Estonia

Estonia in the northern baltic region of Europe has a varied diet with the focus on freshness when in season.   However on the same token Estonians during the fall will start to preserve their food for the impending winter season.   I was lucky to come across the blog of an Estonian food writer where I tried a few of the traditional Estonian dishes.   This blog has a wealth of recipes and some nice insight.  http://nami-nami.blogspot.ca/


The Menu

Smoked Herring on Dark Rye with Beet and Pickled Herrings

The smoked herring spread was not one of Victoria's favourites but she ate it in spirit of celebrating Estonia's cuisine.   However I really did enjoy it and will keep it in mind for a quick party appetizer.  It really is interesting to see how her taste buds have evolved over the years.  It's strange though as there are some tastes that are just suited to adults.   The pickled herrings got the same treatment from her a look of reserved caution.   However she was upbeat about the beet.


Roast Pork Shoulder and Potato Salad

The Pork Shoulder was marinated for 2 days in a fairly basic honey, mustard, garlic and rosemary marinade.   I slowly roasted this for a few hours and this is what I would call simple basic good food.   Just goes to prove that with a little planning ahead and very little effort a decent meal can be put together with this roast.  For some reason the roast looks so dry in this picture however it was quite juicy and flavourful.

The potato salad was made using Estonian type of ingredients like beets , sour cream, mustards etc.  What I find unique though is that throughout Europe potato salads are unique in every country to match their unique local flavours and traditions.   Herring, ham, eggs, chicken, capers and the list goes on and on are little additions and subtractions that can make each region or countries salad unique.

Rhubarb Cake

This is a very hard recipe to remember,  by weight equal parts of eggs, butter, caster sugar, all purpose flower and rhubarb.   All I could think of when making this cake was some old Estonian grandmother making little additions of spices to make her cake unique.   There was a certain amount of rustic charm to this cake.   It felt fitting and homey with this meal.

It has been years since I have had herring or rhubarb and Estonia brought a a welcome change to our diet.