Delicious food

Pistachio cookies

noreply@blogger.com (irine) — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 18:08:00 +0000

Pistachio cookies

I know this recipe from childhood but didn’t cook it for a long time. Don’t know why, just forget. Some days ago have seen this recipe in my old recipes copy-book and have decided to remind it. It is very interesting cookies so want to tell you.

You’ll need:

125g butter

100g sugar

2 eggs

125g flour

125g starch

1 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp pistachio

2 tbsp rum

100g fruit jam

Step 1: Whip butter, sugar and eggs. Sift flour, starch and baking powder together (right to the whipped mass). Add rum and knead a dough (in the beginning use spoon, then hands);

Step 2: Preheat oven to 200 ^oC. Place large piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet;

Step 3: Divide your dough in a pieces and make balls as walnut, strew it with pistachios and place them on the baking sheet. Flatten balls slightly and make a deepening in a centre of each ball;

Step 4: Bake cookies on a middle level of oven during 13 minutes until golden colour. Remove the cookies from the baking sheet and cool them on a wire rack. Fill up every deepening with jam.

M-m-m-m delicious!

Risotto

noreply@blogger.com (irine) — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 06:02:00 +0000

Risotto and mushrooms

Risotto from the Italian language means rice. A secret of its popularity is great number of cooking variants. Invariable is one rule: rice in risotto has to be tender outside and hard inside. It is very important to choose right rice kind. The best one is middle grains. When you cook such rice, it discharges enough starch and rice mass become soft and sticky. But for all that, grains keep hard. The best choice of rice is Arborio, Vialone and Carnaroly. Don’t wash rice before cooking! And always when you add meat or vegetable bouillon, it has to be very hot. Cook risotto 20 minutes stirring slowly but continuously.

Step 1: Saute onion with 1 tbsp butter. To make more juice, add pinch of salt;

Step 2: Add 300g rice and stew it during 3 min stirring slowly. Pour in 150 ml wine and let it boil away. Add mushrooms, stir;

Step 3: Add 1l hot bouillon gradually as rice will take it up. Stir constantly;

Step 4: Dissolve pack of saffron stamen with hot bouillon and mix with prepared rice (over 20 min);

Step 5: In conclusion add 40g grated cheese and 1 tbsp butter to rice, stir. Strew with parsley, stir. Serve at the same time.

Saffron imparts appetizing yellow color and gives piquancy to risotto. If you haven’t saffron, use turmeric.

Fresh green is part and parcel of Italian cuisine. You can put basil, thyme and parsley to risotto. Don’t chop green, just tear leaves off.

Ceps (fresh or dried) impart especial, nut flavour to risotto. If you use dried mushrooms, soak it into hot water during 20 minutes. Then pour water out and add mushrooms to the rice.

Parmesan is one of the most appropriate cheeses, but you can also use moccarella, mascarpone or gorgonzola.

Bon appetit!

Soup "Harcho"

noreply@blogger.com (irine) — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 09:33:00 +0000

Soup “Harcho”

Delicious for REAL men

At first time I cooked this soup as lazy, ignorant of Georgian tradition cuisine cooker. I also used mutton! But can say that – not bad. In actual fact, “Harcho” is Georgian dish, soup (name means beef soup). It is very important to use 3 ingredients: beef, tklapy (concentrated sauce tkemaly-plum sauce) and grated walnuts. I’ll show you my first experience and then recipe of real “Harcho”.

For 4 persons you need:

500 g mutton

2 onions

1 tbsp oil

1 tbsp flour

2-3 gloves of garlic

2 tbsp tomato paste

100 g rice

2 tbsp wine vinegar

1 bay leaf

salt

black pepper

1 tuft of fresh green

Step 1: Wash meat, dry it up, slice large pieces and put into pot. Pour 2.5l of water, reduce till boiling and skim a scum from bouillon. Boil during 2 h (small fire);

Step 2: Peel onion and chop finely. Warm up oil in a pan and fry it slightly. Strew onion with flour, make it brown and take away fire;

Step 3: Put rice into bowl and wash it out by cold running water, then pour water out. Put fried onion and rice into bouillon, salt, pepper and boil during 20 minutes;

Step 4: Peel garlic, chop finely and add to our soup with tomato pasta, bay leaf and wine vinegar together. Salt, pepper one more time and boil 5 min more;

Step 5: Wash fresh green, dry it up and chop finely. Serve Harcho in plates and strew with green.

Good advice: add 1tsp vinegar during boiling and meat will become tasty and will be prepared faster. You can also rub meat with soda previously and leave for 3-4 h, then wash it out thoroughly and boil.

Real Georgian recipe Harcho:

Boil meat (put cut meat into cold water. Boil during 2-2.5h, middle fire);
Take meat away pot and put there rice. Salt bouillon and boil rice with roots together (but take it away in the finishing) and back meat;
Add first portion of spicery: fried onion with 1 tbsp flour (see Step 2), 1 parsley root, bay leaf and some crushed pea black pepper;
Over 5 minutes pour grated walnuts in;
After 5 minutes more add second portion of spicery: 2 tbsp parsley green, 1 tsp dry basil, 0.5 tsp red pepper, 0.5 tsp cinnamon. At the same time add sour sauce tklapy (if you haven’t it, add 0,5 glass pomegranate juice or at least tomato pasta). Add hmely-sunely if you have.
Cook no more than 5 min, add pounded garlic, 2 tbsp kinza green, 0,5 tbsp basil green then leave covered Harcho with lid about 3-5 minutes to brew;

Cakes "Potato"

noreply@blogger.com (irine) — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 07:58:00 +0000

Cakes "Potato"

I can’t live without something sweet. You can make this recipe by our own hands.

You need:

250g biscuits

100g hulled filberts

2 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp cacao powder

1 tbsp butter

50 ml milk

1 tbsp rum

powdered sugar and cacao for breading

Step 1: Crush biscuits as small pieces and grind by blender with hulled filbert;

Step 2: Combine cacao and sugar, fill up with milk and heat up stirring until sugar and cacao will be dissolved;

Step 3: Add butter and reduce almost to boiling, take away fire and leave to get cold. At the same time stir it to avoid skin;

Step 4: Little by little pour chocolate mass to filberts with biscuits until getting smooth homogeneous mass. Add rum or coffee or chocolate liquer (the best choice is Sheridan's);

Step 5: Make small balls from this mass and roll up them into powdered sugar and cacao mix.

Ready!

Soup with mushrooms

noreply@blogger.com (irine) — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 07:37:00 +0000

If the weather don’t bring you happy today, cook something tasty. But, what can be tastier than hot aromatic soup with field mushrooms? The best choice is to go and breathing fresh air to pick mushrooms in a field or steppe, I can add that you may take white mushrooms (brown cap boletus, cep, orange-cap boletus) – pick in a forest. Or, if you haven’t such opportunity, take marinated mushrooms – good equivalent for lazy people :).

Very easy soup consists of:

500g mushrooms

2 tbsp semolina

3 potatoes

2 tbsp butter

salt, pepper

1 bay leaf

1 tuft fresh green

Step 1: If you have fresh mushrooms, peel it, wash and slice mushrooms;

Step 2: Heat up 1 tbsp butter in a large thick-walled pan, take out mushrooms there, add 2 tbsp water, make little fire and stew 15 min covering above.

Step 3: Slightly dry semolina in a pan without oil;

Step 4: Peel potatoes, wash them and dice;

Step 5: Powder mushrooms with semolina and fry stirring slowly around 7 min.;

Step 6: Add there potato and pour 3l hot water in, reduce to boiling, salt, pepper, add bay leaf and cook 10 minutes (small fire);

Step 7: Prepared soup strew with chopped green and tbsp sour-cream.

Note: You can cook with meat bouillon – very interesting variant.

Meat with “nameko” mushrooms

noreply@blogger.com (irine) — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 11:04:00 +0000

Meat with "nameko" mushrooms

This is a dish liked by everybody who eats meat. Aromatic smell and ingredients composition put together extraordinary range of gustatory sense. I cooked this dish using my imagination and products that I had in refrigerator at this moment. So, if you'll want to try it you can vary ingredients composition.

We need:

1kg meat (pork, mutton or beef but use marinade for this one. For example, combine some tablespoons olive oil, basil, pepper, salt (sea salt is better). Rub beef with this mixture and leave for 20 minutes)
100g mushrooms (you can take marinated. Usually I take namekoes but if you haven't take another kind)
1 glass of dry red wine
2 large onions
2 handfuls of cranberries
little handful of flour
salt, pepper, species

Step 1: Wash meat, dry it up, dice or carve average pieces;

Step 2: Dice onion rather finely (but not too finely);

Step 3: You can use deep pan or cauldron. Fry meat in a cauldron with 1-2 tsp olive oil some minutes, add flour, mix.
Step 3a: Add onion, mix and close cauldron. Let to stew in meat's own juice;
Step 4: Over 10 minutes add mushrooms (if mushrooms are large, cut it), mix;

Step 5: Later some minutes add glass of wine and mix. Stew;

Step 6: After 15 minutes add cranberries.

Step 7: After 15 minutes more season meat with salt, pepper and species, dry or fresh greens;
Step 8: Total cooking time for fresh pork should be around 1-1,15h, for beef - 1h and 30min.

Great! Fantastic!

Pasta and vegetables

noreply@blogger.com (irine) — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 18:51:00 +0000

Pasta and vegetables

I like Italian cuisine very much. Pasta is one of the most favourite. I can cook it when have guests or just to have delicious dinner and everytime different: with mushrooms, cheese, with bacon and creams, with vegetables and nuts. Today, we had first snow, so I wanted something hot and tasty - pasta with vegetables and cedar nuts.

For 4 portions we need:
500g macaroni (in perfect way - "penne", but if you haven't like me this time, use "tubules")
salt
250 g carrot
250 g marrow
5 tsp. olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
80 g cheese
50 g cedar nuts
ground black pepper
2 tsp. basil

Step 1: Boil water in a large pot, add salt to you liking, add macaroni and stir it around, neatly.

Step 2: Wait after boiling 9-11minutes - macaroni are ready. Carefully pour water out( you can use colander)
Step 3: Peel carrot and garlic

Step 4: Wash vegetables, cut it finely and fry 8 minutes with 3 tsp olive oil.
Step 5: Add boiled macaroni, cedar nuts and 2 tsp oil.
Step 6: Season with salt, pepper, mix it and service immediately. Strew with grated cheese and basil.

Mmmm….wonderful!

Note: if you haven't marrow (as me) don't worry - you can put another vegetable or just miss it.
Note: you can add some cranberries.

Winter salad

noreply@blogger.com (irine) — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 08:25:00 +0000

Winter salad

Today I'll tell you Russian recipe about salad, we call it "Winter". I think it is the most favourite Russian salad and we cook it on especial days. At the same time you can cook it with no problems, very easily.

Ingredients: 4 eggs, 5 potatoes, 4 sausages or ham, 3-4 pickled cucumbers, tinned green peas (as much as you wish), finely cut 1 onion clove, mayonnaise, salt and pepper to your taste.

Step 1: Dice eggs, potatoes, sausages or ham, cucumbers, cut onion fine. Combine it together.

Step 2: Add tinned green peas.
Step 3: Season salad with salt and pepper.
Step 4: At the end add mayonnaise and mix prudently.

It is great! Cook it!

Cheese cakes

noreply@blogger.com (irine) — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 07:06:00 +0000

Cheese cakes

Today I had a guest, she is my old friend. We haven't seen each other a long time because she studies in another city (and another country) - Omsk (Russia) and comes here very rarely. She likes cheese more than any other food and can eat it every time, she likes any dish if it contains cheese. So, I decided to rejoice her and cook some dishes with cheese. At first, I'll tell you about cheese cakes…

Ingredients for dough:
250 g flour
150 g butter
180 g grated hard cheese
½ tsp. baking soda
100 ml cream
½ tsp. salt
yolks from two eggs

For decoration: poppy-seeds, sesame, caraway-seeds

Step 1: combine butter, grated hard cheese, add cream and salt, than mix it with bolted flour and baking soda. Make dough.

Step 2: now divide made dough into 3 parts, every of each one wrap in a foil and place into refrigerator for 2 hours.
Step 3: Over 2 hours take out one part from refrigerator, roll it out as a layer (thickness 6mm) and smear it with whipped yolks.

Step 4: Sprinkle this dough layer with poppy-seeds and cut out by means of forms of different shapes like circles, hearts, stars and so on.

Step 5: Take out second part from refrigerator and do the same as first; smear this layer with sesame. Third part of cakes decorate with caraway-seeds;
Step 6: Lay out cakes on baking tray. Bake it during 10-15 minutes in temperature 220-230oC.

I advise you to try it!

Wait next recipe tomorrow…

Mants

noreply@blogger.com (irine) — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 15:03:00 +0000

Mants

Today, I'll introduce you a recipe for mants - excellent combination of meat and dough. It is traditional dish of people Central Asia, but Russians cook it in their own way (little difference). Mants are relatives of Italian ravioli. Usually, we cook this dish on high days and holidays.

Ingredients for dough:
flour - 1 ½ cup
water - 1/3 cup
1 egg
kefir or plain yoghurt - ¾ cup
salt - 1/2 tsp.

Ingredients for filling:
Beef or pork (you use both) - 500 g
onion - 3 cloves
slab bacon - 2 tbsp.

Step 1: Combine flour, yoghurt (kefir), egg, salt and water - make dough. Unroll from it long plait and divide it into equal parts about 20 g. Roll out these parts into circles but make edges thinner than centre;

Step 2: Make or buy minced meat. In the right way, you must cut meat yourself into small pieces - than dish will be unbelievable savoury. Add to minced meat finely diced onion, a little cold water, season salt and pepper and mix it very thoroughly. For better taste, add garlic and fine chopped greens of parsley and fennel.

Step 3: Forming mants: put our meat filling to the centre of dough circles and nip dough edges as shown in figure.

Step 4: Ready mants put on greased layers of steamer and cook about 35-40 minutes.

Step 5: Cooked mants serve with sour-cream or slice of butter.

Bon appetite!

Vareniks with cherry

noreply@blogger.com (irine) — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 14:51:00 +0000

Vareniks with cherry

Today I'll tell you great summer recipe - envelopes with cherry. Or we call it in Russia as varenik with cherry. This dish is very bright and savoury so you can surprise your children and get them into a good mood (if you need, of course).
We make a dough from: 3 cups flour, ¾ cup cold water, ½ tsp. salt, 2 eggs;
For filling: 700g cherry (you can take frozen cherry, of course, unfreeze it before cooking), 200g sugar.

Step 1: remove pits from cherries for filling and cover it with sugar. Leave it for some time;

Step 2: Make very cold water for our dough;
Step 3: Combine flour, salt, whipped eggs and cold water. Knead the dough till it'll not stick to hands. Cover the dough a damp napkin and leave for 30 minutes.
Step 4: Roll out the dough in a sheet thickness about 3 mm (not less because cherry filling is rather juicy so the dough can tear easily). Cut circles out dough sheets by mug in diameter not less than 6 sm.

Step 5: In a centre of every circle put one teaspoon of filling. Don't put too much filling, because it will prevent connection of edges.

Step 6: Connect edges as plait or press them by folk. If you'll make edges as a plait, make them thinner than centre because thick edges can be half-done and will not tasty.

Step 7: Boil water, add salt at taste, drop there vareniks. Cook about 8 minutes. As soon as they will emerge, catch vareniks and serve up a table with sour-cream.

Note: You can make different fillings. For example, mash potato and onion, curd, other berries, potatoe and mushrooms, cabbage and so on.

Chicken in Red wine

noreply@blogger.com (irine) — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 19:09:00 +0000

This recipe I've thought out myself and I want to share it with you. This dish is easy and fast to cook, very delicious, unusual taste. If you have never cooked you can begin from this one. It works even without any species! Only chicken and wine… But we'll cook as it is the best:
You can take whole chicken and cut it in pieces (neither small, nor big) or take wings (it has especial taste). Also, you need 200-300ml red wine and different species basil, oregano, and what you usually like for chicken, salt, pepper, 1 or 2 onions.

Step 1: Put chicken into cauldron or deep pan and cover it.
Step 2: Over 2-3minutes add there 100 ml of wine. Cover again. Stir it time to time.
Step 3: Over 3-5minutes add finely cut onion. Stir it time to time.
Step 4: Over 15 minutes pour left wine into the pan (cauldron)and add species, salt and pepper.
Cover it.
Step 5: Cook for 15 more minutes.

Ready! Great smell!

Dessert for any event

noreply@blogger.com (irine) — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 19:07:00 +0000

Good day, my dear friends!

Today I have great and easy recipe for you. We'll make an apple pie or we call it Charlotte. It is very delicious and fast to make so you can easily make it if guests came unexpectedly. This pie is above seasons because you can buy apples whole year! You'll need many apples and dough.

Quantity of apples depends on portion you'll make (about 1 kg) and take for one dough portion: 3-4 eggs, 1 glass of sugar, 1/2tsp. baking powder, 1 glass of flour. At request, you can add vanilla or cinnamon to the dough.

Step 1: Cut apples in small pieces or dice them. Grease pan or baking form and cover it by thick layer of apples.
Step 2: Take 3-4 eggs and break it in a bowl;
Step 3: Add 1glass of sugar gradually to the bowl mixing it hard till white foam. You can do it by hands or mixer (blender);
Step 4: Add 1/2tsp. baking powder and mix again;
Step 5: Little by little join flour and mix till formation cream consistence - the dough is ready;
Step 6: Evenly spread our dough on apples and bake about 30 minutes (t=1800C). Of course, you need to heat your oven previously.

That's all! Our pie is ready!

Note: You can use fresh berries instead of apples or apricots and pears.
Note: Summing up, I remind that apple pie is very health-giving for everyone. Besides vitamins, apples contain a great lot of useful substances - antioxidants, flavonoids, tannin, pectin, so necessary for an organism for maintenance of high-grade health. Therefore experts recommend to eat one apple per day, and it is better - more. Baked apples are assimilate better, so Charlotte it is a unique delicacy.

Thank you for coming to my blog Delicious food

Morning breakfast

noreply@blogger.com (irine) — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 19:25:00 +0000

Hello, everybody!

Today was a great morning and wonderful day. You could ask me: why? Nothing especial - I just had fine mood and sunny warm weather! Sometimes such simple things can be the best stimulus to make something unusual or just pleasant. So, today I don't know why but I've woken up before my parents and have decided to give a treat them with something tasty. My mother dislikes too sweet cakes so I've opened a refrigerator and have found there a curd. My first think - curdy pie….

If you found about 200 g. of curd, you need to find and: 1 egg, 1/2tsp. salt, 3tbsp. sugar, 1/3tsp. baking powder, also 30g. of flour.

1 Step: take 1 egg and break it in a bowl;
2 Step: add there half teaspoon of salt and 3 tablespoon of sugar;
3 Step: then add take 1/3 teaspoon of baking powder;
4 Step: mix it all together thoroughly in the bowl;
5 Step: take 200 g. of curd and 30g. of flour, mix them and join to our mixture in the bowl - such way we make a dough;
6 Step: then we put our dough to a deep thick-walled greased pan;
7 Step: bake it till gold-brown crust (t=2000C)

Note: You can increase pie portion increasing quantity of these products.
Note: If you have raisins, you can add it in the dough (as in the picture)
Note: Curd is very health-giving. It delivers an organism the high-quality fiber containing amino acids. Besides, curd contains such important substances for an organism, as a dairy acid, calcium, phosphorus, iron, magnesium and vitamins. At the same time it contains only 3 % of carbohydrates. The major advantage of curd is purine absence which it is a lot of in meat and a fish.

Beef and smoked cheese

noreply@blogger.com (irine) — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 16:48:00 +0000

We’ll need next ingridients: beef - 800 gr (without bones), smoked cheese - 300 gr, flat earthenware dish (I haven’t but i took big earthenware pot - not bad) and a little bit butter for pot greasing.

Cut the beef into thin slices and beat it slightly.

Put it to the greased flat earthenware dish, interlaying t 2 hours.

Serve on a large plate with mashed potatoes and salad.

Beef-rolls

noreply@blogger.com (irine) — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 16:58:00 +0000

We will need beef - 900 gr, salted pork fat - 100 gr, marinated cucumbers - 200 gr, mustard, onion - 60 gr, sour cream 150 gr, flour, salt, ground black pepper, greens (any) for decoration, grease and thread.

You need to beat the meat off, salt, pepper it and cover by mustard.

Slice salted pork fat and marinated cucumbers into strips. Cut onion into rings.

Put on every piece of meat prepared cucumbers, salted pork fat and onion, adding black pepper.

To wrap it into roll and tie with thread.

and Fry it with olive oil (for appetizing crust add butter to olive oil)

Move rolls to the pan and stew it with a sour cream about 40 minutes.

Lay it out, remove the thread. Serve with boiled buckwheat strewing with greens. Bon appetit!

Hello

noreply@blogger.com (irine) — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 16:44:00 +0000

Hello, I’m really like to cook very much and want to share my hobby with you. So, I decided to create my cooking blog. Today, I let out the first issue beginning from very simple but very delicious meat dishes. If you’d want to cook my recepies, my photos will help you. So, let’s go…