Russia

It was a stormy, dark, cold night... oh come on now, we ate Russian food but we were in Atlanta not in Russia! And although the weather has been wet and weird lately (with several powerful storms), it's hardly cold and dark in May around here. But there, I always wanted to open up by writing something like this. Very Wuthering heights (or however it's spelled).

I have been looking forward to this as Russia isn't famous for its cuisine but I have been exposed to some Russian food and some Russian traditions because Eric has been visiting friends in San Francisco for almost every Russian Christmas and Easter party for the last 20 (25?) years and sometimes I have been going with him. We don't always get to eat the same food - but I am sure they tend to cook the same holiday dishes - but we always get to sample plenty of vodka. And flavored ones too!

Eric did suggest that we make our own melon flavored vodka by chopping cantaloupe melon and stuffing it into a bottle of Stoli but we never got around to do it (if we don't writing down we won't remember - yes getting old, so?) and therefore we decided to just have plain Stoli. Probably more traditional anyway.

Since we were only a couple of weeks past Orthodox Easter, I wanted a menu that had some hints of this holiday while trying to include foods that are found on a typical Russian meal: lamb gave it the Easter flavor and I also made a traditional Easter bread (twice as you'll find as you read this).

Our special guests for the evening were Ann and Tony, Susan and Tim, Jeff and Lynn. It was a full table (almost ran out of chairs) and as Lynn put it, here you have an Italian inviting 2 Brits (Lynn and Tony) to a Russian dinner; It can only yield interesting results. And we had a really fun evening and ate a lot. And drank a lot too.

Choosing what to make was a bit of a challenge as there really is a lot on the web about Russian cuisine. It is such a big country and the dishes tend to change from region to region so it was quite hard to make a decision. I had picked quite a few recipes initially and then got down to a few that sounded like a good representation of Russian food. I think I ended up making a little too much too eat so we sent the guests home with doggy bags!

We started with traditional caviar and vodka. Eric bought the caviar at a Russian store in Atlanta (it was good) and he also made blinis from scratch. Blinis are tiny pancakes that are usually used to serve caviar. We topped the whole thing with creme fraiche (a kind of French sour cream but a lot yummier). I thought that the combination of caviar, blini, creme accompanied with a shot - or two - of vodka was really good. We also tried the caviar on French bread and butter; I think most of us preferred the blinis...

As a first course, I had made Salad Olivier which is really what I used to have as a kid but we used to call it Russian Salad. Apparently this was an invention of the Chef at the Hermitage in Moscow and it became a typical Russian dish. They tell me it was delicious. Ann took whatever was left home and she sent an email saying it was really good even after a couple of days. Well, really, this is just a glorified potato salad, so what's not to like?

I also served pelmeni as a small starter - these are really ravioli Russian style. I served them with olive oil as I couldn't bring myself to serve them with sour cream, vinegar or, heaven forbid, ketchup as the recipe recommended. I had 2 kinds: mushrooms and pork. They were OK but nothing special and certainly not the best part of the meal. I had initially intended to make them from scratch but Eric talked me out of it and so I bought them frozen from the same Russian market I mentioned above.

As a main course, I made Chanani - a lamb stewed. We had to improvise with this as the recipe was just weird and I guess I should have read it properly before picking it. It never really said how long to cook it nor how nor what cut of lamb so we used lamb shoulder and cooked it in the dutch oven for a long time. I was happy with the results. The meat was very tender and the vegetables blended really well.

As a side vegetable I served red cabbage. Apparently you can't really have a complete Russian meal without red cabbage. And judging from the scores, everyone really liked it!

As another side dish - I guess I was thinking of a carb to go with this - I made a mushroom casserole. Mushrooms are also very popular in Russian cuisine and so I wanted to make something with them. As it turned out, the kashi, I used buckwheat, was a little too heavy and the casserole not a favorite. I liked it... But I guess I was in the minority. On reflection, this was really not needed since the lamb stewed had potatoes in it.

To finish I served Kulich which is a special Easter bread: this is cooked in a 2 lbs coffee tin. I didn't even know you could buy coffee in 2 lbs tins! My first attempt was not successful - this is what happens when you try to use baking powder instead of yeast (duh!). The thing would just not rise. I hate wasting food so I ended up using the dough to make little round patties and I baked them in the oven. Not bad. But then I made the Kulich again and this time I paid more attention to the ingredients and instructions and the result was quite good (Eric said that it was better than what his Russian friends make in San Francisco). This was also this only dish I took a picture of: I completely forgot to take pictures of the other dishes.... I really have to be better at this. Perhaps next time.


Here is the menu with the scores:

Appetizers
Caviar & Vodka 7.7
Salad Olivier 8.5
Pelmeni 6
Main Course
Chanani (Lamb Stew) 8.1
Krassnaya Kapusta (Red Cabbage) 8.3
Zapekanka Iz Grechnevoy Kashi (Kasha & Wild Mushroom Casserole) 4.8
Dessert
Kulich (Russian Easter Bread) 8.2

Next stop, the sandy beaches of Saint Lucia. Stay tuned.