This is ultimate man grub. A fat lamb shank, bulky like a gladiator’s guns, braised in stock and spices until it’s falling off the bone, tender enough to eat with a spoon. This would probably be the death row last meal for husband. At least he seems to choose it often if it is on the menu when we eat out. Which of course is much nicer than death row. I often (not on a daily basis) wonder how they manage to swallow a bite. I rather fear my otherwise dependable appetite might let me down at that point.


One of husband’s favourite places to eat this is a little stall at the Camden market. He gets the shank and I get a chicken shish. It’s all served with a massive flat bread, grilled tomato, salad and a big pile of saffron rice, just as it should be. Then we sit outside on the little scooter bikes that act as chairs next to a narrow table attached to a graffitied wall and munch away happily crouched over our Styrofoam trays.

I so much rather eat there than in a 2 Michelin starred restaurant with starched table cloths and snotty waiters, which is really convenient and also rather theoretical as we can’t afford Michelin starred meals.

I make lamb shanks quite often myself and my shanks are pretty damn good too. One of my favourite ways to do it is with middle-eastern spices served over rice very similar to the Camden market one. But this time I was fleetingly tempted by a more French style red-wine braised approach and a mushroom risotto. But in the end I thought merde and went with the middle-eastern way and served it with a lovely herby sabzi polo and a fattoush salad.

I used some of my smoked lamb stock from the organic Finnish smoked lamb leg that I cooked some time ago. I remember the night I cooked the stock, the whole house was smelling of smoked lamb. I made us a really quite lovely Risotto Primavera for dinner, but husband was poking the risotto trying to see if there was meat hiding in there somewhere, his eyes were searching the table and then he asked me if this actually was it? Or did I forget something and what was the smell about and what was cooking on the stove and why weren’t we eating it?!?

It’s like with the family dogs – you’ve got to give them a little bit of what you’re cooking and eating because they smell it in the air, and then they eat their dry food quite happily afterwards, not that there has ever been a lot of dry food for our dogs.

With the shanks though, at first I thought the smoky lamb stock was a mistake as I tasted the concoction. The smokiness didn’t really blend with the warmth of cumin and cinnamon which would have been quite predictable if I’d thought about it. But what wasn’t predictable is that after an hour and a half or thereabouts in the oven the tastes actually had come together. The end result was a delicious combination of middle-eastern sun and heat with a dark punch of Nordic smokiness. A bit like our marriage.

Fattoush

Recipe: Middle-Eastern spiced lamb shanks

Oil
2 lamb shanks
1 yellow onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp cinnamon
1 tsp Arabic spicemix (optional)
Pinch of cayenne or red pepper flakes (if you like heat)
Can of chopped tomatoes or 4 chopped fresh tomatoes
3 cups lamb stock
Salt and pepper

Heat oil in a deep pan or Dutch oven. Fry the shanks until brown on all sides, remove to a plate. Fry the onions and garlic for a few minutes, add all the spices and fry for another couple of minutes. Return the lamb to the pan, add the tomatoes and stock, season and bring to boil. Cook in 175C oven for 1.5-2 hours depending on size of shanks until they are soft and tender. If the sauce is too thin cook uncovered for the last 20-30 min.

100g smoked reindeer meat

Today I made some lavender shortbread biscuits in preparation for my parents’ visit in May. It is a bit like preparing for a Royal visit. Mum can be quite direct with her feedback, so I try to address any obvious areas of concern. Some are difficult to fix, like the fact that we don't live in Finland and have too many fireplaces. And I’m sure she can come up with some new, unpredictable ones as well. At least we will be in my house and if I want to cut tomatoes in cubes rather than segments for my salad I bloody well will! Still there will be manic cleaning and tidying, organizing, gardening and fixing in the run-up to their visit.


I have been planning the menu and will now start preparing stuff that can be done early and frozen.  Mum is a fantastic cook and I can’t compete with her, so I cleverly will make dishes that she normally doesn’t do. Sometimes it can backfire, like the time I served them sushi and they asked to have some bread and then spread the sushi on the bread.

Mum has a grueling meal schedule which I will struggle to match. The breakfast starts with a bowl of porridge and then moves on to a Scandinavian style cold breakfast spread; a selection of breads, cold cuts, cheeses, tomato, cucumber, sometimes gravadlax or cured whitefish or fish row with sour cream and some sweets like a bundt cake or cinnamon rolls. Lunch is usually a main course of fish or meat with lots of side dishes and various salads. Afternoon coffee is served with sweet buns, cakes and biscuits. Dinner is similar to lunch with a fairly elaborate main course, lots of sides and a dessert. Evening tea is served with something savoury, a tartlet, pasty or open sandwich and cakes. It’s a miracle we don't have a massive obesity problem in our family.

Lots of people who come to visit make the mistake of eating a lot at the first meal. An easy mistake to make, because it is all delicious, but they don’t know that in no time there will be coffee and a massive selection of cakes and after that’s been cleared off there will be another meal. We all know to eat as little as possible of everything to make sure we'll be able to handle the next meal. Husband has also learned. I remember early days he would really struggle trying to please mum, whose English is not great, but stretches to “Eat more!” and “Eat much!”. I remember once we had just had lunch and were washing dad’s car outside when mum came to call us from the veranda. Her message wasn't food related but husband panicked and said if he has to eat something now he will probably die.


So my menu which I'm still working on will be a fabulous collection of dishes that I know I can do well and that they don't often get. As I was planting some herbs today I thought of these lavender shortbreads I have made before. They have a lovely elegant and delicate taste of lavender and are a very English thing I thought. The recipe said it would make 24 biscuits. Whoever did the recipe must have done massive slabs of biscuits, because I got 64 out of the dough. I froze 30 for parents’ visit and husband and kids can finish the rest this week, I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, but I did have one to make sure they taste ok. And they do.

The recipe I used is from here and I followed it pretty religiously.

Recipe: Lavender shortbread

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
 2/3 cup white sugar
 1/4 cup sifted confectioners' sugar
 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh lavender
 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint leaves
 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
 1/2 cup cornstarch
 1/4 teaspoon salt

In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, white sugar and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the lavender, mint and lemon zest. Combine the flour, cornstarch and salt; mix into the batter until well blended. Divide dough into two balls, wrap in plastic wrap and flatten to about 1inch thick. Refrigerate until firm, about 1hour.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into shapes with cookie cutters. Cookie stamps will work well on these too. Place on cookie sheets.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, just until cookies begin to brown at the edges. Cool for a few minutes on the baking sheets then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

I made a couple of dishes this time for us and the kids for Saturday dinner. The other one was a very basic but lovely herby side of salmon. The other was a tasty chicken and feta dish. I got the idea for the chicken dish originally from my sister who is an incredible cook. She is a step-mum like me and is always creating teenager friendly recipes for the kids. She’s actually the one who should be blogging, she's always trying new things, last weekend she was cooking a whole rabbit. But she’s not in social media. No Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Not even the tiniest board on Pinterest. It’s amazing, but apparently you can live like that. The only way to stay in touch with her is phone, email or SMS. I’m sure even this is painful and she’d prefer homing pigeons.

Neither of us particularly wanted kids of our own and now we both have some through our husbands. My mum is ecstatic about this. Having had 5 of her own she can’t understand why someone wouldn’t have children. I would have thought she’d be the first person to see lots of reasons. 5 at least.

But actually I can recommend the role of a step-parent. The boys are great, we have a really nice, uncomplicated relationship; I cook, they eat. And we have become good friends as well. My husband keeps telling them they must look after me when I’m old because I have no children of my own to look after me. In his culture kids actually look after their parents, can you believe it. Isn’t that sweet. The boys promise and the younger one says he can make us pot noodles when I’m too old to cook.

My sister’s feta chicken is so simple but luscious. She uses breast fillets, seasons them with salt, pepper, and curry powder, maybe some other things as well. She then fries them until nice and brown and puts in an oven dish,  sprinkles over some feta cubes and bakes in the oven until the chicken is done. Delish!

But I decided to pimp up the recipe a bit with some fresh herbs for a bright spring taste, so it’s quite different actually, but equally nice.

The dinner was a hit, the side of salmon was finished until the last little mouthful, out of the 11 thigh fillets only 3 were left over, we also demolished about a kilo of oven roast rosemary new potatoes, a loaf of garlic bread, some roast asparagus and a green salad. Result!


Zingy Herby Feta Chicken (serves 4)


1kg chicken (any part you like – I used boneless thigh fillet)
1tbsp chopped fresh oregano (or 1 tsp dry)
1 tbsp chopped fresh chives (or 1 tsp dry)
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp salt (feta will add more salt)
1 tsp pepper
Zest and juice of half a large lemon

1 bell pepper (mix colours for a nice look)
1 cup cubed feta

Mix the herbs (you can use other herbs if you like), oil, salt, pepper and lemon zest and juice. Rub it all over the chicken pieces and refrigerate to marinate for a couple of hours. Place in an oiled oven dish, top with strips of bell pepper, I had red and orange, and feta cubes. Bake in 200C over for 30-40 min until the chicken is done.

Recipe: Zingy Herby Side of Salmon (serves 4)

1kg side of salmon
Zest and juice of half a lemon
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp chopped fresh dill (or 1 tsp dry)
1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme (or tsp dry)
Black pepper or lemon pepper
Salt

Season the salmon with salt and pepper. Mix the oil, herbs, lemon zest and juice and spread on top of the salmon with a spoon. Refrigerate for an hour or two. Bake in 200C oven until done, about 15 – 20 min, but check because it depends on the thickness of the salmon and you don’t want to overcook the fish. It should flake and not be translucent – it can be ever so slightly orange/pink in the middle when you take it out of the oven.

This golden mix of rice and meat is one of my favourite Middle-Eastern main courses. It's a dish often associated with Indian kitchen, but apparently it originated in Persia. It is hugely popular everywhere around the Gulf and is a staple in the UAE. That's where I got the taste for it.

In my family we always eat fish roe like this, mixed with sour cream or Smetana as we call it and onion. A more prevalent way to serve fish eggs, for instance with blinis, is to have the different ingredients in separate bowls. But pre-mixing them gives the flavours a chance to mingle and coalesce and develop into so much more than their simple sum.


This recipe works with any type of fish eggs. I like them all; small, big, fishy, mild, orange or black. Salmon roe is easily available and affordable. It has a lovely colour and the eggs are big so it makes a good-looking dish. The finer grained and paler whitefish and vendace eggs have a more refined and delicate taste, but can be expensive. I don’t know if you can get them here in the UK. I smuggle mine frozen from Finland.

My parents get their roe and much of the fresh fish they eat from a local fisherman in their village, a retired local guy who fishes for his own amusement and to earn some extra cash I guess. He heads out early in the morning to the lake to check his nets and traps. A few hours later, when the rest of the village is just waking up he goes home with his booty. He guts and cleans the fish his loyal Karelian bear dog by his side. Sometimes he smokes some of the fish and then drives around the village selling it all from his car boot.

Mostly it’s pike, perch, whitefish, vendace and sander. Maybe trout as well. And when it is the season he also collects the roe which he neatly packs into little sachets easy to freeze. It's always a good idea to freeze any freshwater fish-products if you intend to eat them uncooked unless you are looking for a tapeworm for weight loss or other purposes. The risk apparently is very low with vendace and whitefish, but I wouldn't chance it.

I think it’s such a luxury to get wonderful fresh sustainable fish delivered to your door. And he looks after his regular customers making sure he starts his rounds with them. I think my parents are among his favourites along with the self-proclaimed “wealthy ladies” down the road. They are two unmarried elderly sisters who recently inherited some forest (Finland's green gold!) from an even more elderly unmarried relative. They then announced to the village that they now are wealthy ladies. By the looks of it they live the good life eating fresh fish whenever they fancy.

Unfortunately the fisherman has been suffering from an aortic aneurysm recently and has had to have surgery so supply has been suspended. He missed most of the vendace roe season last autumn, so mum and dad only had one bag of the stuff left when I last visited. They served it to me, their most beloved child, with homemade blinis. My youngest brother "the golden boy", a great roe lover, was alarmed by this development. He should visit his old parents more frequently now, shouldn't he.

Blinis with vendace roe and sour cream

So hopefully the fisherman is recovering well. Our thoughts are with him! At the moment it is too late for ice-fishing anyway, although fishermen tend to go out even when no one else would venture. There is a saying in Finland that at 10cm thick ice will carry a man, and at 5cm a fisherman. Which of course it often doesn’t with sad but predictable outcomes. We are hoping that by the time the lake is clear again our guy is back in action pushing his boat out towards the open waters, a happy glimmer in his bright blue eyes and wind tousling his receding hair.

Today I did this roe spread with lumpfish roe, which as the name already suggests is as non-delicate as it gets. I have some vendace and whitefish roe in the freezer but I am saving it for some appreciative guests, maybe my parents when they come in May. Husband is not a huge fan, but I needed some fish egg love so used a jar of the lumpfish roe I had in the fridge for just these kinds of emergencies.


And it was really good. The roe was quite salty and also surprisingly fishy so I used more sour cream than I would have with a milder roe. On top of a Vaasan Ruispala, my favourite Finnish rye bread which I keep in the freezer and defrost by toasting lightly, this was the perfect Good Friday breakfast. I am not ashamed to admit that after emptying the left-overs to a container for fridge, I actually licked the serving bowl clean.

Sour-cream and caviar spread recipe

150g fish roe
150ml Sour cream (or use half crème fraiche if you want it less sour)
½ red onion or one shallot
2 tbs chopped dill
Black pepper or lemon pepper
Salt (but taste first, if the roe is already salted you might not need to add)
Fresh dill for garnish

Just mix all the ingredients. It gets better if you prepare ahead and give the flavours a few hours to develop. Serve with blinis, eggs, toast or toasted rye bread. Garnish with fresh dill.