Goodie basket

My neighbours came home today from a three week holiday stint at their country house. I gave them some of the sourdough bread I baked yesterday, but what I got in return by far outweighs what I gave. I got a whole basket full of fresh (and needless to say, organic) vegetables and other goodies straight from their own land. Have I got some great cooking ahead of me this week! The basket contained two enormous zucchinis (weighing 2kg and 1.4kg), beans, carrots, onions, new potatoes, basil, coriander, lettuce, plus blackcurrants and redcurrants, a jar of home-grown and made rhubarb chutney, and a package of organic barley. I am thrilled. And feeling incredibly lucky and thankful to have such generous neighbours. Here's a peek at the contents...

The goodie basket - monster zucchinis peeking out

Zucchini, lettuce, basil

New potatoes, beans, carrots, onion, lettuce

Barley, blackcurrants, redcurrants, rhubarb chutney

Beatriz's rhubarb pie

This is the easiest pie in the world to make. My mother Beatriz has made pies from this dough recipe since I was a little girl, and I'm carrying on the tradition. I think I can do it blindfolded by now, and can also be made with apples and cinnamon, or frozen blueberries. A very Finnish recipe, I put about 400-500g of chopped rhubarb onto a bed of Beatriz's shortbread pastry (murutaikina). Half an hour in the over later, warm pie is served. I do like it warm, but especially when made with blueberries, I like to leave it in the fridge and see how it 'ages' as it gets so much more moist and luscious with every passing day. Fifth day pie is pretty amazing. I've never had any left to try sixth day pie.

A big thank you goes out to my neighbours Sanni and Mikko, who gave me five kilos of rhubarb straight from their own organic country garden!