Russian-style Apple Pie

Yes, long-overdue, but here's another post! :D

This is probably the easiest thing you can make, I promise! I've tried a number of different apple pie recipes, but most North American recipes call for the typical crust-fruit-crust type of a pie. Being from Belarus, I'm used to more of a "mixed" pie variety (I might've commented on this before :P), some people would call that a tart.

I've made this Apple Pie before (a recipe from a Russian book I have), but it takes a bit of a commitment and I was feeling really lazy... So anyways, I was browsing on a Russian-language website and found this easy recipe of Sharlotka (aka Russian apple pie, or a Charlotte, if you will). I guarantee it, you'll love it! Minimal ingredients and depending on the type of apple you pick and the amount of sugar you use, it can be tart or sweet, or somewhere in between - the choice is yours!

Russian Strawberry Compote

I remember when I was a young I used to LOVE when the first harvest of berries came around our dacha. My grandparents always had an abundance of strawberries growing in the yard. So usually, after we would feast ourselves on said berries, there were enough left over to prep and preserve them for the winter. There was LOTS of jam (and I'm making some this summer!), but there were also large 3L jars of berries compote.

This is my first time making this beverage (and if preserved properly, it keeps well into the winter months), so I decided to search for a recipe online. Of course, if you search for "strawberry compote", you will find a recipe for something that has a syrup-like consistency and is meant to be poared over pancakes, ice creams, etc. Though there is nothing wrong with that (yum!), it wasn't what I was looking for.

So instead, I ended up searching for "клубничный компот" and finding what I needed :)

(in Russian, of course). It looks and tastes more like a strawberry juice.

I hope you enjoy it as much I do!

Who doesn't like cake? ("Rotten Tree Stump Cake")

Playing catch-up has been tough so blogging's been on the back burner a little...
This recipe was supposed to be shared with you, oh... about a month and a half ago! But, of course, life got in the way.

While vacationing in Belarus in January, my sister and I (well, more like my sister ONLY, I was mostly taking photos) made a delicious cake, whose name doesn't do it justice.

I do hope you attempt to make it as it is SO so easy! Here's a little preview:

Russian Meat Pie

Let me start this post by saying that I've never done anything like this from scratch. Come to think of it, I don't remember ever having a truly homemade meat pie before either. Usually it's one of those prepared from frozen meat pies (which we don't often), and those are alright, but I've always found the top crust a bit... tasteless...

Now, I don't know whether this is a truly Russian recipe (it's probably not), but I found and translated this recipe from a Russian-language website. What intrigued me about it was the use of eggs - 6 eggs to be exact! (I know, what???!!!) - also the dough for its crust, which is a basic non-sweet pastry dough. One of the more important outcomes from this was that hubby liked it!!! Oh and did I mention that he does NOT eat eggs?

So, without further ado, here's the Russian Meat Pie recipe.
(as usual, click on the image to enlarge)

Meat pie, complete with delicious moist crust!

Delicious Meatball Soup

Let me tell you - my kid LOVES soup! Sometimes she wakes up and her first food-related request is "I want soup". I admit that up until very recently I've mostly been buying already prepared soups thinking it saves on time and it's relatively inexpensive, even with premium brands.

But a few days ago I've decided that enough is enough! I gotta make my own soups: if I make a big batch, I can always take some as lunch or even freeze it. Frankly, having soup for lunch is a much healthier option than, say, a sandwich because soup fills me up, but I don't feel stuffed and sleepy afterwards. And a regular bowl of soup generally runs at about 200 cals per portion (provided it's not one of those creamy soup variety).

So anyways, my first "by the book" soup (as opposed to something I'd just thrown together). In English, I guess you could call it Meatball Soup, but we call it Soup with Frikadelkas (суп с фрикадельками). Even just hearing the name of this soup instantly reminds me of home, my childhood and of my mom making it because I just LOVE it (especially the meatballs, he-he)! It's light on the stomach & easy of the prep. So, here it is.

Yum!

Mom's cabbage salad

My mom makes this easy salad that goes great as a side to any supper (or lunch, or by itself). I love it so much that while my mom is here for a visit, I got her to make this salad 5 times already (that's in 2 weeks!).

Anyways, it's really simple, but my friend Di asked me to write it down, so here it is:

My sister's BORSCH

My sister stayed with us for 4 weeks, and kept talking about making a borsch pretty much the whole time she was here. Personally, I LOVE borsch soup, only it takes about 1 hour to make it (though actually it is pretty simple). Since we were busy almost every day, we kept putting it off. Finally, this past Thursday (her last day in Canada), she did make it for us!!!

So, here's the promised to you a while ago, the much anticipated recipe of the BORSCH as we make it :))) We'll call it a Belarusian borsch as a Russian recipe usually includes an addition of cabbage.
(Note: wikipedia calls it Borscht)

A dollop of sour cream makes this a perfect lunch meal!

Yum for Apple Pie

My friend Eugenia and I were talking about our favourite homemade foods, the ones our moms and grand-moms make. There are a lot of tasty dishes! I mean, A LOT! One of those mouth-watering things is a good old apple pie. This particular recipe that I'm going to share with you is a bit different from the usual North American "crust+filling+cover+make a hole" pie. It also takes a bit more effort than you would expect with an apple pie.

But first, let me tell you where I got this recipe, I don't want to take all the credit.

There is a show on Russian TV, called "Smak" ("Смак") that has been running since 1993. It's sort of a talk + culinary show - a celebrity guest must prepare something in the studio kitchen. It is up to each particular celebrity to choose what the dish will be. In 2001 they published a small recipe book featuring some of those dishes, which my mom sent over to me. This apple pie was made on the show by Georgi Taratorkin, Russian theatre and movie actor.

* NOTE: as you go down the ingredients list, you might think "wow, that's a lot of butter!"; however, all of the recipes I've made so far only contain REAL ingredients - nothing artificial, no preservatives. That's how people cook in many European countries and they are able to maintain their health and lifestyles because of those real foods. 

Here we go!

Mmm, apple pie!... (my hisband described it as "amazing!")

Quick & Easy: Russian Kotlety

Ever had those days were you don't really know what to do for supper? Or when you're just not in the mood to slave over the stove?..

Here's my variation of the Russian Kotlety (pronounced as "cutlety") recipe that is quick and easy to whip up. It'll take you maybe 10-15 minutes to prepare and mix the ingredients together, and then maybe another 20-30 minutes to cook (depending on your amounts).

Trying something different: Stuffed Bell Peppers

How many of us go from day to day, week to week basically eating a variation of the same thing every supper? Some sort of meat (say, a steak, chicken breast, pork chops, etc.) with potatoes/noodles/rice and some veggies (to fulfill the daily vegetable requirement)... To break this routine, we turn to - what else? - take out/delivery of pizza, Chinese, shawarma, etc. And most of us would agree that it is a fine choice, right?! Only the latter option can be expensive if you order from, say, Boston Pizza (I paid $50 last time!)... Also now that I have a baby, I want to have a fresh start, so to speak. I grew up on homemade meals. Every day for 16.5 years (with occasional lunches at a school cafeteria). And I LOVED IT!!! Endless variety of mom's and grandma's and aunt Sveta's soups, salads, entrees, pastries... Aaah, just thinking about that wholesome homemade Russian cuisine makes my mouth watery :) The beauty of all of our recipes is that they rarely, very rarely, call for some brand name of this or that, or some weird herb that, lets admit, most of us never heard of before...

So let me share it with you! I'll try to be as descriptive as possible to encourage duplication :)))
 Let's start with something I made for supper last night - it is a dish enjoyed by people of many nations around the world, but a staple in Russian cuisine (this particular variation is actually Russian-Bulgarian).

Stuffed Bell Peppers

Bon Appétit!