Month: September 2010
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Classic Beets Salad
Out of the Russian gastronomic stereotypes (apart from cabbage, which is also German, and vodka, which is really quite popular around the globe) beets is one of the most persistent. And yes, we are truly beet-eaters. Beets are a proud ingredient of many traditional Russian dishes. Nothing to be shy about. Beet root is known…
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Lamb Pilaf
Every home chef has his or her own recipe for lamb pilaf. Different ways to cook rice, different spices, different fats and oils, etc. … My recipe is a compilation of many and my own experience put together. I like to cook pilaf: standing over the range, stirring meat, and breathing in this wonderful aromatic blend…
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Cheater's Green Tea Ice Cream
In the last few weeks of summer, it is permissible to catch up on ice cream before the coming of sleet, rain and snowfalls, before the unforgettable slushy winter blues catch up with you and steal your soul, if only temporarily. Because I have been careful to avoid ice cream in the sweltering July days…
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Fish Rissoles
Following our rule to cook fish at least once a week, we decided on fish for Saturday. There was no particular recipe in mind, and, exhausted by endless repair work over dreadful garden shed, I almost ended up cooking something quick like baked fish fillets with mustard, garlic, and mayo, but suddenly I got extremely bored with…
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Savory Zucchini Muffins
Remember my recipe for Squash Pancakes? I love these pancakes, but striving to live a healthier lifestyle, I always think about less harmful ways of cooking. So the idea of baking instead of frying those pancakes has been brewing in my mind for quite a while, and only negative influence of my very conservative other half was preventing…
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Portobello Salmon
Finally, there came to be a dreary Sunday, the kind that causes bouts of spleen and laziness, chains one to her Brooklyn apartment, and hence also to its aging gas stove. Thus it came to be that I ignored my plans to go to the city for yoga, and instead cooked my favorite salmon recipe…
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Red Shchi
This variation of cabbage soup was my aunt’s favourite. Remember my aunt Shura who taught me all cooking basics? She cooked with her own special attitude, appreciating good quality products and enjoying the process of cooking with them. She just loved to cook this red shchi in summer when there were plenty of ripe fresh tomatoes. Actually,…
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Jilo
I live in the area where due to some mysterious immigration tendencies there are many Portuguese speaking people, some are from Brazil, some from Portugal. Those from Europe are a little scornful of those from South America, but both are very friendly and hard working people. They keep bakeries, restaurants, and little shops with Brazilian specialty foods. A…
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Chicken Livers Pate
When I was little I hated liver. Maybe because in my kindergarten they made us little kids eat it no matter what, to keep us well-nourished and fattened. I was as thin as a twig at that time, but strongly resisted getting the hated liver down. I sat over my plate much longer than it…
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Poppy and Pear Lemon Cake
My grandmother, mother’s mother, was famous in the large circle of her friends and relatives for her cakes. Cakes that were sheer perfection, a hard-to-come-by luxury that made one forget, I suppose, about the meagerness of one’s world, about supermarkets, laundry, quarrelsome neighbors, broken water pipes, small children unwilling to do homework, grown-up children with no apartment…
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