Preparing for the Atlantic passage

Pan fried chicken legs with chinese mushrooms and scallions in a hot pepper-sauce.

And that was today's lunch.

As we're about to leave for the Atlantic crossing very soon (tomorrow or Thursday that is), we are now busy with the final planning of the food provisioning for the 18-22 days we will spend on the ocean.

It is a pity that fresh meat isn't lasting for more than the first five days or so and that many vegetables will go bad after 14 days, but we'll manage well with other reserves. What we've been focusing on mostly is to make sure there is enough fresh water (around 100 liters ((26 US gallons)) of reserves in bottles and folding water jugs in case the watermaker would fail), enough pasta/rice/potatoes/beans/noodles/cous cous/cereals/dried fruit/dried vegetables/dried mushrooms/juice/UHT milk and cream for the double of the time we'll be spending on the sea, plenty of baking supplies in case I get baking cravings and obviously everything needed to make some nice fish dishes like lemon juice, coco flakes, garlic, spices, dried basilica and other herbs, soya, wasabi, rice vinegar etc.. With these things we'll be perfectly settled. Will show some pics of how we're storing all of this in the boat, later on. /Taru

One simple apple dessert

One of the easiest desserts there is to be made (I did mention I love everything in terms of cooking involving the word easy, no?) is a simple fried apple dessert. If you, just like me, think that you've been eating too much over the holidays but still need something sweet after dinner, this is a good choice. Delicious and healthy, if you can resist the temptation of putting together a vanilla sauce to it, that is. 

All you really need is: 1 apple for two people, little bit of butter, brown sugar, ground cinnamon and that would be it. Panfry the apple in a tiny bit of butter, sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on top and leave it on the stove till it's golden brown. The firmer the apple, the better in my opinion. Granny Smith's has always made it for me with it's acidic taste, but also a traditional sweet Gala or Honeycrisp would be good for this type of frying. It's quick, healthy and delicious. Just how we like it. /Taru

Hot fish soup with saffron

This definitely reminds us of UK when looking out on the constant rain pissing down outside, for the third day in a row. Or wait a minute, we are actually in the United Kingdom, suddenly it all makes sense. It's raining cats and dogs, like the Brits would have said. Non stop downpour - and the teak which were supposed to have gotten it's final tlc this weekend, must now face a terribly destructive shower instead. We will most probably have to stay here for 2-4 days more as of the bad weather that is preventing us from finalizing what has to get finished.

It is quite funny in a way. We have left the normality for many reasons but one of the foremost is that we do not want to be controlled and manipulated by any authority or the laws of the society. Basically we have chosen not to live a life that someone else have chosen for us, but instead living our own life as we strive for being as self sufficient and free as possible - and here we are, always controlled by the weather and winds. A paradox that on the other hand isn't too hard to live with - but interesting to reflect upon. There's always someone/something that has the last word in your everyday life and decisions. If it is not the structures of the society or governmental laws, it is the nature that stops you from certain things. But what can you do, we're much rather slaves to the nature than the society, of course!

Here's a soup I made to get us warm in this terrible cold we're facing over here in Gibraltar. Make one for yourself if you wanna keep yourself hot.

Soup of cod filet, saffron and chinese mushrooms

Pan fry slices of onion and add some garlic cloves.
Cut in pieces and pan fry cod filet, 250 g would be enough for 2 people.
Bring some sliced shiitake mushrooms and red pepper cubes to the pan.
Sprinkle over salt, pepper and cayenne.
Add a dash of soya and some saffron.
Add whatever else you have in your fridge that could make sense. I had some crab sticks which made a good combo.
Add 2 tablespoons of natural yoghurt and the same amount of water.
Pour some white wine into the soup. One tablespoon is enough.
Leave it all to simmer for a while.

And there you go. Hot fish soup for cold winter nights.

/Taru

Cous cous salad with chicken and buttered chanterelles

I'm all into living a comfortable and stress-free life. Some (Alex) may claim it is partly laziness that is living within me, I prefer to call my philosophy "the right pace of living and enjoying life while avoiding as much obstacles as possible". I have simply made a calculation and understood that I rather spend the precious minutes of my life on things that I enjoy, than on things that gives me headache, stress, too much work or just stupidities in general. When it comes to food I, too, make my life as simple as possible. Don't get me wrong here. I love superb, qualitative food and also to prepare it - so some work there has to be put in it, but I do like to make it easy and comfortable, cutting out all extra work that is not needed, according to preferred standard. For example, I have became an expert in using leftovers and also to cook more than I need, in order to be able to use the leftovers for suitable meals for a couple of days after the main dish. On a boat - this, along with great plastic storage containers, is invaluable as you wish to make things easy and painless to avoid messing up that tight little galley space (and to clean it after) way too often.

This salad is a great example of "the day after meals" - that actually is made one day after the famous chicken burger I made the other day, which also means, two days after the original chicken meal I made to start with. From the leftovers that was generated, I have here turned it all into a delicious cous cous salad with chanterelles. And this is how you make it yourself:

Boil some water and follow the instructions on your specific cous cous package. Basically, you just boil some water with salt and olive oil. When it's boiling, add equally amount of cous cous as of boiling water - into the hot water, take it off from the stove, whisk it all gently, put a lid on and leave it to soak in for some five-ten minutes. While this is soaking, pan fry the leftover chicken you found in your refrigerator. Cut some red pepper, red onion, cherry tomatoes in petite cubes. Throw it all into a bowl, add the cous cous, some rucola, the hot fried chicken and don't you forget to also pan fry some chanterelles in butter and salt and throw them in the salad as well. Add salt, pepper. Done!

Now when I think about it, I should have added a dash of truffle oil into it as well, I'm sure it would have been the cherry on the pie.

Cous cous is, by the way, one of those things we will stock up a lot of for our Atlantic passage. A great substitute to pasta and rice and it is so very quick to prepare. Definitely gives some good change to all that pasta we'd probably eat on that long journey. And it goes terrifically well with fish and seafood, as well. /Taru

Chicken burger for lunch, yes please!

A very simple dish, perfectly suitable for moderate conditions on the sea is - the burger. Burger of any sort really (can't wait for Alex to catch some fish so I can make it a fish burger), but this is one of our favorites.

Let me present to you the super easy* chicken burger. (*because life aboard is all about making things easy, no?)

Take a couple of hamburger buns. Throw them into oven to grill for some minutes. You want them to get warm and crispy, but never too burnt so watch out.

Take a few pieces of grilled chicken fillet. You can either heat up some left overs from last nights chicken meal or simply use some hot and ready parts from a grilled chicken from your local chicken butcher, or make it hard for yourself and pan fry/grill a couple of fresh fillets yourself. The latter is as great as time consuming so I recommend one of the first two options because sometimes it is OK to be lazy.  Whatever piece of chicken you decide to go for, make sure it gets soaked up in some nice flavors. I would suggest salt, pepper, ground chili powder, soya and perhaps some garlic powder, in case there wasn't enough spices already.

When the chicken's ready, sprinkle some mayonnaise on the bread. Or why not try the delightful Cesar dressing that you can find almost anywhere nowadays. This is to be followed by some leaves of fresh rucola, some slices of a tasteful cheese, (I used the amazing Swiss cheese Appenzeller.. oh lord how glorious it is), finalize the deal with some red garlic and some red pepper. Sprinkle some fresh ground pepper of preferred kind and over with the top. Voilà! This is too good to be true - and so incredibly easy to execute. Perfect for a quiet day on the sea when you feel like enjoying the sun and the beautiful surroundings, rather than spending too long time below in the galley.

/Taru

Lunch time

Luscious macaronis with mustard chicken

This is probably the easiest thing to put together and suits us fine when life is upside down like it is on this boat right now. A little bit of pasta, a little bit of marinated chicken and some rucola to that and you're all set. This is how I do it:

Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the pasta according to package directions. I've used large macaronis for this dish, as I love the texture of them and the fact that the creamy sauce gets stuck inside of em'. Very wonderful and juicy, from the inside and out. While the pasta is cooking, swirl together a little chicken marinade into a bowl. You'll need more or less:

1 tablespoon soya sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 teaspoon of mayonnaise
salt
pepper
ground chili powder
also you could toss in some garlic if you'd like..

As soon as this is done and mixed up, bring some sliced pieces of chicken into it. Leave it to absorb for ten minutes or so. The longer the better but if you have not much time, five-ten min should be OK.

In olive oil: panfry some chopped onion, why not shallots. When they're golden brown, bring in the marinated chicken. With all of the marinade, obviously. Let it all simmer around and leave it to get a brownish, golden tone. You'll see when it's ready. When pasta's done, remove the water and dump in the pasta into the pan with the chicken. Mix it all together softly and add some fresh rucola to it.

This. Is. So. Damn. Delicious. You have to try. Now!

/Taru

Let's go!!

Cake time. I'm taking a break! Oh my freakin' lord what a mess it is down here. The boat is inside out with things everywhere, everywhere where they're not supposed to be and there's tools in every nook and cranny and I can barely keep my mind sane in this d i s a s t e r, also called our home. Trying to clean up the mess and five minutes later it looks like someone turned the boat completely up side down. Alex tells me it is not time for baking when there is millions of things to finish before the sun goes down, I claim that he doesn't know me by now.. I need my cake therapy to be able to go through this! I need to put on some Portishead on very high volume, put my hands in a bowl full of eggs and distract myself with delicate measurements.

I also told him that we should cast off and leave Barcelona tonight. Let's forget the missing things and let them be sent to some other harbor along the way. I can't stand this goddamn stress no more. If only, if only... It is not the amount of tasks that's stressing me most, it is the knowledge of that the freedom is awaiting us just around the corner. In not so many hours, we'll be free, unbound, released and that is what is most disturbing, frustrating, exhilarating, nerve-breaking, exciting in the life of moi, at the moment.

Will add the recipe for the cake here later on when Alex stops insisting on me to do this and that and this....

And yes, I can clearly see that it looks like a christmas cake and associated winter ambience, just another reason why we should leave. NOW! It's too f-cking cold over here!! Give me the Caribbean! Or at least take me to Morocco! /T

The perfect mix between sweet and salt

Fried chicken with a sweet bean salad

Pan fry your marinated chicken and prepare the salad in the meanwhile.

I've used these ingredients:

A handful of rucola

A handful of baby spinach

A bunch of mung bean sprouts

1 Comice pear (whatever pear goes, it's the sweet taste and the firm, grainy texture you're after)

Some red pepper

Blue cheese

I've chosen to made the dressing very sweet and refreshing as there's a lot of taste in the chicken. My sweet dressing is simply made of some raspberry vinaigrette, which can be found in well-assorted grocery stores, and virgin olive oil.

Chicken's marinated in soy, salt, black pepper, sesame oil, chili pepper and a bit of fresh garlic.

Serve as a starter or a lunch salad. It is very, very delicious. /T

Mashed potatoes from heaven

When I grew up, mashed potatoes was equal to: potatoes-butter-milk-salt-pepper and nothing else. Nowadays I'm trying to experiment as much as possible with it, as it goes with close to anything and the homemade version is a serious classic none can live without, right?

Sometimes I'll add herbs, sometimes bacon or parmesan - sometimes I'll make it simple with only some salt and oil, but this one I have to consider to be the favorite:

I boil my potatoes in small cubes. In the meanwhile I'll fry some very thin cut red onion and 2 small cloves of crushed garlic. When the potatoes have boiled (around 15 minutes), I'll mash them (but not too much, leave some chunks!), adding the onion mix, liquid cream, loads of butter, salt, pepper and a pinch of chili powder. This might not be either a low carb or low fat alternative, but oh so damn good. It goes especially well with grilled chicken or fried fish but really anything goes, I'm sure.

Try it!

Picture: My mashed potatoes served with fried Barracuda meat.

Baking day

While Alex is up on deck refitting our teak, I'm working on some online projects and simultaneously baking bread in the Remoska. This is my favorite Focaccia, but instead of the all-purpose flour, I used whole grain to get a more rich and rustic texture and plenty of more fibers (rosemary excluded as well).

I'm in a serious baking mood today. Just finished the bread, thinking of mixing together some ultra-thin pancakes now and dying to have a fudgy chocolate cake or a sweet cake with fig marmalade for later on.. Just too bad we don't have enough space for a freezer in this boat so my bakings could be saved for more then a few days... hoping to get it solved for the next boat. /Taru

The ultimate brownie

Of course there was a cake on Alex birthday. Even though I can find an excuse to swirl together a cake whenever, it's always more pleasant to do it for someone you love. He likes it simple, my man. Everything that comes with a rich taste of chocolate and anything with peaches involved - so I made this simple, but oh so delicious, brownie - and as there were no white peaches to get hold on, I marinated the nectarines in fresh peach juice..

2 eggs

2,5 dl sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 dl unsweetened cocoa powder

2 dl flour

100 g melted butter

(add some chopped and toasted walnuts, pecans or hazelnuts if you'd like)

Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F), grease and flour a pan. Break the eggs into a large bowl and mix it with the sugar, whisk until fluffy. Add all other ingredients, butter lastly. Pour the batter into the pan and place in the oven for around 20 minutes. The cake should be fudgy and soft on the inside and crispy on top. Cut the cake while it's hot. Garnish with whipped cream, icecream or fruits. Voilà!

METRICS

American measurements:

2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup flour
3,75 ounces melted butter

Sweet chicken

A very simple chicken stew: Pan fry chicken filet with some drops of olive oil, add some soya, curry, a pinch of salt, some pepper, some honey, a bit of cabbage, snow peas and freshly squeezed orange juice. Preparation time: Around 13 minutes. Perfect for those days when you need to make it fast and easy. /T

Corsican delicacies

Ok it's not entirely Corsican what we have indulged in, lately. It's more likely the French produce that are easier to get hold on here than in Spain and we can't get enough of the cheese (Camembert, Brie, Roquefort etc..), the pate's, the french butter, freshly baked baguettes, blettes, yoghurts, the wine and so on...

What is Corsican though, is the delightful little Canistrellis (more or less like Italian Biscotti) and the smoked wild boar meat (even though the meat they call sanglier, in fact is 30% boar, 70% pork)

If you ever wondered how we can be so fit, after all we're eating. Well... I can tell you that those well shaped days are now officially over! /T

The perfect Bolognese

Along with fresh Italian pasta and a bottle of the beautiful Sardinian wine, Cabiròl, I prepare my bolognese like this. Sorry no measurements, I take what I find in the fridge:

Minced beef

Garlic

Olive oil

Fresh tomatoes, maybe 2-3-4 of them.

Pepper and Salt

Chili powder

Rucola

Mushrooms - Goes well with any type. I prefer Portobello.)

Sugar - This is very important, folks!

Some red wine.

Pour olive oil into a large sauce pan, press the garlic into it. Fry the garlic until golden. Add the meat.. some teaspoons of water, salt, pepper and chili powder. Fry the meat until it has completely changed color from red to brownish. Pour in the wine. Squeeze in the tomatoes, add the peal of them as well if you'd like, otherwise use only the inside of them. Add the same amount of sugar as you earlier had of salt. This is very important for bolognese so don't ever exclude it! Works also well with honey if you prefer. Honey goes by the way with anything and everything. When things look smooth and tastes good, add the mushrooms and let it all simmer for a while. When finished, add the fresh rucola and mix the sauce with the fresh pasta you had boiled on the side.

Enjoy! /Taru

Birthday cake

It was one of my best friends birthday some days ago so I made her a cake and we celebrated her on the boat in Stintino - Sardinia, even though a couple of thousands miles away from her. And no, the shape of the cake is not a new design I invented, it's just our oven in the boat that's heeling a bit too much on one side..

Cake Fanny

3 eggs

1,5 dl sugar (0,7 cups)

2 tablespoons of natural raw honey (30 ml)

1 teaspoon vanillin extract (5 ml)

75 gram melted butter (75 ml)

0,50 dl milk (0,25 cup)

0,50 dl cream (0,25 cup)

3,5 dl flour (1,5 cups)

2 teaspoons of baking powder (10 ml)

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (10 ml)

1 teaspoon of fresh lemon juice (5 ml)

a small pinch of salt

Any sort of crushed nuts

Preheat oven to 175° C (350° F).

Grease and lightly flour a pan. Stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt; set aside. In a large bowl: Whisk eggs, sugar, vanillin sugar and honey until light and fluffy. Bring the flour mixture into it, add the milk, cream, lemon juice and the melted butter. Pour batter into pan, sprinkle some crushed almonds or hazelnuts over and place it into the oven for around 40 minutes.

Mmm, this is a wonderful, easy cake and you can easily exchange the nuts and cinnamons to whatever you rather prefer.

Happy belated birthday Dear Fanny!

FYI: All my recipes are written with Swedish/Finnish measurements. Please follow the numbers within the parentheses if you're not from Scandinavia. I guess I need to find a better solution for this. A proper translator might be needed for this blog? Please let me know if someone is interested in the job!

This is how we do it

This one is for Baydog. He's been asking for more tuna:

Choosing Rapala.. (we picked the red one)

There's something BIG on the hook... reeling in.

A 16 kilo's tuna!

Tada! Lunch, anyone? Fresh sushi and a sesam seared tuna steak. Oh madre mia, how delicious it was.

Sardinia

We had the most beautiful sleep in one of the best moorings we ever encountered. Porto Mannu can be found in the north-western providence Sassari and it provided us with a perfectly still anchorage and a 2 minutes dinghy ride to the most adorable little town. We had a beautiful day in that town yesterday and purchased the freshest Italian produce for our dinner. Basilic, pasta, Sardinian wine, fresh parmesano, salsiccias... Italians sure know how to seduce with flavors and aromas. And what a freaking wonderful dinner it turned out to be with that Barracuda! I had it oven baked with a marinade made of fresh, homemade Sardinian olive oil, basilic, lemon juice and tons of garlic - served with basmati rice. It was simply out of this world.

And to top up the already perfect day and night: exactly when we had dined and wined and were on our way to sleep, an enormous firework show erupted where we were given a front row view over the beautiful explosions. It seems like fire and explosions are following us wherever we go. If it's not frightening thunder and lightning, it's probably marvellous fireworks just outside of our boat. Thanks Sardinia, what a dramatic and extraordinary welcoming! I think we'll spend a couple of more days around here. /Taru

Last night's meal

Who said cooking aboard must be canned meat and pasta? I see this cruising life as a wonderful culinary challenge and want to make the best out of our diet for each and every day. The amazing thing with always visiting new places is the broad variety of fresh produce and greens you can get hold on. For me it would therefore never get boring to cook, and even less so with the always new, inspiring environments we run across. All the different colors, smells and atmospheres gets me inspired and urges me to create! If there is one thing I get true satisfaction from is to feed the people I love with wonderful, culinary creations.

I guess this dish probably would be hard to get together in rough weather underway, but I'll save those recipes for you for later on if you're interested. There's a lot of creativity to use in that area as well.

Anyway, this meal is what Alex called "the best food I had in years", so try it you as well if you have a change. It really is super easy.

What you need:

150 gram veal per person.

New potatoes.

My marinade.

Snow peas.

1 red onion.

Mix together the marinade and leave the meat inside for min. one hour. Wash the potatoes and boil them with salt and their own skin. While they're boiling, heat up a pan in where to fry the meat. The pan should be at moderately high heat. Put some oil in it. Pan fry the meat 1-2 minutes on each side. You can also put them on the barbecue if you prefer. When the potatoes are almost finished, put inside the snow peas in the boiling water. Cook them along with the potatoes for the final 3-4 minutes. Cut the red onion and sprinkle it over the meat along with the snow peas and serve it all with the gravy from the meat. Add some extra water in the pan when the meat is removed if there isn't enough gravy.

Bon appétit!

/Taru

The simplest little fish dish

On longer passages it is important to eat steady meals with a lot of carbohydrates to keep your energy level high when time goes by slow. We've stocked up the boat with plenty of rice, pasta and potatoes and luckily the combinations with these along with proteins and fat (fish) are endless. This one is a perfect little dish that you can prepare with any sort of fish you might catch for the day or why not using the left overs from the fish you had last night. The short time it takes to cook this meal, makes it also easy to prepare in rough weather.

Cook your pasta. We prefer tagliatelle but any sort is as good.

Pan fry chopped, red onion in olive oil and add your fish. (I used the salmon fillet from last night.)

Add 1-2 cups of fresh cream or UHT cream, depending on what's available.

Add 1 teaspoon of soya and maybe some more pepper, and/or salt.

When pasta's ready and rinsed, pour it over to the pan with the fish and sauce. Stir and taste, maybe add some extra seasoning of your taste. Add fresh rucola salad and fresh baby-tomato halves. Et Voilà! /Taru

Dangerous cooking

While Alex is downstairs covering our hull with epoxy, I'm sitting inside trying to work a bit. That's pretty much how our days looks like right now until we're ready to set off. He's in charge of the heavy, physical work and maintenance on the boat, while I'm keeping up this blog, dealing with partners, working on some other online projects and cooking for my man. We have found our perfect rhythm with this division and the must do's of the days goes by pretty easy with no hassle. Besides of when Alex gets into the galley (kitchen), blends the dangerous epoxy and watertite mixes by the zinc and want to mix it all in the same bowls that I use for the cooking! As we both are very temperamental and passionate people, we scream at each other for one and a half minute like we're ready to kill. But then it's all over. Fast and easy. I go back to my computer or cooking or whatever it might be and Alex gets out to finish his work. That's more or less the only type of drama we have in our lives at the moment. Don't you think we need to get out of here soon? To be too long time on land is no good for us! We're in need of other types of action!

That was not what I wanted to talk about though, but I wanted to share with you the ultimate BBQ marinade which will make you want to light your grill every single night. Simple and easy:

Taru's BBQ Marinade for wonderful steaks

Take a small bowl (make sure there's no epoxy residues!), mix all of these things together:

3 tablespoons of olive oil

2 tablespoons of chinese soya

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

2 freshly pressed garlic cloves

1 tablespoon herbs of choice

1 teaspoon red-hot cayenne pepper or chili powder

salt, pepper.

Whisk it all together, pour it into a plastic bag. Trow in the meat, make sure the marinade gets all over the steaks. Tight the bag and leave it there for 1-4 hours -depending on how long time you got and then grill your steaks to perfection. Voila! You now got the best tasting steaks in town!

On the picture: Argentinean beef served with potato gratin and an apple, rucola and blue cheese salad.