The invitation was clear: wear your best interpretation of what a Ukrainian look like. I had ten people expected for dinner and for once I actually got a little better organized; I sent out the invitations well in advance so to give enough time to everyone to find suitable attire. Except that in my case, I failed to get my creative colleagues at work to take enough pity on me and actually make me a costume and so ended up putting an outfit together at the last minute. I did find a lot of photos on the web but couldn't actually buy or rent a typical Ukrainian costume without paying way more than I was willing to. So, as I said, I improvised. And I helped Eric improvise too....
The little kids from the neighborhood were not put off by the cold and the rain and from early evening started ringing the bell to get candies. I wonder what they thought about the weirdoes that open the door? Probably didn't even notice, as long as they've got their share of confectionery!
I served the pink pig on lovely noodles that comes from Chef Liu (Chinese restaurant on Buford Highway) and even though they're not a retailer, Kako always convince them to sell us some. They are nice and thick and so are great with either soups or thick sauces. Of course this dish scored really really high on the fiber content scale: it had 1lb of pitted prunes! Plus the beets of course. This dish was a winner! Everyone really liked it despite, as Kako put it, looking like it was covered with Pepto Bismol!
To thank everyone for coming and for dressing up, I gave them a little goody bag (but I forgot to take a picture of it); it was a pail in the shape of a pumpkin and it was filled with homemade - by me - Ukrainian Christmas Cookies; homemade - by Eric - Ukrainian Sausages from Lviv, a Ukrainian beer that we found at an Eastern European store and a bunch of Hershey kisses because it was after all Halloween. Initial reports on the sausages indicates that they were very good. I am trying mine tomorrow night when Eric comes back from Paris.
The guests started to arrive right on time: Leonard looked like Ukrainian royalty (really!); Robert, who was immediately renamed Roberta given that he came dressed in complete drags (including jewels, wig and full make-up!), was a Ukrainian Castle woman (or other depending who you ask - I think someone said he looked like Mary Magdalene, but personally I thought the dress was borrowed from Scarlett O'Hara - think of the scene when she makes a gown from the green velvet drapes); Eric & Richard were the Ukrainian dancers - but despite drinking a bit they spared us the dance show; Kako, Katie and Betty were the Ukrainian peasants women; Kyiomi was the Ukrainian wanna be; Floyd was the Ukrainian mafia boss (including moustache) and me - well I was the Ukrainian chef. Here are a couple of pictures:
The little kids from the neighborhood were not put off by the cold and the rain and from early evening started ringing the bell to get candies. I wonder what they thought about the weirdoes that open the door? Probably didn't even notice, as long as they've got their share of confectionery!
The food was plentiful (despite Eric's worry that we didn't have enough) and colorful... read on. The Ukrainians eat a lot of beets I discovered. And make quite a bit of use of sour cream.
Finding recipes wasn't a problem at all. There is quite a lot out there... I did, at some point, think about making chicken Kiev (I actually never made the connection between the Kiev in the chicken and the Kiev as in the capital of Ukraine... go figure) but even though I found an interesting recipe, I was put off by the fact that it wasn't an easy thing to do and when you have a table full of people coming, you don't want to risk being stuck in the kitchen all evening. So instead I opted for something that will keep me in the kitchen all day (duh).
We started the meal with Poor Man's Eggplant Caviar which I would say is the Ukrainian version of Baba Ghanoush. I served it on pumpernickel as I just could not find any other dark rye bread that would go well with this. Besides I like pumpernickel, it's got a sour taste to it that appeals to me. What do you know, everyone really liked it: I think what made it a winner was the copious amount of smoked paprika that I added just before serving. It gave it a little bit of a zing without actually making it too spicy.
As another appetizer, I served Canapes with Smoked Fish also served on pumpernickel. The smoked fish was actually smoked sardines that we found at Kosher Kroger (for some reasons many Kroger stores in Atlanta have some kind of qualifier in the name: there's Kosher Kroger which is in La Vi
sta and is named because there is a large Jewish population around there and it has a lot of Kosher items; there's disco Kroger in Buckhead, apparently named so because of the nightclub that used to be in that area; there's homeless Kroger on Ponce de Leon, etc); I thought the smoked fish really tasted nice combined with the cream cheese and the paprika - again. Eric helped in putting the toppings on the canapes and apparently the boiled egg was a winner. But I've got mixed reviews. Mainly most of the guests thought it needed a bit of lemon to squeeze on top as it was a bit dry; some felt it would have been better served with flat bread instead of pumpernickel. Richard didn't particularly care for this course until he decided to mix it with the caviar and then it became a winner. I didn't even think of mixing the two but it makes sense as the caviar was nice and moist so it would have offset some of the dryness of the canapes.
sta and is named because there is a large Jewish population around there and it has a lot of Kosher items; there's disco Kroger in Buckhead, apparently named so because of the nightclub that used to be in that area; there's homeless Kroger on Ponce de Leon, etc); I thought the smoked fish really tasted nice combined with the cream cheese and the paprika - again. Eric helped in putting the toppings on the canapes and apparently the boiled egg was a winner. But I've got mixed reviews. Mainly most of the guests thought it needed a bit of lemon to squeeze on top as it was a bit dry; some felt it would have been better served with flat bread instead of pumpernickel. Richard didn't particularly care for this course until he decided to mix it with the caviar and then it became a winner. I didn't even think of mixing the two but it makes sense as the caviar was nice and moist so it would have offset some of the dryness of the canapes. For main course I served a pink pig! Actually it was Baba's Pork Roast and it was bright pink on account of the beets and prunes sauce. When mixed with sour cream - again - the beets liquid turned a bright bright pink which was quite a sight!
I served the pink pig on lovely noodles that comes from Chef Liu (Chinese restaurant on Buford Highway) and even though they're not a retailer, Kako always convince them to sell us some. They are nice and thick and so are great with either soups or thick sauces. Of course this dish scored really really high on the fiber content scale: it had 1lb of pitted prunes! Plus the beets of course. This dish was a winner! Everyone really liked it despite, as Kako put it, looking like it was covered with Pepto Bismol!
To accompany this main course (in case the beets, the prunes and the noodles weren't enough), I served a ... you guessed it... a beet salad! Actually it was a potato, beet, bean and pickle saladand this also was really good. The only complaint was that it was too cold and therefore didn't really go too well with the pink pig. I guess it would have been better if I served it as an intermezzo between the starters and the main course. But all this said, I did get one perfect 10 (thanks Robert - hope you enjoyed the leftovers).
Finally the dessert: Ukrainian Sour Cream Poppy Seed Cake. 
It was my first attempt at making a layered cake and I was very proud with the results (infact I am still eating the leftovers...) and again this got good scores but a bit of mixed reviews; some thought it was too sweet, some that it wasn't sweet enough and a bit dry. But whatever, I did ask that everybody not pee in a cup for a couple of days as I didn't want to be responsible for anyone losing their job because of the poppy seeds ( it happens, you know?).
To thank everyone for coming and for dressing up, I gave them a little goody bag (but I forgot to take a picture of it); it was a pail in the shape of a pumpkin and it was filled with homemade - by me - Ukrainian Christmas Cookies; homemade - by Eric - Ukrainian Sausages from Lviv, a Ukrainian beer that we found at an Eastern European store and a bunch of Hershey kisses because it was after all Halloween. Initial reports on the sausages indicates that they were very good. I am trying mine tomorrow night when Eric comes back from Paris.
Here is the menu with the scores:
Baba's Pork Roast: 9.1
Well, the next letter is V and this takes me very very close to home: Vatican City - the Holy See. I am trying to convince Eric to dress up as the Pope... will I manage to? We'll keep you posted...
5 comments:
Looks like a fun and fabulous time! I love reading your reports, Rossana! Thanks so much. But what was Eric doing in his pajamas?
Sure "beet" camel humps and elephant ears in September! You all look so marvelous, darling. горілка будь ласка! Vodka for everyone!
I have it on firm authority that Ukranians always dine in their pajamas.
Leonard DOES look like royalty! So posh! What a good idea to dress up - especially since it was Halloween. But that pink pig . . . . well, it certainly was pink. Think I'll stick with the one at Macy's. Ha!
Susan McBrayer
Post a Comment