Tag Archives: food photo

Russian sour cream cake

 Hello-hello! May be some of you remember this post when I wrote about cowberries. I love these bright, sour and bitter beauties. These little cowberries is an excellent source of Vitamin C, and of course the best way to eat them as is or sprinkle with some sugar. A handful of these beauties make any cake only prettier, like I did – threw some on the top of this wonderful cake. I know, it’s not easy to find even frozen cowberries in stores, so go ahead and use cranberries (but I mean small ones). Honestly speaking, they are pretty similar.Russian sour cream cake
 In Russia, we consume much of sour cream; we use it as a sauce for both sweet and savory pancakes, to dress salads, to make famous Beef Stroganof and etc. And it’s no wonder that we make sour cream cakes. The cake is very soft, aromatic and tender; and the big plus – you can use almost any fruits that you can find in your fridge – apples, plums, or may be some pears..  And even prepare it plane-without any fruits or berries, then cut a good freshly-baked slice and enjoy it with a cup of hot milky tea. 🙂Sour cream cake

Russian sour cream cake (with plums and cowberry)

  • Servings: 6-8
  • Difficulty: easy
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I used 20cm baking tin.
You may substitute yellow plums for red; and use cranberry instead of cowberry.
Ingredients 
200g sour cream (20% fat)
80g white sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon, optional
1 medium lemon, zest, chopped
1/3 tsp baking soda
2 tsp lemon juice
150-180g self-raising flour
4-5 yellow plums, cut into 4-6 slices
100-150g frozen cowberry (no need to defreeze)
Preparation method 
  • In a large bowl, whisk sour cream with sugar for 5 minutes. If using electric blender 2 minutes will be enough.
  • In a separate bowl, whisk eggs with vanilla, cinnamon and lemon zest ( you need only to combine ingrefients, dont overwhisk). Stir into sour cream mixture.
  • Dissolve soda in lemon juice and stir into the batter.
  • Gradually add flour.
  • Line and grease baking tin. Pour in batter. Arrange plum slices (lightly push them into batter) and cowberry. You may sprinkle with extra lemon zest and granulated sugar.
  • Bake in preheated 180C oven for 35 minutes. Leave to cool in a tin for 10 minutes. Carefully take it out and serve.
Next day gently reheat the cake before serving.
Enjoy! 
Sour cream cake with plums and cowberry

Small quiches: 4 fillings

I Love Pies! Small and large, closed and opened, with fish and hm less meat, whether it’s cabbage pie or raspberry tartlet. So, it was that day when I couldn’t decide what filling to choose and made 4 different savory quiches! Beautiful and delicious! 🙂 It’s a quick (especially if you prepared the pastry ahead as I did), easy and tasty way of using up all those small cheese pieces and veggies leftovers.Small quiches: 4 fillings

Small quiches: 4 fillings

  • Servings: 4-8
  • Difficulty: moderate
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Pastry
160g/5.6oz all-purpose/plain flour
120g/4.2oz butter, cold and cut into cubes
a good pinch of ground sea salt
40-50ml iced-cold water
Put flour, salt and butter in a big bowl. Quickly rub ingredients together until coarse breadcrumbs (or use food processor). Add water and mix until the dough is formed. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes or overnight. You can keep the pastry in a fridge up to 3 days.
Roll out 3-4mm thick dough to fit your baking tins. Bake blind in 180C preheated oven for 15-20 minutes.
Filling
2 large eggs
100-150ml 30% cream (or double cream)
freshly ground sea salt and black-white pepper, to taste
  • Broccoli+Gruyère cheese
  • Leek (slightly sautéed in butter)+Cheddar
  • Zucchini (raw, sliced or grated)+Thyme(fresh or dried)+Parmesan
  • Sun dried tomato (chopped)+Olives+Basil (fresh or dried)+Pecorino Romano cheese
Whisk eggs with cream and season to taste. Arrange vegetables, grated cheese and herbs in pastry cases. Pour the egg mixture over veggies. Bake in 180C preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until the filling is set.
Enjoy! 

Small quichesBeautiful and Tasty: small quiches

Russian Winter Salad (Olivier salad)

 This salad is a traditional dish in Russian cuisine, and most of the time it is associated with New Year celebration, when it’s always served on a festive table along with another popular salad – “shuba”.

 The very first and original version of this salad was invented in the beginning of 1860s by chef Lucien Olivier, who was the owner of the renowned Moscow restaurant “Hermitage”. “Olivier Salad” quickly became popular among restaurant visitors, the salad brought him a great fame and became the signature dish. The recipe and especially the dressing was kept in a big secret, and unfortunately the fact is that the exact recipe is still unknown. But according to some notes, it’s known that the salad contained hazel grouse, veal tongue, black caviar, fresh salad leaves, crayfishes or lobster, some pickled, fresh cucumbers, capers and boiled eggs. And the secret dressing was prepared from fresh raw eggs, some secret herbs and olive oil. 
 As you can see, all ingredients were posh and expensive. So, lately during Soviet time, these fine ingredients were replaced by cheap and widely-available, like boiled kolbasa (bologna sausage) or meat, boiled potatoes and carrots, pickled cucumbers and peas, dressed with store-bought mayonnaise instead of home-made French dressing. Such simple and nourishing salad was widely-popular, and soon it became a staple and traditional dish of Soviet holiday dinner, and particularly of New Year’s Eve. Lately, it’s even got a second name – “Winter Salad”. Beyond Russia this salad is often called as “Russian Salad”.Russian Winter salad
 Nowadays, the salad is still a traditional part of New Year celebration, but there are lots of versions – with boiled beef or chicken, beef tongue, fish and caviar, fresh or pickled cucumbers and so on. My recipe is a common version of the Winter Salad – with boiled beef, pickled cucumbers and mayonnaise. It’s a little bit on a dark/unhealthy side of my diet 😀 but consuming it on the holiday dinner is also a part of Russian tradition, so eating it once a year don’t make anyone fat. 🙂 Enjoy!
Olivier or Russuian Winter salad

Russian winter salad (Olivier salad)

  • Servings: approx 8
  • Difficulty: easy
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You can garnish the salad with some peas and chopped dill or parsley.
*Add more cucumbers if using small gherkins.
Ingredients
350g beef (one whole piece, without any bones)
300g/ 2 large potatoes
1 large or 2 medium carrot
4 medium eggs
4 medium pickled cucumbers*
1/2 medium brown onion
1 can of green pea
mayonnaise, to taste
salt, to taste, optional
Method
  1. In a pan, put meat and cover with cold water, bring to boil, reduce the heat to medium, cover and simmer for about 50 minutes or until meat is ready. Completely cool and cut the meat into small cubes (about 1 cm).
  2. In another large pan, put potatoes and carrot in their skin, cover with water, bring to boil, reduce the heat to medium, cover and simmer until veggies are soft. Cool, peel and cut into small cubes (about 1 cm).
  3. In another pan, hard-boil eggs. Also cut into cubes.
  4. Finely chop the onion, put in a bowl, drizzle with some apple vinegar and cover with hot water. Leave for 15 minutes, then drain.
  5. Also cut the cucumbers into small cubes.
  6. In a large serving bowl, add all ingredients along with drained peas. Dress with mayo to suit your own taste.
You can keep the undressed salad in the fridge up to 2-3 days.
Enjoy Russian Winter Salad!

Top 10 Recipes of 2015

 Cheers to the New Year! Let this Year be the one, where all our dreams come true and may it will be filled with lots of delightful surprises!
 Happy 2016 to you, dear reader! Hope you’ve met the new year in a good mood, with delicious food and among beloved family and friends!
 I want to represent my Top 10 Recipes  of the 2015 year, I’ve picked up my favourites that I truly love and enjoyed last year. Under the photos you can find the links to all recipes. What do you think? Which recipe does suit your the most?
 I would also love to hear what recipes you’d like to see and read in this year: may be more savoury dishes or from Russian cuisine. Thanks so much for reading and staying with me!
#1 Sharlotka
#4 Baked apple with cowberries
#7 Vegetable tian
#8 Carrot rolls
#2 Millet kasha
#5 Red blini
#9 Knyshy
#3 Braised rabbit
#6 Olive oil and rosemary crackers
#10 Arabian meatballs

Click on the links for the full recipe and post:

 

Holiday Panna Cotta

   Cold days, beautiful pine and spruce trees with toys, lots of gingerbread cookies, smell of mandarins and cinnamon.. How does your holiday look and smell?Holiday Panna Cotta

 Today recipe is a well-known dessert among foodies – panna cotta. Many of you already cooked it or tried in a restaurant, but I’d like to show you the festive presentation, how you can serve the gorgeous-looking dessert to your family and guests during the winter holidays.
 Everything in this dessert says ‘winter’: delicate and tender snowflakes (recipe coming soon), smooth and creamy panna cotta that looks almost like a real snow-blanket, rosemary “pine needles”, and of course aromatic mandarin -segments. Another great thing about this dessert is that it looks like you really fussed over it. Shhhh…  😉
Panna cotta with cookie and mandarin
 You can make panna cotta a day or two ahead, and you will need only to saute mandarin segments and garnish the dessert. But don’t forget to cool mandarins, otherwise panna cotta will melt.

Holiday Panna Cotta

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients
Panna Cotta
200ml double cream
300ml full-fat milk
45-50g white sugar
1 vanilla bean (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
2 tsp powdered gelatin
40ml cold water
Garnish
1-2 tbsp demerara or brown sugar
2 small mandarins
few rosemary needles
2 tsp mandarin zest, optional
1 tbsp orange liquor (or brandy), optional
1 mandarin shortbread cookie per cup (recipe is coming)
Preparation method
  • In a pan, pour cream with milk, add vanilla and sugar, heat (but don’t boil) until sugar is dissolved. Turn off the heat and let the mixture infuse with vanilla flavour for 20-30 minutes. Then take out the bean, and rewarm the mixture.
  • In a small cup, add cold water and sprinkle gelatin over it.
  • Take the pan from the heat, add gelatin and stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved.
  • Pour the panna cotta mixture into 4 cups, put cups in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight.
  • For the garnish, in a frying pan add sugar, mandarin segments, zest and rosemary, and saute for 3-5 minutes on a medium-high heat. Add liquor, if using, and saute for few minutes more. Leave to cool.
  • Garnish each cup with few mandarin segments and one cookie.
Happy Holidays!
Panna cotta with mandarin and rosemary
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