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Savories

Zucchini Fritters

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Zucchini is my
favorite vegetable in cooking. It is so versatile that you can make almost anything
with it: from sweet bread to savory ragout. It is also a very popular vegetable
in Russia, since it is easy to grow. One year my mom harvested so many zucchini
at her dacha that she was practically giving them away to people in the street.
As for me, I was obligated to take a couple to any social gathering.
Surprisingly, my friends liked this kind of gift, since I used it to make
zucchini fritters for them.

Cooking time: 30 minutes
Makes 12 fritters

Ingredients:

  • 2
    medium-sized zucchini (about 450 grams)
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 tablespoons
    floor
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • ½ cup of
    chopped dill, parsley and scallions

For sour
cream sauce:

  • 1 cup sour
    cream
  • 1 garlic
    clove, pressed
  • Salt and
    pepper to taste

Directions

Grate the zucchini
into a colander in the sink; toss with 2
teaspoons of salt and let it sit for 10 minutes.

Squeeze out
the liquid. Mix with eggs, flour and half of the mixture of chopped herbs chopped
herbs.

Pan-fry spoonful
of the mixture in olive oil, flattening with a spatula, 3 to 4 minutes per
side. Drain on paper towels.

Make the sauce by combining the other half of the chopped herbs and pressed garlic clove. Seasoning with salt sand pepper to taste.

Kulebiaka – Salmon in Pastry

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This is a rich flaky pastry, filled normally with a mixture of salmon, cabbage, and mushrooms (many other filling choices are possible as well), then rolled up and baked. It is served hot or cold in thick slices, with the addition of extra butter and the inevitable sour cream or hot chicken bouillon.
I would have never attempted to take on this recipe without the presence of an expert like my grandma by my side. What changed my mind is a book by Anya Von Bremzen “Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking: A Memoir of Food and Longing”. In this book Anya Von Bremzen describes the life of her family in Russia during the years of 1910-2011. After reading it, I felt like it filled in my mind many missing pieces of the puzzled history of my home county and inspired me to make this dish.

Ingredients:

Pastry

  • ¼ cup warm milk
  • 2¼ teaspoons active dry yeast
  • 2 tsp. sugar
  • 1 large raw egg
  • 2 hard-cooked eggs
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • ¾ cup sour cream
  • 8 Tbs.  unsalted butter, cut in small cubes
  • + 4 Tbs. for the filling
  • 2¼ cups flour, more if needed
  • 3 Tbs. canola oil

Filling

  • 8 oz. salmon, cut into 1-inch
    pieces 
  • 8 oz. cod, cut into 1-inch pieces 
  • 2 medium chopped onions
  • 10 oz cremini mushrooms, finely
    chopped
  • 1 cup cooked rice3 Tbs. chopped dill
  • 3 Tbs. chopped parsley
  • 2 Tbs. vermouth or dry sherry
  • 2 Tbs. lemon juice
  • 3 Tbs. chicken stock
  • Pinch of nutmeg
  • pepper 

For assembling

  • 2-3 Tbs. dried bread crumbs
  • 1 egg yolk whisked with 2 tsp.
    milk for glazing

Directions

Pastry
In a medium bowl stir together : ¼
cup warm milk, 2¼
teaspoons active dry yeast and 2
tsp. sugar and let
stand until foamy. Whisk in the raw egg,
½ cup sour cream, and the salt.

In a large bowl, combine the 8 tablespoons of cut butter with 2¼ cups flour.
Using your fingers, work the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles
coarse bread crumbs. Add the yeast mixture and stir well with your hands to
make a soft dough. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Bring the dough to room temperature, about 1
hour. Grease a mixing bowl with a little butter or oil. Turn the dough out onto
a floured work surface and kneads, adding more flour as needed, until smooth
and no longer sticky, about 5 minutes. Transfer the dough to the greased bowl,
cover with plastic wrap, and leave in a warm place until doubled in size, about
2 hours.

Filling

In a large skillet heat the oil and 2
tablespoons butter over medium-high heat. Add the salmon and cod and cook,
turning once, with fish just begins to flake, about 7 minutes. Transfer the
fish to a large bowl. Return the skillet to medium-high heat and add the
remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Add the onions and cook until golden. Add the
mushrooms and cook until they are golden and the liquid they throw off has
evaporated, about 7 minutes, adding more oil if the skillet looks dry. Transfer
the mushrooms and onions to the bowl with the fish. Add the remaining ¼ cup
sour cream, the hard-cooked eggs, rice, dill, parsley, vermouth, lemon juice,
stock and nutmeg. Mix everything well with 2 forks, stirring gently to break up
the fish. Season with salt and pepper. Let the filling cool to room temperature.

Assembling

Preheat the oven 400°F with the rack set in the center. Half the dough and form 2 logs. On two lightly floured sheets of wax paper, roll each log into a 10×16-inch rectangle.

  Transfer  one dough sheet to a large foil-lined baking
sheet. Sprinkle with bread crumbs, leaving 1-inch border. Spread the filling
over the bread crumbs, leaving 1-inch border. 

Spread the filling over the bread
crumbs in a neat compact layer. Drape the remaining dough over the filling and
pinch the edges to seal. Trim excess dough from the edges, and reserve scarps.
Fold up the edges of dough and crimp decoratively. Let the kulebiaka rise for
15 minutes. Brush the top of pastry with egg glaze made of 1 egg yolk whisked with 2 tsp. milk.

Poke small holes through the top of the dough for steam to escape. Bake
until golden and beautiful, about 35 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes, cut into
slices, and serve.

Blini – Russian Pancakes

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Blini is a traditional dish of Russian cuisine. The cooking  process might seem intimidating with all the
flipping and swirling. To solve this problem I have organized a blini workshop. It was a total success: everyone who participated made a discovery that it is fast and easy and doesn’t require expensive pans (dah!).
Many recipes and traditions have been linked to Russian
pancakes but one thing remains unaltered – these small, tasty symbols of the sun are still loved and eaten everywhere. 

Here is  my the basic recipe.

Cooking time: 35 min
Servings: 16-20

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup (200 grams) all-purpose flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 1.5 Tbsp sugar
  • 1¾ cups (400 ml) milk
  • 2/3 cup (150 ml) water
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 50 grams melted butter
  • pinch of salt

Directions

Sift the four in a large bowl and add a pinch of salt. Make
a small hole in the middle and break eggs inside. While whisking the eggs while
add flour from the sides. Combine milk, warm water and sugar in a separate cup.
Poor gradually to the flour mixture. I use ladle to break the lumps against the
bowl. Small lumps are ok. Set batter aside to rest for 20 minutes. Add 2
tablespoons of vegetable oil. The batter should be runny.

Now, preheat an 8-inch nonstick sauté pan over medium heat. I
usually cook with 2 pans to speed up the process. Lightly brush the pan with
melted butter. Pour 1 full ladle or 1/3 cup batter into the hot pan, twirling
the pan so the batter spreads out evenly into a very thin layer. Cook about 40-60
seconds until the crepe comes away from the sides of the pan. Gently flip the
crepe over with your fingers or the help of a thin spatula and continue cooking
another 40 seconds. Transfer to a plate, brush with melted butter and repeat
cooking blini until all the batter is used.

Now
the blini can be filled and topped to your liking. My favorite fillings are
smoked salmon, cottage cheese with raspberry jam and sweet ricotta with
raisins. 

Zucchini cakes: from simple to intricate

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Zucchini is my favorite vegetable to cook with: in cakes and ragout, soups and omelets. It is a very popular vegetable in Russian culture since it is easy to grow. There are many dishes with zucchinis; there’s even zucchini caviar! I was never a fan of it mostly because of texture; I prefer them crunchy not mushy. One year, when I visiting my friends in Moscow, my mom harvested so much that she basically gave them away to people in the street. For me, it was a great gift to bring since I would cook it as well. Here are 2 versions: an easy recipe and an intricate one.

Easy zucchini cakes

Ingredients:

  • 2 medium-sized zucchini (about 400 grams)
  • 1 egg
  • 1/3-½ cup of flour
  • ¼ teaspoon of baking soda
  • ½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
  • 1 clove of garlic, pressed
  • ½ teaspoon of salt

Directions

In a medium bowl grate the zucchini over a paper towel. Sprinkle with salt and let it sit for 5 minutes. Squeeze out the juice and discard the paper towel. Add egg, flour, mozzarella cheese, and salt. Stir well enough to distribute ingredients evenly.

Heat a small amount of oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Move the zucchini mixture to the skillet in heaping tablespoonfuls, and cook for a few minutes on each side until golden. Serve with sour cream, of course.

Intricate zucchini cakes

These cakes have more vegetables and get baked in the oven which makes them even healthier. I usually make a double batch since everybody likes them in my family.

Ingredients:

  • 1 medium-sized zucchini
  • 1 medium-sized carrot
  • 1 small onion
  • 1 egg
  • 2-3 tablespoons of flour
  • 4 oz of feta, crumbled
  • ½ cup plain yogurt
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • 3 strings of dill

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375F.

Grate zucchini over a clean kitchen towel and sprinkle with salt. Wait 10 minutes and then squeeze well to remove the excess water.

While you’re waiting for the salt to soak up moisture from the zucchini, grate a carrot and dice an onion. Chop dill. Now mix all the vegetables in a big bowl and add 1 lightly beaten egg. The batter shouldn’t be runny. Add more flour if needed. Stir in crumbled feta (last time I used goat feta and it was delicious).

Place a parchment paper over the baking sheet and spray with olive oil. Use a tablespoon to drop the zucchini mixture onto the baking sheet. Flatten them slightly with the back side of spatula, leaving a little space in between each cake. Bake 20-25 minutes until lightly golden.

In a small bowl make a sauce by mixing together the plain yogurt and garlic pasted with salt. Enjoy!

Khachapuri – Georgian Cheese Bread

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Cooking time: 50 minutes
Prep time: 20 minutes
Portions: 12  

Khachapuri was a popular street food in Moscow when I was a student. I used to buy this homemade pastry in college as I was walking back to the student dorm rooms. The Georgian clerk was always flirting with me in his southern accent, and offered to give me a ride home while giving me change. As it turned out, he had been flirting with all my girlfriends. Nevertheless, I had to stop buying this delicious pastry from that shop…..but many, many years later, I learned to make it on my own. 

Khachapuri has many layers of puffed pastry dough with cheese filing in between. Here is my adaptation of this recipe: 2 layers of dough with one layer of filling. It takes some skill, but it is definitely worth the effort!

The essential ingredient for the dough is tvorog (Russian ricotta cheese). For the filling: suluguni cheese (lightly salted feta or mozzarella.) You can buy both of them at any Russian store or European Deli. If you don’t feel adventurous, just get ricotta for the dough and mild feta or Muenster cheese for filling.

Ingredients:

  • 250 gram of tvorog or strained ricotta cheese
  • 150 gram of soften butter
  • 2 eggs
  • 1.5 cups of flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • pinch of salt
  • 250 gram of suluguni
  • 1 Tbsp of sour cream
  • 1 clove of garlic, pressed

Directions

Make the dough first by mixing together soften butter, ricotta, one egg, salt and baking powder with a mixer on low. Finish by kneading the dough slightly on a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough in two parts and wrap with plastic. Place in fridge. 

Meanwhile, prepare the filling. Grade the cheese in a medium size bowl, add one egg, 1 table spoon of sour cream and press the garlic clove. Mix thoroughly. You can do all the prep work a day ahead.

Preheat the oven to 400F. Grease the baking sheet. On a floured surface, roll one part of the dough. It usually rolls very smooth so don’t press too much to avoid making holes. Even if it happens you can start all over. I get mine about 22 inches in diameter, not too thin. Then I transfer it on the baking sheet with a roller pin.

Then spread the filling, leaving half inch space along the edges. Roll the second part of the dough same size as the previous one and place on top with the help of a roller pin as well.

Now pinch the edges together. Using pastry brush wash a lightly beaten egg and poke holes with fork here and there so the hot air can get away.

Bake for 40-45 minutes till the top gets golden brown.

Let it cool before serving. Khachapuri tastes great with any vegetable soup and sweet hot tea.