Category: meals
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Boiled Corned Beef & Veggies
Not that I have Irish ancestors to celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day, but I really like this corned beef & veggies soup. It is simple and rustic, but very aromatic and filling. It does take a lot of time to boil meat, but if you cook in two stages, it’s really not that bad. The meat could…
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No-Egg Yeast Dough Pies
No-egg yeast dough is a real savior during Great Lent that started about a week ago and will last until Orthodox Easter. During this time one cannot eat anything of animal origin – no milk, no eggs, no meat, no butter. They say it’s the time of cleansing your body and soul, time of praying…
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Belyashi : Fried Pies with Meat
These small meat pies come from Tajik cuisine, but were traditionally cooked in Russia. In the Soviet era they used to sell hot belyashi from big pots right on the corners of busy streets, where hungry students immediately formed a line to buy a hot pie for about 15 kopecks each. It was not as…
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"Bewildered Turkey" Meatballs
Meatballs is not quite the right word. In Russian, тефтели (pronounced: tef-teh-lee) is the name for meatballs that contain a large portion of rice or potatoes in addition to meat. This recipe uses turkey meat, which is lower in fat and has a milder flavor than beef. To make up for this mildness, I went…
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Spiced Roasted Duck with Fennel and Prunes
Despite Alex’s plea, I did not agree on traditional goose for this year’s First Night dinner. The flow of time is rushing forward so fast that we barely have a chance to start missing something from the last year, goose is one of those things for me. Even buying a Christmas tree is not that…
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Roasted Chicken Thighs to Die For
This roasted chicken thighs recipe was inspired by Jamie Oliver‘s TV series. This English guy is an extraordinary chef. I adore his unpretentious way of cooking, and I love him for his efforts to change school food and end mental retardation and sickness among children. He cooks as if he is playing a fascinating game. His style…
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Open Fish Pie
Baking fish pies in winter was a tradition in our family. Fish was abundant and readily available, thanks to my father’s rewarding occupation. He was a pilot of a small meteorological crew, and brought sacks of frozen fish and many other goodies from his flights to the north. The Soviet food industry was near to…
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Shiitake and Lentil Pilaf
Today’s recipe is a vegetarian pilaf as satisfying and rich in flavor as mom’s Lamb Pilaf. Imagine the aroma of mushrooms and garlic, the rich taste of lentils and the nuttiness of wild rice punctuated by tiny nuggets of spice stored in the green peppercorns. You have to pay for this richness, though, by using…
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Lazy Ravioli with Cheese
It is 95 F today in Boston. Feels like Florida. Even more so since our portable a/c has not arrived yet. So, what’s for dinner today?.. Well, something simple with minimum cooking. I happened to have a package of farmers cheese in the fridge, and something lazy came to mind. I have omitted the most…
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Czech Meat and Cabbage Loaf
The recipe for this meatloaf, sekaná in Czech, is adapted from the Czech cookbook (Česká domácí kuchařka díl 1.) mom and I bought while in Prague. To a Russian speaker, translating the ingredients from Czech is rather trivial, and the combination of cabbage, bread and milk in a meatloaf immediately struck me as original and…
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Ginger and Shiitake Pork
Mushrooms, ginger, and pork – a perfect combination of flavors with an Eastern twist. This recipe is inspired by Japanese cooking, but does not require any rare ingredients (because I was too lazy to travel to Manhattan for a visit to a Japanese grocery). And I don’t regret it, because this pork dish lacks absolutely…
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Korean-Style Steak
After 40 days of veganism during the Russian Orthodox Lent, I am a true carnivore again! The idea for this recipe – a steak with a marinade that includes pureed fruit – comes from my boss, who has spent some years in Japan and is more in tune with Asian olfactory sensibilities than me. Pureed…
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Golubtsy – Cabbage Rolls with Meat
Russian golubtsy that are known in America mostly as Polish golabki, are simply cabbage rolls with meat and are popular in many European countries. I consider golubtsy one of Russian traditional and loved dishes. It takes some effort and patience, but the payoff is just great: steaming hot rolls with most delightful meat filling accompanied…
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Spiced Lamb Chops
Spices were never used a lot in my cooking, with the exception of black pepper and salt, which I do not even consider spices. That’s how I grew up – in my mom’s kitchen where wonderful things were cooked, we didn’t use unusual stuff. Spices like coriander or cumin could be bought only at the…
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Beer-Braised Lamb
Do something new with your porter: succulent, flavorful, lick-your-fingers lamb… Ladies and gentlemen, I have done it: beer-braised lamb on Monday night. Yes, braising does take about an hour and a half or more. Vacation must have left me with some extra energy, or hunger, or desire to stay up later… Whatever it was, I…
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Beef Liver Patties
As much as I liked pea soup, I hated liver in my early years. Oh God, I remember so vividly how I was sitting over my plate in desperation, unable to get this hateful piece of fried liver down. I was a rather sickly child, and mama fed me with half-done liver for anemia. That’s…
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Kulesh the Warrior Food
Funny name? Maybe. According to one of the theories, this hearty millet dish originates from Cossack‘s cuisine. Easy to do, tasty, and very filling, kulesh could be cooked in the woods and fields on the open fire in cauldrons, and can be considered a warrior food. But the name probably derives from Hungarian koeles (millet porridge). It is cooked in Ukraine, Belorussia,…
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Ox Tail Stew
Until recently I eluded cooking ox tail stew, I thought beef tails were best for meat jelly (kholodets), one very popular Russian dish. Besides, the idea of eating t-a-i-l-s just didn’t appeal to me. Boy was I wrong. A friend of mine enlightened me and handed out the best pack of tails he had in his store. I compiled…
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Beef and Mushrooms Stew
It’s interesting how food is associated with our memories. Remember a meal, and then go people, and places, and feelings. Or maybe it’s just me?.. Maybe I’m getting old and tend to return to my past as old people do? 🙂 Combination of beef and mushrooms brings me back to the time when Alex and I…
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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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