Vegetable&soy macaroni pot

This is a vegetarian version of the Finnish and Swedish dish macaroni pot (makaronilaatikko or makaronilåda in Finland, makaronipudding in Sweden). It's great that this way even vegetarians can enjoy this dish where meat is normally considered pretty central.

Ingredients (x5):
400 g dark macaroni
2 carrots
1 big onion
peas
1 clove garlic
1 vegetarian bouillon cube
½ dl ketchup
1 ½ dl grinded soy
2 ½ dl water
1 ½ dl cheese
basil
black pepper

For the egg-milk:
3 eggs
7 dl milk
salt, grinded paprica, black pepper

Preparation:
Boil the macaroni. Grate the carrots and chop the onion. Fry them in a pan and add the boullon cube, water, grinded soy, ketchup and the spices. Pour the water off the maraconi and add the soy-vegetable mix and grated cheese into the macaroni. Mix and spread it evenly into an oven mould. Mix the ingredients of the egg-milk well and pour the egg-milk on the food in the mould.

You may dust some bread crumbs on top if you want.
Bake in the oven heated to 200 c for about an hour.

Ideally served with ketchup.

Summer soup

Today it is Midsummer and yesterday I prepared Summer soup (fi: kesäkeitto), a traditional soup for this season in Finland (even though my boyfriend thought it was pretty Thai). Ideally it is prepared with new, fresh vegetables of the summer. It is sweet and has milk, which makes it a bit controversial to some people. But it isn't good to judge it by that! It is very good with rye bread or crispy rye bread.

Ingredients (x2):
2 carrots
½ small cauliflower
2,5 dl water
½ teaspoon salt
1 dl peas
2 ½ dl milk
65 g soft cheese (in Finland, Koskenlaskija)
a pinch of sugar
parsley

Preparation:
Peel and slice the carrots. Cut the cauliflower into smaller pieces. Cut the well-washed potatoes into cubes.
Put the vegeables to boil in salted water. Cook them for some 10 minutes until they are done. Add the peas and milk. Cut the cheese into small cubes and mix it into the soup. Heat it so that it starts boiling and take it off the cooker. Spice the soup with a bit of sugar and add abundant chopped parsley.

Risotto of spinach, leek and peas

Here's a recipe for a very green risotto. It tastes fresh and in winter it reminds me of summer, even if using frozen spinach and peas! I created this recipe once when these three vegetables were the only ones I had at home and I had to improvise. Good that I did.

Ingredients (x2):
200 g risotto rice
500 ml vegetarian broth
1 onion
200 g frozen spinach
100 g peas
1 small leek
3 tablespoons ricotta
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
nutmeg
salt
pepper
soft cheese (In Italy I'd use Fontina, in Finland Koskenlaskija, not sure what the equivalent is over here!)
parsley

Preparation:
Chop the onion into fine pieces. Chop the leek first into circles and then cut them in 4. Pour these two vegetables on a frying pan with olive oil and fry them for 5-7 minutes. Put a bouillon cube into 500 ml of water in a pan and let it dissolve on the cooker.

Put the rice and the butter into the saucepan. Put them on the cooker and keep them in medium heat, mixing continuously. When the rice has got a golden and more transparent colour, add the spinach and a part of the broth. Mix all the time so that the rice doesn't get stuck in the bottom. Check the indications in the package for the cooking time of the rice. Add more broth little by little. Add salt, pepper and less than a teaspoon of nutmeg. At halfway of the cooking time add the peas and the leek you have previously chopped.

By the end of the cooking time, add ricotta. Cut the soft cheese into pieces that you will set on the food when serving. Cut the parsley leaves smaller and add it on the portions.