An observant viewer may detect a spoon mark in the meat.

I remember the cheaper version made of beef and pork, deliciously called "pig-cow", from my childhood. We kids loved it, but usually we only had it during the summer holidays at our little island cabin. It was one of those great reserve foods that would keep in the cupboard for however long. But other than that our parents probably didn't think it particularly healthy. It's kind of seriously processed, salty and fatty. We used to have it on top of crispbreads when we ran out of fresh bread and meat.

That time we didn't have a fridge there as there is no electricity on the island. Nowadays there's a gas fridge, but then the only place to keep stuff cold was a "cellar" under the kitchen floor. There was a hatch on the floor with a large space underneath. A bit like that crazy dude had in the Silence of the Lambs where he kept that chubby girl. But smaller and with shelves on the walls and no kidnapped people inside.

Mum would lie on her stomach on the kitchen floor to reach the stuff on the shelves. She was much more nimble then. If she had to do it now she might never get up again. Like recently when on holiday to Crete the restaurant entertainment crew made her and dad dance Kalamatianos and they were both left traumatised as the dance includes a lot of squatting, which is fine. It's just the getting back up that's a bit tricky when you're pushing 80.

Every once in a while mum forgot to close the kitchen floor hatch and one of us would accidentally fall into the hole while running through the kitchen. So that was exciting. And painful.


Like I said this meat is best cold, but there are a couple of recipes I like to make with it. One is a tart or quiche with mushroom and onion and whatever other veg I'm in the mood of chucking in. The rest of the can originally was supposed to go to my Finnish Pea Soup, but I didn't do that this week, so rest of the meat went to freezer and there may be a Finnish Pea Soup with Moose post appearing at some point.

This tart would be great with rye pastry, but this time as it was cupboard clearing week I used some filo that has been in the freezer for a while. My dried chanterelles had been in the cupboard for some time as well and took some time to rehydrate, I think the taste also wasn't all there anymore, but after a little fry with a knob of butter and some mouth to mouth with my Scandinavian spice mix they were feeling a lot better.The filo was crispy the filling tasty and the tart lasted us for two nights.

Moose and chanterelle tart recipe

4 or 5 sheets of filo pastry
1 red onion
200 g of tinned meat (moose or otherwise)
1/2 bell pepper
30g of dried chanterelles
(or a large handful of any fresh mushroom)
Fresh or dried parsley and/or oregano
Salt
Pepper
2 dl milk
2 heaped tbsp of sour cream
2 eggs
50g grated pecorino (or another cheese, goat cheese or Gruyere would do well I imagine)


Chop the onion, mushroom, herbs and pepper. Heat a tbsp of oil in a frying pan. Fry onions and peppers until they are slightly softened. Add the soaked dried mushroom and herbs and fry for another couple of minutes. The veg should be still a bit underdone at the end of this.

Break the meat into bite size chunks with a fork.

Mix the milk, eggs, sour cream and grated pecorino. Season with salt and pepper.

Cover the bottom and sides of a round tart dish (appr. 25cm) with the filo pastry. If you feel up to it you can brush each sheet with butter and sprinkle with breadcrumbs.

Spread the meat and the vegetable mix on the filo base. pour over the milk, egg and cheese mix.

Bake for about 30 min or until the filling is firm and it's nicely browned on top. Serve with a salad and a nice red wine.