Okroshka (cold summer soup)

Okroshka – n. fem. sg. ; from the verb “крошитъ” /kroshi:t/ , to dice.

Impervious to seasons, russian people demand soup for every occasion, no matter how hot it is outside. And since the sun is shining, here is the staple of traditional summer food in Russia – okroshka. A less refined taster might say it’s just russian salad served with beer instead of mayonnaise, but I know that you know better than that!
First of all, it is not beer that you will need to make okroshka, but kvas – a fermented bread drink which might be available at your local generic slavic food store. As emigration showed, it is actually very replaceable by your favourite light lager or any type of “bière de table” which will be low in alcohol.
Kvas is not difficult to make, but it demands constant care and attention, as any preparation which involves fermenting. My grandmother used to make delicious kvas in enourmous 3L jars, and it is said that my great-grandmother’s mint kvas was heavenly. To my surprise, it turned out the talent of making fermented beverages does not really run in the family, as my only attempt to make some kvas was an unspeakable disaster which put me off attempting any sort of brewing for quite some time... But now that time has passed, I am tempted to give it another try. I bet that’s what my next post here will be about. I bet it’s going to be historical, whatever happens; stay tuned!

Enough digression, back to the soup of all cold soups!

Okroshka, as its name suggests, is a mix of cold diced and chopped ingredients which are vegetables, herbs, boiled eggs, and sometimes meat or fish.

The basis of the mix are : boiled potatoes, fresh cucumbers, fresh radishes. Sometimes boiled beetroot, carrots, beets are used as well. I bend all the rules and rebel against tradition by adding some diced pickled cucumbers. The herbs must include spring onion and dill which give a distinctive “russian” taste, while (in my opinion) chervil, parsley and estragon are optional. You may also use the greens from the radishes : hold the greens under very hot water for a couple of seconds before draining them, chopping them and adding them to the mix.

The proportion of vegetable mix to meat or fish will be 1:1.
If used, the meat will either be some sort of low-fat sausage (like veal), or boiled beef, or chicken. In the “olden days” the meat that was used was suckling pig or turkey – tender meats which didn’t have a strong taste.
If fish is used, the same rule applies here – no strong tastes, fresh water fish is advised, such as perch for instance.

It is difficult to suggest amounts per portion, since it depends on your appetite only. As usual, I would suggest to prepare only a small amount if you are tasting this dish for the first time. Generally, it’s one potato, one egg, a handful of diced radishes, a handful of diced cucumber, a handful of chopped herbs per stomach.

Oh, it might contain “beer”, but it’s still a soup, so let me be Captain Obvious here, just in case: you eat it with a spoon.

Here’s the recipe for the very basic, meat-free, fish-free, rebel-pickle-free okroshka.

You’ll need:

A chopping board

A big bowl for mixing

4 smaller bowls for serving

Ingredients (approximately for 4):

1L of light lager, chilled
4 eggs, boiled, cooled and peeled
4 large potatoes, boiled, cooled and peeled
1 cucumber
1 bunch of radishes, separated from greens
1 bunch of dill (or 4 teaspoons of dry dill)
3 twigs of green onions
salt

1. Dice the vegetables and the eggs and mix it all in a large bowl. Salt to taste, or leave some salt on the table for everyone to season their dish to their own taste.

2. Chop the herbs.

3. Divide the mix between four smaller bowls and sprinkle the herbs on top.

4. Pour some lager on top of the mix right before serving.

5. Feel the fresh bubbles of chilled lager mix with the fragrant herbs on your palate, crunch the crunchy radish, munch the soft potato, feel triumphantly sorry for those other poor bastards who have never heard of this refreshing, easy, perfect summer dish!

Marinated Tomatoes

Marinated vegetables and pickles are a big part of russian/soviet cuisine, used as an every day side dish, or "zakuski" (which means that you eat a marinated tomato right after that small shot of cold vodka). Few people have the time to prepare it themselves nowadays, especially those who live in big cities. Pickles are prepared in a similar manner, and the marinade has a legendary "medicinal" value against hangovers, mainly due to the mineral components that supposedly dissolve in the water during the marination process.

Marinating vegetables at the end of summer is part of the ritual preparation before a long, cold winter. My grandmother used to make huge, 3L jars that she kept in a special dresser under the kitchen window. No need to wait till the summer ends - here's a quick version of marinated tomatoes that will be ready in two days time!

You will need:

a glass jar

a small pot

water

500g cherry or plum tomatoes

1 clove of garlic

10 black peppercorns

2 bay leaves

dill

1 teaspoon of vinegar

1 teaspoon of sugar

1 tablespoon of salt

1. Before you start, you need to measure how much water you will need for the marinade. Here's a little trick : put all the tomatoes in the jar, and fill it with water. Then pour the water from the jar into the pot. Leave the tomatoes on the side for now.

2. Put all the ingredients except the tomatoes in the pot, and bring the marinade to boil. I strongly advise to taste the marinade and adjust the amount of vinegar and salt to your taste.

3. When the water is boiling, put the tomatoes in it for about a minute or two, until their skin pops. Some people prefer to take the skin off, but it is optional (and if you ask me - a blasphemy), especially when you're using small varieties of tomatoes.

4. Put it all back in the jar, and close the lid, and voila!

5. Keep the jar at room temperature for a day, and pop it in the fridge for another day. On the third day, serve it with oven baked potatoes, or eat as is ;)

Borsch

One of the most famous features of the Russian cuisine, borsch is the apple of discord of many foodies, not only because of the dozens of way it can be prepared, but also for its spelling! 

The most common spelling, "borscht", has a yiddish origin. There is no "t" sound in its russian pronounciation; it ends with a soft "sh" sound , as in "sheep" for instance.

Borsch belongs to a more general slavic tradition, many variations of which can be found in Ukranian, Polish, Belorussian, and other traditional kitchens. No need to say that there are as many recipes as there are regions and cooks. The recipe presented below is a very personal choice of various techniques and ingredients, and as such could be severely criticized by borsch purists (who DO exist in large numbers).

It always tastes better on the next day, so borsch is cooked in large pots. It is supposed to be a very rich dish, and Russian soups are quite often very thick, almost as a vegetable ragout with sauce rather than your thin soup.

Usually, borsch is cooked in a meat broth, for which some recipes require porc and beef, or just beef. Chicken is rarely used, although it tastes really good too.

It is always better to have some bones in the broth, whichever meat you choose. You must of course cook the meat first. When it's done, take the meat out of the pot, and leave it to cool on the side. Cut the meat in small pieces and add to the pot or to each plate before serving.

 For 3 liters of broth:

a large pot

a small pan

some vegetable oil

500g shredded cabbage

4 potatoes

2 grated carrots

2 onions 

1 tomato

1 beetroot

1 turnip

2 bay leaves

cloves

salt

Optional : 

1 small dried red chili pepper, garlic, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, tomato pulp, thyme, sour cream (add a dollop on top of each portion before serving) .

#1 Heat the broth. 

#2 Stick some cloves into one onion. You will throw it out once the borsch is done; it simply prevents the cloves from swimming around in your plate - I really hate biting on a clove. Put it in the broth, along with the bay leaves (and the red chili pepper if you're using it).

#3 Peel and cube the potatoes and add them to the broth. Same with turnip and beetroot (if it's raw - I usually buy precooked beetroot and add it much later, or else it will overcook).

#3 Cut one onion and the tomato in small cubes. Heat some oil in the pan, and fry the onion, tomato and grated carrots. You can add some garlic and tomato pulp if you like. When it's nicely fragrant, add it all to the broth.

#4 Last to go into the broth is the cabbage and the beetroot (if it's precooked!).

#5 Let it all cook for about 40 min - or until all the root vegetables are tender.

I add some Worcestershire sauce because I cook without meat, and it adds some sharpness to the taste (absolutely not a Russian thing to do).

My mom adds half a lemon (zest and all), but to my taste the tomato gives enough acidity.

My advice would be to cook your first borsch as simple as possible, and correct the recipe to your taste next time, by adding all the extra ingredients. 

Good luck and bon appetit!

Cream Cheese Pancakes - Oladyi

These are usually eaten for breakfast or teatime.

The texture is a bit different from regular pancakes, oladyi are creamier.

500g cream cheese or yoghurt

1 egg

250g flour

1c. spoon of baking powder

100g sugar

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and spoon small portions on to a hot pan (add some oil or butter before baking if your pan is not a non-stick one).

As soon as tiny bubbles appear on the surface, flip the pancake. It generally takes about a minute and a half for each side to be ready, but it depends on the quality of your pan, the heat of the flame, the thickness of your pancake, etc so you really need to be there the whole time to avoid burning them.

Add a dollop of honey (as in photo), jam, or drizzle with some sweet condensed milk before serving.

Optional ingredients are: cinnamon, lemon zest, vanilla. You can also add some raisins or dice a fresh apple, and add it to the dough before pan frying it.

You can also skip the sugar to make savoury pancakes, and serve them with cream cheese and salmon eggs, or smoked salmon for example.