Blueberries are great for more than just a sweet pie.
Roni Lehti
Blueberry is the favorite berry of Finns. When we think of blueberries, our mind often wanders to sweet pastries. Chef Risto Mikkola reminds you that blueberry has substance.
– There’s a lot more to it than just the pie. Blackberries have a refined taste, and of course the color is also very unique. There are few foods that have the same color, Mikkola says.
Mikkola wanted to develop a salty entity specifically from blueberries. He flavored and colored gravies, egg and butter with blueberry.
According to Mikkola, the mixture of blueberry and butter tastes even a little special at first.
– The first thing you taste is the greasiness, then the acidity of the blueberry and finally the saltiness. The aftertaste is deliciously pleasant, although it doesn’t even have the taste of blueberry, but something new.
Eggs are dyed especially at Easter time, but now the color is in the egg itself, not just in its shell.
The blue color of the blueberry is also brought to the surface by the blueberry. While you put the salt and sugar combination on it, add the blueberries as well. Mikkola states that a fair amount of sugar suits the taste of this.
– Whitefish is the best gravid fish, you can’t get anywhere with it. Wild sea salmon comes as a good second, says Mikkola.
He is attracted by the fresh and clean taste of the fish in whiting and wild salmon.
The whitefish is thin, so its meat gets burned quickly. 12 hours is enough for engraving, but according to Mikkola, it can be left in the salt for even longer.
Put the fish skin side down in a container and rub sugar, salt and blueberry into the fish flesh. Cover the fish with cling film and put in the fridge.
You don’t need any weights on it. The weight only contributes to the drying of the fish, and the grayling fish must not be dry.
The price of fish per kilo has risen very much. Mikkola admits that he has reduced the amount of fish he buys at home, because the price is high. The price of the whitefish he bought for Arje lukuse shootings was 49 euros.
Mikkola thinks that if you can’t buy fish for that price (you need at least 800 grams of fish to feed a family of four), you should try engraving. In that case, a smaller piece is enough, because few people eat several hundred grams of grayling fish at once. Best of all, you can feast on fish.
Roni Lehti
Blueberry engraved whitefish
400 g whitefish fillet
2 tablespoons of fine sea salt
2 tablespoons of sugar
2 dl frozen blueberries, crushed
1. Mix salt and sugar together. Place the whitefish fillets on the bottom of the pan, meat side up. Sprinkle the salt and sugar evenly over the whitefish fillets.
2. Spoon the crushed blueberries on top. Wrap the pan in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge overnight.
3. Wipe the surfaces of the whitefish fillets dry with a paper towel and slice the gray whitefish.
Blueberry butter
200 g of butter
2 dl blueberries
2 tablespoons of chives
0.5 tsp of salt
1. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and whip lightly with a hand mixer.
Blueberry egg
3 dl blueberries
3 dl of water
4 eggs
1. Boil eggs for 8 minutes and cool in cold water. Peel the eggs.
2. Combine water and blueberries in a narrow bowl. Purée with a stick blender and strain the blueberry water into a storage container.
3. Put the chicken eggs in the blueberry water and let them taste and color for 24 hours.
Blueberry gravies white bread
1 side toasted rye bread
2 tsp blueberry butter
50 g of blueberry-engraved whitefish in slices
half a blueberry chicken
1 sprig of dill
1. Spread the toasted rye bread with blueberry butter. Spread the blueberry-engraved whitefish on the bread.
2. Place half a blueberry egg on top and decorate with a sprig of dill.
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