Tag: by Nadia
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Home-dried Bananas
This snack came to life as a result of a nostalgic memory of dried bananas that were sold long ago back in Russia. It was made in China and was a popular addition to our not very plentiful diet. They used probably the smallest variety of bananas on Earth, and most likely dried them in…
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Peach Jelly
This recipe came suddenly and became a favorite in a matter of two or three weeks this summer – we already made it like 6 times. To my surprise, for some reason the members of the household were not so much interested in fresh peaches in spite of them being irresistibly delicious (obviously only…
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Red Lentil Soup with Ginger
After visiting a newly opened Indian store I was inspired by rows and rows of lentils they have for sale and endless spices where many of them were new to me. It was incredible to learn and see in one place how many varieties of lentils exist. The quick lentil soup I usually make is…
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No-egg Dairy-free Dough for Pirozhki
This year I’m making yet another attempt to observe the Nativity Fast. During this fast one cannot eat anything of animal origin. That means no omelette until Christmas (!), no milk in my morning coffee (!!), no butter on a toast (!!!), and no roasted chicken. 😦 Imagine how challenging it is for a person…
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Turnip Salad
After Orthodox Easter gluttony with Kulichi and Paskha, my body is longing for something light and fresh, like this quick and simple turnip salad. It seems that turnips are ignored as food by many because I often find them wilting on store shelves. People seem to under appreciate this milder alternative to more pungent red…
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Kulich: Orthodox Easter Bread
For many Orthodox Christians kulich, the festive and colorful bread, is traditionally a part of their Easter morning table, along with paskha and colored boiled eggs. During Soviet era, when people were deprived of God and faith by the regime, many older people still prepared traditional meals for religious festivities and observed religious holidays at…
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Meringue Cake "Siberian Mama"
This is the only dish that mama and I have ever received applause for, from the whole table. We were at a Thanksgiving party in a magic Art House of Quincy, inhabited by talented, artistic, loving people of all walks of life. Not long ago I also lived in that bewitched place, and everyone there…
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Yogurt Souffle for Two
As our readers might notice, Recipe Studio and its two hosts are experiencing a transformation period in their lives. Interests shifted, and while my love to food is still here, my cooking these days is an array of quick improvisations that mostly are not worth publishing, with a few exceptions. Today’s recipe is one of…
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Baked Apples with Dandelion Honey Cream
This simple dessert of baked apples topped with buttery crumbles and sweetened sour cream is one of those treats that you cook on the days when you hm… don’t want to cook. It was one of those days for me: after digging and planting in the garden, I was not inclined to cook at all (got…
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Strawberry Tart with Ginger and Lemon
Strawberries sitting in my fridge were meant to accompany the ice cream, but it seemed too simple for the Mother’s Day weekend. So I changed my mind and made this strawberry tart for all mothers of the world, including yours truly. There was no time to search for a crust recipe, so I took it…
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Goat Soup with Dumplings
I didn’t know what the goat meat tastes like until I made a refreshing Saturday morning trip to Blood Farm in West Groton, MA, and cooked the goat meat soup for the first time in my life. I was hoping to get fresh meat, but it was frozen, I should have asked to keep it…
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Napoleon Cake
Layered Napoleon cake is our family’s heirloom recipe. The number one cake. It can also be called mama’s signature cake. Nobody she shared this recipe with could reproduce what she did. Luckily I wrote it down in my recipe notebook some thirty years ago. I made it a few times, but it was never like…
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Baked Omelet (Drachona)
I loved baked omelet that was served in Russian canteens, the common lunch place of the Soviet era. It was one of very few eatable and even enjoyable dishes among an array of unattractive food. They used to make it on huge baking trays and cut off the portions with a special spatula. It was…
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Frikadellen Soup
My German Nanny was not a good cook, but it was she who introduced this simple Fricadellen soup recipe to our family. Too little to help, I used to hang around kitchen looking how she was grinding, peeling and boiling. “What’s cooking?” I would ask. “Frikadellen soup”, Nanny would grouch, she didn’t like me in…
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Fresh Beet Smoothie
Beet Smoothie?.. If somebody told me about it a few years ago, I would be very skeptical. Once I tried it though, it became one of my preferred smoothies any time of the year. It is very timely after Easter when you eat a lot of high-calorie viands and your body needs a break. Fresh…
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Judas Buns for Easter
In Czech Republic, Judas Buns are served for Easter and, following the most popular legend, symbolize the rope on which Judas hang himself after he betrayed Christ (the traitor had some remnants of conscience in him after all). I have been thinking about baking these buns for a few years now. I used to make them long time ago when I incidentally acquired…
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Carrot Relish
There are people who don’t like cooked carrots, my beloved husband included. But even he absolutely loves this carrot relish. He loves it so much that he always offers his muscle power to grate carrots which I hate to do myself, just to convince me to cook it. After his generous labor input the kitchen…
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Buttermilk Blini
Loved by many as a common weekend breakfast, blini are also a ritual food in Russia. They symbolize sun and are the main food during Pancake Week (Maslenitsa), a celebration of upcoming spring. They are also served during mercy meals and memorial dinners, where they also carry a symbolism: the connection between lower and upper worlds and…
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Sour Spinach Soup
This spinach soup is a nostalgic effort to reproduce one of my favorite soups from the past times. When we bought a house in the US, I was full of dreams and plans about my own organic garden. I tried to grow many things, from greens to strawberries, and once even cantaloupe (that was relentlessly…
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