Tag: dinner (Page 12 of 17)
Cabbage and Chicken Salad
January 8th, 2011 in Salads by Julia Volhina
I love cabbage. It is available in the stores whole year, and it somehow manages to preserve such important nutrient as vitamin C (and some others) till late winter. This makes cabbage a good choice of food when your body particularly needs more vitamins.
I consider this a winter salad: cabbage is available any time in the store, as well as chicken and cheese; but it will also taste great when prepared from fresh young cabbage, which is much softer and more juicier.
Additionally, I usually season this salad with dry bread cubes right before serving. I prepare them myself from leftover bread: just dice it and dry in the oven (can’t call them croutons, as they don’t have any seasoning or oil added in the process of preparation). But I guess you can use croutons from the shop instead or skip this part all together.
Veal Roast with Mustard and Garlic
January 1st, 2011 in Beef, Main Dishes by Julia Volhina
This veal roast is a good choice for romantic or family dinner. Meat can be prepared for cooking in advance, like a night before, and then roast day after. That will make meat even better marinated.
I think veal is the best for this recipe, but since veal is hard to get and can be quite pricey – beef can be used as well. If you choose to cook beef – increase roasting time a bit.
Veal roast can be served warm straight from the oven, as one piece or spiced into portions. It also tastes good cooled down.
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).
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 🙂
Chicken Schnitzels (Chicken Tenders)
October 16th, 2010 in Chicken, Main Dishes by Julia Volhina
This recipe for chicken tenders (or beaten chicken cutlets) is somewhat similar to pork schnitzels, except for the fact they are made from chicken, of course.
In additional to breading (for which, I must say, ground breadcrumbs work the best), cooking of those require some agility to cut chicken breasts into flat portion pieces: so if you are wondering how to do that – keep reading 🙂
Chicken tenders are perfect for dinner; you can store leftover tenders in the fridge and warm them up for lunch or eat cold and they are great for sandwiches.
Meatballs with Carrot-Tomato Sauce
September 4th, 2010 in Beef, Main Dishes by Julia Volhina
Russian meatballs (or “tefteli” how they are called in Russia) are prepared from ground beef and rice mix and cooked under some kind of sauce. They usually have big size (1 or 2 meatballs is enough for a serving).
This is a recipe for “tefteli” my mom uses: big meatballs, dipped into flour, then fried over in some oil and cooked with vegetable sauce (carrots, tomatoes, onions and dill) until ready.
I’ve modified recipe a bit to use freshly pureed tomatoes instead of tomato paste. However, if you don’t have fresh tomatoes under your hands, you can use canned tomatoes or tomato paste diluted with water.
Boiled potatoes or mashed potatoes are usually the first choice of side dish for tefteli for me, boiled buckwheat or pasta work good too.
French Onion Soup
August 14th, 2010 in Hot Soups, Soups by Julia Volhina
I absolutely love this tender onion and cheese soup with a light hint of spices and dry white wine. It is very good choice for home dinner party or romantic dinner just for you two.
You can prepare most of the steps in advance (from step 1 to step 9), then pour soup to the bowls, add bread and cheese and put them to the oven right before serving. That will save you a bit of time and ensure every meal comes fresh and warm at the right time.
My advice would be to use home prepared broth, cooked with good quality beef, carrots, onions, parsley and celery for this soup. If you need some hints on how to prepare beef broth, follow these instructions.