Thursday, March 29, 2012

What's for Dinner - Frittata and Tomato Salad

Why to do posts of my dinners? Just for fun... Foodies are interested in what other foodies eat on a regular day-to-day basis. I hope it will satisfy someones curiousity and you'll be returning again and again. I may miss day or two but, in genera,l will be making short posts everyday. O yeaa.. also, thanks to my son's gift - Samsung Galaxy S Fascinate cell phone with a great buit-in camera, I can take decent pictures in a breeze no matter where I am at the moment. So, see you tomorrow!

3/29/2012
Frittata and Tomato Salad

Where?
At home

Who's the cook?
Yours truly

What?
- Mushroom and Peashoots frittata (enoki mushrooms + peashoots cooked in a ghee; + 2 eggs, salt, quick stir; brown on one side; flip and brown on another)
- Kumato tomatoes, cut, with mayo sauce on top (mayo, little water to dilute, pepper).

Delicious?
Kidding me - I love everything with eggs. Enoki mushrooms may not be good fit for this dish - they are great in soups. Although my "Everything good with eggs" works here. Also I'm getting now that peashoots has interesting undertone in taste that is not always welcomed by me :) Anyway..remember? Eggs!
Oh, yeaa, on mayo sause - I figured out that mayo diluted with water makes very delicate tasty runny sauce taste of which can be stirred in any direction by adding another components. Also it makes lighter version than original mayo!


What's for Dinner - Boring Leftovers

Why to do posts of my dinners? Just for fun... Foodies are interested in what other foodies eat on a regular day-to-day basis. I hope it will satisfy someones curiousity and you'll be returning again and again. I may miss day or two but, in genera,l will be making short posts everyday. O yeaa.. also, thanks to my son's gift - Samsung Galaxy S Fascinate cell phone with a great buit-in camera, I can take decent pictures in a breeze no matter where I am at the moment. So, see you tomorrow!

3/28/2012
Boring Leftovers


Where?
At home

Who's the cook?
Yours truly

What?
- Buckwheat kasha (with all my love to this grain I'm tired to eat it whole week but my hubby cooked huge pot on Monday..and I don't like to freeze leftovers..so, have to finish it somehow)
- Eggplant rolls with goat cheese 
- Some cooked previously cauliflower
- Some stewed vegetables (tomatoes, zucchini and peas). My mother-in-law has brought it for weekend's family dinner.
-Yummy sauce I made last weekend, had come to the rescue and made my plate. I poured it generously all over vegetables and kasha.

Delicious?
Yes. But...well it's leftovers after all.



Tuesday, March 27, 2012

What's for Dinner - Almost Pad Thai

Why to do posts of my dinners? Just for fun... Foodies are interested in what other foodies eat on a regular day-to-day basis. I hope it will satisfy someones curiousity and you'll be returning again and again. I may miss day or two but, in genera,l will be making short posts everyday. O yeaa.. also, thanks to my son's gift - Samsung Galaxy S Fascinate cell phone with a great buit-in camera, I can take decent pictures in a breeze no matter where I am at the moment. So, see you tomorrow!

3/27/2012
Almost Pad Thai




Where?
At home

Who's the cook?
Yours truly

What?
- Rice noodles with choy sum, garlic, jullienned poblano pepper, roasted peanuts and pad thai classic seasoning (fish sauce+soy sauce+rice vinegar+ lime juice+ brown sugar+pepper flakes). I just wanted pad thai at the moment and decided to compose something like it from whatever I had on hands..that's how I got "Almost Pad Thai"

Delicious?
Yep! Very nice. Although I missed usual tofu, eggs and bean sprouts that I usually add in pad thai. Classic Pad Thai is a staple in my kitchen - once introduced in my world it never failed to please.




Monday, March 26, 2012

What's for Dinner - Buckwheat Kasha, Fish and Sauerkraut

Why to do posts of my dinners? Just for fun... Foodies are interested in what other foodies eat on a regular day-to-day basis. I hope it will satisfy someones curiousity and you'll be returning again and again. I may miss day or two but, in genera,l will be making short posts everyday. O yeaa.. also, thanks to my son's gift - Samsung Galaxy S Fascinate cell phone with a great buit-in camera, I can take decent pictures in a breeze no matter where I am at the moment. So, see you tomorrow!

3/26/2012
Buckwheat Kasha, Fish and Sauerkraut




Where?
At home

Who's the cook?
Yours truly

What?
- Buckwheat kasha with roasted hazelnut oil
- Pan fried stealhead
- Homemade sauerkraut

Huh?
Perfect dinner - healthy, delicious, not calorie-loaded though satisfying.


What's for Dinner - Salad and Fried Fish

Why to do posts of my dinners? Just for fun... Foodies are interested in what other foodies eat on a regular day-to-day basis. I hope it will satisfy someones curiousity and you'll be returning again and again. I may miss day or two but, in genera,l will be making short posts everyday. O yeaa.. also, thanks to my son's gift - Samsung Galaxy S Fascinate cell phone with a great buit-in camera, I can take decent pictures in a breeze no matter where I am at the moment. So, see you tomorrow!

3/25/2012
Salad & Fried Fish





Where?
At home

Who's the cook?
Yours truly

What?
- Salad (red cabbage, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, dill) with olive oil, vinegar, salt, sugar dressing.
- Pan fried stealhead

Huh?
Salad was very good. Fried stealhead was a bit "fishy" but all right.


What's for Dinner - Eggplant Rolls

Why to do posts of my dinners? Just for fun... Foodies are interested in what other foodies eat on a regular day-to-day basis. I hope it will satisfy someones curiousity and you'll be returning again and again. I may miss day or two but, in genera,l will be making short posts everyday. O yeaa.. also, thanks to my son's gift - Samsung Galaxy S Fascinate cell phone with a great buit-in camera, I can take decent pictures in a breeze no matter where I am at the moment. So, see you tomorrow!

3/24/2012
Eggplant rolls


Where?
At home

Who's the cook?
Me-e-e-e..

What?
- Eggplant rolls with goat cheese stuffing. Red pepper and brown sauces on a side.

Huh?
Delicious. I was eating it with a good piece of week-old baguette (still nice because of its amazing long-lasting chewynness)



Saturday, March 24, 2012

What's for Dinner - Party Food

Why to do posts of my dinners? Just for fun... Foodies are interested in what other foodies eat on a regular day-to-day basis. I hope it will satisfy someones curiousity and you'll be returning again and again. I may miss day or two but, in genera,l will be making short posts everyday. O yeaa.. also, thanks to my son's gift - Samsung Galaxy S Fascinate cell phone with a great buit-in camera, I can take decent pictures in a breeze no matter where I am at the moment. So, see you tomorrow!

3/23/2012
Party Food


Where?
Friends house - birthday party.

Who's the cook?
Men cooks in this house, it's a rarity among my friends and he's great as a cook.

What?
On a picture above (clockwise):
- Pickle (acording to russian traditions each shot of vodka has to be followed by pickle bite :) )
- Marinated garlic
- Homemade salted salmon (recipe)
- Russian original herring (hidden behind devils eggs)
- Mushroom stuffed egg (devils egg)
- Shrimp boiled with spices

Huh?
:( It's hard not to overeat on parties - no regrets though, food was great.



Thursday, March 22, 2012

What's for Dinner - Cabbage Salad

Why to do posts of my dinners? Just for fun... Foodies are interested in what other foodies eat on a regular day-to-day basis. I hope it will satisfy someones curiousity and you'll be returning again and again. I may miss day or two but, in genera,l will be making short posts everyday. O yeaa.. also, thanks to my son's gift - Samsung Galaxy S Fascinate cell phone with a great buit-in camera, I can take decent pictures in a breeze no matter where I am at the moment. So, see you tomorrow!

3/22/2012
Cabbage Salad

Where?
At home

Who's the cook?
Yours truly :)

What?
- Salad (shredded cabbage, carrot cut in thin sticks, black beans, pickles spiked with My Casual Dressing (vinegar, olive oil, sugar, salt). Also I've added home-ground roasted coriander I rediscovered in my spice cabinet yesterday. Ii has added incredible nutty taste and knocking flavor to the whole salad - absolutely no comparison to store-bough ground coriander.

Huh?
You see a lot of cabbage salads on my menu - yes, it's probably the most popular vegetable in my household. I could vision my life without any vegetable but cabbage.


Wednesday, March 21, 2012

What's for Dinner - Vegetable Stir-Fry and Kimchi Potstickers

Why to do posts of my dinners? Just for fun... Foodies are interested in what other foodies eat on a regular day-to-day basis. I hope it will satisfy someones curiousity and you'll be returning again and again. I may miss day or two but, in genera,l will be making short posts everyday. O yeaa.. also, thanks to my son's gift - Samsung Galaxy S Fascinate cell phone with a great buit-in camera, I can take decent pictures in a breeze no matter where I am at the moment. So, see you tomorrow!

3/21/2012
Vegetable Stir-Fry and Kimchi Potstickers
Where?
At home

Who's the cook?
Asian store (potstickers), Costco (frozen vegetables for stir-fry), sauce/dip made by myself as exercise for upcoming challenge for DK.

What?
- Kimchi potstickers - it's our favorite from asian store, 10 minutes to cook from frozen state to golden crispy/chewy delight.
- Stir-fry from Costco is a great mix of pea pods, green beans, carrot, baby corn, shitake and water chestnuts. It's very tasty even without any additions - just stir-fried in a little olive oil.
- Sauce I made with crazy ingredients: instant coffee, maple syrup, balsamic vinegar and ground dry chipotle pepper. Weird components but surprisingly it created great gravy-type sauce. I made it bechamel type with olive oil instead of butter with a little ground freshly roasted coriander seeds.

Huh?
Very delicious dinner, may be a little more calories than I wanted. I need to use less oil in my cooking.



This is my Crazy Coffee Bechamel sauce(let's name it this way)

Our lovely potsticker (it's kimchi cabbage and some type of chewy vegetable protein inside).

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

What's for Dinner - Roasted Cabbage, Carrot and Fish Cakes

Why to do posts of my dinners? Just for fun... Foodies are interested in what other foodies eat on a regular day-to-day basis. I hope it will satisfy someones curiousity and you'll be returning again and again. I may miss day or two but, in genera,l will be making short posts everyday. O yeaa.. also, thanks to my son's gift - Samsung Galaxy S Fascinate cell phone with a great buit-in camera, I can take decent pictures in a breeze no matter where I am at the moment. So, see you tomorrow!

3/20/2012
Roasted Cabbage, Carrot and Fish Cakes


Where?
At home

Who's the cook?
Yours Truly
What?
- Fish cakes. I've got huge bag of grey sole belly area cuts which turned out to be 50/50 fat to actual fillet ratio. Couldn't think any better than to grind it and make fish cakes. As binding agent I used dry old-style oat flakes and eggs. If you never used oats for this purpose you are probably in shock, but you would be surprised how "invisible" oats are in the final product.
- Slow roasted cabbage with carrot. Actually it's not my style for cooking cabbage. Usually I cook it briefly but this time I wanted to try something different - not bad but probably won't do it again.

Huh?
These are actually leftovers from weekend's cooking. I have to learn to cook in smaller quantities if I want to eat freshly prepared meals :)


French Meat






Intro
This is reach flavorful method of cooking virtually any kind of meat - everybody will like it. Fail-proof for sure.


What it is
This is medium-thick pieces of meat or ground meat (as on my pictures), baked on a bed of chopped onion. Cheese and mayonnaise are spread on top before baking. You will see a lot of mayo use in my USSR-era recipes - that's exactly how it is, russians love their mayo, it's in salads, in cookies, in baking and roasting and of course in your sandwich. Make your own mayo if you want to stick to healthier way of cooking.





How it's served
It is a main dish served with a side dish of any kind. Potato is great, specifically mashed one, as a side dish. Regularly it served piping hot right from the oven, but warm and cold are still in danger of sudden disappearance from the table or fridge. Watch out!





Some side comments
You should try it - I bet you won't regret.





How to store it
It can be kept in fridge for a few days without losing its taste.


Variations
As I mentioned, any kind of meat can be used but it is best when done with chicken or pork. Beef can be on a tough side unless it is ground - in this case it may be great. Regarding cheese, it's better to use easy melting kinds of cheese such as mozzarella, cheddar, gruyere.

Tips

- Do not worry about being too neat when spreading mayo on a top of cheese - it's a bit tricky. Just do your best, it will be fine.

FRENCH MEAT

For a big family:


2 lb chicken breast
2 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs
3 onions, chopped
6-8 tbs mayonnaise 
8 oz cheddar cheese
3 tbs olive oil
black pepper to taste




- Grind chicken breast and thighs and mix well. Do not add anything to this mix.
- Pour olive oil on a baking sheet.
- Distribute onion evenly in a baking sheet.
- On a top of onion, spread layer of ground meat.
- Finish with layer of cheese and mayo.
- Place in a preheated to 375F oven. Bake for approximately 1 hour until it's golden brown.
- Remove from oven, let it rest for about 20 minutes, then cut and serve!
- Enjoy, it's delicious!

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IN PICTURES









Spring Rolls with Smoked Sprats


Why Failure?
Actually this one is my failure and is a great success at the same time. Failure for the one single reason: as a result of some strange chemical reaction, overnight, rolls leftovers acquired awkward very bitter taste. I'll try to research into this and eventually will move this post to "Successes" category because right after I made them they tasted fabulous - smokiness of fish was counteracted by freshness of greens, light, refreshing and delicious.


Idea
I've got the idea of this dish from online video by my favorite chef Jacques Pepin. I always loved sprats (I'm from former USSR after all!) but the idea to stick it into spring roll strike me to the heart :) Other ingredients, besides sprats and red onion, are my take on this recipe. Well, it worked in a beginning very well...


Short recipe
Two sprats, some julienned broccoli stem (that's what could become bitter overnight!), a little red onion and parsley leaves are rolled into rice pepper. Vietnamese dipping sauce made of fish sauce + lime juice + brown sugar + garlic goes very well with these rolls.


Lesson learned
Now I'm almost sure that broccoli was the reason for bitterness. Next time I will omit it, I just wanted to utilize broccoli stems and look what have happened :(








Rice pepper goes into warm water for a minute to become pliable.

Broccoli stems, julienned.




And finally, key ingredient, sprats, smoky and delicious as is, out of a can.

Lay prasley leaves close to opposite edge for beautiful see-through effect.




Keep rolls under wet towel to prevent from drying out.


Aren't they lovely looking things?

Monday, March 19, 2012

Stuffed eggs


Intro
Stuffed eggs were always popular in Russia hence its preparation simplicity and versatility, visual appeal and great cost-to-value ratio.

What it is
It's boiled eggs, cut in half (cross-wise or length-wise). Yolks them removed, mixed with various other ingredients and then stuffed back into whites. There is just one ingredient that must - it's mayoneise. Stirred with egg yolks, it's creat very smooth and tasty paste that I think can't be recreated with any other sauce or dressing.


How it's served
In Russia, it was always served as cold appetizer, usually nicely garnished with ingredients mixed in yolk stuffing. Recently I come accross stuffed (devils) eggs served warm and I really like it - right before serving eggs, sprinkled with buttered bread crumbs, are put in oven for 10-15 minutes and come out of it with really great crust that delightfully is in contrast with smooth filling.

Oh, yes, it is great as finger food at cocktail parties or as a great accompaniment for a nice red or white wine.

Some side comments
I could safely say that at about 90% of all get-together parties we serve devils eggs because it is basically fail-proof and loved by everybody. Interestingly that I can't recall making devils eggs just for ourselves, for breakfast for example. It's always being party food for me.


How to store it
Depending on ingredients used for filling, it may be stored up to 5 days in a fridge. Although it is never there for this long. Most often it's 2 or 3 left and gone from the fridge the very next morning.


Variations
Variations for filling are endless. Sometimes I like to make it as simple as just adding green onion, salt and mayo to the yolks. Sometimes it's as fancy as adding crab meat, smoked salmon (do not forget mayo!) and topped with red caviar. Here is some ingredient combinations that, along with mayonnaise, can be used for filling:
- chopped mushrooms fried with or without onion
- fired (caramelized) onion
- any smoked fish, chopped
- your favorite herbs (I like fresh dill, but you can use parsley, basil, cilantro)
- tiny canned shrimps
- herring and a bit of raw sweet onion
- cooked and finely chopped chicken or beef liver
- any kind of cooked meat, finely chopped
- and so on...
 Below is anchovy stuffed eggs recipe I was making this weekend.

Tips

- If you have hard time peeling an egg - try to do this under the running water.
- Also you can make peeling easier by putting pot with cooked eggs right away under the running cold water for about a minute. Then drain water a bit and shake eggs nicely to crack them and let a little water to penetrate under the shell. Then peel it up!
- To get perfectly shaped hard boiled egg, before putting eggs in a pot with cold water, poke round end of egg (that's the end where air pocket is) with a needle to create a tiny hole. You eggs won't break then during cooking and its shape will be perfect oval with no dents.

STUFFED EGGS

To serve for a company:

7 eggs
11 anchovies
4 tbs mayonnaise 
5 green onions
black pepper to taste


- Hard boil eggs (see tips above)
- Peel eggs and cut them in half.
- Remove egg yolks into a mixing bowl.
- With a fork, smash yolks into fine crumbs.
- To the yolks, add very finely chopped anchovies, mayo, black pepper and chopped green onion (reserve a little chopped onion for garnishing)
- Fill egg whites with mix. It's up to you if want it carelessly piled up or create smooth and perfect "hill" on top of whites. I like it "free and messy" :).
- Sprinkle reserved green onion on top or free up your imagination for more sophisticated garnishing with pouring sauces on top, or sprinkling with whatever you want, or sticking whatever you want, or creating bed from whatever you want and placing eggs on top of it. As a rule of thumb - it's better to use your stuffing ingredients for this.
- Cover with plastic wrap, pop in a fridge and let it wait for you guests coming up!
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IN PICTURES





I like to use plain table knife for sliding filling with my finger right into the whites. Do you see my money-tree reflection on the knife? Cute isn't it. I just apologize for quality of this picture - first of all, I still didn't get my camera from repair and was making pics with my phone camera; and secondly, I probably smudged camera lenses with my "cooking" fingers  - so.. double-trouble.  I cleaned lenses after this and next pictures are better :)

For my crowd, I used not 7 but 9 eggs. If you have counted - one half was stolen and, sadly, did not make it to the table.


What's for Dinner - Cabbage Salad


Why to do posts of my dinners? Just for fun... Foodies are interested in what other foodies eat on a regular day-to-day basis. I hope it will satisfy someones curiousity and you'll be returning again and again. I may miss day or two but, in genera,l will be making short posts everyday. O yeaa.. also, thanks to my son's gift - Samsung Galaxy S Fascinate cell phone with a great buit-in camera, I can take decent pictures in a breeze no matter where I am at the moment. So, see you tomorrow!

3/19/2012
Cabbage Salad




Where?
At home

Why?
...by eating just cabbage salad I wanted to offset weekend party food but...

What?
- salad (shredded cabbage with a little hazelnut oil, vinegar, salt and sugar; topped with a bit of feta, some black pepper and a lo-o-ot of sesame seeds). Silly me, I thought that it's never too much sesame seeds...wrong! It had some kind of floury taste. To resque salad I added mayo and canned green peas and it worked. Well may be not as much as lean dinner but for sure as tasty one.

Huh?
yes, salad could not make light dinner for me today :)

With mayo and green peas added - yum.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Early awakening

I hope that everything that's going on in a nature right now - super early spring, crazy tornadoes and so on is not a result of human mishaps such as oil spills or pollution in general. I'm not complaining about early spring, it's just beautifully unexpected and thus scary. Here is the picture of one of my favorite bush Bridal Wreath Spirea, it reminds me my childhood. On this picture, with my phone camera (!), I caught some sun rays breaking through the trees, I hope you can see those rays - they are awesome.

Bush started to show leaves in a matter of hours. Right now, two days later, it's all covered in leaves.

Daffodills are ready to pop also:

Pictures below are my semi-dwarf peach and dwarf sour cherry that I got for my deck last year. I was planning to do root trimming for these trees  to keep them potted and of course I totally missed the right moment to do this because of the such a sudden spring. This kind of trim needed to be performed when trees were still in dormancy, one week before their spring awakening. I decided not to take a risk and let them grow as is this year (may be with some branch cut and some slight fertilizing). We'll see what happens. Well, at least I know that they have handled winter well...


..and here is the same peach tree 3 days later:


Below is my last year newcomer - pink Fairy rose. It is making new leaves pretty good. I can't wait to see how it will show itself this year.

Royal Star white magnolia shows a little pink through the buds. When in full bloom it's snowy white, just beautiful:


Here is Vinka Minor is up and flowering:


A little deviation from live things: device below with a motion detection is supposed to scare deers away from my surviving Osakazuki maple. What's interesting that it makes ultrasound waves that my son is able to hear (is it soft young year drums that's still sensitive to ultrasound?). I just hope same happens for deers and I won't see snapped maple twigs anymore...

Just evergreens seeminly still asleep: