summer yummy

There are two types of food bloggers. The first ones cook amazing food and take amazing pictures, and eventually go on TV or/and publish a book. Good taste buds and an artistic eye combined with practice-practice-practice contribute to their success. The second ones are the wannabes, who follow the recipes, make something, and take pictures to record the food. My sister and I are proud representatives of the second group. We have our moments (my sister many many more than I do) when we make amazing food and take amazing pictures, and post them on our blogs. But often we just adore what others do, or sometimes try recipes and make things that have no resemblance with the originals. It usually happens with the recipes that have been titled fool-proof. Most of the time we cook no-hassle, tried-out-for-years meals that don't need a cookbook. But we need cookbooks - for their pretty pictures, for dreaming, for mood-making, for the delicious promises, for our occasional star-moments. We love our cookbooks so much that we don't mind transporting some of them to our summer house. (The pic is arranged, we don't place the books on a shrine, even though some of them would deserve it.)

Obviously there can never be too many cookbooks, but with time we had become picky and for a short while thought that all new books were just bland copies of earlier ones. Until this Estonian blogger Ragne published her first book. Sorry, friends, it is in Estonian, but you can see from the picture how it has this inviting simple-life-is-beautiful look.

I handed my gift over to my sister on our first summer day together. Oh, we savored every page, indulging ourselves with delightful pictures, choosing possible future treats. Days passed before I dared to follow the first recipe. My sister stayed with me for the moral support.

Simple to start with:

2 dl of wheat flour

2 dl of barley flour 

2 tsp of baking powder

0,5 tsp of salt

0,5 sp of sugar

Mix it all together

Then add:

50g of butter softened at room temperature (or quickly softened not melted in the oven, as we did)

2 dl of sour cream

Mix it all into a dough with your hands, roll it into a ball and put in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

I met only one tiny obstacle. The original recipe included dandelion leaves and goutweed for filling. The chef had fortunately added in a small print that any weeds can be replaced with herbs. Now came the best part - I lightly stepped out of the house into the sunshine, walked across the lawn, and picked fresh thyme, parsley, basil and dill from my sister's herb garden. It was perfect, like a scene from a movie where Italian, French, or Greek  country life and cooking are cherished. It was better than a movie, it was my life.

I rolled out the dough into a semi perfect circle, cut into semi equal 12 sectors, sprinkled them with 100g of grated cheese and  two handfuls of chopped herbs, rolled the sectors in croissant style, placed them on the cooking pan and baked for 30 minutes in 180 degree oven.

When the rolls were out, we (the small summer family) waited just a bit before the first bite. Our stomachs purred with pleasure. Hands were reaching out for a second serving, when I stopped everyone, so I could take a picture. Others were too hungry to allow me to experiment with styling, angles, or light. I got rid of the clutter that usually creeps on to my pictures, made sure I got one of the pretty plates, and pulled a flowery mug closer to the plate to add a romantic touch. 

This was certainly one of the positive wannabe moments. The rolls were so delicious that I made them again few days later, and I am not afraid to share the photo with you.

May I proudly present,

Da-daa:

Breakfast herb rolls