Cooking...

So I'm not the best of cooks in the world... In fact I am quite a numpty when it comes to some aspects of cooking. But I am not a bad cook when I know what the hell I'm doing or have someone to help.

As evidenced by the fact that I make an awesome pavlova, a spag. bol. that rates higher than my dads in my younger brothers opinion and the fact that I can in fact make a decent potato bake and don't do too badly at making Anzac Biscuits either.

That said after two years of a food tech.(cooking for those who call it by another name) class in highschool you would think that my repertoire would contain more than approximately 5 dishes.

I have always had ambitions of expanding my cooking since highschool. They have never gotten me very far. I bought a recipe book full of pasta recipes... I haven't used it yet. I recently bought a Finnish cookbook when I went into the city one day. Wasn't expecting to find anything like that in Sydney so I was pleasantly suprised. All the recipes I have been trying to find an absolute of with measurements I understand in one place. No longer do i have to trawl the depths of the internet trying to find something that I understand. But the best part of these recipes is that I have used them!

Yes I have cooked food from scratch that required more than 3 ingredients! It's a shocker I know!

I called up my aunt a few weeks ago and she offered for me to come over and do some cooking with her. She was interested in the recipes and I was happy to accept. It's hard to find Finnish food here in Australia(read: impossible except for the occasional chocolate) and there is alot of it that I miss. So on Sunday I went over to my aunts place and cooked and baked.

We made Lihapiirakka(meat pasties), Karjalanpiirakka(Karelian Pasties- basically a rice pudding and a rye crust/pastry), and a semolina and lingonberry dessert porridge. Oh how I have missed these things.

My aunt did most of the dough making for the Lihapiirakka. There was alot of it. The recipe approximated there would be 8. We doubled the quantities and got about 40 I would say. I now have a stash of them in my freezer. They turned out fantastically as well!

As for the Karjalanpiirakka. I made the dough for that. Again we made more than it said we would. I think it said about 6 and we probably got about 15-20. They were a hit too! Turned out perfect. And rather easy to make I thought despite what I had been told by others about them being difficult to make. I think they just find it easier to buy them from the shop and heat them in the microwave or oven. Alot cheaper and less time consuming that way I'm sure! I also have a stash of these in my freezer now though.

And the semolina porridge. Well that was easy. I think I may be making this more often myself if I can find the berries for it. It's easy and yummy and makes a great breakfast or dessert. Took about 20 minutes to make if that as well so very quick to make too!

So now I can add another three recipes to my repertoire. One day there will be more. I may never be a gourmet cook but I shall at least be able to feed myself hot meals and make enough different dishes that I don't eat the same thing every second day.


~~Random Logic~~