Tuna pie

Its handy to have a can of tuna in your store coupboard. You’ll never know when you might feel the itch for a tuna pie.

So, guess what, one day when I was browsing one of my favourite Estonian foodblog, I found the recipe for a tuna pie (Sille toidublogi). I felt the itch.  After getting some more ideas from an Estonian food cookbook I had, I decided combine my own tuna pie (read: I just wanted to use up the leftover cheese and cream and a few cherry tomatoes I had).

Dough:

75 g butter

150 g flour

1/4 tsp salt

2 tbsp cold water

 

# Whisk soft butter and salt with an electric mixer until nice and fluffy.

# Add flour and water, stir thouroughly and place in a mold. Round-shaped mold would be the best I think.

# I would suggest to pre-bake the dough at 180 degrees C for a couple of minutes. Just because the filling is pretty…liquid I guess is the word. I didn’t pre-bake, but would do it the next time. Or even use a different kind of dough, something more firm. Any suggestions?

Now to the filling, where you are allowed to use your imagination. I used the following ingredients:

1 can of tuna (100 g)

100 g grated cheese

1 smaller onion, chopped

1 smaller bell pepper, chopped

7-8 cherry tomatoes, diced

0.5 tsp salt and a bit of pepper

3 eggs

100 ml sour cream

 

# Fry chopped onion together with the bell pepper until soft.

# Drain tuna and place on the dough. Nicely and evenly, you don’t want to get one piece of pie loaded with tuna and another piece with none.

# Place bell pepper and onion mix on top of tuna. Evenly, of course.

# Mix grated cheese with sour cream and lighlty beaten egg yolks. Season with salt and pepper.

# Beat the egg whites until stiff and carefully add to the egg yolks and sour cream mixture.

# Finally, add the diced tomatoes and pour the filling in the pan.

# Bake at 200 degrees C for about 25-30 minutes. Enjoy with green salad or without any side dish, it tastes lovely by itself anyway.   

Using up smoked salmon leftovers

Believe it or not, sometimes you might have some smoked salmon leftovers in your fridge. Especially if you have made sushi the previous day. I was trying to figure out what to do with my few slices of smoked salmon (and a lonely avocado in the vegetable shelf) and found out that there is a possibility to use them up in tasty brucettas. I took the basic idea of this recipe and decided to offer a starter before dinner. And what a starter it was - I ended up having a definite keeper.

1 peeled and chopped avocado

3 chopped cherry tomatoes

0.5 tsp chili powder

1 tsp olive oil

1 tsp lemon juice

2 tsp basil

salt and pepper to taste

3 slices of bread and oil for spreading the toasts

a few slices of smoked salmon

 

# Mix avocado and tomatoes with oil and lemon juice, season with basil and chili powder. Taste, add salt and pepper, if needed.

# Toast bread and spread with oil. Instead of oil you are welcome to use some cream cheese or goat cheese - to soften the taste of salmon and add a nice texture to the bruchettas.

# Top toasts with avocado-tomato mix, cut into bite-sized pieces and serve.

Light yet savory and juicy, they are a perfect appetizer for a sunny day. The fresh colours make a nice presentation as well. And what’s more - in case you have leftovers, no worries, because the salmon acts like a barrier for the juices, so that the toast is crisp even on the next day.

Eating sushi according to the rules

The pictures relieve that sushi has been prepared in my kitchen again. This time I was more in the “taking photos” team, while my good friend Becca prepared most of the sushi. And she did great, as you can see from the pictures!

Sometime in between preparing and enjoying the sushi rolls I started to think about the history and roots of sushi and I came to an understanding, that I know only a little. Only that sushi is delicious, probably originates from Japan, is eaten with sticks and can be accompanied by sake. I figured it is time to find out if my assumptios are correct. And I did. Lucky me that I hadn’t start small talk about the rules and manners of eating sushi, cause based on the knowledge mentioned above, I would’ve seemed very dumb.

Firstly, I discovered that sushi originates from China, where what was to become sushi was first mentioned in the second century A.D. Originally, sushi was a way of preserving food. Fish was placed in rice and allowed to ferment, which allowed an individual to keep the fish edible for some time. The fish was eaten when needed and the rice was thrown away (what a waste!!).

The method spread throughout China and six centuries later made its way to Japan. The Japanese, however, took the concept further and began to eat the rice with the fish. Very smart of them, I would say.

The kind of sushi we eat today “developed” in the early 19th century by Hanaya Yohei who placed a piece of fresh fish on top of an oblong shaped piece of seasoned rice. Today, we call this style nigiri sushi. Sushi was served as a quick snack from sushi stalls on the street. It became wildly popular. After World War Two, the sushi stalls were shut down and moved indoors, to more sanitary conditions.

Sushifaq also tells me that not long ago, a sushi chef (itamae) had to undergo ten years of training before working in a restaurant. Today, demand for sushi chefs is so high that many start work after only two years of training. I wonder if the quality of sushi has therefore gone down? I don’t know.

Apparently there are many rules you should follow if you want to have a perfect sushi experience, such as:

> Don’t put wasabi directly in the soy sauce. Nigiri-sushi comes with wasabi placed under the fish by the itamae, and reflects what he feels is the proper balance of wasabi to fish. In case you like a little more, sneak some separately on the fish or with it.

> Pick up the nigiri-sushi and dip the fish into your soy sauce, not the rice (which will soak up too much soy sauce). The rice is like a sponge, and too much soy sauce will overpower the taste of the food. It could also lead to the rice falling into the soy sauce and making soup - a mess in one word.

> Technically you shouldn’t drink sake with sushi (or rice in general), only with sashimi or before or after the meal. It is felt that since they are both rice based, they do not complement each other and therefore should not be consumed together. Its like having sandwhich with bread. Green tea is a great option with sushi or sashimi.

> If you are having soup and are not given a spoon for your soup, do not ask for one. You are expected to pick up your bowl to drink the soup, using your chopsticks to direct the solid pieces to your mouth. And slurping is fine!

The list of rules continues. You can have a look at sushifaq. I feel much more knowledgeable now. Still, I wonder if everyone follow those rules? And can they be punished if they are not? After all, the most important thing is to enjoy the dish not to worry if you are doing everything according to the rules…right?