That was before we got our Big Green Egg which JD got in July. It brought a lot of heat, smoke and joy in our outdoor kitchen. Meanwhile, we spent the last week of June in South Spain warming our bodies. It was warm indeed down there, 36 degrees in Cadiz and Gibraltar and 40 degrees in Sevilla and Ronda.
Back in Kemiö, we had three warm and sunny days. Then the
rain and coolness was back. A good thing with the rain is that the mushrooms
grow fast in the forests. I am expecting a good year for chanterelles and CEP
mushrooms.
With the house full of children and grand children aged
from 5 months to 13 those three warm days were hectic and mostly spent by the
sea or cooking.
The cooler days we spent mostly cooking and eating. JD and Hank were thrilled with their new investment - the Green Egg is the fifth grill already, but the best of all (they say)! With the original charcoal and a bunch
of ‘necessary’ accessories our men were able to cook delicious steaks, picanha, pulled pork,
smoked salmon and a lot more. It is true slow cooking, the pulled pork meal took seven hours to do. My job remained to do salads and other side
dishes.
One favorite side dish this summer was the Moroccan tomato salad that contained
salted preserved lemons (I had put 5 kgs of lemon in jars with salt already in April, see Jamie Oliver's recipe).
Moroccan tomato salad
5-6 large tomatoes, skinned, deseeded & cut into strips1 red onion, finely sliced
Rind of 1 preserved lemon, cut into thin strips
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
Freshly squeezed juice of half a lemon
1-2 tablespoons capers
1-2 tablespoons kalamata olives, finely chopped
A bunch of fresh flat leaf parsley, fresh coriander & mint leaves, finely chopped
1 teaspoon paprika
Sea salt and black pepper
Another nice sauce was Turkish yoghurt mixed with harissa paste. You can also buy this North African chili paste, at least in Helsinki.
Our girls
Emma and Hanna prepared the desserts, mainly fresh strawberries in different
formats.
