Russian Monday: "Lenivie Golubtsy" - Lazy Style Cabbage Rolls

Nobody knows exact origin of golubtsy (pronounced in Russian as “go-loob-zy”), i.e. Russian traditional stuffed cabbage dish, neither origin of its name. One thing is for certain – this dish is tasty, satisfying and impossible to get bored with due to tens of variations of the same recipe. One of such variations is named “lazy golubtsy”.

Mushroom Risotto with Coconut Milk

I started my risotto only with garlic, mushrooms and rice. The rest of the ingredients I was choosing during the process.  The coconut milk proved to be an excellent idea for the taste and touch of turmeric has given risotto a nice bright color. The end result - exquisitely tasty dish!

Stuffed Peppers with Spicy Rice & Cabbage (Vegetarian)

Recently I have received a package of PROGRESSO sauces to use in my recipes. Today I was making vegetarian dinner for my husband and did not feel like spending much time in the kitchen. Luckily, I have roasted tomato sauce for my recipe in advance, and hence - cooked the dish in no time. There is always something special about stuffed dishes, it's like having the main ingredient with surprise flavors. Try not to over-bake the peppers, they are very nice when they still have a little crunch.

Russian Monday:"Golubtsy" Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

Stuffed cabbage or golubtsy (“go-lub-tzy”) in Russian is a dish of Middle Eastern as well as European cuisine. This name usually refers to ground beef mixed with boiled rice or buckwheat wrapped in cabbage leaves. However, there are many varieties of fillings and the dish is popular in a many countries – Azerbaijan, Armenia, the Balkan countries, Moldova, Russian, Turkey, and Ukraine etc.

Almond-Rice Cream Pudding

Blanched ground almonds contribute crunch and subtle sweetness to this creamy rice pudding.

Stuffed Tomatoes with Rice & Mushrooms

Stuffed Tomatoes with Rice and Mushrooms makes a pleasant lunch dish or an attractive accompaniment to main dishes.

Russian Monday: "Kulebyaka" - Authentic Russian Pie with Salmon, Rice, Mushrooms, Onions and Dill

Today in our Russian section we present “Kulebyaka”. This traditional pie is an ideal dish for special occasions and it makes a perfect brunch. My daughter helped me to make it – we’ve been preparing dough, making crêpes used in stuffing and decorated the pie together. As we were cooking, I have shared with her the story of this dish and how it should be served. I hope you are interested too, so here it is.

Shrimp Etouffée - Spicy, Salty, Delicious!

The name Etouffée refers to "smothering" the seafood with a heavy sauce. This method of cooking has its roots in Creole cuisine, and if you take the time to prepare this dish properly you will be very proud of your Creole skills.



Ingredients:

• 3 Tbsp. peanut oil
• 3 Tbsp. flour
• 1 yellow onion, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 green sweet bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 3 ribs celery, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
• 3 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 1/4 cup chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 Tbsp. whole basil leaves
• 1 Tbsp. whole thyme leaves
• 1 Tbsp. plus 1/2 tsp Tabasco
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 green onions, chopped
• 1 1/2 pounds shrimp, peeled and uncooked
• cooked rice for serving

Directions:

Heat a large Dutch oven and add the oil and flour. Toast this to a peanut-butter-colored roux. This should take about 10 minutes over medium heat. Be careful not to burn this. Stir often.

Add the yellow onion, bell pepper, celery, and garlic. Saute for about 10 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Stir in the tomato paste, followed by the broth and wine. Stir constantly until this mixture thickens. Add the remaining ingredients, except the shrimp, and rice. Simmer, covered, for about 30 minutes.

Add the shrimp and simmer for 15-20 minutes, uncovered.

Serve over cooked rice. This is also great with Zucchini Tian or Corn Pudding.

Cream of Rice Soup with Curry, Mushrooms, and Roasted Red Pepper Puree

You may substitute any fresh herb for a Parsley Sauce. Other dried mushrooms can also be used, but none will give the intensity of porcini. You will simply have a milder flavored soup.

When buying mushrooms leveled "cepes" or "porcini", let your nose lead you. The mushrooms should have a rich, woodsy character with overtones of leather. Dried ceps or porcini are very easy to use. Just pop them into a long-cooking stew and let them cast their magic. Or cover the mushrooms with water, bring to boil, simmer them, and watch the liquid become black with richness. Use that liquid as the base of a soup or sauce. This will  make the liquid much more flavorful. Remember, the magic is in the liquid, not the reconstituted mushroom.

The recipe from A Cook's Book of Mushrooms



Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:

• 1 cup basmati rice, rinsed well
• 1/2 ounce dried porcini or any other mushrooms you prefer
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 2 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil
• 1/2 small onion, thinly sliced
• 2 tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp paprika
• 2 cups milk
• 3 Tbsp Red Pepper Puree

For the Red Pepper Puree:

• 1 large red bell pepper
• 2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
• 2 tsp sugar
• salt to taste

For the Parsley Sauce:

• 1 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 1/2 tsp vinegar
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• Vietnamese fish sauce (available in Asian markets) to taste

Directions:

Bring 5 cups of water to a boil in a large pot. Add the rice while stirring, bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer. Cover and cook for 15-20 minutes.

While the rice is cooking, place 2 cups of water in a small saucepan. Add mushrooms, salt, sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, onion, curry powder, and paprika. Bring to boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

To make the Pepper Puree: preheat the broiler. Place the pepper in a pan and put in broiler. Broil for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the skin shrivel and begin to blacken. Place in a paper bag and let cool. Peel the skin entirely from the pepper, then slit it open and remove the stem, seeds, and veins. Place the roaster pepper in a food processor and add the lemon juice, sugar, and salt. Blend to a smooth puree. Set aside.

To make the Parsley Sauce: in a food processor, combine the parsley, 2 tablespoons water, and the vinegar until pureed. Pour into a medium saucepan and add the cream. Bring to a simmer and add fish sauce to taste. Keep warm.

Combine the cooked rice with its liquid, the mushroom mixture with its liquid, and the milk in a blender. Blend until smooth, adding more milk if necessary and adjusting for salt. Stir in the red pepper puree.

Put into bowls and swirl a teaspoon of herb sauce in each.

Salmon Rice Soup with Seaweed

In our home we love salmon soups. I have already two recipes here; it’s Salmon Vegetable Soup with Barley and Coho Salmon and Autumn Vegetables Soup with Turmeric.

If there is a more perfect fish soup than this one, I cannot think of it at the moment. Succulent pink salmon in clear broth with rice and seaweed seasoned with the white vine and served with lemon slice and fresh dill.

Some facts about salmon: Oily fish as salmon are generally very popular as they are healthy and readily available. Salmon is good for the brain and great at helping to prevent heart attacks and strokes; it can also help make your skin look younger. Salmon is a great source of protein, rich in magnesium, zing, selenium, and vitamin A, plus B vitamins, and – most importantly-it is a good source of omega3 fatty acids, with make the blood less “sticky,” thus helping to reduce the risk of blood clots that could cause heart attacks.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 quarts fish stock or water
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 cup potatoes, peeled, cubed 
• 2 middle sized carrots, diced
• 2/3 cup cooked white rice
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 Tbsp dry seaweed  
• 1 lb. skinless boneless wild salmon fillet, cut into 1" cubes 
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 cup white vine
• freshly ground pepper, to taste 
• salt, chopped dill
• lemon slices for serving

Directions:

Heat the olive oil in a 6-quart pot over medium-high heat. Add carrots, onion, cook until vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes. Add potatoes, bay leaves and 6 cups fish stock or water and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, until potatoes and carrots are tender, about 15 minutes.

Add salmon to soup; simmer until just cooked through, about 5-10 minutes. Add cooked rice, white vine and seaweed and season generously with salt and pepper. Cook another 5 minutes.

Divide soup between bowls; garnish with lemon and fresh dill.

Decorated Pumpkins Contest and Chocolate Rice Crispies

Every year our Town has the “Paint Our Town” competition. Last year my daughter and I entered for window painting. We were assigned a big window in one of the restaurants. We liked our idea: we invented a new character, the Tree-Cula, a big happy tree with a cape and Dracula teeth. Our Tree-Cula turned out very funny and very nice. We did such a great job and had lots of fun. Although we did not win anything, our experience was wonderful.



This year we decided to do something different, and we entered  the “Decorating Pumpkin” contest. One of the rules was not to carve our pumpkins. My husband gave us the idea about how to do the snow man, and we liked that-))
Three white pumpkins were carefully collected from our local Styer Orchard farm. We worked diligently and every day came up with new ideas for the decoration. After a week of creative work I proudly can show you our splendid results.



Although, our pumpkins were white in the beginning, we gave them a little color for a rustic effect. The bottom one we decorated with fallen leaves from our backyard, the tummy piece with apples that we cut from the fabric I have. We found wild pecan nuts in the park and converted them into buttons for our snow man. The nose is a stem from the middle pumpkin, and an old lamp shade was turned into the hat. When the snow man was done we decided to call him Fall-Man, after all he is made from pumpkins and has a scarecrow on his head.
Enjoy!



For more photos visit Newtown Window Painting 2011

After a hard work and lots of fun we treated ourselves with the Crunchy Chocolate Rice Crispies.

Kids love to make them, specially round them with a coconut oil hands-)))



Ingredients:

•  8 tbsp (4 oz, 120 g) unsalted butter
•  1/3 cup (32 g) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
•  Two 10-oz bags (565g) mini marshmallows
•  10 cups (300 g) crisp rice cereal
•  ¾ cup (150 g) semisweet mini chocolate chips

Preparations:

Combine the butter and cocoa powder in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Let the butter melt, and stir so that the mixture is well combined. Add the marshmallows and let them melt completely.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the rice cereal.



When it is well coated in the marshmallow mixture, stir in half the chocolate chips. Let the mixture cool for about 5 minutes, then stir in the remaining chocolate chips.
Let cool to room temperature.

  

Oil your hands with coconut oil, and shape some of the cereal mixture into a ball the size of a golf ball (1.68-inch, to be exact). Using an ice cream scoop for measuring helps to achieve the uniform size of the balls. Place the ball on a baking sheet, and repeat with the remaining mixture. Let the balls set, then store them in an air-tight container in a dry, cool environment for up to 3 days. If you like you may refrigerate them, they will harden. I like them that way.
What are you eating these days?

Cashew, Coconut and Butternut Squash Curry Stew and Basmati Rice

From Sunset October 2011

I love pumpkin, so October’s festivities always provide me with an excellent reason to make as many dishes from it as possible! Cream of Butternut Squash Soup, Roasted Pumpkin with honey, Pumpkin Jam--you name it. Butternut Squash Curry Stew and Basmati Rice are the best recipes ever for the month of Hallows Eve. Creamy Coconut Sauce mixed with a variety of different spices, cashew nuts, and squash melts on the tongue, delighting it with sublime flavor. Here you will find the original version. When I make it, however, I add dry curry instead of the curry leaves--an innovation that has worked fine for me.  I also added cilantro as a garnish for color and extra flavor. Happy Autumn everyone!

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ qts. peeled, 1 ½ in. chunks pumpkin or other orange-fleshed squash (from a 3-lb. squash)
• About 1 tsp. kosher salt, divided
• 3 tbsp. vegetable oil, divided
• 1 onion halved and cut into half moons
• 1or2 red or green Serrano chiles, minced
• 1 cinnamon stick (2 ½ in. long)
• 20 fresh curry leaves or 6 dried bay leaves
• 1 tsp. each turmeric and cumin seeds
• 1 cup salted roasted cashews
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• Steamed basmati rice

Directions:
Sprinkle pumpkin with ½ tsp. salt. Heat 1 tbsp. oil in a large nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat. Brown half the pumpkin in oil, turning once, 6to8 minutes; reduce heat if pumpkin starts to get dark. Transfer into bowl and repeat with1 tbsp. oil and remaining pumpkin.



Heat remaining 1 tbsp. oil meanwhile in another large frying pan over medium heat. Cook onions, stirring occasionally, until deep golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer half to the nonstick frying pan and reserve other half to bowl.



Add chiles , cinnamon, and curry leaves to onion in pan. Cook, stirring often, until curry leaves are very fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add turmeric, cumin, and remaining ½ tsp. salt and cook, stirring until spices are fragrant, about 1 minute.



Return pumpkin to nonstick frying pan (with onion) and add coconut milk. Bring to a boil over high heat, then cover, reduce heat, then simmer until pumpkin is tender, 5 to 10 minutes. Stir in cashews and lemon juice, and add more salt to taste. Top curry with reserved onion and serve with rice.