Farewell Russia - A cup of Borscht

Russia has been fun but the sun is shining and to celebrate Little Foodies are off to Australia tomorrow, well actually this afternoon. For many reasons, firstly we're bbq'g with our lovely neighbours today. Also because there are many wonderful Australian chefs that we can choose from, for lots of clean, fresh tastes which are going to be perfect for this weeks weather.. See the power of positive thinking... Also my grandfather's brother went to Australia on the £10 tickets many, many years ago, so I'll be thinking of all my relatives.

Farewell Russia with a celebratory cup of Borscht. (Can you guess my favourite thing about the picture... The sun glinting off the spoon. The soup looks cloudy but the sunshine is there in that spoon!!)

Borscht (Russian Beetroot Soup)
I found so many recipes for this it was really hard to choose one but I got the general idea that you needed a heap of beetroot and other root veg and then you made a soup. I think you could play with this recipe a lot.

I got a bunch of beetroot (about 6 pieces) and roasted them in the oven for 1 hour. Let them cool, peeled them and chopped into chunks.
I then chopped and peeled a small swede, 2 carrots, a parsnip, 3 medium potatoes, 1 onion, 2 cloves of garlic and a small handful of chopped dill and curly parsley as it's what we had lying around (definitely not authentic).
I threw all of this in a pan with approx three quarters of a pint of chicken stock and simmered for 25 minutes. I then blitzed with my stick blender. Poured into cups, then topped with soured cream mixed with chopped dill.

We didn't get round to making the zyriniki but I think we'll head back to Russia again when the weather is cold. For now the sun is shining and I have a real need to be cooking and eating outside. It's the perfect remedy for madness brought on by cabin fever.

Little Foodies Russia, Cabin Fever & Chicken Kiev

It's official the world and it's weather is going bonkers and our household is well and truly suffering from Cabin Fever. It's not the best half term holiday. We are lurching from one mood to another without rhyme or reason. Poor H returns from work every day wondering what emotional garbage he's going to walk in to. If this weather doesn't break we're putting on wet weather gear and going for a hike across the fields. I need some fresh air. It's the end of May and we've had the heating on every day this week.... Moan, moan, moan. Do stop by for a moan....

That was this morning and at about 2pm the sun came out. It's been a brilliant afternoon, we even ventured to the park. We're still 'in' Russia and I made up this Chicken Kiev recipe based on various ones that I've seen over the years. Not sure it's authentic but it was tasty.

Chicken Kiev (Garlic butter stuffed chicken) Serves 4
4 chicken breasts with skin and part of the wing bone left on.
1 large handful of parsley (we used the curly variety)
Half a pack of butter, cold from fridge, chopped into pieces
8 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
Sprinkle of salt. if unsalted using butter
Half a pack of crackers (we didn't have any bread to make real breadcrumbs)

In a food processor add the crackers and blitz until they resemble fine breadcrumbs. Do this first and you can then make the garlic butter in the same pot without having to wash it out first. If you do it the other way round you'll need to wash it first.

Then make the garlic butter by adding the butter, crushed garlic and parsley (and salt if using unsalted butter) to the processor and blitz until the herbs are finely chopped and it's all come together into a smooth butter. Put this in the fridge while you prepare the chicken.

First take off the loose bit of chicken (can't remember what it's called but it's the perfect size and shape for goujons, which is what we did with them).
Insert a hole into the chicken breasts from the thin end, where the bone is still attached... This is difficult to explain, if you don't understand what I mean then much better to ask your butcher to do it for you.
Push the garlic butter into the hole, the butter starts sticking to your hands, you just have to keep at it. Next time I think I'd freeze the butter first.
When you've pushed plenty in you need to fold the chicken over... and secure it by wrapping string around it. I couldn't find any string so used a few cocktail sticks and hoped for the best.
I then poured the crackercrumbs into a large bowl and then rolled the chicken around in it until they were liberally coated.
With the smaller pieces of chicken I rubbed them all over with the garlic butter then rolled in the crackercrumbs. Placed them all in an ovenproof dish then pop in the oven for 50 minutes on 180C (will put other conversions on asap).

I actually used a whole pack of butter so there was far too much. I used it all up by boiling some potatoes and throwing the rest of the garlic butter over it then roasting in a really hot oven for 30 minutes. Delicious but the sort of fodder that could possibly bring on cardiac arrest.

Edit. Asha left a comment re: M&S kievs she used to get in the UK. My mum used to get those and I loved them. If I'm honest I think I'd buy my kievs ready made. If I was going homemade I'd just make chicken goujons using the crackercrumbs and serve with melted garlic and parsley butter on the side... Much easier and quicker to prepare.

Kitchen Travels - Little Foodies Russia

Yippeee - it's half term and though I'd planned picnics and lots of gorgeous summery type food this week I'm really pleased we're doing Russia as it's rainy and cold and we need more warming foods! I also now know why Little chose Russia. Children are very impressed by size, which is why they think it's a compliment when they tell you (or more embarrassingly other people) what an enormous bottom/tummy you have. They can then look hurt and confused when you announce that you're taking all their toys away and they'll have to earn them back by saying nice things every day for the rest of their lives! Do I sound like I've ever been told my bottom is big by my beloved children? Actually, I could have told them that but being pear shaped I don't think it reflects my overall size.... Children eh? Must teach them what you can and can't say to ladies..

Anyway I digress, Russia was chosen because it's the biggest country in the world. We've learned a few words. I think they're a bit young to be learning about the full on political history of Russia so we'll now be sticking with facts and figures, and of course the food.

We had Poached Organic English Eggs on Russian (rye style) Bread for breakfast yesterday. Debate ensued but we finally agreed they have eggs in Russia and must surely poach them sometimes. The bread was not homemade it was Organic Rossisky from The Village Bakery Melmerby (not our village just the name of the company who makes it). Written on the bag it came in, it says 'Russian-inspired rye bread based on sourdough from historic Kostroma on the Volga river'. So I now have to find out where Kostroma is and the Volga river. Sometimes ignorance is bliss! The bread went down well with the eggs though they didn't like the taste of it on it's own. Their preferred way to eat it was toasted with butter and jam. That threw up requests for more.

The boys devoured the beef stoganoff. Thankfully we weren't too greedy and had left plenty for them. Can't wait for the rest of the week. I've been checking out all sorts of websites but the waytorussia.net and russianfoods.com seem to have most things we'll need. This week we'll be having - Borsch(t) - beetroot soup, Chicken Kiev, Syrniki (cottage cheese & semolina flour patties that you fry and have as a dessert). We might also make the little filled pastries which seem to have several different names. The one thing the boys will not be having are the pickled vegetables as neither of them seem to like vinegar - shame as H and I love them.

VEG PATCH NEWS - It's coming along great, though with all the warm weather and then lots of rain I think it's maybe doing too well. A little overcrowding might be going on. I dare not mention this again... though if you're reading this my love I think the carrots could definitely do with being thinned out....

Kitchen Travels - Little Foodies Russia

As it's poured with rain for virtually the whole day, it was very easy to stay safely tucked up in our own little Imperial Russia all day. Role play to the ready, Husband took on the role of Ivan the Terrible (he did this remarkably well as he was a little like a bear with a sore head early on, but unlike Ivan has improved no end as the day has wore on). I was Catherine the Great and the boys have been various princes and Emperors. I'm trying to get the boys to believe something I believed as a child - that St Basil's Cathedral (Moscow) was made entirely from sugar candy.

Breakfast. Little loved the blinis, including the poor mans caviar. Small refused to even try them, a real shame as he does like smoked salmon. Still I wasn't going to force it. I did have every intention of making our own blinis but I must have known I wouldn't be up for the job. Thankfully I bought ready made ones yesterday, though I had a lie in and the children have been super well behaved there is no way I could have whipped up blinis or even bellinis this morning. Mind you, peach bellini for breakfast? maybe I could have made the effort. Is there an alcoholic screaming to get out? You can see the headlines. The new 'mothers little helper'!! But as we're doing Russia - vodka anybody?

The grandeur of Russia past is very exciting, thrilling even and makes for the most wonderful stories. Tsars, Tzars, Czars - the internet is a wonderful thing but when you start researching something you're given every mans view of the world and you have to choose which to be true.

Hubby and I ate beef stroganoff this evening, we ran out of time to have it with the boys. They can have it for lunch tomorrow. H was distraught to see I'd be using fillet steak, but after he tasted it he was more than happy. I can't believe I haven't made this before. It's so easy and so quick. All in, it was less than 20 minutes including preparation time.

Beef Stroganoff
2 large fillet steaks (sorry didn't weigh them) thinly sliced
1 medium size carton of button mushrooms thinly sliced
1 large onion finely chopped
1 teaspoon of dijon mustard
1 large cup of creme fraiche
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon of butter or olive oil
Lightly fry the onions in the butter or oil for 5 mins. Then add the sliced mushrooms, fry for 2 minutes then add the mustard and mix through. Add the beef then cook for 5 minutes. Add the creme fraiche and cook for further 2 minutes. Add salt and pepper. We served with egg noodles. Delicious, quick and easy. Definitely to be repeated!

I'm still looking for Russian desserts or cakes so any ideas would be greatly received.

Last but most definitely not least to my lovely husband, Happy Anniversary. Thank you for everything, especially the boys and for just being you. x