Katriina Mueller, Author at Finding Feasts

Finnish Christmas Ham – Joulukinkku

Finnish Christmas Ham – Joulukinkku… Hi, My name is Katriina and I have been a Christmas addict for over 40 years. There, I said it!

The food, the movies, the songs, the lights, everything gets pulled out and celebrated from the 1st of December, although the food prep starts earlier… I live and breathe Christmas for the entire month.

My sister and I now do the ham, she gets the most amazing Smoked Leg of Ham from The Free Range Butcher here in Sydney. It gets delivered to my house along with other meats to last for a few months. The aroma from the Smoked Ham is unbelievable, truly heaven. It is pricier than standard ham but the benefit of having such well kept, happy animals and the preparation of the meat after is that this ham freezes so well. After Christmas dinner has finished we divide the leftover ham between the 3 families and freeze the large chunks. We are happily eating ham for a couple of months after and it’s still as good as it was on Christmas Eve.

The traditional way is to cook the ham yourself and then assemble the crust (Falling Cloudberries by Tessa Kiros) but being in Australia there isn’t much joy in having the oven on all day, unless you have air conditioning! Using a smoked leg of ham means you are just prepping the outside, but it also means the oven is free to cook all the other roasts and necessary accompaniments such as the casseroles (Swede casserole) and vegetables.

This ham is outstanding with its crunchy, sweet and hot crust protecting the glorious, smokey, juicy meat on the inside. I like to decorate with cute little characters but this year I will try to get a proper photo of the finished ham, before it’s devoured that is.

Finding Feasts - Finnish Christmas Ham

Merry Christmas! Blondie 🙂

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Finnish Mustard

This is a deliciously sweet and slightly hot Finnish Mustard that is a must with all the leftovers from Christmas dinner.

The recipe comes direct from Tess Kiros‘ beautiful cookbook Falling Cloudberries. I received this stunning book from a friend, Shoufay Derz years ago as a gift for doing some special/makeup effects on a video/sound art installation that she was doing with fellow artist Owen Leong titled Entanglement.

This is the mustard used in the Finnish Ham recipe so double the recipe if you would also like to give some as gifts.

Hyvää Joulua! (Merry Christmas)

Blondie

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Curried Green Tomatoes and Cranberry Relish

Curried Green Tomatoes and Cranberry Relish is a small batch recipe using green tomatoes. Yes, these are the very same green tomatoes from Bella’s neighbour… they seriously have lots of tomatoes!

I graciously received a large bowl of tomatoes last week and I chose to make a relish, although I’m not quite sure if I should call it a relish or a chutney? They seem to be the same… anyway, surprisingly, after a discussion with mum about my relish she tells me that it was a favourite recipe of grandpa’s and he made something almost identical whenever his veggie garden was flowing over with tomatoes. It just goes to show that flavour traits can run strong within families.

Bella made a Pickled Green Tomato with her stash and I also wanted something that could be served with nibbles since the Christmas season is fast coming up. It’s also the reason why I added cranberries to the recipe, just makes it a little more festive. Maybe I should call this a Christmas Relish, it certainly deserves a place on the dinner table.

Serve with any roast meat, on a sandwich using leftovers, or on your breakfast eggs… delicious!

Enjoy! Blondie

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Wild Yeast Sourdough Bread Step-By-Step

Finding Feasts - Wild Yeast Sourdough Bread Rolls_3 (1) — Click image for recipe

Wild Yeast Sourdough Bread Step-By-Step is my very simple instructional guide on how to have sourdough bread available in your own home for whenever the mood takes you… or when the mood takes you a day prior to having the mood… Good things take time.

Although a wild yeast starter is as basic as flour and water then letting nature take over, I did choose to have my hand held by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s recipe guidance as every time I make a dish of his it’s always exactly as he says it is. I made the starter over two months ago and it’s still a loving ‘pet’ who doesn’t expect too much from me other than a feed and maybe a warm hug.

Just the fact you can create amazing loaves of freshly baked bread at absolutely minimal cost to yourself is well worth you trying your hand at a wild yeast starter. The kids would love to have something to look after!

Maintenance of your new starter is probably where most people seem to have difficulty so here is my routine… and it seems to like the lifestyle.

As I usually make bread on the weekend I put my starter to sleep during the week, or more appropriately into a slight lull. So on the Sunday I give it a feed without too much water making the consistency more like a paste than a batter. Cover it and pop it into the fridge, that’s it! This will give it enough food to last for a week in the fridge as it won’t need too much being in the cold.

On the Friday I take it out of the fridge and give it a good stir leaving it to get back to room temperature. Tip out some of the starter* then give it it’s usual feed with flour and enough water to get it back to the batter consistency and use over the weekend.

Note* I dislike tipping my starter down the drain, it really seems like such a waste, so if you have people around you that would like to try their hand at sourdough bread making, give them your excess. Just pour it into a jar, and send it on it’s way… spread the love.

Repeat the process.

This works particularly well if you go away on holidays too. Just make sure it’s thick enough with flour to feed it for the week or two while it’s in the fridge and it will happily wait for your return.

If you keep in your mind that it’s now a member of the family, just like a new pet, you can have a long and successful life together.

Happy crunching and crumb licking!

Blondie 🙂

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Smokey Paprika Hasselback Potatoes in a hurry

Smokey Paprika Hasselback Potatoes in a hurry… One of my favourite things to do when I have spare time is to wander around charity stores. It’s always amazing what you can find in there, and it was during one of these spontaneous trips that I came across a gorgeous terracotta, pot bellied canister with a lid. On inspection I saw that it still had a note in it telling me that it was a Diable Potato Cooker. Well, enough said, it was going to come home with me.

If you do ever come across one of these I highly recommend adding it to your kitchen as it’s no fat, no liquid cooking and can be used in the oven, on the hob (with a diffuser) or in the microwave… and being cooked in terracotta imparts a subtle and unique flavour to the veggies. I cook most of my vegetables in it now and the fact I can have awesome whole potatoes ready within minutes is just such a bonus!

Anyway, enough about my cute potato cooker, this is about making hasselback potatoes quickly. Using the diable means your cooking time is considerably shorter but if you don’t have one you can wrap each potato in paper towel and place them in the microwave. Start with the same times as with the diable and just check with a skewer to see if the potatoes are ready – It’s very easy to overcook the potatoes so cook them in 1-2 minute increments after the initial cook time of 4 minutes

Happy cooking! Blondie

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Salted Caramel Sauce

Salted Caramel Sauce… You can’t beat a gorgeous caramel sauce to add a little indulgence to a dessert dish, throw in some Murray River Salt flakes (my preferred choice) and it’s transformed from normal to sublime!

This is another fabulous gift idea for Christmas, just make it a day or two prior to the day you will be handing it out.

Blondie 🙂

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Marinated BBQ Rack of Mutton w/ Parmesan Crust

We love things aged; red wine, beef, cheese … men. They develop a character and flavour and bring an appreciation to something that may otherwise be taken without thought. So why not sheep?

So what is mutton or hogget? Unfortunately they are both very unappealing names given to sheep older than a year old. Hogget is a sheep with one or two incisor teeth putting it at 12 – 20 months old and mutton is roughly over 20 months old. Both outstanding pieces of meat and considering the trend at the moment of slow cooking the cheaper cuts of meat I’m surprised it’s not more popular… It goes to show how word of mouth can slay a product, and that’s a shame as i’m a total fan of both.

I love the idea that the sheep has lived a longer life, grazing the paddocks and generally socialising with their kind. The meat has had time to develop a richer taste – still lamb in flavour, just much fuller, not gamey like most people seem to think. Ask any farmer.

You will need to search for mutton or hogget to find a supplier but if you do get a chance to try it I know you will be converted. I’m lucky to have access through my sister who lives in the Blue Mountains and has groups of friends who all chip in to by the whole animal and then divvy it up between them … and me, if I’m lucky.

For this recipe, Marinated BBQ Rack of Mutton w/ Parmesan Crust, I decided to barbecue the rack, using my favourite marinade and just taking it slow with the cooking. It was outstanding! Oh and the gravy… droolingly good.

Happy searching, Blondie

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