Tag Archives: food and recipe

Best Ever Plum Crumble

I discovered crumbles not long time ago, but immediately fall in love. Thank to the British for this amazing, simple and absolutely delicious dish! I’ve already tried various sweet crumble recipes – with peaches, mixed berried, pears.. I love them all! But.. Once I stumbled upon a new crumble recipe by James Martin, he is a well-known English chef; the recipe called for plums, spices and wine. And what do you think – it’s the best crumble I’ve ever made and tried! Plums with spices sautéed in red wine remind me mulled wine, and it’s incredibly tasty! This crumble is very aromatic and delicious even without ice cream on top! I slightly adapted the recipe – added oats and chopped nuts, walnuts and/or pistachios is a nice crunchy addition here.

Best ever plum crumble

Servings: 2
Time: 40mins
Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

20g butter

7-8 dark plums, halved, stones removed

1 vanilla pod or 1 tsp vanilla extract

1 star anise

a pinch of fresh nutmeg

1 cinnamon stick

20ml water

60ml red wine

2-3 tbsp golden syrup (I used honey)

2-3 tbsp brown or raw sugar

Crumble topping

50g plain flour

30g oat flour or fine oats

2 tbsp demerara sugar

40g butter, softened

2-3 tbsp chopped pistachios or walnuts

To serve

vanilla ice cream

Preparation

Preheat oven to 200C.
Heat the butter in a pan over medium heat. Add the plums and fry for a few minutes.
Add the split vanilla pod, star anise, nutmeg and cinnamon stick to the pan. Add the water, red wine, honey and sugar and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5-6 minutes, until the plums break down to a thick sauce. Transfer plums with sauce to one or 2 individual baking dish.
For the crumble topping, mix the flours and sugar together in a bowl. Rub in the butter with your fingers until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Mix in chopped nuts.
Sprinkle the crumble over the plums and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, until golden-brown.
Remove and allow to cool slightly before serving with ice-cream.

Enjoy!

Pear&Blackberry Tart

Last weekend I wanted to make a cake, I was dreaming about a huge layered cake with delicious and sweet cream, topped with chocolate or strawberries, or blackberries.. At the end of the day I realized that I can’t decide which one to make and I don’t have all required ingredients. 😀 But I have always been a person that needs something sweet after dinner. I wanted a dessert to satisfy my sweet tooth, and better with cream! So I’ve come up with this beautiful and absolutely delicious ‘pear and blackberry tart’. Honestly speaking, I haven’t made this recipe a dozen or even a couple of times, it was perfect from the first attempt! Nutty shortbread base, tender whipped ricotta cream, pear slices and blackberries – all those things merged together into divine combination. I believe that you would find this dessert to be as delicious as it looks! You just need to go to the kitchen, cook it and enjoy! 🙂 I will make it again for sure!

Pear and Blackberry Tart

Servings: 4-6
Time: 1hr 20mins
Difficulty: moderate
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You can use any favourite fruits and berries, like strawberry&blueberry, raspberry&nectarines.

Ingredients

Short pastry (base)

1 large egg, at room temperature

100g plain flour

75g butter, cubed and softened

35g fine sugar

30g ground almonds

Topping

100ml whipping cream (30-35%), cold

1+1 Tbsp icing sugar

1 tsp cognac or brandy, optional

100-120g ricotta

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp lemon zest

1 large pear, sliced

1 Tbsp lemon juice

8-10 blackberries

2-3 strawberries, sliced, optional

1 Tbsp white chocolate chips

Whisk the egg and set aside a half (a bit less then half) for a glaze.
To make the dough, in a large mixing bowl or food processor, mix flour, butter, sugar, half the egg and almonds until combined. Tip dough out onto a floured surface and bring together with hands. Make a flat disk, cover with plastic wrap and chill for 30-40 minutes in a fridge.
On a lightly floured table roll the dough into 21-22cm circle. Brush with remaining egg. Transfer to a paper-lined baking dish.
Bake in preheated 180C oven for 25 minutes or until golden. Allow to cool completely.
Meanwhile, in a bowl beat cream with 1 Tbsp icing sugar and cognac, if using, until soft peak begin to form. In another bowl, combine ricotta, vanilla, lemon zest and sugar. Add ricotta mixture into whipped cream and whip until smooth for a 1-2 minutes.
Spread cream on the base. Sprinkle pear slices with lemon juice. Arrange pear slices, blackberries and strawberries, if using, on the cream, and sprinkle over chocolate chips. Dust with extra icing sugar, if desired. Enjoy!

Russian buckwheat kasha with mushrooms

Buckwheat has always been a popular grain in Russia. It was brought in 7th century from Greece and soon became extremely popular. Buckwheat was new and unknown grain in Russia, so it was called “Greek grain” or shortly “grechka”. It’s not a surprise why buckwheat was very beloved in old Russia: peasants called it “mother”, they grown it in a large amounts, so it was cheap and affordable grain. Moreover, it’s cooked quickly and has a high nutritional value – a plate of buckwheat kasha (porridge) for breakfast can keep you full for a long time. Buckwheat porridge was a favorite meal not only among peasants, it was also cooked for upper classes but with plenty of butter or sour cream.

Nowadays, there are lots of recipes with buckwheat, it’s cooked with milk and eaten for breakfast or as a side dish for meat like beefstroganov. Buckwheat porridge with fried onion and mushrooms is a popular dish in Russia, especially during the Great Lent when grains, vegetables and mushrooms become the main foods.

Hope all lovely bloggers partying at Fiesta Friday will like this Russian buckwheat porridge, it contains vitamins, healthy organic acids and oils! Enjoy! 🙂

Russian buckwheat kasha with mushrooms

Servings: 2
Time: 30-40mins
Difficulty: easy
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During the Great Lent or for vegetarian option omit the butter or substitute it with any veg.oil

Ingredients

200ml buckwheat

400ml water

1 tsp butter

1 Tbsp sunflower or other veg.oil

1 large onion, chopped

200g mixed mushrooms (or 400g frozen), chopped

25-30g butter

salt, pepper to taste

fresh chopped parsley, optional

Wash buckwheat, put it a thick-bottomed or iron-castle pan, fry on a low heat without any oil for 2-3 minutes. Add water and good pinch of salt. Bring it to boil on a medium heat, then reduce the heat to low, add a teaspoon butter and simmer for 17-20 minutes or until all water will be absorbed. Don’t stir buckwheat during the cooking. When it’s ready, take the pan off the heat, cover with lid and few kitchen towels, let it rest for 5-10 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a frying pan, add onion and fry for few minutes. Stir in mushrooms, season to taste and fry on a medium-high heat until mushrooms are ready.
Stir the mushroom mixture and butter into buckwheat. Sprinkle with parsley, if desired. Serve warm as a main dish or side dish to chicken, stewed meat or sausages. Enjoy!

Arabian kofta

Kofta or Kufta is a simple dish, small balls of minced meat – usually lamb or mutton blended with fresh herbs, aromatic spices, garlic and/or onions. These meatballs are very popular in Middle Eastern countries like UAE, Lebanon, Syria, Morocco, and there is no fixed recipe, each cook adds their favourite spices like chilli, cinnamon or cardamom. I highly recommend you to not omit fresh herbs; mint, coriander and parsley give kofta amazing freshness. Lamb meat is often used for kofta, but if you don’t eat lamb meat or it’s too fatty for you – you can easily substitute it with beef; in that case I suggest you to add a tablespoon of olive oil or butter for richness. And of course, the meat should be finely minced.

#10 Arabian meatballs

Kofta meatballs can be grilled, fried or even baked. Serve them with rice, fresh tomatoes and olives. I love to eat them wrapped in Arabic bread with a slice of roast eggplant, tomato and chopped fresh herbs, and dipping this lip-smacking wrap into hummus. 🙂

Arabian kofta

Servings: 28 small meatballs
Time: 30mins
Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

500g finely ground lamb

100ml sparkling mineral water

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

1 Tbsp fresh mint leaves, finely chopped

3-4 Tbsp fresh coriander leaves, chopped

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2-1 tsp harissa paste, optional

S&P to taste

2 Tbsp olive oil for frying

Garnish

Arabic bread, hummus, chopped iceberg and herbs

In a large bowl, mix meat with water. Add garlic, herbs, spices, season to taste and mix throughly with you hand.
Form small meatballs, the size of walnut.
Heat the frying pan with oil, add kofta meatballs and fry all over for 6-7 minutes or until cooked through.
Serve with bread, lettuce, herbs and hummus, if desired.

Enjoy!

Golubtsi – Russian stuffed cabbage rolls

Stuffed cabbage rolls is a very popular dish in many countries over the world. In Russia, it’s called ‘golubtsi’ – white cabbage leaves stuffed with sautéed ground pork or beef and rice or buckwheat.

Originally, cabbage leaves were stuffed with meat mixed with millet porridge and the dish was named ‘galushi’. But in 18-19th centuries France had a great influence on Russian cuisine, at least for the upper classes. Many French chefs streamed to Russian to work for royal courts, nobility and other wealthy families.

French cooking was so prevalent among the upper classes that there were not enough French-born chefs to fill the demand. Wealthy Russians began to send their serfs to work under French chefs in Moscow and Sr.Petersburg, and a few were even sent to France for their training. Some of these peasants were allowed to work in the city, provided they remitted to their masters the required obrok or quit-rent, which was a payment in kind or in money. Others were sold after they had completed their training. Count Rostov in Tolstoy’s War and Peace, for instance, spoke with satisfaction of paying a thousand rubles for Taras, a serf who prepared savory hazel grouse sautéed in Madeira for his daughter Natasha’s name day dinner.*

Thus, Russians were hooked on French dishes, and among which was popular a whole grilled pigeon, covered with a cabbage leave. The dish became fancy and well-liked, and soon was called simply ‘golubi’ or ‘golubtsi’ – from Russian word ‘golub’ that literally means pigeon. Lately cooks began to prepare a fake ‘pigeon’ – well-known stuffed cabbage rolls, which were cheaper and affordable for the lower classes.

Also, big thanks to Angie for featuring my post – red pancakes! I’m bringing these cabbage rolls to the super Fiesta Friday party! I know, it’s such a simple dish, that many of you have tried it already, but I hope you are tired of sweets and enjoy Russian comforting food. 🙂

Golubtsi - Russian stuffed cabbage rolls

Servings: 10-12 rolls
Time: 1hr+
Difficulty: moderate
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Ingredients

1 white cabbage

500g beef mince (or mix pork+beef)

90-100g uncooked white rice, short-grain

1/2 large onion, finely chopped

1/2 carrot, shredded

1/2 tsp dried marjoram, optional

S&P to taste

Sauce

1/2 large onion, chopped

1/2 carrot, shredded

2-3 tbsp tomato paste

oil, for frying

200-300ml water*

2 bay leaves

5-6 black peppercorns

S&P to taste

Garnish

sour cream, chopped parsley, optional

Sauce. In a large pan over medium heat, heat the oil. Add onion and carrot for the sauce, cook for 5-6 minutes or until soft. Stir in tomato paste. Turn off the heat and set aside.
Cabbage. Discard the 2 or 3 outer leaves of the cabbage. Carefully pull off leaves one by one. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Immerse cabbage leaves and cook for 3-4 minutes. Using tongs, take the leaves out and transfer to a bowl. *Reserve the water to use it lately for the sauce.
Filling. Cook the rice fro 8-10 minutes in bowling water. In a large bowl, mix together the beef, rice, onion, carrot and spices. You can fry onion before adding it to the filling.
Working with one cabbage leaf at a time, slice off the thick outer rib near the stem end. Place the leaf, rounded up like a bowl, stem end closest to you. Spoon about 2 tbsp of the meat mixture, form it into a short log shape. Don’t make the rolls too tight. Transfer the roll, seams down, to the pan with sauce. Shape the remaining rolls in the same way.
Pour in water – just to cover the cabbage rolls, add more if needed. Season to taste, add bay leaves and peppercorns. On a medium-high heat bring it to boil. Then reduce heat to lower, cover the pan with a lid (or you can use a piece of foil) and cook for 40 minutes. You may cut one roll to test it.
Serve rolls with their cooking sauce, sprinkled with parsley and garnish with sour cream, if desired.