Food and Crafts for All Occasions

Vanilla, Lemon and Honey Semifreddo

Semifreddo is an Italian dessert that literally translates as half(semi) cold(freddo). What it really is, is ice cream without ice cream machine. It is frozen and it has the same smooth, creamy, airy texture, though it’s done using absolutely different technique than ice cream.

In fact, the method* of making semifreddo is very much the same as for mousse. So, you may say that semifreddo is frozen mousse. Whereas in ice cream light airy texture comes from ice cream being churned, in semifreddo it comes from the ingredients being whipped before combined together. In my recipe, I separately whip all three major ingredients – cream, egg yolks, and egg whites. The result is a super light semifreddo.

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.

Green Salad with Smoked Trout, Poached Eggs, Potatoes and Asparagus

This has been one of my favorite salads lately. Sort of a version of Niçoise salad with smoked trout instead of tuna and poached eggs instead of boiled ones. My greens choice for this salad is a mix of frisee (I love ’em bitter!) and Asian greens mix (not to be confused with Asian salad mix!) which includes mizuna, pak choi, baby tat soi and other fancy and very tasty herbs.  If you cannot find Asian mix in stores, go for Spring Salad Mix or something like it.

As for the trout, you can smoke it yourself or buy it in a store. Trader Joe’s carries quite delicious and inexpensive smoked trout. If you want to smoke trout yourself and are a happy owner of a Green egg grill, follow the instructions given here for salmon. The only difference with trout would be that you would need much less salt and shorter time to cure it in the fridge since trout fillets are much smaller and thinner than salmon. For the same reason, the cooking time will be shorter too. Shoot for 45-50 min.

Warm Salad with Farro/Barley, Radicchio, Frisee, Wild Mushrooms and Poached Eggs

This a more recent and more "mature" variation of this recipe. It's so balanced in flavor and textures so you would not need anything else to serve it with. Though if you never feel satiated unless you had some meat or fish in your stomach, a few seared scallops or sautéed sweetbreads would be the best choice.

Pirozhki

The other day, I decided to treat Ilya and myself to homemade borsch and pirozhki. Interlaced with a couple of shots of ice cold vodka, of course. (Sort of Russian MSG - makes everything tastier and give you a headache if you overdo it).

This whole combination has a great warming up quality and so is best served when it’s chilly outside. Judging by the weather forecasts, this could've been the last borsch and pirozhki this season. Till October, perhaps. Though, occasionally, June in Seattle feels more like "Junuary," as my neighbor Jean calls it, and then this hearty meal can be quite useful.  

Rich and Airy Chocolate Mousse

This mousse is everybody's favorite. It's so light and fluffy and creamy and velvety and melting in your mouth and so deliciously chocolaty, it will make you go 'wow' and squint your eyes until the last 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?

Better than Butter

 

If you’ve ever frozen leftover raw eggs, you should have noticed that while egg whites, when defrosted, are just like fresh, yolks completely change their texture. They lose their fluidity and become gelatinous and semi-solid. When thawed completely, they keep their round shape and can be sliced with a butter knife and spread on a toast just like butter. For me, it’s even better than butter.

Blini, Russian Crepes

Blini are Russian crepes. They can be made with yeast or plain batter, with regular wheat flour or its combination with other flours, like buckwheat, rye etc. My all-time favorite is small, very thin blini made from a simple non-yeast batter based on all purpose flour and milk.  

These blini go equally well with savory and sweet toppings. Most of all I love them topped with salmon caviar. Paired with a shot of ice cold vodka or hot, sweetened black tea – mmmmm…. Ilya loves them with homemade lox with onions and fresh dill. For dessert, my choice would be to top them with a dollop of sour cream and sprinkle with white cane sugar just like I used to do it when I was a kid.

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.

Niçoise Salad

Whenever we’re in a mood for a lighter dinner, I made a large “all inclusive” salad like Caesar with chicken or fried oysters or Niçoise. Here you have your proteins, greens and starches all in one light and healthy dish.

Dungeness Crab Season: Crab, Onions and Rau Ram Omelet

Every time I go to the store these days and see that whole cooked Dungeness crab hasn’t disappeared from the fish and seafood display, I’m about to hop on one leg and joyfully shout “It’s still here! It’s still here!”

I thought that after more than a month of crab cakes, crab dips, crab salads, crab ravioli, crab melts and just simple whole crab with butter on the side I would be literally fed up with this little sea creature.  Nope, didn’t happen! As with any addiction, the more you get, the more you want.

So instead of only having crab for dinner, I now also start my day with it (can half an hour on elliptical count as extenuating circumstance in my case?). For breakfast, I often love to treat my lovely self with an omelet. Not an aristocratic French-style un omelette -  pale, thin, and elegantly rolled into a tube, but a robust looking, golden-brown, thick omelet with fluffy, delicate and light exterior. Just the way I like it!

Bitter Greens Salad with Potatoes, Mushrooms and Quail Eggs

It looks like a salad week in my blog (high time to go on strike and demand some meat!), but I can’t help myself but give you one more of our favorites. It makes a great vegetarian lunch or a first course of a bigger meal.

Warm Frisée and Belgian Endive Salad with Bacon and Poached Eggs

Of all the greens, we prefer the ones with crunchy texture and bitterish taste - frisée, endive, radicchio, wild arugula and such. These greens certainly have lots of character and call for a strong, rich, acidic, and slightly sweet dressing.

Potato Salad with Eggs, Arugula and Mayo & Dijon Dressing

If you are a fan of potato salads, here’s another one to your collection. It goes especially great with grilled, roasted or pan-fried fish.