Culinary overdose in Tampere

It's been quite some time since I had a chance to write anything because my laptop went to maintenance. But now there is finally an update. More blabbering about my stay in Finland will appear shortly...

I spent the last weekend of August in Tampere with some dear old friends. The main plan was to eat well, sip some drinks and do Singstar. Our Friday night's special was something called "Apple menu".

Apple menu

The thing with this three course dinner was that all the dishes contain apple in some form. The range of possibilities turned out to be amazingly large. So many different kind of flavors, yummy...

Our first course was very creamy soup with some strong Koskenlaskija-cheese (sort of Philadelphia with Emmental flavor) and sauteed apple chunks. The contrast was very interesting between the salty cheese and the sweet apple bits and pieces. That white lump is whipped milk and egg =)

Friday first: apple cheese soup

Our main course on Friday was spare ribs, first marinated in apple cider and then cooked in the oven for couple of hours on low heat. To add the final touch, they were barbecued to get some nice grill-flavor to them. Unfortunately our master of the grill didn't want her photo published online, but I can tell you, it looked pretty far-out in the late evening; it was all dark outside already and she was wearing one of these real strong orienteering head-lights. "Let there be light..."

Well, anyway the end result of all these preparations was that the meat was literally melting away from the bones. With the ribs we had some vegetables roasted with fresh rosemary and thyme in olive oil and some real bad-ass spicy mango chutney. Fresh salad as a side dish. Sooooooo delicious!

Friday main: apple cider marinated spare ribs, roasted veggies + mango chutney

After the main course a little time-out was absolutely needed, but we got back to the eating business later in the evening. Our dessert was old and reliable apple tiramisu. It has actually nothing really to do with the original Italian tiramisu, but it's killer delicious nonetheless. This dessert is constructed in layers of:
1) apple (sour type) chunks sauteed in cinnamon, honey and this time a dash of brandy
2) crumbs of Petit Beurre biscuits
3) natural flavor fresh cheese and whipped cream mixed together.

Friday dessert: apple tiramisu

Saturday; moooooore foooooood!

The program for the following evening contained more eating.

For starter girls cooked up some cheddar cheese soup based on a recipe on Ulla's collection. It was creamy and nice. - And looked pretty much the same as the starter the day before =O Taste was very different, though.

I prepared my traditional filled chicken fillets as the main course. I rub some spices and garlic to the meat and then fill the pocket with good amount of Roquefort cheese rolled into Parma ham. This time I tried Schwarzwald ham, which worked just as fine. It just needs to be of strong flavor. These fillets were served with creamy pepper sauce and smashed potatoes with herbs. On the side little bit of sour black currant jam.

These two courses were quite unbeatable but perhaps together bit too heavy. Food coma was inevitable and no one capable of having any dessert =)

Saturday entree: cheddar cheese soup

And yes, flashlight makes everything look disgusting, sorry about that. You'll just have to take my word for the food having been delicious....

Saturday main: chicken fillets filled with Roquefort+Schwarzwald ham