See, see how the sun has moved onward while we talked. Nothing can stop it in its course.
Eiji Yoshikawa
Ingredients (2 servings): – 180g salmon – 2 fresh quinces – 120g white rice mixed with wild rice – 3 garlic cloves – 2 tbsp butter for cooking quinces – 1tbsp olive oil for cooking salmon – a few sprigs of parsley for serving – 1/4 tsp salt – 1/4 tsp black pepper Method: 1 Salmon: 1.1 Wash salmon and absorb extra water with paper towels 1.2 Chop garlic cloves 1.3 Cook it for 4-5 minutes each side until golden in olive oil 1.4 Add chopped garlic cloves to the skillet 2 minutes before salmon is ready 2 Quinces: 2.1 Wash quinces and de-seed them 2.2 Slice quinces into 0.3-0.5 cm width pieces 2.3 Melt butter in the skillet 2.4 Stew quince slices for 15 minutes in butter at medium heat 3 Rice: boil it per instruction in salty water 4 Serve cooked salmon and quinces over the boiled rice: season with salt & pepper and decorate with chopped parsley 5 Enjoy!
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.
Filling ingredients (all ingredients for 4 servings = ~30 Vareniki): – 500g new potatoes – 200g champignons – 1 onion – 1 carrot – 1 tsp salt – 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Dough ingredients: – 260g wheat flour – 130ml water – 30ml olive oil – 1/2 tsp salt
Serving ingredients: – a few sprigs of green onions – 200ml sour cream
Method: 1 Prepare the filling: 1.1 Wash champignons, remove dirt from them with a paper towel and cut a thin slice off the bottom 1.2 Stew on olive oil chopped onion with grated carrot for 5 minutes 1.3 Add chopped champignons to onion & carrot and stew for another 10 minutes 1.4 Put the frying pan aside and let it cool down 1.5 Boil for 15 minutes peeled potatoes. Then mash them with 1 tsp salt. 1.6 Combine mashed potatoes with fried champignons and mix them well. 2 Prepare dough: 2.1 Add olive oil in the middle of flour heap and mix oil with flour 2.2 Stir in boiled water into the oily flour and knead the dough 2.3 Let the dough rest for 15 minutes 2.4 Separate the dough into 4 equal parts with a knife. Form a ~1.5cm diameter sausage out of each part 2.5 Cut each sausage into 1cm width pieces and roll out each piece into a ~5cm diameter round 3 Make Vareniki: 3.1 Put 1 tsp filling into each round, fold the round into a half-moon and pinch all the edges together strongly with fingers. Put Vareniki on the floured plate. 3.2 Put Vareniki into boiling water and cook for 5 minutes at medium heat 3.3 Serve immediately with sour cream, chopped green onions, miner’s lettuce and grated carrot !
Notes: one can make several servings of Vareniki (e.g., during a rainy weekend) and put them uncooked in the freezer. And then… enjoy the benefits of quick & delicious lunch during the week! 🙂
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.
Filling ingredients (all ingredients for 4 servings = ~30 Vareniki): – 400g pointed white cabbage or young white cabbage – 1 onion – 1 carrot – 1 tsp salt – 1/2 tsp black pepper – 1 tsp sugar – 1 tsp vinegar
Dough ingredients: – 260g wheat flour – 130ml water – 30ml olive oil – 1/2 tsp salt
Serving ingredients: – 1 grated carrot – a few sprigs of green onions – 200ml sour cream – a few leaves of miner’s lettuce
Method: 1 Prepare the filling: 1.1 Cut cabbage into thin strips, chop carrot and onion 1.2 Fry on olive oil chopped onion with carrot for 5 minutes 1.3 Add striped cabbage, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp vinegar to onion and carrot and stew for another 15 minutes 1.4 Add salt and black pepper and mix everything well 1.5 Put the frying pan aside to let the vegetables cool down 2 Prepare dough: 2.1 Add olive oil in the middle of flour heap and mix oil with flour 2.2 Stir in boiled water into the oily flour and knead the dough 2.3 Let the dough rest for 15 minutes 2.4 Separate the dough into 4 equal parts with a knife. Form ~1.5cm diameter sausage out of each part with your hands 2.5 Cut each sausage into 1cm width pieces and roll out each piece into a ~5cm diameter round 3 Make Vareniki: 3.1 Put 1 tsp filling into each round, fold the round into a half-moon and pinch all the edges together strongly with fingers. Put Vareniki on the floured plate. 3.2 Put Vareniki into boiling water and cook for 5 minutes at medium heat 3.3 Serve immediately with sour cream, chopped green onions, miner’s lettuce and grated carrot !
Notes: one can make several servings of Vareniki (e.g., during a rainy weekend) and put them uncooked in the freezer. And then… enjoy the benefits of quick & delicious lunch during the week! 🙂
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
Dough ingredients (~70 Pelmeni = 4-6 portions): – 3 cups (1 cup = 250ml) wheat flour – 170ml warm water – 1 tablespoon 9% vinegar – 2 and 1/2 tablespoons olive oil – 1/2 teaspoon salt
Filling ingredients (~70 Pelmeni = 4-6 portions): – 250g minced beef – 250g minced pork – 1 teaspoon salt – 1/2 teaspoon black pepper – 1 onion or 1 bunch of chopped chives
Serving ingredients (for 2 portions): – 200g sour cream – 2 teaspoons butter – 1/2 bunch dill or 1/2 bunch parsley Method: 1 Knead a dough from dough ingredients and transfer it to the fridge in a covered bowl for 30 minutes 2 Combine minced meat (no extra water!) + salt + black pepper + finely chopped onion or chives: mix everything well with a fork 3 Separate dough into 6 equal pieces: form a 1.5cm diameter sausage from each piece 4 Cut each sausage into 1cm width pieces and roll out each piece into a 5cm diameter round 🙂 5 Put 1 teaspoon filling into each round, fold the round into a half-moon and pinch all the edges together strongly with fingers, do it two times. Then pull together two corners and pinch strongly with fingers again. 🙂 6 Boil Pelmeni for 5 minutes in boiling water (at least 3 minutes after Pelmeni are floating on the top) and serve with sour cream, butter and fresh chopped parsley or dill 7 Enjoy !
With a few flowers in my garden, half a dozen pictures and some books, I live without envy.
Lope de Vega
Salmorejo ingredients (2 servings): – 🍅🍅🍅 500g fresh tomatoes 🍅🍅🍅 – 50g-100g ciabatta or baguette crumb (soft part) – 2 garlic cloves – 1 tsp salt – 1/2 tablespoon white wine vinegar – 50ml olive oil Extra Virgin
Serving ingredients: – 100g chopped ham – a few basil leaves Directions: 1 Wash tomatoes and remove the green middle part 2 Combine in a bowl tomatoes + ciabatta crumb (add 100g crumb for a thick soup and 50g for a light one) + garlic cloves + salt + vinegar + olive oil: mash everything with a food processor or blender until smooth 3 Serve the soup with chopped ham and fresh basil leaves ! Enjoy !
Notes: 1 This soup will not leave you indifferent 😉 2 Tomatoes, olive oil & garlic quality are essential for the taste! 3 Put the soup in the fridge for 1 hour before serving if you prefer to have it cold 🙂
Directions: 1 Marinated beef: 1.1 Wash beef, remove extra water with paper towels 1.2 Slice beef into 2-4mm width pieces: the thinner the better! 1.3 Mix in a large bowl beef slices, vinegar, salt, black pepper, sliced onion 1.4 Put the bowl in the fridge for 2 hours, then get rid of onion 🙂 2 Cook rice in salted water, keep it warm 🙂 3 Green beans: 3.1 Trim ends of washed green beans 3.2 Boil green beans in salted water for 5 minutes. Then drain extra water. 4 Cooking beef slices: 4.1 Pre-heat frying pan, add some olive oil 4.2 Fry beef slices for 10 minutes at medium heat, stirring occasionally 4.3 Add green beans and cook for another 5 minutes 4.4 Add grated garlic 🧄🧄🧄 and cook for another minute continuously stirring 5 Serve hot with rice and chopped parsley and green onions !
Directions: 1 Beef filling: 1.1 Boil minced beef until ready, drain broth and let the meat cool down 1.2 Combine meat with salt and black pepper: mix well 2 Potato batter: 2.1 Wash and peel potatoes 2.2 Grate half of potatoes and crush in a blender another half of potatoes 2.3 Combine both parts of potatoes: drain extra liquid through a strainer or cloth 2.4 Mix potatoes with salt, pepper and starch 3 Garlic sauce: mix grated garlic with sour cream and put in a fridge 4 Potato pancakes: 4.1 Preheat a non-sticking frying pan with some olive oil 4.2 Put 1 tablespoon of potato batter on the frying pan for 1 pancake-to-be: make it flat and round with a tablespoon 🙂 4.3 Put 1-2 teaspoons of meat filling uniformly on each pancake-to-be 4.4 Put another tablespoon of potato batter over each pancake with meat: flatten with a tablespoon to make it nice looking 🙂 4.5 Fry pancakes at a medium heat until golden approximately 3-4 minutes each side 4.6 Transfer the pancakes on paper towels to absorb extra oil for a couple of minutes 5 Serve the pancakes hot with garlic sauce and fresh parsley !
Notes: no eggs and no flour in this recipe make the potato pancakes really delicious preserving a potato flavour ! Try them yourself !
Ingredients (for 4 stuffed peppers): – 4 red bell peppers – 450g minced beef – 90g pearl barley – 7 small tomatoes 🍅 – 1/3 bunch dill – 1 small onion (to adda flavour to the broth!) – 1 teaspoon salt – 1/2 teaspoon black pepper – 100g sour cream for serving
Directions: 1 Pre-cook pearl barley: boil for 12 minutes, then drain extra water 2 Mix minced beef with chopped dill & pre-cooked pearl barley & salt and black pepper 3 Wash red bell peppers, carefully remove the top part and de-seed 4 Stuff well red bell peppers with the meat mixture 🙂 5 Wash and cut tomatoes into 1cm cubes, peel small onion: put cut tomatoes and an onion into a large pot 6 Carefully put the stuffed peppers to the same large pot with the tops from bell peppers One can put them either horizontally or vertically, the main point is to be able to cover them with the water afterwards. 7 Add to the pot water to cover all the peppers: cook at medium heat for 40 minutes, but evacuate the onion from the pot after 10 minutes of cooking 🙂 8 Serve with sour cream and half a soup ladle of broth !
… everything I felt a connection with a rectangle of framed sunlight was dominated by a single passion. If my first glance of the morning was for the sun, my first thought was for the butterflies it would engender.
Sour cream sauce ingredients: – 1/2 bunch dill – 200ml sour cream Directions: 1 Peel zucchini, grate them, place grated zucchini in the colander, cover with a plate to let them drain for 1 hour 2 Chop parsley and dill 3 Prepare a batter: combine milk+flour+sugar+salt+🌻 oil+eggs: mix well and whisk until batter is fully combined 4 Mix in the batter chopped parsley together with grated zucchini 5 Preheat a non-sticking skillet with a little bit of 🌻 oil (no more oil will be needed!) 6 For each pancake pour 1 soup ladle of batter into the skillet 7 Cook pancakes until golden ~2 minutes on each side 8 Make sour cream sauce: combine sour cream with chopped dill 9 Serve !
OkroshkaIngredients (2 servings): – 400ml Kefir – 200ml water – 100g chicken breast meat – 4 baby potatoes – 2 small eggs – 150-200g cucumbers – 150-200g radish – 1/2 bunch dill – 1 teaspoon salt – 1 tablespoon sugar
Directions: 1 Boil chicken breast meat; let it cool down; dice the meat into 1cm cubes 2 Peel baby potatoes; cut into 1cm cubes; boil until ready; drain well and let them cool down 3 Boil 2 eggs, let them cool down, peel and dice into 0.5cm cubes 3 Chop dill 4 Cut radish and cucumber into strips 5 Mix in a large bowl cold (from the fridge) Kefir with water, salt, sugar, chopped dill 6 Add to the bowl eggs, radish, cucumbers, potatoes, chicken and carefully mix 7 Serve immediately !
Notes: traditionally Okroshka is served with Kvass, but it is tasty with Kefir as well
Method: 1 Preheat the oven to 220C 2 Combine flour+salt+warm water in a bowl: knead the dough well for 5-6 minutes 3 Make a filling: 3.1 combine chopped spinach & salt: mix well with the hands for 3-4 minutes to get juice from spinach 3.2 add feta & walnuts & oil & pepper to the spinach & salt, mix well 4 Divide dough into 8 equal pieces and form a ball out of each of them 5 Roll out each ball into a 8-10cm diameter circle: put 1 teaspoon of a filling in the centre of each circle 6 Lift up ends of each circle to the centre to form Fatayers with your fingers 7 Put the Fatayers on the baking paper: bake for 15 minutes at 220C 8 Serve with black coffee and lemon slices !
When the first fine spring days come, and the earth awakes and assumes its garment of verdure, when the perfumed warmth of the air blows on our faces and fills our lungs, and even appears to penetrate to our heart, we feel vague longings for undefined happiness, a wish to run, to walk at random, to inhale the spring.
Guy de Maupassant
Batter ingredients (for 5-6 pancakes): – 1/3-1/2 cup buckwheat flour – 2 tablespoons wheat flour – 1/2 egg – 1 cup water (might be less or more, depends on buckwheat flour) – 1 pinch salt – 40g butter for frying
Filling ingredients (for filling 5-6 galettes): – 5-6 eggs – 80g ham – 100g grated Gruyère cheese – a few sprigs of green onions
Method: 1 Combine batter ingredients, mix them well and whisk until the batter is uniform 2 Grate Gruyère cheese, slice ham and put them in a fridge for a while in 2 bowls 3 Cook the pancakes 3.1 Melt butter in the skillet and pour ~1/2 cup of batter in it 3.2 Cook 2-3 minutes on one side and 1-2 minutes on another side 3.3 Repeat 2.1-2.2 for the remaining pancakes 🥞 4 Cook 5-6 eggs (as many as a number of pancakes you made) in a separate skillet with the melted butter, put them on a plate covered with a lid to keep them warm 😉 5 Warm up the pancakes in a frying pan with some melted butter and add in the middle of them the following levels: 5.1 Sliced ham 5.2 Grated Gruyère cheese 5.3 Cooked egg 6 Put the cooked galettes on the plates, and fold over their four edges 7 Garnish with chopped green onions & black pepper 8 Serve immediately and enjoy ! Hint: Do not try to replace water by milk or butter by oil otherwise all the charm will be lost! 🙂
Sitting with her on Sunday evening — a wet Sunday evening — the very time of all others when if a friend is at hand the heart must be opened, and every thing told…
Method: 1 Wash a cauliflower head and separate into florets 2 Boil the cauliflower florets in salty water for 10 minutes, then drain water 3 Mash the cauliflower florets with eggs, flour, species, finally mix in chopped green onions 4 Line a plate with paper towels to put there pancakes afterwards to get rid of extra oil 5 Put some olive oil on a skillet and set the medium-low heat 6 Put 1 tablespoon of cauliflower batter for 1 pancake on a skillet and flatten with a spatula (my 29cm diameter skillet allows cooking 3-4 pancakes simultaneously) 7 Cook pancakes for 2-3 minutes on each side until golden, then transfer them onto the paper towels 8 While cooking pancakes, make a Roquefort-garlic sauce: mash grated garlic with sour cream, Roquefort cheese and chopped parsley 9 Serve cauliflower pancakes hot with fresh baby spinach, chopped green onions and Roquefort-garlic sauce !
Show not what has been done, but what can be. How beautiful the world would be if there were a procedure for moving through labyrinths.
Umberto Eco
Ingredients (for 2 servings): – 180g salmon – 100ml 33% cream – 300g durum wheat semolina pasta (ideally, Italian Pasta Superior Semola) – 3 garlic clothes – 80g Parmesan – 1/2 teaspoon salt – 1/2 teaspoon pepper – 1/2 tablespoon olive oil for frying
Method: 1 Grate Parmesan into a bowl and put in the fridge for now 2 Cut salmon into 1.5cm cubes 3 Chop garlic into 0.5cm cubes 4 Simultaneously start boiling pasta (5) and cooking salmon (6) 5 Boil pasta in the salty water until ready and drain the water 6 Cook salmon for 5 minutes in olive oil with garlic, then add 33% cream and stew for another 5 minutes 7 Put the pasta in the frying pan with salmon for 1 minute, carefully mix and transfer to the serving plates 8 Sprinkle pasta with grated Parmesan, add black pepper and serve immediately !
You would not enjoy Nietzsche, sir. He is fundamentally unsound.
P.G. Wodehouse
Spinach Fatayer Dough ingredients: – 1 cup (1 cup=250ml) wheat flour – 1/4 cup warm water – 3 tbsp olive oil – 1/2 tsp salt
Spinach Fatayer filling ingredients: – 120g fresh baby spinach – 1/2 small chopped onion – 1/4 cup chopped walnuts – 2 tbsp lemon juice – 2 tsp olive oil – 1/2 tsp salt – 1/4 tsp black pepper
Method: 1 Preheat the oven at 220C ! 2 Combine flour+salt+warm water in a bowl: knead the dough well for 5-6 minutes 3 Make a filling: combine chopped spinach & onion & walnuts & oil & salt & pepper 4 Divide dough into 8 equal pieces and form balls out of them 5 Roll out each ball into a 8-10cm diameter circle: put 2 teaspoons of a filling in the centre of each circle 6 Lift up ends of each circle to the centre to form with your fingers rhombuses-like Fatayers 🙂 7 Put the Fatayers on a baking paper: bake for 15 minutes at 220C 8 Serve with a vegetable soup (see Leek-potato soup recipe here) or black coffee !
Method: 1 Peel and wash potatoes, cut them into 1cm cubes 2 Boil potatoes cubes for 10 minutes, drain the water and let them cool down 3 Knead a dough from the dough ingredients and divide it into 4 equal parts 4 Make a 1.5cm diameter sausage out of each piece of dough 5 Cut each sausage into 0.7cm-width gnocchi and put them on a floured plate 6 Gorgonzola sauce: 6.1 Toast the pine nuts without oil until golden, put them in a bowl aside 6.2 Wash baby spinach and let it dry 6.3 Melt Gorgonzola in 33% cream on a frying pan 6.4 When Gorgonzola is melted, add spinach to the frying pan: simmer for 4 minutes 7 Put gnocchi in a boiling salted water, cook for 4 minutes 8 Drain the water and carefully mix the gnocchi in the Gorgonzola sauce: gnocchi are ready ! 9 Decorate gnocchi with toasted pine nuts and green onions !
As for the ball, it is quite a settled thing; and as soon as Nicholls has made white soup enough, I shall send round my cards.
Jane Austen, Pride & Prejudice
Ingredients (2 servings): – 2 large red bell peppers – 6 baby potatoes – 1 small onion – optional: 60ml 33% cream – 400ml water or chicken broth – 0.5 tsp salt – 25g green unsalted raw pistachios – green onions for serving
Method: 1 Roughly chop peeled potato, de-seeded bell peppers & onion 2 Finely grate pistachios 3 Boil potato in a broth for 5 minutes 4 Add bell peppers & onion, simmer for another 10 minutes 5 Add (optional!) 33% cream to the soup-to-be, transfer to the blender, puree until smooth 6 Garnish with chopped green onions & grated pistachios
It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.
― Charles Dickens, Great Expectations
Ingredients (for 2 servings): – 2 large sweet potatoes – 1 onion – 400ml water or chicken broth – 60ml cream 33% – 10 leaves fresh baby spinach for serving – 30g almond petals for serving – 1/2 tsp salt – 1/2 tsp pepper
Method: 1 Cut sweet potatoes into ~2x2x2cm pieces 2 Cut onion into ~0.5×0.5×0.5cm pieces 3 Boil sweet potatoes in chicken broth for 10 minutes (add as much chicken broth as required to cover the sweet potatoes pieces) 4 Add onion to the broth and boil for another 5 minutes, then remove the saucepan from the oven 5 Blender the soup, add salt and pepper 6 Stir in cream and serve with fresh baby spinach, almond petals and black pepper !
“…Absorbed in the new scents, the sounds, and the sunlight…”
― Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows
Absorbed in the new scents, the sounds, and the sunlight…
― Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows
Dough ingredients: – 1 cup (1cup=250ml) wheat flour – 1/4 cup warm water – 3 tbsp olive oil – 1/2 tsp salt
Filling ingredients: – 200g fresh baby spinach – 1 small onion – 1/4 cup walnuts – 3 tbsp lemon juice – 2 tsp olive oil – 1/2 tsp salt – 1/4 tsp pepper
Method: 1 Preheat the oven at 220C 2 Combine flour+salt+warm water in a bowl: knead a dough for 3-5 minutes 3 Make a filling: combine finely chopped spinach + onion + walnuts + oil + salt +pepper 4 Divide dough into 8 equal pieces and form balls out of them 5 Roll out each ball into a 8-10cm diameter circle: put 2 teaspoons of a filling in the middle of each circle 6 Lift up ends of each circle to the center to form with your fingers rhombuses-like Fatayers, like on the photo 😉 7 Put the Fatayers on a baking paper: bake for 15 minutes at 220C 8 Serve with a vegetable soup or black coffee !
“La parole humaine est comme un chaudron fêlé où nous battons des mélodies à faire danser les ours, quand on voudrait attendrir les étoiles”
– Gustav Flaubert
Soup ingredients (for 2 large servings): – 600g parsnips – 250g potatoes – 1 small onion – 200ml milk or 33% cream – 1 tsp salt Beetroot chips ingredients: – 1 large beetroot
Method: 1 Let’s first make beetroot chips: 1.1 Preheat the oven to 160C 1.2 Peel one beet root and cut 1mm width slices of it 1.3 Put beet root slices on a baking paper and bake them 30 minutes at 180C 2 Peel vegetables for soup, cut them at ~2cm cubes and boil 15 minutes in salty water 3 Leave 100-200ml vegetable broth with vegetables, add milk/cream and puree vegetables with milk/cream in a blender 4 Garnish the soup with root beet chips and black pepper 5 Enjoy !
Love... to cooking ! 