During their week in the IHME house the participants in Yael Bartana’s IHME Project made food dishes that reminded them of home. To accompany Bartana’s work, during the spring, IHME will be posting on the IHME Lists the recipes by all participants and describing the memories associated with them. The first dishes on the list of recommendations are Tiina Pirttilahti’s Sausage Sauce and Stanislav Marinets’ Seljanka soup.

“Tiina’s food was homey even though I don’t cook sausages that often nowadays. Stan’s soup was nourishing.” – Anna Miettinen

1. Tiina Pirttilahti: Sausage Sauce

“My mother was definitely the world’s worst cook and at home we were fed that Sausage Sauce every weekend. That is why I chose this meal and, of course, it reminds me of my childhood.”

Sausage
Butter
Flour
Water
Salt and Pepper

An HK’s Blue Ring sausage is cut up and fried until it turns brown. The brown sauce is then made. Plenty of real butter is put in the pan. Then, the flour is browned in a frying pan and water added. This is left to boil and separate into liquid and solids. Salt and pepper are added, plus the pre-fried sausages. This is then left to boil on a low heat for about 20 mins. As a side dish potatoes, vegetables and, of course, salad. Shredded carrots, to which pineapple chunks and liquid stock are added. This is proper homemade food.

2. Stanislav Marinets: Seljaka Soup

“I chose seljanka (also: soljanka) soup, because in my childhood, when I was still living in Soviet Estonia, it was popular. And it still is. The spring seljanka that I have chosen, in fact, differs from the traditional seljanka recipe, which includes things like pickled cucumbers. The residents of the IHME house liked the seljanka that I made, and many even came back for seconds! It did taste good, but different from during my childhood, since I did not choose the traditional recipe. The reactions were positive and the fresh-tasting soup surprized many of them, who are not used to the delights of Russian soup.”

0,5-1 kg diced beef
0,5-1 l water
1 onion sliced
3 carrots sliced
salt and pepper

Soup:
5 dl water and gravy
3 carrots diced
100 gr celery root, parsnip or sweet potato diced
200 gr sauerkraut
1 leek or scallion
fresh parsley, sage or thyme chopped
diced beef
100 gr roasted red pepper
100 gr Tzatziki sauce
whole or chopped capers
Manouri fesh cheese

Preparation time: 1 h

Meat: Brown the lumps of meat in a frying pan and then put the meat, onion, carrots and water in the oven in an oven-resistant dish. Stew well and add liquid, if necessary. When the meat is tender, strain off the liquid stock and keep it.

Soup: Heat the liquid stock, then add the chopped and lightly fried root vegetables and onion, and half of the herbs. When the vegetables are half-cooked, add the browned meat, sauerkraut and, finally, the herbs. Leave to boil gently until the vegetables are cooked. Complete the soup with a good-sized roasted red paprika, adding some of the juice from the paprika. Taste. Serve hot, as an autumn evening grows dark. Garnish the steaming soup with tzatsiki and capers.