Category: starters
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Fried Smelts
Do not panic – this fish will not eat you. Just kidding…:) But you will definitely eat it with great pleasure, nibbling on crunchy tails and fins, savoring the tender meat drizzled with lemon juice, and following all this by a couple of cherry tomatoes and a sip of chilled white wine… Sounds good? I…
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Stuffed Tarragon Mushrooms
Summer calls for salads, frosty drinks and fruit, but sometimes the body craves grilled cheese and protein, no matter the heat outside. These are easy-to-make, delicious stuffed mushrooms, with a couple of unique touches and the intense flavor of tarragon. Craving melted cheese? Here is your chance… What you need: 15 medium baby bella mushrooms…
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Cloaked Herring
This Holiday Season was marred for me by a nasty flu that has been keeping me disabled in terms of elaborate cooking. Alas. I will see better days… Only Masha’s presence and inspiration made it possible to create something worth mentioning. The herring dish I am sharing with you today is one of the favorite…
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Fresh Stuffed Peppers
This recipe was inspired by my trip to then Checkoslovakia long time ago when yours truly was pregnant with the other chef of this blog. 🙂 I felt not well (to say the least), but was able to notice blooming cherries, the beauty of Prague, and gastronomic things we were offered in restaurants – koláče…
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Kholodets – Meat Jelly
Meat jelly is no other than boiled meat pieces in aspic. This is one of the dishes I love and remember from my mom’s holiday menu. Kholodets that derives in Russian from the word kholod (cold) is a traditional winter treat, loved by many. It takes one day and half a night to prepare, but the result is…
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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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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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Shrimp Scampi My Way
Once long time ago we were visiting Lui-Lui, an Italian Pizzeria & Restaurant in New Hampshire. Recent immigrants and inexperienced out-eaters at that time, we had a vague understanding of local and international food. Dishes in the menu looked intriguing and mysterious. Calsone, antipasto, bruschetta, prosciutto, ciabatta, and what not. Among those difficult to pronounce viands was shrimp scampi.…
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Summer Eggplant and Tomato "Sandwich"
Summer is around, and with everything blooming, growing and producing, one longs for something right from the garden. Eggplant is one of these fruit of agricultural labour that is particularly good during summer time. Winter eggplant that is grown and forced to produce fruit artificially, has a bitter taste and requires special handling, hence more time for…
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Almost-Healthy Tomato Salad-Toasts
This weekend I was visiting my parents in the suburbs of Boston, where the grass is greener, and the air mostly smells of spring, and much less of the city garbage, where the sun is hot on your back and the earth breathes easily under the feet of children and farmers’ ploughs. This means that…
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