Vinegar šašlõkk

Original recipe in Estonian here 

1kg pork shoulder, cut up into roughly equal-sized chunks (4x4x1.5cm is the recommendation from the original recipe)

112 ml 8% vinegar (or 30 ml 30% vinegar - you should have 9ml of acetic acid, if I calculated correctly. You can do the conversions based on that volume, depending on the concentration of your vinegar)

4-5 large onions, cut into thin rings

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp sugar

Add everything into the same bowl. Mix and massage the vinegar into the meat for around 15 minutes, then leave to marinade in fridge overnight. 

Thread meat and onions onto skewers, cook on the braai, and enjoy.

Kohupiima pannkoogid (Curd pancakes)

• 100 ml flour
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons sugar (or to taste)
• 500g kohupiim / milk curds
• Pinch of salt

Mix all the ingredients together. Fry with a bit of vegetable oil, serve with jam or other sweet toppings.

Kasukas, AKA "Fur coat salad"

This is another recipe from my mother-in-law, and another one where, like monkey gland sauce, you shouldn't mind the name. Use only the finest fur coats in your salad. Since it's Estonian, you should probably use bear or fox fur. It gives it a real Baltic taste.

This makes plenty. It's worth the effort, trust me...

2–3 potatoes, boiled and grated
3 large carrots, boiled and grated
2 big apples, grated
5 eggs, hard boiled. After boiling, keep the yolks and the whites separate. Chop the whites up finely.
2–3 pickled herring fillets (I find the German variant to be a bit sweet for my liking, so if you can, use a Baltic brand), finely chopped
1 or 2 smallish onions
400 g beetroot, boiled and grated
300–400 g mayonnaise
300–400 g sour cream

This is a layered salad, but it might be a bit bland, so read to the end of the recipe. The order is as follows:

Grated potato, mayo, herring, sour cream, onion, mayo, egg whites, sour cream, carrot, mayo, apple, sour cream, beetroot, sour cream, in that order. You can leave out one or two layers of mayo or sour cream, but make sure to add one or the other on top.

Add seasoning between some layers, and leave to sit in the fridge overnight. Before serving, crumble the egg yolks over the top. Enjoy.

Estonian meat pies

This fantastic recipe is courtesy of my mother-in-law. Traditionally eaten at Christmas time, these are lovely and wonderful. The quantities quoted here make about 60–70 pies, depending on the size of your glasses, so you can freeze some and save them for later in the year.

500 g pork belly or other cut, must be somewhat fatty
500 ml–1l chicken stock
Onion to taste, diced
1/2 white rice (optional)
2 eggs, hard-boiled, peeled and diced
500 ml milk
50 g or so butter
1–2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1.5 kg flour
Yeast (ratio based on the liquid)
Raw egg to coat

Meat filling:
Cook the rice as per directions on the packaging. In a large pot, cook the meat at a low temperature for about 1-2 hours in the stock (depending on the size of the piece of meat and the pot, you may need extra stock). When ready, remove the meat from the pot, but don't throw out the juices. Put the meat and onions in a meat mincer and mince. Season with salt and pepper, and, if the mixture is too dry, add some of the juices from the pot. Mix in the egg and as much of the rice as needed. Leave to cool for a while, or overnight in the fridge.

Pastry:
Gently heat the milk (don't let it boil) and add the butter, salt and sugar. Mix the yeast in with a bit of the flour, then sieve the entire flour/yeast mixture, then the rest of the flour, into the milk mixture, until quite thick. Mix thoroughly, then leave to rise in a warm place for a while with a tea towel over the top. Once risen, knock it back and leave to rise once more.

To make the pies, roll out the pastry, take about 3/4 of a tablespoon's worth of the filling, and place it about 2/3 of a glass's width from the edge of the pastry. Place a row of the filling on the pastry, then fold the edge over and cut out the pies and place on a baking tray. Once you've filled a tray, paint with the egg for colour, then bake at 180 degrees for about 20 minutes or so. You may want to turn the tray halfway through.

Repeat as necessary. Add in your own ingredients as desired.

Quick Raspberry and Blueberry Cake

This one comes from my wife's relative. Simply excellent cake. Some minor changes to the original recipe but generally this works wonders.

Should be enough for about 8

Ingredients:
Base:
150-250 g digestive biscuits, crushed
100 g butter, melted, plus extra for greasing
Cake: 
150 g butter
250 ml sugar
3 eggs
300 ml wheat flour (regular, non-self-raising)
1.5 tsp baking powder
75 ml milk
Topping:
350-400 g raspberries and blueberries (or more. As they say in Estonian, topelt ei kärise)
Icing sugar
To serve:
Ice cream, whipped cream

Mix together the digestives and butter. Grease a 25x35 cm baking tray, then pack the base on the bottom. Put in the fridge to set for about 30 minutes to an hour.

Heat the oven to 200 C. Whisk the sugar together with room-temperature butter. Beat in the eggs one by one, sieve together flour and baking powder and beat into the mixture together with the milk. Pour the dough into the baking tray, smooth it out, and put in the oven to cook for 10-15 minutes.

Take the cake out of the oven, add the berries on top, then put back in the oven for another 15 minutes. Once done, remove from the oven, leave to cool, then top with icing sugar. Serve with ice cream or cream.

Ragne's courgette, bacon and cream pasta

This one comes from a popular Estonian cooking blog, Kokkama Ragnega. If you do read Estonian, check out her blog. It's very good, very simple, with a bunch of stuff that justifies her publishing deal. Of course, the problem for some is that it's in Estonian, which can be slightly problematic.

Here's where I come in.

My wife found this, and since we had a few extraneous semi-packs of pasta left lying around the (new) flat that needed eating, we gave it a go, with some minor changes to the recipe. It's all based on what we had. It was lovely. Very recommend.

Should serve about 4.

Ingredients:

200 g wild garlic Spätzle
100 g regular egg Spätzle
(or 300 g penne, per original recipe)
Around 600g courgette
200 g smoked bacon, diced
1 onion, diced
Thyme, to taste
Provencal herb mix, to taste
250ml cream (rõõsk koor)
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 tbsp olive oil
Grated Comté cheese, to taste

Cook the pasta as per indications on the packaging. Top, tail, core and  roughly grate the courgette. Fry the bacon for about a minute, then add the onion, cook for another minute or 3, then add the courgette and herbs and season. Cook until the courgette is starting to get crisp (and the bacon is cooked), then add the cream, heat again, season to taste and cook for a few more minutes. Drain the pasta, reserving about half a cup of the water. Add the sauce to the pasta, plus a bit of water, and the olive oil, and mix it all up together. Once ready, serve in bowls, with bread if so desired, plus cheese on top.

Fresh pickled cucumbers (Värsked hapukurgid)

One of summer's great treats in Estonia. Also known as soolakurgid. Make sure you use little cucumbers rather than the long English variety.

This recipe is for 1 kg, but if you want to make more, just adjust the quantities as need:

1 kg cucumbers
1 bundle (kimp) of flavouring (horseradish, dill, blackcurrant leaves, garlic) - this is usually on sale in Estonian markets, but you might have luck finding it where you are
1.5 l room-temperature water
30% vinegar, salt, sugar

For every 1.5 l of water, mix in 3 tablespoons each of salt, sugar and vinegar. If using 8% vinegar, increase the volume of vinegar by 3.5 - use around 10 tbsps of vinegar.

Before salting, soak the cucumbers in cold water for a few hours. Before salting, top and tail the cucumbers and slice them in half lengthwise.

Line a big bowl or bucket with the kimp, and then add the cucumbers on top. Add your water/vinegar/salt/sugar mixture, and leave out in a room somewhere to pickle overnight, or ideally for 24 hours. Make sure the cucumbers are covered by the water - I usually weigh mine down with a plate, but whatever works for you.