Tour of Europe: Latvia's meal

Our next meal from Europe is from Latvia, which is right across the Baltic Sea from Sweden.  Latvian cuisine is typical of the Baltic region and, in general, of northern countries. The food is high in butter and fat while staying low in spices except for black pepper, dill or grains/seeds, such as caraway seeds. Latvian cuisine originated from the peasant culture and is strongly based on crops that grow in Latvia's maritime, temperate climate. Rye or wheat, oats, peas, beets, cabbage, pork products and potatoes are the staples. Meat features in most main meal dishes, but fish also is commonly consumed due to Latvia's location on the east coast of the Baltic Sea: smoked and raw fish are quite common. 

 

Jāņu siers is a type of hard cheese made from cows’ milk that is embedded with caraway seeds. It is available in the US, but its availability seems to be centered around the upper Midwest region, due to the fact that Latvian immigrants settled in that area. I was not able to find any caraway cheese here in Charleston, but I did find a recipe on a Latvian cooking blog for a similar-tasting caraway cheese spread. The recipe is below. Also on that website was a recipe for ceptas siermaizītes (the blogger called them “Baked Cheese Toasties” )

 

Menu: Pīrāgi (bacon and onion pies), Caraway cheese spread, Cured Salmon, Ceptas Siermaizītes  

Dessert: Smalkmaizītes (Poppy Seed Scrolls)

Outcome: I think we all really enjoyed this meal. Since I am not very good with baking, I used a few shortcuts along the way -- for the Piragi, I used “Grands” biscuits, flattened them out, and added the bacon/onion mixture before folding and baking. They were very good, and the girls had more the next morning before we headed out the door to soccer. The caraway cheese spread was quite good, and we spread it on some of the Wasa crispbread that was left over from Sweden’s meal. The star of the meal was the cured salmon. Normally, I don’t care for the fishy taste of salmon, but the curing process really gave it a great flavor and texture that was just right on buttered baguette slices. There was no fishiness at all to it! I got the salmon fresh, never frozen, from Walmart. I don’t know if that made a difference or not, but we really enjoyed it. Another shortcut that I took was to use some canned crescent rolls to make the poppy seed scrolls. They were a bit small, only about the size of a 50 cent piece once I rolled the dough from the wide end, and I used far less poppy seeds than the recipe called for. I liked the unexpected crunch when you bit into one of the scrolls. The recipe called for a chocolate glaze, but I think that a simple confectioner’s sugar glaze would be just as good on these rolls. All in all, a successful visit to Latvia.  

Latvia's meal

Next up: Bridget’s turn! She chose Norway! We’re going right through these Scandinavian countries, aren’t’ we?  

 

Caraway cheese spread

Ingredients

• 1 jar Kraft Old English Cheese Spread
• 2 tsp. caraway seeds

Directions

1. Combine cheese with caraway seeds in a small bowl.
2. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour or overnight, and serve with crackers or dark rye bread.

Pīrāgi (bacon and onion pies)

Ingredients

DOUGH

• 3 ½ – 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ¼ cups warm water
• 6 tsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 ½ Tbsp. active dry yeast
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 1 egg
• Additional melted butter, for brushing

FILLING

• ½ lb. smoked bacon, diced
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:

1. Sift the flour and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, mix water, sugar, and salt, and then sprinkle yeast over top. Let stand for 5 – 10 minutes, or until the mixture becomes foamy.
3. Add the flour and butter and stir with a wooden spoon until most of the flour has been incorporated. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Alternately, use a dough hook fitted to an electric stand mixer.
4. Shape the dough into a ball and place in a well-oiled large bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place it in a warm, draft free spot (like the oven with the door closed and the light on) to rise until the dough has doubled in size, about one hour. Punch down the dough, cover, and let rise for an additional hour.
5. Divide the dough into 30 equal-sized pieces and roll each piece into a ball. Place them on a pan or a cutting board for 10-15 minutes.

   

   Letting the dough rest

6. Meanwhile, sauté the bacon, onion, and black pepper until the onion is soft and translucent. Set aside.

   

   Sizzle!

7. Flatten the balls of dough, drop spoonfuls of the bacon/onion mixture in the middle, and then fold and press the edges of the dough together. Roll between your hands to create a crescent shape, place on a greased cookie sheet, and let them sit for 15 minutes.

   

   Assembling the Piragis

8. Whisk the egg and then brush it onto the prepared Pīrāgi. Bake at 400 degrees F for 10 minutes, or until they are a dark golden color and then brush with melted butter. Serve immediately.

Makes about 30.

Cured Salmon

Ingredients

• 1 salmon portion with skin on
• 2 Tbsp. salt
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 French baguette or loaf of dark rye bread
• 1 small onion
• Butter, pepper, lemon

Directions

1. Mix together salt and sugar.
2. Rub the salmon with the salt mixture.
3. Place the salmon in a bowl or plastic container, skin side up, cover and place in the fridge for at least 24 hours.

   

   Isn't this just a gorgeous piece of salmon?

4. Remove the salmon from the fridge, remove the skin and slice thinly.
5. Serve on buttered slices of bread, top with thinly sliced onion and sprinkle with freshly cracked pepper and lightly drizzle with lemon juice.

Ceptas Siermaizītes (Baked Cheese Toasties)

Ingredients

• 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
• 2 eggs
• 1 baguette
• Butter

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Place a sheet of baking paper on a baking tray.
2. Mix together cheese and eggs.
3. Slice and butter the bread on both sides.
4. Place the bread on the baking tray and top with the cheese mixture just to cover the bread.
5. Bake the bread for 10-15 minutes until cheese is melted and turned golden brown. Serve warm.

Smalkmaizītes (Poppy Seed Scrolls)

NOTE: For authenticity, you can use the dough ingredients and directions as written. For a quicker version, you can use canned crescent rolls. After removing them from the package, unroll and smooth out the perforations, patting into a large rectangle with your hands. Jump directly to step 5, then continue from step 8.

Ingredients

For the dough:

• 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tsp. dry yeast
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 cup milk
• pinch of salt
• 1 stick soft butter
• 1 egg

Filling:

• 2 Tbsp. poppy seeds
• ½ cup sugar (or honey)

Glaze:

• ½ cup chocolate chips
• 3 Tbsp. butter

Directions

1. Warm the milk (easy test is to put a drop of milk on an inside of the wrist, it should be warm, but not burn).
2. Place sifted flour, yeast and couple tablespoons of sugar in a large bowl, add the warm milk. Mix together.
3. Add the rest of the sugar and butter to the flour mixture, mix together. Knead the dough for couple minutes, cover it with tea towel and place in warm spot for 30 minutes to rise.
4. Meanwhile, place poppy seeds in a bowl and soak them for 10-15 minutes. Drain well.
5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
6. Sprinkle some flour on the rolling surface and place the dough on it.
7. Roll the dough to a rectangle, slightly less than 1cm in thickness.
8. Sprinkle the sugar evenly on the dough rectangle. Spread poppy seeds evenly on top of sugar. You can replace sugar with honey; just mix honey with poppy seeds and spread evenly over the dough.

   

   Freshly sprinkled with sugar and poppy seeds

9. Roll up the dough from the widest edge.
10. Cut the dough scroll in 1 inch slices. Place the scrolls on the baking tray and let them rise for around 5-10 minutes.
11. Whisk the egg to create egg wash. Using a pastry brush, brush each scroll with the egg wash.
12. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes. Take the scrolls off the tray and let them cool completely.
13. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate and butter, mix well.
14. Once the scrolls have cooled down, pour a couple teaspoons of glaze on each scroll.

Notes: This recipe makes around 20 scrolls.

before smoothing out the seams of the crescent roll dough