8 January 2011. A Funny Thing Happened at the Pitch Today… Russian Youth Hockey Team Eats Up Canada 5:3… The Bear is BACK! GROWL!!

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It was an arse-kicking contest… and RUSSIA won! It’s OUR game… NOBODY plays it in a more aggressive and feral manner… we play to WIN… the bear is back… and he’s kickin’ ass and takin’ names!

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8 January 2011. “Proshu k Stolu!” That’s “Good Eats” in Russian… Julienne (Жульен), as I Understand this Dish to Be…

Editor’s Foreword:

DON’T be fooled by the “Frenchy” name of the dish… it’s completely Russian. It’s an old 18th/19th century aristo/haute bourgeois dish, that is, it’s a decidedly Russian “take” on French cuisine (much as Bif Stroganov is). You’ll find a recipe for this in Malokhovets’ A Gift to Young Housewives. That’s why you don’t see this dish as a part of “Russian-American” cuisine… most emigrants to the United States were peasants, from unrepresentative peripheral regions at that, so, recipes from the “upper crust” in Piter, quite obviously, were unknown to them.

BMD

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Julienne is a deceptively simple dish, but it has an exquisite taste. I don’t know all the ways that you can cook this recipe, so, I’ll give you one of them that a friend from Lithuania makes. When I first tried it, I couldn’t find the words to describe it…

You’ll need:

• 25 ml (2 tablespoons) butter
• 500-600 grammes (1-1¼ pounds) chicken breast
• 150 grammes (6 ounces) mushrooms (you can use canned, but fresh ones are better)
• 2 small onions
• 1 medium carrot
• 100-150 grammes (4-6 ounces) grated cheese
• 150-200 ml (1/2-3/4 cup, 4-6 fluid ounces) cream
• salt and pepper to taste

So, let’s start… chop up the chicken breast. Melt the butter over medium heat in a large skillet (cast iron is best).

Then, brown the chicken pieces in the skillet, stirring them about.

Brown the meat for three to four minutes, stirring occasionally, until the meat loses its redness. You should have something like this:

Add salt and pepper to taste, I’d recommend that you go light with the pepper. Grate the onion and carrot… you could use the grating attachment on your whizzer, it’s much easier than using a knuckle-buster.

Add the grated onion and carrot to the pan, stir it thoroughly to mix it completely, then, simmer it five minutes to soften the vegetables. Whilst you’re simmering the veggies, chop up the mushrooms.

Add the mushrooms to the pan, then, add the cream, stirring them into the mixture in the pan thoroughly. Reduce the heat to low.

Simmer it for 20 minutes, and don’t forget to stir it occasionally. Grate the cheese, hey, you can use pre-grated  cheese, I won’t tell (I’m a hardened old cheater, myself).

After the mixture in the pan has simmered together for 20 minutes, add the cheese, stir it in, and simmer it for a few more minutes, giving it a stir every now and again.

This is what you end up with.

Here’s the first expert taster:

Приятного аппетита. Bon appétit.

6 January 2011

Пельмешки без спешки (Dumplings Without Haste)

http://nnm.ru/blogs/litalika/zhulen_ili_to_kak_ya_ponimayu_eto_blyudo/#cut