Recent Posts: Page 44 of 59
Omelette with Sour Cream and Cheese
December 25th, 2010 in Eggs, Main Dishes, No-meat by Julia Volhina
Easy to do breakfast for two (or more, if needed) – omelette with sour cream seasoned with shredded cheese, chopped dill and green onions.
This omelette is good as it is, as well it can be used as a base for various stuffing.
This recipe doesn’t require flour (is gluten free); amounts of sour cream, cheese and greens can be varied to taste.
Easier Borscht with Precooked Beets and Beans
December 18th, 2010 in Hot Soups, Soups by Julia Volhina
One of the challenges when cooking classic beet root soup, borscht, is to get all vegetables (and there are quite few) cooked till perfect readiness at the same time.
Considering different vegetables require different cooking time it is sometimes hard to achieve. For borscht you need to make sure beens are soft, while potatoes are not over cooked and beets don’t lose their color.
So, to make this happen: I cook beens in a separate cooking pot (just until they are soft and ready), cook beets skin on (like for salad) in separate pot in advance, and add these two to the main cooking pot at appropriate times.
By the way, using of canned beets and beens instead of cooking them yourself is an option (which I never did, but it may safe you some time).
How to Blanch and Deseed Tomatoes
December 11th, 2010 in Tips, Advices & How-to by Julia Volhina
Blanching and deseeding tomatoes may seem like a hassle considering big choice of canned already blanched and deseeded tomatoes in a nearby grocery shop.
However, I think no canned tomatoes or tomato paste can compare with the fresh tomatoes blanched and deseeded right before cooking.
Blanched and sometimes also deseeded tomatoes are used to cook soups and stews, as well as to prepare tomato juice, tomato paste, various dips and sauces.
Open Sandwich with Ham, Pineapple and Cheese
December 4th, 2010 in Appetizers & Snacks by Julia Volhina
This is a kind of sandwich you would call hawaiian, and I guess that is mostly because of ham and pineapple.
I never been to Hawaii, so can’t tell what’s up with them and pineapple / ham combination. So I just roll with it 🙂
The whole trick here is to assemble sandwiches (by the way, you can do it in advance) and then put them to the oven for the time enough to melt cheese and warm the rest up, just before you are planing to bring sandwiches to the table, and when ready – serve warm.
Ingredients in this recipe is enough to prepare hot 6 sandwiches, if you need more or less just adjust amounts.
Boiled Potato with Sour Cream and Garlic
November 27th, 2010 in No-meat, Sides by Julia Volhina
There is no easiest way to cook potato than boiling. You get tasty and nutritious dish fast and with literally no hassle: just clean it, put to the cooking pot, bring to boil and wait.
Young potato boiled skin on tastes especially good when dressed with several spoons of sour cream, seasoned with chopped dill and minced garlic.
If you don’t have young small potatoes, use red skin ones, or any others. Clean potatoes before boiling, for young potatoes washing will be enough, old potato may need to be peeled.
Stuffed Pork Rolls with Mushrooms (Kruchenyky)
November 20th, 2010 in Main Dishes, Pork by Julia Volhina
Kruchenyky or zavyvantsi – meat rolls prepared with pork (less often with beef) and stuffed with various mixes. This is very popular dish of traditional ukrainian cuisine.
Stuffings for kruchenyky, as well as sauces, vary from region to region and, actually, from cook to cook.
I like kruchenyky prepared from pork loin and stuffed with mushrooms or mushroom mix with some other ingredients, fried and then baked under cream sauce. Just like in this recipe.
It may seem like lot of hassle to cook these stuffed pork rolls, but it is really not as hard as it looks; and is really tasty 🙂
Beet Salad with Prunes and Walnuts
November 13th, 2010 in Salads by Julia Volhina
Beet salad with prunes, walnuts and onions dressed up with mayo or sour cream or both is one of the traditional salads of ukrainian cuisine.
Also, this dish is one of the not many dishes which uses beets as a main ingredient.
It is very important to use sweet and rich red color beets for this salad. So, when buying beets scratch their skin with a nail: dark red pulp under skin is a sign of good beet, not pink and not white.
It is also important to use good quality walnuts; taste before you buy them: old walnuts can be bitter and using such will make you salad taste bitter as well.