Tag Archives: cooking

Sunday Dairy Breakfast

 Do you remember I told you last Sunday that better not to skip breakfast? And I do hope you have eaten something every morning! Have you? 😉 Was it something tasty? Mmm May be pancakes.. I made onion-chilli cookies twice this week (the recipe here). Once with spring onion, another with leeks, both times they were so good! I love gentle hit from chillies, it helps me to stay awake for a long time!
 Yesterday I didn’t have a plenty time, and my choice was quick-but-healthful breakfast: Greek yogurt with raspberries and honey. But on the picture, you can see another delicious thing – Russian prostokvasha with colorful raspberries and blackberries. Prostokvasha is a dairy product, similar to thick yogurt, which is made from a fermented milk (milk prepared by bacterial fermentation). When it’s prepared from a regular milk it has a pale milky color, but prostokvasha can be also made from baked milk and thus it has beige color, similar to “coffee with cream” (as on the photo). Baked milk is called ‘toplenoe moloko’ in Russia, it’s traditional Russian dairy product. For this milk, regular milk is boiled, and then simmered for a long time to get a special color, taste and smell. Originally it was prepared in Russian pech, nowadays all milky produce can be bought in any Russian store. I do love toplenoe milk and prostokvasha for its unique taste, so I ate it every single day while I was on holiday.. Russian Prostokvasha
 Whether you chose an yogurt with berries or savory cookies for breakfast, I’m sure that better to consume something easy-to-make than nothing. Prostokvasha with colorful raspberries

Figs baked in ricotta cream

 If you follow me on Instagram, then you know it was +40C a couple of days ago in Dubai. Add 80% the humidity and it feels like +60C. Now you can imagine, that when I went out to meet up with a friend I felt like I’d been in a steamer room. Generally over the half of summer lasts in this way; don’t know what has happened this year but I remember only few humid days.. What was I talking about? Ahhh, I got fresh figs! I remember the very fist time when I have tried them. 😀 Figs aren’t often sold here, especially for affordable price, so I prefer to consume them as is or in a simple salad: figs-prosciutto-nuts-arugula. But you know what? I wanted a pie or tart. It’s a normal thing for me, I always have a craving for pies! 😀 Desire and lack of butter did the job: you can see my sweet creation!
Figs baked in RicottaCream

 Sweet figs baked in a smooth and delicate ricotta cream, topped with chopped pistachios&almonds and drizzled with honey! That’s what we have here.FigsRicottaCream

Figs baked in ricotta cream

  • Servings: 2
  • Difficulty: easy
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*I used dry-fried nuts.
Ingredients
2 large figs
1 tbsp cognac (or brandy/rum)
1 tsp lemon juice
6 quail eggs
2 tbsp white sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
250g ricotta
1 tbsp chopped pistachios*
1 tbsp chopped almonds*
1 tbsp natural runny honey
Method
  • Make a ‘x’ cut in each fig or cut into fourths. Drizzle with cognac and lemon juice. Leave to marinate for 10-15 minutes.
  • In a bowl, beat eggs with sugar and vanilla. Mix in ricotta.
  • Divide the ricotta cream between two baking dishes, or pour into one. Arrange figs on top. Sprinkle with nuts.
  • Bake in preheated 200C oven for 15 minutes. Drizzle with honey. Serve warm.
Enjoy!

Summer Salad with strawberry

 I’ve been preparing and eating salads at home almost every day. I can have a salad as a light dinner, or snack during the day. Salads is classic and great way to calm down raging appetite instead of eating various high-calories snacks. This salad is all about summer: refreshing and light, bright and tasty. Perfect food for hot summer days!Summer salad

Summer Salad with strawberry

  • Servings: 2
  • Difficulty: easy
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Next time I’ll add some sliced almonds for the crunchy note.
You can use arugula instead of spinach.

Tangerine has a sweet-tart taste, you can sub it with orange or clementine.

Ingredients
baby spinach, as much as you want
1 medium fennel bulb, thinly sliced
5-7 strawberries, sliced
1-2 tangerine
2-3 radishes, thinly sliced
some chopped fennel fronds for garnish, optional
Dressing
zest of one tangerine
1-2 tsp finely chopped mint
1 tsp runny honey
1 tbsp lemon or lime juice, or more if needed
1 tsp white balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
sea salt, freshly ground white pepper to taste
Preparation
  • Wash spinach, let it dry, arrange onto a serving plate.
  • Cut peel from tangerine. Using a knife to cut out the segments, letting them fall into a bowl along with the juice.
  • Add strawberries, fennel, tangerine segments and radish to the spinach. Toss together gently.
  • For the dressing, in a small bowl, combine all ingredients, stir well, adjust salt, pepper and lemon juice to your taste. Pour over the salad.
  • Garnish with chopped fennel, if using.
Enjoy!
Summer salad with strawberries, tangerine and fennel

Wheel bread with herbs

 I believe almost everyone loves freshly-baked bread. I bet you can easily imagine its irresistible aroma right now in the air.. 😉 If you have ever tried to make your own bread, you may know that it’s a complex and work-intensive process, especially if you’re making a starter for the dough. The fermentation takes up to 4 days, and you need to keep an eye on the starter and feed it almost like a baby. So, not everybody has a patience or simply time to make it, and for those mankind created yeast! Using yeast makes our lives easier (at least for me); such dough doesn’t take all that much time, and you only need a few ingredients to make a simple bread. And definitely homemade bread is tastier that a store-bought one.

 It wasn’t complicated at all to make this beautiful wheel bread. Actually, it reminds me more a pie without a filling, but I absolutely love its texture (because of corn flour) and awesome herb-y smell! Wheel bread with herbs

I recommend consuming it the same day it’s made.
Ingredients for 6-8 Servings
Dough:
8-9g instant yeast
2 tsp white sugar
200g corn flour
300g plain flour
1 tsp salt
320ml warm water
Filling:
3 clove garlic, minced
2 tbsp chopped fresh basil
1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
5-6 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped 
2 tbsp olive oil
salt, freshly ground pepper to taste
 
Method
  1. In a cup, put yeast and sugar, add some warm water, stir, cover and keep for 10 minutes.
  2. In a large bowl, sift flours, add salt. Then stir in the yeast. Slowly add all warm water and knead the dough. Place the dough on a table and knead it, then put back into bowl, cover with plascti wrap or towel and leave to rise for 40-60 minutes.
  3. For the fiiling, in a small bowl combine all ingredients.
  4. On a lightly floured surface kneed the dough lightly. Roll out into 5-6mm thick circle, cut into 5-6cm width strips. Spread the fiiling on the dough. Then arrange all strips into ‘a rose’ (on a lined baking sheet), starting from the smallest strip, continue rolling other strips around it.
  5. Bake in preheated oven 190C for 25-30 minutes.
  6. Allow it to cool slightly on a wire cooling rack. Serve with a glass of milk or cup of tea.
Enjoy!
Adapted from here

Eggplant wedges

Hey everyone! I came back from the holidays recently and slowly getting into blogging again. In my previous posts I shared with you some recipes using white and red currants, and you may think that I have had only berries during the summer time in Russia.. Yes I did! This summer has been bountiful: lots of amazing produce, including various berries – gooseberries, strawberries and currants, as well as vegetables like cucumbers, zucchini, eggplants.

I’m so glad that I was able to enjoy amazing veggies and greens form my parents’ garden. We cooked many dishes using these vegetables, including zucchini oladushki (fritters), sauteed veggies, salads, and so on. Finally we get tired of cooking eggplants and zucchini the same way. Moreover, I missed Dubai with its seductive aromas and herbs, rich and spice flavours in the air.. Fortunately, I brought my favourite spice – zaatar, and the decision was found: to make eggplant wedges with a Middle Eastern note! It was an easy and quick way to prepare eggplants. I drizzled it with aromatic olive oil, sweet molasses and of course zaatar, then served with a slice of country-style bread, yogurt and sliced fresh tomatoes!Eggplant Wedges

Eggplant wedges

  • Servings: 3-4
  • Difficulty: easy
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You can substitute pomegranate molasses with balsamic vinegar or any other pomegranate sauce.

Ingredients

3 medium eggplants
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
3 tsp zaatar mix spice
1 tbsp sesame seeds
pomegranate seeds
100g plain yogurt or sour cream for serving, optional
salt, pepper to taste
Preparation method
  1. Cut washed eggplants into 8-10 wedges. Sprinkle with some salt and leave for 20-30 minutes. Place under running water to wash off the salt. Arrange wedges onto lined baking tray.
  2. In a small bowl, combine olive oil, molasses and zaatar. Brush eggplant wedges with this mixture. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
  3. Bake in preheated 180C for 25 minutes. Then increase the temperature to 200C and bake for 20-30 minutes more, or until eggplants wedges are soft and nicely browned.
  4. Arrange eggplant wedges onto a serving plate, sprinkle with sesame and pomegranate seeds.
  5. Serve with yogurt on side, or pour it over warm wedges.

Enjoy!

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