Month: December 2021

Warm Tuna Toast with Carrot !

For he would be thinking of love
Till the stars had run away,
And the shadows eaten the moon.

W. B. Yeats 
Warm Tuna Toast with Carrot

This is a quick and healthy snack – just what one needs for a working break along with a cup of strong black coffee and inspiring thoughts! But what I am talking about – Love is all we need! 🙂

Ingredients (4 toasts):
– 4 slices of wholegrain bread
– 2 boiled carrots
– 140g canned tuna
– 3 eggs
– 2-3 tsp mayonnaise
– chopped dill
– 2 tsp butter

Directions:
1 Boil carrots and eggs until ready
2 Tuna salad: combine grated boiled carrot & eggs, canned tuna, mayonnaise, chopped dill: mix well
3 Put the tun salad on the bread slices
4 Melt butter in the frying pan and toast bread slices one-side for 2-3 minutes
5 Serve warm with a cup of black coffee and enjoy your day !

Pelmeni: Dumplings with Beef and Pork !

Patsuk opened his mouth, stared at the vareniki, and opened his mouth wider still. At that moment, a varenik jumped out of the bowl, splashed into the cream, flipped over and leapt straight up into his mouth. Patsuk opened his mouth again, and another varenik went through the same performance. The only trouble he took was to munch it up and swallow it.

Nikolai Gogol, Christmas Eve

We used to make Pelmeni on Christmas Eve, all the family was gathered together. One of Pelmeni was “lucky one”, made with a different filling from the others – the person who will get the “lucky” Pelemen’ is supposed to be lucky throughout the year!

Dough ingredients (~70 Pelmeni = 4-6 portions):
– 3 cups (1 cup = 250ml) wheat flour
– 170ml warm water
– 1 tbsp 9% vinegar
– 2 and 1/2 tbsp sunflower oil
– 1/2 tsp salt

Filling ingredients (~70 Pelmeni = 4-6 portions):
– 250g minced beef
– 250g minced pork
– 1 tsp salt
– 1/2 tsp black pepper
– 2-3 tsp grated butter

Serving ingredients (for 2 portions):
– 200g sour cream

Method:
1 Dough:
1.1 combine dough ingredients and knead the dough for 5-7 min
1.2 leave the dough under the cloth while making the filling
2 Filling: combine minced meat, spices, grated butter: mix well until smooth
3 Pelmeni
3.1 separate dough into 6 equal parts and form a 1.5cm diameter sausage from each part
3.2 cut each sausage into 1cm width pieces
3.3 roll out each piece into a ~7cm diameter round
3.4 put 1 tsp filling into each round
3.5 fold the round into a half-moon, pinch all the edges together strongly with fingers; then pull together two corners and pinch strongly with fingers
3.6 boil Pelmeni for 5 min after boiling and serve with sour cream
4 Enjoy !

Les éclairs !

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.

Viktor E. Frankl
éclairs

My mom once made very tasty éclairs when I was a child. For some time I am searching for a recipe to reproduce that taste, but in vain… Yet hope is not lost 🙂

Dough ingredients:
– 80g all-purpose flour
– 2 eggs
– 70g butter
– 140g water
– 10g sugar
– pinch of salt

Filling ingredients:
– 240g milk
– 2 eggs
– 70g sugar
– 20g corn starch
– 20g butter

Directions:
1 Filling
1.1 Combine milk, eggs, sugar, corn starch: mix well until smooth
1.2 Pour the mixture in a non-sticking pan, medium heat: cook until thickened constantly stirring
1.3 Add butter and mix until butter is melted, set the filling aside and let it cool down
1.4 Move the filling in the fridge while making dough
2 Dough
2.1 Combine butter, sugar, water and salt in a pan, put on medium heat: keep until butter is melted constantly stirring
2.2 Add flour: continue mixing until smooth, then remove from the heat
2.3 Add whisked eggs, mix well
3 Eclairs
3.1 Preheat the oven to 180C
3.2 Form 1.5cm width x 5cm length stripes out of the dough (I used decorating tube for that) and make stripes with a fork on the surface
3.3 Bake 40 minutes at 180C and let them cool down
3.4 Fill the eclairs making a small hole on the side and using a decorating tube
3.5 Enjoy with a cup of coffee !

Christmas Walnuts Cookies !

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Dough ingredients (for 18 cookies):
– 200g all-purpose flour
– 110g butter
– 75g cane sugar
– 5g vanilla sugar
– 90g sour cream
– 1 egg
– lemon zest of half a lemon
– pinch of salt
– 100g grated walnuts

Method:
1 Preheat oven to 200C
2 Bake walnuts for 10 minutes at 200C to make them easy to chop, set aside
3 Combine flour, sugar, vanilla sugar, lemon zest, salt and grate butter to dry ingredients, mix well
4 Add sour cream, egg and chopped walnuts: knead a dough
5 Form with hands 2cm diameter balls out of dough, dipping them in flour
6 Bake the cookies at 190C for 25-30 minutes
7 Enjoy the cookies with Christmas fruits punch and Merry Christmas !

Sweet potato chips – quick and healthy snack !

Ah, Nothing is too late, till the tired heart shall cease to palpitate.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Sweet potato chips

Sweet potato chips ingredients (for 2 servings):
– 3 large sweet potatoes
– 0.5 tbsp olive oil
– dash of salt

Sauce ingredients:
– 100g sour cream
– 80g blue cheese
– chopped dill

Method:
1 Sweet potato chips
1.1 Preheat the oven to 190C
1.2 Pill and cut sweet potatoes into strips
1.3 Mix potato strips with salt and olive oil and transfer on the baking paper
1.4 Bake for 30 minutes at 190C
2 Sauce: combine sour cream, blue cheese and chopped dill – mix until smooth and put the sauce in the fridge until the chips are ready
3 Serve hot sweet potato chips with a sauce from the fridge !

Cherry Scones !

There is the great lesson of ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ that a thing must be loved before it is lovable.

 Chesterton, G. K.
Cherry scones

Ingredients:
– 250g flour
– 50g butter
– 1 egg
– 100ml milk
– 8g Vanilla sugar
– 25g cane sugar
– 1 dash of salt
– 1/2tsp baking soda & 1/2 tsp vinegar
– 30g dry cherries

Method:
1 Preheat the oven to 220C
2 Combine flour, sugar, salt and grated butter: mix until smooth
3 Add an egg, milk, then add baking soda and vinegar in the same tsp: mix until smooth
4 Mix in dry cherries
5 Roll out the dough to 1cm height
6 Cut the scones-to-be in triangles and transfer to the baking paper
7 Bake for 15 minutes at 220C or until golden
8 Enjoy with a cup of black tea !

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