Monthly Archives: November 2014

Vegetable bake with mozzarella and bacon

This simple, good-looking and so-delicious bake is a time-saving dish for busy week days, or when you’re tired but still want to prepare homey food. I love one-pot recipes, whether its made on a hob or in the oven, they are always comforting, full of flavor and tasty!
For this bake I used young potatoes, that can be substitute with regular, but make sure to slice it very thinly. Want better and quicker? Use boiled or roast potatoes! For the vegetarian option – omit the bacon.
Also the bake can be great and tasty work lunch, you can see it’s not difficult or time-intensive task. Homemade lunches are definitely healthier than any fast food, you know every single ingredient in it, also you can make it balanced, nutritious and satisfying. Beyond that, such home-packed meals is one of the simplest ways to trim your budget.

Vegetable bake with mozzarella and bacon

Servings: 2
Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

6-7 small potatoes

1 leek, chopped

1-2 capsicum

3-4 bacon slices, smoked

70-100g mozzarella, or as much as you wish, cut into cubes

40-50g pecorino or parmesan cheese, grated

1 spring of fresh rosemary, or 1 tsp dried

1/3 tsp paprika

1/3 tsp turmeric

5-7 mix peppercorns (black, white, pink), crushed

fresh basil, few leaves, for garnish, optional

sea salt, to taste

2 Tbsp olive oil

Method

Preheat oven to 200C. Grease a baking dish with olive oil.
Slice and fry bacon (without any oil). Transfer to paper towel to absorb exsess fat. Set aside.
While the frying pan is still hot, add leek to it and saute on a medium heat for few minutes. Do not let it brown.
Throughly wash and rub potatoes, thinly slice. Roughly chop capsicums. Put vegetables in a bowl, add 1 Tbsp olive oil, spices, season with salt and stir well.
Spread leek on the baking dish. Add vegetables.
Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until potatoes are tender. Add bacon, mozzarella and pecorino/parmesan, and bake for 5-10 minutes more. If you have grill, put the baking dish under the grill for 5 minutes.
Sprinkle with basil and extra pecorino/parmesan, if desired.
Serve with green salad.

Enjoy!

Trout fritters with green peas

Last weekend I bought a beautiful rainbow trout. It’s a very delicious fish, that rich in omega-3 fatty acids, and its’ also an excellent source of vitamins and protein. One its part gone to be cured (you may find the recipe here), another was roasted and I still had some more. I decided to make a pie from the book “pies and tarts” by S.Reaynaud. The recipe is very simple, it’s called for the trout, puff pastry, peas and horseradish, I’d had all that stuff. I’d made the filling and was disappointed because its quantity was more then enough, despite that I used more puff pastry then was needed. Fortunately, the overall result was fine, and the pie tasted pretty good. Have you tried to cook any pies from that book?

Thus I had to fix the remaining trout.. And here is the easiest and quickest recipe of delicious fritters. I used fresh trout, but you can substitute it with salmon, fresh or canned. I ate these little fritters for breakfast, they were good and satisfying!

After plating I topped it with with sour cream and some horseradish sauce, also I recommend finishing it with a slice of cured trout or salmon. It was truly divine!

Trout tritters with green peas and horseradish

Trout fritters with green peas

Servings: 2-3
Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

100-150g fresh trout, chopped

2 large potatoes, peeled and grated

50-60g green peas, fresh or frozen

1 Tbsp finely chopped onion, optional

1 egg white (or whole egg)

1-2 tsp horseradish sauce

3-4 Tbsp thin cream

4 Tbsp or more plain flour

sea salt, white pepper, to taste

Garnish: sour cream, horseradish sauce, lemon wedges, cured trout/salmon slices

Method

Preheat oven to 200C. Line the baking tray with parchment.
Squeeze out the liquid from potatoes. Add it to a mixing bowl along with trout, peas and onion. Add horseradish, egg white, cream and combine.
Add flour, salt and pepper, and mix well.
Scoop out the dough to make 10-12 fritters. Gently press them down with hand.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden-brown.
Serve with sauce you like and cured trout slices.

Enjoy the meal!

Trout fritters with peas and horseradish

Veal with pink pepper and squash puree

Hey guys! What’s the autumn in your country/city? The weather here finally became amazing – only +29C! And in my home-city in Russia is -7C! Which weather do you like more?

I had the leftovers of squash in my fridge.. and I needed to come up with something to have for dinner. A very simple way to use it – make savory pancakes, but that idea seemed too boring for me. Further ‘excavations’ brought me a beet, a piece of pecorino cheese and a glass of red wine. And the idea came up! Give it up and just drink wine. 😀

So, the measurements in the recipe are given roughly, don’t be afraid to be an artist and make it to suit your own taste. The dish has a wonderful flavour, and this is a very simple way to cook. I served it over a bed of mashed squash and potatoes, and that was incredibly satisfying! Bright and slightly sweet squash and beet, mildly spicy pink pepper give that contented and warm-inside feeling which is what autumn cooking about.

Veal with pink pepper and squash puree

Servings: 1
Time: 20-30mins
Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

100-150g veal, cut into cubes

5 pink peppercorns, crushed

few sage leaves

1-2 Tbsp dry red wine, optional

80-120g squash or pumpkin, cooked and mashed

1 Tbsp beet, cooked and cut into cubes

1 small potato, cooked and mashed, optional

1-2 Tbsp pecorino cheese, grated

sea salt, to taste

1 Tbsp olive oil

Method

In a bowl put veal cubes, pink pepper, some salt and chopped sage. Pour in wine and stir well. Cover and let marinate for 10-20 minutes.
Make vegetable puree for the garnish. Combine mashed squash, potato and cheese together. Season to taste.
Heat an oil in a frying pan over medium heat. When oil is hot, add meat and fry it. Turn occasionally until done as desired and browned on all sides.
Mix pan-fried veal with beet cubes.
Put the squash puree on a serving plate. Arrange veal on top. Sprinkle with sage and pecorino cheese, if desired.

Of course a great glass of red wine goes hand in hand with this delicious veal. 😉

Enjoy the dinner!

Pokhlyobka – The Old Russian Pottage

Pokhlyobka is a kind of thick Russian soup made by adding flour, grains, potatoes or other vegetables. It is similar to the Britain Pottage.

Long time ago, it was a main meal among poor strata of Russian society. Most of the time, villagers and peasant farmers cooked and ate vegetarian pottage, because such expensive ingredients like meat or fish were not affordable for them. It’s worth mentioning that meat was eaten once or twice a year; more luckily were farmers, who had lived near rivers and could caught a fish throughout the year. The dish was easy to prepare, and people could use the remains of the yesterday meal – chunks of boiled potatoes or cabbage, then add extra millet or buckwheat. The rich part also ate pokhlyobka, but it was significantly better and besides potatoes, contained the meat of duck, hazel-hens, and etc.

My recipe of Russian pottage is also without meat.. Definitely, a good piece of fatty pork or beef could makes the pokhlyobka especially rich, so if you’re not a vegetarian you may add it. But I suggest you to try the non-meat option, which is infused with aromatic spices, and delicious pumpkin and thick sour cream make the soup absolutely irresistible!

‘Acoulina cooked absolutely delicious koulebyaks, various pokhlyobki..kvas..soaked apples..’ from the Russian novel ‘Whites, blacks and grays’ by Ivan Lazhechnikov written in 1856.

‘The dinner was absolutely delicious that day: pokhlyobka made from goose meat with wild onions, venison shashlik and slices of bear meat..’ from the Russian novel ‘Plutonia’ by Vladimir Obruchev written in 1915.

Pokhlyobka - The Old Russian Pottage

Servings: 2-3
Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

120-130g yellow split peas

3 small potatoes

300g pumpkin or squash

1 medium carrot, sliced

60-70g celery root, cut into small cubes

1 small onion, thinly sliced or finely chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped, optional

1/2 tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp cumin

2 bay leaves

1.2 l water

1 Tbsp sunflower oil

salt, black pepper to taste

fresh parsley, chopped, for serving

sour cream, for serving, optional

fresh country-style bread, for serving, optional

Preparation

Wash peas, put in a pan, cover with water and soak overnight. Pour out the water. Cover peas with new cold water. Boil on a medium heat for 15-20 minutes, until peas are tender. Skim the foam during the boiling.
Meanwhile, in a frying pan, heat the oil, add spices and fry them for a minute. Add garlic, onion, carrot, celery root and saute vegetables on a medium heat for 8-10 minutes.
Peel and cut into small cubes potatoes and pumpkin.
Add potatoes to the pottage. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer for 8-10 minutes.
Add pumpkin along with fried vegetables, simmer the pottage for 10 minutes more or until the pumpkin is soft.
Adjust seasoning. If the pottage is too thick, add more hot water and stir through.
Garnish each plate with a dollop of sour cream and chopped parsley. Serve with a slice of bread.

Enjoy the old Russian farmer meal! 🙂

I’m bringing this traditional recipe to all lovely people who’s enjoying the FF party today!

Russian beetroot salad

November 18, 2014
milkandbun
26 comments
beet, beet salad, cooking, food, food photography, food styling, healthy, healthy recipe, photography, photos, recipe, Russian, Russian food, Russian recipe, salad, vegetarian

This simple salad is well-known in Russia. It brings back memories about my childhood, parents’ home and cold evenings, when we made the salad and then ate it. Beets, walnuts and garlic is a very good source of vitamins and oils, which is important during winter days. Prunes is another wonderful ingredient here, it adds sweetness to the salad (especially if the beets aren’t sugary); moreover, prunes have health benefits – they have a high anti-oxidant content and contain dietary fiber*.

I still love and make this salad. For me it’s certainly a good and comforting recipe. You can serve it also as a side dish to grilled meat, burgers or chicken. I hope you do give it a try! So easy and so tasty! 🙂

Russian beetroot salad

Servings: 2-3
Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

2 medium beets

6-8 prunes (dried plums), pitted

2 cloves of garlic, minced

a handful of walnuts

2-3 Tbsp sour cream

salt, black pepper to taste

fresh dill, optional, for garnish

rye bread, for serving

Preparation

Boil or roast beets until they’re tender. Cool, peel and grate beets (using medium-hole grater).
If prunes are too dry, soak them in a warm water for 10-15 minutes. Then roughly chop prunes and walnuts.
Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Garnish with dill, if desire. Serve with rye bread.

Enjoy!

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