Tag Archives: autumn recipe

Warm butternut squash salad

This delicious warm salad is perfect for cold months. Yes, it is simple but bursting with flavour, and of course it contains the main autumn ingredient – beautiful winter squash! Slightly sweet roasted butternut squash together with salted feta and fresh spinach leaves create nice and tasty salad, perfect in its simplicity.

winter-squash-salad
And don’t forget to sprinkle the salad with raw pumpkin seeds (as I did.. haha)!
Warm butternut squash salad

Warm butternut squash salad

  • Difficulty: very easy
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Slightly adapted from here
Ingredients
1/2 butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1cm-thick slices
1 medium red onion, cut into wedges
1 orange
fresh spinach leaves, as much as you like
100-150g feta or white/Bulgarian cheese
handful of raw pumpkin seeds
Dressing*
juice of 1/2 orange
2-3 tsp white balsamic or champagne vinegar
1 tsp honey mustard
2-3 tbsp EV olive oil
freshly ground sea salt &white pepper, to taste
Method
  1. Arrange butternut squash and onion on a baking tray, drizzle everything with olive oil, plus squash with juice of 1/2 orange. Roast in preheated 180C oven for 25 minutes or until squash is soft.
  2. For the dressing, in a small jar combine all ingredients and shake well. *Adjust to your taste by adding more vinegar or oil.
  3. Arrange spinach on a serving plate, top with warm squash and onion. Sprinkle with feta and pumpkin seeds. Drizzle with dressing.
Enjoy warm salad!

Kulesh

Kulesh – simple thick soup/pottage, that was popular in old times among peasants and Cossacks. It was also called “field pottage or kasha”, as it was often cooked by farmers for their lunch during field works. This pottage consisted mainly of millet and any root vegetables that were available at the moment. Garnished with some onions and salo (salted or cured fat, usually pork one), kulesh was prepared on a fire, that added a nice smoked flavor to the whole dish.
It should be thick enough but if you prefer thinner consistency add more water. Mine was thick and nourishing because of smoked meat (cooked pork belly). Using smoked meat replaces the cooking on an open fire. But feel free to make completely vegetarian version and omit the meat.Kulesh - simple thick soup/pottage
Once I wrote that millet is a healthy grain or seed. And if you still think it’s just for the feeding birds, you’re completely wrong and miss lots of benefits of this lovely grain. It’s a good source of vitamins B, calcium and iron. Here another recipes that I do love and cook at home: sweet breakfast millet porridge and autumn recipe – millet cooked in a pumpkin pot.
So, have you ever cooked millet? What are your favorite recipes?Kulesh

Kulesh

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: very easy
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You can add some cubes of celery root along with other vegetables.
Ingredients
4 medium potatoes, cubed
1 large carrot, cubed
200g millet
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 large onion
150g smoked pork belly
1 bay leaf
fresh chopped parsley and spring onion, optional
S&P to taste
Method
  1. Boil 2l water in a large pan. Add cubed vegetables and some salt. Bring to boil, reduce the heat, cover with a lid and simmer about 15 minutes.
  2. Wash millet throughly under running water. You may also cover millet with some warm water, it helps to cook it faster.
  3. Add millet to the pot along with bay leaf and simmer for 10-15 minutes more or until it’s cooked.
  4. Meanwhile, slice or chop onion, and cut pork belly into thin slices or chop it as you like. Heat the oil in a frying pan and saute onion until it’s soft. Add pork belly and fry for few minutes.
  5. Stir the onion-pork mixture into the soup. Adjust the seasoning.
  6. Pour the soup into serving bowl. Sprinkle with fresh herbs, if desired. Serve with bread.

Enjoy!

Baked apples with walnuts and cowberries

Hi there! It’s been windy, dark and gloomy all day here in Dubai today. The weather intends to spend a day in the kitchen and bake something warm, aromatic and tasty. And I found a deliciously satisfying dish to cheer this day up! Sweet-smelling baked apples with super tasty filling: walnuts and cowberries! Sounds fantastic, doesn’t it? The cozy smell of cinnamon and brown sugar was filling my kitchen while apples were baked.. It’s so easy to turn regular apples into a fabulous warm dessert! Enjoy!

Baked apples-1Baked apples-2

 Cowberry (also known as lingonberry) is a very tasty, slightly bitter and sour berry; it contains lots of vitamin C, A and B. It’s a popular type of berry in my home-country (Russia), and as far as I know in Sweden and Norway. Their taste remind small sour cranberries, so you can easily substitute it with cranberries (fresh or frozen).Baked apples with walnuts and cowberry

Baked apples with walnuts and cowberries

  • Servings: 2
  • Difficulty: moderate
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*You can add more sugar to suit your taste.
**I dry-roast walnuts, then chop it or pulse in a food processor.
Ingredients
2 large apples (sort ‘pink lady’ or ‘granny smith’ are good)
20g/2 tsp butter
3 tsp brown sugar*
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 quail egg, optional
5-6 tsp finely chopped walnuts**
3-4 tsp cowberries (if using frozen-no need to defreeze)
1/2 tsp of cinnamon, for garnish
2-3 tsp pure runny honey, for serving
some extra walnuts and cowberries, for serving
  • Cut the lid from apples, carefully cut out the core and make a hole in each apple leaving the bottom.
  • In a bowl, stir sugar and cinnamon with butter. Mix in the egg. Fold in chopped walnuts and berries.
  • Put apples in baking dish/tray and stuff each apple with filling mixture. Cover with apple lids. Pour some warm water into the bottom of the baking dish (1 cm). Loosely cover with foil.
  • Bake in preheated 200C oven for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for 10-15 minutes more, or until apples are tender but not mushy.
  • Carefully transfer to a serving plate, sprinkle with cinnamon, drizzle with honey and garnish with some walnuts and cowberries, if desired.
  • Enjoy!

Carrot rolls with orange marmalade


When the sun is shining almost every day, you’ve got an inexpressible feeling when it starts raining. You can breeze in fresh and cool air. All day has been gloomy, cool and windy. I made a huge mountain of these rolls early today. Then I wrapped up myself in a cozy blanket, filled a cup with my favorite Earl Grey tea, took few carrot rolls and sat outside to enjoy the sound of rain!Carrot rolls with orange marmalade These freshly baked rolls with orange taste and cinnamon-ginger aroma added a real autumn-note to my day. Carrot rolls

Carrot rolls with orange marmalade

  • Servings: for crowd
  • Difficulty: moderate
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You can make the dough one day ahead.
*The weight before grating.
**You can substitute orange marmalade with apricot or peach jam. 

Ingredients

300g plain flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/3 tsp ginger powder
a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
1/3 fine salt
150g washed, cleaned carrots*, finely grated
150g butter, cold
100g sour cream (20% fat)
2-3 Tbsp white sugar (you can add more to suit your taste)
Filling
orange marmalade (with orange peel)**
dry-roasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped
Preparation method
  1. In a large mixing bowl, sift the flour and add spices. Cut butter into small cubes or grate it. Rub into the flour mixture until you get coarse crumbs. Mix in grated carrots.
  2. In another bowl whisk sour cream with sugar, fold into batter. You should get a soft dough. You may add a bit more flour if needed.
  3. Divide the dough into 2 parts and shape disks, cover each with a plastic wrap and put into the fridge for 30 minutes or overnight.
  4. Take one part of the dough from the fridge and roll it into a 2mm-thick circle. Cut into triangles; the size is up to you.  Spread 1-2 teaspoons of orange marmalade on each triangle, add a teaspoon of hazelnuts and roll into croissant shape. Repeat with the second part of the dough.
  5. Arrange rolls on a lined baking tray. Sprinkle with more hazelnuts, if desired. Bake in preheated 190C oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden-brown.
  6. Serve warm or cooled.
Enjoy!
Carrot rolls with marmalade and hazelnuts

Buckwheat porridge with caramelized orange and figs

 Another Sunday, and here is another idea for Sunday Breakfast! This time it is a well-balanced, healthy and very tasty buckwheat porridge, that makes a fantastic breakfast treat. I guess many of you need something special to pull yourself out of the bed in the cold autumn mornings, and this warm and cozy porridge does help you!Buckwheat Porridge

 I used for it buckwheat flakes mixed with some oats. Do you know, that buckwheat grain provides a very high level of protein, second highest only to oats! It makes this porridge high in energy, so it might help you to do more housework during the day or just stay in a good mood! 😉 For those of you who not especially concerned with buckwheat nutritional benefits, it is also tastes delicious and has a delightful nutty flavour. Plus, I topped the porridge with caramelized orange slices and figs, now you can imagine how divine and irresistible it was! Some chopped almonds or hazelnuts add an extra nice and crunchy note to your morning breakfast bowl! Buckwheat porridge with caramelized orange and figs

Buckwheat porridge with caramelized orange and figs

  • Servings: 2
  • Difficulty: very easy
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You may drizzle the porridge with honey.
Ingredients
Porridge
100g buckwheat flakes
50-60g oatmeal
100ml water
300ml milk (I used full fat)
a pinch of salt
1 tbsp white or brown sugar (to taste)
vanilla pod or 1 tsp vanilla extract
Topping
3-4 tbsp white sugar
2 large figs or 3 medium, cut into fourths
1 large orange, peeled and cut into 1cm slices
2-3 tbsp lemon juice
8-10 whole toasted almonds, roughly chopped
Method
  1. Put the water and milk in a saucepan over a medium heat, when it just begins to boil, add buckwheat flakes, oatmeal and all other ingredients for the porridge. Stir to combine. Reduce the heat to low, simmer for 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally. If the porridge is too thick add more milk or water. Turn off the heat, cover with a lid and leave for 4-5 minutes.
  2. Meanwhile, put a pan with sugar on a medium-high heat. Don’t stir it, allow to become lightly golden. Add figs and orange slices, caramelize for 2-3 minutes on each side. Turn the heat off. Take out figs and orange slices. Add lemon juice to the pan and stir with all sugar and juices in the pan.
  3. Spoon the porridge into bowls and top with figs and orange slices. Pour over the sweet juice from the pan. Sprinkle with almonds.
Enjoy warm and cozy breakfast!

Buckwheat porridge with figs and orange slices

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