Tag Archives: weekend cooking

Sunday Breakfast: Oladushki

One of the most-viewed and visited posts in my blog is “oladushki”. For those of you who don’t yet know the meaning – it’s Russian name for small pancakes. Yes, it’s absolutely incorrectly to call them blini as many people do (blini are large and thin like crepes, look here), and how they are usually called in restaurants or sold in stores.

This is the perfect breakfast or brunch to spoil yourself with on the weekend, and it could be made in a short time. Russian housewives most of the time use soured or any leftover kefir to prepare these soft beauties. You can try to substitute with buttermilk, drinking but thick yogurt, or as I did – used laban (local dairy drink). Oladushki go well with many sauces: honey, sour cream, sweetened yogurt, jam or sweet condensed milk. You can also serve them as a savory breakfast: with cream cheese or sour cream along with cured salmon or caviar.

Few tips on how to make oladushki soft and fluffy (not only to add a baking soda for leaving):

you should sift the flour (add the air); do not over-mix the batter (it leads to tough texture);

let the batter rest for a half an hour and then do not stir it again (otherwise the bubbles will deflate);

carefully scoop the batter from the side of the bowl – do not dip the spoon into the center;

finally, when you flip oladushki over – do not press it with a spatula.

So, this or next weekend morning that you make these oladushki, make a few extra. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and keep in the fridge. And next hectic morning you don’t need to skip breakfast: reheat them, sit down&enjoy and plan for a successful day. 🙂

Sunday Breakfast: Russian Oladushki

Servings: 2-3
Time: 1hr
Difficulty: easy
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I served oladushki with plum preserve and vanilla yogurt.

All ingredients should be at room temperature, so take them out of the fridge 1 hour ahead.

Ingredients

1 medium egg

a pinch of fine salt

1-2 tsp white sugar

250ml kefir (laban or buttermilk), warm

170g plain flour

1/3 tsp baking soda

sunflower or any other veg.oil for frying

Method

In a large mixing bowl, beat an egg with salt and sugar until fluffy. Mix in kefir.
Sift the flour with soda into the batter. Whisk gently until the ingredients are just incorporated. Do not overmix – it leads to tough texture.
Let the batter rest for a half an hour and then do not stir it again (otherwise the bubbles will deflate).
Preheat the frying pan (until a drop of water skitters across the pan), lightly coat with oil.
Carefully scoop the batter from the side of the bowl. When oladushki are dry around the edges and bubbles over the top – turn it over. Don’t press oladushki with a spatula!
Transfer to a large plate in a single layer, keep it uncovered (you may keep them in a warm oven), while preparing the rest.
The best eaten fresh with your favorite sauces. But they also can be covered with a plastic wrap and kept in the fridge until the next morning.

Enjoy!

Sunday Breakfast: Healthy Morning Bake

When I wake up in the late morning or almost afternoon I need something quick, tasty and preferably high-protein, like this morning bake. You need max 10 minutes to assemble all ingredients together, including calcium-rich and diet-friendly cottage cheese, always-adored vanilla and some fruits! While, it’s baking you have enough time for the morning routine. And don’t forget to prepare a freshly-brewed tea: English Breakfast or White tea is a good pairing for this healthy treat. Have a lovely weekend, guys! 🙂

Healthy Morning Bake

Servings: 2-3
Time: 30-40minutes
Difficulty: very easy
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Ingredients

1 egg, at room temperature

2 tbsp white sugar (or more to taste)

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp cinnamon

180-200g tvorog (cottage cheese)

2 tbsp semolina

few tbsps of full-fat milk

1 large apple

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 large banana

1 tbsp brown or raw sugar, optional

1 tsp butter for greasing

sweet condensed milk or sour cream, for serving

Preparation method

Wash, peel (optional) and grate apple, drizzle with lemon juice and set aside. Slice banana.
In a small bowl, add semolina and some milk just to cover it, microwave on a high temperature for few seconds until it’s warm.
Beat or whisk the egg with sugar, vanilla and cinnamon for few minutes.
In a large bowl, smash tvorog with a folk to make it smooth.
Add semolina and beaten egg mixture into tvorog; stir to combine. Mix in grated apple.
Grease the baking tin. Arrange half of banana slices on the bottom, sprinkle with brown sugar (optional). Pour in tvorog mixture. Top with the rest banana slices and sprinkle with more brown sugar, if desired.
Bake in preheated 200C oven for 25-30 minutes.
Meanwhile, boil the fresh water and make a teapot of your favourite tea. Cut a good slice of the tvorog-bake and serve with a dollop of sour cream or drizzle with sweet condensed milk.
Enjoy!

Sunday Breakfast: Savory bread pudding

During the week I’m trying not to buy an extra loaf of bread, if I still have some leftover. But when I see a freshly-baked croissants it’s so hard to resist.. And the poor leftover bread is lying and waiting to be used somehow. Though I use leftover bread and make breadcrumbs with herbs or croûtons for a soup-puree, but sometimes I simply do not need it. Several years back when I started being interested in various cuisines and tried to cook different recipes, I stumbled upon one English recipe – ‘bread pudding’. I was surprised how simple this dish is, and lately – how trendy it can be. It dates back to the early 11th century England and was a popular dish among poor classes, because leftover bread was used for this frugal meal. We have similar dish in Russian cuisine, which is called ‘grenki’ (fried bread); for that we just dip white bread slices into a mixture of eggs, milk and sugar, and then fried it. But what I like the most in English version, that I can bake it and even make it a night ahead. Plus there are endless possibilities for bread pudding: I can add soaked raisins, fresh peaches or any other available berries, vary the type of bread and even make it savory! And that’s what I did this time – I cleaned up my fridge and used not only bread leftovers, I added fried mushrooms with onions (have got some from a pie filling), some peas and cheese. Simple and tasty! 🙂

Savory bread pudding

Servings: 2
Time: 30mins
Difficulty: very easy
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Also tried to add some fried smoked bacon, it adds a nice smell and taste.

Ingredients

few white bread slices, cut into cubes

2 eggs

80ml full-fat milk

1/2 dried thyme

salt, freshly ground black pepper, to taste

fried onions+ mushrooms

a handful of peas (if using frozen, no need to defreeze)

50g feta or mozzarella cheese, cut into cubes

some grated parmesan, optional

1-2 tsp butter or oil, for greasing baking dish

Method

Preheat oven to 190C. Grease a baking dish, arrange bread cubes.
In a bowl, whisk eggs with milk and spices. Pour over bread crumbs, mix with your hands or a spoon.
Mix in fried mushrooms, onions and peas. Season with some extra pepper. Put in the oven for 14-15 minutes.
Take the dish out and top with feta or mozzarella cubes. Sprinkle with some parmesan as well, if using. Put back into the oven for 5 minutes more.

Serve immediately for breakfast! Enjoy!

P.S. Even if the bread is too stale, don’t throw it – go outside and feed birds! 🙂

Savory Bread Pudding with mushrooms and peas

Sunday Breakfast: Cheesy Onion Cookies

Hello-hello! It’s been a kind of hectic week and I really didn’t have a time to post anything. But I can’t skip the Sunday breakfast series, so I decided to reblog one of my old recipes – savory onion cookies! I love this recipe: it’s quick&easy what especially valuable in the morning (ok, may be not that quick as a fried egg but worth any minute), and of course these cookies taste incredible! So, if you still haven’t tried them, click here to get the recipe. 🙂 These savory cookies combine many amazing ingredients, like a classic English cheese – Red Leicester or Cheddar, that adds a slightly sweet and nutty note to cookies, plus sautéed in butter leeks and some chilli flakes, which give you a nice and healthy jump start! 🙂 Enjoy!

Buckwheat porridge with caramelized orange and figs

Another Sunday, and here is another idea for Sunday Breakfast! This time it is a well-balanced, healthy and very tasty buckwheat porridge, that makes a fantastic breakfast treat. I guess many of you need something special to pull yourself out of the bed in the cold autumn mornings, and this warm and cozy porridge does help you!

I used for it buckwheat flakes mixed with some oats. Do you know, that buckwheat grain provides a very high level of protein, second highest only to oats! It makes this porridge high in energy, so it might help you to do more housework during the day or just stay in a good mood! 😉 For those of you who not especially concerned with buckwheat nutritional benefits, it is also tastes delicious and has a delightful nutty flavour. Plus, I topped the porridge with caramelized orange slices and figs, now you can imagine how divine and irresistible it was! Some chopped almonds or hazelnuts add an extra nice and crunchy note to your morning breakfast bowl!

Buckwheat porridge with caramelized orange and figs

Servings: 2
Time: 15mins
Difficulty: very easy
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You may drizzle the porridge with honey.

Ingredients

Porridge

100g buckwheat flakes

50-60g oatmeal

100ml water

300ml milk (I used full fat)

a pinch of salt

1 tbsp white or brown sugar (to taste)

vanilla pod or 1 tsp vanilla extract

Topping

3-4 tbsp white sugar

2 large figs or 3 medium, cut into fourths

1 large orange, peeled and cut into 1cm slices

2-3 tbsp lemon juice

8-10 whole toasted almonds, roughly chopped

Method

Put the water and milk in a saucepan over a medium heat, when it just begins to boil, add buckwheat flakes, oatmeal and all other ingredients for the porridge. Stir to combine. Reduce the heat to low, simmer for 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally. If the porridge is too thick add more milk or water. Turn off the heat, cover with a lid and leave for 4-5 minutes.
Meanwhile, put a pan with sugar on a medium-high heat. Don’t stir it, allow to become lightly golden. Add figs and orange slices, caramelize for 2-3 minutes on each side. Turn the heat off. Take out figs and orange slices. Add lemon juice to the pan and stir with all sugar and juices in the pan.
Spoon the porridge into bowls and top with figs and orange slices. Pour over the sweet juice from the pan. Sprinkle with almonds.

Enjoy warm and cozy breakfast!