Saturday, December 27, 2014

Cajun Shrimp in white wine anybody ?



1 pound of shrimp 

3 -4 table spoons of any cajun or creole seasoning (If it is a salt free seasoning, then have some salt, too) 
2 table spoons of butter
1 cup of  dry white wine
1 cup of vegetable oil 
Dill ( optional)


Season the shrimp with the seasoning

Heat  the oil in a large sauce pan add the wine, but make sure you do not splatter the mixture all over, 

Let the wine come to a boil. 
Let it boil until the aroma of alcohol is gone. 
Put the seasoned shrimp there and add butter. 
Let it cook until done add dill in the end


Enjoy!

Get a  baguette ready, because the sauce is a "killer"








Saturday, November 29, 2014

Home turkey



For my family. I cooked it with a stuffing of rice, onions and chicken livers, on the bed of Sauerkraut with the kraut juice. 

Killer taste and moist turkey. I cook it for the last 30 plus years. Never fails me!!

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Fast Pan Fried Okra

If you have some salsa left,you can use it this dish.


Get one pound of fresh okra
Quarter of a cup of salsa ( any salsa you like)
Little bit of oil for frying
Salt, Pepper


Cut the hard ens of okra, and slice it to size you like

Fry it in a pan with salt and pepper, adding the salsa half way before end

Enjoy!

Saturday, October 18, 2014

Organic Bread



This is not an add, it's just posting about life in Utah. 

Good bread is half of the meal. Organic bread is wonderful thing. Over the last year, I am buying bread made from organic flour in Harmon's.  I only wish,  they start baking German Organic Rye  again.


Monday, October 13, 2014

Fast lentil soup








All we need is
For vegetarian version:

2 cups of dry lentils
1 cup of sliced onions
1 stick of celery ( chopped)
1 little carrot ( chopped)
few cloves of garlic

A little bit of yogurt (plain)


Boil the lentils without salt in water until almost done
Fry the garlic, onions, celery and carrots, add a little bit of  salt and black pepper. You can add cumin, but not much.

When lentils are cooked, just pour the fried vegetables into the lentils. Mix well. Cook until lentils are done. Let the soup stay for a about 10-15 min. for aromas to mix.
Serve hot.
When the soup is in the serving dish , put one table spoon of yogurt on the top.

You can turn it into a lentil and sausage soup by adding into the fried vegetable  mixture a little bit of your favorite smoked salami. I add  Polish kielbasa, andouille sausage or smoked chorizo.
 
So you will get something like this:







Saturday, September 13, 2014

Buffalo steak


Buffalo ( Bison ) steak, true American Delicacy 

There is a cooking technique called "Blackened", which is used on meat or fish. It's perfect for bison meat.  Bison or buffalo  it is really lean meat





Buy any type of Cajun, Creole or Blackening Spice mix. Put oil over the steak, cover with spice mixture and put on hot  grill.



As soon as the spices darken - the steak is ready. I prefer my buffalo medium rare. it is to lean to be cooked more, because it will become chewy.

Enjoy. I did !!!!

Sunday, August 17, 2014

Home style fried potatoes with crimini mushrooms


Crimini are really aromatic. Combined with potatoes they are great!!


This is really easy and inexpensive dish.

All we need are 3-4 potatoes, half a pound of crimini mushrooms, salt, pepper, vegetable oil for frying

Fry crimini first, then in the same pan fry the potatoes. Few minutes before the potatoes are done, mix in the fried mushrooms. Let it stay few minutes.

Done! Enjoy! Serve as a side dish or a  meal of its own.




Saturday, August 16, 2014

Saturday, July 12, 2014

Ukrainian style pork roast


This is very popular and very simple way of cooking a pork roast in Ukraine and not just Ukraine, but Russia and Belarus as well.

The sweetness of natural pork here is being complimented by sweetness of a carrot and aroma of garlic.

So, that is  all you need for the roast
Pork  on a bone ( I prefer fat shoulder, but any fat part will do) 
Few cloves of garlic 
1 medium carrot 
Salt and black pepper

The pork itself should be on a fat side. The fat will melt down and give flavor to everything, plus I cook the roast to a higher temperature and longer, so the fat roast will be moist.

All you do is :

Cut the carrot and garlic in small pieces 

Make slits on the side of the pork and stuff every slit with piece of garlic and carrot. Plus, there will plenty of places on the roast you can put the garlic and the carrot. Any type of openings you can stuff : I put some under the fat , that will stay on  and melt.

Rub nicely with salt and black pepper and just a little bit of vegetable oil.


Cook until done, I cook it to 185 F.

About 45 minute before end I add some raw sliced potatoes in the pan.

Enjoy

Saturday, July 5, 2014

Tarator – cold yoghurt soup








Do you like a Tzatziki sauce?  Well, imagine it is a soup, I mean really cold soup.  Balkan countries prepare it for hundreds of years; it is really refreshing when it’s 100 F outside. I prepare it every summer

So, what do you need?

2 large cucumbers or 1 English cucumber
1 can of yoghurt
3-4 stems of dill
1 clove of garlic
Walnuts (you will be adding them in the end, so it’s up to you how much)
1 oz. of ether olive, vegetable oil, but the best sunflower oil (this is what I use)
Ice cold water
Salt
Sweet paprika - you can do without it, but it counter -acts the sourness of the yoghurt if you add it in

Clean the cucumbers from skin and seeds, you can ether slice them really fine or grind them to little pc's.
Cut the dill really fine
Chop the clove of garlic, if you can do almost paste like – the best
Mix cucumber, salt, oil, garlic and dill

Mix yoghurt with ice water 3:1, mix really well until smooth
Add the mixture of cucumber, oil, garlic, dill and salt, mix well.
Check for salt
Put in refrigerator overnight. If you do not have time to cool it overnight, just reduce cold water and add some crushed ice to it, it will melt into yoghurt and make it cold
Before serving, mix one more time until it’s smooth.


Serve in a dish the way it is, but you can add crushed walnut and sweet paprika in moderation

Saturday, June 28, 2014

Fried Chicken livers with fresh Vidalia Onions

You know, the Vidalia onions are so good raw.  They do not have this pongee aroma of regular onions, so you can eat them as they are, just sliced with a little bit of salt.

This is a recipe from Sofia, Bulgaria. Bulgarian sweet onion was similar in taste to Vidalia .
There was a snack bar right in the center of town, where this dish was served.


So, this is what we need for 2 people

1 pound of chicken livers ( organic preferably)
½ of large sweet Vidalia onion sliced
Salt and black pepper
Frying oil – I use vegetable oil


Fry the livers in oil with salt and pepper until done and put in a dish.  Put freshly sliced Vidalia over  it.

Enjoy!

P.S. If you add cold beer to it, you will enjoy it even more!

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Simple classic - Beef fillet with asparagus

I usually buy this type of meat cut around special holidays:  Father's Day, Mother's Day, Valentine's Day. Most of the stores run specials on fillets, dropping prices from usual $15.99-$17.99 per pound to $7.99, sometimes even to $6.99 for 2 fillets in a package.





I boil the asparagus in salted water for a short time, and put it  in an ice water.
The beef fillet is pan fried  on medium heat and in the end to brown - on higher heat, sometimes I even add butter (this helps to brown it faster) 

Saturday, May 10, 2014

May 10 is National Shrimp Day in the US. Here is my Shrimp Cocktail



Really simple

1. Steamed shrimp

2. Shrimp cocktail : 50% ketchup to 50% horseradish. Its really strong. You can change up to your liking, by reducing the horseradish

Enjoy!!

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Pickled herring with boiled potatoes and green onion

This dish is really popular all over Ukraine, Poland, Russia. It usually served as an appetizer with a range of  salads, cold cuts and  aperitifs (drinks)





The pickled herring is sold in Eastern European stores.

All I do is add a little bit of sunflower oil over the fish (unless it is all ready with oil in a package) and add some green onions over the herring and boiled potatoes

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Nice combination with Rib eye steak

Rib eye, asparagus, bagel, Russian style slaw 







Russian style slaw is used allover Eastern Europe, it slightly fermented




Saturday, March 22, 2014

Before I go to a Mexican restaurant, I always ask, if they serve this.....

Menudo !!!

This a spicy Mexican soup, made from beef tripe with or without hominy (corn), boiled for hours with herbs and spices





The soup is fat, very rich






The richness can be "cut" with lime juice, salsa. I usually add onion, cilantro, extra salsa , squeeze lots of lime and add just a pinch of Mexican oregano.  It goes ideal with beer, tequila ext.




For lots of people, this soup is not everyday food. So, if I see on the menu in a restaurant this soup, then I am  absolutely sure, that Mexican and  people from Latin America go there to eat.  

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Buckwheat with mushrooms -fast side dish or a dish of its own


Ukraine, Russia, Belorussia boiled   buckwheat   is a popular breakfast dish. It's popular in North America as well.

So, if we have some of it left after breakfast, it can be really good side dish or vegetarian full course.
All you need :
1. Boiled buckwheat 
2. 1 can of mushrooms
3. Veg. oil for frying




Fry the mushrooms, add the buckwheat , stir and serve. You can add butter if you like




Enjoy

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

When I am to tired to cook

My own  cold platter





Dolma
Feta
Ajar
Tomato
Pita with Mortadella
Cucumber
Green Olives
Eggplant spread
Green onion

Enjoy!




Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Aromatic Tea





It is good as a hot tea or as ice tea


Let sit in hot water:

Jasmine tea
Rose tea 
Fresh mint
Fresh Sage

It is not always available, but you can add just a little bit tea that is widely used in Siberia called "Bagulnik". In USA its known as  Ledum  - (Rhododendron neoglandulosum -Ledum glandulosum)





Sunday, February 2, 2014

Oven baked chicken wings with simple pesto from parsley, garlic and vinegar


Super bowl is today. The Chicken wings are popular item. This is the way I do them.




Really simple way.

Just baked them with salt, black pepper and vegetable oil until done and GBD ( Golden, Brown and Delicious).
By american standards I cook  them longer in order for them to become crispy.

The Pesto is simple: combine parsley, vinegar, salt and garlic in a blender - that's all. The amount of garlic is up to you.

Put the pesto over the wings while they are hot, this way the vinegar will go into wings better.

The vinegar cuts the fat of the chicken wings, makes them lighter

Enjoy!




Saturday, February 1, 2014

Year of the Horse


All Right!!




Bryce Canyon , horse ride!


Sturgeon soup

Sturgeon  soup

This a version of old Ukrainian, Russian soup called "Ukha"

Once in a while I have a luck to get one of those beautiful fishes. It's big fat and wonderful. Actually, there is not much you have to do to it. Just let it shine by itself. The main word here is fish FAT!




I cut it in pieces and put in a boiling pan with lot's of water, with an large onion, carrot, 2-3 celery sticks, 10-15 black pepper corns, 5-6 dry laurel leaves  and some salt.



Let it simmer for an hour and a half may be two. Do not let it boil rapidly, because the fish stock will become muddy. Check when the fish is done. Remove the fish, filter the fish stock, check for salt





Serve pieces of fish with carrot and parsley.



It is wonderful on a cold day


Enjoy.

My photos