Picture the scene – sitting outside in a park on a beautiful summer’s evening, surrounded by friends, and listening to your favourite tunes into the night. That’s the buzz of British summer time, and this year the team at Finlandia Vodka want to make it even better! Working with leading Finnish chef Sara la Fountain, Finlandia Vodka brings you delicious and inspiring picnic ideas combining its range of vodkas with refreshing and tasty dishes.
Sara, known for her innovation and flair for creating amazing and vibrant dishes, proved to be a hugely inspirational figure when it comes to eclectic cooking. Her cutting edge thinking has seen the vodka become a key ingredient in the recipes – infusing the subtle vodka fruit flavours of the Fusions range to bring sweetness to dressings or a tangy balance to marinades. Working with Finlandia Vodka as an ingredient adds a different dimension to the world of flavours, with the pure tastes of Finlandia Vodka’s flavoured Fusion range really adding the x-factor to a meal.
What’s great about these recipes is how simple they are to create as part of an outdoors picnic. Why not cook in advance and store to share with friends and family later? While to compliment each dish, how about trying one of the many delicious cocktails from Finlandia Vodka. With five variants in the range, each dish can be perfectly matched to an easy-to-create cocktail to tantalise those taste buds whilst chilling out on the picnic blanket.
Tuna Salad with Miso-Finlandia Grapefruit Fusion Vodka
Serves 4
Salad ingredients:
400g line-caught Tuna steaks
2 tbsp oil
1 bag of mixed salad
1 carrot, cut julian style (thin sticks)
50g sugar snap peas
8 radishes cut into thin slices
4 tbsp wasabi nuts, chopped
Miso dressing ingredients:
3 tsp Miso paste
2 tsp ginger, grated
1 tsp garlic, grated
2 tsp Soy sauce
2 tsp Honey
1 tbsp lime juice
10ml oil
2 tbsp Finlandia Vodka Grapefruit
1 tbsp water
Salt
Method:
- Cut the tuna into long strips and season with salt. Sear strips for 1min on a very hot pan with the oil. Allow to cool in fridge before slicing into thin slices
- For the dressing, place all ingredients in a bowl and mix together
- To serve, put the salad on a plate mixing leaves, carrot sticks, sugar snaps, radishes and wasabi nuts. Add the thin tuna slices on top and drizzle over with miso dressing
Paired with Finlandia Midnight Breeze
Ingredients:
50ml Finlandia Grapefruit Fusion
200ml Cranberry juice
Garnish with a wedge of lime
Method:
Build all ingredients in a glass full of cubed ice
Chorizo Finlandia Vodka Pasta
Serves 4
Ingredients:
250g pasta, cooked until a dente
70g chorizo cut into strips
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp grated garlic
75ml Finlandia Vodka Classic
350ml single cream
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp capers
3 tbsp black olives
200ml cherry tomatoes
2 tbsp chopped basil
Salt, black pepper and sugar to taste
Method:
Heat the oil in a saucepan with the grated garlic
Add the Finlandia Vodka Classic, tomato puree and cream
Simmer for 10mins then add the cooked pasta, chorizo, capers and olives
Add the cherry tomatoes and cook for 1-2mins until soft
Garnish with Parmesan and chopped basil
Paired with Finlandia Tonic
Ingredients:
50ml Finlandia Classic Vodka
200ml Tonic water
Garnish with a wedge of lime
Method:
Build all ingredients in a glass full of cubed ice