Tag Archives: Russian dish

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

WhiteCurrant tart

 Hello-hello! I love summer because it’s berry season! May be not that summer when the outside temperature is +40C or even 50C.. Hope you are having the same great summer as I do this time in Russia: lots of organic berries, vegetables and greens, amazing weather, long walks and talks with friends. But sometimes the weather plays a joke: in the morning can be so cold that you need a thick jacket, later so hot – you need a dress instead of jacket, and so on..Russian FieldRussian Nature
 Talking about summer berries, currants is super common and one of the popular type of berry in Russia. I’m sure many of you tried redcurrants or seen it in supermarkets, or tried a dessert garnished with it. Here, there are three types of currants: black, red and white. They differ from one another not only in their color; blackcurrant is the sweetest one, red is tender and sour, and whitecurrant is sweet-and-sour with lots of seeds. And I guess, the white one is less-known, so I’ve been determined to make something tasty with these beautiful berries. Here, they are usually eaten as is or they make compotes (cold drink), jams. I made shortcrust pastry with tvorog (cottage cheese), filled with tender tvorog filling (yes, again cottage cheeese! I love it!) and scattered whitecurrants over the top. Yummy! A slice of whitecurrant tart
 So, how is your summer going on? 🙂White Currants in RussiaWhite Currant Tart

WhiteCurrant tart

  • Servings: 6-8
  • Difficulty: easy
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The recipe calls for whitecurrants, which are usually uncommon, so use redcurrants or any berries that you can get.
If you’re using frozen berries, don’t defreeze it.
I used 22cm baking tin.
Ingredients
Pastry
200g flour
100g butter, cut into small cubes
100g tvorog/cottage cheese (I used 0% fat)
1 egg
Filling
3 eggs
70-100g sugar or fructose (depends on your taste)
300-350g sour cream (20-30% fat)
100g tvorog/cottage cheese (I used 0% fat)
1 tsp vanilla sugar/extract
450-500g whitecurrants
Preparation method
  • To make the pastry, place flour, butter in a large bowl (or in the food processor) and mix to get breadcrumbs. Mix in tvorog. Add egg and mix until just comes together. Shape into a disc, cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
  • Roll the pastry on a lightly floured table to form a round. Grease the baking tin and lightly dust with flour. Arrange pastry into the baking tin. Place in the fridge to cool while you’re preparing the filling.
  • Preheat oven to 180C.
  • In a bowl, whisk eggs with sugar. Beat in sour cream. Add cottage cheese and vanilla, whisk to combine.
  • Take the pastry out the fridge, pour in filling. Scatter over berries.
  • Bake for 35-40 minutes. Leave to cool in the baking tin, then carefully remove from the tin and serve.
Enjoy!

Macaroni a la flot

 Flot means fleet in Russian. This simple dish consists of macaroni mixed with fried minced meat. In 17-18th centuries, in Russia similar dishes were quite popular among travelers and especially sailors; that no-fridge time meat was salted-cured and kept in barrels, thus seamen could cut a piece of the meat anytime, fry it and mix with some boiled macaroni. The dish became popular again during World War, but instead of fresh or frozen meat was used tushonka – canned stewed meat (usually fatty pork or beef), which was always on hand, and it could be stored up for years without loosing its nutritional value. Post-war period was also hard time for Russia, so such not expensive and nourishing dish didn’t get out of use. Nowadays, ‘macaroni a la flot’ are still widely-cooked and well-known dish; normally pasta tubes are used for macaroni, which mixed with fried minced meat (it can be pork, beef or mixture), onions and sometimes tomato paste or fresh chopped tomatoes.Macaroni a la flot

Macaroni a la flot

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: easy
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You may try to add a shredded carrot or chopped tomato and saute it along with meat.

Ingredients
500g minced beef meat (with not less then 15% fat, or you may add some pork)
350g uncooked tube macaroni (like maccheroni, maccheroncini, bucatini, ziti or any other)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 Tbsp sunflower oil (or any other veg.oil)
1/2 Tbsp butter
salt, black pepper
chopped parsley or fennel for garnish, optional
Instructions
  1. In a deep pan, melt the butter with oil on a medium heat, add onion and fry for 4-5 minutes. Add meat and use wooden or stiff spatula to break it up into small pieces. Season to taste. Ensure you stir the meat regularly so it doesn’t stick to the pan and to  make sure it cook evenly. The meat is cooked when it shows no signs of pink.
  2. Meanwhile, put pasta into a large pot of boiling water. Be sure to add plenty of salt to the water. Cook the macaroni according to package instruction.
  3. Add 3-4 Tbsp of pasta-boiling water to the meat, mix well.
  4. When the pasta is al dente, drain it and add to the pan with meat. Give it a good stir.
  5. Serve warm. Sprinkle with chopped parsley or fennel, if desired.

Enjoy!