Food and Crafts for All Occasions

Puff Pastry Tarts with Goat Cheese, Blueberries and Nectarines

Here’s another delicious recipe for the nectarine and blueberry combination. And almost as easy to make as the clafoutis if you use a store bought puff pastry.

Nectarine and Blueberry Clafoutis

Now is the season for my all-time favorite fruit combination: nectarines and blueberries. I like it anytime, anywhere and anyhow. Raw and cooked. In tarts, pies, crumbles, clafoutis, roasted with honey and goat cheese or baked and used as a topping for ice cream or semifreddo.

One Potato, Two Potato: Smashed Potatoes 2 Ways

One:

And two:

My husband is a huge – huuuuuge - fan of potatoes. Loves ’em spuds. All types. All ways of cooking. Well, some more than others, but ultimately – any. Fried, sautéed, boiled, roasted. Mashed and smashed. Grated in latkes. Grilled on skewers. As a side dish as well as in soups and salads. The more the better.

So, I cook potatoes quite often. And if you’re crazy about them too, I have some good recipes for you. Today it is smashed potatoes. Two ways. A traditional one, where you roughly mash skin-on boiled potatoes. And a relatively recent one, where you boil whole small potatoes, smash them by pressing each one flat and then roast of fry them till the crispy exterior.

Cuban Sandwich Style Puff Pastry Pie

My husband is a big fan of sandwiches. Huge. I always laugh how he can turn any meal into a sandwich, even a soup!

Since currently he works from home most of the time, I try to make his lunch – usually a sandwich and salad – more fun. Like, for instance, turning his favorite Cuban sandwich into a Cuban puff pastry pie.

4th of July Feast (last minute recipe): Corn and Jalapeno Dip

Here's a superfast and simple hot dip recipe which is a perfect choice for 4^th of July feast. Raving reviews are guaranteed and the total damage on your side is about $10 and less than a half hour of cooking time with only 5 minutes involving your active participation – the rest is done by the oven.

Lamb Ragout with Ricotta and Arugula

Here's my take on the popular Italian Bolognese sauce. I make it quite nontraditional so I just refer to it as 'meat ragout' in order not to tease authenticity advocates. (Who knows how pissed I would be if someone served me borsch with sweet potatoes instead of regular ones…)

Instead of beef I take lamb as it has more robust and pronounced flavor that is not easily overpowered by tomatoes. I also add ricotta, which softens the acidity of the sauce and gives it a nice creamy texture, and arugula to balance out the richness with its fresh peppery bite.

Baked Eggs, aka Shirred Eggs, aka Oeuf en Cocotte

When it comes to breakfast, Ilya's and mine first choice is always eggs. Simply boiled – hard-boiled to eat with mayo or soft-boiled to spoon out. Sunny side up or over easy on a bed of slowly sautéed onions. Scrambled with hot peppers and ham. Poached in spicy tomato sauce, Shakshuka style.

Today I'd like to share with you another favorite recipe of ours - baked eggs (sometimes also referred to as shirred eggs). In France, this dish is known as oeuf en cocotte. Everything sounds so much cuter in French, doesn't it?

Pizza, Part III: the Toppings

Besides a good dough, the success of pizza depends on its toppings. A tasty topping means a tasty pizza, right?  And to make a tasty topping is quite easy – all we need is quality components and a balanced combination of them.

Beans in Tomato Sauce wit Cinnamon and Fresh Dill

These beans seemed to be quite popular at our last Society lunch. I myself happen to be a big fan of this Greek inspired dish. I make it using either cannellini or garbanzo beans, though the Greeks, I believe, would take large white beans called Gigandes, which are, unfortunately, are not available in our stores yet.

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

 

When wild mushrooms are not in season, my next favorite mushrooms to cook are Portobello with their slightly sweet and slightly earthy flavor and dense, meaty texture. They work particularly great for stuffing.

Grits with Spicy Creole Prawns and Poached Eggs

It was pouring elephants and whales yesterday and instead of the planned grilling I went for the southern comfort food, prawns and grits. Or, more specifically, prawns in hot tomato sauce, seasoned with Creole spices on a bed of creamy grits, cooked with milk, chicken stock and lots of goat gouda. For the finishing touch, I topped all of this with a poached egg. After taking several bites, accompanied by the rolling eyes and smacking lips, Ilya finally declared the dish a masterpiece. And it wasn't bad, really.

Asparagus and Chanterelle Risotto

 

We went to a farmer’s market the other day and returned home with a paper bag full of amazing fresh chanterelles. My favorite mushrooms are in season again, yeehah! If I had a pogo-stick I would just hop around the block several times, so happy I am. (Good news for my neighbors – I don’t have one and ain’t planning to get any soon.)

Bulgur Risotto with Chanterelles, Arugula and Parmesan

Even though the word “risotto” comes from “riso”, which is Italian for rice, as a method of cooking it can be applied to other products as well – pearl barley, buckwheat or even pasta.

This time I decided to try risotto with bulgur. To my (and my husband’s) taste, it turned out even better than rice risotto because of the bright, nutty flavor of bulgur. And the texture of cooked bulgur and the consistency of risotto were far beyond my expectations: the former had a nice subtle crunch to it and the latter was perfectly creamy, not too thick, not too thin.

Refreshing Sweet-n-Sour Frisée Salad

In fact, a full name would run as frisée salad with blood oranges, grongonzola and toasted pumpkin or sunflower seeds with lavender and lemon dressing. Quite a long name for a dish, huh? When you reach the end, you’ve already forgot the beginning. I see why people love to give short names to dishes, like Caesar salad, Beef Wellington, Jambalaya, Borsch, Po Boy sandwich, Pho. Life is too short to waste it reading long dish names - you better spend your precious time eating.

Feta Baked with Olives, Cherry Tomatoes, Olive Oil and Herbs

In cooking, I enjoy the process itself as much as the results, and because of that I often tend to choose elaborate dishes like homemade pasta or sausages, smoked ribs, stuffed vegetables and such. However, in a lack of time I have no problem whatsoever with cooking – and eating – simple dishes.