Tag: carrot (Page 5 of 8)
Tomato and Rice Soup
April 16th, 2011 in Hot Soups, Soups by Julia Volhina
Gentle tomato soup with rice filling garnished with freshly chopped basil is a russian variant of tomato-basil soup.
It is beef broth based and if you want to make it more tomaty and thick, reduce amount of water you use for broth and increase amount of tomatoes.
I’ve garnished soup with basil even though it isn’t very widespread in Russia, but it gives a nice kick to flavor of this soup. After all basil and tomatoes are the combination which can never taste wrong.
Lazy Cabbage Rolls
March 19th, 2011 in Beef, Main Dishes by Julia Volhina
Lazy cabbage rolls, or “lenyvi golubtsi” how this dish is called in ukrainian, is an easier version of ukrainian cabbage rolls.
Since it doesn’t require assembling of rolls it is much easier to prepare, and taste is very similar to cabbage rolls.
Lazy cabbage rolls taste great when seasoned with a bit of chopped garlic and a bit of mayo.
Russian Lenten Mushroom Soup
February 19th, 2011 in Hot Soups, Soups by Julia Volhina
This soup doesn’t include any meat, it is based on mushrooms and have vegetables (carrot, parsley and celery roots, potato) as well as pearl barley.
Such kind of mushroom soup is very popular in Russia. Various kind of mushrooms can be used in this recipe, but I must say fresh or frozen porcini are the best tasting ones, if you can find them, of course.
If you are not trying to follow Great Lent rules – my advise is don’t skip on sour cream, 1 tablespoon of sour cream to the bowl of mushroom soup not only adds nutrients, but also gives the soup its unique rich taste.
Chicken Pilaf
January 22nd, 2011 in Chicken, Main Dishes by Julia Volhina
An easy tweak to classic pilaf recipe – chicken instead of lamb – will make this dish to shine all different colors. Chicken require less time to cook, it is more lean so, let’s say it is more healthy and also faster to prepare 🙂
Using whole chicken is an option, but in this case you probably need to bone it first (unless you like to chew on bones).
Take boneless thighs, if you don’t like to spend time removing bones. Chicken breasts can be used as well, but may end up being too dry – mix them up with some other parts such us thighs or so.
Another trick to this recipe is using cast-iron pan, ideally round one. It makes rice to cook more evenly which is more important part – get soft not overcooked rice.
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).
Buckwheat Soup
October 30th, 2010 in Hot Soups, Soups by Julia Volhina
This is good soup to cook at winter: time when fresh herbs are not full of flavor and most of vegetables are not as full of nutrients as fresh ones.
Root vegetables used in this recipe (potatoes, carrots, parsley and celery roots) are good on keeping their nutrient through whole winter and buckwheat grains add even more.
As for most of meat broth based soups, you can save some time cooking it by preparing meat broth in advance: night before or so, and then reheat before cooking buckwheat soup itself.
I really encourage you to cook beef broth yourself, whatever they say in those advertisements, but broth from can can’t be the same good as broth prepared by yourself from ingredients you choose, it is not that hard after all.
Chicken Liver Pate
September 11th, 2010 in Appetizers & Snacks by Julia Volhina
I find dishes from any kind of liver not very popular on this side of the globe. However I can’t see anybody not liking this one: chicken liver pâté or “pashtet” like it is called in Russia.
Pate in russian cousine is prepared mostly from liver cooked, ground and mixed with butter and few additions to taste. For chicken liver pate I add onions, carrots, a dash of nutmeg and a spoon of cognac, see the instruction below.
Chicken liver pate can be served as appetizer or snack, on bread, toasts, crackers or flat breads. You can also exercise a pastry chief inner self and arrange pate flowers using pastry bag.