Author: Nadia
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Poor Man's Caprese
Most people who’ve paid a few visits to Italian restaurants know caprese, a traditional Italian salad composed of just 5 ingredients: tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil, balsamic vinegar and olive oil. It is lovely, satisfying, complete, but as a history of restaurant-going has proved, caprese is not the surest item on the menu. It leaves nothing…
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What Is This?..
What do you think you are seeing? Raw pork? No. Pink peach wedges? No! Unripe watermelon? No!! If somebody showed it to me some time ago and said it’s potatoes, I wouldn’t believe it. But the truth is it is potatoes. Freshly dug out and almost young potatoes was my last weekend happy find at one of…
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Bigos
Many consider bigos to be a Polish traditional dish, though its origin could be probably traced to Germany. Those who happened to visit Germany might remember something like Berlin Platto dish served as sour kraut and different meats, accompanied by a pint of beer. Maybe that’s why it sneaked into our family’s list of recipes –…
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Squash Pancakes
Now when vegetables are growing in excess in nearby farms, I cannot help but create various dishes (and their variations) with them. Squash pancakes being one of our favourites evokes the time when Alex and I were dating. I cooked squash pancakes at our friend’s dacha (a small country hut) where we had a very romantic weekend. Since then Alex ate squash only…
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Goulash
Goulash as I knew it back in Russia was a pretty simple dish cooked of beef with onions and tomato and usually served with pasta. There was a meat dish in Russian diners that also carried a proud name goulash, but was very far from its original Hungarian recipe. There are two forms of goulash: one is a soup and another a…
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Classic Borsch
A staple of East European kitchen, this bright beet soup is healthy, delicious, and worth every bit of trouble… If you know of Russian food, you’ve heard of Borsch. It is popular not only in Russia, but also in Ukraine – its motherland – and in a number of East European republics. Naturally, this dish…
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One Very Nutty Coffee Cake
Finally I have broken my hiatus from cooking, which had begun to extend dangerously. It’s fascinating what a staggering effect failure has on motivation (and I did have a few cooking failures recently, mostly gelatin-related). But when is it ever easy? Nothing will come out right, if you quit after the first few stumbles. It…
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Zucchini with Wasabi Cream
Among squashes like pumpkin or butternut squash zucchini has a rather bland taste when used alone. So very often it is mixed with other vegetables in stir fries or used as a side dish. Zucchini of a bigger size has better more distinctive taste, but for some reason growers do not allow this vegetable to mature…
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Heavenly Chicken Noodles
Some consider chicken soup a winter meal, especially if one has a cold. Luckily, I don’t have this association, and, due to the fact that at my favourite farm fresh chickens are cut some time in mid summer, that’s when I have the opportunity to prepare my best chicken noodles. Chicken is certainly fresh-not-frozen and organic, and noodles are homemade by yours…
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Japanese Eggplant
Those who know me also know that eggplant is one of my favourite vegetables. Unlike many people, including my other half, I absolutely adore this nature’s creation. Eggplant (also aubergine) comes in many shapes, sizes, and colors, and today I experimented with different types of this fruit. I found my inspiration in the past, as…
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Tomato Herring Salad
Herring is one of those products that is under appreciated here in the US. It evokes the feelings of unconcealed disgust and possibility of poisoning. This is strange since anchovies, which are very similar, are widely used in gourmet preparations. Herring is not only Russian traditional food, it is also a favourite in many European countries, Scandinavians being the…
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Cucumber & Crispy Bacon Salad
Oh no, there’s yet another one of my lazy, spontaneous salads. But it is good, I do promise you! At least one witness does agree with me. Today, after another evening of fruitless apartment hunting in the heat and smelliness of New York, I told Gary over the phone that I was in no mood…
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Nutty Fish
How useful leftovers could be – once and again I had a tasty proof of it today. Fish for today’s dinner was planned ahead, but I hesitated for a moment about what to roll fish in before frying. Suddenly I glanced at ground walnuts that were sitting on the counter top since Masha’s elaborate experiments in our kitchen…
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Curried Daikon Salad
No, it is not black caviar you are seeing. It’s roasted black mustard seeds. Working from home today (a luxury I sometimes allow myself), I alloted myself a small lunch break. Not appreciating this distraction caused by hunger, I rummaged through the fridge, uninspired and impatient to get back to work. There was daikon, sour…
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Trip to Maine – Three Pines B & B
What a glorious feeling to leave one’s beloved home to discover new captivating places. Acadia National Park became one of them for me and Alex, when in June we endeavored so anticipated trip to Maine. It took us about 6 hours to get there, and at first I was a little disappointed by the shabbiness…
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Spiced Swordfish
My contribution to this dish is small. With good seafood, most of the flavor comes from the raw ingredients at its own accord: no need to awaken it and draw it out. With excellent fish, the main responsibility of the chef is not to overcook. Yesterday I bought fresh harpoon-caught swordfish at the Whole Foods,…
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Beef Bourguignon – My Variation
One of the prized dishes introduced to Americans by Julia Child, this rich beef stew is a French country classic. To this I add that my French co-worker referred to it contemptuously as “food for the old people”, claiming that it’s been cooked for so long to make the ingredients soft for the toothless that…
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Farmers Cheese Pancakes (Syrniki)
These delightful tender pancakes make a perfect summer breakfast, especially if one has fresh berries for garnish. Syrniki (syr means cheese in Russian) is a traditional Russian and Slavic dish made of tvorog. Tvorog (also quark, topfen, twarog, tvaroh) is curd that is similar to cottage cheese and farmers cheese, but is thicker and drier, it is very well strained…
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Fresh Berry Tart
Today’s recipe was not composed by me, but it comes from a book that I gave my mom for Christmas this winter: The Tassajara Bread Bookby Edward Brown. I have not tried many recipes from it, but I did cook this Fresh Berry Tart from it before I actually gave the book to my mom…
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Gigantic Potato Pancake
Simply put, this is a big (the size of a frying pan) Jewish latke(s), also Belarusian dranik(i), Ukranian derun(i), German Kartoffelpuffer, and Swiss Roesti. I looked this recipe up on one of cooking shows and decided to give it a try. Alex was wandering around kitchen and whining that it would not work out. Boy, was he wrong. It…
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