Season’s treats

We spent a Sunday cooking some of our favourite seasonal dishes, serving them on both our staple kitchenware and some newbies fresh from the kiln. Enjoy!

On the day’s menu: Rice porridge, Russian rosolli salad, Baltic herring, oven-baked potatoes, swede casserole, poached pears, apple glögi and baked cheese with cloudberry jam.

Ceramics by Church Square Ceramics, Leena Kouhia / Raaka Rå, Nathalie L., Udumbara and Hanna Mikola.

Recipes by Christina Aaltio, styling by Hanni Koroma.

Coconut milk rice porridge
4-6 servings

2 dl porridge rice / arborio
6 dl water
1 can (400 ml) coconut milk
½ tsp salt

Measure the rice and 2 dl water into a pot. Simmer the rice for about 5 minutes, until the water is absorbed. Add half of the coconut milk and another 2 dl of water. Keep on a medium heat for 20 minutes. Add the rest of the liquids and continue simmering, occasionally stirring, for half an hour. Finally, add the salt. Serve with butter (or a vegan alternative) and a sprinkling of sugar and cinnamon.

The traditional potato casserole can be as simple as an oven-baked potato with a helping of horseradish butter.

Apple glögi

1½ l fresh apple juice
2 cinnamon sticks
10 clove flowers
10 whole cardamom pods
cane sugar to taste

Pour the apple juice into a pot and combine all the spices. Brew the drink under a lid for up to 45 minutes. Sieve it and add some sugar if desired.

Red wine pears & mascarpone cream
4-8 portions

8 small pears
1 bottle red wine
1 orange peel (organic)
1 dl sugar
1 cinnamon stick
water

2 dl whipping cream
200g mascarpone
½ dl confectioner’s sugar
1 tsp vanilla sugar

Peel the pears and heat the wine in a pot. Wash the orange well, and with a sharp knife, cut shavings of the peel. Add the sugar to the wine, along with the orange zest, cinnamon and the pears. If needed, add some water so that the pears are immersed. Stew the pears for about half an hour, or until they have softened and become a little red in colour. Whisk the cream until fluffy and give the mascarpone a stir, finally combining the two. Mix in the sifted sugar and vanilla, and serve with pears as they have cooled down.