In the Kitchen/на кухне

[jone]

Mendy,  you will get a kick out of my wife's reaction.  I happened to be browsing through this thread when she walked into the lab and saw the photos.  She had me back up and show all the photos.  Then she was saying...." Do you want that, do you want that, etc."   I guess I will be having some new dishes soon.   

Geez, Doug,

Am glad you weren't looking at some of the girlie pictures that come through this forum.  It's likely she would not be saying:  Do you want that?  Do you want that?  You will not be served any of those new dishes soon.

[mendeleyev]

Here is a really nice dish that is delicious, and it fits perfectly into the fasting menu constraints of the Orthodox Great Lenten season.

Peppers and tomatoes Stuffed (Фаршированные перцы и помидоры)



     
Ingredients:
 
Tomato – 2-3 pcs 
Sweet pepper – 2-3 pcs
Olive oil - 2 tbsp
Shallot - 1 pc.
Garlic - 2 cloves
Coarse ground almonds - 75g
Long grain rice - 1.5 cups
Raisins - 2 tbsp
Mint - 5-6 sprigs
Parsley - 1 bunch
Salt and pepper to taste



   
Preparation:

Prepare all the vegetables and herbs. Pour boiling water over raisins and leave for a few minutes. 

Cut off the tip at the tomatoes, then spoon out the pulp.
Put tomatoes on paper towels to dry.   

Cut the peppers in half, remove the seeds, leave the stems.
Sprinkle peppers with olive oil. Put the peppers in a baking dish. 

Finely chop the onion and garlic. Next, finely chop the greens, parsley and mint. Mint 2 tbsp.
Finely chop the tomato pulp.

Drain the raisins and dry with a paper towel. 

In a frying pan, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil. Saute the onion and garlic until light golden.
Add the ground almonds, but not all: leave 2 tbsp Mix well.
Add the rice, tomato pulp, raisins, mint and 3 tablespoons parsley. Mix well. Remove from heat. 

Season with salt and pepper. Stir. Preheat oven to 200ᵒ C.

Sprinkle tomatoes with oil and place peppers in a baking dish. Spoon stuffing into them. Then place in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. 
Grind the remaining almonds with the remaining parsley in a blender.

Remove the dish from the oven and sprinkle with a mixture of almonds and parsley. Drizzle with olive oil on top. Place back into the oven for another 20 minutes.
 

[msmobyone]

Great recipe, Mendy. I will try to prepare this tomorrow.

Thanks

[SANDRO43]

Фаршированные перцы и помидоры

Interesting, 2 words possibly borrowed from Italian out of 3 .

Фаршированные sounds like a derivation of our farciti (stuffed) and  помидоры of course is our pomidori, a variation of our more usual pomodori - which is technically wrong : pomodoro is the assembly together of "pomo d'oro" which means "golden pome", and in such cases the plural should be pomidoro, involving only the "pome" part of the composite word. But the more popular use has long prevailed. Here are a couple of our variations, stuffed with rice and tuna:




IINM, Italian is the only language using pomodoro or similar to designate a tomato (from Nahuatl tomatotl) and Russian as it seems .

[Boethius]

And Ukrainian, Polish, and Lithuanian.

[mendeleyev]

Sandro:

Interesting, 2 words possibly borrowed from Italian out of 3

I would venture that there may be lots of words borrowed from Italian, much like Russian also borrows heavily from French.

Italian craftsmen helped design and build Russia, from the Kremlin walls and towers, to elaborate palaces and churches, the Italian influence in Russia is significant.

[mendeleyev]

Estonian Barley Bread:

This bread has been around for centuries, and it is not only healthy, but very delicious! The recipe and photo comes from this interesting blogsite.




Ingredients for Karask – Traditional Estonian Barley Bread
 4.5 ounces Farmer Cheese
 1 cup Keifer (or Yogurt)
 1 egg
 1 teaspoon salt
 1 teaspoon honey
 2 Tablespoons butter, melted
 1 cup Barley Flour
 1/2 cup Whole Wheat Flour
 1/2 Tablespoon baking soda





Directions
 1) Preheat the oven to 200 (C) which is 400 (F).
 2) Line a rectangular baking pan (5 x 10 inches) with parchment paper.
 3) Combine the farmer cheese, kefir, egg, salt and honey in a bowl and mix until smooth.
 4) Stir in melted butter.
 5) Combine the flours with the baking soda and add to the batter. Mix well.
 6) Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 30-40 minutes. To check whether the bread is ready, insert a wooden toothpick into the center. When the toothpick comes out dry, the bread is done.
 7) Serve with butter or honey or jam. Serves 8.

[alex330]

Here is a really nice dish that is delicious, and it fits perfectly into the fasting menu constraints of the Orthodox Great Lenten season.

Peppers and tomatoes Stuffed (Фаршированные перцы и помидоры)


   

One of our household favorites. Instead of baking in the oven my wife stuffs the peppers with the rice mixture and then stands them upright in a pot of boiling water, cooking the rice and seasonings inside the pepper. Topped off with sour cream of course.

[Larry1]

Plov is a Central Asian dish that made its way to all parts of the Soviet Union. It is a meat and rice dish, somewhat akin to rice pilaf. The meat is usually lamb but can also be goat. There are even versions that contain chicken or beef. Most recipes for plov call for strips of lamb, but I often use ground lamb instead. Plov also contains onions, garlic, and grated carrots. It must contain the spice jeera, which we know as cumin.

In Uzbekistan plov is sometimes cooked outdoors over an open fire in large pans such as this in Tashkent:



Natasha's Kitchen blog has this recipe for beef plov:

Ingredients
1½ lbs Beef chuck, beef sirloin or good quality beef stew meat
⅓ cup canola oil, or extra light olive oil (not extra virgin)
2 medium onions, finely chopped
3 medium carrots, cut into matchsticks or grated
1 tsp salt for the meat and veggies + 1½ tsp salt for the rice
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cumin
3-4 bay leaves
1¾ cups hot water for braising meat
3 cups long grain rice (Basmati or Jasmin rice work great!)
4 cups hot water when cooking rice
1 tsp ground coriander
1 head of garlic

Instructions
Trim beef of excess fat and sinews (aka the chewy stuff), pat the meat dry with a paper towel and chop into ½" to ¾" pieces.
Preheat your dutch oven (or your large soup pot with a heavy bottom), to high heat. Once it's hot, stir in your ⅓ cup canola oil. Once oil is hot, add chopped meat and saute uncovered 7 min over high heat until meat is browned, stirring every minute or so so it doesn't scorch to the bottom of the pan.
Note: it's important to preheat the dutch oven first for the meat to sear over very high heat, otherwise it will juice out and become dry.
Reduce heat to medium and Add chopped onion, stirring often until onion is softened (5 minutes). Stir in sliced carrots, 1 tsp salt, ½ tsp pepper, 1 tsp paprika, 1 tsp cumin, 3-4 bay leaves and continue to cook over medium heat 5 minutes until carrots are softened.
Add 1¾ cups hot water, cover and simmer over medium/low heat 45 min or until meat is tender.
Meanwhile, rinse rice until water runs clear, then drain and set aside (this gets rid of the starch so you won't end up with a sticky rice).
Spread rice over the meat and add 4 cups hot water. Sprinkle the rice with 1½ tsp salt (DO NOT STIR), bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium and Let cook
uncovered until most of the water is absorbed (10 min).
Cut off the head of your garlic to expose the cloves. Put your head of garlic, cut side down into the center of the rice and sprinkle the top of the rice with 1 tsp ground coriander.
Poke 7-10 holes through the rice to allow steam to escape to the surface, reduce the heat to low then cover and cook an additional 15 minutes or until rice is cooked through. Remove the garlic head and bay leaves and stir everything gently to combine and you're done.

http://natashaskitchen.com/2013/05/15/beef-plov-beef-rice-pilaf-recipe

I suggest using chicken stock instead of water to cook the rice in. I switched over to using chicken stock to cook rice some years ago and have found that it imparts more flavor to the rice.

Here are two other recipes for plov. The first one lists ingredients by metric measurements:

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/439632/uzbek-plov

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/uzbek-plov-lamb-and-rice-pilaf

[mendeleyev]

Plov rocks! It is the bomb! 


Original Uzbek plov is made in large quantities, very large and as such is served at weddings and family gatherings. It is a main dish at weddings. Since most of us will try this at home instead of a large gathering, here is a handy video for making smaller portions:


 

[mendeleyev]

Another helpful guide, slightly different from the video above:

[mendeleyev]

Special techniques are necessary when cooking Plov in winter weather. Just watch:

[mendeleyev]

It is best that women are kept inside and in charge of cutting the vegetables, etc. Men should cook plov outside, and men should cut the meat. When ready to eat, the women should wait until the men and boys have been served first. Then once they are taken care of, it is okay for the women and girls to eat, but in a separate area. 

Here is how Uzbek's make Plov for a special event, with the younger men serving the dishes to the older men first. Afterwards, the men leave to pray:

[Larry1]

It will soon be time for me to go to the nursery and buy a bunch of little pots of herbs to cook with. Herbs add so much flavor to a dish. I should load up on dill because by the Summer they run out of it and cannot get more.

Dill is popular in FSU cooking. Do you like it?

Here is a nice bunch of dill:



Here are a few recipes that feature dill, from Natasha's Kitchen:

Mushroom soup with dill: http://natashaskitchen.com/2015/02/24/mushroom-soup-recipe

I was going to recommend using mushroom stock instead of chicken stock or vegetable stock to make this soup, but I see that this recipe calls for a mushroom base, a paste that contains concentrated mushrooms. These products are terrific. They come in small jars and when you want to make stock you simply add a spoonful of them to a cup or two of very hot water and stir to mix.  They keep in your refrigerator a long time. I try to have a jar of chicken base and one of beef base on hand. You can find them next to the soups and stocks section of your grocery store.

Here is her recipe for buttered red potatoes with dill:    http://natashaskitchen.com/2014/06/16/buttered-red-potatoes-with-dill

Natasha's Kitchen has great photos of her dishes.

[Barnes]

Do you remember that Saturday Night Live (SNL) episode with Christopher Walken? He continuously said it needs more cow bell. More cowbell

This in limited experience are how most Russian dishes are treated. More dill. And you can ague that to the door if you get that far but for sure somebody in the kitchen is gonna say 'More Dill'

That has to be before the enforcement of the mayonnaise rule. But I'm not positive on that cucumber rank.

[Larry1]

Barnes,
I sometimes mix two FSU kitchen staples: chopped dill and sour cream (smetana)

[mendeleyev]

Butterflied Fish Filet




It is always fun to and recommend excellent culinary resources, and what a delight it was to discover Olga's Flavor Factory! Here is the link:
http://www.olgasflavorfactory.com/olgastips/kitchen-tips/pan-fried-butterflied-trout/

You will find this site to be an excellent resource! In this particular recipe, Olga shows readers how to butterfly, and prepare, fresh trout. But you can use this recipe for almost any type of fish filet.

Ingredients:
2 rainbow trout, about 3/4 lb each
1 Tablespoon oil
1 Tablespoon butter
freshly squeezed lemon juice
fresh parsley, chives, dill, minced
Seasoned flour:
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
1/2 teaspoon dry herb mix (thyme, basil, oregano, parsley, etc.)


Olga also has a YouTube channel. Just type in "Olga's Flavor Factory." She was born in Belarus, and now lives in Florida (USA).

[mendeleyev]

Pancake Fritters: Оладьи (Oladi or Oladyi)

We love these in our household, and when our children who are now grown come to visit, making Оладьи is a sure-fire Eastern European "comfort food" which can be served at any meal, or just as a hearty snack between meals. Now with a granddaughter who thinks that I am super at just about anything, I have introduced her to Oladi.

This is a comfort food that can be eaten with sour cream, caviar, jam, fruit, cheese or stuffed with salmon or meat.




In the West it would be considered as a breakfast food, but in the East we really don't have as many rules about what can be eaten at particular times. So, it is okay to eat Oladi at any time of day.

The real difference between Western pancakes and Oladi, in my opinion, is the use of Kefir (кефир), a fermented milk substance requiring a yeast starter. Much of the Kefir consumed in Russia is imported from Finland. It is sometimes thought of as a form of yogurt or sour cream.





While there are many instructional videos in Russian language, it is more difficult to find a Russian person instructing in the English language. However, we have this lady, Olga, and so we think that you might enjoy it.




What to do if you cannot find all the ingredients? There is a Western version of this delightful treat:

[mendeleyev]

It is always nice to have confirmation from other professional sources that your work is valued. Thus, I am grateful that Banker In the Sun, a website about international travel, has linked to and used much of the Mendeleyev Journal information for an article about the cost of living in Russia.

They have detailed some useful advice about food, and also real estate. Here is the link:
http://www.bankerinthesun.com/2015/10/cost-living-russia/

[mendeleyev]

Salmon Soup:




Salmon soup is versatile in that it doesn't have to be salmon. You can use just about any fish, or even chicken. If available, we prefer salmon however for the wonderful colour--and presentation does impact how food tastes. This is incredibly simple: Come up with a cream sauce, however you choose to make it, and add potatoe chunks, carrots, celery, onion. A bit of broccoli or peas actually adds a lot to the colour scheme.

Add the salmon last as it cooks so quickly. Garnish with parsley or cilantro. Season to taste and share with friends!

[mendeleyev]

It isn't often that we feature Estonian food and culture, but prior to the dark days of Russian aggression, and the gradually dissipating foul aftertaste the failed Soviet Union left behind, there is life and culture in Estonia.

So, let's catch up with Travel Channel European reporter Helen Hotkins:

[mendeleyev]

Sage advice is that the most economical way to feed a family is to buy things that are in season. In the Americas, that is not as much of a concern because it is generally growing season somewhere whether in the south or north. Canadians can have fresh strawberries from California or Mexico just as easily in December as in July, as just one example. However in Europe and Asia we do not always have such easy access to year-round growing seasons, and thus there remains a more seasonal cycle for food.

That being said, nobody in Eastern Europe is making cold cucumber soup, called Okroshka (Окрошка) right now. Except for the sour cream and boiled eggs in cucumber soup, it would be a good meal for fasting seasons which we have now entered. But, Western Europeans do have a cucumber soup that is very tasty this time of year. Unlike the Russian version, it is served hot and does not contain eggs.

Russian Okroshka can be made with either Kefir or Kvas, and you may have already tried this cucumber soup with cola (Kvas) as the liquid. The Russian version below uses Kefir.




Due to an unexpected emergency surgery in our extended family we are temporarily in Phoenix, and as you can imagine there are plenty of fresh cucumbers available, in season. This week we are dusting off a recipe from my childhood for hot cucumber soup. I know that plenty of Dutch and Belgian cooks are cranking up this recipe at this time of the year, and here is a look at how to make a hot cucumber soup, European style.

[mendeleyev]

This is a Georgian recipe, as in the country named Georgia. Georgia dates back to the 4th Century and serves as the crossroads between Eastern Europe and Asia. Eggplant is a valuable food in this region of the world and here is a very nice Georgian eggplant recipe to try:





 1 large eggplant
 600 gr. tomatoes
 500 gr. Potatoes
 2 Bell peppers
 2 sliced onions
 2 cloves garlic
 2 pcs. Bay leaf
 salt, pepper, vegetable oil

 Preparation:
- Cut onions into slices and saute.
- Then add the sliced eggplant.
- After 10 minutes add the bay leaf, diced bell peppers, peeled and diced tomatoes. Simmer 10 minutes.
- Add a little water, 1/4 cup or less.
- Add the sliced potatoes, salt, pepper, chopped herbs, garlic, and cook potatoes until tender.
- Garnish with cilantro.
 
Georgians love hot foods so you won't offend anyone by adding some chili pepper flakes. In our home we like to sprinkle a little cheese on top (or sour cream) when serving.

[msmobyone]

here is a very nice Georgian eggplant recipe to try:


Baklazhan ? [Баклажан] ...The Russians call this dish after the main ingredient. I forget what the Georgians call this dish...

 


What is an 'eggplant ' ? .. It's an Aubergine 


Why do n.Americans/ Australians 'mess about' with the Queen's English...

[BC]

Hi Mendy,
Do you know of a good recipe for home made sala?
The ingredients should be available just about everywhere so what's the process involved?
Thanks for this yummy thread