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So I'm going to pretend that a whole month didn't just pass since my last post. Because if anyone were to ask me where that time went, I wouldn't know. Can I offer you a drink?I was hoping things might slow down work-wise a bit for the summer (though unsure why - I guess when I was in school, summer was a time of lazy afternoons, picnics, tall grasses, and singing cicadas) but it seems they are on
This dessert was the result of a few left over tidbits. I had some mascarpone from some ambitious plans for a dessert from earlier which never materialized. The fruit basket had two lone oranges whose skins began to slightly shrivel. And I was short on wheat flour, but I still had a fair amount of coconut flour from earlier experiments with it that had to be used up.From that earlier experiment, w
As the weather turns warmer, soups, stews and various savory baked dishes get put on the back burner around these parts. At least for now (there might be a freak storm in April or May which might call for such things). This potato and salmon salad is great for lunch - it is filling without being heavy, with very light dressing.The flavors here are Scandinavian-inspired. Although Scandinavian seafo
We reserve weekends for play. Often times a whole day or two would be reserved to revolve around food. A six hour quest in making pho. A day trip to a Japanese food market and an evening spent making maki and sushi (making it fresher and cheaper than at a mid-range restaurant). But on weekdays things are different. A mad rush to scramble something out of whatever is in the fridge or on the bottom
I believe in breakfast. Hearty, tasty, filling breakfast, with a glass of orange juice and a cup of good coffee. The problem is I don't have much of an appetite until ten or eleven in the morning. Which is perfect for a weekend brunch, but doesn't work quite as well early on weekday mornings.On such mornings, during the best times, I gulp down a banana and throw a couple of granola bars in my bag
Cheese is great for making appetizers, and goat cheese is particularly interesting because of its strong and tart flavor. Good goat cheese, or chèvre in French, is quite crumbly and not easily spreadable on crackers or, as in this case, endive leaves. Because of its texture, chèvre is great to use in salads, as we did in this kale salad. However, by adding a suitable amount of sour cream it is pos
I don't remember how we got involved in this. All that's left now is the memory of one of the best meals I've ever had. And a yearning. Yearning for another bowl, regardless of how many hours it takes to make it. This recipe was Tony's doing who, as an ethnic Scotsman with a penchant for Sriracha and a scientist at heart, made this Vietnamese dish his own. What makes pho unique is the broth, which
When it comes to cooking, I learn mostly by observing, doing, and experimenting through trial and error. And sometimes simply from seeing things and attempting to re-create them.I have been fascinated by the Vietnamese shrimp rice paper rolls ever since trying my first one a long time ago. I also realized they would be a interesting subject to photograph, with shrimp cheerfully peering through the
As the weather turns colder and we enter deeper into the winter (although it is comforting to know that minutes of sunlight are no longer disappearing and are slowly beginning to trickle back) comfort food is definitely on the menu around these parts. Sometimes it takes the form of savory pies.I made this meatless version of shepherd's pie with leeks and a mix of different mushrooms instead o
My favorite thing about New Year's Eve is the food.A Russian New Year is particularly special, as it was a holiday that replaced Christmas during the Soviet era. As a result, people would enjoy a big feast on New Year's Eve. Meals would often begin with a choice of appetizers and Russian salads (followed by the main course and then dessert, both of which often went neglected as you'd be
Last year around the same time we were making some Norwegian mulled wine or gløgg. As the weather turned colder this year, I was on the lookout for another warm, spice-infused drink to warm the soul (and body temperature) in these dark, chilly months.Not wanting to do a mulled wine variation again, I opted for some wassail.Wassail (rather than wass-AIL which is what I was calling it, it is mo
While browsing around at an antique shop I stumbled upon an ephemera section. There was a fairly large selection with postcards from every state as well as some international ones.I found a box, stacked somewhere between Poland and Switzerland, vaguely labeled Scandinavia. It was separated into two sections for Denmark and Sweden. I looked through the several dozen cards and found a few from Norwa
Kale is one of my favorite leafy greens, especially in the colder months. It is very nutritious, cabbagey, and is a rather sturdy plant as it is one of the few ones that can grow well into the cold.It is perhaps also fitting for the colder weather that the other ingredients in this salad are preserved in one form or another: goat cheese, dried cranberries, and marinated artichoke hearts. The flavo
The idea for this recipe has been in the works for some time in one form or another. I've been wanting to make a stuffed roasted vegetable dish for a while. As we entered November, I started mulling over stuffing recipes for Thanksgiving. And now that we are three days away (a fact which I am still trying to process) I settled on acorn squash stuffed with bird stuffing.The stuffing I used here one
When making this dish I was sure I was making an authentic Russian dessert. I had grown up hearing about it and eating it only at Russian tables. In Russian this dish is called Charlotka (phonetic: Sharlotka) which is the "familiar" version of the female name Charlotte. But upon further research I learned that, as with a number of dishes, its origins are a little more complicated.According to the
The night before Hurricane Sandy arrived, the transit workers started shutting off the subway system in the city and the commuter rail lines. That's when I started to take this a little more seriously. That night, I was finishing up left over blog posts on pumpkins and making cupcakes. One thing that you should know about me if you don't already, I make cupcakes whenever I'm nervous or stressed. I
On our visit to the pumpkin patch, in addition to the ones we picked for carving, we also got a small sugar pumpkin for cooking. With pumpkins so plentiful this time of year, the farmer was selling them for three dollars apiece without regard to size. So I picked a healthy four pounder.My first thought was to make some sort of baked dessert using a pumpkin purée. But as the weather turned sour tow
As we prepare for the storm that's about to wreak its havoc all over North East, I was glad that we chose last weekend to go pumpkin picking rather than putting it off until this one. When we went last Sunday, it was a beautiful sunny fall day. Today the sky is ominously gray. I couldn't help but remember that last year's snow storm happened close to Halloween too. We were right about to carve pum
The idea for this pie arose largely from the fact that one night it was getting to be very cold.It was earlier in October, during the Columbus Day weekend, and the temperature dropped substantially below what was normal for the time. Our building was yet to turn on the heat (which normally occurs right after the holiday).That Sunday, by the end of the afternoon, as the sun started to recede behind
Fall is in full swing here. Colder than last year's which sputtered along on warmish weather into a snowless, tepid winter. This year it's fall in the true sense, with cool, crisp air, temperatures dropping to freezing at night, leaving leaves burned with hues of red and yellow and ochre. And with the onset of the cold, the need to pack on more calories seems more urgent. Exploring a nearby Afghan
This is a recipe for a traditional Russian salad, to add to my small arsenal of traditional Russian salads which would typically be served on a holiday (such as on New Year's Eve). It is a layered salad, with herring on the bottom, topped with several different root vegetables, including beets. In Russian, the salad's name literally translates to "Herring Under a Coat" because the herring is cover
Herring has been one of my favorite snacks ever since I was little. A common way of preserving herring in Russia and Ukraine is in salt brine. Herring there is commonly preserved whole in barrels in a salted water solution with various spices. A similar method is used by the Dutch, except the fish used is younger and it is pickled for a shorter time.A common misconception about this way of preserv
The end of summer is here. Even though its official departure is a few weeks ahead, just as Memorial Day starts its unofficial beginning, Labor Day marks its unofficial end.As stores replace their summer decor with orange colors, maple leaves and pumpkins (I saw the first hint of orange in a store window display two weeks ago, and it somehow felt nauseating), nature, perhaps less abruptly, is be
This recipe was one of many firsts for me. This was my first time working with coconut flour. It was also my second, third, and fourth. It was also my first time baking gluten free. Coconut flour is made from dried coconut meat. As a result, it is very fragrant and flavorful. It is also very absorbent. It generally cannot be substituted one for one of wheat-based flour. The package I used recommen
I usually make a version of this dish during weeknights. It always involves sautéed garlic, shrimp, and hot peppers. Sometimes it gains a Mexican flair and I add cilantro and lime juice and serve it over rice with some salsa, and sometimes it gets an Italian flair and I serve it in tomato sauce over pasta. It takes a very short time and it is very tasty.For this recipe I used fresh tomatoes to cre
Almost invariably whenever I start doing anything in the kitchen, this happens:This is one of our three cats, Hannes. Aside from his regular diet of cat food, he enjoys snacking on Swedish meatballs, shrimp, fish and Norwegian brown goat cheese (this is one of the reasons we gave him a Scandinavian name). He also loves keeping me company in the kitchen.This has no relation to today's recipe, aside
When we collected about half a box of peaches on our farm visit my husband asked whether it was enough for a pie.I made about seven.Actually, one was a full-sized 9-inch pan pie, and the other six were tiny “personal” pies which I baked using 3 inch tartlet molds. We consumed the remaining peaches in gluttonous abandon with juices dribbling down our chins. It was heavenly.It was also a good opport
Last weekend we went picking at a farm for blackberries and peaches. The farm was huge, and there were many other things to pick (apples, other berries, and various vegetables), but after we were done with peaches and berries in 90ºF we were exhausted. I also ended up being distracted by the beautiful animals. We ended up picking a pint of berries and several pounds of peaches, much more than we n
A little while ago I promised you some roasted portobello burgers once it got cooler. It is only slightly cooler, but I couldn't resist because this is probably one of our favorite meatless burger alternatives.Portobello is a very flavorful, meaty mushroom which makes it a good base for a burger. Its texture is firm, so it can withstand and be much improved by potent marinades that you would for i
This recipe is one of my favorite cold side dishes, and I always make some version of it during the summer. I use different vegetables depending on what I have lying around in the fridge. The ingredients that stay the same are waxy small potatoes like fingerling or baby potatoes (which tend not to fall apart as easily), onion, and a pickle. Putting pickles in potato salads is something I learned f
Can you believe it's August tomorrow? How about a drink to start off the last full month of summer?I became intrigued by the idea of a lychee based drink ever since I heard somebody mention a lychee martini at a place where I was working a while ago. The woman who mentioned it was British, so she pronounced the word as "lye-chee" (lye as in what is used to make soap, along with what Norwegians put
In my last post I wrote about being easily distracted when I shop for food, especially so at the huge Asian market nearby stocked with things you can't get elsewhere. When I was there last, I was looking around, and somewhere past the frozen durian my eyes were drawn to the bright pink of fresh dragon fruit. Without so much as blinking an eye (or giving a thought as to what I would do with it), I
Sometimes this happens to me: I go to a store with a few firm ideas of what I need, but then I get distracted and come out with things completely different from what I planned to get. Which can make shopping difficult. Like the other day.Our local Asian market has a great abundance of fresh fish, with an extremely quick turnover. There are no local seafood markets here, and at any other shop I pre
Our oven has been off duty for several weeks now. On some of the hotter days of this very hot summer there has been enough heat to make an omelet outside, and I did not want to generate even more of it indoors. And since many desserts invariably involve baking, they have been largely off the menu. But then I remembered a dessert that my mom and my grandmother used to make when I was little, a conf
I continue to boycott this incessant heat which has been plaguing the North East for the last several weeks by making two things: cold appetizers and cold cocktails, with a few other things thrown in here and there. Recently a concoction was created around these parts that somehow fills both functions, a part cocktail and a part appetizer. I blame it on the heat.This recipe is for a shrimp cocktai
I've yet to meet a person who hasn't had dolma in one form or another. And perhaps you've had it too, without even knowing it. While one of the more well known types of dolma is the stuffed grape leaf, the name itself can mean any stuffed leaf or vegetable. Dolma is a derivative of a Turkish word dolmak which means to fill (and also, to be full). Stuffed peppers, stuffed eggplant, stuffed tomatoes
With the summer in full swing, and Independence Day behind us, what could be more suitable (and more patriotic) than an American classic: the burger. But with the price of meat on an ever-increasing climb as wallets shrink, with recent studies published linking lower red-meat consumption to longevity, and with an increasing awareness about the source, sustainability, and quality of our food choice
Those of you who have been reading this blog for a while, know my penchant for things wrapped in dough from an earlier post. In that post, I went into a lengthy discussion on differences between various Eastern European stuffed pastries and dumplings, like the Russian pelmeni or meat dumplings. Today's post involves a related Ukrainian dish, vareniki. Vareniki are similar to pelmeni in that the re
If the last few posts are any indication, there is definitely a trend towards colder dishes in our kitchen. Last week the weather has consistently been above normal human body temperature, so turning on the stove (let alone the oven) seemed insurmountable. As a result, we turned to colder meals that don't require much cooking, which have the added benefit of not being very time consuming.This cous
A short time ago we bought some sandwiches for lunch, and I got one with tuna salad. When my husband saw it, he asked, "why did you order tuna salad?" I explained to him that a good tuna salad sandwich can be quite tasty, if made properly and if fresh. It happened that this particular deli made the salad on the spot and together with freshly baked bread and crisp iceberg lettuce made a refreshing
This recipe has been a favorite of mine for some time. This salad frequently makes an appearance on Russian tables, and in these circles it is referred to as "Korean carrot salad." If you go to a Russian food store in Brooklyn and ask for it by name, they will know exactly what you're talking about. I am not sure, however, about its Korean origins. From my very brief research on Google it appears
Even though the official start of summer is about a month away, the Memorial Day weekend serves as the start of its prelude here. The sticky heat acts as a warning of the wet, hot, American summer that is to come and the water-saturated air almost makes me suffocate when I run, even late in the evenings. These humid, almost-summer nights make me want to have something really cold, to cool off. And
Today is syttende mai (May 17th), the Norwegian constitution day. On this day in 1814 Norway declared its independence, which it did not fully gain until 1905, when it finally broke apart from its union with Sweden. May 17th is a big and well-celebrated Norwegian holiday. As I mentioned earlier, we lived in Oslo. In 2010, a few days before May 17th we were told by someone we knew "to go outside an
I like to think I get my baking skills from my mom. When I was little she would throw parties, for which she would cook and bake over a dozen different dishes and I would help in the kitchen. My primary responsibilities were that of a sous chef, with a lot of prep work and an occasional foray into Russian salad making. Aside from making everything else, she would create magic in the oven.While I d
I don't think anybody can deny that appetizers are a lot of fun to eat. They are delicious and bite-sized, which to me means a free license to pile up as many different ones as you can fit on your plate and sample each one (and then perhaps leave). But they can also be fun to make, because you can whip them up in minutes, use simple ingredients, and still impress your guests. Case in point: pile s
Since we are now familiar with leeks from this post, let's get busy. As promised, today's recipe is for a leek and cabbage soup. As mentioned in the previous post, leek greens are very flavorful and too often end up in the waste basket. But today we are using both white and green parts of the leek, as the cooking time is long enough for us to get away with it.In this recipe I use a fresh, small, g
As someone who writes about food and is surrounded by people who are very knowledgeable about it, it's easy to forget that what may be obvious to a kitchen geek is not actual common knowledge. From its inception the point behind this blog was to make cooking approachable to anyone: from a busy mom, to a working couple all too familiar with late-night take-out, to a reclusive bachelor who eats noth
It's getting quite warm around these parts. Instead of April showers, there is a sort of a drought, and the temperature resembles that of June. In this weather, cold dishes that don't require any cooking always seem like a good idea to me, so I decided to make a ceviche.If you're a ceviche beginner like me, don't be scared off by the name. The dish itself can be extremely easy. Ceviche (pronounced
Do you remember Poker Face by Lady Gaga? It was released in 2008 and almost as soon all the bars and clubs were playing it. It seeped into your car through the radio and then into your brain. Before long, you knew precisely what the next line was going to be because somehow, inadvertently you knew all of the lyrics. The song is full of puns on gambling and romance like "I want to hold 'em like the
If you remember my post on pirozhki, I mentioned an interestingly common culinary occurrence around the world: meat cooked in dough, having different names and different methods of preparation, makes an appearance in countries from those in Asia to Europe to Latin America. I may have stumbled on another curious culinary conundrum of sorts. Shredded, fried potato cakes. Potato fritters. Latkes. Pot
