Siberian Pelmeni

OK, I think I'm going to put the pasta attachment for KitchenAid mixers on my birthday and Christmas wish lists! I love the taste of the homemade pasta I made for tonight's dish, but would have loved to make it nice and thin. All in all though, I did a decent job rolling out the dough for these ravioli by hand.

The original pelmeni recipe says to make a half recipe of noodle dough, but didn't provide that recipe. So, I found this one for egg noodles and it worked well. Also, I didn't assemble tiny ravioli like the original cook(s) must have, since they said the recipe would yield 48 pelmeni!

The half-recipe of dough gave me enough pasta for 10 large ravioli, but I ended up with extra filling. Ten ravioli are plenty for our two-person household, but if you're feeding more people, make the full dough recipe and use all the filling.

Honestly, the ravioli are tasty but not very exciting on their own. It's the condiments that make this dish special. Instead of serving the ravioli in bowls of beef broth, which is an alternate preparation described in the original recipe, we opted for the second suggestion and enjoyed our pelmeni drizzled with a little melted butter and malt vinegar and dipped in mustard and low-fat sour cream. Now, that's unique! And, absolutely delicious.

Here's how I made them:

Pasta
1¼ cups flour
1 egg, beaten
½ Tbsp butter, melted
¼ cup milk
Pinch of salt

Blend the ingredients together, adding extra milk a teaspoon at a time, if needed. Knead the dough for a few minutes until smooth, then set it aside and let it sit for about 10 minutes while you prepare the filling.

Filling

Oil/butter/margarine

1 onion, finely diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

½ lb ground meatloaf mix

Salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

1 tsp hot sauce

Sauté the onion and garlic in the oil over medium-high heat till they're soft and golden. Add the meat and seasonings and par-cook only slightly, just to ensure the filling will be completely cooked.

Roll out the dough as thinly as you can, preferably to about an eighth of an inch. Cut out the ravioli using a 3" diameter cookie cutter (or juice glass). Add about a tablespoon of filling to the center of one circle and top it with another, then crimp the edges using a fork to seal them. Once they're all assembled, cook the ravioli in boiling water till al dente. Serve as described above, and enjoy!

Cook's Note: Since I rarely use fresh pasta, I wasn't sure how long to cook these ravioli. So, I boiled a couple scraps of the pasta dough with them. That way, I could fish them out for a taste test. Worked like a charm!

Sochi 2014

Today, March 1st, the greater Capital Region just completed its first significant snow event since Halloween. Snow reached about a foot at our house, with much higher totals to the north and in the hill towns.

That got me curious about snowfall in Russia. I found a couple stories about snowfall breaking 130-year-old records in St. Petersburg back in 2009, but not much else. But, I did find several updates about progress in constructing the venues for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. (Only 708 days left!) Here are a few highlights.

This past week, competitors including Lindsay Vonn tried out the newly built women's downhill course. Although there was some concern about jumps being too high, the overall opinion was that it's definitely an Olympic caliber venue.

Development of new mountainside villages within the "Olympic Zone" also is under way and a recent report indicates they're being built with sustainability in mind. The Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee, in partnership with Russian Regional Environmental Centre and the Sochi City Administration, are proposing developing these villages in accord with the U.N. global initiative "Agenda for the XXI Century." Some residents of the three villages - Esto-Sadok, Galitsyno, and Chereshnya - also were surveyed for input and feedback.

And, the 2014 mascots recently celebrated their first birthday! To mark the occasion, commemorative postage stamp sheets were issued featuring the three Olympic mascots, the Polar Bear, the Leopard and the Hare, and the two Paralympic mascots, the Ray of Light and the Snowflake.

Lastly, if you'd like to download wallpaper for your computer or mobile device, you can find them here within the official site.

Russian Winter Festival at The Egg

What an amazing concidence! A loyal follower (and active participant!) of this blog contacted me yesterday to make sure I knew that the 4th annual Russian Winter Festival culminates this weekend at The Egg Theater at the Empire State Plaza in downtown Albany. Go figure!?

From noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday, March 3rd, you can enjoy traditional food including blini, music, costumes, crafts, art, exhibitions, films, a Tchaikovsky piano competition, poetry recital and more! Event sponsors are the New Russia Cultural Center, WAMC-Northeast Public Radio, Capital Repertory Theater and Magic of Music Studio.

It's supposed to be rainy all day on Saturday, so if you live in the greater Capital Region, then why not expand your "understanding and appreciation of Russian folk art, traditions and culture." Admission is $7 for adults, $3 for children ages 5 to 12, and free for children ages 4 and under.

Salmon Kulebiaka

This meal felt so elegant, we used the Limoges!

This is an EXQUISITE dish that takes a fair amount of time to prep, but the payoff is entirely worth your effort. I decided to try puff pastry instead of bread dough, which the original recipe used, and it added such rich flavor and crunchy, delicate texture that I highly recommend you do the same. The salmon comes out moist and flaky, and the fresh dill – both in the kulebiaka and the sauce – is wonderful. Please, don't skip the sauce. It's that bit of decadence that puts this recipe over the top. Whether you’re entertaining friends or celebrating a Tuesday, this dish will suit any occasion. 

Here’s how I made it:

One sheet of puff pastry dough, thawed

Filling:

Oil/butter/margarine

¾ cup brown rice, prepared as directed and cooled

1½ cups onion, finely diced

1 cup mushrooms, diced

2-3 lbs salmon filets, skinned and cut to uniform thickness

1 cup fresh dill, finely chopped

5 hard-boiled eggs, separated and finely diced

Salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

Glaze:

1 egg

1 Tbsp skim milk

Sauce:

2 Tbsp fresh dill, finely chopped

½ cup butter

2 Tbsp white wine

Preheat the oven to 350°.

In a skillet over medium-high heat, sauté the onions and mushrooms in the oil till soft and golden, about 5 minutes.

On floured surface, roll out the dough into a rectangle roughly 18”x15”. Trim edges neatly, and keep the scraps of dough. Transfer the dough onto a large baking sheet. As you add the layers of ingredients, season as desired with salt and freshly cracked black pepper.

Spread rice along the one half of the dough (lengthwise), leaving a 1” border on the long edge and two short ends. Top the rice with the mushroom-onion mixture, then the salmon, dill, egg yolks and egg whites.

Lift the edges of dough up around the filling layers. Beat the egg and milk, then brush the glaze onto those edges. Fold remaining pastry over filling; overlap the edges and fold under gently.

Using the scraps of dough, decorate the kulebiaka with shapes, braids or other trimmings, adhering them to the loaf with some glaze. (The original recipe suggests holly leaves with diced red pepper for berries, perfect during the Christmas season.) Refrigerate, lightly covered, for about an hour. Set the remaining glaze aside.

When you’re ready to bake, brush the kulebiaka with the leftover glaze and bake for 40-45 minutes or till golden brown.

While the kulebiaka rests for a few minutes, heat the sauce ingredients, adding the dill just before serving.

Cook’s Note: If you’re using traditional bread dough, like in the original version, then increase the oven temp to 400°. Also, the sauce in the original recipe contains lemon juice, but I omitted it in favor of a creamier taste.

Maslenitsa

Yesterday marked the end of Maslenitsa or "Pancake Week" in Russia, a week-long annual festival similar to many celebrations worldwide that take place in the final days before the start of the Lenten season.

Photo: en.wikipedia.org

What was once a pagan custom marking the vernal equinox and casting off winter's chill has been adopted by the Eastern Orthodox religion and turned into a final feast before the requisite fasting begins. The strict Lenten diet forbids meat and dairy during the seven-week period leading up to Orthodox Easter.

Maslenitsa is derived from the Russian word for butter, "maslo," which is a popular topping for the pancakes. Other toppings and fillings include caviar, sour cream, jam, meat, cheese and so on. The pancakes are said to represent the sun, being warm, round and yellow. Here are a few recipes from foodperestroika.com.

Other events take place throughout the week, as well, including group fist fights to commemorate the country's military history, the building and "storming" of an ice fort, theater and puppet shows, music and dancing, performing bears. The celebration culminates with a bonfire, including the burning of a life-sized straw doll to bid winter a final farewell.

Here's a fun video by RT in Moscow, Russia's first 24/7 English-language news network, which features many scenes of the stalls, performances and - most importantly - the pancakes in Gorky Park.

Pirozhki

I absolutely love pirozhki! Once you read this recipe, you'll crave them. Make sure you give yourself plenty of time or grab some extra hands to help. Making the dough, letting it rise, rolling it out, this all takes quite a bit of time. You probably could get away with using premade dough, but trust me - the rich eggy bread in this recipe is worth the effort.

This recipe makes 25 pirozhki of each filling, but you also could make larger rolls, which would probably be just as good. Here's how I made them:

Dough
1 envelope dry yeast, dissolved in ¼ cup warm water
4 cups flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
¼ cup butter at room temperature
2 eggs
1 cup milk

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt. Add the dissolved yeast and butter and mix well, then stir in the milk and eggs. Turn out the dough onto a floured surface and knead till soft and well blended. Form a ball, return it to the bowl, cover it and let it rise for about 40 minutes. Then, roll the dough into 1" balls and cover them with a damp cloth or papertowels while you work.

Meat Filling
Oil/butter/margarine
1 lb beef/pork meatloaf mix
1 onion, finely diced
Flat-leaf parsley, minced

Preheat oven to 400°. Saute the onions in the oil over medium high heat till golden. Add the meat and brown completely. Mix in the parsley right before you form the pirozhki.

Egg Filling
Combine the following:
2 bunches scallions, finely diced
5 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
Flat-leaf parsley, minced

Roll each dough ball relatively thin and fill with 1 Tbsp of the meat filling. Fold over each edge and place on a greased cookie sheet, seam side down. Repeat till the meat is gone. Brush the rolls with a beaten egg (thinned with water, if needed). Bake for 20 minutes till golden brown.

Repeat this process with the egg filling, and back at the same temp for the same amount of time.

Week #6: Russia

Доброе утро! [DO-bray OO-tra] (Good morning!)

This week, we're traveling 5,800 miles northeast to Russia! Because Russia sits so far to the north and endures very long, cold winters, most meals there are designed to boost energy. That translates to dishes that are high in carbohydrates and fat but low in protein. 

Matryoshka (nesting doll)

One of my favorite restaurant meals growing up was Chicken Kiev, a chicken breast pounded thin, sometimes breaded, and wrapped around a knob of cold, herbed garlic butter. It's so simple, yet truly decadent! That won't be one of my "official" Russian recipes for the week, but I might have to make it anyway. Sometime soon, for sure...

Two of the most popular dishes in Russia are pirozhki and pelmeni, and I'll be preparing both this week. Much to my delight, meatloaf mix is on sale this week at Price Chopper and both recipes call for it. How fortunate! 

I actually have another busy week on the docket, so I'm making the pirozhki today! They are small, baked bread rolls stuffed with various fillings, both sweet and savory. Both my versions will be savory, and the recipe makes a ton of them, so I'll be taking a bunch to work tomorrow for sure. 

Pelmeni are meat-filled ravioli, so I'm going to tackle homemade pasta for the first time! That will probably happen later in the week, most likely Friday or Saturday.

We had some salmon the freezer, so for my third meal I found a wonderful recipe that layers fish, veggies, rice and more inside pastry dough. In a way, it sounds to me like Russia's version of stromboli or garbage bread! But, I have something special in mind for this dish to make it even more elegant. So, stay tuned.

It's bound to be a fascinating journey, and I'm honored you'll be joining me.

За здоровье! [za zda-ROV-ye] (To health!)