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Sunday Breakfast: Baked quail eggs

When it’s not a weekend, sometimes being pressed for time can make hard to prepare anything for breakfast, and I’m not saying about to sit down and enjoy it, and you probably skip it day by day.. I never skip breakfast, and studies show that those who eat breakfast regularly lose weight! So be sure you eat a good and tasty breakfast! Like this protein-based, that starts your metabolism and your energy level will be fired up.

You only need to put all ingredients together in a baking dish (small-individual or one large to share), crack small&tasty quail eggs in it and bake for few minutes. Meanwhile, you can make a fresh tea or toast some bread.

Baked quail eggs with Gruyère cheese, ham and spinach

Time: 15-20min
Difficulty: very easy
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Ingredients

butter, for greasing baking dishes

fresh spinach leaves

cooked ham slices (1 large per person), cut into strips

5 or more quail eggs per person

1-2 tbsp grated Gruyère cheese per person

salt, crushed pink peppercorns to taste

Garnish

extra grated cheese

chopped parsley

cherry tomatoes

bread

Method

Preheat oven to 200C.
Grease baking dishes with butter.
Put in spinach, ham, 1/3 of cheese. Crack eggs, season with salt&pink pepper and sprinkle with some cheese.
Bake for 6-10 minutes or until the egg white is set.
Sprinkle with parsley, garnish with cheese. Serve immediately with cherry tomatoes and bread.

Enjoy!

Have a lovely and delicious weekend breakfast!

Russian roll with Argentinian pears

Everything is simple here. A few days ago, Argentinian pears were sold in a supermarket here, I’ve never tried them before and the price was attractive, so I bought a huge pack. Even though they turned out juicy and very delicious I still had some not-so-ripe left. Good to highlight, that using a bit hard but ripe pears that retain its shape during the baking process is a key to the good and not mushy filling.

I added tvorog (as I mentioned many times in my blog – it’s very Russian product) into the dough for my roll, it makes the dough softer and more tasty. Don’t worry, the dough won’t rip but make sure you carefully roll it out on a floured surface.

The roll looks like a strudel, but the dough is absolutely different, it’s not that thin and thus much easier to roll out! It is tender&delicious and absolutely deserves to make it again and again. Another bonus, the dough can be make a day ahead! Plus juicy pears, sweet black raisins and crunchy nuts in the filling! Doesn’t it sound luscious? It is! 😀

Russian roll with Argentinian pears

Servings: 6-8
Difficulty: moderate
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Ingredients

Dough

250g tvorog

90g soft butter, at room temperature

1 large egg

1 tbsp white sugar

200-210g plain flour

a pinch of fine salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

Filling

40g black raisins

hot strong black tea or water

1 egg white, optional

80-100g roasted almonds, chopped

450g (3-4) pears, cut into small cubes

2 tbsp brown or raw sugar

Glaze

1 egg yolk

2 tsp milk

1 tbsp demerara or raw sugar, optional

Method

For the roll dough, whisk tvorog with butter.
In another small bowl, whisk egg with sugar until pale. Add beaten egg into the mixture.
Sift the flour along with salt and baking powder into the dough. Combine to get the soft dough, shape into the disk. Cover in a plastic wrap and put in a fridge for 30-60 minutes to cool.
Preheat oven to 180C/360F.
Wash raisins and cover with hot strong black tea or water. Leave to soak while ready to use. Drain.
Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface into 30x40cm rectangle, making sure it doesn’t stick to the surface.
Brush the surface of the roll with egg white (optional). Sprinkle with nuts, spread pears and raisins. Sprinkle with sugar. Slightly fold in all sides (thus the filling will stay inside the roll and don’t fall out). Roll the dough into a barrel.
Carefully transfer the roll on a greased lined baking tray. Brush the roll with egg glaze and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 40 minutes or until golden-brown.
Leave to cool for 15-20 minutes. Slice and serve as is or with whipped cream/frozen vanilla yogurt/ice cream.

Enjoy!

Spiced cauliflower with peas

A year ago I visited “Taste of Dubai”. It was a large, full of fun and activities festival, dedicated to food, cooking and eating! It brought together restaurant and street food, music performances, cooking classes and live cooking demonstrations. You could order some nice food, relax and enjoy the music, another great way to spend the evening was to cook along with top chefs. Many world-famous and celebrity chefs were invited to the festival, and I could watch how they are preparing amazing and tasty food, and then taste it. Among many chefs was Dhruv Baker, he is known as a winner of MasterChef 2010, and I didn’t miss a chance to sign his cookbook ‘Spice’.

Honestly speaking, I’ve prepared only few recipes from his book so far. 😀 They were not spectacular as I expected: for example, “caponata” turned out as a regular eggplant stew, that I make often too – only without vinegar and olives. But I really liked this recipe made from fried cauliflower florets with peas, tomatoes and a mixture of spices. Mustard seeds, fresh ginger and cumin infuse the dish perfectly, while chilli adds a mild spiciness. The final addition of fresh coriander leaves on top and lime juice adds a beautiful touch. I served this simple but tasty cauliflower with roasted chicken.

I am curious about all new foodie things and lately, I have discovered on the Internet that the combination of cauliflower and peas is a common in Indian cuisine. I really liked this easy and healthy dish. Spices do wonders! 🙂

Spiced cauliflower with peas

Servings: 2
Time: 30min
Difficulty: very easy
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Adapted from “Spice” by Dhruv Baker.

Double the qauntity of cauliflower and peas to serve the dish as a main vegetarian course.

Ingredients

200-300g cauliflower

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 tsp cumin seeds, crushed

1 tsp grated fresh ginger

3 small round chilli

100g frozen peas

1 large tomato, finely chopped

2-3 tsp lime juice, optional

some fresh coriander leaves, chopped

salt, white pepper to taste

Method

Wash the cauliflower and cut into small florets.
Heat the oil in a frying pan on a medium heat, add mustard seeds. As soon as the start to pop add all spices and stir for a minute.
Add cauliflower florets and stir to coat with spices. Cook on a medium-high heat for 5-6 minutes.
Add frozen peas and tomato, season to taste. Reduce heat to low-medium and cook for 20 minutes or until cauliflower is cooked.
Arrange on a serving plate, drizzle with lime juice if using and top with coriander.

Enjoy!

Fried cauliflower with peas, mustard seeds and round chilli

Beef Stroganoff with pickled cucumbers

Beef Stroganoff is a definitely a classic dish, which can be make rustic and simple at home and more elegant in a restaurant. I do hope you have already cooked this dish by following the classic recipe, that I posted, and liked it. 😀 This time I deviated from the traditional recipe: firstly, I thinly sliced the meat (originally it’s cubed); secondly, used the thick cream along with sour cream; and finally, the main twist is the addition of small pickled cucumbers. Salty and crunchy, thinly sliced cucumbers give an amazing and unbelievably tasty note to the whole dish! I bet you will love it even more!

Beef stroganoff is a staple and cooked very often in my house, so I just whip it up without a recipe in little time. The outcome is always the same – a satisfying meal with authentic taste! Of your course you need to follow few simple rules and you can be able to make the best Stroganoff like Russian cooks! You may use large pickled cucumbers, small gherkins or cornichons; crunchy dill and garlic are the best, soft or sweet are the worst. The best accompaniment is mushed potatoes or buckwheat. I hear you rice-lovers: use plain fluffy rice, but please do not use pasta or other noodles, it destroys the dish!

Beef Stroganoff with pickled cucumbers

Servings: 4
Difficulty: easy
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You may sprinkle beef with a teaspoon of powdered paprika, if desired (add it along with flour).

Ingredients

Mashed potatoes

1 tsp fine salt (for water)

5-6 medium potatoes, peeled, cut unto chunks

1 bay leaf

50g butter

50ml warm full-fat milk (or a bit more, if needed)

sea salt, white&black pepper to taste

Beef Stroganoff

500g beef fillet (sirloin is good), thinly sliced

some flour, to coat meat

2 tbsp oil (olive or sunflower are good)

15g butter

1 large brown onion, thinly sliced

100g mushrooms, sliced

1 tsp dried thyme or 2-3 tsp fresh

6-7 small gerkins or 2-2 large pickled cucumbers, sliced

sauce

sea salt, white&black pepper to taste

Sauce

150g sour cream

100ml 30% cream

2-3 tsp Englsih mustard

100ml warm water, if needed

some chopped parsley, for garnish

Method

For mashed potatoes, in a large pan, bring slightly salted water to boil. Add potatoes and bay leaf, bring to boil again, reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until potatoes are soft and ready. Drain potatoes. Stir in butter, milk and season to taste. Mash it. Add a bit more milk, if the mixture is too thick.

Lightly flour the beef from all sides, shake off any flour excess. Heat the heavy frying pan, when it’s hot, add oil and meat. Sear the beef from all sides. Divide into few batches if needed, so you don’t overcrowd the pan and steam the meat. Cook for 2-3 muntes or just until browned. Transfer to the plate.
In the same frying pan, add butter along with onions, mushrooms and thyme. Fry on a high-medium heat for 5-7 minutes or until mushrooms are lightly golden. Then add fried meat and saute on a medium heat for 5 minutes more.
Meanwhile, prepare the sauce: in a small bowl, combine the sour cream and cream with mustard.
Add cucumbers and sauce. Give a good stir, season with salt and pepper. Cook on a medium heat for 10 minutes longer. If the creamy gravy is too thick, add hot water and stir.
Serve with mashed potatoes, sprinkle with parsley. Enjoy!

Russian pirogki

Small, large, festive, with cabbage and eggs, potatoes, with wild mushrooms or rice&fish, with jam.. It’s all about pirogi (pies in Russian) and pirogki (small pies). Pies have been always prepared and enjoyed in Russia. The word “pirog” came from a word “pir” that means feast and therefore in old Russia every festival and banquet could be hardly imagine without a large, beautiful and delicious pie.

In old times pies were generally made with rye, wholegrain or any similar flour (which is considered very healthy nowadays), such flour were available among poor people and thus pies could be eaten very often. While the white wheat flour was an expensive thing and using it was an luxury, affordable only among novelty, bourgeoisie and other high classes.

The dough could be prepared with yeast or simple unleavened, based on a soured milk or cream, also made with oil or butter (shortbread pastry). Pies fillings were diverse as well, it could be meat of wild birds like pheasant and black grouse, vegetarian – with fresh forest mushrooms during summer and autumn, with soured cabbage, eggs or dried mushrooms on a winter time, sweet – with wild berries, dried fruits or homemade preserve.

Without a doubt, serving a large pie or even several pies on a festive table was an indication of the host’s wealth and prosperity.

The dough for these pies was made with yeast and soured liquid yogurt (I used local soured drink-laban, which is very similar to Russian kefir). The dough is very tender and fluffy, and of course very easy to prepare. Pies made from this dough stay soft even on the next day!

I’m loving mashed potatoes filling since childhood, I haven’t made it pretty long time.. Second favourite filling is a mixture of chopped hard-boiled eggs&spring onions, that reminds me spring! I posted the recipe that you can find here, moreover the dough I made that time is unleavened (no any yeast) and even more quickly to prepare, but not thick and fluffy as this one. The choice is up to you, I love both. 🙂

Russian pirogki with potato filling /sour milk&yeast dough/

Time: 1hr+
Difficulty: moderate
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Instead of kefir you can use laban, buttermilk or any soured milk.

Ingredients

Dough

180g plain flour

6g instant yeast

250ml kefir, warm/at room temperature

50ml sunflower oil

a good pinch of fine salt (about 1/2 tsp)

1 tsp white sugar

1 egg yolk mixed with 1 tbsp milk, for glazing

Potato filling

400g potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

1 bay leave

1 tbsp oil (olive or sunflower)

a small knob of butter

1 medium onion, chopped

1/2 tsp dried thyme (or 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves)

15g butter

a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg, optional

salt, black paper to taste

some finely chopped parsley (2-3 tbsp)

Method

Dough

Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl, combine with yeast.
In a cup/bowl stir kefir with oil, salt and sugar.
Pour kefir mixture into flour. Mix to combine a dough. Cover with kitchen towel or plastic wrap and leave to prove for 45-60 minutes.
While the dough is proving, prepare the potato filling (recipe below).
When it’s risen, divide the dough into several equal balls. The size depends on your taste: if you wish to make small pirogki – you need small dough balls. Roll each ball slightly into round shape. The dough is soft and tender, that sometimes I don’t use rolling-pin and carefully stretch the dough with hands.
Put a tablespoon or two of potato filing into each round, close and arrange onto lined with baking paper baking tray.
Leave to rise for 10-15 minutes. Brush with egg wash.
Bake in a preheated 180C oven for 20 minutes.
Optionally, you can brush pirogki with butter. Cover with kitchen towel: it helps the dough to stay softer.
Serve warm with milk or tea.

Potato filling

In a large pan, bring water to boil. Add potatoes and bay leave, bring to boil again, reduce the heat and simmer on a medium heat for 15-20 minutes or until potatoes are soft and ready.
Meanwhile, in a small frying pan, heat oil and butter, fry onions on a medium heat until soft and lightly brown. Stir in thyme and saute for a minute more.
Drain potatoes (leave 2 tbsp of water in a pan). Add butter, nutmeg and season to taste. Mash it. Stir in fried onion and fresh parsley.

Enjoy Russian pies!

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