Cheese and egg dishes

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

 BAKED EGG CHEESE
Traditional Finnish cheese

Making fresh cheese by curdling milk with buttermilk is an old tradition on Finnish dairy farms. The cheese can be seasoned with various spices or herbs and eaten fresh or it can be baked in oven until golden.

The best cheese is made from freshly milked, unprocessed cows' milk, but also regular store-bought milk will do. Use regular, store-bought buttermilk. Note that some special buttermilks, eg the ones containing acidophilus and bifidus bacteria, may result in a stretchy cheese, and should not be used.

3 l whole milk
1 l buttermilk
5 eggs
1 tsp salt

Let two of the eggs and the buttermilk  —  unopened, in its carton  —  stand at room temperature for a few hours or overnight.

Later, or on the next day, bring the milk slowly to the boil in a very large, thick-bottomed saucepan, stirring continually. If the milk is brought to a thorough but brief boil, the resulting cheese will have a better, lighter consistency. Break the two eggs in a bowl and whisk together with the buttermilk.

Pour the buttermilk mixture in the hot milk in thin stream, whisking continually. Bring the mixture to the boil again, but remove from heat straight away. The mixture must not be allowed to cook any more. Cover the pan and let stand in a warm place for half an hour for the curds and whey to separate. If the mixture is left to stand for too long, it will become too tough.

Curd and whey slowly separating

When the whey has turned clear, transfer the resulted curd with a slotted spoon to a strainer lined with clean cheesecloth dampened with boiling water. Drain the curd thoroughly and transfer to a bowl. The left over whey can be used as liquid for bread doughs, pancake batters etc.

Stir in two and a half lightly beaten eggs and the salt. Reserve the remaining half an egg for glazing. Beat the mixture for a few minutes with an electric mixer, until it is smooth. Spoon the mixture into a wooden or plastic cheese mould lined with a clean cheesecloth dampened with boiling water. If you do not have a special mould, use a bowl-shaped, cheesecloth-lined strainer instead.

	Cheese mould		Line the mould with cheesecloth
	Fill the mould with curd		Cover the mould

Cover the cheese by lifting the overhanging edges of cheesecloth over it and place a light weight on top. Place the mould in refrigerator for overnight and let any extra liquid run out into a bowl or a deep plate placed underneath the mould. There wont be much liquid coming out from the cheese, but it has to be pressed to make it firm.

On the next day, unmould the cheese, brush the surface with the reserved half an egg and bake at 225 °C for 15 - 30 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown on surface and golden inside.

In picture on right: pressed, unbaked fresh cheese.

Serve the cheese warm, either as a dessert with homemade raspberry or cloudberry jam and vanilla-flavoured whipped cream, or as a savoury snack with bread, pastries, etc.

Egg cheese can be stored for several days in refrigerator, wrapped in parchment paper. Do not use tightly sealed plastic wraps or bags for wrapping or the cheese will turn sour.

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

 BOILED EGGS

Note that Finnish eggs are among the safest in the world to be eaten uncooked. To find out why, read here.

Boiling eggs in their shells may seem as the easiest procedure of all basic cooking. Yet there are a few different cooking ways to choose from and a couple of tips to consider when boiling "the perfect egg"  :-)

fresh eggs
water
(salt)
(vinegar)

Basic instructions:

• Use enough water to completely cover the eggs in the saucepan.
• Lower the eggs gently in the water, one at time, using a spoon, or placed in a special egg-holder.
• It is best to cook the eggs for a short time, in just barely simmering water over a low heat. Cooking at high temperature may cause the shells to crack. Cooking for too long will give the white a rubbery texture and makes the yolk crumbly in hard-boiled eggs. An ideal temperature is just below the boiling point, about 75 to 80 °C.
• Plunging the cooked eggs into cold water makes them easier to peel and prevents the formation of a greenish ring around the yolk in hard-boiled eggs.

 

To prevent the eggs from cracking:

• If you have time, let the eggs sit at room temperature for at least 20 to 30 minutes before boiling them. This way they will be less likely to crack when immersed into boiling water than eggs taken straight from the refrigerator.
• Pricking a small hole at the large end of the egg will release air and help to prevent the shell from cracking during boiling. To prick the shell, use a thin needle or a special egg piercer tool.
• Boiling refrigerator cold eggs may be started with cold water. This will prevent cracking. The cooking time will be longer than when started with hot water.
• Adding a pinch of salt or a dash of vinegar in the cooking water will prevent the egg from leaking out in case its shell should crack.

 

Cooking times for eggs
Firmness	Description	Cooking time
Soft-boiled egg	A soft-boiled egg has a white that is just set and a liquid yolk	3 minutes
Medium-boiled egg	A medium-boiled egg has a firm white and a runny or partly runny yolk	4 to 6 minutes
Hard-boiled egg	A hard-boiled egg has firm white and yolk	8 to 10 minutes

Cooking the eggs:

1. Bring a large amount of water to the boil in a saucepan.
2. Take the pan off the heat and lower the heat. (Add salt and/or vinegar.)
3. Lower the eggs gently in the water and place the pan back to the stove. Begin timing straight away (see the cooking schedule above).
4. Simmer the eggs, uncovered, until the time is up.
5. Rinse soft-boiled and medium-boiled eggs briefly under cold water. Plunge hard-boiled eggs into cold water for 7 to 8 minutes to cool them before peeling.
6. Wipe the eggs dry and serve.

See recipes for scrambled eggs and poached eggs.

Recipe source: traditional recipe.

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

 DYED EASTER EGGS

White hens' eggs can easily be dyed at home using only a few simple ingredients.

Dyed eggs are an important part of the Orthodox Easter ornamental tradition.

Read more about Finnish and Orthodox Easter traditions here.

Dyeing eggs using natural ingredients

fresh white eggs
water
½ - 1 tbsp spirit vinegar (10 %)
colouring ingredients  —  see below

Place the fresh (raw) eggs straight from the refrigerator in a small saucepan. Add cold water enough to cover the eggs. Add the vinegar and some of the colouring ingredient listed below. Vinegar acts as a binding ingredient, so the colour on the dyed eggs will not stain your fingers.

Different colours can be obtained from the following ingredients:

• Yellow or light brown  —  papery skins of yellow or red onions
• Yellow or orange  —  saffron threads, turmeric powder
• Red or purple  —  beetroot peel or beetroot pickling liquid
• Brown  —  papery skins of yellow onions, instant coffee, black tea leaves
• Green  —  frozen spinach, birch leaves, green moss
• Blue  —  frozen bilberries

Bring the water to the boil and boil the eggs for about 10 minutes. The more of the above ingredients you use and the longer you let the eggs sit in the colouring liquid, the deeper colour they will have.

Take the pan off the heat, pour out the hot water and pour cold water on the eggs to cover them. Let the eggs cool in the cold water.

Dyeing eggs using food colouring

fresh eggs
boiling water
spirit vinegar (10 %)
food colouring (powder or liquid)
glass jars
vegetable oil

You can either boil the eggs in water in which vinegar and a little food colouring of your choice has been added, or dye the eggs after cooking, following the instructions below:

To protect the working surface from colouring, cover it with newspapers. You will need a separate glass jar for each food colour you are going to use (eg one for red, one for yellow etc).

Start by boiling the eggs for eight minutes. Meanwhile, bring some water to the boil in another pan. Pour 50 millilitres of spirit vinegar in each glass jar. Use regular jam jars, or other similar jars, that hold 500 millilitres. This is roughly enough to dye two eggs at a time in one jar. If you are dyeing a large amount of eggs, use larger jars and increase the amount of water, vinegar and food colouring in proportion.

Just as the eggs are cooked, pour 250 millilitres of boiling water in each glass jar to top the vinegar. Add some food colouring and mix until you get a deeply and evenly coloured mixture. Work quickly, so that the mixture will keep boiling hot. Place the cooked eggs on paper towel and let the moisture evaporate from their surface.

As soon as the surface of the hot eggs has dried, plunge them briefly in the coloured, hot water. The vinegar is absorbed by the warm, porous eggshells, binding the colour in the shell. Lift up the eggs using spoons and place on newspaper to dry and cool down. Darker and deeper colours, like blue, attach quicker than others, and may be used in smaller quantities. Light colours, like yellow, on the other hand, may need to be used in larger quantities.

Rub the cooled, dry eggs with edible vegetable oil and polish them gently. This gives them a beautiful shimmer. The vinegar absorbed in the eggshells makes the eggs keep longer. Place the eggs in a decorative bowl or other dish. They will keep in room temperature and may be eaten within a week.

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

JAPANESE OMELETTE
Tamagoyaki

3 eggs
3 tbsp dashi stock, chicken stock or water
¾ tbsp white wine
1½ tbsp sugar
dash of salt or 2 ml "Kikkoman" soy sauce

Whisk the eggs lightly and strain them into a bowl. Dissolve the sugar in the dashi stock and add to the strained eggs together with the wine and salt. Mix and pour 1/3 of the mixture in a hot, lightly buttered frying pan, or use a special rectangular Japanese pan  —  the makiyakinabe  —  if you have one.

Reduce the heat to low and let the mixture spread evenly to form a thin layer on the bottom of the pan. Without stirring, cook a thin omelette and when it is starting to coagulate, roll it up on the side of the pan  —  like a jelly roll  —  and leave it there. Do not let the omelette brown.

Add another third of the egg mixture in the pan, cook until it starts to coagulate and roll the first roll up inside this second omelette. Repeat with the rest of the egg mixture, until you have a thick omelette roll.

Press and shape the roll firm and round  —  or square, if you like  —  rolling it inside a bamboo mat or a towel. When cool, cut the roll in 4 - 5 cm thick slices, sprinkle with black sesame seeds and serve.

Additional information:
If you are using the tamagoyaki to fill sushi rolls, do not roll the omelette up, but leave it flat and cut in thin strips.

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

NORI CHEESE
Japanese snack

nori seaweed sheets
thin cheese slices (eg mild Gouda, Cheddar, etc)

Place four cheese slices and three seaweed slices in alternate layers, starting and ending with the cheese. Press together firmly and cut in bite-size pieces: triangles, squares etc.

Serve as a snack with sake, along with daikon salad, soy sauce eggs and fish roe cucumbers.

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

 OMELETTE

The most important thing in cooking an omelette is the quality of the pan used. Preferably use a non-stick omelette pan with sloping sides.

If the coating of your pan is not perfect, use a larger quantity of butter (about 20 grams) to keep the omelette sliding around freely. For the amount of eggs used in this recipe, use a small pan with a bottom diameter of about 15 to 18 centimetres.

An omelette takes only a couple of minutes to prepare and even less to cook (although I like mine to be a bit too much browned on the bottom, as shown in the picture...).

2 eggs
4 tbsp cream or cold water
salt
black pepper
butter

Place the omelette pan to warm on the stove on medium-high heat.

Meanwhile, break the eggs in a bowl, add the liquid and a pinch or salt and pepper. Note that milk is never used to make a proper omelette, but only real cream or fresh water. Lightly and quickly whisk the ingredients with a fork, just enough to blend them, without beating too heavily. An electric mixer must never be used to mix the eggs.

Place a large knob of butter in the pan and let it melt, making sure the butter evenly covers the bottom of the pan. Just as the butter is about to start browning, pour in the egg mixture. With a wooden fork or spatula, quickly stir and scrape the mixture along the bottom of the pan until it starts to thicken.

Lower the heat and gently run the spatula between the omelette and the pan to prevent sticking. Shaking the pan every now and then, continue heating the omelette until it has firmed up and keeps its shape but is still creamy on top. (If you want to add grated cheese or some other filling, place it now on the omelette.)

Tilting the pan, slide the omelette towards the other side of it, folding one third of the omelette over towards the centre (and the filling), then fold the remaining third over and slide the omelette on a serving plate. Drizzle some hot, melted butter or sprinkle some chopped herbs on top, if you like, and serve immediately.
Serves 1.

Additional information:
You can mix chopped herbs (chives/green onion, parsley, tarragon, chervil, etc) or blanched spinach or nettles in the egg mixture, or sauté some of the following ingredients in the butter before pouring in the egg mixture:

• cubed onion, bell pepper, chilli, tomato, potato, etc
• cubed ham or bacon
• chopped mushrooms
• 
  etc . . .

 

To fill or garnish the cooked omelette, one can use grated sharp cheese, creamed spinach, sorrel or nettles, strips of cold-smoked salmon or other smoked fish, asparagus tips, thinly shaved truffle, shrimps, lobster, crabmeat, fish roe, etc.

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

POACHED EGGS

fresh eggs
water
vinegar

Eggs should be very fresh. The whites of fresh eggs are firmer, coating the yolk evenly, which results in better shaped poached eggs with fewer loose strands. Use approximately 1 - 2 tablespoons vinegar for 1 litre of water.

Pour water into small saucepan, enough to cover the bottom about 8 centimetres deep. (Then measure the water, so you will know how much vinegar to use.) Bring the water to a rolling boil, pour in the vinegar and remove the pan from the stove. Turn off the heat.

Carefully break one egg into a small bowl or a cup, not breaking the yolk. Holding the cup close to the water's surface, rapidly but gently slide the egg in the water. Immediately place the pan back on the still warm stove (the water must not boil, just barely simmer). The egg white starts to coagulate and forms a pouch around the yolk. Let the egg cook for 3 to 5 minutes, depending on how firm you want the yolk inside to be.

Remove the egg from the water with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towel. Trim the egg into an oval shape if necessary, cutting off any rough edges with scissors. Bring the water to the boil again and repeat poaching with the remaining eggs.

Poached eggs may be served warm or cold. If served cold, place the poached eggs into a bowl of cold water. In addition to cooling the eggs, this also stops the cooking process and rinses off the excess taste of vinegar. Eggs can be stored in water for several hours or they can be drained and stored in refrigerator.

Poached eggs can be reheated before serving by placing them in hot, lightly salted water for about 30 seconds (use 1½ teaspoon of salt to 1 litre of water). Remove with a slotted spoon, drain and serve.

Tips:

• After adding the egg into the water, you can improve its shape by gathering the white around the yolk with a slotted or a wooden spoon. This is especially handy if the eggs used are not very fresh.
• You can also place a soup ladle (or a small ramekin or some other heatproof container) into the water, then pour the egg inside the ladle to help to maintain an oval shape. (Note: the rim of the container should not rise above the water surface.)
• Older eggs can first be cooked in their shells for 8 - 10 seconds in gently simmering water before poaching to help to maintain an oval shape.
• To save time, you can poach 2 - 3 eggs at a time, depending on the size of the pan, as long as the water maintains a gentle simmer.

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

 QUARK

Homemade quark is extremely simple to prepare. Using the recipe below, you can produce a substitute for commercial quark, if it is not available in your country.

Unfortunately, some of the commercially made quarks, like many of those sold in Anglo-American or other countries not accustomed to use quark, are of very low quality, with an odd, "chalky" flavour, often very sour and bitter, tasting like milk gone bad. Making your own quark will definitely make a difference when compared to these inferior products.

The preparing method and the consistency of homemade quark are somewhat similar to homemade ricotta type cheese (see below).

1 l whole milk
1 l buttermilk

Let the buttermilk stand  —  unopened, in its carton  —  at room temperature for several hours or overnight. Pour the milk in a thick-bottomed saucepan large enough to hold two litres. Bring the milk slowly to the boil, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon on the bottom to prevent scorching.

As soon as the milk reaches the boiling point, pour in the buttermilk in a thin stream, whisking continually. Immediately switch off the heat and stir the mixture once or twice. The mixture must not boil, but the temperature should be about 80 °C. Let the pan stand on the warm stove plate until the whey (the clear liquid) starts to separate from the curds (the firm white stuff).

Curd and whey separating		Curd lifted out with a slotted spoon

Take the pan off the heat and let the separated mixture cool for a while. When the whey has turned clear, transfer the curds with a slotted spoon to a strainer lined with clean cheesecloth dampened with boiling water. Let the curds drain for two to three hours and transfer to a bowl. Store the quark covered in refrigerator and use within a week. The left over whey, which is rich in protein, can be used as liquid for bread doughs, pancake batters etc.
Makes about 300 grams of quark.

Curds (left) and whey (right)

Traditional way of making quark:
This is the way quark was made at home in the old times, when milk was not yet being pasteurised or homogenised.

Pour 1 litre of raw whole milk on the bottom of a large, wide oven pan. Place the pan in a warm place for 48 hours. During this time, the milk should thicken into buttermilk. (Modern, processed store-bought milk would just spoil and turn sour.) Cut longitudinal slits through the resulted buttermilk, repeating in other direction to make a criss-cross pattern. Place the buttermilk pan into cool oven (100 °C) for a few hours. This will curdle the buttermilk, separating the whey from the curds. Let the pan cool and drain out the whey, leaving the curds (quark) behind. With a slotted spoon, transfer the quark into a strainer lined with dampened, clean cheesecloth and let the excess whey run out.
Note: this traditional method of making quark is not always successful, so it is better to use the "foolproof" milk and buttermilk method described above, which will also work with "modern", processed milk.

Serving suggestions:
Use quark to make delicious quark-butter dough for pies and pastries, Finnish star-shaped Christmas pastries, cheesecake, Russian Easter paskha, prune mousse, or as a filling in quark pies or salmon roulades, among other things.

---

RICOTTA

Although not a true ricotta, which is made of cooked whey, the cheese produced with this recipe can be used in cooking in a similar way to the "real thing".

2 l whole milk
500 ml buttermilk

Pour the milk and the buttermilk in a large, thick-bottomed saucepan. Bring the mixture slowly to the boil, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon on the bottom to prevent scorching.

Stop stirring the mixture as soon as it reaches the temperature of 80 °C. At this temperature, the whey (the clear liquid) starts to separate from the curds (the firm white stuff). As soon as this starts to happen, remove the pan from the heat.

Let the pan stand, covered, until the whey has turned clear. Gently transfer the curds with a slotted spoon to a strainer lined with clean cheesecloth dampened with boiling water. Drain the curds until most of the excess whey has come out.

Curd and whey are separating		Curd lifted out with a slotted spoon

Curds (left) and whey (right)

Store the ricotta covered in refrigerator and use within a week. The left over whey, which is rich in protein, can be used as liquid for bread doughs, pancake batters etc.

Using a similar method, you can also make homemade quark (see the recipe above).

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

RASPBERRY OMELETTE

2 eggs
4 tbsp cream
1 tbsp icing sugar
dash of salt
homemade raspberry jam
(icing sugar for dusting)

Lightly whisk the eggs, cream and salt together in a bowl. Add the icing sugar through a sieve and stir.

Melt some butter in a skillet. Pour the egg mixture in the hot skillet. Cook until the mixture is softly set, stirring with a spatula and tilting the skillet to cook the omelette evenly.

Fill the omelette with raspberry jam and fold in half. Transfer the omelette to a plate, sift some icing sugar on top and serve immediately.
Serves 1.

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

RICOTTA

Although not a true ricotta, which is made of cooked whey, the cheese produced with this recipe can be used in cooking in a similar way to the "real thing".

2 l whole milk
500 ml buttermilk

Pour the milk and the buttermilk in a large, thick-bottomed saucepan. Bring the mixture slowly to the boil, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon on the bottom to prevent scorching.

Stop stirring the mixture as soon as it reaches the temperature of 80 °C. At this temperature, the whey (the clear liquid) starts to separate from the curds (the firm white stuff). As soon as this starts to happen, remove the pan from the heat.

Let the pan stand, covered, until the whey has turned clear. Gently transfer the curds with a slotted spoon to a strainer lined with clean cheesecloth dampened with boiling water. Drain the curds until most of the excess whey has come out.

Curd and whey are separating		Curd lifted out with a slotted spoon

Curds (left) and whey (right)

Store the ricotta covered in refrigerator and use within a week. The left over whey, which is rich in protein, can be used as liquid for bread doughs, pancake batters etc.

Using a similar method, you can also make homemade quark (see the recipe above).

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

SCRAMBLED EGGS

1 egg + 1 egg yolk
2 tbsp cream
white pepper
salt
grated nutmeg
pat of butter

Whisk the egg, egg yolk, cream and spices together in a bowl. Cook the mixture in a double boiler or use a smaller saucepan inside a bigger pan.

Bring a little water to the boil in the lower part of the double boiler (or the bigger pan). Melt the butter in the upper part of the double boiler (or the smaller pan) and pour the egg mixture in.

Stir the mixture constantly with a wooden fork. As soon as the mixture starts to scramble, add another pat of butter. Mix and serve.
Serves 1.

Recipe source: family recipe/traditional recipe.

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

 SCRAMBLED EGGS WITH FISH ROE

double portion of scrambled eggs
1 tbsp chopped fresh dill
6 tbsp rainbow trout or salmon roe

Prepare a double portion of scrambled eggs following the instructions given here, but do not add any nutmeg in the mixture.

As soon as the egg mixture starts to scramble, delicately fold in the dill and the fish roe and serve.

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

SOY SAUCE EGGS
Japanese snack

hard-boiled hen's or quail's eggs
Japanese "Kikkoman" soy sauce

Place the chilled, peeled eggs in a deep dish or jar. Pour soy sauce over to cover the eggs (see the picture on bottom right). Cover and let marinate, until the eggs are dyed brown  —  this will only take a few hours.

Using quail's eggs instead of hen's eggs makes a handy, bite-size snack (see the picture on top right). Because of their small size, marinate the quail's eggs for shorter time than hen's eggs.

Serve the eggs as a snack with sake, along with nori cheese, daikon salad and fish roe cucumbers.