My onion recipes
October 9th, 2010 in Beef, Main Dish Recipes by Julia Volhina Cookout when we had these veal shish kebabs was rather extreme: we went to the lake (about 50 miles away), fired up grill, skewered meat, set it on the grill and then… rain started.
And it appeared to be not the light summer rain which we hoped for when we first saw clouds, but the cloudburst with thunders, lightnings and a hail in between, the cold one.
I don’t know how we managed to keep that meat cooking, but it turned out good, maybe it even tasted better because we were guarding grill for half of hour with towel above it to keep it from getting wet.
By the way, to cook such shish kebab (“shashlik” or “shashlyk” how we call this dish in Russia) you will need skewers of some kind and of course grill (make it a charcoal one to get better taste) in additional to meat, onions, vinegar and spices. If you use wooden skewers, don’t forget to soak them in the water at least for 1 hour before skewer meat on.
Tags: cookout, onion, russian, skewers, veal, vinegar
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.
Tags: appetizer, breakfast, butter, carrot, cognac, finger food, liver, onion, pate, russian, snack, spread
September 4th, 2010 in Beef, Main Dish Recipes 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.
Tags: boiled rice, carrot, dill, dinner, ground beef, lunch, onion, romantic, russian, sauce, tomato
August 14th, 2010 in Hot Soups, Soup Recipes 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.
Tags: bread, broth, cheese, dinner, french, garlic, onion, romantic, soup, sugar, wine
July 17th, 2010 in Beef, Main Dish Recipes, Pasta by Julia Volhina Several weekends ago, when I asked Yuriy what should we prepare for dinner, I got an answer – lasagna, and I was intimidated a bit – I never prepared lasagna before. So I spent some time in internet researching recipes and found several I liked. I’ve combined them, added some touch to my taste and prepared this lasagna.
This was my first attempt to make lasagna. And main challenge for me was to properly prepare noodles: according to the instructions on the pack they required boiling before using. I’ve added 2 tablespoons of oil to the boiling water and was boiling them layer by layer and it totally helped to prevent noodles from sticking while boiling.
This lasagna turned out perfectly: balanced combination of meat and vegetables (just how I like it), noodles were very tender, it was totally worth all the time I’ve spend boiling them, getting out of water and trying arrange them in the pan.
Tags: baked, bechamel, bell pepper, carrot, casserole, cheese, dinner, garlic, ground beef, italian, lunch, noodles, onion, pasta, tomato, vegetables
July 3rd, 2010 in Beef, Main Dish Recipes, Pasta by Julia Volhina Lots of recipes require using clear soup (meat broth, stock), however not all of them also require boiled meat which is often used to prepare meat broth. So the question is, are there any good recipes which actually require boiled meat and no broth?
This is one of them: russian pasta with ground boiled beef and fried onions (btw, it is called “makarony po-flotski” in Russia; I have no idea why, but we always called this dish so).
Any “al dente” kind of pasta will work here: I’ve used penne, just read instructions on the pack and cook them accordingly. You may also vary proportion of meat to pasta to taste.
Tags: boiled meat, dill, dinner, ground beef, lunch, meat, noodles, onion, pasta
May 8th, 2010 in Hot Soups, Soup Recipes by Julia VolhinaThis bright green colored soup-purée (or cream soup) made of chicken, broccoli and some other vegies is probably the quickest to prepare soup I know.
It is also nutritious: loaded with healthy vegetables and white chicken meat, which are boiled, pureed and blended together for tasty creamy texture.
All that makes this soup very good choice not only for kids, but also for people who prefer soft food.
Tags: broccoli, carrot, celery root, chicken, cream, dinner, green food, kid food, onion, potato, poultry, puree, romantic, soft food, soup, soup puree
