It’s been a really good season for zucchini this year. Try this when you are tired of grilling and frying them. Pickled Cut zucchini and
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Pig in a gluten free blanket.
The blanket is actually a dish of it’s own. Roasted with some olive oil disks of cabbage can easily be eaten as a separate dish
Cheese board – grilled edition
Everything on this board is grilled (with the exception of fig leaves) – halloumi, normandy camembert, even burrata. Threw in some sausages for the meat
The real cherries
Sour cherries – those are the real cherries! Where I come from, sweet cherries are even known by a different name- “chereshnya” (черешня). There is
From garden to table
Isn’t it beautiful? Sometimes it’s a little too much, or absolutely impossible to consume. But I would hate to allow it to spoil and throw
Fish covered with carrots sofrito
Very easy way to transform somewhat plain boring white fish like cod or haddock into delicious colorful dish with a spice level adjustable to your taste. Served cold or room temperature, you can take it to work for lunch, serve at brunch buffet or as a dinner appetizer
Ingredients:
- White fish (cod, haddock, flounder) – 2 lbs
- Shallot (or small onion) – 1
- Carrots – 1-1.5 lbs
- Tomato sauce – 2 tbsp (you can use fresh a couple of tomatoes, ketchup, some spicy sauce you have or like, and or tomato paste)
Directions:
- Place your fish into a casserole dish, sprinkle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper ( you can also sprinkle some lemon juice)
- Bake in 375 °F oven for about 30 min till fully cooked.
- Finely chop shallot (or onion), grind carrots (with manual grinder or in a food processor)
- Add 3 tbsp light olive oil or some other neutral oil into a heavy pan
- Start roasting shallot on a medium heat till it is translucent, then add shredded carrots. You might need to add some oil
- Roast your vegetables till golden color, the add your tomatoes or tomato sauce/paste, season with salt, pepper, add some red pepper flakes if you want to make it spicy.
- Reduce the heat to low, add 1 or 2 bay leaves, cover your pan with a lid and simmer till your sofrito is fully cooked and soft.
- Split cooked fish into small pieces with a fork.
- Load the sofrito on top of the fish, better to do it while it’s still hot or at least warm so that the taste of vegetables penetrates the fish
- Sprinkle with good olive oil.
- Let it cool down on counter top and put in the fridge for several hours. Sofrito will “marinate” the fish, adding it a color and spice
- Serve cold.
Rosette cookies
I remember I tried these cookies over 25 years ago in Moscow, but they were shaped as little pillows, my college friend grandma was making them. Then I tried them in my friend’s house here, she called them rosettes.
The dough is very light because it’s based on farmer cheese. The result is – super airy pastry. Friendship brand works, but I usually make farmer cheese or tvorog (творог) of my own, and that’s the one on the picture.
Ingredients:
- Farmer cheese – 1/2 lbs
- 1.5-2 sticks of soften margarine or butter (I usually use 1 stick of butter and the 1/2+ margarine).
- Sour cream – 3-4 tbsp
- Eggs – 3 (room temperature)
- Sugar – 1/2 cup + 1 cup
- Flour – 3-31/2 cups
Directions:
- Separate egg whites from yolks
- In a bowl start mixing yolks and 1/2 sugar with a whisk
- Add softened butter/margarine, farmer cheese, sour cream and soda and mix it well (with the whisk or a spoon)
- Gradually add flour, 1 cup at a time. Use a spoon till possible, then kneed with your hands. The dough should be soft, even a little sticky. But you will add some more flour when rolling.
- In a separate bowl beat egg whites + 1 cup of sugar
- Preheat your oven to 375 °F, cover baking sheet with the parchment paper
- Divide the dough into 3 pieces (just so it’s easier to roll)
- Dust you board with flour
- Roll the dough to the “rectangular” or oval shape (about 15″x 8″), 1/8″ (3mm) thick
- Spread the dough with 1/3 of a beaten whites leaving some borders (for the whites not to ooze out too much)
- Make a roll, make it even width with your hands, also trying to spread the whites inside evenly.
- Cut the roll into 1 inch thick pieces, pressing with the knife and lifting each piece so that the whites don’t come out, placing it to the baking sheet right away.
- Repeat with the rest of the dough and the whites
- Bake for about 20 minutes, but start checking after 15 minutes. The cookies (and the whites) should be just golden and remain a little soft.
Vinegrette – Russian salad
Not to be confused with a dressing. Vineigrette is a name of Russian salad based on boiled or baked vegetables.
The ingredients are all simple and very available with the exception of Russian style sauerkraut (you find in any Russian store), but it can be replaced with the regular or totally skip, just put more pickles. The unique taste is again a combination of sweet (beets, potato, carrots, peas) and salty or marinated pickles. The proportions are super flexible too – put more beets if you like it sweeter, add pickles if you want more crunch and brine.
Can be served as a side dish, appetizer, packed for picnic or lunch. Kept in a fridge for 2-3 days and gets even better. And it’s good for you!
Ingredients:
- Boiled, better baked beets – 2-3 medium
- Boiled Yukon gold or red potatoes – 3 medium
- Boiled carrots – 3medium
- Shallot – 1 small
- Pickles – 3-4
- Sweet peas – 1 can or 1 cup of frozen blanched
- Sauerkraut (better be Russian) – 1 cup
Directions:
- Finely chop (to a pea size) potatoes, beets, carrots, pickles and shallot. The best beets are baked, all the juices remain inside and pealing is easy. Just wrap each one in a foil and put in your oven when you use it. You can keep them baked in a fridge for several days before you use them. Pea size chopping may sound intimidating, but it’s super easy, everything is cooked and soft.
- Blanch frozen sweet peas in a boiling water for about a minute so it keeps the bright color or add canned peas.
- Slightly chop sauerkraut (if you have it).
- Add salt and pepper, dress with olive oil.
Serve cold or room temperature.
Delicious cookies that melt in your mouth and they are good for you!
They are so easy and so delicious! And flexible – you can use any nuts or seeds you like or have, any dry fruits or berries.
The carb content can probably be reduced even further by substituting part of the flour with the whole wheat flour, maybe use more oats, but I didn’t try that. I like them the way they are too much.
Ingredients:
- Unsalted butter – 1 stick (113gr), room temperature!
- Sugar – 1/2 cup
- Salt – 1/2 tsp
- Egg – 1
- Baking powder – 1/2 tsp
- Flour – 2 cups
- Rolled oats – 1 cup
- Vanilla extract – 1tsp
- Walnuts or pecans – 1/2 cup
- Dried berries (raisins, cranberries, tart cherries) – 1/2 cup
Directions:
- Put all the ingredients except nuts and dried berries into a bowl and mix them with a spoon first.
- When it’s too hard to use a spoon, use your hands.
- Add nuts and berries, combine the batter using your hands into a ball.
- The dough will be a little sticky.
- Make a log, wrap with a plastic wrap and freeze it, just to make it easier to divide a dough into cookies.
- Preheat your oven to 350 °F
- Using sharp knife, slice frozen dough into 1/4 inch slices and put on a baking sheet covered with the parchment paper.
- Bake for about 20-30 minutes or until golden brown (depends on your oven).
Buckwheat
Buy roasted, but not too dark, I usually buy 2 cups packages that are sold in a Russian store, but you can find it in every health store now.
Ingredients:
- Roasted buckwheat – 2 cups
- Olive oil – 1 tbsp (optional)
- Boiling water – 3 cups
- Salt – 1 tbsp
Instructions:
- Rinse and drain the grains
- Place the grain into a heavy pan on a medium high
- Add salt and olive oil (if you choose it)
- Roast (dry) the grain, stirring constantly for about 5 minutes
- Add boiling water, reduce the heat to very low, cover with a lid and let it sit for about 20-25 minutes.
- Turn the heat off and let it rest for 5 -10 minutes.
The grain will absorb all the water and will be fully cooked.
If you want to add roasted vegetables you can do it by starting with roasting the vegetables, then adding the grains, roasting it all together, then pouring boiling water.
Or you can have the kasha ready and mix it with your choice of vegetables, source or gravy.
