Category Archives: Tradinional russian cuisine

What’s for dinner?

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Just a rehearsal for Christmas dinner.

As usual the most of the food on the table will be from traditional Russian cuisine.

 Here is one of the favourites : Herring under a Fur Coat

You might raise your brows:  under a fur coat?

That’s right, it is a literal translation of the name.  Sometimes we call it SHUBA , which is the word for a fur coat in Russian. And of cause there is no fur on a plate. It is simply diced smoked or cured herring filets dressed 🙂 with root vegetables, egg and mayonnaise, one of those dishes that you either love or hate. Though I can definitely say that I don’t know any Russian who does not like it.

 

 

You love it now!

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– I absolutely love this red cabbage! It’s delicious!

-We have not served red cabbage today.

-What is it then?

-This is beetroot home recipe.

-But I don’t like beetroot!

-You’ve just said that you ABSOLUTELY love it 🙂

This conversation has happened a few years ago, when one of our guests having dinner rediscovered BEETROOT.

The lady said that if I told her that there was a beetroot on her plate she would not have touched it, as she never liked beetroot . She ‘s obviously changed her mind.

Over the years we’ve had many visitors like this and my Russian style beetroot has never failed to impress. Following several requests for a recipe, I decided to include it in Galya’s kitchen Menu.

Here it is.

Enjoy!

For 1 kg of RAW beetroot you need:

0.3 kg of onions finely chopped
0.5 part of raw carrots grated on a large grater
1 x 800gr tinned hole tomatoes in tomato juice
sunflower oil
garlic ( I put a lot, but you can have it as much as you like)
2 table spoons of walnut oil ( or 2 teaspoons of sesame oil)
2 Bay leaves
bunch of fresh parsley finely chopped ( if you like it)

Heat the sunflower oil in a deep frying pan until very hot.
Sauté onions until they start to change the color.
Add grated carrot and grated beetroot. Season with salt and pepper.
Cook on a medium heat until nearly all the juice evaporated.
Meanwhile process the tomatoes in a food processor into a passata ( no need to sieve it)
Once the juices in the frying pan have evaporated add the tomatoes + 2 table spoons of Ketchup (or 1 table spoon of sugar).
Cook on a small heat until the tomatoes well integrated into the beetroot and the juices nearly evaporated again.
Add finely chopped garlic, stir, add bay leaf, walnut ( or sesame) oil and chopped parsley just before turning it off.
Eat hot as a garnish to any meat or fish or veggie dish.

I like it cold, just with a piece of bread.
It tastes better on the second day!
Bon appetite!

 

Your New Year festive dinner: only 18 places! Book now!

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Come and enjoy your New Year celebration at La Croix du Reh –
bed and breakfast in Limousin France!

tel: +33 (0)555697537 / +33(0) 661734211
lacroixdureh3@aol.com

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We invite you to our Russian festive dinner 31 of December

The party starts at 20.00 hrs until 02.00 hrs

€ 72 per person all inclusive

Menu

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Kir Royale and Zakuska (Amuse-Bouches russian style)

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Smoked Trout and  smoked Sturgeon tower with avocado mousse and  caviar

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Crème brûlée of foie gras / or spring rolls Russian style ( with fresh veggies)

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Salmon Kulebyaka / or Beef Stroganoff

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Royal Cheese platter with homemade Mango chutney

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Chocolate cake

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 1 flute of Champagne

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Coffee and Treats

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1/2 bottle of wine

Note*     Bookings secured upon receipt of 50% deposit via Paypal or CB transaction by telephone.
Deposits are not refundable unless places are re-sold.

Bed and breakfast for 2 at 90€ – only by reservation in advance
( 2 rooms available)
Bed and breakfast for 3 at 110€ – only by reservation in advance
( 1 room available)
Bed and breakfast room for 4 or 5 at 130€ – only by reservation in advance
( 2 rooms available)

What else is for dinner?

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MISHKA

eggless 6 layers cake, absolutely scrumptious!

Attention: lots of creme fraiche used!

Never mind creme faiche, it is d e l i c i o u s !

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What’s up?

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What do you mean ” what’s up”? It’s C H R I S T M A S!

Merry Christmas!

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What’s up?

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It’s been an adventurous week.

Masses and masses of yummy mushrooms just appeared in our park.

OPYATA2

opyata1

And they keep coming and poping out in different corners of our wonderful garden-park.

Hello! Armillaria mellea! Nice to meet you. This is one of the favourite mushrooms in Russia and we call them OPYATA. The common name in English is Honey fungus.

Opyata

And of course I’ve been busy in my kitchen cleaning them ( each one with a little soft brush) and then cooking some and eating them straight away,

RISOTTO

but the rest pickling.

:O  Yes , yes, pickling! In russia it’s very traditional method to preserve not just fruits and vegetables, but mushrooms as well.

There are different ways to preserve mushrooms: drying, freezing, canning in brine or oil, pickling, canning marinated mushrooms etc…

Some methods are for short time preserving, the others allow to enjoy mushrooms months later. And the different mushrooms love different methods of preserving.

My opyata are definately going to be hot pickled .

OPYATA BANKI opyatki

They will be ready to eat in a couple of months.

TO BE CONTINUED…

korzinka

 

 

 

What’s up?

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There is no end to Nature’s generosity, when you take care of it.

These CEPS ( Porcini mushrooms) are this morning’s present from our own park!

GOOD MORNING!

 Il n’y a pas fin à la générosité de la nature, quand vous prendre soin d’elle.
Ces CEPS (champignons porcini) sont le cadeau de ce matin  de notre parc!
BONJOUR!

CEPS

 

What’s up in Galya’s kitchen at La Croix du Reh?

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No words needed! 🙂

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What’s for dinner at La Croix du Reh?

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On the hot summer day there is nothing as good and refreshing as OKROSHKA – type of Russian cold soup: mixture of chopped fresh veggies, eggs and new potatoes, lots of fresh herbs and of course KVAS traditional russian drink.  All served with crème fraîche or greek yoghurt . Yummy!

OKROSHKA

OKROSHKA

APPLE PIROG

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APPLE PIROG.

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What do you do with milk that turned sour?

Better catch it before it starts stinking!

I never throw it away. The best is to use it for pancakes batter or yeast dough.

Today I’ve made an open apple Pirog. Traditional Russian Pie, Pirog can be made with any dough and filling. TheSweet Yeast dough is the favourite one.

By experimenting in my kitchen, I now make yeast dough without measuring: it’s all about basics and getting the right consistency, you can always add a little flour if the dough turns out to be too wet.

Ingredients:

Sour milk 300ml

Sugar – 100g

Salt – 1/2 teaspoon

Yeast 15g

White Flour – 600g

Eggs – 2

Butter softened – 120g

Filling:

Apples any kind of eating apples : 5 apples, cored and sliced into 1 cm thick slices

Butter – 50g

Sugar to sprinkle

Raisins – handful ( optional)

Drizzle

Icing sugar – 4 table spoons

Lemon juice from 1/2 of lemon

1. Put the flour into the mixer bowl . Add the salt and sugar to one side of the bowl and the yeast to the other. Add the milk and eggs and mix on a slow speed with a dough hook for a couple of minutes, then on a medium until you have a soft, glossy, elastic dough. Add the softened butter and continue to mix  , scraping down the bowl periodically to ensure that the butter is thoroughly incorporated. The dough should be soft but not wet and gathering on the hook, rather than sticking to the walls of the bowl. If dough is still too wet, add a little more flour.

2. Tip the dough into a deep bowl, cover with clinfilm and chill overnight or for at least 7 hours, until it is firmed up.

3. Line with greased baking paper deep rectangular dish or a 28cm round deep cake tin, making sure that the sides of the tray are also lined.

4. Take the dough from the fridge. Tip it onto a lightly floured surface and fold it on itself a few times to knock out the air.  Roll it out with a rolling pin to the size of your baking dish. Put the dough on the bottom of the dish, tacking in the edges.

5. Smudge soft butter lightly on the top of the dough and sprinkle with sugar.

6. Sprinkle handful of raisins and arrange apple slices overlapping each other.

7.Brush apples with melted butter and sprinkle lightly with some sugar.

8. Cover with the clean plastic bag and leave to prove until the dough has risen and pushed apple slices to the rim of the baking dish.

9. Heat your oven to 190°C.

10. Bake for 1 hour 20 minutes . Bear in mind that the sugar and butter in the dough will make it take on colour before it is actually fully baked.

If the top of the Pirog starts browning too much, losely cover it with foil and continue to bake. Do not open the oven to check on baking at least for the first 30 minutes

Prepare the Drizzle by mixing well icing sugar and lemon juice.

If Drizzle is too wet, add some icing sugar, to achieve a thick paste consistency.

Carefully remove the Pirog with the baking paper around it from the tin , and put it on a wire rack.

Put the bowl with Drizzle into a microvawe on medium power for 10 seconds, so the paste becomes more liquid .

Drizzle generously all over  and let Pirog stand to cool down on the wire rack.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Bon appetit!