Recent Posts: Page 49 of 59
Fried Beef Liver with Onions
April 24th, 2010 in Beef, Main Dishes by Julia Volhina
Liver is an irreplaceable source of various nutrients which are very important for human health. It has biggest concentration of a vitamin A comparing to all other food sources; natural source of vitamin D, B12 and C, phosphorus and copper; it is high on protein of animal origin; and the most important, it is rich source of easily absorbed iron – that made liver a part of the treatment for pernicious anemia.
Saying all of that, I was very surprised of how hard it was to find fresh beef liver in a local shops (true to tell I didn’t try a local farmer markets, didn’t locate any around yet). I am also pretty sure, what liver dishes are not very popular in this part of the earth globe, however they are traditional in Europe: Germany, Russia, Ukraine, and a believe a lot of other countries.
So here is my attempt to fix that: fried beef liver with onions – is perfect lunch or dinner dish, it is very easy to cook and, as I already mentioned above, it is very nutritious. Important tip: do not overcook liver, to preserve as much goodness as you can.
Fresh Cheese Dumplings (Varenyky with Cheese)
April 17th, 2010 in Main Dishes, No-meat by Julia Volhina
Varenyky with fresh cheese (perogies or vareniki or vareniky with fresh cheese) is one of the traditional Ukrainian dishes for dumplings. You will need fresh white cow milk cheese (quark) to prepare those, which can be a bit hard to find (try some east european store, if that is the case).
To your taste, you can make these dumplings sweet (by adding sugar to cheese) or savory (skip sugar in the filling all together); either kind will taste great with sour cream.
Prepared not boiled fresh cheese dumplings can be frozen up and boiled when you need them; which makes them perfect food for lunch. Boiled dumplings maybe be stored in a fridge and warmed up by frying with a bit of butter over moderate heat.
How to Prepare Dough for Dumplings
April 10th, 2010 in Tips, Advices & How-to by Julia Volhina
Usually to prepare dumplings you need just 3 things: dough, stuffing and inspiration.
Below you will find simplest recipe for dumplings dough: only water, salt, all purpose flour and some time for kneading are needed to prepare it. And because there is no egg included this dough tastes soft and tender.
As for stuffing it is all up to you, you may cook dumplings filled with one or multiple kinds of minced meat or fish (such as “pelmeni” or “manty”) or “varenyky” / “vareniki” or “pierogi” which are filled with sweet (various berries or fresh cheese with sugar) or savory (sautéed cabbage/ sauerkraut, potatoes, potatoes and mushrooms, potatoes and fresh cheese) stuffing.
And as for inspiration – I can’t really advice you anything here, but since you are reading this post and decided to cook dumplings, I believe you’ve already found yours.
Crepes Stuffed with Apple
April 3rd, 2010 in Main Dishes, No-meat by Julia Volhina
For some reasons, I always cook a bit too much than we can eat at once, especially when it comes to crêpes.
So there are some times when I am wondering what to do with all those extra crêpes left from the yesterday.
Here is nice idea how else you can eat left over crêpes: stuff them with honey and apples – those will get you full fast, and because stuffing is pure apple – you will also eat good nutritious breakfast.
If you are interested to know how to cook thin crêpes – read here.
Stewed Beef with Onions
March 27th, 2010 in Beef, Main Dishes by Julia Volhina
It felt like a time for some nice beef stew recipe, so here it goes: beef stewed with onions is a dish my mom was always cooking, when I was little. Well, maybe she didn’t put a wine, but besides of that – that is the dish I am used to from my childhood.
It is very easy to do, probably the easiest stew recipe I know, and doesn’t take much time to cook. Wine adds a nice hint to the taste, but it is completely optional: just replace it with a cup of water if you don’t have a cup of dry red wine.
This dish goes good with mashed potatoes or boiled buckwheat as a side dish.
Summer Salad with Tomatoes and Cucumbers
March 20th, 2010 in Salads by Julia Volhina
After all those snow emergencies, I’ve got hungry for some fresh vegetables. Lucky for me there are plenty in the nearby grocery store: despite there is no summer here yet.
So I decided to make simplest salad I know: summer salad with tomatoes and cucumbers, seasoned with chopped fresh dill and green onions, and dressed with oil.
This salad is perfect for any meat or poultry main dish. And even though it is not quite summer yet, I hope you are the same lucky like me and can buy fresh tomatoes and cucumbers right now to enjoy taste of fresh vegetables and replenish your body with some vitamins.
Fried Chicken
March 13th, 2010 in Chicken, Main Dishes by Julia Volhina
It is the easiest way to cook chicken: get meat pieces, rub them with salt and spices, and then fry. Nothing complex and yet still very tasty.
Whole chicken legs are the best for this recipe, you can even get into more extreme and fry whole halves of chicken or cornish hen (bigger pieces are more juicy, but you may need to increase cooking time for big portions of meat).
Drumsticks, thighs and even wings can be cooked the same way: but you may need to reduce cooking time and increase amount of spices – just keep proportion of spice the same: 1 part of cumin to 1 part of ground black pepper to 2 parts of ground coriander – and it will be fine.