Russia ~ Fish Babka ~ Dinner

 

Fish Babka

The joy of International cooking is the ability to try things you may never have tried before. And I do mean NEVER. 

Fish Babka is one of those dishes that I may not even have known existed, I may have gone my entire life without knowing of or partaking in this particular meal. In the grand scheme of things it may not mean much, but when you really think of all the places, all the dishes, that we as Americans may not know much about, it all adds up to pretty sad. We are missing out on lots! Not just new and delicious food, but culture, lots and lots of culture and tradition goes into these dishes and opening up our kitchens to the food opens up our minds to the culture. 

That said, fish babka, was for me, an episode of bizarre foods. It was good, really good, but the texture was,... interesting. Not bad, just really interesting. I will wait for you to cook it, try it and tell me what you thought of it.

Russia ~ Salmon Kulebyaka ~ Dinner

 

Salmon Kulebyaka

One word, NOM!

Don't freak when you see the Salmon part of this, honestly it is pretty easy to tell that I got a bit of sticker shock over the price of Salmon at my local store as well and decided that Sole was good fish also :)

If you can afford Salmon then by all means go for it, I am sure it would be even more tasty and it was pretty freaking tasty.

Russia ~ Pampushki ~ Dinner

Pampushki

Why Danielle, why is that lonely looking dumpling just sitting right there without a plate or any pretty surroundings? Ha! Funny story about that!

Have you ever had one of those days that you spend all day in the kitchen, slave over a hot stove (come on that really is a great saying) and by the time everything is done and everyone is getting ready to eat you want nothing to do with the food and storm off in an emotional upheaval? Just me? OK. Well that is what happened, so therefore I did not serve dinner and take photos that looked really nice rather I got the leftovers from the fridge the next day and that was that. See I told you it was a funny story (bwahahaha)

So what is a Pampushki aside from an amazingly fun word to say over and over again?

Well it is a crunchy Russian potato dumpling with filling inside of course!

And how do you make said crunchy Russian potato dumpling with filling inside? Well lets talk about that!

Russia ~ Beetroot Celery Salad

Grated Beetroot and Celery Salad

Beetroot really is a tasty vegetable. I hope that after reading my post Beet Root, Are you Scared? that you will have a new respect for this often misunderstood and possibly feared veggie. 

My camera was about out of batteries when I decided to take a picture of it, bathed in the glow of the dinning room energy saving light bulb. This was the best shot, and it tastes far better then my shabby picture of it hints to. 

I seem to be getting closer and closer to the food when I am taking pictures here lately. Two reasons, I am tired of looking at the same tired plates in every shot, and I am trying to be more artistic. So if you have never been that up close and personal into your food like that, well here it is in all its Beety Goodness!

Russia ~ Plum and Almond Tart ~ Sweets

 

Plum and Almond Tart

I have noticed that more often then not, my final product never looks like it does in the cookbooks. Is it just me? That's ok though because this tart tasted Wonderful! And really, in the end, isn't that all that matters?

So a little about this recipe. About a month ago, my favorite bookstore *so not my favorite, just the closest big name bookstore that carries tons of books* went out of business, and was having a sale. Yay for the sale! Boooo for the bookstore closing! 40 to 60% off of books, and of course I had to check out the bargain cookbooks section. That is where I found a grip of cookbooks from different countries *to add to my ever growing collection* so some of the recipes were gleaned from those. 

(It was a seriously awesome sale and I walked away with a huge bag of books all for under $50, R.I.P Borders) If you want the cookbook it is called "Russian, German & Polish food & cooking" by Lesley Chamberlain and the recipe is on page 86 (In my kitchen you can tell what I bake by the pages that have a dusting of flour on them) :p

Alright, enough with the rambling and on to the cooking!!