in my diet, and give up some less healthy things in it. One thing I cannot give up is pizza. I think my blog activity doesn’t give a correct image of how much we actually eat pizza. We basically never, or at least veeeery rarely eat pizza out, because I love doing it from beginning to end, and we both enjoy getting our favorite toppings in our pizzas. 

This time I gave a go to asparagus in pizza. I never tried it before, but it was delicious! And you know, asparagus is one of my definitive favorite veggies. Sautéed broccoli gave it a nice twist, and this white version goes also to those (like S) who don’t like tomato in their pizza that much. So based on this experiment I would highly recommend this crunchy piece of spring to anyone out there :-)

White Pizza with Asparagus and Broccoli

Pizza dough:

See recipe here. This amount makes two medium pizzas.

Toppings:

300g green asparagus, washed and tough ends trimmed

150g broccoli, washed and cut into small florets

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 tablespoons lemon juice

250g fresh mozzarella (2 balls), sliced

150g cream cheese (I used Philadelphia)

2 handfuls of freshly grated parmesan cheese

Pine nuts

Salt & black pepper

Prepare the dough with recipe above. Once it has doubled in size, roll it into two balls, and then roll both of them out into two pizza bases. Place the bases over parchment paper.

Preheat oven into 275° or as hot as it gets. If you use a pizza stone, let it get hot in the oven too while it heats up.

Sautée the broccoli florets over high heat in a frying pan with olive oil until they get just slightly burned from the smallest tips. Spice up with a splash of lemon juice, salt and black pepper.

Using a cheese slicer or a peeler slice the asparaguses from ends all the way to the top, forming beautiful green strips.

Spread the cream cheese evenly on both pizza bases. Top with handfuls of parmesan cheese (as said many times, DON’T ever use the ready grated “cheese”) and arrange the sliced mozzarella balls on top, evenly.

Spread the sliced asparagus and sautéed broccoli on top of the cheese. Sprinkle with pine nuts and some olive oil and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes depending on the temperature of your oven.

Say Green for Good

Today I’m not gonna write a recipe post. I’m gonna write about the color green! And a little bit of the expensiveness of food in Finland.

My friend has been updating detox statuses on Facebook lately. It has seemed like a great thing, so it made me think about myself and my eating habits too. Last night I was already in bed when it hit me: I love greasy, sugary food a little bit too much, don’t I? I love the taste of chocolate and the feeling after eating a huge bowl of pasta. This cannot continue, I said to S and immediately decided to make a change. For five days from now I would give my body a chance to clean itself - detox, as they say. No wheat, no fast carbs, no sugar, soy products or dairy products. Then gradually I would take the previous back in my diet, but not in excessive amounts, not daily.

The night I didn’t sleep very sound. I was probably waiting eagerly for my healthy week. I woke up, had a cup of white tea instead of my daily morning latte and went to work. After 30 minutes of work I was yawning, my energy levels were somewhere below the ground and I could not think clearly. I NEEDED my daily drug dosis, I couldn’t start my engine without coffee. Pretty soon I realized I was going to do an interview IN A CHAMPAGNE BAR, TASTING CHAMPAGNE AND CAKES today. Something I had forgotten, so bye bye my plan. And so I got myself a grande cup of coffee and the life smiled again.

When I left the bar after we got the work done I felt so bad. I had just had simply wonderful taste experiences but it was not something I felt comfortable with. So I went to the supermarket and started to look for something…..GREEN. I bought spinach, kale, arugula, asparagus, broccoli, pink grapefruit, zucchini, beets, quinoa, beluga lentils, agave syrup, cashew nut butter and pomegranate & white tea juice. Most of this organic. All this cost me more than 40 euros. Can you imagine? So basically I become more sure that eating healthy, clean food is a privilege of chosen people (not me). For instance, a small bag or kale cost me 3 euros, 400 grams of asparagus 4,50 euros and agave syrup 7,90 euros! I don’t like to complain, but come on, it’s so much cheaper to buy the frozen pizza with 2 euros, so I don’t wonder people do exactly that.

Now, with my fridge full of greens I would like to know what to do with them, and I’m especially interested in the green smoothies. Any suggestion of great flavor combinations, of super smoothies with great health benefits? I also have coconut oil and hemp seeds to use in them, so all recipes would be great!

This post, by the way, doesn’t mean there couldn’t be a recipe for pizza in my next post…actually it might just be! ;-)

Creamy Cauliflower Soup and Basil Oil

Since last autumn I have felt a need to start eating lighter meals and less calories. I have always had a tooth for food that could perhaps contain a little less cream, cheese, sugar and chocolate. I think lately as I passed the border of 30 years I have also started to notice my eating in my body. Not anymore I can simply eat what I want and not think of the consequences. Actually, I’ve been quite active gym-goer for most of my adult life, but now it seems I should be even more.

So, as kind of a new year’s resolution me and S decided to start eating lighter in the dinner time during the working days. We both eat lunch in restaurants near our offices every day, so we found it quite a good idea to lighten up the evening meals mainly to soups and salads. 

For the following cauliflower soup I got an inspiration from the newest edition of a Finnish food magazine Kotiliesi. I however made some changes in the original recipe, like added cheese, haha! Actually, in this soup I again used a cheese product I have been discussing in my earlier post of Swiss rösti. I still don’t know what is the name for this product in English, but here’s a photo of how it should look like. In Finland we call it melted cheese, and for all the Finns: in this recipe I used the one in the pic, Koskenlaskija strong.

Here it goes, probably the best cauliflower soup I have ever had.

Cauliflower Soup with Basil Oil

900g cauliflower head, washed and cut in florets

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 leek, well washed, green parts cut out, white part chopped

1 clove of garlic

1 liter light chicken/vegetarian broth

100 ml cream

150g processed cheese/cheese spread

pinch of smoked paprika

pinch of white pepper

salt to taste

Basil Oil

2 handfuls of fresh basil leaves

3-4 tablespoons good olive oil

pinch of pink Himalayan rock salt

Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Sautee leeks and garlic for a couple of minutes until the leek starts to get color. Be careful not to burn the garlic, as it gets a bitter flavor.

Add the cauliflower florets and broth. Bring to a boil and let bubble until the cauliflowers are completely cooked. Lift the soup off the fire and puree using a hand blender. Add water if needed.

Lower the fire to low and place the pan back on the stove. Mix in cream and the cheese. Let boil gently until cheese has melted completely. 

Spice up with white pepper, smoked paprika and salt.

Prepare the basil oil. Place the oil and basil leaves in a high edge container and puree using a hand blender (you can also do it with a regular blender). Season with pink Himalayan chrystal salt.

Top the soup with basil oil and enjoy!

African Sweet Potato, Peanut and White Bean Soup

Today I woke up early, as normally, did my morning routines, took a shower, brushed my teeth, made and drank coffee, did some pinteresting and browsed the news online. I was about to leave home when I started to check my shifts, in order to be sure I had the morning shift. The amazement was huge when the list said “free”! I had to call my colleagues at the office and ask them to check if that was really true.

And it was, so me and S decided to clean up the apartment, I planned to go to the supermarket to get our weekly stuff and S was going to spend the evening at the Finnish language course, where he’s doing really well (I’m so proud, as anyone who has ever tried to learn Finnish knows it’s one of the hardest languages in the world, alongside of Hungarian and Estonian). So when we were waking up in bed very late this afternoon S made me a riddle by drawing…which I had to solve to find out he wished me to bake a chocolate cake.

So after his daily dose of Finnish there was a chocolate tart waiting for him. The recipe will follow, but first I want to tell you what I cooked for dinner tonight.

The soup was so hearty, so flavorous and so good. The recipe is adapted from Vegetarian Times. The original calls for spinach, but I forgot to buy it. Instead I used some baked white beans, as I guessed S would like some protein in the soup. It worked fine, but I am sure spinach would have been lovely too!

A word about harissa paste too. This North African delicious spice paste is so rich in flavor, that I just love it. However, I’ve noticed some brands are hotter than others. So I have decided to use the mildest one I’ve found, so that I can use it in quite large amounts and get all benefits of the wonderful flavors. 

African Sweet Potato, Peanut and White Bean Soup (serves your whole family)

2 large sweet potatoes, washed

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 small leek (white and light green parts), halved and washed

2 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon cumin

3 tablespoons peanut butter

2 heaping tablespoons harissa paste

750ml light chicken stock

1 can baked white beans, drained

salt to taste

peanuts, fresh coriander and Turkish yogurt to garnish

Place the sweet potatoes in a microwave and cook in full power for 10 minutes. Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise, and cook for 10 minutes more, or so long that they are relatively soft.

Cut the meat off the potato skins with a spoon.

Heat the olive oil in a medium/large saucepan or a Dutch oven. Chop the leaks and sautée them over a medium heat for 5 minutes. Add garlic, turmeric and cumin, and keep sauteeing for 1 minute more. Add harissa, peanut butter, sweet potatoes and chicken stock and let simmer for 20 minutes, half covered.

Take the pan off the heat and puree the soup by using a stick blender.

Put back to heat and add the beans. Add some water if the soup is too thick. Season with salt if needed.

Serve with some yogurt, coriander and peanuts.

Red Chard, Cheddar & Lemon Quiche

Last night my friends arranged a wonderful cocktail party at their place. All the guests were dressed up in their best outfits, there was a wide range of drinks, and what’s the best, a wide range of lovely cocktail bites. I still don’t know how many days my friend has used in preparing all that, but I assume MANY.

The best things I got to taste there was a cracker with apricot and miso jam, and a chocolate tart with pistachio halva and sesame salt. I really have to try these out myself too!

In a manner of fact, I had promised to help in cooking something for the party. What happened was that I got a mild food poisoning from something I ate on Friday, so I was not feeling very good yesterday. Bravely I still started to prepare the red chard mini quiches I had promised, but what eventually happened was that they got stuck in my cupcake pan and broke. Almost all of them. So that was it. Luckily I had still half of the dough as well as the filling left, so I decided just to make a traditional quiche and bring it to the party.

Cut in small bits it was almost as nice as the individual mini quiches would have been!

Red Chard, Cheddar and Lemon Quiche

Basic pie crust:

125g butter (salted)

3dl all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons ice cold water

For the filling:

bunch of red chard, washed and stems cut off

1 tablespoon olive oil

small bunch of rocket, washed

200ml heavy whipping cream

200g creme fraiche

3 large eggs

100g yellow cheddar, grated

50g parmesan cheese, grated

1 teaspoon lemon peel, finely grated

salt and black pepper to taste

Prepare the crust. Using your fingertips, work together butter and flour until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Quickly mix in the ice cold water, form into a ball and refrigerate while you make the filling.

Roughly chop chard and rocket. Heat the olive oil in a skillet and sautée chard for 30 seconds. Set aside.

Mix together cream and creme fraiche. Whisk in the eggs, cheeses, lemon peel and rocket.

Preheat the oven to 200C°. Cover the base of a springform pan with baking paper and grease the sides with butter.

Take the dough from the fridge. On a floured surface, roll it out into a round slightly bigger than the diameter of your pan.

Place the rolled dough in the pan so that it covers the bottom and about 1/3 up the sides. Pour the filling on the crust, top with sauteed chard and bake about 30 minutes or until golden.

Beetroot Risotto with Chèvre Mousse

First of all, thanks so much everyone for your comments on my posts! Today I prepared my second favorite noodles (after pad thai) for dinner, and found a comment in the recipe. This kind of advising and giving ideas and hints is so important when learning more about food and cooking (or about anything, generally). So please give more feedback and also share your recipes with me!

Yesterday at work I got involved with the topic of healthy eating. I am not so much of a healthy eater myself (I probably shouldn’t tell this but today I had an ice cream AND two teaspoons of Nutella, which is my weakness) but it was interesting to read about this new Swedish research that confirms the old facts already learned at school: the Scandinavian “plate model” is the healthiest way to eat. It’s similar to many international plate models I found, and close to the Harvard food pyramid, but stresses the importance of veggies on each meal (half of the plate should be those). The Scandi plate rarely includes fruit, but substitutes them with berries that have less sugar and that, of course, also grow here up North.

The plate model says 50 percent of the meal should consist of vegetables, 25 percent of protein, 20 percent of carbs (the more fiber the better) and 5 percent of unsaturated fats. You should also have a glass of low-fat milk and a slice of rye bread on your meal. The dessert is berries. In the era of diets, and especially low-carb diets this model seems somehow old, but seems to be the one that is scientifically proved to be the best. It’s funny, by the way to compare it to this old Finnish eating recommendation model, that contains way too much of carbs and starch. I’m curious to know how in your country people are advised to eat, what are the proportions, etc?

A curious detail, that I heard from a nutrition researcher yesterday was that Finns get 20-25 percent of their daily calorie intake from “empty eats”, like candies, baked goods and alcohol. There we still have a lot to learn - me included.

Anyway, the recipe I’m sharing today I tried last night. Beetroot is a veggie I like, but which I rarely cook. Maybe because during the winter time the roots are so hard that they take too long time to cook, eh. Now anyway I decided to do something out of beets, so here comes a beetroot risotto. 

It was very delicious, but also very sweet. I highly recommend you also prepare the chèvre mousse to serve with risotto, as it nicely balances the sweetness.

Beetroot Risotto with Goat Cheese Mousse

2 large beetroots

2 tablespoons dark balsamic vinegar

2+2 tablespoons olive oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

3 dl risotto rice (I used Arborio)

650ml chicken broth

50g parmesan cheese, grated

1 teaspoon salt, or less to taste

freshly ground black pepper

150ml heavy whipping cream

200g soft goat cheese

Preheat the oven to 200°. 

Wash, peel, halve and slice the beetroots. Place them on a baking sheet over a parchment paper and drizzle with 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

Roast in the oven for 30 minutes, then drizzle with 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, toss and roast for 30 minutes more. Let cool and puree with a stick blender or food-processor. Set aside.

Whip the heavy cream into a thick foam and let it wait in fridge.

Heat 2 remaining tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over a medium heat. Add the onion and garlic, and sautee for 2 minutes. Add the rice and sautee for more 3 minutes, until the rice starts becoming transparent.

Start adding the chicken broth 100ml at the time. Whisk constantly with a wire whisk or a wooden spoon, to create the crema. Then the liquid is absorbed, add the next 100ml.

When you have used all the broth (this should take about 15 minutes) the rice should be soft but not overcooked.

Stir into the risotto the pureed beetroots, grated parmesan and 3 tablespoons whipped cream. Spice up with salt and black pepper. Remember to taste the amount of salt, as the beets can give the food a very sweet flavor.

Keep the risotto over a very low fire while you prepare the mousse.

Using an electric mixer toss soft goat cheese to whipped cream. Mix well and serve immediately with the risotto.

Garnish the dish with some parmesan and black pepper.

If you want something green with your risotto, I have heard dill goes surprisingly well with beets. I should try that too!

Goat Cheese and Caramelized Onion Tart

Hi all, and sorry for being silent for daaaayyyssss. I’ve been not only working a lot, but also been sick (like still) and spending the last couple of days in bed. That is so annoying, especially when you’d have so many things to do. Now I at least have the strength to write, before today my brain has just felt like a potato mash.

A while ago I prepared zucchini and tomato galettes, remember? They were a hit on my birthday party, but I never got to taste them myself, as they disappeared in minutes. They got a lot of compliments, especially for being so cheesy and the crust being very delicious. So as I needed to get to know how they tasted exactly, I prepared them again the other day. Now, as the original recipe of the galette crust is not mine, I am allowed to praise it into heavens by saying it is absolutely amazing. In a matter of fact, we have a similar way to prepare a pie crust in Finland, but instead of sour cream we use curd, a very sour milk product, rich in protein. Actually I am curious, if this curd is used worldwide? I didn’t find it in Brazil, but for example in Germany it’s widely used.

Back to galettes: This time I halved the amounts for the dough and filled the tarts with caramelized onions and goat cheese. I had had a roll of goat cheese in our fridge for long, and as it was soon due the date I had to come up with something to use it in. The amounts here make either one big or two small galettes. I made two smaller ones.

This was totally delicious, but be aware of the calories…again!

Goat Cheese and Caramelized Onion Tart

For the dough:

3dl all-purpose flour, chilled in refrigerator for 30 minutes

110g salted butter, cubed and chilled again

0,7dl sour cream

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

70ml ice cold water

For the filling:

2-3 large red onions

2 cloves garlic, chopped

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon cane sugar

2 tablespoons dark balsamic vinegar

250g smooth ricotta

200g soft goat cheese

25g parmesan cheese, grated

0,5 teaspoon salt

black pepper

1 egg yolk + 1 tablespoon water, for brushing

fresh thyme, to garnish

Prepare the dough. Whisk together the flour and salt in a large bowl. Sprinkle bits of butter over dough and by using your hand work it until the mixture resembles coarse meal, with the biggest pieces of butter the size of tiny peas.

In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, lemon juice and water and add this to the butter-flour mixture. With your fingertips or a wooden spoon, mix in the liquid until large lumps form. Pat the lumps into a ball; do not overwork the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Prepare the filling. Peel, cut in half and thinly slice the red onions. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions in the skillet and stir so that everything is covered with oil. Let the onions caramelize for 20-30 minutes, stirring frequently. Don’t let it burn.

After the onions have become soft, add the chopped garlic, sugar and balsamic vinegar. Let simmer for 5 minutes more. Set aside.

Mix together ricotta, 3/4 of the soft goat cheese (leave the 1/4 for crumbling on top of the ready tart), grated parmesan, salt and black pepper into smooth mixture.

Preheat oven to 200 C.

Prepare the galettes.  On a floured work surface, roll the dough out into two rounds (or one if you want to make just one bigger tart). Transfer to baking sheets lined with parchment paper. 

Spread half of the ricotta filling on each round, then top with half of the caramelized onions, leaving a 4 cm border. Fold the borders over the filling, pleating the edge to make them fit. The center will be open. Brush crust with egg yolk glaze.

Bake the galettes until golden brown,  the smaller ones for 20 minutes and a big one for about 35-40 minutes. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with fresh thyme and crumbled goat cheese, let stand for 5 minutes, then slide the galette onto a serving plate.

Cut into wedges and serve warm or at room temperature.

Light Ricotta & Spinach Pasta Alfredo

An Italian friend of mine posted one day a link on Facebook, of 10 errors about Italian food and eating culture. That was very interesting and I assume many of those conceptions and beliefs come from the American-Italian habits and culture. One point on the list was Pasta Alfredo, which, the article said, is unknown to the Italians as a traditional dish. In other words, someone else than people in Italy have come up with this recipe of Pasta Alfredo, and then spread it on as it was originally from Italy. Maybe?

I had heard of Pasta Alfredo, but never tried it. Actually now when I got back to the list above I realized it is usually made of butter. The recipes I came across were mostly using cream or other milk products, therefore I did the same. Let’s then say, my Alfredo is not quite American-Italian either, but something that would require a new definition and a new name, perhaps. I will have to get back to this dish later, with more original recipe. Meanwhile, here’s a lighter version of the dish, using ricotta and yogurt. The pasta I used was tomato-chili flavored dry rotini, and I thought it worked great as the sauce was so mild. The recipe is adapted from Joy of Kosher.

Ricotta & Spinach Pasta Alfredo

300g tomato flavored pasta (I used rotini, as the sauce goes nicely between the helix)

1 tablespoon olive oil

250g smooth ricotta

3 tablespoons Turkish or Greek yogurt (mine had 10% fat)

70g baby spinach, washed

50g parmesan cheese, grated

3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

small handful of fresh thyme

salt and black pepper to taste

Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan. Cook pasta according to the package instructions in salted water.

Heat up the oil in a large skillet. Add the ricotta and yogurt and bring to a simmer. Add parmesan and let it incorporate.

Add the spinach and cook for 2 minutes more. Season with lemon juice, thyme, salt and pepper.

Mix the drained pasta with the sauce and serve with parmesan cheese and some more fresh thyme.

Swiss Potato aka Rösti

Hi all! Sorry I’ve been absent from blogging lately. It’s been so busy there hasn’t been time for me to concentrate on writing in a while. We moved to Helsinki with S, had to arrange our things after moving in, I started a new job, had a big party for my 30th birthday (was a couple of weeks ago already, but as most of my friends live in Helsinki I only got to celebrate it now)… So many things have been going on and taking my time. Fortunately it’s weekend and a chance to rest a little bit from all the hustle.

My party last night went great, and I baked things there too: wonderful, sticky and sweet Snickers brownies and a creamy apple cheesecake with oatmeal crisps on top. The thing is, that S only arrived to our new place yesterday, and brought the camera with him, so I didn’t have time to photograph the stuff before rushing to the party place. But I made the brownies with my favorite brownie recipe, doubling the amount of the ingredients. They became just perfectly thick in a rectangular brownie pan. The apple cheesecake recipe I made up by accident, as I was supposed to bake something totally different, which completely failed, and I had to come up with something to save the thing. The result was luckily good.

Anyway, last time I blogged I mentioned about the massive amount of potatoes we had stored in our fridge and that had to be used. One totally new thing for me, when I lived in Brazil, was what they called Batata Suíça, a Swiss potato. I know and have eaten rösti, a Swiss potato cake made of grated potato in a frying pan, but its Brazilian cousin was something different. I thought it was divine. Yes it was a similar fried potato cake, but it was always filled with cheese and different kinds of other fillings. Typical examples were for example finely chopped chicken, dried meat (which the Brazilians seem to love…actually they love all meat), fresh rocket, sun-dried tomatoes, shrimps, herbs, even stroganoff…you name it. The only thing that a Batata Suíça always has is requeijão, a creamy cheese that is not cream cheese. Here in Finland we call the similar product melted cheese, which it really resembles. After some googling I found out that an American equivalent could be processed cheese in a liquid form, or some kind of a cheese spread. If you can find these products on your local store, you should give this dish a try. The Brazilians don’t go crazy for this for no reason!

The recipe (in Portuguese) is adapted from a great Brazilian food site Tudo Gostoso (everything delicious).

Swiss Potato in a Brazilian Style

1kg big firm potatoes

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

200g requeijão/cheese spread/processed cheese (choose the one with most fat)

125g fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced

2 tablespoons butter

Bring water to a boil in a double boiler or regular large saucepan. Wash the potatoes and boil them semi-soft. Test it with a fork, the potatoes need to have some bite in them, otherwise the next step will be very difficult to do. Also, the larger your potatoes, the easier the grating.

Let the potatoes to cool in a room temperature. When cooled, place them in a freezer for about 10 minutes. Take the potatoes out of the freezer, peel and roughly grate them. Season with salt and black pepper.

Melt the butter on a medium size skillet over medium heat. With moist hands, press half of the shredded potato on the bottom of the skillet. Spoon the cheese spread on top, leaving it about 2cm from the edges to prevent it from trickling out. Spread the sliced mozzarella evenly over the melt cheese and top with the rest of the shredded potato. Wet your hands in water if spreading the potatoes is difficult.

Fry the potato cake from both sides until it’s golden brown and crispy on each side. Keep the skillet covered between the flips. The easiest to flip the swiss potato over on a skillet is by using a plate to help.

Let the potato cake to set for 5 minutes before serving.